Just had a awesome run in with a 40mill gunner from Korea that served on USS New Jersey, he had a little pin on the top of his hat that had USS NEW JERSEY BB62 on it and I talked to him a bit, he served on her for about 4 years, didn’t know she had even become a Museum, I showed him a blurb from one of your videos and recommended to him that he watch some. He was blown away that I had even heard of the ship and you could tell was really proud of his service, he served on the quad 40 mounts and told me he was pretty much deaf from operating them. He told me that he has family in Jersey and would one day like to see the ship he served on so long ago, unfortunately I didn’t catch his name but I hope to run into him again.
I'm so glad to hear your kind evaluation of Portland and her service. My Father served on Sweet Pea. He was aboard and out to sea on Dec. 7, 1941. He always spoke very fondly of her
My father-in-law served on the USS Portland as a Marine in the war in the Pacific. Jack C. Hughes from Lafayette IN. I am so pleased that I found this video. His grandsons adored their grandfather, and I'm sure they too will enjoy learning about his military service.
My father was a AAA gunner on Sweet Pea. He never talked about it until I was old enough to take interest and ask questions. In the Guadalcanal battle a torpedo hit right at his station but didn’t blow because it waa fired too close to arm. There were lots of astounding stories. He was a marine who went ashore to fight with his garande. The whole island blew up at Namur and he was the only survivor. Last Saturday I was going to a show in San Pedro and saw a ship that looked like Portland. It was the Iowa. Going back yhis Saturday to tour.
My father was an 18 year old gunners mate on the USS Portland , before he was wounded . He said your ship blown half to hell running in circles in a pitched battle was the scariest day of his life. Sitting on pins and needles until you swing around the circle , to where you can shoot again ……
Got a chance to tour the Wisconsin last weekend. Thanks to your show understood a lot more of what I saw even being able to read the stencils on the walls. Saw the Wisconsin soon after it opened but only could walk on deck back then now the self tour is much more extensive down to 3rd deck in places and up to O2. A paid guided tour goes more places but the self tour was still good.
My Grandfather was a plank owner on the Northampton class cruiser Louisville. He said the Northampton class did not have very good seakeeping. They did preserve part of her after scrapping. One of her 8 inch turrets is still at the Nevada nuclear test site. It was used to house test instruments.
My dad was on the Portland during WWll. He had a black and white picture of the ship mounted to a wooden frame. It was about 12 inches in length. Below the picture were the accomplishment of the ship in battle. Number of planes and ships it was credited with destroying.
My grandfather Wallace Edwin Satterfield served on the Portland in WWII as a damage controlman. One summer in the late 80’s in Ocean City MD during a family vacation my grandfather started telling us stories about his time during the war. He had never talked about it before and I was in awe of what I was hearing. The one story that stood out was of the ship getting struck by the torpedo at Guadalcanal. He told us about having to go underwater without diving gear to control the damage and stop the flooding.
And I’ll bet that as usual with those heroes of that generation he didn’t think HE was a hero….. It’s sure wonderful that he eventually spoke about it!
Very good video! I really love the amount of detail you put in to the chronological history of USS Portland (Maine). This may be my favorite non-walk through video of yours.
Another great video Ryan!!! If we're putting ships in a hat, Id like to add my fathers ship for much of the war, USS PHELPS (DD-360). She was at Pearl and most every major engagement. She's the ship that torpedoed and sunk the Lex at Coral Sea. (I remember going to reunions as a kid, and seeing these guys in their 50s still choking up talking about that) PHELPS also produced quite a few Admirals, including a wet behind the ears Academy Grad( dads recollection LOL) who later became CNO during Vietnam, and has a three ship class of destroyers named after him...
An old friend and former pastor of my church named Charlie Meyer was a cook on the Portland. He was assigned to the ship some time before the Perl Harbor attack, saw the results when they sailed back after and remained with the ship through the rest of the war.
A good friend of mine was a fire control officer (AA) on the Portland. He had a bound typewritten history of the ship's actions that he would refer to when I occasionally drop by to listen to his recollections of his experiences during WWII. Just prior to Pearl Harbor the ship escorted an ammo supply ship to the Philippines via a circuitous route which he thought was odd. After the escort duty they were under orders to steam directly back to the west coast. On 12/7/41 the crew was taking a rest day well north of Hawaii and were basically lounging on the deck when the captain ordered General Quarters, which the crew thought at first was just a drill. They realized it was real when they were told to strip the ship of all non-essential equipment, in particular the piano in the ship's galley. So many incidents that seemed almost too incredible to be true, such was the story of the Portland in the Pacific. R.I.P. C.V. "Mac" McGlothing...
Dad served on the "USS Portland "sweet pea", as it was nicknamed and his story was parallel with your friends. He also left Pearl on Dec. 3rd to escort the Marines to Guadalcanal, 3 trips there and many other battles. The japs were after the carriers which had also sailed Dec. 3rd. Destroying our old tech battleships thereby allowing the carrier fleets to expand Americas reach of power. He rarely spoke of WWII until he wrote his brief memoirs. One day we were calmly watching the Battle of Midway on tv when pop leaped out of his chair and said, "we kicked their ass at Midway". Wow. He said he was in "fire control" and I thought little of that until I realized fire control meant controlling firing of the guns. He said you could tell how close a jap plane was by the sounds of the larger to smaller anti aircraft guns in operations. The sounds of the 5" guns, & 40 mm meant targets were a ways out. When the 20mms opened up you grabbed your helmut and took cover. USS Portland was backing away from the burning USS Lexington at several hundred yards with 700+ survivors when its ammo magazines blew up. What that generation went through was awesome just awesome.
It was a timing problem.. the Navy had hundreds of reserve ships.. and the WW2 vets weren't yet old enough to be getting nostalgic.. my paternal grandfather (Army) was 32.. my maternal grandfather (USMC) was 37 when Portland was sent to the breakers. USS Portland's mast is in Ft Allen park on Munjoy Hill in Portland ME.. it is a fantastic place to enjoy a summer's day.. might have done that a few hundred times when my kids were little.
