Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: BattleShips of World War Two  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'U-Boats', 'Navel Forces & Battles', 'Graf Spee', 'WWII Wrecks', 'Nazi memorabilia'.

Warship HMAS Sydney found - Australia's maritime mystery solved
One wartime mystery has been solved with the discovery of the wreck of the battleship HMAS Sydney. The Sydney, a cruiser, was the biggest ship from any country to be sunk with all hands lost during World War Two. It was sunk by the German naval raider Kormoran, cloaked as a Dutch merchant ship, during a battle in Nov. 1941. The fate of HMAS Sydney, and why none of its crew survived, was "Australia's major maritime mystery" said the chief of the Australian navy, Vice Admiral Russ Shalders. HMAS Sydney was last seen limping over the horizon, streaming black smoke, by the crew of the Kormoran.     [ telegraph :: 2008-03-17 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

The Inferno: Aircraft carrier USS Franklin after an attack by a Japanese dive bomber
Navy photographer Al Bullock's photos have been in numerous books, but he says the latest work his photos appear in is different because it puts the reader in the thick of the action. Bullock's photos of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin after a March 1945 attack by a Japanese dive bomber are featured in "The Inferno." The author, Joseph Springer, talked to over 100 people who pulled through the attack that resulted almost 800 dead and 2,400 wounded. The Franklin, testing the experimental Tiny Tim 500-pound rocket, was hit by two 500-pound bombs, which caused a firestorm of exploding aircraft fuel.     [ mercurynews :: 2008-03-10 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Appeal for the last surviving WWII warship of the Battle of the Atlantic
A £2m fund-raising appeal has been launched to bring the last surviving World War II warship from the Battle of the Atlantic back to Liverpool. HMS Whimbrel worked as an escort vessel protecting convoys, and is now lying in dock in Egypt. Liverpool was the UK's main convoy port where on average 4 arrived each day. It is hoped she can be now be restored and become a visitor attraction on the Liverpool waterfront. Over 1,000 convoys arrived on Merseyside during the war, and The Whimbrel was the called the "Rolls Royce of wartime escort ships" by the navy. Whimbrel veteran Cecil Cox said: "When you located a sub you sat over the top of it..."     [ bbc :: 2007-09-21 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Expanded tour route in the most decorated battleship in U.S. history
Today marks the opening of an expanded tour route that includes the brig, barbershop and laundry facility aboard the World War II-era vessel, the most decorated battleship in U.S. naval history, the Battleship New Jersey. "These 3 exhibits we are opening further demonstrate the battleship as a city at sea," said museum president Troy Collins. Restoration of the three areas cost $125,000. On July 28 free haircuts will be offered to visitors and on July 14 visitors may enter a "Great Escapes" contest. The laundry handled the wash - uniforms, towels and bed linen - for up to 3,000 sailors during WWII.     [ courierpostonline :: 2007-07-15 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

New museum explores WWII sinking of cruiser Indianapolis
62 years after Japanese torpedoes sank the Indianapolis in shark-infested waters, an exhibit in the cruiser's namesake city documents its end in the last weeks of World War II. The exhibit at the Indiana War Memorial, includes documents about the July 30, 1945, sinking; the ship's bell; and even the type of life jacket that kept the sailors afloat for 4 days. "We're trying to keep the story alive, and the museum would make it permanent," said Paul Murphy, chairman of the USS Indianapolis Survivors Organization. 40 of the 81 men still alive who were among the 317 survivors reunited for 3 days, and the exhibit opened to the public after a parade honoring them.     [ philly :: 2007-07-09 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

World War II battleship Yamato memorial faces an uphill battle
Moves are under way to rebuild a memorial dedicated to one of Japan's greatest warships, Yamato. The WWII battleship was one of the largest Japanese naval vessels of the time with a displacement of 65,000 tons. It went out to sea in April 1945 to attack U.S. vessels trying to land troops on Okinawa. On April 7, Yamato came under surprise attack by U.S. aircraft and was sunk. According to the Kure Maritime Museum 276 of the 3,332 crew members survived. Near Cape Inutabumisaki - site considered the closest cape to where Yamato sank - stands 1968 memorial. But 14 years later it emerged that the battleship sank at a different location - and interest began to wane.     [ asahi :: 2007-05-22 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Museum to add battleship USS Nevada's log to its collection
The captain's log of the USS Nevada battleship that survived the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor will be added to the Nevada State Museum collection. The log details the ship's service 1916-1946. The battleship got under way and was trying to steam out of the harbor when it was hit by Japanese bombs. The captain beached the ship to avoid blocking the harbor. The ship was repaired and supported troops in the June 1944 invasion at Normandy during World War II. "The log starts getting pretty interesting right around 1941. They're dodging bullets with Japanese planes flying past them. It's just a great story about a hell of a ship."     [ rgj :: 2007-05-05 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

