An Islamic Republic of Iran Navy reconnaissance aircraft approaches a US Navy aircraft carrier and is escorted by US fighter jets over the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Pictures are all taken by Iranian crew.
Captain John Eden Commander of Air Group on USS Abraham Lincoln flying his FA-18E Super Hornet while intercepting Iranian P3F
The US Navy attack submarine USS Annapolis (SSN 760) rests in the Arctic Ocean after surfacing through three feet of ice during Ice Exercise 2009 on March 21, 2009. The two-week training exercise, which is used to test submarine operability andwar-fighting capability in Arctic conditions, also involved the USS Helena (SSN 725), the University of Washington and personnel from the Navy Arctic Submarine Laboratory.
DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Tiffini M. Jones, U.S. Navy. (Released). Click to go bigga.
Commisoned in 1992 the Annapolis is an improved Los Angeles class attack submarine. Homeported in Groton, CT, she is assigned to Submarine Development Squadron 12.
Specs;
Displacement: 6,000 long tons (6,096 t) light (surfaced)
6,927 long tons (7,038 t) full (dived)
927 long tons (942 t) dead
Length: 110.34 m (362 ft 0 in)
Beam: 10.06 m (33 ft 0 in)
Draft: 9.75 m (32 ft 0 in)
Depth: 122 m (400 ft)
Propulsion: S6G nuclear reactor
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)+
Complement: 12 officers, 115 men
Sensors and
processing systems: BQQ-10 Sonar; BPS-15 Surface Search Radar;
Armament: • 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
• 12 x Vertical Launch Tomahawk tubes
• Mark 48 ADCAP torpedoes
• Tomahawk missiles
• CAPTOR mine
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 Jan 22, 2014 The Most Famous Dutch Pantserschip
Via Postales Navales, colorised by Diego Mar
Here we see the very interesting Hr. Ms. De Zeven Provinciën of the Royal Dutch Navy. Designed before World War One as a ship to protect far-flung colonies from trespassers and show the flag in native ports, she was a product of the steam age.
The new gleaming 333-foot, 6300-ton battleship at her commissioning. Note the size of the large 11-inch single turret on her stern.
The De Zeven Provinciën was designed specifically to protect the country’s largest overseas colony, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). This vital possession was a source of oil, rubber, and other treasures for the Netherlands for decades.
Envisioned in the early 1900s, she was to be a poor-mans battleship. She was more than capable of sinking smaller ships than her (cruisers and destroyers) with her pair of large 11-inch guns while up to 8-inches of armor kept her safe. Carrying some 200 600-pound shells for her main battery, her guns could fire to over 8km and still punch through 15-inches of good steel armor at ranges half that. These guns were very similar to those used by the German Navy on the Nassau and Von der Tann battlewagons of the same time period, just in single mounts.
Note guns of her secondary battery amidships. These include two visible 150mm (5.9 in) guns in protected by very low-angle turrets and two visible 75mm (3.0 in) guns in open mounts.
She could hide in littoral spaces from larger true battleships due to her ability to float in 21-feet of seawater. The ship type was known as the pantserschip (or “coastal defense ship”) and was popular with countries like Sweden, Denmark, and others who had a legitimate coastal defense need but could not afford large battlewagons.
A more bow-on view, again, the size of her single 11-inch mount forward would seem impressive to both subjects in far off lands and potential enemy cruisers and raiders
Completed 6 October 1910, she sailed immediately for the Dutch East Indies, where she was arguably the most capable ship there at any time (except when passing the US, Japanese or British battleships sailed through the area) for the next quarter-century. For over two decades she quietly patrolled the thousands of islands in the Netherlands crown colony, showing the flag to locals and foreign interests alike. During WWI she helped ensure Dutch neutrality was strictly adhered to.
Within a few years, she had a mixed Dutch and Indonesian crew, which may have been the cause of problems later in her life.
