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#34
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Mike Burleson
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Mar 16, 2007 11:06 PST
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Greetings and Welcome to a New Year with Navy Review. Today we look back
at the Top Navy News from 2006, plus our usual selection of the best sea
stories on the Web. Enjoy!
LEAD STORY
During the first few years of the Second World War, from 1939-41, all 3
of the great aircraft carrier navies had the wrong idea on the proper
use of the new weapon at sea. Mainly through Fate, dumb luck, accident,
and desperation were the correct tactics developed which made the
carrier the dominant warship for the rest of the war.
Unluckily for the Allies, Japan made the fewest mistakes early on.
Before the start of the conflict, she organized her fast carriers into a
single striking fleet, at the time the most powerful naval force on
earth. Under command of Admiral Nagumo, these made the devastating
attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, plunging the US into the global
conflict. Japan was soon forced to disperse this overwhelming battle
fleet to defend her newly won empire. At Midway in the summer of 1942,
only 4 of her fleet of 10 flattops were present, a severe degradation of
strength that cost the island nation the battle, and likely the war.
Britain made the most mistakes, especially before WW 2. At the end of
the First World War in 1918, she possessed the first and only aircraft
carriers and quickly expanded her lead into the 1920s. Soon, she lost
this early lead primarily due to the lack of adequate aircraft, thanks
to the Royal Air Force takeover of the Naval Air Service, and converted
ships that carried too few airplanes.
In the 1930’s, the Royal Navy built only one carrier that matched US and
Japanese warships. The ARK ROYAL could load about 72 warplanes though
she rarely carried so many, so destitute was the naval air wing. As war
loomed in the mid to late 1930s, the sensible plan would have been to
construct even more of these fine vessels. Due to the lack of
high-performance aircraft at sea, plus the likelihood of the Navy
sailing close to land-based airpower, the new ILLUSTRIOUS armored
carriers were ordered instead.
The ILLUSTRIOUS was an ingenious, though expensive design: a fast
carrier with armored hangars and flight deck to protect the ship from
aerial attack. This great asset was also a major drawback, since she
could carry less than half the aircraft complement of foreign navies.
Plus, when damaged, the new ships required an extensive stay in dry dock
for repairs. The Americans discovered a wooden flight deck was much
easier to repair in a war zone, and a well-trained damage party could
frequently perform wonders to a wounded vessel.
Despite the inferiority of her carrier fleet, Britain was fortunate in
having no peer in European waters. Early on, she dispersed her fleet
into individually powerful Task Forces, such as the famous Force H,
foreshadowing the US practice of the Cold War. Even obsolete bi-planes
like the Swordfish torpedo bomber were adequate against German and
Italian capital ships. Spectatucalir victories such as the destruction
of the battleship BISMARCK and the Battle of Taranto were performed by
the Royal Navy’s much-loved “Stringbags”.
Before the war, America had little inkling what global power she would
gain thanks to her powerful carrier fleet. Though she experimented with
multiple carrier task forces in the 1920s and 30s, when the war started
these were dispersed to ferry warplanes to land bases such as at Guam
and Wake Island. After Pearl Harbor, individual carriers made
hit-and-run raids on Japanese outposts, which forced the enemy to
disperse her own flattops to hunt down her adversaries.
The US was blessed with excellently constructed, well-equipped warships.
The two massive LEXINGTON and SARATOGA plus the 3 YORKTOWN class were
pure weapons platforms, making the most of their hulls to carry the
maximum number of aircraft. Even the lighter WASP and RANGER could load
up to 70 planes. American naval aircraft were superior to the British,
plus initially inferior to the Japanese, but were rugged and able to
absorb much punishment and keep flying.
The famed Battle of Midway didn’t defeat the Japanese, but certainly
halted their unprecedented period of expansion. The turn of the tide
came later at Guadalcanal, where the US Navy was often bested by a
better-trained and equipped Imperial Navy. At times, she was down to
only a single carrier to defend the islands ( the USS ENTERPRISE once
with half her flight deck out of operation). The conflict hinged on not
who won the most battles, but who could endure the loss of men and ships
the longest. This was the US Navy, who by the middle of the war,
possessed new and better warplanes and ships, plus new and well-trained
crews, able to sail these new unbeatable weapons into the enemy
heartland.
NAUTICAL NOTES
-Bronze Age seafarers constructed their ships not with nails or wooden
pegs, but assembled with water soaked ropes or yew, in a process known
as “boat stitching”.
-The Dromon (racer) was the Byzantine Empire’s successor to the large
galleys of ancient Greece and Rome. They were smaller, with 2-banks of
oars, faster, and easier to build.
