USS Minneapolis (CA-36) - Guide 234
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- USS Minneapolis, the New Orleans class cruiser of the US Navy, is today's subject.
Read more about the ship here:
www.amazon.co.uk/U-S-Cruisers-Illustrated-Design-History/dp/0870217186
www.history.na...
Naval photos and more - www.drachinifel.co.uk
Model ships of many periods - store.warlordga...?aff=21
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Next on the list:
USS Long Beach
HMS Sovereign of the Seas
SS Great Eastern
PT Boats
Z Class
Cleveland class
SM U-156
Boston class
Des Moines Heavy cruisers.
Hydra Class Ironclads
Audacious class CV's
Malta class
Hunt class
Tennessee-class cruiser
The Merrimack and Mersey class of frigates
Henri IV
USS Marblehead
Pinguin
German Auxiliary Cruiser Atlantis
Project 24 Sovetsky Soyuz class Battleship
HMS Caroline
Ships of Battle of Campeche
Pinned post for Q&A :)
How luxury is the crew accommodation facilities aboard yamato compared with the battleships of other nations?
You mention in your video on the Taiho that her name means "Rising Phoenix" is this a trend with the Japanese carriers or Destroyers?
The well named Scrap Iron Flotilla of the RAN in WW2 would be an interesting subject for a special.
What could have happened had the US not gone with the Doolittle Raid meaning Hornet and Enterprise going with Lexington and Yorktown to fight at Coral Sea?
Are there any bits of received wisdom about ship design that, with hindsight, caused a blind spot for development that could've given someone a meaningful advantage if they'd thought outside the box? (Inspired by the recurrent "armour against your own guns" mantra.)
I see Drach finally got tired of saying the words "Operation Magic Carpet"
True..... 🤣
I wonder if he's tired saying the words "sold for scrap"?
@@tomwagner1764 I bet he is, happens even more often than mention of Operation Magic Carpet. I know that process is necessary and they can't keep every historic ship, but the thought of the scrapping of some of the historic ships makes me sad.
@@tomwagner1764 Oh, I have NO doubts about that. Deeply, emotionally tired.
The log bow cracks me up. I imagine they went pretty far down the list of "stuff we might use to patch the ship" before arriving at "trees"
I can imagine the bullying the guy got for suggesting it and then how much he was hated when it turned out he war right
It wasn’t a bow per se, but rather served as a buffer or barrier to absorb the impact of waves when heading into rough seas. Don’t want that kind of dynamic force slamming into an internal bulkhead.
@@colinpacker Walls of oak, errmm, not coconut...
The "Forward Base" that the survivors of Tassafaronga pulled into immediately after the fight was little more than an anchorage, a very few hours steaming from Guadalcanal and Savo Islands. There was no real base infrastructure or repair facilities available so Minneapolis' crew used what was at hand.
If they could have recovered steel plate from the bow they would have used that. But they had little or no steel available so ... over the 1MC (General Announcing System) "Now muster First, Second and 'R' divisions on the Quarterdeck for lumberjack duty!"
It's the most Gilligan's Island thing ever.
"Plenty of 20mm Oerlikon and 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns which could be liberally distributed across her decks"
Ah yes, when the Navy added MORE DAKKA
The Orks approve this idea
As we know this was something of a trend with America at that time. As you probably know that one US ship even throw potatoes at a Japanese submarine that got to close. So giving them more dakka made them more effective. And also stopped them getting hungry while watched their next meal float away.
1941-1945 the age of dakka
This is why they never ever take pictures in color, everyone would be shocked to discover all the ships of the US Navy were in fact painted in RED to gain one or two more knots ^^
Kamikaze
Broken up for scrap, the epitaph of too many fine ships.
It seems 1959 was a bad year for used warships in the USA. Or a good year for scrap metal dealers.
Cash for clunkers, the warship version, comes to
mind.
Cries in Enterprise
There is a great article on how to decommissioned warships and keep them reserve after the US Navy pulled their 4 Piper destroyers out.
I'll have to find it
Some ships built and immediately put in reserve never to see open water. Others sit rusting away to the 90s
President Ford didn't like them all sitting along the coast, rusting away and wasting the US Navy budget. So he had as many scrapped as he could
Can't keep 'em all though, sad though it may be
Can't save them all, I'm afraid, even if we want to.
You should do an episode of Guide To Warships just about the scrap value of warships once they have been deemed surplus. It would be interesting to know approximately how much each of the different-sized vessels were worth as scrap compared to the cost of construction. Also, where were these ships scrapped? Were there just a few places where such jobs took place, or did the work happen at a variety of locations?