In 1933, De Zeven Provinciën was involved in a naval mutiny. Her crew ceased to listen to the Dutch high command after news of a 7% pay cut was made public (this was the Depression folks). The pocket battleship went rogue on February 5th while the ship’s captain was ashore. Her complement at the time consisted of 16 European officers, 34 European NCOs and ratings, and some 140 Indonesian crew-members. This is notably less than her designed complement of 450 men, barely half as much in fact. This is a testament of 1930s naval manning in colonial waters.
Wearing a more modern battleship grey scheme in the 1930s, the DZP is seen here with a Dutch Navy Fokker C.VII-W float-plane overhead. The little 30-foot/3000-lb two-place recon plane had a range of 600 miles and the Dutch Navy had a dozen of them in the Pacific. The DZP often carried one (as seen in the opening article image) on her cruises in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
For a week they sailed off the Sumatran coast headed towards the port of Soerabaja, to release other sailors that had been thrown in the brig for protesting the pay cuts. On February 10th, the combined fleet including the cruiser Java (8000-tons, 10 x Bofors 150 mm guns), two destroyers, and two submarines intercepted the mutinous vessel.
The Dutch defense minister ordered the ship stopped and when she refused to heave to and surrender, a shore-based Fokker T.IV bomber dropped a bomb on her deck that caused more than 30 casualties.
Pantserschip Hr.Ms. De Zeven Provinciën on fire after a direct hit near her bridge which killed 19 people outright and 11 wounded of which four later died. On the bottom is Hr.Ms. Java the flagship of Admiral Van Dulm with on the top the Destroyer Hr.Ms. Piet Hein or Hr.Ms. Evertsen. The mutiny would soon after end and the culprits arrested. 10 February 1933.
Damage to her amidships from the bomb dropped by her own navy
After the loss of life, the crew of the De Zeven Provinciën surrendered was disciplined, and the ship was renamed HNLMS Soerabaja (Surabaya) to erase the stain on her.
(Some 20 Fokker T.IV float-planes were used by the Marine-Luchtvaartdienst; the naval aviation branch of the Royal Netherlands Navy to defend the Dutch East Indies. These lumbering twin-engined beasts, with their two open-air cockpits, could carry a single torpedo or up-to 1,700lbs of bombs. Built-in the late 1920s, they were all based at Soerabaja. The only successful use of these planes in combat was ironically in bombing the De Zeven Provinciën) Painting by Sergie Stone
The new 6,500-ton light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter, armed with 7x150mm guns and capable of making 32-knots, replaced the aging De Zeven Provinciën/Soerabaja in 1936 as a combat ship. Coupled with the light cruiser Java, she was much more capable than the WWI-era Pantserschip.
As the Soerabaia after 1936. Note her secondary armament is gone, as is her aft mast. Her No.1 funnel is gone (as 5 out of 8 boilers were removed) and her main battery both fore and aft is covered by extensive tarpaulins. Its questionable if by this stage of her life her 11-inch Krupp guns were even still supportable as the company wasn’t doing much with pre-WWI ordnance. In the heat of pre-airconditioned Indonesia, the awnings were probably more welcome anyway.
This left the 26-year-old coastal defense ship with her unmentionable past largely relegated to training for the rest of her career. She was extensively reworked for this new role. Her boilers were reduced from 8 to 3, her armament reduced, and she was largely used as a static harbor defense ship, capable of just 8-knots with everything lit.
When World War Two broke out in the Pacific, she was assigned to the ABDA fleet of Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman, but her usefulness in fleet combat was limited. Her only action during the war was to land mobilized troops on various islands during December 1941.
On February 18, 1942, just over two months into the war, she was attacked by Japanese planes in Surabaya harbor and sunk at her moorings with a loss of 13 of her crew. She sank upright, leaving the machine guns operable, and she continued to serve as an anti-aircraft battery in being for several more days until finally abandoned.
Admiral Doorman, along with his flagship De Ruyter and the old cruiser HNLMS Java were lost at the battle of the Java Sea 28 February 1942, ending the era of a strong Dutch fleet in Indonesian waters. All of the Marine-Luchtvaartdienst‘s Fokker floatplanes were all destroyed by the Japanese or burned on the ground by their crews before the Islands fell, not taking any effective part in the war.
