This channel is dedicated to researching and uploading WWII footage of U.S. Navy destroyers, but also all kinds of smaller warships, from destroyer escorts to submarine chasers.
Interesting footage... one can see and tour USS Kidd today in Baton Rouge Louisiana. I last saw vessel many years ago, and I remember it as one of the most interesting museum ship I've visited.
Kidd will definitely be worth revisiting when she returns from drydock. She's currently getting repairs, having additional post-war modifications removed, and will probably get new paint. You can check the museum's progress on their RU-vid channel. www.youtube.com/@usskidd661/videos
That is the classic WWII double stack USN destroyer look...Handsome ships, with their low freeboard and deck-load of weaponry; they reflected the desperate times when ordnance on target was the order of the day......
Wow!! Thanks for sharing!! Some really great shots of heavy cruisers, Minneapolis CA36 and New Orleans CA32. Minneapolis and New orleans were heavily damaged at the Battle of Tassafaronga, New Oleans losing her bow to topedoes between #1 & #2 turret, Minneapolis taking 2 torpedoes and surviving. This film is after those ships being repaired, likely late 1943 or 1944. Great video, thanks for sharing!
Yep, all three cruisers were veterans of the Guadalcanal campaign, with San Francisco being famous for the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (Nov. 13) and Cape Esperance. The footage was filmed in January 1944, so your guess was correct.
Yokosuka and Okinawa are the largest US military bases in the Pacific permitted by Japan under treaty, although occasional bad behavior of U.S. servicemen causes friction with the local population in Okinawa. The U.S. Navy forward deploys a carrier battle group in Yokosuka which is a big deal, especially now that all carriers are nuclear powered. Also, both Japan and Korea permit US tactical nuclear weapons on their soil as the deterrent from aggression by North Korea and to bring a war to the soil of Russia. The Europeans permit the U.S. to store nuclear weapons on their soil and with certain countries under the 2 key system, permit those countries to launch them in the Armageddon scenario (aka Catholic Rapture). It remains a political problem for all countries if the U.S. deploys a new generation of nuclear armed weapons as enough of the native populations have opposed escalation.
The Atlanta-class (CL-51) cruisers were commissioned as "CL" and it wasn't until 1949 that the surviving class members were reclassified "CLAA." The related Juneau-class (CL-119) was also reclassified "CLAA" in 1949.
Thank you for sharing your father's service. And yep, after Task Force 31 had checked the planned routes and swept for mines in Sagami Bay (it's referred to as Tokyo Bay even if it technically isn't) on the morning of August 27th, a lot of 3rd Fleet vessels, to include Pasadena with Task Force 35, began to stream into Sagami Bay throughout the afternoon and evening.
This footage is debated by Naval Historians as to which ship it is. The general consensus is that this is not the USS Edsall, DD-219, but her sister-ship, the USS John Pope, DD-224, which was also sank by IJN heavy cruiser gunfire when it was escorting the Royal Navy light cruiser, HMS Exeter. Regardless, this shows the tragic end of the US Asiatic Fleet which gallantly, and with obsolete ships, fought to defend the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies against a far more modern and powerful enemy. Let their sacrifice never be forgotten. For a good book about the fate of the USS Edsall and her crew, look up "A Blue Sea of Blood" by Donald M. Kehn, Jr.
Hello, you may have gotten some ships mixed up here. USS General John Pope (AP-110), USS John D. Ford (DD-228), USS Pope (DD-225), and USS Stewart (DD-224) are completely different ships. There was no "USS John Pope, DD-224." As for the footage, it and the still that was taken from it was initially misidentified as "HMS Pope," later misidentified as USS Pope, but we know this footage was filmed from the Japanese heavy cruiser Tone, which was hundreds of nautical miles away when Pope sank. Pope was indeed engaged while with HMS Exeter (68) and HMS Encounter (H10) by the heavy cruisers Myōkō, Haguro, Ashigara, and Nachi of CruDiv 5, but she managed to break contact and was later sunk by aircraft from Ryūjō. There is actually a photograph of Pope sinking, taken from a Japanese aircraft available on NavSource. In Edsall's case, she was engaged by the Japanese surface ships, there was a brief period where the Japanese ships checked fire so their carrier aircraft could attack Edsall, and after the air attack they resumed firing. Meaning, the general consensus is that this footage is of Edsall, so I hope that clears up any misunderstandings. I would suggest reading the sources in the description if you want to learn more about the specific circumstances of Edsall's sinking.
