maximusslade

I will give the win to Dreadnought due to his answer being much more specific. Johnny does get honorable mention so if Dread wants to let Johnny ask the next question, that is fine by me.

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Dreadnought

I will yield to a new comer and a fellow BB'r.

P.S. So long as he does it "smartly"

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TopHatter

Blown up how? (Be specific )

maximusslade

Sheesh, it's been a decade since I read the book. All I recall is that there were cells on board that filled the boat with gas and then said gas was ignited. I am probably way off.

RustyBattleship

You're pretty well on the right track. Fuel Air Explosive (FAE) bombs were put on board to blow the ship up. Being an ICBM sub, portions lying on the bottom would be mistakingly identified as the Red October.

The American research sub carrying the Russian inspectors had a dial face from the Red October hidden in its framework. The operator faked seeing something shiney and while backing the sub up dropped the dial face into the artifact basket. Inspection of the dial face and its serial number convinced the Russians that the Red October had been blown up.

The way an FAE bomb works is using a small explosive to throw out a cloud of gasoline in a mist. Then an ignition explosive sets off the mist of gasoline vapor and can be more devastation than a WW II 500 lb General Purpose bomb.

Lately the Russians have been bragging about developing an aerial bomb that works like that. However, we've had ours in inventory since the 1960's.

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Johnny W

Ok, a Battleship related question then. In September of 1942, Vice Admiral Willis A Lee assumed command of Battleship division 6 and broke out his flag on USS Washington BB56, in part due to the death of his predecessor a few months earlier. His predecessor, Admiral Wilcox died while in Command of Battleship Division 6. What were the unusual circumstances of Admiral Wilcox's death?

I didn't check all of the previously posted questions, so my apologies if this one has already been covered.

Dreadnought

Off the top of my head, I believe he was lost overboard from BB56 Washington while in transit. I believe I read somewhere that his body was spotted floating face down however the nearby destroyer that searched for him failed to recover his body. Some stated it was possible he suffered a heart attach while walking the deck. From a report I read foul play was not considered at that time.

I admired Lee and his style and only wished his battlegroup would have found suitable advesary during Leyte such as he did at Savo.

Albany Rifles

He died either by heart attack or by suicide...the end result was he fell overboard and was never recovered

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Johnny W

To easy I guess. Suicide was also considered a possibility but other than that, you are correct.

I also wonder what would have happened had Lee met up with Kurita. The American battleships would likely have won due to a advantage in numbers and supporting assets, but I am not sure I wish for it because there might have been quite a few more casualties, especially if the Yamato's big guns had found one of the smaller battleships of the South Dakota class or the Washington.

maximusslade

Since no one has posted in two weeks, I am going to bring one over from the history quiz section to see if anyone get's it.

Here might be an interesting one.... What US warship class had a preliminary design scheme that, if built, would have ended up resembling the HMS Rodney?

Albany Rifles

http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/batt...s/usa/m7-2.jpg

How about the Arkansas class of seagoing monitors.

Knaur Amarsh

Is the link restricted?

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Albany Rifles

That's wierd...never happened before.

Here is the pic

arkansas.jpg

Albany Rifles

Also, the North Carolina class were considered for that design to meet the requirements of the Washington Treaty but the idea was scrapped on the drawing board.

Dreadnought

A question for those familiar with the USN and probably RN engineering systems aboard ship.

On the (conventional powered or steam powered) Cruisers and Battleships of WWII there are/were water desalination plants for the production of clean water for the ship. It has many uses (cooking,cleaning,showering, firefighting etc.)

The question is what is the two most important purposes for the treated (beyond normal clean) water?

Hint its not for the purposes listed above.