Texas is up above 30k subs now, and I really believe it's because you've been selflessly encouraging viewers to go to their channel. Kudos to you; you're a true gentleman.

@PixelmechanicYYZ

Жыл бұрын

I just find it amazing that New Jersey is the least visited of all the Iowas (Ryan mentioned this in a video once) but their youtube audience is more than 10 times that of the next closest (120k+ for NJ, 12k for Iowa... Missouri and Wisconsin i dont think have even cracked 2k). Speaks volumes to the crews enthusiasm on NJ!

@wierdalien1

Жыл бұрын

@@PixelmechanicYYZ I mean, the New Jersey's problem is that it is in New Jersey

Ryan, that photo of the drydock with two battleships isn’t a floating drydock. It’s Drydock 5 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. You can tell by the distinctive drydock service building (Building 620) next to it as well as the cranes. I’d recognize it anywhere, as it’s currently owned by Philly Shipyard Inc., which I used to work for.

There was a floating drydock when I lived on Kwajalein Island in 1958-'59. The base CO would go fish from her open well when he had some free time. As often as I saw him there, I think he had a lot of it. There wasn't a whole heck of a lot to do on a little island that was only 3 miles long and 1/2 mile wide at its widest. Half of the island was the runway. The rest was where we all lived, played, went to school, etc. I remember it rather fondly.

@matthewerwin4677

Жыл бұрын

My grandfather was stationed there in 1946 I believe. Seabees. I have his foot locker with all his war stuff. He died before I was born.

@timothymcclaire3276

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like when I was stationed (not too far away, relatively speaking) on Johnston Island in 1996-'97. We referred to "Kwaj" as being "down range."

One of the important fleet train ships you should do a video on are the two ICE CREAM ships that were at Ulithi.

@TheRpf1977

Жыл бұрын

We also had a specialty beverage ship that could brew beer and make sodas that they sent to the forward fleet anchorages that also served as R+R areas.

There aren’t any WW2 ships still in service but there are still several WW2 era Navy docks still in service almost 80 years later. They are amazingly useful ships. Without the floating dry docks that they could keep pushing closer to the front and were able to get ships back into service quickly, they’d never been able to press the war like they did.

I remember when I used to holiday around the Holy Loch in Scotland in the 80s. The US Navy had their submarine tender parked there (the USS Simon Lake at the time I was there) along with a floating dry dock (Los Alamos). Doing some digging, the dock was commissioned in March 1945, was in use until the 1990s, was decommissioned, taken back to the US, and then rejigged and moved to Brownsville, Texas, just a few hours down the road from where USS Texas is now.

@danagoodhart4082

Жыл бұрын

I was on the Los Alamos 82-86

Yes, that was definitely California and Tennessee in the drydock. Can't mistake them. They're beautiful old ladies, ain't they? I know you didn't have the picture (7:06) but I wanted to point out California and Tennessee were in a regular drydock and not a floating one. Man, they had em wedged in there, didn't they? I am from Tennessee so she is my favorite of the two. One of my uncles served aboard her. I agree with you about drydocks in general not getting much attention not to mention floating ones. I enjoyed the heck out of this video. My 50 years having the hobby of studying World War 2 with emphasis on the Pacific War told me you were dead on accurate in your 'tour' of floating drydocks. Bravo Zulu, folks. Well done.

You can read a humorous report on navsource about the drydocking of Iowa in Manus. Capt. Holloway had a certain ‘flair’ when it came to ship operations, and came chugging up the anchorage at speed to the dry dock. When it was suggested he reduce speed he replied “oh no”. The results were at the same time perfect and less then ideal. It is in the description beside his picture under 1944-‘45 operations for the ship.

Submarine tenders are largely forgotten; often on interesting ocean liner type hulls. Also Attack Transports as seen in the good movie "Away All Boats" available on KZread.

The first iowa class capable drydock was first tested by USS Wisconsin. AFDB1 was the name of the dry dock.

Ryan is s frickin walking computer of historical knowledge!

The “unsung hero ships” depend on the theater of operation. For the Atlantic, hands down it was the cargo ships that kept the supply lines going to the UK and USSR…..both of which would have been up the preverbal creek without them. The losses early in the war, particularly in the freezing North Atlantic, were horrific. In the Pacific I think a good case can be made for the Higgins landing craft. Without the 20,000 or so of these, the island hopping campaign would have been far deadlier. Of course any Navy is no better than the sum of its parts. Pull out any major element and the Navy would falter if not outright fail.

