COMBAT AT SEA | Battleships

Oh battleships dreadknots they were once the cornerstones of great fleets the pride of nations the Bismarck iron duelin Yamato Jean Bart Prince of Wales Roth's bay texts Nagato valiant Missouri these were ships of glory ships of destiny their appearance is a combination of grandeur and a commitment of brutal force few sights and sounds so vividly voiced the fury of war as the batch the legacy of the battleship is irrevocably entwined with the most dramatic moments in naval history Trafalgar chishima Jutland Waddell canal and Lady cold battles in which legendary commander such as Nelson Togo Jellico von shear and Halsey engaged in classic jewels upon the scenes like gargantuan armored Knights they were maneuvered by these bold Admirals like fortresses on an ocean chessboard belching thunder and flame these leviathans made war appear to be something more noble than it really was even as they escalated its harvested and fanned the fears and passions of the nations who built them the battleship was not only the ultimate weapon for war at sea but the preeminent symbol of prestige and technological achievement as the 20th century dawned a nation's military might was gauged by how many battleships were in its fleet rivalries between world powers fueled naval arms races that led to bigger more powerful battleships the largest most powerful battleships ever constructed were launched to fight the greatest sea war in history world war ii but only a handful would still be afloat at the end of the war a war that had proved to be the zenith of the battleship as the world entered the Atomic Age these juggernauts launched with great hopes and charged with the fulfillment of grand destinies became Dinosaurs but even today they still inspire awe and fascination join us now as we explore their illustrious heritage and return to the days when the battleship ruled the seeds early in the fifteenth century the French began fitting gun ports with hinged covers to the lower decks of wooden ships soon complete tiers of cannons were added and the English manor war was born from then on warships were classed according to the number of guns they mounted steam propulsion and iron plating revolutionised combat at sea unlike other warships battleships were built and sent into battle with the expectation that they would be hit by opposing warships a battleship was said to be balanced if it carried enough armor to withstand a broadside from guns equal to its own the ironclads made their debut in the United States during the Civil War the Confederate Navy added iron plates a sloped encasement and an iron ram to the bow of a scuttled Union frigate the Merrimack and renamed it the CSS Virginia the union's response to this threat was the monitor the most original design in the history of naval architecture traditionalists complained that the ship looked like a cheese box on a flank the two ironclads met at hampton roads on march 9th 1862 during a four-hour gunnery duel the monitor easily outmaneuvered the Virginia firing at will from pistol range however a shot to the monitors gun turret blinded her commander allowing the badly damaged Virginia to escape the battle was a tactical draw but a strategic victory for the monitor the vessel that Confederate sailors had first mistaken for a floating buoy was the first modern battleship the monitors low profile presented an extremely small target to the enemy all non-essential equipment topside was dispensable and all exposed parts of the ship were protected by armor plating including the revolutionary steam-powered gun turret the monitor would influence ship design for the next 40 years as the age of wood and canvas passed into the age of Steel and steam advances in weapons technology kept pace with the battleships advances in protection and maneuverability by the end of the 19th century a new attitude toward the utilization of sea power was also being embraced by the leaders of the maritime powers this can largely be credited to the works of United States Admiral Alfred Thayer Maine in Mahon's you control of the sea was the key to a nation's fortunes President Theodore Roosevelt who was greatly influenced by many shepherded the building of a fleet of 16 modern battleships which he named the Great White Fleet the Great White Fleet steamed around the world from 1907 to 1910 demonstrating the emergence of the United States as a major world power but by the time Roosevelt's battleships returned to United States ports they were obsolete the reason a British ship called dreadnought with a length of 500 feet and a displacement of 18,000 tons she was the largest battleship afloat her main battery of 10 12-inch guns and a secondary battery of 24 12-pounders made the dreadnought the first all-big gunship at a cost of 1.8 million pounds the dreadnought was the most expensive warship Britain had ever all the world's major natives and many minor ones scrapped their existing battleship programs in turn to building their own dreadnought even though the cost of building a battleship had tripled and sport dreadnaughts would not only serve as the cornerstone of every fleet but would be the yardstick by which a nation's military might was record another nation where millions principles of seapower found ready acceptance was Japan during the russo-japanese war of 1904-1905 admiral togo led a surprise attack on the russian naval squadron at port arthur on the Yellow Sea a Russian Baltic Fleet then steamed halfway around the world only to be crushed by Togo small fleet of modern battleships cruisers