I met a former crew member, he left ship after a freak accident where he almost died he said the Captain was outstanding but he loved 4 Roses whiskey
Be nice to have the data in a convenient place but the value of the data for analysis would have limitations since every scrapping was done on an individual basis, so you could have two ships of the same class being sold to different bidders for wildly different amounts of money for a whole host of reasons. Grandfather consulted on a scrapping once and boy, your head would spin trying to understand the math of the scrappers justifying their bids. Things like the price of labor changing throughout the week, the expectation of holiday rates for labor, and other things like that can make a huge difference.
From Design / construction, active duty, repairs/battledamage, refit/maintenance, mothballing, re/decomissioning and finaly the end by scraping or a sinkexercise,Drach did alot already.
So the final chapters of warships could be also worth a few episodes.
Ah the Minneapolis, my favorite ship... mostly because of my hometown city :D Fun fact; in some of those aerial photos she's been painted to resemble a Porter-class destroyer... lure the enemy closer, thinking "Oh it's just a destroyer oh wait" (or maybe "eh don't bother it's just a destroyer")
My grandpa served on her (rear 40mm AA mount) after her post-Tassafaronga refit. Beautiful ship, he visited her again when she was in mothballs but never again before she was sold for scrap. 2nd or 3rd worst case of sold for scrap for the WW2 ships, #1 being the Enterprise (CV-6).
My grandpa also served on this ship. Second forward gun battery.
@@germanslim Did he attend any of the reunions? I know my grandpa went to the one in Minneapolis several years ago.
Battle of Tassafaronga
Sailor: We lost something.
Captain Rosendahl: Not to worry. We’re still floating half a ship.
Hello there
General Kenobi
Makes it back to port, "another happy landing"
Not just the Minneapolis, but the Wominneapolis and the Childrinneapolis too.
Hey, this was my Dad's ship ! He joined her in 43. He along with my Mom spent many vacations later in life going to the yearly Minneapolis reunions.
Do an hour or more long special on USS Enterprise CV-6.
not everything needs to be 1 hour long.
@@mikepette4422 While you are technically correct, the Enterprise deserves the time.
It, sadly will end the same way this one does. “Sold for scrap”.
I honestly find this channel extremely relaxing. I have anxiety issues and watching these "guides" works very well for me. Thanks for making this content.
US Navy ships seemed to lose their bows, while German ships seemed to lose their sterns.
Hmmmm...coincidence? I think not! 🤔
Then I guess the USS Prinz Eugen (IX-300) was a VERY lucky ship indeed (apart from the whole nuclear explosion thing). oO
I'd rather lose the bow.
@@RonJohn63 Agreed. While it makes it hard to go places and requires special care in going to those places, at least you CAN go somewhere. Temporary bows are far easier to create than the stern which usually carries you know, the propellers.
British ships seem to lose everything in between.
Thank you for providing her full career ,great work honouring her service and those who served on her.
Ah, the good old Uss Minneapolis... Quite a beautiful looking ship along with the other Usn ships
Let's be honest, most naval ships look nice
This class of cruiser was certainly not the US navy's prettiest. I miss the clipper bow of the earlier classes.
@@Cubcariboo They were certainly some of the fightingest cruisers in the USN though.
Thank you for this video, my Grandfather was on the Minneapolis, he was part of the crew that was dispatched to get the trees to shore up the the damage.
Glad to see my hometown ship getting a video.
As always, another interesting and informative video documentary. Thanks Drach for your much appreciated work. Was hoping one day you might choose the seven USCGC 327' Cutters. They have a long history of service and were beautiful in design and seaworthy like no other!
Hey Drach
It would be awesome if one day there could be a guide on the Estonian submarines EML Kalev and EML Lembit. The two and only submarines operated (built in Britain) by the Estonian navy and later the Soviet navy. One of the submarines (EML Lembit) still survives to this day and is now a museum ship - an Estonian who is too proud
You and the Mighty Jingles are the best youtubers in my opinion :D
I like how he pronounced distributed in a way that sounded very much like disputed.
Drach does have some verbal idiosyncrasies but his facts are spot on.
@@icarus_falling I really want to know how he pronounces this word: Warspite.
@@QuizmasterLaw or Dido - I think in Drach-world only police cars go Die-Doe Die-Doe Die-Doe...
Thanks for finally covering one of my favorite ships! She really should have been spared as a museum ship. 😁
Some good preservation news! USS Cod, SS-224, is heading from Cleveland to Erie to be drydocked. The Cod people were amazed at how fast the Erie Donjon Marine shipyard jumped on the chance to help out.
