General History: USS Arkansas - The Oldest Battleship
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- The second of the Wyoming-class and the oldest battleship in full service with the USN, USS Arkansas is the topic of today's video. A ship that served for three decades, through two world wars, and would only be sunk in the end by atomic testing.
Her service was not an exciting one. She only served in a couple battles. But she gave long and valuable service, nevertheless.
Further Reading:
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My dad served on the Arkansas during WWll. He was a 3rd class gunners mate on a secondary battery (5 inch gun). He spent his 18th birthday on that ship off the coast of Normandy. They later went on to the Pacific and did shore bombardment at Iwo Jima & Okinawa. I remember being a boy and paging through the War Diary of that ship.
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I have same memory with my Dad. He was at all those battles on the Arkansas as well. He was older than your Dad. He would have been about 34 years old on D-Day.
Saaalute! From Arkansas.
Dived this ship in 2006. She's upside down and we swam underneath her forward turrets. Sadly sh'es difficult to dive now unless from a live aboard.
The silver set is on permanent display in the Arkansas capital building. It was return to the state because no ships bears the name Arkansas at this time. Yes I love battleships and love your work, thank you
The bell is at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock displayed with a few aircraft.
I read an article years ago , I think it was Jane's, when she fires a broadside , from a distance it appeared as a ship exploding .
Great Video as a resident of Arkansas it made me research her which made me realize that she is majorly overlooked considering how much she did and how historically significant she is. This makes me sad that she was not saved as a museum considering that Texas was being preserved around the same and there was a huge effort made to do so
From what I understand it was considered but the Arkansas river would have needed a lot of dredging.
@@robertcounts5300 Anchor her at West Memphis? Or Helena? Heck, we didn't even get the Little Rock.
As far as funeral pyres go, I don't think there's many flashier than Baker... good ship, thanks for the history.
As she was the only allied battleship I can think of with pre WW1 12 inch guns, I'm surprised they found the ammo for so much shore bombardment. I doubt if it was worthwhile producing shells for only one ship so I assume they were using up old stockpiles. Suspect that even if the war had continued her front line career would have ended once those stockpiles were finished
The ALASKA class had 12" guns, but I don't know if those shells were interchangeable.
@@jefferyindorf699 should be. The Iowas had bigger caliber guns than the Colorados, but they could fire the same shells. I'm not sure if the Colorados could fire the super heavy shells. As far as I know, the Alaskas didn't have those type of shells.
@@michaelpiatkowskijr1045 the Alaska class did in fact have 12 inch guns 9 to be exact in three triple turrets
@@AptMantis2278 I know the Alaskas had 12-inch guns. I was saying the Iowas could fire the Colorado shells, but the Colorado couldn't fire the super heavy shells. The same should be true with the Arkansas and Alaska. I just don't think there was a super heavy shell for the Alaska.
The 12in 50cal gun was a very popular gun with the navy and army. A 12in gun was modified to shoot nuclear shells and the army still had quite a few in service right up to the late 1960s.
The ship was built with a "tail gun" 5"/51 in a sponson, to take care of attacking torpedo boats. Many (including the tail gun) of the 5"/51's were removed in 1925/1926
When you look at the Baker blast at time 16:20, the dark shape on the right side of the trunk or base of the cloud is the Arkansas apparently “on her bow with the stern high in the air”. Post atomic test notes contain comments that the atomic bomb had the power to flip a battleship on its nose, that the USA had the ultimate weapon.
My dad sailed on the Arkansas during operation magic carpet ans was given a photo of her and crew taken in Nov. 1945. Yes I have that photo, it is 30 inches long and 10 inches high.
Thank You so much for your fine presentation!
My Dad served on the Arkansas during WW2! He was following a mule down a corn row on December 6, 1941, and in line to volunteer on December 8th! He had very little to say about his career afloat except that "They also serve who only sit and wait"!
Dad was badly hurt at Normandy and his naval service ended with a very long stay in hospital.
I glow with pride for my Father, Earnest O. Kelley, a member of the "Greatest Generation" which saved the world.
At the 15:15 mark of your show, you had a photo of Arkansas and Wisconsin moored together. Representing the oldest and newest battleships. Technically, Missouri was the last to commission, the hull number of the Wisky is one higher.
Her bell is on display at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum. The USS Razorback and USS Hoga are museum ships there. It’s a cool place.
Fun fact - for just about the same displacement you could have gotten an Alaska class CB.
Excellent bit of history there, keep up the good work my friend.
