My grandfather served on this ship in ww2. The info about hitting another ship is not accurate. They had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid another ship. A frigate as i was told came across their beam. They turned and hit a whale which caused one of the screws to shake and vibrant so they had to return to port for repairs. Machinist Mate 1st class Robert Bisbee from Chicago was his name. And he was one badass man.
During WW2 - the Wichita had 20 mm A/A guns for the 50 caliber were removed. My dad was on the heavy cruiser USS Louisville CA 28 from 1943-46. A great generation!
My dad was a Chief Bosun's Mate on the Wichita in WWII. The Wicked Witch saw lots of action. There's not a lot of info on her out there. Thanks for posting this.
I served on the next Wichita (AOR1) from 1990 to her decommission in early 1993 It was also a ship that had a class named after her and carried the moniker "Wicked Witch of the West"
Brian Jones During the late 70s I served on an LST on the east coast and we didi unreps from the AOR Milwaukee, which they called "Old Milwaukee" the logo from Old Milwaukee Beer was painred on their CH-46 helos.
Per Wikipedia Encyclopedia: Wichita was armed with a main battery of nine 8-inch /55 Mark 12 guns mounted in three 3-gun turrets. The guns fired a 335-pound (152 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,500 feet per second (760 m/s). Maximum elevation of the guns was 41 degrees. Not the 260 Lb. projectile that you mentioned. The turrets were prototypes for the later Baltimore class cruisers.
Cool. If you're looking for more information on her design I recommend Norman Friedman's "US cruisers; an illustrated design history" its pretty heavy reading but well worth it.
Yes, thanks and for a great vid, but it would be nice if you could access some more photos from that source to post during your vid , as a freeze-frame of one pic for 12 mins, is ...well ya know .
**You should do a video about which country designed and built the best classes of cruisers prior to roughly 1950. It would be interesting to see how the various combatants' cruiser classes compared with each other, based on several different criteria, such as seaworthiness, overall firepower capabilities, ruggedness & survivability, etc.** Obviously, some pre-war ships required a LOT more anti-aircraft weapons and targeting equipment added on, which made them top heavy, and therefore had their seaworthiness compromised to some degree. But it would be interesting to see a summary of how those and other factors helped or hampered the ships, and which ones were best able to handle it all.
I enjoyed your hard work
Great vid Navyreviewer, very interesting ship.
My grandfather served on this ship in ww2. The info about hitting another ship is not accurate. They had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid another ship. A frigate as i was told came across their beam. They turned and hit a whale which caused one of the screws to shake and vibrant so they had to return to port for repairs. Machinist Mate 1st class Robert Bisbee from Chicago was his name. And he was one badass man.
My father served on the Wichita during WWII...U.S. Marine who manned the front 50cal.....Yeah, she saw some action!
During WW2 - the Wichita had 20 mm A/A guns for the 50 caliber were removed. My dad was on the heavy cruiser USS Louisville CA 28 from 1943-46. A great generation!
My dad was a Chief Bosun's Mate on the Wichita in WWII. The Wicked Witch saw lots of action. There's not a lot of info on her out there. Thanks for posting this.
Hey My dad was a Bosuns Mate on the Wicked Witch as well. He was in the navy for 22 years and the Wichita was the only ship he talked about.
I served on the next Wichita (AOR1) from 1990 to her decommission in early 1993
It was also a ship that had a class named after her and carried the moniker "Wicked Witch of the West"
that is the older (WW2 era) Wichita. Here we are at sea: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/USS_Wichita_%28AOR-1%29.jpg
My great grandpa served on this ship (gun captain). God Bless the American people and rest in peace poppy2G your loved and missed
Brian Jones During the late 70s I served on an LST on the east coast and we didi unreps from the AOR Milwaukee, which they called "Old Milwaukee" the logo from Old Milwaukee Beer was painred on their CH-46 helos.
Per Wikipedia Encyclopedia: Wichita was armed with a main battery of nine 8-inch /55 Mark 12 guns mounted in three 3-gun turrets. The guns fired a 335-pound (152 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,500 feet per second (760 m/s). Maximum elevation of the guns was 41 degrees. Not the 260 Lb. projectile that you mentioned. The turrets were prototypes for the later Baltimore class cruisers.
Cool. If you're looking for more information on her design I recommend Norman Friedman's "US cruisers; an illustrated design history" its pretty heavy reading but well worth it.
Yes, thanks and for a great vid, but it would be nice if you could access some more photos from that source to post during your vid , as a freeze-frame of one pic for 12 mins, is ...well ya know .
I always loved USS Wichita...we share a birthday!
**You should do a video about which country designed and built the best classes of cruisers prior to roughly 1950. It would be interesting to see how the various combatants' cruiser classes compared with each other, based on several different criteria, such as seaworthiness, overall firepower capabilities, ruggedness & survivability, etc.**
Obviously, some pre-war ships required a LOT more anti-aircraft weapons and targeting equipment added on, which made them top heavy, and therefore had their seaworthiness compromised to some degree. But it would be interesting to see a summary of how those and other factors helped or hampered the ships, and which ones were best able to handle it all.
Why is a single ship called a ‘class’, esp. if no further ships were planned?
The class is named after the first ship of that class even if it's the only one.
"Signatories", not "Signatures". Otherwise, good video!