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I think that is a scam. You are basically paying a company to find all your online history, put it with one company to delete it. Even if this company is completely legit, with honesty and integrity, they are 100% the target for governments worldwide
As always when studying the Pacific war, I am struck by how fast the US adapted its tactics, equipment and weaponry in its effort to destroy the Japanese military power. I am also reminded yet again that these American men and women went from naive isolationists to effective, savage, merciless warriors, and back to civilians building families in a very short span of time. Unreal.
This is always glazed over by most historians. We could have lorded over the weakened and smaller powers after the war, but we didn’t. Americans were the greatest people, and we can be again!
@@chadrowe8452 That problem was essentially administrative. They gave the development and administration of torpedoes to the artillery people, who didn't really believe in them, and resented their very existence as being competitive to artillery and competing for resources with the artillery. Initially, they used artillery fuses to arm the torpedoes, which, at the far lower velocity at which torpedoes necessarily moved, were not nearly sensitive enough to reliably trigger the torpedo warheads upon impact. There was also a problem of controlling depth, too close to the surface, the torpedoes could be neutralized with rifle fire, too deep and it would go harmlessly underneath the target ship. Eventually, the problems were solved in the field by the sailors in the field. 🤔🇺🇸
@@chadrowe8452You are NOT an American citizen are you? Just a few reminders I was an American built PBY CATALINA down by a Canadian that found the Bismarck so you could sink it. It was American built M3, and M4 talks that allowed you to win at ElAlemein. It was American B-24 Aircraft that closed the Atlantic Gap. I could continue, but it may make you even more angry.
As a boy when the State of South Dakota decided to host a memorial park for the namesake battleship the tips of nine 16" naval rifles were deposited on the site. We played there and noticed the lead paint on the barrels flaking and a few shards from the welding torch that could be broken off. Those treasures, paint flakes and small metal pieces, were kept in an old cigar box alongside of wrought iron nails from the grounds of the original Fort of Fort Snelling for decades, eventually lost to thieves who never knew what they were.
My father served on the USS Massachusetts BB59, also a SD class battleship, while she was in the Pacific. I recall battle stories of my father, who is living in Florida today, he served in a powder magazine of the forward upper turret middle 16in, gun This gun centrally located on the ship was the first to be fired testing accuracy of the aiming systems. He recalled once when they were under kamikazee attacks the 16in guns would not be firing so he took a snooze at his general quarters station as it was the coolest temperature wise on the whole ship. What nerve!
I had a pen pal years ago that served on USS Massachusetts. She was a fine ship with an excellent crew that served with distinction. One of the finest US Navy battleships of all time!
The South Dakota lost power because they fired their forward guns over the bow. The blast of their own fire knocked out power. Since they lost communication, the Washington wasn't sure of which targets on their radar was the South Dakota and which was the Kurishima. When the Kurishima fired, all doubt was removed and Washington had a target.
It took mere minutes for Washington to completely disable Kirishima. it sunk later. The second night running, Japan lost a battleship in Iron Bottom Sound. In all IJN & and the US Navy lost 24 ships each fighting for Guadalcanal, most of them in this stretch of water. Hence the nickname.
the power outage was linked to the Chief engineer tying down the breakers and when they "popped SD lost all power. Japanese searchligthts lit up SD and Washington's salvos did the rest
Strange interpretation of the battle with SD and the Karishma. The SD if I remember from other readings suffered from constant electrical problems. Her black out in the Salvo Island fight was ill timed and prevented the Washington from knowing which plip on the radar was the SD so Washington held fire. The SD inadvertently being closer was spotted and fired on by the Japanese who were better trained in night fighting and had those massive spotlights. Washington having a Master Gunner as Captain when finally given the go ahead to fire was deadly accurate. Kind of the SD to draw fire and mark the targets for Washington wouldn't you say? Costly mistake but a silver lining.
It was an early issue later solved, I believe. I think it was basically just circuit breakers blowing because they had sized them a bit too small for the surges that can happen during combat. Easily fixed. The SD was brand new and completely untested at the time. Could be worse, could be a British battleship; the King George V-class HMS Prince of Wales suffered a major electrical failure after a minor hit by the Bismarck. Physical damage was very minor, but their whole fire control system went down so the only way they could shoot is with individual turret aiming. There's a major difference between a design oversight that can be easily solved by upgrading some circuit breakers and systemic unfixable design flaws like all British battleships seemed to have, with the notable exception of the Queen Elizabeth class.
The fleet was under the command of Admiral Willis "Ching" Lee, who was a God of gunnery and had Washington (his favourite flagship) incredibly well dialled in as a gunnery ship. He rewrote the range books for the Navy.
SD's electrical woes were not new. Their response was to lock in the breakers untill this time battle drove they had a complete failure. Very unprofessional. Lee's flagship was under his constant attention and he knew more about the radar systems than the technicians.
If you are ever interested in learning more about the ship there is memorial for thr ship in Sioux Falls Sd. There is outline of the ship with one of the 16 inch barrels and one of the propellers. There is a museum with alot of information and things from the ship in the middle. Its not huge but it is interesting to visit if you are in the area.
The South Dakota and North Carolina classes at 35,000 tons were the heaviest classes of US battleships until the ships of the Iowa class (45,000 tons) were built. The Kurishima was not an particularly impressive opponent. Built in 1915 and last modernized in 1927, Kirishima was more a WW1 battleship than a modern battleship of the WW2 era. With radar-directed gunnery, the Washington easily disposed of its blind (this was a night battle) and aging counterpart.
Can't really agree. Japanese night optics were the best in the world, often detecting US ships before American radar detected them. Washington did in Kurishima with devastating radar directed gunfire, but Kurishima hit SoDak repeatedly with main and secondary battery fire with her night optics. She was surprised by Washington largely because she and the two heavy cruisers were focused on shooting up SoDak.
