Found: Actual diary of Claude Blackwell, Kansas captain

[Taichunger]

April 17
Found that firing out past 20 kms, you can sometimes get as many as one richochet.

April 23
Got crew up at 0400 for additional gunnery training. By evening we had managed to fire one additional salvo for a total of three for the day, an increase of 50% over the previous daily average for the last three months. CINCPAC was quite pleased. ADDED: Secondary crews were greatly cheered upon learning that they got three hits on the target at 5.0 kms. I didn't have the heart to tell them they'd actually hit the towing ship instead of the target. Crew morale is important!

May 3 
New Mission orders received at last! Excited!

May 7
Left Pearl early in the AM with TF 58. By noon they had reached Guam, while we were still rounding Holokahiki Point. Much criticism from the TF commander. 

May 9
Engaged enemy at last! At 13:21 fired a salvo at a Mogami-class cruiser off our starboard bow at 19 kms, but was told to stop firing after first salvo since our shells were hitting friendlies to port. Two hours later received permission to resume firing but were unable to engage as next salvo not yet loaded. At 16:01 attacked by flight of dive bombers, shot down six but they planted three bombs in the ship despite our violent evasive maneuvers and AA. Mysteriously, training appears to have no effect on anti-aircraft accuracy. Engine power fully restored by 2030. Directed to retire to Guam for repairs, exec says at top speed we will be there by August.

Feb 2 
On Bering Strait Patrol since V-J day. Man this cold war is cooooolllld. 

March 6 
Encountered Russian battleship with strange name, like a vampire or something. Exchange of insults with impertinent Russky. Fired one salvo at his bow at 3 kms, 2 shells shattered, 2 richocheted, others all missed. Russian fired once.

Do not know how long I can survive on this ice floe.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ensign_Cthulhu]

I do think you're exaggerating somewhat, but the meme humour is spot-on. Punchline was brilliant.

[Akeno017]

Kansas.

The worst T7 battleship.

[SeaGladius]

28 minutes ago, Akeno017 said:

Kansas.

The worst T7 battleship.

But it’s got 12 guns!

/s

[Asym_KS]

Sigh......  The Flint & Gypsum Hills, the salt mine areas and Great Plains are embarrassed.   Not to mention all of the Ranchers and Farmers whom might have paid attention to a ship named of home.  At least, the current USS Wichita is worth a crap and I was at the city meet and greet of the current crew........  What a ship; and, I can't wait to see her and her sisters in this game.....>!!!

This current mess............is a mess.  And, a huge embarrassment.    Sigh.

[Rouxi]

1 hour ago, Akeno017 said:

Kansas.

The worst T7 battleship.

You're insulting t7 ships by comparing Kansas to them.

[Firewalk]

8 minutes ago, Rouxi said:

You're insulting t7 ships by comparing Kansas to them.

Some are worse, but not many. I would however totally drive a King George V over her.

[SteelRain_Rifleman]

Minnesota mission from Pearl...

3rd of March...0800 hours

Captains log:

Pulled out for unspecified secret Cold War mission to Vladivostok to assess a new battleship the Soviet Navy has there. It's name, the Kremlin. It's escorted by the cruiser Stalingrad. And a CV called the Gagarin. 

CINCPAC assures me that they will draw their subs away so we can get close. We are told Stalingrad has a top speed of 34 knots, but has never left port, ever. It only fired its gun test from the dock once. 

The Kremlin does sail out but is rather nervous to sail alone or wide to anyone. Intel suggests weak armor inside. 😏

The Gagarin has bombers and they will be a threat, but the Nimitz Battle Group will be conducting "exercises" to draw them there.

Gagarin will remain in port however.

Command orders us to fire over the horizon and hit all 3 ships. Use the spotter plane if you have to but their radar will alert them.

Kremlin will likely leave port first and Gagarin won't leave until all planes are recalled. It seems Russian pilots can't fly back to a new waypoint. 😏

Stalingrad will be forced to leave port for the first time if the first salvo misses. At which point we are to flank the target and try again.

Should the Soviet fleet spot the Minnesota and it's strange camo, the Soviets will not readily make the connection to the US Navy.

Minnesota will be operating alone above, but 1 gato class sub will be below as backup. The Stingray.

The Stingray has different orders and is on radio silence. They will only assist, but will not use comms.

1st of June...0900 hours

We arrived to max gun range of Minnesota near Vladivostok. Stingray is confirmed below. They made 12 stops for fuel, but they kept up. Running at top water speed consumes more fuel for them. They are now under.

Spotter confirms Kremlin in Port, but Stalingrad was dismantled in berth. Only the top mast remains, all armament has been hauled off. Gagarin still there, but rusting. Lack of maintenance?

