Post by Relyt on Nov 27, 2012 9:41:43 GMT 1
Three things.
Forum's quiet.
There's this little handy Off Topic section.
And there's one subject I have a hard time shutting up about.
It is currently 2:06am.
I'm going to ramble on about a warship.
But what warship shall I start with? The Thunder Child, perhaps? Not much to say about that, seeing as how it didn't really exist. Or did it?
Not really, but let's go back to October of 1944 in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest, and last large scale, naval battle. This fight took place during the American invasion of the Philippines, taken by the Japanese Empire in early 1942. By 1944, Japan has lost most of its aircraft carriers (Those that hadn't been sunk had no aircraft to launch.), and has virtually nothing left but the remnants of its surface fleet, including the enormous battleships Yamato and Musashi. These mighty dreadnoughts were armed with nine 18.1 inch guns in 3 triple turrets. Each turret itself weighed 2,000 tons, as much as a large destroyer. By comparison, the HMS Hood was armed with eight 15 inch guns in 4 twin turrets, and the American fast battleships used nine 16 inch guns in 3 triple turrets. In other words, nearly every other ship would be hopelessly outgunned in a straight fight with a Yamato class.
What's all this have to do with our Thunder Child doppleganger, you may be asking. Well, the Japanese main fleet, known as the Combined Fleet, was ordered to destroy the American invasion force by luring away its task forces by using its aircraft-less aircraft carriers as live bait. This would allow the Combined Fleet to sail in and wreak havoc virtually unopposed.
And virtually unopposed it was. Aircraft carriers were always the primary target of any engagement in the Pacific Theatre. Even battleships were secondary.
So the US Navy took the bait, the Combined Fleet sailed towards its destination, and nearly nothing stood between the allied invasion transports filled with marines and total destruction. Except a few escort carrier task groups. Specifically Task Group 3, immortally known as Taffy 3. And so began the greatest mismatch in naval history.
Taffy 3 was not exactly a force to be reckoned with. It was a typical escort carrier task group, made up of six escort carriers (An escort carrier(CVE) is a very small aircraft carrier built on a merchant ship hull and used for escort duties, such as sinking submarines. They were never intended to fight major warships.), three destroyers (DD), and four destroyer escorts (DE(Basically a small destroyer)).
The Combined fleet came upon Taffy 3 on October 25 and mistook it for the American main fleet. The Combined Fleet opened fire, Taffy 3 noticed they were being shot at and did its best to retreat. Except for one destroyer, aptly known as a tin can.
This tin can is indisputably the most badass tin can in the entire history of tin cans. She was the USS Johnston, DD 557, a Fletcher class destroyer armed with five 5 inch guns and ten 21 inch torpedo tubes. 137 destroyers of this class were built throughout the war. They were great little ships but, weighing in at a little under 2000 tons (You know, lighter than each of the Yamato's turrets.) they were far from being a heavy hitter. A destroyer was designed to be fast but lightly armoured and lightly armed. Sort of like a fighter plane, but a warship.
What the Johnston did was break off from the fleet (The escort carriers needed to be moved to a safe distance, and needed its escorts for that. However, escort carriers were very slow, and would not be able to retreat anyway.). Not only did she break off, but her captain Cpt. Ernest E. Evans, who said at the ship's commissioning that he "intended to go into harm's way," did exactly that. He ordered a full left rudder and flank speed (about 38 knots, or 43.7 mph) towards the waiting guns of the Combined Fleet, 16 miles away. You know, "...she swung about and drove at full speed towards the waiting martians."
For twenty minutes Johnston dodged gunfire while the escort carrier airwings dropped whatever ordnance they could carry onto whatever target they could get to. A single 18.1 inch shell could have sunk Johnston, but the Japanese gunnery that day was less than accurate. Johnston got within range to launch its torpedoes, and fired at the nearest target: the heavy cruiser Kumano. A torpedo found its mark and blew off the bow of Kumano, severely damaging her and forcing her to back out of the fight. This did not go unpunished, however.
Johnston then took three 14 inch shells from the battleship Kongo to her machinery and three 6 inch shells from either a light cruiser or the Yamato (Musashi had been sunk by carrier aircraft an earlier day in the Battle of Leyte.) that hit the bridge. The 14 inch shells also resulted in a loss of power to the three 5 inch turrets near the stern, as well as steering. Johnston made a retreat to make repairs.
Not long after this the other destroyers and destroyer escorts received orders to make torpedo attacks. Johnston had already expended her torpedoes but nonetheless participated, firing her forward guns at the Kongo's superstructure. Kongo's shells missed this time.
It was after this that Johnston observed Japanese cruisers and destroyers advancing towards the escort carriers. Johnston then "crossed their T," putting her broadside to the bow of the leading cruiser. But a ship can't stay lucky forever. The Japanese column turned broadside to the Johnston and finished off what remained of her machinery. Dead in the water, the order to abandon ship was given.
Johnston, as well as some of Taffy 3, was gone. The destroyer Hoel, the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, and the escort carriers Gambier Bay and St. Lo were lost. But not in vain.
The Combined Fleet had taken heavy damage from the fight, more so than Taffy 3 had taken. Three of its heavy cruisers were scuttled after the fight, a fourth heavily damaged. Its battleships also took heavy damage, excluding Yamato which retired from the fight in order to avoid taking heavy damage. Thus, Admiral Kurita, still believing he had attacked a task force, turned his fleet around and made for Japan, ensuring the success of the invasion of the Philippines.
In the words of one American sailor, "Damn it boys, they're getting away!"
USS Johnston, DD 557.
