Photos Navies Of All Nations

USS VIRGINIA (CGN-38)
Underway in the Atlantic, 28 July 1976. Nara Image

Kiev’s rudder and propeller as seen through the periscope of HMS Swiftsure.

Swiftsure’s captain managed to lurk the carrier for a few hours, approached it and took photos of the hull shape, rudder and propeller for Western experts to better analyze its performance.

Portugal
Frigate Bartolomeu Dias on the way to sea this morning

Australia:
Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates off Darwin, 1990's. HMAS Adelaide (01), HMAS Canberra (02), HMAS Sydney (03), HMAS Darwin (04) & HMAS Newcastle (06). The only missing member of the class is HMAS Melbourne (05) which ruinewd the show by being in drydock

USN:
(May 18, 2011) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Kidd (DDG 100) and USS Pinckney (DDG 91) are underway in the Pacific Ocean

USN:
Sailors watch the launch of an F/A-18F Super Hornet from VFA-22 “Fighting Redcocks”. USS Nimitz (CVN 68), Philippine Sea Jan. 7, 2023


USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) undergoing a maintenance availability at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard's Dry Dock #4, Jan. 10, 2023


USS Sterett (DDG 104) in San Diego. Jan 12, 2023. Note her ODIN laser


USS Nimitz (CVN 68) transits through the South China Sea. Jan. 12, 2023


F/A-18E on an elevator abroad USS Nimitz (CVN 68), January 13, 2023.

Portugal
Frigate Almirante Gago Coutinho pre-1975
Based on the USS Dealey DEs , these class of 3 ships built in Portugal (Viana do castelo and Lisnave shipyards) can be considered a failure due to many construction problems which lead to her early retirement in the early 80s. Since they were built with NATO financial assistance they could not operate in the african territories so they were mostly used in Stanavforlant until their decomission.

Russia:

Project 949A (NATO Oscar II) class guided-missile submarine Omsk (K-186) specially modified to carry up to six Kanyon torpedoes. The 1.6-meter bow tubes are shown open in this image.

That's how you make a Burke look small!

Flight IIA [*Arleigh Burke*-class](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arleigh_Burke-class_destroyer) destroyer [USS *Rafael Peralta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rafael_Peralta) *(DDG-115) and [Zumwalt-class](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zumwalt-class_destroyer) destroyer [USS *Michael Monsoor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Michael_Monsoor) *(DDG-1001).
[Bath Iron Works](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_Iron_Works), 2015?

K-132 Irkutsk, Oscar II class submarine.

Republic of China Navy(Taiwan) Tuo Chiang-class corvettes

PGG-619 Ta Chiang (塔江艦)
PGG-620 Fu Chiang (富江艦)

RN:
The 9 x 16" guns of battleship HMS Nelson, 1930s


A 3 pounder saluting gun on Queen Elizabeth-class battleship HMS Valiant blows a smoke ring as she enters the Grand Harbour in Malta. 1930s

USN:
USS Saratoga (CV-3) moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, June 1945


Sailors play volleyball on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-18), c. June, 1945

Russia:
Battleship Pobeda at Pyraeus, Greece, circa 1903. Last unit of three ship Peresvet class. Laid down in 1899 and completed/commissioned in 1902. 4x10in and 11x6in (including one as a distinctive bow chaser) and numerous lighter guns. Because of her relatively light armament, was considered a second class battleship. Assigned to the Far East took part in the Russo-Japanese War. Escaped serious damage at Battle of Port Arthur and Battle of the Yellow Sea. Sunk in shallow water by Japanese 11in howitzers at Port Arthur. Salvaged by Japan and taken into service as Suwo. Eventually re-boilered and partially re-armed. Reclassified as a coast defense ship in 1908. Paid off and dis-armed in 1922 and scrapped soon after.

Russia:
Best nap is a torpedo tube nap. Soviet sailor in a submarine torpedo tube

Russia:
Battleship Marat at the Spithead Fleet Review in 1937

Germany:
Deutschland-class "Panzerschiff" Admiral Graf Spee off Hamburg (1939)


Battleship Gneisenau & Type 1924 Torpedoboat Wolf. The photo was taken between January 1939 & February 18th, 1940

France:
Charles de Gaulle in Toulon, date unknown.

USN:
Mine layer USS Aaron Ward (DM-34) hit by 6 Kamikazes April, 1945



Aaron Ward supported minesweeping operations around Kerama Retto and Okinawa until the first landings. During that period, she accounted for three enemy aircraft. On 1 April, the day of the initial assault on Okinawa, the destroyer minelayer began screening the heavy warships providing gunfire support for the troops ashore. That duty lasted until 4 April, when she headed for the Marianas. She arrived at Saipan on 10 April, but sailed to Guam later that day. After several days of minor repairs, Aaron Ward headed back to Okinawa to patrol in the area around Kerama Retto. During that patrol period, she came under frequent air attack. On 27 April, she shot down one enemy plane, and the next day accounted for one more and also claimed a probable kill. Then she returned to Kerama Retto to replenish her provisions and fuel. While she was there, a kamikaze scored a hit on Pinkney. Aaron Ward moved alongside the stricken evacuation transport to help fight the inferno blazing amidships. She also rescued 12 survivors from Pinkney.

On 30 April, she returned to sea to take up position on radar picket station number 10. That night, she helped repulse several air attacks; but, for the most part, weather kept enemy airpower away until the afternoon of 3 May. When the weather began to clear, the probability of air attacks rose. At about dusk, Aaron Ward's radar picked up bogies at 27 miles (43 km) distance. Two of the planes in the formation broke away and began runs on Aaron Ward. The warship opened fire on the first from about 7,000 yards (6,000 m) and began scoring hits when he had closed range to 4,000 yards (4,000 m). At that point, he dipped over into his suicide dive, but crashed about 100 yards (100 m) off the ship's starboard quarter. The second began his approach immediately thereafter. Aaron Ward opened fire at about 8,000 yards (7,000 m) and destroyed him while he was still 1,200 yards (1,100 m) away.

At that point, a third and more determined intruder appeared and dove in on Aaron Ward's stern. Though repeatedly struck by antiaircraft fire, the plane pressed home the attack. Just before crashing into Aaron Ward's superstructure, he released a bomb which smashed through her hull below the waterline and exploded in the after engine room. The explosion flooded the after engine and fire rooms, ruptured fuel tanks, set the leaking oil ablaze, and severed steering control connections to the bridge. The rudder jammed at hard left, and Aaron Ward turned in a tight circle while slowing to about 20 knots (37 km/h). Topside, the plane itself spread fire and destruction through the area around the after deckhouse and deprived mount 53 of all power and communication. Many sailors were killed or injured by the crash.

For about 20 minutes, no enemy plane succeeded in penetrating her air defences. Damage control parties worked feverishly to put out fires, repair what damage they could, jettison ammunition in danger of exploding, and attend to the wounded. Though steering control was moved aft to the rudder itself, the ship was unable to manoeuvre properly throughout the remainder of the engagement. Then, at about 18:40, the ships on her station came under a particularly ferocious air attack. While Little was hit by the five successive crashes that sank her, LSM(R)-195 was sunk by a single kamikaze hit; and LCS(L)-25 lost her mast to a kamikaze. Just before 19:00, one plane from the group of attackers targeted Aaron Ward and began his approach from about 8,000 yards (7,000 m). However, the ship shot down the attacker when he was still 2,000 yards (2,000 m) away. Another enemy then attempted to crash into her, but they, too, succumbed to her antiaircraft fire.

Soon after, two more Japanese planes came in on her port bow. Though chased by American fighters, one of them succeeded in breaking away and starting a run on Aaron Ward. The aircraft came in at a steep dive apparently aiming at the bridge. Heavy defensive fire, however, forced the plane to veer toward the after portion of the ship. Passing over the signal bridge, the plane carried away halyards and antennae assemblies, smashed into the stack, and then crashed close aboard to starboard.

Quickly on the heels of that attack, still another intruder swooped in toward Aaron Ward. Coming in just forward of her port beam, the plane was met with a hail of anti-aircraft fire, but continued on and released a bomb just before crashing into her main deck. The bomb exploded a few feet close aboard her port side; its fragments showered the ship and blew a large hole through the shell plating near her forward fireroom. As a result, the ship lost all power and gradually lost headway. At that point, a previously unobserved enemy crashed into the ship's deckhouse bulkhead, causing numerous fires and injuring and killing many more crewmen.

Aaron Ward endured two more crashes. At about 19:21, a plane glided in steeply on her port quarter. The loss of power prevented any of her 5-inch mounts from bearing on him, and he crashed into her port side superstructure. Burning gasoline engulfed the deck, 40-millimeter ammunition began exploding, and still more heavy casualties resulted. The warship went dead in the water, her after superstructure deck demolished, and she was still on fire. While damage control crews fought the fires and flooding, Aaron Ward began to settle in the water and took on a decided list to port.

Just after 19:20, a final attacker made a high-speed, low-level approach and crashed into the base of her number 2 stack. The explosion blew the plane, the stack, searchlight, and two gun mounts into the air, and they all came to rest strewn across the deck aft of stack number 1. Through the night, her crew fought to save the ship. At 2106, Shannon arrived and took Aaron Ward in tow. Early on the morning of 4 May, she arrived at Kerama Retto, where she began temporary repairs. She remained there until 11 June, when she got underway for the United States. Steaming via Ulithi, Guam, Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor, and the Panama Canal, Aaron Ward arrived in New York in mid-August.

On 28 September 1945, because her damage was so severe and the Navy had a surplus of destroyers at the time, she was decommissioned, and her name was struck from the Navy list. In July 1946, she was sold for scrapping. Her anchor is on display in Elgin, Illinois.

Forty-two crewmembers were killed during the May 3 attacks.

Here is the Aaron Ward's Action Report describing the attack in detail

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Japan:
Aircraft carrier Kaga, pre-war photo, circa 1930. Note the Imperial Seal of Japan (the Chrysanthemum Seal) on the tip of the bow and the three flight decks.


Heavy cruiser Myōkō on trials after second modernization, 31 March 1941