Nagato and Prinz Eugen were still in working order and would have been prime examples of Axis capital ships to have as museums. HMS Warspite absolutely should have been saved as well.
Prinz Eugen yeah, but Nagato was in really, really bad shape. She was arguably unseaworthy when she made her last voyage. Restoring her would have been extremely difficult and mind-bogglingly expensive.
Warspite was a wreak when sent to the breakers yard. With X turret and one of the 4 engines inoperable and a good chunk of the rear hull patched with concrete. She still had some use as a floating platform for 6 15 inch guns but nothing more. It would have required substantial work to get her fit for use as a museum ship.
On of my favorite witticisms from Drachinifel, “At this point it was effectively the USS Enterprise versus then entire Imperial fleet, something the crew saw as resembling a fair fight”
Kind of like his comment about Samar when a junior watch officer saw the IJN pulling out and said something along the lines of 'damn, they're getting away'......
I often went to see the USS Enterprise while she was tied up at the old Brooklyn Navy Yard while I was in High School. There was a street in Williamsburg Brooklyn that faced the Navy Yard docks. I remember that in 1957 I asked my Dad (an Army Veteran) for an advance on my allowance so that I could contribute to the organization that was trying to save this ship. What a crime that the Big E was never saved. I am currently building a 1/350 scale model of this ship.
If there was a WW2 that absolutely should have been saved it is the Big E. Such an iconic and so very important participant in the War in the Pacific. Almost criminal that she wasnt saved.
There was no state to contribute funding as with Texas, and there wasn't as much expendable money floating around in the late 40s and early 50s as there was in the 60s when many of the ships became museums. Plus after the war damage and sitting is decaying state, by the time Big E was scrapped, she would have been in pretty sad shape. There was never any intention of keeping her in reserve, as the USN had too many Essex and Midway carriers, and didn't even retain all the Essex in service. Most of our museum ships served well into the late 50s or even the 60s, or were in well maintained reserve status, prior to becoming museums.
She was supposed to be preserved. It was her or Vanguard. In the end it was neither. And HMS Rodney and her sister Nelson were used as bombing targets.
@@holdencross5904 I can't imagine why anyone would want to preserve Vanguard...it was a brand new BB built and commissioned 5 years after the end of the age of the BB, never saw combat. Literally any other surviving RN battleship would have been more deserving, but Warspite should have been it.
@@tremedar Because Vanguard was the last. She stayed in service the longest because she was in the best shape, and thus was still around by the time that the UK was no longer in crippling debt and could've actually afforded to preserve her. Plus, imagine if Vanguard were berthed a Portsmouth as a museum now. Both the first and the last British armored warships would be there. HMS Warrior, IIRC, never saw combat either and is simply significant as the first Royal Navy ironclad. But the fact that she ushered in the era of armor is important enough. Likewise, Vanguard was significant as being the last.
#1 agreed wholeheartedly. Big E (almost) single-handedly propped up the entire Pacific theater for the US until new construction//D7-41 survivors were able to join her.
I'm not real familiar with the Warspite but I completely agree about the Big 'E'. She deserved to be preserved every bit as much as the New Jersey. Those 2 ships probably participated in more engagements than any other US Navy ship.
Hopefully ^he'll be listing the Brooklyn/St Louis class light cruisers as a ship type to be saved. How can you not save a pre-war cruiser with 5 main turrets with 3 guns each!?
One of the nations biggest embarrassments ever. The Big E was, at times, the only operating American carrier against the entire Japanese fleet in the Pacific theater. She deserved to be repaired to new condition no matter the cost just based on her service to this nation.
Except then we would not have gotten CVN-65 named Enterprise. Preserving a ship invariably means a near-permanent loss of its name in active service, as they are loathe to use the name on a new ship while the previous incarnation is still extant. They are only now finally reusing the names of the battleships which are museum ships for the new Virginia-class submarines. The other way to kill a name is for it to be the namesake ship of its class.
Not true they can strike the name while the ship still exists. The Sullivan’s is an example of that. It all depends if they strike the name or keep the ship on active status or not.
If the ship is turned into a museum the name has been stricken because it’s not longer on the books as a reserve. Now if the navy operates it that’s another thing, such as the constitution or victory.
They are at least reusing as much of the steel and old hull of the old Enterprise in the construction of the new Enterprise. If it's safe to do and doesn't compromise safety, no reason why not and in a way preserves the old ship and literally stitches the history onto bones of the new ship.
This museum ship curator knows so much about NAVY ships, naval warfare, and obviously the history of maritime sea battles. What a fantastic resource to have speaking on these topics. Well done Battleship New Jersey!
The sinking of the HMS Implacable was insane. The ship survived for 150 years following the Napoleonic wars only to be sunk the the idiocy of the socialist Labor government after WW2.
@@B0AT_DADDY Pretty much. Pennsylvania, Nevada, California, Tennessee, Mississippi, Idaho, New York all had a pretty busy war. Drachinifel has a great 3 part video series on raising the battleships at Pearl Harbor. Much the same can be said about 4 of the Revenge class and 4 of the QE battleships of the RN, plus the Renown (Royal Oak and Barham were lost pretty early on). All pretty much wore themselves out to finish up the war.
Also could arguably have made this list, since the excessively onerous conditions of her preservation as a museum ship lead to her being entirely gutted of interior. That being said, the fact that she was filled with concrete was probably the only thing that saved her from being scrapped during ww2 when the Japanese were desperate for steel.
Walking her decks shows the blend of ironclad ships, with what is not that far off from a sailing ship of the line. The guns on the main deck have very little protection, and basically none overhead. Enjoyed walking through her in Yokosuka. More fire power and armor, but really not all that advanced in layout than HMS Warrior. Walking Mikasa or the Olympia (same era of design) it is easy to see how Dreadnaught made entire fleets obsolete at launching.
USS NEVADA. Her battle record was out standing, she was the only battle ship to get underway during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She also had a fascinating back story on the timing of her construction. The only thing left of her is the officers mess table set, which by the way, was made of silver mined from the Comstock mines.
@@connoroneill9406 I first understood your comment as meaning you were "not exactly sure which" Cold War. I realize you meant you were not sure which Enterprise, but it is sadly clear that many of our politicians never want anything more peaceful than a succession of cold wars.
As a Brit, I hadn’t realised how important Enterprise is/was for so many Americans. My number 1 choice is Warspite. Ever since I was a boy I’ve been saddened that we didn’t save this ship. However, it’s such a shame that so many great ships were lost that would be greatly appreciated by both naval enthusiasts and the general public alike today.
The Enterprise is probably the ship with the most action during it's entire life. Many men had died on her deck and she had been hit and repaired multiple times
Prinz Eugen should of been a museum ship! Would of made an excellent ship to keep and would of make a fantastic history lesson to future generations and would give people a good look into how a German ship operated in comparison to Allied ships.
I think it's a real. shame that Germany didn't get both Prinz Eugen and Goeben. They would have been wonderful representatives of lost heritage for that country. Prinz Eugen was a lucky ship and survived many exploits without being destroyed like so much of the Kriegsmarine fleet.
@Tim Engineman 2nd That's the point, Prince Eugen should have been saved as she was and not subjected to a nuclear test. The US Navy sailors who bought her to America and eventual destruction all marveled at the construction and use of technology. It was agreed by all the Eugen was a superb ship.
The Prinz Eugen was sailed to Bikini for the test by (naturally) an American crew, who described her as a wonderful vessel and the very best ship they’d ever sailed on. Many of them publicly derided the decision to use her in the tests.
The loss of the Enterprise was truly a National tragedy.... if there was any ship the Congress should have declared a national treasure, it should have been the Enterprise. Great vid as usual Ryan.. love the channel bro.
The fact it took 4 tries to finally kill Yorktown and the Big E survived many damaging hits while the USN was fighting a carrier war at a numerical disadvantage, pretty much kills any notions that the design was inherently inferior. While the Essex was a better ship and class, the Yorktowns were still darn good carriers, especially as the first truly modern purpose built carriers for the USN.
Enterprise has always been at the top of my list. I would have loved to see the Saratoga preserved as well, especially considering her unique design and how much it influenced later fleet carriers. I'm also not aware of any relatively early monitors that were preserved (though that may just be my ignorance), and given the speed of innovation that warship design was undergoing during that time, it would be cool to have a few examples of those lying around. If I could pick one, it would probably be the Novgorod, because what a bizarre and interesting vessel.
The USS Monitor turret and other parts, are at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA. They have now built a full scale replica of the ship, along with a life size model of the how the turret was found, upside down.
As a boy, from the Staten Island ferry, I saw not only the Enterprise docked across the bay in "JOISEY" but the Alaska class battlecruiser moored next to her.
I am from Canada joined the RCN and the class of ship I started out on was the ST. Lauraunt Class, and not one bloody ship was saved when their service to this ungrateful country. We all lost and good piece of Canadian history
I question alot of the us dreadnoughts surviving, outside the Colorados...Texas could be argued to have been the most important Dreadnought in us navy history just for maturing us navy capabilities, by being the 1st at so many important leaps in naval technology, but she ain't doing so great. If Texas has a hard time, I don't see many of the standards doing better
One other notable thing about Warspite is that she made the longest range hit on another moving ship. During the Battle of Calabria on 9 July 1940 Warspite scored a 15" hit on the Italian battleship Guilio Caesare at 26,000 yards (24 km).
For Me as an engineering student, Prinz Eugen. I would have loved to just walk around her engine and boiler room just to see how overly complicated the German boilers were. Also being an enemy heavy cruiser, she has design features that US cruisers didn't have. In that vein, Richelieu because of her very unique design. Also I can feel Ryan's pain and anguish when saying 1956
My late brother-in-law was among the very last to walk Prinz Eugen the day before the first A-bomb drop at Bikini. Nearly everything below the main deck required "up and over and down", with fewer passageways between compartments. She was in decent shape after the first blast. Additionally, some ships were scuttled to lessen the U.S. embarrassment, by remaining afloat after the 2nd bomb....
@@KPen3750 she's actually much cleaner than most think. most of the radiation Eugen suffered had short duration (20-40 years) if raised today she would have less radiation inside than many houses have (radon gas from the ground) problem is she's upside down on an remote atoll in the pacific... and she's German so no one that actually could get her raised cares.
I still have a rough time saying it aloud without shedding a tear, "they scrapped the USS Enterprise" the highest decorated ship of World War II, and arguably the most historically important ship of World War II. It really is a tragedy on an epic scale!!
Yes, the Navy should have made the U.S.S. Enterprise CV-6 into a museum, because she was in every sea battle in the Pacific during WW-ll. The Navy does plan to name a Ford class aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Enterprise CV-80 and she will be the third carrier to be named Enterprise.
_arguably the most historically important ship of World War II._ Good point. What is? A ship that changed a battle that changed the direction of a war, or ensured consolidation? *1)* HMS Warspite single handedly near wiped out the German surface fleet at Narvik. *2)* A US carrier at Midway _must_ be in contention. *3)* What about British ships ensuring Malta was supplied preventing Axis occupation? *4)* HMS Illustrious, launched planes for the Taranto raid, ensuring the RN stayed in the Med. I am sure there are more.
The USS Enterprise was about to enter pearl harbour when pearl was attacked she was present in every major battle The Us fought in the Pacific and at one point the Only operational Carrier left in the Pacific and participated in the battle of Okinawa and she the ship picked for the signing of the surrender of japan but she was damage in okinawa and not rapaired in time for the surrender of japan. Hence why the uss Iowa was picked.
For the US in the Pacific yes. But in terms of actual Battle Honors for all the Allied Nations, it has to be HMS Warspite, especially if you include WWI service as well. The KGV will also be up there as well.
The thousand pound Fritz X Guided bomb that hit the Warspite actually did destroy a far more modern Battleship, the Italian Roma. Interestingly enough Douglas Reeman's book Battlecruiser details the history of the fictional Renown class HMS Reliant which has intermittent rudder issues throughout it's career, usually timed to either save the ship or put it in a position to save other ships. There is no doubt to me that he had Warspite's antics in mind while telling this story.
