Ship Photo of the Day

[Randy Daytona]

Found this article on Soviet river gunboats operating on the Dnieper during WW2. Very often, the Russians would simply add a tank turret to a boat which offered a lot of advantages.

naval encyclopedia

warships and naval warfare from antiquity to this day

naval-encyclopedia.com

Preserved BK-1125 at Kiev, showing its T-34/85 turret and twin 12.7 mm above the bridge.


BK-1125 closeup, T-34/76 turret

BKA-1125 type profiles

Specs:
Displacement: 42 tonnes standard
Dimensions: 25 m x 3,80 m x 0,80 m
Propulsion: 2 screws, 2 gasoline engines, 1600 hp.
Top speed: 28 knots
Armour: 15 to 50 mm
Armament: 2 x 76 mm, 2 12,7 mm HMG AA
Crew: 17

 

[Randy Daytona]

Happened to see that on 24 Dec 1941, USS Atlanta (CL-51) was commissioned. As far as I have seen, this was the first cruiser with its armament entirely dual purpose. Initially designed as a destroyer flotilla leader, this left it a disadvantage in a purely surface action against other cruisers mounting 6" or 8" guns - but fortunately the very heavy armament of 16 (8x2) dual purpose 5"/38 caliber guns made it a superb AA ship to escort carriers. The ship was top heavy and later classes removed the wing 5"/38's and replaced them with quad 40mm Bofors. Its armor protection was lighter than typical cruisers but heavier than destroyers. Displacement was 8,300 tons at full load on a hull 541 ft long with a beam of 53 ft.

The Atlanta lived a short but action filled life, fighting at Midway and the Eastern Solomons before succumbing (like many ships) to a Long Lance torpedo on 13 Nov 1942 in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. (The Atlanta also suffered multiple friendly fire hits from the 8" guns of the USS San Francisco but reports are that few to none detonated)

(Note: Norman Friedman's book on US Cruisers is a great reference, and on sale now at USNI.)

At high speed on trials in November 1941. Contracted for 32.5 knots, she made 34 knots in trials. Beautiful photo - as my family is from Georgia and South Carolina, I decided to feature the cruisers representing the capital cities of both states (along with USS Columbia CL-56) in my study.


Atlanta with USS Hornet and USS New Orleans on 6 June 1942.


Atlanta on 25 October 1942. (Notice the wing 5"/38 caliber dual mount on the aft end of the ship - these were removed on the next class)


USS Atlanta (CL 51) Comes alongside USS San Francisco (CA 38) to refuel, 16 October 1942.

 

[Randy Daytona]

USS Barbel (SS-580), was the lead ship of the last class of US diesel electric submarines. They were the first production warships built with the teardrop-shape hull first tested on the experimental USS Albacore (AGSS-569), and the first to combine the control room, attack center, and conning tower in the same space in the hull. They were of double hull design with 1.5-inch thick HY80 steel.

In 1966, Barbel accidentally rammed and sank North Vietnam’s largest freighter but was able to remain submerged and return home safely.

Barbel was nearly lost in 1960 when a number of silver brazen joints failed which might have led to the sinking of USS Thresher a few years later. Barbel was also used in the movie Crimson Tide as the backdrop when Gene Hackman is giving his speech.


Barbel (SS-580) slips into the water as she is launched on 19 July 1958, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, New Hampshire. Equipped with conventional power, she is shown moving down the ways to join her other sub sisters as an integral part of the U.S. Navy's underwater fleet.

​

Crew members man the rails aboard the attack submarine Barbel (SS-580) after the May 1989 accident and immediately before she left its homeport (Sasebo, Japan) to transit to Pearl Harbor for decommissioning .


Barbel (SS-580) posing as a mock-up of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine the Alabama (SSBN-731) for the Disney film Crimson Tide. Fitted with a plywood sail built over the hole in the deck, the Barbel assumes a new mission as a backdrop for the film's pier-side shots.

 

[Randy Daytona]

The Soviet cruiser Molotov was 1 of 6 Kirov class cruisers commissioned at the beginning of WW2. Length was 628 ft with a narrow beam of 58 ft and 130,000 HP produced a blistering 36.7 knots on trials despite being slightly overweight 9,700 tons at full load). It was the first Soviet ship to be fitted with radar; it also had an armament of 9 (3x3) of 7.1” (180mm) / 57 caliber main guns.

The ship had a long service life to include: beginning in Sevastopol to provide airborne radar warning in 1941, in August 1942 she had 60+ ft of her stern blown off by German Heinkel torpedo bombers but survived, and supported Syria in the 6 Days War of 1967 before being sold for scrap in 1972.

 

[Randy Daytona]

One of the most numerous ships of the Chinese Navy is the Type 054+ frigate of which the SCMP reported that last week China launched 2 frigates and an LPD in a single day - reminiscent of the way an industrial USA was capable of building ships.

The 37 completed / 50 planned 054+‘s compare much superior to our slightly smaller LCS’s: a 76mm main gun, a couple of Type 1130 CIWS with 11 barrels per gun and a rate of fire of 11,000 rounds per minute, 32 cell VLS, 8 YJ-83 anti-ship missiles and 6 mountings for ASW torpedoes on a 440 ft, 4,000 ton ship.

