Lest We Forget
That picture really caught my eye, Tannenberg.
I’m still convinced that there is hardly a sight more beautiful than a ship at sea.
(I said ‘hardly’, ladies, don’t get all huffy now)I remember watching the Victory at Sea episodes on TV. I rarely missed it. I guess it must have been reruns as I know that it was in the late 50’s or early 60’s that I saw them and the source I looked at said they were produced in the early 50’s. Great stuff, if memory serves.
Great article. The battleships were definately on their way out during this time frame. All carriers and submarines after that.
Tanny,
Have you read Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series of books (21) on the British navy during the Napoleonic wars? I’m having my set buried with me.
Posted by Phoenix
05/18/2005 at 06:56 PM
Thank you, StinKerr, Stanley and Phoenix. This was my first time out the posting gate, and I deeply appreciate your responses.
Phoenix, I’ve heard of O’Brian’s books, of course, but they’re still ahead on my list. I’m afraid I only recently managed to finish up with C.S. Forester’s Hornblower series.
StinKerr, Victory at Sea is a great series indeed. When I got my first VHS player, the Victory at Sea set was my first VHS purchase. My only regret is that they paid minimal attention to the surface raider side of the Atlantic war.
If you’d like to see more artwork like the above picture of Bismarck, here is the link to the site. They have a number of great works there.
http://www.kriegsmarineart.com/bismarck.htm
My best to one and all.
T-Berg: Great article and thanks for using the British/Allies slant.
Coincidently, I’ve just finished cataloguing, scanning and archiving over 200 photos my dad took of the convoy duty he did on the North Atlantic serving on a Corvette. This was when Canada actually had the third largest navy in the world, with Gr. Britain as the largest and the US with a very distant second place.
Yet, by the end of 1942, the US was producing more ships PER MONTH than Canada had during the war. Adm. Yamamoto’s cryptic quote immediately following Pearl Harbour of “I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve.” was never more prophetic and no one can question the ability of US industry to switch horses in midstream and set about manufacturing the massive war machine that they did.
(And you gave the world what I consider to be the best ever rifle: The U.S. Rifle Caliber .30 M-1 (The Garand!!))
Phoenix - O’Brians books are THE best reference books about life aboard 18th and 19th century British ships. My history and research for years was paltry by his standard. “Master And Commander - The Far Side Of The World” (the collectors edition) now holds the number one position of my all-time favourite movie. I’ve watched it about 75 times. Being ex-RCN, and having served on a “Tall Ship”, I have had a small taste of it.
-Dan D,
CanuckistanTanny,
Hornblower doesn’t make a toot next to O’Brian. I’ve done both series, and I can tell you, O’Brian fans are worldwide. I was standing in front of a statue of a ship in La Coruna, Spain where the Spanish Armada called home and where much action in several of the books takes place, and I said to my companion, that looks like the ‘Cacafuego’.
That was a huge galeon that Captain Aubrey sunk. A man standing nearby overheard me and came over to say in halting English, “Patrick O’Brian?” We all stood there grinning like fools who had the world’s greatest secret in knowing and reading Patrick O’Brian.I can tell you, if you decide to start, of course you’ll start with book one, but do plan on giving up your life for a while. You will literally go to sea in these books. As well, the writing is absolutely stunning. I have companion books to help with the vocabulary terms, and books with pictures of the times and the history of the times. I even have met Mr. O’Brian (before he died) and had him sign a book for me. I felt I was in the presence of God.
Posted by Phoenix
05/18/2005 at 08:47 PM
Dan,
Your post gave me shivers. Just knowing someone who ‘knows’ Patrick O’Brian becomes an instantly worthy person to me. Yes, you are right about ‘being there’ in the ship, on the seas, at the various ports, in the battles, ... oh, too wonderful. I did all 21 books in about six months, and I can remember just wishing it was time for bed so I could ‘go to sea’. I’ve done the whole series twice, and the books only get better each time because with the great wealth of knowledge, you realize you could not have possibly captured it all in one read. My next travel plans are to travel to Portsmouth to see some of the ships.
I know you must have loved reading them with your own experience in mind. Going to sea just seems so extraordinary, and to live it through the books almost seemed real to this landlubber.
TANNY.... put O’Brian up to the top of your stack.
Posted by Phoenix
05/18/2005 at 08:57 PM
Oh, Dan,
Yes on MASTER AND COMMANDER. I, too, have the movie. I was afraid to go for fear it would let me down, but it didn’t. Stephen was miscast, but I didn’t mind. It would have taken ten movies to develop the character of Stephen. He has to be one of literature’s greatest characters.
The cinematography in that movie takes your breath away! It should have won some Oscars, but Tolkien got them all that year.
Posted by Phoenix
05/18/2005 at 09:01 PM
OK, Phoenix, will do. I’d been meaning to get to those books for awhile, but things kept getting in the way.
Dan, I’m proud that you liked my article. I’d be interested in seeing some of those photos taken by your dad, especially any action shots.
Tanney....Interesting post.....My son is currently serving in the Navy- he has been in for 8 years now & due to leave when his 10 years is up........He served aboard a destroyer for several years and most recently was aboard the USS Enterprise last year in the Gulf............I am very proud of his service to our country .........
Posted by Dottie
05/18/2005 at 10:42 PM
Thank you, Dottie, and all my deepest respects to your son. Blessings to you both.
I’d be interested in seeing those pictures too, Dan. I served on Destroyers in the 60’s &70’s.
Three of them had been built towards the end of the war and had been in action in the Pacific, I believe. I know that those tin-cans were luxurious compared to a corvette, I’m thinking along the lines of our WW2 DE classes.
Dottie, a word of advice for your son. He should always remember why he got out. It will keep him from thinking “geeze, if I had stayed in I could be retiring now”, in the future. Worked for me.
Phoenix, et al: What blew me away besides the whole movie, were the out-takes and sound bites from the second disk. Especially the fellow sitting “in the head” - arms crossed, freezing with ice all around him, and his pants down around the ankles. That should have been included, short as it was and certainly explained what “going to the head” meant. The Master had his own privy - remember? In the port gallery. It got blowed-up, real good.
The other was the cannon fire. A black powder cannon, even a 10 or 12 pounder, sounds like nothing else, and they almost completely got it. Being there, and doing it up close and persoanl, is real. Feeling the concussion, the cannon jump and rumble and smelling the stink like a combination of rotten eggs and a beer fart. (Also too bad they cut the sound of the bar, chain and “grape” shot flying by from the Acheron.)
Climbing to the masthead up ratlines, and wrestling with canvas out on the yards and jackstays was no picnic either. A few below got treated to my belated breakfast (or was it lunch?) Had I fallen, I wouldn’t have hit the deck anyway at the angle the ship was at - nope, straight into the drink. (Actually, we wore safety lines!)
Some good memories of that cruise.
I don’t know how I could post those photos here anyway. Sorry. Some of them are interesting, all of them to me. I didn’t even know he had served on the HMCS Levis. It had been sunk with a fearsome loss of life. He only had a black wool sweater with red trim and the ships name on the back in silk. He never talked about that one. All this stuff was in a steamer trunk of my parents I hadn’t seen in years until after they died and I had to dispose of their belongings. Lots of artifacts they both saved from WWII.
And anyone who serves his or her country should be damn proud of their service.
-Dan D,
CanuckistanShew, Dan…
How beautifully you write! And I love your appreciation for the finer details - in everything you talk about here.
Posted by Phoenix
05/19/2005 at 10:53 PM
05/18/2005 at 08:40 PM
