Hypothetical: The Navy drafted you in WWII.

[Rain Man]

I found a database of major American WWII ships the other day and pulled it into Excel. Then I found information on crew sizes. Now I have a simple simulator.

So if you were drafted into the Navy in World War II and were assigned to a large ship (e.g., submarine, destroyer, cruiser, or larger), I can now randomly assign you to a ship. Report in this thread to get your assignment.

I'll tell you your ship, and then it's up to you to look it up and see where it went and what happened to it. If the ship took casualties, let me know how many were killed and wounded and I'll do a random draw to see if you would have survived.


As for me, I would have been one of 700 sailors aboard:

Juneau** Atlanta-class Light Cruiser**

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Juneau_(CL-52)

That's not really a good thing. I hung out with a nice set of five brothers from Iowa, the Sullivans, but we saw some bad things.

We launched early in 1942 and did some early runs in the Atlantic and Caribbean before heading to the Pacific Theater. Right out of the gate in the Pacific we had to rescue sailors from an aircraft carrier that sank from a sub attack, and then we headed to Guadalcanal.

Our task force fought off four attacks from the Japanese, one of which took down another aircraft carrier.

Then another big Japanese group attacked, and we took a torpedo. We headed off toward Vanuatu for repairs, running with two other damaged ships, when we were attacked again by a Japanese sub. We took another torpedo which blew the ship to smithereens and we sank in 20 seconds.

The other two ships assumed there were no survivors and took off running. In actuality, 100 of the crew survived the sinking, but only about 10 survived the next eight days until rescue aircraft found them.

Based on a random dice roll, I went down with the ship, so my naval career ended late in 1942. I hope America won.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Oh I see. You were just saying you beat me to the punch, in your typical bastardy fashion.

[MagicHef]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Petrof Bay** Casablanca-class Escort Carrier**


I don't know. That sounds more like a Soviet lend-lease ship. I want to know more about it.

Wow, am I ever lucky.

Petrof Bay spent a few months as a ferry, bringing planes and supplies out to strategic positions in the Pacific. After that, it participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

In those battles, 2 of its planes were shot down, but both pilots were rescued.

The Petrof Bay was nearly hit by a bomb, but the bomb didn't explode. It later had 2 torpedoes shot at it in a surprise attack by a submarine, made an emergency 90 degree turn, resulting in one torpedo missing by 20 yards to port, and the other passing under the flight deck overhang to starboard. Still later, it was targeted by 4 kamikazes, shot one down, made another turn away, was missed by 20 feet by the third, and narrowly shot the last one down right before impact.

Despite receiving 5 Battle Stars and successfully attacking numerous enemy ships, planes, and land positions, I can't find any evidence of a single death from anyone on Petrof Bay.

After the Japanese surrender, it served as a ferry to bring soldiers back to the US mainland. It was decommissioned in June 1958 and scrapped in July 1959.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by Donger

Maybe we should assign you to HMS Prince of Wales?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Old Dog

RE USS Cabot:

Is this US Navy time only or does it cover the time she was a Spanish ship as well? Or was I one of the 62 killed in Japan prior to that?

Ah. A kamikaze ship. Let's see how you fared.

(Rolling dice.) You survived. You must have been on the other end of the ship.

And we won't make you serve with the Spaniards.

Another thing I've learned is how often ships change names. A bunch of these were planned and laid under one name, and then it changed. A couple of the carriers were even under construction as different types of ships and the design was changed to a carrier DURING CONSTRUCTION. That seems almost impossible. And then of course the ships that are sold change names. I thought it was unlucky to change a ship's name.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Old Dog

If you look even further: (from Wiki)
As a result, she was assigned to be a target ship for the first Bikini atomic experiments (Operation Crossroads) of July 1946.[1] The experiment consisted of detonating two atomic bombs to test their effectiveness against ships.[86] Nevada was designated "ground zero"[87] for the first test, codenamed 'Able', which used an air-dropped weapon; as such, she was painted an "ugly"[88] reddish-orange to help the bombardier's aim. However, even with the high visibility color scheme, the bomb fell about 1,700 yd (1,600 m) off-target, exploding above the attack transport Gilliam instead.[88]
Nevada also survived the second test—'Baker', a detonation some 90 ft (27 m) below the surface of the water — but she was damaged and extremely radioactive.[55] Nevada was then towed to Pearl Harbor and decommissioned on 29 August 1946.[1]

After she was thoroughly examined at Pearl Harbor, her final sortie came on 31 July 1948, when Iowa and two other vessels[n] used Nevada as a gunnery target for practice.[4][70] The three ships did not sink Nevada, so she was given a coup de grâce with an aerial torpedo hit amidships

I AM the Nevada!

