Ship Photo of the Day

[Max the Mad Russian]

Two Russian cruisers built in America - CL-5 Milwaukee transferred to USSR and renamed Murmansk in 1944 and the very first Varyag, built for Russian Imperial Navy at Philly in 1900:



Four funnels each

 

[Hair Warrior]

Ship photo of tomorrow: Egypt’s two French-built Mistral-class helo carriers being resold to Russia (finally). Photo shows them stacked with Mi-24’s, Mi-28’s, and Ka-52’s sailing the Med, Black Sea, and Baltic. No arrested recovery cables, no problem!

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

Well, Russian carrier crowd likes the arresting gears, it doesn't like a cats;-) Soviet industrial materiel culture hadn't been able to create the zippy-sealers for catapults that prevent the steam leakages from the upper slot of cat's track. This is very funny but it is true. That is why this fucking STOBAR ramp emerged.
BTW, Mistral-class LHDs have been ordered in France not because the Russian shipyards weren't able to build something similar, but due to the fucking corruption there: similar ships of Russian origin were estimated to have the price about twice against French ones and would have had to be delivered to the navy roughly twice later. France as EU and (then political) NATO member brought the financial clarity to this deal, which then-CiC of RuN Adm V.Vysotsky (former CO of Minsk VSTOL carrier) rated as the only possibility to build the ships relatively quickly and moderately cheap. The reason behind the desire to have such ships so fast is another funny story

 

[Griz882]

A slightly different take on the ship photo of the day. At work we had some things out and here is Billy Mitchell’s plotting (kneeboard) board from his 1921 bombing demonstration against old battleships.






His map was wrapped around the two brass tubes and could be moved to track the planned route - a kind of primitive IPad for the open cockpit. Below is one of his targets, the German battleship Ostfriesland.

 

[hlg6016]

Now that's a hunk of furniture, How big is it?

 

[GroundPounder]

Now that's a hunk of furniture, How big is it?

Just wanted to be first in with:

That's what she said.

 

[hlg6016]

Just wanted to be first in with:

That's what she said.

Well played sir, Props.

 

[Griz882]

Now that's a hunk of furniture, How big is it?

OK, @GroundPounder is going to slaughter me over this....but not as big as it looks.

It is probably lighter than the old plastic KB-170 they issued me back in the day. I actually need to get into the cockpit of a few older birds to see if there are some mounting points designed for this type of board.

 

[Randy Daytona]

The first battlecruiser built: HMS Invincible. She was flagship of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron at Jutland. A 12" shell hit her "Q" turret, exploding the magazine and sinking the ship. Only 6 members of the 1,032 crew survived. Interesting that First Sea Lord Admiral Fisher was a big proponent of the battlecruiser concept, conversely, Grand Admiral Tirpitz of the German Navy called the Invincible a "10 minute ship" as that was how long he thought it would last in combat - Jutland proved the latter opinion correct. (German battlecruisers sacrificed speed and firepower for heavier armor and more subdivisions.)

Late Edit: Watching a documentary on Jutland today. The British battlecruisers normally carried 80 rounds per gun. For this battle, they sailed with 120 rounds per gun. The shell rooms had rooms for the extra rounds - but tragically there was not enough room for the extra cordite propellant charges.

One of the advantages the Germans had was in the superiority of their shells. They had already switched the explosives in their shells over to TNT while the Brits were still using Lyddite - also I believe the Germans had better steel to make their shells as British shells had a tendency to come apart at striking angles greater than 20 deg.

Length: 567 ft, Beam: 78', Displacement: 20,400 tons. 4 steam turbines gave 25.5 knots.
8 (4 x 2) 12" main guns firing 850 lb shells, 16 x 1 4" secondaries, 5 x 18" torpedo tubes
Commissioned: 1909, Sunk at Jutland: 31 May 1916

Invincible exploding at Jutland, taken from a destroyer nearby.

The two shattered halves of Invincible temporarily standing on the seabed

 

[Hair Warrior]

The reason behind the desire to have such ships so fast is another funny story

And that is?

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

And that is?

