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John Currin

15 years in Royal New Zealand Navy

Navy carries out another multi-carrier exercise, this time with Japan in the Philippine Sea

By 

ALEX WILSON

STARS AND STRIPES • November 7, 2023

An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter prepares to land aboard the USS Ronald Reagan during a multi-carrier exercise in the Philippine Sea, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023.

An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter prepares to land aboard the USS Ronald Reagan during a multi-carrier exercise in the Philippine Sea, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

ABOARD USS CARL VINSON IN THE PHILIPPINE SEA — The roar and rumble of fighter jets began early Sunday and carried on steadily through the night, part of a joint U.S.-Japan drill meant to showcase the two nations as a “cornerstone of peace and deterrence” in the region.

Dubbed a “multiple large deck event” by the Navy, the exercise included the aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson, the Japanese helicopter carrier JS Hyuga, approximately 150 aircraft and more than 10,000 sailors in a demonstration of air and naval power in the Indo-Pacific.

But despite its scale, the U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force repeatedly emphasized the training’s routine nature.

“The capabilities that you will see — and will not see — assembled here is indeed impressive; it is also somewhat routine,” Rear Adm. Pat Hannifin, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, told reporters gathered Monday aboard the Ronald Reagan. “We can, and do, bring together bilateral and multilateral forces of this size, breadth and capability many times each year across the Indo-Pacific.”

Scheduled to run until an undisclosed time this week, the exercise began Saturday about 500 to 700 nautical miles east of Luzon, Philippines, Carrier Strike Group 5 spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Seth Koenig told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday.

That places the flotilla roughly 800 nautical miles southeast of Taiwan.

The aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson sail in formation with destroyers and cruisers during training in the Philippine Sea, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023.

The aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson sail in formation with destroyers and cruisers during training in the Philippine Sea, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

China often criticizes U.S.-led exercises in the Philippine Sea and the adjacent South China Sea as aggressive and counteractive to peace in the region. Beijing claims nearly all the South China Sea as its territorial waters.

The U.S. and Japan, on the other hand, say their presence preserves freedom of movement through the area.

The issue is a case of the “eye of the beholder,” Hannifin said, adding that both the U.S. and Japan have been operating and training in the region for decades.

“To fly, sail and operate everywhere that international law allows is what ensures that flying, sailing and operating and free trade across this region is maintained,” he told reporters. “I would suggest it is not, certainly not, provocation. This is a standard and a normal exercise of our individual nations’ capabilities.”

Hannifin added that the exercise is not aimed at deterring any specific nation, but rather to indicate the capabilities of the U.S. and its allies to “any potential adversary, regardless of who they are.”

Rear Adm. Pat Hannifin, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, speaks to reporters aboard the USS Ronald Reagan in the Philippine Sea, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023.

Rear Adm. Pat Hannifin, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, speaks to reporters aboard the USS Ronald Reagan in the Philippine Sea, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

The Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, along with two destroyers, a frigate and a support ship, were operating several hundred miles away in the South China Sea as of Sunday, Japan’s Joint Staff said in a news release Monday.

On Sunday afternoon, the flight decks and below-decks hangars on the Ronald Reagan and Carl Vinson were buzzing with activity.

Pilots flew scores of sorties aimed at honing air-defense and air-combat skills while the escort warships practiced coordinated maneuvers and maritime strike drills. Meanwhile, U.S. and Japanese sailors swapped places to learn more about their counterparts.

That pace hardly slowed as night fell on Sunday. Aboard the Carl Vinson, F-18 Super Hornet and F-35 Lightning II fighter jets continued to launch and land, while mechanics labored away in the ship’s massive hangar.

Exercises like this are “demanding,” but the crew is more than capable of handling it, Petty Officer 2nd Class Rowland Smith told Stars and Stripes aboard the Carl Vinson on Sunday.

“A big challenge is definitely the temperature,” he said, referring to the hot and humid hangars he works in.

An F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter catapults from the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson during a multi-carrier exercise in the Philippine Sea, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023.

An F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter catapults from the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson during a multi-carrier exercise in the Philippine Sea, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

Multi-carrier exercises aren’t new, but they are relatively rare when compared to other drills.

