The most successful and most unsuccessful Warships

[miro777]

yeah....im back...
wat have u got to say to my opinion i osted just now???
adios
miro

[Karl Heidenreich]

Miro:

wat have u got to say to my opinion i osted just now???
adios
miro

I see your point but I don´t share it.

[Gary]

In terms of Success, the British got their moneys worth out of Warspite

[miro777]

hey...
two things..
Karl, with wat don't u agree?
and Gary, why do u think that the Warpite is so successful?

kk
adios
miro

[Karl Heidenreich]

Bismarck mission was to help Germany win the war.
How? Sinking convoys and let the British run amuck.
In the process sinking Hood was a real achievement. But after the Swordfish torpedo hit and then the sinking... well, many deutches marks expended, a lot of hopes in the brand new BBs, thousand of lives at stake... Result: not a single convoy sunk, everything lost, no help to the war effort.

[miro777]

hey
ok i agree with ur points...
but i still wouldn't call the Bismarck
a unsuccessful ship...

adios
miro

[Gary]

Warspite was at Jutland

Narvik
Calabria (where she hit the Gulio Cesare at about 26,000 yards thus sending the italian running for home)

The hit on the Cesare
http://www.voodoo.cz/battleships/pics2/002cesare.jpg

The damage
http://www.voodoo.cz/battleships/pics2/001cesare.jpg

Matapan

She took part in shore bombardments in the Med and later the Atlantic wall.

[Karl Heidenreich]

Warspite... what a beautiful name! And it was a beautiful warship too. No doubt that it´s fame it´s greater than that atributed to her. You´re right Gary.

[miro777]

hey...
im raeding that book about the Rheinuebung and it talks that the first message about the Bismarck going north reached the RN from the Swedish...
they supposingly had a tanker in Gotenhafen and were spying on the KM for long...
if this and the Gotland incident would'nt have happened..
wat would be the outcome?

adios
miro

[miro777]

hey
ok that tells me that the Warpite was very involved...
wat do u understand with the word
successful?

kk
adios
miro

btw: sorry for that post... it was not suppose to be there....

[Gary]

At Narvik, a good portion of the Kriegsmarines destroyer force was destroyed thanks to Warspite and her DD's.
Her Walrus seaplane also sank U-64

At Calabria, Warspite humiliated the Italians by sending them packing with just one hit.

At Matapan, 3 of the worlds best Heavy cruisers were sunk.
She particapted in numerous anti-aircraft attacks and bombardments in the Med.
She was at D-Day.

I dont have the info handy to list a full detailed account of Warspites fighting life but anyone on these boards can back me up in saying Warspite was one of the most active warships.
The British got value for money out of her.

[Karl Heidenreich]

I believe, after reading a bit, that the right answer is, indeed: HMS Warspite

A brief account:

HMS Warspite (1913)

