Favourite warship

[ItemCo16527]

The USS Laffey (DD-724). She is the legendary "ship that would not die", which was pounded by bombs and kamikazes off of Okinawa in 1945. Despite being crippled and nearly sunk by the Japanese, she would survive and go on to serve for nearly 30 more years.

My opinion is a little biased as my uncle served on the Laffey from 1969 to 1972

[spidge]

Originally Posted by ItemCo16527

The USS Laffey (DD-724). She is the legendary "ship that would not die", which was pounded by bombs and kamikazes off of Okinawa in 1945. Despite being crippled and nearly sunk by the Japanese, she would survive and go on to serve for nearly 30 more years.

My opinion is a little biased as my uncle served on the Laffey from 1969 to 1972

This is also a little biased as HMAS Australia fought for most of the war and took a beating as well.

Great story at this link and a photo of her after the Philippines campaign.
Royal Australian Navy Gun Plot H.M.A.S. AUSTRALIA WW2 Cruiser

Possibly the ship with the most colourful World War II history was HMAS Australia, fondly known as "The Aussie". The Aussie fought for almost the entire duration of the war. A county class cruiser commissioned in 1928 she was the second ship to bear the name of her country. With the outbreak of WWII Aussie sailed for the Atlantic to begin her long wartime career that she was to fight on all fronts and against all enemies. She fought twice at Dakar in Senegal, closing right in under the fort's heavy guns and sinking a French destroyer.
Bombers of the luftwaffe tried in vain to sink her whilst she was berthed alongside in Liverpool during the period when the city suffered its worst blitz. During her war service Aussie went everywhere - with the British Home Fleet in Scapa Flow, escorting the Atlantic and Indian Ocean convoys and around the coast of Australia searching for German raiders, cruising almost as far south as Antarctica.
In December 1941 when Japan entered the war Aussie became the flagship or Rear Admiral Crace, followed by Admiral Crutchley and then Commodore Collins. In January 1942 the cruiser assisted in escorting the first US troops to Australia. Operating in the Coral Sea it pursued and attacked the Japanese from Guadalcanal to Hollandia, surviving everything its enemies could throw at her. Then in the closing stages of the war at the battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines Aussie encountered Japan's most secret and diabolical weapon............Royal Australian Navy Gun Plot H.M.A.S. AUSTRALIA WW2 Cruiser

[ItemCo16527]

Just read the story of the Australia at the link you provided. Good lord, that ship led a charmed life. The contrast between the "before" and "after" pictures is staggering.

Thank you for the link!

[Warlord]

Originally Posted by ItemCo16527

The USS Laffey (DD-724). She is the legendary "ship that would not die", which was pounded by bombs and kamikazes off of Okinawa in 1945. Despite being crippled and nearly sunk by the Japanese, she would survive and go on to serve for nearly 30 more years.

USS Laffey as in the second DD to bear the name during the war? The first one, If I remember well, lays at Ironbottom Sound, sunk during the early engagements in the Slot.

[jmaccyd]

In RN terms I suppose HMS Warspite has to be the winner. Talk about value for money! Besides seriously insane to take her up those Norweigen fjords in the Battle of Narvic. HMS Hood is also a beautiful looking, if flawed, ship

[MikB]

Originally Posted by jmaccyd

In RN terms I suppose HMS Warspite has to be the winner. Talk about value for money! Besides seriously insane to take her up those Norweigen fjords in the Battle of Narvic. HMS Hood is also a beautiful looking, if flawed, ship

I agree with you about Warspite. But insane? Well, engaging the enemy more closely is an RN tradition. She may've been lucky, but what happened happened and at the end of it she was all right and Jerry wasn't. Can't criticise successful courage.

Regards,
MikB

[Slipdigit]

This old girl was participated in the Pacific War from 7 Dec 1941 until heavily damaged by a kamikaze in May 1945.

[Slipdigit]

Here are four more of my favorites, the Destroyers and Destroyer Escort of Task Force 77.4.3, for that one helluva fight they put up against the BBs and CAs of Adm Kurita's Center Force off Samar, in defense of the carriers of Taffy 3.

USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
USS Heermann (DD-532 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
USS Johnston (DD-557 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
USS Hoel (DD-533 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Commander Ernest Evans, Captain of the Johnston, earned the Medal of Honor for his actions that day.

All four ships earned the Presidential Unit Citation.

[D-Day Girl]

I'd have to say the Bismark and the USS Houston.

[canadiancitizen]

I notice that only ONE person paid a bit of a tribute to the Corvettes, and NO ONE mentioned the Tribal clsss destroyers, either RN or RCN. With 27 ships in the Tribal class, they were the backbone of the anti-submarine protection forces for the trans Atlantic ship convoys. The Corvettes were the largest single ship clas ever built, with 237 in the RCN alone. The original design was as a long distance whaler, that could steam 12,000 miles from the UK to the antarctic.

As far as I know, there are only two examples of a Corvette and a Tribal still in existance, both in Canada. HMCS Sackvile is a National Historic Site, and she is in Halifax Nova Scotia, while HMCS Haida is in Hamilton , Ontario. Both are operated as tourist sites, by Parks Canada.

The Battle of the North Atlantic was the longest fight of the war, and none of those convoys would have seen the UK without their escorts. The RCN was the main escort force, and they became the premier anti submarine hunters of the period. The RCN came a long way in a short period of time, from 6 ships in 1939 to over 400 ships in 1945. In fact at the end of the war, the Canadian navy was the third largest in the world, after the USN and the RN. But it was a "small ship navy " with no battleships, or cruisers , just the workhorses of the flower and town class corvettes and the "flashy Tribals " who were usually the escort group commander's ship.

HMCS Haida had a lucky war, with lots of action, and she is still an interesting ship to tour. Served from 1943 to 1963 and then was retired to be a historic ship.

Jim Bunting . Toronto.