The One Battleship Shot that Prevented America's Massive Defeat
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- Опубліковано 31 бер 2024
- As nightfall plunged the tumultuous waters of the Pacific into darkness, American battleship USS Washington raced toward Guadalcanal. With bated breath, her hardy crew readied themselves for battle, anticipating the violent clash that lay before them. A Japanese bombardment group was rapidly moving in on the war-torn tropical island, hell-bent on destroying Allied positions there to clear the way for a full-blown invasion.
Navigating the infamous stretch of sea known as “Ironbottom Sound” alongside her fellow battleship USS South Dakota and four destroyers, an ominous blip on Washington’s search radar let Rear Admiral Willis “Ching” Lee know they had located the enemy fleet. Under his command, Task Force 64 began the attack; Washington let rip a devastating assault with the nine thunderous Mark 6 guns that made up her main battery, while her secondary guns launched star shells to illuminate the Japanese positions. A ferocious firefight ensued; South Dakota took heavy fire, and in this chaos, a sudden barrage of torpedoes sliced through the water, heading straight for the USS Washington…
Admiral Lee was awarded a medal for this action and he was asked for a speech. He turned to his crew and said "You earned it, so I guess I'll have to wear it."
The crew of the USS Washington performed admirably, it was something like 20 hits with their 16” main battery guns and an additional 19 hits from their secondary 5” battery guns all in like 3.9 minutes! Turning The Kirishima into a rapidly sinking piece of Swiss Cheese, resulting in the finest single show of American Gunnery in all of WW2….. Thank you Admiral Lee!
7 minutes
Considering that Admiral Lee was a descendant of Confederate General Robert E. Lee -- the traitor -- it was Admiral Lee that restored honor to the family name.
I remember reading that the men of the Washington reported afterwards there was no stress, no sense of urgency...just another day at the office. That's how well they were trained and how well they were led. Just swatting a fly.
Nice
😅@@MrBendylaw
About time someone recognized the Mighty WA online. She was one of the most effective, beautiful, courageous, and important ships ever in US service. TY!
She is my favorite battleship.
And the only battleship to sink another battleship in all of WW2 - on all sides, if I'm not mistaken.
@@DarryllC Nope. Japanise Battleship Yamashiro, was sunk by West Virginia, California, Tennessee, and Maryland all Battleships that were at Pearl Harbor and sunk or heavily damaged. West Virginia sunk and more heavily damaged got to war only in 44 but with the most modern radar firing control got the most hits in.
Bizmark was sunk by British BB Rodney and King George V with help of Cruisers and DD. Running out of time I think maybe British sinking Italian not certain.
But Washington the only Batleship to win a one on one battle and although the Washington the superior ship the Kirishima actually had the advantage of firing first in the fight and although it's shells would have had trouble doing serious damage to the Washington with Washington level gunnery could have hurt it a lot more than the little it did. And although Washington did have the radar fire control advantage the Kirishima firing first shows it could see the Washington well enough to range it well assuming it's crews were elite like the Washington.
I blame both Japanese pre war and war ammo shortages for less practice and simple incompetence of a Navy which often seamed more invested in it's conflict with the Army than fighting a war.
The timid nature of the Japanese especially with their BB fleet until way too late shows it's incompetence. The Washington should have been facing the Yamato in the fight not the converted to BB from BC WWI Kirishima.
Not to mention the BB should have lead the attack on land targets at Midway not wait till the Carriers had made it safe for them to approach and bomb the field first. And as the US had only one functioning Carrier end of first day no reason I can think of for Japanese fleet not to stay and take Midway. Maybe they lose a BB instead of a Cruiser maybe even two BB but they still take the island Carriers just did not have that much in way of bombs and fuel. Plus the Japanese still had two light carriers in the area.
Fun of speculation. No matter what Japanese win all the battles even take Hawaii the 44/45 US Armada going to crush Japan utterly no matter what they do.
@@RedRocket4000 You are correct, Washington claims the only one on one, battleship to battleship victory. It is inconceivable to me that it was scrapped. What a symbol of American power and freedom.
My gramps would be thrilled to know his ship is suddenly getting so much deserved credit.
Suddenly? USMC hasn't forgotten her. Nor any of the others that covered their asses and got them INTO the fight!
One of my uncles was a gunnery officer in the A turret of USS Washington when it mauled Kirishima.
The father of a friend of mine back in Alaska - direct Daniel Boone descendants - was a gun turret captain on the USS San Francisco in the 2 night prior 1st Naval Battle of Guadalcanal when it was so severely mauled by Japanese battleships Hiei (then sunk) and Kirishima that both Admiral Callaghan (who should not have been in command) and the captain were killed. He wasn't the gunnery officer, so it wasn't his fault SF fired on Atlanta, killing Cape Esperance victor Admiral Scott who *should* have been in command.
I would have enjoyed hearing him tell the story. I live in Washington state. I plan on visiting Wilmington to see the North Carolina. I gat to see the U.S.S. Texas a few years ago while she was in Houston getting some much needed repair work done.
"Mauled"..... LOL.. that is being rather polite about it.
