Did you know the French Navy invented SCUBA before WWII?
French Navy Commandant Yves Paul Gaston Le Prieur is pictured in 1934 demonstrating his Scaphandre Autonome in the Trocadero Aquarium
Category Archives: littoral
Warship Wednesday April 16. The Odd Case of the Stono.
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week.
– Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday April 16. The Odd Case of the Stono.
A depiction of the commercial steamer Isaac Smith, a 453-ton (burden), 171-foot long screw steamer built at Nyack, New Jersey, in 1861. The hardy little craft was built by the Lawrence and Foulks company for the Hamilton & Smith steamship company who wanted the craft to ply the Hudson river with both passengers and cargo. He draft, just 9 feet, and her steam engine allowed her to navigate the river with ease. She was named Isaac Smith after one of that firm’s founding members.
Well in September 1861, the US Navy came a callin on her owners, it seemed that they were in need of as many steamships as they could find to blockade the newly formed Confederate nation’s ports. A quick military addition of a 30-pounder Parrott rifle and eight 8-inch Dahlgren smoothbores brought her the title of USS Isaac Smith on 17 Oct, 1861.
Smith at far right in 1861 with the fleet
She soon sailed south and joined DuPont’s South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Within days of her commissioning she was fighting off rebel gunboats, chasing blockade runners, and assisted in the seizure of Port Royal, South Carolina. Sailing for Florida waters she was refitted in New York then took up station in the shallow tidal channel located southwest of Charleston, South Carolina known as the Stono River to wait for blockade runners creeping towards that city from the Bahamas.
Impression of her loss to the Confederates on the Stono river
On 30 Jan, 1863, in a sharp action, she was engaged by rebel batteries in a crossfire. Under the orders of Brig Gen Roswell Ripley (recently sent back home from the Army of North Virgina after being criticized for his performance at Antietam) and the blessing of PGT Beauregard, five 24-pounder guns in two camouflaged batteries were set up along the river to ambushed the little steamer once she was at point blank range. Three guns manned by Captain John Gary and men of the 15th South Carolina Heavy Artillery set up near Grimball’s plantation, while the remaining two, manned by Major J. Welsman Brown, and men of the 2nd South Carolina Artillery and 8th Georgia Volunteers battalion were set up on John’s Island.
From Gary’s report:
“Between the hours of 3 and 4 o’clock on the afternoon of the 30th ultimo the gunboat Isaac Smith made her appearance and anchored off Mr. Thomas Grimball’s, some 500 yards distant from my batteries. After waiting some twenty minutes and the Abolitionists showing no disposition to land I ordered my batteries to open fire, which they did in handsome style and apparently with great precision.”
Her path of escape blocked, the steamer surrendered, her stack shot away and her engine room choking on its own cloud of exhaust. Eight men were dead and 17 were wounded, amounting to half of her crew. One of her crew earned the MOH that day, Landsman Richard Stout. His citation read:
“Serving on board the U.S.S. Isaac Smith, Stono River, 30 January 1863. While reconnoitering on the Stono River on this date, the U.S.S. Isaac Smith became trapped in a rebel ambush. Fired on from 2 sides, she fought her guns until disabled. Suffering heavy casualties and at the mercy of the enemy who was delivering a raking fire from every side, she struck her colors out of regard for the wounded aboard, and all aboard were taken prisoners. Carrying out his duties bravely through this action, STOUT was severely wounded and lost his right arm while returning the rebel fire.”
Her former captain, Acting Lieutenant Francis S. Conover, reported to the Navy after he was exchanged that “we were obliged to receive the raking fire of between twenty and thirty guns.” (Srsly?)
With most of her armament being taken ashore to use in the siege train around Charleston, the rebels renamed the now-much lighter steamship the CSS Stono and, after replacing her shot away stack, pressed her into service as a blockade runner. She would have a brief career of it.
Taking a load of cotton to Bermuda, she returned with a cargo of war materials but was forced aground near Fort Moultre just off Charleston’s waterfront on 5 June 1863. The Confederates saved what they could over the next 18 months and then fired the ship in 1865, burning her to the waterline.
