Just had a awesome run in with a 40mill gunner from Korea that served on USS New Jersey, he had a little pin on the top of his hat that had USS NEW JERSEY BB62 on it and I talked to him a bit, he served on her for about 4 years, didn’t know she had even become a Museum, I showed him a blurb from one of your videos and recommended to him that he watch some. He was blown away that I had even heard of the ship and you could tell was really proud of his service, he served on the quad 40 mounts and told me he was pretty much deaf from operating them. He told me that he has family in Jersey and would one day like to see the ship he served on so long ago, unfortunately I didn’t catch his name but I hope to run into him again.
My grandfather Wallace Edwin Satterfield served on the Portland in WWII as a damage controlman. One summer in the late 80’s in Ocean City MD during a family vacation my grandfather started telling us stories about his time during the war. He had never talked about it before and I was in awe of what I was hearing. The one story that stood out was of the ship getting struck by the torpedo at Guadalcanal. He told us about having to go underwater without diving gear to control the damage and stop the flooding.
And I’ll bet that as usual with those heroes of that generation he didn’t think HE was a hero….. It’s sure wonderful that he eventually spoke about it!
My father-in-law served on the USS Portland as a Marine in the war in the Pacific. Jack C. Hughes from Lafayette IN. I am so pleased that I found this video. His grandsons adored their grandfather, and I'm sure they too will enjoy learning about his military service.
My Grandfather was a plank owner on the Northampton class cruiser Louisville. He said the Northampton class did not have very good seakeeping. They did preserve part of her after scrapping. One of her 8 inch turrets is still at the Nevada nuclear test site. It was used to house test instruments.
My father was a AAA gunner on Sweet Pea. He never talked about it until I was old enough to take interest and ask questions. In the Guadalcanal battle a torpedo hit right at his station but didn’t blow because it waa fired too close to arm. There were lots of astounding stories. He was a marine who went ashore to fight with his garande. The whole island blew up at Namur and he was the only survivor. Last Saturday I was going to a show in San Pedro and saw a ship that looked like Portland. It was the Iowa. Going back yhis Saturday to tour.
My dad was on the Portland during WWll. He had a black and white picture of the ship mounted to a wooden frame. It was about 12 inches in length. Below the picture were the accomplishment of the ship in battle. Number of planes and ships it was credited with destroying.
Got a chance to tour the Wisconsin last weekend. Thanks to your show understood a lot more of what I saw even being able to read the stencils on the walls. Saw the Wisconsin soon after it opened but only could walk on deck back then now the self tour is much more extensive down to 3rd deck in places and up to O2. A paid guided tour goes more places but the self tour was still good.
It was a timing problem.. the Navy had hundreds of reserve ships.. and the WW2 vets weren't yet old enough to be getting nostalgic.. my paternal grandfather (Army) was 32.. my maternal grandfather (USMC) was 37 when Portland was sent to the breakers. USS Portland's mast is in Ft Allen park on Munjoy Hill in Portland ME.. it is a fantastic place to enjoy a summer's day.. might have done that a few hundred times when my kids were little.
Portland wasnt a popular ship and it was an older ship. It had no chance staying in the Navy or reserves. Then there were money issue when the navy had to reduce the budget. Then you have to get a city to pay for the ship.
Outside of the battleships which for the most part had large backings at local and state level, it was down to luck and timing most of the current preserved ships where still active into the 70-90's and avoided the big late 50's ship purge and by that time there was real interest in saving some of those ships. I can understand why most where scrapped but i'll never understand why Enterprise wasn't saved it'll always baffle me.
@@bretsk2500 it pains us that alot of these ships are not preserved. Alot of ships were stripped because of damage, money, budget, lack of interest. Portland is a tragedy in along list of tragedys. Portland is lucky to have something but mire of a ship would have been better.
An old friend and former pastor of my church named Charlie Meyer was a cook on the Portland. He was assigned to the ship some time before the Perl Harbor attack, saw the results when they sailed back after and remained with the ship through the rest of the war.
