November 19 - Focus: USS West Virginia, HMAS Sydney

[Ariecho]

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General
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With JeeWeeJ still on database duty, we have 2 ships for you today.  USS West Virginia, launched on November 19, 1921, and HMAS Sydney, sunk on November 19, 1941.

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What we didn't cover today, but that happened on a November 19:

1893 - SMS Brandenburg (commissioned)
1904 - SMS Deutschland (launched)
1904 - SMS Schlesien (laid down)
1913 - FS Courbet (commissioned)
1918 - HMS Cairo (launched)
1918 - HMS Dunedin (launched)
1943 - HMS Thane (commissioned)
1944 - IJN Shinano (already covered by us)

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Statistics: On a November 19, between 1893 and 1945

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Allies:

35 surface ships were laid down

34 surface ships were launched

40 surface ships were commissioned

6 surface ships were sunk

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Germany:

1 surface ship was laid down (SMS Schlesien)

1 surface ship was launched (SMS Deutschland)

1 surface ship was commissioned (SMS Brandenburg)

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Japan:

1 surface ship was commissioned (IJN Shinano)

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1921
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On October 16, 1921, in Newport News, Virginia, a story was born.  This story was about a ship that was left for dead in the tropical waters of an American island, and eventually reborn years later.  Today, I present you the USS West Virginia, or, as other called her “Old Task Force 48”.
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In 1916, a burgeoning super power realized that diplomacy alone didn’t guarantee freedom.  For two years, war had been raging in Europe, engulfing nations and millions of casualties.  The only thing that separated the spreading hecatomb from the United States was an unprotected ocean.  Therefore, on August 29, 1916, barely two months after the battle of Jutland, the United States’ Congress authorized the construction of 10 dreadnoughts and 6 battlecruisers.
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Artist impression of the Colorado-class (1916)
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As often with international affairs, and when the guns had stopped firing on the World War I fields and oceans, other parties had their word to say about such arrangements.  Some thought that a limitation in armament would guarantee that world scaled conflicts would never happen again.  They were obviously wrong, but nobody then knew about it.  Nonetheless, of the 16 aforementioned ships, 3 battleships would still survive from the original Naval Act of August 29, 1916, and would be known at the Colorado-class.
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The Colorado-class battleships were largely inspired from their predecessors, the Tennessee-class.  To untrained eyes, the ships looked actually very similar.  However, their armor was much thicker, and the 14-inch guns of the Tennessee-class were replaced with 16-inch guns.
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Four Colorado-class were started: USS Colorado (BB 45), USS Maryland (BB 46), USS Washington (BB 47), and USS West Virginia (BB 48).  Only 3 were completed, for two reasons:

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1) When the United States entered the war, the need was not for battleships but for escort vessels.
2) In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty agreement limited the construction of battleship by the nations who had signed it.  USS Washington was sacrificed, even though she was more than 75% completed (we'll come back to that later).  She would end up her “career” as target practice, and sunk by USS New York, and USS Texas.  The only thing gained from that operation was a knowledge that her armor was inadequate, and that future generations of battleships needed an armor reinforcement.
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Even before the 1922 Treaty was signed, USS West Virginia was in danger of yet another bureaucratic decision.  On November 12, 1921, the US Government called for the cancellation of all capital ships building programs.  This included West Virginia, who was not finished.  Still, the launching ceremony went on, Saturday November 19, 1921.
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Let me take a little break here … Double-checking my sources, I found out on some of them, including Wikipedia and uboat.net, that the ship was listed as being launched on November 17, while my main source mentioned November 19.  So, I went to the mother of all knowledge, the US Navy, who on some of its sites said “November 19”, and on others, including the Navy Historical Center, said “November 17”.  So, I just started communicating with the curator of the West Virginia Association who answered right away on a Sunday, and gave me the following document, a copy of the newspaper when USS West Virginia was launched.  Look closer, it says “TODAY”, and is dated November 19.  Another news paper dated November 26 says "last Saturday", and in 1921, November 19 was on a Saturday.  So, controversy is over and even Wikipedia should definitely be corrected by now…  Oh, and by the way, that Curator is not happy with the “official” sites.  As for the Navy, it didn’t return my emails.
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November 19, 1921