Portland wasnt a popular ship and it was an older ship. It had no chance staying in the Navy or reserves. Then there were money issue when the navy had to reduce the budget. Then you have to get a city to pay for the ship.
Outside of the battleships which for the most part had large backings at local and state level, it was down to luck and timing most of the current preserved ships where still active into the 70-90's and avoided the big late 50's ship purge and by that time there was real interest in saving some of those ships. I can understand why most where scrapped but i'll never understand why Enterprise wasn't saved it'll always baffle me.
@@bretsk2500 it pains us that alot of these ships are not preserved. Alot of ships were stripped because of damage, money, budget, lack of interest. Portland is a tragedy in along list of tragedys. Portland is lucky to have something but mire of a ship would have been better.
I’ve noticed video by video the quality has only gotten better and better! Glad your getting the support you need to improve things and making great content!
tall tri pods may have not been nice looking to you but, in the age prior to radar, they helped provide 'over the horizon' vision better for its look outs. On the subject of torpedos- it ended up not making a difference because the American had untested and faulty torpedos most of the war anyway
Ryan, thanks for clarifying a mystery for me. I always wondered why the US cruisers "landed" their torpedo tubes; where the German, British, and Japanese retained theirs. It would indeed stand to reason that your cruiser would have been hammered into a floating, burning hulk of scrap metal before she got into torpedo range.
I thinking of bringing my father who served on the Baltimore, he is 90 years old but would love to talk to you we live very close to the Salem i. He has visited it many times , even been involved with its restoration! Hope to see you there. He is super Mobil and I think would make a great interview, he loves heavy cruisers especially his Baltimore. He was a singlman !
USS Indianapolis. He ran the forward 2 turret. Wore an asbestos sleeve and would swab the breech before loading the shell and powder and clearing the gun to fire. He served on her between 39-40 to 45. He got off after the kamikaze at Okinawa and before she left with the bomb from San Francisco. Both Portland and Indianapolis stayed busy during the pacific campaign.
Story of my dad grew up in Arkansas. Enlisted in the Navy at 18. Was sent to San Diego for boot camp. After boot camp was assigned to the Portland. Left port under the Golden Gate Bridge to Hawaii then was assigned to escort enterprise. He was there for the battle of all of the Solomon’s. His ship was hit and was towed to Sydney Australia. He boarded a train from Sydney to Perth. Boarded a merchant marine ship the chain and crown And after the war , he came in port in New York harbor. Then took a train back to Arkansas to meet my mother. What such a story of how I am here today in 2024 to tell this story to you and my two sons 19 & 21. We will always be great full for the service of the men that never got a chance to come home. My sons and I are a testament to those men. They will never be forgotten. 20:48
Maybe not much of a comparison video, but a coverage of the story of the USS Marblehead in World War 2, especially the action at Java Sea and subsequent heroic action to save crew and the ship.
Impressive service from that "little" ship. Just saw her tripod superstructure and bridge shield, mounted at a park overlooking Casco Bay in Portland Maine. Amazing management of the ship in all respects following that torpedo hit.
My grandfather was on the USS Portland. I remember hearing a story about how they left Pearl Harbor the day before the attack and saw the Japanese planes fly over in route to PH. They all thought it must be a training exercise.
USS Portland CA 33 class was 10 feet longer than the Northampton Class heavy cruisers at 610 feet. The Portland quarter deck was larger than the USS Indianapolis for the Indy had the extended main and upper level deck. The Portland weighed about 14,500 tons in 1945.The Northampton Class Cruisers were the first ships to have hangers for the sea planes, Fold up Bunks in line on chains vs hammocks, and the main battery of (2) triple turrets forward and (1) triple turret aft which set the standards for heavy cruisers, battleships, and Alaska class cruisers. My dad who passed in 2017 at age 92 proudly served on the USS Louisville CA 28 from 1943-46 and witnessed (52) sailors and Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler buried at sea due to (3) kamikaze hits in the Pacific. The USS Indianapolis set a speed record which stands today from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor - 74- 1/2 hours with ave speed of 29 knots. USS Portland was in the great sea battle with USS Louisville - Oct. 24, 1944. The majority of the Pacific Island bombardment was from the Older cruisers and Older battleships for the New Cruisers and Newer battleships screened the aircraft carriers. Take care!
wow, so far we've got 1087 likes and no dislikes not even one. I dont think i've seen such an ocurrance on yt which is a testiomony to the quality of this and other videos by our beloved crew. Keep it up!
The fact that it was damaged in battle, having a stuck rudder, and still fired salvo's on the enemy AND landed hits is truly remarkable, and, as the saying goes " It's not the dog in the fight, it's the fight in the dog" that wins battles.
Pop was onboard when the 'sweet pea" as USS Portland was nicknamed, when that happened. He also wrote in his diary, at 83, that in one battle they had passed a Japanese naval force at night around the Solomons going the other way, both running cloaked in darkness. The japanese didn't have radar, so couldn't detect the US Navy's ships at almost point blank range. They opened up on them and sank a battleship. Our big guns had a lower horizon traverse than the japanese guns so their salvos went overhead by less than a degree. At close range the effect of a wave rolling the japanese ship's guns made enough error to miss our ships. Never realized how many close calls dad had survived in WWII. WOW!.
For more info on Portland "Sweet Pea" look for Sweet Pea at War by Generous. I served under him in the 60's in VNN. Great history lesson as all you videos.
He did all the clerical work for the captain (not sure his title) The first day the captain asked who could type quickly and as my grandpas aunt/ teacher taught all her students to type in her one room schoolhouse back home he was the only one that raised his hand on that first day so he was highly involved with the captain and the goings on on the ship as a new sailor and really was lucky to get that postion on day one. It saved his life more than once.
@@baugust4775 My Dad was a signalman. I have a photo of all of the Signalmen and Quartermasters that he labeled, before he passed. If your Grandpa had been in that department, I would gladly share with you.