When the Japanese captured Surabaya later that year, they raised the old De Zeven Provinciën/Soerabaja and used her as a floating anti-aircraft battery for the rest of the war. In late 1943, Allied airstrikes sank her for a second time five miles North of Djamoengan Reef where her hulked remains are today.
Her name was recycled as that of a 12,000-ton light cruiser in 1950 that was sold to Peru in 1976.
HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën in 1967 operating with HS-5 SH-3 Sea Kings and USS Essex
She is further remembered today in the modern HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën (F802), a frigate, in commission with the Royal Netherlands navy since 2002.
Part of the old DZP is ashore and remembered in Indonesia:
One of De Zeven Provinsein’s massive 11-inchers at the Museum TNI AL Loka Jala Crana in Surabaya It was salvaged and placed there in 1969.
Specs:
Displacement: 6,530 tons
Length: 101.5 m (333 ft 0 in)
Beam: 17.1 m (56 ft 1 in)
Draught: 6.15 m (20 ft 2 in)
Propulsion: 8,000 hp (6,000 kW), two shafts powered by 8 Werkspoor -Yarrow boilers
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h), 5000nm range @8kts with 800 tons of coal bunkered. Less than 8kts after 1936.
Complement: 452 as-built
Armament: 2×11.1 in Krupp L/42,5 guns (28 cm) (2 × 1), 100 rounds per gun carried.
4x150mm (5.9 in) (4 × 1)
10x75mm (3.0 in) (10 × 1)
4x1pdr (4 × 1)
After 1936:
2×11.1 in (28 cm) (2 × 1), possibly inoperable.
6x40mm AAA (deck)
2x.50 caliber HMG (focsle)
After 1942: Various Japanese MGs and AAA cannon
Armour: 2 in (5.1 cm) deck
5.9 in (15 cm) belt
7.75 in (19.7 cm) barbette
8 in (20 cm) conning Tower
9.8 in (25 cm) turret
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!
The Dutch Navy has been in the business of fighting pirates for centuries so this is simply an extension of their age-old mission
(click larger)
HNLMS Evertsen (F805) (Dutch: Zr.Ms. Evertsen) is the fourth De Zeven Provinciën class frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
Commissioned in 2005, the 6000-ton, 472-foot frigate is armed with a 127mm gun forward, a 40-cell VLS with SM-2 and ESSM missiles, harpoons, Goalkeeper, ASW torpedo tubes and a helicopter. For her 2008 and 2009 deployments in support of Operation Atalanta which normally has 4-7 EUFOR ships assigned to patrol off the Somali coast, she also carried nearly a dozen M2 12.7mm and M240 7.62mm machine-gun mounts, you know, for those pesky pirates.
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 Jan 8, 2014 The Brave Perth
Happy new year and thanks for dropping by. Here we see HMAS Perth (D29) of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in a beautiful camouflage pattern sometime around 1941.
Perth in 1940, Sydney
Perth was a modified Leander-class light cruiser. At 6800-tons with a 31-knot speed, her armament of eight 6-inch Mk XXIII naval guns and another eight 4-inch guns along with eight 21-inch torpedo tubes was packed into her 565-foot long hull. They were based on the York-class heavy cruiser, but with smaller guns. Smaller than the destroyers of today, the Leander-class were some of the finest light cruisers in the Commonwealth. Her seven sisters included the illustrious cruisers Ajax and Achilles (of Graf Spee fame) as well as the famous HMAS Sydney, killer of both the German cruiser Kormoran and Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni.
The Perth was brought into the world as the HMS Amphion of the Royal Navy, 15 June 1936, after spending three years under construction at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard. Transferred to the RAN officially on 29 June 1939, she was given the name HMAS Perth. As such, she was the last cruiser ever commissioned in the Australian Navy.