Which was most important? Hard to answer. Floating drydocks got the ship back into the fight. Oilers keep the ships moving. AEs kept the guns and planes shooting and bombing. Others kept food in the Sailors to keep them moving and to heal them up. Basically, all the auxiliary ships were important. Without one type, the war effort would have fallen apart. "Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics."

@johnyarbrough502

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, GEN Bradley. You beat me to it.

@mcduck5

Жыл бұрын

There is a clip from a band movie where the director goes up to every instrument group telling them that they are the most important...and they all where

@TheRpf1977

Жыл бұрын

Not to mention the USN had the most advanced hospital ships in the world in which many a wounded sailor marines and soldiers might have died from their wounds before making it back to pearl or west coast waiting on transport

I remember a story I heard a long time ago of a ship coming in to a floating drydock. My brain says it was Missouri but I could well be wrong. Someone was showing off and instead of waiting for tugs, steamed the ship in at a bit of speed, reversed engines to bring it to a stop, and washed the blocks out of place. The story indicated that a great deal of profanity and threats of bodily harm followed shortly afterwards.

I would say the another important asset were the tankers. Without underway replenishment, the fleet would have had to return to port everytime they needed fuel.

@michaelsommers2356

Жыл бұрын

The ships that do refueling at sea are oilers; tankers just carry oil from port to port. Refueling at sea requires all sorts of extra equipment. And you're right: they were extremely important. I think the loss of the oiler _Neosho_ at the Coral Sea was almost as serious as the loss of _Lexington._

@timclaus8313

Жыл бұрын

@@michaelsommers2356 At the time, yes. By '43 and '44, the US was pumping out new ships at an unprecedented rate that has never been equaled.

@michaelsommers2356

Жыл бұрын

@@timclaus8313 Of course, "at the time". By your reasoning, the loss of _Lexington_ didn't mean much, either, because late int he war carriers were being built at a prodigious rate.

@artvandelay1099

Жыл бұрын

I've been told that's why our navy is the best. We are the best at underway replenishment. Maybe other countries are as good at it now as we are. But I've been told it gave us the edge for a long time. We might not have invented it either. But we were the first to perfect it. It's a force multiplier. Logistics are boring but are the most important part of our navy.

@timclaus8313

Жыл бұрын

@@artvandelay1099 Plenty of campaign winning generals have stated the tactics win battles, logistics wins wars. The often unappreciated fact about Patton storming across France was his Red Bal Express train of trucks delivering bullets, beans and fuel to his troops.

Well I'd have to say the "Tenders" were most important. There were sub tenders, destroyer or ship tenders that were designed as the floating drydockes we're to give the boats and ships the intermediate repairs they needed.

Destroyer and submarine tenders were the unsung hero’s of maintaining high operational tempo.

Coast guard 180 foot buoy tender is one of the unsung heroes of the 2nd ww, all 39 of them. All built in Duluth, MN

A great book about the pacific fleet trains during WW2 is Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil. It has an overview of the entire effort from beginning through the end of the war. Obviously it is just and overview, but it at least mentions all the weird and wonderful oddities they developed. My favorite vessels in the fleet trains were the concrete ice cream barges. They had everything needed to turn the powdered milk, butter, and various flavorings into ice cream. The beer breweries were also important. I think the army actually operated those.

My great grandfather was a Foreman when they were building floating dry docks during WWII in Morgan City, Louisiana

The book, “Under the Red Sea Sun” by Edward Ellsburg, RADM, USN describes the salvage and operation of floating dry docks at the Red Sea port of Masawa during WWII. Those docks helped keep Royal Navy warships in action in the Mediterranean.

@oligoprimer

Жыл бұрын

Ellsburg was quite the prolific author, with accounts of the sinking and salvage of several early USN subs, plus one of the early North Pole attempts (the Jeanette). In fact the Naval Institute Press published an biography of him, not bad for a salvage expert rather than a combatant.

@markholm7050

Жыл бұрын

@@oligoprimer I read his accounts of the salvage of USS S-51 and USS Squalus when I was a boy, a long time ago now.

All auxiliary ships where important I think and none could not function alone as much as the fighting ships could not function without them. But, to repair battle damage that is good enough to fight or just enough to get home for repairs, it is remarkable to do 2,000 miles away from home in a hostile world. Less material on the bottom!

