Hypothetical: The Navy drafted you in WWII.

[Rain Man]

I found a database of major American WWII ships the other day and pulled it into Excel. Then I found information on crew sizes. Now I have a simple simulator.

So if you were drafted into the Navy in World War II and were assigned to a large ship (e.g., submarine, destroyer, cruiser, or larger), I can now randomly assign you to a ship. Report in this thread to get your assignment.

I'll tell you your ship, and then it's up to you to look it up and see where it went and what happened to it. If the ship took casualties, let me know how many were killed and wounded and I'll do a random draw to see if you would have survived.


As for me, I would have been one of 700 sailors aboard:

Juneau** Atlanta-class Light Cruiser**

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Juneau_(CL-52)

That's not really a good thing. I hung out with a nice set of five brothers from Iowa, the Sullivans, but we saw some bad things.

We launched early in 1942 and did some early runs in the Atlantic and Caribbean before heading to the Pacific Theater. Right out of the gate in the Pacific we had to rescue sailors from an aircraft carrier that sank from a sub attack, and then we headed to Guadalcanal.

Our task force fought off four attacks from the Japanese, one of which took down another aircraft carrier.

Then another big Japanese group attacked, and we took a torpedo. We headed off toward Vanuatu for repairs, running with two other damaged ships, when we were attacked again by a Japanese sub. We took another torpedo which blew the ship to smithereens and we sank in 20 seconds.

The other two ships assumed there were no survivors and took off running. In actuality, 100 of the crew survived the sinking, but only about 10 survived the next eight days until rescue aircraft found them.

Based on a random dice roll, I went down with the ship, so my naval career ended late in 1942. I hope America won.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

You are on the:

Honolulu** Brooklyn-class Light Cruiser**


(Shrug.) I'll be interested to hear your story.

Had to look her up. Nice record, except for this:

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

Aye Aye Captain.

You are on the:

Bunker Hill** Essex-class Aircraft Carrier**


Ships have such great names.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

I wanna fly off a carrier

Independence** Independence-class Light Carrier**

You got the first one of its class, apparently.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by SNR

I want in. And you better not put me in Bumblescum, AL like you did last time

Franklin** Essex-class Aircraft Carrier**


I had no idea that they named a carrier after Aretha.

[Donger]

I feel for the poor bastard who gets Indy.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Donger

Not that many, IIRC. Over 100.

My luck....it will probably include me.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by KC native

Assignment please.

Missouri** Iowa-class Battleship**

Oh, look at you with your big fancy battleship.

[Kman34]

Barely passed the physical...[flat feet]...Ready to serve my country.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by wazu

Reporting for duty! (Also, sorry to hear of your untimely demise.)

I was sad. I was hoping to ride out the war.

You are on:

Wickes** Fletcher-class Destroyer**


Tell me more.

[Otter]

Joining the seamen

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

You are on the:

Bunker Hill** Essex-class Aircraft Carrier**


Ships have such great names.

USS Bunker Hill (CV/CVA/CVS-17, AVT-9) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the second U.S. Navy ship to bear the name, was named for the Battle of Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill was commissioned in May 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific War, earning eleven battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. She was badly damaged in May 1945 by Japanese kamikaze attacks, with the loss of hundreds of her crew, becoming one of the most heavily damaged carriers to survive the war.

After the attack she returned to the U.S. mainland for repairs and was decommissioned in 1947. While in reserve she was reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS), and finally an Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship (AVT), but was never modernized and never saw active service again. Bunker Hill and Franklin were the only Essex-class ships never recommissioned after World War II.

Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1966, she served as an electronics test platform for many years in San Diego bay, and was sold for scrap in 1973. An effort to save her as a museum ship in 1972 was unsuccessful.

[Rasputin]

Put me in Coach

[BWillie]

I'll be quite honest with you, if I was drafted for any war of any kind that I would have over a 0.25% chance of death, I'm moving to another country. Not a chance in hell I'm risking my life.

I don't care what you call me. I'd be a terrible terrible person to be on your team in war. We'd be out in the trenches, you'd be like, okay I'm going in first, you come in behind me where all of those guys shooting are at and cover me. I'd be like, are you ****ing crazy, they are trying to kill people up there.

[Nightfyre]

In.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Welcome aboard the:

Ommaney Bay** Casablanca-class Escort Carrier**


Hmm. Should be a good one.

Sweet! I dug up an old pic of me onboard.