"Oi russkie why y'all here" "Oh pretend I'm not here, just enjoying the show?" "Show? this is a serious military operation" "It can be both" *pulls out a polaroid and a bag of sunflower seeds and seats on a beach-chair
1000% makes sense that a modern destroyer named the Samuel B. Robert's would be nigh unsinkable given its namesake. If the first American ship with that name took a 3rd of the Japanese navy to sink, an Iranian mine isn't going to take down her successor.
The ghosts of yesterday looked towards that minefield and said F you, you're not taking another one of our bois and process to pull pro gamer move because Japanese maybe have gotten sure as hell Iraqis won't
I came here for this, already posted and knew without a shadow of a doubt I would not get 5 comments down and find someone already corrected his course after merely grazing the great name Sammy B. Cheers brother.
Yes, those A-6 pilots are indeed the main characters. Doing a WW2 style dive bomb with anti-aircraft guns firing at you, not giving a shit, and then completely disabling the vessel with a bomb straight down the smokestack is absolutely main character material. That's amazing and bless those fuckers for thinking, "My orders are vague. It's time to improvise."
For anyone not familiar with US naval history...as soon as you hear "Samuel B. Roberts" in any iteration or in any conflict, things are going to get crazy.
Any documentaries you can point me in the direction of to learn more about Samuel B. Roberts? This story was SO damn good and I NEED to learn more. Thanks in advance if you can!
@@missmeppsie3389 The original Samuel B Roberts is famous for its role in the Battle of Samar. It's also in the book "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors." As impressive as this story is, that one is even more heroic and spectacular.
The moment you said the USS Enterprise was on standby for support...I realized the proportions were already out of whack! No other navy vessels needed to be there. She could have taken that entire operation herself, but was nice enough to let the little boats have fun and play babysitter.
@@adamjacobs8606 Heh. Like a mom with a big fucking stick to smack ANYBODY threatening her kids...then will stick that stick in a place that a stick shouldn't be stuck.
USS Enterprise had to be there, her E-2s were super critical as where he Tomcat's as they provided "top-cover". The A-6s going HAM was not part of the set up but there is YT videos of those Pilots discussing what happened and it is basically like what Nick said, they wanted to get in on the action.
@@Wpns175 Yeah...Big E's Pilots have a tendency to achieve crazy and unexpected things once they leave the flight deck. Her predecessor was the most decorated naval vessel in WW2.
For context, that Ronald Reagan clip he wasn't saying he was "there to help" he was actually making fun of Federal Agencies incompetence and callousness and the joke was; *"The most terrifying words in the English language are; "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."*
Hell my 8th and 10th grade history teachers were both Vietnam vets, one being a tunnel rat. Both taught like this with the cursing. Back then we could handle it and wasn’t offended by it
I was fortunate enough to have teachers who were World War II, Korea, and early Vietnam War veterans. My English teacher was a Marine on the USS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, that survived Kamikaze strikes at Okinawa and stayed with her all the way back to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. My history teacher was in the 38th Infantry Division (Indiana National Guard, I’m from Indianapolis) they are known as, “THE AVENGERS OF BATAAN”. He had vivid stories about the liberation of the Philippines ( he was even in the village where my wife was born ) . But the most interesting was my Business teacher and the faculty member in charge of the Audio/ Visual Department. Mr Pavel was a Pilot, a Major, and a member of the OSS. He served in every theater of the war. Had photos of himself with Stalin, Churchill, Chang, Ho Chi Minh, Tito, FDR, and Truman. The guy had a highly redacted record.
Proportional Responses: If your life-threatening actions warrant a "proportional response" from the US Navy, any response that doesn't involve the complete obliteration of your nation's military and infrastructure is proportional to the response that it could have been...
Proportional response = The Chicago Way. They pull a knife, you pull all the guns. They send one of yours to the hospital, you send many of theirs to the morgue.
It WAS proportional! America only used 0.5% of its power! The fact that it only took that much to make the Iranian navy past-tense is merely a collateral issue.
I'm a US Navy retired vet, and this is some of the funniest story telling I've ever heard, love it. On the last ship I was on, USS Princeton, a similar thing happened, got hit by two mines, this happened way back in 1991, but that ship is still fully operational, it's amazing what US Naval ship yards can do.
Wew, most wild thing that happened on my ship, the Vinson, was when one of our pilots crashed an F-35 across the flight deck and then some Chief put the footage of it on UA-cam like the day after. Pilot was fine, but I'm sure Big Navy got that chief's ass pretty good 😂
Loved the Jocko cameo! But one slight error. A-6 crews sit side by side. So that crew who dropped a bomb down the smoke stack of that Iranian frigate were probably giving each other high fives after the bombing run.
@@willpugh8865 Ah, no. The prowler has 4 seats because the two extras seat two extra EWO's. While it is a modified A-6 (EA-6B), it is definitely not "just a 4 seat A-6". The Prowlers have some pretty serious gear for electronic warfare aboard....it's like a mini AWACS, only for specific attack groups instead of entire theater overwatch. Saying its just a 4-seat A-6 is a gross understatement of its true nature. Source: Me, 24 yrs military service (Retired)
@@2Quietus Well...he DID say "which is just a 4-seat A-6 Intruder *airframe*" so I doubt he was doing a side-by-side comparison of the two planes (no pun intended).
I joined the Navy in 88. I had nothing to do with this but I did go to the fire fighting school our home port had. The chief there was an HT chief on the Samuel B Roberts and was a part of saving that ship! He described how they welded eyelets on both sides of the crack and threaded the cable from the deck winch's to tie it all together. Talk about boss level!! I have a huge amount of respect for that crew!
@@dougtaylor7724 Actually I'm sure failure was on they're mind. But I think pride in they're ship and teamwork overwhelmed fear of failure. They were willing to toss the book overboard and rewrite what's possible!
As an American, 🇺🇸 (Southern Indiana) I have to say, Fat Electrician’s videos are THE BEST. Fascinating story’s and he’s hilarious. I like how he speaks fast and no BS. Makes me proud to be an American 🇺🇸. Your videos literally lift my spirits. Thank you and all service members. Gives me chills thinking about it.
The Sammy B. Is one of the huge points of navy DC training. That crew absolutely embodied the biggest rule of nautical damage control: "Dont give up the ship!" Another banger video buddy.
@@zachgardner4820there’s an unspoken third rule to that If there are American citizens on a boat, that boat automatically is viewed as an American vessel
They could've asked Spain that question too. Seriously, the Spanish-American War turned Spain from a colonial empire that rivaled France and Britain into a virtual non-entity who have had practically no influence on the international stage in over a century.
@blackhawk15897 A Podcaster named Dan Carlin did a really good series on the Spanish-American war called "The American Peril." It's definitely worth checking out.
At the time, I was LTJG Slattery, the senior intelligence officer for VA-95, the A-6 squadron in this story. I was on board the Enterprise as this took place and I debriefed the A-6 crews, who were my drinking buddies, as they returned from their missions against the Sabalan and the Sahand. This is a very entertaining overview of that day's action. However, you need to watch your details. The A-6's did not carry Harpoons that day. They had AGM-123 Skipper II glide bombs. They also had dumb bombs and Rockeye cluster bombs (I remember the crew that hit the Boghammer saying that it spun in the water when they hit it). The mine that the Samuel B. Roberts struck was an M-08 (as in Model 1908) contact mine that had been originally developed in 1908 (prior to WWI). The phone you have is of an M-08, but it was not magnetic. It was detonated by a ship coming into contact with one of the three horns in the photo, which broke open the horn allowing seawater in to detonate the mine. The Samuel B. had entered a mine field (if I recall correctly) and was backing out when it hit the mine. I was listening to the comms during most of the battle and I don't recall the Sahand being hit by missiles, but I wasn't listening for that either. I was listening to hear what was happening with the A-6's. VA-95 and the A-7's on board the Enterprise hit the Sahand several times. The Sahand did not sink right away. It was a floating, burning hulk through the night and didn't sink until the next morning. As for the A-6 that flew alongside the Sabalan to ID it, your version is pretty accurate, but the A-6 crew (I forget who it was) knew they had found the Sabalan when the bombardier/navigator (B/N) looked behind at the ship's bridge after they had just passed it and saw someone had launched an SA-7 Grail at them. They hit chaff and flares and decoyed the missile. The rest of what you say about that flyby is probably accurate, I just don't recall it being described that way (that was 35 years ago). I forget which A-6 crew dropped the bomb down the stack of the Sabalan, but it didn't detonate in the engine room. Either something was wrong with the fuse or it simply passed through the ship too quickly to detonate inside, but after it went down the stack, it punched out through the hull and left a hole leaking oil for a mobility kill and the Sabalan had to be towed back to port. I remember reconnaissance photos from the next day showing the oil leaking as it was towed to its homeport of Bandar Abbas. I don't recall any Silkworms being launched. We were watching those very closely and we were continually receiving satellite imagery of the launch sites (they were stored in underground bunkers and moved out via rails to their launch positions). Had a Silkworm (old Soviet technology) been moved onto a launch pad, we already had plans to strike it before it could be used. There were a couple of humorous incidents from that day. You mentioned the one A-6 being "committed". The B/N for that A-6 was probably CDR (might still have been LCDR at that time) Schork, whose callsign was Schorky. I remember him saying (maybe at the debriefing) that his A-6 was rolling in hot on one of the ships (probably the Sabalan) when the call came in to cease operations for the day. He didn't want to miss an opportunity to drop a bomb in a real battle, so he responded to the call, "Too late! I'm committed!", which he said was BS, because there's no such thing as being "committed". He could have broken off the attack but didn't want to. He didn't want to pass up a spot in history. Another light moment was when (an aircrew told me they heard this radio transmission) when one of the battle groups called one of the oil platforms and said (as best I recall) "Attention, Iranian Oil Platform! You have five minutes to abandon your platform before we open fire. Have a nice daaaay!" The crew immediately abandoned the platform. I like your channel. I am subscribing to it. Thanks for all the memories.
Great clarification 👍 I was visiting VA-22 back at NASL after the cruise, saw a ship painted on the side of one of their A7’s. When I inquired I was given a post strike photo of the Sahand. 😊
Thanks for the detailed post. THANK YOU for your service! I was a police officer at the time and LOVED President Reagan and the USA during his era! Our military became a much more potent force thanks to his support, and it definitely showed. I miss those days.
I was there aboard the USS Merrill (DD976). That was a WILD day. We pumped over 100 5 inch rounds into that platform. Mount 51(forward, on the bow) and mount 52 (aft, on the fantail) just chucking out round after round. The Soviet ship's Captain really said that. That is a true story.
thank you for your service. thats amazing. i cant imagine all of this going on at once and being an admiral on that day. you think youve got a solid plan to let them know "dont mess with us" and halfway through nothing makes any sense as news keeps coming in.
@@jameskennedy7906 It's easy to forget that the Soviet seaman were young kids too and a lot like ours. As soon as they heard the US was about to blow Iran back to the Battle of Thermopylae they absolutely had to take a look.
