Ship Photo of the Day

[Randy Daytona]

Was it really 'insufficient' though? The USS South Dakota got hit pretty hard during the Second Naval Battle of Guadacanal and though she suffered some damage none of it was critical, to include "the only time in US Naval History that a US battleship was struck by a foreign battleship's main-caliber AP projectile" that struck the ship near the aft main turret.



Was it really worth it though? I read critical comments on the Iowa-class that in an article about US fast battleships some time ago and could agree with some of the reasoning, that the tousands of tons of extra steel to make them go a few knots faster compared to the South Dakota and North Carolina classes wasn't really worth it given that they were mainly utilized as AAA escorts for carriers and flagships, both of which could have easily been done by other ships.

Some info from www.navsource.org


Plate No. I showing gunfire damage report inflicted on the South Dakota (BB-57) during the battle at Guadalcanal, 14 - 15 November, 1942. Published 1 June 1947.

17+ inches of steel armor is nice to have.... Couple of things to add: the Kirishima had an older armor layout with the armor being distributed over more of the ship. The South Dakota had the newer all or nothing design with armor concentrated over the most vital areas. Also, Japanese shells had a longer fuze setting as it allowed better ability underwater (falling short) but resulted in sometimes going through unarmored parts and exploding too late.

"The barbette hit on the South Dakota by the 14" shell from Kirishima was almost at right angles and with a small downward angle. The shell tore a rather large hole in the 1.5"-thick STS (armor-grade steel) weather deck and DENTED the 17.3" Thick-Chill (55% (circa 9") hard face thickness!!) curved Class "A" barbette side plate"

Battleship Photo Index BB-57 USS SOUTH DAKOTA

www.navsource.org

Also found on Navy General Board the article on the Iowa as well as another article on the Alaska class large cruisers. It is a really good historical website.

Iowa Class Battleships - A Departure from Traditional Design - Navy General Board

The Iowa class battleships were the most powerful dreadnoughts launched by the USA. However, these powerful ships were a departure from traditional design.

www.navygeneralboard.com

Alaska Class : America's (Not Quite) Battlecruisers - Navy General Board

Shares Facebook Twitter 4 reddit Like 1 The warships of the Alaska class are perhaps one of the more confusing ships ever put to sea by the United States. Designed to prowl the oceans and hunt down enemy commerce raiders, they possessed high speed and considerable firepower. Vastly more...

www.navygeneralboard.com

 

[Randy Daytona]

10 Feb 1906. The first modern (all big gun) battleship is launched: HMS Dreadnought. With ten 12” guns, she outmatched any other current ship and being the first capital ship with steam turbines, she was faster than other capital ship as well. Japan was building the IJN Satsuma at the same time (launched 15 Nov 1906) planned with twelve 12” rifles but due to a shortage of 12” guns ended up with only four. The US was also working on its first dreadnought, USS South Carolina, but it was slower, launching on 11 Jul 1908 although it was the first battleship to have its eight 12” cannons arranged in a superfiring layout.




HMS Dreadnought


IJN Satsuma

USS South Carolina

 

[taxi1]

Here is an interesting video of the USS Wolverine...the training carrier used on the Great Lakes. I think this is the only time I have seen a video of a full, arrested, landing by an SNJ.

Cool seeing the sidewheel turning.

I still think the Navy should consider turning some civilian ship into a touch & go platform for the fleet. No cats or arresting gear, just a the ball and a deck paintjob. Cruise up and down the East Coast seaboard. Say, a crew of 35.

 

[VMO4]

"Here is an interesting video of the USS Wolverine...the training carrier used on the Great Lakes. I think this is the only time I have seen a video of a full, arrested, landing by an SNJ."

When my father, who was winged in 1942, got recalled for Korea, he was assigned to ship's company in CIC , on CV-42, the Fruity 'Roo, They had two SNJ's they kept in the corner of the hangar bay. The rated Naval Aviators on board who were not assigned to a squadron used them to get their minimum hours each month to keep getting flight pay. In 1953 flight pay for an O-4 was nearly a 50 percent increase in your base pay. I still have his log books, they show a Med cruise with 5.0 of FCLP per month in a SNJ, in between playing golf in Athens, and Nice, and Naples, ......

