Helena is one of my favorite ships of all time. The Brooklyns all performed pretty excellent work and almost always had the most competent captains of the task forces they were in, compared to some of the heavy cruisers. Helena, born to fight, and died fighting. Rest in peace you beautiful ship and beautiful crew

@CPVmusic-kk7xm

9 ай бұрын

My father was in the Navy since he was 16, just transferred from The Boise to the Helena the nigh before, was injured from the blast. Petty Officer 2nd class Angelo R Volpe.

My grandfather served on this ship when it was sunk. He was stuck on a raft for a couple days before getting rescued. He was wounded in the leg by shrapnel from the explosion.

@OpenCarryUSMC

10 ай бұрын

My late father in law was in the motor boat with Captain Cecil when they abandoned ship and were towing those rafts. I met the remaining survivors at their Sacramento reunion around 2004/2006. Don may have carried your father over the coral from the boats to shore.

@AdamosDad

10 ай бұрын

I'm glad your grandfather lived to have a family to tell his stories to.

@gilbertgetz8750

10 ай бұрын

​

@gilbertgetz8750

10 ай бұрын

​@@AdamosDadno

@edwinarnold4865

10 ай бұрын

FYI the u.s.s. Helena survived WW2 and was later sold to the argintinan navy and was sunk by the British in the falkan war in 1982

It's ironic (and perhaps fitting) that Helena's combat service started and ended in roughly the same way: Firing all her guns and getting struck by torpedoes. And while she lost her most famous captain in an ignominious manner, most of her crew managed to survive her loss,.

I was lucky enough to know Garth Brown, who served onboard USS Helena and was also was on Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor. He was proud of that ship and always spoke highly of her.

It surprises me that with all of her skilled crew and Captain and amazing record that there was never a movie made about her .

@BobSmith-dk8nw

10 ай бұрын

The movie was about The Sullivans - who were all lost with _Juneau_ - which _Helena_ , rightly or wrongly - abandoned. .

@LoganJohnson-lm2bh

10 ай бұрын

Thanks. @@BobSmith-dk8nw

@ARGONUAT

10 ай бұрын

This needs to be fixed.

@BlackHearthguard

8 ай бұрын

@@ARGONUAT Just need a spare few million dollars and you're set.

@JayRock907

3 ай бұрын

Greyhound is the only modern movie equivalent.

The algorithm suggested this and I clicked right away. Growing up in Helena, Montana, whenever we went to the library, I’d always ask to go see the USS Helena memorial in the park just outside of the library. The chain, anchor, propellor, and bell were fascinating. I could feel the weight of history in those objects. Glad to have her history here, and here’s to all those who served aboard her!

Thank you for this video. Very interesting and informative. My wife’s uncle, John Ewing, was on the Helena when it was sunk. He had been on the USS Chicago, CA-29, which was sunk in January of 1943. The Navy wanted to get “able bodied seamen” back into the fight so was moved to the Helena. He ended up getting sunk twice in 7 months. Luckily, he was uninjured each time.

Studies made during and after the war determined that the Brooklyn class light cruisers were the most efficient surface warship in the US Fleet in WWII. This was largely due to the accuracy and rate of fire of the Super Firing 6" rifles of their main armament. Although unable to penetrate an enemy battleships armor deeply enough to cause fatal damage, the sheer number of hits left the opposing ships topside works in shambles thus reducing the enemy's combat efficiency to near zero. Wartime designs such as the Cleveland Class (CL-55) were similar to the Brooklyn's and enjoyed equal success. Very few US warships were lost to enemy gunfire. The Long Lance torpedo was responsible for the majority of sinkings whether launched from submarines, surface ships or aircraft. Later in the war the kamikaze became responsible for many sinkings.

There was nothing else Hoover could do for Juneau. He had two destroyers left: one had lost her sonar and radios, the other had had to jettison her entire load of depth charges due to a fire the night before. Neither of them could engage a submerged submarine. Stopping would’ve been suicide. Hoover agonized over his decision, not least because Captain Lyman Swenson of Juneau was a close friend of his, but there was nothing else he could do.

