USS Nevada (BB-36)

USS Nevada (BB-36) was a battleship in service with the US Navy during WW1 and WW2. She was moored at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese torpedo-bombers attacked the American naval base. Although she was was damaged, she did not sink, surviving this air raid as she would be used both in the Atlantic and the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II, going on to serve as a convoy escort. However, her sister ship, the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was badly struck and sank.

The BB-36 was a Nevada class battleship and she was the lead vessel of her class of two; the other was the USS Oklahoma. Launched on July 14, 1914, she was the first American warship to be powered by geared turbines (steam turbines connected to a set of reduction gears). Thus, when she was commissioned on March 11, 1916, she was more advanced than the Dreadnought type battleship. She introduced the 'all-or-nothing' armor protection, which was based on the proposition that armor-piercing shell should be either completely stopped, or not at all. Since she had been built right before WW1, she was fitted with ten 14-inch (356-mm) naval guns, instead of the 16-inch (406-mm)-caliber guns on the deck of the Colorado class battleships.

Between 1926 and 1927, USS Nevada (BB-36) underwent a major refit, during which a new taller superstructure was added as all the casemate guns were removed and replaced with a new battery of sixteen 5-inch (127-mm) guns mounted in eight twin turrets. One of the most prominent feature was a tall funnel cap, which was raked aft to keep fumes away from the new higher bridge. After she was repaired from the damage sustained at Pearl Harbor, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, operating as an escort. In November 1942, however, USS Nevada covered the Allied landings on the North African shores near Casablanca known as Operation Torch. At the end of 1944, she would be re-deployed to the Pacific in time to take part in the Iwo Jima and Okinawa landing operations. After the war, in 1946, she was a target ship for an A-bomb test.

Specifications

Type: battleship

Displacement: 29,000 tons/or 34,000 tons full load.

Length: 175.3 m (575 feet).

Beam: 29 m (95.25 feet)

Draft: 9.7 m (32 feet)

Power Plant: geared Curtis turbines, with two shaft; these were fed from twelve boilers, generating 26,500 SHP.

Maximum Speed: 20.5 knots.

Range: 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 km) sailing at 18 knots.

Armor: 18-13-inch (203-343mm)-thick on main belt; 13.5-inch (343mm) on bulkheads.

Armament: ten 14-inch (356mm) naval guns; sixteen 5-inch (127mm) guns; eight 127mm AA; two 21-inch (533mm) torpedo tubes.

Crew: 864 sailors and officers.

Below, the USS Nevada (BB-36) on dry dock at Pearl Harbor in 1935.

The battleship sailing on the Atlantic in February 1942.

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.