On December 8th, 1941 my dad, along with his brothers, tried to enlist in the military but, was turned down. He was only 15 years old His parents were Hungarian immigrants and didn't speak or read English. 83 days after Pearl Harbor, February 28th 1942 was my dad's 16th birthday. He presented papers to his parents, for signature. He "told" them it was to get a driver's license but it was actually his enlistment papers for the U.S. Navy. He served on the "Sweet Pea" (USS Portland) for the duration of World War II and enjoyed many crew reunions until his passing in 2003. They were indeed...the Greatest Generation.
USS MOFFETT DD-362. MY great grandfather was on her when she was doing Convoy escort duty in the Atlantic. Don't know if he was still on her in the Pacific tho. I think he was either a engine mech, or depth charge crew, my grandma could never remember
Saw something on the USS Alabama RUclips channel similar to something here . The AA gun ( 40MM on the Alabama) trained to low and hit the gun shield also. The 40MM punched through on the Alabama and the hole is still there. Kind of makes you wonder why the Navy didn't have a hard stop on the gun mounts to prevent this from happening.
My father in law served on the Portland in every battle and survived the torpedo strike, though injured. I got to go with him to Portland for the mast dedication.
Might be fun to compare the first ships designated with a BB, the Indiana class, with the Iowas. How significant were the changes, any surprising consistencies?
I’ve seen your videos explaining how the loading process worked on the big guns of the New Jersey, but looking at the smaller cruiser here, how are they even able to load the guns in the middle? It doesn’t look like there’s enough room for a loading crew on the sides of the center guns of the triple barrel cruiser gun. Can you do a video explaining the loading positions for the big guns of cruisers like these, with a special explanation of the center gun?
Would love to see the USS Little Rock CL-92/CLG-4 Berthed in Buffalo NY at the Buffalo Naval Park. I was at the commissioning LCS-9 USS Little Rock absolutely miserably cold day but worth it to see the New Little Rock be commissioned next to it's namesake. A first for the Navy
Hi Ryan. I would like to see a video of my father's ship U.S.S. Boyd DD - 544, a Fletcher class destroyer that commissioned in 1943 served thru-out the Pacific war and Korea and Vietnam Wars as well. She was sold to Turkey in 1969 so I would say that the Navy got their money's worth out of her!
In WW2 USS Portland CA 33 was in the Greatest Sea Battle - Battle of Surigao Strait - October 24, 1944 - The ship to ship battle that USS New Jersey BB 62 was NOT!
I was surprised by the numbering of the 2 Portland class cruisers. USS Portland was CA-33 and USS Indianapolis was CA-35. USS Astoria was CA-34 and it was a New Orleans class cruiser. How did it get sandwiched between the 2 Portlands?
So, like they said, She was transferred over to the New Orleans class because she was being built over at a Federal Ship Yard rather than the private ones that Portland and Indianapolis were being built at. When the Navy started the New Orleans, they could switch her over but not the Portland's. However, once your hull number was assigned, that's what your ship had, so Astoria had CA-34 and it would not change.
You say that the USN would not have committed BB New Jersey into the Solomons, but they sent the Washington and South Dakota in there. Theoretically - what if Washington and South Dakota weren't available and New Jersey and friends were?
Halsey was chasing ghosts to the north of the Solomons with New Jersey.. SD was an electrical shitshow.. and Wasington had Lee.. IMHO.. without Lee.. Kirishima might still be floating.. and Halsey was such a wildcard.. who knows what would have happened.. Read Paul Stillwell's biography of Willis Lee! Lee was the John M Browning of naval gunnery.
I tend to agree with you, if the Washington and SoDak hadn't been available but a pair of Iowas had been ... needs must. I think Halsey would have committed them rather than allow another bombardment of Henderson Field, the reason he committed SoDak and Washington in the first place after the 'tin clad' cruisers had been shot to pieces or sunk. I doubt that Kirishima would have fared any better against Iowa or New Jersey than she did against Washington.
Personally I'd argue the County's are way more graceful and better looking ships overall and they're mid to late war modifications make them look even better than what they already were. However I will admit the Portland's & New Orleans class are quite different but somewhat beautiful in their own right.
Well, it completely outranges anything smaller, so it'd be its accuracy at maximum range multiplied by its total ammunition divided by how many hits it requires to kill a ship of a given class. Something like that.
There is a 8 inch 55 caliber gun turret found in 2015 in the Nevada Test Site that was off of a near sister ship USS Louisville CA 28 which was used for atomic bomb testing. Check it out on Y-tube.
I think to continue the theme of heavy cruisers built at the Fore River Shipyard deployed in the Guadalcanal campaign, I think Northampton CA-26, Quincy CA-39, and Vincennes CA-44 could use their own videos, seeing as they were very likely the least fortunate of the cruisers deployed in that campaign, and that the lessons taken from the loss of these ships went into the design for the Des Moines-class.
My father served in WW2 on Old Sweet pea Raymond J. Akers he passed away in June 1993 he is really missed I'm his son Tony Akers I served East coast on 3 different ships USS MOINESTER FFT1097 USS HALYBURTON FFG 40 Also USS ANZIO CG 68. To all living and all deceased Sailors Anchors Away and Smooth Sailing and stay safe and stay healthy guys and ladies much love
3:38 Should more be added if it still isn't enough to protect against a Long Lance? I would guess maybe if it lessens the damage so you can get back home for repairs instead of sinking on the way back home. Where's that line?
darn, i have plans to vist USS Salem in the very near future but on the 6th ill have to be in a parade :( if you guys ever come to Charleston SC please let us know id love to meet yall. I'll be up to visit your ship on the tip to see the Salem and then onto battleship cove. my wife and I have a goal to visit all the battleship museums. We did North Carolina and Alabama already this year. and to compare the two New Jersey could win that fight with Portland with just her secondary battery (WW2 config) lol
Ryan - can you give us an explanation why the U.S. Navy would have committed any of the Iowa-Class Battleships to naval combat during the Solomon Islands Campaign? Your remark peaked my curiosity. Thanks!