🚨🚨🚨🚨 How about Operation Eagle Claw!? / American soldiers lost everything, and afew could flee. #iran 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔 . #OperationEagleClaw 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️ #eagleclawoperation #topgun #maverics 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 @the_fat_electrician
Even though I'm pretty damn sure that the Soviet ship was there to gather first-hand intel on the performance of US/NATO equipment and our tactics, I can still respect the sense of humor about it.
That Russian ship was absolutely there to gain Intel on what a light "proportional" US response would be. Not knowing how out of hand things got and relayed back "yeah so you know that cargo ship Iran hit? Yeah the Americans deleted half their navy for that. Let's be careful boss."
As someone that was going into the military when this was happening I definitely was paying attention at the time. I was still captivated by your storytelling, sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what happened next! Great job. Keep up the good works.
I continue to learn more and more about our country's history and just the shear level of FA2FO that America's men and women have had in them since our inception. Thank you Sir. I wish we had more teachers like you.
"Just hear to take pictures.... for history" I believe that is the point where a coworker came into my office and asked what had my laughing! Dude! I love your stuff.
@@littleferrhiseven the Ottomans learned that in 1801. The US reached halfway around the globe and bitch slapped some state sponsored slaver pirates to assert their authority as the equal of any European empire at a time when pretty much nobody outside of a handful of European powers had warships capable of reaching across the ocean to fight.
@@intellectualiconoclasm3264 ...and that's a fact! 🤣😂 Having served on a really old WWII Destroyer Escort and two Guided Missile Frigates during my ten years in the US Navy, I found this "Documentary" a total Hoot!! Well Done.
I loved the A-6, that weird-looking bomb truck. I was sad to see it retired. In the 80's I had high hopes it would get a new lease on life with the A-6F upgrade plan. Unfortunately that program was canceled. Now many A-6 airframes sit at the bottom of the sea off the Florida coast as artificial reefs for sea life.
Honestly, when you mentioned them going to court over war crimes I was kinda expecting the court to be like "So you put mines out into international water where any civilian vessel could stumble upon them? And you think America did the war crime here?"
@@Erudito_Ra Yeah... "Listen, we get that you were attacked, but, you retaliated. That makes you just as bad. One could argue, worse even. I'm going to argue that."
Easier to pin blame on America. We tend to be the favorite international punching bag because most nations hate being so drastically out-classed. Plus they know we’re always good for that reparation money, unlike most other nations.
I mean we stopped hitting the convoy of retreating Iraqis in Deserstorm because we didn't want it to be labled a massacre after we spent a week shooting anything that moved on said highway.... American military might is best described as "don't touch my stuff." before anyone mentions the withdrawal from Afghanistan realize 2 things, we had already accomplished what we set out to do (getting Bin Laden and eviscerating Al Qui Da) Trump did have a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban before Biden said "nah" and left our outdated toys behind. Two US forces were no longer doing anything than holding the patch of ground near Bagram for 20 years. That's not a loss and if the US operated like Russia does we could level countries and reshape geography.
the message was sent by that point, like the other guy said, it couldve easily escalated to something way bigger than a skirmish. Iran understood why all of that was happening, and its a shame they dont pay mind to history, because its looking like they are going to need a reminder as to why their navy is 80% speed boats after this first engagement....
@@rylandavis2976 In all reality, the odds of starting WW3 from this event were probably pretty low, but who the heck expected an arch duke getting assassinated would have started the bloodiest conflict in human history. Weird things can happen.
I was on the Enterprise for that. This was a great commentary on the "battle" There were a few other things that happened that didnt get out though. Also as a side note, the plane audio from the pilot before dropping the bombs was hilarious and very sobering at the same time for a sailor.
It’s cool watching in real time as you get better and better at telling these stories. Please make them all 15+ minutes. I guarantee 99% of us will watch till the end, no matter how long the videos are.
As badass as the A10 is, I feel a long video style would be perfect for Taffy 3. The sheer battleship sized balls of USS Johnston, USS Hoel, the WW2 incarnation of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, and the other ships of Taffy 3's totally bonkers charge/last stand against what was the majority of the Japanese capital ship fleet (including Yamato herself).
Possible lines: 'When the turret firing at you outweighs your entire ship...' 'When the world's biggest, worst sub outweighs your entire task force...'
I was on the USS Gary (FFG-51). Iran shot those silkworms at us and the barges. We were sent out to see if Iran still wanted to have a fight. They did. We couldn't fire any anti-missile missiles (jamming) so we ended up popping chaff and firing the big gun in their general direction. One of the silkworms got distracted by the chaff and the other one kept coming in...but it ran out of propellant and splashed. Because the government wanted to sweep the information under the rug, we were the only combatant ship that was denied combat action status.
That blows. My son 11B served in Afghanistan and Iraq. His first tour he was assigned to support special forces. When he completed the tour, he was up for a CIB which the board wanted to reject (he was part of an intelligence battalion). His company sergeant pointed out that he had 18+ confirmed kills and multiple high intensity discussions with the Taliban (we was the 240 gunner on a Humvee). He got his CIB. Next assignment sent him to the 7th Cav at Hood. At this point he's 20. The unit is ordered to present itself with all authorized awards - which he does. Company sgt loses it (son has more ribbons than he does...), accuses him of falsifying, etc. Get's back to his previous battalion commander who is now a Colonel. That shit got fixed quick. I am constantly amazed at the politics around awards. The real warfighters just don't care.
I am a US Navy diver veteran who was in Danang, Vietnam with HCU1 (1971). Of course, equipment and tactics have changed over the years. We wore dungarees (bell bottom jeans LOL) for E1 - E6. Chief uniforms were khakis and were identical to officers. Your story makes me think that sometimes our government uses members as guinea pigs to see if the enemy will engage, even it means the loss of the ship. Our rules of engagement sometimes are too strict. Fortunately, your ship made it safely. Bravo Zulu on that.
DeMarco, I was also there. USS Knox. We were there from July 87 to Jan 88. Nimble Archer. I recall in the first week's, a helo went down and an A6 "disappeared ". Remember manning the rails with lights searching the debris of the helo for survivors. Fun times.
He was also the worst President for the Iranian Navy to face, barring maybe Gerald Ford. Both of them were *really* straightforward with military confrontations and took potential threats seriously.
@@Blin240 Ok, but that's not what he said. More than 1 thing can be true about a person. Wild concept, I know. Reagan did dumb gun law shit, and ALSO did a very good job of foreign military policy.
@@1BeGe So trying to escalate into a full blown war with the Soviets was a very good thing? Selling weapons to known international terrorists and then destroying the evidence of those sales was a very good thing (and yes, he admitted on national television that he made the sales)? Publicly supporting and selling weapons to Saddam Hussein was a very good thing? Giving money, training, and military equipment to countries to support a war we had no business being involved in was a very good thing? Reagan would have never made POTUS with the reichpublicans of today. LOL.
No joke, the Samuel B. Roberts' crew deserve every amount of praise that they've gotten for saving their vessel. That ship _should've_ sunk, but they pulled that shit off. Look, I'm an American and I definitely subscribe to the whole "OUR SHIPS ARE THE BEST SHIPS" philosophy too, but even a great ship can get sunk if it takes a catastrophic amount of damage. No amount of 'Murican Pride can save a vessel if the damage is that bad... except in this case. Those fuckers worked their asses off and nobody died. That's just straight-up amazing. Kudos to the crew of the Samuel B. Roberts. Something catastrophic happened and you all just buckled-down, rolled-up your sleeves, and said, "No, we're not sinking. We won't _let_ that happen."
USS Coronado Agf-11 JTFME 1988, and took part in both operations, we sent 6 of our crew, Welding the top deck , zipper fashion, and never got credit for the effort...
You have now highlighted your exceptional skills in zip welding with what you had to work with to save one of your best ships from sinking far too far from home. They are true tradesman skills that are taught to most sailors that are a requisite to keep any ship afloat long enough to get it home for proper repair. Well done lads. @@BustaCapov
I used to say they held it together with duct tape and baling wire, and I wasn't far off. Those frigates, built with economy in mind, turned out to be extremely tough and deadly ships.
It cost more to fix the Robert’s than built it. But BIW fixed the Robert’s and put her back in service. They did not sink a US navy ship and that’s the point. Bath built best built. The captain of the Robert’s wrote BIW a letter thanking them for building such a great ship. The metal ripped but not one weld failed.
13F veteran here….. you NEED to look up the story of the USS Biddle. This ship is most definitely worth mentioning. USS Biddle, Last manual Gun sight kill from a ship
When I was in the (Aussie) navy I heard a story from some blokes who deployed to the gulf. You yanks wanted a drag race against our frigate. We don’t like to do that but we accepted, only intending to come up in revolutions as per the handbook You yanks didn’t do the same, you went from dead stop to full ahead and blew the gas turbine, absolutely legendary, but that’s not the best part Your ship was towed to port and operational again in 24 hours, I mean that would take our navy months. You guys are absolute legends, so much respect for the U.S. Navy
That reminds me of an incident my dad experienced when he was on the USS Ranger aircraft carrier in the 1960s. The captain asked the admiral if it would be OK to drag race the Kitty Hawk. The admiral said absolutely not, and then he proceeded to take a nap. The Captain then said screw it then proceeded to drag race the Kitty Hawk anyway and beat it, making the cover of Hot Rod magazine.
I was a gas turbine electrician on these class of ships. The GE LM2500 that powered the frigates and the destroyers actually had built in rails in the intake stacks to facilitate quick removal of the engines. 24 hr turn around is standard. It can actually be done faster.
@@aaronwilliams1249 Ngl, that sounded like the admiral also wanted to do it but said it to get himself out of trouble when they did do it. Like that one scene in Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul where he just "accidentally" leaves a piece of paper with private information and just goes to get coffee.
@@nunya5891 LM2500 are nice gas turbines. Used a lot in the Indian Navy as well, assembled locally under license by HAL. Although, the newer ships will be having Rolls Royce MT-30. Wonder what the US offering is in that segment.
Actually the even better part is the Iranian Navy that annoys the US Navy every now and then is the half that remained from Praying Mantis😂 talk about fckn around to find out
IIRC their captain intentionally made sure his crew was top-notch in respect toward the previous ship, DE-413, which was part of Taffy 3 and sank during the battle which saw a couple Destroyers and some Escort Carriers fight off Yamato and multiple IJN Cruisers
I was stationed on The Sammy B from 2008 -2011. We had to learn all about our name sake, what he did, the previous ship, what they did, and all about Operation Grasshopper. We still were winning DC (damage control) awards 20+ years later as well. The mine strike was taught in the DC school as the textbook " What to Do" for DC scenarios. Best ship I was ever on in my 23 yrs! NO HIGHER HONOR!!
Op. Praying Mantis' tagline could have been the paraphrased quote from Raul Julia in Street Fighter: "For you Iranians the time the US Navy destroyed half of your fleet was the worst day of your life...But for the US Navy, it was but a monday" Yes, April 18, 1988, was a Monday. A missed opportunity for America to mail a "I Hate Mondays" mug to the Iranian Navy's Chief of Staff, if you ask me
Gosh im so damn glad i found this channel. Personally, im not in the military but every immediate family member is/was - i couldnt be more proud of them and proud of being part of a military family ❤
I was a Corpsman onboard the USS Coronado AGF-11. We were the Command and Control for Praying Mantis. I was amazing to be part of the largest Naval engagement since WWII. We did loose one Cobra with 2 Marine Flyers in during the Battle. Adm Less did a great job that day. We spent 10 month in the Gulf that year while our sister ship the Lasalle was in Japan for repairs.
