Pick the ship

[05060403]

Isn't it a Fletcher class? The gun placemant suggests that and the shape of the hull is pretty characteristic

 

[Axe99]

Isn't it a Fletcher class? The gun placemant suggests that and the shape of the hull is pretty characteristic

Correct . But why is the Fletcher class ever so slightly more appropriate as a 'Christmas' class than others? (Note, it's a bit of a stretch, but for some odd reason I haven't been able to find any ships named "Merry" or "Christmas" )

 

[05060403]

I don't know Is is because of USS Nicholas? You know Saint Nicholas. If that's not it then I realy don't know

 

[Director]

Fletcher (DD-445) was named for Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher, the uncle of Frank 'Jack' Fletcher of WW2 carrier aviation fame (or infamy depending on whose opinion you get). His birth and death dates don't correspond to Christmas, neither do the launch or scrapping date of USS Fletcher. The name is just one of those occupation-related ones like farmer, smith, dyer and so forth - it refers to putting feathers on arrows. Frank F Fletcher commanded the US Navy's first torpedo boat, Cushing, and developed its first torpedo doctrine; led a Navy landing force at Vera Cruz in 1914 and won a Medal of Honor for it.

So... I don't get the Christmas connection, sorry.

Fletchers were good DD's - a proven 5" dual-purpose gun in 5 single mounts, good light AA, a decent torpedo armament, good speed and long endurance. And most of them got surface-search and gunnery radar sets at or soon after construction. Easy to build since the guns, torps and engines were all standard units. Nice ships.

 

[Alexander Suvorov]

Here's your clue. She was laid down as a cargo ship before the outbreak of war in Europe.
Merry Christmas all!

 

[Ivan_W_S]

HMS Archer, and Merry Christmas too. That missing front part of the Amatsukaze really got me, nice one.

 

[Alexander Suvorov]

Either you are really good or my ship was too easy! She served the U.S. as the Macmorland, then the Royal Navy throughout the war as the HMS Archer, and wound up with a quiet life as a passenger ship, the Anna Salén.

 

[Axe99]

I don't know Is is because of USS Nicholas? You know Saint Nicholas. If that's not it then I realy don't know

That's the one . A bit of a stretch, but other than finding ships that were sunk on Christmas day (which doesn't feel very Christmassy) that's the best I can do. Sorry @Director, it had to be fairly obtuse (at least within the limits of my knowledge - there may be a ship designer somewhere that was born on Christmas day or the like).

Either you are really good or my ship was too easy! She served the U.S. as the Macmorland, then the Royal Navy throughout the war as the HMS Archer, and wound up with a quiet life as a passenger ship, the Anna Salén.

Don't feel bad - when the people here can pick a Japanese destroyer with an improvised bow after a torpedo attack (not me mind, I would have been right stumped, although it was easy to verify after naisel's well-informed post), there's not much gets past this crowd .

Here's another ship, from 'the country that invented Christmas' as a holiday, apparently (according to my not terribly rigorous Google searching). Note, bells not part of original fit out .

 

[SchwarzKatze]

Spoiler: stories of headless destroyers, OT

Japanese destroyers seem to have ridiculous survivability even if they're rather brittle. Suzutsuki, an Akizuki-class destroyer, took one torpedo each fore and aft from USS Sturgeon, detonating its magazines and was blown into three, losing ~34 meters in the front and ~46 meters in the back out of 134m total length, including its turrets and bridge. The crew was devastated and the highest ranked survivor onboard was an engineering sublieutenant as the engine section was basically all that's left. It was towed back by another destroyer in the flotilla and fully repaired, later being torpedoed again, and later escorted Yamato's last voyage and survived after taking a bomb, and was finally converted to breakwater post-war. Although far more legendary, it was fully repaired so there's no striking visual features in the photographs taken by bombers attacking Yamato, and there's no photos of it before the repair.