Career
Ordered: 1912
Laid down: October 31, 1912
Launched: November 26, 1913
Commissioned: March 8, 1915
Decommissioned: February 1, 1945
Struck: 1947
Status: Scrapped 1950
General Characteristics
Displacement: As built:
33,410 tons deep
Length: 639 feet 5 inches (overall)
644 feet 7 inches (with stern walk fitted)
600 feet (waterline)
Beam: 90 feet 6 inches
Draught: 30 feet 6 inches–30 feet 11.5 inches (mean) 33 feet 10 inches–34 feet 2.5 inches (deep)
Propulsion and power: 24 × boilers at 285 psi maximum pressure
4 × direct drive turbines
4 × shafts
75,000 shp at 300 rpm
2 × oil driven 450 kW dynamos2 × turbine driven 200 Kw dynamos
1 × reciprocating engine driven 200 kW dynamo added shortly after commissioning
Speed: 24 knots (design)
Endurance: 8,600 nm at 12.5 knots
3,900 nm at 21 knots
Capacity: 3,300 tons of oil
100 tons of coal
Complement: 925 to 1,220
Armament: As built:
4 × twin Mk I 15-inch/42 guns
12 × single Mk XII 6-inch guns
2 × single 3-inch high-angle guns
4 × single 3-pdr (47 mm) saluting guns
4 × 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes
After reconstruction:
4 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns
12 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns
4 × twin 4 inch (102 mm) guns
4 × octuple 2 pdr anti-aircraft guns
4 × quadruple 0.5 cal machine guns
Armour: As built armour:
Belt: 11 inch tapering to 6 inch forward and 4 inch aft
Upper belt: 6 inches
Bulkheads: 6 inch and 4 inch forward; 6 in ch and 4 inch aft
15 inch Turrets: 11 inch sides; 13 inch faces; 4.25 inch top
Barbettes: 10 to 7 inches above belt; 6 to 4 inches below belt
6 inch guns: 6 inch
Conning tower: 11 inch side; 3 inch roof; 4 inch revolving hood
Conning tower tube: 6 inches to upper deck; 4 inches below
Torpedo conning tower: 6 inch
Torpedo conning tower tube: 4 inches to upper deck
As built protective plate:
Vertical:
Torpedo bulkheads: 1 inch + 1 inch
Magazine-end bulkheads: 1 inch + 1 inch (extra 1 inch layer added after Battle of Jutland)
Funnel uptakes: 1.5 inches
Horizontal:
Forecastle: 1 inch over 6 inch battery
Upperdeck 2 to 1.25 inches from A–Y barbettes
Main deck: 1.25 inches at forward and aft ends
Middle deck: 1 inch (2 inches after Battle of Jutland)
Lower deck: 3 inches at extreme ends; 2.25 inches over steering gear; 1 inch forward
Aircraft carried: 1 catapult and 1 spotter aircraft after 1920s


HMS Warspite was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the British Royal Navy. She was launched on 26 November 1913 at Devonport Royal Dockyard. She was, and is, one of the most famous and glamorous of names in the Royal Navy. Warspite would, during World War II, gain the nickname "The Old Lady", after a comment made by Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham in 1943.

Warspite, and the rest of the class, was the brainchild of two men. One was Admiral Sir John 'Jackie' Fisher, who was First Sea Lord when the first all big-gun battleship, HMS Dreadnought, came into existence. The other was Winston S. Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, who was paramount in getting the Queen Elizabeths off the drawing board and into the water; but he was also influenced in a number of decisions about the Queen Elizabeths by Lord Fisher, who had been persuaded to come out of retirement by Churchill.

Early career
Warspite's first commanding officer upon commissioning in 1915 was Captain Edward Montgomery Phillpotts. Warspite joined the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet and undertook a number of acceptance trials, including gunnery trials, which saw Churchill present when she fired her 15 in (381 mm) guns and suitably impressed him with their accuracy and power. In late 1915, Warspite grounded in the Forth causing some damage to her hull; she had been led by her escorting destroyers down the small ships channel. After repairs, she rejoined the Grand Fleet, this time as part of the newly formed 5th Battle Squadron which had been created for the Queen Elizabeths. In early December, Warspite was involved in another bit of bad luck when, during an exercise, she collided with her sister-ship Barham, causing considerable damage to Warspite.


Jutland
In 1916, Warspite, and the rest of the 5th Battle Squadron, were temporarily transferred to David Beatty's Battlecruiser Force. On 31 May, Warspite took part in her first, and largest, engagement in her career, the Battle of Jutland. Warspite received fifteen hits from main armament guns from the German capital ships, which resulted in considerable damage, so that she came close to foundering. Her steering jammed after she had attempted to avoid collision with her sister-ship Valiant. Her captain decided to stay on course, in effect going round in circles, rather than stop and reverse, a decision that would have made Warspite a sitting duck. These manoevres saved Warrior, for the Germans switched their attention from the badly damaged cruiser to the more tempting target of a battleship in difficulty. This gained her the eternal affection of the crew of Warrior, who believed Warspite's actions were intentional. The crew finally regained control of Warspite after two full circles, though the actions undertaken to stop her circling had the negative aspect of potentially taking her straight towards the German High Seas Fleet. So the order was given for Warspite to stop to allow repairs, after which she was underway once more. Warspite would, after the Battle of Jutland, be plagued with steering problems for the rest of her life.