I once back in high school did a paper on the uss Indianapolis memorial in Indianapolis. The ship lost to enemy fire when carrying the parts for the atomic bomb
@@johnzgamez810 Well I was trying to make it short and sweet. Didnt want to go into detail about how it ended, the controversy, the yum yum shark chum.
@@BattleshipNewJersey I did! I'm trying to figure out a way to get down to Salem on the 6th.. (i have to transport my son to work and back) it's an easy drive for me.. minus the last 6 miles.. when you guys are there check out the forward BOFORS mount.. they have dummy rounds in the racks!
Lol "They arn't... whatever... the Omaha class is." Indeed, I wondered what the heck those things were at first (besides being chew-your-own-arm-off ugly). Seems they were a scaled-up derivative of the Wickes and Clemson class flush deck destroyers. We can sneer at them for having all those useless casement guns that were already obsolete, and only 2 turrets.... [end transmission]
They were designed to look a lot like the 4 pipe destroyers so that at a distance, it would be hard to tell what it was. That way, if someone saw a destroyer at long range, they might think it was a cruiser and avoid it. Likewise, if an enemy destroyer saw a cruiser, they might think it was a destroyer and try to attack it, only to get destroyed long before they were in gun range.
I'm not too familiar with the classes, I had to Google it. Woof! Yeah, that's an unfortunate looking ship. I've always thought the Indianapolis was a fantastic-looking ship, and I am not surprised to find it was a Portland class.
Have to give mad respect to the crew of the Omaha-class USS Marblehead. One of the greatest unsung, often unknown Navy stories of WW2! For those who don’t know the story, I encourage you to look it up. Decent video about the Marblehead by The History Guy.
The Germans didn't have a problem with under estimating their ship's tonnage. They just cheated and lied making their ships much heavier. When we were on the USS Salem it was just after it became a museum ship. Nothing had pad locks on it. Other ships I've been on had locks on everything. If we wanted to we could of gone all over the place. We didn't have any flashlights so thought it wasn't a good idea. A guy on the ship said all of the off limits areas were covered in grease and haven't been cleaned yet.
Not really, the Des Moines where basically just a slightly upgraded Baltimore class with auto loading guns those guns aren't really a threat to a battleships the best you can really hope for is mission killing them by knocking out exposed equipment like range finders or radar, I'd put my money on the battleship as long as it has been modernised to current standards.
Lol. That's funny. I don't think a Des Moines would have much chance against Nelson or Rodney. It would be sunk or disabled before it could get into firing range.
Just had a awesome run in with a 40mill gunner from Korea that served on USS New Jersey, he had a little pin on the top of his hat that had USS NEW JERSEY BB62 on it and I talked to him a bit, he served on her for about 4 years, didn’t know she had even become a Museum, I showed him a blurb from one of your videos and recommended to him that he watch some. He was blown away that I had even heard of the ship and you could tell was really proud of his service, he served on the quad 40 mounts and told me he was pretty much deaf from operating them. He told me that he has family in Jersey and would one day like to see the ship he served on so long ago, unfortunately I didn’t catch his name but I hope to run into him again.
I'm so glad to hear your kind evaluation of Portland and her service. My Father served on Sweet Pea. He was aboard and out to sea on Dec. 7, 1941. He always spoke very fondly of her
My father-in-law served on the USS Portland as a Marine in the war in the Pacific. Jack C. Hughes from Lafayette IN. I am so pleased that I found this video. His grandsons adored their grandfather, and I'm sure they too will enjoy learning about his military service.
The tripod mast of USS Portland is preserved, on the waterfront, Fort Allen Park, Portland, ME.
I think that is an older ship. Pre 1900 i think
@@farmboy5129 nope.. that's CA33's mast.. I've been there hundreds of times...
Id love to see that. My grandpa served on the uss portland in WWII.
@@baugust4775 wikipedia has pictures on the CA 33 page. Go to the bottom of the page.
“Battleship New Jersey is going to be in Salem, MA…” I knew you were going to fire up the engines again!
I honest-to-goodness clicked on this assuming it was a Drachinfel video. Loving the history USS NJ crew!
I did too.., straight up
Me too!
That's a complement.
I literally clicked on it expecting the Drach intro and was startled by the NJ intro.
@@alphax4785 Such a pleasant surprise!
My father was a AAA gunner on Sweet Pea. He never talked about it until I was old enough to take interest and ask questions. In the Guadalcanal battle a torpedo hit right at his station but didn’t blow because it waa fired too close to arm. There were lots of astounding stories. He was a marine who went ashore to fight with his garande. The whole island blew up at Namur and he was the only survivor. Last Saturday I was going to a show in San Pedro and saw a ship that looked like Portland. It was the Iowa. Going back yhis Saturday to tour.
My father was an 18 year old gunners mate on the USS Portland , before he was wounded . He said your ship blown half to hell running in circles in a pitched battle was the scariest day of his life. Sitting on pins and needles until you swing around the circle , to where you can shoot again ……
Got a chance to tour the Wisconsin last weekend. Thanks to your show understood a lot more of what I saw even being able to read the stencils on the walls. Saw the Wisconsin soon after it opened but only could walk on deck back then now the self tour is much more extensive down to 3rd deck in places and up to O2. A paid guided tour goes more places but the self tour was still good.
I was PRIVILEGED to actually meet one of the plank owners of the USS Wisconsin a week ago. A fantastic gentleman and very enjoyable conversation.
My Grandfather was a plank owner on the Northampton class cruiser Louisville. He said the Northampton class did not have very good seakeeping. They did preserve part of her after scrapping. One of her 8 inch turrets is still at the Nevada nuclear test site. It was used to house test instruments.
My dad was on the Portland during WWll. He had a black and white picture of the ship mounted to a wooden frame. It was about 12 inches in length. Below the picture were the accomplishment of the ship in battle. Number of planes and ships it was credited with destroying.