@@TrueSonOfOdin
I had a great uncle aboard 'Frisco from the Fall of '41 to the end of the War. He was an Aviation Ordinance P.O.; putting bombs on her Kingfisher scout planes for anti sub patrols.
All he said about the Friday the 13th battle was _"All my friends got killed."_ One of the Japanese battleships put a 14" HE shell into the hanger! My great uncle was wounded, but all the others were killed. My cousin has his purple heart, and other medals.
He talked about the Cape Esperance battle of 12 October '42, but not the 13 November fight. After he said that, I stopped pushing him for details. He died in '96.
He didn't like talking about Pearl Harbor either, but would talk about the Lexington's Raid against Rabaul in early '42. (January or February, I don't remember exactly.) This is when Butch O'Hare shot down 5 "Bettys" in four minutes. Which won him the CMoH. Though the raid was aborted, it raised everyone's morale; just to be taking the fight to the enemy.
I think we need a video on the USS Samuel B. Roberts the little destroyer escort ship that charged a Japanese fleet of heavy cruisers and the Yamato. At flank speed it go so close the Japanese main guns could not depress low enough to hit her. Her captain told his crew they were facing overwhelming odds and survival could not be expected. She sank two heavy cruisers before succumbing. The wreck is 7 miles deep, the deepest wreck known.
Of the story of the battleship USS Washington and her crew is one of the most famous and heroic in US naval history!!🇺🇸🇺🇸
She was Philadelphia Navy Yard built.
5x gold medalist for sharpshooting, including winning the NRA pistol championship with his off hand after winning the rifle competition earlier, Admiral "Chin" Willis was a boss.
Some people must listen to TFE...
He also accidentally sank USS Preston. South Dakota confirmed that Washington sank Preston with her 16" guns. In SD's action report they reported that Preston was fatally crippled and sunk from her port side by 16" guns from a battleship...problem was Kirishima was not on Preston's port side. Could you imaginn if South Dakota had accidentally sunk Preston? We would never hear the end of it. But because Lee did it we aren't supposed to talk about it ever. Washington blacked out all gunfire reports at the exact same time that South Dakota reported that Preston was hit on her port side (and she sank immediately after this barrage of shellfire).
@@user-wl9ps6pe1j :
It ain't a war crime the first time!
*"Ching". (His nickname).
@@nogoodnameleft
That's not true.
First, the destroyers were in front of the battleships, not to their starboard (right) side.
Second, it was pitch black, no moon during these fights. How could they see the damage?
Up close, a 14" and 16" shell can go through anything!
The destroyers were already sinking when Washington turned to port to avoid the wreckage and survivors in the water.
Sodak should have followed her, but turned to starboard. This took her straight into the Japanese fleet!
This later led to these rumors that Washington had abandoned Sodak, and the sinking of the Preston.
Preston's crew said otherwise! So did the crew of the Japanese light cruiser Nagara; who sank Preston.
I'm a Navy Vet myself. I love both these great ships, and have tremendous respect for their captains and crews. But Captain Gatch should have quashed these rumors immediately, not fed them. Wars are difficult enough without the blame game!
Had Gatch followed the flagship, as he was supposed to, most of what happened next could have been avoided.
The pivotal moment was that turn! It was Gatch himself that gave the order to turn. He is responsible.
While there never was a court martial case, Gatch was relieved after the ship returned to the States. (The Navy didn't need this scandal in the middle of a war.) To my knowledge, he never held a Sea going command again.
Willis Lee deserves more recognition than he got. Most people today have never heard of him and that's sad. He died right at the end of the war.
The other day i watched your story about South Dakota, and now her saviour
Nice, as always
If Washington hadn't pulled off one of the greatest miracles of WWII South Dakota would have been sunk and Washington would have likely been heavily damaged and probably sunk and this would have been after the disastrous Friday the 13th battle which was for all intents and purposes a DEFEAT for Admiral Callaghan's force and only retconned into a so-called "victory" thanks to USS Washington. How did not a single Japanese torpedo hit Washington? That was a miracle from God, not just good commanding by Admiral Lee. The sailors on Washington were shocked and til the end of their lives always thought it was a miracle that she was not hit by a single shell or torpedo, the total opposite of the 3 sunken destroyers and the beat up South Dakota.
One more thing. The U.S. government and Navy decided on a cover story that South Dakota won the battle pretty much by herself because she limped back to port for repairs due to the battle and that way they could trick the Japanese that it was a "one-on-one" fair gun battle between two battleships when it was really radar-guided shelling from Washington that won it. The radar-guided guns were a secret and not disclosed until the end of the war. South Dakota and Washington crews hated each other for the rest of the war because South Dakota was ordered by Nimitz and King to steal Washington's valor. They would fight each other in fistfights and it got out of control when the crews met each other on the seas or in port.
'Ching' Lee was an amazing gunnery expert.
As a Citizen of the State of North Carolina I get to see the USS North Carolina, the sister ship of USS Washington, a few times a year. It's a pity that the Washington did NOT get a Memorial in Washington State. Seven out of ten of the "Modern" Battleships survive.
