The World of Warships team asked me to put together something on Alabama. Contains some observations on the design process of the South Dakota class ships.
Did the tour many times myself. I was still in the Navy at the time. My brother and I were down in the engine room and I was explaining to him what this does. The other people on the tour were looking at me and asked how did I know so much. My reply was, it's my job!
Only takes about 1000 miles of travel down part of the US Inland Waterway to reach the Sea but technically can make it to the Gulf of Mexico from Kansas by boat
There is a subreddit that has 400,000 comments that prove that Kansas invented the dreadnought. After all, the Seven Nation Army went to Witchita, not Portsmouth.
I have the honor of currently looking at Alabama's sister ship USS Massachusetts out my living room window, a truly awe inspiring site to wake up to each day!
Yeah, he acted as well as he could have in the situation. Germans just got heinously lucky, like many times in that war. Managing to score a hit on the first salvo isn't exactly something you'd ever expect of ships of that era.
If he winced, it was in his grave! HMS Barham, sister of Warspite, blew up every bit as spectacularly as Hood, but the loss of over 800 men isn't as well known as Hood's loss.
Barham ate three torpedoes at close range. It's hardly as much of a fluke as having the first salvo of a fight set your ammo on fire in a time when the first shots aren't even expected to hit the target.
I was born in mobile alabama, where the battleship is currently stored as a floating museum, and back in elementary school we had a field trip to it. Quite an amazing site and that trip has stuck with me for over 20 years, I remember it like it was yesterday.
@ALSO-RAN ! that a common misunderstanding the category of dreadnought battleship applies to any battle ship with a unified main battery regardless of how far after the dreadnought's launch the ship was completed. technically the Bismarck class, Yamato class, and Iowa class are all dreadnought types. but the Texas is the last battleship that was at sea at the same time as dreadnought. the is only predreadnought battle ship left and she is also the only British built battleship left and that would be the IJN Mikasa.
Back when they lived there, I used to visit my maternal grandparents in Mobile all the time. It's easy to spot the old girl in Mobile Bay, and when I was little we actually got to go on a tour inside. They keep her in very good shape, as well they should. Thanks for the awesome video!
Love this ship I grew up in Mobile and spent countless hours aboard her...glad to see her get recognition for she helped forge my love of history and I hope that will be the case for many others....thank you
In 1982 I was in tech school in Biloxi, and a couple friends and I drove to Mobile to pay her a visit. I seem to remember a sub parked next door but I can't recall the name.
The Alabama, my Great Uncle's ship! Gunner's Mate First Class Francis Spohrer. He was a Plank Owner on the "Lucky A", and, the reason I joined the Navy myself.
Fine ship to take a tour on. Very easy to find, just right off I-10 next to a crab shack seafood restaurant. Next door is also an aircraft museum. Very enjoyable indeed if you pass by Mobile Alabama on I-10.
Thanks! I got to stay overnight on her back in 1994 when I was in Boy Scouts in Alabama. She is massive ship despite being compact by battleship standards. Even though I grew up military on Air Force and Army bases, it was fun getting to sleep on this historic ship and getting to tour her. If you find yourself in Mobile for whatever reason, go treat yourself to a tour of her. If memory serves there is a submarine nearby too.
I loved this one chieftain. I've lived here in Mobile, Alabama my whole life and I am happy to see the great USS Alabama get some love. When I was in elementary school she was a staple in the many field trips children took here. She was definitely one of the reasons that I have always loved and respected every branch of the military and have been an avid student of military history. I love the educational videos Chieftain and I love how you talk about all types of weapons and equipment no matter the category or country. Keep up the great work!
Love going to the museum in mobile, been many times, so glad to see a video made about this old gal, especially made so well by a fellow that does these types of things so well, this is awesome!
Just saw the "Lucky A" yesterday while driving, visited it about a dozen times now...what a treat to have the chieftain do a video on my favorite battleship!!!!
Spent a few nights on her as a cub scout and have fond memories of touring her when I was a young kid. She is a sight to behold and well worth visiting whenever you pass through Mobile.
Great job, talking about Naval Warfare and relationship with Battleships considering your expertise and experiences are in tanks. Good job on your research. Great Job over all!!!
Dr. Norman Friedman addresses the cramped conditions with style. The Navy of the 1940s had the crews from the Great Depression, the men were used to hardships. The South Dakota class were admitted to be cramped but the men accepted hardships as part of the war. After the war a good deal of the equipment was landed and the ships were lightly crewed.
I saw this ship a few years back. Spent three hours or so, could have spent the whole day. That ship and the complimentary grounds and aux vehicles were astounding. If you ever get a chance, to see ANY of these old Battleships ( i think there are four still about) do not hesitate.
I remember touring the ship as a six year old boy, forty years ago. I still have pictures in my mind. I was for some reason fascinated more by the galley which we were taken through on the tour than the huge guns. Go figure, happy times aboard a mighty ship.
