My Battleship is cooler than yours...

[dos poptarts]

She has brought the pain in her time.

 

 

Read a sci-fi novel awhile back where they recommissioned all of the floating museums to fight off an alien invasion ^_^

 

StarBlazers????

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=c_8Tf9vRXkU&t=1301

 

(didn't even know there was a live action version)

[Anybodyhome]

When I joined the Navy in 1973, the last of the battleships was being decommissioned from the Viet Nam war. They were brought back when crap started up again in the Persian Gulf and I deployed on a brand new Aegis cruiser and the USS Missouri. I spent a couple days on Missouri when we were deployed in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war in 1987-88. For those of you who remember, we were escorting civilian oil tankers thru the Straits of Hormuz because the Iranians were shooting at the tankers with RPGs and trying to choke point the Straits. You'll also remember, my sister ship, USS Vincennes (CG-49) smoked an Iranian airliner out of the sky when they didn't answer or obey any of our radio transmissions and flew directly toward the ship. Was also when the USS Stark was hit with an Iraqi Exocet missile fired from a fighter plane, killing 37 guys, a few of whom I knew. 

 

I've visited USS North Carolina. Believe it or not there is technology on that ship that is still used to this day on the ultra-modern drive-by-wire warships that are sailing the seas. I spent 17 of my 20 years on ships and I've been up close and personal when those 16" guns are salvo'd... one of the few things that still give me a woody.

 

 

[FireMarshallBill]

I really want to see that one day. I've been on the Lexington down in Corpus Christi a few times and enjoyed it. I'm always in to some WW2 stuff, especially ships and aircraft.

[Davidson Deac II]

The North Carolina is great, but I served on an Iowa class (the Iowa in fact).  The more I think about it, the more I realize how cool it was to serve on one of the last US Battleships in commission.  .

I was in Los Angeles last weekend for my nephew's wedding, and the Iowa is now a memorial/museum ship in Los Angeles Harbor.   I took the opportunity to go see my old ship.  When they found out I was a former crew member, they took me to a couple of spots not on the regular tour, including my old duty station.  Got to show my son where dad use to work.  :)

 

 

 

 

[Darth Biscuit]

Awesome stories guys...

I remember when they came to Wilmington in the early 90s and took parts off the USS NC for the Missouri and New Jersey.

[PhillyB]

I've visited USS North Carolina. Believe it or not there is technology on that ship that is still used to this day on the ultra-modern drive-by-wire warships that are sailing the seas. I spent 17 of my 20 years on ships and I've been up close and personal when those 16" guns are salvo'd... one of the few things that still give me a woody.

 

i would pay good money to see that. unfortunately the yamato and musashi are at the bottom of the ocean so we'll never get to see eighteen-inchers again unless an eccentric bazillionaire decides to rebuild them

[Davidson Deac II]

US World War II fast battleships of the Iowa, North Carolina, and South Dakota classes used one of the first computers, the Mark 1 firecontrol computer. 

 

The Mark I and Japanese lack of a similar system would have given the US a tremendous advantage had the battleships ever came to blows. 

[YoungPanthers89]

Went there a couple years back, twas bad ass.

[PhillyB]

US World War II fast battleships of the Iowa, North Carolina, and South Dakota classes used one of the first computers, the Mark 1 firecontrol computer. 

 

The Mark I and Japanese lack of a similar system would have given the US a tremendous advantage had the battleships ever came to blows. 

 

they weren't even commissioned back when it was a thing, but imagine the japanese' plan orange a few years later than they expected. as long as no IJN light cruisers or destroyers were involved it would've been an absolute slaughter. a lot changed in four years

[Anybodyhome]

The North Carolina is great, but I served on an Iowa class (the Iowa in fact).  The more I think about it, the more I realize how cool it was to serve on one of the last US Battleships in commission.  .

I was in Los Angeles last weekend for my nephew's wedding, and the Iowa is now a memorial/museum ship in Los Angeles Harbor.   I took the opportunity to go see my old ship.  When they found out I was a former crew member, they took me to a couple of spots not on the regular tour, including my old duty station.  Got to show my son where dad use to work.  :)

 

 

 

 

I did some work in conjunction with the turret explosion that occurred in April, 1989 and later spent a few months in school with the Command Master Chief (at the time of the explosion) at the Naval War College in Newport.

 

All but 2 of the ships I served on are now decommissioned, and both of them are now over 20 years old. But it's not the ship itself that ages itself out of work, it's the technology and the cost of upkeep.

 

 

[Creep59]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a picture I took of USS Iowa firing one of her 16 inch gun mounts in 1984 off the west coast of Central America.  Quality isnt very good but it is a scan of a print almost 30 years old.

 

 

[Creep59]

another one that I took - also in the Eastern Pacific off the coast of Central America - 1984 - we were doing asw/aaw  duty for Iowa and I took these from about 2000 yards away - it was quite a sight and you could feel the blast wave traveling over the water and over you .

 

 

 

[Guest]

,,

[Darth Biscuit]

LIke Phillyb, I would pay good money to see those things fire.

 

 

They could blow the poo out of downtown Wilmington or more preferably Leland.  :)