For some time in battleship design it seems everybody and their grandmothers were adding underwater torpedo tubes, which were then invariably removed during refits. Was there any specific incident(s) that caused this shift in thinking?
If you had to build a navy with ships from 1906-1945 with all historical numbers from those classes built which classes would you chose. You can have (2CV,2BB,2BC,3CA,3CL and 4DD) this is the number of classes you can choose for each ship type. Eg bismarck class and nelson class would give you 4 ships for BB's
@@robertyoung3992 They THOUGHT it was her....it was only in the last couple of weeks that they found the main hull and confirmed it. Fitting that she sits upright and proud.
I did my finals paper for American military history on the Battle of Leyte Gulf last semester, and I made sure to mention the Fletcher class battleship USS Johnston.
I served on one of the last Fletchers in the late 1960s. The 5'x38 was a great gun and great fire control. In gunfire support in Vietnam, we were often on target with the first round when the barrels were new. I read a book by a Japanese destroyer captain. One of his comments was that American destroyers often straddled his ship with their first salvo. And the Fletchers were a little faster than later ships by a couple knots. We won a number of ship to ship races, usually beating DDGs. Fletchers didn't get modernized like most of the Sumners and Gearings. Some had mount 53 removed for 2 twin 3" to replace the quad 40s. So they mostly kept their WWII look. I slept near the bow and heavy seas could throw you or levitate you. I remember the anchors banging in heavy seas. But it was a good ship, won all the squadron E's, sorry to see it go.
_It's roll and toss and pound and pitch_ _And creak and groan, you sonuvabitch!_ _Oh, boy, it's a helluva life on a destroyer...._ Fair winds & following seas!
ousou78 Nobody thought the Fletchers were battleships at Samar; they thought they were cruisers, then were forced to reassess them as destroyers later in the engagement.
Great video, sir. The USN hit the jackpot with the Fletchers - one of those phenomenally rare occasions when the stars aligned and naval designers found the sweet spot between the wish list and practical requirements. This class has to be on the short list of the best designs of the war.
As a retiree of the USCG, I’ve learned to discount all official comments on how great a ship is/was. The “truth” of a ship’s value is in the number of that class that was actually built and commissioned. The official shpiel concerning the USCG SES type/EL DORADO class of patrol boats was that those were the greatest idea since sliced bread. The govt only built/commissioned 4 in total. This tells one that there were too many problems with the design and thus operational costs were too high.
@@living2ndchildhood347 and you are correct sir. As a retired Navy Chief and historian, I can assure you that the Fletcher class was one of the best destroyers ever built. The fact that 175 were commissioned between 1942 and 1944 speaks volumes. Additionally, the Allen M. Sumner and Gearing classes that followed were simply improved models of the Fletchers although not in as many numbers.
My dad was on the USS Twiggs (DD591), which was sunk off Okinawa on 16 June 1945 by a kamikaze aircraft. Almost half her crew were killed and many were injured. He survived in the water for several hours before being picked up by another ship. I know he would have liked your video but he died several years ago. He loved the Navy and the Fletcher class destroyer. We he passed, we fulfilled his wish to be buried at sea.
Hi Mike, My dad was also a crew member aboard the Twiggs. He never spoke of his experiences on the Twiggs or the Gwin (DD -433), another destroyer sunk, this one at Guadalcanal. Of course, the men were not allowed to give any details but through numerous love letters my mother saved I am able to piece together what my dad was feeling during the battle at Okinawa especially. All of my mother's letters to my dad were lost with the Twiggs. If you have any photos or experiences you can share with my brother and me would enjoy them. I will be happy to do the same. William A. Johansen
From Wikipedia: The long-range Fletcher-class ships performed every task asked of a destroyer, from anti-submarine warfare and anti-aircraft warfare to surface action. They could cover the vast distances required by fleet actions in the Pacific and served almost exclusively in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, during which they accounted for 29 Imperial Japanese Navy submarines sunk. They were great destroyers too - tough tin cans!
I was a boilerman on USS Prichett DD 561 in the early 60's. In performing maintenance we had to enter the stack area to clean the economizers. When you looked up in to the after stack from the inside there were still bullet holes from the war, the outside was patched up.
A great ship design filled with many notable names. Some of the ships thought they were cruisers with how well they fought... and one thought it was a battleship. Such good and reliable little tin cans.
Dad said his ship would ride over one wave and go under two in heavy seas. He was in the Typhoon that sank three Fletchers with nearly all hands and bent the forward flight deck of a fleet carrier. "The ships rose and fell in the mountainous seas. The mighty New Jersey hung in the troughs and then slowly righted herself, lurching and laboring to the tops of swells. “No one who has not been through a typhoon can conceive its fury,” reported Halsey. “The 70-foot seas smash you from all sides. The rain and the scud are blinding; they drive you flat-out, until you can’t tell the ocean from the air…. At broad noon, I couldn’t see the bow of my ship, 350 feet from the bridge…. This typhoon tossed our enormous ship as if she were a canoe…. We ourselves were buffeted from one bulkhead to another; we could not hear our own voices above the uproar.” Admiral Carney voiced “grave doubts” that the battlewagon would survive, while Halsey feared for the fate of the destroyers. “What it was like on a destroyer one-twentieth the New Jersey’s size I can only imagine,” he said. He was right. The smaller ships were the worst hit, and the destroyer crews underwent a nightmare as the rising winds and seas tossed their craft around like toys. Caught near the storm center, the Hull, Spence, and Monaghan capsized and sank with practically all hands."
Wyoming Horseman If you haven’t read it already, I recommend the book “Halsey’s Typhoon”. It goes into great depth about the incident you are talking about. It’s a great book!
@@padurarulcriticsicinic4846 Two Typhoons Crippled Bull Halsey’s Task Force 38 As the barometer fell rapidly, the wind velocity rose sharply to 73 knots while 70-foot waves battered the ships from all sides. Some destroyers heeled over on their beam ends with their funnels almost horizontal. Water surged into their intakes and ventilators, shorting circuits, killing power, and leaving them adrift. The ships rose and fell in the mountainous seas. The mighty New Jersey hung in the troughs and then slowly righted herself, lurching and laboring to the tops of swells. “No one who has not been through a typhoon can conceive its fury,” reported Halsey. “The 70-foot seas smash you from all sides. The rain and the scud are blinding; they drive you flat-out, until you can’t tell the ocean from the air…. At broad noon, I couldn’t see the bow of my ship, 350 feet from the bridge…. This typhoon tossed our enormous ship as if she were a canoe…. We ourselves were buffeted from one bulkhead to another; we could not hear our own voices above the uproar.” Admiral Carney voiced “grave doubts” that the battlewagon would survive, while Halsey feared for the fate of the destroyers. “What it was like on a destroyer one-twentieth the New Jersey’s size I can only imagine,” he said. He was right. The smaller ships were the worst hit, and the destroyer crews underwent a nightmare as the rising winds and seas tossed their craft around like toys. Caught near the storm center, the Hull, Spence, and Monaghan capsized and sank with practically all hands. warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/two-typhoons-crippled-bull-halseys-task-force-38/
I SPENT THE LAST 2 YEARS OF WW2 ON USS TWINING,DD540. A VERY LUCKY SHIP. DDs were called "Greyhounds of the Navy" and sometimes yachts for their beautiful lines. We were the "Can Do" ships, Give us an order, and the response was ,"Can do".
My great grandpa spent almost the entire war in the US navy. I believe he was on 3 separate ships that were sunk and survived all of them. I need to ask my grandpa more about his service. Sadly he passed away a couple years ago and i deeply regret not talking to him more often
Thank you for your outstanding service! In the modern fleet, which means beginning from your time, so many more sailors serve on the carriers and support ships than the gun ships. I can proudly say that a "Tin Can" sailor is a real Sailor.
I love that Louisiana has the USS Kidd DD 661 on display in our capital. She is fantastic to visit and pay respect to. The Fletcher class is one of the finest classes of warships to ever sail. Fantastic work as always Drach.
It is indeed a good one to visit. We're fortunate to have some great ships to visit around this area.....You could see the Alabama (South Dakota-class), the Kidd, and the USS Orleck (Gearing-class) in a single day if you wanted, but you should give yourself more time if you really want to explore everything about them. You could even fit in a trip to see the USS Texas in Houston and the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans if you give yourself a long-weekend.
