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The ultimate dreadnought. Wisconsin with her sticks out for the final time.


Rabbi
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The last Iowa. The Battleship Wisconsin. 

 

Commissioned toward the end of WWII, in 1944. She was the ultimate example of Battleship design.  She floated 9 16 inch guns and could rain hate from 23 miles.  

 

Decommissioned for the final time in 1992, she was the last Battleship to ever fire in anger (GW1)   Even as a museum ship, she was required by law to be kept in a state of readiness, so she could be called back to the gun line again.  This state of readiness continued until 2009.   

 

 

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12 hours ago, Rabbi said:

The last Iowa. The Battleship Wisconsin. 

 

Commissioned toward the end of WWII, in 1944. She was the ultimate example of Battleship design.  She floated 9 16 inch guns and could rain hate from 23 miles.  

 

Decommissioned for the final time in 1992, she was the last Battleship to ever fire in anger (GW1)   Even as a museum ship, she was required by law to be kept in a state of readiness, so she could be called back to the gun line again.  This state of readiness continued until 2009.   

 

 

 

Got to ask, what the hell was turret 2 firing at? Shore bombardment?  Ship to ship action? Just trying to look cool?

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12 hours ago, Rabbi said:

The last Iowa. The Battleship Wisconsin. 

 

Commissioned toward the end of WWII, in 1944. She was the ultimate example of Battleship design.  She floated 9 16 inch guns and could rain hate from 23 miles.  

 

Decommissioned for the final time in 1992, she was the last Battleship to ever fire in anger (GW1)   Even as a museum ship, she was required by law to be kept in a state of readiness, so she could be called back to the gun line again.  This state of readiness continued until 2009.   

 

 

Tell them about the USS Montana. I wish she had been built. 

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40 minutes ago, Haldor said:

 

Got to ask, what the hell was turret 2 firing at? Shore bombardment?  Ship to ship action? Just trying to look cool?

Just a staged photo.  

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1 hour ago, Eric said:

Tell them about the USS Montana. I wish she had been built. 

The Montana class was the class that was to follow the Iowa’s. They would have been over 900 feet long and had 12 16 inch guns.....but, a lot of folks get stuck on the fact of how large and powerful they would have been and how they would have been “super Iowa’s”. That is simply not true.  

 

The Montana’s would have been very different from the Iowa’s.   As a Battleship, the Iowa’s would still have been a better ship.  The Iowa’s were designed as “fast battleships”.  The Montana’s would have returned to something much more dreadnought like. They would have been slower and more armored.  Besides the fact that the battleship was functionally obsolete by this time, the Montana really represented a step backwards in battleship design, while  The Iowa was forward thinking. 

 

As the ultimate ship hunter. (The role of a battleship) the Iowa’s, with their incredible speed, never had a rival. That would have included the Montana’s and certainly included the Japanese Yamatos.  

 

The role that the battleship ship eventually evolved into, (and kept the Iowa’s serving into modern times as the worlds last battleships) was that of fire support.  In this role, Montana’s would have been superior. The Montana’s would have been the most survivable ships ever built and with 12 16 inch guns, would have been formidable on the gun line. 

While battleships are one of the coolest things man ever made, when the Ostfriesland got Billy Mitchelled, the battleship became obsolete.  Oddly enough, just like the HMS Dreadnought, the first modern battleship, made every war ship in the world obsolete overnight. 

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Here’s some BB64 porn for you, these are from my boat.  She’s tied up here in Norfolk.

I tie up near her every now and then and contemplate what it was like to be a Sailor in the Big One.

 

E122E468-E6AF-4B1A-8862-C7A73ABF9ED5.jpeg

5D77DCD8-1BCD-44B5-BC3B-09BC0B435DDB.jpeg

4F516DA8-72C0-4942-BC28-9BD8F0D56600.jpeg

392AA5FF-6AC7-48E5-954C-D5C74A03A291.jpeg

AD211D96-2497-4F0D-85BA-6793F8ED40F4.jpeg

5A7C54CD-AB69-45F9-BFD0-4B8AC3B0883F.jpeg

D4168D08-40EC-48C2-B70E-9CC1857F48C2.jpeg

2CAD5B21-F744-4A0C-92A2-C795F12FFBB4.jpeg

Edited by Roger123
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8 minutes ago, tous said:

Thanks for the pictures, 123 of Roger.

Keep in mind, if you are on the biggest, baddest ship in the battle, you are also target #1 for the other guy.

 

The interesting thing about that, is the philosophy behind battleships means you were safe from all but other battleships (in a world without carriers and submarines)

 

American ships worked on the philosophy of “balanced armor” meaning a given US Battleship could take the same punch she delivered.  The Iowas were no exception. 

 

With a 23 mile range no ship ever built could range an Iowa except the Yamato and her sister. However the Iowa was significantly faster and (we did not know that at the time) was much better gunned.  The Yamato’s 18 inch guns were bigger but not better than Iowa’s 16s.  We also learned that Iowa guns would have devastated Yamato’s armor. 

 

Of course, the airplane mostly made such things academic debates. With the sole exception of Jutland in WWI, great armadas of Dreadnoughts never clashed.   But there were a few smaller clashes and Yamato did sink a US carrier with her guns. 

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A fantastic read about the second to last Battleship on Battleship engagement.  The mighty Battleship Washington, alone,  took A Japanese battleship and her support shines and her guns won the day.

 

https://bremolympicnlus.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/guadalcanal-battleship-vs-battleship-the-battle-of-14-15-nov-1942/amp/

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35 minutes ago, Rabbi said:

The interesting thing about that, is the philosophy behind battleships means you were safe from all but other battleships (in a world without carriers and submarines)

 

American ships worked on the philosophy of “balanced armor” meaning a given US Battleship could take the same punch she delivered.  The Iowas were no exception. 

 

With a 23 mile range no ship ever built could range an Iowa except the Yamato and her sister. However the Iowa was significantly faster and (we did not know that at the time) was much better gunned.  The Yamato’s 18 inch guns were bigger but not better than Iowa’s 16s.  We also learned that Iowa guns would have devastated Yamato’s armor. 

 

Of course, the airplane mostly made such things academic debates. With the sole exception of Jutland in WWI, great armadas of Dreadnoughts never clashed.   But there were a few smaller clashes and Yamato did sink a US carrier with her guns. 

Indeed.

Battleships didn't go into battle alone.

They were screened by many less ships: cruisers, destroyers and submarines all designed to keep things that hurt away from the big boys.

:599c64bfb50b0_wavey1:

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