World
War II Submarine Memorial
U.S.S.
COD
Author:
Prepared by Dr John C Fakan & Paul C Farace
ISBN:
1930127014
Publishers:
Oxford Museum Press, Ohio, USA
Price
Publication
Date: 1999
U.S.S.
Cod
On
December 7, 1941, the U S Pacific battle fleet was effectively destroyed by the
surprise Japanese attack at Pearl Harbour.
The only force in the U S arsenal that was able to strike back was
America's submarine force. And strike
back they did. But it was not an easy
job. The U S submariners were
handicapped by poor torpedoes and an obsolete attack doctrine that was
developed during peacetime years by men with no practical combat experience.
But
under the leadership of Vice Admiral C A Lockwood, who gave his commanders a
free hand to use their initiative and daring, commanders like Dudley Morton of
Wahoo, tactics changed, and so did the fate of the Japanese Empire.
The
U S S Cod is a GATO class fleetboat. The most advanced submarine design in the
world when she was built, Cod was a powerful weapon for the U S Navy in the
Pacific Theatre. The U S S Cod was laid down on July 21, 1942, at the Electric
Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut. Cod was launched on March 21, 1943 when Mrs Grace M Mahoney, the wife of a
veteran shipyard employee, broke the bottle on her bow. She was commissioned on June 21, 1943, under
the command of CDR James C Dempsey, USN.
The
U S S Cod carried out seven war patrols during which she sailed 88,254 miles
and fired 112 torpedoes. She sank a total of 14 ships, 26 junks and performed
the only international submarine-to-submarine rescue when she saved the crew
of the Dutch sub 0-19.
Cod
was mothballed in 1946, then recommissioned in 1951 to participate in NATO
anti-submarine training exercises. She
was decommissioned again in 1954. In
1959, she was towed through the St
Lawrence Seaway to serve as a naval reserve training vessel in
Cleveland. In 1971, Cod was stricken
from the register of Navy ships.
A
group of local supporters of Cod formed the Cleveland Coordinating Committee
for Cod, Inc., to preserve her as a memorial.
In January, 1976, the Navy gave guardianship of the submarine to the
group. Cod began her new career as a
floating memorial in May of 1976 when she opened to the public. In 1986 Cod was declared a National Historic
Landmark.
USS
Massachusetts WWII Battleship Memorial
Author:
Randall S Shoker
ISBN:
1930127049
Publishers:
Oxford Museum Press, Ohio, USA
Price
$17.95
Publication
Date: 2004
USS
Massachusetts BB 59
Design
History
Massachusetts
and her sister ships of the South Dakota class, represented the peak of
battleship design limited by the London Naval Treaty of 1936. A balanced blend of offensive and defensive
capabilities, Massachusetts and her sisters were a milestone in naval architectural
achievement.
The
London Treaty of 1936 limited both the size and number of battleships a country
could possess. The primary restrictions
of the treaty limited gun size to 14-inches and standard displacement to 35,000
tons. When Japan announced that it was
not going to abide by the terms of the London Naval Treaty regarding main
armament, the other main signatories, including the United States, clung to the
limits in the vain hope that Japan would follow. When it became apparent that Japan was going its own way, the
United States modified the two ships of the North Carolina class then under
construction by increasing the main battery to 16-inch guns from the 14-inch
guns in the original design.
Unfortunately, they were too far into the construction process to
increase their armour.
The
two ships of the North Carolina class had been considered the best possible
given the limitation of 35,000 tons, yet there were a number of shortcomings to
the design. The South Dakotas were
meant to overcome those shortcomings, and in large part they did. The first two ships were originally part of
the naval appropriations Act of April 4, 1938, but as the international
situation grew worse, Congress offered President Roosevelt two more 35,000-ton
battleships, which he gladly accepted.
These second two ships brought the number of South Dakotas to four - and
the third ship of the class, BB59, would bear the name Massachusetts.
Massachusetts
and her sisters were unique because U.S. designers were able to maintain the
desired 27 knot top speed and protect the ship against 16-inch gunfire. They did this by shortening the hull, which
resulted in a smaller protected space for her vitals. The weight saved by shortening the ship went into better
protection. The price for a shorter
ship was the need for more shaft horsepower, yet the shorter hull made less
space available for more powerful equipment.
Massachusetts needed 135,000 shaft horsepower to drive her through the
water at the same speed that 115,000 shaft horsepower drove North
Carolina. A novel solution was
developed: the ship's high and low speed turbines were placed next to the
boilers instead of having separate fire and engine rooms. There was also room for turbo generators in
each of the four engine rooms, as well as evaporators and distilling equipment.
Another
innovation was Massachusetts's sloped internal armour belt. By sloping the armour belt 19 degrees, the
designers were able to satisfy the immune zone requirements set by the General
Board against 16-inch shells and still satisfy the London Treaty. There were some drawbacks to this
innovation, however; the ships were very cramped and when fully loaded tended
to be wet at the bow. The short length
of the ship made for a very short superstructure. Although small, it was a very efficient design.
The
rising star of U.S. naval design, Captain A.J. Chantry, head of preliminary
design during the ship's construction, created in Massachusetts and her
sisters a very capable
design
that would go down in history as one of the finest ever.
The Battleship Massachusetts
and her sisters represented the peak of treaty designed battleships. Their
unique design gave them both the protection and speed they need to perform the
duties that were envisioned for them in the late 1930's. Massachusetts went on
to have one of the best combat records of any United States battleship of World
War II. Fortunately for us she was
preserved as a war memorial in Fall River,Massachusetts, where she is today.