All the best from the UK.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Great video thank you the Arkansas is always a bit overlooked in the history books apart from her end that is. I play world of war ships and she was my first Battle Ship and i still have her. She might be slow have no Anti Aircraft guns but she is an old bruiser HaHa
This is excellent history.
Wasn't the Arkansas Lifted by the Castte Bravo explosion (setting the unofficial hightest altitude record for a battleship) ?
Apparently so. Granted though it's unofficial for a reason XD
(a bit like HMAS Sydney being the only known warship to shoot angrily for ages at what they thought to be a high altitude Japanese spy 'plane... but turned out to actually be the planet Venus)
@@jimtaylor294 Funny - I’ve heard a very similar story about the battleship USS New York firing on Venus, thinking it was a Japanese balloon. 🧐
I’ve heard it explained as the ship went vertical more than double the length of the ship above the water but as she fell all the water was displaced by the explosion and she fell and crashed into the sea floor then all the water crashed back down on top of her
Nope she was sunk at test Baker the first under underwater nuclear explosion
@@F-Man Wouldn't be surprised if that instance is true too ^_^
Skynea History, your videos are so well researched. I thoroughly enjoy them.
As an Arkansan thank you for making this video
Great vid Skynea!! What does that handle mean ?? Look forward to seeing more of your vids. Keep it up buddy!
Great video on one of my favorite BB in WoWs.
Best channel on youtube
Battleship Texas is the oldest still afloat
Uhm, to be a sarcastic technical jerk, I'll point out that USS Texas _isn't_ currently _"afloat"_ ...... She's in drydock, which makes her the "oldest battleship sitting on large chunks of wood".
@@HighlanderNorth1 I need to go see her. When else will I have the chance to see a Dreadnough era ship in _drydock_ ?
No love for 1899 era Mikasa here?
It's a good thing that you put your qualifications of the statement "Oldest battleship"
I was about to complain that USS Merriman was older (being the first US Dreadnought style BB) and even it was younger than HMS Dreadnought...
Imagine me at a table with a sign saying the dreadnoughts were nothing more than an upgraded USS Monitor, change my mind.
Wasn’t the Arkansas at Torch & fought at Casablanca? Morison’s book has a photo of a French pill box holed thru the opening by 1 of her 12” shells. Plus, Wikipedia has her at Torch, so it must be true!
I like your information but there's something about your voice that is distracting. But I'll take it over the A.I. voices on other documentaries that can't pronounce words properly. Keep up the good work.
my step dad served on board her in wwiihis name was Elmer Waeger or none as nose the Arkansas Photo hangs on a wall in my home rip Al
Does anyone happen to know if she was scheduled to be scrapped as the new battleships came into service before the USA entered the war? I doubt she would have survived to 1945 if the war hadn't started.
She was not. She was modernized several times between 1918 and 1941, and by 7 December 1941 was part of the USN Reserve, performing standard patrol and convoy escort missions as needed. She even accompanied President Roosevelt to the Atlantic Charter with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, during which she provided accommodations for Secretary of State Summer Welles.
Edit: She would likely have survived through 1945 and beyond had it not been for the war. However, the war showed America--and the world--that the age of the Battleship was done, that Aircraft Carriers, Destroyers, and Cruisers were a more economical--if not cheaper--option for the U.S. Navy, as they could combine into a more effective combat force than Battleships. Because of these lessons learned from the War, most of America's older Battleships were used as test subjects in the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll. Had it not been for the war, the U.S. Navy--and many others--would likely have continued clinging to the ideals that made Battleships so popular well into the 1950s, perhaps even beyond. Remember, prior to WWII the average life-span of a warship, especially the more expensive ones, was approximately 25 - 40 years. Today, that's increased, in some cases, to almost 50 years.
A ship that was designed to go toe to toe with enemy battleships, and the most powerful opponent she fought was a few shore batteries, a sad fate for most US battleships during the war.
Not sad at all. The vast majority of battleships would never go toe-to-toe with each other. The fact that she was able to serve admirably during one of the most important battles of the entire war, and provided dutiful convoy escort during the rest of her WW2 service, makes Arkansas a very respectable ship indeed.
@@ericmichaud1273 She never saw any meaningful combat. The vast majority of European battleships saw at least one battleship vs battleship engagement.
^ Debatable, as quite a few French, Italian, German & even some British ones saw none at all.
Heck: the only things Tirpitz fired her primary & secondary batteries at, was a Midget Sub' & an Island respectively.
This isn't a bad thing though, as part of the whole point of a Battleship was "No mate; don't even try it" deterrance-by-existing; combined with the fighting power to enforce that outlook on anyone brave/crazy enough to try.