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Now that the controversy is over, let’ s go back to the USS West Virginia.  Even though she was 65% complete, the USS West Virginia was on the verge of destruction.  What saved her was a decision from the Empire of Japan who decided that, despite the upcoming Washington Conference of 1922, they were not ready to scrap battleship Mutsu, who, in accordance with the Treaty, would have been obliged to destroy.  The United States had 2 choices: 1) force Japan to comply, which would probably not have happened anyway, or 2) find an arrangement.
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Diplomacy took over, and the Japanese were authorized to keep Mutsu.  In return, the United States could keep a battleship as well.  The decision had to be made between USS Washington (BB 47) and USS West Virginia (BB 48).  As she was deemed more completed than USS Washington, USS West Virginia was kept alive.
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Characteristics:
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Armor:
USS West Virginia kept all the armor arrangements of the Tennessee-class, who preceded the Colorado-class.  Her 16-inch belt was designed to resist penetration of shells of the same caliber fired from 16,000 yards, and she also had an adequate torpedo protection, consisting of a 17-inch layer inboard of her belt.  The turrets were also well protected, with the front receiving an 18-inch plate, and the sides and rear being equipped with an 8-inch plate.  The conning tower also had an 18-inch armor.
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Armament:
Armament consisted of 8x 16-inch/45 guns, each of them equipped in dual turrets.  These guns were theoretically supposed to fire 1.5 shell/minute at a range of 34,500 yards.  Secondary armament was composed of 12x 5-inch guns, 8x 3-inch guns, as well as an assortment of other lesser guns.
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Displacement: 33,590 tons -- Length: 624 ft (190 m) --
Beam: 97.3 ft (29.7 m) (original) -- 114 ft (35 m) (rebuilt)
Draft: 30.5 ft (9.3 m)
Speed: 21 kn (24 mph; 39 km/h)
Complement: 1,407 officers and men
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Operational life:
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USS West Virginia was commissioned on December 1, 1923.  She left Virginia for her shakedown trials, and sailed north towards New York.  During those trials, she experienced some steering problems that would reproduce themselves when she carried part of the US Olympic team to France in 1924.
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USS West Virginia (1923)
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Upon her return, West Virginia became the flagship of the battleship divisions.  Most of her pre-war life consisted in training, or what the US Navy called “Fleet problems” at that time.
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The battle fleet in the 1920s

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In 1928, she led a naval review, consisting of 116 ships.  She replicated the exercise 2 years later, during which time, another element was brought into the exercise, planes launched from aircraft carriers.  Just being notified that a combat exercise was to happen, her crew didn’t know how to react when, unexpectedly, planes dove on her, virtually “sinking” her.
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The years passed, one exercise leading to another one, but life being nonetheless easy onboard the battleship, despite more and more intense exercises as Japan was showing its expansionist hand over Asia.
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Pear Harbor:

