Ship Photo of the Day

[Treetop Flyer]

If you find yourself in Wilmington I encourage you to check it out. It’s my favorite museum ship I’ve visited. A lot of it is open, and the aft turret’s firing computer still seems to work despite 50+ years of tourists turning its range and bearing knobs.

 

[Randy Daytona]

While the USS North Carolina is up in Wilmington, right down Highway 17 in Charleston is another ship that is now a museum, the USS Yorktown (CV-10). One of the 24 Essex class carriers, it served a long life, finally being retired in 1970. During WW2, it arrived on station in the Pacific and commenced combat operations in mid-November 1943 until the end of the war. The Yorktown was converted to an attack carrier after the Korean War, later converted again to an anti-submarine carrier, where she served during the Vietnam War providing sea-air rescue. One of her last actions was being the recovery ship for Apollo 8. She became a museum ship in Charleston, dedicated on the 200th anniversary of the Navy, 13 October 1975.

It has been used in multiple movies to include: Tora, Tora, Tora, The Philadelphia Experiment, and the nuclear terrorist TV movie Special Bulletin.

Length: 872 ft, Beam: 93 ft (hull), 147 ft (flight deck), Displacement: 36,380 tons
8 boilers feeding 4 turbines produced 150,000 HP and gave 33 knots
Armament: 4 x 2 5"/38 calibre, 4 x 1 5"/38 calibre, 8 x quadruple 40mm Bofors, 46 x 1 20mm Oerkilons, 90 - 100 aircraft

Commissioned: 15 April 1943, Decommissioned: 27 June 1970

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CVS-10) at sea off Hawaii (USA), some time between 1961 and 1963. On the flight deck are various aircraft of Carrier Anti-Submarine Air Group 55 (CVSG-55). The red-nosed Sikorsky HSS-1N Seabat helicopters were assigned to helicopter anti-submarine squadron HS-4 "Black Knights". On the catapults are two Douglas AD-5W Skyraider aircraft of airborne early warning squadron VAW-11 Det.T "Early Eleven". The Grumman S2F-1S Tracker planes belonged to anti-submarine squadron VS-23 "Black Cats" (white fin), and VS-25 "Golden Eagles" (red fin).

Commissioning of USS Yorktown on 15 April 1943.

Yorktown with planes of Carrier Air Group 1

Yorktown during the air operations in the Pacific

Mothballed Yorktown at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1948. From front to rear USS Essex (CV-9), USS Ticonderoga (CV-14), USS Yorktown, USS Lexington (CV-16), USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31)

Yorktown's final flight deck configuration.

Panoramic image of Yorktown at Patriots Point
By Something Original at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27039424

 

[Gatordev]

Didn't realize she was used in Tora, Tora, Tora. Seeing that video makes me want to revisit her, just to ask how they get the planes aboard. I'm guessing barge. That walkway looks too narrow for a crane.

I think it's been covered before, but I can't remember...what was the centerline going from the LA to the bow used for?

 

[Treetop Flyer]

Didn't realize she was used in Tora, Tora, Tora. Seeing that video makes me want to revisit her, just to ask how they get the planes aboard. I'm guessing barge. That walkway looks too narrow for a crane.

I think it's been covered before, but I can't remember...what was the centerline going from the LA to the bow used for?

I believe that’s for deck launches. If I’m not mistaken that’s the only way the S-2’s took off.

Edit: yes I’m wrong, at least about the S-2. But I think that is still what the line is for.

 

[Pags]

I think it's been covered before, but I can't remember...what was the centerline going from the LA to the bow used for?

Gives the ABHs something else to paint.

 

[GroundPounder]

Didn't realize she was used in Tora, Tora, Tora. Seeing that video makes me want to revisit her, just to ask how they get the planes aboard. I'm guessing barge. That walkway looks too narrow for a crane.

I think it's been covered before, but I can't remember...what was the centerline going from the LA to the bow used for?

I've been there several times, if memory serves the portion on the right of the picture is about 14 feet wide, and the yellow line is about 4 feet wide. It's set up as a lane, for when the service vehicles to get through.

They have a Medal of Honor museum on board, as well as quite a few aircraft on the hanger deck. My son went on a few boy scout trips, where you sleep on board overnight. After they shut it down for the public for the day, you have free range for the rest of the night.

In the complex they also have the USS Laffey and the USS Clamagore. If you are near Charleston, it's worth the visit.

 

[Gatordev]

I believe that’s for deck launches. If I’m not mistaken that’s the only way the S-2’s took off.

Edit: yes I’m wrong, at least about the S-2. But I think that is still what the line is for.

That's what I figured, but since I've "seen" S-2s on the Cat, I wasn't sure. Maybe it's for the C-130...

They have a Medal of Honor museum on board, as well as quite a few aircraft on the hanger deck. My son went on a few boy scout trips, where you sleep on board overnight. After they shut it down for the public for the day, you have free range for the rest of the night.