AFAIK, Cod is the only completely original US WW-II sub remaining. I believe all others were extensively modernized.
My next door neighbor was on the USS Minneapolis. Such a wonderful guy. RIP
Excellent stuff as always Drach. Thanks.
P.s. the last time I was this early, Pluto was still a planet...
It still is, as far as I'm concerned.
"The hurt I feel is deep inside! My planet status has been denied!" -Pluto. The Amazing World of Gumballumball
My uncle served on "the Minnie" early in the war until her bow was blown away, then reassigned to other U.S.N. ships in the Pacific the remainder of the war. He was a quiet man and the first man I ever saw cry giving a testimony in church one Sunday, thanking God for his survival and sorrow for his lost shipmates. May God bless our WWII heroes.
"Tsugi no emono wa doitsu da?"
"MORATTA!"
Op zombie ship with excellent dps... And is tan too
I see you are a Shikikan of culture as well.
If they had only preserved just one from this class as a museum...
They should have preserved Minneapolis, but to make her stand out from other museum ships they should have restored her to her post-Tassafaronga condition -- with coconut log emergecy repairs and camouflaged with palm fronds and shrubs.
They should of sent the Minneapolis through the Saint Lawrence seaway and put her in Duluth, Minnesota as a museum
Minnesotans whenever something Minnesotan is mentioned outside of Minnesota: "That's meeeeeeee!"
Of course, that's been happening far more in the last year.
We’re not dumb enough for attention but we’re also not smart enough for attention
I guess that the US admiralty figured that it was time to let Bowgones be bowgones... (sorry, can't resist)
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ 🤣🤣
Well played, sir!! 😁👍
Take my thumbs up and get out.
Hurrah for the Minneapolis! Hello from Minnesota, Drach!
New Orleans... Probably one of the most beautiful cruisers ❤️
Shout out to the early crew!
My favorite UA-cam days of the week: new Drach video days!
ayy my home town. cool to have such a decorated ship named after your home city
I’ve been waiting for someone to make a video on this ship for the longest time
Thank you! I was craving for the video of this fine lady since I first discover this channel.
Prof. Drac! Video has been posted for 3 hours. 13k views.
I am possibly moving to Green Bay Wisconsin to be closer to my main office. I hear there is a WW2 fleet sub open to the public near by. And ofcourse the aviation museum in Osh Kosh. It is said they have the very first P51 Mustang there. Would be very awesome for me to go see it and get the selfie with it. I grew up not far from the original North American plant on the West coast where this plane was built. As a kid got to walk through that building. Was also able to tour the New Jersey at L.A. Harbor on one of her return visits from Vietnam. Years later got to visit a Russian submarine next to the Queen Mary. A Liberty Ship and of course go see Sean Connery's personal "Typhoon".
Glad I no longer live in California but really feel fortunate to have seen these things growing up there.
Ork: Needs more dak-wait. Never mind. Paint ship red. Get battle faster!!!
neva enuf dakka
paint ship red in blood of enemy, also add moar dakka!
Had they painted her red, she would have been back in time for Okinawa!
Add moar Dakka, paint red... but paint battleship PURPLE :)
Well this is a temporary delay from all my pressing concerns today
A must-watch, as I live in Minneapolis!
What timing, I’m heading down there to Minneapolis in a few hours!
Keep your head on a swivel lol
This is good video to watch while exporting your own videos.
Very informative just the right length for your World War II "fix" ! ! !
Her Bell is preserved in the Minneapolis City Hall to this day.
Technically it is still stolen, but with an agreement to be given back as I write (5 Jun 21). Plans are to return it to display in the park.
www.hometownsource.com/sun_sailor/community/minnetonka/minnetonka-schools-will-return-naval-artifacts-to-minneapolis-park-board/article_ed014f1c-b260-11eb-b4a1-cb6fcb01e2c4.html
My father served on the Minneapolis from 1936 to 1940 or so as a Curtiss SOC pilot. In fact I think there is a reasonable chance that that is him in the rear seat of the SOC in the photograph in this video. However he got very ill and was given a medical discharge in 1940 and went on to fly for United Airlines during the war and for another 28 years. I have a bunch of photographs from his time on the Minneapolis because he was also the ship's photographer.
My home designated ship. Loved it.
My Dad was the first crew in '34. Re enlisted January '42 and got her back.
Ended the war on Guam building the Navy base there.