Over the years her hull remained just off the waterfront, hidden by a growing blanket of sand and silt.
Rediscovered in the 1980s, she has yielded an incredible store of artifacts from her buried hull. This included a full case of 20 Enfield .577 Caliber Tower-marked rifled muskets that, made in England, never reached the Confederacy.
Archivists are in the process of preserving the finds.
Specs:
Displacement: 453 tons
Length: 171 ft 6 in (52.27 m)
Beam: 31 ft 4 in (9.55 m)
Draught: 9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion: steam engine
screw-propelled
Speed: not known
Complement: 56
Armament: one 30-pounder Parrott rifle
eight 8″ Dahlgren smoothbores (In US service 1861-63) unknown in Confederate.
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International
They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.
Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.
I’m a member, so should you be!
Negative Ivan, the pattern is full
A pair of SU-24s buzzed the USS Donald Cook, which just entered the Black Sea last week. Apparently they didnt understand that the pattern was full.
By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (NNS) — A Russian attack aircraft repeatedly flew near the USS Donald Cook in international waters in the Black Sea on April 12, a Pentagon spokesman said today.
The USS Cook was patrolling in the western Black Sea when an unarmed Russian Su-24 Fencer attack aircraft repeatedly flew near the Navy ship, Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters.
“The aircraft did not respond to multiple queries and warnings from Donald Cook, and the event ended without incident after approximately 90 minutes,” Warren said. “This provocative and unprofessional Russian action is inconsistent with international protocols and previous agreements on the professional interaction between our militaries.”
Two Russian aircraft were present, but only one took part in the provocative actions, Warren said. The aircraft flew from near sea level to a couple of thousand feet, he added, but never overflew the U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.
“The Russian plane made a total of 12 passes,” he said.
The wingman stayed at a considerably higher altitude, Warren said.
Officials later said the aircraft approached within about 1,000 yards of the ship. The USS Cook was never in danger, Warren said.
“The Donald Cook is more than capable of defending itself against two Su-24s,” the colonel said.
Warren said he does not think this is an example of a young pilot joyriding. “I would have difficulty believing that two Russian pilots, on their own, would chose to take such an action,” he said. “We’ve seen the Russians conduct themselves unprofessionally and in violation of international norms in Ukraine for several months, and these continued acts of provocation and unprofessionalism do nothing to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, which we called on the Russians to do.”
The Cook arrived in the Black Sea on April 10. The ship is now making a port call in Constanta, Romania.
Railgun! Fire in the Hole!
The U.S. Navy’s latest weapon is an electromagnetic railgun launcher. It uses a form of electromagnetic energy known as the Lorentz force to hurl a 23-pound projectile at speeds exceeding Mach 7. Engineers already have tested this futuristic weapon on land, and the Navy plans to begin sea trials aboard a Joint High Speed Vessel Millinocket in 2016.
Warship Wednesday April 9, The Last Ride of the Yamato
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week.
– Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday April 9, The Last Ride of the Yamato
Here we see the massive mega battleship Yamato of the Imperial Japanese Navy fitting out at Kure DY in 1941. Up until 1934 the Japanese paid lip service to the various Naval Treaties that limited the size and number of warships in the world’s navies. For instance, the huge cruisers designed in this period were ‘officially’ under 10,000-tons (although they rose to almost twice this amount when fully armed, loaded, and armored in WWII). The official limit on battleship size was 35,000-tons and Western ships, such as the new USS Washington class in the US and the HMS King George V-class battleships in the UK.
Well in 1934 Japan dropped out of the agreement and the gloves came off. They soon designed the largest battle-wagon in the world.
Ever.
At full load these ships would top out at 72,000-tons. The next closest rival in size was the US Iowa class, which at their heaviest displacement pushed some 50,000-tons on a hull that was about twenty feet shorter. However the Yamato was twenty feet *wider* and as such was a very beamy girl. She also drew more than 35-feet of seawater under her hull, which limited her moorings considerably.
