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Haupt’s torpedo for quickly wrecking wooden bridges.

Posted on October 16, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

Back in the Civil War, what we know today as land and naval mines and demolition charges were all lumped into the same title of : Torpedo.

While these infernal devices were most commonly used by the troop-poor South, the Union also got into the act. One of their generals, B.Gen Herman Haupt (USMA Class of 1835), was also a respected professor of mathematics and engineering who came up with one of the better ones, designed to destroy railroad and foot bridges as required.

Haupt's torpedo for quickly wrecking wooden bridges. LOC image http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006676180/

Haupt’s torpedo for quickly wrecking wooden bridges. LOC image Click to big up

I made the following report on how to destroy bridges and locomotive engines expeditiously:

From Civil War Documents.com : General Haupt’s report on his device
Washington, D. C, November 1, 1862.

A simple and expeditious mode of destroying bridges, and rendering locomotive engines useless to an enemy, is often a desideratum. Cavalry may penetrate far into an enemy’s country, may reach bridges forming viaducts on important lines of communication, which, it may be desirable to break effectually; or, in retreat, the destruction of a bridge may be essential to the safety of an army, and yet time may not be sufficient to gather combustibles, or they may not be accessible, or the fire may be extinguished, or the damage may be so slight as to be easily repaired.

What is required is the means of certainly and effectually throwing down a bridge in a period of time not exceeding five minutes, and with apparatus so simple and portable that it can be carried in the pocket or a saddle-bag.

These requirements are fulfilled by a torpedo, which consists simply of a short bolt of seven-eighths inch iron, eight inches long, with head and nut—the head to be two inches in diameter, and about one inch thick. A washer of same size as the head must be placed under the nut at the other end, with a fuse-hole in it. Between the washer and the head is a tin cylinder one and three-quarters inches in diameter, open at both ends, which is filled with powder, and, when the washer and nut are put on, forms a case which encloses it.

In using this torpedo, a hole is bored in a timber; the torpedo (head downwards) is driven in by a stone or billet of wood, and the fuse ignited. The explosion blows the timber in pieces, and, if a main support, brings down the whole structure.

The time required is only that which is necessary to bore a hole with an auger. Ordinary cigar lighters, which burn without flame, and cannot be blown out, are best for igniting the fuse, which should be about two feet long.

For portability, the auger should be short, say thirteen inches, and the handle movable and of same length.

The proper place at which to insert the torpedo is of much consequence. Most of the Virginia bridges are Howe trusses without arches. In this kind of bridge, the destruction of the main braces at one end, and on only one side of a span, will be sufficient to bring down the whole structure. There are usually but two main braces in each panel, and two torpedoes will suffice to throw down a span. Two men can bore the two holes at the same time without interfering with each other.

Cartridges containing a fulminate would be more portable, but they are not always conveniently procurable, and their use is attended with risk of explosion.

It is only necessary to operate at one side and on one end of a bridge. If one side falls, the other side is pulled down with it.

If the structure contains an arch, two additional torpedoes will be required; but in this case it may be equally advantageous to operate upon the lower chord.

Experiments made at Alexandria proved that a timber placed in the position of a main brace, and similarly loaded, was shattered into many pieces, some of which were projected by the force of explosion more than a hundred feet.

To Render Locomotives Unfit for Service: The most expeditious mode is to fire a cannon ball through the boiler. This damage cannot be repaired without taking out all the flues.

The usual mode of disabling engines consists in burning the flues

by letting out the water and making a fire in the fire-box; but this is generally done so imperfectly that the enemy soon gets them in running order.

Cars are Readily Destroyed by Burning: On this subject no instructions are necessary. The destruction of more than four hundred cars by our own troops within the last six months proves that in the work of destroying such property perfection has been attained, and no room left for winning fresh laurels in this field.

The Superintendent of the Orange & Alexandria Military Railroad has instructions to furnish sample torpedoes to officers who may order them.

Address “J. H. Devereux, Superintendent of Orange & Alexandria Railroad, Alexandria, Va.”

H. HAUPT

Brigadier-General,
In Charge of United States Military Railroads

Warship Wednesday Sept 10. 2014, Australia’s Most Silent Sub

Posted on September 10, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland 3 comments

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off 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. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Sept 10. 2014, Australia’s Most Silent Sub

Here we see the E-Class submarine AE2 of the Royal Australian Navy Presenting the Submarine Threat in the Sea of Marmara, April 1915 by Charles Bryant. The ship, just 181-feet long, sailed into history and proved her mettle.

One of the 58 British-built E-class submersibles constructed between 1912-1916, these ships were considered the first really successful Royal Navy submarines. Built from experience with earlier D-class boats, these 780-ton (submerged) ships could make a decent 15-knots on their twin 800hp Vickers diesels when surfaced on an attack run, or a more sedate 10-knots while submerged and on a set of 313kW electric motors. Although very small and cramped ships, they had a respectable 3,000-nm range and were capable of spending two weeks or more at sea before hiding places for food to stoke their 30-man crew ran out. Four 18-inch tubes (arranged bow, stern, port, and starboard– talk about variety!) and four torpedo racks allowed the boats to carry as many as eight war shots with a fish in every spot. Cheap (about 100,000-pounds) and able to both conduct ops in blue and brown water due to their shallow 12-foot draft, they were the perfect steel shark for the Royal Navy.

Therefore, the infant Royal Australian Navy ordered up two of their own designated HMAS AE1 and HMAS AE2 from Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England, in 1912. Commissioned in the spring of 1914, they were the first subs to carry the Australian flag. Therefore, to spin up the Aussie crew, they carried a mixed complement of RN/RNAS personnel. For instance, it is known that of the 37 crewmembers who served on the ship in 1915 only 14 were born in Australia. Twenty-one crew members were born in Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland), one in New Zealand, and another in Brazil.

Sailing for the Pacific, these ships covered an epic 13,000-nm route in 83 days, impressive for the time.

HMAS AE2 passing through Suez Canal

When the war broke out, the subs, a rarity on the West Pac, were dispatched as part of the Australian force to capture the German colony of Rabal, Deutsch-Neuguinea (Kaiserwilhelmsland).