Everyone talks about USS Alabama but never gives any love to USS Massachusetts. Massachusetts has 11 battle stars and also engaged an enemy battleship. Yes it was an incomplete French BB being used as a shore battery, but it was fighting back and sustained heavy damage from the Massachusetts.
Richelieu is the name of the French battleship I think. Pretty sure that was part of Operation Torch. Richelieu was a very powerful modern ship at the time.
since the hydraulics are disconnected from the turret, they had to use a come along to turn the guns. when they lit off the charges in the barrels, it was at half load, and still broke windows 8 miles across the bay. use to volunteer on the ship
She also happened to get knocked into a significantly pronounced list during a hurricane at her own battleship park, but has been carefully put back into level. Would have loved to have ridden out that hurricane aboard. Unfortunately only park employees and their families were able to do that.
Thanks! As an Alabama native and resident, BB-60 is near and dear to me. I've been aboard her twice; once back in the late '60s and then just a couple of years back. It's sad to see the deterioration without a couple of thousand sailors to do busy work keeping her shipshape.
I have spent many happy hours aboard Alabama's sister ship, USS Massachusetts. She is berthed at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. For many years, when I lived in Providence, RI, I was a member of Battleship Cove. They also have the WW2 Gearing class destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, and the Balao class sub Lionfish, as well as 2 PT boats, and an East German, Cold War era missile corvette.
The USS Massachusetts is a museum ship at Fall River in Boston,Mass. Parents took us kids there several times when we lived in Mass. In late '60s. Also visited the USS North Carolina at Wilmington,NC. BBs are Impressive pieces of tech even today
I want to take my kids to the park. I enjoyed it when I was their age. Also i did download World of Warships some time ago, but haven't put any time into it.
So awesome review of the history of BB60. Now we need to see the exterior tour on the next one.....and the the official "Under the Chieftain's Deck"....under the deck and in the superstructure tour of the Alabama. Wait, this is the only one? Is this the trend for anything bigger than a Maus? :P
Thanks really interesting.The battleships and their crews were truly amazing. If memory serves..the Navy was so eager to get its newest Battleships into action,..they usually just travelled all over the Pacific and just missed out mostly. But the old ships ( led by Oldendorf ? ) pounded the islands which I'm sure the Army and Marines greatly appreciated. ..Even if the Navy found it boring. The Battleships are interesting and awesome and they served their countries well. But I don't know if they were the weapon Naval theory always supposed they would be. That is an interesting discussion in itself.
Nobody should be surprised that Maj. Nick Moran pops up from time to time talking 'off tank topics'. In his tank explorations he has earned a reputation for being a great researcher; never taking the published specs. and 'official' histories as 'gospel'. These are the marks of a good researcher. As one myself I can tell you that when you've been bitten by the history researching bug it becomes addictive. Far from being a 'dusty' pursuit; good research can be as compelling as a well written detective novel, only it's all about facts. If you can do good research on tanks, as 'The_Chieftain' does, you can apply those research skills to virtually any subject. Well done! Cheers, BH
The South Dakotas are my favorite Battleships, Particularly the Massachusetts (My home state). By far the best of the Washington Naval Treaty battleships.
My great uncle served on Indiana, Gunner's mate turret 3, and plank holder. Regailed many stories of his time onboard, and of their collision with the Washington. Love the South Dakota class.
one thing I would like to point out is that the reason the North Carolina's were rated for protection against 14 inch shells rather than 16 inch shells is that the North Carolina and the Washington were both dramatically redesigned during construction and were originally built to house 12 14-inch guns but the hulls were too far into their construction to able to redesign the armor of the hull and so the superstructures were redesigned and built to what we see today and they were upgraded in design to carry 9 16-inch cannons rather than the 14-inch. There were also many more redesigns that occur and if people are still interested in this then I would be happy to list them all.
Chieftain - Would love to see you chat about USS Salt Lake City, CA-25. She has the official honor of the Battle of the Komandorski Islands (the longest continuous naval gunnery battle of WW2 if not any warship), the unofficial honor of partaking in more actions than any ship in the US Fleet, and survived two nukes. Very much worthy of a read.