April 11- RAF Zaps Nazi pocket battleship Admiral Scheer
The British Admiralty announced on April 11, 1945, that in an air raid on Nazi Germany by the RAF, the Admiral Scheer had been sunk on April 9 in Kiel Naval Base. Admiral Scheer, one of 3 Deutschland-class pocket battleships, was named for Admiral Reinhard Scheer, commander-in-chief of the WWI German Navy. Although she saw relatively little action at the start of WWII, her anti-aircraft gunners were the first to shoot down a British bomber. Admiral Scheer embarked on a 5-month raiding voyage during which she sank 16 Allied merchant ships. She was used in support of German ground forces during the retreat from the Eastern Front in the winter of 1944-1945.     [ brooklyneagle :: 2007-04-12 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

There's much to learn from history of a Navy cruiser USS Houston
"Ship of Ghosts," James D. Hornfischer's second book about the naval and military past of the U.S., provides plenty of information that's certain to appeal to many types of readers - scholars, navy buffs, armchair sailors and military historians. The book narrates the history of the navy cruiser USS Houston, which was built in the 1920s, became the favourite of a president Franklin D. Roosevelt and was lost during the war, its crew becoming POWs in Japan.     [ - :: 2007-01-21 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Sinister turn in the mystery of the sinking of cruiser HMAS Sydney
The mystery over the sinking of HMAS Sydney in World War II has taken a possibly sinister turn with the discovery that a sailor from the cruiser was shot in the head with a pistol. The Sydney sank on November 19, 1941, off Western Australia after a desperate battle with the German raider Kormoran. Since the sinking, there has been speculation that sailors may have been shot after abandoning ship. One theory claimed they might have been killed by the Germans to cover up the possibility that they opened fire while flying a white flag or a foreign flag to lure the more powerful cruiser close enough to sink.     [ theage :: 2006-10-18 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Pictures of the sunk british WWII battleship in Scapa Flow
Underneath the massive hull of the HMS Royal Oak, the superstructure of the battleship lies crushed, with gun barrels buried in the sand. These are the clearest images yet of one of the most terrible naval tragedies in British history. The Dreadnought class warship, one of the largest in the British WWII fleet, was sunk by torpedoes during the Second World War in a U-boat attack in Scapa Flow on Oct 14, 1939. The ghostly images created by ADUS are published for the first time and show the wreck in great detail. The wreck, an official War Grave in which more than 833 sailors died when it sank in 10 minutes, is still leaking fuel.     [ scotsman :: 2006-09-25 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

USS Hornet Museum - WWII Aircraft carrier in Pacific theater
Lawson Sakai has been driving to the USS Hornet Museum for the grand opening of a special exhibit on the Hornet, telling the World War II stories of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe and the nearly unknown Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in the Pacific. For just one day, a group of Japanese-American vets who served in the 442nd is augmenting the new exhibit with historical items captured on battlefields. There are German handguns and a Japanese flag that soldiers captured. This is, perhaps, the summer of farewells: "The fact is, most of our veterans are just too old to travel anymore."     [ mercurynews :: 2006-08-06 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin found
Divers have discovered the rusting wreckage of Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, near the Bay of Gdansk - solving one of the maritime riddles of the Second World War. When the Graf Zeppelin was launched in 1938, Adolf Hitler raised his right arm in salute to a warship that was supposed to help Third Reich to become master of the northern seas. But, when fleeing German troops scuttled her in April 1945, she had never seen service - a casualty of infighting within the Nazi elite and the changing tide of war. The Graf Zeppelin was scuttled in shallow water near Szczecin and it proved easy for the Red Army to recover her.     [ timesonline :: 2006-07-27 :: Kriegsmarine & Graf Zeppelin ]

