Randy, thanks for doing this thread.
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Ship Photo of the Day
- Thread starter Randy Daytona
- Start date
Skywalker
Student Naval Aviator
How do you safely deal with case extraction with cases that large?
Great question! You forced me to watch a 14 minute 1950’s training film to get the answer. In short, the brass is dropped into an extraction tube that forces it out of the front of the turret just below the gun tube.
You can see it here!
Minor quibble, the 6" guns of US Navy light cruisers from the Brooklyn-class on all used semi-fixed ammunition, not powder bags, and had a rate of fire of ~10 rounds per minute.
But the 8" guns of the Des Moines-class were the largest operationally fielded naval guns to use semi-fixed ammo in addition to being self-loading, and were quite revolutionary for their time. The only subsequent gun that size to be self-loading was the experimental 8" 'Major Caliber Lightweight Gun' that was tested in the 70's but never fielded.
USS Helena was called the “Machine Gun Cruiser” by the Japanese due to the volume of fire these CLs could put out.Minor quibble, the 6" guns of US Navy light cruisers from the Brooklyn-class on all used semi-fixed ammunition, not powder bags, and had a rate of fire of ~10 rounds per minute.
But the 8" guns of the Des Moines-class were the largest operationally fielded naval guns to use semi-fixed ammo in addition to being self-loading, and were quite revolutionary for their time. The only subsequent gun that size to be self-loading was the experimental 8" 'Major Caliber Lightweight Gun' that was tested in the 70's but never fielded.
Are no-shave chits a "Navy only" thing? I have never seen other service folks with beards, other than SOF-types. You know, the Nordic blond or Irish ginger guys who think they're going to blend in with the indigenous populations...
No-shave chits are a thing in all services.
Lot of fun - seems like every ship has a story to tell. Lot to learn as well, some of the guys here can really dig into the weeds and you pick up new things.
Today is a ship with multiple stories to tell: HMS Campbeltown. Formerly the US Wickes Class destroyer USS Buchanon (DD-131) built in 1919 and named for Franklin Buchanon, the commander of CSS Virginia during the Battle of Hampton Roads and the only full admiral of the Confederacy. In 1940, she was transferred to the British Navy under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement.
She became HMS Campbeltown (I42), considered by the Brits to be a Town class destroyer. In 1942, she was selected for the St Nazaire Raid, perhaps the most famous and successful raid of WW2. Configured to look like a Germany Raubvogel class torpedo boat and filled with 4.5 tons of explosives, she rammed the docks at St Nazaire on 28 March 1942, destroying them for the remainder of the war and preventing their use by the German battleship Tirpitz. The raid was so audacious that 5 Victoria Crosses were given that day. The 1968 movie Attack on the Iron Coast starring Lloyd Bridges was loosely based up the raid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nazaire_Raid
Length: 314', Beam: 30', Displacement: 1,260 tonnes, 30,000 HP gave 35.5 knots.
4 x 4" main guns, 6 x 21" torpedo tubes (the main armament was changed for the raid).
Commissioned: 1919, Transferred to the Royal Navy: 1940
A small clip as narrated by Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson (whose father in law won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden)
The USS Buchanan off Balboa, in the Panama Canal Zone, 18 May 1936
German photo of HMS Campbeltown, taken before it exploded
USS Delphy (DD-261), a Clemson class destroyer. Lead ship of Destroyer Group 11 and steaming at 20 knots, she was the first to run aground at Honda Point on 8 Sep 1923 - where not 1, not 2, but 7 destroyers were lost - and 2 more damaged. 23 sailors were killed due to the navigation error.
Length: 314', Beam: 31', Displacement: 1,190 tons. 30,000 HP gave 35 knots.
4 x 4" main guns, 12 x 21" torpedo tubes
Commissioned: 1918, Wrecked: 1923
https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2010-02/naval-tragedys-chain-errors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Point_disaster
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Delphy (DD-261) at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts (USA), 28 October 1919. Note the open face of this destroyer's pilothouse.
USS Delphy (foreground) broken in half at Honda Point
Aerial view of the disaster area, showing all seven destroyers. Photographed from a plane assigned to USS Aroostook. The ships are Nicholas and S. P. Leeat the top left. Delphy, capsized and broken in the small cove at left; Young, capsized in left center; Chauncey, upright ahead of Young; Woodbury on the rocks in the right center; and Fuller on the rocks at right.
Length: 314', Beam: 31', Displacement: 1,190 tons. 30,000 HP gave 35 knots.
4 x 4" main guns, 12 x 21" torpedo tubes
Commissioned: 1918, Wrecked: 1923
https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2010-02/naval-tragedys-chain-errors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Point_disaster
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Delphy (DD-261) at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts (USA), 28 October 1919. Note the open face of this destroyer's pilothouse.
USS Delphy (foreground) broken in half at Honda Point
Aerial view of the disaster area, showing all seven destroyers. Photographed from a plane assigned to USS Aroostook. The ships are Nicholas and S. P. Leeat the top left. Delphy, capsized and broken in the small cove at left; Young, capsized in left center; Chauncey, upright ahead of Young; Woodbury on the rocks in the right center; and Fuller on the rocks at right.
Commissioned today in Japan - the JS Kaga.
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201703220067.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JS_Kaga
Sister ship JS Izumo
And for perspective.
Late edit: just saw this.
Not unexpected news coming from Japan and South Korea - and it sounds like China is not happy.
Japan And South Korea Eye F-35B For Their Helicopter Carriers
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...korea-eye-f-35b-for-their-helicopter-carriers
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-...-modifying-helicopter-carriers/6631514302394/
The South Korean Dokdo class amphibious assault ship.
Length: 653', Beam: 102', Displacement: 18,800 tons at full load. 32,000 HP gives 23 knots.
2 LCAC's, 720 Marines, 10 helicopters - or now possibly jets.
ROKS Dokdo moored at Busan in August 2009.
I predicted this a few years ago...not shocking in the least when you have neighbors with a CV.Not unexpected news coming from Japan and South Korea - and it sounds like China is not happy.
Japan And South Korea Eye F-35B For Their Helicopter Carriers
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...korea-eye-f-35b-for-their-helicopter-carriers
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-...-modifying-helicopter-carriers/6631514302394/
The South Korean Dokdo class amphibious assault ship.
Length: 653', Beam: 102', Displacement: 18,800 tons at full load. 32,000 HP gives 23 knots.
2 LCAC's, 720 Marines, 10 helicopters - or now possibly jets.
ROKS Dokdo moored at Busan in August 2009.
The Izumo class is similar in length to our LHD/LHA’s but the Dokdo is almost 200 feet shorter. Both would probably need to change their decks a bit. A ski jump perhaps?
Were they built to take the weight and the logistics necessary to operate jets?