Just inside the main entrance of the ex-Naval Proving Ground (where guns and armor were tested and experimented with up to full scale), the US Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia, there was (and I think there still is) a huge steel plate set vertically in a concrete pad. In it is two holes: The one on the left is completely through the plate and about large enough to stick your head through (a "Complete Penetration" or, to the British, "Perforation"), while the one on the right has a heavily-damaged (chunks knocked off and the base plug missing and the middle body split and deformed lengthwise) AP projectile that had its nose sticking out the back of the plate and the base a few inches past the plate face (a "Stuck in Plate", in this case "Ineffective" or, again in British terminology, "Not Fit to Burst"). This plate is 19" (49.3cm) thick -- I measured it myself. These holes were made by two test impacts for acceptance spec requirements, one under the spec impact velocity (the one that is stuck in this plate) and one slightly higher velocity that made the hole. The plate was shifted to be hit at 30 degrees from right angles to more accurately match a random hit from an enemy gun during a battle -- during WWI it was shown that the right-angles testing done most often did not give realistic tests of armor or gun projectiles, so the angles slowly increased to 15 degrees just after WWI in the US Navy for testing armor and AP shells and, by WWII, to 30 degrees for armor and, higher than any foreign country, 35-40 degrees for AP shells. This 19" plate passed. The projectiles used were the regular ones used in most WWII thick armor tests of all types, acceptance and experimental, the US Navy newly-introduced 1500-pound 14" Mark 16 Armor-Piercing (AP) Projectile (all US Navy AP shells had an AP cap or were never called "AP"), in this case one of the earlier versions (Models or "MODs") with a rather blunt nose but still coming to a point (later MODs made the nose very oval and eventually gave up any point at all). The shell that penetrated on the left was in perfect shape (other than no longer having its pointed windscreen and thick solid-hardened-steel AP cap on its nose) -- it went through the plate so fast that the projectile steel could resist the impact forces since they were powerful, but very short-lived. These shells had a very well-designed hardening technique called "Sheath Hardening" much like a set of Russian Dolls, the outer one being the hardest over the front half of the shell and the inner ones gradually getting softer and softer to keep the projectile from brittle fracture from impact shock and twisting forces on oblique impact. The screwed-on windscreen was of thin (relatively) steel to make the projectile nose into a long sharp point for improved streamlining and had very little effect on armor penetration -- it could have colored powder bags added to the inner space and using rings of small plugged holes, would ram water through it on impact to color its splashes and, at least for day battles, allow the ship to tell which shells were its if they missed the target when trying to correct its aim during a battle -- several ships shooting at one target and getting confused as to which splashes was from its own guns had been cause for many more misses in the past. The hardened, very blunt-faced AP cap was used to protect the nose against the very hard and deep face layer of Class "A" armor (see next paragraph) and not really needed here, but the spec was written for the standard shell used for testing all of the armor with the same threat. The condition of the projectile that did not make it through the plate demonstrates that an AP cap does not protect the projectile from anything but the initial impact shock, so trying to push through thick, high-quality armor can be very destructive, cap or no cap. This late on display is not a face-hardened plate -- US Navy Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) Class "A" armor -- but homogeneous, ductile armor (soft chromium-nickel-steel armor much like tank armor) -- BuOrd Class "B" armor similar to the Special Treatment Steel used by BuShips for its armored decks -- even though it was one of a lot (production group) tested for installation on a USS ALABAMA main gun turret face (port) at a 35-degree tilted-back angle, being one of I think four plates that would be machined to have the three 16" guns projecting through them and heavy nickel-steel (BuOrd Class "C" armor) bolts around its edges connecting the forward turret side armor (12" Class "A"), turret roof armor (7.25" Class "B"), and turret floor armor (2" Class :"B"), as the front portion of the rotating gun turret. The reason that US new WWII battleships (all of them, starting with NORTH CAROLINA) did not use Class "A" armor, as did all older WWI-era US battleships and all foreign battleships even in WWII, was that to make 16-19" Class "A" plates of the improved "Thick Chill" (55% face layer thickness) type now specified (to try to break up enemy shells), the production plants for the three major armor manufacturers (Carnegie-Illinois, Bethlehem Steel, and The Midvale Company) were not capable of making Class "A" plates that thick yet (they required special furnaces and quench-hardening systems), so very thick Class "B" plates were accepted. Nobody had tried to see what such thick Class "B" armor could do and they were quite pleased that, as seen with that plate stuck in the ALABAMA display, there really was not much difference in resistance against the new US Navy hard-capped, sheath-hardened AP shells. Class "A" armor was retained elsewhere as an added damage-causing effect for thinner plates, since smaller shells fired by cruisers were more dangerous to thinner plates than to such extra-thick turret faces, which needed direct hits by battleship-size AP shells to even have a chance of penetrating. Note that even later, some US battleships had thinner Class "B" plates made and laminated by heavy armor bolts to thinner 3-4.5" back plates to get the turret face armor up to the 18" or more used in the SOUTH DAKOTA, IOWA, and, in even thicker layers, planned MONTANA Class battleships. Such thick armor, also used in the conning towers of these new US Navy battleships, was slow and expensive to make!
@ 7:55 ish "One cannot fudge the laws of physics". No truer statement has ever been made. There are many ill informed people who seem to think that the Laws of Nature are flexible, they aren't. They are as they are, however much you may dislike it.
My father was seconded to her sister ship South Dakota when BOTH vessels served as ‘Distant Cover’ to the convoy route to Russia in 1943. He served as the communication link with our Home Fleet principally based at Scapa Flow. He was impressed by their modern canteen , However the ships did have weaknesses and but for the intervention of B.B.Washington she would probably have been sunk by the accuracy of the Japanese Kirishima’s 14 inch nighttime gunnery. The Royal Navy was short of battleships due to losses, refitting, and the delay in new vessels entering service. Similarly we loaned the aircraft carrier Victorius to the U.S.Navy which served as the U.S.S.Robin in the Pacific due to American carrier losses.
