Warship Wednesday 7 October 2026: The Gunslinger of the ‘Unholy Four’

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Here at LSOZI, we take a break every Wednesday to explore the old steam/diesel navies from 1833 to 1954, profiling a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger 

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Warship Wednesday 7 October 2026: The Gunslinger of the ‘Unholy Four’

U.S. Navy photo via MARAD, No. 1137_051 (Declassed and in NARA’s RG-19 file).

Above we see, with 459 feet of hull being admirably pushed by a whopping 8,000shp, the attack transport USS Crescent City (APA-21), complete with a bone in her teeth.

If she looks rushed, there is a reason for that, as put the “attack” in attack transport, earning 10 battle stars and a Navy Unit Commendation for her WWII service, which took her from Guadalcanal to Okinawa– accounting for at least eight of the Emperor’s aircraft in the process while housing over 90,000 fighting men in her makeshift berths, many just prior to landing on very active enemy held beaches.

The saga of the APAs

As detailed in Troopships of World War II, written by Roland W. Charles, 76 “straight” troopships operated by the Naval Transportation Service performed the yeoman task of shuttling troops from port to port. He makes clear that these were different from the ships we will cover here.

The Navy troopships described herein are those which transported Army personnel on Army schedules. There were other Navy passenger transports for carrying Marines, Sea Bees, etc., and many attack transports (designated APA’s), but these are omitted as not being in harmony with the title.

In short, Troopships (AP) brought the men across the ocean to a safe harbor; Attack Transports (APA) landed troops directly onto the enemy’s beachhead.

With the ramp-up of the U.S. military in the late 1930s, and the obvious fact that said troops would need to be shipped and delivered overseas in great numbers, including onto remote ports and beaches with little or no local handling facilities, the Navy began rapidly acquiring and converting auxiliary transports (AP) as early as August 1940– just after the fall of France.

However, this muddies the water because the differences between what a “standard” AP would do and what an APA would do became very different in the next couple of years, a factor only more confusing as the Navy only established the APA designation on February 1, 1943, retroactively changing 58 then-APs to APAs.

APAs differed from APs in at least eight major ways:

Core Operational Differences

Feature Standard Troopship (AP) Attack Transport (APA)
Primary Mission Long-distance point-to-point administrative transport Direct tactical delivery of troops in amphibious assaults
Destination Secure deep-water ports, piers, or controlled anchorages Unprotected beachheads and hostile shores
Landing Craft (LCVPs/LCMs) Minimal or none (1–4 administrative craft) Fully equipped (typically 20–26 LCVPs and 2–4 LCMs)
Boat Handling Standard cargo booms or stationary cranes Heavy-duty, fast-operating gravity davits and specialized booms
Troop Capacity High (2,000 to 10,000+ troops in up to “five-high” bunks) Moderate (1,000 to 1,600 combat-equipped troops)
Cargo Space Focused on personal gear and general logistics Pre-loaded with combat cargo: combat vehicles, artillery, ammo, and rations
Debarkation Method Gangways at piers or slow debarkation to pierside barges Over-the-side debarkation nets (Jacobs ladders) directly into landing craft
Command & Medical Basic shipboard sickbay and transport administrative space Dedicated Amphibious Task Force command facilities & expanded triage surgical suites
Defensive Armament Light (typically a few 3-inch or 5-inch guns, 20mm/40mm AA) Heavy AA suite (5-inch/38, dual 40mm Bofors, 20mm Oerlikons for shore defense)

Bear with us as we go chronologically for a second, with the first runs of APs that would later be designated APA.

First were eight 21,000-ton, 535-foot “State”-class passenger liners built after WWI, dubbed the Harris class in service. This was quickly followed by two McCawley-class ships (the old passenger liners McCawley and Barnett), then five 14,000-ton Great War-era passenger liners (the Heywood class) in November 1940, and the old passenger liner Exochorda, which became USS Harry Lee before the year was over.

While owning zero APA types in July, by Christmas 1940 the Navy had 16.

Moving into 1941, the Navy began to take new Maritime Commission C3-style passenger-cargo hulls with seven President-class (President Jackson, President Adams, President Hayes, Thomas Stone, Thomas Jefferson, President Polk, and President Monroe) which began to enter service in November 1941; and the Crescent City class (Crescent City later joined by Charles Carroll, Monrovia, and Calvert).

The five-hold Maritime Commission C3-style passenger-cargo hulls ran 459 feet oal and had a 12,000 DWT displacement. They could make a relatively speedy 16.5 knots on either steam or diesel plants, depending on variant.