@michaelsommers2356

Жыл бұрын

Not all were important. I think we could have done without USS _Reluctant._

I could be wrong, but that pic of the 2 standard type battleships in drydock looked like a land based permanent drydock with train rails around it and not a floating drydock.

@m26a1pershing7

Жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same, but I suppose after all the ship pictures Ryan has seen thats a pretty minor thing On that, I'd kill to see a "Pictures tell 1000 words" on that one, real cool looking stuff going on

One of the unsung hero's would be the Fulton-class submarine tender's like the USS Sperry (AS-12). During one five month period, while at Midway Island in WWII, the Sperry serviced 70 submarines, refitted 17 and made voyage repairs to 53.

My grandfather served as a Chief Machinist Mate at a forward repair base at Mani Cani, PI (near Samar) late in WW2. The repair capability they had was phenomenal.

Great topic. I was going to ask about doing a video about how the U.S. was able to do front line repairs on battle damaged ships during the war.

In my opinion the fleet oilers and auxiliary supply ships are the unsung heroes and backbone of the fleet. Having sailed the Pacific and Indian Oceans on a small ship with enough supplies to last 10 days max the encounters with these ships on a transit from Pearl Harbor to Singapore and beyond was essential to the mission. Fuel, food, mail, repair parts, they brought them all to us. As a note, we did refuel once from the New Jersey while I was on board that Destroyer.

most important ship of WWII, likely the sub tenders. the tenders were able to keep the sub fleet close to where the action was vs going all the way back to pearl for repairs, and it is without a doubt that our subs absolutely crippled japans merchant fleet, along with a healthy number of combatants.

My first ship in the Navy was the sectional floating drydock USS Los Alamos AFDB-7 in Holy Loch Scotland. During the Cold War, we kept a sub tender and the Los Alamos in Holy Loch from 1961 to 1991 for onsite repairs of SSBN subs. I was a Los Alamos crew member from 1974 to 1976. The Los Alamos was built in seven sections which we kept four in Holy Loch with the others stateside being refurbished as necessary and swapped out on site in Holy Loch. The repair crews from the sub tender would come over to do their thing while our deck force would repaint the below waterline outer hull of the subs. Each drydock section had it's own engineering spaces with diesel generators, air compressors, auxiliary steam boilers and assorted pumps for deballasting the dock and fire fighting water. ETA: The former Los Alamos is in Brownsville Texas these days under civilian ownership and used to lift oil rigs out of the water for repairs and maintenance.

My first thought was fleet oilers, but I'm not sure if they'd really be unsung. They do tend to come up a whenever axillaries do. Maybe the humble little tug? They do an important job but we rarely hear about them.

My ship, USS Weiss was in an ARD dry dock ship in Subic Bay for days during 1968 or 69. It was interesting as the crew continued living aboard Weiss during the repairs.

During my USN time at Subic Bay PI a WWII floating dry dock was brought from Guam. My harbor tug spent time in it with two other vessels. Our crew toured inside, below the well deck, which contained full crew accommodations which weren't in use as well as the most enormous machinery, valves, pumps and such needed to raise and lower the craft.

Forward based floating dry-docks were critical were force multipliers getting US ships back into the fight without having to sail back to Australia, Pearl or the States for repairs. Ships were saved due to the USN forward basing repair capabilities.

Thank you for not only taking care of New Jersey, but for also being such a good friend to the Texas.

I could have used this info 30 years ago to show my friends and family what I doing in the Navy. Steadfast AFDM-14

Another excellent video, the history in words and pictures. Great lessons for the future. Thank you.

The Merchant Marine are the true unsung heroes , they never get praised for they dedication and hard work, without them wars wouldn’t have been won , it’s the people on transports ,repair ships , floating dry docks , combat stores , ammunition ships , these people are the true heroes cause a battleship crew isn’t doing to fix there own ship ,

I have heard it said that America won WWII because of its grasp of logistics. The floating drydocks where part of that by keeping repair facilities near the action. Each time a ship was damaged in combat it was put into a drydock which was only days away instead of sailing or being towed for weeks to get to Pearl or even worse the US west coast ports. A huge benefit to the availability of any asset. American leaders fully understood the importance of having what was needed being where it was needed in spite of the troops grumbling about certain supplies like a lack of incubators in Mash units. It is also my understanding that the drydocks where towed across the Pacific in sections and it took in the order of 5 sections to build a drydock large enough for a battleship. Pretty cool engineering.