I really like the systems view of the technical details, the dry wit, and the understated Irish accent. It stands up pretty well, even to a mostly talking head approach. An inside the hatch view of a battleship would probably take about 1000 hours at least, so that’s not likely to happen. I would find it entertaining, though to see how you would fit through the passageways and hatch ways, and into the racks or berths or morgue slots or whatever they called the beds on those things. I’ve got the misfortune of being 6’4”, with a non-streamlined length to beam ratio, and I don’t think I’d do well.
“Oh bugger, my battleship is on fire”
At least he had less problems with the hatches this time. :)
It's always on fucking fire.
Only on BBQ Sundays.
There must have been a Zao on the enemy team.
well.. technicly.. it's allways on fire while at sea. the fires in the boilers and whatnot.
Did the tour many times myself. I was still in the Navy at the time. My brother and I were down in the engine room and I was explaining to him what this does. The other people on the tour were looking at me and asked how did I know so much. My reply was, it's my job!
"it makes the ship go brrm"
19:06 "That proud seafaring state of Kansas"
That actually made me spit out some tea.
vogonford they have a sea of grass
Only takes about 1000 miles of travel down part of the US Inland Waterway to reach the Sea but technically can make it to the Gulf of Mexico from Kansas by boat
Going to the beach in Wichita this weekend...
The USS Batfish (WW ll sub) is in Oklahoma.
There is a subreddit that has 400,000 comments that prove that Kansas invented the dreadnought. After all, the Seven Nation Army went to Witchita, not Portsmouth.
I have the honor of currently looking at Alabama's sister ship USS Massachusetts out my living room window, a truly awe inspiring site to wake up to each day!
“A battleship is an expensive piece of equipment to lose to a fluke”
Every BB captain to ever lose a ship to detonation just winced
I dunno. Lancelot Holland never did a lot of wincing, and his loss was for the ages!
well he tried to close in to that immunity sone, he did know of the weakness and wanted the Bismarck shells on Hoods belt...
Yeah, he acted as well as he could have in the situation. Germans just got heinously lucky, like many times in that war. Managing to score a hit on the first salvo isn't exactly something you'd ever expect of ships of that era.
If he winced, it was in his grave! HMS Barham, sister of Warspite, blew up every bit as spectacularly as Hood, but the loss of over 800 men isn't as well known as Hood's loss.
Barham ate three torpedoes at close range. It's hardly as much of a fluke as having the first salvo of a fight set your ammo on fire in a time when the first shots aren't even expected to hit the target.
But how do you adjust track tension on it?
djizomdjinn And is there enough room on the engine deck for the crew to sleep?
Nowhere does he mention how the ship would work for people of his height. He also missed the "oh my God, the ship is on fire" test.
Flippin hilarious dude!
Mike Wagner Ship ceilings are pretty generous. All I gotta say about that part. But yes, that opportunity was sourly missed out on.
Where is the boiling vessel? Lol
I was born in mobile alabama, where the battleship is currently stored as a floating museum, and back in elementary school we had a field trip to it. Quite an amazing site and that trip has stuck with me for over 20 years, I remember it like it was yesterday.
Alabama is the only battleship that served in the Home Fleet to exist- no British battleship being preserved, so this ship is unique in that respect.
And Texas would be the only surviving battleship of the Grand Fleet.
@ALSO-RAN ! that a common misunderstanding the category of dreadnought battleship applies to any battle ship with a unified main battery regardless of how far after the dreadnought's launch the ship was completed. technically the Bismarck class, Yamato class, and Iowa class are all dreadnought types. but the Texas is the last battleship that was at sea at the same time as dreadnought. the is only predreadnought battle ship left and she is also the only British built battleship left and that would be the IJN Mikasa.
@@jasonirwin4631 repeat that, but coherently this time
Back when they lived there, I used to visit my maternal grandparents in Mobile all the time. It's easy to spot the old girl in Mobile Bay, and when I was little we actually got to go on a tour inside. They keep her in very good shape, as well they should. Thanks for the awesome video!
Between USS Alabama park, Blakeley battlefield, and Forts Morgan and Gaines, there's a lot of military history around Mobile. I love it!
@@TheSchultinator Which one is closest to downtown? I've been there, once.
@@alabasterscarf612 That's Fort Conde, from the French colonial era
Love this ship I grew up in Mobile and spent countless hours aboard her...glad to see her get recognition for she helped forge my love of history and I hope that will be the case for many others....thank you
Also grew up in Mobile :)
In 1982 I was in tech school in Biloxi, and a couple friends and I drove to Mobile to pay her a visit. I seem to remember a sub parked next door but I can't recall the name.