At least 465 C3s of all types were completed between 1940 and 1947, with many converted during the war to Navy use as not only APAs (President, Crescent City, Windsor, and Bayfield-class) but as Bogue-class escort carriers, Klondike-class destroyer tenders, submarine tenders, and seaplane tenders.

Crescent City and her class, which were C3-P&C type hulls, would be made to shoehorn 42 officers and 478 enlisted passengers in a modicum of style, a figure that could be pushed to as many as 1,800 if packed into all available space and little cargo was loaded. Otherwise, they had a useful cargo capacity of 2,700 tons. They could also carry a huge array of landing craft– many of which were still on the drawing board when they were built.

The profile plans for USS Bayfield (AP-78/APA-33). She was built on a Marcom Type C3-S-A2 hull and was very similar to our preceding Crescent City. She was well traveled and earned not only four battle stars for World War II service and four for Korean War service, but also two for the Vietnam War.

Berths on a Bayfield-class APA.

Boat capacity on a Bayfield-class APA. Note: This is from a 1966 sheet of plans, but it gives a pretty good idea of the space available.

The Capacity Plan for USS Cavalier (AP-82/APA-37), a Bayfield-class attack transport commissioned in 1944. She was built on a Marcom Type C3-S-A2 hull and was very similar to our preceding Crescent City.

The Ingalls-built Middleton class (MC Type C3-P&C hulled) USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) off the Southern France invasion beaches, after discharging her troops, circa August 15, 1944, during Operation Dragoon. Note boarding nets and LCVP alongside. NH 100077-KN

The Navy ended up with 238 Attack Transports (no kidding) across 17 distinct classes. APA-1 through APA-249. Of these, minus the one-offs taken up from transit, they fall into a few different types.

  • Those built on C3-type hulls include the 34 Bayfields (C3-S-A2), the nine Windsors (C3-S-A3), the seven President-class ships (converted C3-Ps taken up from trade), the four converted Delo/Crescent City ships, the three Middletons, and the two Funstons.
  • Those built on S4-SE2-BD1 hulls (the 32 Gilliam class APAs)
  • The 117 Haskells built on simple VC2-S-AP5 Victory ship hulls.
  • One-off conversions and ships taken up from trade.

This all brings us to…

Meet Crescent City

Our subject was an MC Type C3-P&C hull built as Yard No. 4338 (Order No. 239932) by the Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Division’s yard at Sparrows Point, Maryland.

She was sold to the Mississippi Shipping Company under the Act of 1936, which intended to operate her as the cargo and passenger liner SS Delorleans (sometimes seen as Del Orleans) for the company’s Delta Line.

She was laid down on 8 May 1939, launched on 17 February 1940 with Mrs. M. L. Pedrick as her sponsor, and delivered to the Delta Line on 23 August 1940.

Founded in 1919 and based in Seattle, the Delta Line specialized in the Gulf of Mexico-to-South America “coffee route,” hauling general cargo and passengers back and forth. The company liked “Del” names such as the above Ingalls-built “Del-Triplets” (SS Del Norte, Del Sud, and Del Mar) built, like Delorleans/Crescent City, on C-3 P&C hulls.

Delorleans’ Maritime Commission status card lists her at 8,988 DWT (7,987 gross) with a cargo capacity of 453,273 cu. ft (bale) or 495,512 if shipping grain and had eight deck cranes to handle her five cargo holds. Designed with 26 staterooms, she could accommodate 67 passengers in addition to cargo and had a small parlor, promenade deck, and dining room for their use.

A set of General Electric geared steam turbines, driven by a pair of Babcock & Wilcox header-type (450 psi, 750°) boilers that could send 8,000shp to her single prop, allowed her to make (and sustain) 17 knots with an impressive unrefueled range of 15,500nm at 15. Three turbo-drive 350 kW 120V/240V D.C. Ship’s Service Generators provided plenty of electricity.

In addition to Delorleans (our Crescent City), Bethlehem Sparrows also built her direct Delta Line Type C3 sisters SS Delbrasil and Delargentino, all delivered within six months of each other. The Navy would eventually take the latter out of service and use them as the troopships USS George F. Elliott (AP 105) and J. W. McAndrew (AP 47), respectively.

