Comments by "Kenneth Dean Miller" (@kennethdeanmiller7324) on "USS Des Moines - Guide 251" video.

  1. Yes, it's a shame that the idea & implementation of an 8" autoloader wasn't thought of early enough to see WW2. A ship such as this would have been a nice surprise for the Tokyo Express coming down the slot at Guadal Canal. But I'm sure they made good use of them during Korea & Vietnam. I think it would have been really cool just to be on board & see the 8" autoloader in action.
    7
  2. I just wish I had the $$ to go see her!! If I had a car then the chance of going would be feasible. But considering that I'm homeless & unemployed atm, I don't expect being able to go any time soon. Back in 2008 I was living in Pensacola, FL & working in Mobile, AL & got to see the USS Alabama otw to work & then otw home every day but cuz I was riding with the crew I never got to tour the great battleship. I'm very proud that lthe state of Alabama was able to keep her out of the scrap yard. However, the old girl looked awful lonely there in the bay. I think that a lot of schools should bring classes to tour some of these ships. When young & studying history sometimes it seems boring. But getting to see & go inside even one of these ships makes the history more real & interesting.
    3
  3. Very true. I think each turret weighed 450 tons. So 3 turrets is going to be 1350 tons. That's a lot of weight to have on a cruiser! And cuz of the war they were trying to hurry & build as many ships as possible. And trying to take the time to build the 8" auto loaders with all the trouble shooting to get them to work with reliability was painstakingly time consuming, I'm sure! But if there had been any way the US could have had such a ship at Guadal Canal, it would have been a major asset as long as it could stay away from all the long lances! I'm fairly confident that with a good crew one of these ships could easily take out 2-3 Japanese cruisers in a matter of a few minutes. Especially, if they spotted the IJN on radar first & opened up as soon they were in range. I admire these ships as much as most of the battleships! Granted I wouldn't want them to go against a battleship but a battleship is the only ship that would be their superior in a gun duel. And that's only because a battleship has more range. Now, imagine them building a battleship with 16" auto loaders. What a BEAST that would be? Now imagine being on the receiving end of 16" rapid fire. And because they are auto loaders they reliably fire every 30 seconds & because of radar fire control they are deadly accurate as well. And if someone tries to fire a sea skimming missiles at the ship you can fire shells in front of the missiles and the shell splashes would take them out.
    2