and destroyers at Tsushima straits between Japan and Korea Togo became a national hero and Japan emerged as a new power on the world stage The Clash of the two pre-dreadnought fleets vindicated both the principles of man and the proponents of the naval gun as the ultimate weapon for sea combat in Europe the obsession with dreadnought fuel the tensions that led the world war 1 setting the stage for the most massive battleship confrontation in history the Battle of Jutland the British Grand Fleet entered the North Sea on May 31st 1916 Vice Admiral Sir John Jellicoe aboard his flagship the 25,000 tons red not ironed Jew hope to lure into battle the German high seas fleet led by Vice Admiral Reinhard von cheer Jellicle is 151 warships included 28 dreadknots and 9 battle cruisers big gun dreadknots that sacrificed the encumbrance of armored protection for speed the German fleet was numerically inferior to the British fleet 99 vessels including 16 modern dreadnoughts 5 battle cruisers and 6 pre-dreadnought battleships punchier however was convinced that he commanded the better fleet the German warships were products of superior engineering and design and though their guns were smaller than the British they were more accurate alone her fight against Germany Britain depended on the fleet to keep her seaborne trade and home shore secure from attack because of the dreadnought program the British fleet was also a huge investment it would not be risked lightly Winston Churchill then serving his First Lord of the Admiralty referred to Jellico as the only man who can lose the war in an afternoon the battle lines formed 70 miles off the coast of Denmark the German Gunners quickly scored hits on three British battle cruisers but the tide turned in favor of the British is their new queen elizabeth-class dreadnaughts caught up to the battle the German fleet was outgunned outnumbered and repeatedly outmaneuvered by the British fleet over the course of the five hour gunnery duel that ensued finally von sheer realized he could not win and led his fleet in a desperate charge through a weak point in Jellico's battle line after 10 hours of battle 14 British and 11 German vessels had been sunk von sheers fleet was on the run back to German waters but Jellico did not pursue fearing that bond Scheer might be leading his invaluable battleships into a trap the Battle of Jutland was the costliest naval battle to date some 4,000 British and over 2,000 German sailors were killed in action and yet neither side was able to rightfully claim victory the British were bitterly disappointed in the ambiguous outcome and the Germans though buoyed by the fact that their naval forces had stood up to the superior British fleet never attempted another surface fleet encounter with Britain in this war and the next Germany would contest Britain's mastery of the sea with a campaign of attrition carried out by surface Raiders and you guys following World War 1 the United States Great Britain France Italy and Japan signed the Washington Naval conference agreement which placed strict limitations on the size and armament of warships and their navies but in 1936 Japan announced that it could no longer abide by a treaty had considered a national insult Japan had already begun drawing up plans for two massive battleships the Yamato and Musashi these would display sixty eight thousand two hundred tons almost twice the 35,000 tonne treaty limit Germany began construction of the Bismarck and the Tirpitz each would reportedly weigh in at forty four thousand tons exceeding the treaty limit by nine thousand tons the United States countered by beginning construction of a new class of fast battleships the North Carolina class although the American battleships kept to the thirty-five thousand ton weight limit their main battery of previously outlawed 16-inch guns was a response to the treaty violations of Germany and Japan the arms race was on in September of 1939 Britain and France responded to Hitler's invasion of Poland by declaring war on Germany for the German Navy the war at sea had begun too soon Hitler's long-range programme to build a fleet of modern technically advanced warships was ten years away from completion the super battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz were still under construction however three new experimental pocket battleships had been completed mounting eleven inch guns on a lightweight 10,000 ton hull they were designed to outrun battleships and outgunned everything else one of them the Groff's bay proved the worthiness of her design by sinking 50,000 tons of Allied shipping in the South Atlantic in late 1939 on December 13th three British cruisers finally caught up with the Groff's Bay on the southeastern coast of South America at the mouth of the river plot the graph space 611 inch guns out ranged the cruisers 6 and 8-inch guns by 8,000 yards although the British ship scored hits on the battleship they suffered badly for each one but the British cruisers hung on and the Groff hey finally ran for the neutral port of Montevideo capital of Oregon once there captain Hans Langsdorff the German commander hoped to be allowed to remain in port long enough to repair his battleship but local authorities insisted the battleship depart within 72 hours as German consul representatives pleaded for more time British propaganda broadcasts claimed that a huge British fleet had been amassed off the South American coast and was waiting to pounce of the wounded battleship the claims were false but Langsdorf believed them on the afternoon of