An Australian soldier of the AN&MEF and his mother in Sydney, 1914, prior to departing for Rabaul

With no German ships to oppose the landing of some 2000 Australians, a force of about a tenth that size of German reservists and local police lost the sharp but bloody Battle of Bita Paka. However, HMAS AE1 vanished while on patrol during the operation, never to be seen again. This was Australia’s first major loss of World War I.

With the German colony’s surrender, and the destruction of Adm. Von Spee’s Asiatic Squadron leaving the Pacific free of the Hun, AE2, Australia’s only remaining sub, left for Europe where she could be put to good use. Leaving in December 1914, she was the sole escort for a convoy of 17 ships carrying Australian troops to Africa, being towed most of the way to be able to keep up. Since AE2 had no deck guns, her value as an escort was questionable at best, but nonetheless, her charges arrived at the Suez Canal at the end of Jan. 1915 without a scratch on them.

On route to take part in the Dardanelles campaign, the AE2 is making her own way into Aden after being towed across the Indian Ocean by the transport HMAS Berrima (background). Australian War archive P02029.027

Once in the Med, the Royal Navy soon detailed the Australian sub to penetrate the Dardanelles, work its way through thick Turkish minefields that had foiled the combined fleets of Great Britain and France, and then run amok in the Sea of Marma. With traditional pluck, the ship set off and did just that on April 25, 1915.

From the Australian Navy’s website of the event as told from the report of Lieutenant Commander H H G D Stoker, commander:

‘Having proceeded from the anchorage off Tenedos, I lay at the entrance off the Dardanelles until moonset and at about 2:30 am on 25th April entered the straits at 8 knots. Weather calm and clear. As the order to run amok in the Narrows precluded all possibility of passing through unseen, I decided to travel on the surface as far as possible.’

Searchlights continually swept the Strait but AE2 continued unmolested until 4:30 am when batteries opened fire from the northern shore. The submarine dived and began her passage through the minefield. Wires, from which the mines were moored, continually scraped AE2’s sides for the next half hour. Twice she surfaced in the minefield to make observations. At 6:00 am she was within two miles of the Narrows submerged at periscope depth. The sea was flat calm. Forts on both sides of the Narrows sighted her and immediately opened heavy fire. Stoker, watching through his periscope, observed a number of ships and decided to attack a small cruiser of the PEIK-E-SHETHEK type. His report continued:

‘At a range of three hundred yards I fired the bow tube at her. One of the destroyers was now very close, attempting to ram us on the port side, so at the moment of firing I ordered 70 feet. A last glance, as the periscope dipped, showed the destroyer apparently right on top of us, and then, amidst the noise of her propeller whizzing overhead, was heard the big explosion as the torpedo struck’.

After a brief interval underwater Stoker decided to risk a look around.

‘As the vessel was rising, she hit bottom and slid up on to the bank to a depth of ten feet, at which depth a considerable portion of the conning tower was above water. Through the periscope I saw that the position was immediately under Fort Anatoli Medjidieh.’

The fort opened fire and for some minutes shells fell on all sides until efforts to refloat her succeeded. AE2 then slid into the safety of deep water. The relief on board the submarine proved brief and it was not long before AE2 was again stranded.

‘Through the periscope I judged the position to be immediately under Serina Burnu, and I further observed two destroyers, a gunboat, and several small craft standing close off in the Straits firing heavily and a cluster of small boats which I judged to be picking up survivors of the cruiser.’

‘As my vessel was lying with inclination down by the bows I went full speed ahead. Shortly afterwards she began to move down the bank, bumped, gathered way and then bumped very heavily. She, however, continued to descend and at 80 feet I dived off the bank. The last bump was calculated to considerably injure the vessel, but as I considered my chief duty was to prove the passage through the Straits possible, I decided to continue.’

Shortly afterwards AE2 again rose to periscope depth. She was seen to be approaching Nagara Point. On all sides she was surrounded by pursuit craft. Each time she showed her periscope the destroyers tried to ram her and each time she eluded them. At last in an attempt to shake the enemy off Stoker decided to lie on the bottom on the Asiatic shore to await developments.

All day, 25 April, AE2 lay in 80 feet of water while the searching enemy ships passed and repassed overhead. Once she was hit by a heavy object being trailed along the bottom. At 9:00 pm she rose to the surface to charge batteries. All signs of shipping had vanished.

At 4:00 pm on 26 April, AE2 proceeded on the surface up the Straits. Stoker commented:

‘As soon as light permitted, I observed through periscope, two ships approaching – both men-o-war. Sea was glassy calm and I approached with periscope down. On hoisting periscope I observed ship on line of sight of port tube. I immediately fired but ship altered course and the torpedo missed. I discovered I had fired at the leading ship and found it impossible to bring another tube to bear on second ship (a battleship Barbarossa class) with any chance of success. I therefore did not fire.’

‘I continued on course through the Straits, examined the Gallipoli anchorage, found no ship worthy of attack and so proceeded in the Sea of Marmora, which was entered about 9:00 am.’

About 9:30 am AE2 sighted several ships, but since only six of her eight torpedoes remained Stoker decided not to fire until he was certain his target was a troop transport.

‘With this intention I dived close to the foremost ship – a tramp of about 2,000 tons. Passing about 200 yards abeam of her I could see no sign of troops; but as I passed under her stern she ran up colours and opened rifle fire at the periscope. I dived over to the next ship and attacked at 400 yards with starboard beam torpedo. The torpedo failed to hit.’

Half an hour later AE2 surfaced and spent the rest of the day on the surface, charging batteries and making good defects. Shortly after dark she was attacked by a small anti-submarine vessel and throughout the night of 26/27 April she was attacked on several occasions shortly after surfacing.

At dawn on 27 April she sighted a ship escorted by two destroyers. Evading the escort, she manoeuvred into position at 300 yards but this time the torpedo refused to leave the tube. A destroyer tried to ram, forcing a hurried dive. Nothing else was sighted that day. The following night Stoker rested his crew on the bottom of Artaki Bay. Twice on 28 April she made attacks only to see the torpedoes narrowly miss the target.

