Richelieu and New Jersey: A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- In this episode we're talking about a series of images taken of New Jersey with a special guest, Richelieu.
For more episodes in this series:
• A Picture is Worth 1,0...
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French Battleship lover here. Thank you for this very nice picture that appeared in my reference book on the Richelieu Class. I will always lament the fact that all our battleships were simply sent to the breakers with only a rifle remaining. That the USS New Jersey is preserved by your association is a feat beyond praise. Thank you, thank you for your efforts in keeping her afloat. This is so precious and meaningful that words won't be enough.
After WWII, the US was the only nation with enough money to not scrap basically their entire fleet. And we probably would have scrapped our battleships if not for the fact that they were seen as potentially useful test targets for nuclear ordinance, and the fact that nuclear ordinance was being developed for the 16" gun.
There’s at least 4 to 5 surviving Richelieu Gun. I’ve seen one at the Naval School of Lanveoc, one at Brest, under Recouvrance bridge, and 3 other are said to have survived according to Wiki. But I agree that it’s a shame that none of them survived (but still if one of them had survived, I’m not sure we would have had the money for the maintenance…)
As of today, all four Iowa-Class battleships are still in existence. They are finally decomissioned since 2006 but kept as museum ships. But don't be fooled: in active duty, they only served 15-20 years. Without Reagans 600 ships programme, they most likely would've been scraped. Maybe with the exception of Missouri.
Thanks for the little gem about the removal of ships' bells before going into combat - I was confused by the number of bells from lost ships that are on display in various museums, thinking "Which poor deck hand had the job of dragging the bell into a lifeboat in the final moments of a ship's life".
I heard that Hood’s bell was actually recovered from the wreck
As 35,000 tons designed battleships the Richelieu's were well-protected, well-armed, and fast. The French got a lot of the balance of speed/protection/firepower right. I like them. And like post WW1 French ships, they also look good.
Especially, the idea to put 8 cannons in front in 2 turrets of 4 was a very strong choice. It was giving french battle ships more power to fire than any othe rmajor battleships which had only 2 turrets of 3. He (in France, Cuirrassé is male, then Richelieu, is "he" and not "she)... Le Richelieu, le Jean Bart, le Strasbourg... also, french navy had very good "destroyers", because in fact, they were NOT. They were acting like Destroyers, but we called them Contre-Torpilleurs, they were longer and more armed than the US/UK destroyers, they were faster too. British officers were considering them as light cruisers with destroyers capabilities... France chose this type of ships because she had lots of money taken by land army, instead of doing true light cruisers and true destroyers, French chose to make Contre-Torpilleurs, able to do both missions style :)
wow you have google too!
@@bryannonya9769 à qui tu parles ?
I think that out of all the topics (Ryan going in small spaces not included, those are my favourite) i love this one the most. A picture is indeed worth 1000 words.
Richelieu looks pretty from the front but New Jersey defiantly looks good from the back.
Awesome vid! Love it when guys talk about other battleships along with our star New Jersey.
Have you seen her and jb after the war? The ammount of secondary weapons she gets make her and her sister look stunning
Notice that those are the "barges" with the hard tops. One will be the Captain's Gig. Another will be the Officer's Launch. Boats for the crew will be the 40' open top versions.
What a gorgeous ship!
"Oooh!" - my sentiments exactly. Best curator anywhere.
My guess would be New Jersey with one of the KGVs in the Pacific in 1945, or HMS Vanguard during the early Cold War.
These videos are some of my absolute favorites. They're not just great for people who READ about a change and would like to see it, but for people who SEE a change and would like to read about it. You can also see so much more in these photographs than you can in most of the early digitized scans which is really great.
Richelieu and Jean Bart are both heavily underrated ships. Bismarck level firepower, with better armor, and more range. On 2/3rds the displacement.
Edit: 4/5ths the displacement by the end of the war. And less range than Bismarck. But the Armor/Firepower and overall design statements still stand. (As well as equivalent speed)
Yep. Beautifully designed as well, and both ships had interesting careers, both engaging enemy battleships.
Before the late war upgrades their guns were inaccurate and slow firing. After the upgrades Richelieu and Jean bart weighed resp. 47,500 and 49,500 tons at full load, almost as much as Bismarck. They had considerably shorter range than Bismarck/Tirpitz (the numbers in Wiki are wrong). The differences in armor is subject for an entire book, I don't understand why anyone could say that Bismarck had poor armor - she took nearly as much as damage as all capital ship at Jylland combined - and still didn't sink. Fire directors, radars, communication systems, bridge, guns etc, are soft targets in all ship, something USS South Dakota also proves.