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On December 6, 1941, secret agent Takeo Yoshikawa sent a last report to the Imperial Japanese Navy.  In his message, he mentioned that the atmosphere was very relaxed in Pearl Harbor, to the point where torpedo nets were not laid up, and no air coverage was present around the island.
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At 08:00 the next morning, things changed drastically.  6 Japanese aircraft carriers had moments ago launched 182 airplanes, following a pattern put together by another aircraft carrier years ago, USS Saratoga.  With crews in readiness condition three, the big ship only had a quarter of her antiaircraft crew present.  The officer on deck was Ensign Roman E. Brooks, who alerted by the noise around, sounded the alarm.  Within minutes, Kate aircraft lined up and targeted West Virginia, while the battleship’s crew was still manning battle stations.  No less than 5 torpedoes and 2 bombs hit her within minutes.
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While the bombs did some substantial damage, the torpedoes were devastating, especially as no torpedo net was spread.  The steel belt didn’t resist the ongoing hits, and soon, it bent dramatically.  As if it was not enough, 2 additional torpedoes followed while the ship was listing, and did some additional damage.  With all electrical equipment down, all efforts to counter flooding were moot, the few compartment doors shut down only managing to trap crew members.  USS West Virginia sank rapidly, blocking USS Tennessee from escaping, but, thanks to the prompt effort of her crew, didn’t capsize.  Two hours after the attack had begun, the order to abandon ship was given.
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West Virginia seemed finished, like other battleships present in Pearl Harbor.  It seemed that nothing could be done to save her, but still, a few kept hope, and communicated it.
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December 7, 1941 -- USS West Virginia in front of USS Tennessee
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December 7, 1941
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Reconditioning:
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What saved West Virginia was the prompt answer from her crew, which prevented her from capsizing.  Although raising her would not prove easy by any means, the fact that she laid on an even keel gave hope, fed by the revenge spirit of many engineers present in Pearl Harbor.
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USS West Virginia (1942)

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It would take several months to bring her back to the surface, using a technique developed to build bridge walls under water, but by May 1942, West Virginia was afloat again.  Little by little, the cement used to keep water from pouring in was removed and replaced by patches, and a year later, West Virginia was authorized to leave for Seattle.
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Afloat again

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Back to operations:
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West Virginia would have to wait until 1944, before she could be sent back in operation.  All started with some exercises to test her crew, then after a trip to Pearl Harbor, she sailed south, then west.  Her destination: Leyte Gulf!
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1944
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On October 20, 1944, she finally received the opportunity to pay back the country that had almost killed her, and that day, she sent no less than 278 16-inch shells, and 1,586 5-inch guns onto Japanese positions.  A few days later, on October 24, the Japanese fleet was spotted, and what would soon be known as the battle of Leyte Gulf would begin.
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West Virginia was tasked to protect the landing beaches against forces led by Admiral Nishimura, who was trying to force his way through Surigao Strait.  On the Japanese side, 2 battleships (Fuso and Yamishiro) were present, escorted by cruiser Mogami, and 4 destroyers.  Awaiting them were Admiral Aldendorf’s forces.  At his disposal were 6 battleships, of which 5 had been damaged in Pearl Harbor: USS West Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, California, and Pennsylvania; 4 heavy cruisers: USS Louisville, Portland, Minneapolis, and HMAS Shropshire; 4 light cruisers: USS Denver, Columbia, Boise, and Phoenix.  Were also present 28 destroyers and 39 patrol boats.  The trap was set.
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The patrol boats and the destroyers were the first to make contact, around 22:30.  They patrol boats attacked immediately, followed later by the destroyers.  While the battle was raging, West Virginia was in the back of the area, awaiting her turn, not being able to engage any target, with smaller ships in contact.
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The battleships would have to wait until 03:00AM on October 25, before it was their turn to intervene.  First radar contact by US battleships was made at 03:04.  West Virginia waited until 03:52, at which point Yamishiro and Mogami were at less than 23,000 yards, to open fire.  The first salvo of 8 16-inch guns flew over the Allied cruisers and at least one of them found the superstructure of battleship Yamishiro.  Soon after, every other battleship joined the fray, and revenge of the once Pearl Harbor-based battleships took its toll.  Only 1 Japanese destroyer escaped.
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West Virginia continued her career in the Pacific, present at both Iwo Jima and Okinawa, where she was on April 1, 1945.  That day, an Oscar passed the battleship’s escort and crashed into 1 of her secondary batteries.  Damage was minimal, and West Virginia continued her duties.
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With the Okinawa campaign over, West Virginia sailed back to Leyte, where she received some crew replacement.
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On December 30, 1945, she was put into inactive status, then decommissioned on January 9, 1947.  She was sold for scrapping on August 24, 1959.