Great video. The only additions or subtractions I would make would be: 1. On paper, the Tribals sort of out gunned the Fletchers. However, they used partially open gun mounts with blast shielding at the front and sides, not the fully enclosed gun mounts that the Fletchers did. That meant that the Fletchers could engage in any weather while the Tribals, while great sea boats, would at a minimum have to contend with a less effective gun crew fighting the weather and the water as well as manning the guns. The 5 inch 38 was also a true dual purpose mount, while the Tribal's 4.5 inch guns were not. Indeed, the Tribals typically lost one 4.5 inch mount to a twin 4 incher for AA purposes, thus diluting their surface warfare abilities. The Fletchers could fight surface as well as aerial targets on even terms, the Tribals and other British destroyers of the era could not, at least not until the very end of the war. 2. In terms of seaworthiness, the real issue with the Fletchers was not the flush deck, which gave them significant weight savings and sped construction somewhat. It was the rudder. Even the Iowa class battleships had better turning radii than the Fletchers at higher speeds, which wasn't something to be proud of. In normal operations, it wasn't a large problem, but it was noted and postwar larger rudders were reportedly fitted to many ships. Some sources have the later war built ships as receiving twin rudders, but this is in error. Given the enclosed 5 inch mounts that the Fletchers carried, even if a flush decker was wetter forward it could still fight in seas that a forecastle equipped destroyer with open mounts perhaps could not. The ship that had seaworthiness issues was the Fletcher-derived Sumner, which was exceptionally wet forward due to the weight of twin turrets. They weren't nearly as bad as the gossip claimed, but they were wet enough to have no less than Chester Nimitz inquire if the stories were true, and then embark upon a little PR campaign to better their reputations. Again, great vid!
I served on the USS Cowell DD 547 in the 60’s as a QM2. She was a much decorated proud ship and could run up to 36 KN and lay down an imposing rate of fire from her main 5” battery and twin 3” duals. She was a fiesta lady and I was proud to serve on her. ⚓️
Went aboard my first ship in Dec. 1958, the USS Ammen DD 527, and rode her till decommissioning Aug 1960. Of the nine ships I served in, she has always held a special place in my heart. They were great little ships, manned by some of the very best sailors in the Fleet! No frills, just great ships the Fletchers.
@@d.owczarzak6888 He's making jokes you know what your Dad&mine went thru,That Typhoon,Submarines,Kamakaze attacks and we have Rodney Dangerfield making JOKES. .
On 24 October 1944, Albert W. Grant joined TG 77.2 and sailed to engage a Japanese task force reported steaming northward from the Sulu Sea toward Surigao Strait. That American battleship group met the Japanese force in the Battle of Surigao Strait, and Grant, along with other destroyers in advance of the main battle line, conducted a torpedo attack. During this attack, she was hit and severely damaged by gunfire, not only from Japanese naval forces, but also by its covering US battleships. Grant suffered 22 hits, many by six-inch shells. Fires broke out, and the ship lost steering control and all power. Thirty-eight men were killed and 104 were wounded. Although their ship was down by the bow and listing heavily to port, the destroyer's crew got her engines working again and enabled her to retire to American-controlled waters in Leyte Gulf. They were great destroyers too - tough tin cans!
Having a rather weak spot for anything related to history, I was attracted to the subject matter of your channel a few weeks ago. I spent 40 years working on submarines so navies are certainly high on my list. I have to say you have an excellent channel and your coverage of a very wide range of topics and eras is outstanding. Thank you for your work and making my declining years more enjoyable.
I did my 3rd class USN Midshipman training cruise on the USS Bausell, a FRAM II Gearing class destroyer. Really appreciaped the design and performance of the propulsion plant. This would have been very similar to the Flecher's propulsion plant. We did have a high speed run at 33+knots with alot of shaking of the stern. Looking forward to hear what you have to say about the Gearing class destroyers.
I did my 3rd Class cruise on the USS Robinson (DDG-12) with a 1200# plant and while practicing emergency break away during an UREP practice, the Robison’s fan tail had a lot of shaking too.
By 1941 it was clear that the 1.1" AA guns were not going to be the standard armament for the USN. Many of the early bugs with the mounts and feed system had been worked out by Pearl Harbor and they were considered to be reliable guns. The problem was testing and the results of battles in the Med showed a 1.1" (28mm) was just too light to reliably bring down more modern planes, the Zero being a prime example. Consequently, planners revised the armament plan for DE's to have 8-10 40mm and DD to mount 10-14 of the same guns. Because of the space and weight available on the Fletchers, the final loadout on Fletchers by the end of 1942 was a minimum of 10 guns, with a quad mount in place of the previous quad 1.1" between mounts 53 and 54, and twin mounts on either side of the aft stack. A way was found, by adding a pair of gun platforms, to add another pair of twin mounts on either side of the forward bridge level. That was a total of 12 barrels and was the most common package by mid-1943 when there were finally enough Bofors guns to go around. The 16 gun ships landed turret 53 and added a platform for another quad that was superfiring over the existing quad mount, giving a total of 16 guns. 20mm guns carried for 7 to 18 depending on build date and the number of twin mounts available. The 40mm and 5"/38 guns were all radar directed, and the 20mm sights were constantly upgraded during the war. There really was no other platform with the speed, maneuverability, firepower, and electronics of a Fletcher. The Japanese recognized the danger of the radar equipped early warning Fletchers and concentrated their attacks on such ships, especially off Okinawa. It was only their heavy AA armament that allowed most of them to survive in that role, with several having downed five or more Japanese aircraft unassisted in a single day.
@@luvr381 Almost all warships of the period had a 3-layer AA defense system (4-layer if you count the loud casting of aspersions on the pilot's ancestory), with heavy, medium, and light AA armament, the heavy being the main battery on destroyers or secondary mounts on cruisers and battleships. The heavy AA was intended to do shrapnel damage by air bursting in the vicinity of the target at long range, the medium AA was intended to bring down a target with a single direct hit at medium range (more than one hit being a low probability), and the light AA was intended to disable a plane or throw the crew off their aim with tracer fire, basically a last resort. The problem with US ships at the start of US involvement in the war was that the 1.1" was the medium AA, and the .50 cal mg was the light AA. Neither was adequate. The 1.1" was really a light caliber weapon rather than medium and could not usually stop a plane from attacking with a single direct hit (though it might not make it back to its base or carrier), so was replaced by the more reliable and accurate Bofors 40mm which hit a lot harder. The .50 cal mg could not disable a plane with the 2 or 3 rounds that might hit, and was too short ranged so that a plane was likely to have already released its weapon load before the .50 cal mg could score hits. The 20mm, having an explosive round almost 60% bigger than the solid shot of the .50 cal, could do some damage at a sufficient range to interrupt a plane's attack at the last moment if it had made it through the 5" and 40mm. The 3-layer defense was crucial to a successful air defense scheme. With the 5", 1.1", and .50 cal, the US had only a 2-layer defense, with the 1.1" and .50 cal both being light AA. With the 5", 40mm, and 20mm, the US had a true 3-layer defense. There was also the factor that the 40mm required a dedicated director mounting, which limited the number of targets that could be engaged, while the visually aimed 20mms could all be fired individually at whatever the gunners might see. There were many instances of Japanese planes sneaking up on a US formation (for various reasons, radar was not 100% effective) and being engaged by sharp eyed 20mm gunners, at far too great a range to get hits, but the tracers alerted the 40mm directors and a hail of big-boom-bullets immediately followed.
@@luvr381 the 40mm Bofors (1.54”) replaces the l.l”. The 20 mm is simple stand alone gun. The sailor aims the gun which is powered by a blowback system.
I'm happy you did this. Fletcher class is part of my top 5 (3 or 4) of my favorite ship classes. I live not but an hour n 1/2 away from the USS KIDD. And visit her often, one of the most well preserved WII era warships out there and she is abundant with the 40s and 20mm.
I've toured USS Kidd a few times. She's been in Baton Rouge on the Mississippi river as long as i can remember. im 48 now and toured her in grade school.
Awesome retrospective! I'm currently in the process of building a model of the U.S.S. Melvin (DD-680), and it's fascinating to see the variances between all of her sisters over the course of the war.
@@micnorton9487 Understandably. There are few things as ridiculous as the misinterpretation of the purpose of the 2nd amendment. - and thousands of people pay for it with their lives each year.
