From a pure practical, seamanship approach, which vessel(s) were the best?
Iowa's perhaps? Essex carriers? Admiral Hipper class cruisers?
What was the best designed naval vessel of the war?
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colchekov19
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Re: What was the best designed naval vessel of the war?
A lot depends on what you are looking for. For instance if you are talking practicle then the Liberty ships deserve a mention. If you are talking combat vesels then what is your criteria for best? For instance the South Dakota class were very close in combat capability to the Iowas but weighed in several thousand tons less. Was the extra speed worth the increased resources used as far as defieing which was best? It's also hard to compair battleships, carriers, destroyers, subs, and cargo ships without some better defintion of best.Sam H. wrote:From a pure practical, seamanship approach, which vessel(s) were the best?
Iowa's perhaps? Essex carriers? Admiral Hipper class cruisers?
In my opinion the power plant on the Hippers disqualifies them as best.
If you're talking practicle the type XXI boats are out as well. The production dificulties they experianced and quality control problems just outweigh the rest. Note that a lot of this was to increase production speed and quantity.
Fletchers design was very sound. They initially got top heavy with all the new radar masts and equipment. After several scares the masts were changed to a lightened variety and much of the heavy equipment was placed on a lower level.
The German Type VII U-Boat was an outstanding sea-going vessel. Admittedly being low they were wet boats on the surface in a storm - but they could weather anything that the Atlantic in winter could throw at them. There are several recorded instances of Type VII's outrunning destroyers and other assorted escorts on the surface during winter storms.
The German Type VII U-Boat was an outstanding sea-going vessel. Admittedly being low they were wet boats on the surface in a storm - but they could weather anything that the Atlantic in winter could throw at them. There are several recorded instances of Type VII's outrunning destroyers and other assorted escorts on the surface during winter storms.
Good morning Sam,
With reliance more on practical seamanship than direct combat abilities, I'd nominate the ice breaker vessel and the salvage vessel.
If the icebreaker could protect the propellers from ice cubes it surely could offer protection from floatsam and jetsam and other junk interferring with going home to port.
Salvage vessels also offered many features assisting seamanship.
Of course, we're really generalizing too much. A requirement for a shallow draft vessel defeats any seamanship for a large V hull. The converse is also obvious.
A wooden hull mine sweeper surely doesn't have the stress features of the metal hulls.
Warm regards,
Bob
With reliance more on practical seamanship than direct combat abilities, I'd nominate the ice breaker vessel and the salvage vessel.
If the icebreaker could protect the propellers from ice cubes it surely could offer protection from floatsam and jetsam and other junk interferring with going home to port.
Salvage vessels also offered many features assisting seamanship.
Of course, we're really generalizing too much. A requirement for a shallow draft vessel defeats any seamanship for a large V hull. The converse is also obvious.
A wooden hull mine sweeper surely doesn't have the stress features of the metal hulls.
Warm regards,
Bob
My old scout master served on a couple during the war. One foundered in high seas. Not sure I would call that a could sea boat.colchekov19 wrote:US PT boats.
My father was a plank owner on the East Wind. He claimed the only time he ever got sea sick was the time when they hit a major storm in the Carribiean on her. He did a fair amount of fishing off the Columbia after the war and never showed any signs of being sea sick. I wasn't so lucky.South wrote:Good morning Sam,
... I'd nominate the ice breaker vessel ....
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David C. Clarke
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Re: What was the best designed naval vessel of the war?
German S-Bootes. Perfect for their mission.
Bestens,
David
Bestens,
David
Re: What was the best designed naval vessel of the war?
I'm having a very hard time coming up with anything else that was so much better than there competition and didn't have serious flaws. Of course I'm not expert but I think you may have nailed it.David C. Clarke wrote:German S-Bootes. Perfect for their mission...