bstarr -> RE: Combined Historical Scenario - Ship Data (1/6/2005 6:27:29 PM)
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ORIGINAL: Tankerace As I understood it (from reading, not second hand experience like bstarr), Merchies were armed with whatever weapons were available at the time. So, if a Merchie was in a West Coast dockyard, or was being refitted, it would have say 3"/50 Mk 10, or 4"/50 Mk 9s. However, if It was at a quick stopover, it would have a 20mm or worse case a couple of ma-deuces bolted on. So, transfer to a battleship! Course, I understand your pain though, my grandads ship (Mississippi) fought off Okinawa with the same style 5"/25 Mk 10s used at Pearl Harbor. If director controlled 5"/38s couldn't stop kamikazes, what the Hell is a 5"/25 supposed to do. On that same note, I want to share this picture of the Mississippi with you. During WW2, my grandfather was stationed in Turret II (B Turret). As he told me also, during an air attack he commanded a 20mm Gun Mount. I January 1945, off Lingayen, the Mississippi was hit by a kamikaze, which hit where the steel is bent above. My grandfather told me about that once, and he told me that he was 5 feet away when it hit, so my guess (assuming his story is correct), the 20mm mount I circled, or the one just below it was his. Freaky stuff. VERY interesting. I've always wanted to research my grandfather's wartime career, but there's not much material on Merch Marines. Hell, I don't even know the names of the three ships he was on. According to my father one was sunk inside the Suez Canal, so I would think that one would be easy to find (it certainly couldn't have been a common occurance). But I've been unable to find anything. Funny note - since they were unarmed, Papa said the crew used to wave at the enemy planes as they passed over after releasing their bombs (by the way, he served in the Med). Kinda along the lines of, "If we act friendly they won't come back and strafe us." The funny thing was, the Germans always waved back, or at least wagged their wings. And they never once strafed (not that he saw; historically it did happen occassionally).
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