Is the ship seen in the stock footage of the fleet pulling out?
I, too, would appreciate clarification regarding where the
Arizona (or any other noteworthy ship for that matter) appeared in the film.
I liked the glimpse the film afforded of the pre-WWII US Navy and the stock they placed in battleships which, let's face it, served largely as targets for carrier-based planes during the War.
Battleships certainly
looked imposing, (and they were certainly beautiful ships) but the Battle of Surigao Strait aside, I can't think of any engagement in which they played a pivotal role.
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gvb0907
17 years ago
I haven't seen the film in years so I can't say if it's the Arizona or not. It could be the Pennsylvania, the Arizona's sister ship. The only film actually made on board the Arizona was Here Comes the Navy (1934).
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PillowRock
14 years ago
I wasn't looking for the ship designation numbers during the movie, so I don't know whether we saw the AZ or the PA. Heck, for all I know they may have used stock footage of both interchangeably.
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PillowRock
14 years ago
battleships which, let's face it, served largely as targets for carrier-based planes during the War.
Battleships certainly looked imposing, (and they were certainly beautiful ships) but the Battle of Surigao Strait aside, I can't think of any engagement in which they played a pivotal role.
There were few ship to ship engagements involving capital ships in WWII (one or two more if you include non-US engagements, such the Bismark). However, the battle wagons did still serve as platforms for a lot of firepower. That was true both for shore bombardments around amphibious landings (their main guns could threaten some earthworks that cruiser guns couldn't) and in helping supply a curtain of AA fire in a task force (particular true of the later BBs, such as the Iowa class ships, where secondary 5" guns were designed to be duel purpose).
Of course, the cost - benefit ratio for that level of utility and just how expensive they were is why they started getting mothballed after the war and no more were ever built. However, once you had them in your fleet, they weren't completely useless (which is why one or two stayed on active duty long enough to have been retrofitted with cruise missile launchers).
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SPOOKY-70
13 years ago
I'm not picking on anyone but after a life long interest in battleships I feel the need to add more info.
Significant Battleship Engagements of WWII:
The second or third engagement near Savo Island off Guadalcanal where the USS Washington turned broadside on the HIJMS Kirishima and raked it from stem to stern utterly destroying it. While engaging the battleship the Washington's secondary armament took on the two Jap heavy cruisers, Atago and Takao forcing them to withdraw.
In the Battle of the North Cape the Brit battleship King George V crossed the 'T' of the German battlecruiser Sharnhorst sending it to the deep six.
Sinking of the Bismark by the King George V and Rodney and other smaller ships. Credit should be given to Price of Wales for slamming a 14 inch shell through the oil tanks in the bow of Bismark during the first engagement that left an oil trail to follow.
You mention Surigao Straight and I will elaborate just a bit to mention that it was a classic use of the five U.S. battleships when they cruised back and forth across the opening of the straight crossing the 'T' of the Japanese ships. I believe that one or two of the U.S. ships had radar gun directors that the others used to aim on the enemy battle line sailing one in front of the other. The lead Jap battleship veered off to escape the carnage but was sunk and the entire line was emasculated. Two or three of the American ships were veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack giving a little payback. It would have been interesting had Halsey stayed at Leyte with his line of modern 16 inch battleships to engage the Japanese Yamato, Nagato and Kongo with the Yamato being the largest battleship to ever put to sea carrying nine 18.1 inch mains. As it turned out, carrier planes sank the other 18 inch ship, Musashi, and later the Yamato.
After the advent of aircraft carriers, battleships were relegated to shore bombardment and escort duties and as history has recorded, there is nothing that can equal the 16 inch guns of the Iowa Class battleships when shore bombardment in support of landing forces becomes necessary. In support of the Marines in Beirut, I think it was the USS New Jersey that literally dug through a hundred or so feet of earth to penetrate a Syrian bunker, killing the general inside. The marines hunkered down on shore said the shells flying overhead sounded like freight trains and they could see them going over. The New Jersey also served during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and is probably the most decorated battleship in American history.
Anyway, I have always been in awe of the kind of firepower that huge artillery guns could bring to bear.
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