My dad served on the USS Minneapolis. He was an OS2U scout plane pilot. He was held in contempt by the black shoe officers who regarded him as an "air dale", so much so he wasn't even given a formal responsibility or station, even during general quarters. He was topside near the bow on the night of November 30, 1942 when the USS Minneapolis was struck by a Japanese long lance torpedo. He was wounded and spent several months convalescing in a hospital in New Zealand.
Ah yes. Her Dullahan powers.
you play azur lane too?
@@bernardrednix756 Yes. But I wonder how many memes Ryan Szimanski of Battleship New Jersey be getting.
@@1968gadgetyo Too many unfortunately.
Ah yes. A man of culture as well
@@vincentrees4970 I do not like anime at all.
Thank you, Drachinifel.
Bravo Zulu on yet another excellent video. Well done.
Fascinating as usual, my Brit historian friend. You have taught me much. Keep going! 😁
She was awesome
I watch a lot of your videos, you probably won't look up this ship, but I had a cousin who died on it. Mambi, it had 5 US sailors on it along with a Cuban crew and sailing under the Cuban flag. She was sunk by the u-176 and two days later u176 was sunk by the Cuban navy.
Off topic, but I'd like to suggest doing your next on Monitors. The little ships with humongous guns. Tomorrow is D-day and if I remember correctly, a Monitor beached itself and supported the landings. They hardly get more than a mention but I'm sure they deserve better. Also, not a very exciting topic and plenty of coverage elsewhere, I believe the liberty ships and the deuce and a half truck were the most decisive weapons of the war. I always make it a point to visit the O'Brien when I'm in San Francisco. Your two cents worth on the liberty ships would be welcome...
I've a book on battles and honours of the RN, remember reading a few destroyers that had a big list of battle honours and of course some,.... most pre war classes were decimated.
Were they the Lend-Lease destroyers?
Any chance you could do uss nashville. My grandfather served on her for the entire war starting a couple months into 42. He just missed the Doolittle raid escort mission but served through everything else. I have documents and photos from his collection if you want pictures. And messages that general MacArthur gave to the captain congratulating him on his superb crew. Thanks for your time!
Great line delivery so matter of fact, ‘With the US Navy running out of aircraft carriers to escort...
Minneapolis with the stub bow is pretty cute.
So many of the cruisers basically went from shipyard to reserve to scrap. Especially the Clevelands. I guess there's just the Little Rock left in Buffalo. Nearly all gun mounts removed. Would have been nice to see one in original condition, stuffed to the gunwales in firepower!
USS Little Rock was significantly rearranged postwar, with reduced dakka to make room for the huge missile factory, but she still feels like a WW-II ship. She still has one of the triple 6" turrets that you can peek into. All the added missile support radar makes her look like a Russian ship.
Something to consider, Little Rock survived to museum status because she was modernized and stayed in the active fleet. Thus she's not entirely original, but still around.
Next to her is the USS Sullivans, a lovely Fletcher, again somewhat modernized, but also having the proper feel. Didn't get into the sub, which was drastically modernized as a Guppy rebuild.
Well worth the visit, other than the fact that going into NY, you need to take your chances with zero carried dakka.
To my mind, when a warship gains enough battle stars it should automatically be designated as something important then be restored and maintained as a museum ship.
That would mean the end for handing out battle stars.
@@otten5666
? 🤔
@ Roger Hinman
As a proud U.S. NAVY veteran I totally agree! ✌🇺🇸
That's kinda how it worked for my favorite - USS NORTH CAROLINA...!
Thank you
A true workhorse. Everywhere, doing everything, but without much glamour to her.
Love the Guides the best. Frankly the questions are starting to look all the same but anyway keep up the good work.
"Sold for scrap." Sigh.
On one hand it's a bummer, but on the other hand... I mean dude, where tf is all this money supposed to come from to maintain what amounts to a second fleet of obsolete warships? I live on the Puget Sound and I've watched so many "reserve vessels" just rot. The Forrestals, the Kitty Hawks, a couple of Iowas that sat here for years when I was a kid... numerous other vessels of vintages from the war up to the Spruance DDs before we basically gave them away. A bunch of OHP frigates are still sitting there just waiting to be cut apart. The hulk of the nuclear cruiser Long Beach doing God knows what (probably poisoning us all with radiation, lol).
I hate to be a downer, and obviously I love these ships and feel fortunate to have grown up in the shadow of the fleet, but in all reality we just have so many other spending priorities.
@@420JackG 😏We have lots of swords. Time for a few plowshares...
@@WALTERBROADDUS think of all the building of infrastructure that happened in the postwar era, namely the highways and airports... all that steel had to come from somewhere. We scrapped A LOT of ships here at the Puget Sound complex, I'm sure some of that steel probably ended up in the hospital I was born in or the schools I went to.