@@Info.isfree.openmindif I understand correctly we didn't need a single soldier sailer or any other service members during this. I was talking with a friend of mine. He's father used to work something online for the under Secretary of the Treasury for the shah of Iran. He's kind of hoping to be able to go back to his country. Well we had that hope back then but never materialize. Electrically at me and said friends if we were in my country right now I'd have to kill you. I looked at him and said buddy good luck with that. We agreed you are happy to be where we were at.
You should be amazed because you weren't in fact involved in it, you would have had to be involved in the Falklands War in order for that to be true. The Praying mantis taskgroup was 11 ships. 1 aircraft carrier 1 amphibious transport dock 4 destroyers 1 guided missile cruiser 3 frigates The falklands task force eventually comprised 127 ships: 43 Royal Navy vessels, 22 Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, and 62 merchant ships 2 aircraft carriers 2 amphibious transport dock 8 Destroyers 16 Frigates 6 Submarines 3 Hospital Ships 6 Minesweepers The world exists outside America
I love that description "The cardinal sin of the late 20th century: raising gas prices." That along with the legal defense of "We didn't agree to _not_ blow those up." really does make this a fun video and a reminder of a little bit of history.
If you had lived thru that odd or even bovine defecation in the 70's, you would go to war too! Thanks Jimmy! You grew the Republican party better than any Republican could!
Ive been in 16 years and change. My 14 year old son showed me your videos..... and im so damn proud of him lol. I gotta say, your sense of humor makes you perfect for this type of break down😅😂 Keep em coming!!
FE, I love you man. This is the FOURTH time I’ve watched this episode front to back, and I laugh my ass off every time. Like every other vid you’ve done. Pure awesomeness!
I was a green operations specialist barely 6 months out of A school who just finished mess cranking and just happened to be on duty in the combat direction center of the USS Enterprise and I could hear all the radio transmissions in real time, it was quite an experience!
@@harleydominga He must be going through some shit thats making him a grump. Thats wild though, my dad was on the USS America in '86 I believe when that shit with Libya went down. I love stories like that
@@doesntmatter4477 when you are on a carrier; one of the best places to hear real time shit is in CIC. During Desert Storm, I was in CIC (monitoring manned Crewed guns and stinger missiles) when a real battle stations, not a drill, went down. The energy in room was on high that night.
Nailed it, you even hit the spots I had forgotten. I was actually on the Enterprise as part of DESRON 9 staff for this mission. In fact I was in CIC and relayed the “red and free” order via RT to the A6 drivers that morning, well done.
I recall a statement by Jim Brown, the football pro. "If someone hits me, I'm gonna hit them five or six times. Once they understand the rules, we can figure out if we want to be friends."
I was a sailor on the USS Kansas City (AOR-3) at the time. We passed a LOT of ammo that week, and even had some excitement ourselves as some fast attack boat thought it was a good idea to traverse the Strait of Hormuz and threaten the supply chain. A destroyer, I don't remember which one, um...discouraged them. Good times.
I was on the U.S.S. Pyro for this. We were scheduled to go to Mombasa for liberty and got called back to refuel Frigates. Did over 120 continued days at sea.
Worth noting that Bath Iron Works in Maine flexed it’s class repairing the Roberts. The repair was done ahead of time and under budget which is unheard of with military contracts anymore.
Should be noted the Samuel B Roberts (or the Sammy B) is a ship name filled with history. The original Samuel B Roberts was a John C Butler Class Destroyer Escort (the WWII equivalent of a frigate) and her job was to screen escort carriers and fuck up destroyers in hunter killer groups. The Sammy B was named after a USN coxswain who was killed while distracting Japanese forces to rescue his fellow crew mates, he had volunteered for this action and was awarded the Navy Cross and had ships named after him. So the name already had crazy history, and her namesake was killed in the Pacific so they send her on over, let her get revenge. Nothing too notable would occur until the Invasion of The Philippines, where shit got out of hand fast. She would be assigned to Taffey 3, where she and her fellow Escort Destroyers, Fleet Destroyers, and Escort Carriers would go toe to toe with the largest fleet that Japan ever sailed in WWII. Taffey 3 would engage Admiral Kuritas Second Force during the Battle off Samar, in a true David vs Goliath scenario. Kurita had 4 Battleships (one being the IJN Yamato), 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 11 destroyers vs Spragues 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, and 4 destroyer escorts. The Yamato alone displaced more tonnage than the entirety of Taffey 3, so the battle should have been lopsided right? Well the USN does not take kindly to being attacked, and loves to be aggressive, so the pilots of the escort carriers, and crews of the USS Johnston, USS Samuel B Roberts, and USS Hoel decide that running is boring and charge the enemy fleet. The US fleet would not only score first blood, but would sink multiple cruisers and destroyers, and heavily damage other ships in the fleet. Even the 5 inch gunners on the escort carriers got to shoot up some enemy cruisers. Due to her action in this fight, the Samuel B Roberts is referred to as “The Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship” I highly recommend for those interested in a more coherent retelling of the story to read “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” or watch Drachinifels video on The Battle off Samar, both are excellent
It's been reported by men off the FFG-58 Samuel B Roberts that they all, at various times, stopped by the memorial to DE-413 on the ship during the fight to save the ship. As if asking the men who went down off Samar to lend them their strength. and apparently, it worked.
I kinda wish they'd been able to save the Roberts as a museum ship. That ship has one hell of a lineage, because the first Samuel B. Roberts was a DE that was part of the Battle off Samar in 1944 as part of Taffy 3...she scored a torpedo hit during her suicidal charge at the much larger Japanese fleet before being blown apart. So the crew on FFG-58 did the name of Samuel B. Roberts damn proud.
Fun story about that... apparently there was a plaque on board the new Sammy B memorializing the first one, and as the crew ran to fight to save the ship, they were touching the plaque.
My husband was on the USS Hoel, a destroyer, taking part in the whole thing. I have his VHF tape of it, recorded by one of the other ships crew. It was his last time out before he retired in 1988. He was also on a Navy ship active in Nam. Got dosed with Agent Orange. Yup, his health paid for it. Miss him dearly
He was a good man, I remember him signing several spots in my PQS book for the Mk42, and me asking why he signed so many. His reply was "You can do it, and I wrote the book."
My respects ma'am, to you and your son who commented below. It touched me how you remember him. It sounds like he chose his beloved very, very well. Blessings to you and your family. (USN, Retired, 2009)
Every time I hear "Proportional", I just think of Inigo Montoya saying "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think that it means" lol
It's worth knowing that the Samuel B Roberts is a storied ship name. It's named for a badass who put himself in the line of fire to draw fire from US marines evacuating a surrounded position at Guadalcanal, ultimately giving his life so those marines could escape. The first ship to bear his name perhaps is the single greatest story of valor in the history of the United States Navy. At the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese snuck their most modern battleships and surviving surface combatants into a close action against a force of basically undefended escort carriers covering landing forces off Samar. Standing in the path of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers was 3 US fleet destroyers and 4 destroyer escorts. The odds were impossible, but don't tell that to LtCdr Robert W. Copeland, DE-413, Commanding. He would take his Destroyer Escort - all 1350 tons of it - into knife fighting range with the Heavy Cruiser Chokai, and blow its stern off in a torpedo run, and light it up with its guns. Not satisfied, he would turn his attention to the Heavy Cruiser Chikuma, using his 5 inch guns to set it ablaze and taking out it's bridge and one if its main turrets. In action for over an hour and taking fire from the entire Japanese force, the Samuel B Roberts would eventually succumb to hostile fire, but due to the aggression of her and her cohorts, the Japanese would turn their superior force around and flee the fighting, believing the ships they were engaging to be of a much larger size class. This action would both save thousands of marines on the landing beaches, and 4 of 6 escort carriers under threat. The Samuel B Roberts in this action was dubbed the "destroyer escort that fought like a battleship". I sincerely hope we continue to name ships after Samuel B Roberts to keep up this ultimate standard in US Naval Tradition. We've been blessed to largely be able to carry advantages into most of our greatest victories in the storied history of the U.S. Navy due to the firm foundations upon which it has resided, but it's always important to remember that the very base of that foundation is the brave, disciplined, and well-trained sailors like those that have served in noteable actions involving two generations of this ship name.
I would like to add that Sammy B. wasn't alone, by the way. USS Johnston, a Fletcher-class Destroyer, would make the first charge and would later be joined by Hoel, Heerman, and Samuel B. Samuel B. They fought so ferociously that the Japanese thought they were facing a much larger main fleet. Apparently as Johnston was sinking, her crew witnessed the captain of the passing Yukikaze saluting her as she went down.
I would definitely recommend reading "The Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfisher It tells the battle from multiple points of view from the ships commanders, aviators and even some from the Japanese side.
Correction during the Battle for Leyte Gulf There was NO MARINES in those beaches .only soldiers of 6th US Army..particularly of those from 24th Infantry Division and 1st Cavalry Division in red beach sector of the landing...
It was part of a group of destroyers and destroyer escorts that charged in against an overwhelmingly superior naval force in order to attempt to save a carrier escort task force that was caught out by a massive IJN force that included the battleship Yamato and actually managed to force the enemy fleet to retreat through their sacrifice during the battle of the Leyte Gulf. They undoubtedly saved thousands of sailors with their sacrifice. The Operations room just released videos covering this event.
@@the_fat_electricianMy dad was in the coast gaurd as a rescue swimmer for 20 years, he was the most decorated swimmer at the end of his career and still holds a record at the swimmer school. Always thought it be cool to hear you do a video on Coasties !!!
It is somewhat alarming to learn about the numerous times that we almost started or ended up in WW3. I went cold when you mentioned that the rogue ship was a Russian ship, the consequences of firing on it would have been bad, like shooting at “Doc” bad but on a globe scale.
And absolutely stresses the point of being absolutely sure of what you are firing at is in fact the target. Something that another crew more recently could have learned from
An over-simplified but HIGHLY entertaining explanation of Praying Mantis. He had me laughing throughout. A little side note: This was the first time in Naval history that ships traded missile fire.
My grandpa was an A-6 pilot during Vietnam (although he retired a few years before this operation took place). The Intruder was originally designed to do dive bomb work like WWII planes, but they had to adapt to low-level strategies because of Soviet anti-air in the '60's. Still, the pilots loved to do it the old-fashioned way whenever possible, because they felt it ensured a more precise hit. Also, a minor nitpick: the A-6's bombardier/navigator sat beside the pilot, not behind. Back seats weren't introduced until the EA-6 Prowler.
While agreeing with most of the other comments stating that you are sooo entertaining when it comes to watching these kinds of videos, I am a huge history guy and have the best time learning events that I haven't known while smiling at the ones that I have. You are awesome, keep up the great work!
