There is a new article by Robert Lundgren, the man who discovered how many shells hit the Kirishima, about the battle of Henderson airfield. Apparently the Fletcher was the ship responsible for torpedoing the Portland, not the Yudachi
I own Anatomy Of The Ship USS The Sulllivans, a nice book of the preserved Fletcher class, and thankfully the Atlanta class light cruiser, USS Juneau was discovered, which was named after the five Sullivan brothers who all tragically perished during the Pacific theatre, which an Arleigh Burke class also was named after them, keeping their legacy alive. I also have Tamiya's 1/700 USS Cushing. Take care, and all the best.
Incredible ships. The single rudder hampered their maneuverability and the Sumner class addressed this with a twin system. The poor performance of USN DD’s in the early part of the war was attributed to poor doctrine that tethered DD’s to the battle line and didn’t give them independent or free action. Many hard lessons were learned in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Something should have been mentioned about its radar capabilities and the future upgrades of the anti-aircraft suite. Also, nothing was said about the ship's complement.
AA armenment of four Ma Deuce .50cal heavy machine guns and a pom-pom gun? Weak. My dad served post war on the USS Ingraham, a Sumner class improved Fletcher with 6 DP 5 inch guns, slightly wider and deeper draft, with twin rudders, and beefed AA artillary of up with 12 40 mm Bofers guns and 11 20 mm guns: vs late war Fletcher's 10 40 mm, and 7 20 mm cannons. And still not enough, despite her downing several, kamikaze bombs killed a score of sailors and she was sent stateside for repairs before the war ended. But she had a very long career, being modified and improved several times. The Ingraham bombarded shore targets in Vietnam about the time I was over there, and ended up as a sinking exercise for the Greek navy, which she served after being sold on to friendly navies. A fitting end for a warrior. The following Gearing class DDs were Sumners made 14 foot longer with a plug midship. Thanks for the informative post.
For the time of the first design drafts such a small number of AA was okay. The "explosion" in AA firepower only really happend when the war started. Even the Iowas, famous for their massive AA firepower, had only four quad 1.1 inch chicago piano mounts (a gun mount similar in performance to the famously bad japanese 25mm triple mount) and a few 50 cals in their first designs.
@xxnightdriverxx9576 Chicago Piano, Chicago Typewriter, great names. The pom pom was the British 40mm that lost out to the Bofers because of cordite. My dad was top loader on a quad mount 40mm on Jeep carrier Corregidor near Okinawa in WWII. Only gun tub side shields and his job was very exposed. Carriers were nicknamed Kaiser Coffins because they were so thin and slow, with one 5 inch AA gun and some lighter stuff.
All ships designed before the war had insufficient AA guns. The 1.1 inch system was a failure and was replaced by 40mm Bofors designed in Sweden. 20mm Oerlikons replaced the 50 cal BMGs, longer range and more destructive weapon.
@@patrickmccrann991 My dad's action station was a .50cal AA gun on the transport ship taking him to the war. I don't know if he mentioned heavy machine guns either on his wartime Casablanca class escort carrier service, or post war in the DD Ingraham. Where he didn't man 40mm AA but instead was the Captain's Talker, with the giant Star Wars headphone/helmet. A responsible position.
@todgermanica Casablanca class CVEs had one 5 inch DP gun on the fantail and a mix of 40mm and 20mm guns. They were never equipped with 50 cal mg mounts. Post war destroyers had 40mm and 20 mm guns.
I remember that is told that the Fletcher's armor is not armor itself, but rather a much denser steel for the hull that accounts enough to be anti shrapnel
There is a new article by Robert Lundgren, the man who discovered how many shells hit the Kirishima, about the battle of Henderson airfield. Apparently the Fletcher was the ship responsible for torpedoing the Portland, not the Yudachi
Excellent video. I know more about the fletcher class dd than I did. Please keep them coming.