They were of course very impressive ships, but had their strenghts and weaknesses - like all battleships.
It's a shame the French navy didn't bow to the Nazis and instead join with the Allies, it would have been a very different war if they'd chosen to defend their homeland instead of capitulate and join the enemy.
Better armor than Bismarck? Uh, no. I assume you’re talking about deck armor, but that’s irrelevant in battleship vs. battleship fights.
@@BlackHawkBallistic Yep
Love these videos! Ryan’s knowledge of the ship and the various eras in which she served *really* comes through in moments like this.
i would be interested to know about your life. How did you become a curator? what is a curator? what is your connection to this part of history. loved your support of the USS Texas, that taught me something.
I'm Navy through and through ... USS Inchon LPH-12 (she's in Davy Jones locker now). Was on the USS Texas for first time when i was eight (8) years old and also on the day before i joined the Navy, Sunday June 2nd, 1968. Had a friend from my very small town (Silsbee, TX) that was on the USS New Jersey, his name was Bill McGinty and i think he was a Gunners Mate, maybe 2nd class. Saw the USS New Jersey from across the river while in Philadelphia, killed me that i didn't have time to board, but did get piped aboard the USS Iowa in San Pedro a few years back. So appreciate your work! Hoping your happy and keep up this outstanding work!
There’s a video about this. Not too long ago.
th-cam.com/video/jLQy7z4yqws/w-d-xo.html
Here's a link to a video talking about this th-cam.com/video/OqSSPXMJ--M/w-d-xo.html
For a moment I thought you said you were on the Texas when IT was eight years old, in which case I salute you for your amazing genes.
@@dbadaddy7386 LOL!!!
Great video Ryan, nice job with the history of the New Jersey.
Wow, a thing; Wow another new thing. This makes for a surprisingly interesting video, thanks. My guess for the other ship, HMS Vanguard.
The size of the ships...
The smallest of those two covers almost two and a half football pitches.
The new WW2 battleships will probably forever be the most impressive warships built.
I watched Texas go into drydock last week. It occurred to me that she's 100yds shorter than the Iowas.
@@johndougan6129 And I bet she still was impressive.
@@johndougan6129 But only 20 feet narrower, she's pretty chunky. lol
@@AmericanThunder The Iowas had to fit through the Panama Canal. They had 1' clearance on each side, they were made as wide as they could be.
@@johndougan6129 100 yards shorter but I think texas is more rounded
It is mindblowingly astonishing how much information you can get from a single picture. WOW
The 380mm Mark I AP shells for RICHELIEU were made by the Crucible Steel Company of America, which was the best naval AP projectile manufacturer in the world at this time. While the shape and weight of the 380mm AP shells were matched to the existing French shells, the insides of the projectiles were very similar in design, metallurgy, filler, and fuzing to the US Navy 14" Mark 16 MOD 8 AP projectile, also made by Crucible, the one used at the US Naval Proving Ground to test US armor to be installed aboard ships.
Were they really? huh, interesting fact that i myself didn’t even know.
Best in America perhaps.
The Royal Navy used heavier shells with greater armour penetration.
@@InfinitePlain Oh really. Please provide details.
@@Elthenar
16/45 Mark 1 fitted to HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney (which bashed Bismarck’s brains in within only 30 minutes, without taking a hit in return) had heavier shells and greater armour penetration than anything the Richelieu was given by the Americans.
At 26,000 yards the British gun had effective penetration of 15.8 inches of German armour. The French gun would only make 13.7 inches.
@@InfinitePlain Even assuming your numbers are correct, and I am not making that assumption, you are comparing 16 inch guns to 15 inch guns and carefully not comparing them to US made 16 inch shells of the same era.
Beating up on the Bismark when it's the entire British Atlantic fleet vs one ship with a jammed rudder is no great accomplishment. The Swordfish fighter did the hard part.
...a lot of firepower in this picture...! 👍👍👍
I watched Iron Giant today, and the Battleship in the movie had the number 62 on it. That's right, she is the New Jersey. (Technically both of them are, since both battleships have the number 62 on them.)