My grandfather Wallace Edwin Satterfield served on the Portland in WWII as a damage controlman. One summer in the late 80’s in Ocean City MD during a family vacation my grandfather started telling us stories about his time during the war. He had never talked about it before and I was in awe of what I was hearing. The one story that stood out was of the ship getting struck by the torpedo at Guadalcanal. He told us about having to go underwater without diving gear to control the damage and stop the flooding.
And I’ll bet that as usual with those heroes of that generation he didn’t think HE was a hero….. It’s sure wonderful that he eventually spoke about it!
Production quality is on point! Nice work New Jersey!
Really good production quality & content. It’s really epic to see how the channel is progressing. Thanks for making these, I love learning from you.
Very good video! I really love the amount of detail you put in to the chronological history of USS Portland (Maine). This may be my favorite non-walk through video of yours.
Yet another fantastic video, these longer videos are fantastic.
Another great video Ryan!!!
If we're putting ships in a hat, Id like to add my fathers ship for much of the war, USS PHELPS (DD-360). She was at Pearl and most every major engagement. She's the ship that torpedoed and sunk the Lex at Coral Sea. (I remember going to reunions as a kid, and seeing these guys in their 50s still choking up talking about that) PHELPS also produced quite a few Admirals, including a wet behind the ears Academy Grad( dads recollection LOL) who later became CNO during Vietnam, and has a three ship class of destroyers named after him...
An old friend and former pastor of my church named Charlie Meyer was a cook on the Portland. He was assigned to the ship some time before the Perl Harbor attack, saw the results when they sailed back after and remained with the ship through the rest of the war.
A good friend of mine was a fire control officer (AA) on the Portland. He had a bound typewritten history of the ship's actions that he would refer to when I occasionally drop by to listen to his recollections of his experiences during WWII. Just prior to Pearl Harbor the ship escorted an ammo supply ship to the Philippines via a circuitous route which he thought was odd. After the escort duty they were under orders to steam directly back to the west coast. On 12/7/41 the crew was taking a rest day well north of Hawaii and were basically lounging on the deck when the captain ordered General Quarters, which the crew thought at first was just a drill. They realized it was real when they were told to strip the ship of all non-essential equipment, in particular the piano in the ship's galley.
So many incidents that seemed almost too incredible to be true, such was the story of the Portland in the Pacific.
R.I.P. C.V. "Mac" McGlothing...
Dad served on the "USS Portland "sweet pea", as it was nicknamed and his story was parallel with your friends. He also left Pearl on Dec. 3rd to escort the Marines to Guadalcanal, 3 trips there and many other battles. The japs were after the carriers which had also sailed Dec. 3rd. Destroying our old tech battleships thereby allowing the carrier fleets to expand Americas reach of power. He rarely spoke of WWII until he wrote his brief memoirs. One day we were calmly watching the Battle of Midway on tv when pop leaped out of his chair and said, "we kicked their ass at Midway". Wow. He said he was in "fire control" and I thought little of that until I realized fire control meant controlling firing of the guns. He said you could tell how close a jap plane was by the sounds of the larger to smaller anti aircraft guns in operations. The sounds of the 5" guns, & 40 mm meant targets were a ways out. When the 20mms opened up you grabbed your helmut and took cover. USS Portland was backing away from the burning USS Lexington at several hundred yards with 700+ survivors when its ammo magazines blew up. What that generation went through was awesome just awesome.
At the time they were talking preserving ships, they couldn't even save the Enterprise so the Portland had a lesser chance of saving.
It was a timing problem.. the Navy had hundreds of reserve ships.. and the WW2 vets weren't yet old enough to be getting nostalgic.. my paternal grandfather (Army) was 32.. my maternal grandfather (USMC) was 37 when Portland was sent to the breakers. USS Portland's mast is in Ft Allen park on Munjoy Hill in Portland ME.. it is a fantastic place to enjoy a summer's day.. might have done that a few hundred times when my kids were little.
Portland wasnt a popular ship and it was an older ship. It had no chance staying in the Navy or reserves. Then there were money issue when the navy had to reduce the budget. Then you have to get a city to pay for the ship.
@@mclovinU2night Portland, Maine realized their mistake too late.. CA33's mast and bell are preserved there.
Outside of the battleships which for the most part had large backings at local and state level, it was down to luck and timing most of the current preserved ships where still active into the 70-90's and avoided the big late 50's ship purge and by that time there was real interest in saving some of those ships.
I can understand why most where scrapped but i'll never understand why Enterprise wasn't saved it'll always baffle me.
@@bretsk2500 it pains us that alot of these ships are not preserved. Alot of ships were stripped because of damage, money, budget, lack of interest. Portland is a tragedy in along list of tragedys. Portland is lucky to have something but mire of a ship would have been better.
I’ve noticed video by video the quality has only gotten better and better! Glad your getting the support you need to improve things and making great content!
tall tri pods may have not been nice looking to you but, in the age prior to radar, they helped provide 'over the horizon' vision better for its look outs. On the subject of torpedos- it ended up not making a difference because the American had untested and faulty torpedos most of the war anyway
Ryan, thanks for clarifying a mystery for me. I always wondered why the US cruisers "landed" their torpedo tubes; where the German, British, and Japanese retained theirs. It would indeed stand to reason that your cruiser would have been hammered into a floating, burning hulk of scrap metal before she got into torpedo range.
American Torpedos also sucked during the first few years of the war. So it was probably a good thing that American cruisers didn’t have them.
I thinking of bringing my father who served on the Baltimore, he is 90 years old but would love to talk to you we live very close to the Salem i. He has visited it many times , even been involved with its restoration! Hope to see you there. He is super Mobil and I think would make a great interview, he loves heavy cruisers especially his Baltimore. He was a singlman !
My grandpa was on the Sweetpea. So Thank you very much for the video!
My grandfather ran one of her sister ships 8” guns. Very excited for this one!
Which one?
USS Indianapolis. He ran the forward 2 turret. Wore an asbestos sleeve and would swab the breech before loading the shell and powder and clearing the gun to fire.