Fellow TARHEEL here. Yeah, I grew up close to 'The Showboat'. NEVER missed a chance to go see the 'ol girl when I was in town. I live literally half way around the world these days in the Philippines but whenever I do get back home, Yeah, I go see the old girl and give her a pat on the 'ol... stern, for good measure while I'm there. Did just that this past summer.
This battle deserves a mini series.
It wasn't Washington as much as it was Adm. Lee and his mastery of gunnery along with the use of radar.
When he was a ship's gunnery officer, the gun crews vastly improved. He was an engineer. He was, at first, called "Chink" because of his yellowish skin.
Still Washington's guns doing the work, but Adm. Lee certainly made her much more dangerous. I wish he'd been around for some of the other night battles around the Solomons. Maybe we wouldn't have lost as many ships since he unlike the commanders that were present actually trusted the radar systems...
Admiral Ching Lee. Good Ole sharpshooter and gold medalist with glasses 1/2 inch thick.
Man, Machine, Moment meeting together perfectly.
@@imapopo2924 If Scott had been in charge at 1st naval Battle of Guadalcanal a few days earlier, he probably would have done better having learned the ability of RADAR the hard way. Instead Callahan, who had longer time in rank but no battle experience compared to Scott was in command and left the radar ships at the back of the formation and didn't even understand battle was underway when his subordinate captains started opening fire on the Japanese. Even though our torpedoes were not that great, if they were fired at too close a range wouldn't have time to arm at all.
Why is it that some of our most famous ships end up being scrapped? It's an insult to their career.
I love history too, but come on be real. This is a dumb take. There's our underfunded ed. system, crumbling infrastructure, massive deficit etc
@perrysmajestic988 None of those have anything to do with what I said. How can a ship like BB-35 be preserved but CV-6 doesn't get the same honor?
It really is a shame. Big E didn't even survive.
THE flagship of the US Pacific fleet, from day 1 of WW2 until the very end.
And those who cared could only save part of it.
AFAIK, They didn't even save the "Enterprise VS Japan" sign.
In the star trek universe, Big E was given a 2nd life and a nuclear upgrade, serving up through the 1980s.
She could take bombs, torpedoes, even kamikaze strikes. But not even Enterprise could survive budget cuts.
I think what Perry is trying to say is that it is super expensive to maintain an old ship, and there are more important things our tax dollars need to go towards. Many coastal cities have floating museum ships, you can google them and see how much gets spent keeping them in one piece. They also take up a lot of room. If it makes you feel any better much of the steel gets used to build new ships and other important defense related needs that will be put to task defending our nation instead of rusting in a museum.
Ching Lee advanced the science of Naval Gunnery with revisions based on position relative to Earths rotation included.
He also studied radar, and "knew it better than the operators"!
He was a crack rifle shot, and won Olympic medals for his skills.
He knew the 16" guns, and understood them as well as their gunners!
In short, he was the perfect man to command America's Battleships.
@@user-pb2vo4pt3t He treated 16" guns as being a really big sniper rifle.
@@RedXlV
Yes, he did! He knew the ballistics of them, and knew radar "better than the operators did". Lee put 2 and 2 together, and showed everyone how radar directed gunfire worked. Lee was absolutely brilliant! He won several Olympic gold medals for rifle and pistol shooting! He knew exactly how those 16" shells would fall, and proved it in the action against Kirishima; walking shells back and forth over her, scoring twenty direct hits (Kirishima's damage control officer's report), and gutting her. She foundered as the crew abandoned ship; almost swamping a destroyer when she rolled over!
Norm Scott had learned this lesson after the 12 October 1942 fight. But Callaghan didn't understand radar at all. He had been Ghormley's Chief of Staff, had zero combat experience, but he had been promoted to rear admiral a bit before Scott. When Halsey took command, he sent Callaghan to sea knowing nothing about him. Had Scott been left in command of that cruiser force, the 13 November battle would have been different. Callaghan went into the battle without meeting with his ship captains, and a vague, rudimentary plan of action. It would have been better if Halsey had sent him back to the States.
@@user-pb2vo4pt3t And this was after Scott had proven himself in combat. Halsey is very over rated.
IF the US Destroyers had had working torpedoes it would have made a big difference as well. By this time most of the destroyer captains understood that their torpedoes were pretty worthless and did not prioritize use of them
@@gruntforever7437
Agree 100%!
Washington fatally damaged Kirishima which capsized and sank after the battle. Willis Lee had trained his gun crew to be fast and deadly accurate. Washington was a very well oiled and dangerous predator. No surprise or accident at the results.
He was a badass gunslinger from childhood.
It was a miracle. At one point she was stationary and the Japanese shot 15 torpedoes at her and for some reason none of them hit. Previously they shot torpedoes at Lee's 4 escorting U.S. destroyers, sinking 3 of them. Lee's whole plan was to sacrifice South Dakota if need be so he could shoot the Japanese. No wonder the South Dakota crew hated Washington and Lee for the rest of WWII. Nimitz and King ordered South Dakota to "steal valor" from Washington when SD limped back to port in the USA because the media and locals reported the heavy damage she received at Guadalcanal. Washington was not allowed to take credit until almost the end of WWII because they didn't want the Japanese to learn that Washington sank so many ships with radar-guided shelling and it wasn't just some battle of attrition between South Dakota and Kirishima. This whole soap opera caused a bunch of brawls between the crews of WA and SD for the next 3 years or so.