HOLY SHAT
Very cool. I missed that, all the times my daughter and I watched the movie.
@@Unami0929 It's only in about a 1/2 second clip haha.
It's kind of the converse of how there are two different _Gearing_ class destroyers portrayed in the movie _Thirteen Days,_ but in reality, both of them were "played" by USS _Joseph P. Kennedy Jr._ :)
Photos of recently completed or modified on the East Coast had their pictures taken from nice steady, sloe=w blimps
On the uniforms:
My grandfather (WWII, army, Europe) told me that most of his unit either were not issued or were not encouraged to purchase dress uniforms except for maybe one set. There was not much point as there was no break between training and deployment. Plus, there was a war on and the shortage of materials that causes.
It seems likely to me that the sailors in white are the guys who enlisted prior to the war and blue are new guys.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge of the navy can say if this is plausible.
As a navy veteran I suspect even in WW2 enlisted sailors leaving basic training would have in their seabags a sets of whites and a set of blues. Hopefully some WW2 navy veteran can answer
I’m with Jess, war time shortages get reduced uniform issue or what’s on hand at the time
@@Idahoguy10157 My Great uncle was a Pac fleet submariner and was only issued the Dress Blues crackerjack uniform in boot camp whites had to be purchased during the war he still had his dress uniform when he passed away in the late 1980's.
I would think that those guys in blues are the Boatswain's Mates. I'm saying this because a majority of the guys in blurs are surrounding the anchor chains. I've always heard the whole purpose of blues initially was to hide grease and soot. So maybe instead of destroying whites, the had them wear blues.
This is a really fun series (this is the second I've found). I'd love to learn more about the historian/curatorial(?)) parts of the job. Digging into the past through primary and secondary sources and whatnot. Great content, thanks!
Not sure if totally related, but on Sept 8 1943, Eisenhower publicly announced surrender of Italy. I noticed the Sept 7 picture you have was originally marked as Confidential; the ships CO could well have put special colors out without worry of the public wondering what was going on because the ship was not technically in port.
Another great video from the battleship. Thanks
Awesome video love the pictures in this one. Thanks Ryan
Thanks for using one of my submissions! 🤙👍
1) In the RN, a canvas structure like on the bow was known as a "dodger" 2) The blue paint of MS21 chalked and faded badly in Pacific weather and sunlight, becoming lighter than the sea and highlighting the ship 3) I checked and this is the BB62's radar suite over the years
BB-62 New Jersey
Years Forward Aft
May 1943 - May 1945 SK SG (Also SG on forward FC tower) - SG was known to have blind spots, hence 2 sets
June 1945 - February 1952 SK-2, SG SP
April 1952 - August 1954 SPS-6, SPS-10 SP
December 1954 - deactivation in 1957 SPS-6, SPS-10 SPS-8A HF
Reactivation in 1967 - deactivation in 1968 SPS-6, SPS-10
Reactivation in 1982 - deactivation in 1990 SPS-49 4) 4) IIRC, USS Washington, in the night battle off Guadalcanal, had her after turret set the float planes on fire with the first salvo, then blew the flaming wreckage over the side with the second. An elegant solution!
In the book "British, French, and Dutch Battleships of World War II" by William H. Garzke, Jr. Roberto Dulin, Jr. and Tomas G. Webb. It states that the missing gun you mentioned was damaged when a defective shell exploded while she was engaging HMS Barham and Resolution on the 24th of September 1940 at Dakar. This, and another damaged gun, were replaced by taking guns from the Jean Bart as she had been severely damaged at Casablanca.
Also, her guns were rebored from 380mm to 381mm so she could use British shells of that calibre.
I like these “picture” videos. Thx!!
I can be wrong, but I thought the barrel which replaced the damaged gun on Richelieu came of the battle ship Jean Bart which was also in North Africa but was not yet competed
As for the other foreign BB, I am going to go with HMS Howe as an educated guess. New Jersey was at Okinawa for a while, and HMS Howe was in TF.57 providing offshore support for the US landings at Okinawa.
Could also be HMS King George V, although she was with TF.57, she became part of TF.37 and sailed with the other 3 Iowas, being Iowa herself, Missouri and Wisconsin, and attacked the industrial works at Hitachi, New Jersey wasnt present at that operation though. When King George V moved onto Okinawa, she was screening the 4 british fast attack carriers, and wasnt immediately present with the US fleet as far as I can work out.