The day before the ships rendezvoused in the Philippine Sea, the USS Gerald R. Ford — the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier — and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower concluded drills in the Mediterranean Sea. The carriers and their strike groups trained Nov. 1-3 alongside two Italian frigates.

Previous multi-carrier exercises include a June 9 drill between the Ronald Reagan and the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and the Japanese helicopter destroyer JS Izumo joined with Canadian and French warships for another multiple large deck event in the Philippine Sea.

China, at the time, deployed a Y-9 cargo plane fitted with surveillance equipment to the area, where it “likely tracked, monitored and gathered intelligence” on the exercise, the Chinese state-sponsored Global Times news website reported June 11, citing analysts.

author picture

ALEX WILSON

Alex Wilson covers the U.S. Navy and other services from Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. Originally from Knoxville, Tenn., he holds a journalism degree from the University of North Florida. He previously covered crime and the military in Key West, Fla., and business in Jacksonville, Fla.

A sea change for Auckland’s event schedule

Moana Auckland will run for the first time from February 24 to March 24 next year. Photo: Supplied

The council-controlled organisation in charge of events in Auckland hopes to make waves with an annual month-long ocean festival

There are hopes that a new yearly festival focused on Auckland’s marine sector will give Auckland Council’s events arm a more sustainable and reliable pipeline of events.

The first Moana Auckland, a month-long lineup of sea-faring events, will run from February 24 to March 24 in 2024.

READ MORE:
* Yearly events could be the shot in the arm Auckland needs
* Conferences bring $755m to Auckland

Events such as the Auckland Boat Show, Z Manu World Champs, New Zealand Millennium Cup superyacht regatta, Sculpture on the Gulf, Harbour Classic and the new Wooden Boat Festival will take place at the same time, with a fan hub at the Viaduct.

Though the event hopes to bring in millions of dollars for the region and boost Auckland’s booming maritime industry, the event organisers say it also represents a big shift towards the kind of events the region relies on.

Former Tall Black Chris Simpson, the head of major events at the council-controlled Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, said over the last decade or so the organisation has relied too heavily on major events that are one-off boosts to tourism and the economy, but don’t repeat and take years to plan.

He should know – he was part of the team that started the bid for New Zealand to share the FIFA Women’s World Cup with Australia. That work began in 2008.

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited head of major events Chris Simpson at the announcement of the event. Photo: Matthew Scott

Major event planning is a long-term game, Simpson said. At the moment, organisers are already looking at 2025 and beyond.

It’s also one that’s grown steeply more competitive in recent years, with New Zealand trying to match bids with Australian states that have had less budgetary constraints since the pandemic.

“Competition really heightened after our lockdown, particularly with the Australian states, who were investing in the tens of millions,” Simpson said. “It became very hard. Then others increased their hosting fee, so it all became more and more challenging.”

With last year’s annual budget from Auckland Council reducing funds to the organisation by $34.5 million and the Covid-prompted Regional Events Fund due to run out next year, the team at Tātaki Auckland Unlimited have had to rethink how they operate.

Simpson said they looked to Australia and saw how Melbourne and Sydney had a stable lineup of events that attracted visitors to the city every year.

“For us to be serious about growing global events, we need to look over the ditch and see how Australia does it,” Simpson said. “The answer is having seasonal anchor events… we should have been doing this however many years ago.”

He pointed to Vivid Sydney and the Australian Open in Melbourne as the kind of annual events Auckland should aspire to.

This year, 3.28 million people attended the Sydney festival of lights and music, which has been running for 12 years, and the Australian Open has brought crowds to Melbourne every January for 118 years.

Simpson is hoping Moana Auckland can have similar longevity.

“We looked at what kind of events can we really grow… that have a commitment for them to be here for 50 years,” he said. “And what are our points of difference? One of the lowest-hanging fruits is we are globally known for our ocean.”

The event was formally launched at the New Zealand Royal Yacht Squadron at Westhaven Marina.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown brought his own regatta – a shirt emblazoned with multi-coloured yachts. 

He told the crowd the festival would be a celebration of what made Auckland a great city to live in.

“To celebrate our connection as a city with the water is the absolute right thing to do and I congratulate Tātaki on doing this,” he said. “It is the right thing, I’ve been on and on about how we need to do more with our harbour.”