Unfortunately SoDak and Washington would come to hate each other but for good reason. the SoDak crew took credit for sinking Kirashima when asked about the battle and the press printed it. The crews had one huge fight during a shore leave and so the two ships were always put as far apart as possible in fleets and neither crew were on shore leave at the same time as the other.
Thank you for this, and heartfelt thanks to our veterans and serving military. We owe you all a huge debt for our freedom. I’m saddened by what we have done with it. Respects from Canada
Part of Sodak's problems came from the Battle of Santa Cruz 2-3 weeks before. She had taken a bomb hit on turret one that had two guns in turret two unusable. Her bridge also took damage from the shrapnel. Captain Gatch was seriously wounded. He nearly died! This same damage is what caused her electrical problems that blinded her during the battle.
As young the USA is as a Nation. Our warfighters earned a reputation of fearsome resolve to see a battle won. Yet, others still never learn from History about the a United States of America 🇺🇸....DON'T TREAD ON ME!
Sorrowfully the liberals of today take no pride in the greatness or freedom heritage of America. The last three years of the Biden Administration has been nothing but total corruption and failure. The great generation of the WW2 era who are now numbered to a few have had nothing to be proud of these last few years. Afghanistan retreat, border invasion, wokeism, you name it when it comes to sippy cup's administration.
As always, a very interesting presentation...but I have to speak up about one error I think you might have made. At one point, you stated that the USS South Dakota was the "heaviest US ship ever constructed," and obviously you meant up to that time, but South Dakota was not the heaviest up until then...I believe the 2 aircraft carriers of the Lexington class built between 1920 and 1927 were the heavier at 36,000 long tons. And the North Carolina class that was built just before the South Dakota class were heavier...since those ships also came in at more than 36,000 long tons. It seems like the South Dakota was the 3rd heaviest class of ships that had been built up to that time.💯
By definition, the crew of a gunship must be gunners. What a badass warship! My father served on a tin can (destroyer) in the Pacific theater. Those ships had more fire power than present day iterations. I hope we are never faced with the same circumstances that they were in, I don't know that our young people would be able to meet the task.
Can't imagine what it must have been like on Kirishima when those 16" impacted the superstructure from 5k yards +-. I understand she was hit by 4 full salvos from Washington
So much respect for those who fought in WWII, so many men and women stepped up to defend against enemy forces. They certainly are the bravest generation.🇺🇸
Absolutely the Greatest Generation! A huge number of young men volunteered to put their lives on the line. Thankfully we still have patriots today serving our country but they are not as numerous- I wonder if we could handle such a challenge today.
Out of all the new generation American fast battleships in WW2, South Dakota was obviously damaged the most. But she fought right on through to the end and never gave up.
Submarine USS Barb fired on Japan, including the town of Shari, Hokkaido in June of 1945. She used both her deck gun and rockets. So the South Dakota (July 1945) wasn't the first warship in nearly a century to fire directly upon the Japanese mainland.
It is a commonly accepted fact that General MacArthur was the one who officially accepted the surrender of Japan, while Admiral Nimitz played an important role in the overall process.
That was an awful lot of praise for a ship that had the reputation as a jinx and got the crap shot out of her. Washington was the real hero of the hour. By the time she engaged, all four destroyers and South Dakota were out of the fight. it was USS Washington against 13 enemy vessels. At that point, for all intents and purposes, Washington WAS the U.S. navy. Her own topside observers believed that Washington's first broadside fell short, but in reality, as determined by underwater damage assessments done after the war when the wreck was located, it was shown that Washington's AP rounds from her main batteries' first salvo punched through the water and through Kirishima's hull under the waterline. A minimum of 17 main battery hits were documented in the visible portions of her hull. Some of which, at a range of around 8,500 yards, punched straight through the ship. Granted, the Kirishima was not the most heavily armored vessel, but at that range, modern 16 inch 45 caliber guns firing armor piercing projectiles would have done severe damage to any battleship.
I'll be forever ashamed. and disappointed that the USS Washington wasn't preserved in Bremerton. or Seattle as a museum ship. She had a helluva proud fighting record. It was a sacrilege to scrap her.
Would have been better to have USS Washington here in mothballs than the Missouri, which had been mothballed here five years before WA was stricken from the register. The Missouri was never “ours” as the Navy sent it to Pearl for a display in conjunction with the Arizona.
@orcstr8d yup. My wife and I visited the Missouri on the last day it was open to visitors before it was moved for refitting. I think that was around '74..
This isn't the reason. The reason that the Japanese lost the naval war in the Pacific is that all their Naval codes were broken by 1942, so the Allies knew exactly what they were planning and where they were deployed.
@@kitcar2000even without that the Japanese were still getting bodied. They simply couldn’t keep up with American wartime production. Just look at how many Essex class carriers were built by the end of the war and how many more the Americans were planning on building.
My father was in the powder room of the USS Mass in '44 and '45. This was the only area on the ship that had modern air conditioning (a safetey precaution). The rest of the ship was forced air cooled by above deck vents which were not too effective in the tropical heat of the tropical zone.
South Dakota also was dispatched to assist the British Home Fleet. The Royal Navy deployed most of their battleships to the Mediterranean. So US battleships like South Dakota, Alabama and even Iowa served deployments in the North Atlantic and North Sea to lure Tirpitz out or keep it at arms length.
The South Dakota only had 16 x 5"/38cal guns, compared to the 20 carried by the other fast battleships. It was designed to be a flagship so needed to save some space for a command staff.
Just when did Tirpitz wreak havoc on arctic convoys? Tirpitz only once fired her heavy guns in anger. That was during a raid on Spitzbergen in September 1943 when she engaged land targets.
The Scharnhorst did, but I’ve seen people say that the Tirpitz did for some reason. So it’s most likely wrong information as someone thought it was the Tirpitz
... Admiral "Ching" Lee was a gold medalist "Olympic" Sharpshooter !!!! And he trained the Washingtons' Gunners to use their 16" "Naval Rifles" to be as such !!!! ... Under the cover of darkness ... In approximently 7 minutes Washington hit the Kirishima 19-22 times w/ 16" shell !!!! ( and additional 5" shell too ) Kirishima was a floating flaming wreck soon to be on Iron Bottom Sounds' seabed !!!
