Category Archives: military art

Aiming for both Structural Integrity and Historical Accuracy

Posted on by Leave a comment

The Gato-class fleet boat USS Cobia (SS-245), a WWII museum sub in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is heading to Fincantieri in September to undergo essential dry dock maintenance for the first time since 1996. Credited with having sunk a total of 16,835 tons of Japanese shipping across four war patrols, the dry docking will address maintaining her structural integrity.

However, when it comes to restoring and maintaining the historical accuracy of these old fleet boats, the USS Cod museum has been hard at work experimenting with Cobia with in manufacturing replica period submarine parts that have been missing from these vessels for decades.

That’s when 3-D printed replacements come into play.

Muddy Rampage

Posted on by Leave a comment

It happened 80 years ago this week.

Official period caption: “Soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division walk past mud-clogged tanks parked by the side of the road on Okinawa. 26 May 1945.”

U.S. Signal Corps Photo SC 208600. U.S. National Archives

The “tanks” are actually one of the more rarely seen armored vehicles in American service in WWII, the M8 Scott, an early 75mm self-propelled howitzer.

Offically known as “Howitzer Motor Carriage M8,” it picked up the easier moniker in a ode to “Old Fuss n Feathers” himself, Gen.Winfield Scott– the War of 1812 vet who lead the Army during the war with Mexico and the first year of the Civil War who later passed away at West Point just shy of his 80th birthday.

The M8 HMC was an interesting stop-gap vehicle. It used the hull, engine, tracks, and guts of the M5 Stuart light tank. It then substituted the 37mm popgun and the Stuart’s tiny turret for a new open-topped turret armed with a 75mm L18 M2 or M3 howitzer—an artillery piece that was essentially just an M1 howitzer modified for use in a vehicle.

Some 1,778 Scotts were made by the Cadillac division of General Motors from September 1942 to January 1944, and they were very useful in hill fighting due to the high angle of their guns.

“Members of the 758th Light Tank Bn. (Colored) fire their 75mm howitzer in support of infantry movements on the Fifth Army front. 4 April, 1945.” SC 329839

SC 329839 758th Light Tank Bn M8 Scott April 1945 4 April, 1945

M8 Scott HMC 75 howitzer passing a knocked-out Panther

Note that this M8 HMC is named “Laxative.”

M8 troop E, 106th Cavalry Recon Group, Karlsbrunn 6 February 1945

Post-war, they were quickly withdrawn, replaced with 105mm SPGs, but they went on to serve with U.S. allies such as Mexico and the KMT Army in exile in Taiwan for another two decades. They saw particularly hard Cold War service in Vietnam, first by the French and then by the Cambodians and South Vietnamese who inherited them.

M8 Scott 75mm howitzer motor carrier, October 1950, Pingtung exercise, ROC Taiwan, KMT

May 8, 1952 – French Indochina. A 75mm M8 howitzer advances on the Lang Khe road. Ref.: TONK 52-122 R37. © Raymond Varoqui/ECPAD/Defense

You Call this Ship a Destroyer Escort…

Posted on by Leave a comment

Talk about a recruiting poster.

Here we see the Edsall-class destroyer escort USS Martin H. Ray (DE-338) knifing through the Atlantic with a bone in her teeth while on a Convoy run, circa 1944-45

NHHC Catalog #: 26-G-4502

Named for the engineering officer on USS Hammann (DD 412) who earned a Navy Cross the hard way during the Battle of Midway, DE-338 was built in Orange, Texas, christened by the widow of Lt. Ray, and commissioned 28 February 1944.

Finishing her shakedown, she rode shotgun on 14 Atlantic convoys over the course of the next year– without losing a ship– then was transferred to the Pacific in August 1945, just too late for the war against Japan, capping her service on Magic Carpet runs.

Decommissioned in May 1947 after a career that lasted just over three years, she was laid up at Green Cove Springs, Florida, for two decades, then sold for scrap.

The only submarine museum in Africa has reopened

Posted on by Leave a comment

The French-built Daphne-class submarine SAS Johanna van der Merwe (S99) was ordered in 1967 by South Africa for use by the SAN, one of 26 of Daphnes constructed during the Cold War for service in six different fleets around the world.

Commissioned in 1971, “JDM” gave lots of shadowy and unsung service during the assorted “Bush Wars” in the 1970s and 80s in which South Africa was a proxy for the West against the Soviets in Angola and Mozambique.

SAS Johanna van der Merwe Daphne-class submarine South African Navy by Tim Johnson

She reportedly took part in at least ten clandestine special operations, dropping commandos behind enemy lines. However, Söderlund details at least 11 commando runs by JDM as: Op Extend (June 1978), Op Lark 1, Op Bargain (January 1979), Op Artist (February/March 1980), Op Nobilis (July 1984), Op Legaro (September 1984), Op Magic (March 1985), Op Argon (May 1985), Op Cide (February/March 1986), Op Drosdy (May/June 1986), and Op Appliance (May/June 1987).

Kept in operation somehow despite layers of embargoes, she outlasted the Apartheid era in South Africa and was renamed SAS Assegaai in 1997 with the change in government in Jo’Burg.

Decommissioned in 2003 after a 32-year career, her three sisters in SAN service were cut up for scrap, but a shoestring operation over the past 22 years has finally saved her. While she spent a few years as a floating museum before closing to the public in 2015, the “Silent Stalker” is now preserved on shore in Simon’s Town. 

South Africa – Cape Town – 30 April 2025 – The Naval Heritage Trust (NHT) celebrated the official opening of the SAS Assegaai Submarine Museum in Simon’s Town. This milestone marks the culmination of years of dedication and hard work by NHT volunteers, donors, and stakeholders. This also happens to be the first submarine museum in Africa, a valuable tourism drawcard for the Western Cape. SAS Assegaai, formerly known as SAS Johanna van der Merwe, was a Daphné-class submarine of the South African Navy. Launc

South Africa – Cape Town – 30 April 2025 – The Naval Heritage Trust (NHT) celebrated the official opening of the SAS Assegaai Submarine Museum in Simon’s Town. This milestone marks the culmination of years of dedication and hard work by NHT volunteers, donors, and stakeholders. This also happens to be the first submarine museum in Africa, a valuable tourism drawcard for the Western Cape. SAS Assegaai, formerly known as SAS Johanna van der Merwe, was a Daphné-class submarine of the South African Navy. Launc

Warship Wednesday, May 21, 2025:  Mess with the Goat, You Get the Horns

Posted on by One comment

Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”

Warship Wednesday, May 21, 2025:  Mess with the Goat, You Get the Horns

Swedish Marinmuseum photo MM01624

Above, we see a trio of happy ratings (Besättningsmen) aboard the unique Flygplanskryssare (aircraft cruiser) HSwMS Gotland, likely in the late 1930s. One of the warship’s Bofors 6″/55 guns makes a cameo in the upper left corner. Behind the Swedish bluejackets are at least four Hawker Osprey S9 scout floatplanes with room on the rails to spare, showing that Gotland was no ordinary cruiser.

While Sweden often gets written off for its impact during WWII, the country, particularly this ship, made a key difference that made history some 84 years ago this week.

Meet Gotland

Our subject came about following the increased use of aircraft by the Swedish Navy in their summer maneuvers in 1925, which pointed to the dire need for a persistent seagoing aircraft carrier/tender of sorts.

