Old Mary at Peace

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On the road at an industry event all week in Louisiana, so we’re taking a knee on Warship Wednesday.

In its place, how about this amazing photo essay by LIFE Photographer Peter Stackpole of the Colorado-class “Super 16” dreadnought USS Maryland (BB 46) with embarked floatplanes of Observation Squadron Four (VO-4) seen in the waters of the Territory of Hawaii in August 1941 during the tense lead-up to the Pacific War, some 85 years ago this month.

Holystoning the deck, a ritual known throughout the old wooden-deck Navy for generations. 

Note the “meatball” roundels on the Vought OS2U Kingfisher. The floatplane began deliveries to the Navy in August 1940. 

While some 1,500 Kingfishers were produced, they never fully replaced the biplane Curtiss SOC Sea Gull, which remained in service until 1949

Note the searchlights on the masts

The third warship to use the name of the seventh state, USS Maryland (Battleship No. 46) was laid down 24 April 1917 by Newport News, launched 20 March 1920, and commissioned 21 July 1921.

Maryland was hit by two armor-piercing bombs during the attack on Pearl Harbor, causing localized fires, flooding, and structural damage but only 17 casualties. Meanwhile, her own batteries fired 7,450 rounds and claimed seven enemy planes shot down, so there is that.

Patched up, she soon returned to service, and steamed 152,697 miles during 1942-45, during which she shrugged off a Japanese aerial torpedo (22 June 1944) and two kamikazes (29 November 1944 and 7 April 1945). In return, she sent aloft 3,479 16-inch, 13,972 5-inch, 4,093 40mm and 10,500 20mm shells aimed at the subjects of the Emperor.

From her official War History:

Maryland received seven battle stars for World War II service, and, after spending 13 years in post-war mothballs, was scrapped in 1959– only after the Russian Gangut-class battlewagons Sevastopol and Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya were sent to the breakers.

Copenhagen Joes

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Filmed 75 years ago in August 1951, this historical video covers the visit to the country of then five-star Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who just four months prior had been named the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).

The occasion of the visit was for Ike to stress how important Denmark was to the new NATO alliance, expressed through the handover of surplus Republic F-84 Thunderjets to the rebuilding Danish Air Force, which would soon be bolstered by 240 new F-84Gs over the next four years– a huge upgrade from their previous force of 40~ WWII surplus RAF Spitfires handed over in 1948.

An especially interesting part of the video for me– which incidentally is about 60 percent in English– is the Danish Army honor guard for the occasion.

Outfitted in British-pattern wool uniforms and American M1 helmets, M1 Garand rifles (adopted as the M/50 GarandGevær) and canvas-holstered Swiss-made SIG P210 pistols (adopted as the M/49), they are very exotic in a sense. Danish by way of Portsmouth, Neuhausen, and Springfield.

The Danes would continue to use the Garand as their primary infantry arm until 1975, when it was replaced by the German-made HK G3, adopted as the Gevær M/75.

Garands would continue to soldier on with the Danish as a second-line and Home Guard rifle through the 1990s, when it would finally be replaced by Colt Canada C7 (M16A2) rifles and C8 (M4A1) carbines, which would be adopted as the Gevær M/95 and Karabin M/96, respectively. As such, the Danes would be the last Western European NATO member to field John Garand’s vaunted 30.06.

Today, the Danish military is expanding once again, waking from a 35-year nap after the end of the Cold War. The country is now drafting women, upping the annual intake from 5,000 to 7,500 18-year-olds, and extending mandatory service from four months to 11.

See this interesting 10-minute doc on conscription in the country recently published by NATO:

A Semi-Auto 12 Gauge for all Seasons: Meet the Smooth new Beretta A400 Solo

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I got a sneak peek to try out the newest A400 series autoloading shotgun before Beretta debuted it last week at the Ducks Unlimited Expo.

Beretta has been an autoloading shotgun maker for over 70 years, having introduced the pioneering gas-operated system Model 60 in 1955. Fast forward to the 1990s, and the company’s superb AL390/391 series had picked up the mantle, but the company’s shotgun dev team thought it could do better.

