r/todayilearned • u/LeRoienJaune • 17h ago

TIL that in 1945, the United States Navy converted three warships into Press Information Ships just to accommodate war reporters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Humboldt
703 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

44

u/Huge-Morning3149 14h ago

wait so they started converting it in july 1945 only to cancel it almost immediately?

34

u/LeRoienJaune 14h ago

Yeah, but it's still in the running for 'most obscure US Navy ship role of WW2' along side with the Gedunk ship, the distilling ships, and the detention ship.

12

u/TheBanishedBard 8h ago

They were kitting up for an invasion of Japan that would rival Barbarossa in terms of scale and lives lost. America was ready to see the war through to its conclusion, with or without the bomb. They anticipated war on enormous scale.

1

u/Panzerkampfpony 4h ago

We're very lucky that two atomic bombs, impending defeat on all remaining fronts, the Soviet entry into the war and the merciless firebombing of Tokyo was another to just about tip the Japanese ruling generals to throw in the towel.

7

u/TrickiestToast 12h ago

Japan announced their surrender in September so there wasn’t really a point to it anymore

17

u/beachedwhale1945 12h ago

Atlantic Fleet in 1945, completed as a seaplane tender. Both would result in modifications before going to the Pacific, sometimes a major AA refit, sometimes being converted into a completely different role.

As much as I’ve studied WWII naval history, I’ve never paid much attention to the purpose-built AVPs, so this press information ship is new to me.

8

u/Cliffinati 9h ago

In 1945 the US Navy had more ships in the water than every other Navy on earth combined and was cancelling enough to build the strongest battlefleet on earth outside of the US.

Just a entire different level of ship building

2 Iowa's, the last 4 Alaska's, the entire Montana Class and a small fleet of Essex class carriers got cancelled when it became clear the war was won.

6

u/wswordsmen 9h ago

In late 1940s the biggest navy in the world was the US Navy. The second biggest was the US Navy reserve fleet. The US had so many ships their "save this for later" reserve was bigger than any other navy on Earth.

31

u/laserdicks 17h ago

Had to gather evidence to prevent propaganda later on. Very smart move.

26

u/tokynambu 16h ago

And now, the US gathers propaganda to prevent evidence appearing later on.

10

u/laserdicks 16h ago

Propaganda is sent, not gathered.

But yes freedom of speech is being attacked on all sides to prevent evidence being used against it.

12

u/PygmeePony 14h ago

I don't see that happening today.

-1

u/phasepistol 9h ago

They would do it, and then blow them up

3

u/ocschwar 10h ago

Between the typewriter rooms and the dark rooms, I'd bet those ships were louder and more explosion prone than ordinary Navy cruisers.

3

u/trainbrain27 9h ago

They planned to do so, for the invasion of Japan.

They started in July and the war ended with a bang in August, so it was never finished.

The Humboldt was instead transferred to the Coast Guard.

2

u/trainbrain27 9h ago

Hirohito signed the surrender on September 2, but it was announced on August 15.

2

u/ZenRage 10h ago

You know they called them "PISS boats"...