From the 1926 report (mechanically translated):

The air forces assigned to an operating naval force now appear to be an indispensable, fully integrated part of the naval force, and numerous experiences from our fleet’s annually recurring exercises show that the air force’s participation in naval operations cannot be limited to sporadic engagements, but must be permanent and immediate.

As a stopgap, the old 3,600-ton coastal battleship Dristigheten was refitted as a seaplane carrier (flygmoderfaryget). With this conversion, she lost her big guns (two 210mm/44cal. Bofors M/1898s and six 152mm/44cal. Bofors M/98s) as well as her two torpedo tubes, trading them in for a few smaller caliber AAAs and the capability to handle as many as four floatplanes as well as tend small craft such as patrol boats and coastal gunboats. Her magazine space was largely converted to avgas bunkerage.

Dristigheten as seaplane tender

Dristigheten as seaplane tender

The Swedish Navy’s Marinens Flygväsende (MFV) at the time flew a host of early Friedrichshafen and Hansa models with Dristigheten lifting these reconnaissance seaplanes from her deck to take off on the water and retrieving them from the drink on their return. In her later years, she carried Heinkel HD 16/19s.

A more permanent fix would be preferable for two ships intended from the keel up to support aircraft. That’s where Gotland and her unrealized sister came in.

Gotland was designed to be a Swiss Army knife of sorts, carrying both a decent main battery, torpedo tubes, extensive aviation facilities meant to support a squadron of up to a dozen aircraft, as well as both minesweeping and minelaying gear. Her original plan was of a 5,600-ton, 460-foot hybrid aviation cruiser that included six 6-inch guns in three twin turrets, two forward and one rear, as well as two catapults and a rear hangar/aviation deck. It was also thought she would be able to run at up to 29 knots.

The original Gotland concept, as depicted in the 1929 Jane’s.

However, money being tight, the design was shortchanged, still with a six-gun main battery but with two of those carried in antiquated casemate mounts (this in the 1930s!). Also, she would not have a hangar, would only carry one catapult, and while able to carry 12 aircraft in theory, the government only allotted enough funds for six. She also shrank some 34 feet in length and lost a corresponding 340 tons in weight.

Correspondingly, using an upgraded form of the 24,000 shp machinery used by the Swedish 36-knot Ehrenskold-class destroyers (four oil-fired Penhoet boilers up from three Thornycroft boilers, in both cases supplying steam to two De Laval steam turbines), Gotland could make 27.5 knots on her 33,000 shp plant. Armor was just a slight smear over the machinery, turrets, and conning tower, generally just at or over 1 inch of steel.

Jane’s 1931. What a difference two years make.

A postcard of the new Gotland is seen in exceptionally clean condition with a single Osprey on her flight deck. D 14983:38

Postcard showing the new aircraft cruiser in fleet operations with a bone in her teeth. The three aircraft in tight formation look to be added to the photo. B132:8

Gotland showing off her Bofors 6″/55 with two guns shown left foreground in one of her high-angle turrets and one of her two casemated variants seen to the right background. She was the only non-American ship (Omaha class cruisers) of the age to have some of her main guns in casemates, with every other navy relegating the secondary guns to such use. Also note the paravane, one of at least four carried. I669

Her stern 6″/55 Bofors gun house. The crew is gathered on deck to celebrate the ship’s champion rowing team. D 15044:111

One of her twin 75mm /60 Bofors M/28 luftvärnskanon. She carried two such mounts in addition to a light battery of six 25mm Ivakan M/32 guns and four 8mm machine guns. D 15123:4

Like most cruisers of her era, she also carried a decent torpedo battery consisting of two trainable triple M/34 533mm tubes on turnstiles.

A set of Gotland’s torpedo tubes being fired during her long 1937-38 voyage. MM11659:28

She had a smoke generator (Dimbildning) equipment of the sort traditionally seen on smaller craft such as torpedo boats, seen her in action off her stern. MM01622

She was also equipped with extensive minesweeping gear, including four large paravanes, stored on the deck forward of the superstructure.

The crew of the aircraft cruiser Gotland runs around a windlass to pull up the ship’s anchors the old-fashioned way. Note a large paravane on deck. D 15044_70

When it came to her aviation operations, her aircraft were launched via an onboard catapult firing process (katapultskjutning) and recovered via crane. While her initial theory was that she would carry 12 aircraft in a hangar, this was deleted for cost reasons, and all storage and maintenance were done on an open deck, although a complicated canvas awning system could be installed if needed. It soon proved that she could only store five aircraft and use her catapult at the same time, which ironically made six aircraft the magic number anyway.

The aircraft of choice was a special version of the Hawker Osprey floatplane (the British Fleet Air Arm used 124 of the type), termed the Spaningsflygplan (reconnaissance aircraft) 9 in Swedish service. This made sense as the Swedes already had 42 Hawker Harts, which were essentially the same plane but without floats, used as light bombers. Sent to Stockholm in kits, they were outfitted with Swedish NOHAB (licensed-built Bristol Pegasus IM2) My VI 9-cylinder 600 hp engines rather than the standard 630 hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel.

Similarly, while British variants carried a synchronized forward-firing Vickers and a flexible Lewis gun for the observer, the S9 had a Swedish 8mm Flygplankulspruta ksp m/22Fh (Carl Gustaf made FN-licensed air-cooled M1919 Browning) fixed with 500 rounds while the back seater had a flex variant of the same gun, the ksp m/22R. Speed was about 140 knots while range was only about 400nm. In a pinch, 500 pounds of bombs could be carried underwing.

The Swedish Air Force ordered a grand total of six S9 Hawker Osprey, which were given reg no. 401 to 406; the picture shows machine no. 403 ashore on float dollies with her wings folded. The planes were delivered from 1934 and were mainly stationed at Hägernäs when not aboard the aircraft cruiser Gotland. Land-based after 1942, S9s served until 1947 when they were retired, seeing late life service as target tugs. Fo220033

Gotland in the summer of 1938, showing her deck full of Hawker Osprey S9s. MM01503

A Hawker Osprey S 9 seaplane aboard Gotland with its wings stowed, summer 1935. D 15044:62

An S9 ready to go on a crossbeam catapult (katapulten) in the summer of 1935. Note the stern 6″/55 guns are raised at the maximum elevation to allow a clear path. D 15044:63

Another great Hawker Osprey S 9 motif, showing one aircraft on the catapult with crew aboard, ready to go while a second aircraft is stowed to the left. D 15123:3

An engineering petty officer on Gotland’s catapult (katapulten) control stand. MM01623

Catapult in action with an S9 humming off for a sortie. MM01626

Boom! D 15044:66

Recovering an S9 via crane. Note the large ensign on her bow and her open second deck, which had rails and chutes for 100 sea mines. B133:3

The aircraft could be shuttled around the handling deck via a rail system that interfaced with the floats.

A good view in the summer of 1935 showing an S-9 being readied to catapult off Gotland, with the rail system on display in the foreground. D 15044:61

Gotland at quay with her crew’s hammocks (hängmattor) drying in the breeze, summer 1935. You also get an unobstructed view of her forward casemated 6″/55 Bofors. Of note, her enlisted and petty officers were housed in the aft of the ship while officers were housed in single and double cabins forward, the reverse of most warships. D 15044:58

The aircraft cruiser Gotland at the Mobiliseringskajen (mobilization quay) at the Karlskrona naval base. I668

Laid down at Lindholmen, Göteborg/Götaverken, in 1930, our subject launched on 14 September 1933, christened by Crown Prince Gustav Adolf (later King Gustav VI). She was only the second Swedish warship to carry the name, with the first being a circa 1682 50-gun ship of the line that fought at Rügen in 1715.