When WWII broke out she was visiting South America and spent 1939-41 in hard service in the Med. She saw hot action off Syria, fought hard at the Battle of Cape Matapan, helped evac Crete, and ran the Malta gauntlet. When war came to the Pacific she sailed back home, joining the ill-fated ABDA fleet under Dutch Rear-Admiral Doorman. Running headlong into the Japanese Navy, she became involved in the Battle of Sunda Strait on the night of Feb28-Mar1 1942.
Perth, along with the 9200-ton Northampton-class heavy cruiser USS Houston and the Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen, stumbled across 58 Japanese transports crammed with troops. Normally this would have been a field day for the small Allied force, but the troop carriers were escorted by the Imperial Japanese Navy’s 7th Cruiser Division, under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita. This force included five modern cruisers including the giant twin 14,000-ton supercruisers Mogami and Mikuma and a dozen destroyers.
The force was doomed but still fought it out, blocked at both sides of the straits by the huge Japanese force. Over 90 Long Lance torpedoes fired at the two ABDA cruisers by Japanese destroyers while the cruisers slugged it out at long-range. Four Japanese torpedoes hit the Perth near simultaneously, dooming her.
During the abandon ship operation Perth was under fire from several destroyers at close range and many hits were scored and casualties caused. Many were killed or wounded in the water by the explosion of the last two torpedoes and by shells exploding in the water. Of the Perth’s crew of 681, only 218 were repatriated. Many became prisoners of war and were incarcerated in camps near Batavia, Java.
The Perth, Houston, and Evertsen all went to the bottom of the strait that night but were joined by a number of Japanese troopships, themselves victim of friendly fire Long Lances. Apparently once a torpedo hits the water, it has no friends.
Perth‘s wreck lies in approximately 35 meters of water and unfortunately is very heavily visited not only by recreational divers but by salvors.
Recently, illegal salvage operations have attacked the Perth, now considered a war memorial. These buzzards of the sea have completely removed the “mid section above deck, where the bridge was, has been completely removed, the bow guns have been damaged by what appears to be explosives with the barrels missing and the tops peeled of [sic], the bow has collapsed completely.”
“Although it is hard to be certain, but as the metal that was the superstructure is all missing and is not lying around as debris it looks although we could be wrong like purposeful attempt to salvage the steel. She has been hammered and the once impressive six-inch A1 and A2 turrets are gone, the bow is flat and… the wreck is more hazardous than before – even for general swimming around, with lots of live ordinance, wire and overhanging metal.”
Gratefully, in 1967 her binnacle, bridge voice pipe and ship’s bell were retrieved by divers. They are currently on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Specs
Displacement: 6,830 tons (standard)
Length: 562 ft 3.875 in (171.39603 m) overall
530 ft (160 m) between perpendiculars
Beam: 56 ft 8 in (17.27 m)
Draught: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
Installed power: 72,000 shaft horsepower (54,000 kW)
Propulsion: 4 x Parsons geared turbines
4 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers
4 shafts
Speed: 31.7 knots (58.7 km/h; 36.5 mph)
Range: 6,060 nautical miles (11,220 km; 6,970 mi) at 22.7 knots (42.0 km/h; 26.1 mph)
1,780 nautical miles (3,300 km; 2,050 mi) at 31.7 knots (58.7 km/h; 36.5 mph)
Complement: 646 (35 officers, 611 ratings) standard
681 at time of loss (includes six RAAF and four civilians)
Armament:
8 × BL 6-inch Mk XXIII naval guns (4 × 2)
8 × 4-inch Mk XVI guns (4 × 2)
12 x 0.5-inch machine guns (3 × 4)
10 x 0.303-inch machine guns (10 × 1)
8 × 21-inch torpedo tubes (2 × 4)
Aircraft carried: 1 × seaplane (a Supermarine Walrus)
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO)
They are possibly one of the best sources of naval lore http://www.warship.org/naval.htm
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!
