To be fair said guns were put to good use protecting the Northern coast of Oahu once they got removed in 1942Oh, I can see their shameful past as cruisers right there on their 8'' turrets.
When was this? I thought USS America was SINKEX'd years ago.
USS America flying the flag of Captain America.
And lead ship of her class. They still should have given her a well deck though. At least the next flight will have themShe's the new one, an assault ship/Heli carrier. (Not that type of helicarrier sadly )
Drachinefel does Warship videos... right?
That they didn't save either her or a KGV alongside an Illustrious is one of the great tragedies of modern British history and the same can be said of HMS Dreadnought and HMS Jervis(second in battle honors only to Warspite, speaking of Warspite she sadly was way too heavily damaged to be preserved given the realities of the immediate postwar era and thus her scrapping while tragic can be justified)Just to make my contribution to the thread, here I have an image of HMS Vanguard. She was the last of her kind, and perhaps the most handsome British battleship of them all.
USCGC Campbell said:"UNCLAS //N05752// SUBJ: FINAL FAREWELL
1. I SERVED WITH HONOR FOR ALMOST FORTY-SIX YEARS, IN WAR AND PEACE, IN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC. WITH DUTY AS DIVERSE AS SAVING LIVES TO SINKING U-BOATS, OCEAN STATIONS TO FISHERIES ENFORCEMENT, AND FROM TRAINING CADETS TO BEING YOUR FLAGSHIP. I HAVE BEEN ALWAYS READY TO SERVE.
2. TODAY WAS MY FINAL DUTY. I WAS A TARGET FOR A MISSILE TEST. ITS SUCCESS WAS YOUR LOSS AND MY DEMISE. NOW KING NEPTUNE HAS CALLED ME TO MY FINAL REST IN 2,600 FATHOMS AT 22-48N 160-06W.
3. MOURN NOT, ALL WHO HAVE SAILED WITH ME. A NEW CUTTER CAMPBELL BEARING MY NAME, WMEC-909, WILL SOON CONTINUE THE HERITAGE. I BID ADIEU. THE QUEEN IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE QUEEN."
If we're going with lighter ships, then perhaps an image of the most famous British Light Cruiser might be in order?
HMS Belfast may not be a battleship, but she's a grand old lady nonetheless. And once again, I cannot help but notice how lovely British warships look.
Being the navy history buff that I am Belfast was the second best tour I did during my visit to the UK with the first being Portsmouth's historic dockyardVisiting it whilst in London was pretty cool. I think it waa the first warship/museum ship I was ever aboard. Very neat. Always interesting seeing first hand how cramped and vertical those ship interiors actually are firsthand. It's lost even in documentaries and video.
Say what you want about the RN of WWII but it was never lacking for brave men and officers.Today is the 80th Anniversary of the battle between the German Heavy Cruiser Hipper and the Destroyer HMS Glowworm.
A fairly mismatched duel between a ship that weighed some ten times more than its opponent which ended largely as one would have expected. The Hipper also had a pair of destroyers escorting it which Glowworm managed to drive off before meeting the Heavy Cruiser. The courage and skill shown by the Destroyer as it engaged in this duel was enough to earn her commander the Victoria Cross on recommendation of the German Captain, a very rare occurrence.
While the story is famous for the actions of the Glowworm its also worth noting the skill of the German crew who successfully avoided ten torpedoes at close range and aggressively pursuing their smaller foe to keep hold of the initiative.
In the end though while Glowworm didn't manage to really hurt Hipper despite (possibly accidentally) ramming it she did manage to warn the rest of the RN fleet of the German incursion allowing her allies to move heavier ships into place and halt the German naval push.
The battle did give one of the more dramatic images of naval warfare with the heavily damaged destroyer breaking through the smoke for a final attack. At this point the Glowworm had suffered several hits one of which short circuited the ships siren causing it to constantly shriek during the vessel's final moments, the siren wailing as the small ship veered hard about and slammed into the cruiser.
The Germans lost a single man during the engagement, the Glowworm 115
Say what you want about the RN of WWII but it was never lacking for brave men and officers.