Swedish aviation cruiser Gotland launched on 14th September 1933

After fitting out and trials, she was commissioned on 14 December 1934.

Her wartime assignment was to lead the modern destroyers of the Kustflottans, or Coastal Fleet, a job well suited as her draft was 18 feet at maximum load but could go as shallow as 15 when light. She would drill with these forces each summer.

Swedish warships in color, 1937 Stockholm Sverige is lead, Drottning Victoria second, then Gotland

Gotland dressed for inspection, summer 1938 Fo87354C

Meanwhile, during peacetime, she was an envoy for the country and a training tool for its fleet, deploying on an annual winter cruise between December and April, to warmer climes down south while the rest of the Swedish Navy was locked into the Baltic by ice.

Equipped with four generators (two diesel and two running off the steam turbines), Gotland had a saltwater evaporator and extensive reefers to allow for overseas cruises. Her endurance at 12 knots was well over 4,000nm.

She completed seven winter cruises before WWII halted such operations.

Gotland visiting Hamburg, December 1935. MM01621

The aircraft cruiser Gotland in Dartmouth in 1936. Perkins, Richard. Maritime Museum Archives/SMTM

Gotland in Bordeaux, late 1930s. Note the S9 on her deck. MM01635

Gotland in glasslike coastal waters, likely in the Baltic during a summer cruise. D 15120:2

War!

When Germany invaded Poland and France and Britain soon joined in what became WWII in September 1939, Gotland was undergoing an overhaul between her summer maneuvers and a planned winter overseas cruise. Rushed to completion, she made ready for war and joined the Kustflottan instead.

It was while serving on Swedish neutrality patrol (neutralitetsvakten) that, just after noon on 20 May 1941, Gotland’s aircraft spotted the new German battlewagon KMS Bismarck and her consort the cruiser Prinz Eugen and a destroyer screen in the Kattegat between Sweden and Norway. Closing to within visual distance an hour later, Gotland shadowed the Teutonic force for two hours and transmitted a report to naval headquarters, stating: “Two large ships, three destroyers, five escort vessels, and 10–12 aircraft passed Marstrand, course 205/20′.”

This report soon made its way to one Captain Henry Mangles Denham, RN, the British naval attaché in Stockholm, who duly transmitted the information to the Admiralty, and thus kicked off the great Hunt for Bismarck. Denham, a gentleman of the first sort who saw service on the battlewagon HMS Agamemnon as a midshipman of 16 in the Dardanelles in the Great War, had been seconded to Naval Intelligence in 1940 and, as you can see, was soon able to establish very good relations with the Swedish secret service. Just a week later, Bismarck was sunk– as was HMS Hood in the process.

The intelligence tip was the highlight of Gotland’s wartime service.

By the winter of 1943-44, it was decided that Gotland would be better suited to continue service as an anti-aircraft cruiser (Luftvärnskryssare) due to the fact that her aircraft were considered obsolete and anything heavier, such as the Saab 17 dive bomber, would need a more advanced catapult as they weighed over 9,000 pounds, over twice as much as the S9 Osprey Hawker.

Removed was all the aviation gear. She then packed on the Bofors AAA guns to include eight 40mm/56 K/60 M32s (6 of them in advanced power-controlled gyrostabilized mounts) and four (2×2) 20mm/63 K/66 M40s.

Postcard of Gotland, post Luftvärnskryssare conversion. B132:10

Looking over Gotland’s stern, post AAA conversion. MM04940

Gotland seen post-AAA conversion in her warpaint. Note the white identifying band to keep Swedish coastal artillery or submarines from lighting her up. Friendly fire isn’t. D 11085:4:64

And another great late war camo shot, circa 1944, this time in profile. IV857

Cold War, and another rebuild

In 1946, Sweden flirted with the idea of a more full-fledged light aircraft carrier/cruiser (hangarkryssare) with a hangar and a flight deck. Running some 8,100 tons (full), the 465-foot craft would be able to carry 20 Vampires backed up by a gun armament of eight 120mm guns in four turrets, 16 40mm guns in eight twin mounts, and 26 20mm guns.

The Swedish 1946 aircraft carrier hangarkryssare concept never got off the drawing board

This never came to pass, and, in the meantime, with the Swedes building two new cruisers, Gotland was relegated to use as the command ship of the Swedish naval academy (Sjostridsskolan) during the summer and returned to her traditional long winter voyages, completing 10 additional cruises after the war.

Gotland pier side in Rotterdam 13 March 1949. Dutch Nationaal Archief Bestanddeelnummer 903-2666

“HM Kr. Gotland, which was my home during the trip around Africa in the winter of 1948-49,” as noted by the photographer, crewman, Ernst Holger Laarson. The picture shows three launches racing while the ship’s crew stands at the railing and watches. On the port side, a steamer is moored. D 15075:2

Crossing the Line, winter 1948-49 cruise. The crew has gathered on deck to await the arrival of King Neptune’s envoy – the running elf (löparnisse) – for the christening of the line aboard the cruiser Gotland. By Ernst Holger Laarson. D 15075:12

Crossing the Line ceremony MM01689

The entire court of King Neptune has gathered for a group photo aboard the cruiser Gotland, winter 1948-49 cruise. By Ernst Holger Laarson. D 15075:16

Crossing Line December 1948 Löjtnant E.B.V. Tornérhjelm MM 14924

Swedish cruiser Gotland, on a visit to Rotterdam in June 1950, in AAA cruiser layout. Dutch Nationaal Archief Bestanddeelnummer 934-7038

Period Kodachrome by David Ingvar. “At sea off Morocco in 1951 with the cruiser Gotland.” Note the casemated guns are still aboard, probably one of the last warships with such an installation. B 1664:90

Looking over her stern, with the ensign flying, circa 1951. Note the ship’s band. Period Kodachrome by David Ingvar. B 1664:63

Ship’s band (Militärmusiker) assembled aft while in port, 1951. Note the heavy winter blues and the snow present on the roofs ashore. Period Kodachrome by David Ingvar. B 1664:67

Armed quarterdeck guard while in Casablanca, 1951. Note the blue winter jumper and cap, white gaiters, and distinctive four-cell SMG magazine pouch for the Husqvarna m/37-39 9mm sub gun. Period Kodachrome by David Ingvar. B 1664:94

Over the winter of 1953-54, she was overhauled and rebuilt for the second time in her career. The refit included radar (a British-supplied Type 293 short-range aerial-search) and triple racks (raketstall) for 103mm Bofors illumination rockets on each side of the 6″/55 gun houses. She also finally lost her casemate guns.

Her 1955 layout, showing clearly her radar fit and 103mm rocket racks on her main gun turrets. KR 3003

Gotland at sea, circa 1955-56. D 15093:4

Gotland’s 1955-56 cruise. D 15093:2

Seen on the pier side, ablaze in electric lights, circa 1955-56. D 15093:50

With the new cruisers added to the fleet and the Swedish Navy strapped for cash and manpower to keep three such vessels active, Gotland, even though she was just overhauled, was laid up in material reserve (materielberedadstand) as the winter of 1956 approached.

Jane’s 1960 entry on the old girl.

On 1 July 1960, she was marked for disposal and sold for scrap two years later.

Epilogue

She is well remembered in her home country. While she was in commission, she carried an extensive art collection and accumulated a series of goodwill relics from overseas port calls during her 17 winter training cruises. These, along with a tremendous number of logs and informal cruise books and ship’s papers, are retained by the Swedish Marinmuseum.

