HMS Sheffield D80

HMS Sheffield D80 was a British destroyer, which was scuttled on May 10, 1982, after being seriously damaged by an Argentine Navy's aircraft during the Falklands War. She was the lead ship of her class of 10 vessels, which were all Type-42 destroyers equipped with surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles. Although she was a state of the art warship at the time, the four high-tech radars she was fitted with could not detect the French-made Exocet missiles on time to allow her skipper maneuver the vessel around and avoid being hit.

Designed in 1968, HMS Sheffield D80 was laid down in 1970 and built by Vickers Armstrong Shipbuilders at the shipyards on the River Tyne. She would be launched on June 10, 1971, and  commissioned on February 16, 1975, after four years of sea trials. Before the Falklands War broke out, she had been assigned to carry out patrol duties in the Indian Ocean and later in the Persian Gulf, taking part in Exercise Roebuck in 1981. On April 2, 1982, the day Argentina invaded the Falklands Islands, she was assigned to the British Task Force, which was composed of 43 war vessels and 22 auxiliary ships.

On May 4, 1982, when she was cruising along on the rough waters of the South Atlantic, 70 miles off the coast of East Falkland, she was hit by one Exocet missile launched from a French-made Argentinean Super Etendard combat aircraft, which had actually fired two missiles upon the British vessel. Realizing the damage was overwhelming, beyond repairs, and that the fire might reach the ammunition room, the skipper, James Salt, ordered the crew to abandon the ship, which was scuttled on May 10.

Technical Description

HMS Sheffield was a Type-42 destroyer, which had a 141-m (410-ft) long hull, which was made entirely of steel (not aluminum as wrongly written elsewhere). Thus, compared to the Type-82, she was smaller, but compact, with enough room to provide area defense for the Sea Dart surface-to-air missile, twin-arm launcher set up on the fore deck. Power was provided by four Rolls Royce gas turbines, from which two were Olympus TM3B (50,000 SHP), and two Tyne RM1A gas turbines (8,000 SHP).

Specifications

Type: guided-missile destroyer

Displacement: 4,350 tons (full load)

Length: 125 m (410 feet)

Beam: 14 m (46 feet)

Draft: 5.8 m (19 feet)

Propulsion: Two Rolls Royce Olympus TM3MB gas-turbines, with two shafts, and two Rolls Royce Tyne RM1A gas-turbines, the four of them generating 58,000 SHP.

Maximum Speed: 30 knots (35 mph/ 56 km/h)

Range: 4,750 nautical miles (7,600 miles)

Armament: one twin-arm launcher for Sea Dart surface-to-air missiles; one 120-mm naval gun; and two 20-mm AA.

Compliment: 300 sailors and officers

Below, HMS Sheffield D80 sailing in the South Atlantic in late April, 1982.

The British destroyer moored to a wharf at Royal Navy base in 1978.

Below, the Sheffield cruising in the Persian Gulf in 1981.

The Sheffield D80 after she had been struck by the Exocet. The missile tore a huge gaping hole in the hull on the starboard side of ship.

Chukotka Icebreaker

The Chukotka icebreaker was designed, laid down, and built under Project 22220. It is the largest and most advanced icebreaker in the world, and it is nuclear-powered. It was launched on November 7, 2024, during a ceremony that took place at the Baltic Shipyard, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This 174-m long ship will be on sea trials for several months, and the naval engineers estimate she will be commissioned to be part of the Russian Navy in the Spring of 2025. In the last few years, the Kremlin gave the Arctic Sea navigation great importance for the transport of goods and supplies to the different bases and towns in northern Russia.

The Project 22220, Chukotka, features two powerful nuclear reactors, which generate 60 megawatts (MW). They provide pressurized steam to the turbines and power to the electrical motors. The icebreaker is propelled by two shafts. The hull at the bow section of the ship is so strong that she can break through up to 3-m thick of ice without getting stuck. The lead ship the Project 22220 class is Arktika, which was the first one launched in 2013. She will sail between the port of Provideniya in the Far East, near Alaska, to Murmansk, near the Norwegian border, stopping at different ports.

Specifications

Type: nuclear-powered icebreaker

Country: Russia

Displacement: 33,500 tons

Length: 174 m

Beam: 34 m

Draft: 10.5 m

Propulsion System: two RITM-200 nuclear reactors, generating 60 MW, with two shafts.

Maximum Speed: 35 knots in open sea without ice.

Compliment: 54 sailors and officers.

Below, the official ceremony of the launching of the Chukotka

The mage shows the technical characteristics of this powerful icebreaker.

