Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

I have only heard them called "tin cans", but I suspect you have something else in mind.

50_1_b.JPG


This tin can is USS Braine, DD630, named for my GGfather.
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
4,666
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

Ding ding ding, "Gutter tell him what he has won".(PCU, 1994) ;)

Major, hmmmmmmm you wouldn't happen to have been a marine?:devil:
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
4,666
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

JB said:
I have only heard them called "tin cans", but I suspect you have something else in mind.

USS Braine, DD630, named for my GGfather.

Yes, JB. Your Great Grandfather was a very important man. I have heard about him before.
 

stan_deezy

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 18, 2003
Messages
1,539
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

In the Royal Navy (other, lesser navies are available 8) ) they call them "skimmers".......................
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
4,666
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

stan_deezy said:
In the Royal Navy (other, lesser navies are available 8) ) they call them "skimmers".......................
Yes, yes Stand. Evidently the air up there that surrounds your brain is a little thin. The question was, what do sailors on(and I guess it would be more correctly stated in) a sub call skimmers? ;)
 

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

I think you will find, if you care to look, Techno, that in subs vs. destroyers during WWII subs came in a very poor second. They were far more often the target of tin cans, and far more often the victim.

Our official participation in WWII opened with the sinking of a Japanese mini-sub by USS Ward.

My GGF was not an "important man", whatever the heck that means, but he did a few important things. All of the Fletcher class DDs were named for sailors who distinguished themselves in battle.

Do I detect a supercilious sneer in your remark? You are pretty good at that.

Yes, it would be a good joke if it bore any resemblance to reality.8)
 

ZodFutMk2

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
162
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

Destroyer Escorts & Destroyers are called “Tin Cans” and “Greyhounds of the Seas” because their hulls are thin, about 3/8” thick for hi speed.
 

Daddy O

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Jul 8, 2006
Messages
89
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

We always referred to them as surface ships, surface pukes, or skimmers. Of course TARGETS to the modern day submarine.

US Sub Service 82 -86
 

QC

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
22,783
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

JB,

Was it your mother who christened the Braine?
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
4,666
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

JB said:
I think you will find, if you care to look,.

Do I detect a supercilious sneer in your remark? You are pretty good at that.

Yes, it would be a good joke if it bore any resemblance to reality.8)
And of course, there is no air of superiority in your comments. Is that a little chip on you shoulder? ;) Here let me knock it off for you......
 

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

Yes, QC. It was.

My, we are provocative today, Techno. 8)
 

QC

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
22,783
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

That's waaaaay cool JB 8)
 

rmmpe

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 6, 2006
Messages
233
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

Daddy O wrote:

US Sub Service 82 -86

Same here Shipmate; 1961 - 1965
USS Cavalla, SSK 244
USS Dogfish, SS 350
SubVets base, USS Scranton, Scranton, PA
Smokeboats forever.

Tin Cans it is.
 

stan_deezy

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 18, 2003
Messages
1,539
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

Techno, just to clear this up a bit (because I didn't understand your response).

My answer came from my late father who was in the Royal Navy for 25 years. For nine of those years he served in submarines and then went on to become a TASI (Torpedo and Anti-Submarine Instructor). He was invited to found the Canadian Navy Submarine Training school but domestic issues stopped this happening (my mother refused to move from her beloved Scotland).

My father always referred to surface ships as skimmers or, as others have stated, targets.

He was in diesel electric submarines during the 1950's when the loss rate on submarines was around one per month. My father eventually figured out that a mechanism in the torpedo tubes was of a poor design and he offered a solution which was implemented with great success. His reward was a very nice letter from a naval commodore attaché which we still have somewhere.

He received serious lung damage during a battery room fire when a young officer ordered the crew to fight the fire (standing orders specifically stated that a battery room was to be tackled by closing down the compartment and letting the fire die on it's own).
My father died of a lung disease attributed to that accident in 1986 for which my mother receives a pension allowance of 86 cents per month...........go figure!
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
4,666
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

Sorry for the confusion Stand. And if your confusion is half what I am feeling now you really misinterpreted what I wrote. Here let me add some smilefaces maybe that will help. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) PS Perhaps next time I should respond in Gaelic.8)
 

stan_deezy

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 18, 2003
Messages
1,539
Re: Sailors on a Destroyer call a Sub a Pigboat

No no no no no and many more times no! o:)

I just didn't get the bit about "The question was, what do sailors on(and I guess it would be more correctly stated in) a sub call skimmers? " because that wasn't the original question:

it was "What do the sailors on a Sub call a Destroyer? "

See where I'm getting confuddled, bemused and bewildered?

As I rapidly approach my twilight years I do wonder at all this electrickery, tomfoolery malarkey :%

I'm off for a mug of cocoa and a lie down, my head hurts :'(
 
Top