There is a picture taken from a hanger bay with KGV and an Iowa class and an Essix class in the background. I think the Iowa class is New Jersey.
Love these pictures, somebody really cool probly sent em in!
Should be Nagato as the flagship of the occupation fleet. There's video and photos. The holiday they're celebrating in the photos is likely labor day. The bloomers on the 5" are still on the ship in January of '45. There's a photo of her refueling a DD
Imagine the face of the Koreans when they see an IJN ship with an American naval jack and all American crew when they arrive, providing fire support. The Americans would probably transfer it back to Japan after the formation of Japan Self Defense Force should they not using her as test subject but she would be limited to operating near Japanese territorial waters due to Article 9. These days, Japan has the best naval force in Asia although it's technically should be a coast guard on paper as Japan shouldn't have a standing military anymore.
Well, there are moves to amend the Japanese constitution to at least modify the wording of Article 9.
@@kristoffermangila : Given China's aggressive expansion of territory in the South China Sea and their tensions with Taiwan, and North Korea conducting missile tests in the Sea of Japan, it is understandable Japan is considering amendments to expand their military's role beyond self-defense, especially when Russia has invaded Ukraine.
New Jersey also had bloomers on her 5" _after_ her last yard period of the war in June of '45.
Ryan didn't say when they were removed. There is a picture of her after her recomm in 1950 and she has them. However, they are gone in a picture from 1953.
I absolutely love richelieu and jean bart, my favorite battleships every made
Presumably the photo includes one of the four King George V-class battleships that were in the British Pacific Fleet. I don't think (?) New Jersey was part of the US/British fleet that bombarded Japan itself, but the BPF and New Jersey were both present for Okinawa along with...you know...an insane number of other ships.
The Battleship New Jersey and the Battleship Richelieu, 2 great ships.
I think the New Jersey was seen in a photo with the German/Turkish Battleship Goeben; New Jersey may have been in a photo with the British Vanguard as well
There is a picture of New Jersey and King George V in the same task group.
The first photo is showing the forward port quarter
Alex has taught me, what a great ship Richelieu was. I always found it a classical French beauty like a young French woman in a light white summer dress.
Richelieu superstructure always remind me a cathedral like Notre-Dame.
Great video
Both fantastic ships so modern looking for their time
Also the USN used guns from Jean Bart to replace damage on Richelieu. They did not and could not have manufactured a totally unique gun barrel in a reasonable time. Not to mention that the French gun was made differently. B
Those guys in their Service Dress Blues are most likely new Sailors to the ship. SDBs are always authorized for wear, especially when travelling. If they came from Great Lakes, they would've been wearing SDBs. The ship's force sailors are in SDWs because that would be the uniform of the day. But as I said, SDBs are always authorized for wear (as of 2014, when I got out of the Navy).
That was my thought...new sailors...
Pre-Liberty Uniform Inspection? Blues coming into season soon. Sharp CPO or DO preparing his men. Lots of sailors milling about "smartly". Waiting for Liberty Call? Holiday routine?
I would hazard a guess that it was Japanese battleship Nagato in Tokyo Bay in late 1945.
That is my guess IGN nagar o after the war.
Sorry it will not let me delete this meant IGN Nagato. After the war.
Both are beautiful ships.
Richelieu is such a fantastic looking ship
Hi there. You wouldnt mean a photo in Tokyo Bay, together with Nagato? Greetings from Germany and keep up the good work.
i like this format
English please.
It's Labor Day week 1943 by date on picture. Sailors in whites have shore liberty, blue will remain on board. Big flags are for holiday pictures. Dress whites also for pictures -glamor shots for publicity.
Richelieu is certainly a good looking ship !
Just a quick point… the US did not manufacture a 15 inch barrel for Richelieu. All four 380mm barrels from Jean Bart were shipped to the US from shipyards in the UK. Three replaced the three damaged guns on Richelieu and one was sent to the proving grounds (Virginia I think) for tests on the ammunition. We DID manufacture custom 380mm (technically 14.96 inch) ammunition and powder bags at the Crucible plant specifically for those guns. Jean Bart received eight brand new guns post war.
From my experience, The photos were "PROBABLY" taken from a Navy Blimp, as they were relatively slow but also very stable, so were excellent photographic platforms. In 1943 there were a LOT of them around. BTW, September 7th was a Tuesday. The day before, Monday the 6yh, was Labor Day.
