The Navy’s Best Battleships Ever?
The South Dakota-Class – the First Post-Treaty U.S. Navy Battleships – In the late 1930s, with the clouds of war on the horizon and the Washington Naval Treaty and subsequent London Naval Treaties dead in the water, the U.S. Navy moved forward with a new class of fast battleships – to be named for the Mount Rushmore State. Designed to the same treaty standard displacement limit of 35,000 long tons (35,600 tons) as the preceding North Carolina-class, and even with the same main battery of nine 16-inch/45 caliber Mark 6 guns in three-gun turrets, the new South Dakota-class battle wagons were more compact and far better protected. MORE
h/t NAAC
You want South Dakota battleships? Here,on the best naval warfare channel ever…
https://youtu.be/Ztv1wcXirLw
I pushed to hire a Youngish Navy veteran in the late 1990’s in a welding position. He couldn’t stick weld very good but could spray mig weld good enough until I could tweak his stick welding skills….He left the Navy because they were down sizing the battleships or something like that. His Grandfather served on a battleship in WWII and he wanted to fight on a battleship…..I heard he’s building custom high dollar jeeps in Florida now….FUCK, he’s probably near 50 now….
I have spent many hours aboard USS Massachusetts BB-59 at Battleship Cove in Fall River.
My most memorable moments are being part of the gun crew firing off the 5 inch gun during a Memorial Day and Crew Reunion events and getting a taste of the manual labor the crew had to deal with during WWII.
If they come up with a new class nowadays it would never be named after states.
They would be Trans class
Ze class
Milk class
Green class
Non white class
Beachmom
DECEMBER 8, 2022 AT 6:21 AM
“If they come up with a new class nowadays it would never be named after states.
They would be Trans class
Ze class
Milk class
Green class
Non white class”
And all with NO class.
I invented the Battleship.
Designed the Trireme, the Quinquereme, the Dreadnought, and the South Dakota Class.
My “White nationalist” Dad killed Japs for 2 years on that ship!
Of course NYT said he was an extremist!
BTW SO AM I!
# an ol exJarhd!
Semper Fi!
I’m a 25 year retired, bigoted, bullet catcher vet myself!
…here’s some great picutres from an offical Navy document along with explanatory text from an action report of the Battle of Guadalcanal, that shows just how bad a pounding this class of battleship can take and still be in the fight.
The South Dakota SURVIVED THIS!
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/w/war-damage-reports/uss-south-dakota-bb57-war-damage-report-no57.html
…for more on the Battle this happened in and why there’s a stretch of water between Guardalcanal and Savo island with the well-earned nickname Ironbottom Sound, see below…
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMK9a-vDE5zGRthqKrcdizbIrKc-9MQFk
Gotta love those 16 inch guns. They can sit 20 miles offshore and lob projectiles the weight of a Volkswagen at you. They say incoming rounds sound like a runaway freight train.
Wild Bill DECEMBER 8, 2022 AT 9:30 AM
“Gotta love those 16 inch guns. They can sit 20 miles offshore and lob projectiles the weight of a Volkswagen at you. They say incoming rounds sound like a runaway freight train.”
…and nothing can stop them or change their trajectory. They cannot be hacked or shot down. Once it’s in the air, the ballistics are inevitable, and devistating.
And they just plain look good doing it. Ain’t no rifle more badass than a naval rifle.
https://preview.redd.it/1qbo7d6y7fq41.jpg?auto=webp&s=427f50dc0d60d78007b44a7ab6b1e0b7c4a5ea75
Anyone WANT some a this? Come GET some!
…
Yeah, I thought NOT!
I remember seeing video of the bombing of the mountainside of Lebanon after the 1983 Beirut embassy and marine barracks attacks. The entire mountainside was quaking from the explosions of the bombs launched by those destroyers.
RELOADER 83
Yes, I did watch a bullet. Got me 10 days “in Country” t the naval hospital Danang!
none of my bladings forced me to leave the field.
I did not want to go for the bullet. But Skipper said GO! I order you! So zi got on the zmedEvac.
Skip was just agreeing with “DOC”. hm3 —
I commanded the South Dakota and fought the ship 17 times in the Naval war with the Mongolians. Great BB btw. Had a nice nurse bring my pudding.
My Dad was on the South Dakota. After Pearl Harbor, his parents would not let him volunteer as he was 16. So he got his Uncle – a rancher outside of Ottawa Kansas to vouch for him. His cousins were already in volunteering for the Marines. As a child I recall my Dad and his cousins having a laugh over their war experiences. My Dad on the South Dakota fighting with the IJN off Savo Island, and his cousin on Guadalcanal. After I got out of the Army, my 1st Veteran’s Day, my Dad told me what he went thru then. Funny how I sobered up after drinking all those Boilermakers with my old man after hearing his story.
She’s a beautiful ship. Too bad they don’t make ’em anymore.
@Brian Williams
Brian – you didn’t mention your invention of the concrete canoe and the balsa wood raft.
@Brian Williams
You also forget to mention your most famous invention – the iron surfboard.
It seems that navies are the queerest service. Churchill said the Royal Navy was best known for Rum, Flogging, and Buggery.
In the US Navy today we have a pervert Rear Admiral, an entire queer helicopter crew, former Captain Buttgagger, a queer song from the Village People “IN THE NAVY’, and God knows what else is happening on the lower decks.