Congratulations to Mr. Prewitt. It should be noted, however, that France’s highest order of merit is called the Legion of Honour (Légion d’honneur), not the Legion of Armour, and also that France doesn’t actually have knighthoods in the same sense as Britain does. “Chevalier” (knight) is indeed one of the Legion of Honour’s five levels, and the name is a holdover from the days when France still had an aristocracy, but the French nobility system went out the window with the French Revolution. I once saw a series of amusing cartoons depicting what life in France would be like today if the Bourbon monarchy hadn’t fallen, and one of them showed an irate air traveler standing at the ticket counter of “Royal Air France” and telling the ticket agent “But I’m a baron and I have a confirmed reservation!” The agent replies, “I’m sorry, sir, but the Duke of So-and-so has precedence over you, so we gave him your seat.” In fairness, the same sort of thing actually happens in real-life republican France. A few years ago, there was scandal involving one of the major D-Day anniversaries (I think it was the 50th one), when the French government contacted various hotels in Normany and appropriated some of their existing reservations so that various French officials could have rooms for the event. Some of those rooms, however, had been reserved by foreign veterans of the D-Day invasion. When the story broke on the front page of French newspapers (under such headlines as “Our Liberators Insulted!”), public opinion was outraged and the French government beat a hasty retreat. The prevailing editorial opinion over this affair was: Do this to our own citizens if you want, but don’t do this to the heroes who ended the occupation of France.
Favorite WWII Ship
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Atlantis was at remote Kerguelen Island, in the Indian Ocean. There they did maintenance and replenished their water supplies. The crew suffered its first fatality when a sailor fell while painting the funnel. He was buried in what is sometimes referred to as “the most southerly German soldier’s grave”
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Ah, another fan of the merchant raider. As a southern I’ve always loved the story of the Alabama. Had the Union not used chain-mail armor, perhaps the outcome of that duel off Cherbourg been different.
The German World War One Raider Wolf led a glormous life also.
Yep, and since I am a multi generational Floridian I am a big fan of the CSS Florida - Which ran the blockade into Mobile and escaped to boot. Took 37 prizes, two of which were converted into the CSS Tacony and Clarence which took 23 more prizes. And if not for the violation of Brazilian waters…who knows but c’est la guerre
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Lol! i meant the enterprise and the yamato/m_______ (forgot the spelling)
Those ships are my top 3
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I wonder just how many ships were sunk in World War Two?
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i dont know, i would have a guess that around 15-20 thousand ships were sunk, at the end of ww2 i think there were less than ten servicable ships left of the kriegsmarine.
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How many ships were sunk in WW1 and WW2 combined and were worried about a few oil spills :?
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Italiansarecoming the word you’re looking for is Musashi. As far as Axis ships I like the Shinano. She was a carrier built on a Yamato hull. She put to sea loaded with Shinyo suicide boats and Ohka rocket bombs. Now comes my favorite part of this story. The next day the US sank her.
28 NOV 44 1330 Shinano departs Yokosuka for Kure.
29 NOV 44 0309 four torpedoes from USS Archerfish slam into the Shinano.
29 NOV 44 1057 Captain Abe (Shinano’s captain) goes down with his ship.
She was at sea for 21 hours and 27 minutes. This is one of my favorite night night stories. -
I’d have to throw my vote in for the type VII U-Boat, as they wreaked so much havoc across the Atlantic. However, I’ve got to tip my hat to the Enterprise, what an amazing ship and crew.
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The New Orleans Class heavy Cruisers,
Atlanta Class Light Cruisers,
South Dakota and Iowa Class Battleships,
Fletcher Class Destroyers,
Yorktown and Essex Class fleet Carriers.Those are just some of my favorite ships.
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The Bismarck. That thing was a beast.
Unfortunately, it never had the chance to fulfill its potential.
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The Bismark :-D
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The Achilles!
Involved in the battle of the river plate against the Graf Spee.
It’s main guns are a monument in Auckland these days and I remember seeing them when I was about 5 and thinking they were just the most awesome things ever!
So not for combat record, but for childhood memories.
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I have made plans to visit the Battleship Alabama this spring break.
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@ABWorsham:
I have made plans to visit the Battleship Alabama this spring break.
Nice one, when I was in the US I had a good look around the USS Salem in South Boston. Even though thats only a heavy cruiser (i think) it was still awesome in size.
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I see USS Constellation couple week ago. That count? I want see USS North Carolina but is long drive from here.
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HOLY SMOKES ENTERPRISE RULED!
though i like what it was called i think the iowa battle ship i beleive (blank in my head because i have been chilling to much)
The iowa and its sister ship were the biggest bship of ww2 and in history but i love the enterprise though as well
which Sister?
Wisconsin, New Jersey, or Missouri?
Enterprise did rule, But she was extremely Lucky also.
MY personal Fav is KGM Tirpitz, Though she was just Chillin for most of the war, it took 22,000lb Tall boy Damn busting Bombs to sink her. German Engineering at it’s finest, or British Aiming at it’s Worse.
Although Kudos to the Japanese Submarine that Actually shelled US Mainland Soil
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Yeah, we had a Japanese Sub in Wellington Harbour at one point.
Gutsy submarineers the Japanese.
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The H.M.S. Habakkuk. :wink:
Okay, okay, so I cheated, since it technically never made it off the drawing board.
If it must be a real ship: the Yamato, hands down!
18 inch guns!!! Take that, Bismark lovers. :-D
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The Battleship Alabama was huge!! I thought I was prepared for the vastness of a modern battleship, I wasn’t afterall. I would post some pic, if I could figure out the process.
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As awesome as the Alabama was, my favorite ship to visit in Mobile Bay was the U.S submarine Shaw.
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