With only two targets, I order gunnery to open fire.

First shots struck the remaining Stalingrad top mast and keel. It sank in place. But we were aiming at the Kremlin.

Second salvo hit the dock and destroyed the women's showers. The women spilling out of the barracks that wanted to get cleaned, wearing towels, and that stiff gale force wind.. was quite a site. We took photos for confirmation of target damage.

Third salvo finally hit Gagarin. Something akin to a rocket 🚀 shot out of the center of the flight deck. We informed NASA to keep an eye out.

The fourth missed Kremlin but that is because Kremlin was underway at 30 knots.

I wish I had that speed. F.

We engaged the Kremlin at around 1130 hours. Kremlin managed to get a salvo off, then one of its turrets spun around like a dizzy Dalek. Apparently the turret brake malfunctioned. 

We took damage in the torpedo protection and middle compartments, and the middle middle compartments. The middle middle middle compartments were unaffected.

The spinning turret was turret#1, it swung around and hit#2 with such force it bent the guns on turret#2. With only turret#3 working, Kremlin turned wide. 

We opened fire and struck the torpedo protection, the fore and aft sections for over penetrations, and finally clipped the Soviet star affixed to the main bridge.

I was a bit upset. F----- overpens!

But it got worse.

Stingray sent 4 torpedoes into the middle of Kremlin and 2 were duds. The two torpedoes that worked damaged the engine room and flooded the ship.

We observed that it took a full 8 hours for Kremlin to sink because I didn't want to fire another salvo.  The Kremlin's crew was all safe.

Stingray already left for Pearl stating in a transmission : "This blows, but I will collect my Navy Cross thank you very much."

We set back to Pearl and a few months later due to a few typhoons, a run in with Soviet DDs commanded by women demanding compensation, and the occasional IJN remnant DD from WW2 that forgot the war was over, we finally made it home.

I had to explain to the fleet quartermaster why we needed to use the entire inventory of soft soap, shampoo, conditioner, bath robes, chocolate, ice cream, alcohol, and strawberries.

I did however, hand over to Intel what's inside Soviet destroyers. "A lot of ladies stockings, Sir. Among other things, Sir. " 😏

The quartermaster simply stated: "Okay."

I had to explain to my wife why I had lipstick on my dress whites. She simply set my dress whites on fire 🔥 and tossed into the BBQ pit. I hear most of the crew got off a lot easier than me.😅

Minnesota was awarded the Navy Cross for the sinking of Stalingrad and Gagarin. But the Soviet space program took credit for sending the first potato into space. It was a sack of potatoes stored in a soyuz rocket hidden in a vertical launcher. Gagarin was an aircraft carrier, but also a portable space program launchpad. It seems, Gagarin's crew couldn't find a place to stash the potatoes without them going bad, so they sealed them in the capsule.

The Soviet Union was very angry and used various propaganda to make it look like we were preventing them from fairly entering the space race. The capsule is expected to break every orbital record set by a potato 🥔 and should never be challenged by anyone.

NASA countered with sending a bag of bananas to the portable station where the chimpanzee astronauts were at. 😏

I really hated being part of that monkey business.😏

Stingray, eventually went on yet another secret mission.

Where?  Nobody knows. But I hear it's dodgey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SteelRain_Rifleman]

1 hour ago, Rouxi said:

You're insulting t7 ships by comparing Kansas to them.

Colorado: "Oh Really!"

*Shoots at a Pensacola that bow tanks. Citadel, explosion, sunk.

Pensacola: "Owwww.. .."

Colorado: "Yep."

[Gabriel_LXIX]

 

Image found of Kansas Captain, awaiting reload 

[Duma]

2 hours ago, Asym_KS said:

Sigh......  The Flint & Gypsum Hills, the salt mine areas and Great Plains are embarrassed.   Not to mention all of the Ranchers and Farmers whom might have paid attention to a ship named of home.  At least, the current USS Wichita is worth a crap and I was at the city meet and greet of the current crew........  What a ship; and, I can't wait to see her and her sisters in this game.....>!!!

This current mess............is a mess.  And, a huge embarrassment.    Sigh.

I am not a native "Okie" although I've spent my life here outside of two trips to Germany.  I don't find the Oklahoma to be an embarrassment.  I will say the same of the Kansas etc..  More of a witness and testimony to WG's never ending mummery when it comes to certain nations/lines.

[Princess_Daystar]

2 hours ago, Asym_KS said:

Sigh......  The Flint & Gypsum Hills, the salt mine areas and Great Plains are embarrassed.   Not to mention all of the Ranchers and Farmers whom might have paid attention to a ship named of home.  At least, the current USS Wichita is worth a crap and I was at the city meet and greet of the current crew........  What a ship; and, I can't wait to see her and her sisters in this game.....>!!!

