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I think the coolest unsung ships of WW2 were the Alaska class Large Cruisers. They look remarkably like Iowa class battleships, just had less armor and 12" guns. Very short service life, but those would have made sweet museum ships had they not been scrapped.
Not quite true,the ship service turbine generators (SSTG's) on my ship were originally located on Battlecruiser Guam,reused due to limited run time on them,so they served well into the 90's.Da Navy recycles!!!!
I am surprised that they had any essex carriars in service. The wooden decks would not (I would think) stand up to a jet aircraft landing on it. The navy uses very few prop planes, and did not even in 75.
There is a new carriar class to replace the Nimitz class, the Gerald R Ford Class. It wont have its first unit ready until at least 2015.
The Essex class ships kept in use like the Intrepid, were fitted with steam catapults and aluminum decks after the war. The Oriskany was the last Essex class ship to be decommissioned on May 15, 1976.
The Essex class ships kept in use like the Intrepid, were fitted with steam catapults and aluminum decks after the war. The Oriskany was the last Essex class ship to be decommissioned on May 15, 1976.
No, one of the essex class ships was in service until 1991. Forget which one. Just looked it up, the USS Lexington was retired in 1991.
I am surprised that they had any essex carriars in service. The wooden decks would not (I would think) stand up to a jet aircraft landing on it. The navy uses very few prop planes, and did not even in 75.
They had at least armored the flight decks. (May have replaced them, I don't know about that.)
The Forrestal was involved in a horrible ship fire caused by a missile on a plane on deck awaiting take off firing due to an electrical surge...killing over 130 sailors. 1967 USS Forrestal fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Either the wooden flight decks had been removed or weren't a factor in the fire...I don't know which.
The A1 Skyraider was used as a combat aircraft by the Navy until 1972. The navy still uses on carriers the turboprop E-2 Hawkeye, C2-A Greyhound, the MV-22B Osprey as well as a wide variety of rotor-wing aircraft and other prop training craft.
All these carriers are our version of the Maginot Line. Great to know we're shoveling money down a hole to be ready to refight the battle of Midway.
Agreed to an extent. Do we need carriers? YES. Do we need a dozen carriers? NO. Maybe 6 to 8 tops. Remember, the next largest navy (the British Royal Navy) only has 2 carriers plus 2 more under construction (that will replace the 2 currently in service).
I believe the US Navy needs to focus more on coastal defense, AAW, and ASW operations. Less carriers and more submarines, frigates, destroyers, mine warfare, and patrol ships (what our European members would call corvettes).
Agreed to an extent. Do we need carriers? YES. Do we need a dozen carriers? NO. Maybe 6 to 8 tops. Remember, the next largest navy (the British Royal Navy) only has 2 carriers plus 2 more under construction (that will replace the 2 currently in service).
The Royal Navy is larger than the PLA Navy? That comes as a surprise to me. They've been whittling away at the Royal Navy for decades, whereas the PLA Navy has been growing.
Surprises me as well. Even with Russia's naval decline, I also would think their's is larger than UKs.
But, there are a lot of folks that think that the UK's ability to project power is second only to the US...
The Forestal fire was started by a missile cooking off on a plane being loaded and hitting either ammo or fuel. It was one of the worse fires ever on a US warship, it came close to sinking the Forestal. Ironically the plane it hit was John McCain's (although other sources suggest it hit another pilots's plane instead). 134 men died in the resulting fires and series of explosions.
Ironically the safety device in the missile worked, but it ripped the plane wing off spraying aviation fuel everywhere. The real disaster occured when at least one one thousand pound bomb went off...
I am not sure how many planes were destroyed, rolled off the carriar or later to damaged to use but it was quite a few. The worse damage to a US ship since the battle of Okinawa.
Most of the ships in the Russian Navy are not operational. Things have improved somewhat since the 1990s though but Russia's military still has alot of problems. Part of it is due to their attempts to modernize and professionalize.
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The Royal Navy is larger than the PLA Navy?
By far, the Chinese "People's Liberation" Army Navy is really little more then a glorified coast guard. They have no aircraft carriers and very little if any force projection. The Royal Navy on the other hand is built for force projection and they have numerous amphibious assault ships (3) and aircraft carriers (2). List of active Royal Navy ships - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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