Random photo montage of enjoyment......

Since I don't wish to hijack anyone else's photo thread, I'll create one of my own! Random photo's, interests of all kinds, hilarity, etc.

I'll begin with a Homage to the greatest "make do with what you've got" Navy, the Republic of China Navy, or ROCN. No one wants to piss off the PRC, so taiwan has had a difficult time obtaining modern Naval ships from anyone besides us in the past, which made for a most interesting Fleet indeed! Behold.








The Taiwanese took ships that were obsolete by the 1960/70's and keep them running and somewhat competitive(locally) into the late 90's, early 2000's with modern weapons and sensors, some of indigenous manufacture(Hsiung Feng II SSM's). Fascinating! All of these old Fletcher/Allen Sumner/Gearing class DD's have been decommissioned(The last, ROCN Sheng Yang, ex-USS Power DD-839 was decommissioned in late 2005 after 28 years in Taiwanese serviceand 60 years service total!).

These two subs, the Hai Pao(ex-USS Tusk SS-426) and Hai Shih(ex-USS Cutlass SS-478) are Balao and Tench(respectively) class Guppy II conversion submarines commissioned in 1946 and 1945. Hai Shih is currently the oldest and longest serving submarine in the world at 64 years. An amazing feat considering most subs are designed to go for 30 years or less! What I wouldn't give to serve on a boat like that!

If I were US president I'd actively piss off the PRC by running a total refit and uprade on at least two of the Forrestals and selling them to the ROC at a cut rate.

Might even throw in an Iowa for the hell of it.

They'd get F-35's as well.

And since Aegis ships are now starting to be decommed, those would be on offer at a knockdown as well.

Actually I'd express interest in homeporting some forward-deployed ships in a Taiwanese port. If they went for that, Beijing would really be furious.

Maybe it's for the best that I'm not US president, I dunno.

LOL the third pic of destroyers in line ahead formation. Haven't seen that since the last battleline.

The ultimate classic line ahead photo - USS Pennsylvania leading BB's and cruisers at Lingayen Gulf.

The greatest(IMO) aircraft ever.









Beautiful.

You forgot one:



If I could have any WW2 Warbird, the Mosquito would certainly be a candidate.

We'll call this "The Death of the Soviet Navy". Enjoy!


A Project 30bis "Skory" class destroyer being broken up.

A Project 56 "Kotlin" class destroyer partially sunk and abandoned.

A Project 56U "Kidlin" class destroyer abandoned in the backwater in company with a "Kotlin" DD.

The fire prone Project 1123 Helicopter Cruiser Moskva being broken up on the beaches of Alang, India.

The Project 56bis Sverdlov class cruiser Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya(October Revolution)being broken up at Inkerman(Sevastopol).

The Project 1134B "Kara" class cruiser Azov being scrapped. This ship was a testbed for the SA-N-6 missile system, and never left the Black Sea.

A Project 627 "November" class SSN at the Nerpa shipyards for scrapping. The blocks are pontoons to keep the boat from sinking!

The Project 956 "Sovremenny" class destroyer Sovremenny(Modern) being broken up in company with a sister, the Otchayanny(Reckless).

4 Project 613 "Whiskey" class submarines waiting for their turn.

USS Iowa firing a 15 gun broadside (9X16" and 6X5") circa 1984

FYI The main guns fire on a delay circuit to avoid interference in flight. You can see the guns of turret III in different stages of recoil. The firing order is Center, Right then Left guns.

Took these on a road trip a couple of years ago.

This one is two fold. The first bit is the recovery of a Russian T-34/76 model 1943 that was pulled from a bog in Estonia. Everything but the Engine worked! here's the story: http://www.diving.ee/articles/art035.html






This next set is from an effort to salvage a number of tanks and assault guns(Pzkfw-IV's, StugIII's, Panzerjager IV's etc.) sold to Bulgaria during WWII, when Bulgaria and Germany were allies. The Bulgarians buried half of them as defensive "Strongpoints" on their frontier. http://news.smh.com.au/world/bulgar...orgotten-german-wwii-tanks-20080222-1ts6.html








Looks like someone needs to take a trip to Eastern Europe!