He served on her between 39-40 to 45.
He got off after the kamikaze at Okinawa and before she left with the bomb from San Francisco. Both Portland and Indianapolis stayed busy during the pacific campaign.
@@DirtNastyCivilian salute to your grandfather. I thank him for his service.
My Dad was on the Portland. Nice video.
Story of my dad grew up in Arkansas. Enlisted in the Navy at 18. Was sent to San Diego for boot camp. After boot camp was assigned to the Portland. Left port under the Golden Gate Bridge to Hawaii then was assigned to escort enterprise. He was there for the battle of all of the Solomon’s. His ship was hit and was towed to Sydney Australia. He boarded a train from Sydney to Perth. Boarded a merchant marine ship the chain and crown And after the war , he came in port in New York harbor. Then took a train back to Arkansas to meet my mother. What such a story of how I am here today in 2024 to tell this story to you and my two sons 19 & 21. We will always be great full for the service of the men that never got a chance to come home. My sons and I are a testament to those men. They will never be forgotten. 20:48
Maybe not much of a comparison video, but a coverage of the story of the USS Marblehead in World War 2, especially the action at Java Sea and subsequent heroic action to save crew and the ship.
“Indy-chan, Kawaiiiiiiii”
- Portland CA-33
Came here for this comment.
Was wondering if this would show up
Impressive service from that "little" ship. Just saw her tripod superstructure and bridge shield, mounted at a park overlooking Casco Bay in Portland Maine.
Amazing management of the ship in all respects following that torpedo hit.
Very happy to know the ship was not named after that other city! A very good article thank you!
My grandfather was on the USS Portland. I remember hearing a story about how they left Pearl Harbor the day before the attack and saw the Japanese planes fly over in route to PH. They all thought it must be a training exercise.
I really like your telling the service history of other ships. Thank you.
USS Portland CA 33 class was 10 feet longer than the Northampton Class heavy cruisers at 610 feet. The Portland quarter deck was larger than the USS Indianapolis for the Indy had the extended main and upper level deck. The Portland weighed about 14,500 tons in 1945.The Northampton Class Cruisers were the first ships to have hangers for the sea planes, Fold up Bunks in line on chains vs hammocks, and the main battery of (2) triple turrets forward and (1) triple turret aft which set the standards for heavy cruisers, battleships, and Alaska class cruisers. My dad who passed in 2017 at age 92 proudly served on the USS Louisville CA 28 from 1943-46 and witnessed (52) sailors and Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler buried at sea due to (3) kamikaze hits in the Pacific. The USS Indianapolis set a speed record which stands today from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor - 74- 1/2 hours with ave speed of 29 knots. USS Portland was in the great sea battle with USS Louisville - Oct. 24, 1944. The majority of the Pacific Island bombardment was from the Older cruisers and Older battleships for the New Cruisers and Newer battleships screened the aircraft carriers. Take care!
My father joined the navy on February 28, 1942, his 16th birthday. He served on the USS Portland (Sweet Pea) CA33, for the duration of WWII.
My Dad served aboard Sweet Pea. I have a photo of all of the Signalmen and Quartermasters that he labeled, before he passed.
Thank you that was a wonderful documentary. My personal favorite Battleship was the USS Washington bb56.
wow, so far we've got 1087 likes and no dislikes not even one. I dont think i've seen such an ocurrance on yt which is a testiomony to the quality of this and other videos by our beloved crew. Keep it up!
Just meant the professional trolls were busy down voting something else.
Still, I agree it is a well done channel.
The fact that it was damaged in battle, having a stuck rudder, and still fired salvo's on the enemy AND landed hits is truly remarkable, and, as the saying goes " It's not the dog in the fight, it's the fight in the dog" that wins battles.
Pop was onboard when the 'sweet pea" as USS Portland was nicknamed, when that happened. He also wrote in his diary, at 83, that in one battle they had passed a Japanese naval force at night around the Solomons going the other way, both running cloaked in darkness. The japanese didn't have radar, so couldn't detect the US Navy's ships at almost point blank range. They opened up on them and sank a battleship. Our big guns had a lower horizon traverse than the japanese guns so their salvos went overhead by less than a degree. At close range the effect of a wave rolling the japanese ship's guns made enough error to miss our ships. Never realized how many close calls dad had survived in WWII. WOW!.
For more info on Portland "Sweet Pea" look for Sweet Pea at War by Generous. I served under him in the 60's in VNN. Great history lesson as all you videos.
Ill go take a look. Ive been searching for more info since finding out my grandpa served on the sweet pea uss portland.
Great book. We donated a copy to a local museum.
@@baugust4775 What department did he serve in on Sweet Pea?
He did all the clerical work for the captain (not sure his title) The first day the captain asked who could type quickly and as my grandpas aunt/ teacher taught all her students to type in her one room schoolhouse back home he was the only one that raised his hand on that first day so he was highly involved with the captain and the goings on on the ship as a new sailor and really was lucky to get that postion on day one. It saved his life more than once.
@@baugust4775 My Dad was a signalman. I have a photo of all of the Signalmen and Quartermasters that he labeled, before he passed. If your Grandpa had been in that department, I would gladly share with you.
Great video. Good design. Well narrated. Interesting subject matter
On December 8th, 1941 my dad, along with his brothers, tried to enlist in the military but, was turned down. He was only 15 years old
His parents were Hungarian immigrants and didn't speak or read English.
83 days after Pearl Harbor, February 28th 1942 was my dad's 16th birthday. He presented papers to his parents, for signature. He "told" them it was to get a driver's license but it was actually his enlistment papers for the U.S. Navy.
He served on the "Sweet Pea" (USS Portland) for the duration of World War II and enjoyed many crew reunions until his passing in 2003.
They were indeed...the Greatest Generation.
My grandpa was on the uss portland. We just found his dog tag in a box of keepsakes and now im diving into the ship's history.
USS Portland's aft tripod mast and bridge shield are memorials in Portland, Maine.