Uss Pennsylvania would have been a great ship to save, she could have been at pearl harbor watching over her sister ship like Missouri is doing, two sisters together again Pennsylvania and Arizona, anyone else think that would have been epic and worth it to save Pennsylvania for that?
warspite was the 1st ship to open fire on d day, she used her ENTIRE ammo stock despite only having 6 working main guns. she went back across the channel to restock and then went back to normandy and emptied her magazines again! completely wore out her guns
She epitomises 'Better to burn out than fade away'. By the end of the war she had concrete parches over some of the Fritz-X damage and ony three shafts running, but she still gave her all as a bombardment vessel. Grand Old Lady, indeed.
Wow Ryan mentioned in another video the guns on New Jersey were never worn out. They replaced them when they brought her back in 1980s, but that was the least of the updates done on the Iowas in the refit and wasn't actually needed.
I think it is safe to say that along with Warspite, battleships Rodney, Ramilles, Nevada, Texas and Arkansas all pretty much wore out their main and secondary guns off Normandy. All the gunnery ships did their jobs, firing as long as they could reach targets. Plenty of accounts of the BB captains taking their ships uncomfortably close to the shore, and even listing the ships to gain added range. No need to slight any other ship involved.
As a Texan I find it disgraceful that my people and government have allowed it so the vast majority of people who live here unfortunately are incompetent assholes and self-centered people who only care about themselves and can't even begin to understand how significant the battleship Texas really is as for myself I am extremely poor and I've lived underneath the poverty line my entire life I've only ever gone to see it one time and I donated what I had which was basically nothing it is disgraceful and disgusting to me that the ship has been left to rot the way it was I hope that with this new restoration project the ship will finally be getting the help that it needs and deserves it pisses me off that I could do nothing and that my fellow Texans in Mass have not done anything about it there's apparently only a small group of people relatively speaking even care about the ship I guess that's the problem with my generation we don't understand the significance of the past....
It is said as well that HMS Warspite during the Battle of Calabria made history when she scored a hit on the Italian battleship Guilio Cesare at a range of about 26,000 yds which was one of the longest-range naval artillery hits in history
My father's blood was in ENTERPRISE's steel. An aviation metalsmith, he served with Fighting 6 in 1942, wounded at Santa Cruz. Every time I see that combat footage, I wonder if he was one of the sailors pictured.
I think that is natural with every child who see's old photos that might include their parents. I must confess I do the same thing. I know I could never spot him in those photos and films as he was a 17 year old kid when he served on the Enterprise back then.
@@petesheppard1709 I'll have to find and check his service record. I don't think he joined the ship until late in 1942 or early 1943. I did find his "Neptune Rex Certificate" where he crossed the equator on January 3, 1943. According to Wikipedia she was "training out of Espiritu, New Heribides" from 12/4/42 - 1/28/43. If this is true, he was 16 years old. I know his mother signed the papers for him to enlist. Then he was a yeoman 3c. He went on to become and retire as a CPO, 30 years later. Not too bad for not finishing high school.
@@petesheppard1709 That sounds about right. I find it hard to believe he could have been there any time earlier. He was born on October 5th, 1925. So the math suggest he couldn't have been aboard any sooner. He was very proud of that ship but never talked us kids about what he saw. My mom said while drinking with the neighbors, he laughed about someone running across the flight deck on one leg and not falling over until he stopped. She said he had obviously seen a lot.
In my eyes, the French battleship Jean Bart should have been saved, HMS Nelson should have been saved, and USS California should have been saved, all having their own reasons but overall they all should have been saved Edit a year later: The French cruiser Colbert (C611) should have been saved too, as she was scrapped more recently
Richelieu, maybe. Jean Bart wasn't completed until well after WWII. The only thing of significance Jean Bart did during the war is absurd 16" shells from USS Massachussetts.
@@Scoobydcs Agree with 1 & 1a, if you were preserving old US standard battleships, it would be Pennsylvania or Nevada of the oldest classes, as closest to original configuration. And I would chose the West Virginia as an example of the most extensive rebuild and repair job of the Pearl Harbor survivors. WV was the most extensively rebuilt pre-treaty super dreadnaught in any navy.
Retaining HMS Vanguard would have made a nice addition to Portsmouth Naval Museum; placed next to HMS Warrior: the first and the last true armoured battleships.
She didn't have any heritage though. Warrior was kept as an example of amazing Victorian engineering more than anything else. Vanguard was only remarkable for being the last battleship in the RN.
@@AdamMGTF heritage is only part of the equation though- with Britain's finances in poor shape after ww2, Vanguard might have been a compelling choice for being in the best condition rather than needing a lot of work
@@MercenaryPen but you hit the nail there. Financially there was no way the UK could afford to keep a ship like vanguard. Especially as she has no accomplishments. Remember, the UK preserves the history of a ship. Not the fact the ship exists. The Iowa's are amazing feats of engineering. I mean mind blowingly amazing. But they didn't accomplish anything remarkable compared to other Dreadnaughts/super Dreadnaughts. That's just a reflection on when they were built. They had no peer enemy. And they weren't revolutionary (they were evolutionary). I can't see the UK public accepting the cost of preserving vanguard. They'd almost certainly say. "Well Belfast was at significant battles and has a long career. Her history is surely more worthy of preserving" and on top of that. The cost of getting Belfast to where she is moored was significantly cheaper than it would have been for a ship that's the draft and tonnage of Vanguard. The UK doesn't always get it right when it comes to preserving history. But other than loosing Warspite, it's definitely 99% quality over quantity. And Warspite just could not be kept for financial reasons. And that's the nature of the world.
I’m not Navy and yet have tears in my eyes listening to this, especially for Enterprise and Warspite. I wonder if the reason so many of these ships escape on their way to the breakers is because they’re vessels for the souls of the sailers who died in them and they fought one last battle in a vain attempt to escape they’re final demise.
i would off loved to see HMS Warspite as a museum ship specially what she meant to the British sailors she was known as the grand old lady. the Germans failed to sink her three times. once in WW1 and twice in WW2. battle of Jutland the Germans claimed to sunk her.
A few years ago, I came across a poem written about Warspite by a former member of her crew, who saw her aground in Marazion cove after she broke loose from her tow on her way to the breakers. I defy even the most cynical not to be moved :- "The Subject" You say you have no subject And your brushes all have dried; But come to Marazion At the ebbing of the tide. And look you out to seaward, Where my Lady, battle scarred Hugs the rock that is more welcome, Than the shameful breakers yard. Paint her there upon the sunset In her glory and despair, With the diadem of victory Still in flower upon her hair.
Let her whisper as she settles Of her blooding long ago, In the mist that mingles Jutland With the might of Scapa Flow.
Let her tell you, too, of Narvik With its snowy hills, and then Of Matapan, Salerno And the shoals of Walcheren;
And finally of Malta, When along the purple street Came in trail the Roman Navy To surrender at her feet.
Of all these honours conscious, How could she bear to be Delivered to the spoiler Or severed from the sea ?
So hasten then and paint her In the last flush of her pride On the rocks of Marazion, At the ebbing of the tide.
It is a crime against history that CV-6 USS Enterprise was not saved. That people in "official" circles could not see the significance of the ship to history is pathetic.
The US had far too many ships, and in 1946 or so, no one was thinking memorial ships. Keep in mind that the US also had cancelled 12 new build Essex/Ticonderoga carriers because they had so many by the end of the war. Counting fleet, light and escort carriers, the US put 140 carriers alone in service between 1942 and 1945. Add 10 battleships, a bunch of cruisers of different sizes, and a cubic butt load of destroyers and escorts. With deactivations or pre-war built and battle damaged ships, the US was also hard pressed for pier and berthing space to store all the mothballed and deactivated warships.
My grandfather's best friend served on the Enterprise in WW2 & he & many, many of her crew did everything they could to help have it preserved. My grandfather said his friend was practically inconsolable when the Enterprise's fate was sealed.
@@timclaus8313 Yeah majority of the scrappings were understandable but how many of them has the same legacy as CV-6? In the end the nation lost its national treasure due to shortsightedness as they didn't think it would be significant until it was well too late despite being the most decorated U.S. warship in WW2. It's a national disgrace.
As awesome a ship as the Iowas where, I'd trade all 4 of them for Enterprise, she represented the war in the Pacific. Such a tough old bird, the Japanese reported her sunk more than once. It took a direct hit by a highly skilled Kamakazi to her forward elevator to take her out of the war, which, true to her service, was only a matter of repairs to send her back in but the war ended before hand. Ironically, it was the inability to safe her from the scrapper that did what the entire Japanese Imperial Navy couldn't do. One of the saddest stories from the war came years after as some of the men who served on her, working near the harbor, watched as she was ripped apart piece by piece.
@@tankthebear Halsey tried to save her but couldn't get the funding. Preserving warships as museums really wasn't a widespread idea back then. But, yes, it was sad that less important ships were preserved and not Enterprise.
@@Spacebattler If both could be saved I would be the first to cheer but if it came down to only being able to save one or the other I would sacrifice Missouri to save Enterprise.
From a British point of view. HMS Dreadnought, HMS Warspite, HMS Vanguard, HMS Ark Royal (1978) and used as a FAA museum, plus one of the KGV Class and HMS Conqueror as the only nuclear sub to sink an enemy warship. Imagine HMS Victory, Warrior, Dreadnought and Vanguard in a line representing Wooden Wall of England through to the last Battleship built
Before I even start this video, I'm beyond irate that the US Navy denied the multiple requests to make the USS Kittyhawk a museum ship and scrapped her instead. She was the last chance for a non-nuclear supercarrier museum ship. The Lexington, Yorktown, Hornet, Intrepid, and Midway are all great, but the former four are Essex classes, and the Midway is, of course, a Midway class. All tiny compared to the size of a supercarrier, even a non-nuclear one. The Navy really dropped the ball on this one, and it'll be a while till I'm truly over it.
@@mike28003 I was on the Chicago CG 11 and we tied up at North Island too so used to the the Kitty Hawk and Constellation there so they were part of my youth. I was on a sea going tug some years ago and saw the Constellation being towed to Texas to scrap.
I served 2 Westpacs on the Kittyhawk in the early 90s. I wish she had been preserved. I remember sleeping in berthing undercthe flight deck when we had a Tomcat fireball down the deck on landing. I was also locked in aft steering when a pin fell out of the hatch during a live minefield encounter. Still wake up thinking about that clear as day at times.
Agreed non nuclear big deck carrier would be nice. Cities on both coast could have used them as helicopter landing places for financial district quick access. The best use of any carrier to me is USS Yorktown in Charleston. The hanger is an event hall!
The cost of docking and maintaining the Kitty Hawk wold have been enormous. Plus, you would need to find more aircraft donations, etc. to stock the museum. Many of the types of aircraft on the Yorktown, Intrepid and other museum ships are no longer available for the military to donate.
I feel that the HMS Warspite should have been made into a museum ship, it has the longest confirmed hit on a moving target and it survived 2 World wars
No, the longest confirmed hit on a moving target during WW2 was scored by the Scharnhorst in 1940 while firing at HMS Glorious. She hitted the ship from over 24 km away, which makes it the longest confirmed shot on a moving target during WW2.
@@fuxi9923 You realize Warspite and Scharnhorst both share the record of over 24km, right? And if we really must compare, then I would point out that HMS Glorious is a much bigger target when compared to Giulio Cesare. Either way, both of them are legendary ships who made history. And they both hold the record if their claims are true. No way to prove which shot was actually longer.
@@fuxi9923 they both hit there target at 24 km, The only thin Scharnhorst have, is that he (German battleship was a he) was first to hit another moving target. HMS Warspite did the same with a older and much bigger gun, some are much harder to do. I know which one I would be impressed about. The ship with excellent optics and excellent guns, or the ship with old school weapons and systems, just upgradet
@@SuperCatacata doesn‘t change the statement and the Scharnhorst hit was from a greater distance. And btw it doesn‘t matter. These are both just lucky hits, so stop your eternal annoying patriotism it‘s just annoying.
Two nuclear tests actually. After which she was so radioactive that she couldn't be preserved. Same was true of Battleship Nevada, the only battlewagon to be able to get underway during the Pearl Harbor attack.
