Ship Photo of the Day

[Flash]

Also while many navies mounted the scout planes amidships in a vulnerable hangar, US policy was to leave airplanes exposed on catapults on the rear.

I didn't learn until recently that some battleship skippers catapulted their empty observation planes into the sea at the start of some battles after it was found they were a significant fire hazard during surface actions. Also in several instances observation planes that had been left on deck were simply blown off the ship by the force of the main guns.

 

[Pags]

I didn't learn until recently that some battleship skippers catapulted their empty observation planes into the sea at the start of some battles after it was found they were a significant fire hazard during surface actions. Also in several instances observation planes that had been left on deck were simply blown off the ship by the force of the main guns.

And @Randy Daytona not all US ships had stern mounted catapults. Earlier CAs like the USS Indianapolis had hangars and catapults amidships. The aircraft and associated PLOs were the source of many conflags early in the Guadalcanal campaign and this resulted in many ships shooting their aircraft to the beach of they knew and engagement was in the offing.

 

[skybert]

at the USS South Dakota museum, there’s this picture of the scout plane that was on the cat when they were firing the “16 guns

 

[Pags]

at the USS South Dakota museum, there’s this picture of the scout plane that was on the cat when they were firing the “16 gunsView attachment 31756

The guy with his hands on his hips to the right of the center float is obviously the Air Det Chief. And he's obviously having a "Fine Navy Day."

 

[Randy Daytona]

at the USS South Dakota museum, there’s this picture of the scout plane that was on the cat when they were firing the “16 gunsView attachment 31756

I wanted to say the Washington blew apart her floatplanes at the night battle of Guadalcanal but maybe it was the South Dakota?

Speaking of South Dakota, I recently watched a Drachinifel video about the battle. I did not realize the battleship was without two of her 16” rifles on “B” turret as they had been damaged previously and were determined unsafe to fire. Drachinifel does a really, really good job on his videos.

 

[Pags]

I wanted to say the Washington blew apart her floatplanes at the night battle of Guadalcanal but maybe it was the South Dakota?

Speaking of South Dakota, I recently watched a Drachinifel video about the battle. I did not realize the battleship was without two of her 16” rifles on “B” turret as they had been damaged previously and were determined unsafe to fire. Drachinifel does a really, really good job on his videos.

It was SoDak

USS South Dakota BB57 War Damage Report No. 57

CONFIDENTIAL U.S.S. South Dakota (BB57) Gunfire Damage Battle of Guadalcanal 14-15 November, 1942 The Chief of Naval Operations directs that this report be shown only to those persons to whom the report would be of value in the performance of their duties. Steps shall be taken, accordingly to...

www.history.navy.mil

 

[Randy Daytona]

HMS Prince of Wales, Pennant #53. Originally to be named King Edward VIII until said King abdicated the throne, she was one of the 5 King George V battleships built by Great Britain. Hemmed in by the 2nd London Naval Treaty, the British could not wait to start construction and thus armed the ship with ten (originally designed as twelve) 14" main guns. (The main armament of the battleships took the longest time to produce). The US contemporary was the USS North Carolina. Both battleships were an "unbalanced design" as the Prince of Wales only mounted 14" main guns but was armored against 16" shells - the North Carolina was armed with 16" main guns but armored against 14" shells.

Although the ship had the shortest life of any capital ship in the Royal Navy, it was an active life. It fought the Bismarck in the Battle of Denmark Strait, carried Churchill across the Atlantic to the Atlantic Charter Meeting, served in the Mediterranean and then journeyed to the Pacific where operating with the battlecruiser Repulse, comprised Force Z to attack troop transports. Interesting that Force Z was supposed to also have the aircraft carrier Indomitable (does anyone name their ships better than the Brits?) but the carrier ran aground and could not complete the journey. Also, Task Force Z passed within 5 miles of a Japanese force comprised of cruisers and destroyers but the night was so dark neither side saw the other.

On 10 December 1941, Task Force Z was spotted and attacked by Japanese land based bombers. Although the Prince of Wales dodged 7 torpedoes, the eight scored a perfect hit. The torpedo struck Prince of Wales on the port side aft, abaft "Y" Turret, wrecking the outer propeller shaft on that side and destroying bulkheads to one degree or another along the shaft all the way to B Engine Room. This caused rapid uncontrollable flooding[31] and put the entire electrical system in the after part of the ship out of action. Lacking effective damage control, she soon took on a heavy list. Despite the ship being hit by 3 more torpedoes and a bomb, that one torpedo hit was fatal - this despite the King George V class being perhaps the best armored battleships outside of the Yamato class.