With all due respect to the captain of the South Dakota, Lee was also the Navy’s foremost expert on naval gunnery, especially regarding the heavy guns on the battleships. He literally wrote the book on naval gunnery in that era.
Thank you to the men and wemon of the greatest generation !! And the greatest warriors!! Thank you for your sacrifice and loss for keeping all of us free and we will always cherish you all!! God Bless
Question : @ 01:10 onward, 'Dark Skies' narrator mentions the USS South Dakota's formidable Anti-Aircraft defences & mentions "BOFORS" & "OERLIKONS".... So WHY did the U.S rely so heavily on Swedish A.A guns instead of producing significant Naval Anti-Aircraft weapons of their own to deal with the Japanese threat ?????
The 40mm guns were license produced at the Naval Ordnance Factory in York Pennsylvania. That site was operated by AMF for the US Navy under a "GOCO", Government Owned, Contractor Operated, arrangement. Before AMF the site was operated for the US Navy by a safe manufacturer. It dates to the late 1800s. Decades later AMF, which was a major defense contractor, built a new assembly plant for Harley Davidson motorcycles on that site. The former Naval Ordnance Factory is gone now and is a major Superfund clean up site. All that's left is the Harley Davidson assembly plant. But all those 40 mm guns used by the US Navy were built in the US.
Building model of arizona sure tells why it was so easily sank. The deck was wooden. The irony of gatch treating a gunship as literally that vs his pretty office. 😂
All American (and all others that I know of) battleships had a covering layer of teak on the main deck. This was to reduce the sun's warming effect on the deck. Otherwise, the sailors could find it difficult to move around on the hot decks!
BB Washington had the Japanese on radar. And Admiral Lee had trained his crew on gunnery with the use of radar, he sank the Japanese BB in 5 minutes after he cleared the BB South Dakota
South Dakota had serious issues early in her career that hindered her performance during the Guadalcanal operations. USS Washington was the real hero of Second Savo.
SoDak, at 35,000 tons, is not "the heaviest United States ship constructed". As far as battleships are concerned, The USS Missouri displaced 58,000 tons.
You definitely need to do better research. The Japanese did not fire 3,000 torpedos at Savo Island, the South Dakota did not take part in the hunt for Tirpitz, the Tirpitz did not wreak havoc on the Murmansk convoys, and General MacArthur accepted the surrender of Japan, not Admiral Nimitz.
The Dakota did try to lure out the Tirpitz. Even the Iowa’s were scheduled to help lure it out, but was canceled as the British sunk/capsized it. Up to six American battleships spent a couple months trying to lure it out
During Sodak's time in the Atlantic in the first half of 1943, she was paired with her sister ship Alabama. They were hoping to lure Tirpitz AND Scharnhorst into a fight! One of my favorite "What ifs" of WW2 is, what if these four ships had met in battle? With their bigger guns, better radar and targeting "computer" (actually a gearbox), I think the American battlewagons would have won. But nothing is guaranteed in war. When the Hood radioed to fleet HQ it was engaging Bismarck, the men at the HQ immediately assumed the hunt was over; that Bismarck was done for! Not ten minutes later, came the shocking two word message, sent in the clear from Prince of Wales... "Hood sunk". They didn't want to believe it! They thought surely it was a mistake! Some decided it was supposed to be "Hood Fighting", or perhaps "Hood burning". The sad confirmation came soon enough. Hood was NOT the paper tiger many people today think she was! A study of her armor proves that. Bismarck scored a one in a million hit. Even her own surviving crew said they were shocked at Hood's sudden demise. This proves there are NO guarantees in war. Anything can, and does, happen.
FUN FACT: Though there was never any love lost between the crews of South Dakota and Washington, after the battle things took a decidedly more heated turn when the crew of Washington began hearing that the crew of the South Dakota were taking sole credit for sinking of Kirishima. Washington's crew ever after referred to the SouDak as the "Shitty Dick" and the brass had to go so far as to make sure that both crews were never given liberty at the same time due to mass brawls between them.
This is one of the worse Dark Seas narratives: 1) the "field" attacked on Guadalcanal by the IJN was Henderson Field an airstrip, the key to defense of Guadalcanal (with the Marines and the Navy), 2) Willis Lee on the battleship Washington used RADAR to direct his gunfire and didn't need the flash of the guns or the spotlights to accurately target the IJN warships, he did have to wait for South Dakota to get clear since 3) the electrical failure on the South Dakota shut down nearly everything from radar to fire control. to communications with the Washington. The background on Captain Gatch was very good and interesting. The rest is pretty weak.
USS Washington may have escaped the attention of the Japanese force as they concentrated fire on USS South Dakota but it was Washington's use of radar gunfire control that allow her to accurately direct fire and lay waste to Kirishima.
If I am not mistaken, the surrender you are thinking about was actually the second time Japan surrendered to the Allies. The one with MacArthur was a staged event. I am not sure who was at the “true” surrender event which took place in August.
I have heard that the 2 Sept 45 surrender was a staged second surrender. Was that just someone passing out confused information or was there an unofficial first surrender for Japan?@@bdgarrett81
Now the Empire had to start the Cold War, and waste $100Trillion. Like World War Two, the Cold War could have been solved Diplomatically. But War is a very Profitable Business for the Corporations.
@@ronb7931 How long did it take the US to capture a small island such as, say, Iwo Jima and with overwhelming numerical and firepower superiority? How did that compare to the Red Army in Manchuria?
@@gnosticbrian3980 same difference it would have been had the US been dug in with fortified and entrenched positions waiting for an enemy to attack across open ground. Your argument doesn’t hold water! 🤣
The real story of this action was Ching Lee. Look him up, his story is probably the most amazing in WWII. It's too insane to type out here. Look up "the fat electrician" his video "sniper turned BB commander" tells the story. It's insane.
i love watching your videos. Thank GOD' for everyone in the U.S. Military, past/present/future, for our freedom GOD' Bless them all and their families too. AMEN were is the U.S.S. South Dakota today (12-april-2024)??
