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#31
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Mike Burleson
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Jun 13, 2006 11:40 PDT
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Greetings and welcome to this 31st edition of Navy Review, the
internet’s only naval history newsletter (that I know of). In this issue
look for ASTOUNDING navy news, AMAZING ocean battles, and AWESOME sea
lore! Enjoy!
LEAD STORY
Search for the New Capital Ship
Ironically, the man who instigated the building of the most powerful and
revolutionary warship of her day, HMS DREADNAUGHT, was convinced the day
of the battleship was near an end. Tragically, for his country, Admiral
John “Jackie” Fisher of the British Royal Navy was also convinced the
fast but thin-skinned battlecruiser would displace the DREADNAUGHT as
capital ship at sea.
When Sir Jackie came to head the Admiralty as First Sea Lord in October
1904, he was already convinced of the Navy’s obsolescence. To him, most
of the fleet which guarded Pax Britannica was “too weak to fight and too
slow to run away”. With the coming of modern technology at sea;
including naval mines, torpedoes, and the submarine, he felt only speed
could save his beloved battle fleet from impending doom.
Though the DREADNAUGHT, which was bigger, faster, and more heavily armed
than its contemporaries, would be Fisher’s legacy, it was on the
battlecruiser that the maverick admiral pinned his hopes. The first
three were named INVINCIBLE, INDOMITABLE, and INFLEXIBLE and began
appearing 2 years after DREADNAUGHT in 1908. Each was 17,000 tons, could
make 28 knots, and was armed with 8x12 inch guns. With a slightly
smaller armament and greatly reduced armor, the battlecruisers were also
cheaper to buy than battleships. Soon other nations were building the
speedy Titans as well as new dreadnaughts. Germany built the VON DER
TONN, a slower but better protected version of INVINCIBLE, and Japan
ordered KONGO from English shipyards, as well as constructing her own.
America belatedly joined the race by ordering 6x 35,000 ton LEXINGTONs
in 1916, but by then modern warfare had greatly altered the
battlecruiser’s fate.
In the summer of that year, Fisher’s new capital ships, under the
command of Admiral David Beatty, were not considered as such by the
navy, but adjuncts to the battlefleet under Admiral John Jellicoe. It
was as scouts the battlecruisers were seeking their counterparts of the
German High Seas Fleet off Jutland. By chance and dumb luck, Beatty
blundered into the entire German High Seas Fleet with 16 dreadnaughts.
In quick succession two battlecuisers were lost, including INDEFATIGABLE
and QUEEN MARY, with a third, INVINCIBLE, following the others to the
deep later that day. Beatty was heard to remark, “there’s something
wrong with our bloody ships today”.
There was something wrong with Fisher’s ships, both in the design and
concept. The First Sea Lord had it right on the need for increased
speed, but more important was the need to increase their killing range.
Gunnery, which could reach out to 9000 yards was hardly better than in
Nelson’s day a century earlier. Obviously, something better was needed
to counter new weapons at sea.
Already, Fisher’s new capital ship was taking shape, though he had
little inkling of its nature. The first successful heavier-than-air
craft was flown in America in 1905, the same year Fisher entered the
Admiralty. Before World War 1, the Royal Naval Air Service was formed
and experimented with air-launched torpedoes. In 1915, the first
successful carrier raid was conducted by the British, sinking three
Turkish steamers in Istanbul Harbor.
Though the first seaplane carrier HMS HERMES was ready in 1913, the
world’s first fix-wing carrier was a converted battlecruiser, HMS
FURIOUS, conversion completed in 1918. Though she entered service too
late to see significant action, her speed of 30-32 knots and the
capability of her aircraft inspired the imaginations of future
strategists.
After the Washington Naval Conference, Britian, Japan, and America
possessed a surplus of battlecruisers, whose role of scouting for the
fleet was in doubt after Jutland. The US converted the giant and
unfinished LEXINGTON and SARATOGA into carriers capable of loading up to
120 planes. Both entered service in 1927-28. Japan converted two of her
own battlecruisers, starting with AKAGI and AMAGI. When an earthquake
damaged the latter in 1923, she was replaced by KAGA of 28 knots. These
speedy and powerful ships could carry over 60 aircraft, entering service
in 1927 and 1928 respectively.