As a sailing and surfing fan, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was enthusiastic about the event. Photo: Matthew Scott

Brown said if you went to the bottom of Queen Street and turned left, you’d find yourself in the “essence of a wonderful city” but if you turned right you’d be in “an industrial part of Czechoslovakia”.

It’s a reference to Brown’s floated idea of turning the land that the Ports of Auckland sits on into publicly useable recreation space.

New Zealand Maritime Industry Association executive director Peter Busfield said the Viaduct was the product of investment in Auckland’s maritime sector – a move being repeated by this festival.

“Going back to the year 2000, when you walked down the bottom of Queen Street and you turned left, it was Czechoslovakia also – a storage of timber of petroleum tanks,” he said. “It was actually for the America’s Cup and legislation that bypassed resource consent and built the Viaduct Harbour in a matter of 18 months, and now tourists coming to Auckland will spend three or four days there, whereas in the year 2000 they spent eight hours.”

Busfield said events meant more than the event itself – but have widespread impacts for adjacent sectors and create jobs.

“They provide lifeblood for a city in bringing international guests and provide growth… it will bring focus on New Zealand from international travellers and around the country, and indeed the marine industry itself – we’re in pretty good stead, we just need to continue to promote – and this will certainly help us.”

Over 40 percent of New Zealand’s $3 billion maritime industry operates out of Auckland.

Preliminary numbers from Tātaki Auckland Unlimited expect the festival to generate $27m for Auckland. This is projected to increase to $40m in 2025.

Most of the events under the new banner already exist, but Simpson said the connection of them all by brand and by timeframe would pay dividends.

“Already there were a lot of content and events that were all acting independently, so we’ve brought them all for one period of time,” he said. “That’s so we can target the eastern seaboard of Australia – there’s the wooden boat show… maybe the boat show on a week later.”

The hope is these visitors would decide to stay for a while – and then maybe keep on coming back.

Simpson said a yearly event is a stepping stone towards building a sustainable events schedule that can be counted on.

“Going back to the strategy, we have been a bit remiss really – the planning for big events has to go beyond election cycles and yearly budgets,” he said. “And if we can make Moana Auckland a globally known event, we can have events come to us.”

Tātaki Auckland Unlimited’s new strategy is investing in fewer events, but making sure they are major anchor events.

Simpson said the new threshold a regional event needed to exceed was generating at least $3m for the region.

Royal Navy frigate shadows Russian warship through English Channel

8th November 2023 at 11:27am

Admiral Grigorovich as seen from HMS Richmond
Admiral Grigorovich as seen from HMS Richmond (Picture: Royal Navy)

A Royal Navy frigate has been shadowing a Russian warship through the English Channel during the stormy conditions of Storm Ciarán. 

Plymouth-based HMS Richmond tracked Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich in waters close to the UK, keeping constant watch of her in the North Sea and maintaining permanent contact.

The Type 23 frigate had been in Norway for Nato trials and training when she left to monitor the Sevastopol-based vessel, which is part of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

HMS Richmond's Commanding Officer monitoring Admiral Grigorovich
HMS Richmond’s Commanding Officer monitors the Russian frigate (Picture: Royal Navy)

After first monitoring the Russian ship in the North Sea, HMS Richmond’s 185-strong crew continued to shadow Grigorovich through the Strait of Dover and down towards the Mediterranean.

Commander Chris L’Amie, HMS Richmond’s Commanding Officer, said monitoring Russian ships close to UK waters “encourages their compliance with maritime law and deters malign activity”.

“The English Channel is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes,” he said.

“By maintaining a visible and persistent presence, the Royal Navy is demonstrating our steadfast commitment to the Nato alliance and maintaining maritime security, which is crucial to our national interests.”

Head of Royal Canadian Navy Outlines Ottawa’s Pacific Strategy

By: John Grady

November 7, 2023 4:15 PM • Updated: November 8, 2023 10:30 AM

USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) and His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Ottawa (FFH-341) conduct a replenishment-at-sea with the USNS Yukon (T-AO-202) in the South China Sea, Sept. 25, 2023. US Navy Photo

Canada is sending three frigates a year and a replenishment vessel into the Western Pacific as part of Ottawa’s new strategy, its top admiral said Friday.