I'm so glad to hear your kind evaluation of Portland and her service. My Father served on Sweet Pea. He was aboard and out to sea on Dec. 7, 1941. He always spoke very fondly of her
A good friend of mine was a fire control officer (AA) on the Portland. He had a bound typewritten history of the ship's actions that he would refer to when I occasionally drop by to listen to his recollections of his experiences during WWII. Just prior to Pearl Harbor the ship escorted an ammo supply ship to the Philippines via a circuitous route which he thought was odd. After the escort duty they were under orders to steam directly back to the west coast. On 12/7/41 the crew was taking a rest day well north of Hawaii and were basically lounging on the deck when the captain ordered General Quarters, which the crew thought at first was just a drill. They realized it was real when they were told to strip the ship of all non-essential equipment, in particular the piano in the ship's galley. So many incidents that seemed almost too incredible to be true, such was the story of the Portland in the Pacific. R.I.P. C.V. "Mac" McGlothing...
Dad served on the "USS Portland "sweet pea", as it was nicknamed and his story was parallel with your friends. He also left Pearl on Dec. 3rd to escort the Marines to Guadalcanal, 3 trips there and many other battles. The japs were after the carriers which had also sailed Dec. 3rd. Destroying our old tech battleships thereby allowing the carrier fleets to expand Americas reach of power. He rarely spoke of WWII until he wrote his brief memoirs. One day we were calmly watching the Battle of Midway on tv when pop leaped out of his chair and said, "we kicked their ass at Midway". Wow. He said he was in "fire control" and I thought little of that until I realized fire control meant controlling firing of the guns. He said you could tell how close a jap plane was by the sounds of the larger to smaller anti aircraft guns in operations. The sounds of the 5" guns, & 40 mm meant targets were a ways out. When the 20mms opened up you grabbed your helmut and took cover. USS Portland was backing away from the burning USS Lexington at several hundred yards with 700+ survivors when its ammo magazines blew up. What that generation went through was awesome just awesome.
tall tri pods may have not been nice looking to you but, in the age prior to radar, they helped provide 'over the horizon' vision better for its look outs. On the subject of torpedos- it ended up not making a difference because the American had untested and faulty torpedos most of the war anyway
Maybe not much of a comparison video, but a coverage of the story of the USS Marblehead in World War 2, especially the action at Java Sea and subsequent heroic action to save crew and the ship.
Another great video Ryan!!! If we're putting ships in a hat, Id like to add my fathers ship for much of the war, USS PHELPS (DD-360). She was at Pearl and most every major engagement. She's the ship that torpedoed and sunk the Lex at Coral Sea. (I remember going to reunions as a kid, and seeing these guys in their 50s still choking up talking about that) PHELPS also produced quite a few Admirals, including a wet behind the ears Academy Grad( dads recollection LOL) who later became CNO during Vietnam, and has a three ship class of destroyers named after him...
USS Indianapolis. He ran the forward 2 turret. Wore an asbestos sleeve and would swab the breech before loading the shell and powder and clearing the gun to fire. He served on her between 39-40 to 45. He got off after the kamikaze at Okinawa and before she left with the bomb from San Francisco. Both Portland and Indianapolis stayed busy during the pacific campaign.
My grandfather was on the USS Portland. I remember hearing a story about how they left Pearl Harbor the day before the attack and saw the Japanese planes fly over in route to PH. They all thought it must be a training exercise.
Ryan, thanks for clarifying a mystery for me. I always wondered why the US cruisers "landed" their torpedo tubes; where the German, British, and Japanese retained theirs. It would indeed stand to reason that your cruiser would have been hammered into a floating, burning hulk of scrap metal before she got into torpedo range.
My father was an 18 year old gunners mate on the USS Portland , before he was wounded . He said your ship blown half to hell running in circles in a pitched battle was the scariest day of his life. Sitting on pins and needles until you swing around the circle , to where you can shoot again ……
The fact that it was damaged in battle, having a stuck rudder, and still fired salvo's on the enemy AND landed hits is truly remarkable, and, as the saying goes " It's not the dog in the fight, it's the fight in the dog" that wins battles.
Pop was onboard when the 'sweet pea" as USS Portland was nicknamed, when that happened. He also wrote in his diary, at 83, that in one battle they had passed a Japanese naval force at night around the Solomons going the other way, both running cloaked in darkness. The japanese didn't have radar, so couldn't detect the US Navy's ships at almost point blank range. They opened up on them and sank a battleship. Our big guns had a lower horizon traverse than the japanese guns so their salvos went overhead by less than a degree. At close range the effect of a wave rolling the japanese ship's guns made enough error to miss our ships. Never realized how many close calls dad had survived in WWII. WOW!.