Also, another interesting chapter in the soap opera was during the battle Washington most likely accidentally sank the destroyer USS Preston. Preston was hit by numerous 16" shells on her port side which fatally doomed her to sink...but there were no Japanese ships on her port side and South Dakota was also not on her port side. South Dakota saw everything that happened though and her crewmen and officers reported that Washington heavily damaged and possibly even sank Preston. Washington's records interestingly blacked out gun firing records during the same exact time that South Dakota recorded that Washington sank Preston from the port side.
The gun crew has nothing to do with accuracy. It’s the fire control center
@@spikenomoon yes OK, but the gun crew were part of the system they needed to load the shells fast. The point I was trying to make is that Lee made sure his battleship was a very accurate machine.
@@fredturk6447 indeed he was. Many heroic nobodies are over looked when bravery medal are given.
The USN was literally scraping the bottom of the barrel leading up to that battle. They were afraid to risk Battleships in the narrow confines of the Guadalcanal Operational area. The Destroyers chosen to escort the Battleships were selected only because they had the most fuel and had never worked together before.
This was a huge risk.
Admiral Willis Lee was likely the most experienced and gifted gunnery officer in the USN and likely the entire war.
‘Kirishima’ never had a chance.
USS Preston never had a chance too. She was sunk by USS Washington from Preston's port side, as confirmed by USS South Dakota. Lee's whole plan was to sacrifice South Dakota as cannon fodder. He knew that SD was moderately damaged by two aerial bombs at Santa Cruz Islands and was even rammed by a friendly warship within 3 weeks of the November surface battles. I don't blame the SD crew for getting angry at Washington for the rest of WWII and the rest of their lives.
I don't get why we aren't allowed to criticize Lee for sinking Preston. Imagine if SD had accidentally sunk Preston. We would never hear the end of it, wouldn't we?
Washington hit Preston with her 5 inch guns not the 16 inch guns as Preston was to close for the 16 inch guns to even fire at! the hits from Washington did not sink Preston she had already received fatal damage from Nagara. (but who cares about fact) and since you want to criticize lee why have you not mentioned the fact that south dakota steamed through the middle of Preston's crew while the were in the water? @@nogoodnameleft
@@nogoodnameleft They weren't allowed to criticize because of propaganda/moral issues, Remember there hadn't been any good news at that point. Also, Lee may have stuffed up with the Preston but he didn't hold off from defending SD. He had those big guns lined up on the Jap but didn't fire because he didn't know if it was the SD or not (no coms remember) and as soon as the Jap did something, put a search light i think, on SD Lee opened up, also he didn't miss. First salvo's very, very rarely actually hit in those days but Lee's rarely missed. Apart from that Lee probably saved numerous other ships from aircraft attacks when he worked out faults with the new radar triggered shells, and also engineered loading up every available space on US capital ships with guns that could actually reach the heights aircraft attack from. That big black cloud that appeared,especially over US aircraft carriers, when they were attacked, was just about totally attributable to Lee.
@@ryanstuckey8677 I'm not sure if the 5 in guns would have depressed that low as Washington had to veer to the left to avoid running through the sinking destroyers.
@@nogoodnameleft total BS .. Washington had a officer on top level of superstructure visually watching the whole battle could see any problems .
, & the Washington threw over the side liferafts for the DD's survivors ,while S.D. ran right thru them .
There's a YT discussion about this battle called The Bar Room Brawl. The USN and IJN were sailing in pitch black darkness with both doing around 30 knots. The IJN wasn't aware of Lee's ships until they opened fire. Lee had drilled their guns crews to load as fast as possible so the IJN said they were attacked by machine gun cruisers. Lee was utilizing a night fighting tactic where cruisers and battleships distracted the larger enemy vessels with hits and near misses so the USN destroyers could get close to launch torpedoes while firing rapidly at their superstruture to knock out their bridge and radio - radar antennas without worrying about being hit since their opponents guns couldn't be depressed low enough to hit them.
the Ballroom brawl was 2 nights earlier , Nov 12-13 shooting at each at point blank range .Lee wouldn't allow the Nov 14-15 battle to become a fiasco .
My father was a chief machinist mate on the Washington from her begins till the end of the war
Uss Washington BB-56 Should've been saved along with Uss Enterprise Cv-06.
Indeed.
And from the UK, HMS Warspite
As well as the USS SARATOGA
When the Enterprise and Washington were scared, it was the late 1950s and the US had entered its worse recession between the Great Depression and the 1981 Recession .
Congress was in a balance budget mood, thus things had to be cut. For example the US effort to eliminate syphilis was zero budgeted and Syphilis rates skyrocketed. Other domestic projects were eliminated or spending on them was reduced.
That recession also killed Ford's Edsel, wrong car type to introduce in a recession.
Thus the problem with saving these two ships was there was no money to do so (and the US Navy was counting on the price of scrap from both ships to pay to maintain the rest of the fleet).
