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.

[Dave Lane]

Reporting to the U.S. Pacific Fleet in the autumn of 1943, Bunker Hill participated in carrier operations during: the crucial carrier air raid on the major Imperial Japanese Navy base at Rabaul, along with the USS Essex and the USS Independence on 11 November 1943; Gilbert Islands operation, including support of the landings on Tarawa Atoll (13 November – 8 December); the air raids on Kavieng in support of the amphibious landings in the Bismarck Archipelago (25 December 1943, 1 January, and 4 January 1944); air raids in the Marshall Islands (29 January – 8 February); the huge carrier air raids on Truk Atoll (17–18 February), during which eight I.J.N. warships were sunk; air raids on the Marianas Islands (Guam, Saipan, and Tinian) (23 February); air raids on Palau, Yap, Ulithi, and Woleai in the Palau Islands (30 March – 1 April); air raids on Truk, Satawan, and Ponape in the Caroline Islands (29 April – 1 May); raids in support of the U.S. Army landings around Hollandia (21–28 April); combat operations in the Marianas in support of the amphibious landings on Saipan and Guam (12 June – 10 August), including the titanic Battle of the Philippine Sea, just west of the Marianas.


USS Bunker Hill under attack, 19 June 1944.

On 19 June 1944, during the opening phases of the landings in the Marianas, Bunker Hill was damaged when the explosion of a Japanese aerial bomb scattered shrapnel fragments across the decks and the sides of the aircraft carrier. Two sailors were killed, and about 80 more were wounded. Bunker Hill continued to fight, with her antiaircraft fire shooting down a few IJN warplanes.

During the Battle of the Philippine Sea, about 476 Japanese warplanes were destroyed, nearly all of them shot down by Navy F6F Hellcat fighter planes, such as those carried by Bunker Hill

During September, Bunker Hill carried out air raids in the Western Caroline Islands, and then she and her task force steamed a to the north to launch air raids on Luzon, Formosa, and Okinawa, through early November.

On 6 November 1944, Bunker Hill steamed eastward from the forward area, and she was taken to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, for a period of major overhaul/upkeep work and weaponry upgrades, as all warships must undergo periodically. She departed from the Port of Bremerton on 24 January 1945, and then she steamed westward back into the combat area in the Western Pacific.

1945


Kamikaze pilot Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, flying the second Zero, hit Bunker Hill on 11 May 1945.

During the remaining months of World War II, Bunker Hill fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima; the 5th Fleet raids against Honshū and the Nansei Shoto (15 February – 4 March); and the 5th and 3rd Fleet raids in support of the Battle of Okinawa. On 7 April 1945, Bunker Hill's planes took part in an attack by the Fast Carrier Task Force of the Pacific Fleet on Imperial Japanese Navy forces in the East China Sea. The superbattleship Yamato, one light cruiser, and four destroyers were sunk during this Operation Ten-Go, as it was called by the Japanese Navy.


After two kamikazes strikes in 30 seconds.


Transfer of wounded from USS Bunker Hill to USS Wilkes Barre.

On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the invasion of Okinawa, Bunker Hill was struck and severely damaged by two Japanese kamikaze planes. An A6M Zero fighter plane emerged from low cloud cover, dove toward the flight deck and dropped a 550-pound (250 kilogram) bomb that penetrated the flight deck and exited from the side of the ship at gallery deck level before exploding in the ocean.[3] The Zero next crashed onto the carrier's flight deck, destroying parked warplanes full of aviation fuel and ammunition, causing a large fire. The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea. Then, a short 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, plunged into its suicide dive. The Zero went through the antiaircraft fire, dropped a 550-pound bomb, and then crashed into the flight deck near the carrier's "island", as kamikazes were trained to aim for the island superstructure. The bomb penetrated the flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place. Bunker Hill lost a total of 346 sailors and airmen killed, 43 more missing (and never found), and 264 wounded. She was heavily damaged and was sent to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard for repairs. She was still in the shipyard when the war ended in mid-August 1945.

[dmahurin]

Im in.

[Sorter]

Aye.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Son of a bitch.

USS Yorktown (CV-5) was an aircraft carrier commissioned in the United States Navy from 1937 until she was sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.


So far I can't find the number of casulties.

I found a list of 86, so let's go with that. On a crew of 2600, that mean...(rolling dice)

You survived with a great story.

[bevischief]

Reporting for duty.

[Rain Man]

Oops, short meeting. This thread will resume in a half-hour or so.

[Sorter]

Also, Orlando Bloom was the worst pirate I've ever seen.

[Dallas Chief]

Cool thread I'm in too!

[InChiefsHeaven]

Reporting for duty sir.

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Independence** Independence-class Light Carrier**

You got the first one of its class, apparently.

She survived the war and also as a target for nuclear weapons testing in 1946. I sure hope I was off of it before the nuclear testing.

Can't find anything on casualties other than they were light in it's worst damaging fight.

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Oops, short meeting. This thread will resume in a half-hour or so.

The nerve of some people.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

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

You are on:

Wickes** Fletcher-class Destroyer**


Tell me more.

The good news is I get to return home for the baby boom. Nothing real eventful. Commissioned in 43, had a few minor scrapes in the Philippines. Seems like somebody in charge didn't want us to be sunk as we had a few operations canceled and did a lot of training exercises and some boring stuff around the Alleutians. Best war stories come from the Battle of Okinawa in '45 where we took some fire and shot down some kamikazes. Went back to San Fran after that and the ship was decommissioned. The Navy finally blew it up during target practice in '72.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I found a list of 86, so let's go with that. On a crew of 2600, that mean...(rolling dice)

You survived with a great story.

Awesome.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Oops, short meeting. This thread will resume in a half-hour or so.

Who are you? Bull Halsey?

* Probably only one person here will get this reference without looking it up... *

[Nightfyre]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Oops, short meeting. This thread will resume in a half-hour or so.

Hurry up and wait. The story of my military career. And meetings.