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!W
NE

SINKING USS GEORGE

OF THE H.W. BUSH
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DESTROYED BY AN REMEMBERED
ANCIENT WEAPON

BATTLE OF
TSUSHIMA
FIRST ‘MODERN’
WARFARE AT SEA

HMS
LADYBIRD
AND THE ‘PANAY
INCIDENT’

FEB 2019
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Named after Horatio Nelson, most famous for his victory at the Battle of
Trafalgar, HMS Nelson, was the lead ship of the two Nelson-class battleships
along with HMS Rodney. The class is noted for having the main armament
installed ahead of the superstructure.

19 19 19 19 19
22 25 27 31 34

Laid down on 28 December Nelson was launched on Commissioned into the Royal Nelson collided with SS West Nelson ran aground on
and built by Armstrong- 3 September and became Navy on 15 August and joined Wales in foggy conditions off Hamilton’s Shoal near
Whitworth. flagship of the Home Fleet. her sister ship HMS Rodney in Cape Gilano, Spain, though Portsmouth as she was about
November. neither vessel was badly to set sail with the Home Fleet
damaged. The crew of Nelson to the West Indies.
took part in the Invergordon
Sailors of the South African Royal Naval Volunteer Mutiny in September, when
Reserve sat on one of Nelson’s 16in gun barrels. 1,000 sailors of the British
Atlantic Fleet took part in
strike action, one of only a
few military strikes in British
history.

3 WORLD of warships magazine november 2018

SPECIFICATION
Length 710ft, Beam 106ft, Draught 33ft, Surface
Dimensions
displacement 34,500 tons.
8x Admiralty super-heated boilers with 2x Brown-Curtis
Propulsion single reduction geared turbines producing 45,000hp to 2x
shafts.
Speed/Range 24 knots, 28mph, 7,000nm, 8,055 miles.
Compliment 1,360.
9x 16in BL Mk I main guns. HMS Nelson firing her 16in guns during a practice shoot.
12x 6in Mk XXII guns.
6x 4.7in QF Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns.
Firepower
48x QF 2-pounder AA guns.
16x 40mm AA guns.
61x 20mm AA guns.
Air wing 1x Floatplane Aircraft.
Nelson had a main internal belt of side armour. The armour
Protection protecting the magazines and machinery, varied between
thicknesses of 13-14in.
Nelson went through several colour changes during her time
in service, from different shades of grey to the Admiralty
Camouflage
Disruptive camouflage and it’s possible that at one stage she
was painted dark brown.

19 19 19 19 19
39 40 41 42 43

Nelson provided support Nelson was deployed in the While assigned to Force H in As flagship of Force H, Nelson In September, General Dwight
during salvage and rescue English Channel and also spent the Mediterranean, Nelson was performed escort duties for D. Eisenhower and Marshal
operations of the submarine some time at Rosyth in case of badly damaged by an Italian supply convoys to Malta in Pietro Badoglio signed the
HMS Spearfish. During the an invasion. Royal Air Force torpedo strike August and also gave her Italian long armistice while on
year, Nelson managed to and was out of action until support at Operation Torch, board Nelson.
evade German cruisers and 1942. an Anglo-American invasion
destroyers deployed in the of French North Africa in
North Sea, though she was November.
hit by torpedoes from U-56,
amazingly none of them
exploded. But in December
Nelson struck a mine laid by
U-31 and was then laid up for
repairs until the following year.
 19 19 19 19 19
44 45 46 48 49

Nelson supported the
Normandy landings but struck
two sea mines and was sent
to the Philadelphia Naval
Shipyard, Pennsylvania for
repairs.
Nelson took part in Operation Nelson was reassigned as a Decommissioned in February Sold to Thos W. Ward for
Livery, a series of naval strikes training ship. and used as target practice for scrapping.
on Japanese occupied Malaya aerial bombing.
and when the Japanese
surrendered they were kept on
board the battleship.

RIGHT: The Fleet Review of 1937 with HMS Nelson in the

foreground and anchored behind are two Queen Elizabeth class
battleships and two London class cruisers.

BELOW: Nelson in Mers-el-Kebir during Operation Torch in 1942.

november 2018 WORLD of warships magazine 5

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER:
Royal Navy Type 23 ON THE
Frigate, HMS Montrose BACK: USS
during Marstrike 05. Alabama
PHOTO: Mick Storey (BB-60)
©Crown copyright USS Alabama (BB-60)
during a
2005. snowstorm.
during a
snowstorm.

Welcome to Issue 5 of the World of

Warships Magazine, it doesn’t seem
12 08
five minutes since the first issue was
printed and now the next one will be
celebrating six months.
This month, Derek Fox, who lives in
Portsmouth, and has sent in several
photographs taken by him of warships,
as they visit the harbour, has this
44
time, written a piece about his late
grandfather Ernie Fox and his time in
the Navy. His story is about the river
gunboat HMS Ladybird which Ernie
served on and the part it played when
36
the USS Panay was sunk by Japanese
aircraft in 1937.
The magazine also features Part two
of the story of torpedoes, USS George
H.W. Bush whose namesake the former
President, passed away in November
2018. We also have the Sinking of the
Blücher, the Battle of Tsushima, the
Italian battleship Andrea Doria, USS
Independence superbly painted by
Andy Hay, naval news from around the
world and much more.
50
Please feel free to get involved with
the magazine by emailing me at
wowm.ed@kelsey.co.uk
52
Don’t miss an issue, the magazine is
available from WH Smith and all good
newsagents or see pages 42-43 for an
enticing subscription offer.
Enjoy the mag.

Charles Waters.
Editor

6 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRuary 2019

 World of Warships Magazine
Kelsey Media
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EDITORIAL
Editor: Charles Waters
Email: wowm.ed@kelsey.co.uk
Contributors: Andrew Hay, Rebecca Screaton, Patrick
Boniface, Allan George, Campbell McCutcheon, Derek Fox
Designer: Mark Aston
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FOLD-OUT USS GEORGE
03 GATEFOLD FEATURE 30 H.W. BUSH Production:
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NEWS the United States, USS George H.W.
08 The latest Naval news from Bush is the 10th and last, Nimitz-class
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THE SINKING OF THE WAR AT SEA
12 THE BLUCHER 36 PART 5
Publishing Operations Manager: Charlotte Whittaker
Retail Distribution Managers: Eleanor Brown/ Steve
To her ship’s company the heavy cruiser By 1918, the war was beginning to Brown
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R-BOATS German High Command decided to
16 R-boats were a group of small make a great push and planned an
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18 TORPEDOES - PART 2
In part two, we look at the part HMS LADYBIRD Kelsey Media 2019 © all rights reserved. Kelsey Media is a

torpedoes played in both World Wars

and study some of the various types
produced.
44 While researching his late
grandfather Ernie Fox’s Royal Navy
career, Derek Fox discovered that one
of the ships he served on was the river
trading name of Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Reproduction in whole
or in part is forbidden except with permission in writing from
the publishers. Note to contributors: articles submitted for
consideration by the editor must be the original work of the
author and not previously published. Where photographs

ANDREA DORIA gunboat HMS Ladybird in China. are included, which are not the property of the contributor,
21 The Italian battleship, named permission to reproduce them must have been obtained
from the owner of the copyright. The editor cannot guarantee
after the 16th century Genoese admiral, ZUBR-CLASS (LCAC) AIR-
saw very little action during either
50 CUSHIONED LANDING CRAFT
a personal response to all letters and emails received. The
views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of
World War. Amphibious machines that are able the Editor or the Publisher. Kelsey Publishing Ltd accepts no
to cross from water to land to supply liability for products and services offered by third parties.

BATTLE OF fighting men and equipment are among

24 TSUSHIMA - PART 1
The Battle of Tsushima in 1905
between the Japanese and Russian
navies was as much of a watershed as
was Trafalgar.
the most versatile of any navy and have
been around since the 1980s.
USS INDEPENDENCE
52 USS Independence, is the lead
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HMS OCEAN modern corvettes in service with the
28 A Merlin Mk3 helicopter of 845 United States Navy, which have been
Naval Air Squadron working from the designed using the latest seaborne
flight deck on-board HMS Ocean. stealth technology.

7
 TRUMAN STRIKE GROUP RETURNS
Almost 6,500 sailors from the Harry S. missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60),
Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) and Destroyer Squadron Two Eight
returned to Naval Station Norfolk in (DESRON 28) guided-missile destroyers
December following an eight-month USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) and
deployment. USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98), were
Ships from the strike group, including welcomed by friends and family after
flagship USS Harry S. Truman, guided- completing operations in the US Second,
Family and friends wait on the pier for sailors aboard the
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) to
return to Naval Station Norfolk. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass
Communication Specialist 2nd Class Anthony Flynn/Released)
Fifth and Sixth Fleet areas of operation.
HSTCSG deployed in April for a
regularly scheduled deployment as
part of the ongoing rotation of forward
deployed forces to support maritime
security operations and operate in
international waters across the globe.
Several strike group units returned to
Norfolk in July for a working port visit,
until August, when they departed to
continue their deployment. The strike
group’s ships and aircraft conducted a
variety of missions, including forward
naval presence, maritime security
operations, and theatre security
cooperation. The strike group also
participated in numerous bi-lateral and
multi-lateral engagements, including
Lightning Handshake 2018, Baltic
Operations 2018 and Trident Juncture
2018; as well as operations alongside
Germany, Italy, France, the UK, Egypt
and Norway.

TWENTY YEARS SERVICE

HMAS Arunta recently
celebrated 20 years’ service
with a seafood buffet and
birthday cake prepared
by the ship’s Maritime
Logistics staff.
Launched in June 1996
and commissioned on 12
December 1998, Arunta is
the second of eight
Australian Anzac-class
frigates built by Tenix
Defence Systems at
Williamstown, Victoria.
Currently berthed at
Henderson Shipyard,
Western Australia, Arunta is
the first of the Anzac
class to undergo the
Anzac Midlife Capability
Assurance Program
(AMCAP) upgrade, which
the ship is due to complete Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 ship’s name and original
in February 2019. and Lingayen Gulf in 1945. motto ‘Conquer or Die’
The AMCAP upgrade is The name ‘Arunta’ recognises the ship’s proud
being implemented by the comes from the Arrernte history and the ongoing and
Warship Asset Management Aboriginal people located special relationship with the
Agreement (WAMA) in central Australia. The Arrernte Aboriginal people.
Alliance, which is a strategic
partnership between
the Commonwealth of
Australia, BAE Systems,
SAAB Australia, and Naval
Ship Management Australia.
The current Arunta is
the second Australian
warship to carry the
name – Arunta (I) was
a Tribal-class destroyer
commissioned in 1942.
The ship served with
distinction in New Guinea Cutting HMAS Arunta’s birthday cake are, from left, Executive Officer HMAS Arunta
and the Pacific between LCDR Aaron Scott, SMNMT Charley Klaster, and the Command Warrant Officer
1942-1944, and at the WOMT Kenneth McPherson.