@@soccerfreak22222no it's not 1. he's not plagiarizing his videos he's just using them 2. Libel is a defamation law specifically defamatory statement slander is the written defamation tort. Stop acting like you know the law if your not even going to Google search the terms numbnuts
My son's school in Oklahoma has a history teacher that plays these videos every week, as a reward for the students and they love it. Nick doesn't realize he is single handed bringing back true American history. I've been subscribed to him since he was at like 20,000 subs it's crazy to see how much and how fast he is growing. At first his videos kept getting taken down on the tic and even UA-cam didn't seem like they wanted him, now I gladly watch commercials on his channel because I realized it means they are not screwing him as bad at least now they added lube😅😂
When I was in the military, we had a saying: "The only reason something can freely traverse any of the oceans of the world....is because the U.S. Navy allows it to."
@@ninjabearpress2574 I am minding my manners. I didn't call them any slurs. I just acknowledged the fact that the Navy has historically been the most homosexual branch of the US military.
@@nercksrule I was in the Navy during the "don't ask, don't tell' period. I did nine years (83-92). I obviously came across thousands of sailors during that time. Only two were gay (one I'd actually say was more "any port in a storm" than gay. Very very few women sailors back then and none onboard warships). Any, I've always found the juxtaposition about sailors interesting. One the one hand there's all the gay sailor jokes. On the other there's the lock up your daughters and wives because the Navy is in port. In my experience it was way way more of the later. When I was first in, in school, we had a fleet returnee in our class. He would tell the craziest stories about the Philippines, Korea, etc. I thought, this guy has to be full of shit. Nope, been there, it's all true. Anyway, I never minded the jokes, it's (or was) rare that they are true. A more accurate description would be that sailor are sexual deviants. They'll bang anything/any way that is a human female.
Awesome video. Watched you for a while and never expected to see a video on anyone I knew but, my dad was part of this operation. He served as a gunnersmate on the Wainwright. About 9 months after he returned home I was born, so I like to think I wouldn't be alive today if this operation didn't happen. My parents are still together and my dad retired in 2005 as an E7 after 24 years of service.
As someone who was there with MAGTF-2-88 and participated as part of SAG Delta, this is the best overall rundown I've seen since it happened. There a very few detail discrepancies I could nitpick, but it wouldn't change the overall picture to any point worth mentioning. Kudos Sir!
If you don’t mind, would you mind telling me what those discrepancies are? I’m genuinely interested in this topic and would like to understand it as best as possible
I was also there as XO of USS O'BRIEN (DD-975) in SAG Delta. Crazy day to be sure. SAG Delta most of the day trolling back and forth in the haze through the Straits of Hormuz trying to get one of the Iranian frigates to come out and play. INS SAHAND finally came out to play and, as discussed, immediately got jumped by the Strike Group from USS ENTERPRISE. The only weapon fired by SAG Delta against SAHAND was a Harpoon shot by USS JOSEPH STRAUSS (DDG-16). STRAUSS was directed not to fire but did anyway. For a good account of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf during those times, including Operation Praying Mantis, I recommend the book "Inside the Danger Zone" by Harold Wise.
Should a do a long a10 warthog video? if not what next?
Absolutely!
Yes
Fuck yeah!
A-10... absolutely
Yes
I lost it at the soviets saying "we are here to take photos". Beautifully told and an epic story.
For history
@@WolfiiHD probably for the intelligence lot back in soviet russia more than for history.
"Oi russkie why y'all here"
"Oh pretend I'm not here, just enjoying the show?"
"Show? this is a serious military operation"
"It can be both" *pulls out a polaroid and a bag of sunflower seeds and seats on a beach-chair
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣@@DonPatrono
They have even more stories like this, channel BlueJay has a video on the dumbest Russian voyage - well worth a watch.
1000% makes sense that a modern destroyer named the Samuel B. Robert's would be nigh unsinkable given its namesake. If the first American ship with that name took a 3rd of the Japanese navy to sink, an Iranian mine isn't going to take down her successor.
Exactly. It took like 4 Japanese Battleships to sink the last one.
There was one in between those two. USS Samuel B Roberts DD-823
The ghosts of yesterday looked towards that minefield and said F you, you're not taking another one of our bois and process to pull pro gamer move because Japanese maybe have gotten sure as hell Iraqis won't
@@professormccoyspopculturer8345
Iranians
I came here for this, already posted and knew without a shadow of a doubt I would not get 5 comments down and find someone already corrected his course after merely grazing the great name Sammy B.
Cheers brother.
"In God We Trust All Others We Track"
That's ICE COLD 🥶
"The pursuit of life, liberty and all who threaten it"
Yes, those A-6 pilots are indeed the main characters. Doing a WW2 style dive bomb with anti-aircraft guns firing at you, not giving a shit, and then completely disabling the vessel with a bomb straight down the smokestack is absolutely main character material. That's amazing and bless those fuckers for thinking, "My orders are vague. It's time to improvise."
As the man once said: "Fighter pukes make movies. Bomber pilots make HISTORY!"
...which, as he's said before, the last thing an enemy could want the American military to do is improvise. It never ends well.
those pilots literally experienced an Ace Combat sidequest
It hit not on the center of the smoke stack. 3 mm to starboard.
Dude was Luke Skywalker
For anyone not familiar with US naval history...as soon as you hear "Samuel B. Roberts" in any iteration or in any conflict, things are going to get crazy.
Aint that the fucking truth
Damn straight. Sammy B has always been a legend.
Any documentaries you can point me in the direction of to learn more about Samuel B. Roberts? This story was SO damn good and I NEED to learn more. Thanks in advance if you can!
@@missmeppsie3389look for the battle of zamar
@@missmeppsie3389
The original Samuel B Roberts is famous for its role in the Battle of Samar. It's also in the book "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors."
As impressive as this story is, that one is even more heroic and spectacular.
The moment you said the USS Enterprise was on standby for support...I realized the proportions were already out of whack! No other navy vessels needed to be there. She could have taken that entire operation herself, but was nice enough to let the little boats have fun and play babysitter.
The big E was like a mom with her kids at the park. Now you kids go play now
@@adamjacobs8606 Heh. Like a mom with a big fucking stick to smack ANYBODY threatening her kids...then will stick that stick in a place that a stick shouldn't be stuck.
USS Enterprise had to be there, her E-2s were super critical as where he Tomcat's as they provided "top-cover". The A-6s going HAM was not part of the set up but there is YT videos of those Pilots discussing what happened and it is basically like what Nick said, they wanted to get in on the action.
@@Wpns175 Yeah...Big E's Pilots have a tendency to achieve crazy and unexpected things once they leave the flight deck. Her predecessor was the most decorated naval vessel in WW2.
@@adamjacobs8606 A mom with her own Pocket Healer.
For context, that Ronald Reagan clip he wasn't saying he was "there to help" he was actually making fun of Federal Agencies incompetence and callousness and the joke was;
*"The most terrifying words in the English language are; "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."*
I think that was part of the joke
@@sarahr2373 I thought so too. A very subtle but informative threat.
It’s “the 9 most terrifying words in the English language, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help’”
I wish there were history teachers like you in schools
You should’ve met my 8th grade us history teacher, he taught exactly like this minus the cursing😂
Hell my 8th and 10th grade history teachers were both Vietnam vets, one being a tunnel rat. Both taught like this with the cursing. Back then we could handle it and wasn’t offended by it
I was fortunate enough to have teachers who were World War II, Korea, and early Vietnam War veterans. My English teacher was a Marine on the USS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, that survived Kamikaze strikes at Okinawa and stayed with her all the way back to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. My history teacher was in the 38th Infantry Division (Indiana National Guard, I’m from Indianapolis) they are known as, “THE AVENGERS OF BATAAN”. He had vivid stories about the liberation of the Philippines ( he was even in the village where my wife was born ) . But the most interesting was my Business teacher and the faculty member in charge of the Audio/ Visual Department. Mr Pavel was a Pilot, a Major, and a member of the OSS. He served in every theater of the war. Had photos of himself with Stalin, Churchill, Chang, Ho Chi Minh, Tito, FDR, and Truman. The guy had a highly redacted record.
Would have been funner than reading that damn textbook all day!
They’d all be fired because the students would learn to think for themselves
Proportional Responses: If your life-threatening actions warrant a "proportional response" from the US Navy, any response that doesn't involve the complete obliteration of your nation's military and infrastructure is proportional to the response that it could have been...
We didn't fucking say the proportion would be 1:1, did we
Proportional response = The Chicago Way.
They pull a knife, you pull all the guns.
They send one of yours to the hospital, you send many of theirs to the morgue.
Merca
@@TheNerdForAllSeasons *That's* the *Chicago* way!
It WAS proportional! America only used 0.5% of its power! The fact that it only took that much to make the Iranian navy past-tense is merely a collateral issue.
I'm a US Navy retired vet, and this is some of the funniest story telling I've ever heard, love it. On the last ship I was on, USS Princeton, a similar thing happened, got hit by two mines, this happened way back in 1991, but that ship is still fully operational, it's amazing what US Naval ship yards can do.
Bravo !!
Wew, most wild thing that happened on my ship, the Vinson, was when one of our pilots crashed an F-35 across the flight deck and then some Chief put the footage of it on UA-cam like the day after.
Pilot was fine, but I'm sure Big Navy got that chief's ass pretty good 😂
Could do. Not any more.
My friend Robert was one of the divers who defused one of the bombs, he is retired from the EOD and lives in Ewa Beach. Bravo for you guys!
Blowing people and their resources up is fun? Guess we know what to do with YOU when we apply do unto others
US navy: Why are you here?
The Russian ship captain pulling up a chair and some vodka: I'm here for the show.😅
“Pictures for history 😀”
@@hazmatt3250 they had to get that money shot lol
you don't deny yourself some good entertainment lol
@@floppy_disk_5 never now pass me a beer corporal
@@kishinasura1989 aye aye
*manifests a beer into existence*
This is the way we want history told. Keep this up, man, as long as you can. I never get tired of your video.
They are so engaging and go by so fast
Loved the Jocko cameo!
But one slight error. A-6 crews sit side by side. So that crew who dropped a bomb down the smoke stack of that Iranian frigate were probably giving each other high fives after the bombing run.
Might have confused it with the EA6 prowler which is just a 4 seat A-6 Intruder airframe
@@willpugh8865 Ah, no. The prowler has 4 seats because the two extras seat two extra EWO's. While it is a modified A-6 (EA-6B), it is definitely not "just a 4 seat A-6". The Prowlers have some pretty serious gear for electronic warfare aboard....it's like a mini AWACS, only for specific attack groups instead of entire theater overwatch. Saying its just a 4-seat A-6 is a gross understatement of its true nature.
Source: Me, 24 yrs military service (Retired)
@@willpugh8865 possible
@@2Quietus Well...he DID say "which is just a 4-seat A-6 Intruder *airframe*" so I doubt he was doing a side-by-side comparison of the two planes (no pun intended).
Or celebratory handies
I joined the Navy in 88. I had nothing to do with this but I did go to the fire fighting school our home port had. The chief there was an HT chief on the Samuel B Roberts and was a part of saving that ship! He described how they welded eyelets on both sides of the crack and threaded the cable from the deck winch's to tie it all together.