HMS Hermes (95) Royal Navy Carrier

HMS Hermes (95) was a Royal Navy's aircraft carrier, which was in service between 1924 and 1942. She was the first aircraft carrier with a flush deck originally designed as such. However, the number of combat airplanes she could carry was limited to twenty. The first type of aircraft she carried on her first assignment was the Fairey Flycatcher, which was a carrier-based fighter biplane. In those days, the carrier was not considered to be an important war vessel. It was the battleship, which given priority in military naval construction. However, WW2 would prove otherwise.

The design and construction of the HMS Hermes (95) had been ordered in 1917. She was laid down in early 1918 and built by Armstrong Whitworth on the shipyards on the bank of the River Tyne. She was launched on September 11, 1919. After the sea trials, she was commissioned on February 18, 1924. Her first assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet based at Malta. In 1925, she would be sent to Hong Kong. Later, she would return to the Mediterranean Sea.

During the 1930s, HMS Hermes spent most of her time in the Far East. With Hong Kong being her base of operations, she would often sail to visit other ports, such as Shanghai, Manila, and Singapore. When World War II broke out, she had already returned to Home port for refit. In August, 1939, she had been equipped with twelve Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber. In September, after Great Britain had declared war on Germany, she carried out anti-submarine patrol missions. Hermes was operating in the Indian Ocean when, on April 9, 1942, she was attacked by approximately 50 Japanese dive-bombers. Hit hard, she would sink after several hours. At the time of the attack, she did not have any combat aircraft aboard to defend herself with.

Technical Description

HMS Hermes (95) had a 182-m long flight deck and a large island on the forward portion and starboard side of ship. The island included both the bridge and funnel. It had a sturdy tripod mast, with a large fighting top. Although the island was unusually long, it was very narrow. She was powered by two Parsons geared steam turbines, with two shafts and supplied by six boilers; this propulsion system generated 40,000 shaft horsepower (SHP).

To maximize the size of her flight deck, the hull was built with considerable flare. Thus, she proved to be an excellent sea boat. Despite her size, HMS Hermes was able to carry only 20 aircraft. Like other carriers of the time, she was fitted with longitudinal wires first; however these were replaced by transverse arrester wires in the early 1930s.

Specifications

Type: aircraft carrier 

Displacement: 13,000 tons (full loaded); 10, 850 tons (standard)

Length: 182.3 m (598 feet)

Beam:  21.4 m (70.3 feet)

Draft: 5.7 m (18.5 feet)

Propulsion: two Parsons geared steam turbines, with two shafts, and six boilers.

Maximum Speed: 25 knots

Range: 5,600 nautical miles (10,400 km)

Aircraft: 20

Armament: ten 152-mm and four 102-mm AA guns.

Crew: 664 sailors and officers.

Below, historical pictures of HMS Hermes (95) in the 1930s and during WW2 when she was hit and sunk.

HMS Courageous (50)

HMS Courageous (50) was an aircraft carrier in service with the Royal Navy between 1928 to 1939. She had begun her career as a light battlecruiser in 1916, taking part in naval engagements of the First World War. However, in 1924,  the British government decided to convert it into an aircraft carrier, along with two other battlecruisers that had also fought in this armed conflict; HMS Glorious and Furious. The main reason for the conversion of these surface warships was the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which had turned them into WW1 leftover, floating junk, as this treaty limited the fleet tonnage of the signatory countries.

During the First World War, three light battlecruisers had been built; HMS Courageous, HMS Furious, and HMS Glorious, each with four 380-mm (15-in) guns, serving with the British Grand Fleet. After the war, all three warships were put in reserve until they were converted into aircraft carriers, whose transformation would begin in 1924. In early May, 1928, Courageous was commissioned after several months of sea trials. Not only were they fitted with a flight deck and storage hangars for their aircraft, but their propulsion system was also upgraded, being fitted with four Parsons geared steam turbines, with four shafts.

As soon as she was commissioned, HMS Courageous (50) was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, which was based at Malta, where she would spend two years. From 1930 to 1938, she served with the Atlantic and Home Fleet. In 1934, she was equipped with hydraulic catapults on the upper flight deck, which was 240-m (787 ft) long. What made her look different from other carriers was her small island, which was located on the starboard side and on the forward portion of ship. Also, the flight deck did not cover the whole length of the former battlecruiser hull, whose aft section stuck out below it.