[NOTE] USS West Virginia was also covered on this forum by Jracule in this thread, and by Robert9670 in this thread.

[NGTM_1R]

1941

Today in 1941, at 17:30 ICT, HMAS Sydney and the German raider Komoran engaged in a half-hour engagement opening at 1000 meters and separating to ten thousand. The result was mutual destruction.

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Sydney was laid down as HMS Phaeton, by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson of Wallsend-on-Tyne, England, in July of 1933. Before she could be launched, however, the government of Australia announced they were seeking replacement of the WWI-era HMAS Adelaide and expressed interest in the the Phaeton. At her launching ceremony in September of 1934 she was instead christened His Majesty's Australian Ship Sydney, a Modified Leander-class cruiser and the first ship of her type to join the Royal Australian Navy. She was commissioned with an Australian crew in 1935. Her two eventual sisters, HMS Amphion and HMS Apollo (to one day become HMAS Perth and HMAS Hobart) would be commissioned into the RN and serve there before also joining the RAN.

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HMAS Sydney in 1935.

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The Modified Leander was different from the standard Leander in RN service by the moving of the propulsion into two self-contained groups of boilers and turbines, providing greater damage resistance, and the provision of a second funnel and extension of the main armor belt to cover all this. In armament and capability they are similar, though slower, to the Italian Condottieri-class cruisers: 8 6” guns, 4 single 4” secondary mounts, 2 quad torpedo launchers, very light armor. The two classes would have plenty of opportunity to prove the relative qualities of their designs and crews later.

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Sydney's life began with joining 2nd Cruiser Squadron enforcing economic sanctions on Italy during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. She remained with the Mediterranean Fleet until 1935, when in she departed for Australia. Most of her time in home waters was spent in training and fleet exercises. In 1938, the RAN stood-to for deployment in response to the Munich Crisis, but Chamberlain promised “peace in our time”. In April of 1939 Sydney participated in a joint RN/RAN/RNZN trade protection exercise, then in August was ordered to Fremantle to make ready for war. She engaged in patrol and escort duties in home waters during 1939, but was instead eventually sent first to Indian Ocean station then arrived in Alexandria. She was initially intended for operations in the Red Sea, but Admiral Andrew Cunningham commanding the Mediterranean Fleet had been impressed with the performance of the Australian destroyers attached to his command and decided to keep Sydney for himself.

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Her career in the Med was eventful. On the 21st of June 1941 Sydney joined HMS Orion, HMS Neptune, and FS Lorraine in a bombardment of the port of Bardia. During the operation her Supermarine Walrus seaplane was set upon by three friendly fighters, forcing it to abort for Mersa Matruh in a severely damaged condition; the pilot was awarded the Distingushed Flying Cross for his skill. The next day Sydney had to bring her guns to bear on former friend Lorraine as the French government capitulated, but unlike the comedy of errors and egos that Mers-el-Kebir became in Alexandria cooler heads prevailed.

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Her next duty was with a Malta convoy on the 27th and 28th of June. Three Italian destroyers threatened; two escaped, but one, Espero, was disabled. Sydney closed the destroyer to recover any survivors and then sink the ship, but Espero fired upon Sydney and absorbed another four salvos before its crew went over the side as the ship sank. Sydney rescued what survivors she could and left a fully provisioned cutter for the use of any she could not before returning to Alexandria.

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She fought in the Battle of Calabria, shelling several Italian cruisers without noticeable success but crippling a destroyer trying to lay a smokescreen later in the the engagement so that it had to be scuttled by the withdrawing Italians. While providing support for four destroyers making an ASW sweep north of Crete in earlier July, Sydney and HMS Havock responded to their warnings they were being chased by the Italian Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni. On radio silence, Sydney slipped into the chase unnoticed and opened fire on Bande Nere to the surprise of both the Italians and the fleeing British destroyers. Bande Nere was damaged within the first ten salvos and the Italians made to withdraw, the situation completely reversing as Mediterranean Fleet ships chased them.