As usual, this video leaves out the 5" guns as part of the anti-aircraft weapons. The 5"38 was a DP weapon and with AAC shells had an altitude reach of 37,000 feet. Well above what even a B-29 could fly at.
The story I always heard was South Dakota lost power due to a Master Chief's personal decision to tie down all the bus tie breakers. SD had had a history of tripping off power to the big guns due to shock from firing their big 16 in guns tripping the electric supply breakers. This had never been resolved. The chief's unfortunate mitigation decision ensured SD's power loss in the battle was total. Total ship wide blackout! Losing all power on a radar controlled fire control platform means recalibrating the fire control system before the radar spotting is effective again. We had a similar event on CGN-9, USS Long Beach in 1974 during a fleet exercise. We didn't hit a damn thing in the exercise, making us look like damned fools. Our problem was tripping both reactors, C1W Westinghouse Reactors like those AIW reactors on the Big E. Lucky for us it was just an exercise. Loss of power in SD's case was a poor procurement decision installing uncertified electrical breakers that could not withstand heavy shock. Hate between Washington and SD stemmed from SD catching full blame for the debacle. This incident has never been properly reviewed in US Naval History. It would make a good engineering research paper. (PS Washington's crew were known to refer to SD unflatteringly as the "Sick D*ck".)
PS Full Admiral Willis Lee is well-known for being the US Navy's best battleship admiral of all time. His discretion and judgment in battle were perfect. Against all odds he turned the tide against the Japanese at Battle of Savo Island II and saved the South Dakota and the Guadalcanal Campaign. Willis died of a heart attack during V-J ceremonies on his beloved flagship in Tokyo Bay, August 20 1945.
As of December 8th 1941 when the United States declared war against Japan no american Battleship was lost during ww2. The USS South Dakota was one example of America's determination to defeat the Japanese navy and reduce it to mear impatience . That is what happens when you "awake a sleeping giant " Our battleships stood the test of war and help bring the most deadliest war in human history to a end.
To me the title is very misleading or confusing. I did skip a lot just trying to get to the fortress part. If it's about a ship you may want to include that. If I knew you ment a ship I might have not skipped and enjoyed the vid.
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Nnp
I think that is a scam. You are basically paying a company to find all your online history, put it with one company to delete it.
Even if this company is completely legit, with honesty and integrity, they are 100% the target for governments worldwide
As always when studying the Pacific war, I am struck by how fast the US adapted its tactics, equipment and weaponry in its effort to destroy the Japanese military power. I am also reminded yet again that these American men and women went from naive isolationists to effective, savage, merciless warriors, and back to civilians building families in a very short span of time. Unreal.
This is always glazed over by most historians. We could have lorded over the weakened and smaller powers after the war, but we didn’t. Americans were the greatest people, and we can be again!
How fast Americans adapted? I feel the opposite. It took half the war for them to admit the torpedoes didn't work
And so it will be again, only this time the enemy resides in Washington.
@@chadrowe8452 That problem was essentially administrative. They gave the development and administration of torpedoes to the artillery people, who didn't really believe in them, and resented their very existence as being competitive to artillery and competing for resources with the artillery. Initially, they used artillery fuses to arm the torpedoes, which, at the far lower velocity at which torpedoes necessarily moved, were not nearly sensitive enough to reliably trigger the torpedo warheads upon impact. There was also a problem of controlling depth, too close to the surface, the torpedoes could be neutralized with rifle fire, too deep and it would go harmlessly underneath the target ship. Eventually, the problems were solved in the field by the sailors in the field. 🤔🇺🇸
@@chadrowe8452You are NOT an American citizen are you? Just a few reminders I was an American built PBY CATALINA down by a Canadian that found the Bismarck so you could sink it. It was American built M3, and M4 talks that allowed you to win at ElAlemein. It was American B-24 Aircraft that closed the Atlantic Gap. I could continue, but it may make you even more angry.
As a boy when the State of South Dakota decided to host a memorial park for the namesake battleship the tips of nine 16" naval rifles were deposited on the site.
We played there and noticed the lead paint on the barrels flaking and a few shards from the welding torch that could be broken off. Those treasures, paint flakes and small metal pieces,
were kept in an old cigar box alongside of wrought iron nails from the grounds of the original Fort of Fort Snelling for decades, eventually lost to thieves who never knew what they were.
My father served on the USS Massachusetts BB59, also a SD class battleship, while she was in the Pacific. I recall battle stories of my father, who is living in Florida today, he served in a powder magazine of the forward upper turret middle 16in, gun This gun centrally located on the ship was the first to be fired testing accuracy of the aiming systems. He recalled once when they were under kamikazee attacks the 16in guns would not be firing so he took a snooze at his general quarters station as it was the coolest temperature wise on the whole ship. What nerve!
The older Battle Wagons didn’t have Air Conditioning.
Give your father a hug from someone who lost family in pointless loss of life.
I had a pen pal years ago that served on USS Massachusetts. She was a fine ship with an excellent crew that served with distinction. One of the finest US Navy battleships of all time!
@@garyhill2740 Yep, and her first taste of the enemy was off North Africa disabling the French battleship Jean Bart during the North Africa invasion.
@@henryblanton6992 Powder magazines had chilled water radiators.
My wife's granfather was Chief Petty Officer on the South Dakota. Thanks for putting out this video. I will show it to her tonight.
Right on🤘
The South Dakota lost power because they fired their forward guns over the bow. The blast of their own fire knocked out power. Since they lost communication, the Washington wasn't sure of which targets on their radar was the South Dakota and which was the Kurishima. When the Kurishima fired, all doubt was removed and Washington had a target.
