# Attention all naval interested Dopers: What's the most attractive naval vessel, ever **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2007, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148 "2007-02-14T04:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/41 "2007-02-17T04:00:18Z")
[Here’s](http://www.tp-kayaks.com/_canoes/_oldtown/discovery133.html) my boat, but I still think the Constitution (and her sister ships) are among the most attractive vessels ever. The “HMS” [Rose](http://www.tallshiprose.org/photos/photo.asp?category=1&RECORD_KEY=url&url=/photos/catalogue/old/nficebow.jpg) (aka “Surprise”), if an accurate representation of the smaller frigates, gets a vote as well. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/42 "2007-02-17T04:06:41Z")
I’m with **What Exit?** on this. I happen to think that my ship was actually pretty [good looking](http://navysite.de/cg/Image1281.jpg), but when she was tied up on the pier over from Wisconsin, there was just no comparison. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/43 "2007-02-17T07:22:36Z")
[QUOTE=sturmhauke] Oh, well I was on the USS Pampanito. [Here it is.](http://www.maritime.org/pamphome.htm) [/QUOTE] Hey, me too! (As a tourist – I assume you meant the same.) Still, not the most beautiful craft, though it’s not bad as WW2 subs go. It’s starting to show streamlining, at least. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/44 "2007-02-17T12:08:53Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] **aruvqan** , that’s a base canard. Seawolf may not have props for looks, but she gets underway, with regularity. Unlike [Building 20](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/images/lcc-20-lccjcc20bw.jpg). (Am I bitter that we got tasked to take over one of her cruises on 72 hours notice, because they **couldn’t** get underway? Not at all, why do you ask?) There’s something telling that the motto on the ship’s own website is: [“The Most Sophisticated Communications Ship on the Waterfront.”](http://www.mtwhitney.navy.mil/) So there you have it, fugly and immobile. That’s a real naval building. [/QUOTE] Having had a hubby duty stationed in Groton since 1990, I saw building 21 in place almost exclusively. The few times she did go underway, she spent most of her cruises parked in various ports undergoing repairs[reports fron hubbys buddies statioined on her.]. They almost had to scrap the Mr Peanunt because of the many times her parts were hijacked to repair the seawolf. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/45 "2007-02-17T13:37:34Z")
Couple more for you, HMS Manchester, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMS\_Manchester\_(D95)\_Type\_42\_destroyer.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMS_Manchester_%28D95%29_Type_42_destroyer.jpg) HMS Trincomalee, I remember her when she was tied up in Portsmouth harbour as a training hulk for Sea Cadets, she was called HMS Foudroyant back then, and had no masts, bit of a lump but fortunately she has been restored and they did a fantastic job too. > **[HMS Trincomalee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trincomalee)** > > HMS Trincomalee is a Royal Navy Leda-class sailing frigate built shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. She is now restored as a museum ship afloat in the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool, England. > Trincomalee is one of two surviving British frigates of her era—her near-sister HMS Unicorn (of the modified Leda class) is now a museum ship in Dundee. After being ordered on 30 October 1812, Trincomalee was built in Bombay, India, by the Wadia family of shipwrights in teak, du... [http://www.nhsc.org.uk/index.cfm/event/getVessel/vref/497](http://www.nhsc.org.uk/index.cfm/event/getVessel/vref/497) HMS Renown [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HMS_Renown.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HMS_Renown.jpg) I’ve always thought that the the Royal Navy tended to have better looking smaller warships than the US, which tend to have less flowing lines. As proof of this, take a look at the type 22 frigate, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Group\_of\_Type\_22\_frigates.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Group_of_Type_22_frigates.jpg) Here’s a couple I did time on, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMS\_Phoebe\_F42\_(Leander-class\_frigate).jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMS_Phoebe_F42_%28Leander-class_frigate%29.jpg) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMS\_Galatea\_(Leander-class\_frigate).jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMS_Galatea_%28Leander-class_frigate%29.jpg) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMS\_Ajax\_(Leander-class\_frigate).jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMS_Ajax_%28Leander-class_frigate%29.jpg) [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HMS_Ambuscade_(F172).jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HMS_Ambuscade_(F172).jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jaochai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2acd7d/32.png) [@Jaochai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaochai)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/46 "2007-02-18T09:37:18Z")
[QUOTE=lokij] I’d really have to disagree with you that the typhoon was the best submarine ever built. They were the quietest Russian built sub but our Los Angeles class attack subs were quieter and had sonar suites 3-4 times as sensitive as theirs. From what I’ve read, we pretty much had every Akula permanently tailed for most of the cold war. I would have say the best sub ever made was the other you mentioned, Seawolf is a monster.. just too expensive with no other superpowers around to justify. Still… in deference to the to Typhoon/Akula, you have to say something about a submarine with it’s own indoor swimming pool. 😜 [/QUOTE] Not that I know any more about submarines then I learned playing 688 Attack Sub during accounting class, or that I am able to realistically carry a debate about the comparative worth of different Cold-War era naval craft, but in all fairness, the Typhoon (Akula was its Russian name, but it’s also the NATO name for a different kind of submarine, so says Wikipedia) was an SSBN. It was a sort of flagship submarine and was always going to have a flotilla of attack submarines around it to do its sensing and defending for it. But then again, it, like everything else in the Soviet Union, was a prestige project. Yes, I well remember the guy who came on a few months ago and started on about authoritarian regimes and what he considered was their ability to create great intellectual accomplishments, and I have no intent of resurrecting that fiasco, but c’mon! \ Give the Russians their submarines! T’was all they had! \ ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/47 "2007-02-18T15:04:33Z")
In line with **Cisco** ’s thought, I’m kinda partial to [Patrol Boats](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/images/cg_wpb110_10.jpg) and [tugs](http://www.cg-tugs.org/bridle-2005_004_Small.jpg). Patrol boats have that sleek look, giving the appearance of great speed and agility, realities notwithstanding. Tugs are just stout, tough little bastards that can handle any task put before them. They are the unsung heroes of the maritime realm. Much of the world’s premier naval powerhouses would never put to sea if not for the lowly little tug. ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/5daacb/32.png) [@Old\_Goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Goat)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/48 "2007-02-19T04:40:51Z")
I appreciate the clean lines of this cruiser > **[HyperWar: USS Chester (CA-27)](http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/CA/CA-27_Chester.html)** > > Description, history, and photograph(s) of Heavy Cruiser USS Chester (CA-27) in WWII ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148/49 "2007-02-19T08:35:25Z")
[The Sa’ar 5 Missile Corvette.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/he/3/39/Saar5.jpg) Very modernistic lines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-all-naval-interested-dopers-whats-the-most-attractive-naval-vessel-ever/392148.md?page=2)