‘At dawn on 29 April I dived towards Gallipoli and observed a gunboat patrolling ahead of Strait off Eski Farnar Point. Dived under gunboat down Strait, and returned up Strait showing periscope to give the impression that another submarine had come through. Destroyers and torpedo boats came out in pursuit; having led them all up towards Sea of Marmora, I dived back and examined Gallipoli anchorage but found nothing to attack.’

AE2 then proceeded out into the Sea of Marmora pursued by anti-submarine units. She surfaced half an hour later, spotted the gunboat, fired and missed by one yard.

On the same day, off Kara Burnu Point, she met HMS E14, the second British submarine to successfully pass through the Dardanelles. A new rendezvous was arranged for 10:00 am the following day.

On the night of 29/30 April, AE2 lay on the bottom north of Marmora Island. Arriving at the rendezvous at 10:00 am she sighted a torpedo boat approaching at high speed. Stoker commented on subsequent events:

‘Dived to avoid torpedo boat; whilst diving sighted smoke in Artaki Bay, so steered south to investigate. About 10:30 the boat’s nose suddenly rose and she broke surface about a mile from the torpedo boat. Blew water forward but boat would not dive. Torpedo boat firing very close and ship from Artaki bay, a gunboat was also firing; flooded a forward tank and boat suddenly assumed big inclination down by the bows and dived very rapidly. AE2 was only fitted with 100 foot depth gauges. This depth was quickly reached and passed. After a considerable descent the boat rose rapidly, passed the 100 foot mark and in spite of efforts to check her broke the surface stern first. Within seconds the engine room was hit and holed in three places. Owing to the inclination down by the bow, it was impossible to see torpedo boat through the periscope and I considered any attempt to ram would be useless. I therefore blew main ballast and ordered all hands on deck. Assisted by LEUT Haggard, I then opened all tanks to flood the sub and went on deck. The boat sank in a few minutes in about 55 fathoms, in approximate position 4 degrees north of Kara Burnu Point at 10:45 am. All hands were picked up by the torpedo boat and no lives lost.’

Stoker and his crew, although saved, spent the next four years in a series of Turkish prisons, only freed by the end of the war.

The AE2 herself lay forgotten for 83 years until a joint Turkish-Australian effort found the stricken sub in some 236-feet of seawater. She is not set to be salvaged but instead saved as a war wreck, marked and protected. In 2010 the RAN awarded the sub the two official honors, “Rabaul 1914” and “Dardanelles 1915”.

A very active society is in place to celebrate the legacy of Australia’s sacred submarine.

Specs:

Click to embiggen

Cost:    £115,000
Built:   Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England
Launched:       18 June 1913
Commissioned: 28 February 1914
Complement: 35
Length:            181 feet [55.17m]
Beam: 22 feet 6 inches [6.86m]
Draught:          12 feet, 6 inches [3.81m]
Displacement: 660 tonnes surfaced, 800 tonnes submerged
Speed:             15 knots surfaced, 10 knots submerged
Armaments: Four 18-inch Whitehead torpedo tubes – single bow tube: two tubes in the beam port and starboard, stern tube. AE2 carried 8 torpedoes: two at each of the 4 firing positions
Periscopes: Two: the main a fixed lens and another with moveable optics to view the sky
Crew: 32 (three officers and 29 seamen)

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

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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.

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More trouble for LCS program

Posted on September 5, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

The USS Independence of the General Dynamics Independence Class and USS Freedom of the Lockheed Martin Freedom Class littoral combat ships. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Jan Shultis

Two new (and lengthy) reports out on the littoral combat ship (LCS) program. The first at 108-pages is complied by the CRS, the second, a 60-page GAO report. They provide a good background of the program so far and raise some questions.

The fact is that the Big Blue is trying to make one class of now just 32 ships (in two variants) take the place 77 legacy hulls: 51 FFG-7 Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigates (most of which are already gone without replacement), 14 MCM-1 Avenger Class mine countermeasures vessels, and 12 MHC-51 Osprey Class coastal mine hunters. That’s a big gamble to make on such an unproven design.

These ships, which are not fully outfitted yet and each is fairly unique as they come off the ways with an ever-evolving series of tweaks, are pushing the Naval architectural limit for weight allowances, which is a bad thing in a new vessel expected to be multi-mission/multi-role/plug and play wonder platforms.

Also the GAO report found that in USS Freedom‘s recent 10-month deployment to Singapore, multiple problems arose. For instance the ship lost 55 days to a variety of mechanical issues that had to be corrected. Further, the GAO raised questions about habitability on the ship with increased crew size (from 40 as designed to well past 50 as deployed). Even with the increase in bluejackets on deck, the report still mentioned that the ship was heavily dependent on contractor support, requiring five days in port with flown-out contractors aboard for every 25 deployed. Then there is the fact that the lightly armed and short-legged warship that isn’t had a hard time being deployed on worth-wild missions in the far-flung 7th Fleet West Pac area of responsibility.

So it would seem there are some bugs to work out.

The flying mine assassin

Posted on August 30, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

Above is the Prototype RAMICS gun and mount on an MH-60S helicopter.

The gun is an upgrade of the the 25 mm M242 Bushmaster cannon stretched to fire the same 30mm round as the GAU-8 Avenger gun found on the A-10 Warthog.

First thought up in 1997, the AN/AWS-2 Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System (RAMICS) system took a 30mm cannon and mounted on the side of a Seahawk helicopter with the idea being that it could blow the ever loving shit out of mines detected afloat or just under the surface. In 2002 Northrop Grumman started working on the program.

From their site:

“RAMICS uses a gated electro-optic Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor for target re-acquisition and a 30mm MK44 Bushmaster II gun for neutralization.

The gun uses a MK 258 Mod 1 armor-piercing, fin-stabilized tracer round which is stable during flight, and after penetrating the water, supercavitates to greatly reduce drag and improves underwater flight performance. Supercavitation takes place when the tip of the high velocity RAMICS projectile vaporizes the water to steam allowing the projectile to travel through the resulting gas pocket in the water column. The accuracy of the system will destroy the mine with a minimum number of rounds.

The system has undergone a series of tests to confirm projectile depth and lethality. Testing in November 2002 validated the system’s operational utility and application to future missions. RAMICS has also demonstrated rated capabilities to penetrate earth, metal and a six foot solid block wall.”