Really good article with multiple parts on www.navygeneralboard.com

The loss of Prince of Wales and Repulse Part 1: prelude to disaster - Navy General Board

An examination of the loss of Prince of Wales and Repulse. Why were two ships sent to protect Singapore against the might of the Japanese Military.

www.navygeneralboard.com

Length: 745 ft, Beam: 103 ft, Displacement: 43,786 tons
Powerplant: 8 boilers feeding 4 turbines produced 110,000 SHP and gave 28.3 knots.
Main armament: ten 14" Mark VII rifles throwing 1,590 lb shells out to 38,600 yards
Secondaries: 16 (8x2) 5.25"/50 calibre dual purpose guns with 80 lb shells (these shells proved to be too heavy to be ideal for anti-aircraft fire as manually loading was very tiring and took longer than the 5"/38" dual purpose guns on US ships)
Anti-aircraft: 32 two pounders
Armor: Main belt: 14.7", Deck: 6", Turret faces: 12.75" Conning tower: 4" (the King George V was the first class to start reducing conning tower armor to save topside weight) - also, a very good torpedo defense system that had the bad luck of taking the fatal shot outside of it.
Commissioned: 19 Jan 1941, Sunk: 10 Dec 1941






Attribution: Nick Dowling at the English-language Wikipedia



HMS PRINCE OF WALES arrives at Singapore, 4 December 1941. HMS PRINCE OF WALES coming in to moor at Singapore. The ship was sunk by Japanese torpedoes six days later on 10 December 1941 with great loss of life .


Prince of Wales departing Singapore to intercept Japanese transports approaching Malaya, 8 December 1941

 

[Randy Daytona]

One of the most important ships you never heard of: PC-823, a PC-461 class submarine chaser laid down in 1943 and then sold to South Korea in 1949. It was in the Battle of the Korea Strait on 25-26 June 1950. Great article from The National Interest.

How a Lone $60,000 Patrol Boat and Its Single Deck Gun Changed the Course of the Korean War

This may have been of the most timely and cost-efficient investment in the history of naval warfare.

nationalinterest.org

USS PC-823 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Battle of Korea Strait - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[AllAmerican75]

A PC you say? ?

 

[Randy Daytona]

Staying with patrol boats, MAS-15. An Italian motorboat, she sank the largest battleship, SMS Szent Istvan, in the Austrian Hungarian navy with 2 torpedoes at dawn on 10 June 1918. The patrol boat skipper, Luigi Rizzo, had previously sunk the pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Wien. The Italian Frigate Luigi Rizzo F 596 is named after him.


An early MAS, from a magazine article published in January 1917






Luigi Rizzo, 1st Count of Grado and Premuda (1887-1951), here photographed in his uniform as Rear Admiral of Regia Marina. Nicknamed the Sinker, on 10 June 1918, with the rank of Navy Lieutenant, he had a major role in the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István (Saint Stephen). For his bravery he received two gold medals and four silver medals of Military Valor.

 

[Griz882]

Staying with patrol boats, MAS-15. An Italian motorboat, she sank the largest battleship, SMS Szent Istvan, in the Austrian Hungarian navy with 2 torpedoes at dawn on 10 June 1918. The patrol boat skipper, Luigi Rizzo, had previously sunk the pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Wien. The Italian Frigate Luigi Rizzo F 596 is named after him.

View attachment 32206
An early MAS, from a magazine article published in January 1917

View attachment 32209

View attachment 32210

View attachment 32208
Luigi Rizzo, 1st Count of Grado and Premuda (1887-1951), here photographed in his uniform as Rear Admiral of Regia Marina. Nicknamed the Sinker, on 10 June 1918, with the rank of Navy Lieutenant, he had a major role in the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István (Saint Stephen). For his bravery he received two gold medals and four silver medals of Military Valor.

Man, I really want to make a Battle of Stromboli joke here…and yes, it is a real battle!

 

[Flash]

Staying with patrol boats, MAS-15. An Italian motorboat, she sank the largest battleship, SMS Szent Istvan, in the Austrian Hungarian navy with 2 torpedoes at dawn on 10 June 1918.

The Italian Navy celebrates that as their Navy Day, toasting it with very expensive and very good Italian sparkling wine. A nice intro to the Italian Navy as a middie.

 

[Randy Daytona]

The first ship commissioned into the US Navy, USS United States. One of six frigates ordered by congress (see book Six Frigates by Ian Toll https://www.amazon.com/Six-Frigates-Epic-History-Founding/dp/039333032X ) , the United States was a wooden hulled, three masted heavy frigate designed to defeat any other frigate but outrun any ship of the line (battlecruiser?). Launched on 10 May 1797, the United States setved in the undeclared war against France as well as the War of 1812 where she won a battle against HMS Macedonian.

By 1861, the United States was rotting away in Norfolk and was captured by the Confederate Navy and recommissioned the CSS United States. After the War, the ship was finally broken up.

One famous sailor aboard was Herman Melville who went on to write Moby Dick.



USS United States by 1852



Engagement between the United States and the Macedonian is 1813 oil painting by American painter Thomas Birch depicting the naval engagementfought near Madeira on October 25, 1812 between the US Navy heavy frigateUSS United States and the Royal Navyfrigate HMS Macedonian. The battle resulted on the capture of the Macedonian, which became the first British warship to be brought to an American harbour as a prize.

 

[Gatordev]

Stumbled across this Youtube channel which made me look up the USS Cod. Pretty neat to see a fleet boat underway, even if it isn't under her own power. I don't think I've ever seen that other than in a WWII movie or done digitally.

@mad dog and @ChuckMK23 can have one of their man-dates onboard her, now that she's back pier side.

 

[jmcquate]

She's a museum ship in Cleveland. She was in dry dock in Erie, PA for much needed repairs and a new paint job.