@@robertf3479 All the ships expended at Bikini suffered that fate. Those that sunk were preserved in a way and are now major scuba diving attractions. A little known fact of the USS Nevada is that early in WWII, many of her copper buss bars were replaced with silver buss bars as copper at that moment was more valuable. They were never removed and were still aboard when the USS Nevada was sunk. OOPS!
I totally agree with your #1 pick. USS Enterprise CV-6 was a true hero, and she deserved a more dignified ending than being cut up. Even the Saratoga got a more fitting end by resting on the bottom of Bikini Atoll with her comrades.
As a Brit, may I thank you for including Warspite. She had an amazing history; as well as the events you mentioned, she scored one of the longest range hits, moving ship to moving ship, of her era, hitting the Italian Giuliio Cesare at 26,000 yards, during the battle of Calabria. The American shipyards at Bremmerton did a wonderful job of refitting her following bomb damage during the German invasion of Crete.
@Anthony Amable Feliciano Yes, that's why I said 'one of the longest', and it's difficult to get a true distance at these ranges. Given all the variables, it's a mix of both good shooting and good luck to score hits at these distances. Naval history seems to agree that gettng one salvo in five hitting the target is good shooting, (with unguided munitions). Scharnhorst was another good active ship, took a similar range of damage to Warspite, and went down fighting.
all of the straight deck Essex class carriers were converted into angle decks and there are four of those that were preserved After I posted this I realize that Bunker Hill and Franklin were repair to like-new condition and left in reserve never to be reactivated and not converted
@@bobbailey2587 Bunker Hill and Franklin were not converted after the war, and they both had the historical value being survivors of kamikaze attacks. There were also a few straight deck Essex class that were converted into early versions of LHDs.
@@nickd576 The Bunker Hill and Franklin never saw service again. They were too damaged to be put back in service. The Essex class were not coverted to LHDs; they were converted to early LPHs and served as such until built from keel LPHs came into service in the 1960s.
Another great presentation , I really enjoy your videos, I retired Navy and I tour the museum ships whenever the opportunity present itself. I too agree that it would have be great to be able to walk the decks of a 4 Stack Destroyer, I love the look of them.II have a model of one in my den. I have toured the museum ship LCI 713 in Portland Oregon and while not as important as the USS New Jersey it is a great sample of another type of Navy ship from WW2 that the museum has done a great job in restoring. Thank you for your work preserving naval history, John Maloney
I was stationed in New Orleans in the early '90s when the Cabot was there and tried to volunteer to help with the getting her ready to become a museum but it proved impossible to get anything going with the people in charge. I was a Chief Engineman in the Navy at the time and and served on WW2 era ships in my career (USS Lexington CV-16 for one), so I had some expertise. The loss of Cabot is something that I've always felt shouldn't have happened. One ship you didn't mention was USS Nevada. She deserved to be saved. The only battleship at Pearl Harbor to get underway, fought at D-Day off of Normandy and the final days of the war with Japan. She was a fighter.
A&E did a documentary on ocean liners that I watched as a child, called Floating Palaces, and it eventually gets to the point where RMS _Mauretania_ is sent for scrap. It's gutting footage, and they segue out with an old man (fake edit: Author Frank Braynard) saying over the top of it words I will never forget. "How could they scrap her?! It was... _sacreligious!"_ "When a ship dies, it's just like a person going. The entity of a ship -- the fullness, the completeness, all the parts together, are something very different from all the parts separately. ...It IS a living entity, a ship."
My dad served on Enterprise and it was like cutting out his heart. He kept in touch with many he knew although not closely, close enough to keep the bond forged in the fight. His flight jacket was a treasure to him.
It's always made me quite sad that the Haruna wasn't saved. I agree with others who have mentioned the Warspite and Prinz Eugen as well. Just no excuse for not being able to visit all three of those ships today. Lest we forget.
WW2 Japanese destroyer Yukikaze. Like USS Enterprise, she was at nearly every battle in the Pacific. She was even one of the escorts for the battleship Yamato's last voyage. She survived the war and went on to serve in the Republic of China Navy all the way up to 1970. There were attempts to have her returned to Japan for preservation as a museum ship. But alas.
Actually, Yukikaze was the escort for the three Yamatos when they sank. She was there when Musashio sank, she was there when Shinano sank and she was there when Yamato sank.
HMS Rodney. Participated in sinking Bismarck, the landings at Anzio and Normandy, basically fought the entire war without major refit. Worn out by the end, and scrapped in 1948.
@@timclaus8313 What? - Jean Bart had wartime service. During WWII she fired on and was disabled by USS Massachusetts during the allied invasion of Casablanca. Or is that history that you prefer to forget? She also took part in the Anglo French invasion of Egypt in 1956. She fired 4 rounds during that fight.
@@stvdagger8074 While Jean Bart fired some rounds at Casablanca, but wasn't truly operational until after the war. France did not have time to finish fully fitting out and working up the ship before the surrender. Richeliue was the only French battleship to really see service in WWII, with Jean Bart not being completed until around '52, and the Strasbourg and Dunkurque being scuttled/sunk in '42 and never returning to service. All would have been really nice ships for the allies to have, but only the Richileiu was really fully operational at the beginning of the war.
As an age of sail buff, it deeply saddens me that poor HMS Implacable was sunk. I think keeping her in good condition would have been expensive, but it represents such an interesting niche of history. It's a good thing we at least have HMS Victory.
My first ship was the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63. I think it's going to be regretted in the future no super carriers were saved. I think a ship that size could be more than a museum, like portion off a section of the flight deck to use as a Coast Guard air rescue station or FEMA etc.. Tons of storage areas etc... I'm wondering if the main reason why none are being saved is the tons of asbestos on them.
I haven’t finished watching this yet but hands down number 1 has to be Enterprise. She recieved the most awards out of any ship. Was the only active fleet carrier for a while and was involved in so much and so many historically significant battles.
USS Enterprise CV-6, 20 Battle Stars and the PUC, we will never forget you nor your valiant warriors who served as the crew. Her helmsman deserves special mention for successfully dodging many attacks and mitigating the damage received due to drastic evasive maneuvers.
As an Australian I would’ve loved to have seen HMAS Australia 2 or HMAS Melbourne 2 preserved both played such a major as the flagships of the RAN and it’s a real shame both were scrapped
Oddly enough, that was just before he got a call from Starfleet Command - his starship's warranty was about to run out, and he was offered an extension, with quantum torpedoes offered if he responded before midnight.
@@dundonrl while they can't preserve the old CVN-65 Enterprise, I hear they are using much of the metal and hull of the old Enterprise to build the new Enterprise as possible.
@@chrismc410 I doubt it. The Enterprise CVN-65 is basically tied to a pier at Newport News and the future Enterprise CVN-80 is under construction currently. Can't make the new one with the old ones steel if she's not being scrapped yet!
I would argue for Vanguard. Letting her go was a huge loss. Warspite was far more significant historically, but she was in such poor material condition by 1945 that it would have been a massive and expensive undertaking to preserve/restore her. On the other hand, Vanguard had much less mileage on her and was still significant in the fact that she was the last battleship designed, carried guns pulled from older historically important ships, and she was the end of the Dreadnought era that England began.
Some of the 15 inch guns from various RN battleships have been preserved by the imperial war Museum. 2 of the guns are mounted outside of the museum in London and changed over now and then.
@Anthony Amable Feliciano Yup. I'm from North Carolina myself, so its a bit of a point of price the my state's battleship, the lead ship of her class, was saved. Last time i got ot tour the ship i was 8, i hope to go back soon to fully appreciate it.
I think if she hadn't taken that kamikaze plane to her hangar, she probably would have been saved, but the cost and effort to restore her to fighting strength was far too much for the navy, never mind a museum organization.
@Anthony Amable Feliciano I believe the proper description is the ENTERPRISE's personal shotgun ;) Also, the quotes about the first time the NORTH CAROLINA opened up with its full anti-aircraft barrage in defense of the Big E, where she was reported to be 'aflame from stem to stern'.
@@philtroskey3454, the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk CV-63, is still moored at the Navy ship yard in Bremerton, Washington. The Navy was suppose to send to Brownsville, Texas in 2019 to be scrapped. Now, there are some talks to send the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk CV-63 to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to make her a museum.
We feel the same in UK over the loss of Warspite (or most decorated) and Vanguard (our last) battleships. Really is tragic the amount of notable ships that ended their service in a scrap yard.
I love your story about the Oregon. She got away from her moorings and was found 500 nmiles away. 😆 I'm from Oregon. The Oregon State Motto is "She Flies With Her Own Wings."
HMS Warspite is definitely the one from the Royal Navy which was a tragedy, She was one of the most successful Battleships in the Royal Navys history and very significant. In my opinion she is the one British Vessel which should have been primarily saved.
Frankly I think Prinz Eugen being used as a nuke testing target was an absolute waste, especially given it was the only one left since Admiral Hipper was scrapped.
always can flip it over, patch the holes, and drag her sorry rusting hulk to a drydock. she's still very intact, and I do believe structurally sound gotta love german engineering
USS Heerman survived the Battle off Samar and was in service with Argentina until the ‘80s. Would have been awesome to preserve. Heck the “Admiral Belgrano” was formerly the USS Phoenix and a Pearl Harbor survivor. Would have saved a lot of international diplomacy issues if she had been decommissioned a few years before her sinking and turned into a museum.
Absolutely agree that " the Grey Ghost" Enterprise should have been saved. For someone who had been involved in preservation of vintage aircraft, I salute your efforts in with the New Jersey
Much the same could be said about Saratoga, it had an even longer history, and played a bigger part in establishing US naval aviation, than the Big E did.
The damage enterprise took in her career would have made her very interesting to keep from a restoration view. There is no way all that battle damage would not have affected her in her career as museum ship. It could have limited her life dramatically as a museum ship. But sadly we will never know.
there were 2 carriers stored in Newport RI, I loved to look at them when i was doing fire inspections near the old navy base .they were later scraped i would have loved to go on one
I believe that HMS Warspite holds the record for the longest range hit on another warship. She hit the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare at a range of 26,000 yards.
The USS Phoenix certainly deserves an honorable mention. She was the last Pearl Harbor US Navy Ship and Brooklyn Class cruiser survivor. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association was negotiating with the Argentine government to purchase the ship when the Falklands Island War broke out. Unlike the other ships lost on this list she received a warrior's death at the hands of HMS Conqueror.
I agree with the USS Phoenix. The Brooklyn Class should have had one saved. That class fought as battleships off Guadalcanal. My favorite is the USS Helena. Their 15 six inch guns provided amazing fire power for the day.
I've always thought that it was a crime to scrap the USS Washington - the only US Battleship to sink an enemy battleship. Also strongly agree on the USS Enterprise.
She's not the only one. The old battleships, including five that had been at Pearl Harbor, sunk their teeth into the Yamashiro in the Battle of Shurigao Straight. But that was a pretty one sided fight, both numerically and technologically. But yeah, I wish my state's namesake had been saved. But at least her sister ship is available to visit.
This is the best of many fine documentary videos and lectures from Ryan and the Battleship New Jersey channel. Thank you - I was glued to the screen, as they say, for the whole video. I've had the good fortune to visit Battleship Alabama around year 2000, take a few rolls of film, and tour the destroyer Kidd and submarine next door, plus the aviation museum attached. During that vacation my recent bride and I toured the Naval Aviation Museum also, as we made our way from Dallas to Sanibel Island and back with stopovers at her childhood haunts and also saw the new and WW II Museum in New Orleans which was just being outfitted. Wow, I think that is a Gulf Coast tour we have to make again; we aare in our 70s but after an upcoming surgery we should be fit to plan and go. This time we will not fail to tour our home state's own USS Texas.
HMS Warspite would be my choice. A member of the first ever class of fast battleships, and she had an incredible career. (edit) But I see you already have her!
I think one should've been the TCG Yavuz, formerly known as the SMS Geoben, one of the longest serving battleships and pre-war battleships to be in service
Except they can barely keep it afloat while it’s in service with the Russian navy already 😂 but I guess you make a good point that maybe it’ll be better in civilian hands
They should scrap that piece of shit and build a new one. I know it's a national pride thing but the refit is going to cost billions and the ship will still be garbage, still constantly breaking down and not that useful to begin with even if it was reliable.
