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Warship Wednesday, March 20

Posted on March 20, 2013 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 20

Here we see a depiction of the USS Spuyten Duyvil, one of the first torpedo boats (minelayers?) in the US Navy. Designed by Samuel M. Pook a Boston-based American naval architect who had earlier designed the City-class ironclads ( USS Cairo, Carondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburg, etc) for the Union Navy, the boat was originally called the Stromboli (yes, like the delicious stuffed macaroni product). You have to admit, it kind of looks like one.

Mmmmm, philly steak stromboli

The 84-foot long Duyvil was powered by a simple steam engine turning a single screw that propelled the ship to a stunning 5-knots (not a misprint, that’s a five). Since the craft was so slow, it was given an impressive armor plate that ran as thick as 12-inches of railroad iron plates. As such, it was an ironclad torpedo boat– of sorts. The ship was equipped with ballast tanks like a modern-day submarine that could be filled with water to drop already low-freeboard vessel two feet lower in the water to where her decks were almost awash. The armament of the ship consisted of two submerged ‘torpedo tubes’ which released semi-buoyant obstruction shells that were filled with anywhere from 70-400 pounds of blackpowder. To deploy these unpowered torpedoes, actually more correctly known today as naval mines, they were pushed through the hawsepipe tubes under the target, would rise to the hull of the intended victim while trailing a short length of cord. This cord was back on the Duyvil and an enterprising volunteer (the navy’s first Torpedomen!) would engage it, triggering a percussion cap inside the mine.

The Duyvil at high draft. She could be filled with water to ride much lower in the water. As such she was one of the first semi-submersible warships

The Duyvil didn’t make it to the fleet until the end of 1864 and only served for about nine months. During this time and directly after the war she was used on the James River to blow up Rebel obstructions. She never did manage to engage a Confederate naval vessel. As a curious twist of fate, her designer’s earlier effort, the USS Cairo, was the first ship in history to be sunk by a modern naval mine– at the hands of Confederates.

Out of service by 1866 the Yankees held on to her until 1880 when she was sold. As such she outlived her inventor by two years. Still, she was one of the first US navy torpedo boats, a class which led to development of what we call destroyers today.

Specs
Displacement:    207 long tons (210 t)
Length:    84 ft 2 in (25.65 m)
Beam:    20 ft 8 in (6.30 m)
Draft:    7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Propulsion:    Screw steamer
Speed:    5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Complement:    23 officers and enlisted
Armament:    remotely exploded naval mines (primitive)
Armor:    Pilothouse: 12 in (300 mm)
Hull: 5 in (130 mm)
Deck: 3 in (76 mm)

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

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

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

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

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday, March 13

Posted on March 13, 2013 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, March 13

Here we see the retired ex-USS Alabama (BB-60) laying in Mobile Bay as a publicly operated museum ship when I toured her last year.

She was the last and some argue the luckiest of the four South Dakota-class battleships and, with the exception of the follow-on Iowa class ships, the most modern and best equipped US battlewagon ever to take the sea.

Designed with a standard displacement ‘not to exceed 35,000-tons’ to fit with the Washington and London Naval Treaties, the ship still sported a 12.2-inch armored belt, which increased to 16-18 inches at the conning tower, barbettes, and turret faces. Behind this armor was 7/8 inch (22 mm) thick STS plates behind the belt, which made the SoDak class immune to hits from super-heavy 16-inch shells at any distance further than 17,000-yards. Once fully outfitted during WWII, these ‘treaty battleships’ came in at over 44,519 tons (full load) and could still make 27-knots. The follow-up Iowa class had virtually the same armament (although they did use a more advanced 16-inch gun), and same armor but only real design improvement was a top speed of 33-knots. Other than that, the Alabama came to the table with the same thing as the Iowa.

Commissioned on 16 August 1942, just eight months after Pearl Harbor, she was rushed into service. However, with British strength sapped in the Atlantic, she spend her most of her first year at sea with the Royal Navy, trying to lure the SMS Tirpitz out to sea battle. It would have been an interesting match, with the Alabama having a larger suite of heavier guns (9×16-inch, 20x127mm vs the Tirpitz 8×15-inch, 12x150mm, 16x105mm guns) with slightly better armor protection over the German ship to boot. Whether US radar fire control or German radar fire control was better would have told the story of this great ‘could have been’.

German battleship Tirpitz in the Alta Fjord, Norway, during World War II. Her and Big Al never met…

With the Germans refusing to lose the Bismarck‘s sister ship, Alabama soon found herself shifted to the Pacific where she spent most of 1944-45 in the hectic job of screening fast carrier task forces with her massive AAA armament and radar. During the Marianas Turkey Shoot, it was Alabama that helped provide the early warning of incoming Japanese attack planes, her radar giving the ship, and thus the US fleet, the upper hand.

Winning 9 Battlestars for her combat operations, she was never the victim of noteworthy enemy action and never lost a man to either the Germans or Japanese. Her gunners were credited with shooting down no less than 22 attacking Japanese planes and her main battery of 16-inch guns fired an estimated 1,250-rounds in anger at enemy shore positions.

She was decommissioned in 1947 after serving just 52-months on active duty, 11 of them spent in post-war deactivation overhaul. In 1954 it was planned to reactivate the Alabama, remove at least one turret and much topside weight, re-engine her with more modern turbines, and give the leaner, meaner, ship a 31+ knot top speed to escort the new super carriers. However this proved a non-starter for budgetary reasons.

The Navy held on to the virtually new ship until she was stricken in 1962 just short of her 20th birthday. Her and her three sister ships, USS South Dakota, USS Indiana, and USS Massachusetts were ordered sold for scrap that year. Indiana went to the breakers who paid $418,387 for her, as did the SoDak. The Massachusetts was saved by a local effort from her namesake state and today sits in Fall River, MA.

Since 1964, the Alabama has silently protected Mobile Bay as a museum ship, her engines inactive, great props cut from their shafts, her 16-inch guns filled with concrete, her breechblocks removed.

Still, a mighty sight if ever there was one. If you are ever in Mobile, or Fall River where her twin sister lives, check it out.

Specs:
Displacement:    35,000 long tons standard as designed
Length:    680 ft (210 m)
Beam:    108.2 ft (33.0 m)
Draft:    36.2 ft (11.0 m)
Propulsion:    oil-fired steam turbines, 4 shafts
Speed:    27.5 kn (31.6 mph; 50.9 km/h)
Range:    15,000 nmi (17,000 mi; 28,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Complement:    1,793 officers and men
Sensors and processing systems:    radar
Armament:    9 × 16 in (410 mm)/45 cal Mark 6 guns maximum range of 36,900 yards (20.9mi)
20 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal guns
24 × Bofors 40 mm guns
22 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (ever-increasing)
Aircraft carried:    OS2U Kingfisher scout planes

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!

Warship Wednesday, March 6

Posted on March 6, 2013 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 6

Here we see the Gazelle class cruiser SMS Ariadne of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Imperial German Navy. The Ariadne and her nine ship class were built to scout for a growing battle fleet, and most importantly show the German flag around the world in ports both tropical and frozen.

Just over 344-feet long, smaller today that a typical frigate, they were powered by two triple-expansion engines that generated 8,000shp and gave the ship a 21.5-knot speed. Armed with ten 105mm naval guns and a pair of torpedo tubes, they were capable of sinking anything faster than them when designed and outrunning anything bigger. She was built at AG Weser, Bremen, and commissioned in 1901.

Largely obsolete by the time WWI erupted in 1914, the cruiser was placed in patrol work. At the Battle of Heligoland Bight, she found herself facing the five battlecruisers of Admiral Beatty’s force which included the Lion, Queen Mary, Princess Royal, Invincible, and New Zealand. Outgunned to an immense degree, she turned to starboard and attempted to flee. She was hit several times by the British guns, and one hit the forward boiler room. The coal bunker caught fire and five boilers were disabled; her speed fell to 15 knots. Two battlecruisers, HMS Lion and Princess Royal closed in until they were firing their 13.5-inch guns at a distance of 3,000 m (9,800 ft), the point-blank range for guns of that caliber. Ariadne returned fire as best she could but to no effect.

With fires raging forward and aft, Ariadne had her forward magazine flooded so the fires would not reach the propellant charges.

At 14:15, the British ceased fire and allowed Ariadne to limp away. The surviving crew that was able to escape the ship assembled on the forecastle and prepared to abandon the ship. The cruiser Danzig arrived shortly before 15:00 and began to pick up survivors, and Stralsund joined the rescue effort shortly thereafter.

At 16:25, Ariadne capsized, though she remained afloat for some time before she finally sank. In all, nine officers, including her commander, and fifty enlisted men were rescued. Her crew escaped from the flames and stood on the forecastle, singing “Deutschland Über Alles” as they awaited rescue. The rescue effort was hampered by frequent explosions of ammunition stored on Ariadne’s deck, which prevented boats from getting too close to the wrecked cruiser.

Most of her sisters outlived her, if only just for a few years. Some were sunk during the war, others scrapped just after or given away as reparations. One, SMS Amazone, lived until 1954 as a barracks ship in Bremen until she too went under the torch.

Today the Ariadne is a popular wreck site and is still inspirational to those who breathe salt air.

Specs:
Displacement:    3,017 tonnes (2,969 long tons)
Length:    105.1 m (344.8 ft) overall
Beam:    12.2 m (40.0 ft)
Draft:    4.93 m (16.2 ft)
Installed power:    8,000 ihp (6,000 kW)
Propulsion:    2 shafts, 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:    21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Range:    3,560 nmi (6,590 km; 4,100 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:    14 officers
243 enlisted men
Armament:
10 × 10.5 cm SK L/40 guns
2 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:    Deck: 20 to 25 mm (0.79 to 0.98 in)

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!

Warship Wednesday, Febuary 27

Posted on February 27, 2013 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, February 27

Here we see the Nelson class battleship HMS Rodney (pennant number 29) of His Majesty’s Royal Navy in 1942. The Rodney and her sister ship Nelson were one of the more unique in modern dreadnought designs. They were constructed with all of their main guns placed well forward. This isn’t for tactical reasons, but more because of compromises put into effect after the 1922 Washington Naval Treaties, which limited new battleships to 35,000-tons.

To keep inside this arbitrary figure, the Nelsons were built kind of like the 1971 Coupe DeVille– all hood and no trunk.

This kept the magazines streamlined over a smaller armored belt. Also the Nelsons were built with a small power plant to save weight. It generated just 45,000 shp, or about the same amount of power as a Oliver Hazard Perry class FFG today. This kept the 38,000-ton (whoops, sorry about that weight gain!) warship down to just 23-ish knots at best top speed. Never the less, with nine 16-inch Mk I guns and 12-14inches of steel armor belt over the good parts, the Nelson’s were the best and brightest ships afloat from 1927 when she was commissioned until the HMS King George V and USS North Carolina were built in 1940/41.

During WWII it was Rodney who dealt the massive German battleship SMS Bismarck most of the damage that sent that leviathan to the deep. In the surface action of 27 May 1941, Rodney fired an amazing 340 16″ shells and 716 smaller six inchers at Hitler’s favorite new bath toy. She also ripped off a dozen torpedoes at the Kreigmarine’s finest with no less than one striking her– possibly one of the only times in history a battleship torpedoed another.

Following that she spent the rest of the war with Force H in Malta, and escorting convoys across the Atlantic before dropping it like it was hot on German shore positions on Normandy Beach at D-Day.

And the Navy goes on (World War II) Invasion of Sicily poster British RN Rodney Nelson

“And the Navy goes on” (World War II) Invasion of Sicily poster, showing the fleet spearheaded by Rodney or Nelson

She finished the war as a cripple, with her machinery too worn for fleet operations. Even unable to leave port she was still the flagship of the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow. A broken and battered veteran, she was quietly scrapped in 1948.

Specs:

Displacement:    33,730 long tons (34,270 t) standard
37,430 long tons (38,030 t) standard (full load)
Length:    710 ft 2 in (216.5 m) overall
Beam:    106 ft (32.3 m)
Draught:    31 ft (9.44880000 m)
Installed power:    45,000 shp (34,000 kW)
8 Admiralty 3-drum oil-fired boilers
Propulsion:    2 shafts
2 Brown-Curtis geared turbine sets
Speed:    23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range:    14,500 nmi (26,900 km; 16,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:    1,314 (1,361 as flagship)
Armament:    3 × 3 – 16-inch Mk I guns
6 × 2 – 6-inch Mk XXII guns
6 × 1 – QF 4.7-inch Mk VIII anti-aircraft guns
8 × 1 – 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns
2 × 1 – 24.5-inch (620 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:    Belt: 13–14 in (330–356 mm)
Deck: 4.375–6.375 in (111–162 mm)
Barbettes: 12–15 in (305–381 mm)
Gun turrets: 9–16 in (229–406 mm)
Conning tower: 10–14 in (254–356 mm)
Bulkheads: 4–12 in (102–305 mm)

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!

Warship Wednesday, February 20 2013

Posted on February 20, 2013 by laststandonzombieisland 8 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, February 20, 2013

Here we see the Second Battleship Squadron of the Imperial Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet with the ice and snow-clad Russian battleship Slava (Russian: Слава “Glory“) at anchor forefront in Helsinki during WWI. The Slava was one of the most famous and unlikely of Russian warships.

The last commissioned of a class of five Borodino-class battleships, her four sister ships: Borodino, Imperator Alexander III, Knyaz Suvorov, and Oryol, were all either sunk or captured at the Battle of Tsushima, 27 May 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. Slava herself would more than likely have shared the same fate if it wasn’t for the fact that she was still under construction until October of that year.

The Slava at anchor off an unanmed inlet on the Finnish coast (Finalnd was part of Tsarist Russia at the time) guarding the Tsar and his yacht while the monarch, his family, and his suite relax ashore

The Slava at anchor off an unnamed inlet on the Finnish coast (Finland was part of Tsarist Russia at the time) guarding the Tsar and his yacht while the monarch, his family, and his suite relax ashore

As the largest and best-equipped battleship left in the Tsar’s Baltic Fleet until the Gangut class dreadnoughts were built, the Slava became a default flagship for the decade of service before WWI. During the war, she was the head of the Second Battleship Squadron (the Ganguts were the First) of three other pre-dreadnoughts. Slava, with just a pair of gunboats as escorts, sailed into the Gulf of Riga in 1915 to challenge the Germans there.

She exchanged fire first with the German pre-dreadnoughts Elsass and Braunschweig, then the Nassau and Posen a week later. Slava flooded her side compartments to give herself a 3° list which increased her maximum range to about 18,000 yards. For two years, Slava slugged it out with German ships and engaged the Kaisers troops onshore. Finally in 1917 the large modern dreadnoughts König and Kronprinz sailed into the Gulf and exchanged heavy fire with the old obsolete Slava in what became known as the Battle of Moon Sound.

After the Battle of Moon Sound

Her 12-inch magazine exploded just after her crew scuttled her and the Russians fired six torpedoes into her hull for good measure. Her remains were salvaged in 1935.

In the end, her four sisters were sunk before she was born, but she successfully fought off four German battleships of the same vintage on her home territory before the Kaiser had to send a pair of his most modern sluggers to overwhelm her.

Glory indeed.