Great Britain followed FURIOUS with COURAGEOUS and GLORIOUS, the last,
which joined the fleet in 1930. Both were fast at 31 knots, but
originally created as “light battlecruisers”, were smaller than the
Japanese and American conversions. Only 30 aircraft were typically
loaded.
It was these conversions, which gave interwar Admirals their first
glimpse of future carrier task forces. The new ships, with their
long-ranging aircraft quickly overtook the cruiser’s role as scouts for
the fleet. Meanwhile far seeing naval strategists also planned aerial
attacks with bombs and torpedoes against surface ships. During the years
before the next world war, numerous exercises were conducted by the
major navies, which would extend war at sea from the gun range to the
extended spans of airpower.
Britain quickly fell behind in the race, with her inadequate ships and a
Naval Air Service under the control of the newly formed RAF. It was left
to the rising powers of America and Japan to fully develop the new
capital ship into war winners. The converted vessels were the backbone
of the three navies well into World War 2 and the mold was set from
Fisher’s bold, but ultimately flawed design. With new weaponry and at
ranges the First Sea Lord never imagined, the battlecruiser finally came
of age.
FACT- John Parkins was a black son of slaves who joined the Royal Navy,
eventually captaining the brig ENDEAVOR and later the frigates TURK and
AHAB, before retiring in 1805.
*********
NAVY NEWS
USS ORISKANY SUNK: The decommissioned ESSEX class carrier was sunk on
May 17 off Pensacola Florida as an artificial reef. The 32,000 ton
Vietnam Vet became the property of the state of Florida as it landed on
the ocean floor. With the success of the Oriskany sinking, the Navy
plans to offer other retired vessels to the Environmental Protection
Agency for scuttling. For remarkable photos of the sinking, check out
the links section below.
IRAN’S SUPER TORPEDO: Earlier this year, the Iranian Navy proclaimed it
possessed a powerful new underwater rocket called the “Hoot”.
Apparently, this new weapon is similar to the Russian “Shkval” torpedo,
which reportedly has an undersea speed of 200 knots. An Iranian military
spokesman declared "even if an enemy's warship sonar can detect the
missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high
speed."
NAVY SHIP BUILT WITH WTC STEEL: The amphibious assault ship USS NEW YORK
is the first naval vessel to be constructed with steel salvaged from the
ruined Worlds Trade Center, which was destroyed by terrorists on
September 11, 2001. The amphibious ship building at Avondale Louisiana
shipyards also survived last year’s Hurricane Katrina. The $1 billion
NEW YORK is about half completed and is expected to launch in mid-2007.
DDX NAMED: The US Navy’s newest destroyer class is the DDG-1000 USS
ZUMWALT, formerly the DDX. The 12,000-ton warship is named after famed
Vietnam War Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt, Jr.
The ZUMWALT is a powerful class of vessels, with stealth features, all
electric drive, and missile tubes dispersed on deck for greater
survivability. The Navy originally planned for up to 30 of the $3
billion each ships, but rising costs has reduced this number to perhaps
2.
*********
NAVY BIOGRAPHY
Admiral Jackie Fisher
Admiral Jackie Fisher is best remembered for ordering the construction
of HMS DREADNAUGHT, but during his 50+ years in Britain’s Royal Navy, he
was always leading the call for change. John Arbuthnot “Jackie” Fisher
was born on January 25, 1841 to an ex-Army officer and failed coffee
planter in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). In 1854, he was appointed a cadet in
England’s sea service by the last of Nelson’s Captains, Sir William
Parker. Jackie later served on Britain’s first ironclad battleship HMS
WARRIOR. At the gunnery school on HMS EXCELLENT, he experimented with
naval mines, breech-loading cannon, and torpedoes; all revolutionary
technology in their day. As gunnery officer on HMS OCEAN, he devised an
electrical apparatus which fired all ship’s guns at the touch of a
button. At the Bombardment of Alexandria in 1881, Fisher was captain of
the Royal Navy’s most powerful battleship, HMS INFLEXIBLE. He coined
the term “destroyer” for a new class of warship to defeat the torpedo
boat threat. Jackie also encouraged the adoption of the Whitehead
torpedo, when it was scorned by Battleship Admirals. From 1899-02, he
was Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, which he placed on a
wartime footing. He trained his ships tirelessly, sailing from one end
of the Med to the other, later boasting, “I have burnt 10,000 more tons
of coal than my predecessors”. What Fisher did here, he would later
recreate on a grand scale throughout the navy. Sir Jackie came to the
Admiralty as First Sea Lord on Trafalgar Day, Oct. 21, 1904. He
immediately set about making what was then the world’s greatest fleet
even better. First, he changed the balance of power in Europe by
recalling battleships from far off stations such as China and the Med.