Although she rendered a good service in the inter-war years, HMS Courageous was sunk early in the war. On September 17, 1939, she was struck by two torpedoes launched by the German submarine U-29, while she was conducting anti-submarine operations in the Atlantic, off the coast of Ireland, along with two British destroyers. Several hours later, she sank into the bottom of the Atlantic. Due to the Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bombers she carried onboard, it was common for her to carry out anti-submarine missions. She was the first British warship to be sunk in World War II.

Specifications

Type: fleet aircraft carrier

Displacement: 27,560 tons (full load)

Length: 240 m (787 ft)

Beam: 27.6 m (90 ft)

Draft: 8.5 m (28 ft)

Power Plant: 4 Parsons geared steam turbines, with four shafts, supplied by 18 Yarrow tube boilers, producing 90,000 SHP.

Maximum Speed: 30 knots

Range: 6,500 nautical miles.

Aircraft: 48

Crew: 1,216 men

Below, aerial view of the HMS Courageous (50) before the war, in 1937.

HMS Ark Royal (91)

HMS Ark Royal (91) was a British aircraft carrier which was used by the Royal Navy during the first two years of World War II. Being the only ship of her class, she had been launched in 1937 and commissioned on December 16, 1938. She was the Royal Navy's first carrier in fifteen years, transporting on her flight deck and storage areas 26 Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bombers and 15 Blackburn Skua bombers as her anti-submarine and anti-ship flying artillery. Despite her impressive might, she would be sunk by a German submarine in late 1941.

During her short life, HMS Ark Royal gave excellent service to the Royal Navy, taking part in the Allied campaign against the German forces that had invaded Norway in April 1940. During this year, she provided carrier protection to British surface warships operating off the Norwegian coasts. In this theater of operations, she and HMS Glorious evacuated British and French troops from Narvik, Norway, to the United Kingdom after they had failed to liberate this Scandinavian country.

After the German invasion of France in May/June 1940, the Ark Royal (91) was assigned to the Mediterranean Theater of Operation as part of the British fleet. On November 11, 1941, she and HMS Argus launched a total of 34 Hurricane aircraft to reinforce the British garrison of Malta, which was being besieged by the Germans and Italians. On her way back to home port , and before reaching the Gibraltar Strait, she was hit by a single torpedo fired from the German U-Boat U-81 in the afternoon of November 13. The explosion tore a huge hole low down in her hull on the starboard side. In the early hours of November 14, a great amount of water had poured into the her bowels as she listed heavily to one side. She would finally sink at 06:40 hours.

Technical Characteristics

HMS Ark Royal (91) had a 240-m (800-ft) long flight deck, which was 17 m (56 ft) above the water line. She had a squared off bow and a very long stern overhang. She was fitted with two hydraulic, steam-powered catapults and three rectangular lifts, which had two platforms, with one platform operating between the lower and upper hangar and the other between the upper hangar and the flight deck. She also had a cross-deck arrester gear on the rear portion of flight deck.

Specifications

Type: aircraft carrier

Displacement: 27,700 tons (full load)

Length: 240 m (800 ft)

Beam: 28.9 m (95 ft)

Draft: 8.5 m (28 ft)

Power Plant: 3 Parsons geared steam turbines, with three shafts, fed by 6 boilers, generating 102,000-SHP.

Maximum Speed: 31 knots

Range: 7,600 nautical miles (14,100 km), sailing at 20 knots.

Aircraft: 60

Compliment: 1,580 officers and sailors

Below, the flight deck of HMS Ark Royal crowded with Fairley Swordfish aircraft in 1939.

The characteristic square bow of this British carrier.

The Ark Royal sailing on the North Sea in 1938, just before being commissioned.

USS Tullibee (SSN-597)

The USS Tullibee (SSN-597) was a nuclear attack submarine, which was in service with the US Navy from 1960 to 1988. Characterized by stealth and her small size, she was called the 'Hunter Killer', whose main mission in the Cold War was to stalk Soviet submarines cruising the world oceans. The US Navy built only one boat of this design. Although it could be lethal to enemy submarines, operationally it had a major shortcoming; it was slow (only 16 knots) for Ocean transits.

The project of the Tullibee had begun in 1957, when the need for a small, low-cost submarine with unlimited range arose. The boat was laid down in 1958 and launched on April 27, 1960. After a short period of sea trials, she was commissioned on November 9, 1960. Her crew numbered six officers and fifty enlisted men. Her first skipper was Commander Richard E. Jortberg. The building of additional boat of this type would not be undertaken as the US Navy would come to the conclusion that it was more sensible to produce more Thresher class submarines, because these were more versatile and faster.

