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Warship Wednesday March 12, 100 years of Texas

Posted on March 12, 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 March 12, 100 years of Texas

BB-35 Texas, 24 March 1914, 100 years ago this month, just two weeks after commissioning (click bigger)

Here we see the classic US naval dreadnought, USS Texas (BB-35), today is her 100th birthday and she is the oldest US battleship afloat.

Awarded 17 December 1910 to the Newport News Shipbuilding Company, she was commissioned on 12 March 1914 for a cost of $5.83 million. Decommissioned 21 April 1948, she served through both World Wars and over the course of her 34-years of service she received five battle stars.

A New York class battleship, Texas was some 27,000 tons. Her 14 Babcock and Wilcox coal-fired boilers with oil spray could push that leviathan at over 21-knots and her 10×14-inch (356mm) guns gave her an impressive arsenal.

After service in Mexico in 1914, World War One saw her conduct naval gunnery training before she sailed to join the British Fleet. She departed New York on 30 January 1918, arrived at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland on 11 February, and rejoined BatDiv 9, by then known as the 6th Battle Squadron of Britain’s Grand Fleet. Texas’s service with the Grand Fleet consisted entirely of convoy missions and occasional forays to reinforce the British squadron on blockade duty in the North Sea whenever German heavy units threatened. She was present at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet, returning home at Christmas 1918.

Idaho (BB-42) (foreground) and Texas (BB-35), circa 1930.

After an extensive overhaul in the 1920s, Texas was shuttled back and forth from Atlantic to Pacific, serving as a flagship more often than not.

On December 7, 1941, she luckily was on Neutrality Patrol on the East Coast and escaped the nightmare that was Battleship Row. She spent 1942 in convoy duty, dodging German U-boats, and stood off of Casablanca for the Torch Landings, with a young war correspondent named Walter Cronkite on board while she provided naval gunfire support ashore.

On D-Day, Texas was the star of the Naval show off Omaha Beach. Her firing area of Omaha was the western half, supporting the US 29th Infantry Division and the US 2nd Ranger Battalion at Pointe du Hoc, and the US 5th Ranger Battalion, which had been diverted to Western Omaha to support the troops at Pointe du Hoc. Closing to within 3000-yards of the beach, she fired all along Dog One, the route made famous in the first ten minutes of Saving Private Ryan. She continued her bombardment as the troops moved inland over the next two weeks, even having her starboard torpedo blister flooded with water to provide a list of two degrees to increase her guns elevation.

USS Texas BB-35 by Ruutiukko

She later silenced the Germans at Cherbourg, supported the Dragoon landings in the South of France from the Mediterranean.

Dodging German coastal artillery off Cherbourg

With the war in Europe winding down, she sailed for the Pacific in 1945, moving in close to bombard Okinawa. When the war ended she was in the Ryukyus, preparing to bombard coastal Japan itself in the upcoming big invasions of the main islands.

Her wars finished, the old battle-wagon was obsolete. While the Navy kept the newer 1940s era SoDak and Iowa class ships as well as the Alaska type battle-cruisers, the old WWI era dreadnoughts like Texas were soon to be discarded. Most tragically went to the scrappers. Some, like the Mississippi lived on a few more years as test ships, others, like her sister ship USS New York, Employed as a target ship in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, were sunk as targets.

Texas, as she avoided Uboats and kamikazes, dodged this fate as well.

After she was stricken in 1948, she was presented to the state of Texas who made her flagship of the Texas Navy and put her on display at San Jacinto military park. Texas was the first battleship memorial museum in the US.

However, she is threatened by age and decay, on her 100th birthday, will you please visit the Battleship Texas Foundation and do your part for the ship that steamed over 700,000 miles for her nation?

Specs:

(1914)

(As built)
Displacement:    27,000 long tons (27,000 t) (design)
Length:    573 ft (175 m)
Beam:    95 ft 3 in (29.03 m)
Draft:    27 ft 10.5 in (8.496 m) (normal)
29 ft 3.25 in (8.9218 m)(full)
Propulsion:    14 Babcock and Wilcox coal-fired boilers with oil spray (replaced by 6 Bureau Express oil-fired boilers in 1925-26); vertical triple-expansion steam engines; 2 shafts; 28,100 ihp
Speed:    21 kn (24 mph; 39 km/h)
Range:    As built: 7,060 nautical miles (13,080 km) at 10 knots
Coal: 1,900 tons
Oil: 267 tons
Complement:    1,042
Armament:

As built:
10 × 14 inch/45 caliber guns (356 mm) (5×2)
21 × 5 inch/51 caliber guns (127 mm)
(reduced to 16 guns in 1918)
2 x 3 inch/50 caliber AA guns (76 mm) added 1916
4 × 3-pounder (1.4 kg) guns[2]
4 × 21 inch torpedo tubes (533 mm) (submerged)

After 1925-6 refit:
10 × 14 inch/45 caliber guns (356 mm) (5×2)
16 × 5 inch/51 caliber guns (127 mm)
8 x 3 inch/50 caliber AA guns (76 mm)
torpedo tubes removed
8 x 1.1 inch (28 mm) AA guns (2 x 4) added 1937

After 1942 refit:
10 × 14 inch/45 caliber guns (356 mm) (5×2)
6 × 5 inch/51 caliber guns (127 mm)
10 x 3 inch/50 caliber AA guns (76 mm)
24 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns (6 × 4)
(later increased to 40 guns (10 x 4))
44 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannons
Armor:
Belt: 10 to 12 in (250 to 300 mm) (midships)
6 in (150 mm) (aft)
Bulkheads:
10 in (250 mm) and 11 in (280 mm)
9 in (230 mm) (lower belt aft)
Barbettes:
5 to 12 in (130 to 300 mm)
Turrets:
14 in (360 mm) (face)
4 in (100 mm) (top)
8 in (200 mm) – 9 in (230 mm) (sides)
8 in (200 mm) (rear)
Decks:
1.5 to 3 in (38 to 76 mm)

General characteristics (by 1945)
Displacement:    32,000 long tons (33,000 t) (full load)
Length:    573 ft (175
Beam:    106 ft 0 in (32.31 m)
Draft:    31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Propulsion:    2 × dual-acting triple expansion reciprocating steam engines
Speed:    19.72 kn (22.69 mph; 36.52 km/h)
Endurance:    15,400 nmi (17,722 mi; 28,521 km) at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Complement:    1810 officers and men
Sensors and processing systems:
2 × SG surface search radars
1 × SK air search radar
2 × Mk 3 fire control radar
2 × Mk 10 fire control radar

