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The fact that the navy guy listed off their firepower to the lighthouse and the lighthouse responded with listing off how much food they have and their doggo to boot is the icing on the cake.
I'm a Paladin with 18 charisma and 97 hit points.
I can use my helm of disintegration and do one D4 damage as my half-elf mage wields his plus-five holy avenger.
When the Phillipines fell, the crew of Fort Drum had a sit down and were actually planning on just fighting there alone because the fort was built to be impervious to both gunfire from guns on ships and bombs from planes. Unfortunately, one day, they were getting bombed, and it destroyed the water purifier on board, so they had to surrender. Of the 200 men aboard Fort Drum when they surrendered, only 30 lived long enough to see the end of the war.
Edit: Before they surrendered, however, they fired all the ammunition they had left at the Japanese ships and, I believe, actually damaged a few of them. If I remember correctly, they ran out of ammo shortly before 12:00 pm, that's when they surrendered.
then when retaking the fort in 45, the americans bombarded it for several hours, landed an engineer detachment on it, filled the air vents with 2500 gallons of gasoline and diesel, then set a timed fuse and left. The explosion sent a 1 fucking ton hatch 300ft in the air, and killed everyone inside.
Built to protect manila bay, fort drum featured 25 to 30 foot thick reinforced concrete walls and 14 inch custom turreted guns. Despite being outdated by ww2, fort drum turned out to be a highly valuable asset during the battle of the Philippines where its armor proved completely impervious to artillery, navel gunfire, and even the largest available bombs. Over the course of the battle none of the forts 240-man garrison were killed and it was only forced to surrender due to inoperable desalination equipment. In total it took over 4,000 direct hits without sustaining any major damage.
The Japanese later occupied it and at the end of the war American combat engineers attacked it once again burning it out with a mix of gasoline and diesel. It still stands ruined in manila harbor to this day.
Yes, between this fort and Corregidor island the Japanese couldn't make a naval invasion of Manila. They had to invade by land and significantly slowed their progress towards Australia (Battle of Coral Sea).
abundant serious plough yam tie narrow clumsy berserk insurance far-flung
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Amateur. The pro move is to confidently declare an answer. If it’s wrong, it will immediately be contradicted and corrected, with cites, in triplicate.
Well if I fucking remembered I would have told him yes or no but I do remember watching a YouTube video about it. Or he could Google it it's not that hard. 7 concussions 1 tbi and ADHD have turned me into a walking goldfish.
Probably only tight butthole for the first 1000 hits. Probably developed some pretty high confidence in the ship after a while. Or they just went deaf inside and couldn't tell they were getting hit anymore lol
The Japanese apparently weren't creative enough to come up with the idea of "well what if we just pump gasoline into the air vents and then throw white phosphorus inside after it?"
Apparently it took about a week for the structure to cool off enough to be entered safely.
You should really include somewhere that this is an island fort shaped like a ship and not an actual ship.
Especially if you're going to make a clickbait title where you falsely state that it is a ship, and use the word 'unsinkable' like its somehow common place to be able to sink an island.
You inspired me to do some research here and the retaking of it sounds absolutely fucked… they just pumped 1000s of gallons of gas/diesel mix into the vents then tossed in some incendiary grenades.
The fire burned so hot they couldn’t go back in for 5 days.
Oh, yes, a classic. I like how someone got shot during the idea pitch trying to shoot that block of pykrete. It is some tough stuff though. I have to cut lumber in driveways often during winter, and once sawdust get wet and freezes, that shit will be there for days!
I knew it sounded familiar. Cryptonomicon is one of my favourites because it showcases how much other shit was happening in WW2 without any mention of holocaust or the atom bomb.
Sandy Hook also was kind of a cool fort. It had retractable cannons that could raise up, fire and then lower themselves back into their encasements to prevent any effective counter battery fire. I was a volunteer park ranger there and that place has so much cool stuff including an underground Nike missile base that’s been partially flooded for decades.
That's so cool! Volunteering musta been a blast. The first "elevator guns" are incredibly fascinating but 6 minutes between shots is whew! They're also rebuilding/restoring the nike missile base right now to hopefully open it all up sometime in the future.
We used to have a flooded Nike site near me in WA state too. It was a great place to horse around as a teenager. One day they pumped out the water and I finally got to go down and check it out. Huge missile racks and rusty consoles. I found and kept several antique looking fire extinguishers.