On sea trials Oct 1941
These ships were amazingly armored, more so than any ship before or since. This included :
650 mm (26 in) on face of main turrets (YES, 26-inches!)
410 mm (16 in) side armor belt
200 mm (7.9 in) central(75%) armored deck
226.5 mm (8.92 in) outer(25%) armored deck
As point of reference the second place winner for the most armor carried was on the USS Iowa class battlewagons, which had some 19.7-inches on turret faces and a 12-inch belt.
Port side shot sea trials
These ships could put up some lead, carrying an amazing 205 pieces of artillery from the giant 18.1-inch main guns (the largest in the world)
to a huge array of AAA weapons. This included (in 1945):
9 × 46 cm (18.1 in) (3×3) (firing 3,000-lb shells)
6 × 155 mm (6.1 in) (2×3)
24 × 127 mm (5.0 in)
162 × 25 mm (0.98 in) Anti-Aircraft (52×3, 6×1)
4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA (2×2)
In short, these ships were massive war-engines and are seen by many as the pinnacle of battleship design (no offense to the Iowas). I mean 18-inch guns, 26-inches of armor, come on. As further protection against aircraft, her 18-inch guns could fire special “Common Type 3” anti-aircraft shells, known to the Japanese as “Sanshiki“. These shells contained over 900 incendiary tubes each capable of shooting 16-foot flames in all directions once the shell exploded. Not something you would want to fly into.
Five of the class, Yamato, Musahsi, and Shinano (along with two hulls, “Warships No 111″, and “797“) were envisioned for the Combined Fleet, with Yamato being laid down in 1937. The last two never were never finished while Shinano was converted to an aircraft carrier.
Commissioned 16 December 1941, Yamato came out of the yard a week too late for Pearl Harbor. As flagship of the fleet until 1943 when her sister ship Musashi was completed, she spent the first part of the war in such duty appropriate for such a large ship– being the primary ride of Adm. Yamamoto, from which he lost the Battle of Midway from her decks.
After 1943 she was relegated to a high-speed, heavily armored transport, running troops and valuables from island to island just ahead of Adm Nimitz’s oncoming horde that was the US Navy. Ironically her giant guns were useless to the Japanese at Guadalcanal as only armored piercing shells, made for sinking ships, and not HE shells for shore bombardment were in use at the time. If there had been, the Marines on Henderson Field may have had a very different outcome.
She dodged several torpedoes from US submarines until the end of 1943 when USS Skate (SS-305) pumped a fish into her. Damaged but not sunk (I mean come on she was 72,000-tons!), she next appeared in the pivotal battles in the Philippines in 1944. There she helped escort Ozawa’s Mobile Fleet during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, then caught up with the half-dozen small US Jeep carriers of Taffy 3, firing at the 7800-ton Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Gambier Bay on 25 October 1944.
It was during that engagement that, while firing shells marked with dye to better call shot from individual guns, an American sailor called out “They are shooting at us in Technicolor!”
The stricken Gambier Bay on fire, left, with Yamato, circled, right
The Yamato closed to within point-blank distance of Gambier Bay, now dead in the water, and shelled the tiny flat top until she sank with great loss of life. It was one of the few recorded instances of a battleship sinking a carrier in warfare. Carriers, however had already had their way with the class, sinking Yamato‘s sister ship Musashi the previous day during the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, taking 17 bomb and 19 torpedo hits, with the loss of 1,023 of her 2,399-man crew. This left Yamato an orphan of her class, as Shinano, converted to an aircraft carrier, had been sunk earlier that month, the largest naval vessel to have been sunk by a submarine.
Retiring from the Philippines, Yamato was almost all that was left of the Japanese fleet that was still battle worthy, forming a reserve with the old WWI-era battleship Nagato and the fast battleship Kongo. Well, Kongo was sunk by USS Sealion (SS-315) on 21 November, leaving just Nagoto who was soon to be relegated to coast defense only, and Yamato as the IJN’s last capital ships.
