Photos Navies Of All Nations

[BravoZulu]

Germany:
Salvaged WWII submarine U-534 at Birkenhead, England, 2006

Sunk by depth charge in 1945.
“The U-534 had aboard a crew of 52 men; all escaped the sub, and 49 survived to be rescued. Five were trapped in the torpedo room as she began to sink, but they managed to escape through the torpedo loading hatch once the boat had settled on the sea bed. They planned their escape the way that they had been trained, exiting through the forward torpedo hatch once the U-534 had settled on the seabed and swimming to the surface from a depth of 67 metres (220 ft). One of them, 17-year-old radio operator, Josef Neudorfer, failed to exhale as he was surfacing and died from damage to his lungs. The two others (including their Argentine radio operator) died of exposure while in the water.”

 

[BravoZulu]

RN:
The last of the King George V class battleships, HMS Howe during trials, August 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

Russia:
Naval Infantrymen and Zubr class hovercraft Evgeniy Kocheshkov during a amphibious assault landing exercise near the Khmelevka training ground in Kaliningrad, 2008

 

[BravoZulu]

Greece:
Armoured cruiser "Georgios Averof", Pisa class, in the Mediterranean sea, 1913.

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Stockdale (DDG 106) transits the Indian Ocean

USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), USS Billings (LCS 15) and USS Sioux City (LCS 11) conduct maritime operations together in the south Atlantic Ocean.

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
USS PC-815 was a PC-461-class submarine chaser built for the United States Navy during World War II. Its first commander, for about eighty days in 1943, was L. Ron Hubbard, who later became the founder of Scientology. After Hubbard was removed from command for conducting unauthorized gunnery practice in Mexican territorial waters, the PC-815 served as a shore patrol vessel off San Diego, California.

In September 1945, the ship was lost with one of her crew after colliding with the destroyer USS Laffey. PC-815's short career led to the vessel being dubbed the "jinxed sub-chaser".

This wasn't the worst of Hubbard's wartime antics. He seemed to have a knack for creating his own enemies. Here's a quote from Ron The War Hero: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard's Calamitous Military Career.

Hubbard had a long history of denigrating the loyalty of those around him. In 1940, he wrote to the FBI to denounce the steward of the New York hotel where he was staying as a Nazi spy, and on his last day in Australia he took the time to denounce several people in Brisbane as supposed Japanese and German agents. After founding Dianetics in 1950, he denounced numerous colleagues and ex-employees — and even his own wife — as supposed Russian agents. There’s no sign that any of his denunciations were taken seriously, and an FBI agent wrote, “appears mental,” on one of his letters of denunciation.

 

[BravoZulu]

Germany:
Tourists crowd around the beached submarine SM U-118, Hastings, Sussex, United Kingdom, 1919

"U-118 was to be transferred to France, but while in tow from Harwich to Brest, in company with UB-121, in the early hours of 15 April 1919, she broke tow in a storm, and ran aground on the beach at Hastings in Sussex at approximately 00:45, directly in front of the Queens Hotel.

Initially, there were attempts to displace the stricken vessel. Three tractors tried to refloat the submarine, and a French destroyer attempted to break the ship apart using her guns. All were unsuccessful, and the closeness of the submarine to the public beach and the Queens Hotel prevented the use of explosives.

The stranded submarine became a popular tourist attraction, and thousands visited Hastings that Easter to see her. She was under the authority of the local coast guard station, and the Admiralty allowed the Town Clerk of Hastings to charge a small fee for visitors to climb on the deck. This went on for two weeks, during which the town gained almost £300 (UK£ 14,900 in 2021) to help fund a welcome for the town's soldiers returning from the war.

Two members of the coast guard, chief boatman William Heard and chief officer W. Moore, showed important visitors around the interior of the submarine. The visits were curtailed in late April, when both coast guard men became severely ill. Rotting food on board was thought to be the cause, but the men's condition persisted and got worse. Moore died in December 1919, followed by Heard in February 1920. An inquest decided that a noxious gas, possibly chlorine released from the submarine's damaged batteries, had caused abscesses on the men's lungs and brain.

Although visits inside the submarine had stopped, tourists still came to be photographed alongside or on the U-boat's deck. The wreck was sold by the British Admiralty to James Dredging Co. on 21 May 1919 for £2,200 (£ 103,000 in 2021) and broken up on the beach until 1921. The deck gun was left behind, but was removed in 1921. Some of the ship's keel may yet remain buried in the beach sand."

 

[BravoZulu]

Australia:
Oberon class submarine HMAS Onslow (S-60), Daring class destroyer HMAS Vampire (D-11) and the bark Endeavour at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Australia.

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
USS CALIFORNIA (BB-44) firing her starboard 5/51 secondary guns during night battle practice in 1933. View looks aft from the forecastle, with the ship's forward 14 triple gun turrets at right

Colorado-class battleship USS Maryland (BB-46) and Pennsylvania class of battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) at Bremerton, Puget Sound, 1936

 

[BravoZulu]

Australia:
HMVS Cerberus at Williamstown in 1871 a Coastal Monitor of the Victorian Navy who later became a RAN ship. She would be unusable by World War 1 and would subsequently become a submarine tender before being decommissioned in 1924.

HMAS Countess of Hopetoun in 1914 (Ex HMVS Countess of Hopetoun). The ship, a 1st Class Torpedo Boat first served in the Victorian Naval Forces before being transferred to the Commonwealth Naval Forces and finally the Royal Australian Navy. She was decommissioned in 1924.

 

[BravoZulu]

RN:
HMS Calm, a Greek Caique used for minesweeping in Mediterranean Sea. 1942.

 

[BravoZulu]

Japan:
JS Omi (AOE-426) a Mashū-class replenishment ship

 

[BravoZulu]

PLA(N):
The third Type 075 LHD undergoing trials. This hull should commission some time in 2022, whereas the second hull, also on trials, is speculated to commission before the year is out.

 

[Redav]

Mariscal Shaposhniknov

 

[BravoZulu]

Russia:
Kirov class battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy in sea trials in 1997

 

[BravoZulu]

USN:
USS Newport News (CA-148) awaits scrapping, New Orleans, 1 April 1993

 

[BravoZulu]

Canada:
Halifax class frigate HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338) alongside in Sasebo, Japan. Dec 2021

 

[BravoZulu]

France:
Battleship Masséna, circa 1899

 

[BravoZulu]

RN:
Destroyers HMS Javelin and HMS Kelvin, making for harbour at full speed. June 1942

King George V class battleship HMS Howe, during trials, August 1942

 

[BravoZulu]

RN:
KGV class battleship HMS Anson awaits the breakers yard, 1957