@@thekinginyellow1744 USS Drummond I think
@@robertdunn7913 Close: SS228 USS Drum. but thanks for making me make the effort to find out.
Joel Bowers I loved my visit to Mobile . Nice city and great food. The ship was impressive
The Alabama, my Great Uncle's ship! Gunner's Mate First Class Francis Spohrer. He was a Plank Owner on the "Lucky A", and, the reason I joined the Navy myself.
Anon Nymous rate?
HT2
I'm assuming you mean my rate, right?
I was in from '99-'05. Spent a lot of time in the Med. There are worse ways to earn a living.
Anon Nymous yes that's what I meant, I was a FT
Infinity Wars: **most ambitious crossover**
Chieftain: hold my beer
you sir, are a genius.
Hold My Juice Box.
Hold my tank thats on fire
RIP jenkins. You will be missed
Lucky A was the first battleship I ever visited, she still holds a special place in my heart.
Cheers from *Alabama* :) I grew up in Mobile and visited the USS Alabama numerous times. Great memories from childhood
Been on the Alabama and the Missouri. Awesome being able to walk on the deck and though the corridors of such history.
As someone from Alabama this makes me very happy.
??? Why he's insulting the US's capabilities? I'd think you'd be insulted, did you watch the video before commenting?
What? i have watched the video and i dont know where he insulted the Capabilities of US warships.
And shooting at road signs, lol.
Big fan buddy! Keep up the fantastic work! Big role model for me.
Get back to work!
Matsimus (iiiii&4$
My 2 favorite milspec commentators
Hi Matsimus! Your channel is cool! Is it winter yet in Canada?
Matsimus? Watching a cheiftan video? Wow . 2 of my favorite youtubers in one video
Fine ship to take a tour on. Very easy to find, just right off I-10 next to a crab shack seafood restaurant. Next door is also an aircraft museum. Very enjoyable indeed if you pass by Mobile Alabama on I-10.
"Truk received some 16 inch attention as well" OMG I thought this was a family friendly channel.
Sorry for stealing scholagladiatoria's quote, but "we all are great fans of penetration" on these history channels, aren't we? :D
I could listen to you rabbit on about pretty much anything for quite an extended period of time...
Thanks for this! :D
He literally has a video entitled "Watching Paint Dry" that has tens of thousands of views.
A couple of them being the wife and I... I regret nothing.
Chieftain you really are a fantastic teacher and presenter. Thank you.
Thanks! I got to stay overnight on her back in 1994 when I was in Boy Scouts in Alabama. She is massive ship despite being compact by battleship standards. Even though I grew up military on Air Force and Army bases, it was fun getting to sleep on this historic ship and getting to tour her.
If you find yourself in Mobile for whatever reason, go treat yourself to a tour of her. If memory serves there is a submarine nearby too.
I loved this one chieftain. I've lived here in Mobile, Alabama my whole life and I am happy to see the great USS Alabama get some love. When I was in elementary school she was a staple in the many field trips children took here. She was definitely one of the reasons that I have always loved and respected every branch of the military and have been an avid student of military history. I love the educational videos Chieftain and I love how you talk about all types of weapons and equipment no matter the category or country. Keep up the great work!
Just saw the Alabama in person last week, beautiful ship.
Thank you for the video, that was quite a bit of work you put into your presentation. Lots of information. Very enjoyable.
An Alabama video a week before I'm going to visit it, what a treat!
Love going to the museum in mobile, been many times, so glad to see a video made about this old gal, especially made so well by a fellow that does these types of things so well, this is awesome!
Great video! Thanks. Delivery , knowledge of facts and interjected Brit/Irish wit and dry sense of humor was frankly nothing short of superb.
I live 30 minutes from her, such a beautiful ship. What a privilege.
Nice video, I would have loved to see bigger pictures and more of them. Looking forward to more warships!
Just saw the "Lucky A" yesterday while driving, visited it about a dozen times now...what a treat to have the chieftain do a video on my favorite battleship!!!!
Chieftain? The Tank Jesus? Talking about ships? WHAT MADNESS IS THIS?!
Further evidence that an amphibious TOG II is coming...
He did it before on the Graf Spee (spree? i can't remember) Rather entertaining actually.
Tanks, land ships.
Kudos.
Shix Lo The Crusading Slav hush peasant.
The Alabama was one of my favorite ship tours, along with the Midway. Definitely worth the time to visit.
I was able to visit the Alabama earlier this year, it’s amazing how big these ships are. I recommend visiting her if you’re ever near by.
It's a pretty nice visit. The grounds also have a variety of tanks and aircraft.
Spent a few nights on her as a cub scout and have fond memories of touring her when I was a young kid. She is a sight to behold and well worth visiting whenever you pass through Mobile.
Great job, talking about Naval Warfare and relationship with Battleships considering your expertise and experiences are in tanks. Good job on your research. Great Job over all!!!
Love your series. Looking forward to you doing the M551 Sheridan and M60 Starship.