At least the Chinese were able to buy 2 of the Kievs to "preserve" as hotel/casino/museum ships and are treating Kuznetsov's sister Varyag/Liaoning better in PLAN service. Still hoping the Russians can get their Sh*t together and preserve one of the Kirov's and one of the Typhoon-class subs as museums.
@@breadbug6101 they've been talking about it since the 1980's. Pretty sure the plans were completed then as well. Time to stop talking and actually start building if they want to have carriers.
fun fact, 25% of the original Enterprise was used in CVN-65. That 25% is going to be used in the new Enterprise, in the eyes of the U.S.N. the Enterprise never died, it evolved.
It's a travesty that USS Enterprise (CV-6) was not made into a museum ship. She was the most decorated ship the Navy at the end of WW2 and a veteran of almost EVERY major battle in the Pacific.
Prinz Eugen survived the channel dash survived the bismarck episode. 2. HMS Nelson she survived the war and fought throughout. 3. King George V Flagship of the home fleet fought throughout the war.
Way back in 1975, My dad took us on a tour of U-995, at Labou in Germany. He was 3rd watch officer on U-969 and wanted us to know what it was like to be on one. Fast forward to 1997, I had a chance to visit a buddy in San Francisco. While he was off at work, I toured USS Pampanito. My god, the difference between them was amazing. Both of them served well, did their jobs well, but a US Fleet boat was like palatial compared to the German 7C.
The biggest F-up was by the British not saving the Warspite.I love the footage in the background when you were talking about the Big-E. That's a crazy looking turn she is making lol.
If you're familiar with Drachinifel's channel, he featured a solid chunk of that footage in a recent video. It's even more extreme than you can see in this video. It's speculated Enterprise's helmsman went on to be the lead stunt driver for Tokyo Drift before moonlighting as The Stig.
That was an F-Up was it? Are you aware that food rationing did not end in Britain until almost ten years AFTER WWII ended? 1954 to be exact. Britain after the war was struggling to keep its people fed, let alone saving warships. Where is the money going to come from to save them? Yes, it would have been nice to see Warspite saved, but it takes money to save those ships, and after WWII Britain was right on the edge of total bankruptcy. This was not helped by the ways the US Government force loan repayments in order to 'speed up' the Decolonisation process... Something that backfired in spectacular fashion in India leading to the deaths of anywhere between 1 - 3 million people... of course, its the Brits that get blamed for that fiasco.....
@@alganhar1 I get the huge worth resource wise scrapping steel battleships, but just going, "You, we don't have the money now, so let's just blow holes into this veteran of the most famous naval battle of our nation that survived for 150 years and sink her", WHY?! Implacable didn't help the UK's economy as a wreck in the Channel either.
Was sad learning Warspite was scrapped in the end, way before me but it's a crying shame that Warspite was not saved such a history ridden ship for the Royal Navy would have been amazing to see her either in Portsmouth historic dockyard or where HMS Belfast is now in the Thames.
I live in London, and while I appreciate HMS Belfast and I’m glad she was saved, when I see her on the Thames I always think it should be Warspite berthed on the river.
@@patl709 Yea Belfast was only saved as she was in better material condition than her sister ship, Belfast almost went to the breakers as well. Warspite had a lot of old damage as well. After she took the hit from the guided bomb her super firing aft turret was never repaired. She was very worn out by 1946 and there was no desire to save such a old ship. Still sad despite her history and what she survived
I remember seeing a live television report on the USS Enterprise right before she was scrapped in 1958 (I was 15). I can remember seeing the television tour of her and the empty poorly maintained hanger bay. I remember thinking that it was such a shame she was not being saved. I had at this point also previously toured the USS Texas over Easter weekend in 1953 (was not yet 10 and still have some photos of me on the AA mounts). Interestingly enough in 1967 I actually got to serve on a functional carrier as part of an air group. It was the USS Randolph (CVS-15) which was later decommissioned and scrapped. Following that our air group was assigned to the USS Yorktown which still survives at Patriots Point. I have had the pleasure of touring the USS Alabama twice. Once while in flight training next door in Pensacola (1966) and again in 2007 as part of a Scout troop tour over a weekend (along with the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola). While going through OCS in Newport, R.I., I also got to tour the USS Massachusetts, USS Constitution and USS Olympia. Of course the USS New Jersey was not a museum ship yet as that was 1965. I thank you and all your crew for what you are doing and for these videos. As I am almost 80 now, I don't travel much, but hopefully I will get the opportunity to come up and visit the USS New Jersey.
The BIG “E” CV6. How many Battle Stars did she earn? She was involved in the defense of Peril Harbor. Money couldn’t be raised to save her from the scrap yard. A true tragedy.
She earned 20 Battle Stars and the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC). She also earned the British Admiralty Pennant which was the first and possibly only foreign ship thus far to earn this designation from the Royal Navy in its approximate 400+ year history.
Twice the HMS Warspite and I have crossed paths. My former history teacher at school was called Commander Holgate and he was the chief gunnery officer on Warspite during 1944-45 and saw action on D-Day and the Normandy campaign. He was a real character and brilliant teller of real history. Four years ago I went snorkelling on the spot where Warspite ran aground on her way to the breaker's yard (it's at Marazion in Cornwall). Some swimmers claim you can see a small section of iron keel that was never removed or damage to the rocks where she hit them. I couldn't see anything in the water that day but I was right over where she beached.
I saw the Cabot tied up in New Orleans in the 90s but couldn't get anywhere near her to find out what the heck she was doing there. I had no clue it would be the only time I'd ever see her again. Such a shame and I'm glad to see her on your list!
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Nagato and Prinz Eugen were still in working order and would have been prime examples of Axis capital ships to have as museums. HMS Warspite absolutely should have been saved as well.
bro in 1945 they would think ur nuts for saying lets preserve these ships lol
Agreed on both Nagato and Prinz Eugen, very emphatically.
Prinz Eugen yeah, but Nagato was in really, really bad shape. She was arguably unseaworthy when she made her last voyage. Restoring her would have been extremely difficult and mind-bogglingly expensive.
Warspite was a wreak when sent to the breakers yard. With X turret and one of the 4 engines inoperable and a good chunk of the rear hull patched with concrete. She still had some use as a floating platform for 6 15 inch guns but nothing more. It would have required substantial work to get her fit for use as a museum ship.
@@davidwright7193 Queen Elizabeth or Valiant would have been a good substitute
On of my favorite witticisms from Drachinifel, “At this point it was effectively the USS Enterprise versus then entire Imperial fleet, something the crew saw as resembling a fair fight”
Truer words have never been spoken.
What the entire Japanese navy couldn't accomplish was done by her own country's politicians.
Brings a tear to my eye every time I think about it.
Drachinfel has a way with saying witty things.
Kind of like his comment about Samar when a junior watch officer saw the IJN pulling out and said something along the lines of 'damn, they're getting away'......
@@timclaus8313 the other good one is “Don’t worry boys, we’re suckering them into 40mm range”
I often went to see the USS Enterprise while she was tied up at the old Brooklyn Navy Yard while I was in High School. There was a street in Williamsburg Brooklyn that faced the Navy Yard docks. I remember that in 1957 I asked my Dad (an Army Veteran) for an advance on my allowance so that I could contribute to the organization that was trying to save this ship. What a crime that the Big E was never saved. I am currently building a 1/350 scale model of this ship.
That’s really cool. I’d love to see your model when it’s done.
If there was a WW2 that absolutely should have been saved it is the Big E.
Such an iconic and so very important participant in the War in the Pacific.
Almost criminal that she wasnt saved.
There was no state to contribute funding as with Texas, and there wasn't as much expendable money floating around in the late 40s and early 50s as there was in the 60s when many of the ships became museums. Plus after the war damage and sitting is decaying state, by the time Big E was scrapped, she would have been in pretty sad shape. There was never any intention of keeping her in reserve, as the USN had too many Essex and Midway carriers, and didn't even retain all the Essex in service. Most of our museum ships served well into the late 50s or even the 60s, or were in well maintained reserve status, prior to becoming museums.
The loss of HMS Warspite is a national tragedy. RIP Warspite.
She was supposed to be preserved. It was her or Vanguard. In the end it was neither. And HMS Rodney and her sister Nelson were used as bombing targets.
@@holdencross5904 I can't imagine why anyone would want to preserve Vanguard...it was a brand new BB built and commissioned 5 years after the end of the age of the BB, never saw combat. Literally any other surviving RN battleship would have been more deserving, but Warspite should have been it.
@@tremedar because it was the last battleship ever built that’s it. That was it’s only title
@@tremedar Because Vanguard was the last. She stayed in service the longest because she was in the best shape, and thus was still around by the time that the UK was no longer in crippling debt and could've actually afforded to preserve her.
Plus, imagine if Vanguard were berthed a Portsmouth as a museum now. Both the first and the last British armored warships would be there. HMS Warrior, IIRC, never saw combat either and is simply significant as the first Royal Navy ironclad. But the fact that she ushered in the era of armor is important enough. Likewise, Vanguard was significant as being the last.
I completely agree
Warspite: “was I a good ship?”
“No”
“You were the best”
#1 agreed wholeheartedly. Big E (almost) single-handedly propped up the entire Pacific theater for the US until new construction//D7-41 survivors were able to join her.
This is actually a Top 8 list. Warspite and Enterprise are simply understood.
Yes, indeed.
Facts
@Bigg GIB'S fun house Well he didn't let you down.
I'm not real familiar with the Warspite but I completely agree about the Big 'E'. She deserved to be preserved every bit as much as the New Jersey. Those 2 ships probably participated in more engagements than any other US Navy ship.
Hopefully ^he'll be listing the Brooklyn/St Louis class light cruisers as a ship type to be saved. How can you not save a pre-war cruiser with 5 main turrets with 3 guns each!?
One of the nations biggest embarrassments ever. The Big E was, at times, the only operating American carrier against the entire Japanese fleet in the Pacific theater. She deserved to be repaired to new condition no matter the cost just based on her service to this nation.
Except then we would not have gotten CVN-65 named Enterprise. Preserving a ship invariably means a near-permanent loss of its name in active service, as they are loathe to use the name on a new ship while the previous incarnation is still extant. They are only now finally reusing the names of the battleships which are museum ships for the new Virginia-class submarines. The other way to kill a name is for it to be the namesake ship of its class.
Not true they can strike the name while the ship still exists. The Sullivan’s is an example of that. It all depends if they strike the name or keep the ship on active status or not.
If the ship is turned into a museum the name has been stricken because it’s not longer on the books as a reserve. Now if the navy operates it that’s another thing, such as the constitution or victory.
that would go for the saratoga for a short period as well, until she was reinforced by HMS victorious one ship that i also think deserved to be saved
They are at least reusing as much of the steel and old hull of the old Enterprise in the construction of the new Enterprise. If it's safe to do and doesn't compromise safety, no reason why not and in a way preserves the old ship and literally stitches the history onto bones of the new ship.
This museum ship curator knows so much about NAVY ships, naval warfare, and obviously the history of maritime sea battles. What a fantastic resource to have speaking on these topics. Well done Battleship New Jersey!
The sinking of the HMS Implacable was insane. The ship survived for 150 years following the Napoleonic wars only to be sunk the the idiocy of the socialist Labor government after WW2.
Ya, he just needs a comb and a proper haircut! 😉
Warspite was the Forest Gump of Battleships. It was everywhere and did everything and was always doing something important.
Great analogy, lol....
Just like USS Nevada
@@B0AT_DADDY Pretty much. Pennsylvania, Nevada, California, Tennessee, Mississippi, Idaho, New York all had a pretty busy war. Drachinifel has a great 3 part video series on raising the battleships at Pearl Harbor. Much the same can be said about 4 of the Revenge class and 4 of the QE battleships of the RN, plus the Renown (Royal Oak and Barham were lost pretty early on). All pretty much wore themselves out to finish up the war.
Yes, it had a lot in common with Forrest Gump, except that it wasn't socially awkward and didn't have a learning disability. 😁
By the end of the war it was a wreck though.
In addition to being the only surviving Pre-Dreadnaught, Mikasa is also the last surviving British built Battleship
Yup, she was featured in an world of warships legend episode.