The Liberty Ships, which in addition to carrying troops and supplies literally all over the world, in every sea & ocean, were made into all sorts of Auxiliaries. About the only Auxiliary they didn't get made into (other than floating dry-docks) were oilers!

Great video, and to my mind a fascinating topic. I knew of the floating drydocks and some of their role in the Pacific in WW2, but you’ve really expanded on that here, especially re. the 3rd Fleet/ 5th Fleet switch out. Thanks!

10k miles at 12 knots I think....IIRC Speaking of indigenous peoples on Islands from which the USN staged their advances from (not the islands that were under Japanese Occupation as those peoples suffered HORRIFICALLY cruel treatment) the "Cargo Cult" is a pretty interesting and (sadly) long term effect the war had, especially with all the surplus of supplies.

Another great video, thanks for the cool history lesson on these dry docks. What an innovation

Another great video from the battleship. Thanks

I'd say floating drydocks followed by submarine tenders in WWII. Anything that keeps the fighting fleet closer to the fight is as valuable as the number of fighting vessel days they keep from getting lost returning home. If a tender keeps, say, ten subs a month from spending two weeks going back to Pearl or Australia and back to the engagement area, that's as good as five more subs.

Insightful video Ryan. Funny story about floating dry docks you could fact check. Bethlehem Steel/shipyard in East Boston had an old wooden dry dock painted blue. Supposedly they sold it to B.I.W. , Bath, Me for a $1.00 in the 70’s. Bath Iron works fixed it up & Bethlehem sued them because they were making $$ with it. We were in it in 1979, FF 1094.

Thank you a very interesting video explaining floating dry docks. Especially in the pacific. In books I read after a battle ships were rotated back to an atoll, don’t remember the name, for repair and refit.

Thanks for the history that is so important !

I recall floating drydocks in Guam circa 1980. For the SSBN’s stationed there

I served on 2 drydocks in Norfolk AFDM7 and 10, there us a crazy story about this dock, it broke in half in the Cayman Islands with a Cruise ship inside

I don’t know which type was most important or unsung, but my favourite by far is LSTs.

Love the content. Keep it up!!!!

I'll have to follow up to support. I saw the USS Stark in my home port. What a beautiful vessel.

Floating dry docks were used in the salvage of the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow. Cox and Danks bought at least one then cut it in half to anchor either side of the ships they were raising. Another was used after WW2 to dismantle SMS Derflinger at Faslane. She was floated in upside down and then the dock was raised. There were even temporary railway tracks laid on the floor of the drydock for cranes and railway wagons to move scap metal.

Another great example of a ship carrying a ship is when HMS Nottingham struck a rock and tore a gigantic hole in the side so had to be brought back to old blighty. She was repaired and later on my Uncle got to serve on her.

In Alameda, CA the Pacific Dry dock Co has a lease to operate a Medium size dry dock from World War II. It was designed for destroyers and submarines. Recently the uss Pampanita museum submarine was in the dock. I have walked arcoss it many times! without floating docks the Navy could not exist! Ted Miles, retired but still interested.

Amazing to me the American innovation that was used during the war. That can do attitude! Love being an American!

My first duty station out of boot camp was the AFDM 14 drydock in San Diego. It was actually as nice duty station.