Very good video! I really love the amount of detail you put in to the chronological history of USS Portland (Maine). This may be my favorite non-walk through video of yours.
I thinking of bringing my father who served on the Baltimore, he is 90 years old but would love to talk to you we live very close to the Salem i. He has visited it many times , even been involved with its restoration! Hope to see you there. He is super Mobil and I think would make a great interview, he loves heavy cruisers especially his Baltimore. He was a singlman !
On December 8th, 1941 my dad, along with his brothers, tried to enlist in the military but, was turned down. He was only 15 years old His parents were Hungarian immigrants and didn't speak or read English. 83 days after Pearl Harbor, February 28th 1942 was my dad's 16th birthday. He presented papers to his parents, for signature. He "told" them it was to get a driver's license but it was actually his enlistment papers for the U.S. Navy. He served on the "Sweet Pea" (USS Portland) for the duration of World War II and enjoyed many crew reunions until his passing in 2003. They were indeed...the Greatest Generation.
USS Portland CA 33 class was 10 feet longer than the Northampton Class heavy cruisers at 610 feet. The Portland quarter deck was larger than the USS Indianapolis for the Indy had the extended main and upper level deck. The Portland weighed about 14,500 tons in 1945.The Northampton Class Cruisers were the first ships to have hangers for the sea planes, Fold up Bunks in line on chains vs hammocks, and the main battery of (2) triple turrets forward and (1) triple turret aft which set the standards for heavy cruisers, battleships, and Alaska class cruisers. My dad who passed in 2017 at age 92 proudly served on the USS Louisville CA 28 from 1943-46 and witnessed (52) sailors and Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler buried at sea due to (3) kamikaze hits in the Pacific. The USS Indianapolis set a speed record which stands today from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor - 74- 1/2 hours with ave speed of 29 knots. USS Portland was in the great sea battle with USS Louisville - Oct. 24, 1944. The majority of the Pacific Island bombardment was from the Older cruisers and Older battleships for the New Cruisers and Newer battleships screened the aircraft carriers. Take care!
Impressive service from that "little" ship. Just saw her tripod superstructure and bridge shield, mounted at a park overlooking Casco Bay in Portland Maine. Amazing management of the ship in all respects following that torpedo hit.
I’ve noticed video by video the quality has only gotten better and better! Glad your getting the support you need to improve things and making great content!
wow, so far we've got 1087 likes and no dislikes not even one. I dont think i've seen such an ocurrance on yt which is a testiomony to the quality of this and other videos by our beloved crew. Keep it up!
Story of my dad grew up in Arkansas. Enlisted in the Navy at 18. Was sent to San Diego for boot camp. After boot camp was assigned to the Portland. Left port under the Golden Gate Bridge to Hawaii then was assigned to escort enterprise. He was there for the battle of all of the Solomon’s. His ship was hit and was towed to Sydney Australia. He boarded a train from Sydney to Perth. Boarded a merchant marine ship the chain and crown And after the war , he came in port in New York harbor. Then took a train back to Arkansas to meet my mother. What such a story of how I am here today in 2024 to tell this story to you and my two sons 19 & 21. We will always be great full for the service of the men that never got a chance to come home. My sons and I are a testament to those men. They will never be forgotten. 20:48
Personally I'd argue the County's are way more graceful and better looking ships overall and they're mid to late war modifications make them look even better than what they already were. However I will admit the Portland's & New Orleans class are quite different but somewhat beautiful in their own right.
Hi Ryan. I would like to see a video of my father's ship U.S.S. Boyd DD - 544, a Fletcher class destroyer that commissioned in 1943 served thru-out the Pacific war and Korea and Vietnam Wars as well. She was sold to Turkey in 1969 so I would say that the Navy got their money's worth out of her!
My father served in WW2 on Old Sweet pea Raymond J. Akers he passed away in June 1993 he is really missed I'm his son Tony Akers I served East coast on 3 different ships USS MOINESTER FFT1097 USS HALYBURTON FFG 40 Also USS ANZIO CG 68. To all living and all deceased Sailors Anchors Away and Smooth Sailing and stay safe and stay healthy guys and ladies much love
My father in law served on the Portland in every battle and survived the torpedo strike, though injured. I got to go with him to Portland for the mast dedication.
For more info on Portland "Sweet Pea" look for Sweet Pea at War by Generous. I served under him in the 60's in VNN. Great history lesson as all you videos.
