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| Navyhistory.com brings you the history of US Naval ships. We have completed adding all the history's of Naval Ships. You can look up a ship by letter or look up by ship type. You may also buy navy products and gifts through our store, Navalshopping.com. NavyHistory is an evolving project that grows week by week, as we at MultiEducator, add more material, and as you send us your own stories. Our sister site is HistoryCentral.com, dedicated to being History's Home on the net. It includes the history of all of America's Wars. |
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US Naval Ships History
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Alphabetical Listing
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THIS MONTH IN NAVAL HISTORYraf Spee
The first major naval campaign of Word War II, took place when the British navy pursued the Graf Sree, a German battlecruiser who was on a mission to attack British merchant vessels. Between September 30 and December 7, 1939 the Graf Spee, under the command of Captain Hans Langsdorff sank nine cargo ships with a total tonnage of 50,089. Not a single crewmen or passenger on any of the sunk vessels was killed.
The British navy correctly deduced that the Graf Sree would next head for the area off of Montevideo to intercept more shipping. A British task force composed of the cruisers Ajax, Achilles and Exeter converged on Graf Spree. On the morning of December 12, 1939 the found the Graf Spee. The Graf Spee opened fire first, damaging the Exeter. All three British troops responded. The British ships responded. In the ensuing battle both the British ships and the Graf Spee were damaged, but the cumulative effect of three British ships damaged the Graf Spee severely. The Graf Spee headed for Montevideo requesting time for repairs. The Uruguayans refused, while the British rushed additional forces toward Montevideo. Captain Langsdorff then decided to scuttle the Graf Spee in Montevideo harbor.
Pearl Harbor
The War between Japan and the United States began at 6:37 in the morning of December 7th. The destroyer Ward, depth charged a Japanese midget submarine outside the entrance to Pearl Harbor. No warning was passed to the commanders of Pearl Harbor. At 7:58 the word went out AIR RAID PEARL Harbor-This is no Drill”
When the Japanese attacked Eight battleships, five cruisers, twenty six destroyers and various other auxiliary ships were in port.
The first ship to be hit was the battleship West Virginia. It took a half dozen bomb and torpedo hits. Quick damage control on the part of a couple of junior officers aboard the West Virginia kept it from capsizing and thus it settled upright, saving the majority of its crew.
The battleship Oklahoma capsized after receiving five torpedo hits. 415 officers and men went down with it.
The battleship Nevada was the only battleship to get under way, but it was hit by five bombs. It was beached at Waipo Point.
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