OT Navies in WWII

[dragoon500ly]

Since it seems like we are getting a bit off topic on the new PRC Carrier thread...

In discussion about how hard it is to sink a warship, here are some examples:

The USS Franklin was struck by a kamikaze off Okinawa in 1945. The suicide bomber landed on the flight deck among fueled and armed aircraft setting off a series of explosions that killed over 700 of her crew and wounded 200 more within a matter of minutes and causing a near fatal list and extensive fires. She was able to put out the fires with the assistance of her escorts, restart her engines and get out of the danger area. She then made a 12,000-mile voyage to the Brooklyn Navay Yard under her own power, stopping only once to take on stores and spare parts.

The Italian battleship Roma was lost in Sept. 1943 when a single radio-controlled glide bomb penetrated a magazine.

The USS Princeton was lost to a single bomb that penetrated several decks to detonate in a magazine off Leyte in 1944.

The HMAS Australia managed to survive a half-dozen kamikaze hits suffered over several days off Okinawa in 1945.

The HIJMS Mogami was virtually a total wreck after the Battle of Midway having been repeatedly bombed by USN ac., yet managed to keep under way and make it back to base safely, to be repaired and returned to service.

The HIJMS Hiei was lost during the night action on Nov 12-13, 1942 when she took over 50 hits from 5-inch and 8-inch shells, which started uncontrollable fires leaving her dead in the water and an easy prey for US ac the next morning.

The upperworks of the HIJMS Aoba were turned into a total wreck by US cruiser and destroyer gunfire on Oct. 11-12, 1942, yet she managed to make her way out of the area and survive to fight again.

The USS San Francisco survived a dozen hits by 14-inch HE shells, plus 33 5-inch and 6-inch shells on Nov 12-13, 1942.

The USS South Dakota took one 5-inch, 6 6-inch, 18 8-inch and 2 14-inch hits on Nov 14-15, 1942. Two of the hits inflicted a very slight list, eighteen were into her upperworks, knocking out her search radar and causing a loss of electrical power.

The KMS Bismarck took a brutal beating:
24 May: 3 14-inch hits caused some flooding and reduced her speed from 30 to 28 knots. That evening a single torpedo hit reduced her speed to 20 knots.

26 May: 2-3 torpedoes (Germans say 2, Brits say 3) strike the ship, jamming her rudder and making her very slow and difficult to steer.

27 May: In her last fight, Bismarck absorbed between 300-400 hits from 14-inch, 16-inch and 8-inch guns as well as a single torpedo. She was reduced to a burning wreck, wracked by internal explosions and unable to maneuver or return fire. She still remained afloat, her crew fired scuttling charges and the British hit her with three more torpedoes before she finally sank.

The HIJMS Taiho was lost to a single torpedo hit, this resulted in minor damage and she was able to rejoin her task force. A aviation gas storage tank, damaged by the hit, leaked avgas into her bilges where it vaporized and eventually detonated, sinking her on the eve of the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944.

The HIJMS Musashi and Yamato, the largest warships in the world until the 1960s, both absorbed an extraordinary amount of damage before sinking. The Musashi taking 19 torpedo hits and 17 bombs on Oct 24, 1944. The Yamato suffered a dozen torpedoes and six bombs on April 7, 1945.

Finally...

The USS Houston (2nd of that name in the war) was hit by 2 torpedoes on Oct 16, 1945. This caused her to take on 6,500 tons of water, over 45% of her normal full load displacement, yet she survived. No other vessel in history has ever shipped that much water without sinking.