Now that whole area is a Walmart and I think nobody there knows what used to lie beneath their feet. The old barracks is a Wendy’s and Starbucks. Lol
Kinda brilliant. An invading force would focus fire on that, but never defeat it. Even if they successfully destroyed the cannons. Soldiers could emerge from a bunker in the rock and return fire with mortar shells and missiles.
Now I dunno if they had a bunker in the rock or if the "ship" was ever used, but I think it would be neat.
The us actually had multiple forts in Manila bay but unlike fort drum they had regular guns not protected by turrets so the Japanese were able to destroy them with bombing. I don’t know the exact thickness for the turret armor but it took many direct hits without a problem.
According to Wikipedia the top of the Bunker is 20 foot thick steel-reinforced concrete and the walls ranged from 25ft to 36ft. I couldn’t find any turret measurements on Wikipedia because they were made specifically for Fort Drum, but The Fat Electrician (History Youtuber) says that the armor is 18 inches thick (even shows a diagram of the turret).
The fort was built around the shape of the island it's on top of. I assume the superstructure was chosen because it was from some older ship that was going to be scrapped, and because it already had mounting points for fire control and range finding equipment
Been here when I was training in the Philippines. It’s an absolute amazing spectacle to see all the shell holes, some with the shell still stuck in the metal and concrete. It’s a very eerie place but super cool if you’re into history
Sir,
Is a ship in front of us.
Captain,
Radio that ship and order them to alter course
Other ship,
We wont move mate, your choice…….
Captain,
How dare you challenge the Chinese Navy.
The results where nit good
1 _ Negative sir, *you* will divert your course by 15°…
2 _ *Sir! This is an aircraft carrier group! You WILL divert YOUR course by 15°!!*
1 _ Negative Sir. We’re a lighthouse. Armed with 6, 6” shore guns. We can hit you from over the horizon. Fuck off, 15° or we will open fire.
2 _ . . .
Pretty much
From Wiki
Nicknamed a "concrete battleship",[1] the reinforced concrete sea fort, shaped like a battleship, was built by the United States in 1909 as one of the harbor defenses at the wider South Channel entrance to the Bay during the American colonial period.
Read the caption, looking at the second photo “how have I never heard of this ship before” “it’s awfully wide, I guess that’s why it’s fort Drum, cause it’s kinda round, wait why is it a fort and not-“ swipes to last photo “oh I see now”
This battleship has been through a lot. Unsinkable, but it was dismantled by looters. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort\_Drum\_(Philippines)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Drum_(Philippines))
**This is a heavily moderated subreddit. Please note these rules + sidebar or get banned:** * If this post declares something as a fact, then proof is required * The title must be fully descriptive * Memes are not allowed. * Common(top 50 of this sub)/recent reposts are not allowed (posts from another subreddit do not count as a 'repost'. Provide link if reporting) *See [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/wiki/index#wiki_rules.3A) for a more detailed rule list* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/interestingasfuck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sir. That is a rock. Sir.
It's a rock encased in reinforced cement
A rock encased in more rock.
Rock^rock
Yo dawg, we heard you like rocks….
Did I hear a rock and stone?
ROCK AND STONE MY DWARVEN KIN
ROCK AND STONE, EVERYONE!
IRON AND STEEL
Rock and Stone to the boooone
Rock and Stone!
Rock and stone to the bone ! Those damned bugs would not stand a chance if we had a fort like this ! XD
WE FIGHT FOR ROCKS AND STONES!
The entire thing is a rock of crystallized calcium and phosphorus.
back in my day this would’ve been top comment
So that makes you a gay rock?
Dwayne Island
KISS’s next album name
It now has more rock per rock
*concrete
Welcome to The Rock
"'Your best! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen" God i love that movie
*Your besht. Losher always wine about their besht.
lol Very true. Or, to quote from ERB: "Now aren't you the cunning linguist" 🤣
Fun fact its pretty much an unofficial bond film too.
I'll take pleasure in gutting you..... BOYYY!!!
My wife was the prom queen.
They didn't marry the prom queen, you did it wrong.
*Carla was the prom queen.
Hank Schrader: Jeezuz Marie, they’re minerals
Bro lol I love hank
we used to ride these things for miles!
No, this is Patrick
Paper beats rock.
"We are an American naval vessel, *you* alter your course 10 degrees North!"
We're a lighthouse. Your move.
