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USS Amesbury, APD-46.  Formerly DE-66.

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USS Amesbury (DE-66/APD-46), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Lieutenant (jg) Stanton Morgan Amesbury (1916–1942), who was killed in action while flying from the aircraft carrier Ranger (CV-4) during Operation Torch in 1942.

Invasion of Normandy, 1944

At Londonderry on 1 June 1944, Amesbury reported for duty with TF 124, TG 124.7 and, two days later, sailed to take part in the invasion of Normandy. During the next week on station, Amesbury took part in several anti-aircraft actions against attacking German planes bedeviling the ships offshore.

Between air attacks and drifting mines, the work of the escorts was brisk. At 2112 on 11 June, LST-496 struck a mine while proceeding in convoy through a channel to the assault area, and Amesbury hastened to her assistance. Three smaller craft arrived on the scene and were busily picking up survivors before the destroyer escort reached the tank landing ship's side. As soon as PC-568 cleared LST-496, LCDR Wilber skillfully maneuvered Amesbury alongside the stricken amphibious ship and moored her to remove the remainder of the LST's crew and embarked troops, summoning a doctor from LCI-530 to treat the injured men taken on board.

Meanwhile, the tug ATA-125 arrived on the scene and, with the assistance of Amesbury's sailors on board LST-496, secured a tow line to the crippled ship. However, a short time later, LST-496, barely underway, began to capsize to port. Amesbury promptly cut her lines and maneuvered to clear, the sailors she had put on board the doomed ship to handle the lines being ordered off. Lieutenant H. J. Riley, USNR, in charge of Amesbury's detail, made certain that all of his men were safely away before he jumped to safety. Ultimately, all of the destroyer escort's sailors were picked up, uninjured, but the ship they had attempted to salvage soon sank.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Amesbury

 
'46 Ford.  Essentially the 1941 model that was in production prior to the start of WW2 before the assembly lines were converted for use in producing things like airplanes needed for the war effort.

1941_Ford_Super_Deluxe.jpg


The Ford car was thoroughly updated in 1941, in preparation for a time of unpredictability surrounding World War II. The 1941 design would continue in an aborted 1942 model year and would be restarted in 1946 and produced until 1948 when the more modern 1949 Fords were ready.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1941_Ford

 
kingofnerf said:
USS Iwo Jima, CV-46.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iwo_Jima_(CV-46)

Never launched or commissioned, but the skill required to build modern ships just amazes me.
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For a summer job in college I worked at Hagley Museum in Wilmington, which was a museum focused on the industrialization of America and was sited on the location of one of DuPont's first gunpowder mills. Anyway, one of the things they did was take in and catalog the papers and records of notable US corporations, and one that I worked on was Bethlehem Steel, especially its shipbuilding efforts in WW II. By the end of the war, all the ships that BS had built, from the USS Massachusetts to cruisers and destroyers to more than a thousand Liberty ships, constituted the world's fourth- or fifth-largest navy ... all from one company! Amazing.

 
Swayin said:
For a summer job in college I worked at Hagley Museum in Wilmington, which was a museum focused on the industrialization of America and was sited on the location of one of DuPont's first gunpowder mills. Anyway, one of the things they did was take in and catalog the papers and records of notable US corporations, and one that I worked on was Bethlehem Steel, especially its shipbuilding efforts in WW II. By the end of the war, all the ships that BS had built, from the USS Massachusetts to cruisers and destroyers to more than a thousand Liberty ships, constituted the world's fourth- or fifth-largest navy ... all from one company! Amazing.
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I found something you might like.  The mast of the USS West Virginia and other artifacts from the ship was donated to the state of West Virginia as the ship was being scrapped in 1961.

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It was placed as a memorial at Oglebay Plaza on the WVU campus in Morganton in 1963 and is still there today.