Yes but they deserve a much longer explication. Hopefully we will see many individual ships highlighted. It should be noted that all fleet destroyers built by the USN until the Spruance class were fitted onto modified versions of this hull.
My Dad served aboard the USS Healy DD-672 a Fletcher Class Destroyer during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. He had some amazing stories and ended up forming an association that included many WWII and Korean War veterans that served aboard the ship. They all met for several years at multiple reunions, they are all quite a group of men!
FYI: From Wikipedia: It was intended that the float plane be used for scouting for the destroyer flotilla to which the ship was attached. It would be launched by the catapult, land on the water next to the ship, and be recovered by the aircraft crane. Pringle was the first of five ships that eventually received the catapult to use it operationally. Due to design problems with the derrick, Pringle could not recover the Kingfisher airplane. Two ships constructed in 1943, USS Stevens and USS Halford, had redesigned derricks.[2] Stevens became the first of the five ships to successfully launch and recover the plane. All were ultimately converted to the standard Fletcher-class configuration. Following shakedown, Pringle joined convoy ON 154 in mid-Atlantic 1 January 1943 to escort the Halifax-bound contingent. While on this duty she was the first U.S. destroyer to use an aircraft with catapult. The float plane was catapulted off to search for enemy submarines. Recovery of the plane in the prevailing weather for a ship the size of Pringle was difficult. The larger ships battleships and cruisers would turn slightly to allow a smoother water landing prior to pick up with the net or crane while ship is moving and sea plane taxi's along ship.
@@Revkor Listen... No, LISTEN: to even half-properly represent Johnston, they'd have to give her at LEAST the Conqueror's Heal and the Atlanta's radar, both with improved cooldown, plus an equally Conqueror fire chance, say, after she's done a certain amount of damage in any battle...? I'm not sure that putting her at Tier 8 so she can face Yamatos on the regular is enough balance for that!
Interestingly the first Fletchers were commissioned June 4, 1942, the date of the battle of Midway. One of the most successful designs in US Navy history began its career on the date of the USN's greatest victory.
Very cool. My late grandfather was on USS Stanley DD-478. I think it was one of those that originally had the catapults. It's other claim to "fame" was having the distinction of being hit by a Ohka (Baka) Bomb off Okinawa but luckily it penetrated clean through and didn't explode within the ship but rather in the water. The second incoming rocket Kamikaze missed with either a control surface or the pilot being hit as it veered off at the last second apparently.
In October 1993 my wife and I were on cruise ship pulling out of the Ensenada harbor in northern Baja. I was on deck and caught sight of a Mexican navy ship outbound. While in Ensenada we heard that a sailboat was having some trouble and Mexico was sending a navy ship in response. The destroyer passed us on the port side and it came within a half mile of the cruise liner. I recognized the ship's silhouette immediately and believed it to be an old Fletcher class DD. The destroyer was moving very fast, passing us and lost to distance in perhaps 10 minutes. Fletchers were good looking ships! My cousin's husband served blockade duty on a Fletcher class DD during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I recall meeting him dockside (at Norfolk VA I believe) afterward. Damn good looking ship.
It's very impressive seeing ships like that move so fast. Your brain tells you that nothing that big should be able to move like that. I thank your cousins husband for his service.
I remember well several Fletchers, Sumners and Gearings that we operated with back in the '60's off Vietnam. Some were a part of our destroyer squadron, Desron 19.
My pop was on two different Fletchers during ww-2. The uss Brown. And the uss Boyd. Fire control. 1st class petty. Also called back during Korean War. My brother was a sonar man on the uss McCain ddl. In the early sixties. My pops brother. My uncle served on the submarine uss spade fish. All during the 2nd war. Chief engineer. They were all good sailors. Blessings to all that have served.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
The Sullivans is located in Buffalo NY at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park along with the USS Little Rock - the sole surviving Cleveland-class cruiser - and the Gato-class sub USS Croaker.
Little Rock is heavily modified from its original configuration. Converted to a Guided Missile Cruiser in the 1960s and served as flagship for Commander 6th Fleet.
I have a request you do a video on USS Samuel B. Roberts DE 413 aka the Destroyer Escort that fought like a battleship. Or the battle between Bismarck vs planned large repair/refit HMS Hood historical scenario or one on the Conte di Cavour refit 1940
The USS Kidd, in Baton Rouge, LA is also a great one to visit. She has been very well restored to WWII condition. I spent the night on her with my son's scout troop.
Yeah. I had a small model of the Fletcher and a large model of the Melvin when I was a kid. The Fletcher was in a lot of the Guadalcanal fighting but came off without a scratch. .
tamenga88 Yamamoto knew about American industrial capacity, but he still thought Japan could win if they acted fast. He wasn’t in favour of Japan going to war at all, but since Japan went to war anyways, he thought the US had to be defeated so they wouldn’t interfere, hence PH. But in reality, the smart thing to do would be to go for the European colonies and force the US to take the fight to Japan sooner (before they could build up).
My Father fought on DD 691 USS Mertz from maiden voyage until retired,(maybe sept45?). Dad said a typhoon nearly took her down.Dad lived to 69 he was in perfect health UNTIL...Lung cancer the Fletchers were LOADED WITH ASBESTOS!,Lots of other sailors met this fate as well. I salute these gallant men,These ships were in harms way all the time!.
My best friend growing up had an uncle named Vernon Yates who was a "plank-owner" aboard Fletcher. He served aboard the entire war and was quite proud of his ship and the battle stars on his ribbons.
Hey, check your family tree: if you are related to Walter S. Sullivan, Jr. (first Communications officer on board FLETCHER and later the science reporter for the New York Times) then welcome to the FLETCHER family!
@@afletchermansson4418 that's nice but I was adopted and my Dad being the Sullivan along with his five brothers and four sisters all raised in Brooklyn Ny. The changes are remote😊
Also, a number of Flecher/Gearing/Sumpter class destroyers were lost to Pacific typhoons. Oil tanks either went empty or engines were lost due to having to ballast the fuel tanks with seawater. Either too light and then floating high such that waves cause them to capsize or boilers fail due to sucking up seawater in the fuel tanks resulting in stuck in the trough of the waves and again capsizing. Not so much of a calm Pacific during that part of the year. Wonder what were the numbers lost to typhonons?
You don't have to wonder if you would check. A total of *three* destroyers of the Fletcher and Farragut classes--USS Hull (Farragut) , USS Spence (Fletcher), and USS Monaghan (Farragut)--capsized and sank during *one* typhoon, Typhoon Cobra, in December 1944. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Cobra Compared to the Japanese kamikaze/special weapons attacks in the last 12 months of the war, this is hardly a blip in damage. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Allied_vessels_struck_by_Japanese_special_attack_weapons
The 3 destroyers lost in the typhoon had nearly empty fuel tanks, but they were ordered by the big wigs not to take on seawater ballast, because they were hoping for a lull, when they could refuel again.. The captain of a ship has the final say in preserving his ship. They should have ordered all the fuel to be pumped to one tank, then ballasted the empties with water. If so, they probably would have survived. My ship, USS Twining,DD540,was the last ship to be refueled, before re- fuelling was called off due to too dangerous,just before the storm hit big time.Every ocean-sailing captain knows that a basic rule is that "When the barometer drops a ta certain speed in a certain time, YOU ARE SAILING INTO A TYPHOON/HURRICANE". Halsey, and every Annapolis grad in that Navy knew that, but did nothing about it. All we needed at the time, was for one of them, with balls, to say,"Admiral, don't you realize we are sailing into a typhoon/hurricane?"
@JAG You better check again: Kamikaze were deadly in the Pacific: These totals include ships which were struck on multiple but separate occasions. For instance, USS Ticonderoga and USS Franklin were both hit twice and USS Intrepid suffered a total of five kamikaze hits. Eliminating this multiple counting, the total number of major USN warships struck were 9 aircraft carriers, 2 light carriers, 16 escort carriers and 15 battleships. The great majority of these ships were hit during the Okinawa campaign, with 24 ships being sunk and 198 damaged. My dad was on the USS Louisville CA 28 from 1943-46 and she was hit 3 times in the Pacific with 51 sailors buried at sea along with Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler. These totals do not include the destroyers hit and damaged either.
I mean the Fletcher is just about the best dd in the game period (and yes, I personally consider it better in most situations than several T10s). People like to pull the "jack of all trades master of none" on her, but in each of the "trades" she's still in the top few.