I see your 727, and raise you what is undoubtebdly the most beautiful civil heavy ever to have taken to the skies:

[?=Super Connie]

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Krieg, you always have a lot of pictures of navy ships. Were you in the Navy, or do you just like the ships?

I've been interested in military hardware(especially ships), ever since I was 5 or six when I built my first model kit, the German "pocket battleship" Admiral Graf Spee. I was also in the Navy, but only briefly!

The hubby has always been interested in military hardware stuff, too.

His dad was stationed in Alaska for several years while the hubby was around 5 or 6 to 8 or 9. and, the only television station they had there was Armed Forces Television Network. So, the only movies the hubby saw at that age were WWII movies. He was born in 1969 and tells everyone he was 9 years old before he found out we weren't still at war with Japan.

He's also very silly.

Switching gears, so to speak, Here be a collection of cars that I would drive until the wheels fell off.

A lovely 1971 Dodge Polara four door.

The 1970 Nissan Skyline 2000 GTR. These thing sell like crazy in Japan!

A 1959 Chevy Impala. I had a neighbor with one of these when I was a kid.

A 1966 Volkswagen Type 13, otherwise known as the Squareback.

The 1971 Dodge Coronet four door.

A 1973 AMC Ambassador. A true classic!

The car of my dreams, the 1973 Dodge Polara. I drove in the backseat of my Grandfathers '73 from Washington state to Arizona!

A badass 1973 Mazda RX3.

The 1970 Chevy Impala.
Excellence.

What? no mustangs?

I've never really been into 2 door coupe's, but I'd rather have a Mercury Cougar than a Mustang!

Blasphermer!

What can I say, I like it when things blow up. This installment is dedicated to something called "sinkex", or sink exercise. Definitely a more honorable way to go out than scrapping, for sure!

The Type 15 Anti-Submarine warfare frigate(formerly WWII destroyer) Undaunted after taking a big hit....

The war built Destroyer Escort USS Hissem after being hit by a British Submarine(which can be seen off to the right) in 1980.

The Spruance class destroyer USS O'Brien after taking a beating. I never understood why we wasted these ships instead of selling them to foreign allies. Make money, motherfuckers!

The British Leander class frigate HMS Leander after getting the shit beat out of her.

The Destroyer USS Buchanan shortly after she absorbed
3 Hellfire missiles, 3 Harpoon missiles and a 2,400 pound laser guided bomb.......... and remained afloat. That is quality.

The destroyer USS Fife after taking a Mk 48 ADCAP torpedo and a number of 5in projectiles.

The French le Corse class frigate le Basque at the moment of impact, being torpedoed by the Daphne class submarine Galatee, 1984.

The USS Texas, America's very first modern steel battleship, after taking hundreds of shell hits from her younger brothers, 1911.

The battleship USS Alabama BB-8 after serving to demonstrate the potential of air power, 1921.
These warriors died a good death.

Ah, Tanks. What more is there to say? Here are some of my personal favorites......

I love this one. My favorite German tank, the Pzkpfw IV, vs. the T-34/85.

The British A34 Comet tank. A true classic.

The Russian IS-3. A nimble(for the time), speedy(for the time) beast with a fucking huge main gun, a 122mm.

An Israeli take on an American classic, the M51 Super Sherman.

The Stug III assault gun. This particular example is of Finnish extraction.

My favorite American Tank, the M26 Pershing(although this example has the the single baffle muzzle break and Bore Evacuator common to the M26A1 model)

The Pzkpfw III. This vehicle's suspension formed the basis of all American tank suspension post WWII!

The Japanese Type 74. Looks like they took the lessons learned in WWII, and actually built a tank that could kill something bigger than a bicycle!

That's all folks!

*edit* retarded brain fart.

Why do you say that?

I was gonna say...

The only real difference from previous American tanks, I suppose, is that the Abrams uses rotary hydraulic shock absorbers (on the first two and last roadwheel stations on each side of the vehicle) instead of the conventional-type. The ride is much, much smoother than even the M60A3 (which used a tube-over-bar torsion system).

I've read of some plans to give the Abrams a Merkava- or Challenger 2-type hydro-pneumatic suspension, but I'm not sure why they'd bother at this point unless they're planning on building new hulls. The point of a "bolt on" suspension system is to reduce the number of openings in the hull (fewer openings means a stronger, tougher hull--one of the reasons why the M1-series doesn't have a hull escape hatch) and just slapping an external suspension on existing hulls wouldn't do anything in that regard. Though it would make repairing damage easier than replacing broken torsion bars.

