Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "A ship that refused to die - USS Marblehead, her crew and a voyage around the world" video.

@johnfairhurstReviews I don't know if she is the record holder, but Lexington, CV-16, was reported sunk so many times her nickname became "the blue ghost". When I was on the Lex, some 50 years ago, her C-1 had a blue ghost mascot painted on it. The web site for the Lexington, which is now a museum, says she was reported sunk by the Japanese at least four times.
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I have been waiting for this story since I saw the Marblehead listed in the upcoming articles about a year ago. Thanks! The thought occurs that the four upper 6" casemates are just about the right size to be replaced by 1.1" gun tubs. If the ship had that additional AA armament, she might not have been hit on that fateful day. If she had not been hit then, she probably would have been sunk, along with Houston.
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@MisterW0lfe the 1.1" was what was available in December 41. iirc, Cavite received 5 - 1.1" mounts. Four were mounted on the roof of Houston's seaplane hangar. The fifth mount is said to have been sent to Corregidor, where it was used on an improvised land mount.
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@jrturner7707 The deletion of casemates seems to have been uneven. The early British battlecruisers had deck mounted 4", the middle group: the Lions, Queen Mary, Tiger, had casemates, but the last group: Renowns, Courageouses, Hood, had deck mounts. British dreadnoughts clung to casemates through the Revenge class, then the Nelsons went to deck mounts. The USN persisted with casemates through the Lexingtons and South Dakotas. The IJN clung to casemates through the Tosa, Kii, "Number 13" and Amagi designs.
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@JSremus the British had a beachhead, behind the Axis front lines, at Tobruk, which Axis forces had surrounded when the British were pushed back into Egypt. In mid/late 41, the Aussie defenders held out until relieved by a British land offensive in December 41. The second time, in 42, Tobruk fell to the Germans. That tells me the British were incapable of landing enough men and equipment to launch an offensive out of Tobruk.
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