World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

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bru888
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World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by bru888 »

World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

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Wikipedia:

USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy that served in World War II, the first of three U.S. Navy ships to bear the name.

Samuel B. Roberts was named after Coxswain Samuel Booker Roberts, Jr., a Navy Cross recipient, who had been commended for voluntarily steering a Higgins boat towards enemy forces at Guadalcanal, in order to divert fire from evacuation efforts being undertaken by other friendly vessels. She was nicknamed the "Sammy B" or "Sam Buca" (after the popular Italian spirit).

Samuel B. Roberts was sunk in the Battle off Samar, in which a relatively small force of U.S. warships prevented a superior Imperial Japanese Navy force from attacking the amphibious invasion fleet off the Philippine island of Leyte. The ship was part of a relatively light flotilla of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers called "Taffy 3" which was inadvertently left to fend off a fleet of heavily armed Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers off the island of Samar during the Battle off Samar, one of the engagements making up the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf of October 1944.

Steaming through incoming shells, Samuel B. Roberts scored one torpedo hit and several shell hits on larger enemy warships before she was sunk. After the battle, Samuel B. Roberts received the appellation "the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship." As of June 2022, she is the deepest shipwreck discovered. Her last known survivor died on 20 March 2022.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by bru888 »

USS_Samuel_B._Roberts_(DE-413)_off_Boston,_Massachusetts_(USA),_circa_in_June_1944_(NH_90603).jpg
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by StuccoFresco »

What a brave crew that was, sailing right into the fire.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by bru888 »

StuccoFresco wrote: Sat Jul 02, 2022 12:51 pm What a brave crew that was, sailing right into the fire.
Oh, to be able to replicate that kind of thing in OOB! But the game resolves combat in terms of mathematical formulae, not bravery, skill, and determination.

Well, you could try . . . I attempt to temporarily preserve the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen against overwhelming odds using my use-limited "Enhanced Armor" technology (patent pending) in Voyage of the Bismarck but normally if one were to try to replicate the Battle off Samar (which I thought was a typo, but "off" is correct) in OOB, the result would be an embarrassing debacle. The best that could be hoped for would be objectives like "Delay the Japanese fleet for X turns" and "Do not lose the entire Taffy 3 task force."

Heh, now that I said this . . . hmmm. [In deep thought, grasps chin between thumb and forefinger. :| ]
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by Pwnerade »

The Battle of Samar is one of the bravest things I have ever read about, ever. Heroes all.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by Navman2854 »

What's ironic? The previous deepest was the USS Johnston. Yep, the very same Johnston sunk in the very same battle. Here's a link to a cool shipwreck video, not updated with the Robert's yet I believe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGPiQ47ahsE
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by bru888 »

Now you have done it, Pwnerade and Navman2854. You have lit the fuse.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by bru888 »

Navman2854 wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 2:02 am What's ironic? The previous deepest was the USS Johnston. Yep, the very same Johnston sunk in the very same battle. Here's a link to a cool shipwreck video, not updated with the Robert's yet I believe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGPiQ47ahsE
Yes, that video is cool! Try Googling some of those wrecks, if not all of them. Each has a story. (Not every one is dramatic, however; "Located off of 7 Mile Beach, the ex-USS Kittiwake was sunk on January 5th, 2011 to serve as a dive site for the Cayman Islands.")

Heh, 14th in line in terms of sunk depth is the Costa Concordia which, due to its size, is the only ship shown in this video that is still partly above water!

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Indeed, the end of the line in the video is USS Johnston, now surpassed by the USS Samuel B. Roberts at 22,916 feet.

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Think of it: That's around 4⅓ miles or 7 kilometers. The video pans at the end to show a perspective of how deep this is.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by Navman2854 »

Yeah, a sunken ship that's still above water LOL. The deep ones send shivers down my spine.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by bru888 »

bru888 wrote: Sat Jul 02, 2022 3:25 pm
StuccoFresco wrote: Sat Jul 02, 2022 12:51 pm What a brave crew that was, sailing right into the fire.
Oh, to be able to replicate that kind of thing in OOB! But the game resolves combat in terms of mathematical formulae, not bravery, skill, and determination.

Well, you could try . . . I attempt to temporarily preserve the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen against overwhelming odds using my use-limited "Enhanced Armor" technology (patent pending) in Voyage of the Bismarck but normally if one were to try to replicate the Battle off Samar (which I thought was a typo, but "off" is correct) in OOB, the result would be an embarrassing debacle. The best that could be hoped for would be objectives like "Delay the Japanese fleet for X turns" and "Do not lose the entire Taffy 3 task force."

Heh, now that I said this . . . hmmm. [In deep thought, grasps chin between thumb and forefinger. :| ]
So, does anybody have any ideas as to how to make the Battle off Samar competitive against the Japanese AI in OOB ... with this order of battle??

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The one thought that I have had is air power, but each escort carrier allows for only one plane. Yes, I can "fake it" by providing off-map air supply provide for more planes, but that goes against my grain. Moreover, half of the six allowable planes must be fighters, to be realistic and deal with kamikaze attacks from Samar.

Saving grace? Taffy 1 and 2, while remaining off map, did send their aircraft to the aid of Taffy 3. That's 12 more legitimate planes; half fighters, half torpedo bombers. That may do the trick.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by Erik2 »

You could possibly use standard carriers instead of escorts. Then set the air unit strengths to real number of airplanes.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by StuccoFresco »

Off-map air support with "closed off" additional carriers would be both historically accurate and help a lot with the gameplay. Basically evade the Japanese big ships until you have pummeled them enough with your planes.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by bru888 »

StuccoFresco wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:31 pm Off-map air support with "closed off" additional carriers would be both historically accurate and help a lot with the gameplay. Basically evade the Japanese big ships until you have pummeled them enough with your planes.
Yes, I have Taffy 1 and Taffy 2 squadrons flying in to support Taffy 3. I did keep the conventional escort carriers, limiting the amount of planes available in general. Now, of course, the problem is how to balance the scenario so that it is all of playable, challenging, and enjoyable.
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Re: World’s Deepest Shipwreck Discovered Four Miles Underwater in the Philippines

Post by Navman2854 »

"Now, of course, the problem is how to balance the scenario so that it is all of playable, challenging, and enjoyable."

If anyone can do it bru you certainly are one of them.
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