Vice Adm. Angus Topshee acknowledged the “tyranny of distance” in making the commitment to the region.

“Canada is a Pacific nation,” he said.
“We’ve shifted the weight of our presence to the Pacific.”

Topshee added instead of the seven sailing days it takes for Canadian warships to reach operating stations in the Atlantic it takes three times as long to do that in the Pacific.

Speaking at a Center for Strategic and International Studies online event, Topshee cited the recent transit of the Taiwan Strait by its HMCS Ottawa (FFH-341) and USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115) as an example of Canada’s commitment to the “rules-based international order” to ensure the free flow of trade through international waters.

While the two vessels were trailed by a number of Chinese ships through the strait, they transited without incident. A submarine-hunting helicopter from Ottawa, however, was intercepted by fighters Sunday that fired flares to drive off the Canadian aircraft flying in international airspace. It was the second such incident involving Canadian military helicopters and Chinese fighters in recent days.

Topshee called the incident “very dangerous” and was part of a pattern of Chinese aerial harassment that the United States brought to light several weeks ago.

“We don’t have a natural region of the world” to concentrate security interests and forces. “We’re surrounded by three oceans and the United States is to our south.”

Calling the U.S. “Canada’s closest ally,” he outlined a division of emphasis in the roles and missions of Canada’s armed forces.

The Canadian Army is concentrating on possible European land warfare as part of its NATO commitment. The Royal Canadian Air Force is tied closely to the United States in the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The Royal Canadian Navy looks to the Pacific.

“We think the Indo-Pacific is a maritime theater” for the movement of trade, potential source of energy and important minerals and its fisheries.

Before assuming Canada’s top naval post, Topshee served as commander of Maritime Forces Pacific. He pointed to Canada’s recently released policy paper on the Pacific as to the role of the navy in that region in places like the Taiwan Strait.

“Canada will also continue to work with partners to push back against any unilateral actions that threaten the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, as well as the East and South China Seas.”

In the discussion, Topshee cited Canada’s Harry de Wolf-class offshore patrol vessels as important assets in meeting new missions with island nations’ coast guards in protecting their fisheries and increasing maritime awareness in the Pacific. The class can also operate as icebreakers in the Far North.

On the Arctic, Topshee said, “We don’t anticipate a war in the Arctic or over the Arctic.” He ruled out the Northwest Passage as a viable sea route for now for ocean-to-ocean commerce. “The Northern Sea Route is more accessible,” but closer to Russia. He added that 22 percent of Russia’s gross domestic product comes from its mining of Arctic minerals and energy development. It also is a region where Moscow has built military facilities for its land and air forces and continued to expand its icebreaking fleet.

By contrast, “There are only 200,000 Canadians living” in the region, he said The largest locality has a population of 7,000. As for development, there is large iron ore mine operating and some diamond mining in the Canadian Arctic, he said.

For Canadian armed forces, Topshee said the “Arctic is an expeditionary theater.” He added its deep water port “is not like Singapore” where a ship can refuel and pick up provisions. “Everything we need in the north, we have to bring with us.”

Under those conditions, “basing is a challenge.” Topshee added the Canadian Navy is looking at dual-use facilities in the Arctic rather than building something for its own use.

Navy to Award Long-Delayed Overhaul Contract for USS Boise in 2024

By: Mallory Shelbourne

November 7, 2023 6:54 PM • Updated: November 7, 2023 8:06 PM

An undated photo of USS Bosie (SSN-764). US Navy Photo

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy will issue an award to overhaul an attack submarine that has sat idle for years next year, a service official said Tuesday.

USS Boise (SSN-764) has sat idle at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding since 2020 after losing its dive certificate in 2017 due to a backlog at the public shipyards.

“We are officially going to award, contract, to start the [engineering overhaul] officially in early calendar year 24,” Rear Adm. Jonathan Rucker, the program executive officer for attack submarines, said at the annual Naval Submarine League symposium,

“And we’ve worked with Newport News to lay out a contract schedule and a plan that gets us that boat back at the right time to get the right operational availability … and multiple deployments in support of what Adm. Houston needs,” Rucker added, referring to Naval Submarine Forces commander Vice Adm. Bill Houston.

The impending contract award in 2024 comes as Boise‘s overhaul has been delayed nearly a decade due to logjams at the public shipyards. Due to aircraft carriers and ballistic-missile submarines getting priority at the public yards, the attack submarines have faced years of maintenance delays.

After Boise lost its dive certification in 2017, the Navy opted to contract a private yard to perform the maintenance overhaul. The Los Angeles-class attack submarine first entered Newport News in 2020, but has been waiting for its engineering overhaul for more than three years.

Rucker said the Navy is cutting down on the days of maintenance delays for the attack boats, but still has a ways to go.

“Since 2019, for attack submarines, we’ve decreased the days of maintenance delays by over 30 percent. Not where we need to be yet, but we’re headed in the right direction,” he said.

At last year’s conference, Rucker said the service had averaged 1,500 to 1,600 days of maintenance delays in Fiscal Year 2019, but brought that number down to about 1,100 days for FY 2022. At the time, Rucker said the service wants that number to decrease to 700 days by FY 2026.

Available material for when the Navy starts maintenance availabilities on attack submarines remains the same as it was last year: 40 to 50 percent. But with help from lawmakers and across the supply chain, the Navy is still working toward a goal of 90 percent by 2026.

“We’ve improved on time performance, if you look across planning and modernization, from 18 months ago when I took the job, we were less than 50 percent for those two things. Today we’re at 92 and 96 percent,” he said.

The Navy is still trying to increase the percentage of operationally available attack submarines, but is currently at about 64 to 67 percent, Rucker said.

Naval Sea Systems Command officials have noted the service’s difficulty in getting attack submarines out of maintenance on time.

“Over the last ten years, 20 to 30 percent [came] out on time,” former NAVSEA command chief Vice Adm. Bill Galinis said last year.

The third USS Charleston (C-22/CA-19) was a United States Navy St. Louis-class protected cruiser. She was launched 23 January 1904 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, sponsored by Miss Helen Whaley Rhett, and commissioned on 17 October 1905, Captain Cameron McRae Winslow in command. She was reclassified CA-19 on 17 July 1920.


Protected cruiser USS Charleston (C-22) passing through the Gaillard (late Culebra) Cut of the Panama Canal, 1917. Decommissioned in 1923, she was sold in 1930 and spent the next 30 years as a floating breakwater in British Columbia. She was eventually run ashore and abandoned. 


Pre-World War I

Charleston cruised to South American ports in the summer of 1906 with Secretary of State Elihu Root on board for good-will visits, and after disembarking the official party at Panama in September, returned to the west coast for overhaul. She cleared San Francisco on 6 December 1906 to begin service with the Pacific Squadron, sailing along the west coast from Magdalena Bay, Mexico, to Esquimalt, British Columbia, on exercises and fleet maneuvers until 10 June 1908, when she entered the Puget Sound Navy Yard to prepare for the long passage to the Asiatic Squadron.[4] During this time, Charleston stopped in Portland, Oregon in June 1907 for the annual Portland Rose Festival. Charleston was the first U.S. Navy ship to attend the event, a tradition the Navy continues participate in to this day.[5]

The U.S.S. Charleston is seen in this real photo postcard from the 1910s at dry dock in Panama.

Leaving Puget Sound on 28 October 1908, Charleston served in the Far East until 11 September 1910, first as flagship of 3rd Squadron, Pacific Fleet, and later, as flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. Based on Cavite, Philippines in the winter, the Fleet moved north each summer to Chefoo, China, to continue exercises and visits to ports of China, Japan, Manchuria, and Russia, presenting a powerful reminder of American interest in the Far East. Returning to Bremerton, Washington, Charleston was decommissioned on 8 October 1910 at Puget Sound.[4]

Placed in commission in reserve on 14 September 1912, Charleston joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet, remaining at Puget Sound as a receiving ship through early 1916, aside from a voyage to San Francisco in October 1913 as flagship for the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Reserve Fleet. From 1912 through early 1916, she was receiving ship at the yard. With a new assignment as tender for the submarines based in the Panama Canal Zone, Charleston arrived at Cristobal, C.Z. on 7 May 1916, for a year of operations with submarines, reconnaissance of anchorages, and gunnery exercises.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Charleston_(C-22)

Alabama (BB-8) was an Illinois-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the United States Navy. She was the second ship of her class, and the second to carry her name.