Armament:
10 × 14 in (360 mm)/45 cal guns (5 × 2)
6 × 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns
10 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns
10 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) mounts
44 × 20 mm (0.79 in) guns

Armor:    Same as 1914 characteristics except:
Turrets:        1.75 in (44 mm) added to turret tops
Aircraft carried:    2 × OS2U Kingfisher

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

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

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday March 5, The Japanese Auspicious Phoenix

Posted on March 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 March 5, The Japanese Auspicious Phoenix

Click to embiggen

Here we see the aircraft carrier Zuiho (meaning “Auspicious Phoenix” or “Fortunate Phoenix”) making a run for it during the Battle of Cape Engaño, 25 October 1944. She is painted to mimic a cruiser if seen from the air, to include a false bow wave running over the front of her decking. This was in hopes of high altitude bombers aiming for the ‘center’ of the cruiser, which would be in the carrier’s wake.

Note the very ‘oiler’ like bow

Originally laid down as the diesel-engined submarine support ship Takasaki at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in 1935, she was converted to a light aircraft carrier. After launching, she was completed as a flat top (and with the Japanese navy we do mean flat-top– the ship was characteristically without above deck superstructure.) Re-engined with the same steam turbines found in the IJN’s fast destroyers, she was commissioned as the Zuiho 27 Dec. 1940. Her sister ship, the torpedo support ship Tsurugizaki, was likewise also converted and commissioned as the carrier Shoho (Happy Phoenix) the same year.

She was unattractive but very lucky, covering the evacuation of Guadalcanal and the reinforcement of Rabal without a scratch.

The 11.500-ton, 646-foot long light carrier had a 590-foot flight deck, two elevators, and could accommodate up to 30 single-engined aircraft. This made her one of the smallest aircraft carriers in the world at the time. Even the US Navy’s diminutive USS Ranger (17,800-tons) and USS Wasp (19,200-tons) were giants compared to Zuiho, and could carry twice the aircraft.

Attached to the 3rd Carrier Div of the 1st Air Fleet, she mainly saw screening operations in the first part of WWII, not participating in any of the opening battles. At the time of the Battle of Midway, she was with the Japanese fleet, but did not take part in that battle, protecting the support units of Yamamoto ‘s task force instead. Her air group consisted of six Mitsubishi A5M “Claude” and six Mitsubishi A6M2 “Zero” fighters, and twelve Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bombers.

In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, her air group passed that of the USS Enterprise and Zuiho came out of the engagement with a couple of bombs in deck. Throughout 1943 and 1944 she dodged US submarines (including a close attack from USS Skate) and aircraft, always coming out smelling like roses, surviving the catastrophic Battle of the Philippine Sea by a combination of luck. Her sister lost her life early, Shōhō was the first Japanese aircraft carrier to be sunk during World War II when aircraft from the USS Lexington (“Scratch one flat top!”) sent her to the bottom in four minutes during the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Then came 25 October 1944. Zuiho was then given the task of attacking the US forces in the Leyte Gulf. She, along with the Chiyoda, Chitose and Zuikaku, was to serve as decoys to attract attention away from the two other, better prepared forces approaching from the south and west. The carrier was largely stripped of aircraft and going for her certain doom.

Spotted, the US fleet flew hundreds of aircraft against the ill-fated force. In a running battle Zuiho was struck by no less than three bombs, a torpedo, and 77 near misses (proving the camo may have worked!) in four terrific waves.

Finally, taking on water and listing, Zuihō sank at 1526 at position 19°20′N 125°15′E with the loss of 7 officers and 208 men. The destroyer Kuwa and the battleship Ise rescued 58 officers and 701 men between them.

Specs:

Displacement: 11,262 tons (standard); 14,200 tuns (full)
Complement: 785
Length: 674.3′
Beam: 59.9 feet
Draught: 21.7 feet
Aircraft: 30
Speed: 28 kts
Guns:
8 x 5″/40 cal in 4 twin mounts 2 sets removed .1934
8 x 25mm
56 x 25mm by .1944
8 x 28 barrell rocket launchers .1943
12 x 13.2mm
Machinery: Geared turbines. S.H.P. 52,000 = 28.2 kts, 2 shafts.

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 Feb 26, Mr. Hunley’s invention after 150 years

Posted on February 26, 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 26, Mr. Hunley’s invention after 150 years.

(click to embiggen)

Here we see in a beautiful work by Mort Kuntsler, the Confederate submarine HL Hunley as she sits preparing to sail out to sea and strike at the US Navy blockade. The Hunley was the first operational submarine of any navy to sink an enemy warship in combat and she did so 150-years ago this month.

With the Confederacy surrounded by US Navy blockade at sea and the US Army on land, she desperately needed a way to poke holes to breathe. One of these plans involved early, and very primitive submarines.

The Hunley and two earlier prototype submarines were privately developed and paid for by one Horace Lawson Hunley and his associates. Hunley was a Tennessee-born engineer by training who was practicing law in New Orleans when the war broke out in 1861. There he funded his early subs before having to relocate to Mobile once the Crescent City fell to the US fleet in 1862.

The craft was born in Mobile, Alabama, one of the last Confederate ports to fall.

Park and Lyons machine shop building, Mobile, Alabama, Where the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley was constructed in 1863. Located at the corner of Water and State Streets, in Mobile, this old building housed the Gill Welding and Boiler Works when photographed in about 1960.

Hunley’s craft was simple. Manned by a captain who would steer and command the vessel, it was powered by a hand cranked turned by 4-7 men. This made the 40-foot long submersible capable of about 4-knots for as long as the crew could hold out. It was submerged and raised by hand pumped ballast tanks. Armed with a copper cylinder containing 90 pounds of black powder on a 22-foot spar ,she would attach the charge to the enemy ship, back away, and then detonate the bomb against the hull of the Yankee blockader.

While testing in Mobile Bay, the boat was able to simulate an attack on a moored coal boat in the summer of 1863. This led the craft to be transferred by rail to besieged Charleston, SC.

There she sank twice in testing, the first time taking five of her crew with her, the second time, on October 15, 1863, taking Mr. Hunley himself to the bottom of Charleston harbor.