@BobSmith-dk8nw

10 ай бұрын

The excuse was - that when _Juneau_ blew up - they thought everyone was dead ... But they weren't. At least one of the 5 Sullivan Brothers (and maybe more) - survived the sinking but then later died. None of the 5 lived to be rescued. More could have been done than was done - and should have been - if only to rescue the men who did survive - sooner than they were. 100 men survived the sinking but by the time they were rescued - *_8 DAYS LATER_* there were only 10 of them left. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Juneau_(CL-52)#Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal There IS no excuse for that. Not having the wounded survivors stop in the presence of a submarine was one thing but - *_8 DAYS_* is another. If the Cruisers' float planes hadn't been able to do it - they could have sent Catalina's out there - but they didn't. They just assumed they were all dead and did nothing. Someone *_DESERVED_* to pay for that negligence and Hoover happened to be it. .

@cdfe3388

10 ай бұрын

@@BobSmith-dk8nw Hoover did radio Juneau's position to New Caledonia, and there was a B-17 overhead at the time of the sinking. However, the radio traffic from both Helena and the B-17 got garbled in transmission, and PBYs sent to look for survivors went to the wrong coordinates, missing by 80 miles or more. Again, not Hoover's fault.

@AndrewGivens

10 ай бұрын

I totally see the dilemma, but you have to believe that an RN group would've used the DC-less destroyer's sonar to search for & track the sub, whilst directing the 'blind' destroyer to make its attack runs. A sub under attack keeps its head down and smartly. Hoover should've ordered suppressive runs on that sub. But he made the wrong call and that's entirely human. He'd just come through a brutal, gruelling night of battle.

@john.norris

10 ай бұрын

i wondered what had happened thank you. war is hell

@cdfe3388

10 ай бұрын

@@AndrewGivens That's an easy Monday-morning-quarterback call that makes a lot of assumptions, and skips the part where the destroyer that still had depth charges had lost her radios in addition to her sonar, so such coordination was impossible. Even if they could drive the sub deep, the amount of time necessary to stop and pick up anyone would give it plenty of opportunity to come back up and fire another spread, only this time against targets that weren't even moving, and would have zero chance of evading. Hoover was in an impossible situation. He had to weigh the possibility of anyone having gotten off of Juneau alive against the risk to 3,000 men on his other ships, with a Japanese submarine nearby and no way to engage it. There was no right answer, just different flavors of wrong. He chose the course of action that seemed to offer the best shot at not getting any more men killed. He still tried to mobilize a rescue effort for Juneau's survivors, but it was thwarted by complications outside his control.

I had two great uncles on the Helena when it was sunk, two brothers. Alexander Edward Solak was a Navy Seaman First Class. His brother, Leonard Solak was a Marine being transported. The story I was told was that Alexander Solak, the Seaman was lost in action, likely from a direct hit. His brother Leonard, the Marine abandoned ship and was later rescued after searching for his lost brother. brother.

Any enterprising filmmaker could easily make one hell of a fighting series of shows about this ship. What a legendary brawler from big sky country!

One of my favourite ships too. Sadly, She was hacked into 3 pieces by deadly long-lance torpedos, the killer of many US navy ships in the Solomons.

Wonderful history video. It's a shame that senior US Navy officers failed to acknowledge the advantage of radar until later in WW2. In several of the battles near Guadalcanal, Japanese naval formations were detected by radar at 25,000 yards, yet not engaged until the forces were withing 10,000 yards in a night battle.

thanks Sky for showing little known ships or actions of that most of us have not known..keep up the great videos...

USS Helena was the first vessel to use the 5” proximity fuse shooting down 2 Japanese aircraft up the slot in the initial combat test of one of USA’s most consequential inventions of WWII.

@davidrennie8197

10 ай бұрын

Not a USA invention; British invention

@CallsItLikeISeizeIts

7 ай бұрын

@@davidrennie8197Brit’s invented but couldn’t finish, us finished it at JHU APL. 5 Jan 1943: USS (CC) Helena fires 2 salvos of 5” w/Proximity Fuzing and shoots down IJN dive bomber in first US Combat test of proximity fused AA. May 1945: USS (DD) Evans & Hadley are attacked by over 150 Kamikazes off the coast of Okinawa. All were shot down with only pieces of 6 A/C actually hitting the ships.