We need a video on frigates. Today at a Lowes in southern Colorado I randomly met a guy who was on the USS Stark
Served on a Knox class Frigate ( USS Bowen FF-1079) would love to see a video on Frigates.
I'd like to see a similar video on the USS Rochester CA-124 and the USS Toledo CA-133. My dad served on both of those heavy cruisers.
Excellent video
I was fishing the wreck of the Akron about 2 weeks ago
USS MOFFETT DD-362. MY great grandfather was on her when she was doing Convoy escort duty in the Atlantic. Don't know if he was still on her in the Pacific tho. I think he was either a engine mech, or depth charge crew, my grandma could never remember
Saw something on the USS Alabama RUclips channel similar to something here . The AA gun ( 40MM on the Alabama) trained to low and hit the gun shield also. The 40MM punched through on the Alabama and the hole is still there. Kind of makes you wonder why the Navy didn't have a hard stop on the gun mounts to prevent this from happening.
Pride of Maine, thank you for the video! :)
My father in law served on the Portland in every battle and survived the torpedo strike, though injured. I got to go with him to Portland for the mast dedication.
Might be fun to compare the first ships designated with a BB, the Indiana class, with the Iowas. How significant were the changes, any surprising consistencies?
Sir; Would you consider doing a video on the USS Oregon? Thanks for all you do.
I’ve seen your videos explaining how the loading process worked on the big guns of the New Jersey, but looking at the smaller cruiser here, how are they even able to load the guns in the middle?
It doesn’t look like there’s enough room for a loading crew on the sides of the center guns of the triple barrel cruiser gun.
Can you do a video explaining the loading positions for the big guns of cruisers like these, with a special explanation of the center gun?
Would love to see the USS Little Rock CL-92/CLG-4 Berthed in Buffalo NY at the Buffalo Naval Park. I was at the commissioning LCS-9 USS Little Rock absolutely miserably cold day but worth it to see the New Little Rock be commissioned next to it's namesake. A first for the Navy
Well done storytelling.
Hi Ryan. I would like to see a video of my father's ship U.S.S. Boyd DD - 544, a Fletcher class destroyer that commissioned in 1943 served thru-out the Pacific war and Korea and Vietnam Wars as well. She was sold to Turkey in 1969 so I would say that the Navy got their money's worth out of her!
Looking forward to visiting the Salem!
In WW2 USS Portland CA 33 was in the Greatest Sea Battle - Battle of Surigao Strait - October 24, 1944 - The ship to ship battle that USS New Jersey BB 62 was NOT!
I was surprised by the numbering of the 2 Portland class cruisers. USS Portland was CA-33 and USS Indianapolis was CA-35. USS Astoria was CA-34 and it was a New Orleans class cruiser. How did it get sandwiched between the 2 Portlands?
So, like they said, She was transferred over to the New Orleans class because she was being built over at a Federal Ship Yard rather than the private ones that Portland and Indianapolis were being built at. When the Navy started the New Orleans, they could switch her over but not the Portland's. However, once your hull number was assigned, that's what your ship had, so Astoria had CA-34 and it would not change.
@@johnzgamez810 Thanks for the information
You say that the USN would not have committed BB New Jersey into the Solomons, but they sent the Washington and South Dakota in there. Theoretically - what if Washington and South Dakota weren't available and New Jersey and friends were?
Halsey was chasing ghosts to the north of the Solomons with New Jersey.. SD was an electrical shitshow.. and Wasington had Lee.. IMHO.. without Lee.. Kirishima might still be floating.. and Halsey was such a wildcard.. who knows what would have happened..
Read Paul Stillwell's biography of Willis Lee! Lee was the John M Browning of naval gunnery.
I tend to agree with you, if the Washington and SoDak hadn't been available but a pair of Iowas had been ... needs must. I think Halsey would have committed them rather than allow another bombardment of Henderson Field, the reason he committed SoDak and Washington in the first place after the 'tin clad' cruisers had been shot to pieces or sunk. I doubt that Kirishima would have fared any better against Iowa or New Jersey than she did against Washington.
Given NJ’s firepower and radar-directed gunnery, I’d be willing to bet that NJ would savage Kirishima long before they even came close.
@@bretsk2500 At the time of the Washington vs. Kirishima engagement New Jersey had not yet been commissioned.
@@ronnelson7828 Halsey was chasing ghosts.. I got the ship wrong.. However.. Lee was the critical factor..
Personally I'd argue the County's are way more graceful and better looking ships overall and they're mid to late war modifications make them look even better than what they already were. However I will admit the Portland's & New Orleans class are quite different but somewhat beautiful in their own right.
You have to do how many of X ship can NJ defeat when it’s a ship much less powerful.
Well, it completely outranges anything smaller, so it'd be its accuracy at maximum range multiplied by its total ammunition divided by how many hits it requires to kill a ship of a given class. Something like that.
Portland...I would guess @ least 5 to possibly destroy New Jersey..w/ 5, I would imagine only one or two survive
There is a 8 inch 55 caliber gun turret found in 2015 in the Nevada Test Site that was off of a near sister ship USS Louisville CA 28 which was used for atomic bomb testing. Check it out on Y-tube.
Portland,Oregon was named after the flip of a coin.Boston or Portland. Bing Cosby grandfather was a founder. Bing cherries.
do something on the Worcester class light cruisers
Everyone read"When Sweat Pea goes to war".Great book on this ship.
DARN IT!!! I’m visiting Massachusetts the first week of November, but have to fly out on 11/05. 😭
I think to continue the theme of heavy cruisers built at the Fore River Shipyard deployed in the Guadalcanal campaign, I think Northampton CA-26, Quincy CA-39, and Vincennes CA-44 could use their own videos, seeing as they were very likely the least fortunate of the cruisers deployed in that campaign, and that the lessons taken from the loss of these ships went into the design for the Des Moines-class.
Ryan, have you ever done a comparison video of of NEW JERSEY to H.M.S. QUEEN ELIZABETH or WARSPITE?
