The Battles of Khalkhin Gol, the Nomonhan Incident,
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/20thcentury/articles/nomonhan.aspx
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/20thcentury/articles/nomonhan.aspx
Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
USS Enterprise had four catapults, two forward and two to the rear. So yeah, there is ample room for both aircraft to launch. The photo was apparently taken in March 1962, just a few months after the Big E commissioned in November 1961, so its not surprising that they experimented with such things. (As an aside, I have a friend who was an RA-5C Vigilante pilot, great guy to chat with.)
I always liked the looks of the Vigilante. It started off as a carrier based nuclear bomber that was designed to "poop" nukes out of its tail. There were some technical shortcomings with that which, combined with a decision to put the navy's nuclear capabilities into submarines, caused the Vigilante to be shifted to the recce role where it did good work.
The F8 Crusader was a tricky bird, but it was successful in the air-to-air role in Vietnam being the last fighter designed around guns, rather than missiles.
The F8 Crusader was a tricky bird, but it was successful in the air-to-air role in Vietnam being the last fighter designed around guns, rather than missiles.
Two different wars, 40+ years apart... Same problem.
As a lifelong prairie boy, fond of his big empty spaces and wide open skies, this is a military specialty that falls into the category of "Nope, nuh-uh, noway, are you friggin kidding me???"
As a lifelong prairie boy, fond of his big empty spaces and wide open skies, this is a military specialty that falls into the category of "Nope, nuh-uh, noway, are you friggin kidding me???"
- Location
- On the beach
Afghan caves were freaky as hell. I hate snakes and expected to find them in there all the time..lol
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
One spends enough time in a hole in the ground once they're dead. Climbing into one expecting to find an agitated armed fellow withblood in his eye for you seems an intemperate course of action. 
Better the wide-open spaces and limitless skies of the navy? That has its drawbacks, too. Here's the USS Princeton.
In the early stages of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a single Judy bomber got through the screen of fighters and planted a bomb on her aft deck. The bomb caught her when her decks were full of fueled aircraft. The fire spread quickly. A bomb went off in a magazine below decks. Things went pear-shaped.
USS Birmingmam and others moved up alongside and took on survivors.
Princeton's torpedo storage went up and the ensuing debris killed 229 men and wounded 420 aboard Birmingham, appreciably more losses than the Princeton suffered.
At one point, a jeep and a tractor slid off the carrier and onto the deck of the Birmingham. Must have caused a few palpatations. Princeton was finally scuttled by friendly torpedo fire. 108 dead, 190 wounded.
This was Birmingham's second round of serious damage during the war. She'd been bombed and torpedoed earlier, and would take a kamikaze of her own the next year. She survived the war to be scrapped in 1959.
Kinda makes me value the possibility of going for a long walk in bad places instead of being cooped up in a big steel box in the middle of arse-end noplace waiting for God-knows-what to happen to you. That "absence of agency" must wear on a guy.
Better the wide-open spaces and limitless skies of the navy? That has its drawbacks, too. Here's the USS Princeton.
In the early stages of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a single Judy bomber got through the screen of fighters and planted a bomb on her aft deck. The bomb caught her when her decks were full of fueled aircraft. The fire spread quickly. A bomb went off in a magazine below decks. Things went pear-shaped.
USS Birmingmam and others moved up alongside and took on survivors.
Princeton's torpedo storage went up and the ensuing debris killed 229 men and wounded 420 aboard Birmingham, appreciably more losses than the Princeton suffered.
At one point, a jeep and a tractor slid off the carrier and onto the deck of the Birmingham. Must have caused a few palpatations. Princeton was finally scuttled by friendly torpedo fire. 108 dead, 190 wounded.
This was Birmingham's second round of serious damage during the war. She'd been bombed and torpedoed earlier, and would take a kamikaze of her own the next year. She survived the war to be scrapped in 1959.
Kinda makes me value the possibility of going for a long walk in bad places instead of being cooped up in a big steel box in the middle of arse-end noplace waiting for God-knows-what to happen to you. That "absence of agency" must wear on a guy.
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fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
A fellow I knew who spent most of his war on the Missouri until the last couple of weeks on a "tin can" said he had very little fear other than a little anxiety until the Kamikaze's became prevalent then it was almost mind numbing fear during any daylight hrs as all of a sudden every bomb had a "thought process" guiding it.
Brits learned after losing a few carriers earlier in the war the advantages of armoured flight decks. Their shipyards couldn't produce replacements fast enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illustrious-class_aircraft_carrier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illustrious-class_aircraft_carrier
- Location
- WMU247 near Edmonton
wife's grandfather's action station was on a 20mm at the stern port side, HMS Indomitable and served at the end of the war in the Pacific.
interesting pictures.
interesting pictures.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Hey, at least they had lotsa smokes.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Light naval gunnery - the quad .50 Vickers mount:
A setup so hungry, only a government could feed it. This from Wikipedia:
A setup so hungry, only a government could feed it. This from Wikipedia:
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One spends enough time in a hole in the ground once they're dead. Climbing into one expecting to find an agitated armed fellow withblood in his eye for you seems an intemperate course of action.
Better the wide-open spaces and limitless skies of the navy? That has its drawbacks, too. Here's the USS Princeton.
Given my temperament, I have a sneaking suspicion that if I was in the Navy, the officers would see to it that the vast majority of my career would be spent very far from sunlight, below decks pealing potatoes.
- Location
- WMU247 near Edmonton
Royal Navy - gunners on a 20mm, taking a smoke break
