Most Impressive Naval Vessels of WWII

[Scarecrow]

This one should have more vessels listed as WWII is far more documented then WWI.

The Graf Spree?
Bismark?
New Jersey?
Iowa?
Prince of Wales?
Enterprise?

I chose not to make this a poll, but rather would like to hear thoughts on this as well as some specs and battle records for any ship you choose.

[yasik19]

Those of us who were born in Odessa only recognize one battleship. ;)
http://imagesource.allposters.com/images/pic/PF_NEW%5C08_25_2005/PF_985083~Battleship-Potemkin-Posters.jpg

of course some Russians will have you beleive that this was the only naval ship that mattered to them.
http://www.saint-petersburg.com/images/sightseeing/museums/avrora.jpg

[Scarecrow]

Its hard to overlook this Ship


http://www.tonyrogers.com/images/weapons/missouri_large.jpg
"Yeah, this is Captain Smith on the Missouri. There are some projectiles coming your way on those bunkered positions you were complaining about, so be advised."

Specifications

Class: Iowa-class battleship
Length: 887 feet 3 inches
Beam: 108 feet 3 inches
Draft: 34 feet 9 1/4 inches
Weight: 58,000 tons (full load)
Speed: In excess of 30 knots
Boilers: Eight 600 PSI Babcock & Wilcox
Main Engines: Four geared GE turbines
Anchors: Two 30,000 lb. anchors - port and starboard
Armor: The main armor belt of the hull is 13.5" thick
WWII Crew: 134 Officers, 2,400 enlisted
Prior to decommissioning: Navy officers 64, Marine Corp officers 2, Navy enlisted 1,500, 38 Marines.
Main Gun Battery: Nine 16"/50 caliber guns in three turrets, with 2,700 lb armor piercing projectiles and
1,900 lb high capacity projectiles. Rate of fire
- two rounds per min. per gun.
Following the 1987 reactivation, Missouri deployed Tomahawk Cruise Missiles.
http://web.umr.edu/~rogersda/military_service/USS%20Missouri-firing%20gun%20from%20astern.jpg

[Scarecrow]

USS Iowa
http://images.fotosearch.com/bigcomps/BDX/BDX267/bxp45904.jpg

http://img.search.com/thumb/a/af/Iowa-41.JPG/300px-Iowa-41.JPG
http://www.navysite.de/bb/bb61.htm

General Characteristics: Keel laid: June 27, 1940
Launched: August 27, 1942
Commissioned: February 22, 1943
Decommissioned: March 24, 1949
Second commissioning: August 25, 1951
Second decommissioning: February 24, 1958
Third commissioning: April 28, 1984
Third decommissioning: October 26, 1990
Builder: New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, NY
Propulsion system: eight boilers, four geared turbines
Propellers: four
Length: 889 feet (271 meters)
Beam: 108 feet (32.9 meters)
Draft: 35,7 feet (10.9 meters)
Displacement: Light: approx. 46,000 tons
Displacement: Full: approx. 57,000 tons
Speed: 33 knots
Aircraft: no hangar, but parking area for four SH-3 or four SH-60
Crew 1984 - 1990: 65 officers and 1,501 enlisted
WWII Crew: 134 officers and 2,400 enlisted
Last armament: eight armored box launchers for Tomahawk, four Mk 141 Harpoon missile launchers, nine 16-inch / 50 caliber guns, twelve 5-inch / 38 caliber guns, four 20mm Phalanx CIWS

[Prawn Sandwich]

No love for the Yamato?

[Scarecrow]

No love for the Yamato?

Hadn't gotten to it yet. Post some pics and specs for it.

[CrewDust]

Those of us who were born in Odessa only recognize one battleship. ;)
http://imagesource.allposters.com/images/pic/PF_NEW%5C08_25_2005/PF_985083~Battleship-Potemkin-Posters.jpg

of course some Russians will have you beleive that this was the only naval ship that mattered to them.
http://www.saint-petersburg.com/images/sightseeing/museums/avrora.jpg

The pride of Dixie?

Reference to the flag at the bow.

[yasik19]

The pride of Dixie?

Reference to the flag at the bow.

lol, yeah, i don't know what is up with that.

[CrewDust]

lol, yeah, i don't know what is up with that.

Pulls out my "Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II", copyright 1946. It's not a flag or ensign from the Soviet Navy.

[Scarecrow]

No love for the Yamato?

A very powerful ship indeed.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-xz/yamato.htm

Yamato, lead ship of a class of two 65,000-ton (over 72,800-tons at full load) battleships, was built at Kure, Japan. She and her sister, Musashi were by far the largest battleships ever built, even exceeding in size and gun caliber (though not in weight of broadside) the U.S. Navy's abortive Montana class. Their nine 460mm (18.1-inch) main battery guns, which fired 1460kg (3200 pound) armor piercing shells, were the largest battleship guns ever to go to sea, and the two ships' scale of armor protection was also unsurpassed.