After three years of development, 8,000 hours of engineering, 2,000 hours of testing, and more than 100,000 shells fired through prototypes and production models, the A400 Xplor Unico debuted in November 2009. Incorporating Steelium barrels, the B-Link gas operating system, and a Kick-Off recoil reduction system that utilized hydraulic dampers inside the stock, the new shotgun was set up for success, and, by the start of 2026, Beretta had 19 different models in the A400 family, priced between $1,949 and $3,699.

We’ve covered the A400 story for over a decade and have extensively reviewed the most popular model, the A400 Xtreme Plus. They are good guns.

But now we have the new A400 Solo, which has a much lower starting price ($1,549 MSRP in black synthetic) while keeping the same Steelium, B-Link, and Kick-Off trinity that has made the series a success.

The gun is designed as a sort of do-all “only sporting shotgun you need,” covering target and hunting uses, hence the “Solo” moniker. Even though it is a magnum (3-inch) chamber and not a bigger 3.5-inch super magnum, the Solo should have no issue with most waterfowl hunts, especially considering improvements in modern shotshell technology.

Meet the new Beretta A400 Solo in its most basic form: black synthetic, 28-inch barrel, 12 gauge. (All photos except noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The Solo is engineered to thrive in the toughest hunting environments.  

Quick summary:

Beretta has nothing further to prove on the A400 series when it comes to high-value and soft-recoiling hunting shotguns. Yet, the Italian-made A400 Solo was just introduced and includes some nice updates to the platform like the cleaner-running B-Link Pro gas system and improved trigger pack. What can you say, the company makes good shotguns.

Head on over to my column at Guns.com for the full 1,800-word review. 

Family Reunion in the Gulf of Ceylon

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CARAT (Sri Lanka) 2026 just wrapped up in Trincomalee, following a series of exercises and exchanges between the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and the U.S. Navy. The 32nd iteration of the exercise saw the SLN work alongside deployed VP-26 P-8A Poseidons from CTF 72, staff from Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 7, CTF-73, CTF-76, Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, and a U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Engagement Team.

Of note to our audience will be a few steaming formation shots of SLNS Samudura (P261)/ex-USCGC Courageous, which has been in service with the force since 2005, and SLNS Vijayabahu (P627)/ex-USCGC Munro. which was transferred in 2021.

Samudura/Courageous is an ASBC-built 210-foot Reliance-class cutter commissioned in 1968, while Vijayabahu/Munro is a 378-foot Avondale-built Hamilton-class cutter that entered service in 1971.

Note that the former 210 now carries fore-and-aft 40mm Bofors L70s, flanked forward by two Chinese Type 58 (ZPU-2) 14.5mm AAGs, while the 378 still has her MK 75 76mm OTO installed during her 1990s-era SLEP (and it works!), along with some Chinese Type 61 25mm AAGs.

Plus you have to appreciate the seafoam green/blue paint scheme the SLN uses. It is very effective.

Also note the Bell 212/412 delivering ship riders.

Aside from the above, the SLN also operates a second 378, SLNS Gajabahu (P626)/ex-USCGC Sherman, and the recently delivered SLNS Samudravijaya (SLS P 628)/ex-USCGC Decisive (WMEC 629).

Nice to see the old girls still clocking in.

At least they will never have to worry about icing up ever again.

Spotted on the ‘Scope: Lucky Pennsy

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Some 90 years ago, from a collection of 70 submarine periscope photographs shot around Pearl Harbor between August and November 1941 to test camera work via such devices, we find a great shot of the battlewagon USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) in refit in Drydock No. 1 at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

National Archives ID 363418563. HMS Record Entry ID 150441. Records of Naval Operating Forces/Photographs Taken by Submarine Periscopes 1941-1941.

Note the 10-ton “Hammerhead” crane to the left, and the large “mattress” CXAM-1 radar antenna atop the foremast, which had only been installed in August 1941.

Several Bagley-class destroyers are moored in the foreground, including USS Mugford (DD-389), which at the time was flagship of Destroyer Division Eight of Destroyer Squadron Four, and her sister Blue (DD-387).

Both Pennsylvania and the two destroyers made it through the maelstrom of December 7th and went on to hard service. Blue was lost at Guadalcanal in 1942, while both Pennsy and Mugford were later badly damaged but still limping around in 1945.

They earned 20 battle stars between them.