@paulmentzer7658 Still would've been nice to have still to have them around to inspire the younger generation.
Just as they asked for restrictions of the western fleets, the Japanese had already ordered the Yamato with its 18-in naval rifles. Were never going to adhere to any restriction
Ching Lee was a badass.
The Kirishima was not a true battleship but a somewhat up upgraded battlecruiser. Much like HMS Hood. Washington shot her to rags at point blank range in a very short time. And stopped the bombardment group. Had South Dakota not had problems with a circuit breaker and more due to attempts to by pass it. The Japanese would have lost even more ships. Since both American ships had good radar fire control. The 5” battery also shelled the Kirishima doing damage to her upper works and exposed gun crews. And Admiral Lee was instrumental in all this. He knew how to use the ship’s then advanced equipment and had trained them extensively in gunnery. Scraping hero ships was the norm is seems and the USS Enterprise CV-6 was the greatest crime so committed. She was the most decorated ship of WW-II. A crew member I met years back told me the tried to raise money to save her but failed.
The hit on the rudder that caused that Japanese ship to be stuck running in circles is the same thing that happened to the Bismarck.
Bismark rudder was hit by a torpedo. I thought the narative here was that a 16-inch shell hit Kirishima's rudder.
Forgot to mention that the same torpedo attack that sank Wasp also blew the bow off USS North Carolina...otherwise she would have been also available to join in the battle.
It didn’t blow the bow off; it was a big hole though.
Grandad lost his hearing in that fight
It was later found that her 16" AP shells at that short range could not only penetrate Kirishima's armored belt but would also have the power to continue through the full width of the hull and then punch through the armored belt on the other side had they not detonated first (which they in fact did!) It's a stroke of luck that Kirishima wasn't hit in a magazine and turned into a second Hood that night.
Kirishima had just enough armor to guarantee Washington's shells blew up inside her! Gutting her! One of her survivors reported multiple holes in her topside deck over ten meters (33 ft!) in diameter!
Those 16" shells were six feet tall, and weighed over 2700 pounds each!
I've have heard somewhere that one 16" rd penetrated the armor belt below the waterline on one side , continued completely thru machinery and bulkheads, hit and penetrated the armor belt opposite side and continued on thru the water for about 40ft before it finally exploded. Don't know where I read that, maybe true, maybe not. But if it did think of the kenitic energy behind that round !
Washington ended Kirishima's whole career.
Washington also ended USS Preston's whole career. Look up "Washington struck USS Preston's port side with 16 inch guns", as reported by South Dakota. Washington interestingly blacked out all gun firing records during the exact time that South Dakota recorded that Preston was hit on her port side by battleship primary guns...but Kirishima and South Dakota were not on Preston's port side.
@@nogoodnameleft Physics doesn't fit. Washington was behind Preston and swung to the port side AFTER she was hit and sinking. Read real information and realize that she could not have hit a ship in the port side when behind her.
@@user-gl5dq2dg1j Incorrect. Washington sank Preston. Just because South Dakota said that doesn't mean we should discount their official report. Strange how you don't want to talk about the fact that the same time that South Dakota said that Washington hit Preston that Washington blacked out those minutes from their after action report and battle logs. If SD had been the one sinking Preston you and all the Washington simps would be whining about SD, wouldn't you?
@@nogoodnameleft u believe a lying Capt about the battle your a joke ,Who won the Battle !!!!!!!!!!
South Dakota lost electrical power when she fired that first salvo because her Chief Engineer had the brilliant idea to daisy chain all of her main circuit breakers. The concussion from that first salvo tripped A breaker and all of the others popped too, effectively taking her out of the fight. Later, SD was damaged in another fight and had to return to the U.S. for emergency repairs. While there, in an interview, SD's Captain Thomas Gatch laid out the story that Washington abandoned SD, and that SD (Battleship X to the media) was the real hero ship of this battle. This very nearly resulted in a civil war between the crews of Washington and South Dakota, and the crew of Washington referring to South Dakota as "Sh--ty Dick" from then on. (Ref: "Battleship at War" by Ivan Musicant)
Even before she returned stateside, the South Dakota's crew was spreading this rumor, and that Washington sank Preston.
These were FALSE!
Washington's crew was rightfully offended.
The results were so bad, Lee ordered the crews to alternate days of shore leave ("liberty"). Some of Sodak's crew swore if they would fire on Washington the next time they put to sea! Lee had to intervene personally!
The ships were never paired together again.
It's sad. I love both these great ships. I have nothing but respect for those men who served on them. But what followed after the battle never should have happened! Captain Gatch should have quashed these rumors immediately, not fed them. I have great respect for him, but this remains a stain on his record.
and S.D.;s Captain goes back to NYC for repairs & claimed that they won the battle singlehandledly read Old Nameless Battleship X full of Lies ,no wonder the other ships in the fleet hated the S.D. @@user-pb2vo4pt3t
@@user-pb2vo4pt3t Gatch was a lawyer not a sea Captain T boned a whale ran aground hit by bomb nearly died rammed DD Mahan set planes on fire at Guadalcanal turned wrong way got lit up by Japanese searchlights , that Washington would shoot out while S.D.was lost power to radio ,radar Flagplot , guns taking 27 hits & on fire taking casualties she just left the action ,while Washington turned NW to hold off the Japanese transports ,making them chase after her instead of S.D. &DD's .