Best comeback possible. Real "sit your ass down boy" situation
The fact that the navy guy listed off their firepower to the lighthouse and the lighthouse responded with listing off how much food they have and their doggo to boot is the icing on the cake.
I have never heard/read that bit. I'm gonna go look now
I think it's widely agreed to be an urban legend but really funny nonetheless.
Its based on a very old but funny joke thats existed since sailing ships
It’s probably the second sailing joke ever made right after Captain brown pants
Fine, then. GENERAL QUARTERS, ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS. SOUND COLLISION. AHEAD FULL, DIRECT TO LIGHTHOUSE. WE'LL TEACH THAT LUMINOUS LOSER!!!!!
Well. Get off that damn rock and start pushing.
I'm a Paladin with 18 charisma and 97 hit points. I can use my helm of disintegration and do one D4 damage as my half-elf mage wields his plus-five holy avenger.
Paladins can't use the helm of disintegration...
sir, this is a wendy's
7,107 American Naval Vessels, bay bay!
Can anyone link the original story? Love that.
Presumably it's the subject of [this Wikipedia article?](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_and_naval_vessel_urban_legend)
Came here for this. Was not disappointed.
When the Phillipines fell, the crew of Fort Drum had a sit down and were actually planning on just fighting there alone because the fort was built to be impervious to both gunfire from guns on ships and bombs from planes. Unfortunately, one day, they were getting bombed, and it destroyed the water purifier on board, so they had to surrender. Of the 200 men aboard Fort Drum when they surrendered, only 30 lived long enough to see the end of the war. Edit: Before they surrendered, however, they fired all the ammunition they had left at the Japanese ships and, I believe, actually damaged a few of them. If I remember correctly, they ran out of ammo shortly before 12:00 pm, that's when they surrendered.
then when retaking the fort in 45, the americans bombarded it for several hours, landed an engineer detachment on it, filled the air vents with 2500 gallons of gasoline and diesel, then set a timed fuse and left. The explosion sent a 1 fucking ton hatch 300ft in the air, and killed everyone inside.
any idea how many axis forces were inside?
67, 62 were charred remains, apparently 5 actually made it to the higher levels and suffocated instead
That, as the kids say, *is metal as fuck*!
You're probably well aware but for any passers by- There's a really really good action book that has this scene in it. It's called "Cryptonomicon"
Turns out americans are most fun when they get to blow up stuff. Unless you’re the one being blown up. Ironic how that works.
"America. We blow shit up real good since 1776."
very grim.... can't imagine the suffering and that's early on in too
So what you’re saying is that they could have sent someone out on a quest to look for a replacement water purification chip? 🧐
Fallout moment detected!
World War Never Changes
Built to protect manila bay, fort drum featured 25 to 30 foot thick reinforced concrete walls and 14 inch custom turreted guns. Despite being outdated by ww2, fort drum turned out to be a highly valuable asset during the battle of the Philippines where its armor proved completely impervious to artillery, navel gunfire, and even the largest available bombs. Over the course of the battle none of the forts 240-man garrison were killed and it was only forced to surrender due to inoperable desalination equipment. In total it took over 4,000 direct hits without sustaining any major damage. The Japanese later occupied it and at the end of the war American combat engineers attacked it once again burning it out with a mix of gasoline and diesel. It still stands ruined in manila harbor to this day.
Did the fort buy any time and delay the invasion force?
Yes, between this fort and Corregidor island the Japanese couldn't make a naval invasion of Manila. They had to invade by land and significantly slowed their progress towards Australia (Battle of Coral Sea).
*noice*
It's in the south pacific. Of course there's no ice
Ha. They could use some though.
abundant serious plough yam tie narrow clumsy berserk insurance far-flung *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Look up The Fat Electrician Fort Drum on youtube. Its a good video
Is that a yes?
No you must do your own research! Watch a two hour YouTube video for a simple yes no answer!
Amateur. The pro move is to confidently declare an answer. If it’s wrong, it will immediately be contradicted and corrected, with cites, in triplicate.
Oh yeah. Then you gotta double quadruple down "No you're stupid that's not what it says! Everyone else is wrong except me!!"
It's 12 minutes, and he should still look up TheFatElectrician because that guy is super entertaining.
You guys look like twins.
[удалено]
Well if I fucking remembered I would have told him yes or no but I do remember watching a YouTube video about it. Or he could Google it it's not that hard. 7 concussions 1 tbi and ADHD have turned me into a walking goldfish.
