Aren't the Brits building a carrier as we speak.
Aren't the Brits building a carrier as we speak.
Though in awe of warships and fully appreciate their necessity, as an ex-seaman my awe is tempered by my awareness that part of their role was to send other ships to the sea bed, with the resultant loss of life of other sailors.
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But I guess that is true of all weapons of war - this just affects me differently because it's sailors involved. Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive, having recently spoken to the widow of a sailor who lost his life on a convoy to Murmansk.
HMS Victorious was loaned to the US, after a request from the US, as they were desperate for carriers having lost a number and a few in dock, and renamed USS Robin flying the US flag. The British crew remained. She served in the south Pacific with Saratoga, and was later returned and named back into HMS Victorious. She later returned to the Pacific in 1945 with the British carrier fleet against Japan.
Victorious (USS Robin) operated 60 British and American Wildcat fighters. British owned planes repainted in US colours with British pilots. Victorious was named USS Robin so the Japs would not think the US was short of carriers and painted in measure 21 (5-N Navy Blue).
The crew remained with a different uniform, and with US additions. The planes were British and US owned, all in US markings, with the US planes having US pilots and the British, British pilots.
They developed a method of hanging the planes virtually over the sides, with the main wheels on deck and the tail wheels stretched out over the sea.
http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Ships/Victorious.html
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.17844
"Send Her Victorious" (ISBN: 0718301021) by Michael Apps.
They even changed the uniforms of the crew to US. Search on Robin on this page http://www.cheshiremagazine.com/issu...esqueries.html
They also fitted ice cream and Coca Cola machines on board. Most Brits at the time probably had never heard of Coca Cola, as that only came into the UK post WW2 in any big way.
Combined U.S.N. Battle Group of HMS Victorious (foreground) renamed as USS Robin and USS Saratoga, at Noumea, New Caledonia, 1943
The new Amsterdam at Liverpool?
Save Liverpool Docks and Waterways - Click
Deprived of its unique dockland waters Liverpool
becomes a Venice without canals, just another city, no
longer of special interest to anyone, least of all the
tourist. Would we visit a modernised Venice of filled in
canals to view its modern museum describing
how it once was?
Giving Liverpool a full Metro - CLICK
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Great stuff WW. More stuff I never knew. You sailor boys know your stuff.
The new Amsterdam at Liverpool?
Save Liverpool Docks and Waterways - Click
Deprived of its unique dockland waters Liverpool
becomes a Venice without canals, just another city, no
longer of special interest to anyone, least of all the
tourist. Would we visit a modernised Venice of filled in
canals to view its modern museum describing
how it once was?
Giving Liverpool a full Metro - CLICK
Rapid-transit rail: Everton, Liverpool & Arena - CLICK
Save Royal Iris - Sign Petition
Waterways,I have my uncles navy record plus a chart showing the Victorious just outside Tokyo,before it entered service it went to the US to be fitted out with among other things coke machines and ice cream equipment,Ive often wondered if the british on board were awarded a campaign medal from the US as they were awarded one from the Russians on the Baltic run.
Here is a picture that I would like to se the original of. It is the Frenc battleship "Richelieu" which was sunk in Dakar by the British in early hours of July 8th 1940. This was shown in that report/The Richelieu was laid down in1935 and was only completed at the beginning of WW11.We know she was 35.000 tons ,carried 8 15 inch guns,15 6 inch guns 18 anti aircraft guns.
The War Illustrated stated,there were no technical details or photographs available at that time. (1940) She was sunk to prevent the Vichy French turning her over to the Nazis.
The new Amsterdam at Liverpool?
Save Liverpool Docks and Waterways - Click
Deprived of its unique dockland waters Liverpool
becomes a Venice without canals, just another city, no
longer of special interest to anyone, least of all the
tourist. Would we visit a modernised Venice of filled in
canals to view its modern museum describing
how it once was?
Giving Liverpool a full Metro - CLICK
Rapid-transit rail: Everton, Liverpool & Arena - CLICK
Save Royal Iris - Sign Petition
"Operation Pedestal was a British Wartime convoy
Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of MaltaMalta
Malta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed country European microstates microstate in the European Union....
in August 1942, during the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. Malta was the base from which surface ships, submarines and aircraft attacked AxisAxis Powers
The Axis powers were those countries that were opposed to the Allies of World War II during World War II. The three major Axis powers - Nazi Germany, Kingdom of Italy , and Empire of Japan - were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers....
convoys carrying essential supplies to the Italian and German armies in North Africa. In 1941 and 1942, Malta was effectively under siegeSiege of Malta (1940)
The Siege of Malta was a military campaign in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II of World War II. From 1940 to 1942, the fight for the control of the strategically important island of Malta pitted the air forces and navies of Kingdom of Italy and Nazi Germany against the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy....
, blockaded by Axis air and naval forces. To sustain Malta, Britain had to get convoys through at all costs. Malta narrowly survived. Despite serious losses, just enough supplies were delivered for Malta to survive, although it ceased to be an effective offensive base for much of 1942. The most crucial supply was fuel delivered by the American-built tanker with a British crewOhioSS Ohio
The SS Ohio was an oil tanker built for the Texas Oil Company ; she was the largest oil tanker in the world at the time of construction. The tanker was launched on April 20, 1940 at the Sun Shipbuilding Yard in Chester, Pennsylvania, USA....
. The operation started on 9 August 1942, when the convoy sailed through the Strait of GibraltarStrait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is the strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain from Morocco. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic language Jebel Tariq meaning mountain of Tariq....
.
The convoy is also known as the "Battle of Mid-August" in Italy and as the "Konvoj ta' Santa Marija" in Malta. The arrival of the last ships of the convoy on August 15 1942 coincided with the Feast of the Assumption (Santa Marija) and the name "Santa Marija Convoy" or "Sta Marija Convoy" is still used. That day's public holiday and celebrations, in part, celebrate the arrival of the convoy. The attempt to run some fifty ships past bombers, E-boatE-boat
The Schnellboot or S-boot was a type of Germany torpedo boat that saw service during World War II. The S-boote were approximately twice as large as their PT boat and Motor Torpedo Boat counterparts, were better suited for the open sea, and had a substantially longer range, at approximately 700 nautical miles....
s, minefields, and submarines has gone down in military history as one of the most important British strategic victories of the Second World War - though at a cost of more than four hundred lives, with only five of the original fourteen merchant ships reaching the Grand HarbourGrand Harbour
Grand Harbour is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been used as a harbour since at least Phoenician times. The natural harbour has been greatly improved with extensive Dock and wharves, and has been massively fortified...."
.My thanks to the people of the Astrology Encyclopaediae,
BrianD
Thanks for that Brian. I have a picture at home with the Ohio coming into Valletta.
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