Landscape

As built, she was fitted with heavy military masts, but these were replaced by cage masts in 1909

Her keel was laid down in December 1896 at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard, and she was launched in May 1898. She was commissioned into the fleet in October 1900. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 13-inch (330 mm) guns and she had a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).

Alabama spent the first seven years of her career in the North Atlantic Fleet conducting peacetime training. In 1904, she made a visit to Europe and toured the Mediterranean. She took part in the cruise of the Great White Fleet until damage to her machinery forced her to leave the cruise in San Francisco. She instead completed a shorter circumnavigation in company with the battleship Maine. The ship received an extensive modernization from 1909 to 1912, after which she was used as a training ship in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She continued in this role during World War I. After the war, Alabama was stricken from the naval register and allocated to bombing tests that were conducted in September 1921. She was sunk in the tests by US Army Air Service bombers and later sold for scrap in March 1924.

Description[edit]

Main article: Illinois-class battleship

Design work on the Illinois class of pre-dreadnought battleships began in 1896, at which time the United States Navy had few modern battleships in service. Initial debate over whether to build a new low-freeboard design like the Indiana-class battleships in service or a higher-freeboard vessel like Iowa (then under construction) led to a decision to adopt the latter type. The mixed secondary armament of 6 and 8 in (152 and 203 mm) guns of previous classes was standardized to just 6-inch weapons to save weight and simplify ammunition supplies. Another major change was the introduction of modern, balanced turrets with sloped faces instead of the older “Monitor”-style turrets of earlier American battleships.[1]

Plan and profile drawing of the Illinois class

Alabama was 374 feet (114 m) long overall and had a beam of 72 ft 3 in (22.02 m) and a draft of 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m). She displaced 11,565 long tons (11,751 t) as designed and up to 12,250 long tons (12,450 t) at full load. The ship was powered by two-shaft triple-expansion steam engines rated at 16,000 indicated horsepower (12,000 kW), driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by eight coal-fired fire-tube boilers, which were ducted into a pair of funnels placed side by side. The propulsion system generated a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). As built, she was fitted with heavy military masts, but these were replaced by cage masts in 1909. She had a crew of 536 officers and enlisted men, which increased to 690–713.[2]

The ship was armed with a main battery of four 13 in (330 mm)/35 caliber guns[a] in two twin-gun turrets on the centerline, one forward and aft. The secondary battery consisted of fourteen 6 in (152 mm)/40 caliber Mark IV guns, which were placed in casemates in the hull. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried sixteen 6-pounder guns mounted in casemates along the side of the hull and six 1-pounder guns. As was standard for capital ships of the period, Alabama carried four 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes in deck mounted launchers.[2]

Alabama‘s main armored belt was 16.5 in (419 mm) thick over the magazines and the propulsion machinery spaces and 4 in (102 mm) elsewhere. The main battery gun turrets had 14-inch (356 mm) thick faces, and the supporting barbettes had 15 in (381 mm) of armor plating on their exposed sides. Armor that was 6 in thick protected the secondary battery. The conning tower had 10 in (254 mm) thick sides

USS Boise (CL-47) was a light cruiser of the Brooklyn class in the United States Navy. The cruiser was named for Boise, the capital city of the state of Idaho.

USS Boise

USS Boise 1938
Commissioned in 1938, she saw extensive service during World War II, taking part in fighting in the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters. Following the war the ship was decommissioned in 1946 and lay idle until sold to Argentina in 1951. Renamed Nueve de Julio, the ship remained in service with the Argentinian Navy until 1978, after which she was taken to Brownsville, Texas and scrapped in 1983.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Boise_(CL-47)

USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting “I”, is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name.

USS Intrepid

SS INTREPID 1961.
Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, including the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. She was the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed “the Fighting I”, while her frequent bad luck and time spent in dry dock for repairs—she was torpedoed once and hit in separate attacks by four Japanese kamikaze aircraft—earned her the nicknames “Decrepit” and “the Dry I”.

Decommissioned for the second time in 1974, she was put into service as a museum ship in 1982 as the foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Complex in New York City.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Intrepid_(CV-11)