*********
NAVY NEWS
USS KENNEDY TO DECOMMISSION-Rumors abounded for years, and now the
40-year-old “Big John” will be retired in an official ceremony on March
23. The 82,000 ton, 1000 foot KENNEDY was commissioned in 1967 as the
last of the Navy’s fossil fuel super carriers. The only other
conventionally powered flattop is the USS KITTY HAWK, scheduled for
retirement in 2008.
NEW CARRIER NAMED USS GERALD FORD-The Navy’s newest class of aircraft
was officially named after the recently deceased President Gerald R.
Ford, on January 16. Ford served in the Navy in WW 2, attaining the rank
of lieutenant commander. GERALD R. FORD (CVN-78) was formally CVN-21,
and will carry the US carrier force into the new century, with a planned
9 vessels to be constructed by 2050.
WORK HALTED ON 3RD LITTORAL SHIP-The US Navy ordered Lockheed Martin to
halt work for at least 90 days on its traditional monohull version of
the littoral combat ship, LCS-3. A surge in procurement costs, from a
planned $200 million to $350 million has the Navy seeking the root
cause. Plans are still for up to 60 of the multi-mission, 3000-ton
warships top are built.
HALF OF ROYAL NAVY IN MOTHBALLS-A controversy erupting in the Royal Navy
is the continued downsizing of what was once the worlds most powerful
fleet, to pay for new warships. 13 of the British Navy’s 44 warships are
already in mothballs with 8 more warships expected to follow. In
addition, 2 of a planned 8 new Type 45 anti-air warfare destroyers will
be cancelled. The expected savings will go toward 2 new 60,000-ton QUEEN
ELIZABETH class aircraft carriers, the largest warships ever built in
the UK.
NEWEST VIRGINIA SUB DELIVERED-The third VIRGINIA class nuclear attack
submarine, USS HAWAII (SSN-776), was delivered by Electric Boat to the
Navy for trials in December. The $2.5 warship was the first in the US
Navy named after the 50th State and will be officially commissioned in
May of 2007. The VIRGINIA class is the first US major combatant geared
for the post-Cold War, littoral warfare environment, with 30 boats
expected to be bought.
USS SPRUANCE SUNK-The oldest ship of her class (DD-963) was
intentionally sunk on December 8 of last year. P-3C Orion and F/A-18
Hornet aircraft sank the 30 year old destroyer with Harpoon missiles in
a series of tests about 300 miles off the Virginia coast. SPRUANCE was
commissioned in September 1975, and left service in March 2005. She
spent her entire service based in the Atlantic Fleet, home ported at
Mayport, Florida.
*********
TOP NAVY NEWS OF 2006
GERMAN/ISRAEL SUB DEAL CONFIRMED-For 2 new DOLPHIN class.
US NAVY FLEET EXPANSION PLAN-From 281 to 313 in the next decade.
CONVERTED TRIDENT REJOINS THE FLEET- This is the USS OHIO, now a cruise
missile armed submarine.
AMERICA VS. SOMALI PIRATES-US Navy cracks down on new age buccaneers.
SO LONG TOMCATS-The last carrier launch of the superb F-14 Tomcat
fighter.
CVN-77 CHRISTENED-The last NIMITZ class carrier, the USS GEORGE HW BUSH.
THE CONTINUING SAGA OF THE USS KENNEDY-See above for update.
DDX RENAMED DDG-1000 ZUMWALT-Only 2 funded so far.
CARRIER ORISKANY SUNK AS A REEF-Off Pensacola, Florida!
NAVY ESTABLISHED FIRST RIVERENE GROUP-The first since the Vietnam War.
IRANIAN CRUISE MISSILE HITS ISRAEL CORVETTE-During the last year’s
conflict with Hezbollah.
NATO WARSHIPS OFF LEBANON-Including Germany’s largest deployment since
WW2.
POLISH NAVY FINDS GERMANY’S ONLY AIRCRAFT CARRIER-This was the GRAF
ZEPPELIN, off Gdansk.
MARINES FIGHT TO SAVE BATTLESHIPS-The last 2 IOWA class.
FIRST LCS LAUNCHED-This is the USS FREEDOM.
FRANCE ORDERS NEW ATTACK SUBS-Six BARRACUDA class.
IRANIAN UAV STALKS US CARRIER-Supposedly this was the USS REAGAN.
CHINESE SUB STALKED US CARRIER-This was a SONG class, in a month for
stalkings.
NAUTICAL NOTES
-Attempts before World War 1 to counter the submarine threat was to use
sea lions as underwater detectors and seagulls to spot periscopes.