The mast of Nicholas was here in Portland for years on the bank of the Columbia out by PDX Airport. Last year it was moved to a museum in Chehalis, Washington.
Yep, the Veterans Memorial Museum. Even though it's the mast she got after her FRAM II refit, I'm glad something from her is preserved and is well looked after.
This is a single stack destroyer, possibly Benham class......These pre-war classes were followed by 100 Fletcher class double stack destroyers as America flexed its industrial might.....there were so many weapons (5 ", 40 mm, 20 mm, all auto cannons torpedoes and depth charges) these low freeboard destroyers were dangerously unstable. Some of them were lost in typhoons when they capsized.
McCall was a Gridley-class destroyer, so still a single stack destroyer like the very similar Bagley and Beham classes. The top weight concerns were so severe on the Gridley-class that they never got 40mm mounts, only 20mms
She still has 2 quadruple torpedo mounts per side, total of 16 torpedoes for a destroyer. Looks like the Bagley class destroyers may have been too small to have very many 40mm mounts added, looked like a twin 40mm on the aft deckhouse. Great shots of the Talbot! The following Benham class were very similar to the Bagley class, but large enough to mount 40mm mounts, but at the expense of the aft torpedo mounts. Later anti kamikaze refits removed the forward mounts also for more 40mm mounts. Its interesting to see how the ships changed per the threat encountered.
Of the three classes of USN destroyers armed with 16 torpedo tubes (2 quadruple wing mounts per side), the Bagley-class was the only one to hold onto all 16 to the end of war, and as you explained, most the Benham-class lost half or all of their torpedo armament. The Gridley-class, with their inability to mount anything other than 20mms due to topweight concerns, lost some of their torpedo mounts when they were transferred to the Atlantic in 1945. Very interesting indeed!
Yep, and in the second half of the video you can see a slow line of DUKWs heading for the beach with supplies. Not the most exciting job, but it was essential.
Fenomenal, 1945, not much changed in the procedures. Amazing how close the destroyer maintained her position alongside of this huge battleship, perhaps therefore their speed of around 16 knots. Almost 40 years later, 1984, I came alongside USS Nimitz and we had problem to keep close position with our Standard Frigate due to the succion next to the towering Aircraft Carrier. I love to see the armament of the destroyer and the relaxed routine of the crew and espectators. Nice video, thanks a lot
If you mean USS Emmons (DD-457/DMS-22), sorry, but I have not seen footage of her on the National Archives website so far. If you have not seen them already, the website NavSource and the USS Emmons Association has some photographs. www.navsource.org/archives/05/457.htm www.ussemmons.org/media
Thank you for sharing. My grandfather was assigned USS SC-1012 January 1945, operating convoys between the Phillipeans and Okinowa. His ship went through 3 typhoons with winds of 140 miles per hour. The third typhoon sunk the ship close to shore, and all 29 men survived.
Thank you for sharing your grandfather’s service. The contributions of subchaser sailors are often overlooked, and many don’t realize that they sailed the globe.
Seems likely this was filmed without sound and the effects were added later - some of the explosion sound effects are fairly common ones used in war movies. One of the frames from this film was enhanced and somewhat modified before it became somewhat well-known as the photo showing Edsall's final stand.
My great uncle was on the Dickerson. He was wounded in action after a Kamikaze struck the destroyer off Okinawa. So cool to see some film of the ship conducting operations. Great footage!