@@Nikarus2370 when you have 175 of them, they don't need to be individually best at anything. The Bismarck was the best armed and armoured BB in the world. It was hit by hundreds of shells, dozens of bombs and torpedoes, and still didn't sink until sink until her crew scuttled her. But she still sunk.
Looks like the Almirante Tamandaré C-12, which was formerly the USS St. Louis, after being sold to Brazil. The giveaway is that extra front turret facing the rear. As far as I know, only the Brooklyn class and St. Louis class light cruisers had that extra turret, and the Brooklyns had very distinct portholes which are not visible in that shot. Leaving this ship to be either St. Louis or Helena, and we know that Helena didn't survive the war and certainly wasn't designated C-12.
@@kinghosed4261 Yes, you are correct: USS St Louis (CL-49) was the eighth ship of the class and like the final ship USS Helena, was about a thousand tons heavier and incorporated all of the lessons learned building the others. After WWII, USS St Louis served in TF.73, the US Navy’s China detachment, before decommissioning on 20 June 1946. Brazil’s acquisition of the ship happened just after her sister Barosso. Tamandare (pennant number C12) departed Philadelphia on 26 March 1952, arriving in Rio de Janeiro on 20 April. The ship was named after Admiral Tamandare, father of the Brazilian navy. The other ships in the photo are: tamandare1(All of the Brazilian warships in this late-1950s photo are ex-US Navy veterans of WWII. From top to bottom: Pernambuco (ex-USS Hailey DD-556), Parana (ex-USS Cushing DD-797), Tamandare (ex-USS St Louis CL-49), Para (ex-USS Guest DD-472), and Paraiba (ex-USS Bennett DD-473).)
Much appreciated. Could you do a piece on what technically differentiates classes of ships? It seems that there are some vagaries between them. A big boat with big guns is just that. But, what's the difference between a battleship and a cruiser and a destroyer, etc?
The three largest factors that differentiate classes are - in order - international treaties, internal politics, and national naval doctrines. This is why the same hull could get treated as a cruiser, a destroyer, or a frigate depending on circumstances. (In particular, I'm thinking of the smaller scout cruisers built after WW1 which got used as large destroyers during WW2 and frigates post war; however, post war American frigates like the Norfolk also varied in the above way.) In general, each navy will have its own sensible dividing lines between ships, but the more different the navies are and the further you get from the ships covered by the interwar naval treaty the less these designations are interchangeable. To bring this back to the video topic, the Fletcher does qualify as a cruiser - barely - under the interwar naval treaties because it is slightly to large to be a destroyer. This means any Japanese labeling to that effect is justifiable, if not particularly useful.
I toured the USS Kidd at its mooring in Baton Rouge, LA with my son. Pretty cool. Destroyers are not real big from that era. I can imagine the ride in a storm. I would no doubt be losing my lunch. Modern destroyer’s (Spruance class) are bigger and have about 4 times the displacement. I toured the USS Ingersoll and it seemed comfortably larger. Not so bad in a storm maybe?
In its anti-ship role, the lethality of the Fletchers were certainly enhanced when the bureau of ordinance finally fixed the mark 14. Battle of Cape Saint George was made possible for the Fletchers by radar and the mark 14 performing as it was supposed to.
The submarine service fixed the 14 not the Bureau of Ordanance. ComSubPac got tired of hearing the same excuses an ordered his torpedo shop to investigste the problems. They discovered, then fixed the depth control, contact exploder, and deactivated that worthless magnetic exploder. Then they passed the info to the Surface forces so they could fix the 15.
Pinned post for Q&A :)
How would lower-caliber gun destroyers, such as the Akizuki-class, Battle-class and Daring-class fare against their contemporaries?
A segment on the uss maine would be awesome
what ship design or individual ship is most worthy of the meme "go home, your drunk"?
For some time in battleship design it seems everybody and their grandmothers were adding underwater torpedo tubes, which were then invariably removed during refits. Was there any specific incident(s) that caused this shift in thinking?
If you had to build a navy with ships from 1906-1945 with all historical numbers from those classes built which classes would you chose. You can have (2CV,2BB,2BC,3CA,3CL and 4DD) this is the number of classes you can choose for each ship type. Eg bismarck class and nelson class would give you 4 ships for BB's
Not to forget the Fletcher class Battleship, the USS Johnston
she has been found off of Samar at 20,406 feet down
@@robertyoung3992 They THOUGHT it was her....it was only in the last couple of weeks that they found the main hull and confirmed it.
Fitting that she sits upright and proud.
@@samsignorelli and further than anyone has gone before
@@aaronstorey9712 Yep
I did my finals paper for American military history on the Battle of Leyte Gulf last semester, and I made sure to mention the Fletcher class battleship USS Johnston.
I served on one of the last Fletchers in the late 1960s. The 5'x38 was a great gun and great fire control. In gunfire support in Vietnam, we were often on target with the first round when the barrels were new. I read a book by a Japanese destroyer captain. One of his comments was that American destroyers often straddled his ship with their first salvo. And the Fletchers were a little faster than later ships by a couple knots. We won a number of ship to ship races, usually beating DDGs. Fletchers didn't get modernized like most of the Sumners and Gearings. Some had mount 53 removed for 2 twin 3" to replace the quad 40s. So they mostly kept their WWII look. I slept near the bow and heavy seas could throw you or levitate you. I remember the anchors banging in heavy seas. But it was a good ship, won all the squadron E's, sorry to see it go.
_It's roll and toss and pound and pitch_
_And creak and groan, you sonuvabitch!_
_Oh, boy, it's a helluva life on a destroyer...._
Fair winds & following seas!
which one
@@rickreeve1246 687 Uhlmann
Thank you for sharing your sea story and for your service.
Anchors do NOT bang in heavy seas. You were doing good until that comment exposed you as a Liar.
Imperal Japanese Navy: Ah yes the Fletcher class Cruisers
*Battleship if you take into account the battle of Samar.
ousou78
Nobody thought the Fletchers were battleships at Samar; they thought they were cruisers, then were forced to reassess them as destroyers later in the engagement.
They certainly fought like battleships at Samar. Managed to get under Kurita's skin.
@@KlunkerRider Rip Sammy B Roberts
@@joshuaolejasz9590 Sammy wasn't a Fletcher class though. It wasn't even in the main destroyer class either.
Great video, sir. The USN hit the jackpot with the Fletchers - one of those phenomenally rare occasions when the stars aligned and naval designers found the sweet spot between the wish list and practical requirements. This class has to be on the short list of the best designs of the war.
I’d say the second-best destroyer of the war.
Because the Gearing exists. Which has a lot of Fletcher DNA regardless.
@Alexander Challis very interesting. launching a ship is an art in itself.
Actually, very few Gearings were completed before the war ended.
As a retiree of the USCG, I’ve learned to discount all official comments on how great a ship is/was. The “truth” of a ship’s value is in the number of that class that was actually built and commissioned.
The official shpiel concerning the USCG SES type/EL DORADO class of patrol boats was that those were the greatest idea since sliced bread. The govt only built/commissioned 4 in total. This tells one that there were too many problems with the design and thus operational costs were too high.
@@living2ndchildhood347 and you are correct sir. As a retired Navy Chief and historian, I can assure you that the Fletcher class was one of the best destroyers ever built. The fact that 175 were commissioned between 1942 and 1944 speaks volumes. Additionally, the Allen M. Sumner and Gearing classes that followed were simply improved models of the Fletchers although not in as many numbers.
My dad was on the USS Twiggs (DD591), which was sunk off Okinawa on 16 June 1945 by a kamikaze aircraft. Almost half her crew were killed and many were injured. He survived in the water for several hours before being picked up by another ship. I know he would have liked your video but he died several years ago. He loved the Navy and the Fletcher class destroyer. We he passed, we fulfilled his wish to be buried at sea.
Hi Mike,
My dad was also a crew member aboard the Twiggs. He never spoke of his experiences on the Twiggs or the Gwin (DD -433), another destroyer sunk, this one at Guadalcanal.
Of course, the men were not allowed to give any details but through numerous love letters my mother saved I am able to piece together what my dad was feeling during the battle at Okinawa especially. All of my mother's letters to my dad were lost with the Twiggs.
If you have any photos or experiences you can share with my brother and me would enjoy them. I will be happy to do the same.
