GroundPounder
Well-Known Member
He was in long enough, that when he introduced himself he always went last name, first name.
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Ship Photo of the Day
- Thread starter Randy Daytona
- Start date
SMS Seeadler was a captured sailing ship converted into a merchant raider by the German Navy in WW1. As a sailing ship, she was far less dependent on coaling ports than traditional ships, while a substantial armament of two 105 mm cannons and heavy machine guns was sufficient to capture or sink 15 ships in a 225 day span. In particular, Seeadler was equipped with 2 torpedo tubes which could be fatal to an unsuspecting destroyer or cruiser. The crew was handpicked as to all be able to speak fluent Norwegian as the sailing ship was able to evade all attempts to capture her. Her career was ended by, of all things, a tidal wave in port which wrecked her near Tahiti in August 1917.
Pass of Balmaha, later SMS Seeadler
Pass of Balmaha, later SMS Seeadler
The Academy Award nominee actor Robert Montgomery was skipper of PT-107, an 80 ft Elco boat. He later starred in The Expendables with John Wayne. (Note: Robert Montgomery was also the father of Elizabeth Montgomery whom you may remember from the show Bewitched.)
12 July 1942
PT-105 and PT-107 maneuvering off the U.S. East Coast
Refueling with other PT boats
12 July 1942
PT-105 and PT-107 maneuvering off the U.S. East Coast
Refueling with other PT boats
| Commanding Officers | |
| 01 | LT Henry Montgomery, USNR - (aka movie star Robert Montgomery) |
Patrol Boat Sailors getting it done! I was always proud to carry on the legacy of the WW2 PT boats when I was on my PC tour. It's truly a different Navy.
GroundPounder
Well-Known Member
Made me wonder about the fate of PT 108, since it was between two famous sister boats ( ships? )
PT 108 refueling
The only Liberty cargo ship to sink a German surface combatant was SS Stephen Hopkins which sank the German Auxiliary Cruiser Stier in the South Atlantic in 1942. The two ships blundered into each other at point blank range and began to trade gunfire. Despite the Stier mounting six 5.9” cannons and the Stephen Hopkins having only a single 4” cannon, the two ships pummeled each other so severely that both sank. Fascinating story below:
www.americanheritage.com
The Gallantry of An “Ugly Duckling”
Outgunned by the Nazi raider, the Stephen Hopkins could have struck her colors. Instead she elected to fight
www.americanheritage.com
USS Hull (DD 945), a Forrest Sherman class DD, was fitted with an 8-inch 55-caliber Mark 71 major caliber lightweight gun (MCLWG) mount forward in 1975, replacing the standard 5-inch 54 caliber Mark 42 gun mount. The 8-incher was removed in 1979 and the Hull reverted to the 5-inch forward mount. The Mk 71 8-inch mount weighed about 173,000 lbs compared to the original Mk 42 at about 145,000 lbs.
There was some thought of arming the Spruance and Ticonderoga class ships with the Mk 71 MCLWG in an effort to remedy the shortfall in gunfire support as the former WW2 cruisers were retired. In the event, the Hull's installation was the only one and was only temporary.
There was some thought of arming the Spruance and Ticonderoga class ships with the Mk 71 MCLWG in an effort to remedy the shortfall in gunfire support as the former WW2 cruisers were retired. In the event, the Hull's installation was the only one and was only temporary.
Some of the most heavily armed gunboats of WW2 were the Dutch Navy’s Flores class of 2 gunboats. Limited by only 1500 tons displacement and less than 250 ft long; they patrolled the Dutch East Indies. Although they only had 2,000 HP from triple expansion engines which limited their speed to 15 knots, they were heavily armed for their size with three 5.9” cannons, 40mm, 20mm, .50 cal and even quad .303 machine guns from The Bolton Paul Defiant fighter airplanes.
Lex coming back into P’cola, 1989
More back-in-the-day boats: Hancock, Connie, and Kitty pierside at NASNI, Jan 1975. 
I can't raise you, but I'll match you with NAS Alameda back in the day, with a couple of big unrep ships to boot.