-Another failed attempt to defeat the U-boats was to deploy picket boats
equipped with paper bags and hammers. Supposedly, the bag would fit over
the scope, while the hammer shattered the glass.
*********
NAVY BIOGRAPHY
Admiral Sergei Georgevich Gorshkov
February 26, 1910-May 13, 1988
Admiral Gorshkov was commander in chief of the Soviet Navy from
1956-1985. He was born in the Ukraine and joined the Navy in 1927 to
attend Frunze Military Academy, equivalent to America’s Annapolis Naval
College. He was a commander of cruisers in the Black Sea when the
Germans invaded in 1941. During that conflict, Gorshkov became adept at
amphibious operations, working closely with Red Army forces. While
supporting the ground troops using shallow water gunboats, he met future
Soviet leaders including Major General Leonid Brezhnev and Lt. General
Nikita Khrushchev.
After the war, Gorshkov’s Navy expanded greatly. Stalin’s post-war plans
included new battleships, heavy cruisers, and submarines. This ambitious
program came to a sudden halt with Stalin’s death in 1953 and the rise
of Khrushchev. The new leader had no love of big ships and cut the
Navy’s budget by 60%, but he did have the foresight to appoint Gorshkov
as Navy Chief. Gorshkov suffered through miniscule budgets with only the
sub fleet getting major funding. During this early stint, he oversaw the
birth of Russia’s nuclear program, which sought to match America’s own
early lead.
The Navy soon regained favor, especially after the Cuban Missile Crisis
in October 1963, when America’s superior fleet humbled Khrushchev’s own.
The Soviets now made the building of a surface fleet a priority. Soon,
new large missile cruisers, destroyers, and amphibious ships were seen
patrolling the world’s oceans. In the 1970’s, Gorshkov asked for and got
new light carriers of the Kiev class. Giant ballistic missile
submarines, including the 30,000-ton TYPHOON, largest undersea vessel in
the world were also ordered. By the 1980’s, new attack supercarriers
similar to those serving in the US Navy were under construction,
although only one was finished before the collapse of communism in 1991.
Fortunately, for the West, Admiral Gorshkov’s new fleet was never used
in combat. In late 1985, Gorshkov retired from active duty, dying just 3
years later as the sun was setting on the Soviet Union. Admiral Gorshkov
was elected a member of the Soviet Central Committee in 1961, became a
hero of the Soviet Union in 1965, and promoted to 5 star rank as Admiral
of the Fleet of the Soviet Union, the 3rd sailor to be so honored. In
1976, he published The Seapower of the State, considered a classic work
of naval strategy.
NAUTICAL NOTES
-In AD 467, Emperor Leo I of the Byzantium tried to retake Carthage from
the Vandals with a fleet of 1100 ships ferrying 100,000 troops. The
expedition was a disaster, nearly bankrupting the Empire.
-A smaller expedition, sent by Justinian the Great and led by famed
General Belisarius in 533 was more successful. The 500 ships of this
fleet carried 15,000 soldiers including 5000 cavalry, captured the city
and destroyed the Vandal kingdom.
*********
STRANGE SEA TALES
America Sinks the Royal Navy
(Without firing a shot!)
It was an offer the British couldn’t refuse. In order to avoid an
expensive battleship race between Japan, the United States, and England,
US Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes offered to discarded 845,740
tons of his nation’s battlefleet. In return, the Royal Navy would give
up only 583,375 tons, and the Japanese even less with 448,928 tons of
capital ships.
With the coming of peace again in 1918, American naval proponents were
urging the completion of the 1916 battleship program, which would give
the rising world power a “Navy second to none”. This building plan
involved the US Navy’s first battlecruisers, and new battlewagons armed
with up to 12x16 inch naval guns. The Imperial Japanese Navy, with plans
to defend her newly acquired ex-German colonies in the Pacific,
responded with an 8:8:8 program which included 16 inch armed fast
battleships and battlecruisers.
Enormously in debt and war weary, the British Admiralty was reluctantly
forced to respond to this renewed threat to her centuries-old supremacy
at sea. Still possessing the most efficient shipbuilding industry in the
world, the Royal Navy quickly drew up designs for 16-inch gun “Super
HOOD” battlecruisers and battleships armed with 18-inch cannon.
The stage was set for a new arms race similar to that which first led to
war with Germany. In truth, there was more enthusiasm within naval
circles, than with politicians and the public for a buildup at sea.
After the mass slaughter of a generation of Europeans in the Great War,
the Hughes offer met with a surprising interest. Three issues finally
sealed the deal: America could afford an Empire but didn’t want one;
Japan wanted an Empire but couldn’t afford it; Britain already possessed
an Empire and was determined to preserve it. The Washington Treaty of
1921 and the famous 5:5:3 capital ship proposal was the only way out for
all parties.
Only one holdout sought to maintain Britain’s naval superiority, Admiral
David Beatty, hero of the Battle of Jutland. The great admiral was part
of the British delegation to the Conference and saw naval parity with
America as heresy. When he continued to obstruct the proceedings, he was
ordered home.
Beatty’s fears were well founded as America had everything to gain from
the Treaty. Though she would scrap the largest share of warships, most
of these were vessels not yet completed. The bulk of her fleet were new
12 inch, 14 inch, and 16 inch gun battleships constructed during the
war, and protected by new all-or-nothing amour.
The bulk of the British Royal Navy were battle-worn pre-war veterans
save for a handful of thin-skinned battle cruisers including the
unfinished HOOD. The Treaty allowed her two new 16-inch battleships to
match existing US and Japanese ships. These were the 35,000-ton NELSON
and RODNEY, often derided as “Washington’s Cherry trees” because their
size was limited by the Washington Conference.
Before the war, Britain ruled the waves. After the 1921 Treaty, she
shared the waves with America and Japan. After the Second World War, the
US had defeated every rival in the quest for naval supremacy. In the
Royal Navy’s case, the once mighty Britannia was defeated without a shot
being fired.
NAUTICAL NOTES
-In all of the First World War, only 6 dreadnaughts and battle cruisers
were lost in action. In World War 2, where numbers in service were
greatly reduced, a total of 23 were lost.
-In the Second World War, 7 battleships and battle cruisers were sunk in
ship versus ship combat, still larger than the total lost in WW 1.
*********
SEA FIGHTS ON A SHOE STRING
The Battle of Dover
After humbling England’s King John into signing the Magna Charta (the
same John who was brother of the now deceased Richard the Lion Heart and
of the Robin Hood legends), in 1215 the victorious nobles overplayed
their luck. By allying themselves with Prince Louis of France, who sent
thousands of soldiers and hundreds of ships across the Channel, they
turned the English countryside against their cause. Eustace the Monk,
commander of the French Fleet, provided 600 ships and 80 cogs to ferry
Prince Louis and his 1200 knights to England. This awesome force landed
without opposition on Kent in May 1216, and proceeded directly toward
London. In their rear, they left the vital port of Dover uncaptured, a
blunder that would come back to haunt the Prince. The Royalist
supporters immediately took advantage of this oversight to fortify the
city, while warships from here sallied forth to interdict and harry the
French supply line. King John died in the fall of that year, leaving
Louis and the rebels in control of London and the eastern counties. By
this time, most of the English populace was against the hated French,
throwing their support behind the infant King Henry III. Repeated
attempts by the invaders to take Dover proved futile, and Louis was
forced back into London by May 1217. His drastic need for resupply from
the continent led to the Battle of Dover.
On the night of August 23-24, Robert of Courtenay sailed from Calais
with 70 heavily loaded nefs escorted by 10 large warships. In an attempt
to intercept this menace, the Governor of Dover, Hubert de Burgh sailed
with a fleet totaling 36 ships. Though outnumbered more than 2 to 1, the
English ships were probably larger and with an added advantage of having
the wind at their backs. De Burgh opened the engagement with a volley of
crossbows, then his sailors threw lime into the wind, blinding the
French sailors. Next, the two fleets closed to boarding action in the
ancient fashion of naval warfare. To save his fleet, Eustace boldly
guided his vessel into harm’s way and was quickly surrounded by 4
English warships. After a desperate struggle, the French flagship was
taken and Eustace executed on the spot. Only 15 of the French ships
escaped. Instead of the supplies going to Louis in London, the bulk went
to the victorious English. On September 11, the Prince signed a treaty
with Henry and returned to France with his troops. The Battle of Dover
is unique for being the first time the English used the “weather gage”
with sail alone to win a sea battle. It would not be the last.
NAUTICAL NOTES
-A grand total of 861 Allied ships took part in the Dunkirk Evacuation
of May 1940. Of these, 243 were sunk.
-Of the 781 German U-boats sunk in World War 2, British Commonwealth
forces accounted for 525.
*********
SEA LINKS
Video of the BEF Evacuation at Dunkirk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AZO0YfEOQw
Video: The end of USS Lexington (CV-2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfitj26bgU8
Video: Pre-war Torpedo Bombers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7F4YFB7tJM
Video: USS Enterprise Joins 7th Fleet (1965)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEFT0wPQo0Y
Video: USS Enterprise (CV6) Trip to Scrap Yard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQpOQA3xbjg
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That’s all for this edition. Until next time, take care and remember our
troops in harms way!
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