I think the squadron that took the shots, VD-2, was flying PBYs and SBDs at the time.
Hey there there’s a documentary about the Battleship New Jersey during the Korean War 1952 called Floating Fortress. Did you ever see it?
Blue uniforms are the Special Sea and Anchor Detail, who will be in Working Uniform of the Day.
My thoughts were this. It just makes sense to not have guys working with greasy stuff in their whites. We have a similar thing in the Army infantry. When soldiers get in trouble, the first remediation is to be "smoked" ie push-ups, flutterkicks, etc until well you're smoking. Noone smokes anybody wearing Class As (our service/dress uniform). It's a bad taste thing because the stuff is expensive.
15:00 What's that thing with three notches on it just to the port side of the forward funnel? A range finder?
1:45 Isn't that the Bow, Port Quarter? No matter what is written?
One idea for the entire crew to be topside and in Whites and a few in Blues, is that she is having some type of all hands event such as Change of Command or command inspection prior to deployment. It could also be that she is recieving her Admiral prior to deployment and Navy docturm would be to turn out crew for his arrival. Seeing as there are a few sailors in blues, it stands that they may be sideboys for arriving Admirals and dignitaries and needed to render arms. Just a thought from a old crusty Master Chief.
Frankly if the Richelieu had been completed sooner and it joined the Free French sooner then definitely nice to have in the Mediterranean heck if Richelieu had been with the Free French and completed in time, she might have been with the Hood at the Denmark Strait and with her all forward 15" battery, she could score damaging hits on Bismarck which might be enough to prevent the Hood being sunk
If ... if ... if ... A lot of wishful thinking of the unlikely ...
Basically any change at all in the battle of the Denmark Strait results in Hood surviving. The hit that destroyed her was one in a million and shouldn't have even been possible.
@Andrew against it was doomed to happen. Hood was only a battle cruiser and Bismarck was a battleship. Hood had way less armour and was built to have greater speed but she was design in the closing years of we1 so she was slowed than bismark
@@Bossdom2010 Hood was designated as a battlecruiser by the Royal Navy due to her superior speed compared to anything else afloat at the time, and reflecting the doctrine in which she was intended to be used, as part of the fast wing of the fleet (the battlecruiser squadron). Her armour scheme however, was completely equivalent to the Revenge and Queen Elizabeth class battleships. These class ships were known for their protection. Hood was a fast battleship in truth, the first of the type which would culminate in the Iowas.
@@Bossdom2010 besides the fact that calling hood “just a battlecruiser” is pretty disingenuous, Prince of Wales is also there and damn near would have been a match for bismarck on her own if the turrets stayed online. The KGV class battleships were some of the most well protected of the war
Loved the video, but please fix the constant reconnect disconnect hardware issue on your computer!
I think I saw a company of Marines standing next to the #1 Turret on the starboard side in the first picture. Didn't they man the 5" guns? Great pictures by the way.
How is that referred to as the "Starboard Quarter" when it appears to be the port side primarily displayed?
It would be cool if you could take the first picture in this video and compare it to a similar view from later after the citadel is enclosed, to show the additions and differences.
Looking at the historic naval pictures website it looks like shortly after this image was taken the "bullnose" twin gun tub was added as an image from Oct 12, 1943 shows it in place.
Do you think the first picture could actually be September 1944 near Papua - with a couple of typos to the card, "Fapua", and the year being wrong? The attire would make more sense as there were a lot of admirals meeting between action in the Philippines and preparing Palau, maybe using Guinea as base of operations in safer waters?
I'm guessing IJN Nagato. There's a video about that ship which features an Iowa class in the foreground. Couldn't make out the hull number though.
FWIW, September 6th is Labor Day in 1943. Could be pictures were taken on the 6th and developed on the 7th. That could explain the holiday banner.
September 7th 1943 was the first Tuesday of the month. Is it possible that the picture was taken on Monday the 6th and the date is the date it was developed? If that is the case then the 'Holiday' colors might be because of Labor Day.
You have the logs for the ship, right? Maybe a browse through those dates might indicate what was occurring. Considering how close to shore she appears to be, might she have been decked out to participate in some observance as a public morale operation?