Finally on the cold night of February 17, 1864, she sailed with her third unfortunate volunteer crew under the command of Lieutenant George E. Dixon, himself a well-known Mobile area steamboat engineer before the war and late of the 21st Alabama Infantry Regiment. The Hunley cranked to the location of the 1240-ton screw sloop USS Housatonic, swaying 3.5 nautical miles from Sullivan’s Island outside of the entrance to Charleston Harbor.

Housatonic‘s officer of the deck sighted an object in the water 100 yards off, approaching the ship. “It had the appearance of a plank moving in the water,” he later reported. Although the chain was slipped, the engine backed, and all hands were called to quarters, it was too late. Within two minutes of the first sighting, the Hunley rammed her spar torpedo into Housatonic‘s starboard side, forward of the mizzenmast. The resulting explosion sank both the sloop, with a loss of five men.

It was the first occasion in history that a submarine sank another warship in action and would be far from the last.

Hunley, however, was mortally stricken and her hulk, still with Dixon and the crew inside, was raised by author Clive Cussler and his NUMA crew in 2000, found in 1970 just twenty feet from where the Housatnonic sank in 1864. Remember, Hunley‘s spar was but 22-feet long.

Dixon and the bodies of the crew, namely Frank Collins, Joseph F. Ridgaway, James A. Wicks, Arnold Becker, Corporal C. F. Carlsen, C. Lumpkin, and Augustus Miller, were recovered and buried with military honors.

The crew was postumously awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans in 1991.

The crew was posthumously awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans in 1991.

The Hunley remains in preservation process and you can visit the Friends of the Hunley website for more information and how to help with its preservation.

Specs

Displacement:    7.5 short tons (6.8 metric tons)
Length:    39.5 feet (12.0 meters) Unconfirmed.
Beam:    3.83 feet (1.17 meters)
Propulsion:    Hand-cranked propeller
Speed:    4 knots (7.4 kilometers/hour) (surface)
Complement: 1 officer, 7 enlisted
Armament:    1 spar torpedo

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 Feb 19, The Wandering Island of Luzon

Posted on February 19, 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 19, The Wandering Island of Luzon

(click to embiggen)

Here we see the spic and span US gunboat USS Isla de Luzon resting quietly at anchor with her 1900s issue white and buff paint scheme. Her life before this moment was a little different. Ordered by the Spanish government for the Armada Española, she was billed as a second-class “protected cruiser” by her government. In actuality, she was, even when new, considered smaller than most other cruisers, not to mention slow and ineffective.

In Spanish service, the cruiser had a green and black paint scheme with buff-to-white superstructures

Laid down on 25 February 1886 in the UK, she was built by Elswick (Armstrong, Whitworth) at Newcastle upon Tyne. She was completed and commissioned in late 1887. Just over 1000-tons, she was 184-feet in length. Beamy at nearly 30 feet, she had a length-to-beam ratio of 1:6 and tended to wallow in heavy seas. She also didn’t have enough ass to push her through the waves, her 2-shaft horizontal triple-expansion engines fed by 2 cylindrical boilers could generate about 14 knots, 15 if she was light. Very lightly armored, she was also lightly armed with a half-dozen 4.7-inch guns as well as some smaller QFs and MGs but her deadliest weapon was a triple set of 14-inch torpedo tubes.

Delivered to the Armada in 1887, she served first in Europe and even dropped some shells on the Rif in Morocco from time to time, practicing true gunboat diplomacy.

Today her size and armament would make her a corvette or offshore patrol vessel. In her time, cruisers were meant to be the fast eyes of the fleet, able to reach out over the horizon, find targets, and alert the main fleet of other vessels. The Isla de Luzon was too slow for that, and she soon found herself in colonial service in the Philippines. There she could visit far-flung Pacific islands and enforce the crown’s law against the locals without too much problem. She was part of the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo, which consisted of seven cruisers (of which Isla de Luzon was one of the best) and a few gunboats.

Then came the Spanish-American War.

Dewey in the USS Olympia dropping it like its hot on the moored Spanish fleet

Dewey in the USS Olympia drops it like it’s hot on the moored Spanish fleet. Isla de Luzon would be in the background closer to the shore

On 1 May 1898, Commodore Dewey steamed his Asiatic Squadron into Cañacao Bay under the lee of the Cavite Peninsula east of Sangley Point, Luzon– coincidentally the island she was named after. The resulting Battle of Manila Bay, the first major engagement of the Spanish-American War, left most Spanish ships sunk while Dewey suffered less than forty casualties by the worst estimate.

Isla de Luzon was hit three times by US shells, then was scuttled in shallow water by her crew when the battle was in its final stages. She only had a half-dozen casualties. Bluejackets from the gunboat Petrel swarmed over her stricken hull, looted what they could, and set her alight.

Raised after the war, she was rebuilt, rearmed with US-pattern guns, painted white, and commissioned USS Isla de Luzon on 11 April 1900.

Former Spanish cruiser Isla de Luzon soon after capture, seen in Pensacola, FL. Note she is wearing an American shield on her bow

Note twin stacks in US service after 1911

She then served as a gunboat, sailing through the Indian and Atlantic oceans to reach her new homeland in 1903, serving as a station ship in Pensacola until 1907 when she was loaned to the Louisiana Naval Militia on 6 December 1907 and later to the Illinois Naval Militia on the Great Lakes as a training ship. She spent WWI as a torpedo tender in Narragansett Bay, instructing new gunners mates and TMs.

In 1911 she was given a new power plant and two skinny funnels. Here she is as a training ship after that date in haze grey scheme

In 1911 she was given a new power plant and two skinny funnels. Here she is as a training ship after that date in a hazed grey scheme

Decommed and truck 23 July 1919, she was sold the next year to the Bahama & West Indies Trading Co to work as a coastal trading ship in the shallow waters there under the name SS Reviver. Her 1911-installed Babcocks boilers couldn’t handle the strain and she was soon sold to Bahama Salvors, Ltd. of Nassau and scrapped in 1931 at age 44.

The only remnant of her that remains today dates back to 1902. “Following long custom, when she visited Muscat’s picturesque harbor, members of her crew painted “Isla de Luzon” on the steep entrance cliff; in later years this was periodically refurbished by visiting ships of the U.S. Navy Middle East Force Command.”

Her name can still be seen there today.

Her only sistership, the cruiser Isla de Cuba, was also sunk at the Battle of Manila Bay, also salvaged and commissioned into the US Navy with the unimaginative name of USS Isla de Cuba, paid off in 1912, then picked up by the Venezuelans who used her as the training ship Mariscal Sucre until 1940.