Funding was cut in 2011 although it was tested “capable of deflagrating a mine down to 13m depth; causing rapid sinking down to 45m; and slow sinking of mines at 60m.”

Yes, capable of hitting a sea mine through 196-feet of seawater and still having enough force to cause it to sink. Why would we want to fund something like that?

Warship Wednesday July 30th, 150th Anniversary of the Great Tennessee

Posted on July 30, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland One comment

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday July 30th, 150th Anniversary of the Great Tennessee

Battle of Mobile Bay by Louis Prang. CSS Tennessee at left

Here we see the great steam-powered casemate ironclad warship, CSS Tennessee, pride of the Confederate Navy sailing out to meet the Union fleet. Never fully operational, she met her fate and proved her metal 150 years ago this week at the Battle of Mobile Bay. Designed by John L. Dixon, she was the largest Confederate ironclad completed during the war.

Her 209-foot long hull constructed at the heart of the Confederate steel industry in Selma, Alabama, in 1862, she was shipped incomplete down the Mobile River system to Mobile herself for completion. One of the last southern ports, Mobile was vital to the South’s continued resistance in the last stages of the war. There, in the shallow mud flats, she was neared to completion under the direction of Joseph Pierce, Acting Naval Constructor in the area. She was fitted with some 5-6 inches of heavy steel armor plate, three sheets thick, made in Shelby, Alabama. She was equipped with a pair of hard-hitting 7-inch double banded Brooke guns and another four, slightly smaller, 6.4-inch guns, making her perhaps one of the most formidable vessels afloat in the hemisphere if not the world at the time.

The problem was she had a slow and inefficient steam plant salvaged from the old steamer Alonzo Child. With this plant operating at maximum capacity, it could push the 1200-ton battleship to just 5-knots if lucky. This made her ram bow almost a joke of a weapon as most ships could evade the slowly moving but heavily armored ironclad.

Watercolor by F. Muller, circa 1900. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

Made the flagship of Confederate Admiral Buchanan, who had helmed the earlier CSS Manassass to her fitful clash with the USS Monitor just two years before, the nearly finished met the might of the Union Navy at the mouth of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864. There, U.S. Rear Admiral David G. Farragut was leading an armada of eighteen ships, including four new monitors, past the two forts barring the entrance to the last sovereign Confederate watershed.

All Buchanan had at his disposal was the Tennessee and three sad little wooden gunboats armed with popguns. This placed the ironclad at the heart of the southern fleet’s answer to the invaders. Steaming into the fray, the ship closed with Farragut’s classic naval frigates Hartford and Brooklyn and exchanged cannon fire with these wooden ships at point-blank distance. This continued until the new USS Chickasaw, a Milwaukee-class river monitor, closed with the larger beast and raked her with fire, keeping her at bay. Over the course of the next several moments the fleet pounded Tennessee, taking away her steering chains and holing her in several places.

Tennessee broadside-to-broadside with the Oneida; monitor Chickasaw coming in on the Confederate from point-blank range at left, Winnebago in background; bowsprit-less gunboat USS Pequot at right rear. Painting by Tom Freeman

With no other alternative, and fighting a losing battle with a predetermined outcome, Tennessee surrendered.

Capture of Ram Tennessee Mobile Bay by Alfred R. Waud

Within days the Yankees had repaired the ship and placed it under the star-spangled banner as the USS Tennessee, using her, in the ultimate irony, against the Confederates at Fort Morgan. Following victory there she was sent to New Orleans for more extensive repairs and kept in service with the U.S. Navy’s Mississippi Squadron. In 1867 the ship was scrapped.

Port quarter view, probably taken off New Orleans, Louisiana, circa 1865. She was formerly CSS Tennessee (1864-1864).U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Her guns are on display around the country including several of her Brookes at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C, another at Norfolk, and one at Selma, where it was cast.

If you are free and around Mobile this weekend, there is the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Mobile Bay. Centered around Fort Morgan, they will have a mock-up of the Tennessee. You should check it out if in the area.

Specs:

Displacement: 1,273 long tons (1,293 t)
Length:    209 ft (63.7 m)
Beam:    48 ft (14.6 m)
Draft:    14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power:    4 boilers
Propulsion:    2 Shafts, 2 Steam engines
Speed:    5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Complement: 133 officers and enlisted men
Armament:    2 × 7 in (178 mm) Double-banded Brooke rifles
4 × 6.4 in (163 mm) Double-banded Brooke rifles
ram
Armor:
Casemate: 5–6 in (127–152 mm)
Deck: 2 in (51 mm)

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/

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!

Confessions Of A US Navy P-3 Orion Maritime Patrol Pilot

Posted on July 17, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

Ran across an excellent piece over at Foxtrot Alpha on the real life experience of being a P-3 Orion/P-8 Poseidon pilot. Its long but really worth it. Ive been inside a Charlie variant on the ground and briefly in the air but the article really gives you a feel for it.

110406-N-EB835-001 NAVAL AIR STATION JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (April 6, 2011) Three P-3C Orion aircraft with heritage paint schemes are positioned on the tarmac next to the Navy's next generation of anti-submarine warfare and long-range maritime patrol aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon, rear left, and the unmanned Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) aircraft, center. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist William Lovelady/Released)

NAVAL AIR STATION JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (April 6, 2011) Three P-3C Orion aircraft with heritage paint schemes are positioned on the tarmac next to the Navy’s next generation of anti-submarine warfare and long-range maritime patrol aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon, rear left, and the unmanned Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) aircraft, center. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist William Lovelady/Released)

On capabilities:

“Overall, the P-3C and provide very useful capabilities to a commander. For example, a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) commander could task an Orion to screen the carrier from submarine threats while passing through a geographical choke point. The next day, the very same crew and aircraft could re-arm with AGM-65’s and provide overwatch of an enemy nation’s port, engaging any small craft that might depart to threaten the carrier. The next day, the same crew and aircraft can launch on an ISR mission, mapping possible mobile surface to air missile (SAM) sites to determine whether launchers or radars are present, all while staying safely outside of these air defense emplacements’ range. The flexibility and capability inherent to a modern P-3C brings a great deal to the fight. ”

On black ops:

“I should tell you that it has long been a Maritime Patrol Community rumor that a ‘black’ P-3B flown by the CIA over China shot down a MiG with a Sidewinder. This was allegedly in the 1960s. I have zero information to back that claim up but author David Reade in the book Age of Orion makes claims that this incident occurred. I suppose we’ll never know what really happened. By the time the truth is allowed out, anyone who flew these planes or operated them in such a manner will be long gone.”