Suck it, Japan.

^Yeah.

Proposed but stopped during construction German tank. It had 2X280mm guns.


Was actually built by Germany.

This next installment I call "the inglorious end of the French Navy in WWII".
First, the British attack on the French Fleet at Mers el Kebir, 3 July 1940.

The Battleship Provence preparing to fire a broadside while her sister the Bretagne burns in the background.

The Destroyer Mogador with her stern split wide open by British heavy caliber shellfire.

The Battleship Bretagne, sinking and afire after her aft magazine detonated(she was struck by shells from either HMS Hood, Resolution or Valiant). She took 977 of her normal compliment of 1133 down with her, including a member of my family.

The battleship Dunkerque after an old patrol ship moored next to her, (loaded with depth charges) took a torpedo and practically vaporized, severely damaging the dreadnought.

These illustrate the mass scuttling of the remainder of the fleet at Toulon, 27 November 1942. The Germans forcibly entered the City after abolishing the puppet "Vichy" government, forcing the French to scuttle the fleet. Once again, the French chose to kill their own fleet instead of joining the British, which illustrates both their ridiculous pride, and abject hatred of the British harbored by the high level leadership of the French Navy.

The battleship Strasbourg on the bottom after being scuttled.

The Seaplane Tender Commandante Teste, the Battleship Provence and the old training battleship Condorcet on the bottom.

The heavy cruiser Algerie after being destroyed by her crew. You can see one of her 8in gun barrels laying on the deck, the rest either completely gone, or askew. Most of these ships were too badly damaged to be salvaged......believe me, the Italians tried!

The light cruiser Marseillaise. A waste of a fine ship.

The heavy cruiser Colbert, guns askew and blazing. Apparently, the Pzkpfw IV on the right arrived a little late to prevent the ship from destroying herself!

The destroyers Kersaint and Vauquelin.

Here are a couple of scuttle victims later in the war after Toulon fell into Allied hands.

The Battleship Strasbourg in 1944. She's missing her main battery directors mounted atop the bridge structure, and the 13in barrels of A turret have been sawed off. B turret retains her gun barrels, but is heavily damaged.

The battleship Dunkerque after her premature death. Amazingly, she wasn't scrapped until 1956!

Another view of Strasbourg in 1944. The level of destruction is remarkable.

This is the old pre-WWI battleship Courbet after being scuttled as a breakwater(and as a German artillery shell magnet)during the Normandy invasion. She escaped to England after the French defeat, served as a static AA battery, and then was expended along with the Dutch cruiser Sumatra, the British cruiser Durban and the old target battleship Centurion(and a shitload of merchies) as breakwaters for the artificial Gooseberry and Mulberry harbors.

Fin!

MIX BAG!!!!!!


The British Oberon class sub HMS Opossum upon her return from Desert Storm. Truly a badass camo job!

Enterprise, meet Excelsior.

The decommissioned Sub area of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1990. You can see George Washington class SSBN's, Skipjack, Skate, Permit and Sturgeon class SSN's and the Sub Tender USS Sperry. The second boat outboard of the pier on the right, with the stepped sail, is the USS Seawolf. Se was the secont Nuke boat, and conducted a great deal of underwater espionage against the russians during the cold war(you can see the round holes at the bow and stern for the stabilizers to keep her level and still while she tapped the russkis underwater phone lines!). She was scrapped in 1997.

A German Pzkpfw IV ausf H, used by the Syrians against Israel, captured and displayed at the museum at Latrun.

A Danish F-100D Super Sabre in about 1979. The Danes used this type until 1982, long after most people had retired them! The US lost 242 F-100's of all marks in Vietnam.

A real police cruiser.

For some reason, people really hate the Stargazer. I fucking love the thing, ever since I saw it in the episode "The Battle" in 1987!

Uh oh.

Monuments from Korean War:


Monument of Fallen Special Forces Soldier that died in Korea



Another Monument to the Special Forces Soldiers that fought in Korean War



Photo of bombing of korean trains during the war