Inside the Navy’s Iowa Class Battleship, a Warship So Powerful It Was Brought Back From the Dead 3

[rangerrebew]

Inside the Navy’s Iowa Class Battleship, a Warship So Powerful It Was Brought Back From the Dead 3 Times
 
Kyle Mizokami [2]

By the late 1980s the Soviet Union was visibly on the decline, and starting in 1989 the Navy made plans to retire the battleships yet again. On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait, and in response a massive American sea, air and land force was sent to defend Saudi Arabia. While Iowa and New Jersey were in the process of being decommissioned, Missouri and Wisconsin were deployed to the Persian Gulf. During Operation Desert Storm, the campaign to liberate Kuwait, both battleships fired Tomahawk missiles at Iraqi targets and bombarded Iraqi ground forces. As the Missouri did during the Korean War, both battlewagons conducted naval fire missions to convince Iraqi forces an amphibious assault was imminent, tying up thousands of Iraqi Army forces that were forced to defend the coastline.

 
Source URL (retrieved on April 3, 2018): http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/inside-the-navys-iowa-class-battleship-warship-so-powerful-25181

[WingNot]

If those ships are firing at you, you better put your brown pants on.

[Cyber Liberty]

There is another battleship, Pennsylvania Class, that is still commissioned to this day, unmentioned in the story.  It's not going out to sea again anyway.  Other than that, there are no Battleships.  Ignorant journalists now refer to any Naval vessel as a "battleship."

[Free Vulcan]

Never get tired of the big boom.

[GtHawk]

There is another battleship, Pennsylvania Class, that is still commissioned to this day, unmentioned in the story.  It's not going out to sea again anyway.  Other than that, there are no Battleships.  Ignorant journalists now refer to any Naval vessel as a "battleship."

Are you sure because I thought there were only two the Arizona and the Pennsylvania. The Arizona became a memorial after its sinking at Pearl Harbor and the Pennsylvania was used at Bikini and then sunk in 1948.

With the Japanese surrender on 2 September, the Puget Sound repairs were limited to those necessary to ensure Pennsylvania's delivery to Bikini Atoll for atomic experiments in July 1946. The old battleship survived the tests, but was decommissioned on 29 August and used for radiological studies before being sunk as a target ship on 10 February 1948. Pennsylvania was struck from the Navy Vessel Register nine days later.[46]

[Cyber Liberty]

Are you sure because I thought there were only two the Arizona and the Pennsylvania. The Arizona became a memorial after its sinking at Pearl Harbor and the Pennsylvania was used at Bikini and then sunk in 1948.

With the Japanese surrender on 2 September, the Puget Sound repairs were limited to those necessary to ensure Pennsylvania's delivery to Bikini Atoll for atomic experiments in July 1946. The old battleship survived the tests, but was decommissioned on 29 August and used for radiological studies before being sunk as a target ship on 10 February 1948. Pennsylvania was struck from the Navy Vessel Register nine days later.[46]

Only the Arizona is still commissioned.

[skeeter]

Only the Arizona is still commissioned.

Not in commission, but title retained by the navy. She still retains the right to fly the flag but is under the control of the park service.

BTW the USS Texas is close to the Pennsylvania class (preceding it by a couple of years), was never really updated and is still afloat and well worth visiting if you're ever in Houston.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

Here  - 
https://youtu.be/s1i-dnAH9Y4  -   is a 40 minute video explaining all the mechanical computation mechanisms behind the entire fire control system. Everything from multiplication to full blown integration operations were performed with only mechanical systems so that enlisted personnel could fire on a moving target from a moving platform. Beautiful stuff.

[skeeter]

Here  - 
https://youtu.be/s1i-dnAH9Y4  -   is a 40 minute video explaining all the mechanical computation mechanisms behind the entire fire control system. Everything from multiplication to full blown integration operations were performed with only mechanical systems so that enlisted personnel could fire on a moving target from a moving platform. Beautiful stuff.

Here's another one detailing the physical loading and firing of the 16" rifles. Imagine this process was repeated every 20-30 seconds for as long as it took to destroy the target. Starting at about 3:30.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OmOQs0ziSU

I'm sure alot of guys gave quite a few fingers in the process, to say the least.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

November 1942: Jean Bart at Casablanca, Morocco showing battle damage received in her engagement with USS Massachusetts BB-59 and from aerial bombing during the Operation Torch landings Nov. 8-11, 1942



More pics on this page:

http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/france/battleships/jean_bart/jean_bart.htm

[thackney]

Not in commission, but title retained by the navy. She still retains the right to fly the flag but is under the control of the park service.

BTW the USS Texas is close to the Pennsylvania class (preceding it by a couple of years), was never really updated and is still afloat and well worth visiting if you're ever in Houston.

While it is certainly worth visiting along with the rest of San Jacinto Park, describing the USS Texas as floating is a stretch.  It sets on the bottom and leaks terribly.

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/pasadena/news/article/Battleship-Texas-needs-citizens-to-rally-to-save-11750909.php

..."We pump about 300,000 gallons of water a day out of the Battleship Texas," said Bruce Bramlett, executive director of the Battleship Texas Foundation. "There are places on the ship where the hull is so thin you can poke your finger through it. So we're constantly pumping water out and patching holes and the water is constantly seeping back in."...

..."Right now when we have a leak, we have divers feeling around in the dark trying to find and fix those leaks," he said. "Sometimes, the leaks are below the mudline - it's a terrible way to try and fix an issue. If we were able to control the water, it would be much easier - and cheaper in the long run - to fix these problems."...

[skeeter]

While it is certainly worth visiting along with the rest of San Jacinto Park, describing the USS Texas as floating is a stretch.  It sets on the bottom and leaks terribly.

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/pasadena/news/article/Battleship-Texas-needs-citizens-to-rally-to-save-11750909.php

Didn't know Texas sat on the bottom. I have heard they are planning to put her in a dry berth.

[Cyber Liberty]

Didn't know Texas sat on the bottom. I have heard they are planning to put her in a dry berth.

They usually do with the Museums.  I think the carrier (Yorktown) in Charleston SC is.

[thackney]

Didn't know Texas sat on the bottom. I have heard they are planning to put her in a dry berth.

As near as I can tell from searching some more, it is an ongoing battle of the berth silting up and funds available to dredge out.  It used to be far worse, stuck in the mud and lower compartments flooded.

They talk about finding leaks below the mud line.  It may not carry the weight on the bottom, but it isn't free and clear like a normal docking either.