Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "The Drydock - Episode 012" video.

I'm not an engineer so I only know what little I can understand from reading about this issue. Wasn't the temperature difference ductility also an issue in the sinking of the Titanic? As I remember, I think that this was confirmed from examination of the wreck photos.
3
Did that continue to be an issue up into the age of steel? Didn't welded Liberty ships have cracking issues the were somehow lined to the kind of steel used in construction? I think I remember reading that, at least.
2
Ah, okay, I knew that cold water was somehow involved but I didn't know if it was the steel or the welding that was implicated. What did the shipbuilders do to overcome this problem, and how widespread did it turn out to be?
2
The North Carolinas and South Dakotas were all kept in reserve and never recommissioned. They were all removed from the Navy list by 1962, and those not retained as museum ships were scrapped. They had the same problems as the rebuilt old 16" battleships - Inadequate armor against 16 inch shells, a main battery of 16"/45 guns rather than the much more potent 16/50 guns of the Iowas, and, most of all, slow speed. 27-28 knots just wasn't enough to keep up with fast carrier battlegroups. The Iowas were the only ships in reserve considered "true" battleships by the Naval Board.
2
Walter, you're right about the main role of the Iowas being gunfire support. They were commissioned as the centerpiece of their own Surface Action Group. That doesn't mean they no longer had a role as carrier escorts, as shown by Battle Group Alpha, with the Iowa serving and an escort to the Midway. Their main role was envisioned as distant escorts for carrier groups as counters to the Soviet Kirov class. Once the USSR collapsed, that role went with it.
2
Jay Lozier Thanks a lot for the explanations. Indeed, the Liberty ships did last many years after the end of the ar so the problems with cracking couldn't have been that widespread. The same welding issues arise from time to time, the Falklands war being one example. Problems with frame cracking showed up in welded connections of steel frame buildings after the 1994 Northridge earthquake,
1
The reason why the Iowas survived in reserve while the rebuilt "old" battleships were scrapped by 1960 was speed. The Iowas had a top speed of 33 knots and could effectively operate with fast carrier task forces. The best of the old battleships could only make 24 knots. In terms of armament, a ship like the rebuilt West Virginia was only slightly inferior to the Iowa in most things but speed, but that turned out to be the critical difference.
1