Navy questions

1,482 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 12 yr ago by capn-mac
Blue Bell Ag
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AG
I have never been in the military, so please excuse my ignorance and or use of wrong terms.

I have read countless WW II and Viet Nam history books and have a nagging question for those of you in the Navy (or Marines who have served on a US Navy ship).

When there is a Marine Corps detachment on a US Naval ship, do the Marines have battle stations alongside the sailors?

If so, would they typically man some type of gun?

Also, on an aircraft carriers, do the pilots that are not flying have battle stations?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Currently Reading "The Pacific"
Dirk Diggler
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AG
My father ( 20 year Navy vet) says yes when Marine detachments are aboard they do have battle stations along the sailors. They are usually aboard when there are nuclear weapons/ special weapons aboard, and for transport. He said in his personal experiences the sailors were not allowed to go into the Marine areas of the ships. He isn't sure pilots on aircraft carriers but says essentially everyone aboard a ship has a battle station.


[This message has been edited by Jock11 (edited 12/23/2011 5:39p).]
GAC06
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AG
When a ship goes to general quarters, pilot types are supposed to just stay out of the way in their room or in the ready room, in my experience.
Aggies Revenge
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AG
In the old days, Marines usually manned at least one of the secondary batteries on per-Dreadnaught battleships. This carried on until the mid 1920s or so. Now days, on carriers it is pretty common for the MarDet to man a .50 cal on bridge, close to the Captain.

While on a gator freighter, most Marines man their racks during General Quarters. Some do have duty stations, usually related to the flight deck but they are few and far between.

[This message has been edited by Aggies Revenge (edited 12/23/2011 8:02p).]
Ulysses90
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AG
Marines ship detachments for security are pretty much a relic of a bygone era. After the post Cold War drawdown Marine ships detachments were severely curtailed on naval surface combatants. The last to go were the detachments that guarded the nuclear reactors.

Marines of a MEU or SPMAGTF embarked aboard Navy amphibious shipping today don't really have battle stations on the ship because naval battles in the age of missile pulse warfare or PBGMs is not going to be influenced a hell of a lot by manually operated guns on the deck of a ship. When I floated aboard the USS Saipan with 26 MEU when the ship went to general quarters Marines went to the berthing areas or the LFOC but stayed out of the passageways to keep from being in the way of the ships company sailors. If the GQ was in preparation for a TRAP the Marines with the Sparrowhawk mission would be preparing to board the helos but if you weren't part of the mission you stayed out of the way on ships such as the LHAs and LPDs.

I had the honor of knowing a retired Colonel who had been a 1stLt aboard the Lexington when it was sunk at the battle of the Coral Sea. In that age the Marines did man the guns on the deck of the carriers for defense against strafing a kamikazes. He said that his Marines were carrying on the fight while he watched from amidship and saw the torpedo coming in from quite a distance away. There was nothing anyone could do about it and he said is was surreal just watching until it impacted and the shock from the blast reverberated through the ship.
Blue Bell Ag
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AG
Ulysses

Thanks for the insite. After reading your response, it occured to me that most of my reading involves WW2 books, so I was still in the WWII thinking mode there.

The most recent book regarding the Battle of the Coral Sea is the one that got me to thinking about the Marines and what battle stations they manned.

In the book The Pacific, many of the off duty aircraft carrier pilots would stand along the rails of the island to watch their bretheren take off and land. That got me to wondering about their battle station and how quickly they could get to it if they were standing on an upper deck of the island.

Zip 88
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M y
A ss
R ides
I n
N avy
E quipment
S afely
capn-mac
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Those are complicated questions, which have changed over the course of history.

Before naval aviation, the smallest vessel that was to be sent solo was a cruiser. Since those vessels might be sent to trouble spots, Cruisers and Battleships embarked a Marine Company (around 150-200 personnel). There would also be a similar-sized group of sailors on the ship designated as the Naval Landing Force.

For Surface Action, the Marines were assigned an after turret to man entire, from loaders in the magazine, to the shell and charge handlers in the barbette, to the actual crew in the turret assigned. It was a point of pride that the Marines would excel in Ship's Gunnery when exercised and tested.

When the Washington Treaties confined ship sizes, the deployed number of troops changed, sometimes limited to just a couple of Platoons (changes in manning requirements for the guns also affected this).

Once aviation became a significant part of naval operations, ships of all types bristled (to the limits of metacentric stability) with guns in various calibers. These guns were manned by the whole crew, cooks, clerks, yeomen, bosun and the like.

It's mete to point out that the proper manning of a single 20mm is three, the Gunner; and 2 loaders passing magazines from the ready-use lockers to the gun (the close one doubling as a spotter). A 40mm twin mount needed 10--Gun Captain; pointer (elevation); trainer (azimuth); 2 close loaders per breech; 2 off-mount loaders passing ready-service and racked ammo; and a Talker on sound-powered phones. Which got very crowded in a quad mount. Then, there was a Gun Director, typically 1 per 1.5 mounts.

With Flight Crew, that's complicated, too. You do not always launch the entire Air Wing in every operation. You might only sortie a quarter of the ground-attack or anti-ship aircraft, the better to have follow-up waves. You also needed to reserve some fighters for your own Combat Air Patrol to fend off any aerial attackers.

The toughest GQ/BS Quarters are with the snipes--the engineering staff has to be on duty and ready to do what ever it takes to keep everything working. And the off-duty snipes were often needed to run the full plant right at its maximum limits.

Second worst GQ station is Damage Control parties. Your job there is to be at your assigned DC station, doing nothing at all, unless something happens. So you get to stand, or crouch in a passageway only able to see the metal walls around you while the ship maneuvers about. The Talker can hear whatever traffic is on the JA, but that might not be very much, and you can't "scan" the 1JV or XJA while waiting to see if you are waiting it all out.
Blue Bell Ag
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AG
Capn Mac,

Interesting info. there. Thanks for taking the time to explain it.
capn-mac
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No sweat.
A person has time to think about how to convey how complex a ship is in simple terms, while one's socks are rolled over one's trousers, bundled up in SBA, and wearing that red REP 3 helmet.

This can be particularly true while contemplating how best to demonstrate the Art of Shouting Very Quietly at the brown-shoe attachments about how they do not get a "pass" from all-hands drills; that such drills are not "blackshoe reindeer games." All while resisting the urge to demonstrate this by actually setting their compartment afire.
capn-mac
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Hey, BBA,
Found this link to photos of anti-aircraft weapons on US ships
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/org/aircarr/USSMakin/5173.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/org/battleship/USSMissouri/4524.html
http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_navy/org/misc/20mmGunPictures/1629.html
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