The Swayback Maru

[Subdeacon Joe]

Pushed to their absolute thermal limits, the 8-inch/55 caliber guns of the Pensacola-class heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City (CA-25) bore the raw physical scars of unrelenting surface combat. 

Affectionately dubbed the "Swayback Maru," the veteran warship earned eleven battle stars across the Pacific, but her guns saw their most severe trial during the March 1943 Battle of the Komandorski Islands, a brutal, three-hour daylight surface duel in the icy waters off Alaska. Outnumbered and outgunned by a superior Japanese force, Salt Lake City maintained a crushing rate of fire, pumping over 800 heavy 8-inch shells toward enemy cruisers to protect vulnerable American transports.

The rapid-fire bombardment generated intense internal friction and scorching temperatures, baking the exterior metal and causing the heavy protective paint to blister and flake away, leaving a thick crust of heat scale along the gun tubes of Turret #3. Working in stifling, powder-choked gun chambers while the cruiser endured direct hits and temporary loss of power, her gun crews pushed the main battery beyond its design limits. Photographs of Salt Lake City’s heat-scathed gun barrels captured after the engagement provided a rare, visual record of naval artillery pushed to the absolute breaking point, a testament to a ship and crew that quite literally burned their own steel to hold the line.

 

 

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-navy-ships/alphabetical-listing/s/uss-salt-lake-city--cl-25--ca-25-.html

 

 

[Brock]

OK, FESS UP  if you read swayback maru and thought of Capt. Kirk anf Kobyashi Maru?

[Sedalia Dave]

 

 

 

[Stump Water]

The Pepsi Colas were the first "treaty cruisers".  As such their main guns were limited to 8".  Even so, their rate of fire was ~ 2x faster than the BBs with their 14" & 16" guns (even the Iowa class), so they could put more tons of "lead" in the air than a BB for a given time frame.

[Brock]

3 hours ago, Stump Water said:

The Pepsi Colas were the first "treaty cruisers".  As such their main guns were limited to 8".  Even so, their rate of fire was ~ 2x faster than the BBs with their 14" & 16" guns (even the Iowa class), so they could put more tons of "lead" in the air than a BB for a given time frame.

Really?  Naval 8” shells were around 300 lbs.

[Brock]

Wikipedia says one of CL25’s nick names was “ one ship fleet” but you search one ship fleet, USS Boise CL47 comes up.