USS Iowa heads to LA.

[My poor XF]

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/articl...me-3588477.php

Don't know how many will find this interesting but personally im just amazed by these ships.

Good to see a piece of history being preserved for future generations. And some fantastic photos of her passing under the golden gate bridge.

[GhiaEB]

I'm a navel buff also, these ships are just wow. The size of the projectile they could fire.... Damn... Nice to see it preserved.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by GhiaEB

I'm a navel buff also, these ships are just wow. The size of the projectile they could fire.... Damn... Nice to see it preserved.

So you contemplate your navel? Glad to see you're a naval enthusiast as well.

Sorry ... couldn't resist. LOL

[Road_Warrior]

Excellent, finally the big stick finds a home.

I was in awe of these ships the first time I went over one (USS Missouri in 1991) and I'm still in awe today.

[2011G6E]

Beautiful ships, still just about the best conventional stand-off weapon, and the origin of the term "gunboat diplomacy"...you park your battleship or dreadnaught (much cooler name than battleship) off the coast and start negotiating with the government, casually throwing in a comment like "by the way...have you looked out your window...?"

Also, you can sit over the horizon and comfortably lob 16 inch shells at your target.

They're amazing ships, that get mothballed every decade or so, before being dragged out and refitted when they realise you can't really replace them with any other modern ship, even ignoring the fact you simply couldn't build more today...imagine how many tens of billions it would take to build something like a WW2 design battleship?

[rvsm]

uh you would never use an outdated thing like that ever now adays. we have things called guided weapons and missiles. pretty neat things can fly a lot further and carry more of a precise impact.

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Beautiful ships, still just about the best conventional stand-off weapon, and the origin of the term "gunboat diplomacy"...you park your battleship or dreadnaught (much cooler name than battleship) off the coast and start negotiating with the government, casually throwing in a comment like "by the way...have you looked out your window...?"

Also, you can sit over the horizon and comfortably lob 16 inch shells at your target.

They're amazing ships, that get mothballed every decade or so, before being dragged out and refitted when they realise you can't really replace them with any other modern ship, even ignoring the fact you simply couldn't build more today...imagine how many tens of billions it would take to build something like a WW2 design battleship?

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

They're amazing ships, that get mothballed every decade or so, before being dragged out and refitted when they realise you can't really replace them with any other modern ship, even ignoring the fact you simply couldn't build more today...imagine how many tens of billions it would take to build something like a WW2 design battleship?

They were refitted once, for Regan's 600 ship navy plan, and have been mothballed since the end of the gulf war. All four ships were decommissioned years ago.

Cost was another reason they didnt continue in service, they cost a bomb to run, chew fuel like a battleship would, and need roughly 2000 people to run one.

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Beautiful ships, still just about the best conventional stand-off weapon, and the origin of the term "gunboat diplomacy"...you park your battleship or dreadnaught (much cooler name than battleship) off the coast and start negotiating with the government, casually throwing in a comment like "by the way...have you looked out your window...?"

Also, you can sit over the horizon and comfortably lob 16 inch shells at your target.

They're amazing ships, that get mothballed every decade or so, before being dragged out and refitted when they realise you can't really replace them with any other modern ship, even ignoring the fact you simply couldn't build more today...imagine how many tens of billions it would take to build something like a WW2 design battleship?

Yeah totally agree. I got to see Missouri in Fremantle in 1991 after it's Desert Storm (??) deployment, the only battleship I've ever seen. I wish the British had kept Warspite or a KGV as well (unfortunately they were bankrupt), so kudos to the Americans for keeping so many as museum ships.

Also agree with the frustration that you can't build any 1:350 Aussie (or British) cruisers in plastic: no Perth, no Sydney, no Canberra or Australia, no Exeter or York, no Ajax/Achillies - the stuff they went through...