During the battle, Warspite suffered fourteen killed and many wounded. She sailed, despite considerable damage, for home after being ordered to do so by Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas, commander of the 5th Battle Squadron. On her journey home, on June 1, she came under attack from a German U-boat which unsuccessfully fired two torpedoes at her. A second attack occurred soon after, with another torpedo launched but again missing. Only a short while after that incident, Warspite confronted a U-boat directly in front of her; she attempted to ram the U-boat but failed. She safely reached Rosyth, where her damage was repaired.


Armistice
Upon the completion of those repairs, Warspite rejoined the 5th Battle Squadron. Further misfortune soon struck, when she collided once more with a sister-ship, this time HMS Valiant, forcing Warspite to receive yet more repairs. In June 1917, Warspite collided with Destroyer. The following month, Warspite was rocked at her moorings in Scapa Flow, when HMS Vanguard, a St Vincent-class battleship, blew up after an explosion in one of her ammunition magazines, resulting in many hundreds of lives being lost on Vanguard.

In 1918, Warspite suffered a fire in one of her boiler rooms, forcing her to receive more repairs. Later that year, on November 21, Warspite, along with the rest of the Grand Fleet, set sail to receive the German High Seas Fleet into internment at Scapa Flow. The High Seas Fleet would mostly be scuttled by the Germans in 1919 while in internment at Scapa Flow.


Inter-war
In 1919, Warspite joined the 2nd Battle Squadron, part of the newly formed Atlantic Fleet. She would spend much of her time in the Mediterranean while part of that Fleet. In 1924, she took part in a Royal Fleet Review at Spithead, with King George V present at the event. Later that year, Warspite underwent a partial modernisation, which included the addition of new small calibre guns as well as increased armour protection and the alteration of parts of her superstructure. The modernisation was completed in 1926. That same year, after spending so much time in the Mediterranean as part of the Atlantic Fleet, Warspite was finally based there when she became the flagship of Commander-in Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, as-well as also acting as flagship of the Second-in-Command, Mediterranean Fleet.

In 1930, Warspite rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. In September 1931, she was ship of the watch at Invergordon during the initial stages of the Invergordon Mutiny. She was at sea when other major warships of the Atlantic Fleet mutinied.

In 1934, Warspite received a complete modernisation. Her superstructure was radically altered, allowing an aircraft hangar to be fitted, and changes were also made to her armament and propulsion systems. The modernisation was completed in 1937, Warspite returning to active service that same year. She deployed once more to the Mediterranean under the command of Captain Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley, becoming flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. However, she was delayed for a number of months due to problems with her propulsion machinery and with the steering blight left over from Jutland in 1916 still causing problems. She was further hit by two unfortunate incidents: at one she came close to hitting a passenger liner with shells, and she subsequently fired, accidentally, into the Maltese city of Valletta with her anti-aircraft guns (AA).


Peace Shattered

Warspite engaging shore batteries during the Second Battle of Narvik.In June 1939, Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham replaced the previous Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. On 3 September that year, war was declared, and the UK was once more at war with Germany, but not Italy, yet. Warspite subsequently left the Mediterranean to join the Home Fleet where she became involved in a variety of hunts for German capital ships who were intent on acting as commerce raiders. Warspite, however, made no contact with any German capital ship during her searches.