Thanks chieftain! I’ve driven past this ship my whole life and now I know her story!
Its worth the price of admission.
I was just in her park two weeks ago. Beautiful ship and well cared for.
Been on the USS Alabama about 25 times, live in mobile. Amazing museum
I live on the other side...
Same
Dr. Norman Friedman addresses the cramped conditions with style. The Navy of the 1940s had the crews from the Great Depression, the men were used to hardships. The South Dakota class were admitted to be cramped but the men accepted hardships as part of the war. After the war a good deal of the equipment was landed and the ships were lightly crewed.
Being from Alabama and having stood on her decks I say with great pride she is truly a grand Ole gal
Damn, I just learned a lot of new things about battleships. Bravo Chieftan!
just descovered your channel through the tank 101 vid, excellent stuff. looking forward to watching the rest
I saw this ship a few years back. Spent three hours or so, could have spent the whole day. That ship and the complimentary grounds and aux vehicles were astounding. If you ever get a chance, to see ANY of these old Battleships ( i think there are four still about) do not hesitate.
I remember touring the ship as a six year old boy, forty years ago. I still have pictures in my mind. I was for some reason fascinated more by the galley which we were taken through on the tour than the huge guns. Go figure, happy times aboard a mighty ship.
Awesome video, I would love to see more of these
I'd love to see one of these videos on the Dude of York.
Keep up the good work Chieftain.
Great video Chieftain, I'm planning a trip down to Mobile to see this beast later on this year.
Uploaded 10 mins ago and someone has already disliked the video, without watching all of it. Bastard.
Everyone talks about USS Alabama but never gives any love to USS Massachusetts. Massachusetts has 11 battle stars and also engaged an enemy battleship. Yes it was an incomplete French BB being used as a shore battery, but it was fighting back and sustained heavy damage from the Massachusetts.
I heard she also sank 5 French destroyers at that same battle
Richelieu is the name of the French battleship I think. Pretty sure that was part of Operation Torch. Richelieu was a very powerful modern ship at the time.
She was incomplete at the time she fought the Massachusetts, having only one of her 2 main turrets
Richelieu class, but the ship was Jean Bart (and yes, still under construction)
USS Mass is on my bucket list along with North Carolina. I've seen USS Texas and USS Alabama.
Very interesting...especially the first part. Thanks.
Ive been on it a few times. Being from Bama, i love it!
Great video. The bios on the Captains are great. Hope you add that to your other capitol ship videos.
The Alabama also stood in for the USS Missouri in the movie Under Siege. Most notably the ship's galley, wardroom, and #3 turret.
since the hydraulics are disconnected from the turret, they had to use a come along to turn the guns. when they lit off the charges in the barrels, it was at half load, and still broke windows 8 miles across the bay. use to volunteer on the ship
I am saddened. There was no, "oh no, the ship is on fire" drill.
They should put him in the bottom of an Iowa class battleship and do an "oh no, the ship is on fire" drill.
This ship is gorgeous, if you get a chance, you should go see her. They have put in years of great restoration work for this museum.
Beautiful ship class. Been there on a tour of the ship.
She also happened to get knocked into a significantly pronounced list during a hurricane at her own battleship park, but has been carefully put back into level. Would have loved to have ridden out that hurricane aboard. Unfortunately only park employees and their families were able to do that.
Thanks! As an Alabama native and resident, BB-60 is near and dear to me. I've been aboard her twice; once back in the late '60s and then just a couple of years back. It's sad to see the deterioration without a couple of thousand sailors to do busy work keeping her shipshape.
This got me to read about MARBLEHEAD, and what a story that was! I'm going to start playing her more.
Ive been to this ship when I was a kid. The galley smelled funny and I banged my head a few times.
I love your witty humor great video sir
Just toured BB 60 with my family yesterday. $15 to spend the day wanderubg the decks and taking in all the exhibits. Deal of a lifetime.
I have been on the Alabama. Big ship. Wicked cool.
Excellent ty please more
If you haven't, I recommend a visit to the USS Alabama. For treaty BB it is still massive and thing of beauty.
Good presentation. I hope that you do the Iowas as I like hearing about my ship, Missouri, 1985-1989.
Chieftain: “Now THAT’S a turret by God!!!”
I have spent many happy hours aboard Alabama's sister ship, USS Massachusetts. She is berthed at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. For many years, when I lived in Providence, RI, I was a member of Battleship Cove. They also have the WW2 Gearing class destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, and the Balao class sub Lionfish, as well as 2 PT boats, and an East German, Cold War era missile corvette.
Another great vid!
The USS Massachusetts is a museum ship at Fall River in Boston,Mass. Parents took us kids there several times when we lived in Mass. In late '60s. Also visited the USS North Carolina at Wilmington,NC. BBs are Impressive pieces of tech even today
"That proud seafaring state of Kansas" -TheChieftain 2018
I don't care what they have you do a video on. I'll watch it. Good Video.