Specs:
Displacement:    14,415 long tons (14,646 t) normally
15,275 long tons (15,520 t) full load
Length:    397 ft 3 in (121.1 m)
Beam:    76 ft 1 in (23.2 m)
Draft:    29 ft 2 in (8.9 m)
Installed power:    15,800 ihp (11,800 kW)
Propulsion:    2 shafts, 2 vertical triple-expansion steam engines
20 water-tube boilers
Speed:    17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range:    2,590 nautical miles (4,800 km; 2,980 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:    846
Armament:    2 × 2 – 12-inch (305 mm) guns
6 × 2 – 6-inch (152 mm) guns
20 × 1 – 75-millimeter (3.0 in) guns
4 × 1 – 47-millimeter (1.9 in) saluting guns
4 × 1 – 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:    Krupp armor
Waterline belt: 145–194 mm (5.7–7.6 in)
Deck: 25.4–51 mm (1–2 in)
Turrets: 254 mm (10.0 in)
Barbettes: 178–229 mm (7–9 in)
Conning tower: 203 mm (8.0 in)

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!

Warship Wednesday, Febuary 13

Posted on February 13, 2013 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, February 13

This week we are taking a brief look at US K-Class Blimps and their occasional teaming with Escort Carriers during and just after WWII.

On December 6, 1938 a prototype Goodyear blimp was sent to the US Navy’s lighter than air division for testing. This prototype proved so succesful that in October 1940 they ordered six more for use in escort and patrol work offshore. When the US entered WWII, this soon turned into a total of 134 of these 251-foot long helium nonrigid airships delivered by 1955.

The blimps were the P-3 Orion of their day and most of the equipment you are used to on these sub-busters were present on these airships. They were equipped with the ASG-type radar, that had a detection range of 90 mi (140 km), sonobuoys, and magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) equipment. The K-ships carried four Mk-47 depth bombs, two in a bomb bay and two externally, and were equipped with a .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning machine gun in the forward part of the control car. An aircrew of 10 normally operated the K-ships, consisting of a command pilot, two co-pilots, a navigator/pilot, airship rigger, an ordnanceman, two mechanics, and two radiomen.

The U.S. Navy airship K-69 launches from the deck of the escort carrier USS Mindoro (CVE 120), April 26, 1950

After 1942 these airships increasingly started to patrol in concert with small converted merchant hulled ships, dubbed escort carriers. These roughly 10,000-ton ships carried about two dozen aircraft and, while not fast enough for operations with the fleet, they were perfect for escorting merchant convoys. By pairing up blimps and small carriers, the blimps could be on constant search while the carrier kept depth-charge armed aircraft on alert to chase after sightings. The blimps were the eyes and the carrier planes the lightning of the gods called from above.

Here we see an unidentified K-class blimp approaching an equally unidentified escort carrier stern off the US East Coast in October 1944.

…and the landing.

It’s unknown how many of these touch-and-gos happened, and if the Navy ever tried to refuel or rearm blimps from the decks of these jeep carriers, but its a possibility. More than a hundred ‘Jeep carriers’ were made during the war but by the late 1950s both the blimps and these hardy little flattops were discarded, replaced by new super carriers and converted Essex class fast carriers. It is known that both during the War and in the 1950s that navy blimps did in fact refuel from large fleet carriers at sea. In 1942 the Doolittle Raid probably wouldn’t have happened if Navy patrol blimp L-6 hadn’t delivered 2 boxes of navigators domes for B-25 to the Hornet while she was several hundred miles offshore.

In a future naval war with a littoral heavily contested by submarines, its possible that this concept could be dusted off once more. There are still blimps, the US still has the world’s largest supply of helium, and merchant ships could readily be converted with decking to carry expeditionary detachments of SH-60 helicopters for local ASW missions.

Stranger things have happened.

By the way, if you know the blimp/carrier involved in the 1944 pictures, let me know. Thanks!