As for Warspite:

"I think you will find that amongst warship enthusiasts all over the world the battleship is king and HMS Warspite is the king of kings due to the service this ship gave. From Jutland to the battle of Calabria, the battle of Cape Matapan, the Normandy landings. This is not a cruiser, it is a big gun super dreadnought. It is HMS Warspite. The ship that refused to die. It suffered damage from bombs, mines, shell fire and in the end it defied the scrapper man and took it's own life on the coast of Cornwall.

Yes, many other ships served well and gave good service, it is just that Warspite is special."

She was left with a jammed rudder at Jutland, alone, with the entire van of the High Seas Fleet firing on her and absorbed many hits, managed to correct the steering, continued firing back, and made her escape.

[GhiaEB]

Originally Posted by Pedro

So you contemplate your navel? Glad to see you're a naval enthusiast as well.

Sorry ... couldn't resist. LOL

Stupid iPhone! Autocorrect does my head in at times

[hawker]

Fantastic. I wish Australia would preserve more of its naval history.

I had the opportunity to visit Spectacle Island which is stocked full of RAN history. You could get lost for days.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by hawker

Fantastic. I wish Australia would preserve more of its naval history.

I had the opportunity to visit Spectacle Island which is stocked full of RAN history. You could get lost for days.

It annoys me to no end that there was no real effort to save the HMAS Australia after the war - the things that ship went through were remarkable.

[My poor XF]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

It annoys me to no end that there was no real effort to save the HMAS Australia after the war - the things that ship went through were remarkable.

Couldn't agree more, if there is one ship that would deserve recognition it's the Australia. Can't even buy models of her.

[JG66ME]

Originally Posted by My poor XF

Couldn't agree more, if there is one ship that would deserve recognition it's the Australia. Can't even buy models of her.

If you are referring to the WW2 County Class heavy cruiser best way to build a model is buy the Airfix HMS Suffolk and convert it as they are very much the same.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/cat...ed=0CGEQ8wIwAA

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gall.../mg-index.html

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews...ix/suffolk.htm

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum...6188&start=100

You might also like this


http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gall.../mg-index.html

[My poor XF]

Originally Posted by JG66ME

If you are referring to the WW2 County Class heavy cruiser best way to build a model is buy the Airfix HMS Suffolk and convert it as they are very much the same.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/cat...ed=0CGEQ8wIwAA

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gall.../mg-index.html

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews...ix/suffolk.htm

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum...6188&start=100

You might also like this


http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gall.../mg-index.html

Cheers. Member of that site and I hadn't found those links.

I prefer to build in 1:350, hoping for anything Australian in that scale.

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by hawker

Fantastic. I wish Australia would preserve more of its naval history.

We have.. The mighty Castlemaine!
http://www.hmascastlemaine.org.au/

[2011G6E]

Now that's a thick piece of steel where that door is...

I remember seeing a special on those ships that said you couldn't feasibly build one today, not because we can't build ships that big, but because you need to set up a steel making infrastructure that can roll and cast steel plates up to three feet thick. Ice breakers have thick steel hulls, but that's usually only at the nose where they hammer through the ice (I believe the record was a "cap" on the front a nuke powered ice breaker that was nine feet thick... ).
Not only would it cost tens of billions in todays money, but steel plants aren't set up to do that any more like they were in wartime.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Now that's a thick piece of steel where that door is...

I remember seeing a special on those ships that said you couldn't feasibly build one today, not because we can't build ships that big, but because you need to set up a steel making infrastructure that can roll and cast steel plates up to three feet thick. Ice breakers have thick steel hulls, but that's usually only at the nose where they hammer through the ice (I believe the record was a "cap" on the front a nuke powered ice breaker that was nine feet thick... ).
Not only would it cost tens of billions in todays money, but steel plants aren't set up to do that any more like they were in wartime.

That's the Citadel, the steering, throttle and gunnery can be controlled and coordinated from that room in the event the ship is embroiled in a full scale gun battle with another battleship as the 'soft' parts of the ship (the bridge for starters) are usually targeted and blown away first.