ATLANTIC OCEAN (Dec. 08, 2013) The guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) fires its MK 45 5-inch gun at a simulated target. Truxtun is conducting its final pre-deployment evaluation with the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group to achieve mission readiness and the ability to work alongside international allies in the execution of the Navy’s maritime strategy. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Scott Barnes/Released) Click image for larger
131209-N-QL471-108
SOUDA BAY, Greece (Dec. 10, 2013) Seaman Recruit Thomas Hyatt, left, Seaman Apprentice Leonard Shepard and Seaman Recruit Benjamin Nunez perform preservation on the anchor aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) while the ship is moored in Souda Bay for a port visit. Monterey is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Billy Ho/Released)
USS Monterey (CG-61) is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She is named for the Battle of Monterrey at Monterrey, Nuevo León during the Mexican-American War in 1846 and commissioned in 1990. Her anchors are gold in referece to the Retention Excellence Award which is given by the United States Department of the Navy for sustaining superior levels of military retention. The award was established by the United States Fleet Forces Command through the Fleet Retention Excellence Program. Deployable Navy ships are authorized to paint their anchors gold as a symbol of earning the award.
Ships Specs
Displacement: Approx. 9,600 long tons (9,800 t) full load
Length: 567 feet (173 m)
Beam: 55 feet (16.8 meters)
Draught: 34 feet (10.2 meters)
Propulsion:
4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines, 80,000 shaft horsepower (60,000 kW)
2 × controllable-reversible pitch propellers
2 × rudders
Speed: 32.5 knots (60 km/h)
Complement: 33 officers, 27 Chief Petty Officers, and approx. 340 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
AN/SPY-1A/B multi-function radar
AN/SPS-49 air search radar
AN/SPG-62 fire control radar
AN/SPS-73 surface search radar
AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar
AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite
AN/SQQ-89(V)1/3 – A(V)15 Sonar suite, consisting of:
AN/SQS-53B/C/D active sonar
AN/SQR-19 TACTAS, AN/SQR-19B ITASS, & MFTA passive sonar
AN/SQQ-28 light airborne multi-purpose system
Armament: 2 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems
122 × Mix of RIM-66M-5 Standard SM-2MR Block IIIB, RIM-156A SM-2ER Block IV, RIM-161 SM-3, RIM-162A ESSM, RIM-174A Standard ERAM, BGM-109 Tomahawk, or RUM-139A VL-ASROC
8 × RGM-84 Harpoon missiles
2 × Mk 45 Mod 2 5 in / 54 cal lightweight gun
2 × 25 mm Mk 38 gun
2–4 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) gun
2 × Phalanx CIWS Block 1B
2 × Mk 32 12.75 in (324 mm) triple torpedo tubes for lightweight torpedoes
Aircraft carried: 2 × Sikorsky SH-60B or MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters.
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 January 1, 2014 The Baron The U Boat and the Sea Serpent
Here we see SM U-28, a Type 27 U-Boat of Kaiser Wilhem’s Kaiserlachemarine during World War One. For such a diminutive ship, she has a fascinating service record to say the least.
Ordered 19 February 1912 from Kaiserliche Werft, Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland), she was built to the doppelganger design of her sister boat, U-27 (who was later the first submarine to ever sink another in warfare when she sent the British submarine HMS E3 to the bottom of the North Sea in October 1914). The U-28 was large for her time but still very small by today’s standards– what would be called a ‘Baltic Boat’ similar to those built and operated by the Swedish Navy these days. She was but 213 feet long and weighed 878 when ballasted submerged. Her mild steel hull was tested to 50 meters (164 feet). She had very long legs for a small boat, capable of traveling nearly 10,000 miles on her efficient diesel-electric suite. When commissioned 26 June 1914 (two days before the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, lighting the fuse to the First World War) her first captain was (Baron) Freiherr Georg-Günther von Forstner.
A propaganda post card which was given as a token of appreciation to participants in the fund-raising campaign for supporting the submarine warfare of the First World War. Painted by seascape artist Willy Stöwer (1864-1931), a personal artist friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II, it depicts a scene from the so-called “traders warfare” (Handelskrieg). A submarine very much like a U27 type sinks a British merchant ship, while her crew has boarded the life boats and are rowing away. (KFB Collection).