@davidrennie8197

7 ай бұрын

No, it was part of a large range of things shown to work. Penicillin, too @@CallsItLikeISeizeIts

My favorite Man-of-War. Machine gun Cruiser is a just name, it could literally pour out the fire. The battle of Friday the Thirteenth in the Black of night really demonstrated this ability. Was responsible in helping to sink a Battleship. While this ship demonstrated it's value in this battle the powers in Washington decided the 6" gun, being excellent in this instance it was decided too small to really be effective in the New Navy.

Thank you for this video, I can only imagine what the crew went through.

I served on USS Springfield (CL-66) a Cleveland class but designed very similarly. She was later converted to a (CLG-7) I also had the privilege of serving on board the USS Newport News (CA-148), I would hope you could do a video on Her sometime, Rigina Maris. "Fair Winds and Following Seas" Brothers 🇺🇸⚓

Thanks for this video on my favourite ship of all time. The more i learn about her, the more insane it gets. In every action she was involved in she saw her enemies first, before anyone else. And thats despite being deep inside the formation she was part of. As i’ve memed it so many times: The All seeing eye of Sauron of USN😂. Many thanks for the video again and as one ww1 general said on his death bed: Carry on.

Well presented.

How could you end the story there? Although the Radford is mentioned, you should have noted the Radford fought off five Japanese destroyers to save Helena’s crew. The Radford received the Presidential Unit Citation for its bravery in saving Helena’s crew.

The thing with those 6" guns - was that they were entirely mechanically loaded and fired - so that they were in fact Machine Cannon - and with 15 of them - these ships had an incredible rate of fire. In Stylized Naval Warfare (where you create a scenario where two fleets fight each other - as fleets - and without Aircraft ... ) one of the tactics - is to launch your destroyers in a massed torpedo attack on the other side. These ships were Destroyer Killers and could really mess up a opposing cruiser, heavy or light, as well. The fact that ships like _Helena_ had the better radar - meant that they should have been the Task Force Flagships - but - American Officers were incompetent when it came to the use of radar early in the war. I mean - they had radar at Pearl Harbor - and it detected the Japanese - but the officers in charge were to incompetent to make use of it. There was a price to be paid for waiting as long as they did to enter the war. If everyone starts off at the same time - everyone is having the same Peace Time Stupidity. If you wait until someone attacks you - AFTER they've had several YEARS of experience - they've winnowed out their Peace Time Incompetents - and you haven't. The Americans paid for that repeatedly - everywhere - during the start of the war. The Germans and Japanese were Veterans - and they weren't. The thing with Halsey - was that he didn't care if his men were going against Veterans - and they weren't. He threw them in there anyway - and the ones that lived became veterans. They suffered for it - but - the Americans could replace any losses they took - and the Japanese couldn't. In the cold, brutal calculus of war - that is what counted. .

@maxwedge5683

10 ай бұрын

You make many valid points, No matter how much you practice and train for war (and we did neither) it's nothing like the real thing. That's why we spend so much time and money on defense today. Pearl Harbor...Never Again!

Savannah (CL-42) was upgraded to the twin 5/38 dual purpose mounts after she was hit by a German Fritz bomb off Italy In September of 1943, but never saw combat again even though she was fully repaired by the following September. Honolulu (CL-48) also received the upgrade after being torpedoed off the Philippines in October of 1944, but Japan capitulated while she was still in Philadelphia being repaired. Both of these ships resembled St. Louis and Helena after modification. Just pointing out that some of the earlier Brooklyns were modified to look like them, not intending to discount anything stated in the video. My grandfather served aboard Phoenix (CL-46) from the day she commissioned in 1937 through the entirety of World War II.

Very well put together!! Thank you!! It is amazing the work the light cruisers and destroyers did in WWII……..

Wonderful video! Thanks!

I remember reading a book about the Juneau. Tragic story. The Sullivan Brothers were from a neighboring town from mine.

@poohbear1647

10 ай бұрын

Just FYI- the USS Sullivans is a museum here in Buffalo. It was damaged by ice and started leaking last year, Buffalo pulled together and fix her.