Was just at the Alabama a few months ago, love that ship
I want to take my kids to the park. I enjoyed it when I was their age. Also i did download World of Warships some time ago, but haven't put any time into it.
I got to get on this ship last summer definitely worth a visit plus they got a SR-71 and a sub
So awesome review of the history of BB60. Now we need to see the exterior tour on the next one.....and the the official "Under the Chieftain's Deck"....under the deck and in the superstructure tour of the Alabama. Wait, this is the only one? Is this the trend for anything bigger than a Maus? :P
Thanks really interesting.The battleships and their crews were truly amazing. If memory serves..the Navy was so eager to get its newest Battleships into action,..they usually just travelled all over the Pacific and just missed out mostly. But the old ships ( led by Oldendorf ? ) pounded the islands which I'm sure the Army and Marines greatly appreciated. ..Even if the Navy found it boring.
The Battleships are interesting and awesome and they served their countries well. But I don't know if they were the weapon Naval theory always supposed they would be. That is an interesting discussion in itself.
Glorious!
Nobody should be surprised that Maj. Nick Moran pops up from time to time talking 'off tank topics'. In his tank explorations he has earned a reputation for being a great researcher; never taking the published specs. and 'official' histories as 'gospel'. These are the marks of a good researcher. As one myself I can tell you that when you've been bitten by the history researching bug it becomes addictive. Far from being a 'dusty' pursuit; good research can be as compelling as a well written detective novel, only it's all about facts. If you can do good research on tanks, as 'The_Chieftain' does, you can apply those research skills to virtually any subject. Well done! Cheers, BH
The South Dakotas are my favorite Battleships, Particularly the Massachusetts (My home state). By far the best of the Washington Naval Treaty battleships.
My great uncle served on Indiana, Gunner's mate turret 3, and plank holder. Regailed many stories of his time onboard, and of their collision with the Washington. Love the South Dakota class.
one thing I would like to point out is that the reason the North Carolina's were rated for protection against 14 inch shells rather than 16 inch shells is that the North Carolina and the Washington were both dramatically redesigned during construction and were originally built to house 12 14-inch guns but the hulls were too far into their construction to able to redesign the armor of the hull and so the superstructures were redesigned and built to what we see today and they were upgraded in design to carry 9 16-inch cannons rather than the 14-inch. There were also many more redesigns that occur and if people are still interested in this then I would be happy to list them all.
Please do more of these!
Chieftain - Would love to see you chat about USS Salt Lake City, CA-25. She has the official honor of the Battle of the Komandorski Islands (the longest continuous naval gunnery battle of WW2 if not any warship), the unofficial honor of partaking in more actions than any ship in the US Fleet, and survived two nukes. Very much worthy of a read.
Yes I found it interesting. Thx for the video.
Just inside the main entrance of the ex-Naval Proving Ground (where guns and armor were tested and experimented with up to full scale), the US Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia, there was (and I think there still is) a huge steel plate set vertically in a concrete pad. In it is two holes: The one on the left is completely through the plate and about large enough to stick your head through (a "Complete Penetration" or, to the British, "Perforation"), while the one on the right has a heavily-damaged (chunks knocked off and the base plug missing and the middle body split and deformed lengthwise) AP projectile that had its nose sticking out the back of the plate and the base a few inches past the plate face (a "Stuck in Plate", in this case "Ineffective" or, again in British terminology, "Not Fit to Burst"). This plate is 19" (49.3cm) thick -- I measured it myself.
These holes were made by two test impacts for acceptance spec requirements, one under the spec impact velocity (the one that is stuck in this plate) and one slightly higher velocity that made the hole. The plate was shifted to be hit at 30 degrees from right angles to more accurately match a random hit from an enemy gun during a battle -- during WWI it was shown that the right-angles testing done most often did not give realistic tests of armor or gun projectiles, so the angles slowly increased to 15 degrees just after WWI in the US Navy for testing armor and AP shells and, by WWII, to 30 degrees for armor and, higher than any foreign country, 35-40 degrees for AP shells. This 19" plate passed. The projectiles used were the regular ones used in most WWII thick armor tests of all types, acceptance and experimental, the US Navy newly-introduced 1500-pound 14" Mark 16 Armor-Piercing (AP) Projectile (all US Navy AP shells had an AP cap or were never called "AP"), in this case one of the earlier versions (Models or "MODs") with a rather blunt nose but still coming to a point (later MODs made the nose very oval and eventually gave up any point at all). The shell that penetrated on the left was in perfect shape (other than no longer having its pointed windscreen and thick solid-hardened-steel AP cap on its nose) -- it went through the plate so fast that the projectile steel could resist the impact forces since they were powerful, but very short-lived. These shells had a very well-designed hardening technique called "Sheath Hardening" much like a set of Russian Dolls, the outer one being the hardest over the front half of the shell and the inner ones gradually getting softer and softer to keep the projectile from brittle fracture from impact shock and twisting forces on oblique impact. The screwed-on windscreen was of thin (relatively) steel to make the projectile nose into a long sharp point for improved streamlining and had very little effect on armor penetration -- it could have colored powder bags added to the inner space and using rings of small plugged holes, would ram water through it on impact to color its splashes and, at least for day battles, allow the ship to tell which shells were its if they missed the target when trying to correct its aim during a battle -- several ships shooting at one target and getting confused as to which splashes was from its own guns had been cause for many more misses in the past. The hardened, very blunt-faced AP cap was used to protect the nose against the very hard and deep face layer of Class "A" armor (see next paragraph) and not really needed here, but the spec was written for the standard shell used for testing all of the armor with the same threat. The condition of the projectile that did not make it through the plate demonstrates that an AP cap does not protect the projectile from anything but the initial impact shock, so trying to push through thick, high-quality armor can be very destructive, cap or no cap.