It is now 3:43. Stay tuned for this fine ship's hilariously incompetent sister ship.
Forum's quiet.
There's this little handy Off Topic section.
And there's one subject I have a hard time shutting up about.
It is currently 2:06am.
I'm going to ramble on about a warship.
But what warship shall I start with? The Thunder Child, perhaps? Not much to say about that, seeing as how it didn't really exist. Or did it?
Not really, but let's go back to October of 1944 in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest, and last large scale, naval battle. This fight took place during the American invasion of the Philippines, taken by the Japanese Empire in early 1942. By 1944, Japan has lost most of its aircraft carriers (Those that hadn't been sunk had no aircraft to launch.), and has virtually nothing left but the remnants of its surface fleet, including the enormous battleships Yamato and Musashi. These mighty dreadnoughts were armed with nine 18.1 inch guns in 3 triple turrets. Each turret itself weighed 2,000 tons, as much as a large destroyer. By comparison, the HMS Hood was armed with eight 15 inch guns in 4 twin turrets, and the American fast battleships used nine 16 inch guns in 3 triple turrets. In other words, nearly every other ship would be hopelessly outgunned in a straight fight with a Yamato class.
What's all this have to do with our Thunder Child doppleganger, you may be asking. Well, the Japanese main fleet, known as the Combined Fleet, was ordered to destroy the American invasion force by luring away its task forces by using its aircraft-less aircraft carriers as live bait. This would allow the Combined Fleet to sail in and wreak havoc virtually unopposed.
And virtually unopposed it was. Aircraft carriers were always the primary target of any engagement in the Pacific Theatre. Even battleships were secondary.
So the US Navy took the bait, the Combined Fleet sailed towards its destination, and nearly nothing stood between the allied invasion transports filled with marines and total destruction. Except a few escort carrier task groups. Specifically Task Group 3, immortally known as Taffy 3. And so began the greatest mismatch in naval history.
Taffy 3 was not exactly a force to be reckoned with. It was a typical escort carrier task group, made up of six escort carriers (An escort carrier(CVE) is a very small aircraft carrier built on a merchant ship hull and used for escort duties, such as sinking submarines. They were never intended to fight major warships.), three destroyers (DD), and four destroyer escorts (DE(Basically a small destroyer)).
The Combined fleet came upon Taffy 3 on October 25 and mistook it for the American main fleet. The Combined Fleet opened fire, Taffy 3 noticed they were being shot at and did its best to retreat. Except for one destroyer, aptly known as a tin can.
This tin can is indisputably the most badass tin can in the entire history of tin cans. She was the USS Johnston, DD 557, a Fletcher class destroyer armed with five 5 inch guns and ten 21 inch torpedo tubes. 137 destroyers of this class were built throughout the war. They were great little ships but, weighing in at a little under 2000 tons (You know, lighter than each of the Yamato's turrets.) they were far from being a heavy hitter. A destroyer was designed to be fast but lightly armoured and lightly armed. Sort of like a fighter plane, but a warship.
What the Johnston did was break off from the fleet (The escort carriers needed to be moved to a safe distance, and needed its escorts for that. However, escort carriers were very slow, and would not be able to retreat anyway.). Not only did she break off, but her captain Cpt. Ernest E. Evans, who said at the ship's commissioning that he "intended to go into harm's way," did exactly that. He ordered a full left rudder and flank speed (about 38 knots, or 43.7 mph) towards the waiting guns of the Combined Fleet, 16 miles away. You know, "...she swung about and drove at full speed towards the waiting martians."
For twenty minutes Johnston dodged gunfire while the escort carrier airwings dropped whatever ordnance they could carry onto whatever target they could get to. A single 18.1 inch shell could have sunk Johnston, but the Japanese gunnery that day was less than accurate. Johnston got within range to launch its torpedoes, and fired at the nearest target: the heavy cruiser Kumano. A torpedo found its mark and blew off the bow of Kumano, severely damaging her and forcing her to back out of the fight. This did not go unpunished, however.
Johnston then took three 14 inch shells from the battleship Kongo to her machinery and three 6 inch shells from either a light cruiser or the Yamato (Musashi had been sunk by carrier aircraft an earlier day in the Battle of Leyte.) that hit the bridge. The 14 inch shells also resulted in a loss of power to the three 5 inch turrets near the stern, as well as steering. Johnston made a retreat to make repairs.
Not long after this the other destroyers and destroyer escorts received orders to make torpedo attacks. Johnston had already expended her torpedoes but nonetheless participated, firing her forward guns at the Kongo's superstructure. Kongo's shells missed this time.
It was after this that Johnston observed Japanese cruisers and destroyers advancing towards the escort carriers. Johnston then "crossed their T," putting her broadside to the bow of the leading cruiser. But a ship can't stay lucky forever. The Japanese column turned broadside to the Johnston and finished off what remained of her machinery. Dead in the water, the order to abandon ship was given.
Johnston, as well as some of Taffy 3, was gone. The destroyer Hoel, the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, and the escort carriers Gambier Bay and St. Lo were lost. But not in vain.
The Combined Fleet had taken heavy damage from the fight, more so than Taffy 3 had taken. Three of its heavy cruisers were scuttled after the fight, a fourth heavily damaged. Its battleships also took heavy damage, excluding Yamato which retired from the fight in order to avoid taking heavy damage. Thus, Admiral Kurita, still believing he had attacked a task force, turned his fleet around and made for Japan, ensuring the success of the invasion of the Philippines.
In the words of one American sailor, "Damn it boys, they're getting away!"
USS Johnston, DD 557.
It is now 3:43. Stay tuned for this fine ship's hilariously incompetent sister ship.