What Doesn't Sink You, Makes You Stronger! Battleship West Virginia | Channel Markers

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The subject of this episode is the return of Battleship West Virginia to the role for which she was originally designed: fighting enemy battleships. Before Battleship North Carolina (BB-55) was commissioned in 1941, Battleship West Virginia (BB-48) was the newest of the US Navy's 15 battleships allowed by the Washington Treaty, having been commissioned in late 1923. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was sunk in shallow water and set afire. Though nearly written off as a total loss, like Battleships Arizona (BB-39) and Oklahoma (BB-37), in 1942 she was salvaged and returned under her own power to Puget Sound Navy Yard for reconstruction. When she emerged in mid-1944, she was equipped with the latest sensors, fire control radar, and anti-aircraft guns. She no longer looked like her sisterships Battleships Maryland (BB-46) and Colorado (BB-45). By October 1944, she had taken her place amongst other old battleships providing fire support for the troops ashore in the Philippines. When called to oppose Admiral Nishimura's Force C, which included two old battleships, Yamashiro and Fuso, she led the US battle line into a night major action. With superior firepower and technology, the battleships and cruisers finished the job begun by PT boats and destroyers, and both battleships and all but one of Nishimura's ships were sunk, and Battleship West Virginia contributed significantly to the sinking of Yamashiro. Less than a year later, she led a contingent of old battleships into Tokyo Bay for the formal surrender ceremonies held onboard Battleship Missouri (BB-63).
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Image and video Sources: US National Archives, US Naval Institute, and Naval History & Heritage Command.
Channel Markers, Ep. 10 | "Redemption"

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30 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 12

@BearingStraight 4 дня назад

Thanks for watching! Comment below if you have a topic you'd like us to review in the future!

@cmcb7230 4 дня назад

I always thought they should’ve had Japan sign the surrender document on one of the surviving battleships that sank from the Pearl Harbor attack.

@level98bearhuntingarmor 4 дня назад

Imagine the humiliation Japan would feel having to officially surrender on a Vessel that they supposedly sunk at the beginning of the conflict but it would have been a powerful message to other powers

@algin5109 4 дня назад

Truman was from Missouri. Rumor was he made it so.

@christianvalentin5344 3 дня назад

West Virginia was present in Tokyo Bay. The main reason for the ceremony being on Missouri (apart from Truman) was there was more room on Missouri for all the dignitaries. She was also Halsey’s flagship at the time.

@atomicwedgie8176 2 дня назад

Iowa class battleships... should have been signed on the Iowa.

@Chodda 4 дня назад

my neighbor was one of the pt boats. PT-550. he spoke of going in at night with a squad of boats. their pt boats first ones in. they all launched their torpedos at once and ran like hell. he mentioned during the battle he saw a big ship going up in a massive explosion and within minutes it was sunk. I have his audio interview. he eventual passed away in 2008 I think.

@BearingStraight 4 дня назад

Thanks for watching and commenting! Admiral Holloway, then only 22, said the same thing. As soon as the torpedoes were gone, they were hauling at high speed in the opposite direction. Those PT men had it harder that night, with more of them mixing it up at fairly close range with several of those Japanese warships. Also, we're guessing your neighbor saw Battleship Fuso's explosion. It has occurred to us to cover the PTs and DDs, let us know if you care to share the interview. Thanks again.

@level98bearhuntingarmor 4 дня назад

The advantage and achievement of hitting on the first salvo is astonishing, also once again Shigure survives certain death

@manilajohn0182 3 дня назад

Yamashiro was sunk primarily as a result of torpedo hits by U.S. destroyers. She took two torpedo hits before the battle line even opened fire which slowed the ship to 12 knots, caused her after main battery magazines to be flooded and removed her two after turrets from the battle. After being fired upon by the battle line for approximately fifteen minutes, Yamashiro increased speed to 14 knots and attempted to disengage. She was then hit almost immediately by two more torpedoes which left her dead in the water. She sunk within ten minutes. The hits claimed by West Virginia were unconfirmed visually and were based on "pronounced flare- ups" which could as easily have been Yamashiro firing back, or (after the first salvo) the shell splashes of other ships. I'm not trying to bash on West Virginia, but the sober truth is that Yamashiro was sunk by destroyer torpedo attack.

@BearingStraight 3 дня назад

Admiral Holloway, who fired DD torpedoes at Yamashiro and believes they had a hand in sinking her, admits they weren't hanging around after pulling the trigger. Our video is from the battleship's perspective, from inside the ship, shooting at night with fire control radar. Which had already shown itself to be deadly accurate two years earlier when Washington sank Kirishima. Wiley had been commended for the level of training and proficiency of his crew before they arrived on station. At any rate, it wasn't meant to be a fair fight and the battle unfolded more or less as planned. Maybe we'll cover it from the DDs view in a future video. Others have done the battle from a high level. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!

@manilajohn0182 3 дня назад

@@BearingStraight I'd like to point out that U.S. fire control radar was not the cure- all during WW2 that it's widely believed to have been. It was only a very marginally more accurate method (particularly at shorter ranges) of determining where the firing ship wanted its shells to land. Where the shells would actually land was determined by shell dispersion, and shell dispersion in U.S. battleships was among the highest of any navy in WW2. Washington's gunnery at Second Guadalcanal was average when one remembers that the ship was firing on Kirishima from close right down to point- blank range. The most recent expedition to Kirishima's wreck has determined that many of the shell impacts previously believed to have been 16" hits are in fact 5" hits. So far, the number of 16" hits is in line with Admiral Lee's original estimate of about nine, although the hull is upside down and another expedition is currently planned. The biggest advantage of U.S. Navy fire control radar was remote power control, which was the ability of the radar to directly maintain the ship's main battery on target in all conditions. The U.S. Navy however, did not develop specific tactics to utilize this advantage during WW2.