The Marinmuseum also has a wooden 26-inch scale model (Fartygsmodell) of Gotland in her flight cruiser arrangement that was constructed by Arne Åkermark at Europafilm in the 1940s.

MM 20681

They also have a larger 34-inch model made in the 1960s.

MM 25196

Swedish maritime artist Carl Gustaf Ahremark created a great image of the S9 Osprey in domestic service.

The third HSwMS Gotland is the class leader (A19) of a series of advanced AIP diesel-electric subs that joined the fleet in 1996.

Her motto, borrowing from the province of Gotland’s goat coat of arms, is the Latin “Gothus sum, cave cornua, (I’m a Goth, beware of the horns.) Photo: Saab.

As for Captain Henry Mangles Denham, RN, the British naval attaché who passed along Gotland’s report on Bismarck leading to the “release of the hounds,” he remained at his post in Stockholm until 1947, when he retired, capping 32 years of service to the crown. His cloak-and-dagger work in Scandinavia earned him one of the very few CMGs (Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George) given to naval officers and was also decorated by numerous Allied governments.

After leaving the service, Sir Henry, a keen member of the Royal Cruising Club and the Royal Yacht Squadron, cruised the Mediterranean in his yacht and during this period wrote his many guides to the seas and coasts of the region as well as volumes covering his military service. He passed in 1993, aged 96, leaving behind one son and two daughters.

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

 

***

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

***

If you like 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/membership.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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO, has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships, you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Sting Ray

Posted on by Leave a comment

Frozen in time, some 30 years ago.

A port bow view of the Spruance-class destroyer USS David R. Ray (DD-971) underway off San Diego, 8 January 1995.

Photo by PH3 Brewer. DN-SC-87-11564. National Archives Identifier 6419151.

Named in honor of HM2 Ray, who earned a posthumous MoH in Vietnam at the ripe old age of 24, DD-971, as with the rest of her class, was constructed at Pascagoula.

Commissioned 19 November 1977, she had an active career in the Pacific Fleet, conducting numerous Westpac cruises, extending to the sandbox where she ran interference with the Iranians in the Persian Gulf and clocked in during Desert Shield, earning a Southwest Asia Service Medal for the latter.

A test bed ship of sorts, she was the first ship to intercept a supersonic drone with the NATO RIM-7 Sea Sparrow then later became the Navy’s primary test platform for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) System, which you can see on her stern in the above shot, just aft of her No. 2. 5″/54 Mk 45 mount. She was later one of just two dozen “Sprucans” to substitute her 1970s ASROC mousetrap for a 61-cell VLS to sling Tomahawks.

Earning a trio of both Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations and Navy Expeditionary Medals across her abbreviated 23-year career, she was decommissioned in 2002 and later expended in a SINKEX.

Auto-Ordnance Shows off 250th Anniversary Army, Navy and Marine 1911s

Posted on by Leave a comment

With 1775 some 250 years in the rearview, Auto-Ordnance came to the recent NRA Annual Meetings in Atlanta with a trio of special new USGI .45s.

This year, besides the semiquincentennial of the start of the Revolutionary War, the Army will celebrate its official 250th birthday on June 14, followed by the Navy on October 13 and the Marines on November 10. To honor the services, Auto-Ordnance has three 250th Armed Forces Anniversary 1911s on tap.

Based on the company’s standard 80-series Government format M1911A1, complete with a GI profile slide, fixed sights, and curved mainspring housing, each variant will sport a dedicated Cerakote livery applied by Texas-based Altered Arsenal.

In each variant, the left slide will carry a “250 years of Service, 1775 – 2025” crest surrounded by laurel leaf etching. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Each pistol will have custom styling on the top of the slides that emulates the “gig line” of the respective services’ dress uniform, complete with buttons and belt buckle.

The Army variant (1911BKOC15) carries an OD Green Cerakote finish with Silver, Black, and Gold accents. The phrase “May God have mercy on my enemies because I won’t” is a well-known quote attributed to General George S. Patton.

The Navy variant (1911BKOC16) has a White, Blue, Black, and Gold Cerakote finish. The quote, “I have not yet begun to fight!” is famously attributed to Captain John Paul Jones during the Battle of Flamborough Head in 1779.

The Marine variant (1911BKOC17) has a Blue, Black, Silver, Red, and Gold Cerakote finish. The phrase “Retreat, hell – we just got here” is a famous quote attributed to Captain Lloyd W. Williams of the 5th Marines during the Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I.

These 250th Armed Forces Anniversary 1911s will ship soon with one standard 7-round magazine included and have an MSRP of $1,399.

Keep in mind that you can get an actual USGI surplus M1911A1 from the CMP for less than that. Of course, it won’t be pretty, but every old vet, even those in .45 ACP, deserves a home.

What’s a little armor between friends

Posted on by Leave a comment

Liezen, Styria, central Austria, May 1945. A Lend-Leased American-made M4A2(76)W VVSS Sherman in Russki livery (and with no muzzle brake) comes to the rescue of one of the Motherland’s T-34-85s.

LIFE Arnold E. Samuelson Photographer

Both tracks are from the Soviet 1st Guards Mechanized Corps, which had just “liberated” Vienna, some 140 miles to the East of Liezen, and was soon to be denoted as the “Vienna Order of Lenin Order of Kutuzov Mechanized Corps.”

This top image was apparently during a Victory Parade along with the U.S. 9th Armored “Phantom” Division, which they met at the demarcation line.

The 9th had just recently, in turn, liberated Zwodau and Falkenau an der Eger, both subcamps of the Flossenbürg concentration camp.

Warship Wednesday, May 14, 2025: Apogee

Posted on by Leave a comment

Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”

Warship Wednesday, May 14, 2025: Apogee

Department of the Navy Bureau of Ships photograph, National Archives Identifier 7577927

Above we see the brand new Worcester-class light cruiser USS Roanoke (CL-145) off the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 6 January 1950, the day she left for her first Mediterranean deployment.

Laid down some 80 years ago this week, she was the last American light cruiser commissioned, capping a legacy that started in 1908, and went on to be the next to last all-gun light cruiser decommissioned.

The Worcesters

The Worcester class stemmed from a May 1941 project for BuShips to develop a fast (33 knot) cruiser capable of keeping up with the new classes of fast battleships and aircraft carriers. Designed specifically to splash high-flying enemy bombers, they were to have little in the way of side armor in place of heavily armored decks to withstand bombs while carrying a dozen high-angle 6″/47 DP guns.

However, the long gestation period and wartime experience tweaked this concept a bit.

As detailed by Friedman: 

The Worcester class was designed almost as a platform for the 6-in/47 gun. BuOrd applied the same design concept to an 8-in/55 gun, and the Des Moines class resulted. Both types competed for the tail end of the wartime cruiser program, hull numbers originally scheduled for construction as Clevelands being reordered. Both designs also showed a degree of tactical obsolescence since the missions for which they had been designed were no longer valid at the time of their completion. The Worcester arose from a 1941 demand for a ship capable of defending the fleet against heavy bombers, a role that died as soon as it became obvious that conventional heavy bombers could not hit maneuvering ships from high altitude. The records are far from clear on this point, but it appears that the continuing 6-in/47-gun project kept the cruiser project alive in 1941-43. Ultimately, BuShips justified the very heavy antiaircraft gun as a counter to guided missiles, which the Germans introduced at Salerno in 1943; the old 5-in/25 gun was already obsolete, the 5-in/38 gun barely sufficient; surely something more would be needed for the future.

