Battlewagon Wednesday – 17 Jun 2009
17 Jun 2009
‘I sank the Bismarck but only found out 59 years later’: British pilot learns of his place in history: Swordfish pilot who hit the Bismark’s rudder only found out it was him in 2000. Not really sure how this could have been a mystery for so long.
Group set to salvage parts of battleship Yamato
Despite jaw-dropping costs and immense technical difficulties, business leaders here plan to salvage parts from the sunken World War II imperial battleship Yamato…Panel members said they hope to at least raise the 2,780-ton main guns and the front portion of the hull, which they say bear distinctive Yamato characteristics.
Are they kidding?
Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus: Okay, this is only battleship-related because a BB makes an appearance at about 0:39 of the trailer:
We watched this last night. The megashark eats the battleship. Seriously. It was the USS Missouri. Mighty Mo is devoured, but Debbie Gibson somehow manages to survive. I was hoping to have a screenshot of a battleship with a big bite out of it, but apparently the special effects budget didn’t allow for that.
Economy struggles prevent repairs to the Battleship North Carolina
The Battleship North Carolina is rusty and will stay that way for a little longer.
According to Executive Director of the War Memorial, Dave Scheu, the bottom of Battleship is rusting because it has been 52 years since the bottom of the ship has been worked on.
And here’s a few photos of USS Battleship North Carolina and Wilmington NC
Murdoc likes this one:
HMS Dreadnought
Finally, I’m not really sure what this is about: Liz Brown’s happy battleship painting
June 17th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
And here I thought it was absurd when John McClane shot down a helo with a crown vic. What truly amazes me is-
1. Someone thought this movie was a good idea.
2. Someone filled it with C list “actors” the likes of “Renegade” and an MTV teeny bopper mall queen no one’s heard from in 20 years.
3. Someone cut a check for this nonsense.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:01 am
“Despite jaw-dropping costs and immense technical difficulties, business leaders here plan to salvage parts from the sunken World War II imperial battleship Yamato…Panel members said they hope to at least raise the 2,780-ton main guns and the front portion of the hull, which they say bear distinctive Yamato characteristics.”
NO NO NO NO!
They’re going to NEED those there in a hundred and ninety one years!
Regards the torpedo hit on KMS Bismark: It may have been testimony from Bizmark survivors that they only looked at in ‘99…perhaps someone noted the numbers on the plane that landed the hit.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Dammit. I thought I’d get the Space Battleship Yamato reference in first.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:58 am
I have to admit when I recently saw that black buster monster movie in one of the haji shops on base the other day………. I gave it a pass. Hard to believe…………..I know.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:07 am
“2,780-ton main guns”
Did I read this correctly? It seems like a lot of weight just for the 18-inch guns.
June 18th, 2009 at 9:22 am
@Toejam:
2,780 tons is the weight of a full 3-gun turret with the guns installed. Each tube, with breech, weighed 363,000 lb, or 181.5 tons.
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_18-45_t94.htm
June 18th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Damn…too late to do the Yamato stuff… ;__;
And…huh? Shark and Octopus? We all know who’ll win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9A-oxUMAy8
June 18th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Thanks for the info Captain Ned.
I never realized the enormous weight of those things.
June 18th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Toejam, gun turrets are heavily armoured, after all (a) a battleship on which the main turrets will be disabled early into a battle is not so useful (those ships can survive a lot of hits from smaller guns) – after all there are only three of them – and (b) a hit on a turret which is in the process of being loaded with powder and possibly with the blast doors open could be a catastrophe.
Also of course the guns themselves are heavy because they have to handle the massive pressured generated by firing the shells and do it thousands of times.
I don’t know how thick the armour on the turrets is but I imagine it’s several feet of steel.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
RE the shark/octopus movie…..
“We watched this last night.”
I’m shocked to find out that it is an actual film. I thought it was just an Internet joke!
James
June 18th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
I’m shocked to find out that it is an actual film. I thought it was just an Internet joke!
Oh, no. It’s real. It’s as bad as the trailer makes it look. But for a B-creature movie, it’s definitely fun.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Here we go. The Bismarck’s turret armour varied in thickness from 130mm to 360mm (0.42 – 1.18 feet). This was equivalent to about 400mm of US Battleship armour (1.31 feet) presumably because it was a superior alloy. That’s a large volume of steel!
http://www.kbismarck.com/proteccioni.html