Technical Reference 2 is
perfect bound with a full color cover and full color ship camouflage profiles
on the back. Also included is a set
of 35 X 23 pull-out 1/350th scale blue prints of Massachusetts drawn by Tom Walkowiak
of The Floating Drydock. We have
expanded the original 56 page format to 64 pages printed on our deluxe 80lb
high gloss paper, and have packed in more technical data and drawings (20) than
before, including a full page cutaway of her 16 inch turrets! An exciting feature of this book is several
series of time lapse photos to show equipment changes. We found three photos from almost the exact
same angle and were able to contrast the subtle changes from her original
outfitting in the summer of 1942, her big refit in 44 and her post war refit. A photocopy of the 1942 refit page is
on a thumbnail below. This book is full
of info, and it contains 85 photos (including 22 full page photos of the ship),
both from the National Archives and from the ship today.
Battleship
Scharnhorst, The Crew Photo Album
Author:
Randall S Skoker
ISBN:
1930127006
Publishers:
Oxford Museum Press, Ohio USA
Price
$19.95
Publication
Date: 1999
Over 150 photographs from three of the Scharnhorst's crew member’s
photo albums make this book a must have for every serious student of naval
history. More than 70 of these
fantastic photos were taken by crew members themselves and have never been
published before! There are over 60
official Kriegsmarine photos that were given to crew members to start their
albums, including the sinking of the British aircraft carrier Glorious and
photos from the famous Channel dash. In addition, there are several pages
that show a set of model builder plans for the Scharnhorst and her sister
Gneisenau. These plans were sold to
model builders in Germany in 1941.
More than a book of
photos, the book gives a detailed account of the
Scharnhorst's long cruise with her sister ship Gneisenau in the spring of 1940,
including the battle with the Halifax convoys.
Also is the story of the battle of North Cape, and the fateful decisions
by the German High command that let to her sinking and the death of almost two
thousand men.
The heart of
the book are the photos from the Alfred Herman Rieger collection, the Max Henschler
collection, and a stunning album of unknown ownership. Their photos show combat, the Scharnhorst
fighting ice and heavy seas, an interesting series from Hitler's visit, as well
as life on board. Many of the
boys had some real talent as demonstrated by the artistic nature of their
photos. While not part of the Technical
reference series author Randall Shoker did add technical details in the
captions describing the ships equipment in many of the photos. Model builders and historians alike will
find the details in the photos and captions informative.
A
compelling look at the struggle of the North Atlantic as seen through the
camera lenses of the men who were there.
If you are a student of the Kriegsmarine or the battle of the Atlantic,
you must own this book.
Author’s
Introduction
This
book's roots go back to a stormy November day in 1990 when my brother, my son
and I were sailing a radio-controlled model of the World War I British
battlecruiser New Zealand on a lake in a state park in Ohio. The day started out clear, but a stone came
up fast. A comical string of events led
to our battlecruiser finding a permanent berth at the bottom of the lake. In the search to build a replacement, I
decided to build the Kriegsmarine (the name of the WWII German Navy) battleship
Scharnhorst. It was to be one of two
ships, the other being the H.M.S. Duke of York, the British battleship that
would eventually sink the Scharnhorst.
The
project got as far as the Scharnhorst's hull when I decided that the hull looked
too good for a toy and that I should make it a static scale model. Well, as most model builders can relate to,
things happen to slow down even the best laid construction plans. I was unable
to find even the most basic fittings in 1/192 scale, meaning I had to make them
all from scratch. Add to that my kids
growing up, work, etc. and the project was put on hold. In my search over the years for data to
finish the model, I started to collect photos of the ship. Through just plain luck I was able to acquire
two photo albums that had belonged to former Scharnhorst crewmembers. In addition, I met the son of a survivor of
the ship, and he had his father's photos.
What surprised me was how the photos made the ship and its crew come
alive. This book is about the
photos. Because many of the photos were
taken on what is called "the long cruise," I have included narrative
telling that story. But this is a photo
book, not a historical or a technical reference. I hope you find the photos as moving as I did.
I
would like to point out here that I do not wish to glorify the Nazi regime with
this book. I have very strong personal
beliefs about the Third Reich and do not wish to imply any type of sympathy for
the Nazis. I feel their story is a very
important one and every child growing up in this democracy should study Adolph
Hitler to understand how criminal politicians can betray their own people and
cause dire consequences for all of humanity.
The German Navy was the least political of all of the branches of the
German military. The Kriegsmarine had
to live with the legacy that the German Navy in World War I had surrendered
and scuttled itself at the British base at Scapa Flow. Thus the German sailors
were very proud of their ships and service and felt they had to be better than
their history. One has to remember the
desperate situation in Germany, before the war to the average German, Hitler brought hope, jobs, and food. His dark side emerged slowly, and by then it was too late.
The
fact that they fought under a Nazi flag does not take away from the reality
that the men on Hitler's ships had many things in common with our own brave
veterans. They missed their families,
they were scared, and I'm sure many felt that Hitler was wrong. The victor's
story is always remembered, but that doesn't mean that the vanquished should be
forgotten. Almost 2000 men died on the
Scharnhorst when she sank in the Battle of the North Cape on December 26, 1943. There was no cheering on the British ships
that sank her, only the quiet remorse that follows a necessary killing. Of course, the real tragedy is that the war
did not have to happen, and yet it did.
We can only hope our children don't make the same mistakes.
Another book about Scharnhorst, Published by Sutton