SS Delbrasil later USS George F. Elliott (AP 105) later African Endeavor

SS Deltargentino later USS J. W. McAndrew (AP 47) later African Enterprise

Speaking of which, after just a single South American voyage under the Delta house flag, Delorleans was taken over by the Navy on 9 June 1941, and, after a rushed conversion for military use at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. in Mobile, entered service as USS Crescent City (AP 40) on 10 October 1941.

Her first skipper was CDR Walter Carson Calhoun (USNA 1917), a surface warfare man who had witnessed the surrender of the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet from the deck of the USS Florida in the Great War and would go on to command the new cruiser Baltimore by 1943. Chester Nimitz of the Bureau of Navigation signed Calhoun’s orders to Crescent City. Of interest, all seven of Crescent City’s Navy commanders were Annapolis grads, showing how important the service took the vessel.

As noted by her 32-page War History, “The original crew was organized around a small group of ‘regulars’ supplemented by men of the Naval Reserve units in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Miami.”

Her dry cargo storage increased t o 813,300 cu. ft. grain (736,140 bale) while her onboard usable fuel oil spaces amounted to 456,900 gallons plus another 487,000 gallons of cargo oil with fresh water storage at 107,200 gallons.

She also was given some serious boat-carrying abilities, to include large Welland davits for as many as 22 36-foot LCVP Higgins boats, and room on deck for four 50-foot LCM(3)s, although she would later add LCPLs and LCPRs to that mix as those types came online along with the longer 56-foot LCM(6)s.

Her self-defense armament, initially, was a 5″/51 gun on the stern and a few light (.30 cal Lewis) machine guns, along with some limited mechanical minesweeping gear (paravanes).

This soon increased as the war went on, and by 1945 she was carrying a 5″/38 Mk 12, four 3″/50 Mk 20 DPs, six 40mm Bofors in two twin and two single mounts, and 22 20mm Oerlikons in a variety of twin and single mounts as well as an S-series radar.

A great series of photos was captured of the newly dubbed Crescent City in November 1941 with her war paint on at Charleston Navy Yard.

All of these are from the MARAD collection:

With Crescent City on the books, in 1942, three other Delta Lines ships ordered on Type C3-P hulls at Sparrows Point, ex-Del Uruguay and the 2nd ex-Del Argentina and ex-Del Orleans, were given a very similar conversion with only minor changes in internal layout and are traditionally lumped in with our subject as the “Crescent City” class.

Those three follow-ons would become USS Charles Carroll (AP 50/APA 28), Monrovia (AP 64/APA 31) and Calvert (AP 65/APA 32).

War!

Just a week after Pearl Harbor, Crescent City left Norfolk for points West, loaded with troops and equipment of the Army’s 301st Balloon Barrage Battalion and Navy Patrol Wing Three to reinforce the Canal Zone. She then crossed into the Pacific, picked up Navy and Marine passengers in San Diego, and took them to Pearl Harbor. After carrying civilian evacuees back to San Diego, she rushed workers and equipment back to Pearl.

Running men and equipment of the 4th Marine Defense Battalion and Marine Air Group 21 to Efate, New Hebrides, to establish a base there, she returned to San Diego on 22 April 1942. There, along the California coast for the next two months, Crescent City conducted 14 practice landings and embarkations of the 2nd Marine Regiment. Those lessons learned in sweat and toil off San Diego would turn into gold at the Amphibious Training School.

From her War History:

Her boats, armament, and loading as of March 1942:

Dated March 6, 1942, this confidential US Navy document shows the Crescent City’s characteristics and capabilities. Gift in Memory of Lawrence B. Dunlap, 2018.117, via the National WWII Museum.

Then came the orders to prepare to shift some 6,200nm Southwest to a place called Guadalcanal, where the Japanese were building a seaplane base in the occupied British Solomons.

Leaving San Diego on 1 July in a 15-ship convoy screened by the carrier USS Wasp, and after joining a larger force at Tongatabu in the Tongas and following a series of disastrous practice landings at Koro Island in the Fiji chain, the Guadalcanal campaign kicked off with a bang.

Ships of the invasion force steaming out of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area during the afternoon of 9 August 1942. Photographed from USS Chicago (CA-29), the view looks westward, with Guadalcanal Island in the background. USS Crescent City (AP-40) is on the left. A Curtiss SOC Seagull floatplane is in the foreground, on Chicago’s starboard catapult. 80-G-231855

In defending against incoming waves of Japanese torpedo bombers, Crescent City was credited with downing at least four between 7 and 9 August, between landing men of the 1st Marine Division.

