Most handsome BB/BC of WW2?

Of course they did. It was the gentlemanly thing to do before removing the gloves and going ape on your enemy.

They also cleaned Manchuria out of everything that could be unbolted and carried off - just like they did to Europe.

One thing I never read is an account of the Japanese captured in Manchuria. They must have had the same gulag experience anyone who is sent to Siberia goes through. No book on it that I'm aware of and does anyone know the survival rate of the Japanese?

 

There was a non-aggression(neutrality) pact between Japan & Russia 1941-45. The Soviets denounced the Pact on April 5, 1945. The Soviets declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945.

 

Oh my yes, a beauty to be sure! And this certificate. And I also have his model ship from the Franklin Mint, thanks to his daughter. Monroe was on her at the beginning and at the end in Tokyo Bay. I met him once, as we both lived near Allentown, Pa. He passed away in 2013 and was a wonderful person.…( by the way, where did you order your hat from, I see there are several places on line)

 

Ok, thank you very much. I just like the look of yours. I have two from two different duty stations where I was, but I thought I would order one in honor of Monroe Peters. I also have his anchor lapel/hat pin that he had inside the model display case. I went to high school with his daughter and when her husband died and she was breaking up her house, she was going to give the model ship of the Missouri from the Franklin Mint to an auctioneer, but when I found that out I quickly bought it from her before that happened. (sorry to go off topic)

 

Wow I never knew the Japanese salvaged and made those ships into their navy. We're the ships any good or required a major refit and overhaul to meet with their needs. Thanks for the info. I do think the Japanese did underestimate the military power of the soviets as did hitler. They thought they could push the Russians out and take the oil fields. Unfortunately like hitler they didn't reckon with their superior tank force the Japanese did not build many tanks and had less than a hundred the Russians attacked with 500 of their newest BT tanks with pedestal mounted heavy machine guns the Japanese were at a disadvantage and resorted to suicide bomber attacks that worked but they lost more men doing so and the soviets just threw in more tanks wave after wave till the Japanese were just finally over run and routed. They just were not really ready for a war with the soviets and didn't even have much in the way of anti tank guns. The Japanese may have had a huge army man power wise but their fire power was not all that it should have been they were far behind other countries in weapons development mostly I think their lack of resources was to blame and their policy of trying to isolate themselves from the western countries. Now they send delegates to allied countries to learn the latest developments and spend millions in advancing their military tech every year. The T90 was a great tank but the new T10 is superior they don't want to get left behind like they did during wwI, and the rebuilt f16 they developed. Need to get a kit for my collection or figure out how to convert one of my one to two dozen dml kits. Yeah they were so cheap kinda went over board, lol. And since the war they had studied firearms all over the world and their weapons have been like a hybrid of arms like the type 89 was a mashing of three assault rifles and their newest the same features taken from at least three or more weapons to make a weapon they feel is superior. Like their ships based on US designs but upgraded or improved like the Kongo class destroyers based on our Burke class but bigger and a bit more armed. The larger ship helps them weather the frequent heavy seas. Anyway thanks for your time and info.

 

Yeah I always thought it was strange the had those huge tall superstructures while most were trying to lower theirs I really liked the Brits building those low bulky looking structures on all their ships from destroyers to BBs. I always wondered if those tall structures made the ships really top heavy. I also agree they had great looking cruisers they looked good and looked tough. I read the US navy used the Japanese cruisers as a basis in designing our cruisers. They wanted cruisers on an even match but considering our losses at the beginning not sure if we did. Though I've read poor training and communications lead to our heavy losses in 42.

 

Suggest you get Conway's Fighting Ships 1922-1945. Kongo was a British designed battlecruiser with the lead of the class being built in England and the other three in Japan.

The closest we came to matching the Japanese was the 15 6" gun Mogami by out 15 6" gun Brooklyn class. The IJN rearmed the Mogamis with 10 8" guns. Cheaters.

 

Several of them had been sunk in shallow water at Port Arthur and required repair; apparently the Japanese considered it worthwhile. Also several of the survivors of Tsushima surrendered the following day, not too badly damaged, the last major incident of ships surrendering at sea. As mentioned, the quality of Russian ships varied from modern to small and/or obsolete. The light cruiser Novik (renamed Suzuya) was an excellent ship of her type.