 

[Randy Daytona]

USS Sealion (SS-315), a Balao class submarine was the second submarine named Sealion (and in case you can't remember, in Operation Petticoat the submarine was USS Seatiger) The submarine had a long history, changing roles from a fleet attack sub to an undersea transport.

Notable actions including the unfortunate sinking of the SS Rakuyo Maru on 12 Sep 1944 with 1,200 British and Australian prisoners of war aboard - the Sealion was able to return and rescue 54 of the prisoners - which was also influenced the movie "Return from the River Kwai". (not "Bridge on the River Kwai")

On 21 Nov 1944, she intercepted the Japanese formation consisting of the battleships Yamato, Nagato and Kongo along with the cruiser Yahagi and 6 destroyers. The Sealion fired a spread of 6 torpedoes at the Kongo and 3 at the Nagato: the Kongo took 2 hits and sunk, the destroyer Urakaze was also hit and sunk, the Nagato saw the explosion and was able to turn hard just in time to miss the torpedoes.

In 1948, the torpedo tubes were removed and billeting for up to 123 troops was available, the Sealion was recommissioned Submarine, Transport SSP-315. In 1955, she was classified as a submarine transport ASSP-315 which also included a hangar for a tracked vehicle for Marines, UDT's/SEAL's.

Sealion was finally decommissioned on 20 Feb 1970.


Sealion (APSS-315), May 1956


Probable late war photo of the Sealion (SS-315)


Photo of the Reserve fleet at Mare Island, circa January 1946. There are 52 submarines and 4 Sub Tenders in this photo. Whether coincidental or on purpose, the number of boats in the photo is the same as that which were lost in WW II.


Ceremony for 4 boats at a pier in sea major.
Sealion (APSS-315), centre, with Trutta (SS-421), at left, alongside unidentified tender, and Sea Cat (SS-399), at right. The small boat at the other pier is the Mackerel (SST-1).

 

[Gatordev]

Trutta was my dad's boat. Interesting to see her in her mostly war-configuration.

 

[Renegade One]

While the two outboard boats look very similar, TRUTTA was a TENCH-class sub, shown here after receiving the GUPPY conversion, and SEA CAT was a BALAO-class boat that received the less expensive "Fleet Snorkel" reconfiguration. I think...

 

[Gatordev]

The 'pedia agrees and I know from my dad that Trutta had the GUPPY conversion. I sent that picture to my dad and he recognized the Sea Lion. He wasn't sure, but thought that picture may be from Key West. He never saw that hull conversion himself, but remembered that she was supposed to be there at the same time he was on Trutta. Looks like Sea Cat was there at the same time to, from Wikipedia, so I'm guessing that is Key West.

 

[Randy Daytona]

Japan has launched a new class of frigates, the Mogami class. The lead ship, Mogami, launched 03 March 2021, a few months later than its sister ship JS Kumano. Length of 426 ft, beam of 52 ft and full load of 5,500 tons. Couple of good writeups:

Japanâs New Mogami-Class Frigates Show What The U.S. Navyâs Littoral Combat Ships Could Have Been

The frigate's design attributes-speed, small crew size, support for unmanned vehicles, and anti-submarine and counter-mine capability-also guided development of U.S. littoral combat ships. The design Japan settled on is somewhat larger, a bit less expensive, and more versatile and heavily armed.

www.forbes.com

Japan’s MHI launches ‘Mogami’ 「もがみ」first-in-class 30FFM Frigate for the JMSDF - Naval News

Japanese shipbuilder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in Nagasaki launched today "Mogami", the first-in-class 30FFM, a next generation frigate for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

www.navalnews.com

Sister ship JS Kumano

 

[Gatordev]

It looks like Grumpy Cat.

 

[Griz882]

It looks like Grumpy Cat.

Kimuzukashī Neko ( 気難しい猫 ) is the second name in the class, followed by Corbra Kai.

 

[Pags]

Kimuzukashī Neko ( 気難しい猫 ) is the second name in the class, followed by Corbra Kai.

Kobayashi Maru?

 

[Hair Warrior]

Kobayashi Maru?

Keyser Söze

 

[jmcquate]

Put the fear of God in the PLAN..........Godzilla, Mothra, whatever the name of the turtle with rockets on its shell.

 

[Pags]

Put the fear of God in the PLAN..........Godzilla, Mothra, whatever the name of the turtle with rockets on its shell.

Gamera