That's got to be pretty damn cool. I had never actually been on the "public" side of the Missouri until I returned on vacation. Being able to walk around what you could see made me wish I could walk around even more. And the Missouri was in great condition, enough that even the smell still brought me back to my own deployments.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

That's what I figured, but since I've "seen" S-2s on the Cat, I wasn't sure. Maybe it's for the C-130...



That's got to be pretty damn cool. I had never actually been on the "public" side of the Missouri until I returned on vacation. Being able to walk around what you could see made me wish I could walk around even more. And the Missouri was in great condition, enough that even the smell still brought me back to my own deployments.

Well the C-1 did deck launches.

 

[brownshoe]

I worked the deck of the "Lady Lex" many times for quals. Man... I'm getting old!

 

[Randy Daytona]

Well the C-1 did deck launches.

I'll see your C-1 and raise you a C-130...

 

[ChuckMK23]

USS Capodanno FF-1093. My First Class middie Cruise assignment. Old school “Destroyer Navy” - learned a ton about seamanship and why the Navy does what it does and deckplate leadership. Experience has stayed with me forever.

 

[Griz882]

HSD Capodanno FF-1093. My First Class middie Cruise assignment. Old school “Destroyer Navy” - learned a ton about seamanship and why the Navy does what it does and deckplate leadership. Experience has stayed with me forever.

Ahhh the beautiful old Knox Class. As they used to say...Frigate sailors do it with one good screw.

 

[HAL Pilot]

I thought it was out of every airman comes a little seaman...

 

[Randy Daytona]

30 July 1945, the Portland class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was torpedoed and sunk by I-58. Although she fought in many battles of WW2, she is most famous for delivering the atomic bomb Little Boy. Setting sail on 16 July 1945 from San Francisco, she covered the distance to Hawaii in 74 1/2 hours, averaging 29 knots - a record that still stands for that route. Afterwards, she raced on to Tinian where she dropped off the parts for the A-bomb. Upon return she was sighted and hit by 2 torpedoes, sinking in just 12 minutes. Of the 1,195 crew aboard, only 316 survived the initial sinking and subsequent time in the ocean awaiting rescue. Of all the US ships lost during WW2, only the Indianapolis's captain, Charles McVay, was court-martialed. (Eventually cleared of wrong-doing in 2001). The Indianapolis was found by a team funded by Paul Allen, resting nearly 3 miles down on the ocean floor. Several movies have been made about the Indianapolis, but the most famous mentioning of the ship was the monologue by the fisherman Quint in Jaws.

Length: 610 ft, Beam: 66 ft, Displacement: 10,110 tons
Propulsion: 8 boilers producing 107,000 HP gave 32.7 knots.
Main armament: 9 (3x3) 8"/55 calibre main guns, 8 x 5"/25 calibre secondaries, 6 x quad 40mm Bofors, 19 x 20m Oerkilons.
Commissioned: 15 Nov 1932, Sunk: 30 July 1945

The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) underway at sea on 27 September 1939.

USS Indianapolis (CA-35) underway at sea, in 1943–1944

Indianapolis in 1944 dazzle camouflage pattern.

 

[Randy Daytona]

Pride of the German fleet, the Bismarck. Although short lived, it sank the pride of the British Fleet (HMS Hood) and damaged the brand new battleship HMS Prince Of Wales (if the Bismarck had chosen to pursue instead of disengage, it likely would have sunk the Prince of Wales as well)

A few design features of the Bismarck include smaller but faster firing main guns (up to 3 rounds per gun per minute) and a very heavy secondary anti-ship armament of 12 5.9" guns showed that the Bismarck was designed to fight in the rough seas and low visibility of the North Sea. In comparison, most US and British battleship had a dual purpose secondary armament.

The amount of damage the Bismarck sustained was tremendous before it was scuttled. Despite absorbing multiple hits from the British battleships King George V and Rodney as well as heavy cruisers, no shells penetrated the citadel. Good question of which was the most stout battleship in history, the Bismarck class from Germany or the Yamato class from Japan.

One of the short videos gives a good discussion of why the Bismarck had such a difficult time hitting the British biplane torpedo bombers that eventually sealed her fate.

Length: 823 ft, Beam: 118 ft, Displacement: 50,300 tons
3 turbines produced 148,000 HP and gave 30 knots
Main Armament: 8 (4x2) 15"/51.66 calibre SK C/34 cannons firing 1,800 lb shells to 22.7 miles
Secondaries: 12 (6x2) 5.9" cannons, 16 (8x2) 4.1" cannons, 16 (8x2) 37mm, 12 (12x1) 20mm
Armor: Main Belt: 12.6", Turrets: 14", Main Deck: 3.9" to 4.7"
Commissioned: 24 Aug 1940, Sunk (or Scuttled): 27 May 1941

Bismarck as seen from Prinz Eugen after the Battle of the Denmark Strait
Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1984-055-14 / Lagemann / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Sister ship Tirpitz