I have the privilege of seeing a South Dakota class BB every day since I live across the river where BB59 USS Massachusetts is permanently moored, I have visited this great ship several times in my lifetime. The state bought her, and she looks great to this day. We are lucky to have her.

My grandfather served on her. We have a certificate somewhere mentioning their presence in Tokyo Bay during the surrender of Japan.

The South Dakota couldn’t take a trick but in saying that, she was an absolute tank

My grandfather (Ralph Martin) served on the USS South Dakota for 4 years. He operated the 20 mm cannon machine guns to shoot kamikaze planes out of the sky. The greatest generation, that’s for sure.

@MusicNinja12345

23 күн бұрын

my grandfather was also on this ship as a shipfitter

@TheRealDanielMartin

23 күн бұрын

@@MusicNinja12345 is he still with us or has he passed?

@MusicNinja12345

23 күн бұрын

@@TheRealDanielMartin oh no i wish. He died in the early 80s from lung cancer. He didnt smoke but they think he got it from the asbestos they were exposed to back then

@TheRealDanielMartin

23 күн бұрын

@@MusicNinja12345 sorry to hear that.

She may have been a hardluck ship,but she fought well along with her brave crews and officers. I like the South Dakota class more the the Iowa and North Carolina class don't get me wrong i like those as well. But the Dakotas have a special place in my heart. Great video

Great video. She was truly a hard luck ship. My uncle served on USS ALABAMA, and mentioned operating with SOUTH DAKOTA many times.

Grew up just up the road from the USS South Dakota Memorial. Really wish I had visited it more.

In modern times she'd have been nicknamed the USS Sh*t Magnet. I appreciate the extra detail given regarding the Naval Battle of Guadalcancal, as I never knew why she blundered towards the Japanese and silhouetted herself. Turns out she didn't have a choice but to go that way.

@johntrottier1162

7 ай бұрын

Not 100% sure about that. Washington was in the lead, and turned to port to avoid the wreckage of the DD's. I have never seen an explanation as to why the South Dakota did not follow her and had to turn to starboard. The only reason that makes sense to me is that during the power outage, South Dakota was not able to stay in proper position and follow in Washington's wake. If that is correct, then whoever was supposed to keep track of where the flag (Washington) was steaming screwed up, and did not tell the bridge that the Washington had turned to port. Between that unknown individual and the engineering officer who improperly tied down circuit breakers that caused the South Dakota's power failures, they really screwed things up.

Great job keep it up. Thanks

@TheValorVault

7 ай бұрын

Thank you

I know Calvin Graham was served on Battleship South Dakota

I.J.N. Kirishima was a battlecruiser updated to what they termed a fast battleship though with the former’s weaker armoured protection. She was based-upon her sister ship Kongo designed and built in Barrow England which No builds out nuclear submarines. 👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧🇺🇸✌️

Excuse me, The ONLY Japanese ships that were equipped with 18" guns were Yamato and her sister ship, Musashi. Kirishima was the only Japanese battle cruiser in this fight and she was equipped with 14" guns. Yes, South Dakota was absolutely pummeled by the Japanese fleet and because they were fixated on her, Admiral Lee, aboard Washington was able to advance to almost point blank range and let off 45 salvos of 16" rounds at Kirishima in only 5 minutes scoring over 50% of rounds fired on the then helpless IJN ship. OOORAH!

@TheValorVault

7 ай бұрын

But there's nothing in my video saying the Kirishima had 18 inch guns because she only had 14s as you mentioned

@boosuedon

7 ай бұрын

@@TheValorVault OOPS! I misheard your comment about South Dakota being hit by 18, 8" rounds. What registered was 18.8" rounds which would have been incorrect as well. Sorry about that!

@ambush_akula5261

4 ай бұрын

A marine… lovely Joking aside, something to note is Kirishima was a battlecruiser when she was launched however she was refitted into a fast battleship before the war

One of the most overrated battleships ever in terms of accomplishments, and that’s a high bar to clear. Her plane killcount at Santa Cruz was also a massive case of overclaiming.

@johnserrano9689

7 ай бұрын

A fairly odd statement there. As compared to what exactly? You're so very qualified because of what experience and real knowledge besides watching KZread and reading a couple articles. She's actually the best treaty battleship ever built, based on apples to apples, even including British legendary naval supremacy and training. Happenstance has it where she did in fact have her electrical engineers cob job brutally fail in the middle of a real wild West battleship gun fight, yet even though her offensive power was paused, her defensive armor held up without even breaking a dam sweat. She was built by the wealthy, natural resource rich united States, which is why her engineering and material quality was the best all around. Yes German and British steel was mixed for a slightly harder steel, but if the US wanted that they'd have it, they believed in the harder face hardening backed by the much more supple back half. Also she greatly benefits from a massive use of special treatment steel, where all other nations just used weaker structural steel. Even drach actually made a mistake saying sts wasn't a huge difference, while it was legit armor it was infact in between armor plate and structural steel making it superior pure and simple.

@bkjeong4302

7 ай бұрын

@@johnserrano9689 I said absolutely nothing about design. In terms of design SoDak was great. I’m talking about how she didn’t do all that much but repeatedly overinflated her achievements.

@johnserrano9689

7 ай бұрын

@@bkjeong4302 I agree actually. I am speaking from a point where the so daks are my favorite. They did have 1 serious flaw in design, especially when compared to say the Iowa's where they were literally stretched 200ft. The so daks being tightly compact, with cutting edge steam boilers and arrangement they were cramped! They also were not able to hold a massive amount of additional electronics which is why the Navy never brought them back in, not to mention the Iowa's were the fastest ever (new Jersey herself officially steamed over 35 knots for over 4-5 hours straight when she actually tried) the so daks heavily loaded where working their little asses off to reach 28 knots. But the so daks were little brawlers, capable of reaching out almost as far as an Iowa almost as accurate when needed, making for a nightmare to fight. Being 200ft smaller she was hard to hit and extremely maneuverable. However when you're electrical systems fail completely you're as harmless as a damn rowboat. That's where Washington came in, with the heaviest close range firepower to ever of happened how cool is that. Cannot imagine the unbelievable energy Washington dumped into the kirashima that night. Does have to be said the south Dakotas armor really did hold up extremely well, the design in particular did incredible. As she was all of nothing, not built like say the Bismarck with a heavily distributed design to prevent the 6-8" shells from damaging them

@bkjeong4302

7 ай бұрын

@@johnserrano9689 You’re ignoring a major details about how cool Washington was that night, which is the entire point I am making: SODAK STOLE THE CREDIT FOR THAT AND LHER CRRW LIED TO THE MEDIA ABOUT IT.

@bkjeong4302

6 ай бұрын

@@johnserrano9689 And what did SoDak do afterwards? She stole 100% of Washington’s credit and then some.