Maybe the USS New Jersey and the IJN Nagato while anchored in Tokyo Harbor at the end of WWII? I think I remember a picture of USS New Jersey in a Janes Fighting Ships of WWII Encyclopedia from the late 1960s/1970s that my step-dad gave me when I was back in Junior-HS?
Mid Morning on Sunday. Those in white are on Liberty that day, the ones in blue are on duty. Religious services just ending on the bow and maybe a choir farther aft.
Interesting that if the max of three float planes are on the ship, sooooo who's plane was it?
I was going to suggest a British battleship, in a photo with the New Jersey. King George the 5th? The Duke of York? Maybe the Rodney? I thought it wasn't unusual during WW2 for British warships to get maintenance work in the U.S. ports.
It's probably a KGV of the British Pacific Fleet sometime near Okinawa, or in Tokyo Bay.
It was Japanese. 😉
New Jersey routinely sailed with Iowa or a variation of the 4 South Dakota / North Carolina class. She didn't see Wisconsin until sometime after January 45 or Missouri until April / May 45. The later 2 iowas saw little wartime service. She never sailed with a RN bb. Maybe an ANZAC ca or cl. The BB is going to be Nagato unless she she Vanguard postwar.
7 September Flag may be commemorating the Siege of Goliad circa 1846, it could be the anniversary of the maiden voyage of Lusitania, too.
But, 07EP43, being a Tuesday, the Navy League may have a dinner and dance organized and the ship is about to go on Liberty for that occasion.
Very interesting to learn how the designs were refined as experience was gained against the Third Reich and Imperial Japan. I wonder if there was some sort of VIP activity which brought out dress whites and dress blues. I am recalling higher level Changes of Command, Secretary of Defense, etc. visits when I was in the US Army (1968-1971).
There is a photo of new jersey with nagato. Is that the one? Really good option for one of these videos
Are there no color photos of the New Jersey in measure 21 scheme? I just did a quick google search to no avail
Richelieu is the ship I use the most in World of Warships Blitz, although I’ve been using HMS Hood recently since I was in London for a couple of weeks in August.
I’ve been on a kick with Iowa and Missouri on Blitz. Been playing more with Massachusetts lately, though.
Bruh I spent 200 plus dollars on the game I have Constellation, Jean Bart anime bundle, Tirpiz and Prinz Eugen
Always wanted Richie!!! Someday... I think Colombo is my current fav though, even after the nerf!!
-USNvet, (JRDJ)
@@F-Man Been playing over 4 years, and Iowa has been such a struggle, I still don't have Montana LOL
Ensign appears to be flying from a small gaff which would be an appropriate place and out of the way of the aviation equipment and gun tubs aft.
Richeliu goes something like "rice" but you add an H so it's "rishe" and "lieu" which you read kinda like "lie" and "ou" like in aeiou (the vowel song). Together it's "rishe-lie-ou" and you have to put accent on the last "e" a bit.
What is that sticking out of the barrel of number 3 gun (? port gun of) number 1 turret?
Am I missing something or isn’t that first pic the bow port quarter?
I wonder why the gun barrel plugs or caps arent on the 16inch barrels.. I know you are saying its likely this picture is during or after the shake down cruise, but I assumed that if the guns arent being fired. Then those are over the barrel ends to keep any spray or debris out. any insight Ryan?
Perhaps sailing with HMS Vanguard?
Also, am curious as to whether the first photo is reversed/negative as the caption says starboard quarter yet it appears clearly to be looking to her from off her PORT quarter.
Or am I missing/mixing something up?
Pls talk also about Littorio Class!
9/7/43 was the day after Labor Day. The date on the photo could be off a day - that would explain the ship wearing Holiday Colors. The ensign is flying from the gaff (main mast) probably because the crane is in use (for boats perhaps) and the aft flagstaff is folded out of the way... you see that in a lot of WWII battleship photos when the ship is moored or at anchor. Sailors in white are wearing Working White, and probably part of the duty section. Sailors in blue might be taking part in a uniform inspection in anticipation of the uniform change in October and/or having a complete sea bag for deployment. Just my semi-educated guesses.
just a guess, from a shutterbug, but the date might indicate date developed, not date taken, which might match with the holiday flags flying for Labor Day, which was September 6.