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Cape Spada damage; Sydney's single hit during the battle was a 6” shell that struck one of the funnels. As you can see, the crew of Sydney was not impressed. July 7 1940.

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Bande Nere hid behind a smokescreen, so Sydney shifted fire to Bartolomeo Colleoni; a shell in Colleoni's engine rooms disabled the ship and three destroyers were dispatched to finish the Condottieri off while Sydney and the others continued the pursuit of Bande Nere. Sydney expended nearly all her ammunition for her forward turrets, with only ten shells remaining between them, before breaking off the chase of the faster Italian cruiser. Sydney had single-handedly won the Battle of Cape Spada. She returned to Alexandria amid loud cheers from other ships in the harbor.

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Her next major operation was a bombardment of Scarpanto, using canvas and timber frames to alter her profile to appear more Condottieri-like in the dark so she could approach the target. Admiral Cunningham sent a personal congratulatory message over the operation. She was part of a diversionary operation during the Battle of Taranto, passing through the Strait of Otranto, and on her way back along with other ships encountered an Italian convoy resulting in a 23-minute engagement that saw Sydney participate in the destruction of three merchant ships and damage a destroyer.

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In January of 1941, with the need for a major refit imminent and German merchant raiders known to be operating in Australian waters, Sydney was recalled for home. She arrived home on the 9th of February and tied up to a hero's welcome in Sydney Cove early on the 10th. Despite having participated in numerous major and minor actions over her eight-month deployment in the Mediterranean, and having been largely responsible for the destruction of two destroyers and a light cruiser, the only fatality aboard during the entire period had been due to illness.

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A Hero's Welcome; Sydney alongside the Circular Quay in Sydney Harbor, 10 Feburary 1941.

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Service in Australian waters was busy, but calm. Captain Collins was replaced by Joseph Burnett in May, and Sydney escorted liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth more than once. Her last assignment was to escort troopship Zealandia from a position off Albany to Sunda Strait, where HMS Durban would take over escort. On the 17th of November, Durban was met and assumed duties. Sydney departed for Freemantle, due late on the 20th of November.

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Instead, 170 miles south-west of Carnarvon, Western Australia, she sighted an unidentified merchant ship. She signaled “NNJ” meaning “You should make your signal letters” but the ship did not seem to understand; the signal was repeated as “VH” or “you should hoist your signal letters”. The ship raised the signal PKQI, the callsign of Dutch merchantman Straat Malakka. Interrogation on destination, point of origin, and load produced the answers Batavia, Fremantle, and piece-goods. The merchantman, apparently spooked by the questioning, transmitted the QQQQ distress call, indicating it was being approached by a suspicious ship...using GMT rather than local time, an odd choice.

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In actuality it was a measure used by the Kriegsmarine's raiders to announce their impending loss. The merchantman was raider Kormoran. Sydney had positioned herself approximately 1300 meters off Kormoran's starboard beam and had trained her port torpedo tubes and main battery on the raider, but her 4” guns were apparently not manned (possibly due to the impending launch of her seaplane or the positioning of X turret) while at the same time her seaplane was ready for launch. Sydney signaled “IK”, which meant “you should prepare for a cyclone, hurricane, or typhoon”, which made no sense to the raider; in fact it was the inner letters of the Straat Malakka's secret callsign, IIKP, and Kormoran should have sent back the the other two. Fifteen minutes later, Sydney sent “Show your secret sign”.

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That was the end of the ruse. Kormoran's commander knew he was out of options and ran up the Kreigsmarine ensign, preparing to open fire. Survivor's accounts from Kormoran disagree on who opened fire first, but state it was almost simultaneous. Both sides' first salvos were misses, but the Germans savaged lightly armored Sydney with their next salvos, knocking out the forward guns and destroying bridge and gunfire directors. In return Y and X turrets fought back; Y turret without effect, but X turret mauled Kormoran, damaging the machinery, wounding men manning the guns, and starting a fire in an oil tank. At least one of the torpedoes fired by Kormoran also struck home forward and broke Sydney's bow in the vicinity of the asdic (sonar) compartment.