William A. Johansen
From Wikipedia: The long-range Fletcher-class ships performed every task asked of a destroyer, from anti-submarine warfare and anti-aircraft warfare to surface action. They could cover the vast distances required by fleet actions in the Pacific and served almost exclusively in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, during which they accounted for 29 Imperial Japanese Navy submarines sunk. They were great destroyers too - tough tin cans!
One of the most successful class of warships in the modern era. True classics. And distinctively handsome, as well.
Unlike some battleships Fletcher looks good from all angles. Dunno why but top-down views of bbs make them look morbidly obese
I was a boilerman on USS Prichett DD 561 in the early 60's. In performing maintenance we had to enter the stack area to clean the economizers. When you looked up in to the after stack from the inside there were still bullet holes from the war, the outside was patched up.
A great ship design filled with many notable names. Some of the ships thought they were cruisers with how well they fought... and one thought it was a battleship.
Such good and reliable little tin cans.
My dad would say that men on the tin cans should have gotten sub. pay. The decks where underwater half the time.
Dad said his ship would ride over one wave and go under two in heavy seas. He was in the Typhoon that sank three Fletchers with nearly all hands and bent the forward flight deck of a fleet carrier.
"The ships rose and fell in the mountainous seas. The mighty New Jersey hung in the troughs and then slowly righted herself, lurching and laboring to the tops of swells. “No one who has not been through a typhoon can conceive its fury,” reported Halsey. “The 70-foot seas smash you from all sides. The rain and the scud are blinding; they drive you flat-out, until you can’t tell the ocean from the air…. At broad noon, I couldn’t see the bow of my ship, 350 feet from the bridge…. This typhoon tossed our enormous ship as if she were a canoe…. We ourselves were buffeted from one bulkhead to another; we could not hear our own voices above the uproar.” Admiral Carney voiced “grave doubts” that the battlewagon would survive, while Halsey feared for the fate of the destroyers. “What it was like on a destroyer one-twentieth the New Jersey’s size I can only imagine,” he said.
He was right. The smaller ships were the worst hit, and the destroyer crews underwent a nightmare as the rising winds and seas tossed their craft around like toys. Caught near the storm center, the Hull, Spence, and Monaghan capsized and sank with practically all hands."
Wyoming Horseman If you haven’t read it already, I recommend the book “Halsey’s Typhoon”. It goes into great depth about the incident you are talking about. It’s a great book!
@@mr.narwhal9034Thank you, I will check with my library. Sounds like a good read.
@@wyominghorseman9172 Spence was a Fletcher, Hull and Monaghan were Farraguts.
@@padurarulcriticsicinic4846
Two Typhoons Crippled Bull Halsey’s Task Force 38
As the barometer fell rapidly, the wind velocity rose sharply to 73 knots while 70-foot waves battered the ships from all sides. Some destroyers heeled over on their beam ends with their funnels almost horizontal. Water surged into their intakes and ventilators, shorting circuits, killing power, and leaving them adrift.
The ships rose and fell in the mountainous seas. The mighty New Jersey hung in the troughs and then slowly righted herself, lurching and laboring to the tops of swells. “No one who has not been through a typhoon can conceive its fury,” reported Halsey. “The 70-foot seas smash you from all sides. The rain and the scud are blinding; they drive you flat-out, until you can’t tell the ocean from the air…. At broad noon, I couldn’t see the bow of my ship, 350 feet from the bridge…. This typhoon tossed our enormous ship as if she were a canoe…. We ourselves were buffeted from one bulkhead to another; we could not hear our own voices above the uproar.” Admiral Carney voiced “grave doubts” that the battlewagon would survive, while Halsey feared for the fate of the destroyers. “What it was like on a destroyer one-twentieth the New Jersey’s size I can only imagine,” he said.
He was right. The smaller ships were the worst hit, and the destroyer crews underwent a nightmare as the rising winds and seas tossed their craft around like toys. Caught near the storm center, the Hull, Spence, and Monaghan capsized and sank with practically all hands.
warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/two-typhoons-crippled-bull-halseys-task-force-38/
I SPENT THE LAST 2 YEARS OF WW2 ON USS TWINING,DD540. A VERY LUCKY SHIP. DDs were called "Greyhounds of the Navy" and sometimes yachts for their beautiful lines. We were the "Can Do" ships, Give us an order, and the response was ,"Can do".
My great grandpa spent almost the entire war in the US navy. I believe he was on 3 separate ships that were sunk and survived all of them. I need to ask my grandpa more about his service. Sadly he passed away a couple years ago and i deeply regret not talking to him more often
jaddy540 thanks for sharing, and for your service.
Thank you for your outstanding service! In the modern fleet, which means beginning from your time, so many more sailors serve on the carriers and support ships than the gun ships. I can proudly say that a "Tin Can" sailor is a real Sailor.
Order: Fight the Yamato.
Fletcher (Johnston): We don't need you to even order us to do that.
O7 Thank you for your service!
"Or to make room for a meaningful anti-aircraft armament, outside of angry words" BAHAHAHA! love that line!
Glad I found this channel. Always found naval history and ships very interesting and happy to see other people appreciate it as much as me.
I love naval history and I'm an Army guy . . . also my like makes 69 likes, I declare victory !
Oh it's perfect, detailed long form audio friendly videos on highly specific portions of naval history
I actually developed my interest for naval history from this channel.
I am no expert at all but it is very interesting.
I love that Louisiana has the USS Kidd DD 661 on display in our capital. She is fantastic to visit and pay respect to.
The Fletcher class is one of the finest classes of warships to ever sail.
Fantastic work as always Drach.
It is indeed a good one to visit. We're fortunate to have some great ships to visit around this area.....You could see the Alabama (South Dakota-class), the Kidd, and the USS Orleck (Gearing-class) in a single day if you wanted, but you should give yourself more time if you really want to explore everything about them. You could even fit in a trip to see the USS Texas in Houston and the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans if you give yourself a long-weekend.
@@mellusk9194 Shame the Orleck has never had the financial commitment it deserves. Its location is also crap.
The USS The Sulivans, at Buffalo, NY, is well worth the visit. Then you can head over to Niagara Falls, the same day!
The USS The Sullivans (DD-537) is here in Buffalo,NY
@@mellusk9194
Orleck is closed and is either awaiting dry dock or is on its way to its new berth in Florida.
The Cassin Young is a good one to visit because it's right next to the Constitution in Boston.
Tom Kelly, if you are alive,get in touch with me.Or any of his mates know what his fate was? Jack Gormley, FC school with you.
And it’s named after the captain of USS San Francisco
2 videos within an hour? I love you.
Great video. The only additions or subtractions I would make would be:
1. On paper, the Tribals sort of out gunned the Fletchers. However, they used partially open gun mounts with blast shielding at the front and sides, not the fully enclosed gun mounts that the Fletchers did. That meant that the Fletchers could engage in any weather while the Tribals, while great sea boats, would at a minimum have to contend with a less effective gun crew fighting the weather and the water as well as manning the guns. The 5 inch 38 was also a true dual purpose mount, while the Tribal's 4.5 inch guns were not. Indeed, the Tribals typically lost one 4.5 inch mount to a twin 4 incher for AA purposes, thus diluting their surface warfare abilities. The Fletchers could fight surface as well as aerial targets on even terms, the Tribals and other British destroyers of the era could not, at least not until the very end of the war.
2. In terms of seaworthiness, the real issue with the Fletchers was not the flush deck, which gave them significant weight savings and sped construction somewhat. It was the rudder. Even the Iowa class battleships had better turning radii than the Fletchers at higher speeds, which wasn't something to be proud of. In normal operations, it wasn't a large problem, but it was noted and postwar larger rudders were reportedly fitted to many ships. Some sources have the later war built ships as receiving twin rudders, but this is in error. Given the enclosed 5 inch mounts that the Fletchers carried, even if a flush decker was wetter forward it could still fight in seas that a forecastle equipped destroyer with open mounts perhaps could not. The ship that had seaworthiness issues was the Fletcher-derived Sumner, which was exceptionally wet forward due to the weight of twin turrets. They weren't nearly as bad as the gossip claimed, but they were wet enough to have no less than Chester Nimitz inquire if the stories were true, and then embark upon a little PR campaign to better their reputations.
Again, great vid!