On pucker moments:

“I was flying with a junior copilot while my commanding officer rested in the bunk back in the rear of the aircraft. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bright red flash and jumped in my seat as I heard an alarm scream. I looked to see what was wrong with the aircraft, but the light and alarm were gone as quickly as they had came. As I turned to ask my flight engineer “was that a fire warning,” the fire warning tone blared for one second and the fire light on the #3 engine lit up….”

More here:

Warship Wednesday June 25, The Fighting Swenson

Posted on June 25, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday June 25, The Fighting Swenson

1945 in the Pacific, photographed from DD-745. Courtesy Robert Baumbrucker, NHC NH 89376. Ed Zajkowski

Here we see USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, in all of her World War Two glory pounding it out on the high seas. She is the only ship named for naval hero Lyman Knute Swenson (USNA 1916).

One of those rare early 20th century officers who did everything, from battleships to submarines to destroyers, he was the wartime commander of the hard-luck light cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52). Twice torpedoed during the Battle of Guadalcanal, in what historian S. E. Morison called the “wildest most desperate sea fight since Jutland,” Juneau sank rapidly, taking under Swenson and most of her crew, including the five Sullivan brothers. This battle prevented the Japanese from landing reinforcements on Guadalcanal and Swenson was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions.

A warbaby, the destroyer that carried his name was laid down September 11th, 1943 at Bath Iron Works in Maine with his daughter sponsoring the vessel. Commissioned in Boston 2 May 1944, she was rushed off to war.

The 58-ship Sumner-class were large and heavily armed when compared to the old flush-deck destroyers that preceded them. Sandwiched between the svelte Fletcher-class and the follow-on Gearing-class (which were nothing but modified Sumners), these boats cost some $8 mill a pop (although Bath contracted for $5.1 million for Swenson) and Uncle Sugar got a swell deal from them, with most of the class serving into the 1970s.

At 3500-tons full load and 376-feet long, these bruisers packed a half-dozen 5-inch/38 DP guns (in twin mounts) as well as a dozen 40mm Bofors, another dozen 20mm guns, a brace of 10 torpedo tubes to take on Japanese cruisers, plus depth charges to bust enemy subs with. As such, they had much more kick than the Fletcher-class that preceded them, while still being able to float in as little as 16 feet of water (at a light load) and make 34-knots when needed. Capable of carrying more than 500 tons of fuel oil for her boilers, these ships had long legs, and could run 6000-nm on a full load, more than three times early pre-war built destroyers– which was important in the far-flung pacific.

Swenson arrived in the Philippines as part of the screen of Carrier Task Group 38.4 in October, 1944. There, off Samar on 30 October, she was the first US ship to fire on the first Japanese Kamikaze suicide planes. She went on to sail with Task Group 38.1 on the epic 3800-mile raid around the Pacific rim in January 1945, participated in the daring nighttime anti-shipping run thorough the entrance of Tokyo Bay with DESRON 61 on 22/23 July, helping to sink two freighters with her 5-inch guns, and witnessed the surrender of Japan that September.

All in all she had a very successful and lucky war, putting some 200,000 miles on her hull in just over a year.

USS Swenson in heavy swells alongside USS Wasp, January 1945. Photo 80G 301572 by John Chiquoine

She spent the next five years in quiet peacetime operations around the Pacific, finding herself stationed in Japan when the balloon went up in Korea in 1950. Pressed into service as a transport, she transported the US Army’s 560th MP company to Pusan then sent the next several months in plane guard and shore bombardment missions.

She fired no less than 1700 rounds of 5″ shells into the forces attacking the Pusan perimeter, exploded floating mines with her 40mm guns at Inchon, and traded shots with North Korean shore batteries on the island of Wolmi-Do. In covering the landings at Inchon she fired another 1400 rounds of 5″ and three thousand rounds of 40-mm. For this action Swenson and the five other destroyers with her were awarded the Navy Unit Commendation and the Korean Presidential Unit Citation.

A Chaplain reads the Last Rites service as Lieutenant (JG) David H. Swensen is buried at sea from USS Toledo, off Inchon, where he had been transferred for his wounds. The Lieutenant had been struck by shrapnel from North Korean shore-based artillery while his ship, USS Lyman K. Swenson was bombarding enemy positions on Wolmi-do island, Inchon, on 13 September 1950. The USS Swenson is seen observing the service in the distance.

After stateside refit in 1951 where she received up to date radars and electronics, as well as new barrels for her shot-out five inchers, she returned to Korean waters where she landed troops behind enemy lines, rescued downed fliers, and pummeled North Korean railway yards and trains, being one of the few members of the club of naval ships that have sent locomotives cartwheeling through the air.

Following the cessation of hostilities there, came more peacetime service.

She was FRAMM’d in 1960. This removed most of her WWII era AAA armament, added facilities for the nifty Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter (DASH) UAV (yes, they had them back then!) replaced her 21-inch torpedo tubes with two triple Mark 32 tubes for the Mark 44 ASW torpedo, and added Variable Depth Sonar (VDS). She also got her first ECM gear and modern sonars and radar, effectively making her as effective as a contemporary new destroyer at a fraction of the cost.

DASH drone on USS Swenson. Photo by Curt Helmer, DD729 website

As soon as Vietnam got hot she was there, participating in naval gunnery support missions along the I Corps area during 15 days in October 1964, she fired no less than 2966 rounds of 5″ ammunition.

Follow-on tours in 1967, 68, 69, well you get the idea, saw more gunfire support with her miniature drone deck being just large enough to accommodate the occasional Huey. She also played plane guard on Yankee station during this time between participating in the Mekong Yacht Club.

USS Swenson in 1969 Vietnam coastal waters. Image courtesy of Earl Faubion, DD729 website

With the looming wrap up of the Vietnam conflict (at least for the Americans) her days were numbered. The Navy was pushing for a new fleet of huge 7000-ton Spruance class destroyers, twice as large as the Sumners, and room had to be made.