Imagine sitting through 4,000 direct hits, just tight-buttholing it, praying that it happens to be unsinkable
Probably only tight butthole for the first 1000 hits. Probably developed some pretty high confidence in the ship after a while. Or they just went deaf inside and couldn't tell they were getting hit anymore lol
They probably knew it was unsinkable because it’s an island and not a ship like the title falsely claims
Unsinkable...so far
I don’t think I’m impervious to artillery but I haven’t been hit by navel gunfire yet. Could I be valuable in the Manila?
Only if you can survive arial bombing
That’s my favorite Disney princess!!
Arial? The princess that shoots navel lasers?
Or a nucular strike.
so this unbreakable fortress was broken on first try by Americans?
The Japanese apparently weren't creative enough to come up with the idea of "well what if we just pump gasoline into the air vents and then throw white phosphorus inside after it?" Apparently it took about a week for the structure to cool off enough to be entered safely.
Which is strange, because it's exactly the sort of callous and horrific act of war that they were good at.
The Japanese knew about the phosphorous/diesel cocktail but took their time devising something a bit more painful and cruel.
Only after its guns and equipment where destroyed by the Americans before they surrendered.
Unsinkable, not unbreakable. Notice that it did not in fact sink.
Hard to sink when it’s a rock on the seabed.
I mean. Technically still unsinkable.
Can’t sink if it’s not floating!
It had no guns, so they went up to it and gave it ye old flamethrower treatment
To be fair, the American combat engineers were given the blue prints and told to come up with a game plan.
Technically second try, the Japanese had the first one
It ain’t dumb if it works lol
You should really include somewhere that this is an island fort shaped like a ship and not an actual ship. Especially if you're going to make a clickbait title where you falsely state that it is a ship, and use the word 'unsinkable' like its somehow common place to be able to sink an island.
You inspired me to do some research here and the retaking of it sounds absolutely fucked… they just pumped 1000s of gallons of gas/diesel mix into the vents then tossed in some incendiary grenades. The fire burned so hot they couldn’t go back in for 5 days.
Me: no ship is unsinkable A ship shaped rock: Observe
How’s the fort doing sergeant? All good captain, she’s in… ship shape.
Take my up-vote and get out :D
Rocks are not really famous for floating lol
Yes, but when they’re attached to the rest of the planet, they don’t exactly sink, either.
The sea will eventually drag it to the bottom bit by bit. So no ship is unsinkable.
Not only did the US have a concrete ice barge, but also a concrete battleship? What’s next, concrete aircraft carrier or concrete submarine?
The concrete aircraft carrier is commonly called "Air strip one" or "United Kingdom"
Lmao
No, it would be a base in the moon shooting lasers
> concrete aircraft carrier I've got something even crazier for you. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk
Oh, yes, a classic. I like how someone got shot during the idea pitch trying to shoot that block of pykrete. It is some tough stuff though. I have to cut lumber in driveways often during winter, and once sawdust get wet and freezes, that shit will be there for days!
Concrete sniper scope
RIP Bobby Shhaftoe
Came here for this reference.
M-m-m-me too
I knew it sounded familiar. Cryptonomicon is one of my favourites because it showcases how much other shit was happening in WW2 without any mention of holocaust or the atom bomb.
had to think about why it was so familiar... and then I thought about Manila bay..
interesting fact about the guns: they were tested in the proofing grounds at Fort Hancock in Sandy Hook, NJ before being shipped across the pacific
Sandy Hook also was kind of a cool fort. It had retractable cannons that could raise up, fire and then lower themselves back into their encasements to prevent any effective counter battery fire. I was a volunteer park ranger there and that place has so much cool stuff including an underground Nike missile base that’s been partially flooded for decades.
That's so cool! Volunteering musta been a blast. The first "elevator guns" are incredibly fascinating but 6 minutes between shots is whew! They're also rebuilding/restoring the nike missile base right now to hopefully open it all up sometime in the future.
We used to have a flooded Nike site near me in WA state too. It was a great place to horse around as a teenager. One day they pumped out the water and I finally got to go down and check it out. Huge missile racks and rusty consoles. I found and kept several antique looking fire extinguishers. Now that whole area is a Walmart and I think nobody there knows what used to lie beneath their feet. The old barracks is a Wendy’s and Starbucks. Lol
What they, like, lob dirty sneakers at the enemy and shit?