8 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019

 Upgrades for the Royal
New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy is currently
undergoing some major upgrades to take
it into the next few decades.
Priding itself as having ‘The Best Small
Navy In The World’, the New Zealand
Government has decided to upgrade and
replace some of its vessels which include:-
●● 2 x ANZAC-class frigates – HMNZS
Te Kaha and Te Mana, with the former
currently alongside Esquimalt in
Victoria BC where Lockheed Maritime
Canada has undertaken the task of a
major upgrade. Upon her return to
Devonport, Auckland, her sister will sail
for Canada for her turn;
●● 2 x Protector-class offshore patrol
vessels – HMNZS Otago and
Wellington. These corvettes, which,
like the above frigates were built in
Australia, are based upon Naval Service
of Ireland’s Róisín-class large patrol
vessels;
●● 4 x Lake-class inshore patrol vessels –
HMNZ Ships Hawea, Pukaki, Rotoiti and
Taupo were constructed locally; and,
●● Protector-class multi-role vessel –
HMAS Canterbury is an amphibious
and military sealift vessel built in the
Netherlands and based upon the Isle of
Man RoRo vessel mv Ben-my-Chee.
Additional vessels are soon to be
commissioned into the RNZN to replace
recently decommissioned vessels:-
●● HMNZS Endeavour – a 1987 vintage
fleet replenishment vessel that
decommissioned in 2017;
●● HMNZS Manawanui – a 1988
vintage diving support vessel that
decommissioned in 2018; and,
●● HMNZS Resolution – a 1997 vintage
hydrographic research vessel that
decommissioned in 2012.
The two replacements for these three
vessels will include:-
●● HMNZS Aotearoa – a Polar-class
support vessel under construction at
Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea. It
will be ice-strengthened and winterised
to withstand the extreme weather
conditions of the Southern Ocean
and Antarctica. It is also the world’s
first naval vessel to incorporate Rolls-
Royce’s ‘Environship’ technology,
that includes a wave-piercing bow to
reduced resistance and improve fuel
consumption.
●● Aotearoa will be the RNZN’s largest
ever ship at about 35,500 tonnes full-
load, and 173.3 x 24.5 x 8.5 metres.
She will be propelled by 2x Bergen
Main Engines and 4x MTU Generators
(CODLAL) driving twin screws for 6,400
miles at 16 knots. She will be armed
with a single Phalanx 20mm CIWS and
carry a NH90 medium helicopter in her
hangar. She will have the capacity to
carry 12 x TEUs. The vessel is due to
commission during 2020 and members
of her crew are currently undertaking
training at HMS Raleigh in Cornwall;
●● HMNZS Manawanui – a dive and
hydrographic vessel based on
Østensjø Rederi of Norway’s offshore
support vessel mv Edda Fonn that
was purchased by the New Zealand
Government last year. She is currently
undergoing outfitting modifications
in England prior to commissioning in
November this year.
Manawanui will provide the RNZN
with the dual functions of diving and
hydrographic work within the South
Pacific, and will displace 5,741tonnes,
and be 84.7 x 18 x 6.8 metres. Her 4x AC
diesel electric engines will drive her twin
azimuth pods at a speed of 15 knots for
7,000 miles. She has 3x bow-thrusters for
positioning purposes. She may be armed
with a single 12.7mm 50cal Mini-Typhoon
HMG.
There has also been some speculation
that the RNZN may receive a third
offshore patrol vessel to support the
nation’s interest in Antarctica and the
Southern Ocean. Again like HMNZS
Aotearoa, the vessel would have an
ice-strengthened hull and be winterised
to enable her to cope with the extreme
weather conditions that she would face.
Given the above, all appears rosy to
allow the RNZN to continue to live up to
its reputation as ‘The Best Small Navy In
The World’.
Images courtesy of the Royal New Zealand Navy website.

NEW SHIP NAMED USS ST. LOUIS

The United States Navy
christened its newest
Freedom-variant littoral
combat ship, USS St. Louis
(LCS 19), during a ceremony
on Saturday, 15 December, in
Marinette, Wisconsin.
USS St. Louis, designated
LCS 19, honours Missouri’s
major port city along the
Mississippi river. She is the
seventh ship to bear the
name St. Louis. The first was
a sloop of war, the second a
Civil War gunboat, followed
by a Spanish-American
War-era steamer troop ship,
a First World War cruiser,
a Second World War light
cruiser, and a Cold War era
attack cargo ship.
Barbara Taylor, wife of Andy
Taylor, chairman of Enterprise
Holdings, the largest
privately held company in
St. Louis, serves as the ship’s
sponsor. In a time-honoured
Navy tradition, the ship was
christened by the breaking
of a bottle of sparkling wine
across the bow.
“USS St. Louis, honours
not just the great city of
St. Louis, Missouri, but
also the skilled industrial
workforce who built this
ship,” said Secretary of the
Navy Richard V. Spencer.
USS St. Louis is a fast, agile,
focused-mission platform
designed for operation in
near-shore environments
as well as the open-ocean.
It is designed to defeat A graphic representation of the future
asymmetric ‘anti-access’ littoral combat ship USS St. Louis
threats such as mines, quiet (LCS-19). (US Navy photo by Mass
diesel submarines and fast Communication Specialist 2nd Class Paul
surface craft. Archer/Released).

FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 9

 Successful first patrol
for HMAS Ballarat
Over seven days, the
Australian warship
conducted joint
operations with the
United States Coast
Guard and the Iraqi
and Kuwaiti navies, and
carried out almost 90
vessel boardings and
approaches.
Ballarat finished
the patrol in Kuwait,
taking the opportunity
to reaffirm a Defence
relationship that has
existed since Australia
helped liberate the
country in 1991.
Commander Paul
Johnson, said spirits on
board were justifiably
high after the strong
start to the nine-month
deployment.
“The crew has trained
hard to get to this
point. It is pleasing to
see that not only has
that work enabled us
to operate safely in a
complex environment
but also allowed
us to showcase the
professionalism of the
HMAS Ballarat (centre), with the United States Coast Guard vessels USCGS Maui (distant) and Adak conduct
a combined patrol in the North Arabian Gulf, in support of the Combined Task Force 152’s mission to
promote regional stability and security.
10 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
men and women of the
Royal Australian Navy
to our partners in the
region,” Commander
Johnson said.  and a clearance diving
“The team has made
a strong start to the
deployment and I am
proud of what we have
achieved. We have a
long way to go but I
have every confidence in
the crew as we continue
to contribute to maritime
security in the Middle
East region.”
An official reception
was held on Ballarat to
mark the warship’s visit
to Kuwait City.
Australia’s
Ambassador to Kuwait,
His Excellency Jonathan
Gilbert attended the
event. Mr Gilbert said
Australia was one of
the first nations to step
forward to help liberate
Kuwait in 1991.
More than 1800
Australian Defence
Force personnel were
deployed to the region
from August 1990
to September 1991.
Australia’s contribution
included seven Royal
Australian Navy vessels
team.
Mr Gilbert said
Australia was proud to
have stood alongside
Kuwait and our
Coalition partners
during the liberation.
Ballarat visited Kuwait
from 1 to 5 December
2018. During her first
patrol, the Anzac frigate
and her 189-strong
crew operated in direct
support to Combined
Task Force 152, which is
responsible for security
in the Arabian Gulf. 
Ballarat is an
Australian warship
deployed on Operation
MANITOU, which is
the Australian Defence
Force’s contribution
to international efforts
to promote maritime
security, stability and
prosperity in the Middle
East and North Africa
regions.
Artist impression courtesy of
Naval Group Australia.
NAVY’S
FUTURE
SUBMARINE
CLASS
NAMED
The Royal Australian Navy’s
future submarines will be named
the Attack class, with the first
submarine being named HMAS
Attack.
Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral
Noonan AO RAN, said the name
‘Attack’, represents the inherent
stealth, long-range endurance and
lethality of a submarine.
“The future submarine
project is a major part of the
Naval Shipbuilding Plan, and,
it is appropriate that the class
name be established now given
the significant effort already
underway to introduce this
critical capability that will protect
Australia’s security and prosperity
for decades to come,” Vice
Admiral Noonan said.
“This is the second time the
Royal Australian Navy has used
the name Attack, with the name
previously used for the class of
Patrol Boats that served from
1967 to 1985.
“The name Attack along with
its motto ‘Never Waver’ captures
the tradition of tenacity and
determination within the Australian
Submarine service,” VADM
Noonan said.
 KOREAN VISIT
Two South Korean and an
American warship made visits
to Portsmouth in November
2018, they are the ROK
frigate Chung Mu Gong Yi
Sun Shin (975) and the tanker
ROK Daecheong (58), and
visiting for what was possibly
the first time in its career was
USS Gunston Hall (LPD-44).
Photos Derek Fox
BACK FROM FIGHTER JET TRIALS
Royal Navy aircraft carrier, HMS
Queen Elizabeth, sailed back into
Portsmouth recently, after a successful
completion of initial fast jet trials in
America, marking a new era in UK
Carrier Strike capability.
The 65,000-tonne carrier’s first
transatlantic deployment, which
began in August, saw her embark
two F-35B Lightning II test aircraft,
HMS Queen Elizabeth
back in Portsmouth after
successful fighter jet trials.
Photo Derek Fox.
RIGHT: Korean
frigate Chung Mu
Gong Yi Sun Shin.
BELOW: The Korean
tanker Daecheong.
BELOW RIGHT: USS
Gunston Hall.
from the Integrated Test Force
(ITF) based out of Naval Air Station
Patuxent River, Maryland. She also
conducted an historic, week-long visit
to New York.
During the Development Trials, the
jets conducted 202 takeoffs from the
ship’s ski ramp, 187 vertical landings,
and 15 shipborne vertical landings
(SRVL) – a landing technique unique
to the UK. They also dropped 54 inert
bombs, testing the weight loading in
a variety of weather conditions and
sea states. The operating envelopes
will be further expanded during
Operational Trials, scheduled for next
year.
HMS Queen Elizabeth, will remain
in Portsmouth during the early part of
2019 undergoing maintenance.
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 11
FEATURE

THE
SINKING

To her ship’s company the heavy cruiser Blücher was the epitome of a fighting ship.
She bristled with heavy armament and her sleek lines and attractive appearance made
her a distinctive vessel with the Kreigsmarine. She also posed a considerable threat
to the Royal Navy. The crew aboard Blücher had longed to do battle with their British
counterparts but it was sadly never to be because on April 9 1940, the cruiser’s short
career came to a premature and spectacular end, destroyed by an ancient weapon.
12 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
 lücher was built by Deutsche
Weke in Keil and laid down on
15 May 1936. The ship was
launched on 8 June 1937. She
was a member of the Hipper
class of heavy cruisers alongside
sister ships Hipper, Prinz Eugen
and Lutzow, which was later handed
to the Soviet Union, and uncompleted Seydlitz.
Armed with eight 8in guns in four main turrets,
two aft and two forward and supported by a
secondary armament of 12x 4.1in, 12x 1.5in
and eight 20mm guns, plus six 21in torpedo
tubes. An Arado floatplane was positioned
amidships for reconnaissance and observation
purposes. Her Blohm and Voss manufactured
steam turbines drew steam from 12 ultra high
pressure oil fired boilers which together could
generate 132,000shp, enough to drive the twin
shafts and three bladed propellers to a top Hitler’s plan to
speed of 32 knots.
Hitler’s plan to dominate Europe saw him dominate Europe saw
blitzkrieg through the Low Countries in early
1940. On 8 April, he turned his attention
him blitzkrieg through
northwards in order to annex the states of the Low Countries in
Denmark and Norway and bring them under
Nazi control. Hitler’s plan was codenamed early 1940
Operation Wasserubung. This massive
undertaking demanded the presence of
virtually every available and serviceable ship
in the German fleet, in order to seize and
control the conquered territories.
For the Blücher this meant being assigned
to Warship Group 5 with the objective of
seizing the Norwegian capital city of Oslo.
She became the flagship of Konteradmiral
Oskar Kummetz. Such was the need for
ships for the operation that it was decided
the new Blücher could do without extensive
sea trials and work up before undertaking
the operation. In fact, only ten days before
she sailed she had been receiving last
minute modifications and improvements ➤

OPPOSITE TOP:The
launching of Blücher at
Kiel on 8 June 1937.

LEFT: Starboard view

of the Admiral Hipper
class Second World
War German warship
Blücher.

FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 13

FEATURE
to her systems. Her ship’s company
were mostly green and inexperienced
and hadn’t had time to create a spirit
d’corps. Despite the protestations of
the Commander of the Kreigsmarine,
Blücher was assigned to the operation.
Another vessel taking part was
Deutschland (renamed Lutzow in
1940), Germany’s only operational
pocket battleship, again against the
wishes of the Commander in Chief
of the Kreigsmarine. The light cruiser
Emden, three torpedo boats, eight
motor minesweepers and various
other support vessels backed up the
heavy units. On board, in addition to
their crews, these ships carried 2,000
soldiers and a detachment of Gestapo
personnel.
Under the plan, German forces were
to capture all of Norway’s principal
ports in the morning of 9 April, without
a prior declaration of war. Erich Reader
wrote in his decree of execution:
“The Fuhrer and Supreme Commander,
in order to ensure vital German interests,
has imposed upon the Wehrmacht a
task, the success of which is of decisive
importance to the war.
“The execution and
protection of the
landing
14 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
operations by the Kreigsmarine will take
place mainly in an area in which not
German, but England with her superior
naval forces, is able to exercise control
of the sea. In spite of this we must
succeed and we will, if every leader is
conscious of the greatness of his task
and makes a supreme effort to reach
the objective assigned to him.
“It is impossible to anticipate the
course of events and the situations
which may arise locally. Experience
shows that luck and success are on the
side of him who is eager to discharge
his responsibilities with boldness,
tenacity and skill.
“The prerequisites for the success of
the operation are surprise and rapid
action. I expect the senior officer of
every group and every commanding
office to be governed by an inflexible
determination to reach the port
assigned to him in the face of any
difficulty that may arise. I expect them
to enter ports of disembarkation with
the utmost resolution, not allowing
themselves to be deterred by the
holding and defence measures of the
local commanders, not by guard ships
and coastal fortifications…resistance is
to be broken ruthlessly…”
The Norwegian Government knew
nothing of the planned invasion, and
as a peaceful country with a tiny navy
and army, there was never any doubt
of the outcome of the invasion.
The elderly minelayer Olav Tryggvason
lay at the mouth of the fjord that
leads to Oslo. With her was a pair of
minesweepers.
On April 9, the Germans set their
plan in motion. The approach of the
warships was initially a ruse to confuse
the Norwegians. The German ships
signalled the defenders saying, “I am
pulling in with the permission of the
Norwegian Government. Escorting
officer on board.”
The ruse didn’t last long as within
minutes the Norwegians signalled to all
positions to "Douse all lights forthwith."
On receipt of the order, all lights in the
fjord went dark – the Germans had lost
the element of surprise.
At 23.06, the small Norwegian patrol
boat Pol III raised the alarm while
trying to ram the German torpedo boat
Albatross. The German ship opened
fire and Pol III’s commanding officer
Leif Welding Olsen lost both his legs.
Later Winston Churchill wrote of the
Norwegian’s courage stating: “Her gun
was smashed and the commander had
both legs shot off. To avoid unnerving
his men he rolled himself overboard
and died nobly.” Fourteen of his crew
were captured.
Blücher’s plan was to reach Oslo at
05.00 and put men ashore who
would race to the Royal
Palace of King Haakan II
and place him and
As the Blücher
approached, a
searchlight lit her
up in the dark of
the morning light.
Eriksen ordered
his two manned
guns to open
fire at a range of
1,500 yards.
ABOVE: Starboard view of the
Admiral Hipper class Second World
War German warship Blücher.
LEFT: Blücher on fire and sinking.
his family in custody. Navigating the
Oslofjorden at night without the aid of
lighthouses was a tricky proposition. The
hardest part is where the fjord tightens at
the Drobak Narrows. Here the width of
the channel is just some 600 yards wide.
Defending the narrows was the fortress
of Oscarborg sited on the island of South
Kaholmen. The defenders at Oscarborg
had been alerted to the approaching
German warships and made preparations
to use their mostly obsolete weapons
to attempt to stop them. The main
weapons at the fort were three vintage
1892 Krupp 11in guns. Known as 'Josua',
'Mossessan' and 'Aron'. Each gun had a
rate of fire of about one shell every four
or five minutes.
On the eastern side of the fjord
three 6in guns were located at Husvik
and a further pair of six-pounders was
positioned on the foreshore. At Nesit
on the western side of the fjord was
another battery – that took no part in
the destruction of Blücher.
At Oscarborg the fortress
commander, Colonel Birger Kr Eriksen
only had two sergeants and 23 young
trainees to fire the guns. Some of the
trainees had only been at the fort for
nine days.
As the Blücher approached, a
searchlight lit her up in the dark of the
morning light. Eriksen ordered his two
manned guns to open fire at a range of
1,500 yards.
The antiquated guns took time
to fire and in that time Blücher was
considerably closer, perhaps as near as
500 yards. The two shots fired found
their target striking the heavy cruiser
with devastating effect hitting the
hanger for the Arado floatplane and
setting the aviation fuel alight. The
second shell smashed into the foretop
killing the anti-aircraft commander,
Kapitanleutnant Hans Erik Pochhammer
and those around him.
In response, Kapitan Heinrich
Woldag ordered Blücher’s engines
to full speed but the two shells had
caused considerable damage and
Blücher started to turn in a circle. As
the heavy cruiser steered by varying the
revolutions of her propellers she was
repeatedly hit by shells from the ancient
batteries on the eastern side of the
fjord. All the while the fires amidships
started to burn out of control.
Half a mile north of Oscarborg the
Norwegian Navy maintained a torpedo
battery on the small island of North
Kaholmen. The crew of the installation
fired two ancient Whitehead 50cm
torpedoes at Blücher. The pair hit the
German cruiser and ripped open the
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
port side. Water started to pour into the
crippled ship.
At 06.30 a magazine exploded
followed by a huge column of black and
grey smoke. Half an hour later Blücher
had a list of 45 degrees and by 07.31
she had slipped beneath the waters
of Oslofjorden. As she sank, further
explosions were heard. Her crew of 2,500
had to swim the 500 yards to safety
through the frigid waters which was full
of burning oil. In all about 1,000 German
sailors died on board the Blücher.
Her fight to defeat the Germans
continued, but Norwegian opposition
faded against the impossible odds.
The fortress at Oscarborg was bombed
by Luftwaffe aircraft as well as being
pounded from the 28cm guns of the
pocket battleship Lutzow. The fortress
eventually surrendered but their
courage and fortitude was recognised
in the terms of surrender. A clause read:
“it is agreed the brave defenders of the
fortress may hoist the Norwegian flag
next to the German flag."
The sinking of the Blücher and the
defiant stand by Norwegian forces
bought time in which King Haakan II
and his entire family and cabinet could
escape to Great Britain and plan for
their eventual return after the defeat of
Nazi Germany in 1945. ■
15
FEATURE

R-boats were a group of small motor torpedo boats

built primarily as minesweepers for the German navy
before and during the Second World War.

16 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019

 A
total of 424 R-boats were built
and apart from minesweeping,
they were used for convoy escort,
coastal patrol and search and
rescue missions.
Approximately 140 R-boats survived
the war and these were distributed
between the Allies, although post-war,
some were transferred back to the
German navy – Bundesmarine – and
were still in use up until the late 1960s.
After the Second World War, the
German Mine Sweeping Association
(GMSA), was formed by the Allies
of former crews and ships of the
Kriegsmarine – German Navy –
supervised by the Royal Navy.
They were used mainly in the North
Sea and Baltic Sea for mine sweeping
missions after the Second War War. The
missions ended in 1948.

SPECIFICATION

Length 134.9ft, Beam

19ft, Draught 5.2ft,
Dimensions
Surface displacement
160 tons.
2x MAN diesel-fuelled
marine engines
Propulsion
producing 1,836hp to
2x shafts.
Speed 20 knots,
Speed/
23mph. Range
Range
1,099nm, 1,265 miles.
Compliment 38

1x 37mm C/30 cannon.

2-6x 20mm cannons.

Firepower 4x 7.92mm machine

guns.
Naval mines, depth
charges and torpedo
tubes as required.

Second World War German R-boat

mine sweepers in 1939.

FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 17

Weaponry

TORPEDOES Part 2

In part two, we look at

the part torpedoes played
in both World wars and
study some of the various
types produced.
ABOVE: A Type-91 on the Imperial Japanese Navy
aircraft carrier Akagi.
LEFT: A Type-93 torpedo.

T
orpedoes were used extensively
throughout the First World A torpedo being launched in 1916
War, both against shipping and
submarines. Germany disrupted
supply lines to Britain using torpedoes
but the German U-boats were
themselves targeted by the British and
its allies, with approximately 20 sunk by
torpedo fire.
The Imperial Japanese Navy
experimented with pure oxygen instead
of compressed air and after a series
of explosions they abandoned the
project to return to it later and by 1933
they had a working oxygen-powered
torpedo.
With the inevitable costs of the First
World War, most countries were lacking
funds to be able to test new torpedoes
and heading towards the Second World
War, only one country had produced a
new model. This was the Japanese Type
93 nicknamed ‘Long Lance’ a name
given to it by the post war historian
Samuel E. Morrison.
The American submarine torpedoes
suffered from a lack of reliability in the
Pacific Theatre, and it was the Japanese
leading the way again with their Type-
91 aerial torpedo of 1931, which had
been developed especially for attacking
ships in harbours. The torpedo used
wooden aerodynamic stabilisers
attached to the tail fins which were shed
upon entry to the water and they had an
advanced acceleration control system
which could control rolling movement
enabling the torpedo to be dropped at
speed by the Nakajima B5N torpedo
bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
In the Second World War, most
classes of ships, submarines and aircraft

18 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine february 2019

were armed with torpedoes and this
firepower was utilised in most naval
strategies. As battleships were heavily
armoured, a method of detonating the
torpedo while it was right under the
ship was developed as this was the
ship’s Achilles heel.
Germany, Britain and the USA devised
methods, although both Germany and
the USA struggled with their depth-
keeping mechanisms as the torpedoes
had to maintain a depth lower than
previous types, but eventually all
countries had a suitable weapon.
The British successfully sank three
Italian battleships at Taranto by
torpedo fire which came from the Royal
Navy’s Fleet Air Arm Swordfish – but
not until after a mistaken attack on
HMS Sheffield – which was very soon
aborted.
Large tonnages of merchant shipping
were sunk during both World Wars
by submarines with torpedoes. While
hostilities raged, a range of small fast
torpedo boats were being built, such
as the Motor Torpedo Boats or (MTBs)
of the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian
Navy, while the Americans had PT boats
which were torpedo-armed fast attack
craft and the Germans had their S-boats
which again were fast and heavily
armed.
The largest warship to be sunk by
february 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
a torpedo from a small craft during
the Second World War, was the British
cruiser HMS Manchester which was
sunk by Italian MAS boats – Motoscafo
Armato Silurante – a fast torpedo-
armed vessel.
Torpedo attacks featured widely
in the main naval battles of the war
namely the Battle of Samar which was
at the centre of the Battle of Leyte Gulf,
the Battle of the North Cape when
the German battleship Scharnhorst
was hit by torpedoes from the British
destroyers, Savage and Saumarez which
slowed the vessel down enough to be
caught and sunk by HMS Duke of York.
The Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro, ➤
19
Weaponry
was sunk by torpedo fire by the British
26th Destroyer Flotilla led by Saumarez.
After the war, when submarines
became faster and stronger, so too did
the torpedoes with improved motors
and warheads.
Nuclear-powered submarines which
didn’t need to surface very often
became an essential asset during the
Cold War period particularly those
which carried nuclear missiles.
Over the years, there have been
a number of energy sources used to
propel the missiles, one of them being
compressed air. As mentioned in part
one, the first successful self-propelled
torpedo was the Whitehead model of
1866, powered by compressed air. It
could travel at 6.5 knots and had a range
of 200 yards. By 1906, speed was up to
35 knots, 65kph and a range of 1,100
yards.
The Brennan torpedo of 1877, had
two wires wound around an internal
drum, and shore-based winches pulled
the wires which spun the drum and
drove the propellers. Speeds of 27
knots, 31mph and a distance of up to
2,000 yards could be achieved.
In the 19th century, the US Navy used
the Howell torpedo which featured
a flywheel which had to be spun up
before launch. It could travel 400 yards
at a speed of 25 knots, but it left no trail
giving the target less chance to avoid it.
Then there were heated torpedoes,
with the Whitehead company starting
construction of a heated torpedo in
1904. Passing the air through an engine,
led to the idea of injecting a liquid fuel
into the air and lighting it. This caused
the air around the torpedo to heat up
causing expansion and the burnt gasses
added more drive to the engine.
Wet-heater torpedoes was another
20 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine february 2019
RIGHT: Loading 21in RNTF
Mark VIII torpedoes in to a
Vickers Wellington in May
1942.
BELOW: MTBs pictured in
June 1944.
concept, which involved a method of
water-cooling the combustion chamber
of the fuel burning torpedo, which in
turn generated more power.
As the amount of fuel a torpedo
engine can burn is limited by the
amount of oxygen it can carry, the use
of compressed oxygen was developed
by the Japanese for their Type 93
torpedo. Though the sole use of
oxygen was in itself dangerous, when
ships carrying such weapons came
under attack a number of secondary
explosions caused extensive damage
and because of this, Japan lost several
cruisers.
Electrical systems used on
torpedoes leave no tell tale signs of
it coming, which was ideal for this
type of armament. The first electric
powered torpedo was designed by
John Ericsson, a Swedish-American
inventor in 1873. Germany produced
ABOVE: The Howell torpedo at the Naval War College Museum, Newport, Rhode
Island.
LEFT: German Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) S-13 in the 1930s.
its G7e battery-powered torpedo just
before the Second World War, but it
wasn’t a success as it needed constant
maintenance. The USA had their Mark
18 which was very similar to the German
design but with improved batteries.
Modern electric torpedoes such as
the Mark 24 Tigerfish of the Royal Navy
used silver oxide batteries that were
maintenance free and so torpedoes
could be stored for years.
Soon after Whitehead’s invention, a
number of rocket-propelled torpedoes
were tried with little success, although
the Soviet Union had a successful
example in its VA-111 Shkval torpedo
which was designed in the 1960/70s.
Today’s torpedoes have a choice
of drive mechanisms including, gas-
turbines and monopropellants.
In part 3, we look at guided and
unguided torpedoes, warheads,
detonation and damage. ■
battleship

The Italian battleship, named after the 16th century Genoese

admiral, saw very little action during either World War.