The old fighting Swenson was decommissioned and struck from the Naval List 1 February 1974, just shy of her 30th birthday.

In addition to the Navy Unit Commendation, the ship earned the following awards: American Campaign, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign (with 5 battle stars), World War II Victory, Navy Occupation Service, China Service, National Defense Service, Korean Service (with 6 battle stars), Armed Forces Expeditionary, Vietnam Service (with 10 stars), United Nations Service, Philippine Liberation (with one star), Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and Republic of Vietnam Campaign.

A dozen of the Sumner-class destroyers were sold to the Republic of China (Taiwan) between 1969-1974, with Swenson being one of the last to go. She was never recommissioned into the ROC navy, being used as a floating source of spare parts.

Finally by the 1990s she was scrapped. However there are undoubtedly parts from her that still remain afloat on the USS Taussig, which since 1970 served Taiwan as the as Lo Yang (DD-14). Since 2000, that hardy old tin can, the last of her class still in military service, has been semi-preserved as a floating museum at Cijin Port, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

The only Sumner class destroyer in the U.S is the USS Laffey DD-724. Known as the “Ship that would not die” Laffey survived a swarm of 22 kamikazes during WWII and served alongside Swenson at Inchon in 1950. She is preserved as memorial and berthed at Patriot’s Point, Charleston, South Carolina.

Please visit her when you get a chance.

The former crew-members of the might Swenson have their own reunion site and at http://www.dd729.com/ which supplied many of the images here.

Specs:

(Off Mare Island 1945)

(As built)
Displacement: 2,200 tons (3500-fl)
Length: 376 ft 6 in (114.8 m)
Beam: 40 ft (12.2 m)
Draft: 15 ft 8 in (4.8 m)
Propulsion: 60,000 shp (45 MW);
2 propellers
Speed: 34 knots (63 km/h)
Range: 6500 nmi. (12,000 km) @ 15 kt
Complement: 336
Armament: 6 × 5 in./38 guns (12 cm),
12 × 40mm AA guns,
11 × 20mm AA guns,
10 × 21 in. torpedo tubes,
6 × depth charge projectors,
2 × depth charge tracks

After FRAM II: (1960)
6 × 5 in/38 cal guns (127 mm) (in 3 × 2 Mk 38 DP mounts)
2 × triple Mark 32 torpedo tubes for Mark 44 torpedoes
1 × Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter (DASH)
Variable Depth Sonar (VDS), ALR-1 EW suite
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/

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!

Warship Wednesday April 2, The Lost Dorado

Posted on April 2, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland Leave a comment

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday April 2, The Lost Dorado

Here we see the Gato-class fleet submarine USS Dorado (SS-248) fitting out just before commissioning–note the Rosie the Riveter types on deck. Named after the mahi mahi fish, the Dorado had a very short life, but one that will live on forever in what she left behind.

A member of the famous Gato-class of fleet submarines, Dorado was but one of 77 of that extended family commissioned between 1943-44. These 311-foot long boats could make 21-knots on the surface, which meant they could chase down just about any Japanese Maru that was on the ocean. Her 11,000-mile range and 24 torpedo magazine allowed her to stay at sea, taking the war to the Japanese home islands, for upto 75 days at a time.

The Gatos were some of the most famous of US fleet boats in WWII, and they suffered for it, with 20 being lost at sea. Ships of this class included USS Wahoo who, under Mush Morton, slaughtered an entire Japanese convoy off New Guinea all by her self. USS Cavalla, assassin of the Japanese aircraft carrier (and Pearl Harbor veteran) Shokaku. USS Albacore, who took the carrier Taiho, the flagship of Vice-Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa’s fleet– was a Gato. The USS Flasher, the most successful US sub of the war, with over 100,000-tons to her credit, was also Gato.

All of these 77 Gatos, save the Dorado, would fight in the Pacific, but the ill-fated submarine would never make it that far.

Laid down 27 August 1942 at the famous General Dynamics Electric Boat yard, Groton, Connecticut, Dorado was completed just one year and one day later, and commissioned 28 August 1943.

In September, she took aboard two artists employed by the US War Department, Thomas Hart Benton and Georges Schreiber to document the ship’s cruise and preserve the images of a fleet boat at sea during wartime operations (although safely in US waters most of the time).

Schreiber and Benton along with the Dorado’s skipper, Sept 1943

While underway Schreiber and Benton sketched, painted and interacted with the crew. They even got some excitement when the ship encountered a derelict vessel in the sea-lanes that Dorado dispatched with her deck guns.

The art from that cruise lives on for eternity.

Going Home by Georges Schreiber

Up Periscope by Thomas Hart Benton,

Score Another One, Thomas Hart Benton

Dorado‘s sea trials proved the readiness of the crew, and she sailed from New London, Connecticut, on 6 October 1943 for the Panama Canal Zone.

She did not arrive.

It is thought that she was sent to the bottom by a friendly fire attack of the US Mariner aircraft (of VP-210 USN/P-9, pilot Lt(jg) Daniel T. Felix, Jr.) stationed on NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on 12 Oct, 1943. The aircraft was patrolling around the convoy GAT-92 and dropped three depth charges and one bomb on a surfaced U-boat at 20.51 hours on 12 October.

Another theory is that she ran into a minefield set by German U-214. Between 15.51 hours on 19.02 hours on 8 Oct, 1943, U-214 had laid a mine field of 15 mines off Colon. It is possible that USS Dorado (SS 248) was lost on one of these mines when she passed the area on her way to Colon on 14 October. The mine field was detected on 16 October and ten mines swept.

Overdue at Colon, Dorado is still considered on eternal patrol.

A memorial to Dorado has been constructed in the Veterans Memorial Park in Wichita, Kansas while the USS Dorado Assoc still keeps watch that some day she will be found. In 2007 a remote sensing survey was conducted to try and find her resting place.

To visit a sister-ship of the lost Dorado, Six retired Gatos are on display in the United States:

USS Cavalla is at Seawolf Park near Galveston, Texas (in SSK configuration).
USS Cobia is at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.
USS Drum is at Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama.
USS Cod is on display in Cleveland. It does not have doors cut through its pressure hull nor stairwells added.
USS Croaker is on display in Buffalo, New York (in SSK configuration).
USS Silversides is on display in Muskegon, Michigan.