America's Secret Weapon Among the logistical marvels employed by the U.S. Navy in the Pacific were various kinds of floating dry docks. These were towed to advanced bases by tugs and came in a variety of sizes. Planning for floating dry docks was prompted by the fortifications clause of the Washington Naval Treaty, which forbade any further development of bases in the western Pacific. Construction of floating dry docks was given high priority and the docks were regarded as an important "secret weapon" in the event of war with Japan. Plans were even considered for giving the largest floating dry docks their own propulsion plants to increase their mobility. However, tight funding in peace time meant that construction of the docks took place only slowly. At the time war broke out in the Pacific, the Navy had three steel floating dry docks. One, YFD-2, was assigned to Pearl Harbor and was occupied by destroyer Shaw when the harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941. Both destroyer and dry dock were badly damaged but subsequently repaired. Another, YFD-1 Dewey, was at Olongapo and was scuttled to prevent it falling into Japanese hands. The third, ARD-1, was built in 1933 to a sophisticated design, meant to be self-sustaining once towed into place at an advanced base. It had its own ballast pumps, power station, machine shops, and crew accommodations, and could lift ships of up to 2200 tons. It was also assigned to Pearl Harbor. Following up on the success of ARD-1, the Navy built another 30 ARDs (Auxiliary Repair Docks) during the war, most of which were completed in 1942-1944. Six of the docks were 485'8" (148.0m) long and could accommodate a ship 413' (126m) long, 49'4' (15.0m) wide, and displacing 3500 tons or more. This was sufficient for a destroyer or submarine. The clear width for the remaining units was increased to 59' (18.0m) to accommodate an LST. AFDs, Auxiliary Floating Docks, were built of welded steel, were 200' (61m) long and 64' (19.5m) wide, and could lift a ship 45' (13.7m) wide with a displacement of up to 1900 tons. This was sufficient for smaller landing ships, minesweepers, and patrol craft. The first AFDs were completed in late 1943 and about 34 were completed by the end of the war. By 1943, steel was a critical resource, and the U.S. Navy economized by constructing thirteen dry docks out of concrete. Each had a capacity of 2800 tons, enough for a large destroyer, and the dimensions were 389' by 84' by 40' (119m by 26m by 12m). The floor was divided into twelve compartments with a dry passage for personnel. Six were outfitted with diesel generators and manned by crews of 5 officers and 89 men for independent operation (the other seven remained in developed ports). Each had a 5 ton crane on each wing wall. The concrete docks proved durable and were surprisingly popular with their crews. Their massive construction gave them considerable stability, and the tremendous ballast provided by the lower hull meant that the wing walls could be outfitted with extensive crew facilities. ABSDs, Advance Base Sectional Docks, were huge floating docks built in sections. The individual sections were small enough to withstand the stress of being towed in heavy seas and were were welded together once they arrived at the advanced base. The docks came in two sizes, with the largest ones built out of ten sections, each 256' (78m) long and 80' (24m) wide and with a lift of 10,000 tons. These were welded together side to side to produce an assembled dock 927' (283m) long and 256' (78m) wide that could lift a warship 827' (65m) long, 133' (65m) wide, and displacing up to 90,000 tons. This was sufficient for any ship in the fleet. The smaller version came in seven sections, each 204' (62m) long and 101' (31m) wide and capable of lifting 8000 tons. When assembled, it could lift a ship 725' (221m) long , 120' (37m) wide, and displacing up to 55,000 tons. The sections were given a rough hull form that allowed them to be towed at 6 to 8 knots, with the side walls folded down to reduce wind resistance and lower the center of gravity. They had their own diesel generators and crew quarters. Each assembled dock had two cranes with a lift of 15 tons that ran on rails atop the assembled walls of the dock. A total of 58 ABSD sections were constructed during the war, sufficient for three of the larger docks and four of the smaller docks. The first ABSD was assembled at Noumea in 1943 and a second was being assembled at Espiritu Santo at the end of the year. Though theoretically capable of being disassembled and moved to a new location, this was attempted only with the Espiritu dock (ABSD-1, later redesignated AFDB-1 Artisan) which was moved to the Philippines just as the war was winding down. Total Navy floating dry dock capacity was 108,000 tons by the end of 1942 and 723,000 tons at the end of 1943. There were quite a few types of floating dry docks. ABSD - Advance Base Sectional Dock AFD - Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock AFDB - Large Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock AFDL - Small Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock AFDM - Medium Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock ARDC - Concrete Auxiliary Repair Dock ARDM - Medium Auxiliary Repair Dry Dock YFD - Yard Floating Dry Dock

My grandfather served on a floating Drydock. ARD 4 in 1944 I believe.

One thing that Ryan did not mention was the SECTIONAL nature of many of these floating drydocks. How does one get a very large rectangular object from the US west coast to say Ulithi Atoll which was a very large WW-2 fleet anchorage in the Caroline Islands. This is one of those spots that the fleet retired to between engagements. These fleet anchorages included at least one of these SECTIONAL floating drydocks. Each section was its own barge with somewhat pointed ends. they were placed side by side by side by side.... to form a long floating drydock. When under tow each of the units had two hollow box sections laying on top. When being set up, this pair of box sections were then tipped up and fastened to the base just inside of the pointed bow and stern - _|____|_ Then several sections were fastened together side by side to form the dock. A picture is worth 1000 words. In the photo at about time 7:00 minutes these sectional pointed ends can be seen along the sides of the assembled dock. Indeed these sectional docks allowed ships to get fairly major battle damage repaired without ever leaving the various Pacific areas of engagement. AMAZING, and very much responsible for keeping the fleet units available in the engagement area without having to return to Pearl or the west coast!!