Talk about boss level!! I have a huge amount of respect for that crew!
Thank you for your service. We are for ever in you debt, not all heros shoot. The heros heros are fixers of the heros equipment.
It never occurred to them that they could fail. So therefore it will work.
@@dougtaylor7724 Actually I'm sure failure was on they're mind. But I think pride in they're ship and teamwork overwhelmed fear of failure. They were willing to toss the book overboard and rewrite what's possible!
You do what you javw to do. The US Navy will not charge you for saving a very expensive ship.
If you have to get creative, yoh get creative.
@@alexh3974Save the Ship, Save your Shipmate, Save yourself is the order of priority if Battle Stations is ever called.
As an American, 🇺🇸 (Southern Indiana) I have to say, Fat Electrician’s videos are THE BEST. Fascinating story’s and he’s hilarious. I like how he speaks fast and no BS. Makes me proud to be an American 🇺🇸. Your videos literally lift my spirits. Thank you and all service members. Gives me chills thinking about it.
Do you know any Shawnee native Americans?
The Sammy B. Is one of the huge points of navy DC training. That crew absolutely embodied the biggest rule of nautical damage control: "Dont give up the ship!" Another banger video buddy.
Samuel B Roberts DC training motto "Do not give up, EVER'
International Court: USA You can’t do that it’s a war crime.
USA: They touched my boat
International Court: Fair enough have a good day
Facts. We still have not gotten over what Japan did and have 2 rules every one knows. No touchy US citizens and most importantly NO TOUCHY OUR BOATS!
@@zachgardner4820unless you’re Israel then it’s fine
DO.
NOT.
FUCK.
WITH.
OUR.
GODDAMN.
BOATS.
@@zachgardner4820there’s an unspoken third rule to that
If there are American citizens on a boat, that boat automatically is viewed as an American vessel
CANADA: did some one say "WAR CRIMES"
Simply put, you have a great way of telling stories. Gathering facts and adding humor. Thank you for doing what you do ❤
This is one of my daughter's favorite videos ever. We now say "proportional" all the time around the house.
TY
Before Iran starting laying mines, they should have called Japan and asked, "hey, what's the worst that could happen if you sink a US Navy ship?"
here comes the sun do do do do
@@alexalters1861
🎶Here comes the Sun, and I sa-🎶
_Silence..._
*_LOUD RINGING_*
They could've asked Spain that question too.
Seriously, the Spanish-American War turned Spain from a colonial empire that rivaled France and Britain into a virtual non-entity who have had practically no influence on the international stage in over a century.
@blackhawk15897 A Podcaster named Dan Carlin did a really good series on the Spanish-American war called "The American Peril." It's definitely worth checking out.
So, the same answer works for 80 years! There isn't s an end to everything bro. Powers rise and falls, especially when least expected
At the time, I was LTJG Slattery, the senior intelligence officer for VA-95, the A-6 squadron in this story. I was on board the Enterprise as this took place and I debriefed the A-6 crews, who were my drinking buddies, as they returned from their missions against the Sabalan and the Sahand. This is a very entertaining overview of that day's action. However, you need to watch your details. The A-6's did not carry Harpoons that day. They had AGM-123 Skipper II glide bombs. They also had dumb bombs and Rockeye cluster bombs (I remember the crew that hit the Boghammer saying that it spun in the water when they hit it). The mine that the Samuel B. Roberts struck was an M-08 (as in Model 1908) contact mine that had been originally developed in 1908 (prior to WWI). The phone you have is of an M-08, but it was not magnetic. It was detonated by a ship coming into contact with one of the three horns in the photo, which broke open the horn allowing seawater in to detonate the mine. The Samuel B. had entered a mine field (if I recall correctly) and was backing out when it hit the mine. I was listening to the comms during most of the battle and I don't recall the Sahand being hit by missiles, but I wasn't listening for that either. I was listening to hear what was happening with the A-6's. VA-95 and the A-7's on board the Enterprise hit the Sahand several times. The Sahand did not sink right away. It was a floating, burning hulk through the night and didn't sink until the next morning. As for the A-6 that flew alongside the Sabalan to ID it, your version is pretty accurate, but the A-6 crew (I forget who it was) knew they had found the Sabalan when the bombardier/navigator (B/N) looked behind at the ship's bridge after they had just passed it and saw someone had launched an SA-7 Grail at them. They hit chaff and flares and decoyed the missile. The rest of what you say about that flyby is probably accurate, I just don't recall it being described that way (that was 35 years ago). I forget which A-6 crew dropped the bomb down the stack of the Sabalan, but it didn't detonate in the engine room. Either something was wrong with the fuse or it simply passed through the ship too quickly to detonate inside, but after it went down the stack, it punched out through the hull and left a hole leaking oil for a mobility kill and the Sabalan had to be towed back to port. I remember reconnaissance photos from the next day showing the oil leaking as it was towed to its homeport of Bandar Abbas. I don't recall any Silkworms being launched. We were watching those very closely and we were continually receiving satellite imagery of the launch sites (they were stored in underground bunkers and moved out via rails to their launch positions). Had a Silkworm (old Soviet technology) been moved onto a launch pad, we already had plans to strike it before it could be used. There were a couple of humorous incidents from that day. You mentioned the one A-6 being "committed". The B/N for that A-6 was probably CDR (might still have been LCDR at that time) Schork, whose callsign was Schorky. I remember him saying (maybe at the debriefing) that his A-6 was rolling in hot on one of the ships (probably the Sabalan) when the call came in to cease operations for the day. He didn't want to miss an opportunity to drop a bomb in a real battle, so he responded to the call, "Too late! I'm committed!", which he said was BS, because there's no such thing as being "committed". He could have broken off the attack but didn't want to. He didn't want to pass up a spot in history. Another light moment was when (an aircrew told me they heard this radio transmission) when one of the battle groups called one of the oil platforms and said (as best I recall) "Attention, Iranian Oil Platform! You have five minutes to abandon your platform before we open fire. Have a nice daaaay!" The crew immediately abandoned the platform. I like your channel. I am subscribing to it. Thanks for all the memories.
Great clarification 👍 I was visiting VA-22 back at NASL after the cruise, saw a ship painted on the side of one of their A7’s. When I inquired I was given a post strike photo of the Sahand. 😊
Thanks for the detailed post. THANK YOU for your service! I was a police officer at the time and LOVED President Reagan and the USA during his era! Our military became a much more potent force thanks to his support, and it definitely showed. I miss those days.
It was odd to hear him say it was a Harpoon missile.
One of the best responses I've ever read on UA-cam. Epic. Thanks for the details and personal account. That was really cool.
Damn. I was just going to comment that the bombardier in a A6 wasn't behind the pilot. 😳
I was there aboard the USS Merrill (DD976).
That was a WILD day. We pumped over 100 5 inch rounds into that platform. Mount 51(forward, on the bow) and mount 52 (aft, on the fantail) just chucking out round after round.
The Soviet ship's Captain really said that. That is a true story.
"Its all good bro we're just here to watch" - soviet ship captian
Knew an FC on that ship during the operation. I was on the USS Wabash at the time as well, saw a lot of the video on SITE tv.
@@Carlito100S11 Who was that?
thank you for your service. thats amazing. i cant imagine all of this going on at once and being an admiral on that day. you think youve got a solid plan to let them know "dont mess with us" and halfway through nothing makes any sense as news keeps coming in.
@@jameskennedy7906 It's easy to forget that the Soviet seaman were young kids too and a lot like ours. As soon as they heard the US was about to blow Iran back to the Battle of Thermopylae they absolutely had to take a look.
You tell stories with the right amount of detail and speed. Well done. I laughed several times.
"It's never a war crime the *first* time." Beautiful words to live by.
🚨🚨🚨🚨 How about Operation Eagle Claw!? / American soldiers lost everything, and afew could flee. #iran
🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔
.
#OperationEagleClaw 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️
#eagleclawoperation #topgun #maverics
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 @the_fat_electrician
Canada indeed lives by those words
Tell that to the Nazis
At this time, Iran had 300 ships and bought 24 frigates from England and America, so these 3 ships were not half of Iran's navy.
@@Amen-Magi 300?? Have they ever had that many? It's 2023 and the Iranian Navy only have barely 200 total ships as is...
The longer form content you’ve been doing lately is absolutely amazing! Lots more of this, PLEASE! Keep up the incredible work!
Even though I'm pretty damn sure that the Soviet ship was there to gather first-hand intel on the performance of US/NATO equipment and our tactics, I can still respect the sense of humor about it.
That Russian ship was absolutely there to gain Intel on what a light "proportional" US response would be. Not knowing how out of hand things got and relayed back "yeah so you know that cargo ship Iran hit? Yeah the Americans deleted half their navy for that. Let's be careful boss."
They were, in fact, there to take pictures 😂. Didn't specify who those pictures would be given to 😂
Reminds me of that scene from Finding Nemo, where he keeps edging toward the boat saying "Im gonna touch it" while everyone keeps telling him not to
Best part was a Russian warship showing up like “this is cool, we wanna watch” 😆
I mean that is such a typical Russian thing to do. I know they supposed to be our nemesis but sometimes I just love thier balls.
"Yvgeni, hey the vodka and the popcorn! This will be fun"
I genuinely hope that guy got some good pictures
Little more than that. Guaranteed they were taking detailed notes, so to speak.
@@dner75-xh9le Like, "Holy crap! The US missiles and guns are THAT good!"
As someone that was going into the military when this was happening I definitely was paying attention at the time. I was still captivated by your storytelling, sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what happened next! Great job. Keep up the good works.
Did this currently happen?
I continue to learn more and more about our country's history and just the shear level of FA2FO that America's men and women have had in them since our inception. Thank you Sir. I wish we had more teachers like you.
I’ve never heard someone make war stories so funny and interesting. Love your humor, love your channel man. Keep up the great work!
"Just hear to take pictures.... for history" I believe that is the point where a coworker came into my office and asked what had my laughing! Dude! I love your stuff.
Y'all wanna find out what it's like to chew 5in gum? Haha I died
Iran: "...WTF just happened?"
US: "Your guys fired on our guys, so... We handled it."
"They did"-soviet union
@@TheAnnoyingBoss"And Ivan said, It was quite a good show to watch!"
The Houthis must not study history. FA2FO
USA- you touched our boat......YOU TOUCHED OUR BOAT!
Japan- NO! BAD IDEA! DO NOT TOUCH THE USA BOATS!
Don’t. Touch.the.boat
@@darthrevan2063NO TOUCHY!
@@darthrevan2063I touched the butt
He touched the butt
--finding nemo
@@clintcowan9424😂
6:30 I shot coffee out my nose at "balogna mist cloud number one" LOL thank you!
Its a lesson as old as America itself:
DO NOT TOUCH OUR BOATS!!!
Or our oil
just ask Japan
Yeah remember pearl harbor?
Or Spain
@@littleferrhiseven the Ottomans learned that in 1801. The US reached halfway around the globe and bitch slapped some state sponsored slaver pirates to assert their authority as the equal of any European empire at a time when pretty much nobody outside of a handful of European powers had warships capable of reaching across the ocean to fight.