I own Anatomy Of The Ship USS The Sulllivans, a nice book of the preserved Fletcher class, and thankfully the Atlanta class light cruiser, USS Juneau was discovered, which was named after the five Sullivan brothers who all tragically perished during the Pacific theatre, which an Arleigh Burke class also was named after them, keeping their legacy alive.
I also have Tamiya's 1/700 USS Cushing.
Take care, and all the best.
Could we get a video talking about the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro, arguably the most successful IJN cruiser of the war.
@@metaknight115 I do have one in the works.
Incredible ships. The single rudder hampered their maneuverability and the Sumner class addressed this with a twin system.
The poor performance of USN DD’s in the early part of the war was attributed to poor doctrine that tethered DD’s to the battle line and didn’t give them independent or free action.
Many hard lessons were learned in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Best of USN, Fletchers 👌
So there is a time for best of IJN, Akizuki 😁
Something should have been mentioned about its radar capabilities and the future upgrades of the anti-aircraft suite. Also, nothing was said about the ship's complement.
AA armenment of four Ma Deuce .50cal heavy machine guns and a pom-pom gun? Weak. My dad served post war on the USS Ingraham, a Sumner class improved Fletcher with 6 DP 5 inch guns, slightly wider and deeper draft, with twin rudders, and beefed AA artillary of up with 12 40 mm Bofers guns and 11 20 mm guns: vs late war Fletcher's 10 40 mm, and 7 20 mm cannons.
And still not enough, despite her downing several, kamikaze bombs killed a score of sailors and she was sent stateside for repairs before the war ended. But she had a very long career, being modified and improved several times.
The Ingraham bombarded shore targets in Vietnam about the time I was over there, and ended up as a sinking exercise for the Greek navy, which she served after being sold on to friendly navies. A fitting end for a warrior.
The following Gearing class DDs were Sumners made 14 foot longer with a plug midship. Thanks for the informative post.
For the time of the first design drafts such a small number of AA was okay. The "explosion" in AA firepower only really happend when the war started.
Even the Iowas, famous for their massive AA firepower, had only four quad 1.1 inch chicago piano mounts (a gun mount similar in performance to the famously bad japanese 25mm triple mount) and a few 50 cals in their first designs.
@xxnightdriverxx9576 Chicago Piano, Chicago Typewriter, great names. The pom pom was the British 40mm that lost out to the Bofers because of cordite. My dad was top loader on a quad mount 40mm on Jeep carrier Corregidor near Okinawa in WWII. Only gun tub side shields and his job was very exposed. Carriers were nicknamed Kaiser Coffins because they were so thin and slow, with one 5 inch AA gun and some lighter stuff.
All ships designed before the war had insufficient AA guns. The 1.1 inch system was a failure and was replaced by 40mm Bofors designed in Sweden. 20mm Oerlikons replaced the 50 cal BMGs, longer range and more destructive weapon.
@@patrickmccrann991 My dad's action station was a .50cal AA gun on the transport ship taking him to the war. I don't know if he mentioned heavy machine guns either on his wartime Casablanca class escort carrier service, or post war in the DD Ingraham. Where he didn't man 40mm AA but instead was the Captain's Talker, with the giant Star Wars headphone/helmet. A responsible position.
@todgermanica Casablanca class CVEs had one 5 inch DP gun on the fantail and a mix of 40mm and 20mm guns. They were never equipped with 50 cal mg mounts. Post war destroyers had 40mm and 20 mm guns.
and another design requirement: make a Yamato class battleship run away!
Though that was as much on BuOrd finally letting us use a torpedo worth running from.
Excellent video as usual. A question: did the ship really have "side armor"? Even if only 3/4 inch it's news to me that destroyers had any armor.
I remember that is told that the Fletcher's armor is not armor itself, but rather a much denser steel for the hull that accounts enough to be anti shrapnel
@@H42-s8x That makes sense, thanks
HOW DARE THIS VIDEO HIDE FROM ME FOR 16 SECONDS