December 17th the crops paid left monitor Dale as the British cruisers closed in the German crew abandoned ship determined not to let their ship fall into enemy hands the Germans detonated explosive charges that blew the bottom out of the garage day three days after scuttling his ship captain Langsdorf committed suicide the darkening clouds of war in Europe and Asia caused President Franklin D Roosevelt to become increasingly concerned about the super battleships under construction in Germany Japan Roosevelt told Secretary of the Navy claude swanson he wanted battleships larger than anything afloat the new class of fast battleships would be named for its lead ship USS Iowa in April 1941 the British Admiralty received the alarming news that the German superdreadnought Bismarck had entered the North Atlantic commanded by Admiral Gunther Lucian's the Bismarck was steaming northwest to form a battleship squadron that would attack Allied convoys in the Atlantic once again Britain was fighting Germany alone the convoys were her life leading the 44,000 ton Bismarck was then the largest most powerful battleship afloat she represented the very latest innovations in battleship technology her 15-inch guns were guided by radar her armor ranged from twelve point six to fourteen inches in thickness destruction of this juggernaut became the British Admiralty s number-one priority in late May every heavy British ship that could be spared was sent to intercept the Bismarck this included a squadron supported by a new battleship the 35,000 tonne Prince of Wales and the pride of the Royal Navy the battle cruiser hood her finest and biggest warship the 40 1200 ton hood had long been the backbone of the British fleet on May 23rd the British squadron made contact with the German Raiders and the following day shaped a head-on approach the Germans opened fire scoring a direct hit on the hoods magazine when the great column of black smoke settled on the surface of the sea the hood the pride of the Royal Navy was nowhere to be seen only three of her crew of 1500 survived the Prince of Wales was also seriously damaged by the German guns therefore British Admiral Wiig Walker decided to resume shadowing the Bismarck until more ships could be brought to bear the hunt for the Bismarck is off two days later aircraft from the British carrier Ark Royal caught up with the Bismarck and launched a torpedo that struck her steering compartment the damage cost the German dreadnought for ability to maneuver it was time for the Bismarck to face her foes though the German battleship was crippled her big guns repeatedly drove off the British destroyers who attempted to fire on her until the battleships arrived the Bismarck had been built to take punishment and she refused to go down repeated salvaged from the British ships eventually war the German behemoth down and finally reduced her to a helpless wreck torpedoes from the heavy cruiser door searcher finally sent her to the bottom only 110 of the Bismarck screw of 2400 were saved the rest were interred along with their ship in the icy waters of the North Atlantic the German commander Admiral interleukins was one of them it had begun as a showdown between dreadnoughts but a plane launched from an aircraft carrier had turned the tide this fact was not fully appreciated by most naval strategists at the time most still believed that the battleship was the key to sea power one man who did not however was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese combined fleet you in 1941 the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was the only obstacle to Japan's goal of dominion over the entire Far East for decades both sides had commonly assumed that when war broke out between the two countries American battleships would steam across the Pacific to engage Japanese battleships in a classic line of battle encounter but on the morning of December 7th 1941 planes from Yamamoto's aircraft carriers swept down on Pearl Harbor and completely upset the balance of power in the Pacific in one fell swoop within minutes the armored hulls of the battleships California West Virginia Oklahoma Arizona and Nevada were punctured by torpedoes all eight American battleships were either sunk or heavily damaged the Arizona blew apart after a bomb struck her forward magazine and sank to the bottom of the harbor with over 1,000 of her crew rarely in history had a single attack dealt such a severe blow to a nation's prestige and yet the result of the Pearl Harbor strike were disappointed - and Yamamoto he had sought the destruction of aircraft carriers not battleships by a quirk of fate all four united states carriers have been at sea that morning by the time they the united states would have to learn to fight the war in the pacific without its battleships six months later Yamamoto devised another plan to finish off the surviving United States carries in June 1942 he launched a massive invasion on the American base at Midway in the Central Pacific Gama motos carriage will provide the main striking force as American carriers rushed to defend Midway a fleet of Japanese battleships would sweep down from the north and crush them yamamoto would direct the battleship attack from his flagship the newly launched 68,000 two hundred tons super battleship yamato the largest and most powerful battleship in the world but Yamamoto's Midway plan backfired the United States Carrier Strike Wars has intercepted the numerically superior Japanese carrier strike forces and Eltham a stunning defeat the closest United States battleship to Midway