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Ship Photo of the Day
- Thread starter Randy Daytona
- Start date
Airdales lounging on the wing watching the shoes heave on lines...chose your rate...
I know about 500 plus we’re built and they were deployed at sea as can be seen, but by 49 and the very early 50’s they stop appearing on big gun ships. Helicopters ya know.
I recall taking a tour of the Philly Shipyard when I was a kid and they had Newport News and her sisters in mothballs there along with CV-38. I remember the your guide pointing out that Newport News at the time only had two guns in her #2 turret due to a turret explosion.
Here is a superb 17 page article about the Battle of Haiphong Harbor with the Newport News carrying the flag of Seventh Fleet. The cruiser made a call asking for air support, specifically illumination with a couple of A-7 Corsair II's dropping flares and Rockeyes - The Corsairs were from Attack Squadron 93 (VA-93). Lt. (j.g.) WilliamW. Pickavance was the flight leader, and Lt. (j.g.) Pat Moneymaker was the wingman. (Both pilots retired from the Navy with flag rank.)
The intensity of the action can be seen in the amount of ammunition expended: The Newport News alone had expended 433 8-inch rounds, 556 5-inchrounds, and 33 3-inch rounds during the thirty-three-minute operation.
http://uss-newport-news.com/hist/operation_lions_den.pdf
As for the turret explosion which happened a couple of months later, here are some photos from just after an 8" round detonated in the center barrel on 1 Oct 1972 that killed 20 :
An exterior view of the gun in which the explosion occurred. The barrel has been blown completely clear of the turret and is connected only by the gun liner.
Slow development meant they didn't see operational service until the summer of '45.
Not all US Navy vessels were oceanic or even built in the US. I present to you, the China Gunboat.
Built in China at the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai specifically for the US Navy, they were intended to replace six gunboats captured after the Spanish American War. Those of a certain age (or COVID lock-ins searching for movies) probably remember the movie “The Sand Pebbles,” a must see for all Naval types.
They were the:
USS Mindanao
USS Luzon
USS Oahu
USS Panay
USS Tutula
USS Guam
Most of you likely know the story of the USS Panay...attacked by 12 Japanese aircraft in December 1937, and sunk at Nanking, China while the was evacuating Americans from the embattled city.
All of the ships served as part of COMYANGPAT (Yangtze Patrol) and that command was disbanded on December 5th, 1941. The USS Guam, renamed the USS Wake earlier in the year was the last ship left in China and on December 8, 1941, was captured by the Japanese when marines of the Special Naval Landing Force stormed the ship before news of Pearl Harbor reached the crew. Trapped in a no-win situation at the start of WWII, her captain did what he could to ensure the safety of his sailors who were marched off into five years of Japanese imprisonment - the first American POWs of the Pacific war.
Built in China at the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai specifically for the US Navy, they were intended to replace six gunboats captured after the Spanish American War. Those of a certain age (or COVID lock-ins searching for movies) probably remember the movie “The Sand Pebbles,” a must see for all Naval types.
They were the:
USS Mindanao
USS Luzon
USS Oahu
USS Panay
USS Tutula
USS Guam
Most of you likely know the story of the USS Panay...attacked by 12 Japanese aircraft in December 1937, and sunk at Nanking, China while the was evacuating Americans from the embattled city.
All of the ships served as part of COMYANGPAT (Yangtze Patrol) and that command was disbanded on December 5th, 1941. The USS Guam, renamed the USS Wake earlier in the year was the last ship left in China and on December 8, 1941, was captured by the Japanese when marines of the Special Naval Landing Force stormed the ship before news of Pearl Harbor reached the crew. Trapped in a no-win situation at the start of WWII, her captain did what he could to ensure the safety of his sailors who were marched off into five years of Japanese imprisonment - the first American POWs of the Pacific war.
Happened to see a couple of articles on the HMS Queen Elizabeth and her strike group today.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk
www.dailymail.co.uk
And analysis from George Friedman on the Royal Navy, in particular aircraft carriers
geopoliticalfutures.com
For comparison, an older photo with the USS George H.W. Bush
Another photo of HMS Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.
British Carrier Strike Group begins to form
HMS Queen Elizabeth will soon sail with a task group of nine vessels, including a nuclear submarine.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk
Stunning moment one of 14 F-35 fighters roars off Navy's new carrier
Two squadrons of F-35B Lightning stealth fighters, of the RAF Dambusters and the US Marines Wake Island Avengers, have joined Big Lizzie for drills with allies in the North Sea.
And analysis from George Friedman on the Royal Navy, in particular aircraft carriers
The Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales - Geopolitical Futures
The British recently finished building two new aircraft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales. Last week, Britain announced that one of
geopoliticalfutures.com
For comparison, an older photo with the USS George H.W. Bush
Another photo of HMS Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.
ABMD
Bullets don't fly without Supply
I know I always regretted not having the opportunity to repel boarders in choker whites with a cutlass in one hand and a Colt 1911 in the other.
Hell yeah!
Did they break the seal on their ammo!?!?
Max the Mad Russian
Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
Nice pics, thanks. What do you think about two islands? Coupled with funnels exhaust it seems that turbulence over such deck is a nightmare. Maybe this is the main cause they declined CATOBAR/C-Lightning. If the shipdrivers won the battle for their own island, at the same time they won the one against common sense. Or yet there's some intricate wisdom in this twin-island design?Why not three then? Say, FW and RW crowds of this "tailored" air group once deside to separate ways and each will claim the island to own...