The capacity to make armour that thick still exists, it would simply be laminated, modern supercarriers have thick armour plating in their flight and hangar decks. The advances in mettalurgy and armour design with different materials means that, like the development of Abrams and Challenger II tanks, they don't need swathes of thick metal armour to do the same job as their forebears needed in the face of weapons these days that are arguably just as potent of not moreso than a standard AP or HC shell these ships used.

[Franco Cozzo]

That looks awesome.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

image

That looks awesome.

Indeedy, I've got another one at home of Missouri and Wisconsin during the Gulf War, line astern, on NGFS duty. I'll post it up when I get home.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

image

That looks awesome.

Someone down range is about to have a bad day...
Magnificent pictures aren't they...even more impressive if you can find the ones taken from the deck when they do a broadside.

As long as someone doesn't bring up the old myth of the ship "moving sideways" when they fire all nine guns. The lines you can see away from the hull are shock wave waves...think about it...the mass of the ship is below the line of fire, not much above that point, so if the cannons "pushed sideways", it would try to roll the ship over to the opposite side...there's no way it can "move the whole ship".

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

As long as someone doesn't bring up the old myth of the ship "moving sideways" when they fire all nine guns.

Goddamn it I hate that stupid old wives tale. There is no way the recoil even from all of the 16in guns firing at once (which is not possible anymore following the 1980's modernisation) is capable of moving a 45,000 ton ship sideways.

The main guns have got recoil cylinders built into them anyway so the whole story is complete B.S.

Anyway, here's that pic I promised. I was wrong, it wasn't Wisconsin and Missouri, it appears to be New Jersey and possibly Missouri. Ship-spotters will also note the long-gone nuclear powered cruiser USS Long Beach astern.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[My poor XF]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Goddamn it I hate that stupid old wives tale. There is no way the recoil even from all of the 16in guns firing at once (which is not possible anymore following the 1980's modernisation) is capable of moving a 45,000 ton ship sideways.

The main guns have got recoil cylinders built into them anyway so the whole story is complete B.S.

Anyway, here's that pic I promised. I was wrong, it wasn't Wisconsin and Missouri, it appears to be New Jersey and possibly Missouri. Ship-spotters will also note the long-gone nuclear powered cruiser USS Long Beach astern.

image

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Great shot! And the Long Beach is really hard to miss

[Franco Cozzo]

Top down view:



Look at the water, would you even be able to be on deck during that? You'd have no hearing left.

[csv8]

I went on the USS Midway in San Diego..awesome aircraft carrier!!!

[sgt_doofey]

Went on the USS Intrepid in New York last year. Absolutely fascinating if you're ever there. They also have one of the Concorde airplanes there and a submarine which name escapes me.

[sgt_doofey]

I'd definitely be interested in going and seeing the USS Iowa if I get to go over there again! It absolutely fascinating seeing all this history in these warships.
If you're in San Francisco, then there is also the submarine USS Pampanito to see as well.

[xbrules]

Having been on Iowa's sister, Missouri, they are nothing short of unbelievable achievements in engineering...

[mik]

great pics , not really a buff , but i like looking at the engineering and looking at the amazing numbers involved with some of these ships, for example the speed capability of some of these floating citys 30+ knots 60 kph, that is just truly amazing.

[wrongwaynorris]

Visited USS Wisconsin ( BB64 ) in Norfolk a few years back . So good to see the seppos value their naval heritage unlike us who cant turn ours into razor blades fast enough .

[Stugots]

I should visit the Bar more often. So much great reading here. One of my goals in life was to go to Pearl Harbour and I managed to get there in 2010, then the Pacific War Museum, Fredericksburg and Interpid, NYC last year. Next will be Yamato museum, Kure and the Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo.

My favourite BB is the Yamato Class. What an awesome ship, 18" main battery, the mystique surrounding it and the achievement to get it built still astonishes. I wish one of them was saved. I had a 1:350 scale model 90% finished with a detail kit ready to apply... then we bought a kitten. I'll repair and finish it one day.

Fav US ship though was the Lexington Class Carriers more so for their smooth lines, long flight deck, funnel shape and the fact they were the first serious carriers to be built and still look pretty.