In April 1945, with the US invasion of Okinawa, the Emperor demanded action from what was left of the Navy. This led Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, and Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, Vice Admiral Seiichi Ito to scrape together all he could to sail against the Americans.
This meant the Yamato.
Her battle fleet was simply the 6000-ton Agano-class light cruiser Yahagi and 8 destroyers. Since it was to be a one-way mission, the naval kamikaze strike against a fleet that outnumbered it by a factor of at least 6:1, Ito would personally command it.
Dubbed “Operation Ten-Go” (Heaven One), the fleet sortied on 7 April directly towards Okinawa. There it was soon confronted by over 400 carrier based strike planes of Adm. Marc Mitscher’s fleet of 11 flattops, more than the Japanese had at Pearl Harbor against eight battleships.
It was not a long engagement.
By 1200 the first aircraft appeared over Yamato. By 1400 the cruiser Yahagi, riddled with bombs and torpedoes, sank along with half of the destroyer screen. By 1420, Yamato was dead in the water, her rudder shot away, her superstructure ablaze.
She has suffered more than 11 torpedo hits and six bomb hits. At 1423, one of the two bow magazines detonated in a tremendous explosion. The resulting mushroom cloud—over 3 miles high—was seen 180 miles away on Kyushu and was the funeral pyre for some 3000 of her crew, more than was lost by the US Navy in all of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Although the undamaged half of the destroyer screen stood by to pick up the crew from Yamato, Admiral Ito, still alive, chose to go down with the ship.
Just ten U.S. aircraft were shot down by anti-aircraft fire from the Japanese ships; with 12 airmen killed. The Japanese suffered over 4000 casualties proving the last surface engagement by battleships versus carriers at sea and closing an era in Naval warfare forever.
This massive waste of such a magnificent ship for little conceivable gain helped ensure the future use of the Atomic Bombs on Japan, as the US felt that further resistance in the Home Islands, even if obviously futile, would be expected.
Meanwhile, the Japanese navy then went about the act of destroying all the information they had on the huge battleships including models, plans and images, so that it could not fall into US hands after the war. That is why few wartime images exist of this ship, other than those taken by US Navy fliers.
Her wreck was found in 1982, broken into two large pieces much like the Titanic was, at rest under 1100 feet of seawater.
The Japanese have a particular affinity for this ship. The word Yamato, since it harkens back to old feudal Japan, has great significance. This makes Yamato akin to the names Plymouth, Philadelphia, or Washington in the US. A huge (and we mean huge) 1:10 scale model of the Yamato has been constructed in Japan and is a very popular attraction there. ‘
A recent book and film on the vessel proved hugely successful in Japan.
Then there is the whole Space Battleship Yamato series of manga, based extremely loosely on the ship.
It seems after all that the Yamato is very far indeed from her last ride.
Specs:
Displacement: 65,027 tonnes (64,000 long tons)
71,659 tonnes (70,527 long tons) (full load)
Length: 256 m (839 ft 11 in) (waterline)
263 m (862 ft 10 in) (overall)
Beam: 38.9 m (127 ft 7 in)
Draft: 11 m (36 ft 1 in)
Installed power: 150,000 shp (111,855 kW)
Propulsion: 12 Kampon boilers, driving four steam turbines
Four three-bladed propellers
Speed: 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range: 7,200 nmi (13,334 km; 8,286 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement: 2,500–2,800
Armament:
(1941) 9 × 46 cm (18.1 in) (3×3)
12 × 155 mm (6.1 in) (4×3)
12 × 127 mm (5.0 in) (6×2)
24 × 25 mm (0.98 in) (8×3)
4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA (2×2)
(1945) 9 × 46 cm (18.1 in) (3×3)
6 × 155 mm (6.1 in) (2×3)
24 × 127 mm (5.0 in) (12×2)
162 × 25 mm (0.98 in) Anti-Aircraft (52×3, 6×1)
4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA (2×2)
Armor: 650 mm (26 in) on face of main turrets
410 mm (16 in) side armor
200 mm (7.9 in) central(75%) armored deck
226.5 mm (8.92 in) outer(25%) armored deck
Aircraft carried: 7
Aviation facilities: 2 aircraft catapults
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International
They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and
their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of
contact for those interested in warships.
Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are
unique in their sweep and subject.
I’m a member, so should you be!
Efim Nikonov’s Secret Vessel (AKA the 1721 Barrel Sub)
In 1718, Russian subject Efim Nikonov, a carpenter from a village Pokrovskoye near Moscow, submitted a petition addressed to Peter the Great where he suggested building a “secret vessel” that “would sail the seas and destroy all enemy ships with cannons secretly”. Curious and interested, the Russian tsar ordered to bring this talented self-taught man to Saint-Petersburg and immediately get down to her construction.
It is also known that in 1721 this vessel was put to the tests in Peter’s presence after which the author was proposed to start construction of a “bigger secret vessel”. In August, 1724, Nikonov asked to provide him with armoury for his underwater ship which he described as “fire tubes”. Apparently, these were the primitive gun-powder flame-throwers. After Peter’s death, however, further development of this “secret vessel” was terminated while the submarine built by this talented and skilled craftsman went completely rotten and decayed in a deserted wood-shed. –(extracted from “The Fleet of the State of Russia: The Roots and Origin of the Russian Navy” written by V.Dygalo.)
This of course, is a replica.
click to embiggen. Note the weights that could be jettisoned in an emergency by screws if needed.
Still, although it was not used, it predated David Bushnell’s Turtle made during the War for Independence by some fifty years.
And now you know why those darned Russians love those subs. They always have. They always will.
Exploding donuts and amtacs
Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps launch smoke grenades as they move to land on shore during a U.S.-South Korea joint landing operation drill in Pohang March 31, 2014. The drill is part of the two countries’ annual military training called Foal Eagle, which began on February 24 and runs until April 18.
French privateers and Yank flattops
140313-N-ZZ999-004 MEDITERRANEAN SEA (March 13, 2014) The French navy frigate FS Cassard (D614) breaks away from passing alongside the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) during a scheduled exercise. George H.W. Bush is on a scheduled deployment supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (US Navy Photo by Cmdr. Tom Winkler/Released). Click to embiggen.
Named after the famous 17th century French naval officer and privateer Jacques Cassard, the French ship shown here was the lead craft of her two-vessel class of DCNS SA-built “AA (air defense) destroyers.” Basically an improved version of the 1970’s designed Georges Leygues class of ASW frigates, she is more rightly classified at 4500-tons as a guided missile frigate. With her single Mk13 one armed bandit (with elderly 40 SM-1MR missiles), 8 Exocet MM40 antiship missiles, Creusot- Loire Compact 100mm/55 Mod 68 DP gun (seen on foredeck) and suite of ASW torpedoes and small guns, she is comparable to the US Navy’s Oliver Hazzard Perry class of FFGs, which are now rapidly retiring. Commissioned in 1988, the French Navy is intending to pay off Cassard in 2020.
Such is the way of the warship.
Warship Wednesday April 2, The Lost Dorado
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week.
– Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday April 2, The Lost Dorado
Here we see the Gato-class fleet submarine USS Dorado (SS-248) fitting out just before commissioning–note the Rosie the Riveter types on deck. Named after the mahi mahi fish, the Dorado had a very short life, but one that will live on forever in what she left behind.
A member of the famous Gato-class of fleet submarines, Dorado was but one of 77 of that extended family commissioned between 1943-44. These 311-foot long boats could make 21-knots on the surface, which meant they could chase down just about any Japanese Maru that was on the ocean. Her 11,000-mile range and 24 torpedo magazine allowed her to stay at sea, taking the war to the Japanese home islands, for upto 75 days at a time.
The Gatos were some of the most famous of US fleet boats in WWII, and they suffered for it, with 20 being lost at sea. Ships of this class included USS Wahoo who, under Mush Morton, slaughtered an entire Japanese convoy off New Guinea all by her self. USS Cavalla, assassin of the Japanese aircraft carrier (and Pearl Harbor veteran) Shokaku. USS Albacore, who took the carrier Taiho, the flagship of Vice-Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa’s fleet– was a Gato. The USS Flasher, the most successful US sub of the war, with over 100,000-tons to her credit, was also Gato.