The A-6 intruder was the most technologically advanced attack plane of its generation and is overlooked WAY too often.
And the bombardier sits beside the pilot, not behind, in an A-6 Intruder.
Well said.
@@intellectualiconoclasm3264 ...and that's a fact! 🤣😂 Having served on a really old WWII Destroyer Escort and two Guided Missile Frigates during my ten years in the US Navy, I found this "Documentary" a total Hoot!! Well Done.
I loved the A-6, that weird-looking bomb truck. I was sad to see it retired. In the 80's I had high hopes it would get a new lease on life with the A-6F upgrade plan. Unfortunately that program was canceled. Now many A-6 airframes sit at the bottom of the sea off the Florida coast as artificial reefs for sea life.
A-6s were awesome, and the dudes driving them were absolute badasses.
Honestly, when you mentioned them going to court over war crimes I was kinda expecting the court to be like "So you put mines out into international water where any civilian vessel could stumble upon them? And you think America did the war crime here?"
I’m sure it came up 😂
😂😂 they always pin the U.S. as the bad guy for being 0 tolerate
@@Erudito_Ra Yeah... "Listen, we get that you were attacked, but, you retaliated. That makes you just as bad. One could argue, worse even. I'm going to argue that."
Easier to pin blame on America. We tend to be the favorite international punching bag because most nations hate being so drastically out-classed. Plus they know we’re always good for that reparation money, unlike most other nations.
@@novacorponlineif you're actually arguing that, I'm calling BS. No answer/reaction actually projects weakness.
Virtually every major US conflict has involved somebody fucking with boats. You'd think they'd have learned.
It’s so strange to think that a military commander stopping operations when they are going too well is a VERY new concept
It makes when you realize this could have lead to some low level officer or an enlisted man starting WW3 if someone got trigger happy
I mean we stopped hitting the convoy of retreating Iraqis in Deserstorm because we didn't want it to be labled a massacre after we spent a week shooting anything that moved on said highway.... American military might is best described as "don't touch my stuff." before anyone mentions the withdrawal from Afghanistan realize 2 things, we had already accomplished what we set out to do (getting Bin Laden and eviscerating Al Qui Da) Trump did have a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban before Biden said "nah" and left our outdated toys behind. Two US forces were no longer doing anything than holding the patch of ground near Bagram for 20 years. That's not a loss and if the US operated like Russia does we could level countries and reshape geography.
the message was sent by that point, like the other guy said, it couldve easily escalated to something way bigger than a skirmish. Iran understood why all of that was happening, and its a shame they dont pay mind to history, because its looking like they are going to need a reminder as to why their navy is 80% speed boats after this first engagement....
@@BlandSpagettihow could this have escalated to ww3. The soviets didn't care one bit about Iran.
@@rylandavis2976 In all reality, the odds of starting WW3 from this event were probably pretty low, but who the heck expected an arch duke getting assassinated would have started the bloodiest conflict in human history. Weird things can happen.
I was on the Enterprise for that. This was a great commentary on the "battle"
There were a few other things that happened that didnt get out though. Also as a side note, the plane audio from the pilot before dropping the bombs was hilarious and very sobering at the same time for a sailor.
What did the pilot say?
Theres always a few juicy details left out :D
We gotta know, what did he say?
Chomping at the bit to hear more
12:32 of the video is the radio message. I was on the Enterprise when this happened.
This is honestly the best version of the story I have ever heard in my 43 years. You sir have all my respect. Thank you for your service.
Your delivery is fantastic.
And I bought two of your “it’s never a war crime the first time “shirts
It’s cool watching in real time as you get better and better at telling these stories. Please make them all 15+ minutes. I guarantee 99% of us will watch till the end, no matter how long the videos are.
Hell yeah
💯
Definitely!
no.
that makes 25%
math fail >
I would
As badass as the A10 is, I feel a long video style would be perfect for Taffy 3. The sheer battleship sized balls of USS Johnston, USS Hoel, the WW2 incarnation of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, and the other ships of Taffy 3's totally bonkers charge/last stand against what was the majority of the Japanese capital ship fleet (including Yamato herself).
yeah, plus there are a thousand A10 videos out there already and much much less on the Taffy3
Possible lines:
'When the turret firing at you outweighs your entire ship...'
'When the world's biggest, worst sub outweighs your entire task force...'
Read Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors before Taffy 3 video. You will won't be able to put it down til you finish it.
I second this!
I third this!
I was on the USS Gary (FFG-51). Iran shot those silkworms at us and the barges. We were sent out to see if Iran still wanted to have a fight. They did. We couldn't fire any anti-missile missiles (jamming) so we ended up popping chaff and firing the big gun in their general direction. One of the silkworms got distracted by the chaff and the other one kept coming in...but it ran out of propellant and splashed. Because the government wanted to sweep the information under the rug, we were the only combatant ship that was denied combat action status.
That blows. My son 11B served in Afghanistan and Iraq. His first tour he was assigned to support special forces. When he completed the tour, he was up for a CIB which the board wanted to reject (he was part of an intelligence battalion). His company sergeant pointed out that he had 18+ confirmed kills and multiple high intensity discussions with the Taliban (we was the 240 gunner on a Humvee). He got his CIB.
Next assignment sent him to the 7th Cav at Hood. At this point he's 20. The unit is ordered to present itself with all authorized awards - which he does. Company sgt loses it (son has more ribbons than he does...), accuses him of falsifying, etc. Get's back to his previous battalion commander who is now a Colonel. That shit got fixed quick. I am constantly amazed at the politics around awards. The real warfighters just don't care.
@@cgilleybsw Your son made you proud he is a hero
I am a US Navy diver veteran who was in Danang, Vietnam with HCU1 (1971). Of course, equipment and tactics have changed over the years. We wore dungarees (bell bottom jeans LOL) for E1 - E6. Chief uniforms were khakis and were identical to officers. Your story makes me think that sometimes our government uses members as guinea pigs to see if the enemy will engage, even it means the loss of the ship. Our rules of engagement sometimes are too strict. Fortunately, your ship made it safely. Bravo Zulu on that.
DeMarco, I was also there. USS Knox. We were there from July 87 to Jan 88. Nimble Archer. I recall in the first week's, a helo went down and an A6 "disappeared ". Remember manning the rails with lights searching the debris of the helo for survivors. Fun times.
@@cgilleybsw Your son was able to get the title of mass murder before the age of twenty 😂
Just want to say that my dad was on the Roberts and he got a good laugh out of watching this video. Thanks for everything you do man!
I've learned more history from this man than any public school ever taught me. Also, bologna mist cloud number one 😂
Kevin!!!
Thanks kevin, now my youtube circles are connected.
I'd like to see footage of how that happened, if there is any. Probably wouldn't be on UA-cam because of sensitivity to reality.
The crossover nobody knew they needed.
My friends used to just call it a "red mist."
For context”I’m from the Government and I’m here to help” is actually the most terrifying words you can hear according to Ronald Regan.
He was also the worst President for the Iranian Navy to face, barring maybe Gerald Ford.
Both of them were *really* straightforward with military confrontations and took potential threats seriously.
@@Eye_Of_Odin978regan was a coward who banned fun switched
@@Blin240 Ok, but that's not what he said. More than 1 thing can be true about a person. Wild concept, I know. Reagan did dumb gun law shit, and ALSO did a very good job of foreign military policy.
Hearing that clip made me burst out laughing so hard, I’m surprised I hadn’t seen that before
@@1BeGe So trying to escalate into a full blown war with the Soviets was a very good thing? Selling weapons to known international terrorists and then destroying the evidence of those sales was a very good thing (and yes, he admitted on national television that he made the sales)? Publicly supporting and selling weapons to Saddam Hussein was a very good thing? Giving money, training, and military equipment to countries to support a war we had no business being involved in was a very good thing?
Reagan would have never made POTUS with the reichpublicans of today. LOL.
No joke, the Samuel B. Roberts' crew deserve every amount of praise that they've gotten for saving their vessel. That ship _should've_ sunk, but they pulled that shit off.
Look, I'm an American and I definitely subscribe to the whole "OUR SHIPS ARE THE BEST SHIPS" philosophy too, but even a great ship can get sunk if it takes a catastrophic amount of damage. No amount of 'Murican Pride can save a vessel if the damage is that bad... except in this case. Those fuckers worked their asses off and nobody died. That's just straight-up amazing. Kudos to the crew of the Samuel B. Roberts. Something catastrophic happened and you all just buckled-down, rolled-up your sleeves, and said, "No, we're not sinking. We won't _let_ that happen."
USS Coronado Agf-11 JTFME 1988, and took part in both operations, we sent 6 of our crew, Welding the top deck , zipper fashion, and never got credit for the effort...
You have now highlighted your exceptional skills in zip welding with what you had to work with to save one of your best ships from sinking far too far from home. They are true tradesman skills that are taught to most sailors that are a requisite to keep any ship afloat long enough to get it home for proper repair. Well done lads. @@BustaCapov
I used to say they held it together with duct tape and baling wire, and I wasn't far off. Those frigates, built with economy in mind, turned out to be extremely tough and deadly ships.
It cost more to fix the Robert’s than built it. But BIW fixed the Robert’s and put her back in service. They did not sink a US navy ship and that’s the point. Bath built best built. The captain of the Robert’s wrote BIW a letter thanking them for building such a great ship.
The metal ripped but not one weld failed.
You are a great storyteller! Definitely sharing this channel!
Every Naval Aviator Ever: No way in hell am I passing up a chance to paint a ship on my plane.
😅
😂
Bingo! An example is in my lengthy comment above.
You need to be at least a little crazy to regularly slam into a metal box in the middle of yhe ocean at 150mph
13F veteran here….. you NEED to look up the story of the USS Biddle. This ship is most definitely worth mentioning. USS Biddle, Last manual Gun sight kill from a ship
thx for a good read will check it out peace
When I was in the (Aussie) navy I heard a story from some blokes who deployed to the gulf. You yanks wanted a drag race against our frigate. We don’t like to do that but we accepted, only intending to come up in revolutions as per the handbook
You yanks didn’t do the same, you went from dead stop to full ahead and blew the gas turbine, absolutely legendary, but that’s not the best part
Your ship was towed to port and operational again in 24 hours, I mean that would take our navy months. You guys are absolute legends, so much respect for the U.S. Navy
Lmao Just some fun sibling rivalry. We love ya Aussies and will always have your backs
That reminds me of an incident my dad experienced when he was on the USS Ranger aircraft carrier in the 1960s. The captain asked the admiral if it would be OK to drag race the Kitty Hawk. The admiral said absolutely not, and then he proceeded to take a nap. The Captain then said screw it then proceeded to drag race the Kitty Hawk anyway and beat it, making the cover of Hot Rod magazine.
I was a gas turbine electrician on these class of ships. The GE LM2500 that powered the frigates and the destroyers actually had built in rails in the intake stacks to facilitate quick removal of the engines. 24 hr turn around is standard. It can actually be done faster.