The Mark 16DP 6″/47s used on the Worcesters were unique.

Whereas the Mark 16 6″/47 was by no means a new gun– the 37 assorted Brooklyn, Cleveland, and Fargo class light cruisers carried them in a variety of triple turrets– the twin high-angle (+78 degree elevation) turrets on our subject class had faster training and elevation rates which, coupled with a 12 round per minute per gun rate of fire, could prove a real threat to high-flying aircraft of the 1940s at anything under 35,000 feet. Plus, there were plans afoot to double that rate of fire to 20-25 rounds per minute per gun by making their loading fully automatic.

The inner workings of the 6″/47 Mk 16 DP mount.

The 6″/47 Mk 16 DP was trialed on the old battlewagon USS Mississippi (AG-128) prior to installation on the Worcesters.

Worcester-class light cruiser USS Roanoke in 1954. Here the after 6″/47 Mk 16 DP main guns and the Mark 27 gun fire control are visible.

With 40mm and 20mm guns seen as outdated with jets on the horizon (the original plan was for 11 quadruple and two twin Bofors for a total of 48 guns, as well as 20 twin 20mm guns), the Worcesters were given 12 dual 3″/50 twin Mark 22 guns in Mark 33 mounts (with a tertiary battery of eight twin Oerlikons). Trainable to 85 degrees elevation, they were good for up to 30,000 feet and could fire 40-50 rounds per minute per gun, allowing the Worcesters to fill the air with 1,200 rounds of 24-pound 3-inch AA VT every 60 seconds.

Bluejackets on USS Roanoke (CL-145) cooling their heels on the starboard 3-inch 50 Mk 33 gun mount blister.

Fire control was via four Mk 56/35 GFCS and six Mk 27s, while they had a quartet of radars (SR-2, SPS-6 2-D air search, SG-6 surface search, and SP-2).

Mark 56 gun fire control system aboard the U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Roanoke (CL-145), in 1956

While the original plan was to concentrate the armor over the decks, this later morphed to a more comprehensive arrangement that ranged from a 1-inch armored box over the deck, 2 inches on the rear of the gun houses and 3 inches on the belt taper to 6.5 inches on the turret sides and 5 inch on the barbettes and the engineering belt. In all, they carried a massive 2,119.7 tons of armor. Compare this to the preceding Cleveland-class light cruisers that only had 1,199 tons of protection.

Although a “light” cruiser class, the Worcesters went 679 feet overall length and hit the scales at 18,300 tons when fully loaded. Compare that to the brooding and infamous Admiral Hipper-class cruisers of the Kriegsmarine that went 665 feet oal and 18,200 tons.

Rather than the 100,000 shp plant on the preceding Cleveland and Fargos, the Worcesters, using four high-pressure (620 psi) Westinghouse boilers and four General Electric geared steam turbines, was able to wring 120,000 shp, which still surpasses the 105,000 shp seen on today’s speedy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers on four gas turbines. The speed was 33 knots, and the range was 8,000 nm at 15.

Originally planned to carry 4 seaplanes with two catapults, this didn’t happen, as we shall see.

Ten Worcesters were planned (to start) with the first four (Worcester-Roanoke-Vallejo-Gary) ordered from New York Shipbuilding Corporation as Yard Nos. 465, 466, 467, and 468, respectively.

Meet Roanoke

Our subject is at least the fifth U.S. Navy warship named after the Virginia city and river system.

The first was a circa 1855 steam frigate that was converted to an oddball triple turret ironclad during the Civil War.

Steam frigate USS Roanoke, brig of war USS Dolphin, and new buildings at Charlestown Navy Yard, Massachusetts, possibly 1861. 80-G-424917

USS Roanoke (1857-1883). Lithograph depicting the ship during the final stages of her conversion from a steam frigate to a triple-turret ironclad, at Novelty Iron Works, New York City, circa the first half of 1863. The original drawing of the scene was done by G. Hayward for “Valentine’s Manual”, 1863. Note the large derrick on the left and the Novelty Works’ building on the right. LC-USZ62-24408

The second USS Roanoke (ID # 1695) was a civilian vessel taken up for service as a dazzle-painted mine layer in the Great War and disposed of shortly after.

U.S. Navy Mine Layers. Steaming in line abreast during the laying of the North Sea mine barrage, September 1918. Analysis of camouflage patterns indicates that these ships are (from front to rear): USS Roanoke (ID # 1695); USS Housatonic (ID # 1697); USS Shawmut (ID # 1255); USS Canandaigua (ID # 1694); USS Canonicus (ID # 1696); with USS Quinnebaug (ID # 1687) and USS Saranac (ID # 1702) in the left and right center distance. A four-stack British cruiser is in the distance. NHHC Photograph Collection: NH 61101.

The third and fourth Roanokes, a frigate (PF-93) and light cruiser (CL-114) respectively, never sailed under the name, with the escort joining the fleet briefly as USS Lorain while the cruiser was canceled before her first steel was cut.

Whereas late-war Cleveland-class light cruisers were constructed in as little as 16 months, it was immediately evident that the Worcesters were not going to be finished before Berlin and Tokyo fell, and their construction stretched out.

Worcester Class Light AA Cruiser USS Roanoke New York Shipbuilding Corp Shipyard July 1, 1948

Worcester Class Light AA Cruiser USS Roanoke New York Shipbuilding Corp July 1, 1948

USS Roanoke (CL-145) nearing completion, January 1949

Roanoke was laid down on 15 May 1945, just a week after VE-Day. She only launched on 16 June 1947 and, at the time, was NYSB’s last wartime vessel under construction, with sisters Vallejo and Gary canceled in 1945.

“The USS Roanoke, last naval vessel presently under contract at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, was launched today. The 14,700-ton light cruiser went down the ways of the Camden yard at 12:18 P.M., after being christened by Miss Julia Ann Henebry, daughter of Leo P. Henebry, former mayor of Roanoke Va. Miss Henebry’s maid of honor was Miss Margaret Donnell Smith, daughter of R. H. Smith, president of the Norfolk & Western Railway.” Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center P563088B

“Down the ways and into the Delaware River goes the USS Roanoke at the launching yesterday at the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden. Workmen watch as the cruiser nears the water.” George D. McDowell, Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Photographs. Temple University P563087B

Roanoke only completed fitting out and was commissioned on 4 April 1949, capping just under four years of construction. As it was, the brand new NYSB-built Fargo-class cruisers USS Fargo (CL-106) and Huntington (CL-107) were decommissioned just weeks after to balance the scales of the new Worcesters joining the fleet.

The future USS Roanoke (CL-145) “off the bow” at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 29 March 1949, just prior to commissioning. NARA 19-NN-CL 145 Roanoke-1354877

Jane’s 1960 Worcester class listing. Some of the specifics are incorrect.

Cold War!

Following shakedown in the Caribbean, Roanoke conducted maneuvers in the Atlantic as a unit of the shrinking Battleship-Cruiser Force before she got underway to join the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean for her first deployment on 6 January 1950.

USS Roanoke (CL 145) January 6, 1950 NARA 19-NN-CL 145 Roanoke-1354889

USS Roanoke (CL 145) January 6, 1950 NARA 19-NN-CL 145 Roanoke-1354894

USS Roanoke (CL 145) January 6, 1950 NARA 19-NN-CL 145 Roanoke-1354890

USS Roanoke (CL-145) underway at slow speed, circa the early 1950s. Note the ship’s crew at quarters, her call sign NIQE flying at the port yardarm, a motor whaleboat off her port side amidships, and the lighthouse on the tip of the jetty in the background. NH 106501

USS Roanoke (CL-145) underway off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, January 6, 1950. Note the automobiles and the Sikorsky HO3S helicopter on the fantail.