Commissioned in December 1941, just over a week after the start of the Pacific war, Yamato served as flagship of Combined Fleet commander Isoroku Yamamoto during the critical battles of 1942. During the following year, she spent most of her time at Truk, as part of a mobile naval force defending Japan's Centeral Pacific bases. Torpedoed by USS Skate (SS-305) in December 1943, Yamato was under repair until April 1944, during which time her anti-aircraft battery was considerably increased. She then took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October. During the latter action, she was attacked several times by U.S. Navy aircraft, and fired her big guns in an engagement with U.S. escort carriers and destroyers off the island of Samar.

Yamato received comparatively light damage during the Leyte Gulf battle, and was sent home in November 1944. Fitted with additional anti-aircraft machine guns, she was based in Japan during the winter of 1944-45. Attacked by U.S. Navy carrier planes in March 1945, during raids on the Japanese home islands, she was again only lightly damaged. The following month, she was assigned to take part in the suicidal "Ten-Go" Operation, a combined air and sea effort to destroy American naval forces supporting the invasion of Okinawa. On 7 April 1945, while still some 200 miles north of Okinawa, Yamato was attacked by a massive force of U.S. carrier planes and sunk.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g300000/g309662.jpg

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g320000/g325952.jpg

[Scarecrow]

Another impressive warship.

USS Enterprise CV-6
The Most Decorated Ship of the Second World War

http://www.cv6.org/noumea/default.asp?uri=detail/usni-img-z--3000010
This, the single best known image of the Big E, depicts her in action in July 1944, as seen from the rear seat of a Dauntless dive-bomber just launched from her deck. Another plane is ready for launch on the aft end of her flight deck, and an Essex-class carrier operates off her port quarter. Photograph by Joe Day, PhoM 1/c.

Enterprise entered World War II on the morning of December 7, 1941, when her scout planes encountered the Japanese squadrons attacking Pearl Harbor. Not until May 14, 1945, when a Kamikaze attack off Kyushu, Japan, left a gaping hole in her flight deck, was she forced to leave the war.

Of the more than twenty major actions of the Pacific War, Enterprise engaged in all but two. Her planes and guns downed 911 enemy planes; her bombers sank 71 ships, and damaged or destroyed 192 more. Her presence inspired both pride and fear: pride in her still unmatched combat record, and fear in the knowledge that Enterprise and hard fighting were never far apart.

The most decorated ship of the Second World War, Enterprise changed the very course of a war she seemed to have been expressly created for.

Overall Dimensions
As Commissioned Post-1943 Refit (Bremerton)
Displacement 19,800 tons standard, 25,500 tons full load 21,000 tons standard, 32,060 tons full load
Draught 21-ft 8-in standard, 27-ft 11-in full load
Length (Overall) 809-ft 6-in 827-ft 5-in
Length (Waterline) 761-ft 761-ft
Width (Overall) 108-ft 11-in 114-ft 2-in
Beam 83-ft 2-in 95-ft 5-in
Height (Overall) 143-ft 143-ft

Flight and Hangar Decks
Flight Deck 802-ft x 86-ft
Hangar Deck 546-ft x 63-ft x 17-ft 3-in
Elevators 3 48-ft x 44-ft, capacity 17,000lbs

Propulsion and Power Plant
Propulsion 4 Parsons single reduction geared steam turbines, powered by 9 Babcock & Wilcox 400 psi boilers
Shaft Horsepower 120,000 hp (4 shafts)
Maximum Speed 32.5 knots (37.6 mph); 33.65 knots in trials
Fuel Capacity 6,500 tons (more than 1.5 million gallons)
Endurance 10,400 nautical miles at 15 knots; 7,900 nm at 20 knots

Miscellaneous
Aircraft Capacity 96 maximum: more typically 80-90 were on board
Armor 4.8" at waterline, 1.5" at deck, 4.0" fire control centers
Aviation Gas Stock 178,000 gallons
Aviation Ordnance 433 tons capacity
Catapults: Flight Deck One H MK II (7000 lbs to 70 mph in 55-ft) Two H 2-1 (11,000 lbs to 70 mph in 73-ft)
Catapults: Hangar Deck Two H MK II None
Complement 1889 in peace-time, 2919 (peak) at war

[yasik19]

Pulls out my "Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II", copyright 1946. It's not a flag or ensign from the Soviet Navy.

ok, so here''s the answer. When i posted those pics, I didn't realize we were talking about WWII vessels, so I was being somewhat funny.