Ships, sadly, are a lot like people. They are born, they live out their lives, and then they die. It's not quite as inevitable as mortal death, but near enough.
@@420JackG you missed the joke ;)
I wish there were more detailed photos of those patched bows
The navsource.org page on the Minneapolis (www.navsource.org/archives/04/036/04036.htm) has a few more photos of the bow as well as a bunch more of the ship overall. This is probably where Drach gets many of his photos of US warships.
The cruisers always seem to be ignored in WW2 histories. But it really felt like a war where the Destroyers and Carriers became preferred over more traditional surface warships like battleships and cruisers.
Thats cool that there was ship names Minneapolis since I live there
Outstanding. Again!
Could you do a review of USS Indiana? Either would be interesting, however I mostly am thinking of BB-58, whose prow, mainmast, and two AA guns sit outside Indiana University Memorial Stadium.
Furthermore, if you would like any pictures of said parts, i'd be more than willing to provide, though I'm sure plenty exist online.
Thanks and keep up the good work Drach!
@ 3:20- USS Minneapolis in the original "Tis but a scratch!" meme..
Hey Drach how about a history on the other 2 Minnesota city cruisers comissioned during World War 2, the U.S.S. St.Paul and the U.S.S. Duluth?
I would also love to hear about them.
Would love to see what you can find on the Essex-class USS Lake Champlain (CV-39).
And there are no surviving Baltimore class heavy cruisers left. How sad. My father served on the St. Paul
Now that's a work horse.
Could you do a video covering the process of replacing a ships main battery?
Please do a video about the USS Honolulu.
Please consider doing the USS Alabama or the USS Drum. I can provide pictures or videos to help
I sometimes wonder just how many times American ships in the Pacific that went in for a refit had to toss off anti-aircraft guns that were scrounged up and hammered in place whenever the Captain and crew could get their hands on them? Every port I went into that had anything better than an automatic loading crossbow had better place guards on it.
I don't know how true the story was but in the movie PT109 JFK himself apparently had a hand in mounting an anti tank gun to his Elco patrol boat.
My god, you are a machine !!
In the summer of ‘59!
How about a vid on the destroyer tender Piedmont (AD-17) and her 3-war history
Thanks for the vid. You must have missed mentioning the main armament. 9 x 8 inch guns and 8 x 5inch guns. She also carried 4 float planes. Good vid though
I'd like to see the USS Boise. I learned a date that's, I think anyways, affiliated with the ship. It's July 9th. Anyway I love your vids. I always listen to them when they come out
Even though I was an Infantryman, I find it very sad when I hear of a ship this highly decorated being scrapped!! It was hundreds of mens home for years and they fought and died together on it. I know we can't keep them all but it's still gut-wrenching to hear they get scrapped.
Seems you forgot about the 3rd fish amidship at Tassafaronga (sp).
Please make a video on the USS Chicago (CA-49)!
USS Minneapolis just like her namesake is a special kind of crazy.
Shigure was beaten up but was not sunk at Surigao Strait. One of the reasons she was called lucky. Until she was sunk that is. You know you are in a fight that you shouldn't be in when your definition of lucky is getting sunk last.
The great "Weaning" of the fleet" in 1958 was a cruel but necessary move by the US Navy to rid itself of obsolete ships including carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers. Over 300 ships were set to be sold off! Some ships were sold or given to allies. By 1960 a few battleships were sold off as museum ships, but only one destroyer escort was saved, and a few destroyers. The cruisers for various reasons were not so lucky as many of the cities the ships were named after were landlocked, and most of the cities that weren't were too small to raise the money needed. Cruisers are not built as tough as battleships so they suffered from abusive service, and just plain wore out.
It seems that an enormous number of WW-II veteran warships. Were all sent to the breakers, in 1959. I can't help but wonder. Who's bright idea was this? What good did it accomplish? Or had these old hulls deteriorated that much?
What was the scrap value of a ww2 Naval combat vessel? It had pre-nuclear, electrical grade steel and copper. That's gotta be worth something
My home city!
Actually, Shigure was the sole survivor of the lead Japanese Squadron at Surigao Strait.
How about the USS Sacramento AOE-1 fast combat support ship first of its kind. I served on that ship. It had the propulsion plant of the unfinished battleship Kentucky.
All 4 engines, or just 2?
Best AL oath skin waifu.
a skk of culture
Wrong. It’s actually Akagi my dude.
@@EMHearst na na na not enough blushing m8
Ship Suggestion: USS Louisville
Alright alright