He could do this because of recent treaties signed with Japan and
France. Next, he scrapped 154 older and useless warships, including
gunboats, which upheld Pax Britannica for decades. Fisher replaced them
with newer and faster ships, or not at all. He greatly improved naval
gunnery by appointing Percy Scott as Inspector of Target Practice.
Officer training was improved and a Reserve Fleet was established which
exercised for 2 weeks, 4 times a year. This latter move was said to
improve the fighting power of the fleet threefold. The First Sea Lord’s
most notable achievement, of course, was the building of the
DREADNAUGHT. Battleships at the turn of the last century normally were
armed with 4 main guns of 12 inches, plus numerous smaller calibers of
9, 8, 6, and 4 inches. During gunnery practice at sea, it was often hard
to tell the difference in splashes to judge accuracy. Fisher proposed
all “all big gun” solution, which would make every other capital ship
obsolete. A year and a day transpired after the laying of the keel to
her joining the fleet, an amazing feet for so revolutionary a vessel.
HMS DREADNAUGHT caught all the world’s navies off guard, including the
rising power of the German Fleet. Hereafter all new battleships would be
called “dreadnaughts”. Fisher’s next marvel was less successful.
Initially known as a dreadnaught cruiser, then battlecruiser, HMS
INVINCIBLE was designed to defeat armored cruisers in commerce warfare.
She possessed the speed of a cruiser with the firepower of a battleship,
but lacked the latter’s armor. During the Battle of Jutland, Britain
lost three of the massive ships and thousands of sailors in quick
succession due to this critical fault. Just before he retired in 1909,
Fisher was made a Baron. He was recalled briefly at the start of the
Great War as First Sea Lord, but soon retired again in May 1915. He died
of cancer in 1920.
FACT- Admiral Bertram Ramsey, who commanded the rescue of Britain’s Army
at Dunkirk in 1940, also commanded the returning naval forces during the
D-Day invasions of June 1944.
*********
UNKNOWN WARSHIPS
Amazing combat vessels that were never built.
BRITISH N3 BATTLESHIPS: These 48,000-ton behemoths were planned
immediately after World War 1 as a match for American and Japanese
super-battleships under construction. Ordered along with the G3
battlecruisers, these ships were to have carried 9x18 inch cannons plus
16x6 inchers, and up to 15 inches of armor, at speeds of 23.5 knots.
Four vessels were planned but all were cancelled due to the Washington
Naval Conference of 1921.
MONTANA CLASS BATTLESHIPS: Five MONTANA class battleships were ordered
by America under the ‘Two Ocean Navy Act” of 1940. These 60,000-ton
giants would have loaded 12x16 inch guns, plus 20x5 in cannons on a
length of 921 feet. With 18-inch armor, they were well protected against
battleships of equal armament. They were not built in answer to the
Japanese YAMATO class, as the exact specifications of these vessels were
unknown until after the war. All were cancelled in July 1943 in favor of
more carrier construction.
USS UNITED STATES: Ordered in July 1948, the UNITED STATES was the first
in a planned five supercarriers. Displacement was 68,000 tons and
aircraft would have included nuclear bombers weighing 100,000 pounds
each. These were odd vessels with no island and two deck edge catapults
plus two more, and an open bow. The nuclear bomber mission interfered
with the Air Force’s planned bomber program, and the UNITED STATES was
canceled in April 1949, three days after the keel was laid.
CVA-01: These 54,400 ton, 890 foot long vessels would have been
Britain’s entry into the supercarrier era. Two ships were planned to
replace war-built carriers, with lead ship named HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH,
also the class name of the current CVF program. Armament would have
included Sea Dart SAMs and up to 50 aircraft including Phantoms and
Buccaneers. The cancellation of the CVA-01 in 1966 was a serious blow to
the Royal Navy, only partly rectified by the building of three
ILLUSTIOUS class light carriers in the 1970’s.