This current mess............is a mess.  And, a huge embarrassment.    Sigh.

Let me ruin your view of LCS right now. They suck. They break more than a 30 year old ship. Theres a reason they got cancelled and the reason the navys looking into bringing a frigate design into service instead. They look pretty, and they look sleek, but thats about all they got.

[slokill_1]

On a lighter note I have a 35% win rate in it.  

[HazeGrayUnderway]

4 hours ago, Taichunger said:

April 17
Found that firing out past 20 kms, you can sometimes get as many as one richochet.

April 23
Got crew up at 0400 for additional gunnery training. By evening we had managed to fire one additional salvo for a total of three for the day, an increase of 50% over the previous daily average for the last three months. CINCPAC was quite pleased. ADDED: Secondary crews were greatly cheered upon learning that they got three hits on the target at 5.0 kms. I didn't have the heart to tell them they'd actually hit the towing ship instead of the target. Crew morale is important!

May 3 
New Mission orders received at last! Excited!

May 7
Left Pearl early in the AM with TF 58. By noon they had reached Guam, while we were still rounding Holokahiki Point. Much criticism from the TF commander. 

May 9
Engaged enemy at last! At 13:21 fired a salvo at a Mogami-class cruiser off our starboard bow at 19 kms, but was told to stop firing after first salvo since our shells were hitting friendlies to port. Two hours later received permission to resume firing but were unable to engage as next salvo not yet loaded. At 16:01 attacked by flight of dive bombers, shot down six but they planted three bombs in the ship despite our violent evasive maneuvers and AA. Mysteriously, training appears to have no effect on anti-aircraft accuracy. Engine power fully restored by 2030. Directed to retire to Guam for repairs, exec says at top speed we will be there by August.

Feb 2 
On Bering Strait Patrol since V-J day. Man this cold war is cooooolllld. 

March 6 
Encountered Russian battleship with strange name, like a vampire or something. Exchange of insults with impertinent Russky. Fired one salvo at his bow at 3 kms, 2 shells shattered, 2 richocheted, others all missed. Russian fired once.

Do not know how long I can survive on this ice floe.

2 hours ago, Firewalk said:

Some are worse, but not many. I would however totally drive a King George V over her.

KGV doesn't care about anyone's armor, not with 89mm HE Pen.  Especially with 25 seconds reload for her 10 guns

 

[iDuckman]

22 minutes ago, Princess_Daystar said:

They look pretty, and they look sleek, but thats about all they got.

Well, you also get 40kt speed.  How useful that is is questionable.

[xHeavy]

2 hours ago, Asym_KS said:

Sigh......  The Flint & Gypsum Hills, the salt mine areas and Great Plains are embarrassed.   Not to mention all of the Ranchers and Farmers whom might have paid attention to a ship named of home.  At least, the current USS Wichita is worth a crap and I was at the city meet and greet of the current crew........  What a ship; and, I can't wait to see her and her sisters in this game.....>!!!

This current mess............is a mess.  And, a huge embarrassment.    Sigh.

The entire LCS class of ships is junk.

I think they made a big deal with the Steel from the towers for the bow of the NY. The rest is aluminum. Aluminum burns before Steel will. And with just a little 5 inch, a couple of 30 mm chain guns and maybe a chopper or two they can be easily overmatched in battle.

They are pretty but engines do not work and they need way too much support for any mission profile. Then they needed to be escorted as they are not really capable of protecting themselves.

\

Now recently one of the UK's newer warships was in the Black Sea enduring a mock attack by 16 or so Russian warplanes there is a video online that showed the CiC constantly broadcasting warnings to the cloud of buzzing jets booming the warship warning about radiation injury to human pilots from 2 miles or less. What they did not tell the russians then was they had about 44 or so air defense missiles that would have erased all 16 in a few moments. (They did not say what they would have after the Russian sent another 30 out to sink it. there is no reloads) However the UK is a paper tiger essentially maybe a dozen warships with a couple of obese carriers barely able to dictate national policy anywhere outside of Spithead.)

One could argue that the Russian would have deleted the warship easily. And then what? HA...

America isnt much better having 5 or 6 big carriers quietly rusting together at Norfolk at dockside. In my day we kept carriers at sea up to 50 years before they were scrapped. Now they sit in port 50 years. What a waste.

Finally but not last... when you see the latest bombastic about Tanker escorts in the Persian Gulf. You will always have the warship of whatever nation between tankers. The idea that if there were any mines about the tanker would soak up the damage and survive while the warship would have been deleted.

[Princess_Daystar]

8 minutes ago, iDuckman said:

Well, you also get 40kt speed.  How useful that is is questionable.