Also could arguably have made this list, since the excessively onerous conditions of her preservation as a museum ship lead to her being entirely gutted of interior. That being said, the fact that she was filled with concrete was probably the only thing that saved her from being scrapped during ww2 when the Japanese were desperate for steel.
Walking her decks shows the blend of ironclad ships, with what is not that far off from a sailing ship of the line. The guns on the main deck have very little protection, and basically none overhead. Enjoyed walking through her in Yokosuka. More fire power and armor, but really not all that advanced in layout than HMS Warrior. Walking Mikasa or the Olympia (same era of design) it is easy to see how Dreadnaught made entire fleets obsolete at launching.
She wasbuilt 40 miles from me in barrow in furness cumbria
@@shaider1982 Look up Azur Lane Mikasa. She even references her time with the Royal Navy.
USS NEVADA. Her battle record was out standing, she was the only battle ship to get underway during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She also had a fascinating back story on the timing of her construction. The only thing left of her is the officers mess table set, which by the way, was made of silver mined from the Comstock mines.
Right?! And like some in the list, she didn't go down without a fight either! She took two nukes!
I would have liked to see West Virginia saved, she was a testament to how good a foundation the standards were during her full rebuild post-Pearl.
USS Pennsylvania; Another Pearl Harbor survivor, and sister to the Arizona.
@@sadlsore True, but I think Wee Vee holds a historical place as the most highly modified, and arguably most potent, WWI era (pre-treaty) battleship.
Agreed. I would be happy to see any of the post-Texas, pre-treaty super dreadnoughts preserved; They were beautiful ships. At least we have the Texas.
Stepping onto Enterprise would have been like stepping on sacred ground.
Amen brother
I mean, the Cold War one (not sure exactly which) is in NYC. I’ve been in there 😂
@@connoroneill9406 In NYC the Intrepid is berthed.
@@connoroneill9406 I first understood your comment as meaning you were "not exactly sure which" Cold War. I realize you meant you were not sure which Enterprise, but it is sadly clear that many of our politicians never want anything more peaceful than a succession of cold wars.
@@christosvoskresye 😂 yeah, I see that
As a Brit, I hadn’t realised how important Enterprise is/was for so many Americans. My number 1 choice is Warspite. Ever since I was a boy I’ve been saddened that we didn’t save this ship. However, it’s such a shame that so many great ships were lost that would be greatly appreciated by both naval enthusiasts and the general public alike today.
If you want to see a documentary of the ship, history channel is putting the episodes of battle 360 on their RUclips channel to watch for free.
The Enterprise is probably the ship with the most action during it's entire life. Many men had died on her deck and she had been hit and repaired multiple times
Warspite yes but I think vanguard is more important because it was the last battleship made ever
Enterprise was so significant to the UK that she's the only non-Royal Navy ship to win the Admiralty Pennant, even.
Considering the history of battlecruisers within the Royal Navy, was there ever any attempt/proposal to save Renown?
Prinz Eugen should of been a museum ship! Would of made an excellent ship to keep and would of make a fantastic history lesson to future generations and would give people a good look into how a German ship operated in comparison to Allied ships.
Trouble is, she was radioactive after the (first 2) Bikini Atoll A-Bomb tests....
I think it's a real. shame that Germany didn't get both Prinz Eugen and Goeben. They would have been wonderful representatives of lost heritage for that country. Prinz Eugen was a lucky ship and survived many exploits without being destroyed like so much of the Kriegsmarine fleet.
@Tim Engineman 2nd That's the point, Prince Eugen should have been saved as she was and not subjected to a nuclear test. The US Navy sailors who bought her to America and eventual destruction all marveled at the construction and use of technology. It was agreed by all the Eugen was a superb ship.
@@rvdmikej My jaw dropped when I learned that Goeben survived for 55 years only to get scrapped. It hurts.
The Prinz Eugen was sailed to Bikini for the test by (naturally) an American crew, who described her as a wonderful vessel and the very best ship they’d ever sailed on. Many of them publicly derided the decision to use her in the tests.
The loss of the Enterprise was truly a National tragedy.... if there was any ship the Congress should have declared a national treasure, it should have been the Enterprise. Great vid as usual Ryan.. love the channel bro.
The Enterprise is number 1 on my list. It was tried but they had her broken up which was a crying shame.
The fact it took 4 tries to finally kill Yorktown and the Big E survived many damaging hits while the USN was fighting a carrier war at a numerical disadvantage, pretty much kills any notions that the design was inherently inferior. While the Essex was a better ship and class, the Yorktowns were still darn good carriers, especially as the first truly modern purpose built carriers for the USN.
At least steel from cvn-65 will be used for the new enterprise cvn-80
@@flbpgaming6375 and CVN 80 will most likely sink in the next war
@@timclaus8313 US navy could not sink /scuttled sister ship Hornet. It was the IJN that finally 'Long Lanced' her.
@@1968gadgetyo Yup, holes in the topside and fires took a very long time to kill a ship. Big holes in the bottom were much more efficient.
Enterprise has always been at the top of my list. I would have loved to see the Saratoga preserved as well, especially considering her unique design and how much it influenced later fleet carriers. I'm also not aware of any relatively early monitors that were preserved (though that may just be my ignorance), and given the speed of innovation that warship design was undergoing during that time, it would be cool to have a few examples of those lying around. If I could pick one, it would probably be the Novgorod, because what a bizarre and interesting vessel.
The USS Monitor turret and other parts, are at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA. They have now built a full scale replica of the ship, along with a life size model of the how the turret was found, upside down.
The USS Forrestal was the first of that class.
I am the grandson of a Saratoga veteran.
I saw the Enterprise as a boy when she was being scrapped. A national tragedy, really, and a great loss to history.
U atleast got to see her 😭
The US Navy wanted a million dollars for her. But it didn't happen.
As a boy, from the Staten Island ferry, I saw not only the Enterprise docked across the bay in "JOISEY" but the Alaska class battlecruiser moored next to her.
I am from Canada joined the RCN and the class of ship I started out on was the ST. Lauraunt Class, and not one bloody ship was saved when their service to this ungrateful country. We all lost and good piece of Canadian history
I remember reading The Big E as a child in the early 60s. I could not believe the country scrapped her. Shameful.
The USS Enterprise, the USS Nevada, the HMS King George V, and the HMS Warspite are on my list.
And West Virginia, the most modern super dreadnaught of them all, after the post-Pearl Harbor rebuild.
Ok agree with all of those..
@@timclaus8313 Agreed!
The Nevada is second and the Warspite is first for the most legendary ships that refused to be sunk.
I question alot of the us dreadnoughts surviving, outside the Colorados...Texas could be argued to have been the most important Dreadnought in us navy history just for maturing us navy capabilities, by being the 1st at so many important leaps in naval technology, but she ain't doing so great. If Texas has a hard time, I don't see many of the standards doing better
One other notable thing about Warspite is that she made the longest range hit on another moving ship. During the Battle of Calabria on 9 July 1940 Warspite scored a 15" hit on the Italian battleship Guilio Caesare at 26,000 yards (24 km).
For Me as an engineering student, Prinz Eugen. I would have loved to just walk around her engine and boiler room just to see how overly complicated the German boilers were. Also being an enemy heavy cruiser, she has design features that US cruisers didn't have. In that vein, Richelieu because of her very unique design. Also I can feel Ryan's pain and anguish when saying 1956
Prinz Eugen can still be visited at Kwajalein Atoll. Bring your own flippers and air !!
@@markam306 Don't forget Gigercounter
@@KPen3750 good point, they may still be ‘energized’ a little.
My late brother-in-law was among the very last to walk Prinz Eugen the day before the first A-bomb drop at Bikini. Nearly everything below the main deck required "up and over and down", with fewer passageways between compartments. She was in decent shape after the first blast. Additionally, some ships were scuttled to lessen the U.S. embarrassment, by remaining afloat after the 2nd bomb....
@@KPen3750 she's actually much cleaner than most think.
most of the radiation Eugen suffered had short duration (20-40 years)
if raised today she would have less radiation inside than many houses have (radon gas from the ground)
problem is she's upside down on an remote atoll in the pacific... and she's German so no one that actually could get her raised cares.
I still have a rough time saying it aloud without shedding a tear, "they scrapped the USS Enterprise" the highest decorated ship of World War II, and arguably the most historically important ship of World War II. It really is a tragedy on an epic scale!!
Yes, the Navy should have made the U.S.S. Enterprise CV-6 into a museum, because she was in every sea battle in the Pacific during WW-ll. The Navy does plan to name a Ford class aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Enterprise CV-80 and she will be the third carrier to be named Enterprise.
_arguably the most historically important ship of World War II._
Good point. What is? A ship that changed a battle that changed the direction of a war, or ensured consolidation?
*1)* HMS Warspite single handedly near wiped out the German surface fleet at Narvik.
*2)* A US carrier at Midway _must_ be in contention.
*3)* What about British ships ensuring Malta was supplied preventing Axis occupation?
*4)* HMS Illustrious, launched planes for the Taranto raid, ensuring the RN stayed in the Med.
I am sure there are more.
The USS Enterprise was about to enter pearl harbour when pearl was attacked she was present in every major battle The Us fought in the Pacific and at one point the Only operational Carrier left in the Pacific and participated in the battle of Okinawa and she the ship picked for the signing of the surrender of japan but she was damage in okinawa and not rapaired in time for the surrender of japan. Hence why the uss Iowa was picked.
@@gotanon8958
Scrapping her was not wise.
For the US in the Pacific yes. But in terms of actual Battle Honors for all the Allied Nations, it has to be HMS Warspite, especially if you include WWI service as well. The KGV will also be up there as well.
The thousand pound Fritz X Guided bomb that hit the Warspite actually did destroy a far more modern Battleship, the Italian Roma. Interestingly enough Douglas Reeman's book Battlecruiser details the history of the fictional Renown class HMS Reliant which has intermittent rudder issues throughout it's career, usually timed to either save the ship or put it in a position to save other ships. There is no doubt to me that he had Warspite's antics in mind while telling this story.
I love the passion in Ryans voice, when he mentions the fate and the incompetence of those who let these ships go
24:19 "and this happened recently enough that there's photographs of them doing this!" The disgust in his voice is so deep.
Uss Pennsylvania would have been a great ship to save, she could have been at pearl harbor watching over her sister ship like Missouri is doing, two sisters together again Pennsylvania and Arizona, anyone else think that would have been epic and worth it to save Pennsylvania for that?
Would have been sick for sure 🤘🏻
Yeah. Pennsylvania would have been an easy call. And it had a place it could have been berthed at the end of Broad St.
And PT 53.
That would’ve been cool indeed! I could make a case for the at least one of the modernized Pearl survivors like USS California, too.
The unsinkable Pennsylvania. Heck yeah. Talk about a fighter.
Yeah, but she unfortunately met a bright end.
I just knew Enterprise was going to be number one. It was a disgrace to scrap hers.
warspite was the 1st ship to open fire on d day, she used her ENTIRE ammo stock despite only having 6 working main guns. she went back across the channel to restock and then went back to normandy and emptied her magazines again! completely wore out her guns
She epitomises 'Better to burn out than fade away'. By the end of the war she had concrete parches over some of the Fritz-X damage and ony three shafts running, but she still gave her all as a bombardment vessel. Grand Old Lady, indeed.
Wow Ryan mentioned in another video the guns on New Jersey were never worn out. They replaced them when they brought her back in 1980s, but that was the least of the updates done on the Iowas in the refit and wasn't actually needed.
Got the use out of them didn't they better to go out in a blazing fire then be snuffed out
I think it is safe to say that along with Warspite, battleships Rodney, Ramilles, Nevada, Texas and Arkansas all pretty much wore out their main and secondary guns off Normandy. All the gunnery ships did their jobs, firing as long as they could reach targets. Plenty of accounts of the BB captains taking their ships uncomfortably close to the shore, and even listing the ships to gain added range. No need to slight any other ship involved.
@@profpep dont forget the battle of the shelt/walcherin
USS Texas needs to be restored. Leaving her to rot is just disgraceful.
She is being restored, there is a channel here on RUclips that is devoted to her. The group that owns and operates her has had money issues.
Ok how much money are you willing to donate for that effort ?
@@sjd7188 I donated as much as I could smart-ass, 200 bucks.