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Nemesis: KM Kormoran at sea in 1940.

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Sydney's guns were jammed to port and she turned out of control, bringing them off-target. Her secondary weapons were out of range and she was afire as she crossed Kormoran's stern, firing torpedoes that missed. Kormoran, safe now, turned to destroy Sydney, but Kormoran's engines gave out, leaving her dead in the water. She still fired and did more damage to Sydney until the cruiser passed out of range. Yet the loss of her engines, and hence her ability to pressurize water for her firehoses, doomed her as well; the oil fire would reach the magazines and destroy Kormoran after midnight, and her crew had to abandon her three hours before.

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None of Sydney's 645 crew were discovered in subsequent searches, with only a RAN lifebelt discovered by HMAS Wyrallah and a Carley float discovered by HMAS Heros being the only signs of her passing ever discovered. 318 of Kormoran's crew were recovered in the same searches. Because of this, it was initially assumed that Sydney blew up violently some time after having passed over the horizon from Kormoran, but the discovery of Sydney's wreck in 2008 proved this did not happen; the cruiser's bow broke off but she apparently floated for some time after that and was headed slowly for land when she sank.

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Sydney's lost crew made up more than 35% of the entire losses of the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War, and she was the single largest Allied warship to be lost with all hands during that conflict. Great acrimony and conspiracy theory surrounded the loss in Australia, including claims Kormroran engaging in war crimes, of a Japanese submarine participating, and that the entire thing was staged by the British, until the discovery of Sydney's and Kormoran's wrecks generally proved German recollections of the battle accurate.

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In reality, the answer is simple: Captain Joesph Burnett threw away his advantages of range and armor by approaching close enough that Kormoran's 5.9” guns could cripple his ship rapidly and punch through its light armor. This decision undoubtedly cost him his life when Kormoran's second salvo destroyed Sydney's bridge. What happened after Sydney passed over the horizon from Kormoran and how she sank can only be guessed at.

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Dimensions

Length: 562 feet 4 inches

Width: 56 feet 8.5 inches

Draft: 17 feet 3 inches

Displacement (Standard): 6701 tons

Displacement (Full Load): 8940 tons

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Armament

4x twin 6”/50 BL Mark XXIII guns

4x single 4”/45 Mark V QF High-Angle guns

3x quad 0.5”/62 Vickers Mark III AAMG

9x single 0.303”/87 Lewis machineguns

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Armor

Belt: 2” over magazines and 3” over machinery

Deck: 1”

Turrets: 1”

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Engines

4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 4 Parsons geared turbines, 4 shafts

72000 SHP

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Performance

32.5 knots

7000 nautical miles at 16 knots

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Aircraft

1 catapult, 1 floatplane (Supermarine Walrus)

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Crew

594 (as designed)

645 (as lost)

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(Also covered by Tanz, here.)

[Capcon]

Huzzah! The Mountaineer Battlewagon.

 

I did catch one long perpetuated myth in your write up. The 16" belt for the Colorado class was misinformation. They had the same 13.5" belt of the preceding classes. Armor steel mills at the time were not capable of producing thicker plates that would meet the specs for belt armor. Norman Friedman in his US Battleship book makes significant mention of this. But Breyer and others list the 16" belt value. The difference in the weight of the belt alone is over 500 tons let alone changes to the supporting hull.

 

Anyway nice write up. I always like the reconstructed West Virginia.

[Ariecho]

Capcon, on 19 November 2013 - 02:38 PM, said:

Huzzah! The Mountaineer Battlewagon.

I did catch one long perpetuated myth in your write up. The 16" belt for the Colorado class was misinformation. They had the same 13.5" belt of the preceding classes. Armor steel mills at the time were not capable of producing thicker plates that would meet the specs for belt armor. Norman Friedman in his US Battleship book makes significant mention of this. But Breyer and others list the 16" belt value. The difference in the weight of the belt alone is over 500 tons let alone changes to the supporting hull.