It would also be nice to have an episode on the long line of forward bases starting with Noumea and continuing through Ulithi and perhaps beyond?

I think Auxiliaries in general are underserved for utube, they really are the unsung hero's keeping the fleet operational. I like the Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships they seem to be the ones heading out to do mobile repairs on battle damaged ships to get them in for bigger repairs. Some are still around in private service. Enewetak Atoll repair anchorage sounds ;like it was a happening place. It would be great to hear more about it like the Caroline island anchorage.

Worked on that dry dock for oil rigs it was an interesting time

I took a lot of photos while the Pampanito was in the WWII floating dry dock at Bay Ship and Yacht in Alameda California. I was able to sail close by and take photos from the water and later took a tour so I could stand on the drydock and see the sub out of water. Both the sub and the dock are owned by the Museum Association that helps support San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park. They lease the drydock which is still in constant use to Bay Ship and Yacht which generates funds to help maintain the sub. The drydock is mostly concrete to save steel and that turns out to make a pretty good floating dry dock that has with little care held up all these years. I'd put in a vote for tugs, the switch engines of the fleet shunting ships and barges around. Something that is hard to do if you don't have them.

Fast fleet oilers absolutely essential in supporting forward operations in the Pacific theater during WWII.

The Victory ships are often forgotten, while their older siblings the Liberty ships get all the credit for the ww2 Atlantic convoys. Victory ships were both larger and faster, and didn't suffer from the issues that made early Liberty ships break in half. However, only 534 were built, compared to 2710 liberty ships. Then there are the Canadian and British cousins to the Liberties, the Park and Fort ships. All helped win the war by transporting food and equipment.

When I was at ballast point in San Diego 1977-81 Drydock USS San Onofre was there

Wouldn’t it be cool if, when battleship Texas is finished with repair, they got the Submarine USS Texas ssn-775 to escort the Battleship Texas to her new home? Its a longshot but it’d be fitting.

"MA SHIPYARD" is the remaining half of Grand Bahama Shipyard (GBS) Dry Dock No. 2 which was originally built by the Port of Portland as Dry Dock 4 for $84mm in the '70's ($400mm+ in 2022 dollars) to service tankers and container ships, and sold in the early 2000's for $25mm by Cascade General to GBS. In 2019 Royal Caribbean's liner Oasis of the Seas was being serviced when a crane collapsed and the dock sank, and during salvage operations the wreck was cut in half. Gulf Copper purchased the wrecked drydock and refurbished it to its present use.

I served on the Oak Ridge 75 to 78 Rota, Spain

It's not just the drydocks, the ships and the planes that kept the fleet going, it's also the people that worked in those drydocks, ships, and planes that kept the US Navy going. Some of those people were so good and dedicated that they were able to repair the ships fast enough and well enough that they were able to get back in the fight. I recall reading about a couple of ships that the Japanese thought they sank, yet those ships were there. One ship, iirc, it was an aircraft carrier, got damaged badly, yet was repaired well enough to the point that the Japanese thought that they were sinking a different ship of the same class each time, i think about four or five times. Another ship, the USS Yorktown CV5, was badly damaged, pulled into Pearl Harbor, and was repaired well enough in 72 hours to be able to go and fight in the Battle of Midway. Legend has it that when she sailed from Pearl there were still many shipyard workers finishing up the repairs on board. The Japanese were surprised to see that ship they believed sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea there at Midway. It was a combination of the equipment and the talented people that kept the US Navy going.

I served on The USS Los Alamos AFDB7 in Holy Loch Scotland. She originally was a 7 section stationed at Mare Island nick named The Big Seven during the end of WWII. Auxiliary ships are not considered important enough to keep the ships logs.

Hey Ryan. Awesome videos. If this has been asked my bad. If not where is your ships rudders position? Texas said the last order is why it's sitting the way it is. Wondering where yours is.

Submarine Tenders, in the Pacific. Instead of hauling for resupply all the way back to "Pearl Harbor". AS-18.

