Ship Photo of the Day

[Randy Daytona]

Just finished watching a battleship tournament on YouTube. Almost all of these tournaments end with Yamato vs Iowa, but in this playoff. Britain’s HMS Vanguard beat Tirpitz, Yamato and Iowa in successive fights to claim the championship. Hard to believe with only 8 x 15” cannons, but strange things happen when you start throwing 1 ton shells around.

Edit: looks like 1 of the big factors was the Iowa captain (who should be court martialed for incompetence in this battle) closed the range and then secondary armament became a significant factor. The British quick firing 5.25 throws an 80 armor piercing shell which has a significant advantage over the US 5” 55 lb shell.

 

[Lawman]

Just finished watching a battleship tournament on YouTube. Almost all of these tournaments end with Yamato vs Iowa, but in this playoff. Britain’s HMS Vanguard beat Tirpitz, Yamato and Iowa in successive fights to claim the championship. Hard to believe with only 8 x 15” cannons, but strange things happen when you start throwing 1 ton shells around.

Edit: looks like 1 of the big factors was the Iowa captain (who should be court martialed for incompetence in this battle) closed the range and then secondary armament became a significant factor. The British quick firing 5.25 throws an 80 armor piercing shell which has a significant advantage over the US 5” 55 lb shell.

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Im gonna call BS that a main battery of WWI era guns bolted to a similar era ship built in fits and start would be equal the ones we had even if Iowa wasn’t what the Navy actually wanted and was in reality just the North Carolina/South Dakota we would have designed outside treaty limits if allowed. Furthermore it’s not the armor thickness or gun caliber that makes those ships actually effective. The Brit’s were adopting the US developed fire directors for both AA and rifled guns across their fleet towards the end of the war. We were allies afterall….

The 3 inch prox fused AA and fire directors is well known but of the secondary armament was what made vanguard so lethal in these tests, the Navy Mk37 fire directors is the reason it worked.

 

[Randy Daytona]

Im gonna call BS that a main battery of WWI era guns bolted to a similar era ship built in fits and start would be equal the ones we had even if Iowa wasn’t what the Navy actually wanted and was in reality just the North Carolina/South Dakota we would have designed outside treaty limits if allowed. Furthermore it’s not the armor thickness or gun caliber that makes those ships actually effective. The Brit’s were adopting the US developed fire directors for both AA and rifled guns across their fleet towards the end of the war. We were allies afterall….

The 3 inch prox fused AA and fire directors is well known but of the secondary armament was what made vanguard so lethal in these tests, the Navy Mk37 fire directors is the reason it worked.

Thought you might like this book from the incomparable Norman Freidman.

Battleship Design and Development 1905-1945

Book by Friedman, Norman

www.goodreads.com

Interesting that most navies chose 6” secondaries for their dreadnoughts which were much more effective in an anti-ship role while the US went with 5” guns which, although technically dual purpose, lack stopping power against cruisers and destroyers but were phenomenal against aircraft.

In a battleship 1v1, it would make sense for a US ship to fight at a long distance outside of the range of secondaries.

(a 6” super heavy shell weighed 130 lbs, the 5” / 38 shell weighed 55 lbs although the 5” / 54 for the Montanas was a 69 lb shell)

 

[Randy Daytona]

The last gun cruiser in service was the Dutch light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter, laid down on 5 September 1939 but not completed and commissioned until 1953.

In 1973, she was transferred to the Peruvian Navy in 1973 where she renamed Almirante Grau, serving as the flagship for a time until being decommissioned in 2017.

Length: 614’ 6”, Beam 56’ 6”, Displacement 12,165 tons.

Main Armament 8 (4x2) 152 mm Bofors cannons

​

The modernised De Ruyter


HNLMS De Ruyter in her original post-war configuration.


De Ruyter seen here in September 1971, just before she was decommissioned.


Almirante Grau firing her guns

 

[Randy Daytona]

USS Stewart DD-224 was a Clemson class destroyer. It was severely damaged at the Battle of Badung Strait in early 1942. It limped back to port and was thought destroyed to prevent falling into Japanese hands.

However by 1943, American pilots began to notice a Japanese ship which had the distinctive 4 stack silhouette of a Clemson class destroyer. Stewart had raised, repaired and refitted as Patrol Boat 102.

Patrol Boat 102 served the Imperial Japanese Navy and survived WW2, surrendering to the American Navy in 1945. She was recommissioned into the US Navy on 29 October 1945 before being decommissioned for good in 1946.


USS Stewart underway before WWII




as IJN Patrol Boat 102


DD-224 after recapture from the Japanese Navy and recommissioning in the USN


USS Stewart being sunk as a target.

 

[Randy Daytona]

Thought I would take a look at the biggest US fleet destroyer in WW2, the Gearing class, with the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate.

The Gearing was 390’ 5” long with a beam of 40’ 9” and a full load displacement of 3,500 tons.

4 boilers developed 60,000 HP and fed 2 shafts for 36.2 knots and a range of 4,500 nautical miles at 20 knots.

Crew: 350


USS Gearing in 1960


Sarsfield (top) as delivered and Rowan(bottom) after FRAM I.


The biggest OHP was 453’ long with a beam of 45’ and a displacement of 4,200 tons.

2 LM2500 gas turbines developed 41,000 HP and fed a single shaft for 30 knots and the same 4,500 nautical miles range at 20 knots.

Crew: 176


The frigates Oliver Hazard Perry, Antrim, and Jack Williamsin 1982



USS Rodney M Davis after the removal of her foredeck Mk 13 missile launcher.