Well, that answers where one of my grandfathers brothers were at the time of pearl harbor. He told a story of watching a torpedo go under his ship and hit the cruiser they were moored next to. The torpedo mentioned at about 8:15 would be that very torpedo.

thank you. semper fi i spent a year aboard the USS Saipan LHA-2 we learned alot about naval history, even though a marine.

Thank you for the video, excellent narration.

Great stuff! Thanks

This is a riveting documentary. I enjoyed it very much. As good as I've ever seen.

In Hoover's defense, when pieces of the ship thay just exploded are falling all around your flotilla, it would be reasonable to conclude that there were likely no survivors.

(11:24) I always smile when I see sister ships in the same photograph. I just imagine the ships smiling and waving as they pass.

Thank you for an interesting episode. I didn't know much about the Brroklyn class cruisers except they were among the good ones in my 1997 PC game _"Pacific General"_ (SSI).

Great video!

Great work Thank God for All Hands

Thank you that was interesting.

My Dad fought aboard USS Helena CL-50 and USS Helena CA-75. He always said, "Brooklyn to Baltimore".

I had the privilege to serve on the USS NICHOLAS (DD-449) 1968-70, one of two Fletchers, the other was the USS RADFORD (DD-446), to pickup over 750 survivors they could find in the Kula Gulf, all the while fighting off Japanese warships. Both destroyers received the Presidential Unit Citation for they're efforts. The NICHOLAS went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam, accumulating 30 Battle Stars, more than any other ship in Navy history to date. The NICHOLAS and her sister the USS O'BANNON (DD-450) were built together in Bathe, Maine. They were decommissioned together to end their careers.

My Dad was on the Helena from shakedown to when it came back after being hit by the Japanese in Pearl Harbour. Dad was Chief engineer in Hawaii and said he didn't see daylight for 3 days. I have all of his photos and the book they used to report on the next ship. Dad's commission was signed by the President. I will have to share my photos with you. I live in Bangkok, Thailand and all of my stuff is still in the US. I am returning to the US next May and will try to locate all of it.

My two favourite Light Cruisers of WWII are the Brooklyns and the British Town Class. I am afraid I am going to pull National Bias here, and plump for the Towns as I am a Brit, but the Brooklyns are a VERY close second! As in REALLY close.... Both were fine ship classes, with good lines, the Brooklyn's and the Town's were not just superb warships, they were also very good looking ships.

One of the ships ever.

Great commentary. Too often we scapegoat our most experienced commanders.

Still would like to see a video done on salvaging the German fleet at Scapa flow and for another shipwreck video you could do the battleship Danton

Admiral Lee trained the gun crews to reload faster and faster until they couldn't do it any faster. Then they sailed off to engage the IJN who was caught off guard by the cruisers extremely high rate of fire. They thought the USN had autoloaders slamming in complete rounds like a firearm so called those machine gun cruisers.

It was claimed by some at Pearl Harbor that Oglala died of fright...

Could you do video on the USS Byscain She fought in most of the D-Days in the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters.

The electrical fires during the pearl harbor raid had to do with the fact (correct me if I am wrong) that combat power did not use circuit breakers.

Edward L. Beach said that Oglala "died of fright."

A great youtube series can be found with the ‘Unauthorized History of the war in the Pacific’.

So cool connecting the history of the vessel to War Thunder. Makes it more fun to play.

That moment when your enemy calls you "cheater" for you having "Machine-gun Light-cruisers". XD

Badass little ship….

we need these ships again

Helena was a feisty lady. :)

The SAD THING IS THOSE THAT RISK LITTLE, DO NEXT TO NOTHING .... AVERT HARM'S WAY ..... have the gall to condescend to those who are vigilance, resourcefulness and act before being acted upon ..... being a realist about what was needed to remain afloat, effective and punishing the enemy .... THAT WHICH WAS THEIR FIRST PRIORITY .... became unacknowledged and the Captain of the Machine Gun Helena ..... and it was sunk AFTER it's courageous Captain was unduly dispatched ! GBjj

A BLAZE OF GLORY

I dont normally care for how things are properly said, but Helena being my states capital, for some reason really annoys me alot when i hear it said wrong. And very, very few say it right. Thank you for pronouncing Helena correctly. Great video!

@steeplecab

9 ай бұрын

I agree about the frustration at the frequent mispronunciation of the city I live in. I often prompt people with the comment, "As in handbasket." When they laugh I know they understood and will never forget again.

