Photos Navies Of All Nations

[BravoZulu]

USN:
Lead ship of the class destroyer escort USS Buckley (DE-51) is launched at the Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, Massachusetts on 9 January 1943

In the early morning of 6 May 1944, aircraft from the escort carrier Block Island (CVE-21) reported an enemy submarine approximately 20 miles from Buckley. The ship steamed toward the U-boat at full speed. Meanwhile, U-66 had exhausted supplies and surfaced to recharge batteries and waited for a supply ship. At 3:08 AM, believing the approaching ship was German, U-66 launched three flares. The distance between the two vessels was 4,000 yards when the U-boat realized the actual identity of the ship approaching them.

U-66 fired a torpedo, which Buckley dodged. The sub fired machine guns at the destroyer escort which returned fire with three-inch guns hitting the submarine's forecastle. Buckley then unleashed all its weapons on their target, repeatedly striking the conning tower as the sub backed away and fired another torpedo, which the Buckley avoided. At 0328 Buckley rammed the German submarine U-66 and the two vessels were briefly locked together. Some members of the German crew exited their burning boat, and hand-to-hand combat ensued using small arms and whatever weapons were at hand (such as coffee mugs and shell casings). The Buckley backed off, but the submarine pursued, striking the Buckley on the starboard side at the engine room. The collision also broke the ship's starboard propeller shaft. The U-66 disengaged and slowly backed away, but not before hand grenades were thrown into the gaping hole in the flaming conning tower.[1] The submarine sank at 0341. Buckley picked up 36 German survivors.

From the action report:
Buckley, alongside sub, gives hard right rudder. Rides up on forecastle of sub and stays there. Men begin swarming out of the submarine and up on Buckley's forecastle. Machine gun, tommy gun, and rifle fire knocks off several. Ammunition expended at this time included several general mess coffee cups which were on hand at ready gun station. Two of the enemy were hit in the head with these. Empty shell cases were also used by crew of 3" gun #2 to repel boarders. 3" guns could not bear. Buckley suffers only casualty of engagement when man bruises fist knocking one of enemy over the side.

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS DeHaven (DD-727) was launched on 9 January 1944 by Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine,

Balao-class submarine USS Hawkbill (SS-366) is launched into the Manitowoc River at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 9 January 1944

Destroyer tender USS Dobbin (AD-3) at Seeadler Harbor, Admiralty Islands, on 12 June 1944. Alongside are Evarts-class destroyer escort USS Lovering (DE-39) and the Gleaves-class destroyer USS Welles (DD-628), Sims-class destroyer USS Mustin (DD-413) and lead ship of the destroyer class USS Fletcher (DD-445).

 

[BravoZulu]

Italy:
Condottieri-class light cruiser Luigi Cadorna at Malta on 9 September 1943.

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance (DDG 111), front, USS Chafee (DDG 90), middle, and USS Gridley (DDG 101) transit the Philippine Sea, Jan. 22, 2022.

 

[BravoZulu]

Japan:
Aircraft carrier Taihō anchored in Tawi-Tawi, Philippines, May 1944

Built by Kawasaki at Kobe, she was laid down on 10 July 1941, launched almost two years later on 7 April 1943 and finally commissioned on 7 March 1944. She sank on 19 June 1944 during the Battle of the Philippine Sea due to explosions resulting from design flaws and poor damage control after suffering a single torpedo hit from the American submarine USS Albacore.

 

[BravoZulu]

RN:
Duke class (Type 23) frigate HMS Richmond (F239) arriving in Gibraltar for a logistic stop on her way to bolster UK naval presence in the Gulf region. 9 Jan 2024

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
Iowa class battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) fires one of her Mark 7 16-inch/50-caliber guns while taking part in a night mission off the northern Kuwaiti coast during Operation Desert Storm, Feb 26, 1991

 

[Redav]

Portugal
The Vasco da Gama in happier times
Once a proud simbol of the Navy' s renovation, most likely that she will never sail again. She remains at pier since 2017, totally disarmed.

 

[Redav]

USN
Kidd-Class Guided-Missile Destroyer USS Kidd ( DDG-993 ) and the Spruance-Class Destroyer USS Peterson ( DD-969 ) moored together on the north side of pier 24 at the Norfolk Naval Base. This photo shows the differences in the regular destroyer versus the guided missile type. The Kidd is equipped with the more advanced SPS-48 and SPS-49 radar antenna. The Mark 15 missile launcher is aft of the 5 inch gun mount ( Hampton Roadstead / Virginia ) ( April 12, 1996 )

 

[BravoZulu]

Turkey:
Ada-class ASW corvette TCG Burgazada (F-513), sunset. Jan 2024

 

[BravoZulu]

Canada:
Lead ship of the class, HMCS Harry DeWolf (AOPV 430) offshore patrol vessel in the Arctic Sea - August 26, 2021

 

[BravoZulu]

Germany:
Type VIIC U-boat U-426 down by the stern and sinking during an attack by a Royal Australian Air Force Short Sunderland Mark III of No. 10 Squadron RAAF in the Bay of Biscay. 8 January 1944

The boat's first patrol was preceded by a trip from Kiel in Germany to Bergen in Norway. U-426 then left Bergen on 5 October 1943 and headed for the Atlantic Ocean via the gap between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. She sank the British ship Essex Lance on 15 October 408 nautical miles (756 km; 470 mi) east of Cape Farewell (Greenland). The submarine arrived in Brest in occupied France on 29 November.