Go aboard and pay your respects.

Specs:

Click to embiggen

Displacement:    1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced, 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length:    311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:    27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:    17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion:    4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators
2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries
4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears
two propellers
5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced
2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:    21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced,[4] 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged
Range:    11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance:    48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged, 75 days on patrol
Test depth:    300 ft (91 m)
Complement:    6 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament:    10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft) with 24 torpedoes
1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun
Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

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

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

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 like to watch…through a periscope.

Posted on February 18, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland One comment

Odds are, if you are a sneaky non-nation party rogue state operator and NATO wants to keep ears on you, that cigarette
burning in the corner just offshore may be that of a Dutch submarine skipper.

Commissioned 25 April 1990, the Zeeleeuw (Dutch for Seal) is over twenty years old but is a master of littoral combat. The Dutch have used their quartet of 222-foot long Walrus-class subs, capable of floating in as little as 20-feet of water and submerging in as little as 60, to lie just offshore the bad-guy’s coastline listening for intel while on NATO missions.

These boats have done yeoman’s service off the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, followed by Iraq, then off Libya a couple years ago, and, as shown in the video, off Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Its rumored that when Hugo Chavez started talking smack about invading the Dutch Antilles in the Caribbean, a Walrus-class sub wandered around the Venezuelan coastline making notes and taking names.

They are well suited for hanging out in shallow waters and soaking up radio intercepts while their radar and sonar get a fix on just what is moving around and where it is going to and from. They have a specialized L-3 KEO mast that is optimized to capture HD footage both day and night– so that beautiful bean footage can be shown round the world if needed.

The Zeeleeuw (center) was fitted with an extended mounting on her sail to diffuse her signature and diesel exhaust while near
surface/snorting. All the better to be on the low low with.

Specs

Displacement:    2,350 t surfaced,
2,650 t submerged,
1,900 t standard
Length:    67.73 m
Beam:       8.4 m
Draft:       6.6 m
Propulsion:    3 diesels, diesel-electric, 5,430 shp (4 MW), 1 shaft, 5 blades
Speed:    13 knots (24 km/h) surfaced,
20 knots (37 km/h) submerged
Range:    18,500 km at 9 knot
Test depth:    >300 m
Complement:    50 to 55
Sensors and processing systems:    • Surface Search Radar: Signaal/Racal ZW 07
• Sonar Systems: Thomson Sintra TSM 2272 Eledone Octopus, GEC Avionics Type 2026 towed array, Thomson Sintra DUUX 5 passive ranging and intercept
Armament:    4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (20 × Honeywell Mk 48 or Honeywell NT 37 torpedoes, mines,
SubHarpoon SSM)

Warship Wednesday Feb 5: Russian Thunder

Posted on February 5, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland One comment

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, Feb 5: Russian Thunder

click to embiggen

Here we see the Tsar’s armored cruiser Gromoboi (Thunderbolt) as she looked when visiting Australia in 1901. Built as a large warship capable of independent operations in far-flung seas, her primary role was to be that of a commerce raider against the British merchant fleet. You see when she was laid down 14 June 1897, it was Edwardian England that was seen as the greatest threat to Holy Russia, and not the Kaiser’s Germany.

The Russian cruiser Gromoboi shortly before its launch note imperial footman leaning over to get a better view.

An improvement on the earlier Rossia and Rurik class armored cruisers that came just before her, she was 481-feet long and tipped the scales at some 12,500 tons with a full load. This made her roughly the same size (and even larger in some cases) than the Pre-Dreadnought battleships of her age.

Oddly, her steel hull was sheathed in arsenic-treated wood, to prevent fouling in distant harbors where drydocks were not available

Her battery of 20 eight and six-inch guns made sure she could slaughter any merchant ship, gunboat, or cruiser while her 19-knot speed enabled her to outrun the lumbering turn of the century battleships of the 1890s. The only ships fast enough to catch her were small scout cruisers and torpedo boats which her fifty small-caliber rapid fire guns and six inches of Krupp cemented armor belt could shrug off.

A handsome sight with her four funnels venting her 32 boilers

Capable of cruising over 8000-miles on a single load of coal, she could cross the Atlantic or sail to the far-flung Pacific with ease.

And she did.

Ordered from the Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg, she was commissioned November 1899, firmly a 19th-century ship in a 20th-century world. To keep her hull from fouling in tropical waters, it was sheathed with wood. Her three shafts were turned by amazingly and over complex series of 32 Belleville water-tube boilers with thousands of tubes that needed constant attention.

Note the Romanov eagle on her bow and the Imperial Russian Naval ensign fluttering. This ship was made to show the flag around the world. You have to dig the 3-inch gun as a hood ornament too.

Her crew numbered nearly a thousand men to feed and care for these boilers, shovel 2400-tons of coal, and man her incredibly varied suite of weaponry.

Besides her twenty 8 and 6 inch guns in casemates, the cruiser had more than fifty of these smaller canet style guns to ward off torpedo boats. They offered little protection for their crews from splinters.

She left the Baltic the spring after her commissioning and the gleaming white cruiser made appearances in Germany, Britain, and Australia on her way to the Tsar’s new colony of Port Arthur, recently garnered from ailing Manchu-controlled China by a lease.

Vladivostok cruisers in 1903. From left to right you have the Rossia, Bogatyr, Gromboi, and Rurik (“Russia”, “Hercules”, “Thunderbolt”, “Rurik”) by Valery Shilyaeva. Click to embiggen.

Stationed in Vladivostok by 1903 along with the cruisers Rossia, Rurik and Bogatyr and the auxiliary cruiser Lena, their enemy changed from the planned British merchant fleet to that of the Japanese merchant fleet by a twist of fate in 1904 when the Russo-Japanese war started. The enemy soon bottled up most of the Russian Pacific Squadron inside Port Arthur but neglected to do so for the cruiser squadron at Vlad.