The U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Roanoke (CL-145) at anchor off Famagusta, Cyprus, on 22 February 1950. The ship is dressed for Washington’s Birthday.

She would continue this tempo, conducting six Med deployments with the 6th Fleet over the next five years.

USS Newport News (CA 148); USS Roanoke (CL 145), and USS Columbus (CA 74) at Naples, Italy. Mt. Vesuvius is in the background. Photograph released February 9, 1951. 80-G-426897

Same as above 80-G-426898

Same as above 80-G-426896

When not cruising the Med, Roanoke would continue to drill in exercises in the Western Atlantic and carry midshipmen on training cruises to the Caribbean.

Mids on USS Roanoke (CL-145) stand in formation, 1949-1958. Marquette University MUA_013485

An unidentified Navy ROTC student pets a cheetah, presumably while on a summer cruise with the USS Roanoke (CL-145), 1949-1958. Marquette University MUA_013496

In the fall of 1955, she landed her 20mm guns and older SG-6 and SP-2 radars, replaced by SPS-10 and SPS-8. They were also fitted for more extensive helicopter operations.

Her rigging arrangement post-refit:

On 22 September 1955, Roanoke departed Norfolk for her new homeport in Long Beach, via the Panama Canal. While in California, she conducted nine Naval Reserve cruises and deployed to the WestPac twice (May to December 1956 and September to October 1958).

Naval Reservists undergoing inspection with on active duty on deck of USS Roanoke (CL-145), 2 August 1956. Note the helicopter silhouette. 80-G-692014

A U.S. Navy Piasecki HUP Retriever landing aboard the light cruiser USS Roanoke (CL-145), in 1956.

USS Roanoke (CL-145) at Sasebo, Japan, circa 1956.

With the battleships gone and the cruisers going, the writing was on the wall for these obsolete all-gunned warships in the atomic era.

Roanoke was decommissioned on Halloween 1958. Her active career lasted just 9 years, 6 months, and 27 days.

Still new enough to be reactivated if needed, she was assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Mare Island, where, along with her sister, she was preserved and placed in mothballs.

It should be noted that she was only outlived by seven all-gun heavy cruisers: USS Des Moines, Salem, Newport News, Saint Paul, Toledo, Macon, and Bremerton, although it should be noted that the latter three were decommissioned shortly after the Worcesters in 1960-61.

USS Worcester (CL 144) arrives at Pier 23, Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 26 May 1959 for inactivation. The stern of the USS Roanoke (CL 145) is to the right. YTB 268 Red Cloud is on the cruiser’s starboard bow.

Sisters USS Worcester (CL-144) and USS Roanoke (CL-145) at Pier 23, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 26 May 1959, with guns covered for mothball preservation.

Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, view of Berths 21 through 24, looking northwest, 12 July 1960, showing Pacific Reserve Fleet and other ships. Those present include (from bottom): Two Cleveland-class light cruisers, USS Roanoke (CL-145), USS Worcester (CL-144), another Cleveland-class light cruiser, USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729) undergoing FRAM II modernization, two auxiliaries, and a destroyer receiving a FRAM I modernization. Courtesy of Stephen S. Roberts, 1978. NH 88082

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Ships laid up in reserve at Bremerton, 19 March 1970. They are, from left to right: USS Fort Marion (LSD-22), USS Missouri (BB-63), USS Roanoke (CL-145), and USS Worcester (CL-144). USN 1143678

Stricken 1 December 1970 after 12 years in reserve (a period longer than her active career), Roanoke was sold for scrap to Levin Metals Corporation of San Jose, California, on 22 February 1972.

Roanoke didn’t get to fire a shot in anger, coming too late for WWII and deployed to Europe to hold the line against the Russkis during Korea, but she did serve as the breeding ground for the Navy’s future admirals. Of her 11 skippers, seven would earn stars, including two who would reach VADM rank- John Louis Chew (USNA ’31) and Harold Thomas Deutermann (USNA ’27).

Epilogue

She is remembered in maritime art by Wayne Scarpaci.

A painting of USS Roanoke (CL 145) entering San Francisco Bay in 1957 by artist Wayne Scarpaci. The title of the painting is “Summer Fog,” via Navsource.

A surprising amount of Roanoke is preserved.

Her bell can be seen on display outside Elmwood Park at the Roanoke Public Library.

A large scale model of Roanoke is on display in the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke, Virginia

The National Archives holds an extensive collection of photographs as well as her deck logs.

As part of their scrapping process, at least 200 tons of armor plate from both Worcester and Roanoke were put to use at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where some no doubt is still catching particles.

The Navy recycled her name for a 40,000-ton Wichita-class replenishment oiler, (AOR-7), which joined the fleet in 1976 and served for 19 years then was laid up at Suisun Bay with the thawing of the Cold War. She was scrapped in 2012.

A port bow view of the replenishment oiler USS Roanoke (AOR-7) participating in an underway replenishment operation with the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) during RIMPAC ’86, 17 June 1986. The Australian frigate HMAS Darwin (F-04) is on the starboard side of the Roanoke. PH2 Galaviz. NARA DN-SC-87-02027

It’s probably time that the Navy commissioned a seventh Roanoke.

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

Ships are more than steel

and wood

And heart of burning coal,

For those who sail upon

them know

That some ships have a

soul.

***

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International.

They are one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find. http://www.warship.org/membership.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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships y,ou should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday, April 30, 2025: Pride of Puget Sound

Posted on by One comment

Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”

Warship Wednesday, April 30, 2025: Pride of Puget Sound

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Naval History and Heritage Command collections. Catalog: L45-35.04.01

Above we see the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser USS Bremerton (CA-130) all aglow in Sydney, in town to celebrate the 17th anniversary of the historic Battle of the Coral Sea in December 1959. While she didn’t get any licks during WWII, Bremerton was nonetheless a “war baby,” commissioned some 80 years ago this week. And she did manage to get some serious combat time during another conflict.

The Baltimores

When the early shitstorm of 1939 World War II broke out, the U.S. Navy, realized that in the likely coming involvement with Germany in said war– and that country’s huge new 18,000-ton, 8x8inch gunned, 4.1-inches of armor Hipper-class super cruisers– it was outclassed in the big assed heavy cruiser department. When you add to the fire the fact that the Japanese had left all of the Washington and London Naval treaties behind and were building giant Mogami-class vessels (15,000 tons, 3.9 inches of armor), the writing was on the wall. That’s where the Baltimore class came in.

These 24 envisioned ships of the class looked like an Iowa-class battleship in miniature with three triple turrets, twin stacks, a high central bridge, and two masts– and they were (almost) as powerful. Sheathed in a hefty 6 inches of armor belt (and 3 inches of deck armor), they could take a beating if they had to.

They were fast, capable of over 30 knots, which meant they could keep pace with the fast new battlewagons they looked so much like, as well as the new fleet carriers that were on the drawing board.

Baltimore class ONI2 listing

While they were more heavily armored than Hipper and Mogami, they also had an extra 8-inch tube, mounting nine new model 8-inch/55 caliber guns, whereas the German and Japanese only had 155mm guns (though the Mogamis later picked up 10×8-inchers). A larger suite of AAA guns that included a dozen 5-inch/38 caliber guns in twin mounts and 70+ 40mm and 20mm guns rounded this out.