U28, as part of IV Underseebotte Flotilla took to the war with earnest. Between 1914-1917 she completed four patrols, sinking 39 ships totaling 93,782 tons. She further damaged another 2 ships damaged totaling 11,188 tons, and took two ships prize totaling 3,226 tons for a total of 104,589 tons of shipping. Almost all 43 of these vessels were small merchant ships under 5,000-tons of British, Belgian, Dutch and Norwegian flags.
Note we said he captured two ships as prizes. Like a pirate. Just sailed out of port, grabbed a pair of steamers, and sailed back in with them one spring day in 1915.
Here we see U28 coming heading out from Zeebrugbee with the tender W2. Even though the tender is a small ship, she still dwarfs the U28. The below series of pictures, taken by a neutral Dutch photographer, were published by the British paper Graphic on March 27, 1915, show the sequence of events of the U28 capturing both the Batavia and the 1657ton Zaanstroom just an hour later.
While under the Baron’s command, U28 sighted the British steamer SS Iberian, 5223-tons , on 30 July 1915. After sending her to the bottom, the captain and crew observed the wreckage, seeing what can only be termed as a 65-foot long crocodile-like sea serpent.
According to the Baron’s own statement archived here :
“the description of an animal estimated at 20 meters in length, seen by me and some of the crew of the submarine U28 on 30 July 1915 in the Atlantic Ocean; [it] was sighted on the starboard side, about 60 nautical miles south of Fastnet Rock, off the southwest corner of Ireland, after the sinking of the British steamer Iberian. This animal was hurled some 20 or 30m into the air by an underwater explosion about 25 seconds after the sinking of that vessel, thrown full length from the water. It is possible that this was caused by the detonation of an explosive device on board, the existence of which we assumed was concealed in the ship’s papers, or from a small boiler explosion… This explosion certainly could have been the result of a detonation, but in my opinion only the bursting of the spaces deep inside the ship could have produced such air pressure.
The animal was about 20 meters long and crocodile-like in shape, with pairs of strong front and hind legs adapted for swimming, and a long head that tapered towards the nose… Our senior engineering officer, marine engineer Romeihs, watched the animal for 10 to 15 seconds at a distance of about 150 to 100m in bright sunshine with the aid of powerful glasses.”
We aren’t making this up.
The description is believed by many to mirror that of the (believed extinct) Tylosaurus a large, predatory marine lizard of the Late Cretaceous period closely related to modern monitor lizards and to snakes. Too bad the term ‘pictures or it didnt happen’ wasn’t popular then.
The Good Baron von Forstner completed his war service in apparently a desk-bound training capacity, no longer at the helm of
a U-boat. That’s what you get when you spy a sea sepent and put it in the ship’s log. He had his journal detailing his wartime experience published logically enough as, “The Journal of Submarine Commander Von Forstner” ( free Libravox audio book here) (Gutenburg Text version here for free ) which has been in the public domain for decades.
(Read it, its pretty good stuff)
The Baron did, however, live to a ripe old age of 58 dying in 1940. His nephew was none other than Korvettenkapitän Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner, winner of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes for his 70,000-tons of shipping sunk in WWII while skipper of U-402 (which included the armed yacht Cythera, a past Warship Wednesday ship). Small world.
Well, back to the story of the U28.
She went back out to sea under a series of three more captains until her final skipper, Georg Schmidt, assumed command on 15 January, 1917. On her last patrol she found herself face to face on 2 Sep 1917 with the 4649-ton British steamer SS Olive Branch 85 miles north-by-northeast of North Cape, Norway in the Arctic Sea. The Olive Branch, most unlike her name, was loaded to the gills with munitions, lorries, and artillery shells for the Russian military machine. After sending a torpedo into her, U28 closed in to assess the damage to the stricken ship. It was then that the steamer’s hold detonated, sending deck cargo– including a number of vehicles– skyward. One of these flying trucks landed square on U28 and holed her, sending the boat and all 39 of her men to the bottom.
