A LIBERTY VERSUS A GERMAN RAIDER

What your are looking at here is the launching of the SS Stephen Hopkins...a Liberty ship...sliding down the ways and ready to serve her country.
Now I don't have to go into great detail here, but most people know that the Liberty ship was not built to be a "warship"....she was built as a transport 'cargo' from point A to point B.
Well.....this is one case where a Liberty ship kicked ass on a German Raider.
I really do think the reader will find this an extremely interesting article.  German ships are involved, as well as British, and US vessels provides excellent facts on just what happened...to the German raider Stier.

Yes it does start off where you wonder...where is this article going....well just hang in there....read it slowly....and I believe you'll find glued to the article.

I hope you find the article interesting...and don't be afraid to let me know what you think

Just click HERE to give it a go.

THE COST.....OF MEN AND SHIPS

For those readers that are young and WW II was before their time, and even those that can remember the war....I'd like to throw some numbers at you that entails the cost of this war.  I don't wish to bring to light the $$$$$$'s  I'm talking the number of men, women, and ships.
So this is the purpose of my banging out some figures for the reader to juggle around and think about.
After you read the article...then indulge in a glass of wine, or whatever....and mull over the question..."Just who was the winner?"  And as that question is bouncing off the inside of your skull...if you're like me I come up with one word...."WHY!"
HERE is some thoughts and examples of my weird thinking on this matter.

FRANCE: FRIEND OR FOE?

The other day I posted an article similar to this subject mater.  Well that article provided a small segment of "Operation Torch" or some will refer to it as the Invasion of North Africa..  

A few individuals have contacted me since that article and wanted to know the complete story of "Operation Torch".  

So I figured I'd give it a go and see if I could present a picture to the reader of just what took place.  Now there was a lot of "first" in this invasion...and yes there are some "dry" areas of reading....but if you hang with the article you'll get the complete picture of just what took place in the vast three point invasion that was super objective ...and certainly got the job done.

HERE is the story of "Operation Torch"

THE HARD LUCK LINERS

You know you don't ever wish bad luck on anyone, but there are times that "bad luck" just seems to follow you around like "sticky honey" on a door knob.
Well that seemed to be the case when King Emmanues III of Italy wanted to name two passenger ships with his daughters names.
Let me tell you...things just did not go well with these two ships.

HERE is the story...and it is almost unbelivable!!

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN THE T2 TANKER

In this day an age just about everyone realizes that just about everything 'runs' on oil.

Well let me tell you when WW II broke out the nations at hand soon realized  there destiny relied on the control of fuel for all their equipment of battle.  Actually the Japanese were one of those....that simpily ran out of fuel for her ships as well as her planes.

Some people looked ahead and seen how the transportation of fuel need to be of the up-most importance.  So...a single ship design was sought after and eventually 520 T2 type tankers became the most widely produced tanker in history to get "product" from point A to point B.

HERE is the story

TOO FEW, TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

If you are at all interested in the "Naval Airborne" side of WW II, this article I'm sure will be somewhat interesting to you.

When the Japanese jumped into the war....they had superbly trained Navy pilots, with plenty of experience.  Actually none of the Japanese pilots that attack Pearl Harbor had less than 650-hrs of flying.....but things went down hill pretty fast from that point on.

This article also provides some idea on what the US Navy pilots had to go through to eventually become well above their Japanese foes.

Now I know Naval aviation is not interesting to all that venture into my articles.....but even if you got "some" interest I don't think this article will disappoint you.

Click HERE

INVASION OF NORTH AFRICA

SO VALIANT THE HEROES

SO FUTILE THE MISSION

------------------

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the title: Invasion of North Africa, but on this 'invasion' are you familiar with the two former US Coast Guard cutters that was sacrificed to make this invasion possible?

There was only one way into the Oran harbor...and this was blocked by a 'gate' and it was up to these to Banff-class ships to get the job done

In doing there job...many men were lost as well as their ships.  Click HERE to give this most interesting article a read.

THE LACONIA ORDER

Here is a case where a huge ship, the RMS Passenger Liner RMS Laconia, was torpedoed by a German U-boat.  Well the U-boat did a number on the ship...and she was going down, but when the U-boat captain found out there were 2,444 crew and passengers, as well as Italian POWs....it raised a big rescue dilemma.

The U-boat Captain attempted to rescue the Italian POWs, whom was an ally of Germany.....well it didn't go well after Allied warships and aircraft became involved. Click HERE for a very interesting read.

KING OF THE SNAGBOATERS

HENRY MILLER SHREVE

Yes, he was "King of the Snagboaters"

Back in the early 1800's many of the southern rivers of the United States were clogged up with fallen trees....and it was generally fairly hard for riverboats to get from point A to point B.  In fact there was the Red River in Arkansas so clogged up they called it "The Raft"

Well "Ole Henry" as a self-educated marine inventor designed and built the famed snagboats that cleared these southern rivers.

This made him so famous that a town was named after him...."Shreveport"

So HERE is how Henry Miller Shreve became the "King of the Snagboaters"

TITANIC II AN UPDATE

Here is a 'short clip' on the construction of RMS Titanic II.

Mr. Clive Palmer, whom is an Australian entrepreneur is shouting from the roof tops that there will be a Titanic II.  Construction to begin before 2014 and a sailing date in late 2016.

HERE is the latest on this project.

TURNAROUND AT CAPE ESPERANCE

At times you read articles of the US and her Allies winning battles....and as your reading about these battles there are times the reader shakes their head....wondering how in the heck did we luck out on this one.

Well her is another one of these battles....and truthfully I really don't know who won this particular fight....

Almost an accidental victory, the night action in Guadalcanal's infamous "SLOT" proved the US Navy was at last learning how to fight at night.

Oh my....just wait till you read this.....it is a grabber of a head shake.  Click HERE to read

TWILIGHT FOR THE BIG GUNS

The "Big Guns" of WW II were giants in there own right.  If were to see one in the open sea in the fore-coming heat of a battle, even from a long distance it would make your legs wobble, but yet according to some they only played an important secondary role.

To see them unleash those mighty guns must have been a sight to behold.

Many of the "high-powered Naval commands" from all nations expected showdowns between these giant beasts, but it never happened.

So HERE is there story...I think you'll find it most interesting.