Specs:

You can best see her Spanish scheme in this line drawing

(As-built)

Displacement:    1,030 tons
Length:    184 ft 10 in (56.34 m)
Beam:    29 ft 11 in (9.12 m)
Draft:    12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) maximum
Installed power:    1,897 hp (natural draft)
2,627 hp (forced draft)
Propulsion:    2-shaft horizontal triple-expansion, 2 cylindrical boilers
Speed:    14.2 knots (natural draft)
15.9 knots (forced draft)
Complement:    164 officers and enlisted
Armament:    6 × 4.7 in (120 mm) guns
8 × 6 pdr quick-firing guns
4 × machine guns
3 × 14 in (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:    Deck 2.5 in (64 mm)-1 in (25 mm); conning tower 2 in (51 mm)

(1900)
Displacement:    950 long tons (965 t)
Length:    195 ft (59 m)
Beam:    30 ft (9.1 m)
Draft:    11 ft 4.75 in (3.4735 m) (mean)
Propulsion:    2-shaft horizontal triple expansion engine, 535 hp (399 kW)
2-cylinder boilers
160 tons coal
Speed:    11.2 knots (20.7 km/h; 12.9 mph)
Complement: 137 officers and enlisted (1900-07), after 1907 just a small cadre of regular officers and CPOs backed by up to 200 naval militia and trainees.
Armament: Four 4″ mounts and three torpedo tubes
1905 – Four 4″ mounts, four 6-pounder,s and four .30 cal. machine guns
1911 – Four 4″/40 rapid fire mounts, four 6-pounder rapid fire mounts, two 1-pounder rapid fire mounts, and added two temporary 3-pounder rapid fire mounts
Armor:    Deck: 1–2.5 in (25–64 mm), scortched

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

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

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to encouraging the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday Feb 12, the Big Mass

Posted on February 12, 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 12, the Big Mass

(click to embiggen)

Here we see the war veteran USS Massachusetts fitting out at the New York Navy Yard, 1904, USS Indiana (BB-01), her sister, is in the background. The second official US battleship, the Massachusetts had an interesting life including service against the Spanish, Germans, and a few stops in between before finally taking a beating from the Army.

Note the LOW freeboard…

Built by William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co. in Philadelphia at a cost of $3-million, she and her sisters Indiana and Oregon were the young nations first all-steel seagoing battleships. Of course this term was relative as the ships could hardly take to sea due an extremely low free-board that threatened to swap them in heavy sea states.

Ordered in 1890, she was laid down on 25 June 1891 and commissioned 10 June 1896, her construction drawn out almost six years which is evident to the new type of ship that she was. Just 350-feet long, she would be considered a small frigate today except for the fact that she was a massive 11,500-tons when fully loaded. This was because the ship was crammed with 4 double ended Scotch boilers, two vertical inverted triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, a dozen 13-inch and 8-inch guns, forty smaller cannon and five torpedo tubes.

This was all clad in a total of up-to 18-inches of Harveyized steel and conventional nickel-steel armor, she was crewed by some 400+ officers and men.

The men in the late 1890s, were darlings of the media and some of their pictures remain in the Library of Congress, showing an interesting aspect of the ordinary lives of bluejackets more than a century ago.

bluejackets on BB-2 getting some officially sanctioned boxing in

According to the history of the ship, “To the men who served on her she was more than just a battleship. The men polished her brass fittings and cleaned her wooden deck because she was their home and their protector. They proudly sailed the seas knowing that they were aboard one of the most powerful and beautiful ships on Earth. But these men did not always have it easy, they had to constantly feed the coal burners to keep the ship powered, clean the guns and ammunition and then check and recheck them to maintain battle-readiness.

U.S.S. Massachusetts, fire room 1897 note the chalk on the boiler hatches

“They lived in small quarters, sailed through rough seas and were away from daily comforts. Yet throughout these difficult tasks and times, recreation was encouraged. The Navy learned long ago that it was important to keep up the men’s spirits in the face of such demanding times. Before retiring to their hammocks for the evening, the men were sometimes allowed to purchase small amounts of beer. They also formed a football team and held boxing matches to help relieve tensions aboard, and on holidays special dinners were cooked for those not lucky enough to be at home with family. Overall, those who lived, worked and died in her service know that Massachusetts was a fine ship”

Marine guards c1897. White gloves and spiked Prussian style helmets were standard for the Army too in many units at this time.

BB-2 sailors in summer whites

Inside one of her turrets. Note the old school Donald Ducks

Capable of steaming at up-to 16-knots, she was fast for her time.

When war broke out in 1898 with Spain, her beautiful white and buff paint scheme switched to haze grey and she went off to the beat of the drums, joining the Flying Squadron under Commodore Winfield Scott Schley for the blockade of Cuba. Missing the main fleet battles due to having to be coaled, she did cause the old Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes to scuttle and assisted with the occupation of both Puerto Rico and Cuba.

The 3000-ton largely disarmed Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes, sunk in Santiago, Cuba 1898 after scuttling following an engagement with the USS Massachusetts. She cruiser suffered no less than three direct hits from her 13-inch shells.

Over the next several years she was something of a cursed ship, grounding herself on no less than three occasions as well as suffering explosions in her turret and boiler rooms.

By 1910 she was used only for gunnery training and annual summer midshipmen s cruises around the Eastern seaboard and Caribbean. In 1917 when WWI became very real for the US, she was pressed into service to train naval gun-crews which she did admirably. With the end of the war came the end of her usefulness and in 1919 she was simply renamed the very awe-inspiring and creative ‘Coastal Battleship No.2′ before being struck on 22 November 1920. The next year she was turned over to the Army, who desperately wanted a battleship to poke holes in

Her guns and coal stores were removed as was anything that was useful. But that’s OK, as the Army just wanted her armor intact anyway.

Scuttled in shallow water near Pensacola, she was within range of the US Army Coastal Artillery positions at Forts Pickens and Fort Barrancas as well as by mobile railway artillery and tons of ordnance were fired at the old ship through 1925 when the Army offered her back to the Navy. The Navy said thanks but no thanks and instead used her for occasional bombing runs by pilots flying out of NAS Pensacola as late as the 1950s when she finally slipped under the waves for good.

She is now owned by the state of Florida who maintains her as an artificial reef.

As such she is a very popular dive.