Iowa was drydocked in that pic not from the typhoon but because she dropped a shaft which caused significant damage to the ship. She was repaired enough in the floating dock to get back to the US West Coast for permanent repairs at Mare Island IIRC.

Rochford after the victory at Midway where he was critcal in discovering the details of the attack and inform Nimitz, was given command of a dry dock so Washinton and the Redmond brothers could be given the credit.

Would like to see a video about the process of putting a ship in a dry dock. How it’s done is beyond my comprehension

It would be interesting to see how many floating drydocks the Navy had and if they lost any during WWII and what has happened to them since the war. I know russia lost their only large drydock that their carrier almost went down with. I believe the US was the only country to build any drydocks during the war.

Cool

All the Fast Battleships, CVs, Fighters, Bombers, etc don't mean a thing if there are no support/repair ships, and ground crews to keep them going.

Hey Ryan, That Door on the End is called a Caisson.

Read "Under the Red Sea Sun" to see what Ellsberg did with floating drydock and some British cruisers.

Pretty sure the USS Oak Ridge (ARDM-1) did NOT have propulsion machinery and had to be towed everywhere even though she looked like a ship. Check it out on Wiki. She was towed from place to place. She likely just used her machinery to generate electricity and power her pumps.

@zztush8557

Жыл бұрын

It did not. I served on her

Duluth Mn historical marker: 490 lb piece float copper dredged from Keweenaw Waterway, Michigan, by hydraulic dredge "New Jersey" May 27, 1932. (Same dredge?)- Army dredge New Jersey worked to keep Cam Ranh Bay navigable for deep draft ships. Viet Cong underwater sappers sank the dredge in the latter part of the war, killing three civilian crewmen.

To see an "unsung hero ship", watch the movie "Mr. Roberts". It about a small supply ship in the backwaters of WW 2.

Been checking in on BB35 since she was towed from the pier San Jacinto. Do you know if they are going to end up taking down the forward tripod mast for restoration as had been done in the 80s?

@Adamu98

Жыл бұрын

The mast will remain in place.

Could there be any doubt? the Ice Cream Barge's off course!

Do talk about Ulithi in the context of this video - you mentioned Eniwetok, but Ulithi..... A giant empty atoll, fairly far forward, turned into a massive base, nearly entirely on ships for the base services, which was totally abandoned only a few short months later once a suitable area in the the Philippines was captured. How's the saying go - tactics and logistics. Support like drydocks and the fleet train of supply ships, tankers, repair ships, and the rest is logistics. As the USAF Tankers say, NKAWTG. Same with the Navy, no kicking ### without logistics and repair.

More info on supply/support/command ships!

Unappreciated ships? Oilers, they often got sunk while they had limited or no protection, at least in the early parts of the war.

Please save the USS Texas battleship Mary Babiec

It is the repair ships and crews that do the work. Dry docks just pick ships up and put them down. I served on USS Cadmus AR14.

I think the other unsung ships of the fleet were the AS & AD tenders of the fleet

Floating drydocks are the sickest ships about *_N O W A R M T H E M_*

Please,please do an episode for USS Artisan

My dad served on absd 2 in WWII and would tell me stories of how they were towed by liberty ships in sections to the admiralty Islands and then put together at manus he said that the Iowa was in his and that it was not lifted out of the water very high in case of attack they could get it back in faster.also because of the heat there that he would sleep in a hammock underneath the Iowa when it was in dock there.another was while being towed that they lost the liberty ship towing them one morning and had to have a tug come get them to reach their destination.he would also say that Tokyo rose was informed of their coming and would broadcast that we don't know where or when you're coming but we're gonna get ya....I guess the crew got a kick out of that cause he would always laugh about it.he was on the dock at manus when that ammo ship blew up in the Anchorage of which only a detail that was sent to the island for the mail survived

Was on AFDB-7 for 4 years

USS JOHN S. MCCAIN (DDG 56) is named for the Admirals McCain and (since his death) Senator (Captain) McCain. ET2(SW) on MCCAIN, 2007-2009

Is the Jersey able to go through the great lakes? Or are the "lock's" too small?

I am bummed her shafts and support bearings and struts are gone. If she winds up high and dry, I bet there are props out there and if not, mock-ups. And then open all the sea chests at least the major ones. The rudder is rusted solid 14 degrees to port but that is ok for display.