Top Ten Fighting Ships Nr. 5

[SacreDro]

Lol 5inch maximum protection in some areas and it scores good for protection wtf.

[mariokartvssb]

Why are almost all US Navy ships named after people or places? Where's the originality?

[superkid162516]

These "tin cans" you're talking about was featured many times in History channel's Dogfights... It took on a Heavy cruiser of japan in the Leyte gulf!

[superkid162516]

They didn't add the YAMATO... xD

[Haris4rings]

Are the twin 40 AA guns the famous BOFORS? And the 20 mm Oerlikon?

And what about PT Boats??? They had more punching power per tons ratio.

[alexandre007opa]

lol the fletcher s creed 2

[Kriegerdammerung]

Only 0.5 Inch (12.7mm) of armour only over vital areas and they scores its protection as "good"? (Although looks average in the bar)

I scores it as "very low"

[Bullettube]

No argument from me as to the Fletcher's class contribution to the war effort. But...the Fletcher were basically a continuation of the Gleaves class with one quad torpedo launcher replaced with another 5in 25 cal. gun mount. While bigger and better destroyers were later built, the Fletchers were the right ship at the right time.

[Robkat3751]

and then the Bensen/Gleaves class was a continuation of the Bensen class. Each destroyer was basically a continuation of a previous class. So Bensen from Sims abd sims from maybe Mahan class? What came after Fletcher and was it a coninuation, was it the Gearings?

My Father was on the USS Helm (DD388) at Pearl on the 7th. During Korea he was on a Fletcher, DD802.

[MagnumPI4]

My great grandpa survived pearl harbor and was a 40mm gunner. he always talked about the fletcher class and how they unleashed hell with those guns

[Yellow13Firestorm]

those Destroyer escourts... they're like a bulldog or something. small and you can knock them around a bit but if you say "come on, give me you're best shot!" they'll take your face off.

[steelpanther88]

Allen M. Sumner Class destroyer was also great. A ship of that class was featured some time ago in the History Channel Dogfights show, it was the kamikaze episode and the ship's name was USS Laffey. That was one helluva tough tin can I must say!

[biscuitninja]

"The Ship That Would Not Die"

[Wykletypl]

'Tin Can' has higher score for protection than the Battleship Bismarck. THEY MUST HAVE BEEN JOKING!!!!

[jakefree25]

@Wykletypl Maybe compared to other destroyers?

[Artas1984]

it's not the armor thickness that scores for protection, it's teh ships ability to defend in general against it's designated targets, in this case protection means the ability to defend against aircraft, light ships and subamrines...

That the logical explanation, the only one.

You would think that Yamato having having 24 inch turrets armor would score low for protection - and that wouldbe the case, because of it's deeds rather than paper facts.

[KeiPlan]

@Wykletypl dont believe that bullshit military channel is well known for their accurate researches btw i didnt found the yamato oh and wait the scharnhorst wasnt a deutschland class ship and im pretty sure that an american ship is number one didnt see it yet

[VRichardsn]

@Wykletypl Perhaps they rate it by comparing it s protection with others destroyer... if not it woud be impossible for any DD to come up in the list. Take into account the context.

[STL308]

@Wykletypl Why all the hard ons talking about the Bismarck. I dont see them marching a victory flag in the text books...

[snowboredsnj]

@Wykletypl I can only hope they base their ratings on comparisons to other ships in their class. The onlt other explanation would be it was bring your retarded kid to work day at the military channel and they let the little speds make a top ten list.

Oh, wasnt the uss johnston part of Taffy 3?

[Normacly]

@Wykletypl Protection just does not mean armor only. For fuck sake. The Bismarck failed to avoid WW1-era airplanes. While the Fletcher destroyers had fend off advanced Japanese torpedo and dive bombers. The Bismarck class had a score of one battleship. The Fletcher had above 3 confirm heavy cruisers and battleship kills.

[randy946]

This is the only destroyer in the list of Top Ten Fighting Ships. That alone says a lot for this class. But I admit I'm biased because I served on the lead ship of this class, the USS Fletcher DD-445.

[Robkat3751]

randy946 how did you serve on the DD445 when it was decomissioned 1969, about the time you were born. Or is your posted age a typo?

[randy946]

The posted age is wrong. I was born in 1946.

[Robkat3751]

What year did you serve on the Fletcher? What was your rate? What cruises were you on?

[randy946]

1966-1969, STGSN to STG2, last 3 WestPacs

[fabster1001]

i think the fletcher should be in 7th and the bismark in 5th

[SuperNuckingFuts]

the bismark did not have a big rep compared to the fletcher class

[tunaman100]

I'm suprised they didn't say anything about the Battle off Samar

[biscuitninja]

Yes, the Johnston and to some extent the Samual B. Roberts... although she was a tiny little DE.

[shathriel]

you have to remember this top ten is american biased :)

[tplanefun]

Superb class for all around fleet use. Most destroyers with similiar dispacements didn,t fair as well. Most were weak in AA protection.

[BlueCrystalGem]

I loathe depth charges...

[susti21]

way to many american ships!germans had good ships not only bismarck but snarthorst too!

[BlueCrystalGem]

biased the carolina classes were no higher on innovation than bismark. building battleship at that period of history itself was a mistake. the innovation should be zeroooooooo

[hmasmelbourne]

To many world war 2 ships, HMS warrior should be included.