First of all, I apologize if this belongs on another sub-forum, however I saw nothing in regard to a general naval discussion board here. A friend and I were talking tonight about lucky ships during WWII. We brought up the American carrier Enterprise, the German cruiser Prinz Eugen, and the Japanese destroyer Yukikaze - all of which fought from the beginning to the end of the war, participated in many historical battles, and survived when most others did not.

It became an interesting discussion, and we were hoping for more contributions to keep the endless debate going. Maybe even build a small site around the idea.

So what makes a ship lucky? A good example is the battleship USS Washington which managed to fight the entire Pacific war and never lose a man to hostile action. During the war she fought in almost every major battle and took on (and destroyed) the Japanese battleship Kirishima off Guadalcanal. She had a pretty amazing war record, and to do it without losing a single sailor to the enemy? Thats amazing.

...and thats the kind of stuff we're looking for.

We look forward to your contributions.

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The naval side of WWII isn't my strong-point - I don't think I HAVE a strong-point, I just like WWII as a whole. Very interesting...

What makes a ship lucky...

- Armaments.
- Competent sailors and commanders.

Neither can work without the other and when both are good, you're lucky

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WWII-era pen-advertisement
P-51 Mustang fighter-plane.
Parker '51' fountain pen.

How about the USS Converse (destroyer)-

Found this quote-

Some historians have called the USS Converse “a lucky ship, as well as a great ship, a ship to be envied,” but our Capt. E. H. McDowell perhaps said it best: “Hard work, dedication and every man aboard knowing his job, and doing it well, at all times, make for good luck at sea.”

Damn fine gunnery (a.k.a. my grandfather) helps too! Never met him, but heard stories through father of many close calls (torpedo that hit dead on but didn't explode (dud), kamikazes, etc.).

Good idea for a thread.

I'm no naval expert, but I'll be Nationalistic here and say that as a 'lucky' ship I've always had a soft spot for HMS Warspite.

She fought in the largest Naval engagement ever ( Jutland ) and then in WWII fought at Narvik, Cape Matapan, Crete, was part of Force H, and bombarded the Normandy beaches. At one time she was commanded by one of her former Midshipmen, and was known as 'The Old Lady' throughout the Royal Navy.

Bound for the scrapyard in 1947, she broke adrift from her towing cables and ran hard aground at Prussia Cove, Cornwall.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

of the four japanese WWI-era battle cruisers, kongo managed to excape mauling by gunfire and carrier plane weapons because it was usually out of the front line. but it was there at indochina, midway, truk. it bombarded henderson. it was attacked or escaped numerous attempts by both carrier-based attack planes and submarines. at leyte gulf, it dueled with destroyer hoel, hit it once with a 14-inch dud, switched to 6-inch guns, hoel launched 9 torpedoes. kongo manages to dodge them. it hit carrier gambier bay with its 6-inchers, crippling it. it fired on on destroyer robers with its main guns, sank it. kongo dodged 2 more torpedoes.

alas, its luck finally ran out with submarine sealion. the last battleship to be sank by a submarine.

how about HMAS Hobart
For a quick reveiw of her history:The World at War

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"Like so many of our people, we have now had a personal experience of German barbarity which only strengthens the resolution of all of us to fight through to final victory."-King George VI
"Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning."-Colonel David M. Shoup-Saipan

USS Franklin is my submission.

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The Muslim Brotherhood “must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands..." — Mohamed Akram. http://jihadwatch.org/

The Romainian Destroyer NMS Regele Ferdinand. It survived over 33 air attacks in 1944.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman.