Enjoy…
Passing the IOWA at sea must have been quite a sight and one you will not see again…
Once upon a time in America we could build such a ship! In fact we built 4 of them in about 2 years time. Before that we built another 6 in under 4 years total and on top of all of these we built at least 60 carriers, 100 cruisers, 500 destroyers and destroyer escorts, 200 submarines and at least 3000 landingcraft, minecraft, harborcraft, auxiliaries, oilers, and on and on and on. Then of course, over 4000 merchant ships and a fleet of vessels for the Army and Coast Guard. All of it done between 1939 and 1945!
HOW WERE WE AS A PEOPLE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH SUCH AN ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE FEAT OF INDUSTRIAL MIGHT! And why in God’s name did Japan chose to challenge us as they did by waking up such a sleeping giant?
I have often thought if I were granted just one wish, it would be to live in 1940 to be able to witness this miracle.
btw, this is the subject of a book I have been working on for several years already which will likely be a life’s work when it is eventually finished. The story behind how the US was able to build more ships in a very few short years to create a Navy, Army Transportation Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine larger that all the others on the planet combined! Can any of us even imagine what being alive in such times was like?
.
[QUOTE=c.captain;70650]Once upon a time in America we could build such a ship! In fact we built 4 of them in about 2 years each. Before that we built another 6 in under 4 years total and on top of all of these we built at least 60 carriers, 100 cruisers, 500 destroyers and destroyer escorts, 200 submarines and at least 3000 landingcraft, minecraft, harborcraft, auxiliaries, oilers, and on and on and on. Then of course, over 4000 merchant ships and a fleet of vessels for the Army and Coast Guard. All of it done between 1939 and 1945!
[/QUOTE]
The scary part is that if we needed to do it again, could we? So much industry has been shipped offshore that it would be pretty tough to do.
[QUOTE=water;70662]The scary part is that if we needed to do it again, could we? So much industry has been shipped offshore that it would be pretty tough to do.[/QUOTE]
No because people can never unite like that again and the confluence of all three factors required are no longer there. The resources, the industry and the manpower. There was something which happened between 1940 and 1945 which I feel we today cannot grasp what created so much momentum to achieve such production. Was it the fact that the people of the US had just come out of the Great Depression and were ready to truly work again like never before? Was it that America was attacked as we were at Pearl Harbor and that it was our cause and destiny to defeat the evil Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany whatever the cost? Did people genuinely feel their way of life was threatened and were working like dogs to save it?
There is no question in my mind that there was a force behind the people and much of it was FDR but there really was something far greater and whatever it was was a one time event in the history of men and the machines they built.
.
SURE WE COULD!..lol, but at what cost to who, and what profit to whom? Check out “War is a Racket” by Smedley Butler, General USMC, 3 time medal of honor winner… It is an old text from 1935, but it is very telling. Short read on free PDF, google it…
[QUOTE=water;70662]The scary part is that if we needed to do it again, could we? So much industry has been shipped offshore that it would be pretty tough to do.[/QUOTE]
I’m going to use these if that’s alright. Don’t worry, I’ll source them as ‘bloodyshitcakes’.
What ship are you on and where were you?
Times change, people don’t.
Good pics. Thats likely the last time a US battleship will ever be in the open ocean.
[QUOTE=Mikey;70681]I’m going to use these if that’s alright. Don’t worry, I’ll source them as ‘bloodyshitcakes’.
What ship are you on and where were you?[/QUOTE]
I used to have a different gcaptain username but forgot/lost the password. I tried clicking the link to recover password but it never would send me the email. I emailed the generic admin account 4 times over a two month period asking for my password to be reset but never got a response. I created the username “bloodyshitcakes” out of spite.
My ship was just north of Point Conception when we spotted the ship.
Photo of my vessel.
I remember being astern of her when she did a broadside; that was a sight(and sound) I’ll never forget.
[QUOTE=c.captain;70668]No because people can never unite like that again and the confluence of all three factors required are no longer there. The resources, the industry and the manpower. There was something which happened between 1940 and 1945 which I feel we today cannot grasp what created so much momentum to achieve such production. Was it the fact that the people of the US had just come out of the Great Depression and were ready to truly work again like never before? Was it that America was attacked as we were at Pearl Harbor and our it was our cause and destiny to defeat the evil Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany whatever the cost? Did people genuinely feel their way of life was threatened and were working like dogs to save it?
