Trivia!

I know one, but not the other.
edit: wait, I think I know the second, but it's too early in the morning (1:35) for me to look into it now.

 

How about USS Arizona and Conte di Cavour?
J

 

I know that the PE's bow is 100ft down and her stern is above the water, but she is not vertical

 

Darren, is that what you mean, the ships are standing on their bows?
J

 

Yes, both ships are intact, standing on their bows.

 

IIRC, one was British and one was a Russian. They are both pointing 90* straight down into the murk, not just a steep angle like the Prinz Eugen.

 

Leave it to the Brits and the Commies to leave a ship at a 90 degree angle.

 

How about HMS Victoria and the Rusalka which is a monitor from the Imperial Russian Navy.
J

 

Rusalka -- http://www.tuuker.ee/eng/varia
HMS Victoria -- http://www.oz.net/~markhow/pre-dred/victoria.htm

 

We have a winner! Rusalka and Victoria are two of the strangest shipwrecks around. Both sank by the bows, in relatively shallow water, while underway and didn't have time to level out before they hit a muddy bottom.

 

Here, try this one. During the battle of Midway, the Akagi was hit by only one bomb, but it devestated her. The Japanese fuel storage wasn't as good as the US and the fumes from the fuel ignited. Who dropped that Bomb?
J

 

An SBD, Or do you want the pilots name

 

While this attack was in progress, Best took his men down to Akagi. As Best looked through the telescope sight of his SBD, he saw a plane taking off the deck. He released at 2,500 feet and was sure that the bomb could not miss. It was a near miss. The second bomb scored a direct hit near the amidship elevator, and exploding in the hangar. The next bomb had the most devastating effects. As with Kaga, Akagi's planes were also on the deck, ready to be flown against the US fleet. These two bombs started the chain reaction of explosion that sealed the fate of this carrier too.

 

You have the correct pilot, LCDR Richard (Dick) Best although we seem to have differing information. The information I have has Best as the pilot who scored the only hit on Akagi. That one bomb ignited, among other things the fumes from the fuel and that caused an explosion and started the chain reaction.
J

 

I'm pretty sure that more recent research has shown the Knight4hire is actually correct, and LT Best near-missed Akagi. I'll try to remember to look it up in "Shattered Sword" when I get home from work tonight.

Also, something of interest is that due to a miscommunication, IIRC only the 3 SBDs of his section dove on Akagi. The rest of the Enterprise bombers dove on Kaga instead.

 

I would be interrested in finding out which is correct.
J

 

I looked it up in Shattered Sword, and the word is, I was incorrect. According to that book, it's practically inconceivable that the single bomb to hit Akagi could have been dropped by someone other then Lt. Best.

The confusion here is that the first bomb was a miss and the third bomb a very near miss with only the 2nd bomb connecting. One would assume that the flight leader would have dropped the first bomb, but the pattern of hits is a rough V, similar to the formation that the USN bombers attacked from (there was not time to line up like usual, so the 3 birds dove in a V). In anycase, the CENTER bomb (which would have been dropped by Best) is the one which hit.

 

Well, sorry Kight but I kinda have give it to Hawk. He has the exact answer I was looking for and his source says the same as mine. Does anyone else have a diiferent view of the Akagi's demise?
J

 

Shattered Sword is really a good pick up, as it looks at the battle from the Japanese perspective, and not just the US perspective. Some of the reading is a little dry talking about IJN doctrine and deck cycles, but the book does a great job of describing why it wasnt really possible to just launch an immediate strike against the USN fleet when they were identified as carriers.

As for the action, it goes into great detail as to how the IJN carriers were hit. The location of each hit (and near misses), the order of the hits, and the damage control measures taken. It's just really enlightning as to some of the "whys" of what happened with the Kido Butai.

 

Cool, I learned something today, which makes it a good day
You' re up!
J