As a Texan I find it disgraceful that my people and government have allowed it so the vast majority of people who live here unfortunately are incompetent assholes and self-centered people who only care about themselves and can't even begin to understand how significant the battleship Texas really is as for myself I am extremely poor and I've lived underneath the poverty line my entire life I've only ever gone to see it one time and I donated what I had which was basically nothing it is disgraceful and disgusting to me that the ship has been left to rot the way it was I hope that with this new restoration project the ship will finally be getting the help that it needs and deserves it pisses me off that I could do nothing and that my fellow Texans in Mass have not done anything about it there's apparently only a small group of people relatively speaking even care about the ship I guess that's the problem with my generation we don't understand the significance of the past....
Too bad telling the Texans she has really big guns didn't bring any more attention to the ship.
It is said as well that HMS Warspite during the Battle of Calabria made history when she scored a hit on the Italian battleship Guilio Cesare at a range of about 26,000 yds which was one of the longest-range naval artillery hits in history
My father's blood was in ENTERPRISE's steel. An aviation metalsmith, he served with Fighting 6 in 1942, wounded at Santa Cruz. Every time I see that combat footage, I wonder if he was one of the sailors pictured.
I think that is natural with every child who see's old photos that might include their parents. I must confess I do the same thing. I know I could never spot him in those photos and films as he was a 17 year old kid when he served on the Enterprise back then.
@@jameshuban6515 Your dad was on the Big E in '42?
@@petesheppard1709 I'll have to find and check his service record. I don't think he joined the ship until late in 1942 or early 1943. I did find his "Neptune Rex Certificate" where he crossed the equator on January 3, 1943. According to Wikipedia she was "training out of Espiritu, New Heribides" from 12/4/42 - 1/28/43. If this is true, he was 16 years old. I know his mother signed the papers for him to enlist. Then he was a yeoman 3c.
He went on to become and retire as a CPO, 30 years later. Not too bad for not finishing high school.
@@jameshuban6515 Ah. So he likely came aboard during repair and refit after Santa Cruz. My dad had likely just been evacuated.
@@petesheppard1709 That sounds about right.
I find it hard to believe he could have been there any time earlier. He was born on October 5th, 1925. So the math suggest he couldn't have been aboard any sooner.
He was very proud of that ship but never talked us kids about what he saw. My mom said while drinking with the neighbors, he laughed about someone running across the flight deck on one leg and not falling over until he stopped. She said he had obviously seen a lot.
Thank you for putting The Big E, at the top. Letting her go to the scrappers was a tragedy. I am in complete agreement with you here.
In my eyes, the French battleship Jean Bart should have been saved, HMS Nelson should have been saved, and USS California should have been saved, all having their own reasons but overall they all should have been saved
Edit a year later: The French cruiser Colbert (C611) should have been saved too, as she was scrapped more recently
Richelieu, maybe. Jean Bart wasn't completed until well after WWII. The only thing of significance Jean Bart did during the war is absurd 16" shells from USS Massachussetts.
I'm calling it now, the USS Enterprise (CV-6) is going to be #1 on this list and USS California (BB-44) should totally have been preserved
enterprise and warspite, 1 and 1a
@@Scoobydcs Agree with 1 & 1a, if you were preserving old US standard battleships, it would be Pennsylvania or Nevada of the oldest classes, as closest to original configuration. And I would chose the West Virginia as an example of the most extensive rebuild and repair job of the Pearl Harbor survivors. WV was the most extensively rebuilt pre-treaty super dreadnaught in any navy.
My dad was aboard California on Dec 7th, so id second that...!!!
Retaining HMS Vanguard would have made a nice addition to Portsmouth Naval Museum; placed next to HMS Warrior: the first and the last true armoured battleships.
She didn't have any heritage though. Warrior was kept as an example of amazing Victorian engineering more than anything else.
Vanguard was only remarkable for being the last battleship in the RN.
@@AdamMGTF heritage is only part of the equation though- with Britain's finances in poor shape after ww2, Vanguard might have been a compelling choice for being in the best condition rather than needing a lot of work
@@MercenaryPen but you hit the nail there. Financially there was no way the UK could afford to keep a ship like vanguard. Especially as she has no accomplishments. Remember, the UK preserves the history of a ship. Not the fact the ship exists. The Iowa's are amazing feats of engineering. I mean mind blowingly amazing. But they didn't accomplish anything remarkable compared to other Dreadnaughts/super Dreadnaughts. That's just a reflection on when they were built. They had no peer enemy. And they weren't revolutionary (they were evolutionary).
I can't see the UK public accepting the cost of preserving vanguard. They'd almost certainly say. "Well Belfast was at significant battles and has a long career. Her history is surely more worthy of preserving" and on top of that. The cost of getting Belfast to where she is moored was significantly cheaper than it would have been for a ship that's the draft and tonnage of Vanguard.
The UK doesn't always get it right when it comes to preserving history. But other than loosing Warspite, it's definitely 99% quality over quantity. And Warspite just could not be kept for financial reasons. And that's the nature of the world.
HMS Renown, a beautiful ship and a great example of the transition from battlecruisers to fast battleships
I’m not Navy and yet have tears in my eyes listening to this, especially for Enterprise and Warspite.
I wonder if the reason so many of these ships escape on their way to the breakers is because they’re vessels for the souls of the sailers who died in them and they fought one last battle in a vain attempt to escape they’re final demise.
Just read this and I broke up... what a beautifully elegant thing to say... salute Bryan
i would off loved to see HMS Warspite as a museum ship specially what she meant to the British sailors she was known as the grand old lady. the Germans failed to sink her three times. once in WW1 and twice in WW2. battle of Jutland the Germans claimed to sunk her.
A few years ago, I came across a poem written about Warspite by a former member of her crew, who saw her aground in Marazion cove after she broke loose from her tow on her way to the breakers. I defy even the most cynical not to be moved :-
"The Subject"
You say you have no subject
And your brushes all have dried;
But come to Marazion
At the ebbing of the tide.
And look you out to seaward,
Where my Lady, battle scarred
Hugs the rock that is more welcome,
Than the shameful breakers yard.
Paint her there upon the sunset
In her glory and despair,
With the diadem of victory
Still in flower upon her hair.
Let her whisper as she settles
Of her blooding long ago,
In the mist that mingles Jutland
With the might of Scapa Flow.
Let her tell you, too, of Narvik
With its snowy hills, and then
Of Matapan, Salerno
And the shoals of Walcheren;
And finally of Malta,
When along the purple street
Came in trail the Roman Navy
To surrender at her feet.
Of all these honours conscious,
How could she bear to be
Delivered to the spoiler
Or severed from the sea ?
So hasten then and paint her
In the last flush of her pride
On the rocks of Marazion,
At the ebbing of the tide.
Lt-Cmdr R A B Mitchell
It is a crime against history that CV-6 USS Enterprise was not saved. That people in "official" circles could not see the significance of the ship to history is pathetic.
Those people are only concerned with their significance.
The US had far too many ships, and in 1946 or so, no one was thinking memorial ships. Keep in mind that the US also had cancelled 12 new build Essex/Ticonderoga carriers because they had so many by the end of the war. Counting fleet, light and escort carriers, the US put 140 carriers alone in service between 1942 and 1945. Add 10 battleships, a bunch of cruisers of different sizes, and a cubic butt load of destroyers and escorts. With deactivations or pre-war built and battle damaged ships, the US was also hard pressed for pier and berthing space to store all the mothballed and deactivated warships.
@@timclaus8313 makes sense
My grandfather's best friend served on the Enterprise in WW2 & he & many, many of her crew did everything they could to help have it preserved. My grandfather said his friend was practically inconsolable when the Enterprise's fate was sealed.
@@timclaus8313 Yeah majority of the scrappings were understandable but how many of them has the same legacy as CV-6? In the end the nation lost its national treasure due to shortsightedness as they didn't think it would be significant until it was well too late despite being the most decorated U.S. warship in WW2. It's a national disgrace.
As awesome a ship as the Iowas where, I'd trade all 4 of them for Enterprise, she represented the war in the Pacific. Such a tough old bird, the Japanese reported her sunk more than once. It took a direct hit by a highly skilled Kamakazi to her forward elevator to take her out of the war, which, true to her service, was only a matter of repairs to send her back in but the war ended before hand.
Ironically, it was the inability to safe her from the scrapper that did what the entire Japanese Imperial Navy couldn't do. One of the saddest stories from the war came years after as some of the men who served on her, working near the harbor, watched as she was ripped apart piece by piece.
I shed a tear when I think of our country SCRAPPING the ENTERPRISE ... what a tradedy.
@@tankthebear
Halsey tried to save her but couldn't get the funding. Preserving warships as museums really wasn't a widespread idea back then. But, yes, it was sad that less important ships were preserved and not Enterprise.
Nah, Missouri really needed to be a museum ship. Remember that the Japanese officially surrendered on board the battleship.
@@Spacebattler
If both could be saved I would be the first to cheer but if it came down to only being able to save one or the other I would sacrifice Missouri to save Enterprise.
From a British point of view. HMS Dreadnought, HMS Warspite, HMS Vanguard, HMS Ark Royal (1978) and used as a FAA museum, plus one of the KGV Class and HMS Conqueror as the only nuclear sub to sink an enemy warship. Imagine HMS Victory, Warrior, Dreadnought and Vanguard in a line representing Wooden Wall of England through to the last Battleship built
Dude. You’re going to make me cry! Don’t forget the Nelson class Battleships who were used as Bombing targets.
I would say the ships you named, and HMS Duke of York to represent the KGV class.
And Lion or Tiger to represent the battlecruisers.
If time travel is ever invented, i'am going back to save thouse ships
@@RedXlV KGV over of the DoY
Conqueror is still in storage awaiting disposal. There's a chance.
Before I even start this video, I'm beyond irate that the US Navy denied the multiple requests to make the USS Kittyhawk a museum ship and scrapped her instead. She was the last chance for a non-nuclear supercarrier museum ship. The Lexington, Yorktown, Hornet, Intrepid, and Midway are all great, but the former four are Essex classes, and the Midway is, of course, a Midway class. All tiny compared to the size of a supercarrier, even a non-nuclear one. The Navy really dropped the ball on this one, and it'll be a while till I'm truly over it.
As some one who served on here the last westpac before she went forward deployed it hurts to know she is on her way to be scraped as I type this.
@@mike28003 I was on the Chicago CG 11 and we tied up at North Island too so used to the the Kitty Hawk and Constellation there so they were part of my youth.
I was on a sea going tug some years ago and saw the Constellation being towed to Texas to scrap.
I served 2 Westpacs on the Kittyhawk in the early 90s. I wish she had been preserved. I remember sleeping in berthing undercthe flight deck when we had a Tomcat fireball down the deck on landing. I was also locked in aft steering when a pin fell out of the hatch during a live minefield encounter. Still wake up thinking about that clear as day at times.
Agreed non nuclear big deck carrier would be nice.
Cities on both coast could have used them as helicopter landing places for financial district quick access.
The best use of any carrier to me is USS Yorktown in Charleston.
The hanger is an event hall!
The cost of docking and maintaining the Kitty Hawk wold have been enormous. Plus, you would need to find more aircraft donations, etc. to stock the museum. Many of the types of aircraft on the Yorktown, Intrepid and other museum ships are no longer available for the military to donate.
This has really turned out to be a damn good channel. I wasn't sure if I'd take to it but sure enough. Dude is doing a real good job.
I feel that the HMS Warspite should have been made into a museum ship, it has the longest confirmed hit on a moving target and it survived 2 World wars
No, the longest confirmed hit on a moving target during WW2 was scored by the Scharnhorst in 1940 while firing at HMS Glorious. She hitted the ship from over 24 km away, which makes it the longest confirmed shot on a moving target during WW2.
@@fuxi9923 You realize Warspite and Scharnhorst both share the record of over 24km, right?
And if we really must compare, then I would point out that HMS Glorious is a much bigger target when compared to Giulio Cesare.
Either way, both of them are legendary ships who made history. And they both hold the record if their claims are true. No way to prove which shot was actually longer.
@@fuxi9923 they both hit there target at 24 km, The only thin Scharnhorst have, is that he (German battleship was a he) was first to hit another moving target. HMS Warspite did the same with a older and much bigger gun, some are much harder to do.
