Indiannapolis

I know next to zero about naval vessels.  Did heavy cruisers carry aircraft?  I know the terrible story of the Indianappolis.  Same ship?  Recently read on this forum that ship names are recycled.

I did not, but I would like to find it.

EDIT: found it on PBS. Kind of chilling to see Paul Allen. He did some worthwhile things with his money.

Turrent are largely held in their races by gravity.

They have more thna enough mass to not "jump" in response to severe pitch.  By the time you get enough roll to lift a turret out of its race, usually the ship is well beyound it's hull stability point anyway.

When ships sink, their CG (center of gravity) shift in non predictible ways.  Also, as pressure gradinet increases with dept, various spaces colapse, implode, or rupture in even more unpredictible ways (12,000' is about 5000m is about 500 atmosphers, circa 506 Bar, around 7300psi).

So, it woul not take a lot of rotation, in any of three axes to tip out one or more turrets.

keavdog

I know next to zero about naval vessels.  Did heavy cruisers carry aircraft?  I know the terrible story of the Indianappolis.

Yes, etirely typical to carry aircraft.

In the WWI & post war era, they were meant to be used to "spot" gunfire, which reached over the horizon even with 8" rifles.  They were also used to scout ahead of the ship, as cruisers, in that era, were expected to be able to operate entirely on their own, with no other support ships.

The style for hangars changed through the eras.  The Northhampton class was pretty obvious with their hangas, as they were on the 100 (main) deck, and the catapaults were up at the 0300 level.

Later classes opted for a more flush appearance, which helped keep the center of gravit low and the metacenter high (good things for ship stability).  So, catapaults moved to the stern, and the hangars submerged to the 200 (or a platform deck) below the stern.  The sizes are deceptive, as the wings were often removed to hangar the a/c.

Same ship?  Recently read on this forum that ship names are recycled.

Yes, there have been several USS Indianapolis.  This can be a thorny issue for ships lost in action, particularly in dramatic ways.  SSN-697 was/is USS Indianapolis.  There is to be LCS-17, a Freedom class "littoral" ship, if the LCS ships are all built to contract.  The latter will be the next surface ship to bear the name.

Before CA-35, there had been a cargo ship that had been taken into USN service for WWI bearing the USS Indianapolis name.

Cruisers were considered initial encounter ships once steel battleships were designed. Prior to Naval Aviation they carried small boats that would be able to patrol and attack opposing forces with torpedoes.

The Heavy Cruisers of the USN, Regia and the IJN in WW2 relied on their aircraft for patrol.

Not so much the Royal Navy. The Regia was designed to operate in the Med so they were not set up to recover their aircraft, but the IJN and USN did that.

In fact on 12/06/41 the Tone launched two aircraft. One flew over Pearl Harbor to record meteorogical data and the other went to Lahaina to check if the battleships were in the roads there.

I've seen videos of kingfisher launch and recovery.... brave pilots.  Didnt realize they had hangars on board.  Always figured it was the two birds on the catipults.  Thanks for the details.

CapnMac, seems there should be some way to retire a ships name for good.

ira01, Yes , cruisers carried scout planes. My brother flew on a Kingfisher from the Indiana.  When we heard about the Indianapolis being sunk we thought they said the Indiana & it scared us ,because my brother was on the Indiana. We had to wait for the next news report to hear it was the Indianapolis.

   I built the 1/350 Indianapolis & I 58 sub that sunk it a few months ago.

keavdog

CapnMac, seems there should be some way to retire a ships name for good.

There's not a formal method, but certain names just don't get reused.

Maine, Olympia, Merrimac, some names just get shut down in the preliminary meetings, rather than as an explicit no-go.

Sometimes the reverse happens very deliberately, as in Scorpion and Skipjack.

The changes in the naming "patterns" have "loosened" the naming 'rules' more thna a little.  So, it's unlikely another sub wil lbe named Wahoo, or Nautilus, or Perch, or the like.

I wouldn't bet on Nautilus.

The A ships usually are named by the shipyard, subject to USN review.

Gene, that is a wonderful display. I'd lose the sub.

I really hadn't planned on building that ship but based on the looks of that kit I may have to do one.  

Jester, I think it was aTrumpeter kit, & the sub was a Jap kit that had some PE & nice details. I can look up the plans if you want.

A few months back I had the pleasure to speak to an old vet at the supermarket wearing the Indy ball cap. He told me he tranferred to a carrier just a few months prior to the sinking. He was 95 years old, still driving and walking around unassisted! I just hope I have his spunk if I ever make to to 95.