Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
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Sebastian Fjeld
gt1Spo5nns ioohrerrduns ·
Grave, September 23, 1944.
A serial of Douglas C-47 Skytrains of the 315th Troop Carrier Group, dropping 41 sticks of the 1st Polish Airborne Brigade into DZ "O" near Grave, southwest of Nijmegen in Holland, on D+6 of Operation Market Garden.
Sticks averaged 18 paratroopers. The CG-4A Waco gliders on the ground were released 37 minutes earlier by the 313th TCG and 61st TCG (92 gliders between 1603 and 1610 hours).
Minutes following this drop, more serials of the 313th TCG and the 316th TCG released another 97 gliders.
On September 23, 42 aircraft of the 315th finally got off the ground from Spanhoe with 560 more paratroopers of the 1st Polish Brigade, and dropped on DZ "O". By then, however, Operation Market Garden had stalled and although a tactical gain was not to be made, the Brigade did manage to send some of their numbers across the river to reinforce the British paratroopers trapped in Oosterbeek, and secure a corridor for their eventual evacuation. Polish Brigade casualties were for the operation were a devastating 25 percent.
Colour by Jake Colourised PIECE of JAKE
This photo was taken by an official US Army Combat Photographer on-scene during the drop.
(From the Liberation Museum 1944 Guide, Groesbeek, The Netherlands) See Less
The mother of all parking lots!
A graphic illustration of the unrivalled power of American wartime mass-production.
Admiral Yamamoto was right on the mark when he said, post-Pearl Harbor, that they had "...awoken a sleeping giant".
The location is given as "Japan" and these images date from the period of occupation 1945-50.
(LIFE / Carl Mydans)
Looking for a good deal on used transportation?
A graphic illustration of the unrivalled power of American wartime mass-production.
Admiral Yamamoto was right on the mark when he said, post-Pearl Harbor, that they had "...awoken a sleeping giant".
The location is given as "Japan" and these images date from the period of occupation 1945-50.
(LIFE / Carl Mydans)
Looking for a good deal on used transportation?
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French battleship Mirabeau
Just how many guns did this battleship carry?
^
Class and type: Danton-class semi-dreadnought battleship
Displacement: 18,754 t (18,458 long tons) (normal)
Length: 146.6 m (481 ft) (o/a)
Beam: 25.8 m (84 ft 8 in)
Draft: 8.44 m (27 ft 8 in)
Installed power:
26 Belleville boilers
22,500 PS (16,500 kW)
Propulsion: 4 shafts; 4 steam turbines
Speed: 19.25 knots (35.7 km/h; 22.2 mph)
Complement: 25 officers and 831 enlisted men
Armament:
2 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns
6 × twin 240 mm (9.4 in) guns
16 × single 75 mm (3 in) guns
8 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns
2 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:
Belt: 180–250 mm (7.1–9.8 in)
Turrets: 260–340 mm (10.2–13.4 in)
Conning tower: 266 mm (10.5 in)
Class and type: Danton-class semi-dreadnought battleship
Displacement: 18,754 t (18,458 long tons) (normal)
Length: 146.6 m (481 ft) (o/a)
Beam: 25.8 m (84 ft 8 in)
Draft: 8.44 m (27 ft 8 in)
Installed power:
26 Belleville boilers
22,500 PS (16,500 kW)
Propulsion: 4 shafts; 4 steam turbines
Speed: 19.25 knots (35.7 km/h; 22.2 mph)
Complement: 25 officers and 831 enlisted men
Armament:
2 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns
6 × twin 240 mm (9.4 in) guns
16 × single 75 mm (3 in) guns
8 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns
2 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:
Belt: 180–250 mm (7.1–9.8 in)
Turrets: 260–340 mm (10.2–13.4 in)
Conning tower: 266 mm (10.5 in)
Battleships continue to fascinate me. I don't know why because I'm an Army person.
I've been fortunate to have visted the USS Massachusetts, USS North Carolina, USS Alabama and USS Missouri and saw the USS Iowa from a distance. I still need to see the USS Texas and the USS Wisconsin.
