Favourite ship of the second world war

[Rancher]

After the interesting thread about your favourite Tank of the war, what is your favourite naval vessel of the war.
I'll start it off with mine. Ive chosen it partly for a very interesting design but also because so little is known of her and I think there is only 1 photo of her.
IJNS Shimakazi

 

[DeathAndDecay]

The Yamato.

Whenever I want to fire up a game of HOI III, I always have an immediate urge to play as Japan, despite playing the nation many many times.

I just love the combination of heavy Naval emphasis, strong Air emphasis, and a good infantry as well. And I love to get into the action early in 1937 (I only play with DiDay's I.C.E. so my games are plausibly historic).

Here's a shot of her under fire.

 

[lobosrul]

Without a doubt "The Big E", USS Enterprise (CV-6). Her, and her crew totally kicked some IJN ass. The most decorated ship in the US Navy, with 20 battlestars. For a brief time in late 1942, while the Saratoga was undergoing repairs, Enterprise was the only US Carrier operating in the pacific. The crew boldly hung a sign over the flight deck that read "Enterprise vs. Japan".

Her presidential unit citation:

For consistently outstanding performance and distinguished achievement during repeated action against enemy Japanese forces in the Pacific war area, 7 December 1941, to 15 November 1942. Participating in nearly every major carrier engagement in the first year of the war, the Enterprise and her air group, exclusive of far-flung destruction of hostile shore installations throughout the battle area, did sink or damage on her own a total of 35 Japanese vessels and shot down a total of 185 Japanese aircraft. Her aggressive spirit and superb combat efficiency are fitting tribute to the officers and men who so gallantly established her as an ahead bulwark in the defense of the American nation.

http://www.cv6.org/

And for comic relief, the USS William D Porter:
http://www.usshancockcv19.com/histories/willie-d.htm

 

[fanisx]

USS Enterprise, of course.Everything that lobosrul said plus it remembers us of Star Trek!

 

[Fewrfreyut]

first, I'm glad my thread inspired you to make this one

second, though aircraft carriers emerged as the dominant ship, it was the battleship that captured my attention. And without a doubt, my favorite ship is the Tirpitz.

nothing to me is a greater symbol of power than an aerial shot of a battleship firing its main guns.

Here's an image of the USS Iowa firing it's main guns. Try to tell me this doesn't portray sheer power.

 

[Danmark Rising]

first, I'm glad my thread inspired you to make this one

second, though aircraft carriers emerged as the dominant ship, it was the battleship that captured my attention. And without a doubt, my favorite ship is the Tirpitz.

nothing to me is a greater symbol of power than an aerial shot of a battleship firing its main guns.

Here's an image of the USS Iowa firing it's main guns. Try to tell me this doesn't portray sheer power.

The Iowa is by far my favorite ship of not only WWII, but of all wars. Of course living in its namesake state probably has something to do with that, at least in part. She was the only Iowa class ship to operate in the Atlantic during the war and went on to serve in Korea. Even today, as she sits in the mothball fleet and could soon be turned into a meuseam ship, it is required by law that she remain battle worthy as her class was America's last true battleship.

 

[Lord Blekinge]

How about a class? I have always liked the Tribal class destroyers. They looked beautiful and powerful but alas they turned out not to be that great. Their 4.7 inch dual mountings were not HA guns, so they were easy targets for dive bombers(as were most pre-war British destroyer classes)

 

[Bullfrog]

Guess the ship.

 

[Fewrfreyut]

Guess the ship.

hmm... big guns, but the bow looks rather low. I'm no modern naval expert, and the most I can give you is a guess that it is a battlecruiser or battleship. It's the guns that make me conflicted as to which. Otherwise... no idea what ship class it is, let alone the name.

 

[comsubpac]

it is the scharnhorst... even though it did know it anyway it is easy to answer when the picture has the title: ".../battleships/scharnhorst/08_scharnhorst_after_modification".

 

[cfp]

Yeah, the Scharnhorst after the 'Atlantic Prow' was added. Also my favorite class of the war.

 

[unc15]

The USS Juneau (CL-52), an Atlanta-class light cruiser.

 

[JASGripen]

I like all kind of subs.

A German VIIB sub

 

[jju_57]

The Yamato.

Whenever I want to fire up a game of HOI III, I always have an immediate urge to play as Japan, despite playing the nation many many times.

I just love the combination of heavy Naval emphasis, strong Air emphasis, and a good infantry as well. And I love to get into the action early in 1937 (I only play with DiDay's I.C.E. so my games are plausibly historic).

Here's a shot of her under fire.

Looks like she's sailing straight for the CV group to engage. LOL.

Some of the BB's were the prettiest ships ever built.

 

[Oof]

Not a particular ship, but the Canadian Corvette. They did more than any other types of ships during the U-boat war in the Atlantic.

 

[unmerged(148353)]

1. Bismarck - Just a big, tough looking bastard of a battleship.
2. Hood - ironic?

 

[nigo]

Brazilian WWI cruiser Bahia

sunked in july 1945 in military exercises (a theory says some u-boats sunked the cruiser going to Argentina)

 

[TZoli]

The Yamato and the Nagato, I love Japanese Pagoda style superstructures!!!

 

[unmerged(32649)]

Existing ship : Nagato

Design ship : The Japanese B-65 class cruisers.
The picture is taken from a model for the Pacific Storm Allies mod, made by Dejv, http://www.pacificstorm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3187 )

For further info, see this http://www.bobhenneman.info/B65.htm

 

[TZoli]

I don't want to be cocky but the Precise Designation for this vessel is B-65 (B numbers are battlecruiser designs of the IJN, A is the Battleships) the B-64 is the Amagi class.