[salem1912]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

Going by memory. I think it was the USS Kearsarge. It later became a salvage ship with a huge crane. I think it lasted into the 20's, maybe early 30's?

Steve your right BB5 USS Kearsarge served the Navy well from 1898 to 1954. Namesake is now LHD-3. My father served on CV33 Kearsarge in WW2.(Not much action)
Hope this isn't going off subject.

[Mr Twister]

I steamed with the New Jersey battle group in late 1983 onboard the USS Milwaukee . We were staioned off the coast of Beirut and provided fuel, ammunition, and stores to the other ships in the area. The projectile cans for the 16" rounds are huge, we had hundreds of EMPTY ones onboard at 1 point during the cruise. I guess they were shooting the big guns on the BB, but at the time they didn't tell us what was going on around us. Our news was daily meaasge traffic of 1 or 2 paragraph stories from the AP.

[Bob Dillon]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

My Gosh, I would almost give up a testicle to experience 16' shells flying over me, esp at night. HAS to be awesome!

We were over the hill and could see the flash on the horizon but didn't have direct view of the ship.

Listening to USS St. Paul (CA-73) on the gun line (call sign Tornado) was fun, too. She was the last all-gun cruiser left in the USN and had the latest 8" guns. Semi-automatic, they used big brass cartridges, like a rifle, so the gunbunnies didn't have to load the shell and then the powder bags, ram it, and fire. Seemed like New Jersey took maybe a minute to reload for another salvo. St. Paul could put out 8 a minute.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by Bob Dillon

We were over the hill and could see the flash on the horizon but didn't have direct view of the ship.

Listening to USS St. Paul (CA-73) on the gun line (call sign Tornado) was fun, too. She was the last all-gun cruiser left in the USN and had the latest 8" guns. Semi-automatic, they used big brass cartridges, like a rifle, so the gunbunnies didn't have to load the shell and then the powder bags, ram it, and fire. Seemed like New Jersey took maybe a minute to reload for another salvo. St. Paul could put out 8 a minute.

USS St. Paul was the last Baltimore class heavy cruiser from WW 2 to serve, but the LAST all-gun cruiser was the USS Newport News (CA-148). Newport News was decommissioned in 1975 where ST. Paul was decommissioned in 1971. The fact that the U.S. Navy wore out the ST. Paul and Des Moines cruisers (Des Moines, Salem and Newport News) was one of the reasons why the Missouri class battleships were returned to service in the 1980s.