I served on the USS Cowell DD 547 in the 60’s as a QM2. She was a much decorated proud ship and could run up to 36 KN and lay down an imposing rate of fire from her main 5” battery and twin 3” duals. She was a fiesta lady and I was proud to serve on her. ⚓️
Went aboard my first ship in Dec. 1958, the USS Ammen DD 527, and rode her till decommissioning Aug 1960. Of the nine ships I served in, she has always held a special place in my heart. They were great little ships, manned by some of the very best sailors in the Fleet! No frills, just great ships the Fletchers.
Best destroyers of WWII. A jack of all trades with no real weaknesses.
It had a weakness it did not have 16" guns😄😄😄
Couldn't get from the after section to the forward section or vice versa without going on deck. My dad served on DD 547 for 22 months.
@@Maritimesgestein Your remark is very offensive!!..My Father was on DD691 Mertz He went thru hell and your making JOKES!?..😡
@@d.owczarzak6888 He's making jokes you know what your Dad&mine went thru,That Typhoon,Submarines,Kamakaze attacks and we have Rodney Dangerfield making JOKES. .
Agree. I like the tribals but they were more pocket cruisers than true destroyers. The fletchers packed a much greater torpedo punch
On 24 October 1944, Albert W. Grant joined TG 77.2 and sailed to engage a Japanese task force reported steaming northward from the Sulu Sea toward Surigao Strait. That American battleship group met the Japanese force in the Battle of Surigao Strait, and Grant, along with other destroyers in advance of the main battle line, conducted a torpedo attack. During this attack, she was hit and severely damaged by gunfire, not only from Japanese naval forces, but also by its covering US battleships. Grant suffered 22 hits, many by six-inch shells. Fires broke out, and the ship lost steering control and all power. Thirty-eight men were killed and 104 were wounded. Although their ship was down by the bow and listing heavily to port, the destroyer's crew got her engines working again and enabled her to retire to American-controlled waters in Leyte Gulf. They were great destroyers too - tough tin cans!
Indeed the right ship at the right time in the right numbers. During WWII in the Pacific the USN would thank God for the Fletcher's.
Having a rather weak spot for anything related to history, I was attracted to the subject matter of your channel a few weeks ago. I spent 40 years working on submarines so navies are certainly high on my list. I have to say you have an excellent channel and your coverage of a very wide range of topics and eras is outstanding. Thank you for your work and making my declining years more enjoyable.
Ah, the girl with many sisters. Man, she really has a LOT of sister ships.
The Pacific: *Exists*
Fletcher Class: It's free real estate!
I did my 3rd class USN Midshipman training cruise on the USS Bausell, a FRAM II Gearing class destroyer. Really appreciaped the design and performance of the propulsion plant. This would have been very similar to the Flecher's propulsion plant. We did have a high speed run at 33+knots with alot of shaking of the stern. Looking forward to hear what you have to say about the Gearing class destroyers.
They don't build them like that anymore.
I did my 3rd Class cruise on the USS Robinson (DDG-12) with a 1200# plant and while practicing emergency break away during an UREP practice, the Robison’s fan tail had a lot of shaking too.
Boiler tech onboard U.S.S. Meredith DD-890, the last of the Gearings. And we did a few full power runs, and EVERYTHING shook like crazy!
I both regret, and appreciate, never sailing a boiler.
Gas turbines got the shaft speeds enough to rattle us around too though.
I believe that the Fletchers and the Sumner/Gearing classes all have the same propulsion plant.
By 1941 it was clear that the 1.1" AA guns were not going to be the standard armament for the USN. Many of the early bugs with the mounts and feed system had been worked out by Pearl Harbor and they were considered to be reliable guns. The problem was testing and the results of battles in the Med showed a 1.1" (28mm) was just too light to reliably bring down more modern planes, the Zero being a prime example. Consequently, planners revised the armament plan for DE's to have 8-10 40mm and DD to mount 10-14 of the same guns. Because of the space and weight available on the Fletchers, the final loadout on Fletchers by the end of 1942 was a minimum of 10 guns, with a quad mount in place of the previous quad 1.1" between mounts 53 and 54, and twin mounts on either side of the aft stack. A way was found, by adding a pair of gun platforms, to add another pair of twin mounts on either side of the forward bridge level. That was a total of 12 barrels and was the most common package by mid-1943 when there were finally enough Bofors guns to go around.
The 16 gun ships landed turret 53 and added a platform for another quad that was superfiring over the existing quad mount, giving a total of 16 guns. 20mm guns carried for 7 to 18 depending on build date and the number of twin mounts available. The 40mm and 5"/38 guns were all radar directed, and the 20mm sights were constantly upgraded during the war. There really was no other platform with the speed, maneuverability, firepower, and electronics of a Fletcher. The Japanese recognized the danger of the radar equipped early warning Fletchers and concentrated their attacks on such ships, especially off Okinawa. It was only their heavy AA armament that allowed most of them to survive in that role, with several having downed five or more Japanese aircraft unassisted in a single day.
Still think you should be a special guest of drach on a video or 20!
@@AdamMGTF Well, thanks a lot. It would be an honor if Drach ever asked me to participate.
28mm guns were too light to bring down modern planes, so US Navy ships were festooned with 20mm Oerlikons, why?
@@luvr381
Almost all warships of the period had a 3-layer AA defense system (4-layer if you count the loud casting of aspersions on the pilot's ancestory), with heavy, medium, and light AA armament, the heavy being the main battery on destroyers or secondary mounts on cruisers and battleships.
The heavy AA was intended to do shrapnel damage by air bursting in the vicinity of the target at long range, the medium AA was intended to bring down a target with a single direct hit at medium range (more than one hit being a low probability), and the light AA was intended to disable a plane or throw the crew off their aim with tracer fire, basically a last resort.
The problem with US ships at the start of US involvement in the war was that the 1.1" was the medium AA, and the .50 cal mg was the light AA. Neither was adequate. The 1.1" was really a light caliber weapon rather than medium and could not usually stop a plane from attacking with a single direct hit (though it might not make it back to its base or carrier), so was replaced by the more reliable and accurate Bofors 40mm which hit a lot harder. The .50 cal mg could not disable a plane with the 2 or 3 rounds that might hit, and was too short ranged so that a plane was likely to have already released its weapon load before the .50 cal mg could score hits. The 20mm, having an explosive round almost 60% bigger than the solid shot of the .50 cal, could do some damage at a sufficient range to interrupt a plane's attack at the last moment if it had made it through the 5" and 40mm.
The 3-layer defense was crucial to a successful air defense scheme.
With the 5", 1.1", and .50 cal, the US had only a 2-layer defense, with the 1.1" and .50 cal both being light AA. With the 5", 40mm, and 20mm, the US had a true 3-layer defense.
There was also the factor that the 40mm required a dedicated director mounting, which limited the number of targets that could be engaged, while the visually aimed 20mms could all be fired individually at whatever the gunners might see. There were many instances of Japanese planes sneaking up on a US formation (for various reasons, radar was not 100% effective) and being engaged by sharp eyed 20mm gunners, at far too great a range to get hits, but the tracers alerted the 40mm directors and a hail of big-boom-bullets immediately followed.
@@luvr381 the 40mm Bofors (1.54”) replaces the l.l”. The 20 mm is simple stand alone gun. The sailor aims the gun which is powered by a blowback system.
Thanks for another great video! My Dad was on the USS Mullany (DD-528) during WWII. This extraordinary ship might be worth a video of its own.
One of my favorite ship classes of all time.
I have a 3 foot model of a Fletcher behind me as I watch this. :)
I'm happy you did this. Fletcher class is part of my top 5 (3 or 4) of my favorite ship classes. I live not but an hour n 1/2 away from the USS KIDD. And visit her often, one of the most well preserved WII era warships out there and she is abundant with the 40s and 20mm.
The USS Kidd is the only USN ship to fly the Jolly Roger as her insignia.
The Fletcher, my first model was that ship from Revel back in the 1970’s, not my best work but I still have it to this day
I've toured USS Kidd a few times. She's been in Baton Rouge on the Mississippi river as long as i can remember. im 48 now and toured her in grade school.
Awesome retrospective!
I'm currently in the process of building a model of the U.S.S. Melvin (DD-680), and it's fascinating to see the variances between all of her sisters over the course of the war.
05:46 I love that photo with CV in the background
Not a single 2nd amendment joke...?
Who are you and what have you done to Drach!
SOOOOOoooooOO many guns when multiplied over all 175 units
Rahbar Al Haq I hard to have to many gun as long as you use them regularly
Delenn was here.