What Will the Chinese Navy’s Next Frigate Look Like?

The U.S. Navy has chosen its next frigate; what will China’s look like?

thediplomat.com

Hengshui (572) at RIMPAC 2016

 

[Griz882]

Divers have discovered a WWII Italian Navy Submarine sunk by the British in 1941.

Greek divers discover Second World War Italian submarine wreck

The wreckage of an Italian submarine sunk by in the Second World War was discovered last month by one of Greece’s best-known divers, and his team, south of the island of Mykonos

www.theglobeandmail.com

Jantina was one of seven Argonauta-class submarines built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the early 1930s. She played a minor role in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 supporting the Spanish Nationalists. She was sunk by HMS Torbay, a British T-class boat.

 

[Randy Daytona]

USS Coronado (LCS-4) is an Independence class Littoral Combat Ship. Commissioned on 5 April 2014, it is now scheduled to be decommissioned in 2022.

Slightly smaller than the Chinese Type 054+ frigate above (418 ft, 3,100 tons at full load), it carries a 57mm gun although trials have been to carry 4 Harpoon missiles and other trials to carry the Norwegian strike missile.

 

[Flash]

USS Coronado (LCS-4) is an Independence class Littoral Combat Ship. Commissioned on 5 April 2014, it is now scheduled to be decommissioned in 2022.

Apparently it is more to update her and the other 3 of the first 4 LCS's (I believe software) than it would be to build new ones. Another chapter in the sheer ridiculousness that is that entire LCS program.

 

[Randy Daytona]

USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002) is the third and final Zumwalt class “destroyer” (610 ft long, 80 ft beam, 15,600 ton “destroyer” - what does the Navy have against “cruiser”? For that matter, does anyone know how the Navy names ships anymore?)

Originally designed as land attack to include naval gunfire support, the class of 32 ships, each mounting 2 extremely long range 6” guns (80+ miles), allowed the Navy to sell Congress on its naval gunfire support capability.

Unfortunately, the guns proved to have less than half the range promised - and with the class of ships dropped to 3, the cost per round now exceeds $800K - so the Navy has discontinued the ammunition leaving the 3 Zumwalts without naval cannons. The Zumwalts do carry 80 VLS cells which is less than the Arleigh Burke destroyers.
The Lyndon B. Johnson was launched on 9 December 2018. It features a trumblehome style hull for reduced radar signature and tremendous electrical generating capability for future systems.

The DDG-1000 program eventually cost $22,000,000,000, slightly less than the Littoral Combat Ship program cost of $30 billion.



USS Lyndon B. Johnson at the Bath Iron Works in December 2018

 

[Jim123]

USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002) is the third and final Zumwalt class “destroyer” (610 ft long, 80 ft beam, 15,600 ton “destroyer” - what does the Navy have against “cruiser”? For that matter, does anyone know how the Navy names ships anymore?)

Originally designed as land attack to include naval gunfire support, the class of 32 ships, each mounting 2 extremely long range 6” guns (80+ miles), allowed the Navy to sell Congress on its naval gunfire support capability.

With the guns they would have been battlecruisers- the firepower and speed of a battleship but without the armor of a battleship. Without the guns, well...

I'm skeptical of the hull design and radar cross section. That's tainted from seeing what the Burkes looked like on a plain old nav radar, which is to say not much different than any other ship and easily detectable at any range. The original Burkes had some then-modern features to reduce their RCS and all the flights have kept those features or improved on them. For either class of ship, I'm sure the op analysis guys did a lot of work to figure out that the Pk of an enemy missile is measurably less with the funky hull design. I'm just not sure it pans out in reality once the ship ages, but now I'm drifting out of my lane.

 

[jmcquate]

Aren't the largest guns on an active duty USN ship the 24 lbs smooth bores on the Constitution?

 

[Randy Daytona]

Aren't the largest guns on an active duty USN ship the 24 lbs smooth bores on the Constitution?

Probably heaviest armor too... As a sidenote, wonder how an updated version of the 8"/55 caliber Mark 16 of the Des Moines would do in place of the now useless 6" "advanced" gun system currently installed?

With the guns they would have been battlecruisers- the firepower and speed of a battleship but without the armor of a battleship. Without the guns, well...

I'm skeptical of the hull design and radar cross section. That's tainted from seeing what the Burkes looked like on a plain old nav radar, which is to say not much different than any other ship and easily detectable at any range. The original Burkes had some then-modern features to reduce their RCS and all the flights have kept those features or improved on them. For either class of ship, I'm sure the op analysis guys did a lot of work to figure out that the Pk of an enemy missile is measurably less with the funky hull design. I'm just not sure it pans out in reality once the ship ages, but now I'm drifting out of my lane.

Even if the 6" guns worked as advertised, I don't think you could call the Zumwalts a battlecruiser in the way you might call a Kirov class a battlecruiser. Just not enough heavy armament - the Kirov's carry some massive anti-ship missiles. (when you carry a supersonic, 15,000 lb missile called "Shipwreck", that's a whole other ball game.)