In short, these ships were deadly to incoming aircraft, could close to the shore as long as there were at least 27 feet of seawater for them to float in and hammer coastal beaches and emplacements for amphibious landings, then take out any enemy surface combatant short of a modern battleship in a one-on-one fight.

They were tough nuts to crack, and of the 14 hulls that took to the sea, none were lost in combat.

Meet Bremerton

Our subject is the first warship named for the Washington city home to Puget Sound Navy Yard, which dates back to 1891. As explained by the Puget Sound Navy Museum, the Navy held a war bond competition in 1943 between the workers at Puget and those at California’s Mare Island NSY with the winner earning the naming rights to a new heavy cruiser whose keel had been laid on 1 February (as Yard No. 449) at New York Shipbuilding Corps. in Camden, New Jersey.

Puget won the competition– with the yard’s workers pledging an amazing 15 percent of their wages for six months– and earned the right to send a delegate to the East Coast to sponsor the vessel. The worker sent had been with the yard since 1917. As detailed by the museum:

Betty McGowan, representing the Rigger and Shipwright Shop, was chosen to christen the cruiser in New Jersey on July 2, 1944. She broke the ceremonial bottle of champagne across the ship’s bow with a single swing. In Bremerton, residents marked the occasion with a baseball game, a flag raising ceremony, and the sale of more than $11,000 in war bonds.

Bremerton was commissioned on 29 April 1945, with her first of 15 skippers being Capt. (later RADM) John Boyd Mallard (USNA 1920) of Savannah, Georgia. Mallard had seen the elephant previously as skipper of the oiler USS Rapidan (AO 18), dodging U-boats in the Atlantic, and earned the Legion of Merit as commander of a task group of LSTs during the assaults on Lae and Finschhafen in September 1943.

USS Bremerton (CA-130) off Portland, Maine, 6 August 1945, just nine days before the Empire of Japan would signal that they were quitting the war. 80-G-332946

Bremerton’s WWII service was brief, with her Official War History encompassing a half-dozen short paragraphs. The new cruiser left Norfolk for her shakedown cruise in the waters off  Cuba on 29 May 1945.

Three weeks later, having wrapped up gunnery trials off Culebra Island, she sailed for Rio de Janeiro to serve as flagship for Admiral Jonas Ingram, Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, during his South American inspection tour. Bremerton returned to the States and engaged in early July, arriving at Boston Navy Yard on 18 July, then became part of TF 69 for experimental work at Casco Bay, Maine, until 2 October.

Spending the next five weeks in post-shakedown overhauls at Philadelphia, she cleared that port on 7 November for Guantanamo and, after passing inspection, sailed through the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet on 29 November 1945 with orders to report to Shanghai via Pearl Harbor under the 7th Fleet for occupation duties.

Arriving at Inchon, Korea on 4 January 1946, she would spend the next 11 months in the Far East– earning an Occupation Medal and China Service Medal– before making for San Pedro, California.

Homeported there, Bremerton managed to get in a training cruise along the West Coast in 1947 before her discharge papers hit.

13 February 1948. “USS Bremerton (CA-130) (foreground) and USS Los Angeles (CA-135) are towed from the Nation’s largest drydock, at San Francisco Naval Shipyard, while being prepared for inactivation and addition to the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Constructed during the war, the 1100-foot drydock is capable of handling the largest ships afloat. Besides handling these two cruisers at one time, the huge dock has accommodated four attack transports in one operation. World’s largest crane at right.” Note that many other laid-up ships are in the area. Among them, on the right, are USS Rockwall (APA-230) and USS Bottineau (APA-235). NH 97453

Bremerton was placed out of commission, in reserve, at San Francisco on 9 April 1948, capping just under three years of service.

No less than nine of 14 Baltimore-class heavy cruisers were mothballed after WWII as the Navy’s budget nosedived. With each needing a 1,100+ member crew (not counting the Marine det), they had an almost prohibitive cost to keep them in service even if they were pierside. A deployment, requiring 2,250 tons of fuel oil and a trainload of provisions just to get started, could be better spent on a half-squadron of 3-4 destroyers that could make triple the port calls– and in more diverse locations.

The Baltimores were seen as quaint in the new Atomic Age, and, with a couple of battlewagons and newer heavy cruisers (of the Oregon City and Des Moines class) on tap for fire support missions should they ever be needed (and nobody thought they would), the six remaining class members on active service were mostly used as flagships and high-profile training vessels for midshipmen’s and reservist cruises.

War!

With the Soviet-backed North Korean Army rushing over the 38th Parallel to invade their neighbors to the south on 25 June 1950, the Navy rushed units from Japan to the embattled peninsula and things soon got very old school in a conflict heavy with minefields, amphibious landings and raids, and an active naval gunline just off shore.

This, naturally, led to a call for more naval fire support. Ultimately, 10 of 14 Baltimores (all except USS Boston, Canberra, Chicago, and Fall River) were in commission or reactivated for the Korean War.

Bremerton was pulled from mothballs at San Francisco and, after a short overhaul at Hunters Point and giving her crew some refresher training, she was bound for the gunline, arriving in theatre under 7th Fleet command on 7 May 1952.

USS Bremerton (CA-130) at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, California, on 21 November 1951. She was recommissioned for Korean War service on 23 November after having been in reserve since April 1948. 80-G-436084

USS Bremerton (CA-130) underway on 14 February 1952. 80-G-439986

Same as the above, 80-G-439985

Her first tour off Korea, which wrapped up in September 1952, and she let her 8-inchers sing at Wonsan, Kojo, Chongjin, and Changjon Hang.

USS Bremerton (CA-130) loading ammunition at Mare Island Ammunition Depot. October 1952

USS Bremerton (CA-130) in San Diego harbor, California, circa 1951-52, with her crew manning the rails. NH 97454

After an overhaul, she returned to Korea in April 1953, remaining through November.

Forecastle of the heavy cruiser USS Bremerton (CA-130) in heavy seas, in 1953, likely during her second Korean tour. Note the awash gun tub forward.

On this second tour, she repeatedly dueled with Nork/ChiCom coastal artillery batteries.

From Korean War: Chronology of U.S. Pacific Fleet Operations: 

  • 5 May 1953: During a heavy gun strike in the Wonsan Harbor area, USS Bremerton (CA 130) was fired upon by 18 rounds of 76 to 105 mm shells. One near miss caused two minor personnel casualties and superficial top-side damage.
  • 24 May 1953: During a heavy gun strike in Wonsan Harbor, USS Bremerton (CA 130) received 10 rounds of well-directed enemy artillery fire. Although all shells landed close aboard, Bremerton escaped unscathed.
  • 14 June 1953: USS Bremerton (CA 130) received four rounds of 90 mm counterbattery fire while blasting the enemy shore gun positions on the Wonsan perimeter. The enemy fire was ineffective.
  • 19 June 1953: In Wonsan Harbor, USS Bremerton (CA 130) was the target for four rounds of 90 mm shore fire but was not hit.

USS Bremerton (CA-130) under fire from North Korean shore batteries, in 1953

Besides Bremerton, the Navy deployed no less than six Baltimores for escort missions and coastal bombardment in Korea.

Heavy cruisers USS Saint Paul (CA-73) and USS Bremerton (CA-130) and the light cruiser USS Manchester (CL-83) are underway off Korea. Saint Paul and Bremerton were deployed to Korea and the Western Pacific between April and September 1953.