*Kirishima
It took mere minutes for Washington to completely disable Kirishima. it sunk later. The second night running, Japan lost a battleship in Iron Bottom Sound. In all IJN & and the US Navy lost 24 ships each fighting for Guadalcanal, most of them in this stretch of water. Hence the nickname.
the power outage was linked to the Chief engineer tying down the breakers and when they "popped SD lost all power. Japanese searchligthts lit up SD and Washington's salvos did the rest
@larrytischler570 the battle of surigao strait in the Philippines not guadalcanal
Strange interpretation of the battle with SD and the Karishma. The SD if I remember from other readings suffered from constant electrical problems. Her black out in the Salvo Island fight was ill timed and prevented the Washington from knowing which plip on the radar was the SD so Washington held fire. The SD inadvertently being closer was spotted and fired on by the Japanese who were better trained in night fighting and had those massive spotlights. Washington having a Master Gunner as Captain when finally given the go ahead to fire was deadly accurate. Kind of the SD to draw fire and mark the targets for Washington wouldn't you say? Costly mistake but a silver lining.
It was an early issue later solved, I believe. I think it was basically just circuit breakers blowing because they had sized them a bit too small for the surges that can happen during combat. Easily fixed. The SD was brand new and completely untested at the time. Could be worse, could be a British battleship; the King George V-class HMS Prince of Wales suffered a major electrical failure after a minor hit by the Bismarck. Physical damage was very minor, but their whole fire control system went down so the only way they could shoot is with individual turret aiming. There's a major difference between a design oversight that can be easily solved by upgrading some circuit breakers and systemic unfixable design flaws like all British battleships seemed to have, with the notable exception of the Queen Elizabeth class.
The Washington had radar, I believe including fire control radar. So night fighting was no issue.
@@WardenWolf SD wasn't brand new and it's hard to say the fix was quick because she never fired again that night.
The fleet was under the command of Admiral Willis "Ching" Lee, who was a God of gunnery and had Washington (his favourite flagship) incredibly well dialled in as a gunnery ship. He rewrote the range books for the Navy.
SD's electrical woes were not new. Their response was to lock in the breakers untill this time battle drove they had a complete failure. Very unprofessional. Lee's flagship was under his constant attention and he knew more about the radar systems than the technicians.
Very good brief. My Dad. USS Saratoga. CV-3.
Salute.
If you are ever interested in learning more about the ship there is memorial for thr ship in Sioux Falls Sd. There is outline of the ship with one of the 16 inch barrels and one of the propellers. There is a museum with alot of information and things from the ship in the middle. Its not huge but it is interesting to visit if you are in the area.
The South Dakota and North Carolina classes at 35,000 tons were the heaviest classes of US battleships until the ships of the Iowa class (45,000 tons) were built. The Kurishima was not an particularly impressive opponent. Built in 1915 and last modernized in 1927, Kirishima was more a WW1 battleship than a modern battleship of the WW2 era. With radar-directed gunnery, the Washington easily disposed of its blind (this was a night battle) and aging counterpart.
Can't really agree. Japanese night optics were the best in the world, often detecting US ships before American radar detected them. Washington did in Kurishima with devastating radar directed gunfire, but Kurishima hit SoDak repeatedly with main and secondary battery fire with her night optics. She was surprised by Washington largely because she and the two heavy cruisers were focused on shooting up SoDak.
It was modernized again more recently than that.
And adm Kongo left two of Kirishima's sister ships behind.
I'm pretty sure at least 90% of battleships build where the heaviest at their time
Many container ships of today can carry five times that 35,000 tons.
Unfortunately SoDak and Washington would come to hate each other but for good reason. the SoDak crew took credit for sinking Kirashima when asked about the battle and the press printed it. The crews had one huge fight during a shore leave and so the two ships were always put as far apart as possible in fleets and neither crew were on shore leave at the same time as the other.
Hence South Dakota's other nickname, "Shitty Dick" dubbed by the crew of Washington.
Even adm. Willis Lee had to intervene.
That was a great story dude! Thanks for putting it together and sharing it so well!
Thank you for this, and heartfelt thanks to our veterans and serving military. We owe you all a huge debt for our freedom. I’m saddened by what we have done with it. Respects from Canada
The Washington had the most accurate use of it’s arms. It Captain, Willis A Lee, Jr, was on the Olympic rifle team. He earn three gold and a silver.
This was a great video bud, nice work
Part of Sodak's problems came from the Battle of Santa Cruz 2-3 weeks before. She had taken a bomb hit on turret one that had two guns in turret two unusable. Her bridge also took damage from the shrapnel. Captain Gatch was seriously wounded. He nearly died! This same damage is what caused her electrical problems that blinded her during the battle.
As young the USA is as a Nation. Our warfighters earned a reputation of fearsome resolve to see a battle won. Yet, others still never learn from History about the a United States of America 🇺🇸....DON'T TREAD ON ME!
Sorrowfully the liberals of today take no pride in the greatness or freedom heritage of America. The last three years of the Biden Administration has been nothing but total corruption and failure. The great generation of the WW2 era who are now numbered to a few have had nothing to be proud of these last few years. Afghanistan retreat, border invasion, wokeism, you name it when it comes to sippy cup's administration.
GET SOME BABY! USA
As always, a very interesting presentation...but I have to speak up about one error I think you might have made. At one point, you stated that the USS South Dakota was the "heaviest US ship ever constructed," and obviously you meant up to that time, but South Dakota was not the heaviest up until then...I believe the 2 aircraft carriers of the Lexington class built between 1920 and 1927 were the heavier at 36,000 long tons. And the North Carolina class that was built just before the South Dakota class were heavier...since those ships also came in at more than 36,000 long tons. It seems like the South Dakota was the 3rd heaviest class of ships that had been built up to that time.💯
Not only that but the Iowa Class Battleships were heavier by 10,000 tons as well.
By definition, the crew of a gunship must be gunners. What a badass warship! My father served on a tin can (destroyer) in the Pacific theater. Those ships had more fire power than present day iterations. I hope we are never faced with the same circumstances that they were in, I don't know that our young people would be able to meet the task.