The last thing you wanted to see if you were a Japanese merchant ship in the North Pacific in 1904…

Painted a thick grey coat and made ready for war, the four cruisers formed a raider group that haunted the Northern Pacific Ocean, sinking the occasional Japanese ship. Led by the Baltic German commander Vice Admiral Karl Petrovich Jessen, they were a force to be reckoned with and almost drove the Japanese to drink.

Rossiya and Gromoboi sinking the unarmed wallowing 1,000-ton freighter, the Nakanoura Maru, built in 1865, just days after the war started in Feb 1904.

Rossiya and Gromoboi sinking the unarmed wallowing 1,000-ton freighter, the Nakamura Maru, built in 1865, just days after the war started in Feb 1904.

Their most important victory was against the Hitachi Maru, a 6,172 gross ton combined passenger-cargo ship built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding in Nagasaki, for NYK Lines.

While transporting 1238 people, including 727 men of the 1st Reserve Regiment of the Imperial Guard of Japan and 359 men from the IJA 10th Division and 18 Krupp 11-inch (280 mm) siege howitzers desperately wanted for the siege at Port Arthur, the Hitachi Maru was found by the Gromoboi in the southern Korean Strait between the Japanese mainland and Tsushima on June 15, 1904. The Tsar’s cruiser shelled and sank same which led to the resulting “Hitachi Maru Incident,” which ignited both British (the ship had a British captain) and Japanese anger (due to the loss of the politically important Imperial Guard regiment which included several officers from the Japanese petit nobility).

In all the cruiser force made six sorties from Vladivostok and sank 15 Japanese ships and captured two (British) merchant vessels.

The Japanese sent a fleet to Vladivostok to blockade the port and shelled the cruisers at anchorage. When the Russians did manage to emerge again in August, the fleet of six cruisers of Japanese Admiral Kamimura Hikonojō’s fast fleet caught up with the Rossia, Rurik, and Gromoboi off of Ulsan, Korea.

Japanese postcard with their version of how the Battle of Ulsan played out

The resulting battle was a tactical Japanese victory fought over the morning of 14 August 1904. Improved Japanese fire-control as well as a 2:1 ratio in hulls and guns won the day.

The Rurik was hit by a shell in her unarmored stern and the steering mechanism was destroyed, immobilizing her rudder in an elevated position, resulting in her being the target of intense bombardment by the Japanese cruisers. The stricken Russian ship was scuttled while Gromoboi and Rossia were able to slip their attackers and make it back to Vladivostok.

Gromoboi riddled with shrapnel after the battle. Don’t worry though, it’s just a flesh wound

All six of the Japanese cruisers received damage as did the two remaining Russian ones. The Gromoboi was riddled with shell fragments from 22 direct hits, severely damaged and had 91 dead and 182 wounded during the battle. Most of these deaths came from gunners manning the unprotected light canet guns on her decks.

Whereas the Japanese ships were able to return to the shipyard for repair, the two Russian ones could only retire to the primitive port facilities at their Siberian port. Unable to be repaired, they sat out the rest of the war and did not sortie again.

Iced in 1904-1905

After spending the winter of 1904-1905 iced in, she emerged in the spring and hit a mine on 24 May, the war ended without her sailing from port again.

Following the end of the war, she was sent to the Baltic again to reinforce the fleet there. Rode hard and put up wet, she spent six years in the shipyard and emerged in 1911 with a refurbished engineering suite and upgraded fire control. Her armament was modified after experiences in the war, receiving 18-inch torpedo tubes and reducing the number of unprotected guns, and several searchlights were added.

When WWI started in 1914, she was still in the Baltic. Modified as a fast minelayer (18-knots was fast in 1914), she sortied from Krondstadt to German-frequented waters several times, sewing 200 mines per trip. Her armament was changed once more during the war and her displacement went to almost 14,000-tons.

On August 10, 1915, she tangled with the much larger and stronger German battlecruiser SMS Von Der Tann (23,000-tons, 8×11-inch guns, 9.8-inches of armor), in the waters around the Gulf of Finland. Both ships sailed away afterward, with the Gromoboi weaving her way back home safely.

Becoming part of the Red Banner Fleet by default in 1918, she survived both British and White Russian efforts to sink her during the Russian Civil War as well as the Bolshevik siege of Krondstat in 1921 only to be scrapped by a German company in 1922. No monument or memorial exists to her and her three unusual wars.

Hard aground in the port of Libau, she was scrapped in place in 1922 by the breaker who lost her there while under tow.

There is though, a memorial to her most famous opponent, the Hitachi-Maru Memorial Stele. It is located at the Yasukuni Shrine, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan.

Specs:

click to embiggen

Displacement:    12,455 long tons (12,655 t)
Length:    481 ft (146.6 m)
Beam:    68.6 ft (20.9 m)
Draught:    26 ft (7.9 m)
Installed power:    14,500 ihp (10,800 kW)
Propulsion:    3 shafts, 3 vertical triple expansion steam engines, 32 Belleville water-tube boilers
Speed:    19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range:    8,100 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,320 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 874 officers and crewmen
Armament:

(as built)
4 × 1 – 8-inch (203 mm)/45 guns
16 × 1 – 6-inch (152 mm)/45 guns
24 × 1 – 75-millimetre (3.0 in)/50 guns
12 × 1 – 47-millimetre (1.9 in)/43 guns
18 × 1 – 37-millimetre (1.5 in)/23 Hotchkiss Gatling guns
4 × 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes

(after 1911)
4 × 1 – 8-inch (203 mm)/45 guns
22 × 1 – 6-inch (152 mm)/45 guns
4 × 1 – 75-millimetre (3.0 in)/50 guns
4 × 1 – 47-millimetre (1.9 in)/43 guns
2 × 18-inch torpedo tubes

(after 1915)
6 × 1 – 8-inch (203 mm)/45 guns
22 × 1 – 6-inch (152 mm)/45 guns
2x57mm guns
2 × 1 – 47mm high angle AAA guns
2 × 18-inch torpedo tubes
200 mines

Armor: Krupp cemented armor
Belt: 6 in (152 mm)
Deck: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm)
Conning tower: 12 in (305 mm)

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/

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!

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laststandonzombieisland

Weapons, Wars, Preparation and Security from a recovering gun nut turned bad writer

Category Archives: mine warfare

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