Warbird Information Exchange

yes you have to love those guys and thank the few we still can

_________________
"WHAT ME WORRY?"

The AARON WARD was towed back to New York. She was scrapped in 1946, per Saxman's post.

Bill

_________________
Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers.

Hopefully Congress remembers this when the axe starts falling on public programs over the next few years.

Realistically, I wouldn't mind if military health care took a hit (after all, everyone has to share the sacrifice if we're all going to fix the nation's budget woes) so long as the other entitlement programs also took a hit.

Hell, I'd be willing to completely forgo military health care benefits if I thought there was a reasonable chance that it would even make a dent in the cuts.

_________________

Ward was in use as an APD (High Speed Transport) at that point, rather than a destroyer. My guess is that the gun was removed during its conversion to an APD? It is on display in Minnesota, as the gun was being manned by reservists from Minnesota.

Just to confuse matters you have "Ward" and "Aaron Ward" as separate ships...and there were three "Aaron Wards" in WWII (IIRC).

It was also amazing that not only was the United States capable of such amazing construction, such as 175 Fletcher-class destroyers, but the way the Navy utilized all their assets, including the old "four-piper" destroyers to fill roles that were needed. Check out USS Allen (DD-66)...the only 1,000 ton destroyer to see service in World War II. It may have not seen much combat, but it did fulfill a role that was needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ward_(DD-139 One of the Ward's guns was in fact removed when the ship was converted to a high speed transport. The gun is on display in Minnesota.

_________________
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

my god that ship

_________________
" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

By 1944,the US navy in the pacific was unstoppable.amazing change from 1941.wouldnt want to be on the receiving end of that force

_________________
"WHAT ME WORRY?"

me too

_________________
" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Poster says it all....

_________________
Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers.

_________________
" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Something often overlooked is the incredible amount of pre-war planning that went into the American war effort. The USS Essex was already on the ways before the war started and every other major ship class was already in the planning stages. Plans were well in place for tank and aircraft manufacturing as well. The need for the B-29 was forseen before the war and the M26 Pershing tank went from drawing board to the field in time to see action at the end of the war. You are right, I would not want to have to challenge the USN by 1944, but that navy was the result of a good deal of pre-war planning.

_________________
Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) Jan. 5, 1945

_________________
45-47=-2

Amamazing sequence of photos!

_________________
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

If you look at the plane,the landing gear has fallen down which means the plane has been hit and the hydraulics are gone.pilot might have been hit too.amazing photos.and very scary.I cant imagine being there.

_________________
"WHAT ME WORRY?"

darn Japanese. Sensless naval men being killed by a war that we all but won at that time

_________________
" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."