U.S. Navy destroyers; great photo of a formation

[rlex]

They are operating underway in company together, but I am not sure they are in formation in the formal sense. None of the three ships is flying Gulf as the guide. They may be in a column open order.

Nonetheless - it is a great Surface Warfare "Stiffy" photo

Now this a formation - all Four IOWAS in Formation in 1954 :




Did a lot of DivTacs as OOD during my 8 years of Sea Duty. Most of the time though you are slicing holes in the water out in your screen sector with the other DDs and FFs in outer ASW screen of the CVBG - it was better than being an FFG/DDG doing inner screen AAW or worse lifeguard duty trailing the CV. Best of all was being on Spruance with Harpoons and later TASMs doing passive ASUW 50-100 nm from the CVBG

[Cecil]

Based on the angle on the bow of the second destroyer it appears to me they are maneuvering into a Form 1 (single column) from an open column. Photo could have been taken from the guide

[rlex]

You could be right - the photograph could be taken from a fourth ship acting as guide. I agree that the second ship could going from Column Open Order to Form 1; the third ship on the starboard quarter doe not appear to have any left rudder manuvering into the Form 1 - my experience is that you have you rudder on as soon as you receive execute. They don't appear to doing this with Flag Hoists.

[Nubber]

I hate to tell you, but any ship today, with the missile technology available in the world, is nothing but a slow moving target.

[rlex]

I hate to tell you, but any ship today, with the missile technology available in the world, is nothing but a slow moving target.

I am pretty sure that most us who have been in the military understand the vulnerabilities of the various platforms that we are assigned including fighters, helos, tanks, humvees, subs, surface ships and a set of the highly reliable Mark 1 Mod 0 "boots on the ground" utilized by all of us but the primary system utilized by our ground forces. As much as I and other others would like deflectors, personal shields, phasers, and particle beam weapons - most of us will never be issued them.

The point of the thread was to admire ships "steaming" (a misnomer since those ships have gas turbine propulsion) in formation and maneuvering together. It is a holdover from a past naval era when we had "Ships of the Line" and naval battles utilized naval guns. Most Surface Warfare Officers enjoy the opportunity to maneuver in formation - when executed properly it is beautiful thing as you watch ships move quickly and precisely into the their assigned stations.

[Dan Wilson]

Or you can post any picture hosted on the web, even hot linking from another website by using the image tags,


Dan

[bonacker]

Roadawg,
My Dad served on a Flush Deck 4 Pipe, USS Semmes, from '37 to '40. He then went to Naval Avation and made a career of it. Time goes on but I have the memories of the stories he told me.
Cheers, Don

[Roadawg]

Bonaker,
Great memories I'm sure! Did he ever mention the disaster at "The Honda"? Love to hear whatever you can remember, email me direct if you'd like. BB

[rlex]

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