Another one is Shiranui, a Kagerō-class destroyer like Amatsukaze, was torpedoed by USS Growler, losing everything before the first funnel but still survived. It was repaired but here's a picture of it in the dry dock:

Though Amatsukaze took it even harder, it was torpedoed by USS Redfin under the first funnel and lost all power, and due to bad weather, lost contact with the convoy and then snapped between the two funnels. The rear part somehow stayed afloat for a whole week until an aircraft discovered it and sent for help. Due to the destruction of the Japanese fleet, it couldn't be towed back to Japan so it was towed to Saigon for basic measures to restore seaworthiness, and sailed to Singapore for a new bridge and boilers which yielded its final configuration in the pictures. It was due to return to Japan for a full repair, but due to its low speed (20 knots in that shape) it was assigned to accompany the last blockade run from SEA, convoy Hi-88-J from Singapore to Hainan, however, only the escorts survived and all cargo were lost en route, and the remaining ships were reassigned to convoy Ho-Mo-03 from Hong Kong to Kitakyūshū. This time it was much worse, with all transports sunk on the first day, and total destruction the next day, with only Amatsukaze surviving, but with both turrets destroyed (see the erratic angles of the guns in the picture) and seawater in the engine. It's down to 6 knots and tried to reach Amoy but ran aground nearby, and came under attack from Chinese partisans. Luckily Amatsukaze was laden with 7.7mm and 12.7 mm "anti-air" machine guns transferred from damaged ships in the convoy, which were kind of useless in their intended roles but of immense help here, and Amatsukaze suffered only one death. Attempts to tow it to Amoy was unsuccessful and it was finally scuttled nearby.

 

[SchwarzKatze]

That's the one . A bit of a stretch, but other than finding ships that were sunk on Christmas day (which doesn't feel very Christmassy) that's the best I can do. Sorry @Director, it had to be fairly obtuse (at least within the limits of my knowledge - there may be a ship designer somewhere that was born on Christmas day or the like).



Don't feel bad - when the people here can pick a Japanese destroyer with an improvised bow after a torpedo attack (not me mind, I would have been right stumped, although it was easy to verify after naisel's well-informed post), there's not much gets past this crowd .

Here's another ship, from 'the country that invented Christmas' as a holiday, apparently (according to my not terribly rigorous Google searching). Note, bells not part of original fit out .

View attachment 149526

Shakespeare-class, or the destroyer leader in E/F/G/H class? They all look pretty much the same to me, two guns fore, two aft, one between the funnels and a searchlight platform after the second funnel.

 

[Axe99]

You're definitely on the right track, but I should behave myself and keep to the yes/no, so it's a no, but you're very, very warm! For a bonus, but probably ridiculously obscure clue, the ship pictured doesn't actually have a name that starts with the letter of the class (quite unusual for the British destroyer runs).

Cheers for posting that stuff on the Japanese destroyers - they had a way of making the most of their ships (from what I've seen, the Japanese were also the most vigorous in repurposing other navies ships for their use as well).

 

[SchwarzKatze]

Codrington, leader of the A-class.

 

[Hoyte]

It is that, very impressive . That's the first in the class, I65 (that what was smudged on the hull, the flag was the IJN flag, as you'd expect) in 1932.

One more for the night, an easy one as long as you're not thrown by the flag . Text on hull smudged as it would give it away to anyone that could read Cyrillic.

View attachment 149203

October revolution

 

[Hoyte]

That's the one. Only reason I knew what it was, was because I was going through the Japanese navy about a week or so ago, and the book I'm going through had that exact same pic in it .

Here's another. One of these was effectively put out of commission by an MTB, and two in the class were hit by airborne torpoedoes....

View attachment 149315

Guilo ceasre

 

[SchwarzKatze]

October revolution

Guilo ceasre

Already answered, Arkhangelsk and Liverpool.

 

[SchwarzKatze]

Another one for y'all when Axe is offline.

Flag and hull marking blurred out as usual.

Hint: See the funnels? They're capped on the top. Why would someone do that? Wouldn't that cause the exhaust to blow sideways and reduce the visions on both the deck and the masts?

 

[Aederic]

It's the japanese target ship IJN "Settu"

 

[Axe99]

Codrington, leader of the A-class.

Still not quite there, but getting closer (and another good guess) . Like your ship as well , I think Aederic has it, but am not entirely sure, so won't post another until confirmed (and if you want to post another when you do confirm, go for it ).

 

[AchedTeacher]

is big boat i thimk.

 

[SchwarzKatze]

It's the japanese target ship IJN "Settu"

Yeah that's fast.