USS Newport News (CA-148)-- Part 4: 1st and 2nd Deployments to Vietnam

Subsequent to the end of Operation Sea Dragon and for the remaining months of the deployment, the Newport News participated in  Naval Gunfire Support operations near the DMZ.  This was in support of of the Third Marine Division on the coastal area.    The ship fired around the clock for periods sometimes lasting for weeks.

During this deployment, the ship expended 59,241 rounds of high-explosive ammunition, while conducting  239 observed and 602 unobserved missions.  She came under fire of enemy coastal defense batteries on seventeen separate occasions, hit by shrapnel but never suffered a direct hit.

The Newport News departed Subic Bay on 21 April and arrived at her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 May 1968, via the Panama Canal.

Following an extensive overhaul to prepare for future combat , the ship departed Norfolk 21 November 19 68 for her second deployment to Vietnam.

Combat operations during this tour during this tour commenced on December 1, 1968, focused on providing  naval gunfire support to the 7th and 9th ARVN (South Vietnamese Army) on Vinh Binh Province and the DMZ.

She returned to Norfolk in early July 1969.

--Cooter

USS Newport News (CA-148)-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

The USS Newport News was the  third and last shop of the Des Moines-class of heavy cruisers in the U.S. Navy.  She was also the first fully air-conditioned ship and the last all-gun heavy cruiser in the Navy.

It was laid down 1 November 1945, launched 6 March 1948 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia.  Commissioned 29 January 1949.  She was named after the Virginia City of Newport New.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:  700 feet

BEAM:  76 feet 6 inches

 DRAFT:  22 feet

COMPLEMENT:  1,799 officers and enlisted

ARMAMENT:

Three triple 8-inch gun turrets  (9)

Six twin 5-inch guns  (12)

Twelve twin 3-inch guns  (24)

Twelve single Oerlikon 20 mm cannons

Packed a Punch.  --Cooter

USS Montgomery (C-9): Spanish-American War and WW I

There was also a USS Montgomery in the Spanish-American War which also was still afloat during World War I, although it did not see action.

From Wikipedia.

The 4th USS Montgomery (C-9) was the lead ship of its class and what was termed an unprotected cruiser  It served during two wars and was named after the capital city of Alabama.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

BUILDER:  Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock Co. of Baltimore, Md.

COST:  $1,037,923 (Hull and Machinery)

COMMISSIONED:  21 June 18 1894

DECOMMISSIONED:  16 May 1918

LENGTH:  269 feet 10 inches

BEAM:  37 feet

DRAFT:  14 feet 6 inches

SPEED:  17 knots

COMPLEMENT:  30 officers, 249 enlisted

ARMAMENT:

Two 6-inch guns

Eight 5-inch guns

Six 6-pounder  guns

Two 1-pounder guns

Two Gatling guns

Three 18-inch torpedo tubes

--Cooter

Wreck of the Battleship HMS Vanguard, (WW I Ship)

From the January 19, 2017, North-West Evening Mail  "Wreckage of Barrow-built First World War battleship HMS Vanguard seen for the first time."

Almost 100 years after it sank.  Launched February 1909, St. Vincent-class dreadnought battleship served in the Grand Fleet under Captain J.D. Dick.

Fired its guns at the Battle of Jutland May 1916 for the first and only time and helped sink the German light cruiser SMS Wiesbaden.

But, while at Scapa Flow had catastrophic internal explosion at 11:20 pm on July 19, 1917 with a force so great it threw a 400-ton 12-inch gun to an island almost a mile away.

Eight hundred and forty-three killed instantly with only two survivors.  Fewer than fifty bodies recovered.

A section of it was raised in 1926.

It is thought that this was the result of an accidental magazine explosion.

The ship mounted ten 12-inch guns  and twelve 4-inch.  Could go 21.7 knots and was the 8th Royal Navy ship named the Vanguard.

--Cooter

Ships By the Name USS Missouri-- Part 4: SSN-780 (and Ships Named USS St. Louis)

Back in the 1900s state names were given to battleships.  Now, they are given to submarines.