All of these 77 Gatos, save the Dorado, would fight in the Pacific, but the ill-fated submarine would never make it that far.
Laid down 27 August 1942 at the famous General Dynamics Electric Boat yard, Groton, Connecticut, Dorado was completed just one year and one day later, and commissioned 28 August 1943.
In September, she took aboard two artists employed by the US War Department, Thomas Hart Benton and Georges Schreiber to document the ship’s cruise and preserve the images of a fleet boat at sea during wartime operations (although safely in US waters most of the time).
Schreiber and Benton along with the Dorado’s skipper, Sept 1943
While underway Schreiber and Benton sketched, painted and interacted with the crew. They even got some excitement when the ship encountered a derelict vessel in the sea-lanes that Dorado dispatched with her deck guns.
The art from that cruise lives on for eternity.
Going Home by Georges Schreiber
Up Periscope by Thomas Hart Benton,
Score Another One, Thomas Hart Benton
Dorado‘s sea trials proved the readiness of the crew, and she sailed from New London, Connecticut, on 6 October 1943 for the Panama Canal Zone.
She did not arrive.
It is thought that she was sent to the bottom by a friendly fire attack of the US Mariner aircraft (of VP-210 USN/P-9, pilot Lt(jg) Daniel T. Felix, Jr.) stationed on NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on 12 Oct, 1943. The aircraft was patrolling around the convoy GAT-92 and dropped three depth charges and one bomb on a surfaced U-boat at 20.51 hours on 12 October.
Another theory is that she ran into a minefield set by German U-214. Between 15.51 hours on 19.02 hours on 8 Oct, 1943, U-214 had laid a mine field of 15 mines off Colon. It is possible that USS Dorado (SS 248) was lost on one of these mines when she passed the area on her way to Colon on 14 October. The mine field was detected on 16 October and ten mines swept.
Overdue at Colon, Dorado is still considered on eternal patrol.
A memorial to Dorado has been constructed in the Veterans Memorial Park in Wichita, Kansas while the USS Dorado Assoc still keeps watch that some day she will be found. In 2007 a remote sensing survey was conducted to try and find her resting place.
To visit a sister-ship of the lost Dorado, Six retired Gatos are on display in the United States:
USS Cavalla is at Seawolf Park near Galveston, Texas (in SSK configuration).
USS Cobia is at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.
USS Drum is at Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama.
USS Cod is on display in Cleveland. It does not have doors cut through its pressure hull nor stairwells added.
USS Croaker is on display in Buffalo, New York (in SSK configuration).
USS Silversides is on display in Muskegon, Michigan.
Go aboard and pay your respects.
Specs:
Click to embiggen
Displacement: 1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced, 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length: 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft: 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion: 4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators
2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries
4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears
two propellers
5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced
2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed: 21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced,[4] 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged
Range: 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance: 48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged, 75 days on patrol
Test depth: 300 ft (91 m)
Complement: 6 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament: 10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft) with 24 torpedoes
1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun
Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International
They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.
Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.
I’m a member, so should you be!
Navy’s Tiny 5-pound missile
This. Its so cute. I want one.
“While most defense contractors are designing drones to accommodate the already-existing larger weapons, the Navy has taken the opposite approach with Spike, a five-pound, 25-inch mini-munition which it likes to call “the world’s smallest guided missile.”
Relying on commercial-off-the-shelf components such as cellphone camera technology, Spike can be launched from the air or the ground and is being developed so it can even be shoulder-fired.
And at sea, it can fill a particular gap against the increasing threat of small boat swarms, the fast attack craft (FAC) and fast inshore attack craft (FIAC), according to the Navy.”
The rest at Danger Room
Spike Missile Visual Demonstration by Lead Technician Jonathon Pooley. Image: U.S. Navy