Drach does like American 2nd amendment AA jibes...
@@micnorton9487 Understandably. There are few things as ridiculous as the misinterpretation of the purpose of the 2nd amendment. - and thousands of people pay for it with their lives each year.
Finally the glorious Fletcher/s!!
Yes but they deserve a much longer explication. Hopefully we will see many individual ships highlighted. It should be noted that all fleet destroyers built by the USN until the Spruance class were fitted onto modified versions of this hull.
Another 'Thank You'. My father served on the Radford and the Renshaw in the 60's.
My Dad served aboard the USS Healy DD-672 a Fletcher Class Destroyer during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. He had some amazing stories and ended up forming an association that included many WWII and Korean War veterans that served aboard the ship. They all met for several years at multiple reunions, they are all quite a group of men!
The Almighty Fletcher Swarm is here!
Fletcher with aircraft? WOWS premium coming soon!
FYI: From Wikipedia: It was intended that the float plane be used for scouting for the destroyer flotilla to which the ship was attached. It would be launched by the catapult, land on the water next to the ship, and be recovered by the aircraft crane. Pringle was the first of five ships that eventually received the catapult to use it operationally. Due to design problems with the derrick, Pringle could not recover the Kingfisher airplane. Two ships constructed in 1943, USS Stevens and USS Halford, had redesigned derricks.[2] Stevens became the first of the five ships to successfully launch and recover the plane. All were ultimately converted to the standard Fletcher-class configuration.
Following shakedown, Pringle joined convoy ON 154 in mid-Atlantic 1 January 1943 to escort the Halifax-bound contingent. While on this duty she was the first U.S. destroyer to use an aircraft with catapult. The float plane was catapulted off to search for enemy submarines. Recovery of the plane in the prevailing weather for a ship the size of Pringle was difficult.
The larger ships battleships and cruisers would turn slightly to allow a smoother water landing prior to pick up with the net or crane while ship is moving and sea plane taxi's along ship.
they need Johnson first
@@Revkor Listen... No, LISTEN: to even half-properly represent Johnston, they'd have to give her at LEAST the Conqueror's Heal and the Atlanta's radar, both with improved cooldown, plus an equally Conqueror fire chance, say, after she's done a certain amount of damage in any battle...? I'm not sure that putting her at Tier 8 so she can face Yamatos on the regular is enough balance for that!
This comment aged like the finest wine
Thank you, Drachinifel.
Good morning great saturday with two vids keep up the great work
Interestingly the first Fletchers were commissioned June 4, 1942, the date of the battle of Midway. One of the most successful designs in US Navy history began its career on the date of the USN's greatest victory.
Very cool. My late grandfather was on USS Stanley DD-478. I think it was one of those that originally had the catapults. It's other claim to "fame" was having the distinction of being hit by a Ohka (Baka) Bomb off Okinawa but luckily it penetrated clean through and didn't explode within the ship but rather in the water. The second incoming rocket Kamikaze missed with either a control surface or the pilot being hit as it veered off at the last second apparently.
My grandfather was on the USS Halford DD 480 it was one of the other fletchers with a catapult
In October 1993 my wife and I were on cruise ship pulling out of the Ensenada harbor in northern Baja. I was on deck and caught sight of a Mexican navy ship outbound. While in Ensenada we heard that a sailboat was having some trouble and Mexico was sending a navy ship in response. The destroyer passed us on the port side and it came within a half mile of the cruise liner. I recognized the ship's silhouette immediately and believed it to be an old Fletcher class DD. The destroyer was moving very fast, passing us and lost to distance in perhaps 10 minutes. Fletchers were good looking ships! My cousin's husband served blockade duty on a Fletcher class DD during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I recall meeting him dockside (at Norfolk VA I believe) afterward. Damn good looking ship.
It's very impressive seeing ships like that move so fast. Your brain tells you that nothing that big should be able to move like that.
I thank your cousins husband for his service.
Your intro is the best! Fletcher's were bad ass!
I remember well several Fletchers, Sumners and Gearings that we operated with back in the '60's off Vietnam. Some were a part of our destroyer squadron, Desron 19.
Too bad we use Desron and not D’squad
I work onboard the USS Kidd in baton rouge. And i gotta say its something special for sure. A weird chill goint passed the kamikaze site as well
My pop was on two different Fletchers during ww-2. The uss Brown. And the uss Boyd. Fire control. 1st class petty. Also called back during Korean War. My brother was a sonar man on the uss McCain ddl. In the early sixties. My pops brother. My uncle served on the submarine uss spade fish. All during the 2nd war. Chief engineer. They were all good sailors. Blessings to all that have served.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Read Blood on the Sea, an account of the destroyers lost in combat during the war. Old Navy vet here. 🇺🇸👍🏻😉
looking at the hull lines - they are verry modern
Excellent and Outstanding!!!!!
Thanks. I've been on The Sullivans many times.
As Fletcher this was greatly appreciated o7
Love you channel.
The Sullivans is located in Buffalo NY at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park along with the USS Little Rock - the sole surviving Cleveland-class cruiser - and the Gato-class sub USS Croaker.
Little Rock is heavily modified from its original configuration. Converted to a Guided Missile Cruiser in the 1960s and served as flagship for Commander 6th Fleet.
Have you done a segment on USS Laffey ... "The Ship That Would NOT Die!"
"Fighting Fletchers!"
The Sumner class Laffey, I presume? Since well, there are two Laffeys, the Benson class and the Sumner class.
Finally! Took you long enough to take a look at one of the most iconic and successful ship classes ever!
5:35 Wow look at the minimal freeboard!!! Definitely at "war load"!!!
I have a request you do a video on USS Samuel B. Roberts DE 413 aka the Destroyer Escort that fought like a battleship. Or the battle between Bismarck vs planned large repair/refit HMS Hood historical scenario or one on the Conte di Cavour refit 1940
You mean the USS Samuel B. Roberts on which the crew had bigger balls than the onboard guns? Yeah, I'd like to see that one covered as well.
USS Gray Ghost wait, the Samuel B Roberts was a destroyer escort? I thought it was a battleship! Or a cruiser at least
@@PlaneBoy2520 battleship? I thought it was a space dreadnought?
Aril, The Random Guy on TH-cam nah fam, that’s a starship
Nicely done.
The Fletcher Class was my favorite class simply because I liked her lines.
Spent two years aboard the USS EATON DD510 (1957-1959) Great ship . It is sad that it is now a barrier reef. She was a good ride Ret. HTCS Phillips
The USS Kidd, in Baton Rouge, LA is also a great one to visit. She has been very well restored to WWII condition. I spent the night on her with my son's scout troop.
Yeah. I had a small model of the Fletcher and a large model of the Melvin when I was a kid. The Fletcher was in a lot of the Guadalcanal fighting but came off without a scratch.
.
It's amazing how many of these things they built.
tamenga88
Yamamoto knew about American industrial capacity, but he still thought Japan could win if they acted fast.
He wasn’t in favour of Japan going to war at all, but since Japan went to war anyways, he thought the US had to be defeated so they wouldn’t interfere, hence PH. But in reality, the smart thing to do would be to go for the European colonies and force the US to take the fight to Japan sooner (before they could build up).
Glad I found this one! My grandpa served on one and helped sink a Japanese battleship.
My Father fought on DD 691
USS Mertz from maiden voyage until retired,(maybe sept45?). Dad said a typhoon nearly took her down.Dad lived to 69 he was in perfect health
UNTIL...Lung cancer the Fletchers were LOADED WITH ASBESTOS!,Lots of other sailors met this fate as well.
I salute these gallant men,These ships were in harms way all the time!.
would love to see some coverage of USS Missouri #63 and USS New Jersey #62 during WWll Thank you .
One of my favourite ships to play as in BOW. Such a scrappy little ship that can really put the hurt on just about anything else when utilised well
Just a well rounded, tough fighting ship. She won the war and went on for many years after. One of the better investments during the war.
The Chieftain: What is better than a Fletcher Class Destroyer?
Me: Nothing beats that.
Ever considered creating an index for your episodes?
My best friend growing up had an uncle named Vernon Yates who was a "plank-owner" aboard Fletcher. He served aboard the entire war and was quite proud of his ship and the battle stars on his ribbons.
Being a Sullivan I just had to build the Revel model kit of the Uss Sullivan's. Great class.
