Drachinifel's Rum Ration - Battle of the Philippine Sea - Lee Sails West

[scooter]

Room 40 - Signals Decryption and Intelligence Analysis in Bowler Hats

[Old Wombat]

That was cool!

[kerick]

Very interesting, thanks!

[scooter]

For our Antipodeans:
HMAS Sydney - Legendary fights with Angry Australians

[Old Wombat]

That was a good one! Thanks, scoot!

[scooter]

The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?

[scooter]

French Pre-dreadnoughts - When Hotels Go To War

The phrase "Burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp" comes to mind.

[NARSES2]

Some of these pre-Dreadnaughts are absolutely glorious 

Trumpeter do a fair few kits of them as well 

[scooter]

The Battle of Flamborough Head - Nice Ship, I'll Take It

Part of:

English Civil War II: Oceanic Boogaloo

[scooter]

USS Franklin (CV-13) - What to do when everything is on fire

[scooter]

For Canadian friends; a Five Minute Guide (more or less) on HMCS Magnificent

[Weaver]

USS Franklin (CV-13) - What to do when everything is on fire

Jesus Christ....

[rickshaw]

USS Franklin (CV-13) - What to do when everything is on fire

Jesus Christ....

Well, I hate to say it but that is what happens when you have wooden decks, instead of armoured ones, mixed with highly flammable AVGAS and HE.  On a British carrier the call would be for them to "man brooms" and they'd sweep any wreckage over the side.

[Old Wombat]

USS Franklin (CV-13) - What to do when everything is on fire

Jesus Christ....

Well, I hate to say it but that is what happens when you have wooden decks, instead of armoured ones, mixed with highly flammable AVGAS and HE.  On a British carrier the call would be for them to "man brooms" and they'd sweep any wreckage over the side.

Not quite as simple as that, I'm afraid, Brian. True the HE bomb may have done "superficial" damage on the flight deck but the AP bomb may well have penetrated the armoured flight deck of a British carrier & exploded in the hangar deck. On a British carrier of the time this was a major disaster as the enclosed hangar deck would have made the resulting damage even more devastating than it was aboard the Franklin, possibly ripping open the flight deck to allow burning fuel & explosives into the hangar deck but definitely rupturing fuel lines & ripping holes into the lower deck spaces into which burning fuel could pour.

There are good & bad points to both carrier design practices & there are good reasons BOTH navies went with both armoured fight & hangar decks with open sides post-war.

I can only admire the way those brave young men stayed cool & calm enough to fight to save their ship &, in the face of incredible odds, to succeed.

[rickshaw]

In part I agree, Guy.  However, no British Fleet Carrier suffered a catastrophic penetration like the Franklin did during the war.  The worst was Illustrious in what, 1941 in the Mediterranean?  There, bombs from Stukas penetrated what was found to be faulty Czech made armour plates on the flight deck.   No other Fleet Carrier was made with those plates.  The Fleet Carriers in the Pacific suffered several hits from Kamikazes and survived.

HMS Formidable (R67)  26 March 1945
HMS Indefatigable  1 April 1945
HMS Indomitable  4 May 1945
HMS Formidable (R67)  4 May 1945
HMS Victorious (R38)   4 May 1945
HMS Victorious (R38)   9 May 1945

In all cases, they remained operational.  Compare that to the US carriers which suffered one or two hits and had to retire, generally.

There were reasons why the US Navy opted for wooden decks.  They believed it was easier to produce a carrier quickly with such decks.  It was up to the carrier's CAP to protect it from attacking aircraft.  In the case of Franklin it was circumstance that exposed it to the attack from the Japanese aircraft.  It was circumstance that her radar wasn't working, that left her open to the attack with a great deal of her gun crews absent, below getting food/sleep.   

I wonder what the resulting change to ship routine was after the Franklin attack?