Crashed Japanese bomber burns on the water near USS Crescent City (AP-40), off Guadalcanal, 7-9 August 1942 (USMC Photo 21054763854, Frederick R. Findtner Collection).

Army and Marines on KuKum Beach, Guadalcanal, circa 1942. This scene of apparent confusion was the beginning of an era of close cooperation between the Army and Marine Corps to finish the “housecleaning” job on Guadalcanal. “Again off KuKum. Transport number forty. Which I believe is the Crescent City or the Jackson maybe.” From the Thayer Soule Collection (COLL/2266) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division.

In October 1942, Crescent City ran a load of drummed avgas and a Marine aviation maintenance unit to Funafuti Atoll in the Ellice chain, then returned to Guadalcanal, making six trips to the island where she brought 7,000 men of the U.S. Army’s 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division.

In was off Guadalcanal that Crescent City, with fellow C3-hulled attack transports USS President Jackson, President Adams, and President Hayes as Task Group 62.1.4, “were dubbed the ‘Unholy Four’ by fellow fleet members and ground forces. It was axiomatic that whenever the Unholy Four traveled together, there was bound to be trouble.”

It was during this “Operation Shoestring” off the Solomons that Crescent City’s second skipper, Capt. Ingolf Norman Kiland (USNA 1919) often found himself as commodore of the Unholy Four as they ran around the theater.

On one such Unholy Four run to take the Americals to the Kukum Beaches on 12 November for a fast drop and run before the Japanese knew the ships were there, “Pistol Pete,” a Japanese howitzer hidden in the hills, opened fire on Crescent City close enough to observe splashes, followed by a noontime attack by enemy torpedo planes, of which two were confirmed down by our fighting transport’s gun crews.

December saw Crescent City haul the 132nd U.S. Infantry and 247th Artillery from Noumena to Guadalcanal, then take off the beleaguered 1st Marines back to Australia, ending their time in the “Green Hell.”

Marines Debarking at Brisbane, First Marine Division Leaving Guadalcanal, circa late 1942. Tired and battered but happy, battle-toughened Marines, relieved from the Solomons, disembark under full pack from a U.S. Navy transport at an allied base in the South Pacific. After a short rest, this outfit trains for another offensive aimed at the heart of Tokyo. “On the dock at Brisbane when we were disembarked from Crescent City.” USMC Archives photo

On 17 February 1943, while off Malaita, the Unholy Four were on the way to take the 8th Marines off the ‘Canal along with the tanker Tallulah and six destroyers, when they ran into a wave of Japanese torpedo bombers.

From her War History:

One plane was observed approaching astern of the Crescent City and her 5″/51 gun opened fire at point-blank range. The projectile exploded directly at the plane, blowing it in two pieces. This is one of the few times during the war that the obsolete 5″/51 was effective as an anti-aircraft gun.

Sadly, that voyage marked the end of the Unholy Four, as the now 15 ‘phibs of the South Pacific Transport Group would typically move in smaller task units, and Crescent City was transferred to Transport Division Eight.

After moving men of the Third Marine Division from Samoa to New Zealand, where our subject spent several weeks in beach-landing drills, she settled into cargo and trooping runs inside the theatre.

On 13 August 1943, while unloading cargo at Lunga Point, enemy torpedo planes swept over the anchorage and sank the ‘phib USS John Penn (APA-23), a veteran of the Torch Landings that had only recently shifted to the Pacific. Crescent City was there, and her skipper ordered his small boats to help take off survivors. Even after a years-long campaign and being officially declared “secured” six months prior, the Canal was by no means a backwater.

Landing troops on unoccupied Vella Lavella on 14 August 1943 and bypassing the Japanese garrison at Kolombangara, Crescent City completed her 14th run to Guadalcanal, landing more than 17,000 men.

November saw the Treasury Island landings, with Crescent City delivering the 9th Regiment, Third Marines, then returning to Guadalcanal to pick up the 129th Infantry and bring them to the party. In December and the New Year, she did the same for the Americal Division and the 21st Regiment, Third Marines.

Spending the first part of 1944 in a series of training evolutions in and around New Zealand, by May Crescent City was taking part in the effort to liberate Guam, which had been under Japanese occupation since just after Pearl Harbor. For the next three campaigns, Crescent City was the flagship of TransDiv 8. Our APA directly delivered the 12th Regiment, Third Marines to the beaches.

After her Marines went ashore, a key change took place: the APA sent medical parties in directly after to stand by for casevac, effectively turning Crescent City into a stopgap hospital ship.