@@glennwinter2197
Exactly!
I double checked after my previous post, and I was right; Gatch never held a Sea Command again. He stayed stateside and ashore for the rest of his career.
1:00 By that time the Battleship was obsolete. People considered the Aircraft carrier to be a utility ship. Just something to carry airplanes around. But if you considered the airplanes to be analogous to the guns on a battleship, it quickly becomes obvious that the aircraft carrier can do everything the Battleship does, only the carrier does it much better. And in addition to that, the aircraft carrier can do things with it's aircraft that a battleships guns can't do.
Consider that the role of the guns of the battleship is to put ordinance on a target. An aircraft can do the same thing, and they can use a wider variety of weapons, and at a much greater range.
The best battleships had a range of around 25 miles, while even in early in WWII the aircraft were able to deliver ordinance at least 250 miles10 times (or more) of what the battleships could manage. On top of that, the aircraft carrier's aircraft can be used to find the enemy, and protect against air attack. It can also be used to receive supplies, then hand those supplies out to the other ships in the fleet.
Battleships are defiantly cooler than aircraft carriers, but cool doesn't win wars. The destruction of the enemy is what wins wars, and carriers are just better at doing that.
Why can't they teach this kind of stuff in school
Because it doesn’t portray America as racists
If you get a chance, look for the documentary on Admiral "Ching" Lee. He was an amazing man who changed naval warfare and improving our accuracy and range through his cunning and expertise in shooting.
The poor sailors on infamous PQ17😢😢😢😢
Still waiting for a movie on PQ 17.
the escorting ships of the convoy were ordered away from uboat &luftwaffe area ,by British Admiral Pound .
Isn't this the battle where he said over the radio, "Stand aside I am coming through. This is Ching Lee."?
Same battle. I thought he signaled it though
Yes, it was a signal to patrolling PT boats.
Lee was supposed to take orders from an Australian or British admiral that commanded a small fleet of Aussie, Brit and Dutch vessels. He was aware of the larger IJN fleet coming down so had issued orders not to engage them. Lee had trained his and the cruiser gun crews to fire as fast as possible while scoring hits using radar fire control so was anxious to take on the IJN. USS Washington led their battle line so was challenged by PT boats with orders to turn back. Washington signaled back "This is Ching Lee. We're going thru."
Lee was under Halsey's orders Commander S.Pacific only ,not a Australian Or British Admiral .@@billwilson-es5yn
@@billwilson-es5yn Lee was under orders from Halsey ComSo.Pac ,not British or Australian Admirals.
I served two tours of duty on USCGC Storis in the 1990’s. It the emergency generator room was a breaker box with USS Washington embossed on a brass plate. I was originally from the state of Washington and looked at that plate nearly every day. But I never knew the story of the USS Washington. Thank you for telling her story.
If you want more information about Rear Admiral Lee or this conflict, check out the Fat Electrician and his episode on Willis 'ching' Lee.
Also Drachinifel-
If anyone wants any proper information,he/she would not be watching videos on this channel :D
@@NashmanNash this channel gives in-depth information about the ship, the lead up to the incident and the actions. Did you know that Admiral Lee was an Olympic gold medalist in rifle long distance shooting and pistol shooting. The navy did not accept him due to poor eyesight but after Pearl Harbor, he was accepted.
@@jacobpunke1269 I knew about Lees rifle skills,the fact that he lured snipers out by playing life bait,and the navy accepted him from the beginning because he simply lied about his eyesight
@@jacobpunke1269 You know,there are people who take the time to watch videos from channels that actually bother with research,instead of useless clickbait
I recommend the book “Sea of Thunder” which details this event amidst the entire campaign.
Wait the Admiral was washed overboard Day 1? holy shit.
I guess the Admiral boarded in a hurry and accidentally left his sea legs on the dock. Whoopsie!
Just read a short US Naval Institute article on the event. Several people said that before disappearing he seemed "pale and confused". It is possible he was ill, having a heart attack, or some other serious condition. The interesting thing is after a man was spotted (and lost) in the water two head counts of the crew were done and nobody on board was missing. The report was taken to the admiral...who wasn't there! The Navy determined there was no negligence.
@@richardweil8813 a wave might of got him or jumped ? in stormy seas .
Awesome video and great story. Fat Electrician recently did a video on Admiral Lee and his story.
I was literally just going to say that. I've been noticing that happening a lot. Someone will put out a vid on a certain ship or battle, then I'll see it everywhere.
drachinfel did a vid long before fat electrician, but both were very good
Texas saved their battleship. So did North Carolina. So did Alabama. So did Massachusetts. So did New Jersey. So too should have Washington, especially when theirs was the only one to actually do what she was designed to do.
Maybe if the Navy had put her in Seattle or the Great Shipyard over in Bremerton instead of the USS Missouri (which had been mothballed and open for tours starting in 1955) the USS Washington would have been more eagerly taken in and made a museum when stricken from the register in 1960.