@@aaronwilliams1249 Ngl, that sounded like the admiral also wanted to do it but said it to get himself out of trouble when they did do it. Like that one scene in Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul where he just "accidentally" leaves a piece of paper with private information and just goes to get coffee.
@@nunya5891 LM2500 are nice gas turbines. Used a lot in the Indian Navy as well, assembled locally under license by HAL. Although, the newer ships will be having Rolls Royce MT-30. Wonder what the US offering is in that segment.
Been absolutely addicted to your content! Keep it up! Love your story telling, and cant wait for more!
The best part of this story is the sailors who saved the ship. Those men deserve respect.
I was on a sub.. We were all part of the DC team. That crew deserves everything.
Them and the crew on the USS Cole.
Actually the even better part is the Iranian Navy that annoys the US Navy every now and then is the half that remained from Praying Mantis😂 talk about fckn around to find out
IIRC their captain intentionally made sure his crew was top-notch in respect toward the previous ship, DE-413, which was part of Taffy 3 and sank during the battle which saw a couple Destroyers and some Escort Carriers fight off Yamato and multiple IJN Cruisers
I work with a dude who was on the USS Simpson during this. He has the patch and everything from the campaign. He said this guy is a riot
And now they're doing the same thing in Yemen. Iran never learns.
They are troglodytes
Facts.
Facts x2
Facts³
When your country is run buy a 7th century death cult, good decisions are rear.
I was stationed on The Sammy B from 2008 -2011. We had to learn all about our name sake, what he did, the previous ship, what they did, and all about Operation Grasshopper. We still were winning DC (damage control) awards 20+ years later as well. The mine strike was taught in the DC school as the textbook " What to Do" for DC scenarios. Best ship I was ever on in my 23 yrs! NO HIGHER HONOR!!
"Your a victim to one of the classic blunders."😂😂😂 Great line. 😂😂😂
Op. Praying Mantis' tagline could have been the paraphrased quote from Raul Julia in Street Fighter: "For you Iranians the time the US Navy destroyed half of your fleet was the worst day of your life...But for the US Navy, it was but a monday"
Yes, April 18, 1988, was a Monday. A missed opportunity for America to mail a "I Hate Mondays" mug to the Iranian Navy's Chief of Staff, if you ask me
When you're out at sea, you tend to lose track of the days,
It wasn't even a Navy Monday. It was a Joe Blow Monday!!!! Which is a Navy by 0800!!!!
It wasn't even a Navy Monday. It was a Joe Blow Monday!!!! Which is a Navy by 0800!!!!
I was on USS Merrill (DD-976) with Group Bravo. When the final warning was given, our commo closed with "Have a nice day."
The longer videos are great, it doesn't feel like you are diluting the story to extend the video at any point, love it.
Gosh im so damn glad i found this channel. Personally, im not in the military but every immediate family member is/was - i couldnt be more proud of them and proud of being part of a military family ❤
You're very welcome. Don't worry about it, it's not a big deal at all. Anytime.
Great narrative style, concise and to the point with no little humor too. Outstanding!
I was a Corpsman onboard the USS Coronado AGF-11. We were the Command and Control for Praying Mantis. I was amazing to be part of the largest Naval engagement since WWII. We did loose one Cobra with 2 Marine Flyers in during the Battle. Adm Less did a great job that day. We spent 10 month in the Gulf that year while our sister ship the Lasalle was in Japan for repairs.
❤🇺🇸🙏🏽to those we lost and you and your family Thank you for your service
@@Info.isfree.openmindif I understand correctly we didn't need a single soldier sailer or any other service members during this. I was talking with a friend of mine. He's father used to work something online for the under Secretary of the Treasury for the shah of Iran. He's kind of hoping to be able to go back to his country. Well we had that hope back then but never materialize. Electrically at me and said friends if we were in my country right now I'd have to kill you. I looked at him and said buddy good luck with that. We agreed you are happy to be where we were at.
Great presentation made me laugh many times. I wouldn't mess with our military, we'll f$#k you up!
You should be amazed because you weren't in fact involved in it, you would have had to be involved in the Falklands War in order for that to be true.
The Praying mantis taskgroup was 11 ships.
1 aircraft carrier
1 amphibious transport dock
4 destroyers
1 guided missile cruiser
3 frigates
The falklands task force eventually comprised 127 ships: 43 Royal Navy vessels, 22 Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, and 62 merchant ships
2 aircraft carriers
2 amphibious transport dock
8 Destroyers
16 Frigates
6 Submarines
3 Hospital Ships
6 Minesweepers
The world exists outside America
@@howlernorthamerica5899 like u'll destroy china in the Taiwan war(Taiwan is a country, texted to bully china😁😁😁)
I love that description "The cardinal sin of the late 20th century: raising gas prices." That along with the legal defense of "We didn't agree to _not_ blow those up." really does make this a fun video and a reminder of a little bit of history.
Iran is once again raising oil prices by impacting Qatar’s oil, do they not learn from prior cardinal sins?
If you had lived thru that odd or even bovine defecation in the 70's, you would go to war too! Thanks Jimmy! You grew the Republican party better than any Republican could!
@@DankasorusRexDoesn't matter now, America has been oil independent since Trump. We don't need to trade with anyone.
@@warfarenotwarfair5655 biden is working as hard as he can to fix that
Ive been in 16 years and change. My 14 year old son showed me your videos..... and im so damn proud of him lol. I gotta say, your sense of humor makes you perfect for this type of break down😅😂 Keep em coming!!
FE, I love you man. This is the FOURTH time I’ve watched this episode front to back, and I laugh my ass off every time. Like every other vid you’ve done. Pure awesomeness!
2024 and it seems "F-around and find out" and "don't touch the boats" are lessons that need to be re-taught...
Just need some leader to say the word.
The most fked up part is that it is, once again, IRAN that needs to be re-taught
Hello pfp brother.
What happened?
Both Harris and Trump will do the trick. Heck RFK might make JFK proud if he wins...
I was a green operations specialist barely 6 months out of A school who just finished mess cranking and just happened to be on duty in the combat direction center of the USS Enterprise and I could hear all the radio transmissions in real time, it was quite an experience!
I was a GMG3 in the CIC when Hwy of Death happened in 91'. Fun times....
@harleydominga Cool story bro. What does that have to do with the video?
@@jasonm949 I wasn't talking to you bro. I was talking to AGhost...
@@harleydominga He must be going through some shit thats making him a grump. Thats wild though, my dad was on the USS America in '86 I believe when that shit with Libya went down. I love stories like that
@@doesntmatter4477 when you are on a carrier; one of the best places to hear real time shit is in CIC. During Desert Storm, I was in CIC (monitoring manned Crewed guns and stinger missiles) when a real battle stations, not a drill, went down. The energy in room was on high that night.
Nailed it, you even hit the spots I had forgotten. I was actually on the Enterprise as part of DESRON 9 staff for this mission. In fact I was in CIC and relayed the “red and free” order via RT to the A6 drivers that morning, well done.
I thought the Skipper said we were watching for three irainian boat and engaged two of the three?
I recall a statement by Jim Brown, the football pro.
"If someone hits me, I'm gonna hit them five or six times. Once they understand the rules, we can figure out if we want to be friends."
That's President Reagan's proportional!!!!!
I was a sailor on the USS Kansas City (AOR-3) at the time. We passed a LOT of ammo that week, and even had some excitement ourselves as some fast attack boat thought it was a good idea to traverse the Strait of Hormuz and threaten the supply chain. A destroyer, I don't remember which one, um...discouraged them. Good times.
I was on the U.S.S. Pyro for this. We were scheduled to go to Mombasa for liberty and got called back to refuel Frigates. Did over 120 continued days at sea.
America, exporting freedom of the seas one Arleigh Burke at a time. :-) *Thank you Office of Naval Research for paying for my Ph.D. :-)
My first boat was the Milwaukee AOR-2
Praise the lord and pass the ammunition
@@ALEEN517 Wilwaukee was an East Coast ship, yes? All the AORs were decommissioned shortly after I left the Navy
Worth noting that Bath Iron Works in Maine flexed it’s class repairing the Roberts. The repair was done ahead of time and under budget which is unheard of with military contracts anymore.
Should be noted the Samuel B Roberts (or the Sammy B) is a ship name filled with history. The original Samuel B Roberts was a John C Butler Class Destroyer Escort (the WWII equivalent of a frigate) and her job was to screen escort carriers and fuck up destroyers in hunter killer groups. The Sammy B was named after a USN coxswain who was killed while distracting Japanese forces to rescue his fellow crew mates, he had volunteered for this action and was awarded the Navy Cross and had ships named after him.
So the name already had crazy history, and her namesake was killed in the Pacific so they send her on over, let her get revenge. Nothing too notable would occur until the Invasion of The Philippines, where shit got out of hand fast. She would be assigned to Taffey 3, where she and her fellow Escort Destroyers, Fleet Destroyers, and Escort Carriers would go toe to toe with the largest fleet that Japan ever sailed in WWII. Taffey 3 would engage Admiral Kuritas Second Force during the Battle off Samar, in a true David vs Goliath scenario. Kurita had 4 Battleships (one being the IJN Yamato), 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 11 destroyers vs Spragues 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, and 4 destroyer escorts. The Yamato alone displaced more tonnage than the entirety of Taffey 3, so the battle should have been lopsided right?
Well the USN does not take kindly to being attacked, and loves to be aggressive, so the pilots of the escort carriers, and crews of the USS Johnston, USS Samuel B Roberts, and USS Hoel decide that running is boring and charge the enemy fleet. The US fleet would not only score first blood, but would sink multiple cruisers and destroyers, and heavily damage other ships in the fleet. Even the 5 inch gunners on the escort carriers got to shoot up some enemy cruisers.
Due to her action in this fight, the Samuel B Roberts is referred to as “The Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship”
I highly recommend for those interested in a more coherent retelling of the story to read “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” or watch Drachinifels video on The Battle off Samar, both are excellent
It's been reported by men off the FFG-58 Samuel B Roberts that they all, at various times, stopped by the memorial to DE-413 on the ship during the fight to save the ship. As if asking the men who went down off Samar to lend them their strength. and apparently, it worked.
Wow my name is Samuel Roberts and I knew there was a ship I had the same name as but awesome to learn the real history thanks for that!
Oh my god you're right. I wondered why the name ringed a bell and it was from Taffy 3. The missile frigate and her crew truely lived up to her name.
Excellent Summation. Thanks for the book recommendation. Wrote it down and will be ordering it directly.
The last stand of the tin can sailors desperately needs its own video.
Great story telling style. I enjoyed the listen. The Navy should hire you for a role in recruitment!
As an active duty engineman in the greatest navy in the world thank you for this video from the bottom of my heart!
I kinda wish they'd been able to save the Roberts as a museum ship. That ship has one hell of a lineage, because the first Samuel B. Roberts was a DE that was part of the Battle off Samar in 1944 as part of Taffy 3...she scored a torpedo hit during her suicidal charge at the much larger Japanese fleet before being blown apart. So the crew on FFG-58 did the name of Samuel B. Roberts damn proud.