I know which one I would be impressed about. The ship with excellent optics and excellent guns, or the ship with old school weapons and systems, just upgradet
@@heuhen doesn‘t change the statement though.
@@SuperCatacata doesn‘t change the statement and the Scharnhorst hit was from a greater distance. And btw it doesn‘t matter. These are both just lucky hits, so stop your eternal annoying patriotism it‘s just annoying.
Prinz Eugen definitely should have been saved. She not only survived the war but also a nuclear bomb test. Very tough ship
Two nuclear tests actually. After which she was so radioactive that she couldn't be preserved. Same was true of Battleship Nevada, the only battlewagon to be able to get underway during the Pearl Harbor attack.
@@robertf3479 All the ships expended at Bikini suffered that fate. Those that sunk were preserved in a way and are now major scuba diving attractions. A little known fact of the USS Nevada is that early in WWII, many of her copper buss bars were replaced with silver buss bars as copper at that moment was more valuable. They were never removed and were still aboard when the USS Nevada was sunk. OOPS!
I will never forget americans because of that
I totally agree with your #1 pick. USS Enterprise CV-6 was a true hero, and she deserved a more dignified ending than being cut up. Even the Saratoga got a more fitting end by resting on the bottom of Bikini Atoll with her comrades.
As a Brit, may I thank you for including Warspite. She had an amazing history; as well as the events you mentioned, she scored one of the longest range hits, moving ship to moving ship, of her era, hitting the Italian Giuliio Cesare at 26,000 yards, during the battle of Calabria. The American shipyards at Bremmerton did a wonderful job of refitting her following bomb damage during the German invasion of Crete.
@Anthony Amable Feliciano Yes, that's why I said 'one of the longest', and it's difficult to get a true distance at these ranges. Given all the variables, it's a mix of both good shooting and good luck to score hits at these distances. Naval history seems to agree that gettng one salvo in five hitting the target is good shooting, (with unguided munitions). Scharnhorst was another good active ship, took a similar range of damage to Warspite, and went down fighting.
@@profpep American here. Respectfully, if I had a shot at 26,000 yards land in the same hemisphere I would have considered myself William Tell!
Also put a whooping on the Italians at Cape Matapan.
It's a shame they couldn't save at least one straight deck Essex.
all of the straight deck Essex class carriers were converted into angle decks and there are four of those that were preserved
After I posted this I realize that Bunker Hill and Franklin were repair to like-new condition and left in reserve never to be reactivated and not converted
@@bobbailey2587 Bunker Hill and Franklin were not converted after the war, and they both had the historical value being survivors of kamikaze attacks.
There were also a few straight deck Essex class that were converted into early versions of LHDs.
@@nickd576 Bunker Hill and Franklin were likely poor candidates for conversion due to structural weakening from the extensive fires they suffered.
@@nickd576 The Bunker Hill and Franklin never saw service again. They were too damaged to be put back in service. The Essex class were not coverted to LHDs; they were converted to early LPHs and served as such until built from keel LPHs came into service in the 1960s.
@@patrickmccrann991 I knew that about the conversion. Even after I fact checked myself I still wrote LHD.
Another great presentation , I really enjoy your videos, I retired Navy and I tour the museum ships whenever the opportunity present itself. I too agree that it would have be great to be able to walk the decks of a 4 Stack Destroyer, I love the look of them.II have a model of one in my den. I have toured the museum ship LCI 713 in Portland Oregon and while not as important as the USS New Jersey it is a great sample of another type of Navy ship from WW2 that the museum has done a great job in restoring.
Thank you for your work preserving naval history, John Maloney
The USS Enterprise CV-6 should have been turned into a museum
The Enterprise should have been saved that was a loss when we scrapped her
I love how Ryan just recites all of this stuff from his brain without the aide of cue cards. Pretty impressive stuff man
I was stationed in New Orleans in the early '90s when the Cabot was there and tried to volunteer to help with the getting her ready to become a museum but it proved impossible to get anything going with the people in charge. I was a Chief Engineman in the Navy at the time and and served on WW2 era ships in my career (USS Lexington CV-16 for one), so I had some expertise. The loss of Cabot is something that I've always felt shouldn't have happened. One ship you didn't mention was USS Nevada. She deserved to be saved. The only battleship at Pearl Harbor to get underway, fought at D-Day off of Normandy and the final days of the war with Japan. She was a fighter.
When you say " cut up for scrap " it's almost like it causes you physical pain... I can relate...
A&E did a documentary on ocean liners that I watched as a child, called Floating Palaces, and it eventually gets to the point where RMS _Mauretania_ is sent for scrap. It's gutting footage, and they segue out with an old man (fake edit: Author Frank Braynard) saying over the top of it words I will never forget.
"How could they scrap her?! It was... _sacreligious!"_
"When a ship dies, it's just like a person going. The entity of a ship -- the fullness, the completeness, all the parts together, are something very different from all the parts separately. ...It IS a living entity, a ship."
My dad served on Enterprise and it was like cutting out his heart. He kept in touch with many he knew although not closely, close enough to keep the bond forged in the fight. His flight jacket was a treasure to him.
I get tears it is sad as hell :(
It's always made me quite sad that the Haruna wasn't saved. I agree with others who have mentioned the Warspite and Prinz Eugen as well. Just no excuse for not being able to visit all three of those ships today. Lest we forget.
HMS Warspite and USS Enterprise should have been kept as museum ships.
WW2 Japanese destroyer Yukikaze. Like USS Enterprise, she was at nearly every battle in the Pacific. She was even one of the escorts for the battleship Yamato's last voyage. She survived the war and went on to serve in the Republic of China Navy all the way up to 1970. There were attempts to have her returned to Japan for preservation as a museum ship. But alas.
Actually, Yukikaze was the escort for the three Yamatos when they sank. She was there when Musashio sank, she was there when Shinano sank and she was there when Yamato sank.
@@Arutima Yukikaze! Stay the hell away from my ship!
They saved the anchor and some other parts of her, but she was wrecked in a typhoon aswell, if not she might have returned to Japan
Typhoon fucked her up.
HMS Rodney. Participated in sinking Bismarck, the landings at Anzio and Normandy, basically fought the entire war without major refit. Worn out by the end, and scrapped in 1948.
As a Frenchman, battleship Jean Bart would be an amazing ship to save, she have such a great history
comme son grand frère le Richelieu
Sinon, il y a aussi le Clémenceau, la Jeanne d'arc, le Paris, le Casabianca...
Just think of the rivalry between the Jean Bart Museum and the USS Massachusetts museum!
I could have seen saving the Richilieu, not so much the Jean Bart; no war time service at all.
@@timclaus8313 What? - Jean Bart had wartime service. During WWII she fired on and was disabled by USS Massachusetts during the allied invasion of Casablanca. Or is that history that you prefer to forget? She also took part in the Anglo French invasion of Egypt in 1956. She fired 4 rounds during that fight.
@@stvdagger8074 While Jean Bart fired some rounds at Casablanca, but wasn't truly operational until after the war. France did not have time to finish fully fitting out and working up the ship before the surrender. Richeliue was the only French battleship to really see service in WWII, with Jean Bart not being completed until around '52, and the Strasbourg and Dunkurque being scuttled/sunk in '42 and never returning to service. All would have been really nice ships for the allies to have, but only the Richileiu was really fully operational at the beginning of the war.
As an age of sail buff, it deeply saddens me that poor HMS Implacable was sunk. I think keeping her in good condition would have been expensive, but it represents such an interesting niche of history. It's a good thing we at least have HMS Victory.
HMS Warrior and HMS Belfast as well.
My first ship was the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63. I think it's going to be regretted in the future no super carriers were saved. I think a ship that size could be more than a museum, like portion off a section of the flight deck to use as a Coast Guard air rescue station or FEMA etc.. Tons of storage areas etc... I'm wondering if the main reason why none are being saved is the tons of asbestos on them.
I haven’t finished watching this yet but hands down number 1 has to be Enterprise. She recieved the most awards out of any ship. Was the only active fleet carrier for a while and was involved in so much and so many historically significant battles.
USS Enterprise CV-6, 20 Battle Stars and the PUC, we will never forget you nor your valiant warriors who served as the crew.
Her helmsman deserves special mention for successfully dodging many attacks and mitigating the damage received due to drastic evasive maneuvers.
Well, mister Giudo… you are now a machinist mate first class! - Admiral William (Bull), Halsey
As an Australian I would’ve loved to have seen HMAS Australia 2 or HMAS Melbourne 2 preserved both played such a major as the flagships of the RAN and it’s a real shame both were scrapped
As one Captain Picard once said, _Let's make sure history never forgets the name _*_Enterprise._*
Oddly enough, that was just before he got a call from Starfleet Command - his starship's warranty was about to run out, and he was offered an extension, with quantum torpedoes offered if he responded before midnight.
PRECOM Enterprise CVN-80 is currently under construction and will join the fleet in 2028.
@@dundonrl good thanks for the info
@@dundonrl while they can't preserve the old CVN-65 Enterprise, I hear they are using much of the metal and hull of the old Enterprise to build the new Enterprise as possible.
@@chrismc410 I doubt it. The Enterprise CVN-65 is basically tied to a pier at Newport News and the future Enterprise CVN-80 is under construction currently. Can't make the new one with the old ones steel if she's not being scrapped yet!
Great list, Goeben was a great inclusion. Being a Brit, I did punch the air when Warspite came up as the old girl had a fabulous history.
I would argue for Vanguard. Letting her go was a huge loss. Warspite was far more significant historically, but she was in such poor material condition by 1945 that it would have been a massive and expensive undertaking to preserve/restore her. On the other hand, Vanguard had much less mileage on her and was still significant in the fact that she was the last battleship designed, carried guns pulled from older historically important ships, and she was the end of the Dreadnought era that England began.
Some of the 15 inch guns from various RN battleships have been preserved by the imperial war Museum. 2 of the guns are mounted outside of the museum in London and changed over now and then.
At least Washington's sister ship was saved. Such a shame Enterprise was broken up.
@Anthony Amable Feliciano Yup. I'm from North Carolina myself, so its a bit of a point of price the my state's battleship, the lead ship of her class, was saved. Last time i got ot tour the ship i was 8, i hope to go back soon to fully appreciate it.
I think if she hadn't taken that kamikaze plane to her hangar, she probably would have been saved, but the cost and effort to restore her to fighting strength was far too much for the navy, never mind a museum organization.
@Anthony Amable Feliciano I believe the proper description is the ENTERPRISE's personal shotgun ;)
Also, the quotes about the first time the NORTH CAROLINA opened up with its full anti-aircraft barrage in defense of the Big E, where she was reported to be 'aflame from stem to stern'.
@Anthony Amable Feliciano Yup!
USS Enterprise being scrapped should be considered a war crime
And then Kitty Hawk to it was a largest conventional carrier
@@philtroskey3454 Nope, the Constellation (Same class) beat her by over 19 feet
@@philtroskey3454, the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk CV-63, is still moored at the Navy ship yard in Bremerton, Washington. The Navy was suppose to send to Brownsville, Texas in 2019 to be scrapped. Now, there are some talks to send the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk CV-63 to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to make her a museum.
We feel the same in UK over the loss of Warspite (or most decorated) and Vanguard (our last) battleships. Really is tragic the amount of notable ships that ended their service in a scrap yard.
@@carllong9175 they changed ships around when they were building them
I love your story about the Oregon. She got away from her moorings and was found 500 nmiles away. 😆 I'm from Oregon. The Oregon State Motto is "She Flies With Her Own Wings."
HMS Warspite is definitely the one from the Royal Navy which was a tragedy, She was one of the most successful Battleships in the Royal Navys history and very significant. In my opinion she is the one British Vessel which should have been primarily saved.
Frankly I think Prinz Eugen being used as a nuke testing target was an absolute waste, especially given it was the only one left since Admiral Hipper was scrapped.
always can flip it over, patch the holes, and drag her sorry rusting hulk to a drydock.
she's still very intact, and I do believe structurally sound
gotta love german engineering
@@techypriest7523 If we use enought space magic we can also make the KMS Bismarck fly
@@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723 rub enough null oil onto anything and it'll do whatever bullshit you want
@@techypriest7523 this is worst idea i heard, some of that metal still could have radion on it
@@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723 Well there is Space Yamato, so Space Bismarck would go " to the universe AND beyond !