While I cannot find how many shells our girl let fly off Korea, all told, the Navy expended over 414,000 rounds and 24,000 missions against shore targets between just May 1951 and March 1952. While most of those rounds (381,750) were from 5-inch guns, at least 22,538 came from 8-inch pipes on heavy cruisers, so distill from that what you will.

In all, Bremerton was authorized two (of a possible 10) Korean Service Medals (battle stars), with the breaks in dates often due to leaving the gun line to get more shells:

  • K8 – Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952: 12-28 May 52, 11-26 Jun 52, 9 Jul-6 Aug 52, and 20 Aug-6 Sep 52.
  • K10 – Korea, Summer-Fall 1953: 1-30 May 53, 13 Jun-8 Jul 53, 23-27 Jul 53.

She also served in Korean waters post-cease fire on two stints, 26 Sep-8 Nov 53 and 8 Jun-27 Jul 54, the latter on a May-October West Pac cruise. On top of her two battle stars, she also earned a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, the United Nations Korea Service Medal, and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

USS Bremerton (CA-130) In Drydock Number 5 at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, in July 1954 during a West Pac deployment. Note her side armor, and men painting her hull. 80-G-644556

Cold War swan song

She would spend the first half of 1955 at Mare Island undergoing an overhaul and modernization. Her armament and fire control were updated. Importantly, she shipped her 40mm guns ashore for 10 twin 3″/50 (7.62 cm) Mark 33 Mounts and new Mk 56 FC radar fits.

April 1955. San Francisco. Port bow view of the heavy cruiser USS Bremerton (CA 130). Her original close-range armament of 20 mm and 40 mm guns has been replaced by twin 3-inch/50 Mark 26 guns controlled by Mark 56 directors, two of which may be seen abreast the forward superstructure. Her catapults have been removed, although the crane for handling aircraft remains for use with the boats now stowed in the former aircraft hangar under the quarterdeck. Note the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Period caption: “The USS Bremerton, heavy cruiser, which will be berthed at Pier 46-B Saturday, April 21 and 22, will be open for public inspection from 1 to 4 p. m. each day, as a part of the civic observance of the 50th anniversary of the 1906 fire. The U. S. Navy played a vitally important role in bringing aid to the stricken city.” (Naval Historical Collection)

Then came a second post-Korea West Pac cruise, from July 1955 to February 1956, during which she earned a second China Service Medal for operations off Chinese-threatened Formosa/Taiwan.

Great period Kodachrome by of USS Bremerton by Charles W. Cushman showing the cruiser steaming into San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge, 8 May 1956. Bloomington – University Archives P08766

Her third post-Korea West Pac deployment, from November 1956 to May 1957, saw her make port calls from Vancouver to Yokosuka to Manila, Hong Kong, and Melbourne, where her crew was on hand to support the XVI Olympiad.

USS Bremerton (CA-130) photographed on 4 November 1957 while at Puget Sound before heading to Bangor. 80-G-1027859

Same as the above 80-G-1027857

Same as the above 80-G-1027858

USS Bremerton (CA-130) at Pearl Harbor while en route to Asia, circa 1957. The original photograph bears the rubber-stamp date 3 December 1957. NH 97455

Around this time, the Navy decided to reconstruct Bremerton into an Albany-class guided missile cruiser.

This extensive (three-to-four year) SCB 172 conversion involved removing almost everything topside including all armament and superstructure, then installing a huge SPS-48 3D air search radar, a twin Mk 12 Talos launcher (with its magazine, Mk 77 missile fire-control system, and SPG-49 fire control radars), a twin Mk 11 Tartar launcher (along with its magazine, Mk 74 missile fire-control system, and SPG-51 fire control radars), a huge CIC and tall navigation bridge, a bow mounted sonar, a helicopter deck, etc. et. al.

Only three CAs (USS Albany, Chicago, and Columbus) completed the conversion, and it left them unrecognizable from their original form.

Two views of the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Chicago, as built and after her conversion to a guided missile cruiser. Upper view: USS Chicago (CA-136) as a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania (USA), on 7 May 1945. Between 1959 and 1964, Chicago was rebuilt at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, California (USA), leaving virtually only the hull. The complete superstructure and armament were replaced. Lower view: USS Chicago (CG-11) as an Albany-class guided missile cruiser underway in the Pacific Ocean during exercise “Valiant Heritage” on 2 February 1976. NH 95867 and K-112891

However, as the Albany class conversion still required a massive nearly 1,300 man crew to run the 17,000 ton CG with 180 assorted missiles aboard, and the bean counters realized the new 8,000-ton Leahy-class DLGs (later re-rated as cruisers in 1975) could carry 80 missiles on a hull optimized to run with a 400-man crew, the choice was clear.

With that, Bremerton never did get that conversion, instead being used increasingly to hold the line in the Far East for the next couple of years.

She started 1958 at anchor in Long Beach, preparing for yet another Westpac deployment (from March to August) under TF 77 orders that would take her to the Philippines, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the like.

From her log:

She repeated another Westpac cruise from January to May 1959 and yet another abbreviated sortie from November 1959 to February 1960. It was on New Year’s Day 1960, while deployed, that her mournful log entry told her looming fate– that of an early (second) decommissioning at the ripe old age of 15, bound once again for mothballs.

Assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet, while moored at Naval Station Long Beach’s Pier 15, at 0900 on 29 July 1960, USS Bremerton was decommissioned and then towed to the reserve basin first at Mare Island and then, fittingly, at Puget Sound.

1960 Jane’s entry for the Baltimore class.

USS Bremerton (CA-130) and USS Baltimore (CA-68) lay up at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, early 1970s. Photograph by Melvin Fredeen of Seattle. This picture was likely taken shortly before the two cruisers were sold for scrap in 1973. At the right of the picture, one will note several civilians on the pier, next to the gangplank leading to USS Missouri (BB-63), which is moored just outside the frame. During the three decades the battleship spent laid up at Bremerton before her 1980s reactivation, she would often be opened to the public for walking tours of her weather decks, particularly of the spot where the surrender of Japan took place. Several other decommissioned ships are visible, including a destroyer, a carrier, and in the far background, a third Baltimore-class heavy cruiser out in Sinclair Inlet. NH89317

Bremerton languished for 13 years in mothballs, and, once the war in Vietnam had drawn down, was stricken from the Naval List on 1 October 1973. She was subsequently sold for scrap to the Zidell Explorations Corporation of Portland, Oregon, and broken up.

Epilogue

Several relics of the cruiser remain in the Kitsap area.

Her bell, presented to the city of Bremerton in 1974, is on display at the Norm Dicks Government Center building downtown.

Her anchor and part of her mast are also preserved in the region, with the hook at Hal’s Corner (guarded by 40mm guns from the old battlewagon USS West Virginia) and the yardarm at Miller-Woodlawn Memorial Park.

Both are often visited by Navy working parties to keep them in good shape.

The Navy recycled the name for an early Los Angeles-class hunter-killer, SSN-698, which was in commission from 1981 to 2021.

Los Angeles-class hunter-killer USS Bremerton (SSN-698) underway 1 February 1991. DN-ST-91-05712

A veterans’ group for the latter Bremerton, which also keeps CA-130’s memory alive, is active. 

x

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

 

Ships are more than steel

and wood

And heart of burning coal,

For those who sail upon

them know

That some ships have a

soul.

 

***

 

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/membership.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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships, you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

« Older Entries Recent Entries »