Technical Characteristics

The USS Tullibee (SSN-597) was a small and compact submarine. She was only 83 m (273 ft) in length and her displacement was 2,255 tons. Her hull was built with HTS (High Tensile Steel) and not with the higher quality steel HY-80 used in other subs; this technical detail limited her test depth to 215 m (700 feet). She was powered by one S2C pressurized water reactor, which supplied a turbo-electric drive with a single propeller shaft. This reactor was way smaller than the S5W employed in the Thresher class subs.

The Tullibee was equipped with one AN/BQQ-1 sonar system as well as four angled torpedo tubes. The BQQ-1 was the US Navy's first integrated sonar system, which was consisted of the AN/BQR-7 low-frequency, passive array sonar and the AN/BQS-6 spherical active sonar. The BQR-7 was composed in turn of a triple row of hydrophones. This equipment was mounted in the hull of submarine.

Specifications

Type: nuclear attack submarine.

Displacement: 2,255 tons (surfaced); 2,600 tons (submerged).

Length: 83.16 m (273 ft)

Beam: 7.19 m (23 ft, 7 in)

Draft: 6.4 m (21 ft)

Power Plant: one S2C nuclear reactor; one electric motor, driving one propeller shaft.

Maximum Speed: 16 knots (submerged); 13 knots (surfaced).

Range: unlimited (needed to be resupplied with food every other 70 days).

Crew: 56 sailors and officers.

Armament: four 533-mm torpedo tubes.

Below, the SSN-597 Tullibee cruising in the Pacific Ocean in early October 1960 during sea trials. Notice the two dorsal fins, one forward and the other aft, which were part of her PUFFS fire control system.

USS Thresher (SSN-593)

The USS Thresher (SSN-593) was an American fast attack submarine, which was powered by one S5W nuclear reactor. She sank by implosion during deep-diving tests on April 10, 1963, off the coast of Massachusetts, killing 129 officers and sailors. Extremely quiet, she had been designed to hunt Soviet submarines during the Cold War.

The USS Thresher had been launched on July 9, 1960, and commissioned on August 3, 1961. Built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, she was the lead submarine of her class of 14 boats. The other subs were Permit (SSN-594), Plunger (SSN-595), Barb (SSN-596), Pollack (SSN-603), Haddo (SSN-604), Guardfish (SSN-612), Flasher (SSN-613), Greenling (SSN-614), Gato (SSN-615), Haddock (SSN-621).

Below, the Thresher on sea trials in July 1961. It had a better hardened hull against explosive shock and introduced new sensors.

Technical Description

The design of USS Thresher (SSN-593) featured major advantages in five vital areas: depth, quieting, sonar, shock hardening, and weapons. She had a greater operating depth than her predecessors of the Skipjack class. Her pressure hull was made of HY-80 steel. Although it was the same type of steel used to produce the Skipjack submarines, to build the Thresher, the American engineers used improved welding techniques and piping, giving her a test depth of 400 m (700 feet).

To reduce the coolant piping and turbine noises, the sub machinery was isolated from the hull using a technique called "rafting", which the Royal Navy had developed for the Ton-class minesweeper. This arrangement decreased the sound transmission through the hull into the sea water. Thus, the twin steam turbines and related gearing were set up on a sound-isolating raft, not directly attached to the hull.

The most advanced electronic feature of the USS Thresher was her AN/BQQ-2 sonar system, which replaced the old BQR-2 and BQR-4 passive sonars. The BQQ-2 revolved around a 15-foot diameter sphere which was fitted with 1,241 hydrophones. Thus, it was capable of greater passive detection than older types of sonars as it could distinguish target noise from own ship and background sea noises. It also had an active acoustic pinging component.

Specifications

Type: attack nuclear submarine

Displacement: 4,369 tons (submerged), 3,810 tons (surfaced)

Length: 84.86 m (278 feet, 5 inches)

Beam: 9.63 m (31 feet, 7 inches)

Draft: 7.67 m (25 feet, 2 inches)

Propulsion: one pressurized water reactor S5W, which produced 11 MGW, with two steam turbines and one shaft, which generated 15,000 SHP.

Maximum Speed: 28 knots (submerged), 15 knots (surfaced).

Range: unlimited propulsion; food supplies for up to 90 days.

Compliment: 113 sailors and officers.

Armament: four 533-mm torpedo tubes, eighteen Mk-37 torpedoes.

Below, the AN/BQQ-2 sonar, the most advanced sonar of the time.

Front view of the SSN-593 on September 20, 1961.