History Buffs: Question for you!

[AWwrgwy]

Well I guess you can pretty well pick any ship you want. This was the size of the USN at the time of Japans surrender in August 1945.

23 Battleships- 28 Fleet Carriers- 71 Escort Carriers- 72 Cruisers- 377 Destroyers- 361 Frigates- 232 Submarines- 586 Mine Warfare- 1204 Patrol craft- 2547 Amphibious ships- 1267 Auxiliary ships. A total of 6768 active USN Hulls.

So we had a little difficulty picking just one as "The Pride".

Frigates? 




I know....

But help me out.  Frigate = DE?  CL?


wrongway

[Masherbrum]

Frigates? 

(Image removed from quote.)

I know....

But help me out.  Frigate = DE?  CL?
wrongway

Plenty of Frigates were in use by both the USN and the USCG in WWII.   Look into the "Tacoma Class Frigates".

The Designation was PF.

[Guppy35]

You gents picking the Big E, the Missouri, Indianapolis etc aren't looking at this the right way.  After the fact, looking back at which ship was the most memorable isn't the same as calling one the pride of the fleet at the time.

I would suggest that going into WW2 within the USN that the USS Lexington or Saratoga were probably the pride of the Navy Aviation guys.  As I mentioned earlier the heavy cruiser USS Houston was Roosevelt's  "favorite' as he'd used it on a number of occasions.

If I'm reading it right, USS California was the home for the Admiral commanding the Pacific Battle Fleet at the time of Pearl Harbor, which might make her the pride of the battleship navy, although West Virginia, Colorado and Maryland were the last pre-war battleships built.

And for the guy who mentioned the DD USS Johnston, and the DE USS Samual B. Roberts, you can't forget the DD USS Hoel or DD USS Herrmann from that same fight.

[-tronski-]

Pride of the US Navy...easy

USS Pride DE-323   

 Tronsky

[kilo2]

Sorry, the Enterprise was the Pride of the Fleet, regardless of "your choice/exclusions".   

He excluded carriers in the question I assume for a reason.

It would be the 4 Iowa class ships the Iowa,New Jersey,Wisconsin,and the Missouri

[TonyJoey]

Too lazy to check, are these the Taffy 3 Destroyers that charged the Jap battleships?

Those guys had some large brass appendages.  <S>

Yes. Watching the Dogfights Episode on that right now in fact.

[Masherbrum]

He excluded carriers in the question I assume for a reason.

It would be the 4 Iowa class ships the Iowa,New Jersey,Wisconsin,and the Missouri

The Washington saw 10x the action either of those four encountered in WWII.   But, I guess.   

[Furball]

Oh.. and pride of the Royal Navy - the oldest commissioned warship in the world.

[kilo2]

The Washington saw 10x the action either of those four encountered in WWII.   But, I guess.   

The yamoto sat in dry dock most of its time and only saw combat once, The Hood saw action 2 times the second time it was sunk by the bismark whick itself sunk the hood and spent the rest of its time afloat fleeing. It doesnt matter how much combat a ship sees, I mean the first USS Bonhomme Richard Sank its first time in combat doesnt make it any less famous.

If you thought the washington was the pride of american battle ships why not just say it

[Guppy35]

I must be talking to myself.

The pride of the Navy would seem to be much more of a non wartime thing.  The HMS Hood was the pride of the British Navy.  That wasn't a wartime bit, that was between the wars.  I doubt there was much time to worry about the pride of whatever navy when there was a war going on.  Too many other things going on at the time.

A lot less waving the flag, sailing into foreign ports to show off stuff.

[kilo2]

I must be talking to myself.

The pride of the Navy would seem to be much more of a non wartime thing.  The HMS Hood was the pride of the British Navy.  That wasn't a wartime bit, that was between the wars.  I doubt there was much time to worry about the pride of whatever navy when there was a war going on.  Too many other things going on at the time.

A lot less waving the flag, sailing into foreign ports to show off stuff.