There is no question in my mind that there was a force behind the people and much of it was FDR but there really was something far greater and whatever it was was a one time event in the history of men and the machines they built.[/QUOTE]\\
C.Captain…I believe it was a combination of all the things you’ve mentioned.
Bloody…great pics! Thanks for sharing.
Anyone know if Bruce Fox did the tow?
I know that I am casting aspersions on a justifiably monumental ship but it will always haunt the IOWA that day in 1989 when a premature detonation of powder by a likely “overram” in turret #2 killed 47 sailors but worse was the incredible and downright fantastic story the Navy concocted to pass any blame away from their most highly self esteemed and infallible selves onto a hapless sailor who could not defend himself because he died in the explosion! I will not relate the details of the coverup and obfuscation by the Navy after the tragedy but anybody can find plenty on the internet about it starting right here. I was actually of the belief that because of this that IOWA never would become a museum ship in the end but so it goes I guess.
Accidents happen in the military and too many servicemen die in them but it happens and the nation can accept the losses as hard as they are for those left behind, but what the USN did in 1989 was downright shameful and borders on the criminal. I bless the day when I chose to not have “Gone Navy” because I almost did! Now THAT would have been a disaster of monumental proportions!
Effing Navy…grand prima donas in spiffy crisp uniforms all of them! Where the hell is a man like Bull Halsey these days? Certainly not in the modern US Navy that’s for sure!
.
My long range AIS source had the westbound (crs 252.0°@10.4kt) BELL M. SHIMADA (MMSI 369970147) crossing behind the southbound (crs 160.5° @4.8kt) WARRIOR (MMSI 366887190) and tow USS IOWA at about 2006 UTC (1306 PDST) on 5/28/2012. The position was about 37 nm west of Pt Arguello. (34.604500N, 121.391000W) (34° 36.270N, 121° 23.460W)
ATTACH]1927[/ATTACH]
BELL M.SHIMADA
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/showallphotos.aspx?imo=9349069
WARRIOR
http://www.crowley.com/What-We-Do/Solutions/Vessel-Specifications/Tugs/Invader-Class-9000-Series
http://www.crowley.com/content/download/9889/67533/version/1/file/Invader%2BClass%2BTugs.pdf
[QUOTE=bc9930;70720]\\
C.Captain…I believe it was a combination of all the things you’ve mentioned.[/QUOTE]
X2.
I also believe the US, if provoked, could rise to the occasion again. Remember how the country came together after 911? We have the resolve when needed.
I question however whether surface ships are becoming obsolete as war platforms, Recall the Falklands war back in 1982. An opposing force with an inventory of next generation Exorcet missles can neutralize a surface ship with a single hit. Countermeasures are not 100% effective.
[QUOTE=c.captain;70744]I know that I am casting aspersions on a justifiably monumental ship but it will always haunt the IOWA that day in 1989 when a premature detonation of powder by a likely “overram” in turret #2 killed 47 sailors but worse was the incredible and downright fantastic story the Navy concocted to pass any blame away from their most highly self esteemed and infallible selves onto a hapless sailor who could not defend himself because he died in the explosion! I will not relate the details of the coverup and obfuscation by the Navy after the tragedy but anybody can find plenty on the internet about it starting right here. I was actually of the belief that because of this that IOWA never would become a museum ship in the end but so it goes I guess.
Accidents happen in the military and too many servicemen die in them but it happens and the nation can accept the losses as hard as they are for those left behind, but what the USN did in 1989 was downright shameful and borders on the criminal. I bless the day when I chose to not have “Gone Navy” because I almost did! Now THAT would have been a disaster of monumental proportions!
Effing Navy…grand prima donas in spiffy crisp uniforms all of them! Where the hell is a man like Bull Halsey these days? Certainly not in the modern US Navy that’s for sure!
.[/QUOTE]
A few years ago 60 Minutes did a show on this. Very sad what the Navy tried to pull off. The one thing I found anazing was what the sister of the “sailor they tried to blame” was able to do. She really went to bat for her brother and was able to expose a lot of garbage the Navy tried to hide.
“Recall the Falklands war back in 1982. An opposing force with an inventory of next generation Exorcet missles can neutralize a surface ship with a single hit. Countermeasures are not 100% effective.”
Recall the Falkland Island War?
That was 30 years ago.
May 10, 2012…US Navy SM-6 Block I completed 20 out of 20 missile knock-downs.
Wait until the Block II’s come out.
Great pic’s of my old ship.Served on her in 1945/1946.