He did all the clerical work for the captain (not sure his title) The first day the captain asked who could type quickly and as my grandpas aunt/ teacher taught all her students to type in her one room schoolhouse back home he was the only one that raised his hand on that first day so he was highly involved with the captain and the goings on on the ship as a new sailor and really was lucky to get that postion on day one. It saved his life more than once.
@@baugust4775 My Dad was a signalman. I have a photo of all of the Signalmen and Quartermasters that he labeled, before he passed. If your Grandpa had been in that department, I would gladly share with you.
USS MOFFETT DD-362. MY great grandfather was on her when she was doing Convoy escort duty in the Atlantic. Don't know if he was still on her in the Pacific tho. I think he was either a engine mech, or depth charge crew, my grandma could never remember
Saw something on the USS Alabama RU-vid channel similar to something here . The AA gun ( 40MM on the Alabama) trained to low and hit the gun shield also. The 40MM punched through on the Alabama and the hole is still there. Kind of makes you wonder why the Navy didn't have a hard stop on the gun mounts to prevent this from happening.
Would love to see the USS Little Rock CL-92/CLG-4 Berthed in Buffalo NY at the Buffalo Naval Park. I was at the commissioning LCS-9 USS Little Rock absolutely miserably cold day but worth it to see the New Little Rock be commissioned next to it's namesake. A first for the Navy
You say that the USN would not have committed BB New Jersey into the Solomons, but they sent the Washington and South Dakota in there. Theoretically - what if Washington and South Dakota weren't available and New Jersey and friends were?
Halsey was chasing ghosts to the north of the Solomons with New Jersey.. SD was an electrical shitshow.. and Wasington had Lee.. IMHO.. without Lee.. Kirishima might still be floating.. and Halsey was such a wildcard.. who knows what would have happened.. Read Paul Stillwell's biography of Willis Lee! Lee was the John M Browning of naval gunnery.
I tend to agree with you, if the Washington and SoDak hadn't been available but a pair of Iowas had been ... needs must. I think Halsey would have committed them rather than allow another bombardment of Henderson Field, the reason he committed SoDak and Washington in the first place after the 'tin clad' cruisers had been shot to pieces or sunk. I doubt that Kirishima would have fared any better against Iowa or New Jersey than she did against Washington.
There is a 8 inch 55 caliber gun turret found in 2015 in the Nevada Test Site that was off of a near sister ship USS Louisville CA 28 which was used for atomic bomb testing. Check it out on Y-tube.
Well, it completely outranges anything smaller, so it'd be its accuracy at maximum range multiplied by its total ammunition divided by how many hits it requires to kill a ship of a given class. Something like that.
Might be fun to compare the first ships designated with a BB, the Indiana class, with the Iowas. How significant were the changes, any surprising consistencies?
I think to continue the theme of heavy cruisers built at the Fore River Shipyard deployed in the Guadalcanal campaign, I think Northampton CA-26, Quincy CA-39, and Vincennes CA-44 could use their own videos, seeing as they were very likely the least fortunate of the cruisers deployed in that campaign, and that the lessons taken from the loss of these ships went into the design for the Des Moines-class.
I’ve seen your videos explaining how the loading process worked on the big guns of the New Jersey, but looking at the smaller cruiser here, how are they even able to load the guns in the middle? It doesn’t look like there’s enough room for a loading crew on the sides of the center guns of the triple barrel cruiser gun. Can you do a video explaining the loading positions for the big guns of cruisers like these, with a special explanation of the center gun?
Lol "They arn't... whatever... the Omaha class is." Indeed, I wondered what the heck those things were at first (besides being chew-your-own-arm-off ugly). Seems they were a scaled-up derivative of the Wickes and Clemson class flush deck destroyers. We can sneer at them for having all those useless casement guns that were already obsolete, and only 2 turrets.... [end transmission]
They were designed to look a lot like the 4 pipe destroyers so that at a distance, it would be hard to tell what it was. That way, if someone saw a destroyer at long range, they might think it was a cruiser and avoid it. Likewise, if an enemy destroyer saw a cruiser, they might think it was a destroyer and try to attack it, only to get destroyed long before they were in gun range.
I'm not too familiar with the classes, I had to Google it. Woof! Yeah, that's an unfortunate looking ship. I've always thought the Indianapolis was a fantastic-looking ship, and I am not surprised to find it was a Portland class.