Specs:

Displacement: 10,288 long tons (10,453 t; 11,523 short tons)
Length:    350 ft 11 in (106.96 m)
Beam:    69 ft 3 in (21.11 m)
Draft:    27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion:

Two vertical inverted triple expansion reciprocating steam engines
4 double ended Scotch boilers later replaced by 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers
9,000 ihp (6.7 MW) (design)
10,400 ihp (7.8 MW) (trial)

Speed:

15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) (design)
16.2 kn (30.0 km/h; 18.6 mph) (trial)

Range: 4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi)
Complement: 473 officers and men
Armament:

4 × 13″/35 gun (2×2)
8 × 8″/35 gun (4×2)
4 × 6″/40 gun removed 1908
12 × 3″/50 gun added 1910
20 × 6-pounders
6 × 1 pounder guns
5 × Whitehead torpedo tubes

Armor: Harveyized steel

Belt: 18–8.5 in (460–220 mm)
13″ turrets: 15 in (380 mm)
Hull: 5 in (130 mm)

Conventional nickel-steel

Tower: 10 in (250 mm)
8″ turrets: 6 in (150 mm)
Deck: 3 in (76 mm)

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

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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!

Warship Wednesday Jan 29. U427 : Survived 678 depth charges but never sank a ship

Posted on January 29, 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 Jan 29, 2014 U427 : survived 678 depth charges but never sank a ship

U427 decorated for commissioning

Here we see a Type VII submarine of the WWII Kreigsmarine. Her name was the U-427 and she was both the luckiest and the most unlucky ship in Hitler’s navy. Ordered two weeks before the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 from Danziger Werft, Danzig, she was commissioned 2 June 1943.

This class was the largest single class of submarines ever built, with some 703 units completed. Designed in 1933-34 as the first series of a new generation of attack U-boats, these hardy 220-foot craft could sail nearly 10,000 miles, making them capable of crossing the Atlantic and coming back unescorted.

Famous picture of U-427 crashing the surface. “Emergency ascent, the so-called “killer whales jump” (“whale jump”), of German submarine U-427. The picture was taken through the periscope of a submarine” (Click larger)

U-427 entered service as the Battle of the Atlantic was being lost by the German navy. Throughout 1939-42 the tide was high for Admiral Donitz’s unterseebottes. U-boat skippers looked back at those years as ‘the happy time’. By 1943, with increasing numbers of US escort carriers armed with Avenger torpedo planes, British intelligence reading Donitz’s letters to the fleet, and hundreds of Allied escort ships coming out of the builder’s yards, life for the U-boat arm sucked.

Used for a year as a training craft, U-427 only ventured out to the North Atlantic for the first time on 20 June 1944, two weeks after D-Day. She survived an amazing 678 depth charges dropped on her from Allied ships and craft over the course of the next eleven months. Her war patrol record reads like monotony and included Convoy escort operations along the Norwegian coast December 4, 1944 to February 23, 1945 followed by Arctic operations against Russian convoys April 21, 1945 to 2 May, 1945. She conducted five patrols with five different Flottes and as part of Wolfpack Faust.

She never managed to sink or damage an Allied ship, be it merchant or naval. Just days before the end of the war, U-427 saw a chance to pop its cherry when it found a pair of 2800-ton Tribal class destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy loafing about waiting for the war to end. These two ships, HMCS Haida and HMCS Iroquois, were on the receiving end of two live torpedoes fired from the U-427 that both missed.

The submarine retired to her base at Kilbotn, Norway, where it remained until Germany’s surrender on 8 May, in a heavily damaged state. In December of that year, along with 116 other surrendered German U-boats, she was sunk in deep water by the Royal Navy 100 miles northwest of Ireland as part of Operation Deadlight.

HMCS Haida today

HMCS Haida, near-victim of U-427, survived the war as well and after retiring from the fleet in 1963 is now a museum ship and National Historic Site of Canada displayed at Hamilton, Ontario.

Specs:

Displacement:    769 tonnes (757 long tons) surfaced
871 t (857 long tons) submerged
Length:    67.1 m (220 ft 2 in) o/a
50.5 m (165 ft 8 in) pressure hull
Beam:    6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) (o/a)
4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) (pressure hull)
Height:    9.60 m (31 ft 6 in)
Draft:    4.74 m (15 ft 7 in)
Propulsion:    2 × supercharged 6-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engines totalling 2,800–3,200 hp (2,100–2,400 kW). Max rpm: 470-490
Speed:    17.7 knots (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) surfaced
7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph) submerged
Range:    8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h) surfaced
80 nautical miles (150 km; 92 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth:    230 m (750 ft)
Calculated crush depth: 250–295 m (820–968 ft)
Complement:    44-52 officers & ratings
Armament:    5 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 1 stern)
14 × torpedoes or 26 TMA or 39 TMB mines
1 × 8.8 cm SK C/35 naval gun with 220 rounds
Various antiaircraft weaponry

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/

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I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday Jan 22, 2014 The Most Famous Dutch Pantserschip

Posted on January 22, 2014 by laststandonzombieisland 2 comments

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

Warship Wednesday Jan 22, 2014 The Most Famous Dutch Pantserschip

Via Postales Navales, colorised by Diego Mar

Here we see the very interesting Hr. Ms. De Zeven Provinciën of the Royal Dutch Navy. Designed before World War One as a ship to protect far-flung colonies from trespassers and show the flag in native ports, she was a product of the steam age.

The new gleaming 333-foot, 6300-ton battleship at her commisoning

The new gleaming 333-foot, 6300-ton battleship at her commissioning. Note the size of the large 11-inch single turret on her stern.

The De Zeven Provinciën was designed specifically to protect the country’s largest overseas colony, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). This vital possession was a source of oil, rubber, and other treasures for the Netherlands for decades.

Envisioned in the early 1900s, she was to be a poor-mans battleship. She was more than capable of sinking smaller ships than her (cruisers and destroyers) with her pair of large 11-inch guns while up to 8-inches of armor kept her safe. Carrying some 200 600-pound shells for her main battery, her guns could fire to over 8km and still punch through 15-inches of good steel armor at ranges half that. These guns were very similar to those used by the German Navy on the Nassau and Von der Tann battlewagons of the same time period, just in single mounts.

Note guns of her secondary battery amidships. These include two 150mm (5.9 in) guns in protected by very low-angle turrets and 10x75mm (3.0 in) (10 × 1)

Note guns of her secondary battery amidships. These include two visible 150mm (5.9 in) guns in protected by very low-angle turrets and two visible 75mm (3.0 in) guns in open mounts.