I'm just hoping they name another destroyer after the Roberts
Fun story about that... apparently there was a plaque on board the new Sammy B memorializing the first one, and as the crew ran to fight to save the ship, they were touching the plaque.
My husband was on the USS Hoel, a destroyer, taking part in the whole thing. I have his VHF tape of it, recorded by one of the other ships crew. It was his last time out before he retired in 1988. He was also on a Navy ship active in Nam. Got dosed with Agent Orange. Yup, his health paid for it. Miss him dearly
He was a good man, I remember him signing several spots in my PQS book for the Mk42, and me asking why he signed so many. His reply was "You can do it, and I wrote the book."
I was reading this comment and thought someone else was there with my step-dad, then I realized it was my mom commenting. Lol.
My respects ma'am, to you and your son who commented below. It touched me how you remember him. It sounds like he chose his beloved very, very well. Blessings to you and your family. (USN, Retired, 2009)
Every time I hear "Proportional", I just think of Inigo Montoya saying "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think that it means" lol
It's worth knowing that the Samuel B Roberts is a storied ship name. It's named for a badass who put himself in the line of fire to draw fire from US marines evacuating a surrounded position at Guadalcanal, ultimately giving his life so those marines could escape.
The first ship to bear his name perhaps is the single greatest story of valor in the history of the United States Navy. At the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese snuck their most modern battleships and surviving surface combatants into a close action against a force of basically undefended escort carriers covering landing forces off Samar. Standing in the path of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers was 3 US fleet destroyers and 4 destroyer escorts. The odds were impossible, but don't tell that to LtCdr Robert W. Copeland, DE-413, Commanding.
He would take his Destroyer Escort - all 1350 tons of it - into knife fighting range with the Heavy Cruiser Chokai, and blow its stern off in a torpedo run, and light it up with its guns. Not satisfied, he would turn his attention to the Heavy Cruiser Chikuma, using his 5 inch guns to set it ablaze and taking out it's bridge and one if its main turrets.
In action for over an hour and taking fire from the entire Japanese force, the Samuel B Roberts would eventually succumb to hostile fire, but due to the aggression of her and her cohorts, the Japanese would turn their superior force around and flee the fighting, believing the ships they were engaging to be of a much larger size class. This action would both save thousands of marines on the landing beaches, and 4 of 6 escort carriers under threat. The Samuel B Roberts in this action was dubbed the "destroyer escort that fought like a battleship".
I sincerely hope we continue to name ships after Samuel B Roberts to keep up this ultimate standard in US Naval Tradition. We've been blessed to largely be able to carry advantages into most of our greatest victories in the storied history of the U.S. Navy due to the firm foundations upon which it has resided, but it's always important to remember that the very base of that foundation is the brave, disciplined, and well-trained sailors like those that have served in noteable actions involving two generations of this ship name.
I would like to add that Sammy B. wasn't alone, by the way. USS Johnston, a Fletcher-class Destroyer, would make the first charge and would later be joined by Hoel, Heerman, and Samuel B. Samuel B. They fought so ferociously that the Japanese thought they were facing a much larger main fleet. Apparently as Johnston was sinking, her crew witnessed the captain of the passing Yukikaze saluting her as she went down.
I would definitely recommend reading "The Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfisher
It tells the battle from multiple points of view from the ships commanders, aviators and even some from the Japanese side.
Interesting read. Thanks
Correction during the Battle for Leyte Gulf There was NO MARINES in those beaches .only soldiers of 6th US Army..particularly of those from 24th Infantry Division and 1st Cavalry Division in red beach sector of the landing...
It was part of a group of destroyers and destroyer escorts that charged in against an overwhelmingly superior naval force in order to attempt to save a carrier escort task force that was caught out by a massive IJN force that included the battleship Yamato and actually managed to force the enemy fleet to retreat through their sacrifice during the battle of the Leyte Gulf.
They undoubtedly saved thousands of sailors with their sacrifice. The Operations room just released videos covering this event.
Literally sat down 5 minutes ago for my break hoping your video was out!
Spectacular timing! What logistics
Hope you enjoyed it!
@@the_fat_electricianMy dad was in the coast gaurd as a rescue swimmer for 20 years, he was the most decorated swimmer at the end of his career and still holds a record at the swimmer school. Always thought it be cool to hear you do a video on Coasties !!!
It is somewhat alarming to learn about the numerous times that we almost started or ended up in WW3. I went cold when you mentioned that the rogue ship was a Russian ship, the consequences of firing on it would have been bad, like shooting at “Doc” bad but on a globe scale.
And absolutely stresses the point of being absolutely sure of what you are firing at is in fact the target. Something that another crew more recently could have learned from
Point made, but hoping you weren't referring to the Russians as "Doc".
Not comparing them directly to “Doc”, just that shit will go from sugar to shit in a hurry when it happens.
@@richardbossman9875 HooYah
Well if you're dumb enough to go steaming around when steel is flying...ya kinda get what you deserve.
Hey man I just want to say I could care less about Military stuff but your ability to story tell has me hooked all the way. Great Video
"Im just here to take pictures....... for history"
I respect it
They should've responded with, "Roger that. Grab you some popcorn and enjoy the flick."
An over-simplified but HIGHLY entertaining explanation of Praying Mantis. He had me laughing throughout. A little side note: This was the first time in Naval history that ships traded missile fire.
Exactly why the USA has never been tested against real military combatants.
His mine story laid an egg. No mention of what Bush was doing in the Gulf.
In US history? maybe. But there are much older naval battles where ships traded missile fire. One example: Battle of Tsushima, Japan + Soviet Union
@dannylogo1996 US history is the only history that matters to the USA and its NATO allies....
@@dlogo96unless I'm missing something, those pre WW1 cruisers didn't have missiles or even rockets
I love these very accurate ways of explaining emotional responses and over reactions. “Proportional” this channel is gold.
Love your eloquent commentary! New sub just for those chuckles!
My grandpa was an A-6 pilot during Vietnam (although he retired a few years before this operation took place). The Intruder was originally designed to do dive bomb work like WWII planes, but they had to adapt to low-level strategies because of Soviet anti-air in the '60's. Still, the pilots loved to do it the old-fashioned way whenever possible, because they felt it ensured a more precise hit. Also, a minor nitpick: the A-6's bombardier/navigator sat beside the pilot, not behind. Back seats weren't introduced until the EA-6 Prowler.
Kinda hard to argue with the "more precise hit" thing in this case, yeah...
"down the smokestack" Hmmm, sounds like your Grandpa knew what he was talking about.
While agreeing with most of the other comments stating that you are sooo entertaining when it comes to watching these kinds of videos, I am a huge history guy and have the best time learning events that I haven't known while smiling at the ones that I have. You are awesome, keep up the great work!
Honestly, if I was a history teacher, I would plan my curriculum around the events you cover just so I could use your videos
That’s called libel
@@soccerfreak22222no it's not 1. he's not plagiarizing his videos he's just using them
2. Libel is a defamation law specifically defamatory statement slander is the written defamation tort.
Stop acting like you know the law if your not even going to Google search the terms numbnuts
@@soccerfreak22222wut 😂 so no teacher is allowed to base their curriculum on pre existing content?
My son's school in Oklahoma has a history teacher that plays these videos every week, as a reward for the students and they love it. Nick doesn't realize he is single handed bringing back true American history. I've been subscribed to him since he was at like 20,000 subs it's crazy to see how much and how fast he is growing. At first his videos kept getting taken down on the tic and even UA-cam didn't seem like they wanted him, now I gladly watch commercials on his channel because I realized it means they are not screwing him as bad at least now they added lube😅😂
@@brandon9491 nope…gotta be original with all that history stuff otherwise you’re a phony!
Enjoyed the way you told this story. Thanks!
It’s always amusing to me to see a navy captain respectfully give their enemies 15 minutes to evacuate before they drop steel rain onto a target.
To be fair, this was only because we weren't officially at war. The assets were the target, not the people.
Professionals. USN are Professionals.
When I was in the military, we had a saying: "The only reason something can freely traverse any of the oceans of the world....is because the U.S. Navy allows it to."
Their prop shafts are driven by the homosexual energy of the crew.
Yeah because it's true.
The USN has everything from aircraft carriers to ninjas, mind your manners.
@@ninjabearpress2574 I am minding my manners. I didn't call them any slurs. I just acknowledged the fact that the Navy has historically been the most homosexual branch of the US military.
@@nercksrule i don't mean you, I intended to address any potential troublemakers.
@@nercksrule I was in the Navy during the "don't ask, don't tell' period. I did nine years (83-92). I obviously came across thousands of sailors during that time. Only two were gay (one I'd actually say was more "any port in a storm" than gay. Very very few women sailors back then and none onboard warships). Any, I've always found the juxtaposition about sailors interesting. One the one hand there's all the gay sailor jokes. On the other there's the lock up your daughters and wives because the Navy is in port. In my experience it was way way more of the later. When I was first in, in school, we had a fleet returnee in our class. He would tell the craziest stories about the Philippines, Korea, etc. I thought, this guy has to be full of shit. Nope, been there, it's all true. Anyway, I never minded the jokes, it's (or was) rare that they are true. A more accurate description would be that sailor are sexual deviants. They'll bang anything/any way that is a human female.
Awesome video. Watched you for a while and never expected to see a video on anyone I knew but, my dad was part of this operation. He served as a gunnersmate on the Wainwright. About 9 months after he returned home I was born, so I like to think I wouldn't be alive today if this operation didn't happen. My parents are still together and my dad retired in 2005 as an E7 after 24 years of service.
@@bucketoffroad9073 man sorry to tell ya but the dude you're replying too is a scam bot
Love your military stories, great job!
As someone who was there with MAGTF-2-88 and participated as part of SAG Delta, this is the best overall rundown I've seen since it happened. There a very few detail discrepancies I could nitpick, but it wouldn't change the overall picture to any point worth mentioning. Kudos Sir!
Seems like pretty high praise!
I was in the Persian Gulf in 78 and 79
If you don’t mind, would you mind telling me what those discrepancies are? I’m genuinely interested in this topic and would like to understand it as best as possible
S/F
I was also there as XO of USS O'BRIEN (DD-975) in SAG Delta. Crazy day to be sure. SAG Delta most of the day trolling back and forth in the haze through the Straits of Hormuz trying to get one of the Iranian frigates to come out and play. INS SAHAND finally came out to play and, as discussed, immediately got jumped by the Strike Group from USS ENTERPRISE. The only weapon fired by SAG Delta against SAHAND was a Harpoon shot by USS JOSEPH STRAUSS (DDG-16). STRAUSS was directed not to fire but did anyway. For a good account of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf during those times, including Operation Praying Mantis, I recommend the book "Inside the Danger Zone" by Harold Wise.
We got to see the video of a Walleye going down the smoke stack. Our cruise book has the photos of the ships
Thank you for your service.
LoL... I was a GSE3 on my first deployment. I was on USS Merrill (DD-976).
These military history lessons never get old or boring! Kids these days could learn a thing or two about history with these!
Im a sophomore in hs and I’ve learned more from these videos that my history classes lol
Don't worry old timer, we have.
This was a really educational, informative, and entertaining video. Thanks for posting it!