For the last ship of the year, the greatest heavy cruiser design ever: USS Des Moines (CA-134). An enlarged Baltimore class, it carried a revolutionary new autoloading 8" cannon mounted in 3 triple turrets that could fire 10 - 12 rounds per gun per minute. For some perspective on the ability to throw lead downrange, here is a comparison:

Firepower weight per minute:

• Baltimore class (AP Shells)- 12,060 lbs. per minute
• Mogami class (AP Shells) – 11,080 lbs. per minute
• Admiral Hipper class (AP Shells) – 10,760 lbs. per minute
• Algerie class (AP Shells) – 10,840 lbs. per minute
• Des Moines class (AP Shells) – 36,180 lbs. per minute

Commissioned on 16 November 1948, the Des Moines saw limited action before being decommissioned in 1961. That said, her sister ship the Newport News saw extensive service in Vietnam including the famous 1972 charge into Haiphong Harbor to level the place with 8" gunfire at point blank range. Her other sister ship, USS Salem, is a museum in Massachusetts.

Length: 716 ft, Beam: 77 ft, Displacement: 21,200 tons at full load
Powerplant: 4 boilers producing 120,000 HP fed 4 shafts for 33 knots
Armor: Belt: 4"-6", Deck: 3.5", Turret" 2"-8"
Armament: 9 (3x3) autoloading Mark 16 8"/55 caliber cannons firing 335 lb shells to 30,500 yards
12 (6x2) 5"/38 caliber dual purpose
24 (12x2) 3"/50 caliber AA guns

The Des Moines Class Cruiser - The Greatest Heavy Cruiser

War History online proudly presents this Guest Piece from Chris Knupp Determining what would have been the greatest heavy cruiser would be a challenging

www.warhistoryonline.com

USS Des Moines (CA-134)


SS Newport News (Des Moines class) alongside USS Boston (Baltimore class). The larger size of the Des Moines class is evident, especially her larger turrets.


Des Moines underway at sea on 15 November 1948


Des Moines underway at sea, circa in the late 1950s

 

[Randy Daytona]

While watching the 1978 TV series World War II, GI Diary, Episode 17 is about Leyte and the Return to the Philippines (as a sidenote - great 25 part TV series which you have to order DVD's for - have only seen bits and pieces online - for those who like WW2 history, I highly recommend it), it mentions the USS Albert Grant (DD-649), a Fletcher class destroyer. The Albert Grant was the only US warship damaged at Surigao Strait - unfortunately much of the damage was friendly fire from the US light cruiser USS Denver.

Commissioned at the Charleston Navy Yard (yet another naval base gone...) in November 1943, she escorted the carrier Hornet to Pearl in 1944. She participated in the New Guinea operations in April 1944 followed by escorting carriers at Truk. Additional operations were Marianas, Palaus and the Philippines. While conducting a torpedo attack at Surigao Strait, she was hit multiple times losing 38 sailors killed in action and 100+ wounded, eventually being towed out of action by the the USS Newcomb.

Although placed in reserve in 1947, the Albert Grant was not struck from the Navy list until 1971 and then sold for scrap.

USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649), Fletcher-class destroyer in World War II

destroyerhistory.org

USS Albert W. Grant - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649) passes under the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge (Cooper River Bridge), Charleston, South Carolina (USA), on 11 December 1943.

February 20 1945 at Mare Island.


Battle damage diagram dated October 25 1944. Source: Navy Department Library, Destroyer Gunfire, Bomb and Kamikaze Damage Report; War Damage Report No. 51.

 

[jmcquate]

The Museum at the Navy Yard in DC has a really neat cut away model of a Fletcher class. Beautiful lines. Have a model of one waiting to be built.

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

Very often, the Russians would simply add a tank turret to a boat which offered a lot of advantages.

Really not at all. No proper targeting except for amphib ops support. For 1944-45, Soviet Baltic Fleet armored crafts had hit the German motor minesweepers, their main opponents, zero times with these tank turret guns firing several thousands projectles of 76- and 85-mm. For riverine warfare they were too heavy to get over by the land transport between the rivers and lakes, so the Berlin siege riverine forces didn't use them.

in August 1942 she had 60+ ft of her stern blown off by German Heinkel torpedo bombers but survived

It is still unclear whose torpedo crippled this cruiser since Italian motor torpedo boats engaged the ship almost at the same time. The Axis naval forces on Black Sea were presented by Germans, Italians, Romanians, Bulgarians and even Croatians, whom all Germans co-ordinated in very effective manner.

Look at the ship. Seems to be very similar to light cruiser of Italian design, isn't it?That is because it IS Italian design except for caliber of main battery - almost a replica of this ship, INS Raimondo Montecuccoli.

And even if it was German Heinkel He-111H-6 of KG26, the only Luftwaffe unit trained to use the aerial torpedoes on the Black Sea, the torpedo itself with high probability was Italian too, namely F200/450 designated as F5W on German service.
Eurasian bowels always were (and are) the mess place, where sides often found themselves crossing the swords supplied from the very same blacksmith workshop.