STRIKE CRUISER (CSGN-1): First proposed in 1974 in answer to the
powerful Soviet KIROV class battlecruisers, these were to have been
enlarged versions of the VIRGINIA class nuclear-powered cruisers.
Formidable ships, they would have weighed 17,000 tons, equipped with
Aegis radar plus SM-2 Standard SAMs, Harpoon and Tomahawk cruise
missiles. A cost of $1.4 billion was tremendous in 1970’s dollars, which
may have led to their cancellation in 1977. Their mission, save for
Aegis radar and SAMs, were basically duplicated by the IOWA battleship
conversions of the 1980’s.
ARSENAL SHIP: This was a planned replacement in the 1990’s for the US
Navy’s retired battleships, with an all-missile, low-cost platform. A
total of four to six vessels were planned, with up to 500 missiles of
all types in vertical launchers, to enter service starting in 2000.
Costs of $500 million were conceived by basically creating a “no frills”
missile-carrying barge, with a crew of 50. Weapons would have included
Tomahawk and Standard missiles, plus the Army’s Tactical Missile System
for battlefield support. This revolutionary warship was cancelled in
1997 in favor of new destroyer and carrier construction.
FACT-The pirate term “buccaneer” comes from a Caribbean word “boucan”
which is a wooden rack for drying meat.
*********
SEA FIGHTS ON A SHOESTRING
Battle of Solebay 28 March 1672
The fate of nations often hinges on minor circumstances, as the saying
goes “for want of a nail”. For the young Dutch Republic in 1672, its
future was determined by a miscommunication between two powerful allies.
Protestant England and Catholic France were unlikely partners in their
goal to defeat Protestant Netherlands. Their objective was twofold:
Britain under Charles II wished to destroy Dutch trade. The Sun King
Louis XIV, wanted to destroy Holland and add it to his Empire. The Dutch
Fleet of 70 warships was led by audacious Admiral Michel de Ruyter. The
legendary sea-fighter could only hit the enemy with a preemptive strike
to save his beleaguered nation. The allied fleet of 90 vessels lay at
anchor off Solebay, busy taking on provisions and crew members, when de
Ruyter chose to attack. James Duke of York, the king’s brother,
commanded the English in PRINCE along with the Earl of Sandwich in ROYAL
JAMES. In charge of the French was the Count d’Estrees in ST. PHILLIPE,
who proved less than capable in the coming fight. Despite being less
than prepared, the allies sold boldly toward the Dutch. Unexpectedly the
French did not, but sailed away from the battle. The reason for this was
probably confusion in signals, but the apparent cowardice of d’Estrees
would have lasting repercussions. The Duke of York’s force was now half
that of the Dutch. Yet, he fearlessly continued the struggle, even as
PRINCE was besieged on all sides and assaulted by fire ships. An admirer
of James later declared of the Duke’s bravery under fire, he was
“General, Soldier, Pilot, Master, Seaman”. Even James’ courage could not
save his stricken vessel, and he soon transferred the flag to ST.
MICHAEL. The Earl of Sandwich endured his own desperate clash. ROYAL
JAMES fought until completely ablaze. While attempting to escape from
the inferno, the Earl drowned as panicky crewmen overturned his boat.
Despite being nearly overwhelmed, the English held their own until
sunset, when the Dutch withdrew. De Ruyter lost two ships as prizes and
two more to battle damage. The Royal Navy suffered the loss of ROYAL
JAMES and its valiant captain, the Earl of Sandwich. Both sides claimed
victory and both were right. The Anglo-French alliance never recovered
over the apparent betrayal of d’Estrees. Soon England had a new rival at
sea to contend with. The Dutch nation was saved and eventually her
leader, William of Orange, would become King of England in the Glorious
Revolution of 1688. By then, her many enemies on land would end Holland
as a threat to British seapower. By the 1700’s the stage was set for the
century long struggle between Britain and France, which finally climaxed
at the Battle of Trafalgar.
FACT- Another pirate term is freebooter, from the French “filibustier”.