(Specs of the K-class blimp)
Crew: 9-10
Length: 251 ft 8 in (76.73 m)
Diameter: 57 ft 10 in (17.63 m)
Volume: 425,000 ft3 (12,043 m3)
Useful lift: 7,770 lb (3,524 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-2 radials, 425 hp (317 kW) each
Maximum speed: 78 mph (125 km/h)
Cruise speed: 58 mph (93 km/h)
Range: 2,205 miles (3,537 km)
Endurance: 38 hours 12 min
Armament

1 × .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun
4 × 350 lb (160 kg) Mark 47 depth charges

Specs of the Casablanca-class escort carrier (one of the most common in US service)

Displacement:    7,800 tons
10,902 tons full load
Length:    512.3 ft (156.1 m) overall
Beam:    65.2 ft (19.9 m)
Extreme width: 108.1 ft (32.9 m)
Draft:    22.5 ft (6.9 m)
Propulsion:    Two (2) five-cylinder reciprocating Skinner Uniflow steam engines
Four (4) × 285 psi (1,970 kPa) boilers, 2 shafts, 9,000 shp (6,700 kW)
Speed:    20 knots (37 km/h)
Range:    10,240nm at 15 knots
Complement:    Ship’s Company: 860 officers and men
Embarked Squadron: 50 to 56 officers and men
Total Complement: 910 to 916 officers and men.
Armament:

1 × 5 inch/38 caliber gun
16 × 40 mm Bofors guns (8×2)
20 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannons

Aircraft carried: 28

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!

Warship Wednesday, February 6

Posted on February 6, 2013 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, February 6

Here you see is the mighty new battleship USS Connecticut (BB-18) with ‘a bone in her teeth’ charging forward at absolute full speed of 18+ knots on acceptance trials in 1906. A century ago she was the best and most intensely beautiful warship in the US Navy. She was such an important ship that a crowd of some 30,000 civilians as well as most of the entire active battle fleet of the Atlantic Squadron was present for the event. As a 15,000-ton ship with 11-inches of armor belt and carrying 4 12-inch guns, she was a hoss.

Of course the commissioning of the all big gun HMS Dreadnought the same year, with her 10 12-inch guns, 21-knot top speed, and upto 12-inches of armor in a 21,000-ton package, the Connecticut was already obsolete.

The Great White Fleet was impressive during the day…..

….And even more so at night. And Connecticut was there for every mile.

Nevertheless the brand new ship became the flagship of an impressive American fleet of 16 battleships in 1907. Dubbed the Great White Fleet, this impressive armada sailed 46,729 nmi around the world in 15 months. They made twenty port calls on six continents and flexed US Naval power to the world while Teddy Roosevelt smiled for the cameras. On each of those port calls, Connecticut led the fleet in, and then led the fleet away.

After 1909, the ornate bow shields, scrollwork, and white paint was removed and a sleek haze gray warship was left in its place

She remained a flagship for most of her service with the Navy. Painted haze gray in 1909, she intervened with quiet force in Mexican waters and then carried Smedly Butler and 400 marines to the US occupation of Haiti in 1915. During WWI, outclassed by the newer battleships, she staid inshore in protected waters and was used as a training ship carrying the flag of Admiral Herbert O. Dunn of the Fifth Battleship Division.

After the war, by then considered just a large cruiser, she was used for training until scrapped in 1923 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty at the ripe old age of 19 years old.

Specs
Displacement:    16,000 long tons (16,300 t)
Length:    456 ft 4 in (139.09 m)
Beam:    76 ft 10 in (23.42 m)
Draft:    24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Propulsion:

12 × 250 psi (1,700 kPa)[6] Babcock & Wilcox boilers;
8 Ship Service generators, reciprocating, at 100 kW each

Speed: 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Complement: 827 officers and men
Armament:

4 × 12 in (305 mm)/40 or 45 cal guns (2 × 2)
8 × 8 in (203 mm)/45 cal guns (4 × 2)
12 × 7 in (178 mm)/45 cal guns
20 × 3 in (76.2 mm)/50 cal guns
12 × 3-pdr guns
6 × 1-pdr automatic guns
2 × 1-pdr semiautomatic guns
2 × .30 in (7.6 mm) machine guns
4 × 21 in (533 mm) submerged torpedo tubes

Armor:

Belt: 11 to 9 in (279 to 229 mm), tapering to 7 in (178 mm), 5 in (127 mm) and 4 in (102 mm) at bow and stern
Lower casemate: 9 in (229 mm)[
Upper casemate: 7 in (178 mm), with 1.5 to 2.5 in (38 to 63 mm) transverse splinter bulkheads between 7 in (178 mm) guns
Bulkheads: 6 in (152 mm)
Barbettes: 10 in (254 mm)
Turrets: 11 in (279 mm)/2.5 in (64 mm)/9 in (229 mm) in for 12 in (305 mm) guns, 6.5 in (165 mm)/2 in (51 mm)/6 in (152 mm) for 8 in (203 mm) guns
7 in (178 mm) around 7 in (178 mm) guns, 2 in (51 mm) around 3 in (76 mm) guns
Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)/2 in (51 mm)

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!

Warship Wednesday, January 30

Posted on January 30, 2013 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, January 30

Here you see is the Tambor class diesel sub USS Trout (SS-202) at Hunters Point, 11 December 1943. In a little less than 3 months after this photo was taken, the boat and her entire crew would be reported overdue and never heard from again.

She was commissioned in 1940 as part of the 6-ship class of fleet submarines (which all had ‘T’ names). She was brand new when the war broke out.

On patrol off of the outpost of Midway island on December 7, 1941, the sub was ordered back to Pearl Harbor as soon as possible to try to catch Yamato’s fleet. Missing the Japanese strike force, she was soon given a new mission . Trout sailed to the Philippines with a cargo of 3500 rounds of 75mm anti-aircraft ammunition and malaria drugs. She arrived at Corregidor, the island citadel at the entrance to Manila Bay in the Philippines in February 1942 after an epic 57-day war patrol through waters infested with Japanese navy ships.

There, Trout drew ten torpedoes and took on over twenty tons of gold and silver. It had been taken from Manila banks and moved to Corregidor for safekeeping from the approaching Japanese invasion force. Five hundred eighty-three gold bars and heavy canvas bags containing eighteen tons of silver coins were carefully loaded in Trout‘s bilges to be delivered to Pearl Harbor. Each of the bars weighed 40-pounds and at the time were worth $23K each. In today’s prices the gold alone was worth over $300-million dollars. Over $30 million in paper currency left behind on Corregidor was burned to prevent capture. General Wainwright disposed of some 350 tons of silver that could not be moved by dumping it in Manila Bay.

After landing her cargo at Pearl, she rejoined the fleet. She captured survivors of the sunken cruiser Mikuma during the Battle of Midway. Over the course of 11 war patrols she sank 23 Japanese ships amounting to some 87,000-tons in 32 torpedo and six gun actions. For this she was depth charged by the Japanese Navy no less than 8 times. Her combat including sending the Kaidai class submarine I-182 to Davy Jones locker.

The Trout is on eternal patrol and has never been found. Her 81 men likely entombed with her on some forgotten stretch of sandy bottom deep in the South Pacific.

Specs:

Displacement, Surfaced: 1,475 t., Submerged: 2,370 t.;
Length 307′ 2″ ; Beam 27′ 3″; Draft 13′ 3″;
Speed, Surfaced 20 kts, Submerged 8 kts; Max.
Depth Limit 250′;
Complement 5 Officers 54 Enlisted (as designed, enlarged during the war to help man larger gun crews;)
Armament, ten 21″ torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 3″/50 deck gun, two .50 caliber machine guns, two .30 caliber Lewis machine guns;
Propulsion, diesel-electric, four General Motors diesel engines, 5,400 hp, Fuel Capacity 93.993 gal., four General Electric motors, 2,740 hp,
Battery Cells, 252, two propellers.

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!

Warship Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Posted on January 23, 2013 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, January 23, 2013

Here we see the Austrian navy ironclad screw corvette SMS Erzherzog Ferdinand Max as she appeared in the height of her service in the 1870s.

Laid down in Trieste during 1863 from lessons learned from the British Warrior and the ongoing US Civil War, she was named for the brother of then-Emperor Franz Joseph who we know today as the last Emperor of Mexico, Maximilian. Commissioned 24 May 1865, just six weeks after Lee surrendered at Appomattox, the Max was the lead ship of a four-vessel class. She was supposed to be armed with a pair of 8″ Krupp guns but these were embargoed by Germany due to the looming war with Italy. She left port without all of her armor, and carrying a number of dated 48-pounder guns that were found lying around the yard from old ships.

