Wound or death? Incredible Resurrection of the Ships
On the surface, they did not yet know what “V.” Virginia ”left side completely clean. Where the once most powerful of the American Pacific liqueurs was supposed to be fleet, there was a gaping void: Japanese torpedoes literally “gutted” the battleship.
The pilots of Nagumo reported nine torpedo hits. Americans, having examined the ruins of “V. Virginia ”, recorded seven with a careful reservation: in view of the extensiveness of the damage, it is difficult to establish the exact number of hits. Indeed, how to examine what is not? Thousands of tons of hull structures simply disappeared, dissipating in space under the influence of torpedo blasts.
The official picture of the destruction looked as follows.
Three hits fell below the armor belt. As a result, the battleship tilted and began to settle in the water. The next one or two torpedoes plunged into the belt already submerged under water, turning seven armor plates. Further blows fell on the upper part of the hull. The explosion of the next (or several) torpedoes happened between the second and upper decks of the battleship lying in shallow water - a phenomenon, frankly, unusual for sea battles.
One of the torpedoes passed through a hole formed by previous explosions and because of a fuse failure it was stuck inside the body of the battleship.
The seventh hit was in the rear part: the torpedo tore off the steering wheel feather, causing additional damage to the bottom of the hull.
Besides at least seven torpedoes, “V. Virginia ”took a portion of two large-caliber armor-piercing bombs (410-mm BB shells with welded stabilizers). With the hit of the first special ammunition, the searchlight and signal bridges of the battleship were destroyed, the fragments of an unexploded bomb reached the second deck.
The second hit the roof of the third tower of the main caliber. Like a giant scrap, a steel bar weighing 800 kg broke 100-mm armor plate and went inside, destroying the breech of the GK gun. Along the way, crushing the catapult with a seaplane mounted on the tower.
The Kingfish, a seaplane observing these events, also immediately exploded, filling the deck with burning petrol and the damaged GK tower.
But that was only the beginning. The fire center appeared to be a mere trifle against the background of a real cataclysm. A field of burning fuel oil was flowing to the place where the West Virginia was flooded. It flowed from the dead LC “Arizona”.
Over the ensuing 30 hours of indomitable fire, everything that could burn in the parts of the battleship remaining above the water was destroyed. And what could melt was melted into shapeless ingots. The metal structures of the superstructures were twisted and deformed under the influence of high temperature.
Once the storm and the personification of the power of the Pacific Fleet, USS West Virginia (BB-48) ceased to exist as a combat unit.
Sometimes as a reason for the resurrection of “V. Virginia ”called the shallow depth of the Pearl Bay, which made it possible to organize the recovery of the sunken ship. Who would raise “V. Virginia "from under the column of ocean water? However, the statement itself does not contain any messages for logical analysis. In the open sea, with the Japanese forces' attire (one squadron of torpedo bombs on each battleship), it would be impossible to inflict similar damage to an actively maneuvering ship with active air defense.
Yes, the rise of the remains “V. Virginia ”was produced in shallow water. But how justified were further efforts to restore the ship?
Evil tongues argue that the main reason for deciding whether to restore a battleship was that the decision was made by his former commander, Walter Anderson. By that time, with the rank of admiral, he served as head of the Commission for the Inspection of the Ship's Staff.
The nostalgic feelings of the former commander were combined with the obvious desire of the command to underestimate the losses suffered during the defeat of Pearl Harbor. Thus, the list of irretrievable losses among the LCs was reduced to a pair of units: “Arizona” (detonation of the ammunition with disastrous consequences) and overturned “Oklahoma”, which received nine torpedo hits over the entire height of the body in the area of the bow superstructure. By the way, the condition of the damaged “V. Virginia was not much better than Oklahoma, which had a similar damage pattern. The “repair” timeframe, corresponding to the construction of a high-speed LC of a new generation, does not illustrate this.
Four of the six battleships that were damaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor were put into operation in the first half of 1942. However, the saga of the rise and restoration of "V. Virginia ”ranked more than two and a half years. The battleship lay on the bottom and stood at repair docks for most of the war, starting combat missions only in the fall of 1944.
History about two lives of the battleship “V. Virginia ”fits well with the legend of the incredible resurrection of the destroyers“ Cassin ”and“ Downes ”.
At the time of the Japanese attack, both ships were in the same dry dock, along with the LK “Pennsylvania”. The bomb that hit the Downs was echoed by a booming echo of the detonation of torpedo charges. The explosion of ammunition led to the ignition of fuel and a powerful fire engulfed the remains of the destroyer. The nearby destroyer “Cassin” was ripped off the kiloblocks with a shock wave - he fell on board and finally crushed Downes. Flames fused together the wreckage of destroyers.
In its initial report, the fleet inspection noted the complete destruction of Downes, with the possibility of using only selected metal structures. The state of “Cassina” was also evaluated skeptically.
But the Yankees are not used to giving up. Two years later, the repaired (!) Destroyers Cassin and Downs returned to the Navy, which had only the names and individual elements of the hull left of the former ships.
However, I liked the case with a diver who could not find the edges of the hole more ...
thinking
Generals tend to diminish their own losses and exaggerate the losses of the enemy. Simply put, they are not there. Prestige and public opinion is always more important than the real state of affairs. And if the losses among the personnel are obvious - no one has yet succeeded in resurrecting the killed person (the fact of death can only be kept secret), then in the case of military equipment, the situation sometimes assumes a completely absurd character.
The degree of damage to equipment is known only to those in charge who are not interested in disclosing facts that defame their honor and reputation as “successful” generals. In this case, the not fully told truth is still a big lie than just silence.
But back to the smoke of sea battles.
