MV Golden Nori

And now, for a more modern vessel, I give you the M/V Golden Nori:




Stats from Merchant Ships International:

Launched: March, 1997
Flagged: 05 December, 2000
Length: 383 ft, 10"
Beam: 65 ft, 7"
Draught: 28 ft, 9"
Displacement: 11,676 metric tonnes
Compliment: 28
Speed: 13 kts

The Golden Nori is a Japanese chemical and oil tanker built in 1997. She is registered under the Panamanian flag, and is licensed to carry Group I through IV oils, as well as non-petroleum oils. The Golden Nori is most famous for her 28 October 2007 hijacking by a group of pirates off of the coast of Somalia. Responding to the hijacking, a US Navy Destroyer sank the pirates craft, and shadowed them until they attempted to come into port on 12 December, and forced the pirates to relent and release the crew. The vessel is still in service.


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Friends,

Just to let you know, for the next couple of months I may not be updating regularly each week, I don't know what kind of access my job will give me to the internet. I shall try to update as frequently as possible, though.
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The Huáscar

This week's ship is one of very few pre-dreadnought ironclad ships still afloat, the Historic Replica Huáscar.




Stats from the official Chilean Navy website:

Hull number: 321
Contracted: 12 August, 1864
Launched: 7 October, 1865
Commissioned: December, 1865
Decommissioned: 1897
Length: 195 ft
Beam:
Draught: 15 ft
Displacement: 1180 L/t
Compliment: Unknown
Speed: 11 kts
Rig: Brigantine
Power Plant: 300 hp steam engine
Armament: 2 300 lb (10") cannon, turreted, forward
2 40 lb cannon
1 12 lb cannon
1 .44" Gatling gun

The Huáscar was ordered in 1864 in Britain by Peru, to provide the Peruvian fleet with a modern warship for use in their ongoing war with Spain at the time. Constructed along "Ericsson" design plans as an armoured semi-monitor, by the time the Huáscar was completed and made the journey around Cape Horn, the Spanish-Peruvian war had already concluded. She became the brightest ship in the Peruvian navy over the next decade, and became heavily involved in 1877 in the Peruvian Civil War, where she was seized by rebels in port, and operated for a month under a rebel crew, briefly engaging the English ships Amethyst and Sha before the rebels surrendered to the Peruvian government.

Two years later, she took part in the War of the Pacific, between Peru and neighboring Chile. The Huáscar sank the Chilean corvette Esmeralda before being captured at the battle of Angamos after a substantial portion of her crew, including her commanding officer Adm. Miguel Grau, died. She fought the remainder of the war under Chilean command, including being present at the Battle of Arica. In 1887, she was refit with new boilers, a steam engine to turn the turret, a larger stack, and repair work done to her double bottom and deck. Undergoing further repairs during the 1891 Chilean Civil War, she nonetheless took part on the side of the parliamentarians. In 1897, following a coal boiler explosion, she was decommissioned.

In 1934, the Huáscar was reinstated as a Museum Ship in the Talcahuano Naval Docks, where the tradition began that she would fly the ensign of the Commandant of the Chilean Second Naval Zone. Beginning in 1951, a complete refit of the ship was undertaken, restoring her to her 1878 condition and establishing the ship as a shrine to both the Chilean and Peruvian Navies. In 1971 and 1972, she was drydocked in order to repair her aging hull; at the same time her machinery was rebuilt according to original plans. She remains a museum ship, and open to the public as a Naval Monument

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USS North Carolina

I figured I'd start this off with one my my most favorite ships, the first Museum Ship that I ever set foot on, and the ship that since grade school got me interested in maritime history: the USS North Carolina.



Stats from the official museum website here:

Hull Number:	BB 55
Keel Laid:	October 27, 1937
Launched:	June 13, 1940
Commissioned:	April 9, 1941
Decommissioned:	June 27, 1947
Length:	728 feet 5/8 inches long
Extreme Beam:	108 feet 3 7/8 inches wide
Mean Draught:	31 feet 7 inches normal, 35 feet 6 inches maximum
Displacement:	36,600 tons standard, 44,800 tons full load
Complement:	2,339 (144 officers and 2,195 enlisted)
Speed:	28 knots
Armament:	9 16-inch/45 caliber guns 20 5-inch/38 caliber guns 60 40mm/56 caliber guns 48 20mm/70 caliber guns

The USS North Carolina was the first of a two ship class of battleships, the North Carolina class, with sister ship the USS Washington (BB- 56) put into commission just over one month after the Carolina. She was the first battleship to be commissioned in the post Washington Naval Treaty period, and as such was a media spectacle throughout her fitting out and trials, earning her the nickname "Showboat". She was homeported on the East Coast during the Pearl Harbor attacks, and was transferred to the Pacific in June, 1942, where she would spend the remainder of the war.

Her primary duty during the war was screening the Attack Carriers from aircraft, and surface threats, as well as providing fire support to island landing campaigns when she was in a position to do so. On 15 September, 1942, while screening the carrier Hornet (CV - 8), the North Carolina "took a torpedo portside, 20 feet below her waterline, and 5 of her men were killed. But skillful damage control by her crew and the excellence of her construction prevented disaster; a 5.5 degree list was righted in as many minutes, and she maintained her station in a formation at 25 knots." (US Navy) This trial by fire demonstrated the resiliance of the modern battleship classes, as well as solidified their role as support screening vessels for aircraft carriers. After returning to Pearl Harbor for repairs, the North Carolina continued her role screening carriers across the Pacific until mid-spring 1943, when she returned to Pearl Harbor for a month of refitting and upgrades, specifically to her radar and fire control systems. Participating in the assaults of countless Pacific islands, including the Marshall Islands, New Guinea, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. She concluded her Pacific career with the shelling of industrial plants in Tokyo.

Returning to Boston in October, 1945, the North Carolina served as a training vessel for midshipmen before being decommissioned and placed in reserve on June 27, 1947. In 1958, the notice of her impending scrapping generated a public outpouring of support in North Carolina to get the ship docked in the state as a museum ship, and by late 1961, she was purchased and moved in-state, to her final position on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington where in April 1962 she was dedicated as a statewide memorial to the North Carolina soldiers, sailors and Marines who fought and died in the Second World War.

The museum ship is very easily accessible, and tours cover a large portion of the ship, making it a must-see for the naval history buff visiting North Carolina.



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