HMS Dauntless flooding before undocking.

 

Yokosuka. DD152/153/154 Asagiri-class destroyers, Asagiri-gata-goei-kan) is a class of destroyer, serving with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). It was the second class of first generation general-purpose destroyers of the JMSDF.

 

USS Utah BB 31.

USS Utah (BB-31) after entering Dry Dock No. 4 at Brooklyn Navy Yard, 9 May 1912. She was the first vessel to use the dry dock, which took roughly four times longer to build than the battleship; Utah, freshly commissioned at the end of August 1911, returned to New York for refit after shakedown and fleet exercises. Some 30 years later, the venerable dreadnought would be mistaken for an active battleship and torpedoed at the very beginning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; in this way, the veteran of The Great War and Veracruz met her end at the hands of an enemy in her first real encounter with one - but as a target ship and gunnery trainer, rather than the battleship she was built to be. Utah is often overlooked as not being one of the battleships lost on 7 December 1941, which is correct in terms of her classification at the time, but the fact remains that she was an American dreadnought by design and career.

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It is important to note that Utah’s demise was the result of Japanese excitement at seeing a low, stout battleship silhouette topped with the trademark American cage mast. Utah’s presence was known to the attack planners, and the flight leaders tried to prevent their pilots from wasting torpedoes on the old training ship. She bore no resemblance to a carrier, and thus was not mistaken for one just because she was in the carrier berths at Ford Island; Utah’s appearance, sans 12” guns, was still unmistakably that of a battleship, particularly to crack aviators trained in low-level attack on ship targets.

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Utah, after absorbing a pair of torpedo hits, rolled over in about 10 minutes, ultimately taking 58 men our her complement of 519 with her. Four men even escaped through a hole cut in her hull after she capsized. Though Utah was deemed to be of minimal military value, leading to the abandonment of her salvage after initial righting efforts failed, Utah was hailed as one of the most useful ships in the fleet prior to the attack. She could train gunners, and with the aid of heavy timbers and gun covers, could serve as a mobile target during exercises. She was also a useful post for new sailors due to her size.

Knox class frigate USS Cook (FF-1083), Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate USS McClusky (FFG-41), Spruance class destroyer USS John Young (DD-973) and nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser USS Long Beach (CGN-9).

 

HMT Alvis.

 On the 18 Sept 1939, just after the start of WW2, the Alvis was fishing in the vicinity of St Kilda. At about 1.20pm a shot was heard and a large spout of water erupted close to the Alvis. The skipper and crew then spotted a German submarine. The skipper, Albert Thomason, was signalled from the U Boat and instructed to abandon his vessel. The small lifeboat was launched and the crew left the Alvis. The lifeboat pulled alongside the submarine, the U-35, and the commander, Werner Lott, asked for the captain of the Alvis. Thomason went aboard the submarine and, on the conning tower, Lott extended his hand in welcome. He then said, " I am sorry but I will have to sink your ship" and asked Skipper Thomason if there were anymore crew aboard the Alvis. The crew and Lott, all speaking very good English, handed cigarettes to the Alvis crew, and then ordered them back to their vessel. Lott sent a working party over to Alvis under the command of a Lieutenant. On their arrival, they threw the wireless overboard and then chopped away the fishing gear and smashed the dynamo in the engine room. The Lieutenant asked Thomason if he could take a lifebelt as a souvenir, which he did. However, Lott gave Thomason a bottle of gin in return with his compliments.

No provisions or the fish caught were taken from the Alvis by the Germans. The reason the U-Boat commander did not sink the Alvis was that, in his opinion, the 13-man crew would never make it back to shore in their lifeboat. The Alvis returned unharmed to her homeport of Fleetwood, but that same day the U-Boat commander found 3 other Fleetwood vessels. They were the Arlita, the Lord Minto, and the Nancy Hague. After removing the crews from the Arlita and Lord Minto onto the Nancy Hague, the U-35 sank the two empty ships. The three crews returned to Fleetwood aboard the Nancy Hague. The Alvis was subsequently requisitioned in 1940 by the Admiralty. Werner Lott was taken prisoner of war aboard HMS Kingston, with all of his crew, after he scuttled his U-boat on 29 November 1939.

Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 23, the future USS Cooperstown,

 

HMS Renown in Waitematā Harbour during the Prince of Wales' tour, 1920.

 

USS Consolation.

 

USS Enterprise (CVN-65) escorted by USS New Jersey (BB-62) 1989.

 

Battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth and Amerigo Vespucci 1935 Valetta, Malta.

 

June, 1977: NATO on HMCS Margaree. HMS Ambuscade, Dutch ship Van Galen, USS Miller in fijord after departing Narvik, Norway.

 

USS Olympia and USS Florida in Gatun Locks 1929.

 

US Navy investigates potential LCS class-wide design flaw.

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/12/15/the-us-navy-is-investigating-a-potential-lcs-class-wide-design-flaw/ 

C-Class light cruiser HMS Curacoa after conversion to an AA cruiser. On the 2nd of October 1942 whilst escorting RMS Queen Mary North of Ireland and performing an evasive zigzag pattern she collided with and was cut in half by the liner with the loss off 337 of her crew.

 

USS Missourie.

 

HMS Powerful lead ship of her class of Protected Cruisers, unknown date and location.

 

75 years ago today at 04:47 Schleswig-Holstein opened fire at the Polish positions on the Westerplatte starting WWII. The Polish forces managed to hold off the Germans for 7 days.

 

The guns of IJN Yamato.

 

USS Georgia (BB-15) was a United States Navy Virginia-class battleship. Georgia was launched by the Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine on 11 October 1904.