was the hastily repaired Maryland left at Pearl Harbor as a last line of defense after receiving word that all four of his aircraft carriers had been sunk Yamamoto turned his battleship fleet around and steamed back to Japan without ever firing a shot Midway turned the tide in the Pacific a new era had dawned in naval warfare one in which opposing groups of warships would fight each other through airpower without ever coming within visual contact but battleships still served a vital role in naval strategy their firepower was sorely needed to support amphibious invasions on both sides of the globe and to protect task forces against aerial attack as construction on the new fast battleships proceeded six of the United States battleships that have been bombed and torpedoed at Pearl Harbor were laborious ly repaired modernized and brought back into service also three nineteen twenty zero battleships the New Mexico Mississippi and Idaho were dispatched from the Atlantic to shore up the defense of the United States West Coast the mere presence of these plenty to dreadknots brought peace of mind to a nervous population in 1943 the first two iowa-class battleships the Iowa and the New Jersey were launched from their dry docks atop 46 tons of grease and declared fit for battle two more the Missouri and the Wisconsin would follow the next year each ship cost one hundred and twenty five million dollars to build they were almost 900 feet long but had to be narrow enough to fit through the Panama Canal locks this requirement accounts to some extent for their graceful sweeping for Secretary of the Navy Frank knocks call the iowa-class the greatest ships ever launched by the American nation Admiral William F bull Halsey voiced his confidence in the might of the American super dreadknots by saying we have a date to keep in Tokyo ships like the Missouri will provide the wallop to flatten Tojo and his crew displacing over 60,000 tons with a full battle load and iowa-class battleships 450 mm horsepower turbines could steam into battle at a speed of 33 to 35 knots their armor ranged between 13 and 17 inches thick with a crew of three thousand each battleship resembled a floating city they're nine 16-inch guns had a reach of 24 miles although the Japanese super Battleship Yamato and Musashi mounted even larger 18-inch guns the American battleship builders were confident that no ship afloat could withstand the American 16s it appeared that the Iowa would get its first chance to use those guns in the North Atlantic in August 1943 its quarry was the German superdreadnought Tirpitz the even larger sister ship of the dreaded Bismarck named after the creator of the German Navy the fifty thousand nine hundred ton battleship was one-sixth of a mile long her commander captain Carl top handled her like a destroyer so feared was the Tirpitz that allied convoys through the norwegian water she patrolled were regarded as suicide missions British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced the destruction of this ship is the greatest event at sea at the present time no other target is comparable to it but the prospects for an Iowa Tirpitz showdown evaporated when British [ __ ] submarines crippled the Tirpitz in late September carrier-borne bombers attacked next 15 of their bombs hit the turbines but none penetrated her eight-inch thick armored deck finally British Lancaster bombers rained 6 ton tall boys on the battleship a tromsø on the northern coast of Norway the Tirpitz blew up and capsized time had run out for the German Navy with the death of the Tirpitz Germany had lost her most effective weapon against allied convoys massive numbers of Allied ships planes and men that had been required to stop the turbot were freed to hunt down German u-boat which still posed a grave threat to Allied convoys January 1944 after squeaking through the Panama Canal the Iowa joined up with the New Jersey an admiral ray Spruance his fifth fleet in the Marshall Islands invasion the battleship steamed into action the next day the New Jersey opened fire on a Japanese minesweeper and quickly sent it to the bottom the Iowa took on the Katori a Japanese light cruiser and after only 11 minutes the Katori disappeared beneath a blanket of black smoke in the meantime the New Jersey had begun firing on the Japanese destroyer Mikasa within minutes the Mike Ozzie became a smoldering Hulk and rolled over Admiral Spruance ordered the largest flags broken out on the ships of the fleet the iowa-class battleships have performed well in their first ship-to-ship action in October 1944 MacArthur fulfilled his vow to return to the Philippines by landing the 180,000 strong 6th army at Leyte Gulf Admiral Halsey 3rd fleet was assigned the task of protecting MacArthur's landings but also he also had orders from Nimitz to destroy the Japanese fleet if the opportunity arose Halsey had the firepower for the child 1,000 aircraft and 98 large ships including the Iowa and his new flagship the New Jersey to counter the Allied invasion three separate Japanese task forces would steam through the maze of philippine islands each taking a different route converging in a pincer attack on the american beachhead on Leyte the Japanese forces included both their super battleships the Yamato and the Musashi on the morning of October 24th the Yamato and Musashi as part of a Japanese center force steamed eastward through the civilian sea to approach lady from the North Palsy dispatched a massive air attack the Musha she endured 19 torpedoes and 17 bombs before finally diving like a submarine