The Sealed Lead Powder Kegs of Merriwether Lewis

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Lewis and Clark at the mouth of the Columbia River, 1805. LC-USZ62-50631

While everyone knows the legend of the Girandoni .46 cal. 20-shot repeating air rifle carried by the Lewis & Clark Expedition on their 28-month exploration of the West, it was far from their only piece.

According to research by S.K. Wier, Lewis obtained 15 rifles, likely Model 1792 Contract Rifles from Harpers Ferry Arsenal in the spring of 1803, and there were likely another 15 .69 caliber Charleville-pattern Model 1795 Springfield muskets carried by attached soldiers as well.

Plus:

Clark brought some personal guns, including a small .36-caliber “squirrel rifle” and an “elegant fusil,” a lightweight gentleman’s sporting smoothbore.

Lewis brought a case of matched pistols, one of which he traded for a horse, and a “fowler,” an extra-long smoothbore, also traded to the Indians for supplies.

Both captains carried a military-issue “horseman’s pistol,” either the “US 1799 North and Cheney” model (similar to the French Charleville 1763 pistol), or the “US 1799 Contract” pistol (McCormick model), both now great rarities.

As to the powder for said muskets, rifles, and pistols, there were 52 custom powder casks which were built to carry 208 pounds of assorted powder, and were crafted of 416 pounds of lead that could be, in turn, melted down to yield at least 5,700 balls.

Lead canisters at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, The Dalles, Oregon.  NPS Photo / K. Schlawin

Detailed by the NPS’s Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail last week:

Meriwether Lewis’ name won’t be found in a search of the names of inventors at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but maybe it should be for his innovative waterproof packaging of gunpowder.

In the spring of 1803, the young captain contracted the production of 52 custom gunpowder canisters with a plumber in Philadelphia named Geoge Ludlam.  In his design, Lewis had calculated the ratio of lead vs. powder for each container — eight pounds of lead would hold four pounds of powder. Ludlam charged 50 cents per canister.

Once a canister was emptied, the lead would be melted down and made into the number of balls that could be fired using the next container’s four pounds of powder.  Most of the firearms used by the soldiers used either .54-caliber or .69-caliber balls. That means a canister would provide enough lead for 110-240 balls (varies depending on the  caliber).

S.K. Wier, in an article, “Meriwether Lewis’s Lead Powder Canisters,” calculated that the canisters were probably about 10.4” tall and 4.1” in diameter, made from lead that was 0.125” thick.  The single hole for pouring the powder was sealed with a cork and then covered in wax.  This increased the probability of keeping the gunpowder dry, even if the containers were dropped in the water.

The more you know…

13 for Freedom?

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So we have often touched on the whole “41 for Freedom” Polaris FBM SSBNs that were cranked out during the Duck and Cover era to help win the Cold War in an amazing nine years and four months from the first keel ordered on Dec. 31, 1957, to the 41st commissioned in April 1967.

It was impressive, for sure, especially when you consider that Polaris wasn’t even on the drawing board until 1956 and Nautilus had only been commissioned in 1954!

The secret to pulling off something like that is threefold: A) the political will to stay the course, no matter what the cost, B) available shipyards and skilled tradesmen, C) block buys.

Well, we may not have the first two today, but it looks like the Navy just did a huge block buy for not only nine Virginia-class attack submarines SSN 814-822 (Block VI) along with a set of material for a 10th, but also five Columbia-class fleet ballistic missile submarines SSBN 828-832 (Build II).

Now EB, HHI, and NNS just need the space and talent (they are farming out some work, which could be good provided the standards are met and maintained) to pull it off, and we are “cooking with gas,” as they say.

The video announcements.

The contract announcement, because, wow.

General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut (N00024-12-C-2115, N00024-17-C-2100, N00024-17-C-2117); and Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia (N00024-17-C-2100, N00024-15-C-2114, N00024-16-C-2116), are awarded incentive contract modifications for the construction of five Columbia-class fleet ballistic missile submarines SSBN 828-832 (Build II), the construction of nine Virginia-class attack submarines SSN 814-822 (Block VI), and a tenth shipset of material; and investments in shipbuilder productivity efforts. The Block VI award includes previously announced material awards (including long-lead-time material and economic ordering quantity material). The announcement also includes previously awarded investments in shipbuilder productivity efforts. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (30%); Newport News, Virginia (22%); Quonset Point, Rhode Island (18%); Sunnyvale, California (5%); Sykesville, Maryland (1%); Goose Creek, South Carolina (1%); Chesapeake, Virginia (1%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (1%); Tucson, Arizona (1%); and other locations less than 1% (20%) and is expected to be completed by July 2038. Fiscal 2026 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $6,441,442,332 (54%); fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $3,744,758,492 (32%); fiscal 2025 maritime industrial base funds in the amount of $1,266,948,874 (11%); fiscal 2026 national sea-based deterrence fund funds in the amount of $253,954,000 (2%); and fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $171,096,970 (1%), will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Yankees Across the ETO, 1944-45

