A question for you

[Kapitan]

Its 1939 and war has started, you sign up to join the navy and your greated with a choice of what type of vessel you would like to serve on.

What would you serve on and why would you?

[Sailor Steve]

Been done many times. And my answer is always the same: real life--I'm a yankee born and bred, so I'd have to wait until '41, and if I could I'd fly, but if my eyes were as bad as they really are, then navy and a destroyer.

Though, If I could have any choice at all, I think I'd be British and a Flower sailor; so that's what I put.

[Takeda Shingen]

I voted for submarines, but I would rather be with the USN or RN, especially as I value survival. That 75% mortality rate on the German side is a turn-off.

[kiwi_2005]

Submarine - Being 1939 I would have to go with the VIIB and take my chances of surviving throughout the war.

[Polak]

Polish Navy, submarine ORP Orzel, beautiful and interesting history, tragic ending. :cry:

[Brag]

In 1939? Undoubtedly, the Kriegsmarine. A junior officer's berth on a commerce raider would have suited me well. On a U-boat, there's only one job worth a hoochie-woochie. You can guess which one that is. :yep:

[nikimcbee]

No one said "tanker"!?! I guess nobody wants to be the target.:hmm:

[sunvalleyslim]

Since I served on a WWII Boat, however not in the 40's, it would have to be a sub........DBF

[HunterICX]

I would have joined the airforce, side: RAF
aircraft..whatayouknow: Hawker Tempest :D

but since this is about naval, I would take it to Aircraft Carrier and be a aviator :yep:
since the mayor action was going on in the Pacific with aircraft cariers give me a USN corsair packed with rockets to blast IJN naval warships to bits.

HunterICX

[mcf1]

None of them. I've always loved the sea but the skies got my heart.
HAF 341 SQN

[Tchocky]

If I could fly, maybe a carrier.

But the more I think about Flower-class corvettes... :)

[AVGWarhawk]

One submariner put it a different way and kind of interesting as to why he made his choice for submariner. He said, any other branches he had seen men return maimed, burned, disfigured and this was no sort of life. He decided to join the submarine crews because you usually do not come back at all. He prefered it be that way if his number was up.

[Graf Paper]

If you're going to go, go out with a bang instead of a piece at a time is the spirit of that reasoning, eh AVG?

I suppose I'd pick subs. Both America and Germany praised their submariners, one for it's first line of defense and the other as it's first line of offense. Either way it was life on the forefront and just a few men making a larger difference.

[seafarer]

If I could fly, maybe a carrier.

But the more I think about Flower-class corvettes... :)

Be sure to pack plenty of Mother Siegal's Soothing Syrup along (mentioned in "Essentials of Sea Survival" by Golden and Tipton as pretty much the only effective sea sickness remedy in early WWII). Them Flower-class were known to roll and pitch on wet grass :o Oh, and don't bother packing much clothes as everything you own, and you yourself are basically going to be soaked 100% of the time, and too tired to do much other then crash as you are when you aren't standing watches, at action stations, bashing sea ice off before the whole ship goes turtle,...

They were a big part of the backbone of the escort ships (corvettes and frigates being the twin arms), but man, they had to be horrible to spend months and months on in the N. Atlantic :D

I voted cruisers - in part because noone else had :up: Plus I have always liked cruisers, especially the light cruisers - Town class or Brooklyn class. They did everything - convoy escort, advance fleet scouts, anti-shipping patrols, shore bombardment and invasion/landing support, fleet AAA support,...

[sonar732]

I picked battlewagons as in '39 the strategy was still set on those. Plus, if you look at the great admirals of the US Navy, most of them were in the surface fleet.

Spruance, Halsey, and Fletcher come to mind.

[Q3ark]

I voted for subs. The royal navy, T class submarine. Those thing had 11 torpedo tubes and cool names like Triton, Tethis and Trident. The last T class boat wasn't decommissioned untill August 29 1969 HMS Tiptoe.