I love the pics of the mk 37 gun directors more shows how the USN had developed AA gun coordination by 1944
Re: The comment of flight proficiency, while I am not up on the WWII standard, during the 1966-1970 time frame when I was an Aviator on active duty, it was 4 hours per month. There were a few years during my active service when toward the end of a fiscal year, if we were not deployed, that was all we could get. We usually dropped back to very short flights in the area, about 1 hour, so in that 4 hour allotment we stretched it out to 1 flight a week with a take off and landing. Then after 1 October we would go back to our normal 10-12 flight hours. When deployed, we would be up over 100 hours a month, pushing toward 150 as we would get one 4-5 hour patrol per day. (We only had enough crews to cover a 20 hour cycle so on some days we actually had two patrols).
When looking at the total mass of the battleship, it's hard to imagine that the presence of the bells would add any significant topweight (though a pound is a pound). I can imagine what it would be like to be the poor guys who were told to get them down and haul them ashore.
Probably the equivalent of the King's colors, they must never be lost.
Nice retro Navy enlisted working uniform shirt your wearing.
Dear Ryan,
I just realized my mother and this ship have the same birthday! Can you tell me if anything happened on the ship Dec 7 1946?
Of importance, yet off topic - just in case you wondered, the first picture has been properly DECLASSIFIED - note the mark through "confidential" and the stamp? I've seen a recent picture of some documents that have been claimed by a certain individual to have been declassified yet DO NOT have the mark or stamp - therefore they have NOT been declassified as claimed.
Thought there was a picture of HMS Vanguard with New Jersey or was it another Iowa
To what degree were the Iowas actually battlecruisers compared to the Montanas? I think in form yes (faster, less armor, same calibre guns but one less turret) but in function no (not designed to take on the heaviest cruisers, were designed to be in the line of battle and counter battleships)
I don't know why people keep going here but, they are battleships.
Drachinifel has a video directly on point. I think this channel also released one about the battlecruisers that were planned and not built that help support the assertion these are truly fast battleships and not renamed battlecruisers.
The first true fast battleship (Hood) made battlecruisers effectively obsolete. The whole point of a battlecruiser was speed at the expense of armour, but Hood and future fast battleships had both.
@@WALTERBROADDUS if the Iowa isn’t a battlecruiser, is the Alaska? What would a 1940s battlecruiser look like?
@@somethingelse516 Nominally one could make the argument based on the ships' 12" main armament which historically were capital ship grade guns but the 12" main battery was made obsolete by the Queen Elizabeths and Standards. By the 1930s 12" guns were no longer capital ship grade. The two Scharnhorsts were armed with 11" guns because that was all the Germans had at the time of their construction. They were suppose to be upgraded to 15" when available. Gniesenau was in the process of being upgraded when she was destroyed by the RAF. The Alaskas were super supercruisers not battlecruisers.
The other foreign BB New Jersey is pictured with is the IJN Nagato after WWII.
While still working up. No bow tub and still fully open bridge.
Richelieu is beside NJ You can tell by the sternish funnel that streches for a bit the bow reminds me of titanic but shorter
You need to explain what everything you are showing as tho’ you have never seen a ship before. What was the idea of the chain hanging out of the bow, etc.
Did you know that they are using powerful water cutting jets to open the torpedo blisters on Texas to get access so that foam in the blisters can be removed.
Saw that vid. Totally cool!
Before Operation Catapult and the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, the British gave the Admiral Darlan the option of placing the fleet in inactive British custody or removing it to one of their ports in the French West Indies, where they would be far from any attempts by the Germans and Italians to seize control of the second-largest group of capital ships in Europe behind the Royal Navy. They chose to ignore that option and ended up scuttling the fleet at Toulon to prevent a joint German/Italian attempt at seizing them after the start of Operation Torch (Case Anton), and getting pounded with great loss of life at Mers-el-Kébir. Interestingly, the French admiral at Mers-el-Kébir (Gensoul) didn’t tell the Vichy government he had been given the option of removing the fleet to the French West Indies, and Darlan’s orders to Gensoul had contemplated the option of removing the fleet to US waters if any foreign government tried to seize it.
Of course, in the end, the remaining fleet at Casablanca (including the very incomplete Jean Bart) was pummeled during Operation Torch - all of which could have been avoided if Darlan and especially Gensoul hadn’t been such idiots.
That first picture showed the range finders still mounted to turret one.
Is the next topic about New Jersey and captured Nagato?
One of Richelieu's guns is on display in my city. It's visible from a bridge but you have to work at the navy yard to go up close.