I agree with you guppy i was pointing out that those ships were the pride of there respective navys and it didnt matter how much combat they saw masherbums idea of pride would be how much combat a ship has seen. 

[Masherbrum]

I agree with you guppy i was pointing out that those ships were the pride of there respective navys and it didnt matter how much combat they saw masherbums idea of pride would be how much combat a ship has seen. 

Wrong.   But, you're entitled to your opinon, even if you haven't a damn clue of what you're "trying to assume about me".   

[Rich46yo]

The yamoto sat in dry dock most of its time and only saw combat once, The Hood saw action 2 times the second time it was sunk by the bismark whick itself sunk the hood and spent the rest of its time afloat fleeing. It doesnt matter how much combat a ship sees, I mean the first USS Bonhomme Richard Sank its first time in combat doesnt make it any less famous.

If you thought the washington was the pride of american battle ships why not just say it

Twice. It saw combat twice. You can almost say 3 times cause He was torpedoed by USS Skate in Dec. '43 and had to return to Truk for repairs. From there He was at The Battle of The Philippine Sea in June '44 where Yamato fired its guns for the first time in anger. Unfortunately it was their own fighters the Yamato fired at. In Oct. '44 the Yamato again saw action in The Battle of Samar where the first day it was attacked by aircraft and the 2nd day Yamato engaged the Taffy-3 task group and Yamato was credited with sinking an escort CV and a Destroyer. Had yamato stayed on course and finished the fight it would probably have ended up a shooting duel with a Yank Iowa class BB. However Yamato was damaged and the IJN withdrew it. This was the only surface action the BB ever got into.

Of course last was Operation Ten-Ichi-Go where Yamato got all blowed up at and sunk. Its true tho for most of the war it was a floating hotel. Its sister BB even more so. Musashi's only combat action was as a floating target for USN dive bombers and Torpedo planes.

Yamato actually had its share of sea time but the IJN was awfully conservative about losing it. When they started losing their large fleet CVs they became even more leery because they knew they just couldnt protect the thing from Allied air power. They kept adding AA guns to its Hull but even this didnt protect the Yamato that much. http://combinedfleet.com/yamato.htm

[kilo2]

Wrong.   But, you're entitled to your opinon, even if you haven't a damn clue of what you're "trying to assume about me".   

Well Masherbum wasnt intentional but funny none the less. Lets imagine You say the "Iowa class ships were the pride" and I say "the washington saw 10x combat. But i guess".    What would you assume? Maybe you dont have a damn clue what you are saying

[AWwrgwy]

Twice. It saw combat twice. You can almost say 3 times cause He was torpedoed by USS Skate in Dec. '43 and had to return to Truk for repairs. From there He was at The Battle of The Philippine Sea in June '44 where Yamato fired its guns for the first time in anger. Unfortunately it was their own fighters the Yamato fired at. In Oct. '44 the Yamato again saw action in The Battle of Samar where the first day it was attacked by aircraft and the 2nd day Yamato engaged the Taffy-3 task group and Yamato was credited with sinking an escort CV and a Destroyer. Had yamato stayed on course and finished the fight it would probably have ended up a shooting duel with a Yank Iowa class BB. However Yamato was damaged and the IJN withdrew it. This was the only surface action the BB ever got into.

Of course last was Operation Ten-Ichi-Go where Yamato got all blowed up at and sunk. Its true tho for most of the war it was a floating hotel. Its sister BB even more so. Musashi's only combat action was as a floating target for USN dive bombers and Torpedo planes.

Yamato actually had its share of sea time but the IJN was awfully conservative about losing it. When they started losing their large fleet CVs they became even more leery because they knew they just couldnt protect the thing from Allied air power. They kept adding AA guns to its Hull but even this didnt protect the Yamato that much. http://combinedfleet.com/yamato.htm

The Yamato was also at Midway as part of the invasion fleet I believe.

More than likely a Yamato vs. Iowa-fest would not have taken place off Leyte.  Halsey took the Iowa's with him, "...