The cruiser Avrora was built in St. Petersburg between 1897 and 1900 and took an active part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 and participated in the Tsusima battle, in which most of Russia's Pacific fleet was destroyed. After the war the ship was used for personnel training and during the October revolution of 1917 gave the signal (by firing a blank shot) to storm of the Winter Palace, which was being used as a residence by the democratic, but largely ineffective Provisional Government.

During World War II and the 900-day Siege of Leningrad the guns of the ship were taken down and used on the front line of the city's defenses. After the war the ship was carefully restored and used as a free museum and training ship for cadets from the nearby Nakhimov Navy School.

that flag is the Navy jack flag seen here (http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ru~nav.html), 2nd one on the page.

Or here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Navy).

Jacks are additional national flags flown by warships (and certain other vessels) at the head of the ship. These are usually flown while not underway and when the ship is dressed on special occasions.

So, basically, it's a pre-Soviet Russian Navy flag.

Heck, we learn something new every day.;)

[CrewDust]

The old Imperial Navy

[spejic]

The battleship, as a concept, has to be one of the worst military ideas ever.

I'll go with the Enterprise as well. Or a long-hull Essex.

[96Squig]

Certainly not the Graf Spree.
Based on the European theatre, propably submarines, until the radar was invented they were propably most effective. After that and with the pacific theatre in mind it's gotta be an airplane carrier.

[Dirt McGirt]

The battleship, as a concept, has to be one of the worst military ideas ever.
Are you being serious?:eek:

Only with the advent of ship to ship missiles has the battleships worth declined. You should pick up a history book sometimes you just seem so far out in left field sometimes.

[spejic]

Are you being serious?:eek:

Only with the advent of ship to ship missiles has the battleships worth declined. You should pick up a history book sometimes you just seem so far out in left field sometimes.It didn't take ship-to-ship missiles to bring down the Yamato. Or the American fleet in Pearl Harbor. And even before the advent of the aircraft the battleship became far too expensive for what it can do - it ended up being too dangerous to actually send them on the missions they were designed for. And they are overrated as a shore bombardment platform.

If you want to sink ships, get a mine-laying submarine.

[Scarecrow]

So anyone have any good pics or specs for ships they thought were most impressive in WWII?

[spejic]

So anyone have any good pics or specs for ships they thought were most impressive in WWII?
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/butowsky1/images/drum1.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/USS_Gato%3B0821235.jpg
Gato class submarine

* Displacement: 1526 tons (1550 t) surfaced, 2424 tons (2460 t) submerged
* Length: 307 ft (93.6 m) waterline, 311 ft 9 in (95.0 m) overall
* Beam: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
* Draft: 15 ft 3 in (4.65 m)
* Test depth: 300 ft (90 m)
* Speed: 20¼ knots (37.5 km/h) surfaced, 8¾ knots (16 km/h) submerged
* Armament: 10 x 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (6 forward, 4 aft, 24 torpedoes); 1 x 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal AA gun, 2 x .50 cal (12.7 mm) and 2 x .30 cal {7.6 2mm} machineguns)
* Crew: 80 – 85
* Powerplant: •4 x 1350 hp (1 MW) 16 cyl General Motors 278A diesel engines (except SS228-239 and SS275-284 10cyl Fairbanks-Morse 38D-1/8), •2 x 1370 hp (1020 kW) General Electric electric motors (except SS228-235 Elliott Motor or SS257-264 Allis-Chalmers) (two 126-cell Exide main storage batteries {except SS.261, 275-278, & 280 Gould})
• two shafts
* Range: •11,800 nm at 10 knots (21,900 km at 19 km/h) surfaced
• 100 nm at 3 knots (185 km at 5.6 km/h) (maximum) submerged
* Submerged Endurance: 48 hours

[spejic]

Type XXI submarine (Germany)
http://ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2003/11/images_uboot_xxi/detail_uxxi_3313.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/U3008.jpg/727px-U3008.jpg
First submarine designed to operate entirely submerged. Was faster when submerged than surfaced.
* Displacement: 1621 t/1819 t, 2100 t full load
* Length: 76.7m (251ft 7.7in) overall, 60.5m (198ft 5.9in) pressure hull
* Beam: 5.3m (17ft 4.7in) pressure hull, 8m (26ft 3in) overall
* Draft: 6.3m (20ft 8in)
* Height: 11.3m (37ft)
* Propulsion: 4000 hp (3 MW) surfaced = 15.6 kt (29 km/h), 4400 hp (3.3 MW) submerged = 17.2 kt (32 km/h)
* Range: 15,500nm at 10 kt (28,675 km at 19 km/h) surfaced, 340 miles at 5 kt (630 km at 9 km/h) submerged
* Crew: 57