Can't imagine what it must have been like on Kirishima when those 16" impacted the superstructure from 5k yards +-. I understand she was hit by 4 full salvos from Washington
Keep up the amazing work.😊
Yep,
Outstanding.
Yet, again.
Thanks
I love your series, please keep it going!
So much respect for those who fought in WWII, so many men and women stepped up to defend against enemy forces. They certainly are the bravest generation.🇺🇸
Absolutely the Greatest Generation! A huge number of young men volunteered to put their lives on the line. Thankfully we still have patriots today serving our country but they are not as numerous- I wonder if we could handle such a challenge today.
What a fascinating story from WW2 thanks for sharing!
Out of all the new generation American fast battleships in WW2, South Dakota was obviously damaged the most. But she fought right on through to the end and never gave up.
I am not sure the S. Dakota was classed as a "fast battleship".
@@fredrickmillstead2804 How so?
The take The Fat Electrician has on this battle is awesome hr just put up a story of the captain of the Washington in this battle
Amazing facts about the South Dakota and her skippers.
Submarine USS Barb fired on Japan, including the town of Shari, Hokkaido in June of 1945. She used both her deck gun and rockets. So the South Dakota (July 1945) wasn't the first warship in nearly a century to fire directly upon the Japanese mainland.
I suspect he was referring to the 下関戦争/馬関戦争 Shimonoseki War of 1864
Great coverage
fantastic summation of the ship's history. Thank you!!
It is a commonly accepted fact that General MacArthur was the one who officially accepted the surrender of Japan, while Admiral Nimitz played an important role in the overall process.
That was an awful lot of praise for a ship that had the reputation as a jinx and got the crap shot out of her. Washington was the real hero of the hour. By the time she engaged, all four destroyers and South Dakota were out of the fight. it was USS Washington against 13 enemy vessels. At that point, for all intents and purposes, Washington WAS the U.S. navy. Her own topside observers believed that Washington's first broadside fell short, but in reality, as determined by underwater damage assessments done after the war when the wreck was located, it was shown that Washington's AP rounds from her main batteries' first salvo punched through the water and through Kirishima's hull under the waterline. A minimum of 17 main battery hits were documented in the visible portions of her hull. Some of which, at a range of around 8,500 yards, punched straight through the ship. Granted, the Kirishima was not the most heavily armored vessel, but at that range, modern 16 inch 45 caliber guns firing armor piercing projectiles would have done severe damage to any battleship.
were u there? No! so STFU
A few pieces of the USS South Dakota can still be seen at its memorial museum in Sioux Falls, SD
SoDak
That was a great one!
DarkSeas, WOW. Excellent story-telling. Best wishes to you.
Awesome. Thanks
I'll be forever ashamed. and disappointed that the USS Washington wasn't preserved in Bremerton. or Seattle as a museum ship. She had a helluva proud fighting record. It was a sacrilege to scrap her.
Would have been better to have USS Washington here in mothballs than the Missouri, which had been mothballed here five years before WA was stricken from the register. The Missouri was never “ours” as the Navy sent it to Pearl for a display in conjunction with the Arizona.
@orcstr8d yup. My wife and I visited the Missouri on the last day it was open to visitors before it was moved for refitting. I think that was around '74..
One of your best videos
Chang Lee The USA greatest sniper.
Very nice indeed, thank you brave Captains, Sailors and Marines for serving on the USS South Dakota....
6:39 Anyone else find it crazy to hear Cmdr. Chakotay talking about the USS Enterprise?!
Listening from Harbour Springs MI
There is a reason why most of the Japanese battleships are coral reefs and the US battleships became museums, superior men and machines…
Keep thinking that.
This isn't the reason. The reason that the Japanese lost the naval war in the Pacific is that all their Naval codes were broken by 1942, so the Allies knew exactly what they were planning and where they were deployed.
@@kitcar2000even without that the Japanese were still getting bodied. They simply couldn’t keep up with American wartime production. Just look at how many Essex class carriers were built by the end of the war and how many more the Americans were planning on building.
Another great video, cheers!
My gramps was in the powder room on the SoDak
My father was in the powder room of the USS Mass in '44 and '45. This was the only area on the ship that had modern air conditioning (a safetey precaution). The rest of the ship was forced air cooled by above deck vents which were not too effective in the tropical heat of the tropical zone.
It 12:34 was the Alabama BB60 that tried to lure the turpitz out NOT South Dakota
Saying the Tirpitz was wreaking havoc is also a bit much, the ship fired its guns in anger once and never in a naval battle.
South Dakota also was dispatched to assist the British Home Fleet. The Royal Navy deployed most of their battleships to the Mediterranean. So US battleships like South Dakota, Alabama and even Iowa served deployments in the North Atlantic and North Sea to lure Tirpitz out or keep it at arms length.
The historical accuracy of this channel is often in question.
Great story.
The South Dakota only had 16 x 5"/38cal guns, compared to the 20 carried by the other fast battleships. It was designed to be a flagship so needed to save some space for a command staff.
Make a documentary on the USS Biscayne.
A great video, thank you
3,000 torpedoes?
Just when did Tirpitz wreak havoc on arctic convoys? Tirpitz only once fired her heavy guns in anger. That was during a raid on Spitzbergen in September 1943 when she engaged land targets.
The Scharnhorst did, but I’ve seen people say that the Tirpitz did for some reason. So it’s most likely wrong information as someone thought it was the Tirpitz
In your description, you have two links and how to delete my personal information from the Internet do they work?
... Admiral "Ching" Lee was a gold medalist "Olympic" Sharpshooter !!!! And he trained the Washingtons' Gunners to use their 16" "Naval Rifles" to be as such !!!! ... Under the cover of darkness ... In approximently 7 minutes Washington hit the Kirishima 19-22 times w/ 16" shell !!!! ( and additional 5" shell too ) Kirishima was a floating flaming wreck soon to be on Iron Bottom Sounds' seabed !!!