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On December 7, 1941, The U.S.S. West Virginia was struck by two bombs and seven torpedoes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack sunk but did not destroy the battleship, and she went back into service after repairs until her decommissioning in 1947. On March 17, 1961 the mast of the U.S.S. West Virginia BB-48 arrived at West Virginia University to commemorate the perseverance of the battleship. This mast is one of many artifacts from the ship donated to the state of West Virginia. The mast was later installed in Oglebay Plaza in front of Oglebay Hall on May 11, 1963, as a Pearl Harbor memorial. In 2007, a commemorative bronze plaque was dedicated with the names of the 106 sailors who died during the attack on the USS West Virginia.
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https://theclio.com/entry/26111

WVU has a digital photo collection for the ship here:  https://usswv.lib.wvu.edu/

Lots of neat pics from the USN as well as donated items from members of the ships crew.  Cool stuff for anyone who has ever deployed on a Navy ship.  Things don't really change that much in some ways.

 
Adam Petty.  Gone much too soon.  It would have been so cool to see him, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., and then Chase Elliott getting after it every Sunday.

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cc459a30-9466-11ea-af95-3a2b433e664d


 
USS Andres, DE-45.

1920px-USS_Andres_(DE-45)_at_the_Philadelphia_Naval_Shipyard_on_25_March_1943_(NH_107305).jpg


Andres was renamed after Eric Theodore Andres in 1943. Eric Andres enlisted in the Naval Reserve on 25 October 1941 at Chicago, Illinois and underwent his initial naval training at the Naval Reserve Midshipman's School at Northwestern University. Promoted to Ensign on 15 May 1942, Ensign Andres was assigned to duty in Astoria, and joined his ship soon thereafter.

Ensign Andres was killed on Astoria during the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Andres

 
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USS Colorado, BB-45.

1280px-USS_Colorado_(BB-45)_New_York_1932.jpg


During the early part of World War II, Colorado undertook a defensive patrol near the Golden Gate Bridge in May 1942, to stop a possible Japanese invasion. She then sailed to Fiji, to stop any further Japanese advance into the Pacific. Next, she supported the landings on Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Guam, and Tinian. On 24 July 1944, during the shelling of Tinian, Colorado received 22 shell hits from shore batteries, but continued to support the invading troops until 3 August. She later arrived in Leyte Gulf on 20 November 1944, to support American troops fighting ashore. On 27 November, she was hit by two kamikazes which caused moderate damage.

After that, Colorado sailed to Luzon on 1 January 1945, where she participated in the pre-invasion bombardments in Lingayen Gulf. She returned to Okinawa on 6 August and sailed from there to Japan for the occupation of the country, arriving in Tokyo on 27 August. Departing Tokyo Bay on 20 September, she arrived at San Francisco on 15 October. She was placed out of commission in reserve in Pearl Harbor on 7 January 1947, and sold for scrapping on 23 July 1959. She won seven battle stars during her service. Many of Colorado's anti-aircraft guns are in museums across the state of Colorado (her bell and teak decking are also in museums and the USO in the Seattle-Tacoma airport) or mounted on the museum ship Olympia.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Colorado_(BB-45)

 
The late James Seawright.  RIP, Fire Ant.

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South Carolina lost a legendary player on Friday when James Seawright died after a battle with cancer. He was 53.

Seawright, from Simpsonville, played for the Gamecocks from 1981-84, finishing his career as a first-team All-American. The leader of the “Fire Ants” defense that helped bring “Black Magic” to the team in its first 10-win season, Seawright ended his career with 384 tackles, still the fourth-highest mark in USC history.

“He was definitely one of the catalysts on that Fire Ant defense,” said Mike Hold, one of the two quarterbacks USC used in 1984. “He was just a great player. His knees were so bad in college that had he been a healthy guy coming out of college, there’s no doubt he would have played in the NFL for a long time. He was that kind of player.”

Hold remembered a happy-go-lucky guy in the locker room, always smiling and leading by example. Seawright combined with Carl Hill and Bryant “Mookie” Gilliard as the generals of the defense, which propelled the Gamecocks to a No. 2 national ranking.

Elected to the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003, Seawright holds the school record for tackles in a game. He had 29 stops against NC State in that magical 1984 season as the Gamecocks survived a shootout, 35-28.

Hold recalled the savage hit Seawright posted on Georgia’s Andre “Pulpwood” Smith in a 17-10 win over the Bulldogs in 1984. Trying to make the lead last with less than nine minutes to play, Seawright broke through the line and smacked Smith just after he received the handoff.

“That Georgia game, he hit that running back and stopped him cold in his tracks,” Hold said. “I’ll never forget that play.”
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https://www.thestate.com/sports/article13869584.html

 
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