The 5th USS Missouri (SSN-780) is a Virginia-class attack submarine. commissioned  31 July 2010.  In 2016 it was home ported at Pearl Harbor.

In addition, five U.S. warships have been named the St. Louis (Wikipedia lists seven):

USS St. Louis 1828 sloop  Civil War
USS St. Louis  1861  Ironclad  Civil War

USS St. Louis  1898   troop transport
USS St. Louis (C-20)  protected cruiser  1906-1922

USS St. Louis    (CL-49)  light cruiser 1939-1946  At Pearl Harbor
USS  St. Louis  (LKA-116)   Amphibious cargo ship 1969-1991
USS St. Louis  (LCS-19)  Littoral Combat Ship

Also there have been two ships with the name USS Kansas City.

--CootLouis

USS Detroit (C-10): Fought in the Spanish-American War

From Wikipedia.

Unprotected cruiser of the Montgomery-class.  Commissioned 20 July 1893.  decommissioned 1 August 1905.  Sold for scrap 1910.

269 feet long, 37-foot beam..  Mounted two 6-inch and eight 5-inch guns in main armament.

Protected American citizens in Rio de Janeiro in 1893 and engaged a rebel cruiser and then sent to the Asiatic Station.

Overhauled in New York in 1897 then went to Key West as tensions between the U.S. and Spain mounted over Cuba.

--Cooter

USS Detroit-- Part 3: Spanish-American War and WW II

**  The third USS Detroit (C-10) was a Montgomery-class cruiser that operated 1893-1904.  Its class was one of the poorest ever designed for the U.S. Navy.  It fought in the Spanish-American War and was scrapped after decommissioning in 1904.

**  The fourth USS Detroit (CL-8) was an Omaha-class light cruiser (1923-1946).  It was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and one of the few ships to get underway.  During World War II it earned six Battle Stars.

It was moored alongside the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered in 1945.  So, it was one of the few ships that was present at the beginning of the war for the United States and the end.

**  The fifth USS Detroit (AOE-4) was a fast combat support ship (1970-2005).

--Detrer

Other Ships named USS Cincinnati-- Part 2: A Light Cruiser and a Nuclear Submarine

3.  THE THIRD USS CINCINNATI--  Was a light cruiser (CL-6) commissioned in 1924.  Did Atlantic patrols in World War II and forced the scuttling of the German ship Annalies Essberger, taking 62 prisoners in November 1942.

Later service in the Mediterranean Sea and the invasion of France.  Scrapped 1946, but the ship's bell and other items saved by the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

4.  THE FOURTH USS CINCINNATI--  (SSN-693)  A Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine in service 1978-1996.  Pieces of it were saved.

--Cooter

What Kind of Navy Did We Have Before World War I?-- Part 1

According to the U.S. Navy website.  By Joshua Keating.

For the years 1910 to 1916

BATTLESHIPS:  29, 30, 32, 32 (1913), 34, 32, 36

CRUISERS:  27, 25, 24, 27 (1913), 28, 30 30

MONITORS:  2, 3, 3, 3 (1913), 3, 3, 3

DESTROYERS:  27, 36, 42, 46 (1913), 50, 57, 61

TORPEDO BOATS:  31, 30, 30, 25 (1913), 19, 18, 18

--DaCoot's Boats

US Ships by the Name New York-- Part 2

5th-- Armored cruiser ACR-2. Flagship of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson in the Spanish-American War. At the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. Later renamed USS Saratoga (free up name for battleship BB-34) and USS Rochester (free up name for aircraft carrier). Sunk to avoid capture by Japanese. Now an artificial reef in the Philippines.

6th-- Battleship BB-34 commissioned 1914. Served in both world wars. Survived atomic bomb testing at Bikini Island. Sunk in 1948 off Pearl Harbor as a target ship.

7th-- Nuclear submarine SSN-696 (1979-1997)

The new New York LPD-21 named for 9-11 and contains 24 tons of metal from the WTC.

The Stories of Ships. --DaCoot