SS ATENAS & U-106

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Yep...she was a 'merchant'....kind of ambling on her journey from New Orleans to Cristobal....with general cargo....and who should wander in her path??..... 

Well it was U-106....and she took on more than she bargined for.

Here's the thumbnail of that encounter: SS ATENAS

More "Merchant Ship" encounters can be read at:

BUD'S LIBERTY & MERCHANT SHIP HISTORIES

Hope you find the articles interesting and informative

Enjoy!

BILLY & DREADNOUGHTS

How a lone Army General Forever altered the face of Seapower

Oh yes, this 'Maverick' of an Air Corps officer was bound and determined to prove that aerial bombs could sink a 'Dreadnought'.

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The nascent potency of air power embodied in aerial bombardment of Naval ships was demonstrated by the sinking of the target battleships Ostfriesland off the Virginia Capes and Alabama in the Chesapeake Bay during 1921 and in further experiments off the Carolina coast against the New Jersey and Virginia, sunk in 1923. The US Army Air Service conducted the experimental bombing with Martin biplane bombers upon the obsolete ships, which were at anchor and , obviously, without crews. To the chagrin of the US Navy, proud of its fleet of battleships, the demonstrations proved the “utter vulnerability of the battleship to attacks from above,” as Brig. Gen. William Mitchell, commanding the pilots and mechanics of the First Provisional Air Brigade and the 2nd Bombardment Group, declared. Mitchell discovered demonstrable proof in the ordnance tests of July 1921, culminating in the sinking of the captured Berman dreadnought Ostfriesland, “that sea-craft of all kinds....including the most modern of battleships, can be destroyed easily by bombs dropped from aircraft.”  The traditional rivalry of Army and Navy was later manifest in ugly.....................

Ok....if you've let your eyes dance over the above words.....and this sort of "Naval History" interest you...I do believe you'll find some interesting material in this 14 page article.  Tell you what.....in my opinon this guy was all "blood and guts"....and he certainly had a hand in "What the U.S. Navy is today"...

Well if you care to give this article a going over....you can click on this:

BILLY AND THE DREADNOUGHTS

Hope you find the article informative and interesting

Enjoy

FATE OF SS ALEXANDER MAJORS

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The SS Alexander Majors.....a "Liberty Ship" that took her 'hard knocks' in Dulag Harbor, Leyte in the Philippines.....

She even lost two of her crew...but she was patched up...and sent on her way, and she continued to serve...in fact she was not "broken up" until February 1972....in the mean time she was sold to the Italian government...and was renamed "Trieste"

Well if you'd care to read a short clip about this event and what happened...just click on the following 'link' to go to my... Bud's Liberty & Merchant Ship Histories.  Look her up in the "A's" section

There is some mighty interesting stories about these ole girls that wandered the seas of this era.

Hope you enjoy!!

BATTLES OF THE ATLANTIC [PART I & II]

“We will win....come hell or high water....but we will win”

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I'm not going to go into a great deal of 'explaining' about his article....so...I decided to just put in the 'intro' of the start of the article....and then you can dive in and see what you think....  It is a two part article...and a long one....but I think it is excellent...that is if you care to read about this era of WW II.

[I do wish to say that a couple of the pictures did not turn out as well as I wanted on this .pdf document...I do apoligize for my error]

On New Yea’s Eve 1942, Hitler had entertained guests at the Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s Lair),his headquarters in East Prussia. Aides had not seen him so cheerful for some time as he informed each new arrival of the good news. A Russian-bound convoy had been destroyed by the pocket ship Lutzow and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hippper in the Barents Sea, and he was only awaiting the details; the Naval High Command was preparing a special communique. It was indeed propitious that this feat of German arms should be announced to the world at the start of a new year. Vice-Admiral Theodor Krancke, Grand Admiral Raeder’s representative at the Fuhrer’s headquarters, was instructed to keep him informed of every detail as soon as information came in. Krancke begged the impatient Hitler to understand that Vice-Admiral Oskar Kummetz, who commanded the squadron, had to keep radio silence to avoid betraying the position of his ships. As soon as he reached Altenfjord, a full report would become available.

“When will that be?” Hitler asked. “When will I get my report?” “Probably during the course of the evening - unless Admiral Kummetz is unforeseeably held up......”