With all due respect to the captain of the South Dakota, Lee was also the Navy’s foremost expert on naval gunnery, especially regarding the heavy guns on the battleships. He literally wrote the book on naval gunnery in that era.
NORTH CAROLINA
One of my uncles was a gunnery officer in the A turret of USS Washington (BB-56) when they mauled the IJN Kirishima.
Thank you to the men and wemon of the greatest generation !! And the greatest warriors!! Thank you for your sacrifice and loss for keeping all of us free and we will always cherish you all!! God Bless
Question : @ 01:10 onward, 'Dark Skies' narrator mentions the USS South Dakota's formidable Anti-Aircraft defences & mentions "BOFORS" & "OERLIKONS"....
So WHY did the U.S rely so heavily on Swedish A.A guns instead of producing significant Naval Anti-Aircraft weapons of their own to deal with the Japanese threat ?????
The 40mm guns were license produced at the Naval Ordnance Factory in York Pennsylvania. That site was operated by AMF for the US Navy under a "GOCO", Government Owned, Contractor Operated, arrangement. Before AMF the site was operated for the US Navy by a safe manufacturer. It dates to the late 1800s. Decades later AMF, which was a major defense contractor, built a new assembly plant for Harley Davidson motorcycles on that site. The former Naval Ordnance Factory is gone now and is a major Superfund clean up site. All that's left is the Harley Davidson assembly plant. But all those 40 mm guns used by the US Navy were built in the US.
@@philsalvatore3902 = Thanks for your answer
I guess I expected American DESIGNED weapons, rather than licence built stuff...
Did they ever conclusively determine what caused the power outage?
Adding DeleteMe to the list of advertisers who shoved their ad into my paid TH-cam Subscription.
Same here.
Building model of arizona sure tells why it was so easily sank. The deck was wooden.
The irony of gatch treating a gunship as literally that vs his pretty office. 😂
All American (and all others that I know of) battleships had a covering layer of teak on the main deck. This was to reduce the sun's warming effect on the deck. Otherwise, the sailors could find it difficult to move around on the hot decks!
BB Washington had the Japanese on radar. And Admiral Lee had trained his crew on gunnery with the use of radar, he sank the Japanese BB in 5 minutes after he cleared the BB South Dakota
Do any model kits of the South Dakota exist that anyone knows of? I would love to have one.
What? 3 ships and 40 airplanes? The big battleships never encountered or defeated the Japanese fleet, and I have searched on youtube for.
What is the melody used for musical background ?
It sounds good, in the style of Two Steps from Hell.
South Dakota had serious issues early in her career that hindered her performance during the Guadalcanal operations. USS Washington was the real hero of Second Savo.
The battleship had traveled over 246,000 miles…perhaps not so amazing today, however, what an unbelievable statistic for a WW2 vessel 🇺🇸🇺🇸
SoDak, at 35,000 tons, is not "the heaviest United States ship constructed". As far as battleships are concerned, The USS Missouri displaced 58,000 tons.
He meant to date. Iowa class came later, after Naval treaty restrictions were abandoned.
You definitely need to do better research. The Japanese did not fire 3,000 torpedos at Savo Island, the South Dakota did not take part in the hunt for Tirpitz, the Tirpitz did not wreak havoc on the Murmansk convoys, and General MacArthur accepted the surrender of Japan, not Admiral Nimitz.
I think you need to re-watch the video and do some research. For one thing it did not say 3000 torpedoes.
Yes, it did say 3,000 torpedos@@Charles-k9g5y
@@Charles-k9g5y Yes, he does. You need to rewatch it. 09:33.
@@shawnc1016he actually says 3 dozen
The Dakota did try to lure out the Tirpitz. Even the Iowa’s were scheduled to help lure it out, but was canceled as the British sunk/capsized it. Up to six American battleships spent a couple months trying to lure it out
During Sodak's time in the Atlantic in the first half of 1943, she was paired with her sister ship Alabama.
They were hoping to lure Tirpitz AND Scharnhorst into a fight!
One of my favorite "What ifs" of WW2 is, what if these four ships had met in battle?
With their bigger guns, better radar and targeting "computer" (actually a gearbox), I think the American battlewagons would have won.
But nothing is guaranteed in war.
When the Hood radioed to fleet HQ it was engaging Bismarck, the men at the HQ immediately assumed the hunt was over; that Bismarck was done for!
Not ten minutes later, came the shocking two word message, sent in the clear from Prince of Wales... "Hood sunk".
They didn't want to believe it! They thought surely it was a mistake! Some decided it was supposed to be "Hood Fighting", or perhaps "Hood burning". The sad confirmation came soon enough.
Hood was NOT the paper tiger many people today think she was! A study of her armor proves that.
Bismarck scored a one in a million hit. Even her own surviving crew said they were shocked at Hood's sudden demise.
This proves there are NO guarantees in war. Anything can, and does, happen.
FUN FACT: Though there was never any love lost between the crews of South Dakota and Washington, after the battle things took a decidedly more heated turn when the crew of Washington began hearing that the crew of the South Dakota were taking sole credit for sinking of Kirishima. Washington's crew ever after referred to the SouDak as the "Shitty Dick" and
the brass had to go so far as to make sure that both crews were never given liberty at the same time due to mass brawls between them.
This is one of the worse Dark Seas narratives: 1) the "field" attacked on Guadalcanal by the IJN was Henderson Field an airstrip, the key to defense of Guadalcanal (with the Marines and the Navy), 2) Willis Lee on the battleship Washington used RADAR to direct his gunfire and didn't need the flash of the guns or the spotlights to accurately target the IJN warships, he did have to wait for South Dakota to get clear since 3) the electrical failure on the South Dakota shut down nearly everything from radar to fire control. to communications with the Washington.
The background on Captain Gatch was very good and interesting. The rest is pretty weak.
30,000 torpedoes?! Yeah right.