USS Heerman survived the Battle off Samar and was in service with Argentina until the ‘80s. Would have been awesome to preserve. Heck the “Admiral Belgrano” was formerly the USS Phoenix and a Pearl Harbor survivor. Would have saved a lot of international diplomacy issues if she had been decommissioned a few years before her sinking and turned into a museum.
Absolutely agree that " the Grey Ghost" Enterprise should have been saved. For someone who had been involved in preservation of vintage aircraft, I salute your efforts in with the New Jersey
Much the same could be said about Saratoga, it had an even longer history, and played a bigger part in establishing US naval aviation, than the Big E did.
The damage enterprise took in her career would have made her very interesting to keep from a restoration view. There is no way all that battle damage would not have affected her in her career as museum ship. It could have limited her life dramatically as a museum ship. But sadly we will never know.
And there lies the problem.
there were 2 carriers stored in Newport RI, I loved to look at them when i was doing fire inspections near the old navy base .they were later scraped i would have loved to go on one
"We must ensure that history remembers the name Enterprise!" - Captain Jean Luc Picard NCC 1701-D
Ditto Warspite
@@DanielBrown-sn9op
How? It could have been repaired to stay afloat and have special spots with descriptions on how that damage was made
I believe that HMS Warspite holds the record for the longest range hit on another warship. She hit the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare at a range of 26,000 yards.
The USS Phoenix certainly deserves an honorable mention. She was the last Pearl Harbor US Navy Ship and Brooklyn Class cruiser survivor. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association was negotiating with the Argentine government to purchase the ship when the Falklands Island War broke out. Unlike the other ships lost on this list she received a warrior's death at the hands of HMS Conqueror.
I agree with the USS Phoenix. The Brooklyn Class should have had one saved. That class fought as battleships off Guadalcanal. My favorite is the USS Helena. Their 15 six inch guns provided amazing fire power for the day.
I forgot the USS Phoenix on my list of ships that should have been saved. Thank you for mentioning her.
The USS Boise was also in the Argentine navy and was gonna be brought back to the states but ended up being scrapped in texas I thjnk
She can still be visited, just gonna be a cold and wet one
I've always thought that it was a crime to scrap the USS Washington - the only US Battleship to sink an enemy battleship. Also strongly agree on the USS Enterprise.
She's not the only one. The old battleships, including five that had been at Pearl Harbor, sunk their teeth into the Yamashiro in the Battle of Shurigao Straight. But that was a pretty one sided fight, both numerically and technologically.
But yeah, I wish my state's namesake had been saved. But at least her sister ship is available to visit.
This is the best of many fine documentary videos and lectures from Ryan and the Battleship New Jersey channel. Thank you - I was glued to the screen, as they say, for the whole video.
I've had the good fortune to visit Battleship Alabama around year 2000, take a few rolls of film, and tour the destroyer Kidd and submarine next door, plus the aviation museum attached. During that vacation my recent bride and I toured the Naval Aviation Museum also, as we made our way from Dallas to Sanibel Island and back with stopovers at her childhood haunts and also saw the new and WW II Museum in New Orleans which was just being outfitted. Wow, I think that is a Gulf Coast tour we have to make again; we aare in our 70s but after an upcoming surgery we should be fit to plan and go. This time we will not fail to tour our home state's own USS Texas.
Calling it, HMS warspite had better be on this list
Shes there. Of course shes there.
Are you kidding? Even if she wasn’t initially, she would barge in anyway.
Should be no.1
HMS Warspite would be my choice. A member of the first ever class of fast battleships, and she had an incredible career. (edit) But I see you already have her!
I think one should've been the TCG Yavuz, formerly known as the SMS Geoben, one of the longest serving battleships and pre-war battleships to be in service
When Yavuz was decommissioned in the 50s the turkish government offered she to Germany but sadly Germany denied
@@philie9142 it was honestly heartbreaking when I read that in the wiki because it would have been so great to walk on the deck of a ship so old…
Russia's only current carrier should be made into a museum ship. It'd be by far that ship's best chance of remainging afloat!
Except they can barely keep it afloat while it’s in service with the Russian navy already 😂 but I guess you make a good point that maybe it’ll be better in civilian hands
They should scrap that piece of shit and build a new one. I know it's a national pride thing but the refit is going to cost billions and the ship will still be garbage, still constantly breaking down and not that useful to begin with even if it was reliable.
At least the Chinese were able to buy 2 of the Kievs to "preserve" as hotel/casino/museum ships and are treating Kuznetsov's sister Varyag/Liaoning better in PLAN service.
Still hoping the Russians can get their Sh*t together and preserve one of the Kirov's and one of the Typhoon-class subs as museums.
@@B52Stratofortress1 Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sure they have plans to construct a new super carrier to replace it
@@breadbug6101 they've been talking about it since the 1980's. Pretty sure the plans were completed then as well. Time to stop talking and actually start building if they want to have carriers.
Enterprise and Warspite should be the top 2.
a good guess !
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
fun fact, 25% of the original Enterprise was used in CVN-65. That 25% is going to be used in the new Enterprise, in the eyes of the U.S.N. the Enterprise never died, it evolved.
On anyone's list.
@@Ranger_Brutus Wonder is the 25% will be used on the NCC-1701 Enterprise, lol.....
The freaking two tragedies for museum ships.
1. The Big E.
2. Warspite
It's a travesty that USS Enterprise (CV-6) was not made into a museum ship. She was the most decorated ship the Navy at the end of WW2 and a veteran of almost EVERY major battle in the Pacific.
Prinz Eugen survived the channel dash survived the bismarck episode. 2. HMS Nelson she survived the war and fought throughout. 3. King George V Flagship of the home fleet fought throughout the war.
If a Nelson class was to be preserved, it should have been HMS Rodney. After all, she sunk the Bismarck.
Way back in 1975, My dad took us on a tour of U-995, at Labou in Germany. He was 3rd watch officer on U-969 and wanted us to know what it was like to be on one. Fast forward to 1997, I had a chance to visit a buddy in San Francisco. While he was off at work, I toured USS Pampanito. My god, the difference between them was amazing. Both of them served well, did their jobs well, but a US Fleet boat was like palatial compared to the German 7C.
i forgot Prinz Eugen, King George V, Richelieu, raise Tirpitiz if possible back then, repair her and bring her to London or Dunkirk as a trophy
Good list but I’d take Vanguard over KGV on looks alone...definitely agree on Prinz Eugen, tho.
Prince Eugen would be a cool museum ship but not after they nuked it it would be glowing at night
@@robertstone9988 Actually it isn't radioactive anymore.
Tirpitz? ship was sunk and a German ship. no way they are going to raise and repair the ship so it can be a museum.
It probably would've been easier to raise and repair Gniesenau. I don't think she rolled over, whereas Tirpitz did.
The biggest F-up was by the British not saving the Warspite.I love the footage in the background when you were talking about the Big-E. That's a crazy looking turn she is making lol.
If you're familiar with Drachinifel's channel, he featured a solid chunk of that footage in a recent video. It's even more extreme than you can see in this video. It's speculated Enterprise's helmsman went on to be the lead stunt driver for Tokyo Drift before moonlighting as The Stig.
That was an F-Up was it? Are you aware that food rationing did not end in Britain until almost ten years AFTER WWII ended? 1954 to be exact. Britain after the war was struggling to keep its people fed, let alone saving warships. Where is the money going to come from to save them?
Yes, it would have been nice to see Warspite saved, but it takes money to save those ships, and after WWII Britain was right on the edge of total bankruptcy. This was not helped by the ways the US Government force loan repayments in order to 'speed up' the Decolonisation process... Something that backfired in spectacular fashion in India leading to the deaths of anywhere between 1 - 3 million people... of course, its the Brits that get blamed for that fiasco.....
@@alganhar1 I get the huge worth resource wise scrapping steel battleships, but just going, "You, we don't have the money now, so let's just blow holes into this veteran of the most famous naval battle of our nation that survived for 150 years and sink her", WHY?! Implacable didn't help the UK's economy as a wreck in the Channel either.
@@vollelektrolysierer5773 who was going to pay to renovate or maintain her? It's sad but the UK had no choice
I would have loved to seen the Prinz Eugen saved after being turned over to the US Navy, rather than sinking from Nuclear testing.
Was sad learning Warspite was scrapped in the end, way before me but it's a crying shame that Warspite was not saved such a history ridden ship for the Royal Navy would have been amazing to see her either in Portsmouth historic dockyard or where HMS Belfast is now in the Thames.
I live in London, and while I appreciate HMS Belfast and I’m glad she was saved, when I see her on the Thames I always think it should be Warspite berthed on the river.
@@patl709 Yea Belfast was only saved as she was in better material condition than her sister ship, Belfast almost went to the breakers as well. Warspite had a lot of old damage as well. After she took the hit from the guided bomb her super firing aft turret was never repaired. She was very worn out by 1946 and there was no desire to save such a old ship. Still sad despite her history and what she survived
As a kiwi I believe we should have saved the Achilles for her roles in WW2 and that she carried the first Kiwi made fire control system
well we have her Y turret at the entrance to the Devonport Naval Base, HMNZS Philomel
Yeah that would have been good
One of her turrets used to be next to the main entrance at motat
Ryan your show is so good, I was on the couch watching with my girlfriend last evening and she started watching too and loved it, Thank you!
My #1 CV-6 . It's a crime to have scrapped her. Somewhere on that list: CA-38 USS San Francisco : Pearl Harbor to VJ Day and 17 battle stars.
The Big E. What the Imperial Japanese Navy couldn't do in war-time, the US managed to do.
Ah the Grey Ghost
I remember seeing a live television report on the USS Enterprise right before she was scrapped in 1958 (I was 15). I can remember seeing the television tour of her and the empty poorly maintained hanger bay. I remember thinking that it was such a shame she was not being saved. I had at this point also previously toured the USS Texas over Easter weekend in 1953 (was not yet 10 and still have some photos of me on the AA mounts).
Interestingly enough in 1967 I actually got to serve on a functional carrier as part of an air group. It was the USS Randolph (CVS-15) which was later decommissioned and scrapped. Following that our air group was assigned to the USS Yorktown which still survives at Patriots Point.
I have had the pleasure of touring the USS Alabama twice. Once while in flight training next door in Pensacola (1966) and again in 2007 as part of a Scout troop tour over a weekend (along with the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola). While going through OCS in Newport, R.I., I also got to tour the USS Massachusetts, USS Constitution and USS Olympia. Of course the USS New Jersey was not a museum ship yet as that was 1965.
I thank you and all your crew for what you are doing and for these videos. As I am almost 80 now, I don't travel much, but hopefully I will get the opportunity to come up and visit the USS New Jersey.
The BIG “E” CV6. How many Battle Stars did she earn? She was involved in the defense of Peril Harbor. Money couldn’t be raised to save her from the scrap yard. A true tragedy.
@Anthony Amable Feliciano Enterpise SBDs were in combat during the attack, They were sent ahead of enterpise.
She earned 20 Battle Stars and the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC). She also earned the British Admiralty Pennant which was the first and possibly only foreign ship thus far to earn this designation from the Royal Navy in its approximate 400+ year history.
Twice the HMS Warspite and I have crossed paths. My former history teacher at school was called Commander Holgate and he was the chief gunnery officer on Warspite during 1944-45 and saw action on D-Day and the Normandy campaign. He was a real character and brilliant teller of real history. Four years ago I went snorkelling on the spot where Warspite ran aground on her way to the breaker's yard (it's at Marazion in Cornwall). Some swimmers claim you can see a small section of iron keel that was never removed or damage to the rocks where she hit them. I couldn't see anything in the water that day but I was right over where she beached.
I could imagine she would have preferred to stay there half submerged as a sunken hulk than be timidly taken to the scrappers.
I saw the Cabot tied up in New Orleans in the 90s but couldn't get anywhere near her to find out what the heck she was doing there. I had no clue it would be the only time I'd ever see her again. Such a shame and I'm glad to see her on your list!
Every time I'm reminded about what happened to Warspite I genuinely shed a tear