Name This AE...323

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

It always amazed me how heavy those support ships were armed. What was the reason behind that? Has any of those ships every seen combat, other than being bombed in port? Considering their main armament, they look like unarmored CLs.

Yeah, they saw some combat (usually in the form of sub attack), but they were extremely valuable ships (containing, besides the torps, machine shops, highly trained personale, HQ crew), and thus the armament is probably an attempt to protect the investment - they did get attacked in ports in air raids.

The torpedoes alone were worth a fortune in WW2 terms (ships less than 1000 tons were often not deemed to be worth expenditure of a torpedo.)

[DuckofTindalos]

ORIGINAL: JWE

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake
That really is a good point about the armament. Perhaps two twin 5 in fore and at least one aft. It seems out of scale for the purpose of the ship.

Also, forgive the nautically illiterate question, but isn't this a case of anchor-o-megaly? You couldn't put to sea with that massive thing dangling over the hull like that. I suppose it retracts into the hull but what happens when you get to the long vertical shaft..that isn't going to want to make the turn easily?

Also it seems kind of sloppy and un-Royal-Navy-like to just leave ti dangling there when the vessel is already secured.

Yep. Shaft is pulled into a housing that's angled inboard a bit to match up with the chain fairleads on deck, but basically vertical.

It's easier to clean and polish when it's dangling?? [:D] [:D]

If you know what he means, huhhuh...

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: rtrapasso
Yeah, they saw some combat (usually in the form of sub attack), but they were extremely valuable ships (containing, besides the torps, machine shops, highly trained personale, HQ crew), and thus the armament is probably an attempt to protect the investment - they did get attacked in ports in air raids.

The torpedoes alone were worth a fortune in WW2 terms (ships less than 1000 tons were often not deemed to be worth expenditure of a torpedo.)

In the Pacific, it was possible to situate sub bases out of range of enemy aircraft. The British built their ships to operate anywhere within their empire. All ports in the British Isles as well as the Mediterranean were within air range of German aircraft, so attacks in port were more of a possibility. Any ship that was a potential target needed to be able to protect itself. (True some ports in those areas were a bit of a stretch for German bombers, but the Germans did have aircraft capable of striking shipping at any British port in the region.)

Bill