A
ndrea Doria, was laid down on
24 March 1912 at the La Spezia
shipyard in Naples, and was
launched a year later on 30 March
1913. She wasn’t completed until 1916
and from November 1918, she was
based in Taranto, Southern Italy.
In November 1918, she sailed to
Corfu and remained there until February
1919, and after a brief return to Taranto,
she sailed to Constantinople in July
1919. Here she joined an Allied fleet
and didn’t return to Taranto until early
November 1919.
Having played no real part in the First
World War, Andrea Doria remained in
service, as most of the Italian fleet had
been demobilised to provide crews to
bring back ex-German warships that
had been awarded to Italy after the
signing of the Treaty of Versailles on ➤

Right elevation and deck plan

of the Andrea Doria battleship.

FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 21

battleship
28 June 1919, which ultimately ended
the state of war between Germany and
the Allied Powers.
After the Treaty of Rapallo was signed
in November 1920, which ended the
dispute over territories between the
Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Andrea
Doria was sent to remove the rebellious
forces of General d’Annunzio who had
ignored the treaty and had declared
war on Italy. After his headquarters had
been shelled by Andrea Doria, and
he had sustained injuries, d’Annunzio
surrendered.
In 1923, Andrea Doria was deployed
during the Corfu Incident, a diplomatic
and military crisis between Greece
and Italy, which had been triggered
by the killing of an Italian general
and members of his staff after trying
22 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
to resolve a border dispute between
Albania and Greece, although the
incident came to a peaceful conclusion.
It was off to Lisbon in 1925, when
Andrea Doria took part in the 400th
anniversary of the death of Vasco
da Gama, the famous Portuguese
explorer who was the first European to
reach India by sea. From February to
June 1925, Andrea Doria underwent
a refit and later that year when civil
unrest broke out in Syria, she joined a
squadron of destroyers which were sent
to the country in case Italian nationals
needed to be evacuated. But the
disturbance eased while she was there
and the battleship remained in dock
until the end of the year.
For the next six years, Andrea Doria
was on peacetime duties and was
withdrawn from service in 1932.
Another major refit occurred in 1937
at the Cantieri Riuiniti dell’Adriatico
shipyard.
When the Second World War broke
out in 1939, Andrea Doria was still out
of service and didn’t join the Italian
Fleet again until October 1940, when
she became part of the 5th Division in
Taranto. The Royal Navy attacked the
Italian Navy battle fleet in Taranto while
the ships were anchored in the harbour.
Known as the Battle of Taranto, it took
place on 11-12 November 1940 and
it was the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship
naval attack, using Fairey Swordfish
torpedo bombers from the Aircraft
Carrier HMS Illustrious.
Andrea Doria escaped the attack
and the day after, she was sent to
Naples. The Italian Navy reorganised
its fleet in December 1940 and
 LEFT: Andrea Doria
sailing to Malta for
internment in 1943.

SPECIFICATION

Length 554.3ft, Beam 92ft, Draught 28.1ft, Surface displacement

Dimensions
25,704 tons.

Original Propulsion 1x steam turbine with 20x boilers and

4x shafts at 30,000shp
Propulsion
Later Propulsion 1x steam turbine with 8x Yarrow boilers and
2x shafts at 75,000shp
Original 21 knots 24mph/Later 26 knots 30mph. Range 4,743nm
Speed/Range
5,458 miles
Compliment 1,233

Original Later

13x 12in main guns 10x 12.6in main guns

16x 6in guns 12x 5.3in guns

13x 3in guns 10x 3.5in anti-aircraft guns

Firepower
6x 76mm anti-aircraft guns 13x 76mm guns
15x 37mm anti-aircraft
3x 135mm torpedo tubes
cannons
16x 20mm anti-aircraft
cannons

It was off to Lisbon in Andrea Doria remained in the 5th
Division alongside the battleship
1925, when Andrea Doria Giulio Cesare. In the following month
took part in the 400th of January 1941, Andrea Doria
undertook her first operation with the
anniversary of the death new battleship Vittorio Veneto, they
of Vasco da Gama, the were sent on a mission to intercept
a series of British supply convoys to
famous Portuguese Malta, but the Italian Navy failed to
locate the British fleet.
explorer who was the first As well in 1941, Andrea Doria got
European to reach India a report that the Royal Navy had
bombarded Genoa, but again the
by sea Italian Navy failed to find the British
fleet, this time due to dense fog.
But on 17 December 1941, Andrea
Doria did see action against the
British cruisers and destroyers in the
First Battle of Sirte, where two British
battleships were disabled by Italian
torpedoes and two more Royal Navy
forces ran into an Italian minefield at
Tripoli. The Italian Navy had no losses
or casualties to the Royal Navy’s two
destroyers damaged and one life lost.
Andrea Doria saw little more action
up to the Armistice in 1943 when Italy
was removed from the war. She was
interned in Malta during 1943, and
following release in 1944, she returned
to Taranto in 1945.
After the war, Andrea Doria went
to Syracuse, Sicily and remained
there until 1949. She was then
made flagship of the Italian Fleet
and performed in this role until
December 1950. This was a position
she performed again from March
1951 to May 1953. She was then
used as a gunnery training ship
and decommissioned in 1956 to be
eventually broken up for scrap. ■

FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 23

FEATURE
By Allan George
sushima in 1905 between the Japanese and
ttle of T Russian navies was as much of a watershed as w
The Ba
I
t was the first clash between ‘modern’
battleships, it established Japan as
a naval power and as the leading
nation in the East, and eradicated
Russian naval power in the Far East. It
also weakened the underpinnings of
Imperial Russia, and was a forerunner of
turmoil and eventual revolution.
The battle, which took place in the
straits between Japan and Korea, to all
intents and purposes ended the Russo-
Japanese War of 1904/5. It was the first
defeat of a Western nation by an Asian
one, and questioned the Western belief
in its superiority. As a result, Japan
started to see itself as one of the great
powers, and as the leader of East Asia.
It established the place of fast, big-
gun battleships and was a precursor of
the Dreadnought revolution in naval
design.
Wireless communication was
employed in the battle for the
first time as a practical means of
tactical communication, which gave
24 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
as Trafa
lgar.
commanders much more effective
command and control of large, fast
moving fleets.
The roots of the Russo-Japanese
War, the first of the major wars of the
20th century, lay in a clash between the
expansionist plans of the two countries.
Russia had been expanding eastwards
for centuries and wanted dominance in
Manchuria and a warm water port in the
Far East. Japan saw this as a threat to its
plans to develop a sphere of influence
in Korea.
More specifically Russia wanted Korea
north of the 39th parallel of latitude to
be a buffer zone between it and Japan.
However, the Japanese felt this would
constrain their ambitions to extend its
power further into the Asian mainland.
Negotiations between the two countries
broke down in 1904, followed by the
Japanese Navy making a surprise attack
on the Russian Eastern Fleet in Port
Arthur, to the north west of the Korean
peninsula.
It was the first defeat
of a Western nation
by an Asian one,
and questioned the
Western belief in its
superiority.
THE BATTLE: OPENING PHASE
The Russian Second Pacific Squadron
had sailed 18,000 miles on a seven
month long disorderly voyage from
the Baltic by way of the Cape of Good
Hope and Cam Ranh Bay in Indo
China. Soon after it left the Baltic, the
nervous and trigger happy Russians
almost started a war with Great Britain,
when it shelled innocent fisherman off
the Dogger Bank in the North Sea,
incredulously believing the trawlers to
be Japanese torpedo boats.
On the night of 26/27 May 1905, the
squadron commanded by Admiral Zinovy
Rozhestvensky, was creeping in thick fog
towards the Tsushima Straits hoping to
reach Vladivostok without being spotted
by the Japanese. It consisted of 11
battleships, four new Borodino-class ships
and seven of them older, eight cruisers,
and several auxiliaries.
The squadron’s objective was to
reinforce the remnants of the Russian
fleet in the Far East, which had
lost major vessels in the attack and
subsequent blockade of Port Arthur.
However, as the squadron steamed
through the Straits, a Japanese auxiliary
cruiser, the Shinano Maru, caught a
glimpse of the navigation lights of
Oryol, a hospital ship at the rear of the
Russian ships. Gradually the shapes of
the unlit warships emerged through the
gloom, and the Russians were rumbled.
Shinano Maru signalled by wireless
the Japanese Commander in Chief,
Admiral Togo Heihachiro, who
immediately sailed to intercept the
Russians. This was believed to be the
first time wireless had been used to
trigger a battle.
The two fleets steamed towards each
other, the Japanese coming from the
north east to confront the Russians
sailing from the south west.
The Japanese were fresh out of port
and eager for a fight, but the Russian
crews were tired and their ships needed
refitting after their long voyage.
THE BATTLE: DAYLIGHT ENCOUNTER
The fog dispersed sufficiently at
daylight to give about five miles of
visibility. Admiral Togo in his flagship,
the battleship Mikasa, was directed
towards the enemy by wireless signals
from Japanese warships shadowing the
Russian squadron, and soon after noon,
both fleets sighted each other.
Togo manoeuvred his fleet to
accomplish the classic naval tactic of
crossing the Russian ‘T’. Hence the
Japanese ships sailed in front of and
across the Russian’s course, enabling
them to fire at the leading Russian ships
with virtually all their main armament,
while the Russians could only reply with
their forward guns.
Rozhestvensky had the added burden
of protecting his support vessels,
restricting his ability to manoeuvre. He
was further hampered as his squadron’s
speed was less than the more modern
Japanese ships.
He turned his squadron into a line of
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
battle to steam parallel to the Japanese,
so the majority of its guns could bear
on the Japanese. But the Japanese had
already concentrated their fire on the
Russian flagship, Knyaz Suvorov. It had
taken a number of hits and was on fire,
as was the battleship Oslyabya. Both
these vessels fell out of the Russian line
of battle, Oslyabya sank within half an
hour, Knyaz Suvarov eventually also
sank.
Admiral Rozhestvensky was injured,
and as Knyaz Suvorov was obviously
sinking he transferred to the destroyer
Buiny, but devolved command to Rear
Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov on board
Imperator Nikolai I.
The battleships Borodino and
Imperator Alexander III were also hit
repeatedly, suffering terminal damage
and soon sank.
The Japanese rate of fire was much
greater than the Russians’ and far more
accurate. Additionally, the Japanese ➤
25
FEATURE
The old battleship Navarin struck a
mine, leaving her dead in the water, and
presenting an easy target for the Japanese
who hit her with four torpedoes.
ships were fitted with state-of-the-art,
British-made Barr and Stroud range
finders, while the Russians used range
finders dating from the 1880s.
Russian Cdr Vladimir Semenoff,
serving in Knyaz Suvarov, wrote of the
Battle: “I had not only never witnessed
such a fire before, I had never even
imagined it.
“It seemed impossible even to count
the number of projectiles striking us.
Shells seemed to be pouring upon us
incessantly one after another. The steel
plates and superstructure on the upper
decks were torn to pieces, and the
splinters caused many casualties. Iron
ladders were crumpled up into rings,
and guns were literally hurled from their
mountings.
“In addition to this, there was the
unusually high temperature and liquid
flame of the explosion, which seemed
to spread over everything. I actually
watched a steel plate catch fire from a
burst.”
By sunset, the Russian fleet had been
largely knocked out, four battleships
had been sunk and others were heavily
damaged, and they hadn’t inflicted
much damage upon the Japanese.
26 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
THE BATTLE: NIGHT ENCOUNTER
As darkness fell, Togo ordered swarm
torpedo attacks from his 21 destroyers
and 37 torpedo boats on what was left
of the Russian squadron, which was
now desperately trying to escape to
Valdivostok, under cover of darkness.
The engagement soon slipped into a
confused melee. Several Japanese ships
collided with each other. However, it
became even worse at one point when
several Russian warships assisted the
Japanese locate their position when
they turned on their searchlights to spot
their attackers.
Making matters worse the battleship
Sissoi Veliky, hit and on fire during the
daylight encounter, suffered torpedo
damage to her rudders and screws
by a destroyer attack. In danger of
sinking, her Captain beached her off
Tsushima Island, and surrendered to two
Japanese armed cruisers.
The old battleship Navarin struck a
mine, leaving her dead in the water,
and presenting an easy target for
the Japanese who hit her with four
torpedoes. She sank with a massive loss
of life, only three sailors surviving out of
her crew of more than 600.
Vladimir Monomakh, an armoured
cruiser, was hit by a torpedo near
her bows. Another armoured cruiser,
Admiral Kakhimov, collided with a
Japanese destroyer. Both these Russian
ships were crippled and were scuttled
after daybreak.
In the night time battle, the Russians
lost two battleships and two armoured
cruisers, while the Japanese lost just
three torpedo boats.
The six ships remaining under
Admiral Nebogatov’s direct command
nervously steamed northwards towards
Vladivostok. But Togo caught them
off the east coast of Korea. To avoid
further bloodshed, he surrendered
to the now overwhelmingly powerful
Japanese, having realising his situation
was hopeless and further fighting would
inevitably just mean the loss of more
life.
The few remaining Russian ships,
were pursued by the Japanese. Most
were destroyed, although the cruiser
Izumrud, despite being part of the
group surrendered by Nebogatov,
escaped but ran aground on the
Siberian coast and was scuttled. Three
other warships reached Vladivostok,
and others, including the cruiser Aurora
were interned in neutral ports.
The Russian Second Pacific Squadron
was to all intents destroyed: 21 ships
had been sunk, and a further half
dozen captured, 4,380 Russian sailors
were killed and 5,917 captured. All of
this was achieved at little cost to the
Japanese: they lost three torpedo boats
and their casualty list was comparatively
light with 117 sailors killed and 583
wounded.
All that remained of the Russian Navy
in the Far east was the armoured cruiser
Rossia and a few torpedo boats.
Surprisingly two survivors of the
battle still exist, and can be visited by
the public, both the Russian cruiser
Aurora and Togo’s flagship Mikasa, are
museum ships. Aurora is of particular
significance: she eventually returned
to the Baltic after escaping to the
Philippines and being interned. In 1917
she was the ship which lit the fuse for
the 1917 October Revolution, when
she fired upon the Winter Palace in
St Petersburg.
WHY THE JAPANESE WON
In essence Russian weakness and
Japanese strength was the reason for
the outcome of the battle. Additionally,
Admiral Togo, had operational
experience in the Russo-Japanese War
and his was an efficient and well found
fleet.
The Royal Navy had trained the
Imperial Japanese Navy, which was
mostly equipped with modern ships
built in Britain, or locally to British
designs. They were fitted with state-
of-the-art guns, range finders, other
equipment and ammunition. Their crews
were well trained and worked up, and
the ships operated close to their home
bases. Thus they were in a much better
state of repair than the Russian ships,
which had just completed the long
voyage from the Baltic.
The Russian Squadron was in a
poor condition after that voyage: their
men were tired and the ships needed
refitting. They were not in a fit state
to fight a battle, particularly against
an efficient and well equipped navy,
keen to prove itself. Furthermore, most
of the Russian ships were old, out of
date and ill equipped, other than four
French designed and recently built
Borodino-class battleships: Knyaz
Suvarov, Borodino, Oryal and Imperator
Alexander III.
IN SUMMARY
In making judgements about the
relative naval strengths, it should be
taken into consideration that while the
Japanese performed extremely well
against a numerically superior enemy
in terms of capital ships, in reality they
fought against a weak and worn out
enemy.
Tsushima was a watershed battle
in geo-political terms. It was the first
defeat of a Western nation by an Asian
one, and questioned the Western belief
in its superiority.
After the battle, Japan saw itself
as one of the great powers, and
developed the ambition to become the
leader of East Asia.
The battle confirmed the Imperial
Japanese Navy as the sixth most
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
powerful navy in the world. The success
of this battle, and the battles won by
the Japanese Army, created a sense of
superiority, which it could be argued led
to their excesses in China in the 1930s,
and eventually the attack upon Pearl
Harbor. While this line of argument may
be regarded as tenuous, it is probably
fair to claim the success in this war was
at the roots of Japan’s developing belief
in itself.
Russia suffered a great loss of face
in Asia and in Europe. The defeat
led to internal unrest and mutinies in
the Russian Navy at Kronstadt in the
Baltic, Sevastopol in the Black Sea
and Vladivostok in the Far East. These
mutinies sowed some of the seeds for
the 1917 Revolution. They were among
the many other factors causing the
Revolution.
In purely naval terms, the battle
validated the supremacy of firepower
and speed. This fed directly into the
design of warships, culminating in the
development in the Dreadnought in the
UK, which made existing battleships
obsolete virtually overnight. ■
In part two, we take a look at the
two fleet commanders, Admiral
Togo Heihachiro and Admiral Zinovy
Rozhestvensky, who were as different
in character as their fleets were
materially. We also study two of the
warships which fought in the Battle
of Tsushima, one from each fleet,
which survive as museum ships open
to public, Aurora in St Petersburg and
Mikasa in Yokoshuka.
27
28 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
 A Merlin Mk3 helicopter of 845 Naval Air Squadron
working from the flight deck on-board HMS Ocean.
Photo: Si Ethell ©Crown copyright 2016.

FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 29

carrier

USS
GEORGE
H.W. BUSH
Named after the 41st President of the United
States, USS George H.W. Bush is the 10th
and last, Nimitz-class supercarrier.

George H.W. Bush in a Grumman TBF Avenger during
the Second World War.
S
he was laid down on 6 September
2003, with the former President
George H.W. bush as the keynote
speaker. Also in attendance were
the Former First Lady Barbara Bush
and her daughter, the ship’s sponsor,
Dorothy Bush Koch. The former
President chalked his initials on to a
metal plate and his initials were then
welded on to the plate which was then
permanently fixed to the ship.
Bush was built at the Northrop
Grumman Newport News shipyard
and launched in 2006. She was
commissioned in to the US Navy in
2009 at a cost of over $6 billion. Her
homeport is Naval Station Norfolk,
Virginia.
George H.W. Bush was once a US
Navy pilot who flew torpedo bombers
during the Second World War. He was
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
and three Air Medals for courageous
service in the Pacific Theatre.
USS George H.W. Bush, was
constructed using a number of modular
sections with each one being craned
into position.

30 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019

George Bush and wife Barbara depart the ship following
the commissioning ceremony.
The ship has many modern features,
the hull has a bulbous bow which
protrudes just below the waterline
improving buoyancy and hull efficiency.
She has a curved flight deck, new
propeller design, anti-stain paint and a
new underwater hull coating system.
Other improvements include, a
modern radar tower in the island,
upgraded navigation system and
armoured windows. Improvements
to the air operation include semi-
automatic refuelling, a modernised
launch system and redesigned jet
blast deflectors which redirect the high
energy exhausts from jet aircraft.
Her sewage system uses sea water
and waste is collected by a vacuum
device, though this has proven less
than reliable and the entire system has
USS George H.W. Bush in the Atlantic
during training exercises in 2011.
Guests and US Navy personnel at the commissioning
ceremony on 10 January 2009.
gone down twice rendering the 423
commodes unusable.
Bush also received the latest in Insignia of USS
electronics and communications George H.W. Bush.
technology and her equipment in
general was the most modern of the
time.
She was christened in 2006 which
was the first time a president had
participated in the christening of his
namesake ship. President George W
Bush attended the ceremony and paid
honour to his father during the event. Bush underwent sea trials
In August 2008, the Pre-
Commissioning Unit (PCU) crew, and acceptance trials in
boarded the carrier and for the first
time, meals were prepared in the galley. 2009 and was officially
The US flag was raised on the ship and delivered to the US Navy
in the December, she sailed to Norfolk
Naval Station. ➤ on 11 May 2009
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 31
carrier

ABOVE: An F/A-18 Super Hornet

launches off the flight deck of the carrier.

RIGHT: USS Carl Vinson foreground

with USS George H.W. Bush.

The commissioning ceremony was water purification system and a few

attended by approximately 15,000
people including veterans of USS San
Jacinto, the ship which George H.W.
bush served on during the Second
World War. A GM-built Grumman TBM
Avenger like the one George Bush flew
performed a flyover.
Bush underwent sea trials and
acceptance trials in 2009 and was
officially delivered to the US Navy
on 11 May 2009. On 26 May, she
successfully completed her first flight
deck certification, and then in June,
Bush returned to the shipyard for
post-delivery work, which included the
installation of a Rigid Hull Inflatable
Boat (RHIB) handling system, a new
upgrades and minor repairs.
She was assigned to Carrier Strike
Group Two under the command of Rear
Admiral Nora Tyson, who was the first
woman to lead a US Navy ship fleet.
Bush and her Carrier Air Wing Eight,
plus another four ships in her group
left for Britain on 15 May 2011, where
she took part in training exercises. She
had to anchor next to Stoke Bay while
visiting Portsmouth on 27 May, as she
was too big to enter the harbour. She
then sailed to Naples in June and then
back to Norfolk, Virginia in December.
Bush then had a four-month overhaul
starting in July 2012 at the Norfolk
Naval Shipyard.

SPECIFICATION

Length 1092ft, Beam 252ft, Draught 37ft, Surface

Dimensions
displacement 114,000 tons.

2x Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors with 4x Steam

Propulsion
turbines producing 260,000 shaft horsepower to 4x shafts.

Speed/Range Speed 30 knots, 35mph, Range unlimited.

Compliment 5,680.

2x Mk 29 ‘Evolved Sea Sparrow’ surface-to-air missile

launchers.
Firepower
2x RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers or up to
4x 20mm Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWSs).

Air wing Up to 90 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft of various types.

32 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019

 In early 2013, Bush was ready to
conduct testing of the MV-22 tilt-rotor
aircraft of VMX-22 squadron to assess
its potential as a carrier on board
delivery aircraft, and she also tested the
MH-53E mine-sweeping helicopter of
HM-14 squadron.
More tests followed, this time with
the X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle
(UCAV), which successfully completed
touch-and-go landings and take offs on
the flight deck of the carrier while she
was sailing in the Atlantic.
While on a visit to the port of Piraeus,
Greece, Bush found herself only a
few hundred miles from the rising
tension between Ukraine and Russia
triggered by the Crimean peninsula
being annexed from the Ukraine by the
Russian Federation.
News sources believed the carrier
would stay in the area as a result of the
tensions, but that was untrue and the
ship proceeded through the Suez Canal.
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
On 23 March 2014, Bush took over
from USS Harry Truman in the US 5th
Fleet conducting security operations
in its area of responsibility. This is an
area of water approximately 2.5 million
square miles which includes the Arabian
Gulf, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman,
Arabian Sea and the Red Sea. In June
2014, Bush was ordered to the Persian
Gulf to protect US interests in Iraq as
the Islamic State had taken over several
major cities in the country. ➤
33
carrier

USS George H.W. Bush in the

Straits of Gibraltar, February 2014.