There is a monument to South Dakota in Sioux Falls. It's an outline of the ship with some of the memorabilia plus photos and the like. Nobody is bringing a battleship up the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers so having it anchored there was obviously not possible. So perhaps this is the next best thing for a poor state.
@@richardweil8813 the poor state that gave us the Livermore bros and Merle Tuve? And they came from Canton, SD!
USS Washington was built in Philly, but her commander at Savo was from Kentucky.
USS Johnston was probably the most famous ship built here in Seattle, but her skipper was from Oklahoma- Cmdr Ernest Evans. If ever a piece of the Johnston is ever recovered maybe it should be kept in his birthplace of Pawnee, OK.
Why hasn’t a movie been made about these ships and Lee. It would be a massive hit, like Midway.
Unrealistic
The 1965 Film "In Harm's Way" more or less represents the naval battles of Guadalcanal.
Probably a matter of who will fund it
@@JohnnoHald The Chinese funded 80% of the recent "Midway" movie, which was horrible. They didn't want to mention USS Hornet's (and Mark Mitscher's) disastrous "Flight to Nowhere" and didn't want to show how Lexington and Yorktown were hit during carrier battles...but they sure loved to show how the 4 Japanese carriers were hit and then sunk in the film though. Pathetic propaganda garbage movie.
They would also cack it up like they did Midway
Enjoyed the dramatic narration.
These men were the real deal!!
An amazing story. I am familiar with the land battle on Guadalcanal but not so much the naval battle. Thanks
So many heroes almost beyong believe .
All of the accomplishments of USS Washington was caused by the competence of Willis Augustus Lee.
A night battle in WWII, something amazing to see and be part off. Only the improved detection systems of the time could have made that possible. I think the battle of Jutland with improved gunnery and detections systems could have been far more devastating and even maybe decisive.
No. Thanks to their very superior night optics, night battle doctrine and preparation, and night training&experience, the Japanese were quite deadly at night from the very start of the war.
But yes, for us, our radar eventually more than caught up with them, at night.
Hey!…. It’s the ‘Dark 5’ narrator!!! Love that voice!
Ching Lee utilized a battleship like a sniper rifle. Every barrel had its own D.O.P.E. (Data on previous engagement) used to hit with pinpoint accuracy.
Holy smokes...this narration was great! I was on the edge of my seat.
Interesting Video. 🇺🇸
The fat electrician does a great cover of this story.
They exemplify courage under fire.
7:32 Anyone else find it funny when Chakotay talks about the USS Enterprise?!
After that first tour I’d probably be seriouslyyyyyyy asking for a transfer! 😂
Tragic that she was scrapped but uss North Carolina lives on for her and Alabama and Massachusetts both ships in this battle scrapped yet lived on by there sisters.
The "bar room brawl" refers to the Nov 13,1942 naval battle of Guadalcanal. We lost two Admirals in that battle (Callahan and Scott) God bless them.
Amazing Video work, historically pivotal. Thank You for the classic reminder Dark Seas
Much of this information used to be classified. Information is only recently available to the masses.
CHING LEE "I'm going to use a ship like a sniper rifle!"
The Pacific theater of WW2 holds a firm connection to myself and my family. My Uncle Ray, Sgt Major USMC ret. earned his blood stripes as a,a, man on the island hopping campaigns and captivated us children with his tales of Naval fires lighting the night. God bless those men.
This needs a movie…
Seems like a lot of people here in the comments watched the Fat Electrician this past weekend!
I watch him as much as possible! And the Habitual Linecrosser also.
Naah. I'm more of a Yarnhub guy.
Admiral Ching Lee is my favorite.
Bro watched Fat Electricians video last week
Good shooting. Roa Aotearoa nui.
Didn't even mention how she had her nose busted by Indiana.
"Escalator claws" sounds like something really scary. And yea, I know it's "clause"
Wow, pretty cool this came out the week after The Fat Electrician did a bio on "Cheng" Lee.
In the Army, the M-1 tank having the most accurate main gun hits was designated the “sniper tank.” Admiral “Ching” Lee turned USS Washington into a “sniper battleship.”
It was amazing that the Navy on multiple occasions denied Willis Lee promotions and commands because his eye sight was to poor. But it wasn’t so poor to keep him from winning multiple international shooting events including 7 medals in the 1920 Olympics. This man changed the big guns on naval ships from sledgehammers to sniper weapons.
Only up through his Lieutenantcy. The promotions were also backdated to when they would otherwise have been granted with the appropriate back pay.
Search for Lastrade's Pacific Theatre series.
The" Rusty W".
I feel better now.....
The Washington was a very well trained crew. I read the book twice: Battleship at War.
Hell it looks like the early days of the WWII was tragic series of errors, talk about learning the hard way, mostly unforced ones. Peace time complacency I suppose.
That's what I thought, too. It looked like everything went wrong up to Midway. But we didn't lose the Wasp and Hornet till after.
I see a similar story unfolding today. Except we're the Japanese this time.
