Oldest warship (WWII, war, 60s, Japanese)

[Nevar242]

What is the oldest still commissioned WARSHIP in the world.
That still has a full complement and is under her own power.
can you answer without goggle ?

[jtur88]

As a wild guess, I would say some cruiser used by the navy of some landlocked country like Paraguay or Malawi. Not counting ships that are still maintained as purely ceremonial vessels that would never actually be allowed to go anywhere near any combat.

[MICoastieMom]

Oldest steel? Or just oldest, period? I have no idea what the oldest steel warship is, but I would guess, being the snob that I am about all things American, that the U.S.S. Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship still in active service.

[Irishtom29]

The Constitution sits in the water and is capable of making sail and going under it's own power.

The Victory is older I believe but sits in a drydock and I don't know whether it's actually fit to sail.

I imagine the oldest ironclad warship in existance is the Warrior.

As for actual working warships, fit to go to war, I'm inclined to agree with jtur. The Argentine cruiser Belgrano that was sank by a British sub during the Falklands War was originally a WW II American cruiser.

[jtur88]

Azerbaijan maintains a navy on the Caspian Sea, which it virtually impossible to get any ships in or out of. From this description ,it might be possible for an old navy buff to guess how old these ships might be:

Formed in mid-1992, the Azeri navy inherited the former Soviet Caspian Flotilla and Border Guard vessels. The navy has about 5,000 personnel. The navy operates 7 patrol boats (2 - OSA-II-Class and 5 - Stenka-Class), 7 minesweepers (2 - Sonya-Class and 5 - Yevgenya-Class), 6 landing crafts, 2 landing cutters, 1 special purposes vessel and 1 special purposes cutter. Some units operate under CIS command.

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by MICoastieMom

Oldest steel? Or just oldest, period? I have no idea what the oldest steel warship is, but I would guess, being the snob that I am about all things American, that the U.S.S. Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship still in active service.

Very likely true, but something tells me it wouldn't exactly sail into action in case of war.

Would be interesting to to get a feel for the oldest one that is actually expected to take an active part in any conflict. There's probably a WWII harbor tender or oiler somewhere, but I doubt combattants much older than the 60s can be found. Interesting to speculate on.

[Fontucky]

Just to toss it out there as an FYI... the Japanese maintain a floating museum ship, the 1902 pre-dreadnought battleship Mikasa.

Japanese battleship Mikasa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[jtur88]

USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) was the lead ship of the Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carriers, and was in commission between 1961 and 2009. Decommissioned on May 12, 2009.

USS Enterprise (CVN-65) Enterprise-class aircraft carrier (25 November 1961 – Present), the eighth ship to bear this name, is a unique design, and the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier in the world.

The 1863 Star of India is the fourth oldest ship afloat in the United States, after the 1797 USS Constitution, the 1841 Charles W Morgan, and 1854 USS Constellation, and is the oldest ship in the entire world that still sails regularly.

The latter paragraph suggests that, although the USS Constitution may still be commissioned, it might not be seaworthy.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by Nevar242

What is the oldest still commissioned WARSHIP in the world.
That still has a full complement and is under her own power.
can you answer without goggle ?

I would suspect that the real answer is some dugout somewhere that has been cared for by natives and is used by one or two people primarily for fishing.

[MICoastieMom]

Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA

Very likely true, but something tells me it wouldn't exactly sail into action in case of war.

Would be interesting to to get a feel for the oldest one that is actually expected to take an active part in any conflict. There's probably a WWII harbor tender or oiler somewhere, but I doubt combattants much older than the 60s can be found. Interesting to speculate on.

You might be surprised! The USCGS Acushnet was originally commissioned by the Navy in 1942 (I think), as a rescue vessel. As the grand dame of the Coast Guard cutters, she took on 15-20 foot seas and category 1 hurricane force winds to search and rescue crew from the F/V Katmai which went down in the Bering Sea last October. Some of those ladies don't give up so easily... the only reason many are retired, I suspect, is that they are not compatible with the new technology and can't easily be retrofitted.