I'm sure Ryan hasn't and I think it's about time he did
Great video.
My father served in WW2 on Old Sweet pea Raymond J. Akers he passed away in June 1993 he is really missed I'm his son Tony Akers I served East coast on 3 different ships USS MOINESTER FFT1097 USS HALYBURTON FFG 40 Also USS ANZIO CG 68. To all living and all deceased Sailors Anchors Away and Smooth Sailing and stay safe and stay healthy guys and ladies much love
Great video of a real workhorse.
uss portland mast is still at Fort Allen Park. but her sister indianapolis still exist as a wreck
3:38 Should more be added if it still isn't enough to protect against a Long Lance? I would guess maybe if it lessens the damage so you can get back home for repairs instead of sinking on the way back home. Where's that line?
BuShips had no idea what a Long Lance was actually capable of doing until about 1944.
Why did they open the bridges on the indianapolis and Portland?
I would like to see a video on the Mikasa if possible.
darn, i have plans to vist USS Salem in the very near future but on the 6th ill have to be in a parade :( if you guys ever come to Charleston SC please let us know id love to meet yall. I'll be up to visit your ship on the tip to see the Salem and then onto battleship cove. my wife and I have a goal to visit all the battleship museums. We did North Carolina and Alabama already this year. and to compare the two New Jersey could win that fight with Portland with just her secondary battery (WW2 config) lol
Ryan - can you give us an explanation why the U.S. Navy would have committed any of the Iowa-Class Battleships to naval combat during the Solomon Islands Campaign? Your remark peaked my curiosity. Thanks!
I once back in high school did a paper on the uss Indianapolis memorial in Indianapolis. The ship lost to enemy fire when carrying the parts for the atomic bomb
A few years ago I met a survivor of the USS Indianapolis. He was one of the most humble person I have ever met. Greatest generation indeed.
Could you do a video of the Portland's sister ship U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS?
It sunk....the end
@@mclovinU2night That's a sad way to sum up the largest loss of life from a single ship at sea for the USN ever. Oh, and a VERY storied ship
@@johnzgamez810 Well I was trying to make it short and sweet. Didnt want to go into detail about how it ended, the controversy, the yum yum shark chum.
Here you go: ruclips.net/video/j3I-TQeJS9U/видео.html
This was my video :)
Hope you like it!
@@BattleshipNewJersey I did! I'm trying to figure out a way to get down to Salem on the 6th.. (i have to transport my son to work and back) it's an easy drive for me.. minus the last 6 miles.. when you guys are there check out the forward BOFORS mount.. they have dummy rounds in the racks!
Can you please do a video on comparing a Iowa class battleship to a contemporary tico class aegis cruiser?
Halsey visited USS Tabberer after one of the typhoons. Perhaps you could do one about that.
Typhoon Cobra: ruclips.net/video/yOf1QPe8UN0/видео.html
Ryan: yuduchi…
Yudachi : poi?
Should do a New Jersey versus the uss inaugural.
Good history. TNX.
Lol "They arn't... whatever... the Omaha class is." Indeed, I wondered what the heck those things were at first (besides being chew-your-own-arm-off ugly). Seems they were a scaled-up derivative of the Wickes and Clemson class flush deck destroyers. We can sneer at them for having all those useless casement guns that were already obsolete, and only 2 turrets.... [end transmission]
They were designed to look a lot like the 4 pipe destroyers so that at a distance, it would be hard to tell what it was. That way, if someone saw a destroyer at long range, they might think it was a cruiser and avoid it. Likewise, if an enemy destroyer saw a cruiser, they might think it was a destroyer and try to attack it, only to get destroyed long before they were in gun range.
I'm not too familiar with the classes, I had to Google it. Woof! Yeah, that's an unfortunate looking ship. I've always thought the Indianapolis was a fantastic-looking ship, and I am not surprised to find it was a Portland class.
Have to give mad respect to the crew of the Omaha-class USS Marblehead. One of the greatest unsung, often unknown Navy stories of WW2! For those who don’t know the story, I encourage you to look it up. Decent video about the Marblehead by The History Guy.
You take that back about the Queen Anne's Mansions
The Pensacola's were 2 ships, the Northampton's were 6, the Portland's were 2, the New Orleans class was 7 .
I was in Portland Maine and saw the mast and ships bell today funny that thiswas in my u tube today.Definitely WW 2 ship
3:50 Note: Quincy, MA is pronounced 'kwin-Zee', not 'kwin-See'.
Says who
@@gliderdan3153 People who live in the area?
Have they done anything on flak guns? Would be interested in knowing what it is firing
I look froward to the Salem visit.
Wonders aloud, “did they ever use high explosive shells against ships? Not armor piercing, just regular H.E.?”
The Germans didn't have a problem with under estimating their ship's tonnage. They just cheated and lied making their ships much heavier. When we were on the USS Salem it was just after it became a museum ship. Nothing had pad locks on it. Other ships I've been on had locks on everything. If we wanted to we could of gone all over the place. We didn't have any flashlights so thought it wasn't a good idea. A guy on the ship said all of the off limits areas were covered in grease and haven't been cleaned yet.
Given Connecticut showing up in military news recently, perhaps now might be a good time to talk about the pre-dreadnought USS Connecticut.
USS Washington vs NJ. How much will it cost me?
We did a whole series on that class: ruclips.net/p/PLALOZV63REeswBydM_fOuWkBu2gvzjxi4
Really nice USN shirt
heavy cruisers made a big stride after pearl harbor . the des Moines class could beat any pre war battleships
Not really, the Des Moines where basically just a slightly upgraded Baltimore class with auto loading guns those guns aren't really a threat to a battleships the best you can really hope for is mission killing them by knocking out exposed equipment like range finders or radar, I'd put my money on the battleship as long as it has been modernised to current standards.
Lol. That's funny. I don't think a Des Moines would have much chance against Nelson or Rodney. It would be sunk or disabled before it could get into firing range.