She could hide in littoral spaces from larger true battleships due to her ability to float in 21-feet of seawater. The ship type was known as the pantserschip (or “coastal defense ship”) and was popular with countries like Sweden, Denmark, and others who had a legitimate coastal defense need but could not afford large battlewagons.

A more bow-on view, again, the size of her single 11-inch mount forward would seem impressive to both subjects in far off lands and potential enemy cruisers and raiders

Completed 6 October 1910, she sailed immediately for the Dutch East Indies, where she was arguably the most capable ship there at any time (except when passing the US, Japanese or British battleships sailed through the area) for the next quarter-century. For over two decades she quietly patrolled the thousands of islands in the Netherlands crown colony, showing the flag to locals and foreign interests alike. During WWI she helped ensure Dutch neutrality was strictly adhered to.

Within a few years, she had a mixed Dutch and Indonesian crew, which may have been the cause of problems later in her life.

In 1933, De Zeven Provinciën was involved in a naval mutiny. Her crew ceased to listen to the Dutch high command after news of a 7% pay cut was made public (this was the Depression folks). The pocket battleship went rogue on February 5th while the ship’s captain was ashore. Her complement at the time consisted of 16 European officers, 34 European NCOs and ratings, and some 140 Indonesian crew-members. This is notably less than her designed complement of 450 men, barely half as much in fact. This is a testament of 1930s naval manning in colonial waters.

Wearing a more modern battleship grey scheme in the 1930s, the DZP is seen here with a Dutch Navy Fokker floatplane overhead

Wearing a more modern battleship grey scheme in the 1930s, the DZP is seen here with a Dutch Navy Fokker C.VII-W float-plane overhead. The little 30-foot/3000-lb two-place recon plane had a range of 600 miles and the Dutch Navy had a dozen of them in the Pacific. The DZP often carried one (as seen in the opening article image) on her cruises in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

For a week they sailed off the Sumatran coast headed towards the port of Soerabaja, to release other sailors that had been thrown in the brig for protesting the pay cuts. On February 10th, the combined fleet including the cruiser Java (8000-tons, 10 x Bofors 150 mm guns), two destroyers, and two submarines intercepted the mutinous vessel.

The Dutch defense minister ordered the ship stopped and when she refused to heave to and surrender, a shore-based Fokker T.IV bomber dropped a bomb on her deck that caused more than 30 casualties.

Pantserschip Hr.Ms. De Zeven Provinciën on fire after a direct hit near her bridge which killed 19 people outright and 11 wounded of which four later died. On the bottom is Hr.Ms. Java the flagship of Admiral Van Dulm with on the top the Destroyer Hr.Ms. Piet Hein or Hr.Ms. Evertsen. The mutiny would soon after end and the culprits arrested. 10 February 1933.

Damage to her amidships from the bomb dropped by her own navy

After the loss of life, the crew of the De Zeven Provinciën surrendered was disciplined, and the ship was renamed HNLMS Soerabaja (Surabaya) to erase the stain on her.

(Some 30 Fokker T.IV floatplanes were used by the Marine-Luchtvaartdienst; the naval aviation branch of the Royal Netherlands Navy to defend the Dutch East Indies. These lumbering beasts with thier two open-air cockpits could carry a single torpedo or upto 1,700lbs of bombs. Built in the late 1920s, they were all based at Soerabaja. The only succesful use of these planes in combat was ironically in bombing the De Zeven Provinciën) Painting by Segie Stone

(Some 20 Fokker T.IV float-planes were used by the Marine-Luchtvaartdienst; the naval aviation branch of the Royal Netherlands Navy to defend the Dutch East Indies. These lumbering twin-engined beasts, with their two open-air cockpits, could carry a single torpedo or up-to 1,700lbs of bombs. Built-in the late 1920s, they were all based at Soerabaja. The only successful use of these planes in combat was ironically in bombing the De Zeven Provinciën) Painting by Sergie Stone

The new 6,500-ton light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter, armed with 7x150mm guns and capable of making 32-knots, replaced the aging De Zeven Provinciën/Soerabaja in 1936 as a combat ship. Coupled with the light cruiser Java, she was much more capable than the WWI-era Pantserschip.

As the Soerabaia after 1936. Note her secondary armarment is gone, her second funnel is gone (as 5 out of 8 boilers were removed) and her main battery is covered by tarpaulins. Its questionable if by this stage of her life her 11-inch Krupp guns were even still supportable.

As the Soerabaia after 1936. Note her secondary armament is gone, as is her aft mast. Her No.1 funnel is gone (as 5 out of 8 boilers were removed) and her main battery both fore and aft is covered by extensive tarpaulins. Its questionable if by this stage of her life her 11-inch Krupp guns were even still supportable as the company wasn’t doing much with pre-WWI ordnance. In the heat of pre-airconditioned Indonesia, the awnings were probably more welcome anyway.

This left the 26-year-old coastal defense ship with her unmentionable past largely relegated to training for the rest of her career. She was extensively reworked for this new role. Her boilers were reduced from 8 to 3, her armament reduced, and she was largely used as a static harbor defense ship, capable of just 8-knots with everything lit.

When World War Two broke out in the Pacific, she was assigned to the ABDA fleet of Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman, but her usefulness in fleet combat was limited. Her only action during the war was to land mobilized troops on various islands during December 1941.

On February 18, 1942, just over two months into the war, she was attacked by Japanese planes in Surabaya harbor and sunk at her moorings with a loss of 13 of her crew. She sank upright, leaving the machine guns operable, and she continued to serve as an anti-aircraft battery in being for several more days until finally abandoned.

Admiral Doorman, along with his flagship De Ruyter and the old cruiser HNLMS Java were lost at the battle of the Java Sea 28 February 1942, ending the era of a strong Dutch fleet in Indonesian waters. All of the Marine-Luchtvaartdienst‘s Fokker floatplanes were all destroyed by the Japanese or burned on the ground by their crews before the Islands fell, not taking any effective part in the war.

When the Japanese captured Surabaya later that year, they raised the old De Zeven Provinciën/Soerabaja and used her as a floating anti-aircraft battery for the rest of the war. In late 1943, Allied airstrikes sank her for a second time five miles North of Djamoengan Reef where her hulked remains are today.

Her name was recycled as that of a 12,000-ton light cruiser in 1950 that was sold to Peru in 1976.

HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën in 1967 operating with HS-5 SH-3 Sea Kings and USS Essex

She is further remembered today in the modern HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën (F802), a frigate, in commission with the Royal Netherlands navy since 2002.

Part of the old DZP is ashore and remembered in Indonesia:

De Zeven Provinsein warship cannon at museum in indonesia

One of De Zeven Provinsein’s massive 11-inchers at the Museum TNI AL Loka Jala Crana in Surabaya It was salvaged and placed there in 1969.

Specs:

Displacement:    6,530 tons
Length:    101.5 m (333 ft 0 in)
Beam:    17.1 m (56 ft 1 in)
Draught:    6.15 m (20 ft 2 in)
Propulsion:    8,000 hp (6,000 kW), two shafts powered by 8 Werkspoor -Yarrow boilers
Speed:    16 knots (30 km/h), 5000nm range @8kts with 800 tons of coal bunkered. Less than 8kts after 1936.
Complement: 452 as-built

Armament: 2×11.1 in Krupp L/42,5 guns (28 cm) (2 × 1), 100 rounds per gun carried.
4x150mm (5.9 in) (4 × 1)
10x75mm (3.0 in) (10 × 1)
4x1pdr (4 × 1)

After 1936:
2×11.1 in (28 cm) (2 × 1), possibly inoperable.
6x40mm AAA (deck)
2x.50 caliber HMG (focsle)

After 1942: Various Japanese MGs and AAA cannon

Armour: 2 in (5.1 cm) deck
5.9 in (15 cm) belt
7.75 in (19.7 cm) barbette
8 in (20 cm) conning Tower
9.8 in (25 cm) turret

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

International

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

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval
vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

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Warship Wednesday Jan 15, 2014 A Tale of the Unlucky Porter

Posted on January 15, 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 Jan 15, 2014 A Tale of the Unlucky Porter

Here we see the fine lines of the USS Porter as she steams quietly before WWII. This destroyer, DD-356, looked more like a fast cruiser with her high bridge and four twin turrets. Truly a beautiful ship from that enlighten era where warships could be both easy on the eyes and functional.

The first USS Porter almost sent a torpedo into the cruiser New York in 1898

The name of the USS Porter is something of an albatross with the navy. Drawn from the famed War of 1812 era Commodore David Porter, and his son, Civil War Admiral David Dixon Porter, the first ship with this name, USS Porter (TB-6), a torpedo boat, launched in 1896, was commissioned five years after the passing of the Admiral. This small green torpedo boat almost sank the cruiser USS New York in a nighttime engagement during the Spanish-American War, and would have if the torpedo she fired didn’t miss.

The second USS Porter (DD-59), a Tucker-class destroyer, commissioned in 1916, had to be stricken to comply with the London Naval Treaty.

USS William D. Porter (DD-579), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Civil War Commodore William D. Porter, son of Commodore David Porter and brother of Admiral David Dixon Porter, continued the curse of the Porter ship name. She almost sank the battleship USS Iowa during the war when she fired a live torpedo at the battlewagon while practicing torpedo runs. The Iowa at the time was carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt, along with Secretary of State, Cordell Hull and all of the Country’s WWII military brass. When the Iowa saw and evaded the errant fish, she trained all of her guns on the much smaller Porter who’s crew were arrested and made the subject of an FBI probe to make sure the torp was an accident and not an attempted assassination.

: USS William D._Porter (DD-579) sinking after being missed by a kamikaze

She spent the next year on duty in Alaskan waters after everything was cleared up. Then to the Philippines and Okinawa. There, on 10 June 1945 she was attacked by a lone Japanese Val dive bomber who missed the ship but exploded underneath after the craft hit the water. This gave the almost Iowa-killer the dubious distinction of missing a kamikaze but still being sunk by it.

: DD-800

The Fourth Porter (DD-800), a Fletcher-class sister-ship of the William D Porter above, although modern and low mileage, just spent two years on active duty before she was put into reserve. Called back for Korea, she was a member of the little know “Trainbusters Club”of warships that destroyed locomotives with naval gunfire. Decommissioned again 10 August 1953, she was scrapped in 1973, spending only a total of four and a half years of her thirty year life outside of Red Lead Row gathering rust.

The Fifth USS Porter…

The fifth USS Porter, (DDG-78) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, collided with the MV Otowasan, a Japanese oil tanker, near the Strait of Hormuz in 2012, ripping a huge 10×10 foot hole in the billion dollar Aegis warship that led to the replacement of her skipper.

But we are here to speak of the third Porter, DD-356.

Head of her class of large ‘destroyer leaders’ she was over 1800-tons and 381-feet long overall. Capable of making 35+ knots and carrying a battery of eight 5-inch/38 caliber naval guns over eight 21-inch torpedo tubes, she would have been considered a scout cruiser if she was commissioned in 1919 rather than in 1936.

She was one of the fastest and largest of US pre-WWII destroyer classes and her seven younger sisters provided yeomen service during the war. Her seven sisters earned a combined total of more than 30 battlestars during the war, fighting U-boats, protecting carriers, escorting convoys, and downing enemy aircraft.

All seven of her sisters survived the war to be scrapped in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

This was not to be the luck of the Porter.

Commissioned 25 August 1936 at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, she left immediately for the Pacific Fleet. Leaving Pearl Harbor just two days before the day of infamy, she was at sea off Hawaii when the war started. Joining Task Force 16 after convoy duty off the West Coast, she sailed immediately for the waters off Guadalcanal in 1942.

There, she found herself neck-deep in the Japanese onslaught that was the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. This pitted two US carriers, Enterprise and Hornet against three of Yamamoto’s. This battle, fought on 26 October 1942, started off with the Japanese having more planes (199 vs 136) and more surface combatants (40 vs 23).

Halsey’s fleet lost the Hornet, had the Enterprise badly mauled, and had more than 70% of the fleet’s carrier air-wing destroyed. During the fight, with planes ditching left and right around the USS Enterprise, Porter stood by as a plane guard, firing at Japanese aircraft while picking up pilots lost at sea.

To say the Battle of Santa Cruz was chaotic is an understatement.

To say the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands was chaotic is an understatement.

One armed US Navy TBF Avenger torpedo bomber crashed near Porter and soon after, as the ship maneuvered to rescue the crew, she was struck by a torpedo of unknown origin. During the war the US blamed it on a Japanese submarine, but post-war study of the Combined Fleet’s records, none of the Emperor’s u-boats claimed the kill.