40kt speed, they cant fire their weapon going anywhere near that and did i mention their engines break if that speed is maintained for long periods? I watched one have engines replaced each and every single time it went to sea. It was depressing to watch.

6 minutes ago, xHeavy said:

America isnt much better having 5 or 6 big carriers quietly rusting together at Norfolk at dockside. In my day we kept carriers at sea up to 50 years before they were scrapped. Now they sit in port 50 years. What a waste.

 

The Carriers thing is pretty false. They are on a rotation, most ive ever seen in port at once was 4 carriers. One came back from deployment, one was leaving for deployment, one was prepping to go to the yards for service and one had just gotten out of the yards and was beginning its work up cycle. out of those four the only one thats been in port for sever lengths of time is the Ford.

[Princess_Daystar]

Double post, deleted.

[thebigblue]

4 hours ago, Taichunger said:

April 17
Found that firing out past 20 kms, you can sometimes get as many as one richochet.

April 23
Got crew up at 0400 for additional gunnery training. By evening we had managed to fire one additional salvo for a total of three for the day, an increase of 50% over the previous daily average for the last three months. CINCPAC was quite pleased. ADDED: Secondary crews were greatly cheered upon learning that they got three hits on the target at 5.0 kms. I didn't have the heart to tell them they'd actually hit the towing ship instead of the target. Crew morale is important!

May 3 
New Mission orders received at last! Excited!

May 7
Left Pearl early in the AM with TF 58. By noon they had reached Guam, while we were still rounding Holokahiki Point. Much criticism from the TF commander. 

May 9
Engaged enemy at last! At 13:21 fired a salvo at a Mogami-class cruiser off our starboard bow at 19 kms, but was told to stop firing after first salvo since our shells were hitting friendlies to port. Two hours later received permission to resume firing but were unable to engage as next salvo not yet loaded. At 16:01 attacked by flight of dive bombers, shot down six but they planted three bombs in the ship despite our violent evasive maneuvers and AA. Mysteriously, training appears to have no effect on anti-aircraft accuracy. Engine power fully restored by 2030. Directed to retire to Guam for repairs, exec says at top speed we will be there by August.

Feb 2 
On Bering Strait Patrol since V-J day. Man this cold war is cooooolllld. 

March 6 
Encountered Russian battleship with strange name, like a vampire or something. Exchange of insults with impertinent Russky. Fired one salvo at his bow at 3 kms, 2 shells shattered, 2 richocheted, others all missed. Russian fired once.

Do not know how long I can survive on this ice floe.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outstanding post. Nearly spit out my coffee.

[thebigblue]

42 minutes ago, Princess_Daystar said:

Let me ruin your view of LCS right now. They suck. They break more than a 30 year old ship. Theres a reason they got cancelled and the reason the navys looking into bringing a frigate design into service instead. They look pretty, and they look sleek, but thats about all they got.

Wish rc1138 still frequented these pages. He was a wealth of information on such matters 

[ThisIsClassic]

1 hour ago, HazeGrayUnderway said:

KGV doesn't care about anyone's armor, not with 89mm HE Pen.  Especially with 25 seconds reload for her 10 guns

 

Which is why KGV is one of @Taichunger's Go-To ships.

[Taffrail]

Genuinely funny - thx Tai - made me laugh at work 

[Asym_KS]

2 hours ago, Princess_Daystar said:

Let me ruin your view of LCS right now. They suck. They break more than a 30 year old ship. Theres a reason they got cancelled and the reason the navys looking into bringing a frigate design into service instead. They look pretty, and they look sleek, but thats about all they got.

Oh yes, I completely understand that, what was the "strategic design mission" ceased five minutes after the contract was forwarded.....  Mission creep and the "deep state" sycophants caused the current mess....   These ships were supposed to replace the PHM's.....and, only the Littoral patrol mission.   Which, should have been kept and expanded.  Now, back to Frigates and that nonsense.....  "Multi-Purpose" has ruined so many vehicles over the past 80 years and it seems, we fail to study history; and, make the same mistakes.   Another is the A-10. 

[iDuckman]

31 minutes ago, Asym_KS said:

Another is the A-10. 

A plane the Air Force has been trying to get rid of for decades now.  A plane that has strongly influenced Russian tank design, likely adding significant cost.  Sometimes, Congress does the right thing.

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

This diary was unearthed by a historian conducting excavations at his new home....

"Who knew such a gem could be found while cleaning the gulag latrines! Fascinating stuff, but the world will never know. The paper is of good quality for wiping...and the commandant of camp OT gulag would never let such a good story be published..."

----------------

On a more serious note, censorship like this because the post had the temerity to joke about soviet bias...merely confirms that WG considers soviet bias a truth that must be protected...