taking 1,100 crewmen to the bottom the Yamato and for other battleships were damaged but escaped to continue their dogged route toward Leyte Halsey then set his sights and what he thought was bigger game a group of Japanese carrier spotted far to the north 190 miles east of Luzon scape and gallo this was the Japanese northern force it was a dummy fleet the carrier decks were empty their prime objective was to lure Halsey North leaving MacArthur's beachhead uncovered they succeeded magnificently meanwhile the Japanese southern force battleships have threaded through surrogate to close on Leyte from the south they were attacked by a group of battleships commanded by Admiral Jesse be old and or among these battleships were Tennessee California Pennsylvania West Virginia and Maryland all veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack the American battleships devastated the Japanese battleships as they attempted to clear the strait the Japanese commander Admiral Nishimura went down with his flagship the Yamashiro only one ship from the Japanese southern force escaped to the north the beleaguered Japanese center force plowed on with the Yamato and four other dreadnought still intact the Japanese steamed through the San Bernadino Strait and rounded Samar island approaching Leyte Gulf from the Northeast but they were beaten back by admiral Sprague's tiny force of six cheap carriers and six destroyers Sprague's forces were so effective that the Japanese commander Vice Admiral Clarita mistakenly believed that his battleships were being attacked by falsies entire third fleet so admiral Corita ordered his forces to retreat actually Halsey was 300 miles away chasing toothless Japanese carriers with the Iowa and the New Jersey two battleships that had been built to blow the Japanese dread-nots out of the water once again the Yamato slipped away the battle at Leyte Gulf broke the back of the Japanese Navy controlled of the Philippine Sea now belong to the Allies MacArthur and his troops were ashore on Leyte seizing control to the heart of the Philippines fortunately for the Americans the Japanese had not noticed that Halsey had left the beachhead unprotected however the escape of the Yamato and the survivors of Admiral caritas forces would continue to pose a threat to Allied operations in the region on April 2nd 1945 the captains of the United States v fleet received orders to be ready for a brawl with the remnants of Admiral Toyotas combined fleet which included the Yamato the Japanese ships had sufficient fuel left for one last sortie a suicide charge through the Allied invasion fleet amassed off the coast of Okinawa the Yamato was to crash through the American Armada Beach itself on the island and pound the American ships off Okinawa with its 18 inch guns until it was overwhelmed Admiral Toyota announced the fate of our empire depends upon this one action once again American carrier planes were assigned a task that battleships had been designed for for two powers American planes from the carrier enterprise rain bombs and torpedoes on the Amato finally the largest battleship ever built rolled over and sank a thousand foot column of smoke marked the final resting place of over 2,000 Japanese sailors it was the end of an era the iowa-class battleships were unquestionably the largest most powerful battleships afloat their adversaries yamato Musashi bismarck interprets all lay at the bottom of the ocean in August two atomic bombs accomplished what the battleship blitz and unrelenting bomber sorties had failed to produce as the Missouri and Iowa entered Tokyo Bay the Nagato the last Japanese battleship came into view her decks were empty on September 2nd palsies forced our flag was hauled down from the Missouri's main list and Nimitz 5-stars raised a second 5 star flag went up as general McArthur came aboard to accept the Japanese surrender and so the Missouri took her place at center stage in the final act of world war 2 even though aircraft carriers had played a much more significant role in the war it was the battleship still an awe-inspiring symbol of sea power and the American victory that was chosen for this honor the battleship Missouri became the symbol of the United States victory around the world hosting victory celebrations USO shows sightseeing trips and the signing of the Rio treaty wherever the Missouri went crowds came out to cheer souvenir hungry civilians ripped up anything that wasn't bolted down and some things that were some even stuck their hands inside the muzzles of the 16-inch guns so they could pack grease under their fingernails to take home too many naval officers a battleship was still the premier command in the Navy for a captain in 1946 Rear Admiral raymond de tarrlok requested command of the Iowa when he was told that he would have to give up his stars for the honor Tarbuck did so without hesitation he later said of his experience with the battleship in the open sea she was just grand like flying 56,000 tons of steel for this thrill I had turned in my stars it was my last chance to feel the call of the high seas after World War two the battleship had relinquished its crown to the aircraft carriers queen of the Seas and by the summer of 1950 the Missouri was the only active battleship in the United States fleet among communist North Korea struck across the 38th parallel the Missouri was summoned across the Pacific once again to bring its 16-inch guns to bear on cognos positions the Missouri performed so well that all three Iowa battleships were pulled back into service their extremely