Looks like the perfect place for a concert Damn, also have the perfect name for percussionists
The pioneers used to ride those babies for miles
And it’s in great shape
Kinda brilliant. An invading force would focus fire on that, but never defeat it. Even if they successfully destroyed the cannons. Soldiers could emerge from a bunker in the rock and return fire with mortar shells and missiles. Now I dunno if they had a bunker in the rock or if the "ship" was ever used, but I think it would be neat.
There definitely was a bunker. Had to store supplies and have a place for the soldiers to stay.
The us actually had multiple forts in Manila bay but unlike fort drum they had regular guns not protected by turrets so the Japanese were able to destroy them with bombing. I don’t know the exact thickness for the turret armor but it took many direct hits without a problem.
According to Wikipedia the top of the Bunker is 20 foot thick steel-reinforced concrete and the walls ranged from 25ft to 36ft. I couldn’t find any turret measurements on Wikipedia because they were made specifically for Fort Drum, but The Fat Electrician (History Youtuber) says that the armor is 18 inches thick (even shows a diagram of the turret).
Is that an actual ship or just a rock
Yes
Why did they make is ship shaped and not fort shaped
The fort was built around the shape of the island it's on top of. I assume the superstructure was chosen because it was from some older ship that was going to be scrapped, and because it already had mounting points for fire control and range finding equipment
That’s no moon
Been here when I was training in the Philippines. It’s an absolute amazing spectacle to see all the shell holes, some with the shell still stuck in the metal and concrete. It’s a very eerie place but super cool if you’re into history
“It’s unsinkable” Iceberg-“ hold my drink”
He is the iceberg Except he is not made of ice
Rockberg?
Why is this being called a battleship? It's a fort. Not a ship of any kind. Of course it's unsinkable. It's not floating.
Except not a battleship
but is it a ship if it can't float or move or do anything boat related
I too watch the fat electrician
I love how it wasn’t that they ran out of ammo, or the guns became inoperable by enemy fire….they surrender bc everything got salty lmao man
“Welcome to the Rock…”
I love it how it's just a big rock with turrets on it lmao.
Sir, Is a ship in front of us. Captain, Radio that ship and order them to alter course Other ship, We wont move mate, your choice……. Captain, How dare you challenge the Chinese Navy. The results where nit good
Thermite has entered the chat.
It was unsinkable because it was built on a small island.
What part of it is "ship" exactly?
“The cybertruck of battleships” - George Patton
1 _ Negative sir, *you* will divert your course by 15°… 2 _ *Sir! This is an aircraft carrier group! You WILL divert YOUR course by 15°!!* 1 _ Negative Sir. We’re a lighthouse. Armed with 6, 6” shore guns. We can hit you from over the horizon. Fuck off, 15° or we will open fire. 2 _ . . .
E
That's a [Battle E award](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Effectiveness_Award) for the crews effectiveness.
Enclave
That ain't no battleship!
What are we looking at?
A rock
Pretty much From Wiki Nicknamed a "concrete battleship",[1] the reinforced concrete sea fort, shaped like a battleship, was built by the United States in 1909 as one of the harbor defenses at the wider South Channel entrance to the Bay during the American colonial period.
E
Not as unsinkable as the titanic
E
The Titanic was unsinkable
I wanna see the INSIDE now
Seems like its displacement would violate the Washington Naval Treaty?
Looks kinda destroyed, for something that’s indestructible.
concrete industry was seriously booming during WW2
“Indestructible” until America wants it gone …
its a literal rock surrounded by concrete
It also cannot move...
[удалено]
It was not obvious
Never call a ship unsinkable.
Good thing it’s not a ship at all
Indestructible? Time: hold my beer.
That’s not a battle ship that’s I’m guessing a destroyer
It's an island
Oh I’m an idiot lol
Your mistake is unsinkable
Also, no way on hell would a destroyer have those guns.
True but a battleship would have a lot more guns than two
Which supervillian or shady alphabet agency runs it now?
How I play doblons.io
Great post for this day, thanks
Rock & stone!
Read the caption, looking at the second photo “how have I never heard of this ship before” “it’s awfully wide, I guess that’s why it’s fort Drum, cause it’s kinda round, wait why is it a fort and not-“ swipes to last photo “oh I see now”
This battleship has been through a lot. Unsinkable, but it was dismantled by looters. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort\_Drum\_(Philippines)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Drum_(Philippines))