34 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019


She participated in
strikes against ISIS in
support of Operation
Inherent Resolve, the US
Military’s intervention
against the Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria.
In August 2014, President Obama
announced that air strikes to protect
US personnel and the Yazidis – a small
ethnic minority group of northern
Mesopotamia – from ISIS attacks,
would take place, and on the 8th of the
month, two F/A-18F Super Hornets left
the carrier USS George H.W. Bush and
conducted air strikes on Islamic State
artillery shelling the Kurdish city of Erbil.
In September 2014, Hornets and
Super Hornets again took off from Bush
to strike specific targets in Syria, such
as weapons depots and training camps.
Bush then returned to Norfolk after a
nine-month deployment.
In January 2017, Bush and Carrier
Air Wing Eight left Norfolk for her third
deployment. She again participated
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
The bulbous bow will
look something like this.
in strikes against ISIS in support of
Operation Inherent Resolve, the US
Military’s intervention against the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria.
Later in 2017, Bush took part in
Exercise Saxon Warrior a joint exercise
involving Carrier Strike Group Two plus
elements of the Royal Navy, Swedish
Navy, German Navy and Norwegian
Navy.
In May 2018, navies from the US and
France took part in a combined exercise,
called the Chesapeake Mission using 12
Dassault Aviation Rafale M – a French
twin-engined, multirole fight aircraft – and
a Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, an American
carrier-capable tactical airborne early
warning (AEW) aircraft embarked on the
carrier USS George H.W. Bush. ■
35
The war at sea
1918
By 1918, the war was beginning to turn against the Germans, and,
with the imminent arrival of hundreds of thousands of American
troops, the German High Command decided to make a great
push and planned an offensive on the Western Front. Campbell
McCutcheon recounts in the fifth part of a series that tells the story
of Britain’s naval exploits during the four-year conflict.
O
n 20 January, Breslau and Goeben,
which had been under Turkish
control since 1914, made a sortie
into the Aegean to draw Allied
attention away
from Palestine and
the conflict there.
But both ships
sailed into an
Allied minefield
with Breslau lost.
Goeben was
forced aground
but stayed
afloat. Allied
air attacks were
made on Goeben
in the hope
that she would
SMS Goeben, along with SMS Breslau, came out into the be damaged or sunk, but the Turks
Aegean on 20 January 1918, after having been bottled managed to rescue her. She was
up all war. Goeben was forced aground and was salvaged refloated and towed to safety. Goeben
by the Turks before she became too badly damaged. This survived in the Turkish navy until the
patriotic postcard summed up the fate of Goeben and 1970s, and was not broken up until
Breslau and their wasted war, stuck in Turkey. between 1973 and 1976.
36 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
Part
Five
The beginning of February brought
a mutiny at Cattaro, the main Austro-
Hungarian naval base on the Dalmatian
coast. February also saw the Germans
lose patience with the Bolsheviks and
attack them once more, reaching into the
Ukraine and heading toward Petrograd.
On 24 February 1918, the German
commerce raider SMS Wolf returned
to Kiel after an epic voyage of 451
days that saw her sink 14 ships, with
minefields laid by her claiming another
13. She had made the single longest
unaided voyage of the war, been at sea
on a single voyage for longer than any
other ship afloat and had masterfully
been sailed back to Germany with 467
prisoners of war and copious quantities
of rubber, copper, zinc, brass and even
silk as well as many other items essential
to the war effort. Captain Nerger was
awarded Germany’s highest order, the
Pour le Merite, for his long voyage and
the ship was greeted by thousands on
her return to port.

One thing not realised about the war was that the Red
Cross arranged for numerous prisoner transfers of
severely injured military personnel. This view shows
the steamship Orange Nassau with British soldiers
being returned back to the UK in exchange for injured
Germans. Many men of all nationalities were also kept
in Switzerland in camps there too.
LEFT: Looking from atop the funnel of the AMC
HMS Patia on 4 February 1918. HMS Patia was
commandeered as an AMC and spent February 1918 on
convoy duties from Dakar, leaving there on 5 February
for the UK. On 15 February, she met her sistership HMS
Changuinola, and four days later stopped and boarded
a Danish schooner, Duen, travelling from Huelva to
Copenhagen. She reached Avonmouth on 25 February.
Note the six-inch gun on her forecastle.
There were no major naval actions in
the early part of the year but the German
submarines, destroyers and torpedo
boats operating out of Zeebrugge and
Ostend were a constant thorn in the
side of the Allies. Masterminded by Vice
Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, a plan was
made to attack both ports and sink old,
redundant warships across the entrances,
thus blocking them from use. An attempt
was planned for 2 April, but the weather
was against the attack and a smokescreen
could not be laid.
On 23 April, some 70 warships and
thousands of Marines headed from
Dover for Zeebrugge and Ostend.
An attempt was made to attack Zeebrugge on 2 April 1918,
but this was cancelled at the last moment. On 23 April,
another attempt was made. This one was more successful.
Zeebrugge was a base for torpedo boats and U-boats and
the attempts to sink blockships were done amid severe
fighting. Some 583 British died for 24 German losses. HMS
Vindictive was used in this first raid and this image shows
the damage to her funnel at Dover.
LEFT: HMS Thetis sunk in the channel inside the
breakwater at Zeebrugge. The next HMS Thetis would
be a submarine, which sank off Anglesey in June 1939,
with the loss of 99 out of 103 aboard. Thetis was an
Apollo class cruiser and had been built in 1890. During
the war she was used as a minelayer.
RIGHT: HMS Iphigenia and Intrepid blocking the entrance
to the docks at Zeebrugge. This raid was not very successful
and the two vessels could be bypassed at high tide.
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
Packed with men of the Royal Naval
Division, Vindictive headed for the sea
walls at Zeebrugge. Her troops landed
ashore and occupied the Germans
while a submarine full of explosives was
blown up alongside the sea wall. While
the Marines were fighting the Germans,
three blockships, HMS Thetis, Intrepid
and Iphigenia, were sailed into the inner
harbour. The plan was that they should
block the canal, but Thetis ran aground
at the entrance to the inner harbour.
Both Intrepid and Iphigenia reached
their destination but were sunk at the
wrong angle.
The attack on Ostend was even less
successful, with the blockship HMS
Brilliant running aground on mud
and Sirius crashing into her port side.
German submarines were still able
to get in and out of both harbours at
high tide. Eight Victoria Crosses were
awarded for the actions, but in no way
were they a success. The Germans lost
34 dead, but the British casualty list ran
into the hundreds, with some 227 dead
and over 300 wounded. ➤
Equipped with six 15cm guns and four torpedo tubes,
SMS Wolf left Kiel on 30 November 1916 on a mission
to sink as many Allied ships as possible. She had been
built for the Hansa Line in 1913 as the Wachtfels, and
was converted over the Autumn of 1916. With a range
of 32,000 nautical miles, she carried 8,000 tons of
coal as well as supplies for an extended voyage. After
451 days at sea, she returned to Kiel on 24 February
1918 with 467 prisoners and valuable supplies of rare
metals, rubber and cocoa. She sank 14 ships herself
and laid minefields that sank another 13 vessels.
37
The war at sea

With any extraneous equipment removed, HMS Brilliant set sail for Ostend in April
1918 to be sunk across the channel into the docks there. Filled with concrete and low in
the water, she is seen on her way to Ostend. Both Brilliant and Superb went ashore on a
sandbank at the harbour mouth and were sunk there.

An attempt was made with HMS Vindictive to

blockade Ostend, Vindictive was filled with
concrete and sunk alongside one of the jetties.

A floating dry dock used for submarines at Ostend,

which was damaged in the raid.

A second attack was made on Ostend
on 10 May, using HMS Vindictive as
the blockship. She had been heavily
damaged after the first raid on
Zeebrugge and was already redundant.
Filled with concrete and explosives, she
was sailed into the port and scuttled.
She was raised in 1920 and her bow can
now be seen at Ostend as a memorial
to the two raids. Three Victoria Crosses
were awarded to men on this second
raid.
Meanwhile, on 14 May, HMS Phoenix
was torpedoed in the Adriatic, while
the Austro-Hungarian navy attempted
to smash the Otranto blockade of
the Adriatic on 9 June, with the
dreadnought Szent Istvan being sunk by
Italian motor boats.
French and British warships sailed
to Murmansk and occupied the port
on 23 June in an attempt to halt
Japanese expansion in the area.
Archangel and Vladivostock would
both be occupied in August. The
Allies supported the White Russians
fighting the Bolsheviks and helped
repatriate the Czech Legion, who
were also fighting the Bolsheviks.
The troopship Justicia was hit by
torpedoes on 19 July and, after
further attacks, sank the following day.
By August, after a series of failed
offensives, the German soldiers were
low on equipment and morale. The sea
blockade of Germany had strangled the
country and it was running out of food,
equipment and war supplies. 300,000
American troops were by now arriving
every month at ports in France and they
soon outnumbered German and Austro-
Hungarian forces.

LEFT: In May 1918, an attempt was made again to blockade Ostend, this time
using HMS Vindictive from the previous attempts at Zeebrugge. This raid was more
successful than the First Ostend Raid, with HMS Vindictive being sunk and partially
blocking the canal to Bruges.

RIGHT: The Vindictive was eventually salvaged and her bow remains today in Ostend
as a monument to the many men who died in the attacks on Ostend and Zeebrugge.
Hailed as huge victories in the UK at the time, they were simply glorious failures.

38 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019


With the loss of HMHS Britannic in November 1916,
the White Star Line had a crew and no ship. This was
solved by Justicia, which had been under construction
as Statendam for Holland America Line and, after the
loss of the Lusitania, had been intended for Cunard.
She could carry some 4,000 troops and was originally
painted grey and then in this dazzle scheme.
Sailing empty from Belfast to New York on 19 July 1918,
Justicia was torpedoed by UB-64. She took on a list and was
hit by three other torpedoes. Somehow, she managed to
stay afloat and her destroyer escort chased the submarine
away. The next day, she was found by UB-124 and Justicia
was hit by two more torpedoes. UB-124 was sunk and by
lunchtime Justicia had rolled over and sank.
LEFT: HMS Wisteria flying an observation balloon in
1918. These balloons were surprisingly stable while
being towed along and gave the crews of the ships
an extra ten or twenty miles of sea to search before
the horizon.
RIGHT: On 14 May 1918, HMS Phoenix was torpedoed
in the Adriatic. The men in the whaler are passing a
towrope from HMAS Warrego but she sank later that
day, capsizing within a few miles of safety. She was the
only British warship of the war sunk by an Austro-
Hungarian warship. Phoenix had taken part in the
Battles of Jutland, Dogger Bank and Heligoland Bight.
BELOW: The seaplane carrier HMS Campania was
converted from the redundant Blue Riband-winning
ocean liner RMS Campania in 1914. Her tired
engines saw her being too slow to go to Jutland and
she spent much time at Scapa Flow and Rosyth. On
5 November 1918, in the Forth, she dragged her
anchor and collided with HMS Royal Oak and then
Glorious. She sank stern first.
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
The Allies supported the
White Russians fighting
the Bolsheviks and
helped repatriate the
Czech Legion
The war was going disastrously on
all fronts for the German forces, and
on 5 October, Beirut was occupied by
French naval forces. The following day
the German chancellor asked Woodrow
Wilson for an armistice. Matters got
worse for the Germans when German
sailors mutinied at Keil on 29 October
after Admiral Hipper suggested a do-or-
die attack on the British navy. 40,000 of
the sailors were involved in the mutiny
and the revolt was spreading, forcing
the German High Command to sue for
peace before being overthrown from
within.
But the war was not yet over, and
Austro-Hungary’s flagship Viribus Unitis
was sunk during an Italian attack on
1 November in the Adriatic. Two days
later, the Allies captured the port of
Trieste and Austro-Hungary sued for
peace. HMS Campania, the seaplane
carrier, dragged her anchor on the
morning of 5 November when off
Burntisland, and collided with HMS
Royal Oak and then HMS Glorious.
Settling by the stern, the ship began
to sink, and by late afternoon she had
gone to the bottom, taking 11 aircraft
with her. ➤
39
The war at sea
A panoramic view of USS Mount Vernon on 30 October 1918. This gives the idea of the number of officers and crew required to operate a four-funneled vessel in wartime.
At Sierra Leone, on 11 November 1918, HMS Almanzora,
Almanzora
an ex-Royal Mail Steam Packet Company steamer, flies the
armistice signal. It was the end of the war.
40 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019
At Compeigne, between 7 and 11
November, the terms of an Armistice
were thrashed out in a railway carriage.
For the German navy, it marked defeat
and the end of further resistence. All
their submarines had to be surrendered
immediately, and the surface ships
were ordered to sail to Allied ports to
be interned. On 12 November, Allied
warships sailed through the Dardanelles
and anchored at Constantinople.
The major event of the sea war was
the surrender of the German fleet on
21 November. Admiral David Beatty,
on HMS Queen Elizabeth, took the
surrender. Almost 250 Allied ships
awaited the 80 or so German vessels,
which were escorted into the Firth of
Forth and then, over the next few days,
sent to Scapa Flow, in Orkney, after Drawn by Douglas MacPherson, on board HMS Resolution,
Resolution
being checked that they carried no the German sailors lower the Imperial battle flag on one of
ammunition. King George V headed the battleships at sunset on 21 November 1918. Despite
north soon after to view for himself the German ships still belonging to Germany, Admiral
the German battleships, cruisers and David Beatty insisted they could no longer fly their ensigns,
destroyers. technically a breach of maritime law.
Over the course of the next two weeks, negotiations
took place for the surrender of the German navy. All
of the submarines were ordered to Allied ports,
with the majority ending up in Harwich.
Submarines started to
appear in Allied ports
too, with many interned
at Harwich and for them
the war was over
 A German cruiser passes HMS Queen Elizabeth on the afternoon of the surrender. The
German fleet of some 80 vessels, including destroyers, cruisers and battleships, was
ordered to the Firth of Forth, where almost 250 Allied vessels would meet them.