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And in a follow-up to yesterday’s post on the ‘Minutemen’ of the old 328th, here is a second piece from the TEC4 William Faucett collection: the Grapevine unit newspaper of the 26th (Yankee) Infantry Division from October 1945, which details the outfit’s march from Utah Beach to Czechoslovakia and Austria. The 328th was one of the 26th’s three infantry regiments, along with the 101st and 104th, all of which are touched on.

Fresh off the scanner!

These are large images, so be patient.

Tundra Merlin? Don’t mind if I do

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Last week, the Canadian-led Operation Latitude and the U.S. Coast Guard-led Operation Frontier Sentinel overlapped in what was termed Operation Tundra Merlin in the Bering Sea.

It saw the U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Storis (WAGB 21), Fir (WLB 213), and Munro (WMSL 755) team up with the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Max Bernays (AOPV 432) for a steaming evolution and photo ex conducted by an HC-130J out of Kodiak.

For reference, the red-hulled 13,000-ton Storis (formerly the polar tug Aiviq) is the country’s newest icebreaker, the black-hulled Fir is a 225-foot Juniper-class ocean-going buoy tender, and the white-hulled Munro is a 418-foot National Security Cutter. Meanwhile, Bernays is a 6,600-ton Harry DeWolf-class Arctic OPV.

The event was a five-day, 800-mile combined sail through the Bering Sea and Bering Strait to strengthen Arctic security, Jul. 20-24.

This came as the USCG monitored the Chinese research ship Xue Long, which transited north through the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and over the U.S. extended continental shelf in the Bering Sea with a declared destination of the Arctic, and the Xue Long 2, another China-flagged research vessel transiting to the Arctic.

(U.S. Coast Guard photos by Petty Officer 3rd Class Cameron Snell)

As noted by the USCG PAO:

The combined transit demonstrated seamless binational defense in the Arctic. This collaborative effort under Operation Tundra Merlin strengthened tactical integration and validated the collective ability to secure maritime approaches within the Alaskan theater of operations.

By the hand of Kluge!

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Some 70 years ago this month, in July 1956, the UGM-27 Polaris SLBM was spitballed at a symposium, starting a compressed four-year development cycle overseen by RADM William “Red” Raborn for the Navy’s side of it, and Kluge, the lucky sock monkey adopted by Lockheed’s technicians– and Kluge was there for every test launch!

Rear Admiral William “Red” Raborn, who led the development of the Polaris missile, smiles with good luck charm Kluge on his shoulder. (NHHC L38-72.03.03)

“Kluge,” the Lockheed Technicians’ lucky monkey who has been on all the test firings of the Polaris Missile in the last two years, oversees the Missile Control Center. “Kluge” is a term meaning jury-rigged, July 1960.

Polaris replaced the Regulus I (RGM-6) and Regulus II nuclear (W5 6-120 kT warhead) cruise missile systems in the U.S. Navy’s submarine-launched strategic deterrent role. It also superseded a planned naval derivative of the US Army’s Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missile and would remain in service with 41 assorted SSBNs (the “41 for Freedom” submarines) across five classes until augmented by the Poseidon (C3) missile starting in 1972 and fully replaced in 1981.

The first of the 41 for Freedom submarines was USS George Washington (SSBN-598), which made history by successfully launching the first Polaris A1 missile from a submerged position on 20 June 1960.

A total of 1,409 Polaris missiles were manufactured, including X models and A1, A2, and A3 production models.

Gratefully, none were ever expended in combat.

The USNI has a great oral history collection on the program.

Red Raborn retired as a Vice Admiral in 1963 after 39 years of service, and later became DCI.

I’m not sure what happened to Kluge. Hopefully he is enjoying retirement.

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