This late on display is not a face-hardened plate -- US Navy Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) Class "A" armor -- but homogeneous, ductile armor (soft chromium-nickel-steel armor much like tank armor) -- BuOrd Class "B" armor similar to the Special Treatment Steel used by BuShips for its armored decks -- even though it was one of a lot (production group) tested for installation on a USS ALABAMA main gun turret face (port) at a 35-degree tilted-back angle, being one of I think four plates that would be machined to have the three 16" guns projecting through them and heavy nickel-steel (BuOrd Class "C" armor) bolts around its edges connecting the forward turret side armor (12" Class "A"), turret roof armor (7.25" Class "B"), and turret floor armor (2" Class :"B"), as the front portion of the rotating gun turret. The reason that US new WWII battleships (all of them, starting with NORTH CAROLINA) did not use Class "A" armor, as did all older WWI-era US battleships and all foreign battleships even in WWII, was that to make 16-19" Class "A" plates of the improved "Thick Chill" (55% face layer thickness) type now specified (to try to break up enemy shells), the production plants for the three major armor manufacturers (Carnegie-Illinois, Bethlehem Steel, and The Midvale Company) were not capable of making Class "A" plates that thick yet (they required special furnaces and quench-hardening systems), so very thick Class "B" plates were accepted. Nobody had tried to see what such thick Class "B" armor could do and they were quite pleased that, as seen with that plate stuck in the ALABAMA display, there really was not much difference in resistance against the new US Navy hard-capped, sheath-hardened AP shells. Class "A" armor was retained elsewhere as an added damage-causing effect for thinner plates, since smaller shells fired by cruisers were more dangerous to thinner plates than to such extra-thick turret faces, which needed direct hits by battleship-size AP shells to even have a chance of penetrating. Note that even later, some US battleships had thinner Class "B" plates made and laminated by heavy armor bolts to thinner 3-4.5" back plates to get the turret face armor up to the 18" or more used in the SOUTH DAKOTA, IOWA, and, in even thicker layers, planned MONTANA Class battleships. Such thick armor, also used in the conning towers of these new US Navy battleships, was slow and expensive to make!
@ 7:55 ish "One cannot fudge the laws of physics". No truer statement has ever been made. There are many ill informed people who seem to think that the Laws of Nature are flexible, they aren't. They are as they are, however much you may dislike it.
I'd enjoy you insights on Alabama's sister, Massachusetts. I have enjoyed visiting both museum ships.
Adore this Man.
My father was seconded to her sister ship South Dakota when BOTH vessels served as ‘Distant Cover’ to the convoy route to Russia in 1943.
He served as the communication link with our Home Fleet principally based at Scapa Flow. He was impressed by their modern canteen ,
However the ships did have weaknesses and but for the intervention of B.B.Washington she would probably have been sunk by the accuracy of the Japanese Kirishima’s 14 inch nighttime gunnery. The Royal Navy was short of battleships due to losses, refitting, and the delay in new vessels entering service.
Similarly we loaned the aircraft carrier Victorius to the U.S.Navy which served as the U.S.S.Robin in the Pacific due to American carrier losses.
My father-in-law was a plank owner on her sister ship USS Indiana BB-58. 1942-44.
USS Massachusetts was involved in the Battle of Casablanca, where she engaged the Vechy Jean Bart. I think that counts as a naval engagement.
I really like the systems view of the technical details, the dry wit, and the understated Irish accent. It stands up pretty well, even to a mostly talking head approach. An inside the hatch view of a battleship would probably take about 1000 hours at least, so that’s not likely to happen. I would find it entertaining, though to see how you would fit through the passageways and hatch ways, and into the racks or berths or morgue slots or whatever they called the beds on those things. I’ve got the misfortune of being 6’4”, with a non-streamlined length to beam ratio, and I don’t think I’d do well.
Looking forward to more.
I got to visit that ship - impressive.
Well done!
Please do more informational videos like this, BB's DD's CA's CL's CV's, love them. Thank you
You mean hire The Mighty Jingles to do more informational videos like this
Quinch I will accept either.
Chieftain and Ships, is this the real life?! AWESOME