*********
STRANGE SEA TALES
The Navy’s High Flying Aircraft Carriers
Imagine a fleet of warships able to cruise at 100 knots, out of reach of
marauding submarines and surface craft. Consider further these same
vessels launching waves of bombers and fighter planes from her massive
bowels, striking unsuspecting foes before they can react. Such was the
expectations of the US Navy’s fleet of rigid airships in the 1920’s and
30’s, as instigated by America’s “Father of Naval Aviation” Admiral
William Moffet. Despite having lost two giant airships to tragic
accidents, including the mighty SHENANDOAH, the Navy forged ahead with
her plans for “flying aircraft carriers”. The new ships were the ZRS-4
and ZRS-5, more famously remembered as AKRON and MACON. Before they were
ready, aircraft hook-on experiments were conducted by the fleet’s sole
remaining airship, LOS ANGELES, made on July 3 1929. Success was
achieved by using a “trapeze” apparatus to catch the planes in-flight, a
practice which soon became routine. The first planes so utilized were
Vought UO-1s, soon followed by NSY-1 trainers and Curtiss Sparrowhawk
fighters. With the premise of flying aircraft carriers proven, the first
vessel with a hangar was received. The AKRON (built in Akron, Ohio) was
christened on August 8, 1931. At 785 feet long, she was the largest
airship in the world, though she could carry only two aircraft in hangar
plus a third on the trapeze. Trials with the Sparrowhawk in June 1932
proved unsatisfactory; the plane was replaced by an improved version.
Throughout that year, AKRON conducted a strenuous series of exercises
proving the value of aircraft from airships for scouting purposes. MACON
joined the aerial fleet in 1933 (hangar-less LOS ANGLELES was soon
retired), as Admiral Moffet’s concept seemed assured. So confident was
the Admiral in his ships that he took off with AKRON in a dense fog, for
a cruise up the New England coast. Caught in a storm, the giant vessel
crashed in the sea, with only three crewmembers surviving. William
Moffet was not one of these. With the airship’s primary backer gone,
their future was in doubt. All hope rested on MACON. The new ship was
much the same as lost AKRON, save for being faster and carrying double
the aircraft. She was commissioned on April 23, 1933 by future World War
2 Navy Chief Admiral Ernest King. Homebase became Sunnyvale California,
in the newly named Moffet Field. Like her predecessors, MACON’s early
years were utilized in practicing with her Sparrowhawks, as well as
conducting operations with the fleet. On one such exercise over the
Pacific, she made a surprise attack on a group Navy cruisers, including
the HOUSTON with President Franklin Roosevelt onboard. Her planes
accurately “bombed” the ship with magazines and newspapers, to the
astonishment of the sailors. MACON’s captain received a slap on the
wrist by his superiors for the unscheduled attack, and a “job well done”
from the President. MACON’s star was on the rise as she continued to
astound the public and the fleet with her versatility. As always
however, just when things were going well for the airships, disaster
struck. This accured soon after the flying carrier let Moffet field on
February 11, 1935. An earlier accident had weakened the great ship’s
superstructure, unknown to her crew, and the old wound came back to
haunt her. Returning home after a rigorous training exercise in which
her fighters located and tracked fleet units, the aft section suddenly
ruptured. MACON hit the water tail first, with most of the crew escaping
to lift rafts. Only two perished, but with them went the dream of flying
aircraft carriers. The basic premise as devised by Moffet and others had
been sound, as the launch and recovery of Sparrowhawk fighters in fleet
trials proved. Their majestic appearance at air shows and media
fascination may have kept the idea alive longer than it should. It was
the inherent instability of rigid airships and their vulnerability in
almost any adverse weather, which finally doomed them, plus taking the
life of their most ardent supporter.
FACT-America’s first aircraft carrier USS LANGELY (CV-1) carried a
pigeon coop on board, this being the principle means of communication
between airplane and base at the time. The coop was soon discarded as
the birds had difficulty finding a constantly moving base.
*********
SEA LINKS
Navy Matters-The Future of the Royal Navy
http://navy-matters.beedall.com/index.html
USS ORISKANY Photos-Photos of the sinking.
http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/003749.html#more
Blogging about Battlewagons
http://brickmuppet.blogspot.com/2006/05/soolets-blog-on-battlewagons.html
Views of USS MACON’s air group
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zrs5-m.htm
The US Navy's Lighter-than-Air Experience
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/lta-m.html
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Until next time, God Bless, and remember our troops!
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