Like the Revenge class of the UK; she for instance made various convoys unappealing to attack, and drew attention away from more vunerable assets.
(as if a Sub' has a chance, it'll go after the Battleship over a few Freighters & Tankers)
We remember the more action seeing ships more for sure, but it doesn't make their less headline grabbing siblings & relations less noteworthy.
(after all; we know that Valiant or Queen Elizabeth would have aquitted themselves similarly well to Warspite, if as lucky in chance encounters with the enemy)
@@jimtaylor294 Yea, Tirpitz never saw an enemy warship, but Scharnhorst and Gneisenau saw action against HMS Renown and HMS Malaya before Scharnhorst was sunk by Duke of York, while Bismarck sank Hood and damaged Prince of Wales and was sunk by HMS Rodney and KGV, 75% of Germany's battleship fleet saw action against enemy ships.
In WW2, besides Ramelles and Queen Elizibeth, the entire QE and Revenge class saw action against enemy ships. Revenge herself and Royal Oak were at Jutland, as were Warspite, Valiant, Barham, and Malaya. Royal Soveran, Malaya, and Warspite saw action against Guilio Cesare and Conte, Valiant and Resolution sank MN Provence and damaged MN Bretagne, while Resolution and Barham damaged Richelieu, while Malaya chased off the Scharnhorst twins. Hood sank Bretagne and Dunkerque at Mirs El Kiber and was sunk by Bismarck, Rodney and King George V sank the Bismarck, Prince of Wales severely damaged the Bismarck, and Duke or York sank the Scharnhorst. Renown also chased off the Scharnhorst twins. Other than QE, Ramelles, Nelson, Anson, and Howe, all British battleships that partook in WW2 engaged an enemy capital ship.
The entirety of the French battleship fleet saw action against capital ships, besides Laurane. Bretagne was damaged by Valiant and Resolution and sunk by Hood, Provence was sunk by Valiant and Resolution, Dunkerque was sunk by Hood, while Strasbourg escaped fire from all three ships, Richelieu was damaged by Barham and resolution, while Jean Bart was sunk by USS Massachusetts, though most of these sinkings were in shallow water and, besides Bretagne, all sunken ships were raised and repaired.
Only the Italian navy had a significant amount of battleships that never engaged an enemy capital ship, with only Conte and Guilio Cesare seeing action against Warspite, Malaya, and Royal Oak.
On the contrary, only eight US battleships saw action against enemy capital ships. Massachusetts fought and sank jean Bart in port, South Dakota was crippled by IJN Kirishima before her ass was saved by USS Washington who sank Kirishima from point blank range, while Vest Virginia, California, Tennessee, Maryland, and Mississippi all engaged Yamashiro, though Maryland joined the fight too late to make any hits while Mississippi fired a single salvo. Other than that, not a single US battleship saw action against enemy capital ships, besides arguably US Nevada who helped to sink the refloated wreck of the French light battleship Strasbourg.
@@metaknight115 If you define "meaningful combat" as in going toe to toe with an enemy battleship I will grant you that. However, many US and Allied servicemen survived the war through her engaging targets ashore, men who would have been thrown against those enemy fortifications and have to destroy them "the old fashioned way" as they had to do in trench warfare during The Great War.
I was stationed on Okinawa for 18 months during the mid-1970s and was able to study that battle and some of the surviving fortifications (not many) engaged by USN warships. Some were able to resist air attack without real issue but were taken out by 12" and larger AP rounds. Okinawa was a bloody enough meatgrinder for both sides as it was, without Naval GunFire Support (NGFS) it would have been much worse for our guys as the Japanese would not surrender in inch of ground willingly.
What happened to Tennessee
How many battle stars diid she get?
Five, which is an excellent number for a pre-Standard battleship. WV got 5. TN got 10.
The color picture of baker shows a red lead hull on.right side of the mushroom cloud
Joe
Arkansas is a landlocked state. The ship wanted to be landlocked too
Give us time, we're only 515 feet above sea level at Little Rock.
My dad served on her from 1944 to 1946.
So I see she took after her namesake, "bumping into", or nearly so, her brothers, cousins, etc. ;-)
That's Alabama fool. We're the ones who don't wear shoes
could you raise it
The best thing the U.S. Navy did was to lose those idiotic basket masts.
I call them "Fishnet Gam" towers. They remind me of the kitsch ashtrays.
@@hektor6766 Those basket masts remind me of that lamp Darren Mc Gavin had in "A Christmas Story."
It is pronounced na-gaa-toe, not naugahto
Nagato, naugahto, let's call the whole thing off
Azur Lane better add her