Filmed for posterity as members of the press watch, and
with flags still fluttering from the aft mast, one of the
German battleships at the surrender. It was a momentous
occasion, and one of the largest gatherings of naval vessel
at sea until the Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942.
Wearing both gas and flame masks, many of the
British sailors mistrusted the Germans and expect
them to come out fighting. All guns were trained on
the German ships, which had had their armaments
removed before setting sail.
The Konigsberg arrives in British waters to negotiate the
terms of the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet.
Rear-Admiral Meurer boarded the Queen Elizabeth for
the surrender negotiations. Admiral Beatty would take
the opportunity to humiliate the Germans and referred
to Meurer as a ‘wretch’ throughout the negotiations.

Submarines started to appear in

Allied ports too, with many interned at
Harwich and for them the war was over.
War continued in revolt-stricken Russia,
where the Bolsheviks continued to clash
HMS Lion leading a group of cruisers into Scapa Flow. The German fleet was searched, and with forces which opposed them. On
checked for contraband and any form of weapon or ammunition and then the ships were 18 December, French troops occupied
led to Scapa in groups of five or so for internment. Odessa to ensure weapons and supplies
could be sent to Ukrainians fighting
the Bolsheviks, and with the continued
RIGHT: For them the war occupation of Vladivostok and the
was indeed over. Some of fighting in Murmansk and Archangel,
the crew of HMS Champion the war continued in this theatre well
on Christmas Day, 1918. into 1919.
Built by Hawthorn, Leslie On the other side of Europe,
on the Tyne, Champion meanwhile, the German fleet was
was commissioned on lined up at Scapa Flow to await its
20 December 1915. She fate, which was to be decided by the
saw action at the Battle of peace process. However, the final
Jutland and was sold for reckoning came in June 1919, once
scrap on 28 July 1934 and the armistice had turned into full-
broken up next to some of blown peace. After five years of bitter
the German battleships she fighting, with many thousands of lives
had spent so long at war lost, and ships of all types and sizes
against. sunk, the war was finally over. ■

FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 41

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18/12/2018 14:38
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 43
FEATURE

By Derek Fox

While researching his late grandfather Ernie Fox’s

Royal Navy career, Derek Fox discovered that one of
the ships he served on was the river gunboat HMS
Ladybird in China. He was serving on board when this
ship played a part in the famous ‘Panay incident’ in
December 1937, in which the American gunboat USS
The ship’s crest.
Panay was sunk by Japanese aircraft four years before
the Pearl Harbor attack, becoming the first US Navy
ship to be sunk by hostile aircraft.

T
he Ladybird, and her sister Royal
Navy gunboats were also subjected
to bombs, artillery and machine
gun fire – all this, two years before
the Second World War had even begun!
The story began for Ernie at
Portsmouth on Monday, 23 March,
1936, when he joined the cruiser HMS
Dauntless for passage to the Far East.
Dauntless left Portsmouth on 31 March
and called in via Malta, Port Said, the
Suez Canal and Aden, before arriving
at Colombo on 27 April. There the
cruiser was assigned as guard ship to
the SS Ranpura, which was carrying
a cargo of priceless art treasures that
had been on display in Britain, back to
China. The two ships called at Penang
and Singapore before arriving at
their destination of Hong Kong. After
delivering her charge, the Dauntless
proceeded to Hankow, where she tied
up alongside the Ladybird and Ernie Ernest Fox, HMS Ladybird
Fox transferred to the gunboat. 1938 (Derek Fox).

44 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019

 HMS Ladybird was one of the
renowned ‘Insect’ class patrol boats,
originally built in 1915 for service on
the River Danube, but which were
sent to the Middle East instead for the
remainder of the First World War. This
class was larger than previous British
gunboats, being 237 feet long, with a
beam of 36 feet, and a displacement
of 645 tons. Because they were
designed for river operations they
drew just four feet, with the propellers
housed in tunnels to protect them.
Crew complement was between 54-65.
The Insect class were fitted with two
reciprocating engines and their speed
was quoted as 14 knots, although some
of the class reached 18 knots on trials.
They were armed with two 6in guns
arranged on the centreline fore and
aft. Ladybird also had a 3in forward
and a 12 pounder quick firing gun aft,
mounted above the 6in. Eight machine
guns were also carried.
Britain, along with other nations,
notably America and France, had long
enjoyed special trade privileges in
China, and in the mid 1920s, the Insect
class, including Ladybird, were sent to
China to patrol the Yangtse River, to
safeguard British interests in the region
and protect commercial shipping, and
this they did for many years along with
the smaller ‘Bird’ class gunboats up
until the outbreak of the Second World
War. In the late 1930s, Japan began
its conquest of China, although there
was no formal declaration of war, and
the British and other nations remained
strictly neutral.
To try and slow the Japanese
advance, in August 1937, the Chinese
constructed a boom across the river
near the fortress of Kiangyin at the head
of the estuary, and began constructing
other booms along the rivers, effectively
trapping 13 Royal Navy gunboats
above the boom. Rear Admiral Holt,
in command of the Royal Navy forces
on the Yangtse, faced a dilemma.
Because of the problems of getting
fuel oil, Ladybird, along with her sisters
Aphis, Gnat, Scarab and Cricket, were
converted to burn coal, as there was a
large local supply, and it was estimated
that the other remaining gunboats
LEFT: Gunboat HMS
Ladybird.
BELOW LEFT: HMS
Ladybird in dry dock,
Shanghai 1938.
HMS
Ladybird
was one
of the
renowned
‘Insect’
class patrol
boats,
originally
built in 1915
for service
on the River
Danube
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
had enough fuel oil to last four to six
months. The cruiser HMS Capetown, at
Nanking, had sufficient fuel to last her
for four or five months if she stayed in
harbour, but if she returned to Hankow
this would be reduced to about two
weeks, although once there, she could
use shore supply and shut down her
boilers. Capetown had been sent to
Nanking to evacuate British embassy
staff should this become necessary, but
with the construction of the Chinese
boom she had become trapped above
it, and although efforts were made
to persuade the Chinese to let her
through, they refused. Capetown was
sent to Hankow, and the majority of
the ship’s company then left the ship
for Hong Kong by train, leaving behind
enough crew to steam the ship. After
long negotiations, Capetown was
eventually allowed to leave, and after
all useful stores and ammunition had
been removed and passed on to the
gunboats, she sailed for Hong Kong
with women and children on board.
On 5 December, the Ladybird was
anchored at Wuhu, some 8o miles
up-river from Nanking, to look after
British lives and property. Moored
nearby in the anchorage were some
British river steamers. Suddenly,
three Japanese aircraft appeared and
bombed the anchorage. The steamship
Tuck Po suffered a direct hit in her
boiler room and caught fire, and the
SS Tatung suffered a near-miss and
began to list heavily, being towed
into shallow water by the Ladybird’s
boats. Meanwhile Ladybird had got
up steam and prepared to return fire
but the planes came in from her stern
and her 3in anti-aircraft gun would not
bear. The first bomb landed ten yards
away and showered the gunboat with
splinters – the rest of the bombs falling
among the Chinese civilians. Ladybird
reported the attack to Rear Admiral Holt
(Rear Admiral Yangtse) on the flagship
HMS Bee. Next day the anchorage was
attacked again and Ladybird was forced
to leave the anchorage. Japanese
troops entered Wuhu on 10 December.
The Japanese army was by now
steadily advancing on Nanking, and
Japanese planes were bombing the
city daily. The American station ship at
Nanking was the gunboat USS Panay,
commanded by Lieutenant commander
Hughes, USN, operating as part of ➤
45
FEATURE
the US Asiatic Fleet. On 11 December 08.10 the Japanese opened fire without wrong. The normally smart Ladybird
1937, the Panay was anchored mid- warning on the merchant craft with had a dishevelled look, and had clearly
stream waiting to pick up the last of machine gun fire. Ladybird immediately been extensively damaged by shellfire.
the embassy staff and US citizens there, weighed anchor and manoeuvred into Japanese field guns and machine
when during a Japanese bombing a position between the craft and the guns lined the riverbank. As the Bee
raid bombs fell to within 150 feet of Japanese, who then opened fire with approached the anchorage, one of
the ship. Lt Cdr Hughes decided to heavy artillery. The Ladybird, under these guns fired, the round passing
move the Panay about a mile upriver fire, steamed up to the B&S pontoon over the Bee. Earlier, these same gun
to the San-Chia-Ho anchorage, where and secured without returning fire, and batteries had without warning opened
the British gunboats HMS Scarab and the British military attaché leapt ashore fire on Ladybird and her accompanying
Cricket were anchored, along with and ordered the Japanese to cease ships. Although the merchant vessels
British and American tankers, barges fire, which to everyone’s amazement, she was guarding had moved out of
and steamers that were under their they did. Shortly afterwards, HMS range, Ladybird had been hit four times
protection. All these vessels flew large Bee, with Admiral Holt (Rear Admiral by 6in gunfire. Ironically, the base of
national flags to show their neutrality. Yangtse) on board, arrived at Wuhu. one of the shells found lodged in her
However, as the fighting intensified As the Bee approached the anchored superstructure later was found to have
this anchorage came under artillery ships it was plain that something was been manufactured in England. She had
fire, and the ships moved upriver to a
safer anchorage. When this too came
under fire the Panay decided to move HMS Ladybird off Shanghai
even further upriver, to Hosien. The in the 1920s.
British ships however stayed where they
were and advised Lt Cdr Hughes to
do the same, on the grounds that they
would be safer from air attack if they
stayed together. However, the Panay
set off along with a convoy comprising
three American 200 foot tankers of
the Standard Oil Company, the Mei
Ping, Mei Shia and the Mei An, and
13 auxiliary craft, and anchored 13
miles upriver. On the way, the Panay
had stopped at 9.40am in response
to a signal from a Japanese landing
boat and was boarded. The Japanese
Officer was informed of the USS Panay’s
intention to anchor further upstream.
She then radioed the US Embassy in
Shanghai and informed them of the
ship’s new location, which was to be
passed on to the Japanese government.
As Panay and the tanker convoy were
neutral vessels, they were not expecting
to come under any more attacks once
their position was known. She was
carrying at this time four members of
the American Embassy staff, four US
nationals and five foreign nationals.
Meanwhile, on the morning of 12
December, the Ladybird, commanded
by Lieutenant Commander Barlow RN,
was back at the Wuhu anchorage, along
with several craft under her protection.
At 07.10 the SS Tseang-Tah arrived
from down river carrying the British Flag
Captain (Captain O’Donnell), British
Consul (Mr Prideaux-Brune), the Military
Attaché (Lt-Col Lovat-Fraser) and an
armed guard from HMS Bee aboard,
who then transferred to Ladybird. At

46 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019

suffered damage to her forward 6in and
3in guns, was holed below the waterline
forward and had a ruptured fuel tank.
Her radio aerials were also shot away.
Sick berth attendant Terrance Lonergan
was killed and A/PO Joseph Smallwood
seriously injured in the attack. The urge
to return fire with the ship’s 6in guns
was ruled out for fear of starting a major
international incident. When Admiral
Holt arrived, he went ashore and found
his Chief of Staff, Captain O’Donnell,
who had been aboard the Ladybird
when she was attacked and had
been wounded in the hand by a shell
splinter, already talking to the Japanese
commander. It was Captain O’Donnell
who had stopped the Japanese from
further shelling the Bee. The Japanese
commander explained he was not aware
there were any neutral ships in the area,
even though there were prominent
national flags flown.
The Royal Navy gun boats Scarab
and Cricket, which had stayed anchored
above Nanking, had come under air
attack at about the same time, although
all bombs had missed their targets. On
this occasion the gunboats opened fire
with their 3in and machine guns, driving
the attackers off.
On 12 December, the USS Panay
was still anchored near Hoshien,
approximately 28 miles upriver from
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
Nanking. It was a clear sunny day
and the crew were eating Sunday
dinner – all guns were secured and
unmanned, and only one lookout was
posted. Shortly after 13.30, the sound
of approaching aircraft was heard. The
crew of the Panay were not unduly
worried as Japanese bombers regularly
passed overhead to bomb Chinese
targets. This time, however, three
Japanese B4Y1 bombers commenced
an attack on the Panay’s convoy,
dropping 18 bombs, which disabled the
Panay’s forward 3in gun and wrecked
the sick-bay, radio-room and pilothouse,
and damaged the boiler room. Shrapnel
fragments injured many of the crew. ➤
47
FEATURE
The captain suffered a broken hip
and severe shock, and the executive
officer, Lt Anders, was hit in the throat
and hands and could not speak. He
nevertheless, issued orders by writing,
to get the Panay underway and try to
beach the ship, but the damage was LEFT: Ladybird sunk in
too extensive. Japanese D1A1 and Tobruk.
D1A2 dive bombers then joined the
attack, and nine A4N1 fighters started BELOW: The crew of
strafing the gunboat and her convoy. HMS Ladybird.
The Panay’s crew fought back as best
they could with the ships eight .30
calibre machine guns, but no planes
were hit. By 14.06 all power had been
lost and the main deck was almost
awash – the order to abandon ship was
given, and the crew began to transfer
the wounded ashore in the ships boats.
These boats were also strafed by the
Japanese aircraft, while some of the
crew managed to reach the safety of
the reeds on the riverbank. After the
Panay had been abandoned, the chief
boatswain’s mate and the machinist’s
mate returned to the ship to try and
salvage some stores and medical
supplies. While returning to shore
they came under fire from a small boat
carrying Japanese soldiers, who went
aboard the Panay for about five minutes
and then left. At 15.55 the Panay began
to roll over to starboard and slide under
by the bow and sank.
After returning to their base to rearm,
the Japanese aircraft attacked again the survivors were transferred to HMS In the aftermath of the attack, the
at 15.00, this time targeting the three Ladybird, which had joined the rescue Japanese government immediately sent
tankers that had accompanied the USS on her way to Shanghai for repairs, and a formal letter of apology and insisted
Panay. also to the gunboat USS Oahu, which had the attack had been a mistake – the
Admiral Holt had by now received arrived from upriver. These two ships then ships had been mistaken for Chinese
the reports that the USS Panay and her set off for Shanghai, escorted through vessels, and the national flags not
consorts had been attacked and was the booms by Japanese destroyers. The visible. Reparations of $2,214,007 were
heading for Hoshien in HMS Bee. When Panay suffered two crewman killed, eleven paid to the US Government and the oil
he arrived, he found most of the survivors badly wounded and many injured. An companies for the loss of their tankers.
had gone inland to hide and had to send Italian news reporter was also killed along Neither the Americans nor the Japanese
out search parties for them. When found, with the captain of one of the tankers. were ready for war at that time, and the

Shrapnel damage after the attack on Ladybird

Ladybird.

48 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019

‘Panay Incident’, which
could have led to war,
was diplomatically
played down. There
were unconfirmed
reports the Panay had
been tasked by US
Naval Intelligence to
gather information
on Chinese and
Japanese military
activities, and that
at the time of her sinking she had
sensitive materials on board, including
a secret bombsight and code book
from a crashed Japanese bomber. It is
possible that the Japanese were aware
of this and may explain the attack. It is
known that before the Panay sank, the
ship was boarded by Japanese troops
who searched the ship, and that the US
refused a Japanese offer to help raise
and salvage the ship later. When the
ship went down it took with it nearly
$40,000 in payroll, and although the
crew had disposed of most of the
sensitive materials on board, there was
still a possibility that codebooks and
other papers could be compromised if
the Japanese managed to salvage the
wreck. Thus in January 1938, the US
salvage tug Saucy and the USS Oahu
went back to the wreck site to begin
salvage operations using a team of
Russian divers. Once the wreck was
surveyed it was clear that there was
no hope of salvaging the ship – the
LEFT: Newspaper cutting of
Ladybird’s officers after the
attack by Japan.
BELOW INSET: USS Panay
attacked, newspaper cutting.
Panay lay on her side in about 80 feet
of water, covered in silt. A massive
split ran the length of her hull and one
bomb had passed right through the
ship without detonating, leaving a large
hole.
The divers were able to
retrieve the ship's safe and
also 700 foot of newsreel
film footage shot by Arthur
Menken which showed the
attack. They also recovered
the ship’s bell. While these
operations were taking
place, a Japanese patrol
boat stood by, observing
every move. It is unknown whether the
Japanese searched the wreck after the
departure of the American ships, but
they did apparently ask for salvage
rights, which were refused.
As far as is known, the wreck has
lain undisturbed since then and is now
probably buried under many feet of
mud.
FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine
In Britain, the Prime Minister
answered questions in the Houses of
Parliament and issued a strong protest
to Tokyo about the shelling of HMS
Ladybird at Wuhu.
HMS Bee served on the Yangtse station
for another year before being paid off
in 1938. She was sold for scrap the
following year. The Ladybird, along with
the remaining Insect class gunboats, was
sent to Hong Kong as the world situation
deteriorated, and in 1939 went via
Singapore to the Middle East. She was
initially the guard ship for Port Said, and
then supported the garrison at Tobruk.
On 12 May 1941, Ladybird was attacked
by five enemy bombers and hit. She sank
in 10 feet of water with her topsides still
above water, and her 3in gun was used
by the army for anti-aircraft
defence even after she was
sunk. After the war, the rusting
hulk was left undisturbed until
the late 1940s, when the navy
began to clear the wrecks from
the North African ports. The
last remains of HMS Ladybird
were finally removed from
Tobruk on Christmas Eve 1951 – the end
of a grand old lady.
As for my grandfather Ernie, he left
the Ladybird in 1938 and returned
to the UK aboard the cruiser HMS
Enterprise. As the Second World War
broke out his adventures were about
to continue on the old destroyer HMS
Sturdy – but that’s another story… ■
ABOVE: USS Panay sinking after
the Japanese air attack.
BELOW INSET: From the left; USS
Panay, HMS Bee and HMS Ladybird.
49
FEATURE

Air-Cushioned
Landing Craft

A Soviet Pomornik-class air-cushioned

landing craft is beached after a
demonstration given to visiting Americans.

50 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine FEBRUARY 2019

Amphibious machines that are able to cross
from water to land to supply fighting men and
equipment are among the most versatile of any
navy and have been around since the 1980s.

T
he Soviet Union has invested
heavily in this type of
amphibious assault vessel.
Their Zubr-class (Landing Craft
Air Cushion) was first commissioned
in 1988 and today represent the
largest air-cushioned vehicles in the
world.
They are still in service today with
the Russian Navy and several other
countries including China, Greece
and the Ukraine.
The Zubr-class is known as
‘Pomornik’ to NATO and is
designated as ‘Project 1232.2’ to
Soviet/Russia. When the Hellenic
Navy – the naval force of Greece –
purchased HS Cephalonia, it was
the first time a Soviet-designed
naval craft had been built for a
NATO member.
Military hovercraft, have been
designed to sealift amphibious
assault units, such as tanks and
marines, from equipped and non-
equipped vessels to non-equipped
shores as well as transporting and
planting naval mines.
The hovercraft has a rectangular
pontoon which gives the vessel
strength and buoyancy and the
pontoon is also the main load-
carrying part of the hull.
The superstructure is divided into
compartments, the midsection is
fitted with tank ramps and carries
combat material, outboard sections
house the main and auxiliary
propulsion units, and there are
troop compartments, living quarters
and airtight combat stations, where
the crew is kept safe in case of
an attack by a weapon of mass
destruction.
There are cooking/dining
facilities, the living quarters are
heated and air-conditioned as well
as being sound/heat insulated.
To protect the vessel from
magnetic influence mines, the
ships have an active system which
compensates for the magnetic fields
they generate.
Zubra-class landing craft can carry
up to three main battle tanks of up
to 150 tonnes total weight, or, ten
armoured vehicles with 140 troop
up to 131 tonnes or, eight armoured
personnel carriers up to 115 tonnes
or, eight amphibious tanks or, up to
500 troops – with 360 troops in the
cargo department.
The hovercraft remains seaworthy
in conditions up to Sea State four,
which is moderate, with waves
between four and eight feet.

SPECIFICATION
Length 187ft, Beam 84ft, Draught 5.2ft, Surface
Dimensions
displacement 415 tons.
5x Kuznetsov Type NK-12MV gas turbines – 2x lift and
Propulsion 3x propulsion – producing 11,836hp to 3x Four-bladed
variable pitch propellers.
Speed/Range Speed 60 knots, 69mph. Range 261nm, 300 miles.
Compliment 31
4x 4 Strela anti-aircraft missile launchers (32 missiles).
Or 2x 4SA-N-5 ‘Grail’ anti-aircraft missile launchers.
6x 30mm AK-630 Air Defence Gun Mount 2 anti-aircraft
Firepower cannons.
2x22 140mm Ogon rocket launchers (132 rockets).
or 2x 122mm rocket launchers.
Mine dispensers (20-80 mines).

FEBRUARY 2019 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine 51

USS INDEP
USS Independence, is the lead
ship of the Independence-
class of ultra-modern corvettes
in service with the United
States Navy, which have been
designed using the latest
seaborne stealth technology.

Badge of USS Independence.

20 20 20 20
06 08 09 10

USS Independence was laid down on
19 January and built by Austal USA of
Mobile, Alabama.
Independence was launched on 26 April,
and christened by Doreen Scott, the wife
of 10th Master Chief Petty Officer of the
Navy, Terry D. Scott on 4 October.
Builder’s trials were completed in
October and acceptance trials in
November. The Board of Inspection and
Survey found over 2,000 discrepancies
but said all could be resolved before the
Navy accepted the ship.
Independence was commissioned into
the US Navy on 16 January and after
early sea trials, corrosion issues became
apparent.

52 WORLD of WARSHIPS magazine october 2018

PENDENCE
20
11
The corrosion problems were worse
than expected, so much so, that
seven US Senators sent a letter to the
Department of Defence questioning the
management of the corrosion issues.
It was decided to combat the issue
by installing a cathodic protection
system.
20
12
Independence made a successful
voyage to her homeport, the Naval Base,
San Diego, California and was assigned
to the Littoral Combat Ship Squadron
ONE.
20
13
US Navy sources described documents
that showed the ship was to be called
Liberty, "a mistake".
20
14/15
In 2014, Independence took part in
RIMPAC – Rim of the Pacific Exercises,
which is the world’s largest international
maritime warfare exercise. In what is
described by the US Navy as a unique
training opportunity, Independence
performed each of her tests proficiently.

ABOVE: USS Independence in dry dock 2008, to
be commissioned in 2010.
LEFT: The stern of the ship showing her
helicopter facilities.
IN NEXT MONTH'S ISSUE OF
SINK THE HAGURO
On the face of it, one of the most powerful heavy cruisers
ever built versus five small destroyers would be no
contest – but in May 1945 reality proved very different.
SPECIFICATION
Dimensions: Length 418ft, Beam 104ft, Draught 14ft,
Dimensions
Surface displacement 3,300 tons.
2x MTU Friedichshafen 20V 8000 diesel engines with
2x General Electric LM2500 gas turbines and 4x diesel
Propulsion
generators driving 2x shafts, 4x Wartsila waterjets,
1x Retractable thruster.
Speed/Range 44 knots, 51mph/Range 4,345nm, 5,000 miles.
1x AGM-175 Griffin air-to-surface missile launcher.
1x 57mm Mk110 deck gun.
2x 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster II chain guns.
Firepower
4x 12.7mm heavy machine guns.
1x RIM-116 SeaRam (Rolling Airframe Missile) Close-In
Weapon System (CIWS).
2x Sikorsky MH-60R/S Seahawk naval helicopter.
Air wing
1x Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV helicopter.
On sale 8 February 2019
THE WAR AT SEA PART 6
The war ended on 11 November 1918, but sporadic
actions took place beyond then.
VITTORIO VENETO
Part of the Littorio-class battleships,
which posed a real threat to the Royal
Navy when Italy entered the war
alongside Germany in 1940.
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Travel!
FEBRUARY 55
USS Alabama (BB-60) during a snowstorm.