@williamromine5715

9 ай бұрын

I have lived in Helena since 1960(I'm 81), and could never understand why people mispronounce the name.

5:25 "The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War." Wikipedia

Hoover/Scott: Case study of what happens when clear instructions are not issued. A task group commander should understand that they would be in possession of more complete intelligence that the unit commanders, therefore assuming the unit commander understood his terse reply was unwarranted on the part of Scott.

Training is key.

U.K. Nelson. No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy. ... Nothing changes, does it?

After the shambolic night engagement, the Japanese men's bunks were duly inspected, and their carrot rations for the day were discovered - largely uneaten. Luckily the Ship's corporal punishment Katana had been blown overboard during the engagement, so they were spared that - but had to enter the Konami cheat code into their NES 10000 times

Gil Hoover was completely railroaded by Halsey for events that were entirely not his fault. I honestly think had he remained in command, she would not of been sunk later on.

@CaptainSeato

10 ай бұрын

Just another American sacrificed on the altar of Halsey's command incompetence.

@pickeljarsforhillary102

10 ай бұрын

Who's Gil?

@brucewelty7684

10 ай бұрын

Halsey was a great one to bitch about bad decisions!

@richardcline1337

10 ай бұрын

@@CaptainSeato, Halsey was the Navy's version of General MacArthur and Britain's Montgomery. ALL nothing but narcissistic glory hounds that cared NOTHING for the men under them as long as they continued to get the glory for the battles they commanded.

@brynleesixx2403

10 ай бұрын

Gilbert Hoover, captain of the USS Helena during the Guadalcanal campaign.@@pickeljarsforhillary102

At least she went down fighting. unlike Enterprixe and Washington that were scraped.

Fabulous Great Work! Onward 🌈

My father was on this ship, I dont believe he was on it when it sank. he was on 3 ships, Hale, Helena, and Somers, I have tried to piece it all together. I know he was in the Atlantic pre war, he told a little about what they were doing. so that must have been the Hale DD133. I think then when she was given to the British in 1940 he was transferred to the Helena, Chief Machinist mate.. I assume he was then transferred to the somers after Guadalcanal Canal. he didn't talk a lot about any of it really. Ive just tried to piece it together

1" doesn't seem to qualify as "large bore gun"/artillery. Can you help me out here?

Captain Gil Hoover was screwed by Admiral Halsey.

@johngaither9263

9 ай бұрын

He was cashiered by Halsey for the exact same things Halsey was guilty of later in the war. Halsey contributed almost as much to the Japanese war effort as he did to Americas.

Sir we’re surrounded! Capt. “that makes it easier! We're entirely surrounded.” “Those poor bastards,” Puller said. “They've got us right where we want 'em.

Do you have any updates on the number of war grave ships that have been illegally salvaged by China ?

Helena looks like Japanese triple turrets on bow

@michaelfranklin4276

7 ай бұрын

Who knows? That might've confused their night lookouts even further, and worked to our advantage.

Yea- torpedoes. That 5th turret was only of limited use, maybe better off swapped out for torpedoes unless there was a magazine space problem for those.

@sargeherren

9 ай бұрын

In 1943, the 5th turret was far more effective than US torpedoes.

@johngaither9263

9 ай бұрын

US torpedoes at the outbreak of the war proved to be terribly unreliable. The navy prior to the outbreak of the war had already concluded that torpedoes on cruisers and larger ships were a threat. Being exposed to enemy fire made them likely to explode and cause severe damage.

Hmm! The Japanese forces had been caught in their trousers down.

@johngaither9263

9 ай бұрын

If USN admirals had been more familiar with the potential of American radar at night they could have wrecked the Japanese at a time of day the Japanese thought, they were invincible.

Guy on hsn, father, was on helena.

32 knots is average??? Sounds fast to me.

@maxwedge5683

10 ай бұрын

The Atlanta class CL's could top 40 kts. But they were built as anti-aircraft light cruisers. They really had no business in a surface battle.

Just before 4 minutes in: The use of the term "cannons". Ship's guns are rifles. Or did I miss something?