Tegetthoff on the bridge on the MAX during Lissa, standing like a boss. The Italians fired more than 1400 shells during the battle but fell far shot of causing any real damage to the Austrian Fleet

As the flagship of the 39-year old Kontreadmiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, head of the Austrian battle fleet, the Max charged headlong into fleet combat near the disputed island of Lissa in 1866. Lacking her large 8-inchers, Tegetthoff ordered the ship to use its ram bow to good effect sinking the proud Italian ship Re d’Italia. The Italian ironclad suffered a 18-foot gash in her side and sank within two minutes. Her crestfallen master shot himself in the head with a revolver. The Austrian use of this desperate tactic at Lissa led to battleships keeping ram bows for a half-century although they were never used in fleet combat again.

Both Tegetthoff and the Ferdinand Max became household words in Austria for decades. She was kept around as a training ship in Pola until 1916, one of the last US Civil War era ironclads afloat.

She was broken up in 1917.

Specs:
Displacement:    5140
30’4″ x 42’0″ x 20’8″
Installed power:    3500SHP steam, coal fired. Three masted bark rig auxiliary.
Propulsion:    1 shaft, 1 steam engine
Speed:    12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement 489 men
Armament: (16) 48-pdr SB, (4) 8-pdr SB; (2) 3-pdr (at Lissa) 2x203mm Krupp guns added later

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

There are literally thousands of detailed articles that have been covered over the past 50-years by the INRO in Warship International. Click here http://www.warship.org/no11986.htm to read for free an example, this one on the Repulse and Prince of Wales last battle.

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, January 16, 2013

Posted on January 16, 2013 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, January 16, 2013

(By John Tansey, Deviant Art)

Here we see the Austrian navy frigate SMS Novara sailing through the gentle Pacific in the 1850’s.

Laid down in 1843 at the Venetian Arsenal, in Venice, Italy, she was placed in service in 1851. Armed with four impressive 60-pounder Paixhans guns and two dozen smaller 24-pounders, she could hold her own. At the time the commander of the Austrian Navy was Archduke Maximilian. The good Archduke sent the Novara in 1857 on a 27-month long scientific research mission. Circumnavigating the globe, it was the first large-scale scientific, around-the-world mission of the Austrian Imperial navy and remains a proud moment in Austrian history. In the mission they collected 21-binders of information and made more than 26,000 collections of fauna around the world. These collections lead to the discovery of pure cocaine, which is celebrated at high-dollar events to this day.

In 1864 the heroic vessel was charged with carrying Maximilian to Mexico where he assumed his new throne over that country, installed by French troops. However that didn’t work out too well for Max, and in 1868 the Novara returned to Mexico to retrieve his body.

The ship participated in the greatest Austrian naval victory at the Battle of Lissa in 1866 and spent another three decades as a gunnery training ship before she was scrapped in 1899 at age 56.

She is well-remembered in Austria, a country that hasn’t had a blue-water navy since 1918.

20-Euro coin honoring the Novara and her scientific voyage

Specs:

Displacement:    2,615 t (2,574 long tons)
Length:    76.79 m (251 ft 11 in)
Beam:    14.32 m (47 ft 0 in)
Draft:    5.8 m (19 ft 0 in)
Installed power:    1,200 ihp (890 kW)
Propulsion:    1 shaft, 1 steam engine
Speed:    12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Range:    3,300 nmi (6,100 km; 3,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:    550
Armament:    4 × 60-pounder smoothbore Paixhans guns
28 × 30-pounder Novara guns
2 × 24-pounder Breech-loading guns

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

There are literally thousands of detailed articles that have been covered over the past 50-years by the INRO in Warship International. Click here to read for free an example, this one on the Repulse and Prince of Wales last battle.

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

Tag Archives: vintage warships

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