Her final location is unknown.
So there you have the true story of the pirate German submarine that tangled with a sea serpent and, in turn, was sunk by a truck.
Specs
Displacement: 685 tons surfaced
878 tons submerged
Length: 64.7 m (212.3 ft)
Beam: 6.32 m (20.7 ft)
Draught: 3.48 m (11.4 ft)
Speed: 16.4 knots (30.4 km/h) surfaced
9.8 knots (18.1 km/h) submerged
Range: 9,770 nautical miles (18,090 km) at 8 knots (15 km/h) surfaced
85 nautical miles (157 km) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h) submerged
Test depth: 50 m (164.0 ft)
Armament:
4 x 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes
1 x 8.8 cm (3.46 in) deck gun (listed as 105mm in some sources), note line drawing shows two deck guns as fitted to the later U29 and U30.
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO)
They are possibly one of the best sources of naval warship research and has since 1964 publishes Warship International
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!
BBC Magazine has a great article told from interviews with former sailors of the HMS Ocelot. HMS Ocelot (S17) was an Oberon-class diesel-electric submarine laid down by HM Dockyard at Chatham in Kent and commissioned in 1964. The small 2000-ton/295-foot ‘O-boat’ served the RN for a quarter century before being turned into a museum ship in 1991.
HMS Ocelot with her paying off pennant
“”The submarine stank,” says Dixie. “It stank of diesel, sweat, fags and food. Water was rationed, particularly if you were going on a sneaky [a spying operation] because you didn’t know how long you’d be gone for. There was only a small bowlful a week to wash and shave in. So no-one bothered.”
Even worse, on long patrols, bags of rubbish built up and festered in the gangways. “It couldn’t be got off the boat as it would give away our position to the enemy”, explains Billy. “So it stayed there until we could dispose of it safely.”
The crew could wear what they wanted once the boat had put to sea. Known as “pirate rig” this was often just a pair of old jeans or shorts and a top, which were rarely changed. Billy recalls Dixie’s socks would “stick to the wall” if thrown. He’s also alleged to have worn a teddy boy suit and brothel creepers, although Dixie denies this. ”
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 December 25th The Christmas Ship of the Fleet
Commissioned 12 March 1943, the USS Cascade was an unsung hero of the fleet. With the destroyers of the time very minimally equipped, they needed a floating hotel/storeship/repair shop to tie up to from time to time and give the crew some rest, some better food, restock the groceries on the destroyer, and fix what was broken. With just this task in mind, the Cascade was dubbed Destroyer Tender Number 16 (AD-16).
She followed the fleet from Kwajalein, to Eniwetok, to Ulithi. Holding true to her motto ‘We Serve’ USS Cascade in her three years of war serviced more than a thousand ships. Most of these, as the ship’s name would imply, were destroyers, patrol frigates, and destroyer escorts which often saw the Cascade 4-5 times in that three-year period. In addition, the ship tended “175 landing craft (LST, LCI, LCM, LSD, and LCS), almost 100 sub-chasers, 60 transports, 32 cargo ships, 56 tankers, 37 mine sweepers, 10 cruisers, 7 aircraft carriers, and a miscellaneous group of other types neighboring around one hundred in number.”
“Due to the long supply line which commenced to make itself felt in November 1943, the USS Cascade was dovetailed into another assignment in addition to her original assignment. While machine shops hummed the new job added to the increasing tempo of the ship’s activity. During the two years of this duty, ten thousand tons of fresh and dry provisions were received and issued. Five hundred and fifty-one tons of clothing were issued and an equal number of tons of ship’s store stock was sold by the ship. The combined value of these issues amounted to more than five million 1944 dollars. ”
When you were close to the Cascade, everyday was Christmas. While at Ulithi she stored a library of nearly a thousand movies that were passed around the fleet at anchorage. It also didn’t hurt that the ice-cream barge capable of making thousands of gallons of sweet geedunk a day was nearby. She was effectively the Blockbuster of the atoll. It was the service and support of the unseen tenders like Cascade that helped keep the fleet forward deployed and not tied to logistics harbors and shipyards in California. Had there been no Cascades, there could have been no victory in the naval war in the far-flung Pacific. The base was far from the ‘rear’ though as one of her anchorage mates, the fleet oiler Mississinewa (AO-59), while at anchor in the harbor next to Cascade, was struck and sunk by Japanese torpedoes in 1944.