effective big guns inspired the motto firepower for freedom the iowa battleships were used in this manner until the korean truce was signed in July 1953 Captain Charles Nelson would later say at his command of the new jersey there was more personal satisfaction in commanding this big ship than any other assignment I ever had following the Korean truce all four iowa-class battleships were gradually decommissioned when the last one was retired in 1958 the United States fleet was without a battleship on active duty for the first time since 1895 the Iowa battleships were not consigned to the scrapyard but taken out of service and preserved in case they were to be recommissioned later in Navy parlance they joined the mothball fleet the mothballing process involves much more than merely tying a ship to appear the most important aspect of preserving the ship is the control of humidity otherwise rusting would soon turn the ship into a crumbling Hulk for this task openings in the holler sealed the interior humidity is kept at an ideal 40 percent gun turrets are encased inside aluminum igloos and the 16-inch guns packed in grease you in late September 1968 captain J Edward Snyder threaded the 25 year old New Jersey through the San Bernardino streets passing over the grave of the Japanese super battleship Musashi her destination was the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone battleship advocates had convinced the Defense Department that in Iowa battleships 16-inch guns could not only perform the same job as air strikes but perform that job at a savings of money and personnel the New Jersey unleashed its 16-inch guns on Vietcong artillery positions bridges bunkers and railroads targets that had held up against repeated infantry attacks and b-52 strikes the New Jersey pounded communist positions with more 16-inch shells than had been fired in world war ii and korea in April the New Jersey returned to Long Beach to exchange personnel before heading back to Vietnam for a second tour of duty then Captain Snyder received new orders the battleship would not be returning to Vietnam the reason the New Jersey's guns had been so demoralizing to the North Vietnamese but the Paris peace talks were being jeopardized the battleship had done its job too well citing budget cutbacks the Defense Department announced that the New Jersey would be decommissioned the following December Captain Snyder made no secret of his disapproval of the decision to mothball the New Jersey war as Haley said the ship that made the motto firepower for freedom a reality will be abandoned in Bremerton and the American boys who look to the big J for their very lives must look elsewhere all four iowa-class battleships stayed in mothballs through the 1970s but with the election of Ronald Reagan to president in 1980 the iowa-class battleships had friends in high places for the first time in many years Reagan and Secretary of the Navy John layman envisioned a 600 ship Navy a number that would definitely include the four iowa-class battleships reactivation of each Iowa battleship cost less than the construction of one new Buchanon class destroyer a ship with 120 at the firepower of an iowa-class battleship the recommissioned iowa battleships were also equipped with tomahawk and harpoon missiles for guided missile protection the Phalanx close-in weapon system was added in December 1983 the New Jersey opened fire on Syrian anti-aircraft batteries this action came just weeks short of the 40th anniversary of the New Jersey's first battle in 1991 the Missouri and Wisconsin were sent to the Mediterranean during the Persian Gulf War these battleships were now a half century old in this high-tech conflict they stood out as anachronism from a bygone era it has been decades since they have shared the Seas with a worthy opponent decades since another world power has had an active battleship in its fleet the threat of a superpower confrontation on the seas appears to have faded and so too it seems as the age of the battleship on December 7th 1991 the Missouri steamed to Oahu to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor afterward it would be decommissioned and towed to Bremerton Washington to serve as a memorial to world war 2 for the Missouri's commanding officer captain Albert L Kai's the voyage was a bittersweet experience captain Kai's was reluctant to admit that the Missouri's retirement would be permanent said guys history is a wonderful thing it has a tendency to repeat itself in their heyday battleships represented both the highest achievements and the deepest fears of their time as the echoes of her guns fade into history replaced by the specters of newer deadlier weapons the battleship no longer rules the seas the last battleships built in this century relinquished this role yet they still serve their navies well in tasks for which they were uniquely suited even today no other ship shows the flag with the same authority and sense of destiny as the battleship the Missouri continues to serve as a symbol of victory and sea power a memorial to all the men and women who died and the war she was built to fight she also embodies the hopes of the world that such a war will never ravage the planet again

Channel: Combat Central

Views: 182,885

Keywords: combat, at, sea, world, war, ll, ww2, battleships, submarines, watch, online, free, series, ships, carriers, footage, navy, us, actual, documentary, american, pearl, harbour, harbor, Battleship (Ship Type), FAMOUS, GUNSHIP

Id: ujK_wBEioHs

Length: 47min 12sec (2832 seconds)

Published: Wed May 27 2015