Anyway nice write up. I always like the reconstructed West Virginia.

I'll take your word for it.  Most of my references maintain 16-inch, including the best book on the subject (in my opinion) from Myron J. Smith.  You are my armor expert, so your opinion has value in my eyes.  I noticed that Wikipedia mentioned 13.5-inch, but used other sources instead.

[SirDerpOfCamelot]

Quote

SMS Schlesien

:ohmy:  Not covering? Mein Gott!
We'll see about that within 7 hours.

Nice work you guys!

SMS Schlesien.
Laid down in Danzig on the 19th of November, 1904.
Now I hope you guys didn't think I would be writing and researching for 7 hours, I'm too lazy for that.  :eyesup:
So, I hope most of you guys know this is a pre-dreadnought, but incase you don't, you now know.
She is a Schleswig Holstein class pre-dread Battleship.
She wasn't that bad of a vessel but, she was fairly good.

Postcard of Hannover
SMS Schlesien is named after the German province of Schlesien.
She served in both world wars, at the Battle of Jutland and mostly as a training ship after the first war, but she helped bombard Polish positions in Danzig, and anchored there after it was captured.

Here is the Schleswig-Holstein bombarding Polish positions.
She and 2 of her sister ships made up 3 of the 5 Battleships Germany was allowed to keep after the Treaty of Versailles.
(Germany was only allowed to keep 5 Battleships, 5 cruisers, and 10 destroyers) "France was chiefly concerned with weakening Germany as much as possible" - True
Now this ship was very obsolete by the time of the Treaty was being held, possibly the reason why the French let the Germans keep this class.
The classes of ships served as icebreakers for U-boats during WW2. As well as escorts to Minelayers.

KM Schlesien sailing in the Baltic seas.
All 3 ships of this class took part in Operation Weserübung, Schlesien had to give some of her guns to the Auxillery Cruiser Pinguin afterwords.
Schlesien then later had to sail with the Gneisenau on the 4 of April 1942 to the port of Gotenhafen, where she and and the KM Schleswig Holstein were converted into air defense ships.
In the later period of the war, she was ordered to the port of Swinemunde, but hit a mine and sank in shallow waters. She was close enough to the shore to later use her guns to help fire upon advancing soviet troops. Then after the war she was scrapped in East Germany.
Her sister ship the KM Schleswig Holstein was sank at anchor in Kiel by British bombers.
Her other sister ship the Hannover, was scrapped in 1944.
These ships sink pretty easily on Silent Hunter by the way, gonna see if I can get a screenshot of her firing her guns.

[ArcticDark81]

Very cool write up

[Ariecho]

Yeah, his JeeWeeJness is supposedly working on a database.   :sceptic:

[Wolcott]

I liked how West Virginia looked during the interwar period. Her modernization after Pearl Harbor reminds me of the Iowa class. Too bad the surrender ceremony didn't take place aboard her but on Missouri. Since war with Japan started around West Virginia, you'd think it proper that she should have been the one to end it.

Really terrible shame what happened to Sydney. Can't believe only one body was recovered (not to mention no survivors), and today they still can't determine whether he was even from the Sydney. HMS Hood suffered a catastrophic explosion, yet there were at least three survivors (in freezing waters I believe?). Anyway, thanks for posting.

[anonym_omWsRkUfRM18]

As always, great reads guys.

[Proost]

Hard to imagine losing all those men like that. People even survived what happened to the Indianapolis.

 

It makes me proud to see all these US warships built in my hometown! Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

[Wolfar1000]

Again just BRAVO!  :great:  :honoring:

[YYismyname]

Wow, very nice. +1 for both of you guys! :D

[waffles1945]

Makes me wana torpedo it :3

[Chalt2]

Great write up and good research!!

 

Thanks

[Guest]

Great post Ari! a excellent read as usual! +2

[RutgerS]

These topics always make my day better +1