Hey, check your family tree: if you are related to Walter S. Sullivan, Jr. (first Communications officer on board FLETCHER and later the science reporter for the New York Times) then welcome to the FLETCHER family!
@@afletchermansson4418 that's nice but I was adopted and my Dad being the Sullivan along with his five brothers and four sisters all raised in Brooklyn Ny. The changes are remote😊
Two in one day! Well done man
Very enjoyable, very informative
my favorite USS destroyer. The first of many
Great ships!
Speaking of Taffy 3, the sniper carrier USS White Plains would be a good vid Drach.
Thanks for these videos
The same armament as a type 1936 destroyer but without the tendency to brake in half, nice job.
Also, a number of Flecher/Gearing/Sumpter class destroyers were lost to Pacific typhoons. Oil tanks either went empty or engines were lost due to having to ballast the fuel tanks with seawater. Either too light and then floating high such that waves cause them to capsize or boilers fail due to sucking up seawater in the fuel tanks resulting in stuck in the trough of the waves and again capsizing. Not so much of a calm Pacific during that part of the year. Wonder what were the numbers lost to typhonons?
You don't have to wonder if you would check. A total of *three* destroyers of the Fletcher and Farragut classes--USS Hull (Farragut) , USS Spence (Fletcher), and USS Monaghan (Farragut)--capsized and sank during *one* typhoon, Typhoon Cobra, in December 1944.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Cobra Compared to the Japanese kamikaze/special weapons attacks in the last 12 months of the war, this is hardly a blip in damage. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Allied_vessels_struck_by_Japanese_special_attack_weapons
The 3 destroyers lost in the typhoon had nearly empty fuel tanks, but they were ordered by the big wigs not to take on seawater ballast, because they were hoping for a lull, when they could refuel again.. The captain of a ship has the final say in preserving his ship. They should have ordered all the fuel to be pumped to one tank, then ballasted the empties with water. If so, they probably would have survived. My ship, USS Twining,DD540,was the last ship to be refueled, before re- fuelling was called off due to too dangerous,just before the storm hit big time.Every ocean-sailing captain knows that a basic rule is that "When the barometer drops a ta certain speed in a certain time, YOU ARE SAILING INTO A TYPHOON/HURRICANE". Halsey, and every Annapolis grad in that Navy knew that, but did nothing about it. All we needed at the time, was for one of them, with balls, to say,"Admiral, don't you realize we are sailing into a typhoon/hurricane?"
@JAG You better check again: Kamikaze were deadly in the Pacific: These totals include ships which were struck on multiple but separate occasions. For instance, USS Ticonderoga and USS Franklin were both hit twice and USS Intrepid suffered a total of five kamikaze hits. Eliminating this multiple counting, the total number of major USN warships struck were 9 aircraft carriers, 2 light carriers, 16 escort carriers and 15 battleships. The great majority of these ships were hit during the Okinawa campaign, with 24 ships being sunk and 198 damaged. My dad was on the USS Louisville CA 28 from 1943-46 and she was hit 3 times in the Pacific with 51 sailors buried at sea along with Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler. These totals do not include the destroyers hit and damaged either.
Sea water ballasting sucks (done it) so I get why it was delayed. But in the end, it should have been done and I'm surprised it wasn't .
the only Fletcher lost in Typhoon Cobra was the USS Spence
What does the robot say at the end? I can never figure that out. Sounds like: “don’t forget to comment on the pink post for dry dock questions”.
I've been to the Kidd. Highly recommend if you like the Fletcher class.
Would love to see a guide on the Gearing Class in particular the Henderson DD785
Any Chance of a video on the USS Wolverine or Sable?
Funny thing is that the photo of 4 Fletchers and a Brooklyn class cruiser at 6:40 is not the US Navy, but the 60s Brazilian Navy
Seen a comment calling Fletcher's Battleships, WRONG, a Battleship is in a Class of its own. Fletcher's are Destroyers a Class of their own.
plz do a video about the USS LST-389 tank landing ship
The Fletcher is my favorite non premium ship I own in World of Warships,
I still prefer USS Enterprise, mainly because of her history though.
I mean the Fletcher is just about the best dd in the game period (and yes, I personally consider it better in most situations than several T10s). People like to pull the "jack of all trades master of none" on her, but in each of the "trades" she's still in the top few.
@@Nikarus2370 when you have 175 of them, they don't need to be individually best at anything. The Bismarck was the best armed and armoured BB in the world. It was hit by hundreds of shells, dozens of bombs and torpedoes, and still didn't sink until sink until her crew scuttled her.
But she still sunk.
@@naverilllang >The Bismarck was the best armed
X Doubt
Been to the Kidd a bunch of times I live a hour from it, it’s well taken care of
@ 6:26 what cruiser is that? C12 comes back as USS Columbia and that is definitely not right.
Looks like the Almirante Tamandaré C-12, which was formerly the USS St. Louis, after being sold to Brazil. The giveaway is that extra front turret facing the rear. As far as I know, only the Brooklyn class and St. Louis class light cruisers had that extra turret, and the Brooklyns had very distinct portholes which are not visible in that shot. Leaving this ship to be either St. Louis or Helena, and we know that Helena didn't survive the war and certainly wasn't designated C-12.
@@kinghosed4261 Yes, you are correct: USS St Louis (CL-49) was the eighth ship of the class and like the final ship USS Helena, was about a thousand tons heavier and incorporated all of the lessons learned building the others. After WWII, USS St Louis served in TF.73, the US Navy’s China detachment, before decommissioning on 20 June 1946.
Brazil’s acquisition of the ship happened just after her sister Barosso. Tamandare (pennant number C12) departed Philadelphia on 26 March 1952, arriving in Rio de Janeiro on 20 April. The ship was named after Admiral Tamandare, father of the Brazilian navy.
The other ships in the photo are:
tamandare1(All of the Brazilian warships in this late-1950s photo are ex-US Navy veterans of WWII. From top to bottom: Pernambuco (ex-USS Hailey DD-556), Parana (ex-USS Cushing DD-797), Tamandare (ex-USS St Louis CL-49), Para (ex-USS Guest DD-472), and Paraiba (ex-USS Bennett DD-473).)
Much appreciated. Could you do a piece on what technically differentiates classes of ships? It seems that there are some vagaries between them. A big boat with big guns is just that. But, what's the difference between a battleship and a cruiser and a destroyer, etc?
The three largest factors that differentiate classes are - in order - international treaties, internal politics, and national naval doctrines. This is why the same hull could get treated as a cruiser, a destroyer, or a frigate depending on circumstances. (In particular, I'm thinking of the smaller scout cruisers built after WW1 which got used as large destroyers during WW2 and frigates post war; however, post war American frigates like the Norfolk also varied in the above way.) In general, each navy will have its own sensible dividing lines between ships, but the more different the navies are and the further you get from the ships covered by the interwar naval treaty the less these designations are interchangeable.
To bring this back to the video topic, the Fletcher does qualify as a cruiser - barely - under the interwar naval treaties because it is slightly to large to be a destroyer. This means any Japanese labeling to that effect is justifiable, if not particularly useful.
It could also argue successfully that the mission and the anticipated theater drive the form.
I saw a Mexican navy Fletcher in port a long time ago. It was the crustiest thing I've ever seen that floated.
One has become a naval museum in Veracruz Mx.
I toured the USS Kidd at its mooring in Baton Rouge, LA with my son. Pretty cool. Destroyers are not real big from that era. I can imagine the ride in a storm. I would no doubt be losing my lunch.
Modern destroyer’s (Spruance class) are bigger and have about 4 times the displacement. I toured the USS Ingersoll and it seemed comfortably larger. Not so bad in a storm maybe?
and then you're forgetting the Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers
haha a spruance will roll in a pond
Right tool at the right time in the right numbers, so basically the T 34 of the seas?
In its anti-ship role, the lethality of the Fletchers were certainly enhanced when the bureau of ordinance finally fixed the mark 14. Battle of Cape Saint George was made possible for the Fletchers by radar and the mark 14 performing as it was supposed to.
Mark 15 for the the DDs.
Right, but same problems
The submarine service fixed the 14 not the Bureau of Ordanance. ComSubPac got tired of hearing the same excuses an ordered his torpedo shop to investigste the problems. They discovered, then fixed the depth control, contact exploder, and deactivated that worthless magnetic exploder. Then they passed the info to the Surface forces so they could fix the 15.