By U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships - Official U.S. Navy photo 19-N-68376 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command, Public Domain, Link
Posted on 09/23/2019 2:38:38 PM PDT by Bull Snipe
1779. Off of Flamborough Head on the Yorkshire coast of England, Captain John Paul Jones commanding Bonhomme Richard engages HMS Serapis in a brutal 4 hour battle. At one point in the battle, Pearson called for the Americans to surrender. Captain Jones answer was "Sir, I have not yet begun to fight." In the end Bonhomme Richard is fatally damaged, but Captain Richard Pearson strikes his colors to the Americans. Jones transfers his surviving crew to Serapis and takes Serapis to the Netherlands. A good short article can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Flamborough_Head
1944: USS West Virginia BB-48 steams into Pearl Harbor. She is the last of 18 U.S. Navy ships salvaged, repaired and returned to service from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7 1941.
By U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships - Official U.S. Navy photo 19-N-68376 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command, Public Domain, Link
The Battle of Flamborough Head may be the only naval battle in history in which the main ship that won the battle was sunk while the the main ship that lost stayed afloat.
Back in the fight.
>
And the Americans won with no women or homosexual sailors on board????????????
And, if I remember correctly, with no help from the French...
;^)
That was WeeVee on her first sea trial after refit at the Bremerton Naval Ship Yard. That was early August 1944. My
dad a was a 2nd class Machinist Mate in the after engine room on the ship at the time.
You may be correct. I don’t know of any other that ended that was.
When we put guns on ships.
Yep 8 16” 45 Cal. main battery
Cool - my Dad was somewhere in France with Patton’s army.
I’ve always thought the rebuilt WV/Tennessees were beautiful, combining the modernized SoDak style superstructure with the lovely clipper bows of the standards.
Pity that none of them were kept as a museum. I’d love to visit. If only to see the massive electric motors.
My mistake, sea trials were in July 1944. My dad told me the Westinghouse engineers worked 24/7 for months to restore those massive drive motors so WV could make the trip to Bremerton in April 1943.
That might not have been the case on the opposing ship. Winston Churchill is said to have remarked that the British navy was run on rum, buggery and the lash.
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