Her second sortie began on 3 January 1944. On the eighth, she was attacked and sunk by depth charges dropped by an Australian Sunderland flying boat of No. 10 Squadron RAAF.

Fifty-one men went down with the U-boat; there were no survivors.

 

[BravoZulu]

USN & Canada:
Top to bottom: Fletcher-class destroyer USS The Sullivans (DD-537), Forrest Sherman-class destroyer USS Jonas Ingram (DD-938), modified Majestic class aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure (CVL-22), Lead ship of her class USS Essex (CVS-9), Tribal class destroyer HMCS Athabaskan II. June 1961

 

[Redav]

The last gun cruiser in any navy. Built by the Dutch in 1953 and commissioned as HNLMS De Ruyter (C801). Then, she was bought by the Peruvian Navy in 1973 and served proudly as BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81) and became the fleet flagship.

Decomissioned in 2017, with her faith uncertain - at first, there was an idea to turn her into a museum ship. Then, in February 2022, she was listed for sale (for over 1,1M $). Ultimately, she got scrapped in July 2022.

 

[Redav]

USN
Twenty Fletcher-class destroyers tied up at the repair base, San Diego, California, while undergoing inactivation, early in 1946.

 

[Redav]

Japan/US
The captured Japanese battleship Nagato steams towards Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, in March 1946.

She departed Yokosuka, Japan, for Eniwetok under the command of Captain W.J. Whipple with an American crew of about 180 men supplementing her Japanese crew. The ship was only capable of a speed of 10 knots from her two operating propeller shafts. Her hull had not been repaired from the underwater damage sustained during the attack on 18 July 1945 and she leaked enough that her pumps could not keep up. Her consort, the light cruiser Sakawa, broke down on 28 March and Nagato attempted to take her in tow, but one of her boilers malfunctioned and the ship ran out of fuel in bad weather. The ship had a list of seven degrees to port by the time tugboats from Eniwetok arrived on 30 March. Towed at a speed of 1 knot, the ship reached Eniwetok on 4 April where she received temporary repairs. On her trip to Bikini in May, Nagato reached 13 knots.

 

[Redav]

Finland
Three Finnish Vetehinen-class submarines, c.1930s.

 

[Redav]

USN
Aerial view of the "mothball fleet" at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington (USA), in July 1974.

Several larger warships are visible (from below): USS Missouri (BB-63), USS Saint Paul (CA-73)(?), USS Hornet (CVS-12), USS Rochester (CA-124), USS Bennington (CVS-20), and USS New Jersey (BB-62).

The carrier in the background is (most probably) USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31).

Original caption: Aerial view looking northeast across the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in downtown Bremerton, and up Rich Passage. Skyscrapers of Seattle are just visible in the upper right portion of the photo across puget sound. The battleship Missouri, a war memorial open to the public, is seen in the lower foreground. These communities will be affected by population growth when the proposed Trident submarine base is built nearby, 07/1974."

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
Los Angeles-class nuclear powered fast attack submarine USS Columbus (SSN 762) home ported at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, conducts an emergency surface training exercise, 35 miles off the coast of Oahu, HI. 4 June 1998

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
Originally a Gato class submarine, converted under SCB 39 (Ship Characteristics Board) and recommissioned in the active fleet as SSO-362. Submarine Oiler USS Guavina (AOSS-362) anchored off a Caribbean port and standing by to refuel a P5M Marlin, 5 March 1955

Guavina (AGSS-362), refueling a P5M Marlin flying boat off Norfolk, VA. in 1955. It was planned to use submarines to refuel the new jet-powered P6M SeaMaster flying boats. As part of this program Guavina was converted to carry 160,000 gallons of aviation fuel.

Guavina was converted to a tanker configuration from March 1949 through February of 1950 and equipped with additional AVGAS bladders in place of her stern torpedo tubes so she could function as a mobile refueling point for US Navy seaplanes. Later gaining an expanded deck atop her stern to facilitate the refueling process and give the Sub the ability to refuel multiple aircraft at the same time, she made numerous deployments along the Atlantic Coast and to both the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas honing the scope of AOSS operational doctrine.

The efforts of Guavina and her crew were expected to provide the basis for a fleet of similarly-modified WWII Tanker-Subs which would be deployed worldwide to support the nuclear strike/deterrent mission of the Martin P6M SeaMaster program. However, with waning US Navy interest in seaplane operations and the the SeaMaster getting the axe in 1959, the Guavina was left without a mission and subsequently decommissioned in March 1959 . She was placed into reserve training status before eventually being struck from the Register in 1967 and sunk as a target of Cape Henry, VA.

Her initial conversion in 1949/1950 at Mare Island was undertaken to allow her to resupply Marine beachheads. Large fuel bunkers were built up around her hull amidships which greatly increased her beam, and five bow and two stern torpedo tubes were removed. The single remaining bow tube was used to discharge cargo, and the two stern tubes used to fire countermeasures (acoustic homing torpedoes).

An overhaul in 1954 at Philadelphia turned her into a seaplane tanker with the addition of the "flight deck" on her stern.