 

Paddle Ship HMS Plinlimmon.

HMS Plinlimmon, ex-Cambria, in her wartime livery circa 1940 as a minesweeper, perhaps shortly after participating in the Dunkirk evacuation. Built as an excursion steamer in 1895, she was typical of many auxiliaries in seeing service during both World Wars (as HMS Cambridge in the First World War).

The 6th and 7th delivery of the (Jolly Green Giant), Evergreen Lines new 12,000 TEU F-type container ships.

 

HMS Sheffield Type 22 Frigate 1995.

 

USS Russel (DDG 59).

 

USS Fletcher (DD-445) with USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37), USS Black (DD-666) and USS Cogswell (DD-651) in the background.

 

Indian INS Viraat, Ex HMS Hermes gas begun to be dismantled in India.

 

Norwegian HDMS Absalon(ex L16-now F341) fires a Harpoon missile in the Norwegian Sea, during exercise Mjolner. June 2018.

 

USS Farragut (DDG-37), foreground, stands moored to a pier as the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CV-43) departs from Portsmouth. In the background are the destroyer tender USS Yellowstone (AD-41), left, a dock landing ship, and the decommissioned cruiser USS Albany (CG-10), right. 1985.

 

HMS London (D16), USS Albany (CG 10), and USS Lawrence (DDG 4). Valetta, Malta 1971.

 

Leander Class Frigate, HMS Charybdis, transiting the Corinth Canal, Greece.

 

After USS White Sands was decommissioned in 1974, it was bought by a company that needed to move the ship with an 81' beam through the 80' wide Ballard Locks. It was done by weighting down one side of the ship and then transiting the locks while tilted 38 degrees.

http://blog.friendsoftheballardlocks.org/2012/05/october-4-1975.html

US aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) refueling from the USS Housatonic (AO-35) tanker in the Atlantic.

 

The Infamous Exxon Valdez.

 The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a manmade disaster that occurred when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by the Exxon Shipping Company, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. It was the worst oil spill in U.S. history until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

USNS Bridge (T-AOE 10) conducts an underway replenishment with the guided-missile cruiser USS Cowpens (CG-63). 2009.

 

HMS Andromeda and Canberra off Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, just after the surrender of Argentine forces on June 14, 1982.

 

HMS Victorious (R38) at Malta, 1967. In the centre is the Italian guided missile destroyer Intrepido (D571). In the foreground is a U.S. Navy Casa Grande-class dock landing ship.

 

Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall (F99).

 

Boston Navy Yard, 1934. The USS Constitution is pictured along with the USS New York (BB-34), USS Texas (BB-35), USS Farragut and a number of smaller ships.

 

HMS Ocean and HMS Diamond in Souda Bay, Greece.

 

Pearl Harbour, June 1 1991, four decommissioned Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyers lie tied up in the Middle Loch. The ships are, from front to back: the USS Cochrane (DDG 21), the USS Henry B. Wilson (DDG 7), the USS Joseph Strauss (DDG 16) and the USS Hoel (DDG 13).

 

Royal Navy plans to deploy next year aircraft carrier strike group near Japan with HMS Queen Elizabeth.

According to information published by the Japanese Kyodo News website on December 6, 2020, the British Royal Navy plans to deploy early next year an aircraft carrier strike group including the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth to waters near Japan.

During this deployment, the British Royal Navy aircraft carrier strike group with the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier will conduct joint exercises with the U.S. military and Japan's Self-Defense Forces during its stay in areas including off the Nansei Islands chain in southwestern Japan.

During the deployment, the British navy also plans to conduct maintenance on carrier-based F-35B stealth fighter jets at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s aerospace systems works in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.

The UK Carrier Strike Group (UKCSG) is a carrier battle group of the British Royal Navy. The size and composition of the UKCSG vary depending on operational requirements which are decided upon during operational planning. It typically consists of a Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, two surface escorts (with one being a Type 23 frigate for anti-submarine warfare and the other being a Type 45 destroyer for anti-air warfare), a submarine, and a fleet tanker.

In the future, escort duties will also be provided by the Royal Navy's new Type 26 frigate. For replenishment-at-sea, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary provides its Tide-class fleet tankers, which were specially designed to refuel the aircraft carriers, in addition to RFA Fort Victoria for dry stores.

The Queen Elizabeth is a class of two aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy which are the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group. The lead ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was named on 4 July 2014 and she was commissioned on 7 December 2017.

The Carrier Air Group (CAG) of the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier consists of a maximum of 24 F-35Bs that will operate from each carrier under normal circumstances, with the ability to operate 36 in extreme circumstances. Fourteen Merlin HM2 naval helicopters will be available with typically nine in anti-submarine configuration and four or five with Crowsnest for airborne early warning. A mix of Royal Navy Commando Helicopter Force Merlin HC4, Wildcat AH1, RAF Chinook transports, and Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopters can also be included in the CAG.

Royal Navy shadows NINE Russian warships around the UK in two weeks including destroyer and submarine as Putin increases his navy's presence in British waters.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9021165/Royal-Navy-shadows-nine-Russian-warships-UK.html

Fleet oiler USS Chemung (AO-30) and destroyer escort USS Hooper (DE-1026) prepare to UNREP off the coast of Japan, 1966.

 

HMS Illustrious, USS Dwight D Eisenhower and USS Harry S Truman.

 

Finnish coastal defence ship Väinämöinen, the sister ship of the Finn's flagship Ilmarinen and the first ship of her class. The ships were not suited for open seas with design emphasis on operations in shallow waters.

 

USS Cowpens, USS Hewitt and USS Stump, Mediterranean 92/93