USS Washington may have escaped the attention of the Japanese force as they concentrated fire on USS South Dakota but it was Washington's use of radar gunfire control that allow her to accurately direct fire and lay waste to Kirishima.
Lol why does it sound like a remix of the Skyrim theme song in the background music?
Admiral Nimitz didn't accept the Japanese surrender, General MacArthur did.
Nimitz was there, and he signed the surrender documents
If I am not mistaken, the surrender you are thinking about was actually the second time Japan surrendered to the Allies. The one with MacArthur was a staged event. I am not sure who was at the “true” surrender event which took place in August.
They were both on the deck of the USS Missouri and signed for their branch of the military.
I have heard that the 2 Sept 45 surrender was a staged second surrender. Was that just someone passing out confused information or was there an unofficial first surrender for Japan?@@bdgarrett81
@@flyboy38a Thank you. I did not know that. All the historic accounts I have seen talk about MacArthur accepting the surrender.
Wish there was a way to turn off the background music....
Now the Empire had to start the Cold War, and waste $100Trillion. Like World War Two, the Cold War could have been solved Diplomatically. But War is a very Profitable Business for the Corporations.
Those who wage war profit from it, and those who fight their wars pay the ultimate price in life and limb, and are quickly forgotten, Shameful !!
Douglas MacArthur, supreme commander of the Allied powers is who accepted the official surrender of the Empire of Japan, not Chester Nimitz.
Admiral Nimitz signed for the USA.
Yep. Signed and recognized. Nimitz.
MacArthur was admiring himself in front of a mirror!
Nimitz would have been more appropriate, Dugout Doug was/is very overrated.
abroad the big mo still has plagce on broad
It’s funny how Japan (and German to that matter) were one of our biggest adversaries and now they are two of our strongest allies.
The Japanese apparently loved to assume they'd sunk our battleships.
Pearl Harbour must have delighted them.
@@gnosticbrian3980sneak attacks was the only chance they had against the superior might of the US and it’s superior fighting men.
@@ronb7931 How long did it take the US to capture a small island such as, say, Iwo Jima and with overwhelming numerical and firepower superiority? How did that compare to the Red Army in Manchuria?
@@gnosticbrian3980 same difference it would have been had the US been dug in with fortified and entrenched positions waiting for an enemy to attack across open ground. Your argument doesn’t hold water! 🤣
@@ronb7931 Really? How to explain Kasserine Pass?
Seriously, the segue into your sponsor was a bit of a stretch 😂
The real story of this action was Ching Lee. Look him up, his story is probably the most amazing in WWII. It's too insane to type out here. Look up "the fat electrician" his video "sniper turned BB commander" tells the story. It's insane.
i love watching your videos. Thank GOD' for everyone in the U.S. Military, past/present/future, for our freedom GOD' Bless them all and their families too. AMEN were is the U.S.S. South Dakota today (12-april-2024)??
Back then our country was united and powerful! We had real men then ! We still do just not on that scale anymore .
As usual, this video leaves out the 5" guns as part of the anti-aircraft weapons. The 5"38 was a DP weapon and with AAC shells had an altitude reach of 37,000 feet. Well above what even a B-29 could fly at.
The story I always heard was South Dakota lost power due to a Master Chief's personal decision to tie down all the bus tie breakers. SD had had a history of tripping off power to the big guns due to shock from firing their big 16 in guns tripping the electric supply breakers. This had never been resolved. The chief's unfortunate mitigation decision ensured SD's power loss in the battle was total. Total ship wide blackout! Losing all power on a radar controlled fire control platform means recalibrating the fire control system before the radar spotting is effective again.
We had a similar event on CGN-9, USS Long Beach in 1974 during a fleet exercise. We didn't hit a damn thing in the exercise, making us look like damned fools. Our problem was tripping both reactors, C1W Westinghouse Reactors like those AIW reactors on the Big E. Lucky for us it was just an exercise. Loss of power in SD's case was a poor procurement decision installing uncertified electrical breakers that could not withstand heavy shock. Hate between Washington and SD stemmed from SD catching full blame for the debacle. This incident has never been properly reviewed in US Naval History. It would make a good engineering research paper. (PS Washington's crew were known to refer to SD unflatteringly as the "Sick D*ck".)
PS Full Admiral Willis Lee is well-known for being the US Navy's best battleship admiral of all time. His discretion and judgment in battle were perfect. Against all odds he turned the tide against the Japanese at Battle of Savo Island II and saved the South Dakota and the Guadalcanal Campaign. Willis died of a heart attack during V-J ceremonies on his beloved flagship in Tokyo Bay, August 20 1945.
35000 tons is the heaviest US ship ever constructed??
Can't believe this video is about South Dakota and not Washington.... Washington did all the damage . South Dakota was blind.
As of December 8th 1941 when the United States declared war against Japan no american Battleship was lost during ww2. The USS South Dakota was one example of America's determination to defeat the Japanese navy and reduce it to mear impatience . That is what happens when you "awake a sleeping giant " Our battleships stood the test of war and help bring the most deadliest war in human history to a end.
Some left out elements but overall a good piece. Finally, a telling of SoDaks role in the fight of 14-15 Nov.
Who was it that said, we've got ourselves another war. A gut bustin', mother-lovin' Navy war". ????
Kirk Douglas, "In Harm's Way" Spoke to John Wayne after their cruiser is torpedoed shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack.
I would pick SD 10 our of 10 in WW2.
the Japanese called the enterprise a ghost ship because they thought they had sunk it several different times!.
Washington kicked ass and saved the day
The South Dakota class battleship USS Alabama (BB 60) led the the other ships into Tokyo bay for the signing of the surrender of the Japanese.
To me the title is very misleading or confusing. I did skip a lot just trying to get to the fortress part. If it's about a ship you may want to include that. If I knew you ment a ship I might have not skipped and enjoyed the vid.
And then they turned it into beer cans and razor blades. The ends of these fine ships is the saddest part of most of these documentaries.
you say it's same with all your ships, isn't it?