Well, this is a fine kettle of fish.  I received an e-mail this afternoon from the Official First Friend of The Pond, Vaucaunson's Duck.  Attached was a challenge: "Name This Mystery Ship."  After working on it for an hour or so, I gave up.  And now it's your turn... and I don't know the answer!

My guess is that it's a destroyer, destroyer escort, or frigate.  The flag looks Dutch, but my searching didn't turn up a match of any sort.  I guess it could be a cruiser, but it seems like the armament is awfully light for that.

Name the ship and if Vauc can verify that your guess is correct, you win a post on a topic of your choice!  As usual, I won't write about politics, religion or pr0n... anything else is free game.  Have at it, y'all!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:29 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 Yep, she's Dutch.  And yes, she could be a cruiser, and her armament is awfully light for that, because she's a light cruiser.  The Royal Dutch Navy light crusier Tromp.  She was repeatedly claimed sunk by the IJN, apparently. That puts her in good company.
 
http://www.navypedia.org/ships/netherlands/nl_cr_tromp.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNLMS_Tromp_(1937)
http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Tromp.htm
http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Photo_tromp.htm

Posted by: flatdarkmars at January 30, 2012 12:26 AM (I55Es)

2 flatdarkmars is right.

For some time, I've been looking for a ship photo with the idea of stumping Wonderduck.  I figured the photo had to be from an off-line source - so I was pleased to find this photo, framed in an antiques store.  I initially thought it wasn't online anywhere, but was wrong about that.

Just six hours from posting to solving - the power of the hive mind.

"The ghost ship."  Now why wasn't there a counter for it in Victory in the Pacific, like the De Ruyter?.

Posted by: V. Duck at January 30, 2012 10:39 AM (XVJDy)

3

Apparently I was the only person who didn't know that this was the Tromp.  I have an e-mail from Siergen who named it correctly, but admitted to imagesearching for it.  I received a textmessage from Brickmuppet two minutes before FDM posted his comment, naming the Tromp.

However, since FDM was the first to leave his guess in the comments, he gets the "prize."  Name your post... or should I assume you want another "Name This Mystery Ship"?

Posted by: Wonderduck at January 30, 2012 01:12 PM (OS+Cr)

4

If you think the Tromp was lightly armed for a cruiser, you might want to take a look at HMS Delhi following her 1941 refit in the US, or the Capitani Romani class as built.  Heck, Tromp's sister might even qualify.

C.T.

Posted by: cxt217 at January 30, 2012 07:03 PM (JMzrv)

5 CXT, I still owe you a post... you need to get me a topic, though.

Posted by: Wonderduck at January 30, 2012 07:31 PM (f/6aJ)

6 Sorry about that.  The last couple months had been hectic, not to mention physically demanding that I had completely forgotten about it. 

Posted by: cxt217 at January 30, 2012 08:38 PM (JMzrv)

7 Hehe I spent at least two minutes finding links!  Anyway I can't think of anything in particular, so another Mystery Ship it is!

Posted by: flatdarkmars at January 31, 2012 12:04 AM (I55Es)

8 what happen to old ship. please, anybody explain to me what happen to any old ship. it is not like an airplane where it's would be easy to sell to other country when it get old . 

Posted by: justjoe at April 18, 2012 06:57 AM (N80Xh)

9

A lot of them do get sold. An American WWII light cruiser was sold to Argentina, who renamed it "General Belgrano". It was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands war.

But if they can't be sold, usually they're torn apart so the steel can be recycled. Thousands of tons of scrap steel is worth quite a lot.

Sometimes they are ditched in a ship's graveyard, left at anchor to rust away.

Some get taken out to sea and deliberately sunk with scuttling charges. Sometimes this is done to create attractions for scuba divers, in service of the tourist industry. Sometimes they do it in hopes of starting coral reefs.

A few are turned into floating museums.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 18, 2012 09:06 AM (+rSRq)

10

Sadly, being recycled for razor blades will be the fate of USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65).  As much anyone would like to preserver her as a museum ship, the cost and effort involved in removing 8(!) nuclear reactors will leave the ENTERPRISE suitable for nothing else when she decommissions after her current deployment.

I do like the idea of trying to save her island, since that is the most iconic and identifiable part of her.  It is a lot easier than saving the entire ship.

Posted by: cxt217 at April 18, 2012 10:34 AM (Y/p7u)

11 Tearing apart any CVN will be challenging. But lifting the reactors out will be a lot easier if all the decking above the reactor is removed first.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 18, 2012 01:19 PM (+rSRq)

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The USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) was the twenty-fifth of the fifty Casablanca-class escort carrier built.  Constructed in just over two months by the Kaiser Company shipyard in Vancouver, WA, she weighed in at just over 10000 tons at full load.  At full steam, she could move her crew of 860 men and the embarked "composite wing" of 28 planes at 19kts.  Like most other escort carriers, she wasn't designed to fight with the fleet.  Instead, CVEs were to be used first as stopgaps, then when bigger carriers became available, to free up the more capable CVs and CVLs to hunt for bigger targets.  In effect, the CVE became a air support unit, providing air cover for amphibious landings.  It was in this role that she was off Leyte as part of Taffy 2 when Admiral Kurita's fleet famously attacked Taffy 3.  Ommaney Bay helped sink one of the Japanese cruisers and aided in the defeat of the larger Japanese force.  And it was in the air support role that the Ommaney Bay was going to serve as she transited the Sulu Sea. 

Then the kamikazes came.

more...

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