Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Pelican
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Update: Attempt to Refloat Museum Ship USS The Sullivans Underway

See - http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2022/04/upda ... more-59151
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
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Pelican
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Pelican wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:18 pm Update: Attempt to Refloat Museum Ship USS The Sullivans Underway

See - http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2022/04/upda ... more-59151
See - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecJsMPCOCLA - Link from Tim.
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
greendragon
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Sinking of USS Johnston during the Samar battle.
In the USN official report (Destroyer Report, Gunfire, bomb....) of sinking of this ship the conclusion is that actually the ship in better tactical situation would be probably saved.
In long gunnery battle in which she was hit by numerous shells of virtually all calibers (though doubts are raised if there were hits of bigger than 8in caliber) the IJN had on their ships many were of just minor effect on the USS Johnston buoyancy and actually flooding of the two big rear machinery compartments was slow.
The ship definitely lost power at 0949hrs when forward boiler room was hit and flooded.
When the ship was immobilized there were no raging fires on the ship, flooding was slow enough to permit control.
The ship rolled over and sunk because doors forward were left open to speed the sinking.
The other interesting part of the report is controversy that while after action report of the most senior officer survived said that ship with one propeller locked and dragging had speed 17kts with 350 RPM - while - (as per trials ?) it should be around 25kts with the 350 RPM. Amazing power of the DD machinery, indeed.

gd
Brian James
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Exercised with this ol' girl a few times....WWII veteran, Fletcher Class Destroyer USS Ingersoll pictured off San Diego on October 22nd 1966.
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greendragon
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Probably applied to all the USN DDs in the Pacific theatre.
I have found in the Damages Report of the USN DDs as evaluated in the Chief of Naval Operations, USN was said that many (all?) engineering personnel of the USN DDs used to open valves and tons of sea was let in to the level of machinery/boiler spaces decks.
This was done when attack on a DD of was imminent and this 3feet of sea would provide hiding for the seamen when high pressure steam pipes would be broken - with the deadly horrible effect on the machinery spaces seamen.
The USN superiors advised commanding officers to discourage "black gangs" of doing this for obvious reasons but document did not clearly forbade this procedure.
It is also said that actually there were no evidence that the amount of water on bottom of the ships in any way made buoyancy effected for the ships which were hit.

gd
Brian James
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Fletcher Class Destroyer USS Johnston pictured on commissioning at Seattle on October 27th 1943...Johnston was laid down at Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Yard in May 1942 and was launched on March 25th 1943. She entered active duty in October 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans and was assigned to the US Pacific Fleet. Johnston provided naval gunfire support for American ground forces during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in January and February 1944 and again, after three months of patrol and escort duty in the Solomon Islands, during the recapture of Guam in July. Thereafter, Johnston was tasked with escorting Escort Carriers during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and the liberation of the Philippines.
On October 25th 1944, while assigned as part of the escort to six Escort Carriers, Johnston, two other Fletcher Class Destroyers, and four Destroyer Escorts were engaged by a large Imperial Japanese Navy flotilla. In what became known as the Battle off Samar, Johnston and the other escort ships charged the Japanese ships to protect nearby US Carriers and transport craft. After engaging several Japanese capital ships and a Destroyer squadron, Johnston was sunk with 187 dead, including Evans. Johnston's wreck was discovered on October 30th 2019 but was not properly identified until March 2021. Lying more than 20,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, it was the deepest shipwreck ever surveyed until the discovery of USS Samuel B. Roberts on June 22nd 2022.
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designeraccd
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Here she is being launched, 25 March, '43! :) Also, in '44 wearing camo........ DFO
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greendragon
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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The battle off Samar in which small forces of couple of destroyers and numerous aircraft stopped mighty IJN forces from destroying CVes and even worse to inflict serious losses to supply ships gathered around Leyte landing area are very well known.
Quite rightly it has ben described then and now as victory of brave hearts over overwhelming forces.
There is sort of challenge to describe today nd then in the most biggest words the "last stand of the tin-cans sailors" for which they absolutely deserve.

The last phase of the battle , namely failure of quick rescue of the survivors - which should be remembered were about 900 men (!) plus in sea - of the battle is covered with a little bit of "fog of war".
Quite often the ordeal of survivors and amazing failure of the USN to save life of the heroic matelots are put under a carpet with just couple of words that something of that sort has happened.

This is true that the wrong coordinates which two times sent rescue vessels far astray from the survivors are presented as main reason.
One question is unanswered: why more energetic search was not executed after failure of finding the men; hours and even days were passing and none was found.
In this bad luck one thing was in their favor: winds and currents kept the survivors together in some small area and they were not dispersed far and in all directions.

There were so many ships during the battle and no doubt a proper and precise plotting was carried out. There were also number of the USN aircraft who spotted the survivors and for sure reported their sightings.
RADM Spraque who blamed his commander in unusual criticism (among top Brass) wrote "..this was a disgrace, and I blame Kinkaid who promised rescue ships upon my demand".
He also mentioned that after leaving all his escort DDs and DDEs for rescuing crew of USS StLo he was left alone with his battered CVEs for some twelve hours without any support.
The number of the KIA and WIA on each of the ship during combat and those who died among the survivors are known by name but the most appalling is that estimated 116 of them died of wounds , drown, being attacked by sharks in the period of three days and two nights after the battle.

Another book by pure coincidence shows that in that period of war - or might be in the 7th Fleet only - there was some sort of policy which seems to be different from the so well known before actions which was strong will to rescue survivors.
In Abandon at the Leyte, a FM pilot Doy Duncan from one of the other group of the CVEs remembers that being shot down over the Leyte Bay was not rescued until friendly Filipinos sighted and saved him after two-three days in his dinghy finally delivering him to anti Japanese guerillas.
He returned to his escort carrier couple of weeks later and found out that reason he was not rescued was not that the searchers were not able to find him but that a commanding admiral of the CVEs TF he belonged to did not granted searching for him as well as other shot down pilots.
The CVE air group ops planner showed him in confidence an overlay of the planned S&R mission which would cover in usual pattern of patrolling a/c the also the area where survivors of Taffy3 sunken ships were later found.
The pilot Duncan does not seem to be overwhelmed by strong resentment but anyway has been rather disappointed.
The story has not ended with WW2 and as for the a/m Admiral it was paid back might be not in a way he would wish.
Just after the VJ he boarded an aircraft flying to Hawaii and the plane got missing over the vast Pacific.
An intense search ops was carried on but none was found.

gd
Brian James
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Worked with this ol' girl a few times....Fletcher Class Destroyer USS O'Bannon pictured off Mare Island Naval Shipyard on March 1st 1951...She was the USN's most decorated Destroyer during World War II, earning 17 battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation, on January 30th 1970, O'Bannon was decommissioned in a ceremony at Pearl Harbor (side-by-side with her sister Nicholas, as at their launching) and stricken from the Navy List. She was sold for scrap on June 6th 1970 and broken up two years later.
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Brian James
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Re: Destroyers: Fletcher Class

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Fletcher Class Destroyer USS Rowe pictured under refit on the Sabine River at Levingston Shipbuilding Co Shipyard, Orange Texas in the late '60's.
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