Have to give mad respect to the crew of the Omaha-class USS Marblehead. One of the greatest unsung, often unknown Navy stories of WW2! For those who don’t know the story, I encourage you to look it up. Decent video about the Marblehead by The History Guy.
I was surprised by the numbering of the 2 Portland class cruisers. USS Portland was CA-33 and USS Indianapolis was CA-35. USS Astoria was CA-34 and it was a New Orleans class cruiser. How did it get sandwiched between the 2 Portlands?
So, like they said, She was transferred over to the New Orleans class because she was being built over at a Federal Ship Yard rather than the private ones that Portland and Indianapolis were being built at. When the Navy started the New Orleans, they could switch her over but not the Portland's. However, once your hull number was assigned, that's what your ship had, so Astoria had CA-34 and it would not change.
In WW2 USS Portland CA 33 was in the Greatest Sea Battle - Battle of Surigao Strait - October 24, 1944 - The ship to ship battle that USS New Jersey BB 62 was NOT!
I once back in high school did a paper on the uss Indianapolis memorial in Indianapolis. The ship lost to enemy fire when carrying the parts for the atomic bomb
The Germans didn't have a problem with under estimating their ship's tonnage. They just cheated and lied making their ships much heavier. When we were on the USS Salem it was just after it became a museum ship. Nothing had pad locks on it. Other ships I've been on had locks on everything. If we wanted to we could of gone all over the place. We didn't have any flashlights so thought it wasn't a good idea. A guy on the ship said all of the off limits areas were covered in grease and haven't been cleaned yet.
Ryan - can you give us an explanation why the U.S. Navy would have committed any of the Iowa-Class Battleships to naval combat during the Solomon Islands Campaign? Your remark peaked my curiosity. Thanks!
Not really, the Des Moines where basically just a slightly upgraded Baltimore class with auto loading guns those guns aren't really a threat to a battleships the best you can really hope for is mission killing them by knocking out exposed equipment like range finders or radar, I'd put my money on the battleship as long as it has been modernised to current standards.
Lol. That's funny. I don't think a Des Moines would have much chance against Nelson or Rodney. It would be sunk or disabled before it could get into firing range.
As far as day to day action the cruisers in general probably contributed more to the war effort than any battleship other than the one or two exceptions such as Warspite. But the sheer fear factor of an Iowa probably caused the enemy to avoid them.
@@johnzgamez810 Well I was trying to make it short and sweet. Didnt want to go into detail about how it ended, the controversy, the yum yum shark chum.
darn, i have plans to vist USS Salem in the very near future but on the 6th ill have to be in a parade :( if you guys ever come to Charleston SC please let us know id love to meet yall. I'll be up to visit your ship on the tip to see the Salem and then onto battleship cove. my wife and I have a goal to visit all the battleship museums. We did North Carolina and Alabama already this year. and to compare the two New Jersey could win that fight with Portland with just her secondary battery (WW2 config) lol
@@BattleshipNewJersey I did! I'm trying to figure out a way to get down to Salem on the 6th.. (i have to transport my son to work and back) it's an easy drive for me.. minus the last 6 miles.. when you guys are there check out the forward BOFORS mount.. they have dummy rounds in the racks!
The Japanese called the Kongos fast battleships but they were still modified Lion Class Battlecruisers. That is why Hei was lost. At the the ranges the first night battle of Guadalcanal she could not stand up to 8" gunfire and why her sister Kirishima was destroyed by Washington in 10 minutes the next night.
As a (former) Portland resident, I feel obligated to point out that Portland, OR does not deserve a ship named after it. Maybe back in the 40’s, but not today.
Yup... The 40s Portland and neighboring Vancouver, WA turned out hundreds of Liberty ships, plus 23(??) escort carriers. The Kaiser yards were impressive but sadly long gone. Even the city of Vanport, built to house the shipyard workers, was destroyed in a flood. Its now the site of PIR where I drag race. But yes, Ill agree, Portland isnt deserving of much (positive) recognition, and I stay north of the river unless I absolutely have to!! On a good note, the USS Oregons conning tower is still there in a park next to where the ship was until the Navy repo'd her...
3:38 Should more be added if it still isn't enough to protect against a Long Lance? I would guess maybe if it lessens the damage so you can get back home for repairs instead of sinking on the way back home. Where's that line?