@@shelliecarlson7015 The Guadalcanal Campaign started in August, 3 months after Midway. Perhaps if Congress had given more money to the Navy to conduct training, night fighting might have been a better skill set. At the time the only two navies capable of conducting night fighting effectively were the British Royal Navy (Night flight ops as well as surface actions) and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The US also had a bit of a condescending view towards the Japanese that cost over 5,000 sailors their lives during the 6 months of the Guadalcanal campaign in several night actions led by incompetent admirals. The good thing that came from this was the incompetent US admirals were either dead or beached. Of course several good captains and other junior officers and at least one admiral who was learning his trade were killed.
For a full account of USS Washington's WW2 history, read Ivan Musicant's "Battleship At War"
What kind of a rear Admiral gets swept overboard and drowns on his own boat?
Isn't this the battle where the 7 Sullivan Brothers sadly died?
There were five Sullivan brothers on USS Juneau. Several sets of brothers died on USS Arizona, as well. It became a policy not to have brothers on the same ship.
@@jaybee9269 Thank you, I remember watching the movie made about them when I was a little kid & how sad I was. Don't know how I thought it was 7.
The Washington was faced with a dilemma in the battle. Her new radar only covered 270* so they didn't know where their sister ship was and had to wait to fire.
That's the wrong King George V battleship shown in the video. That is a WW1 KGV Class BB, not the modern WW2 KGV.
Indeed, well spotted at 5:25 - the previous KGV was scrapped 16 year before the incident described, poor research for appropriate images.
@@maconescotland8996 Not everyone is a conscientious as either Drachinifel or Dr. Clarcke.
@@user-gl5dq2dg1j Obviously.
Lee the Battleship sniper
Oh dear, I watched one video telling it showed the 'one thing' that won WWll and now I get three or four a DAY telling me something else was responsible for this.
Hot pursuit, avoiding wrath of torpedoes, gravely wounded .
My high school English teacher would write in red pen ‘Trite’ ‘Dramatic’
What are 16" 45 caliber and a 5" 38 caliber guns ?
16 inch diameter barrel bore times 45 is the barrel length....720 inches or 60 foot barrel length for the main guns, 5 inch diameter shell with a barrel length of 38 calibers....5''x38'' or 15.83 foot barrel length.
5:24 Wrong HMS King George V. That photo is the previous battleship of the same name, from World War I. The one in the photo was scrapped in 1927, and a new King George V was completed in 1940.
Originally, the new ship was to have been named HMS King George VI, because it was traditional for each new monarch to have a capital ship named after them. But George VI preferred that the ship be named after his father, and since Royal Navy warship names have to be approved by the monarch (and this isn't just a formality; there have indeed been instances of kings vetoing names they deemed unsuitable), that's what happened.
Well the wolf lives in Scappa Flow.
You can visit her sister North Carolina however. She's still a museum ship.
Watching these things should explain why fighting the last war today is a formula for losing a war. WW2 showed that AirPower was the most important thing. Battle ships were nothing more than portable artillery platforms and setting ducks to AirPower. Today aircraft carriers are compact targets for superior missiles technology. Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Battleship to an AirPower fight. An aircraft to a missile fight.
US was very lucky in this battle. Washington was nearly hit by a spread of torpedoes before opening fire on Kirishima. A naval study after the war determined that hits from just five Long-Lance torpedoes were almost guaranteed to sink an Iowa class battleship.
Through a lot of luck and a bit of skill Captain Glenn Davis kept Washington from being hit. Luckily the Japanese didn't fire any torpedoes at the sitting duck SoDak. It is believed the torpedoes detonated in Washington's wake.
Gadfly here 🫣. South Dakota fired her 16” guns💥. That knocked out her fire control electronics 😶🌫️🥶
3:15 - When was the CWIS triple barrel Gatling gun installed?
1980's.
4:58, I hope you're not using that burial at sea video as ADM Wilcox's burial. He was lost at sea. His body was never recovered.
a couple of ships behind saw him but couldn't pick him up .
your atom bombs prevented them to extend this war
Nah, Russia's decoration of war Is what prevented it
@@picturemetrollin2093Russia declared war on Japan after the a-bomb was dropped!
The war was over! Japan had no way to defeat the US. It's naval fleet was all but destroyed, the fact that they had to resort to kamikaze is a great indicator that they were on their last leg. The only thing that the a-bom did was hastrn the end
Y'all suck at spelling
@@picturemetrollin2093 you mean just like interior decoration there is a decoration of war?
you mean release all the docs from for like ever?
the title of this video is unclear. what is the shot you are talking about? you speak in a monotone, so it is unclear where or when or by whom or to whom this shot occurred
Three. three gun turrets not triple turrets! Do you know the difference?
... examination of the wreckage ( and I do mean "wreckage" ) of the Kirishima as she lays on Iron Bottom Sound is that she suffered 19 to 22 16" shell hits ... plus a great number of 5" shell hits ... in just under 7 mins ... most of the 16" shell hits are below the waterline !!! The US Washington was the largest radar controlled "sniper" weapon ... ever !!!
The King George V battleship alluded to for sinking Punjabi was not the one shown, this was the WW1 version. KGV in WW2 was a new class. mounting 10x14"