USS_Zane (DD-337)
While at Ulithi the next month, Cascade served as a floating courtroom for the inquiry into Halsey’s Typhoon (Typhoon Cobra) with no less than Admiral Nimitz himself in attendance. In the audience was one LT(JG) Herman Wouk, who was at the time a junior officer of the old Clemson-class four piper minesweeper destroyer USS Zane (DD-337/DMS-14/AG-109). The Zane was one of Cascades baby ducklings and Wouk, as you may know, went on to write The Caine Mutiny which has a strong element of UCMJ/Naval CIS to its tale. As far as the inquiry on the Cascade went, the inquiry found that though Halsey had committed an error of judgement in sailing the Third Fleet into the heart of the typhoon that cost the lives of 790 men and three ship, it stopped short of unambiguously recommending sanction.
Cascade saw active combat in 1945, moving to a small cove of Kerama Retto on Okinawa where she repaired and patched up beaten ships that had survived kamikaze attacks just miles from her. While there, her crew endured their own share of plane and suicide boat attacks without damage.
The Christmas of 1945
Just a few months after the end of the War, the Cascade came to rest in Wakeyama, Japan, where she served as the floating storehouse for the fleet in the Japanese home waters. There her Christmas was special.
The following brief history of the USS Cascade from her commissioning until the end of the war was included in the Christmas 1945 menu. At the time the Commanding officer was Captain Louis T. Young, USN and the Executive Officer was Comdr. T.W. Hardisty, USN. Captain Young’s Christmas message was as follows:
“To all Officers and the Crew: It is my pleasure and privilege to wish you all, individually and collectively, the best of Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years. May the following ones be even better.”
Lt-Comdr. Hardisty’s Christmas message was as follows: “The Christmas season is one when our thoughts are drawn to happy memories of the past and of happier things to come. It is my sincere wish for you all that this Christmas season be a very happy one and that the New Year will be filled with many blessings.”
The Christmas menu included: Cream of Tomato Soup, Ripe Olives, Sweet Pickles, Roast Tom Turkey, Giblet Gravy, Sage Dressing, Cranberry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Buttered Peas, Parker House Rolls, Fruit Cake, Mince Pie, Ice Cream, Cigars, Cigarettes, Coffee.
The Cascade still had a lot of life left in her. Spending 1947-51 in the Reserve fleet at Philadelphia, she was recommissioned and spent twenty years forward deployed across the Atlantic and Med as a tender and flagship. She was decommissioned on 22 November 1974, stricken, and sold for her value as scrap metal the next fall. Her role in the fleet was assumed by the much larger (20263 tons) destroyer tender USS Yellowstone which was laid down the following year.
Specs
Displacement: 9,250 long tons (9,398 t)
Length: 492 ft (150 m)
Beam: 69 ft 9 in (21.26 m)
Draft: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
Fuel Capacity
NSFO 17,360 Bbls
Propulsion
one General Electric turbine
two Foster & Wheeler D-type boilers 460psi, 765°
double Westinghouse Main Reduction Gear
three 100Kw 450V. A. C. Ship’s Service Generators
single propeller, 8,500shp
Speed: 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement: 600 original, over 1200 by 1944
Armament: • 2 × 5″/38 caliber guns (reduced to single mount 1951)
4 × quad 1.1″/75 caliber guns (removed 1944)
three twin 40mm AA gun mounts (1944-47)
two quad 20mm AA gun mounts (1944-47)
12 × single 20 mm AA guns (removed 1951)
4x 12.7mm M2 guns (mounted 1950s)
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