Seriously, I can identify with that ship.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

It looks like it was the same storm that killed kman34 a few posts ago.

Man, that was a heckuva storm. Check out this article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Cobra_(1944). It looks like it killed over 700 sailors, sank three destroyers, caused major damage to nine other ships, and started a fire on the Monterey.

It also got Bull Halsey in some hot water.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Reporting for duty, Admiral Rainman

Helm** Bagley-class Destroyer**


We're getting all sorts of new types of ships all of a sudden.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Kaepernick

I'm not entirely sure how many Nazis the US Navy killed. My recollection is that the British Navy had things pretty well tied up in the Atlantic and Mediterranean while almost all US ships operated in the Pacific Theater of war.

Did a US naval vessel ever tangle with the Germans or Italians?

Umm...yes.

But mainly it was U-Boat related. Not alot of surface action for the Germans after the Bismarck was sunk. The Bismarck's sister ship was kept in home waters for the duration of the war.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

There are few things more awesome than a fleet of warships:

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I think one of the worst things about dying in a war, aside from the dying part, would be not knowing how it ends. If you're a Juneau crew member in 1942 or a Pearl Harbor guy, you died without knowing the great ending to the story, and that would be very unappealing.

Sharks. Sharks and being surrounded by water that you can't drink but dying of thirst in the heat of the south pacific. THAT is unappealing. I'll definitely trade sharks for the unknown ending.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Sharks. Sharks and being surrounded by water that you can't drink but dying of thirst in the heat of the south pacific. THAT is unappealing. I'll definitely trade sharks for the unknown ending.

This man agrees.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Graystoke

CA-69 was launched August 26, 1942 by the Bethlehem Steel Company’s Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. The ship was christened by Mrs. Maurice J Tobin, the wife of the Mayor of Boston.

So two tidbits here -- I grew up in Quincy, and the Fore River Shipyard was still active when I was a kid, but subsequently went bust and closed. It had the second largest crane in the world, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere, until sold long after it closed to some Brazilian steel company or somesuch. It was nicknamed Goliath.



Anyone who has been on the Tobin Bridge here in Boston is familiar with that name...

In addition to countless other ships, naval and civilian, the shipyard built the first purpose-built US Aircraft Carrier - USS LExington (sunk at the Battle of Coral Sea), and her successor, USS Lexington (CV-16).

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Another thing I've learned is how often ships change names. A bunch of these were planned and laid under one name, and then it changed. A couple of the carriers were even under construction as different types of ships and the design was changed to a carrier DURING CONSTRUCTION. That seems almost impossible. And then of course the ships that are sold change names. I thought it was unlucky to change a ship's name.

Early carriers were converted battlecruisers. Stick a flattop on a big ship keel, more or less. Purpose-built carriers came a bi tlater.

The ship I'm on, Anzio, changed names a couple times, but you, in your evil bastard fashion, have cost me too much of my afternoon already. I gotta get some work done. The Anzio write up comes later. For now at least the Casablanca class has been reasonably well covered.

[Graystoke]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

We'll look the other way. Because we need you on the ...

Boston** Baltimore-class Heavy Cruiser**


This is clearly an American League East ship that is a designated hitter.

A Small update about casualties on the USS Boston.

However, the Boston was not tragedy-free. The men witnessed several burials-at-sea, including a mechanic who was electrocuted during a repair, and an aviator who drowned when one of the seaplanes flipped in a wave while being ratcheted back to the ship.

I don't think this warrants a roll of the dice

[Graystoke]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

So two tidbits here -- I grew up in Quincy, and the Fore River Shipyard was still active when I was a kid, but subsequently went bust and closed. It had the second largest crane in the world, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere, until sold long after it closed to some Brazilian steel company or somesuch. It was nicknamed Goliath.


Anyone who has been on the Tobin Bridge here in Boston is familiar with that name...

That's pretty cool