During WWI when Japan and Russia were Allies, a couple of the ships were returned to Russia. One of these was the cruiser Varyag which had been built in America along with the battleship Retvizan.

 

Wow I didn't know we built any ships for the soviets although I knew we built most of the ships for South America and some other overseas countries. I read the Turks tried to build the heaviest armored and armed iron ship but she was so heavy she couldn't make very good headway in some battle the ship was so slow the enemy were able to out maneuver her and sank her fairly easily. Sad that they spent so much and it did so poorly. I guess the engineers they had on the project were very inexperienced or the guy in charge didn't listen to them. Yeah I've read the Russian navy back then was a bit of a state, but they really put a lot into their modern navy to compare with us they really maxed out their ships with weapons. Some navy guy said they had so much on their ships because each weapon rocket or missile had a67percent chance of failur so they wanted lots of backups. Although I read originally we were about the same when missile systems first came out the got it down to 33 percent and kept increasing our reliability. I still have to say those wwI Italian rebuilds were fantastic they looked as good as any new modern ship. They just didn't do much and the Brits kept bombing them keeping them in the repair docks I'm sure the Italians were frustrated about that they just couldn't keep the ships protected from the bombers.

 

Those two were built for the Tsar's navy; remember the Bolshevik revolution wasn't until 1917. They were built by William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia' though I'm sure the company had to get government clearance.

And of course we gave considerable aid to the Soviets in WWII, including cargo ships and small warships such as PTs, landing craft, and frigates.

 

Didn't the Germans give the soviets a couple of ships or so and on the day they invaded the mother land they bombed the Soviet harbors and sank or damaged those ships. After the war the soviets claimed a number of German ships the incomplete carrier some other surviving ships and a number of submarines that they used to design a number of diesel class subs. They grabbed everything they could, so did everyone else the US and England claimed those huge ship cranes used to build the Bismarck and tripitz, we dismantled ours and shipped it to the states it eventually ended up at long beach harbor and most of the ship cranes there were based on its design. The Brits thought they'd get clever built a huge barge to float it over half way across the channel it tipped over and sank. The U S was really interested in the helicopter the Brits got two and we're going to destroy them but the army protested and got one that they shipped back to the states the Brits decided to hang on to the second one convincing a German pilot to fly it to England. I have to say I knew the soviets captured the factory that built the maus, but I didn't know they managed to capture one my tank book said they were destroyed to prevent capture. Apparently the explosives only destroyed one the othe was damaged but mostly intact as well as the one complete turret they took the prize back to Russia restored it to look complete I don't know if they restored it internally but the monster of a tank sits in a museum there, I really thinks it sucks the Brits scraped the E100 it's was a unique part of tank history like there never be another except as a mock up if ever. They could have put it in a museum and built a dummy turret out of plywood it would have been a great piece of history.

 

Finally got one for myself, thanks!! From the Armed Forces Depot on line. Nice quality hat.

 

Yeah I heard they were sell the old planks as they were replacing them, didn't they replant over the helo deck as they are trying to restore her to wwii. I heard the biggest problem is getting the 20 and 40 AAs there's not many left around and with a number of ships from different sources there all compete ting in getting what little is available. I think they should put real ones in key places of display and get some company to build mock ups for the rest of the ship the mock ups should be less expensive than the real ones and it would get the ship back to her wwii look, anyway they are going to need quite a few of those guns as the navy put those 20 and 40s where ever they could find the space, lol, I think I'd hate to be those guys in the bow and fore deck positions under full speed, heard the wash was pretty heavy and got you really drenched. A store near cinn Ohio had a couple of 16 inche shell casings on display. They were huge the threaded opening for the fuse was empty and the threaded back plate was gone so you could see clear thru. I was impressed how thick it was. I think they said a completed roun was a thousand pounds or more. Also I was thinking those were he as didn't the armor piercing have an armored piercing tip. Well enjoy your ships they look good. What the next project, I wish they do a side deck Essex in 700 or did they finally do one, when dragon came out with their essexs I though they would eventually do one but never saw one. Funny I thought they would as they did the sky raider and panther planes but they did operate off the straight decks as well. I think it would be great to cut open the hanger on the Boston, have the door rolled back showing the panes in storage and maybe one on the crane.