✌️🇺🇸👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

Unfortunately light cruisers and anti aircraft cruisers did not fare well in battle . God bless their crews .

@RayyMusik

10 ай бұрын

They were excellent for fighting enemy destroyers.

So Helena suffered the you broke our nose off of her sisters. But damn I got 15 6" guns to talk to you with. But how did she only get away with 4 dual 5" 38?

@mikeynth7919

10 ай бұрын

The Cleveland class were derived from the Brooklyns. They went with four triple six inch turrets in order to squeeze two more twin five inch turrets on, one centerline forward the other aft.

@CanadianDolphinSurf

10 ай бұрын

The average US interwar cruiser armament was 4 single 5in 25s compared to the two turrets of twin 5in38s. So the same gun armament size and yet a much superior gun.

The Japanese Torpedo was the real culprit…not the Brooklyns per se. By the time that Japanese ships were noted to be in proximity…they would alreay have Long Lance Torpedoes in the water.

Not defending or condemning Captain Hoover for the action with Juneau just asking a question. Was it standard practice to risk a ship in known hostile waters to pick up survivors? I’m pretty sure the answer is no with a capital ship but not sure of this type cruiser. Sounds to me like he went above the call of duty and put his ship and crew and the war effort at risk. The Sullivan brothers was unfortunate and brought much attention the action.

Oh man. You missed a whole bunch of the survivors stories.

My father was in Egypt in ww2 commonphrase

@johngaither9263

9 ай бұрын

If your English, Australian or Kiwi.

looks like the general belgrano.

@johngaither9263

9 ай бұрын

Belgrano started its life as a US heavy cruised and was sold to Argentina after WWII. It's the only ship to be sunk by a torpedo since the end of the war.

A survivor of Pearl Harbor 12/7/1941.

Give ‘em Hel gentlemen

I lost a extended family member i never met.

Imagine the balls on Halsey for doing this to Hoover, only to charge off headlong after a pair of empty carriers and damn near dooming the Leyte landings, all to capture the glory of sinking the last two assailants of Pearl Harbor. I think the only reason he wasn't buried for this was Taffy-3 bailed his dumb ass out.

5:25 They should have equipped Helena with three 16 inch twin gun mounts plus four of those devastating "quad-mount Bofors 40-mm in 1945. Essex-class carriers such as the Hornet typically mounted as many as 72 Bofors guns." Naval History and Heritage Command Plus they obviously should have included torpedo launchers.

@maxwedge5683

10 ай бұрын

16" guns on a CL? Must be a typo. Just like 72 Bofors on an Essex class. Wartime AA was 12-5" 38cal, 32-40mm Bofors and 46-20mm Oerlikons. Midway class had 84 Bofors and 56 Oerlikon.

@rael5469

10 ай бұрын

@@maxwedge5683 Not a typo. The Helena would have survived the war if it had been armed as I suggested.

@xenaguy01

10 ай бұрын

​@@rael5469The Helena would have foundered if she had been armed as you suggested.

@rael5469

10 ай бұрын

@@xenaguy01 What about one 16 inch twin mount forward and one aft?

@xenaguy01

10 ай бұрын

@@rael5469 No. You can't put two 16" twin turrets on a 10,000 ton cruiser. It couldn't float. The twin 15" turrets on the British QE class battleships weighed 100 tons each. Putting two of them on a 10,000 ton cruiser increases the tonnage and raises the center of buoyancy. I don't see how the ship could float. For certain, not in any sea not dead calm. Helena already had 15 6" rapid fire 6" guns. IDK what advantage 4 16"tubes could provide. The 6" shells won't penetrate BB armor, but can handle any cruiser. Especially with their rate of fire of 8-10 rounds per minute.

Fascinating history, but frustratingly difficult to follow your timeline: you mention many dates but almost always as just the day and the month. You hardle ever mention what YEAR these events took place. The Pacific war lasted 4 long years. There were multiple repeat engagements. The whole world was in flux. Most viewers I think would appreciate the added clarity of knowing at each point what year you are talking about.

@johngaither9263

9 ай бұрын

It's a bummer when an author expects you to have a basic understanding of the history time line in the Pacific. Your statements prove just how ignorant you are of them.

171st, 17 December 2023

Typical Montanan. 🙂