Nazi sailor key to Australia's battleship mystery
A former Nazi sailor living in South America may hold the key to solving one of Australia's greatest wartime mysteries, the sinking and disappearance of the battleship HMAS Sydney. Shipwreck hunters have tracked him down and believe he holds clues about exactly where HMAS Sydney sank after being torpedoed by a German raider, the Kormoran 1941. The latest clues come from Reinhold Von Malapert, one of the last-known survivors of the Kormoran. He was the German raider's chief communications officer.     [ nzherald :: 2006-07-22 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Aerial image of WW2 battleship Yamato discovered
A Japanese museum has obtained a rare photo of Japan's World War Two battleship the Yamato shortly before it was sunk by US warplanes. The aerial photo was taken by a US reconnaissance plane on April 6, 1945, five hours before the Yamato made its final sortie. The Yamato, the world's largest-ever battleship, sank on its way to Okinawa after being attacked by US naval aircraft on April 7, 1945. The Yamato was remodeled several times to counter US air attacks. A researcher says the picture is the first photo that clearly shows anti-aircraft guns installed near the Yamato's stern. The photo is important since there is a lack of data on the battleship shortly before it sank.     [ fp :: 2006-07-04 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Veteran recalls attack on USS Frank
Joseph Vaughn became part of the crew on the USS Franklin, a new Essex-class aircraft carrier. It was a late entry into the war, but the ship packed a lot of action into the next 14 months. Before dawn on an overcast March 19, 1945, the Franklin was within 50 miles of the Japanese mainland. Fighter planes had been launched to sweep Honshu. The captain sent half the watch to go below decks to eat breakfast. They all were lined up to the mess hall when a Japanese pilot broke through the clouds and dropped two 500-pound bombs. "All those people in a line," said Vaughn, shaking his head. "That's where they all got killed."     [ staugustine :: 2006-05-02 :: Naval forces & Battles ]

British WWII Swordfish Pilot John Moffat recalls Bismarck sinking
Commander John Moffat hadn't seen a Swordfish biplane since 1945, when he was a pilot for the Royal Navy on a mission to sink the largest ship in the German fleet. He visited the London Air Show to see what is now a vintage aircraft, reflecting on the attack that sank the Bismarck and killed all but 115 of the 2,200-strong crew. On May 26, 1941, 15 torpedo-armed Swordfish aircraft were sent from the aircraft carrier Victorious to attack the Bismarck. Moffat's torpedo was one of two, possibly three, which hit the ship. He believes it was his torpedo that jammed the ship's rudder.     [ washingtontimes :: 2006-04-22 :: Bomber Pilots of WWII: B-17, B-24 ]

Bronze eagle retrieved from sunken battleship Admiral Graf Spee
Divers working in the muddy River Plate have unbolted and scooped up a heavy bronze eagle from the Admiral Graf Spee, a famed German WWII battleship. The eagle stands some 2 meters (6 feet) tall and weighs more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds). The Graf Spee, a pocket battleship, was considered one of the most sophisticated vessels of its time. It prowled the South Atlantic, sinking as many as 9 allied merchant ships before warships from Britain and New Zealand tracked it down and damaged it during the "Battle of the River Plate".     [ bbc :: 2006-02-11 :: Admiral Graf Spee: Pocket Battleship ]

Japanese WWII battleship sails into theaters
Six decades after being sunk by American warplanes, the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato has just re-created her final journey on cinema screens across Japan. The largest battleship in the world when she cast off from the docks at Tokuyama in southern Japan on April 6, 1945, the Yamato set sail against the invasion fleet off Okinawa and was attacked by about 350 U.S. aircraft off southern Kyushu. It took 22 hours to turn the most powerful warship of its era into a smoking hulk that eventually sank, with the loss of more than 3,000 of her crew.     [ telegraph :: 2005-12-20 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

City offered option to bid for WWII battleship Iowa
Pressure increased on San Francisco officials Friday to decide whether they want the World War II battleship Iowa after two key federal lawmakers agreed to let any California community bid for the vessel. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Rep. Richard Pombo, who had been offering dueling proposals on the Iowa's future, agreed that the ship should be transferred to California for permanent donation status and that any city in the state could bid for it.     [ sfgate :: 2005-12-18 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

Two WWII ships found in Baltic Sea
Two ships lost in the Baltic Sea during WWII have been found in the Gulf of Finland, a Russian researcher told. One of the vessels was the Siberia hospital ship that was sunk by Nazi planes on August 20, 1941 near the Gogland Island in the Gulf of Finland. Another find was the N12 tanker that sank on August 29,1941 during the same convoy. 300 personnel from the 10th Rifle Corps were on board and most of them probably drowned.     [ RIA Novosti :: 2005-08-23 :: BattleShips of World War Two ]

See also

'U-Boats'

'Navel Forces & Battles'

'Graf Spee'

'WWII Wrecks'

'Nazi memorabilia'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2008. All rights reserved.