Midnight arrived, heralding the new year, but there was no news. Pacing restlessly, Hitler refused to go to bed, and periodically ordered Krancke to telephone Berlin. Slowly, his mood changed to one of repressed fury. Not long after dawn, he was given a copy of a news flash issued by the British press agency Reuters: The Royal Navy had fought off an attack by a superior force of German ships on a convoy in the Barents Sea. A German destroyer had been sunk and a cruiser badly damaged. The British had lost a destroyer.

Mad with rage and suspecting a conspiracy by the admirals to hide the disaster from him, Hitler subjected Krancke to a tirade against the navy. In WW I, the High Seas Fleet had made little contribution to the German war effort, and its idle ships had been a breading ground for Bolshevism and revolution. In this war, the surface fleet had never been worth its keep; the admirals were cowardly and overcautious - he ignored the effects on naval strategy of his reluctance to risk the heavy ships - and, given a last chance to prove itself, the navy had produced another humiliating failure. It was his “irrevocable decision” to scrap the entire fleet, down to the last destroyer; men, armor, and guns were to be to profitable use as part of the Atlantic coastal defenses. Admiral Raeder was immediately summoned to the Wolfsschanze to receive these orders.

 

If you'd care to give this a 'gander' you can get to "Part I" by clicking on:
Battles of the Atlantic Part one

and if Part I don't bore you....then you can read "Part II" by click on:
Battles of the Atlantic Part two 

Hope you enjoy

AMERICA'S FIRST EIGHT-GUN DESTROYERS

The bridge lookout spotted the rushing torpedo as the Porter’s crew excitedly concentrated on rescuing the two American airmen bobbing helplessly beside the towering destroyer. In the fury of the Battle of Santa Cruz, the veteran Porter had relaxed her vigil only for bare moments to pause to save the lives of two carrier Enterprise airmen who had ditched at sea moments earlier. Sadly, this act of mercy was to have tragic consequence, for the destroyer, almost dead in the water as the rescue proceeded, became the perfect target for the Japanese submarine I-21.

Lieutenant Commander Douglas Roberts, Porter’s skipper, ordered the helm hard over as the torpedo sped toward them. Overhead, an American Hellcat pilot watching the progress of the rescue saw the torpedo’s boiling wake and dove to attack it - his wing guns peppering the deadly warhead with little effect. But the

“fish” beat the Hellcat’s guns and seconds later tore into Porter’s mid-ships, exploding in a fiery blast that wiped out both fire rooms and instantly killed eleven crewmen.

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Oh yes...this story goes on....and similiar stories are repeated many, many times for these Pace-Setting Destroyer-leaders of a new concept in Naval warfare....they did have there problems...but these new 1850 ton warships.....built to replace the expensive light crusiers...proved to be the victims of the new Naval thinking.

This is about a 9 pager that I think is an excellent article of being informative to the reader...as well as displaying in words what these mighty warriors of the sea could accomplish....as well as the hell that they went through.

If you'd care to give this one a go...you can click on this link: AMERICA'S FIRST EIGHT-GUN DESTROYERS....just set back and sip that cup of 'joe' and see what you think.....

Enjoy!!

cshortridge73@gmail.com

AMAZING SALVAGE FEAT OF THE USS OKLAHOMA

Refloating The Capsized Battleship Was a 'Herculean' Feat

Something like this had never been attempted before

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There are many works which relate to the story of Pearl Harbor. Most tell of Japanese preparedness and American slackness, and all talk about the carnage on that bloody Sunday morning. But what of the aftermath within the base? A dew shadowy references filter through here and there, but the histories rush on to other battles and later exciting events. But the aftermath was a grueling affair. Salvage and repair parties began work within hours after the attack was over, and for a long time the fear of a second invasion lingered.

The restoration of Pearl Harbor to a first-class Naval base required an exhaustive effort over many months. Some efforts would  require years. And interspersed with such efforts were the normal affairs of a Naval base actively engaged in a war. Probably the most monumental salvage project ever faced by the Navy recurred during this period - the raising of the USS Oklahoma.

So this is what this article is about....please keep in mind wrapped around the fact that...something of this nature had never been attempted before...let alone 'accomplished.'

So if you'd care to give this long and detailed article a go you can click on this link:

THE SALVAGE FEAT OF THE USS OKLAHOMA

I hope you find the article interesting as well as informative.

cshortridge73@gmail.com