Interestingly, the last engagement by a French battleship was in N. Africa in 1942 when the Vichy French battleship Jean Bart was in drydock and engaged the USS Massachusetts with her forward battery. Jean Bart bracketed the Massachusetts but scored no hits. The Massachusetts responded with her 16 inch guns and neutralized the Jean Bart.
I've been fortunate to have visted the USS Massachusetts, USS North Carolina, USS Alabama and USS Missouri and saw the USS Iowa from a distance. I still need to see the USS Texas and the USS Wisconsin.
Interestingly, the last engagement by a French battleship was in N. Africa in 1942 when the Vichy French battleship Jean Bart was in drydock and engaged the USS Massachusetts with her forward battery. Jean Bart bracketed the Massachusetts but scored no hits. The Massachusetts responded with her 16 inch guns and neutralized the Jean Bart.
You'd like these Des Moines class heavy crusiers, 3 turrets of 3 8" AUTOLOADING cannons!!
The 8″/55 Mark 16 guns onboard USS Salem. The circular hatches under the gun barrels are for ejecting spent shell casings.
Firepower was a primary design goal for the Des Moines class and they had it in spades. They retained the standard 8″/55 caliber guns from earlier US cruisers but used the modernized mark 16 design. The biggest enhancement was that the guns were auto loading, giving them a rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute. This allowed a Des Moines class cruiser to expel 3 times the amount of firepower compared to earlier cruisers that had a rate of fire of roughly 4 rounds per minute. A breakdown of firepower weight between the Des Moines class and some of its adversaries can be seen below.
Firepower weight per minute:
Baltimore class (AP Shells)- 12,060 lbs. per minute
Mogami class (AP Shells) – 11,080 lbs. per minute
Admiral Hipper class (AP Shells) – 10,760 lbs. per minute
Algerie class (AP Shells) – 10,840 lbs. per minute
Des Moines class (AP Shells) – 36,180 lbs. per minute
Imagine them firing salvos of the W33 warhead shell:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W33_(nuclear_warhead)
The 8″/55 Mark 16 guns onboard USS Salem. The circular hatches under the gun barrels are for ejecting spent shell casings.
Firepower was a primary design goal for the Des Moines class and they had it in spades. They retained the standard 8″/55 caliber guns from earlier US cruisers but used the modernized mark 16 design. The biggest enhancement was that the guns were auto loading, giving them a rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute. This allowed a Des Moines class cruiser to expel 3 times the amount of firepower compared to earlier cruisers that had a rate of fire of roughly 4 rounds per minute. A breakdown of firepower weight between the Des Moines class and some of its adversaries can be seen below.
Firepower weight per minute:
Baltimore class (AP Shells)- 12,060 lbs. per minute
Mogami class (AP Shells) – 11,080 lbs. per minute
Admiral Hipper class (AP Shells) – 10,760 lbs. per minute
Algerie class (AP Shells) – 10,840 lbs. per minute
Des Moines class (AP Shells) – 36,180 lbs. per minute
Imagine them firing salvos of the W33 warhead shell:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W33_(nuclear_warhead)
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The last US heavy cruisers were real champs too. After Pearl Harbor the US had a deficit of battleships and had to rely on cruisers to carry the fight to the Japanese in the South Pacific. the Japanese navy had an edge in night fighting ability, tactics, gunnery and torpedoes and the US cruiser force took a $hit kicking in the naval battles around Guadalcanal. That said, after losing a lot of ships, the USN did prevail.
Radar directed gunnery became a big US advantage along with winning air superiority and a lot of hard learning on the job.
Radar directed gunnery became a big US advantage along with winning air superiority and a lot of hard learning on the job.
Being able to transit the Panama Canal locks was a design constraint on US battleship design; 108 ft wide to go thru the 110 ft wide locks. I've been thru the Canal twice and though about that. There's now a wider canal to accommodate the larger Panamax size ships.
According to Hans Bethe, the development of radar was more important than the A bomb in WWll.
Grizz