This had left historians to credit the sinking of the USS Porter, DD-356, to friendly fire.

Her crew was rescued by the nearby USS Shaw (DD-373), whose dramatic Pearl Harbor photographs have immortalized that ship.

The Shaw stood by to sink the stricken Porter in deep water with gunfire.

Her name was stricken a week later from the Naval List where it was given to a new Fletcher class destroyer (DD-800) at her launching on 13 March 1944.

Specs:

Displacement:    1,850 tons
Length:    381 ft (116 m)
Beam:    36 ft 2 in (11.02 m)
Draft:    10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)
Propulsion:    50,000 shp (37,285 kW);
Geared Turbines,
2 screws
Speed:    35 knots (65 km/h)
Range:    6,500 nmi. at 12 knots
(12,000 km at 22 km/h)
Complement:    194
Armament:

As Built:
1 x Mk33 Gun Fire Control System
8 × 5″(127mm)/38cal SP (4×2),
8 × 1.1″(28mm) AA (2×4),
8 x 21″(533mm) torpedo tubes (2×4)
c1942:
1 x Mk33 Gun Fire Control System
8 × 5″(127mm)/38cal SP guns (4×2),
2 X 40mm AA (1×2),
6 x 20mm AA (6×1),
2 x Depth Charge stern racks

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

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

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval
vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of
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Warship Wednesday Jan 8, 2014 The Brave Perth

Posted on January 8, 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 Jan 8, 2014 The Brave Perth

Happy new year and thanks for dropping by. Here we see HMAS Perth (D29) of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in a beautiful camouflage pattern sometime around 1941.

Perth in 1940, Sydney

Perth was a modified Leander-class light cruiser. At 6800-tons with a 31-knot speed, her armament of eight 6-inch Mk XXIII naval guns and another eight 4-inch guns along with eight 21-inch torpedo tubes was packed into her 565-foot long hull. They were based on the York-class heavy cruiser, but with smaller guns. Smaller than the destroyers of today, the Leander-class were some of the finest light cruisers in the Commonwealth. Her seven sisters included the illustrious cruisers Ajax and Achilles (of Graf Spee fame) as well as the famous HMAS Sydney, killer of both the German cruiser Kormoran and Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni.

The Perth was brought into the world as the HMS Amphion of the Royal Navy, 15 June 1936, after spending three years under construction at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard. Transferred to the RAN officially on 29 June 1939, she was given the name HMAS Perth. As such, she was the last cruiser ever commissioned in the Australian Navy.

When WWII broke out she was visiting South America and spent 1939-41 in hard service in the Med. She saw hot action off Syria, fought hard at the Battle of Cape Matapan, helped evac Crete, and ran the Malta gauntlet. When war came to the Pacific she sailed back home, joining the ill-fated ABDA fleet under Dutch Rear-Admiral Doorman. Running headlong into the Japanese Navy, she became involved in the Battle of Sunda Strait on the night of Feb28-Mar1 1942.

Perth, along with the 9200-ton Northampton-class heavy cruiser USS Houston and the Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen, stumbled across 58 Japanese transports crammed with troops. Normally this would have been a field day for the small Allied force, but the troop carriers were escorted by the Imperial Japanese Navy’s 7th Cruiser Division, under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita. This force included five modern cruisers including the giant twin 14,000-ton supercruisers Mogami and Mikuma and a dozen destroyers.

The force was doomed but still fought it out, blocked at both sides of the straits by the huge Japanese force. Over 90 Long Lance torpedoes fired at the two ABDA cruisers by Japanese destroyers while the cruisers slugged it out at long-range. Four Japanese torpedoes hit the Perth near simultaneously, dooming her.

During the abandon ship operation Perth was under fire from several destroyers at close range and many hits were scored and casualties caused. Many were killed or wounded in the water by the explosion of the last two torpedoes and by shells exploding in the water. Of the Perth’s crew of 681, only 218 were repatriated. Many became prisoners of war and were incarcerated in camps near Batavia, Java.

The Perth, Houston, and Evertsen all went to the bottom of the strait that night but were joined by a number of Japanese troopships, themselves victim of friendly fire Long Lances. Apparently once a torpedo hits the water, it has no friends.

Perth‘s wreck lies in approximately 35 meters of water and unfortunately is very heavily visited not only by recreational divers but by salvors.

Recently, illegal salvage operations have attacked the Perth, now considered a war memorial. These buzzards of the sea have completely removed the “mid section above deck, where the bridge was, has been completely removed, the bow guns have been damaged by what appears to be explosives with the barrels missing and the tops peeled of [sic], the bow has collapsed completely.”

“Although it is hard to be certain, but as the metal that was the superstructure is all missing and is not lying around as debris it looks although we could be wrong like purposeful attempt to salvage the steel. She has been hammered and the once impressive six-inch A1 and A2 turrets are gone, the bow is flat and… the wreck is more hazardous than before – even for general swimming around, with lots of live ordinance, wire and overhanging metal.”

Gratefully, in 1967 her binnacle, bridge voice pipe and ship’s bell were retrieved by divers. They are currently on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Specs

Displacement:    6,830 tons (standard)
Length:    562 ft 3.875 in (171.39603 m) overall
530 ft (160 m) between perpendiculars
Beam:    56 ft 8 in (17.27 m)
Draught:    19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
Installed power:    72,000 shaft horsepower (54,000 kW)
Propulsion:    4 x Parsons geared turbines
4 x Admiralty 3-drum boilers
4 shafts
Speed:    31.7 knots (58.7 km/h; 36.5 mph)
Range:    6,060 nautical miles (11,220 km; 6,970 mi) at 22.7 knots (42.0 km/h; 26.1 mph)
1,780 nautical miles (3,300 km; 2,050 mi) at 31.7 knots (58.7 km/h; 36.5 mph)
Complement:    646 (35 officers, 611 ratings) standard
681 at time of loss (includes six RAAF and four civilians)
Armament:

8 × BL 6-inch Mk XXIII naval guns (4 × 2)
8 × 4-inch Mk XVI guns (4 × 2)
12 x 0.5-inch machine guns (3 × 4)
10 x 0.303-inch machine guns (10 × 1)
8 × 21-inch torpedo tubes (2 × 4)
Aircraft carried: 1 × seaplane (a Supermarine Walrus)

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

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval lore http://www.warship.org/naval.htm

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

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