In April 1940, Warspite served in the Norwegian Campaign, providing essential battleship support during the Second Battle of Narvik, when Warspite and numerous British destroyers attacked eight German destroyers trapped in Ofotfjord, near the port of Narvik. Vice-Admiral William 'Jock' Whitworth, leader of the operation, transferred his flag to Warspite on the day the battle commenced. Warspite's Fairey Swordfish, a bi-plane fragile in appearance, attacked and sunk the German U-boat U-64, to become the first aircraft to sink a U-boat in World War II. The German destroyers were soon engaged by the British destroyers. One heavily damaged German ship, the Erich Koellner, was destroyed by broadsides from Warspite. Warspite targeted the Diether von Roeder and Erich Giese, the former was scuttled by the ship's crew, while the Erich Giese was destroyed by Warspite and destroyers. The objective of eliminating all eight German destroyers, who were running out of both fuel and ammunition, was achieved with minimal loss.


Mediterranean

Warspite under attack in the Med, 1941.During the summer of 1940, Warspite was transferred to the Mediterranean theatre and fought in several engagements. The most important of these were the important strategic victory at the Battle of Cape Matapan in which 3 cruisers and 2 destroyers were sunk in a night action, and the Battle of Calabria. Her sister ships were all heavily damaged during their time in the Mediterranean. HMS Barham was sunk and Valiant and Queen Elizabeth both spent time resting on the bottom of Alexandria harbour after their hulls were holed in an attack by Italian frogmen. Warspite stayed afloat but was damaged several times.

During the Battle of Calabria she was credited with achieving the longest range gunnery hit from a moving ship to a moving target in history. This was a hit on the Giulio Cesare at a range of approximately 26,000 yards (see also the Scharnhorst, which scored a very long range hit on the Glorious in June 1940). Warspite also took part in the naval portion of the Battle of Crete, where she was badly damaged by German bombers.


Indian Ocean
In 1941, Warspite departed Alexandria, and began her journey to the USA, where she would be repaired at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton. Repairs and modifications there began in August and ended in December, which included the replacement of her worn out 15 in guns. She was still at the shipyard when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. After working-up around the west coast of North America, Warspite departed the area to join the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean.


Warspite underway in the Indian Ocean, 16 July 1942.In January 1942, Warspite joined the Eastern Fleet, becoming the flagship of Admiral Sir James Somerville, who had, in 1927, commanded the Warspite. As part of the Eastern Fleet, Warspite was based in Ceylon and was part of the fast group of the Fleet, which also included the two carriers Formidable and Indomitable, while four slow Revenge-class battleships and the old carrier Hermes comprised the slower group.

Somerville soon decided to relocate his Fleet for its own protection. He chose the Addu Atoll, part of the Maldives, to be his new base. Despite the threat of Japanese attack, Somerville had sent two heavy cruisers, Cornwall and Dorsetshire and the carrier Hermes back to Ceylon. In early April, two Japanese naval forces began the Indian Ocean raid. One force was led by a light fleet carrier, the Ryujo and included six cruisers, while the second group included five carriers which had launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and four battleships. They were deployed to the Indian Ocean to search for Somerville's Eastern Fleet, at that time, the only significant Allied naval presence in the area. The first sighting of the Japanese occurred on 4 April 1942, and orders were given for the two detached cruisers to return to the Fleet. The Fast Group, including Warspite, set sail from their base with the objective of launching a strike against the Japanese forces within the next few days. All three ships that had been detached from the Fleet, the Cornwall, Dorsetshire, and Hermes, were eventually sunk by Japanese forces with the loss of many lives. An attack on the Japanese forces by Somerville's fleet never occurred, and the Japanese soon left the region altogether, after failing to find and destroy the Eastern Fleet. The rest of Warspite's time in this theatre was largely uneventful, with only limited naval operations by the Royal Navy occurring in that theatre. Warspite departed the area in 1943, heading once more for the Mediterranean.


Return to the Mediterranean

Warspite shelling German positions at Catania, July 1943.In June 1943, Warspite joined Force H, based in Gibraltar, and took part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, in July, along with the battleships Nelson, Rodney and Valiant, and the carriers Formidable and Illustrious. Warspite began her bomdardment of Sicily on July 17, when she poured heavy fire onto German positions at Catania.

Between 8 September and 9 September, Force H, covering the landings at Salerno, came under fierce German air-attack, but shot down many German planes. On 10 September, Warspite, who had battled the Italian Fleet during her time in the Mediterranean in 1940-41, led them, now surrendered to the Allies, into internment at Malta.

Warspite was back in action on 15 September, at Salerno. The American sector was in a precarious situation after the Germans had counter-attacked, and the day Warspite and Valiant arrived at Salerno they commenced a bombardment of German positions that effectively saved the Allies. However disaster soon struck Warspite, for on 16 September she was attacked by a squadron of German aircraft, armed with an early guided missile, the Fritz X (FX-1400). She was hit three times, one of them striking near her funnel, ripping through her decks and causing immense damage, making a large hole in the bottom of her hull, and crippling much of Warspite as it did so. Casualties were minor; 9 killed and 14 wounded. Her appearance had dramatically changed in just a few moments, from an imposing battleship to one shattered and war scarred. She was soon on the journey to Malta, being towed by United States Navy (USN) tugs. The tow proved extremely difficult, and at one point she was drifting sideways through the straits of Messina having broken all the tow lines.. She eventually reached Malta on 19 September and undertook emergency repairs there before being towed to Gibraltar. Warspite then moved back to the UK for further repairs at Rosyth, in March 1944.


The last duties

HMS Warspite off Normandy, 1944On 6 June 1944, Warspite took part in the Normandy Landings as part of the Eastern Task Force, firing on German positions to cover the landing at Sword Beach. She subsequently helped support the Americans on their beaches. "X" turret, badly damaged by the FX 1400 attack, remained inoperative. She also helped support Gold Beach a few days later. Her guns worn out, she was soon sent to Rosyth to be regunned. On the way, she set off a magnetic mine, causing heavy damage, but made it to Rosyth safely. She received only partial repairs, enough to get her back into action for bombardment duties.

After repairs, she bombarded Brest, Le Havre and Walcheren, the latter of which was an assault on that island which began on 1 November, with Warspite providing support for the troops, in what was to be the last time she fired her guns. Largely inactive since Walcheren, Warspite was placed in Category C Reserve on 1 February 1945. Following the end of the war, there were pleas to retain Warspite as a museum ship like Lord Nelson's HMS Victory, but they were ignored and the ship was sold for scrap in 1947.

She had survived Jutland, the many horrors of the Second World War, and post-World War I RN cuts, and in 1947 Warspite would achieve one more victory when she escaped the indignity of the breakers yard. After already experiencing trouble on the journey to the breakers due to a storm, she broke free of her anchor, subsequently running hard aground in Prussia Cove. It was a defiant end to her career, and Warspite had to be scrapped in situ over the next few years. The work was finally completed in 1950. Warspite had gained the affections of some of the most famous figures in the UK, including some of the most revered Royal Navy commanders in its history, Sir Andrew Cunningham in particular, and became a legend, her name becoming synonymous with majesty and courage. She was arguably the greatest battleship the Royal Navy ever possessed.

A real, real disgrace that such a ship, a truly warrior and witness of her country most desperate and fine moments ended forgotten.
But, I don´t believe any other ship could present a Vitae more colorfull and action filled than Warspite: many battles, damages, victories, etc.

Well, my vote goes to Warspite.

[Bgile]

I think I would vote for USS Enterprise.

[Karl Heidenreich]

Bgile:

I think I would vote for USS Enterprise.

Which one? CV at Midway, CVN?

[Bgile]

Bgile:

I think I would vote for USS Enterprise.

Which one? CV at Midway, CVN?

The one at Miday. She had a very active career and served the entire war in the Pacific.

Actually I meant NC-1701.