For short - 2008 conquest of the Georgia. Not that our admirals like Atlanta to the degree to seize it, no;-) Independent state on the Black Sea. There have been very funny sea battle, when giuded missile corvette Mirage fired two huge cruise missiles at Georgian Coast Guard patrol crafts, and of course possess two hits. First one in the portal crane ahore, second one in the Moldavian cargo vessel. Thanks God, no casualties either. In itsels this case is rather a sad tale about the Soviet missiles' targeting system, but the corvette's CO made this trying to protect two LSTs which delivered Army Airborne division to a shore. One of those LSTs, a flagship, had neither communications to any naval staff ahore (very effective NATO ECM work from Turkish land) nor the possibility to escape the situation (she is LST, no abilities to land the troops but to hit the shallow waters or to be moored alongside the pier). The only way to solve both problems by one solution: build/buy an LHD/LHA with the solid C2 equipment. Of course, not for the Black Sea - it is essentially a salty lake, again Russian at all. But for former Yugolsavia's Ortodox parts, if the similar hostilities will surface, for example. And most funny: the needed money appeared immediately, something unheard or close to it. Vysotsky, himself a "carrier admiral" and carrier XO and CO in his past, said to government's armed forces commitee: "fuck that true big carriers we wanted to have and you rendered useless. Give me the money and authority to buy LHD - you see, it would be more needed nowadays". And they found the money literally in 24h...

 

[Randy Daytona]

SMS Derfflinger - the lead vessel of her class of 3 battlecruisers in the German Navy. Nicknamed the "Iron Dog" as a sign of respect by the British, she was the lead ship in "The Death Ride of the Battlecruisers" at the Battle of Jutland.

In contrast to British battlecruisers, the German battlecruisers were much more heavily armored and had more watertight subdivisions, allowing them to take vastly more punishment than their counterparts in the Royal Navy. Their main guns were generally smaller than their British counterparts with the extra weight being used for armor, however their secondary armament was much heavier (5.9" secondaries vs 4" on the British ships) so at medium ranges the German ships were able to inflict substantial damage.

At Jutland as part of Admiral Hipper's 1st Scouting Group, the Derfflinger was responsible in part for the sinking of 2 British battlecruisers at Jutland (Queen Mary and Invincible). When trapped, Admiral Scheer ordered the 4 remaining battlecruisers to attack headfirst into the 24 battleships of the British Grand Fleet to cover the escape of the German High Seas fleet - amazing that the Derfflinger survived despite being hit by 17 heavy caliber shells.

Length: 690 ft, Beam: 95 ft, Displacement: 31,200 tons, 4 turbines gave 75,500 HP and 26.5 knots
Main Armament: 8 (4 x 2) 12" SK L50 cannons firing 890 lb shells, 12 x 5.9" secondaries, 4 x 20" torpedo tubes
Commissioned: 01 September 1914, Scuttled in Scapa Flow: 21 June 1919

Couple of great videos about the Battle of Jutland - the lack of following regulations concerning the stowing of ammunition and propellant should be required watching for everyone.

Derfflinger fires a broadside salvo

Queen Mary explodes under concentrated salvos from Seydlitz and Derfflinger

Damage on Derfflinger

Derfflinger seen from the air, c. 1918
By W. Schäfer, Kiel - Original publication: Published as a postcard in Europe.Immediate source: Private Collection – Wartenberg Trust, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17875132

 

[Renegade One]

For short -[story of multiple goat-fucks].

What a bunch of goat-fucks. Of course, I wasn't there...

P.S.: Don't EVER think about trying that shit with OUR Georgia. California maybe. Yeah...you can have California.

 

[Duc'-guy25]

Meanwhile in China...

Rail Gun

 

[Pags]

Meanwhile in China...

Rail Gun

The internets seem to be completely convinced that this is a rail gun based off of the few pics available. I’m not sure how much of the open source analysis is based on a firm technical analysis and how much is because the internet seems to really excited about the prospect of a Chinese rail gun. Which says nothing about the fact that what is likely a test installation isn’t the same thing as a fleet capability.