Among the most fierce examples is the rebirth of the battleship Mikasa. The hero of Tsushima, the flagship of Admiral Togo ingloriously died from the explosion of the stern cellar, just a week after the end of the Russian-Japanese war. Then began a multi-month operation to lift the ship, sunk in the harbor of Sasebo, followed by a two-year recovery repair. The degree of damage to the battleship during the detonation of the ammunition in the explanation does not need.
At first glance - a dubious operation to “save face”.
But the Japanese had their own, purely pragmatic explanation of this story. The land of the rising sun at that time did not yet possess the ability to build its own warships. At the same time, Japan had considerable experience in the field of ship repair. As of 1908, the year of the 12 armadillos six were British built. The other six are captured Russian ships recovered from a completely broken state (the Orel electronic well, which received 76 hits in the Tsushima battle). Armadillos looked a little better, shot by siege howitzers in the harbor of Port Arthur.
Therefore, from the point of view of the Japanese, the story of the rise and restoration of “Mikasa” was not an extraordinary event.
At the same time, from the point of view of world practice, bringing a heavily damaged ship to a combat-ready state while maintaining the same functionality and purpose is a rare coincidence.
The remains were removed from under the water. Sometimes in parts. The removed weapons and mechanisms were used for installation on other ships and coastal objects. Someone from the “wounded game” got under its own power or in tow to the nearest port, where, due to the obvious nature of the damage, it turned into a non-self-propelled battery, barracks, or blockade.
But no one ever had the audacity to build a new hull, to install some of the mechanisms from the predecessor dismantled to the metal, and to pretend that this is the same “repaired” ship. No one except the Americans.
The Yankees have always categorically refused to recognize the loss. According to American practice, the death of the ship from the actions of the enemy is recognized only directly at the time of the battle. If a burnt ruin (or at least part of it) crawls to the nearest port - that's all, the conversation is only about the “damaged” unit. It does not matter that already at the transition to the next atoll, it may collapse and sink due to irreversible damage to the power set.
The first-rank handsome men, the battle core of the fleet, the aircraft carriers Enterprise, Franklin, Saratoga, Banker Hill, under the influence of Japanese attacks turned into floating weapons and / or were used as targets. No matter what else they were no longer valid. They did not even try to recover.
The enemy cleanly “struck” four attack aircraft carriers for you - if you please, add them to the list of irretrievable losses. Why in the official list of losses from kamikaze only sunk destroyers? However, all this is a matter of bygone years.
And what about the fleet in the nuclear missile era?
Port! Hard A-Port! Full Astern!
(“Left aboard! Full back!”) But it was already too late. The corner flight deck “John F. Kennedy” cut off the superstructure to the cruiser “Belknap”.
The sharp edges of the Belknapa metalwork dug into the aircraft carrier hanging from above, destroying the premises below the corner deck, from which JP-5 jet fuel flowed. Two of the three petrol stations located at that location were under pressure at the estimated fuel delivery rate of 4000 liters per minute.
At Belknap, the left half of the bridge was blown down, both masts and pipes. Fuel from an aircraft carrier spilled directly into broken chimneys, which led to a strong fire in the boiler rooms. The cruiser was immediately de-energized and engulfed in fire, all automatic fire extinguishing agents were put out of action. The superstructure elements made of light aluminum alloys melted and fell inside the case. the antenna devices have been destroyed, communication and management weapons, Completely burnt out the combat information center.
A few minutes after the collision, the aft boiler room was destroyed by an explosion. Another explosion thundered in the central part of the cruiser - the 76-mm universal guns detonated ammunition.
The Ricketts destroyer who came to the rescue crashed into the side of the damaged Belknap, causing additional damage.
The situation was complicated by the dark time of day and the inability to use helicopters due to the danger of exploding projectiles.
At the cost of the selfless actions of the crew and all the ships of the combat group, the fire on the Belknap was localized two and a half hours after the collision with the aircraft carrier. Individual foci were extinguished by the next morning.
This incident took place in November 1975 of the year, in the operational zone of the Sixth Fleet. Despite extremely grave damage, the cruiser was towed and delivered to the United States.
From the point of view of the realities of the post-war fleet, the bulk of the cost of high-ranking warships falls on weapons control assets. The reasons for this are the uniqueness and small-scale production, exacerbated by military corruption and inadequately high cost of skilled labor in the developed countries of the world (unlike civilian computers, radar antenna arrays are not assembled at a Malaysian factory by the hands of adolescents).
Given this circumstance, the cruiser Belknap was completely destroyed and was no longer valuable to the fleet.
All that remains of the ship: a crumpled box of the hull, with turned into a shapeless charred mass of systems and mechanisms.
Evil tongues say that the only reason for the recovery of the cruiser was the desire of the admirals to conceal the loss at any cost in the light of the events of that time. Literally during the year of the Belknapa crash on the roadstead of Sevastopol, the large “Brave” anti-submarine ship was killed by fire. As is known, such catastrophes can occur only among Soviet sailors. Americans do not lose ships without a fight.
To complement some interesting facts from the story. Bureaucratic procedures and work to restore the cruiser lasted for five years. Reconstruction of “Belknap” took longer in time than its construction at the beginning of the 60s!
By the time of re-entry into service (1980), Belknap was largely represented by an already outdated ship. First generation missile cruiser, one of the firstborn of the new era, with many compromises in its design. The re-construction of the Belknap began simultaneously with the ambitious program to create Aegis Cruisers, much more powerful and sophisticated ships of the new generation. The order for the headquarters “Ticonderoga” was issued in 1978, followed by another two dozen of the same type.
In this regard, the long and expensive epic with the restoration of “Belknap” lost all practical sense. But the persons in charge obviously had their own thoughts on this.
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