USS Crescent City (APA-21) taking wounded Marines aboard for evacuation, likely 1944

From her War History:

September 1944 brought Peleliu, with the 1st Marine Regiment, led by Chesty Puller, embarked on Crescent City for the landings. Afterward, she received 416 casualties while, for two days, her beach party was the sole contact between the Marines ashore on White Beach and the fleet.

In October 1944, still the flag of TransDiv 8, Crescent City gathered around her at Hollandia some 60 ships of the Seventh Amphibious Force. Packed with U.S. Sixth Army personnel– with Brig. Gen. Philip Guillou Blackmore, Gen. Krueger’s Ordnance officer, aboard– the objective was Leyte Gulf to begin the liberation of the Philippines.

Landing her troops on the 22nd, she narrowly escaped the Battle of the Surigao Strait as she was speeding back to Hollandia to bring up the 127th U.S. Infantry and Maj. Gen. William Gill, commander of the 32nd Infantry Division.

Shipping to Manus in the Admiralty Islands at the end of November, Crescent City would then head to the West Coast for a refit at Bethlehem’s San Francisco yard that saw more guns added, davits strengthened, engines and boilers worked over, additional radar and radios installed, and the signal bridge retrofitted in a nine-week overhaul over the new year. Likewise, many of her “old hands” were rotated off, replaced by men fresh from boot camp and A schools.

Leaving San Francisco on 25 February 1945, Crescent City stopped at Pearl Harbor, where she was converted to a hospital evacuation ship.

Her War History notes: “An additional operating room was installed in the sick bay area, quarters for stretcher patients were arranged in the Number Five hold, and auxiliary dressing stations were established throughout the ship. Additional doctors and pharmacist mates reported aboard for duty, and on 18 March the ship was ready to sail.”

She became instrumental as an evac transport at Okinawa.

Arriving off Kerama Retto on 6 April, a landing ship in her convoy (LST-447) was hit amidships by a kamikaze bomber and lost the next day, while two Victory ships (Logan Victory and Hobbs Victory) were sunk outright and two others damaged.

Shrugging it off and getting to work, Crescent City remained on station for the next two months, settling into a nightmarish routine of fighting off infiltrators, suicide boats, and kamikazes while receiving casualties from 96 Allied ships. Her history notes she handled 2,700 wounded men, administering 500 pints of plasma and 460 pints of whole blood in the process, the latter delivered via seaplane directly from the States.

“Altogether, the job of handling the crippled bodies was a thankless job for everyone.”

Meanwhile, she also doubled as a receiving ship, with 10,500 fresh bluejackets and officers arriving from the fleet to be fed into the force to fill holes popping up off Okinawa. Her troop holds housed these newcomers until they were “called up” and sent out by small boat, with officers and enlisted men berthing side by side on the pipe bunks.

A larger ship among smaller ones, she hosted religious services on Sundays, conducting as many as five of them to handle men coming over for the occasion. She also served as a floating brig, accepting disciplinary cases from cramped DDs and DEs. For part of this time (8 July-23 August), Crescent City’s skipper was designated SOPA in charge of the Naha-Hagushi anchorage, and his staff handled everything from managing tug and salvage operations to coordinating smoke and AAA plans to supply administration. This period also included dealing with two very large typhoons.

On 15 April, her gunners downed their eighth confirmed enemy aircraft of the war and fired on Japanese aircraft at least five times while off Okinawa.

However, all around her ships were not so lucky, with her crew watching helplessly as the cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-62) was hit by a speedy bomb-carrying Hayabusa kamikaze, causing 130 casualties and tearing a hole under the ship’s waterline. Another evacuation transport at Kerama Retto, USS Pinkney (APH-2), was struck by a kamikaze on 28 April, killing 18 crew and 16 patients. Even on the night that hopeful Japanese “peace feelers” were announced over the radio, 10 August, a merchant ship was torpedoed in the anchorage just off Crescent City.

By VJ Day, her crew had been called to General Quarters 215 times off Okinawa alone. However, amazingly, she suffered no casualties or damage attributed to enemy fire or contact not just in that campaign but in the war as a whole.

After the surrender, Crescent City served as Amphibious Force Flagship for almost a month, receiving extra signalmen and staff officers to manage the task. Transferring the role to the USS Blue Ridge on 22 September, she once more hauled the First Marines of Guadalcanal fame, this time to Taku, China. She then trooped men of the 13th and then the 8th Chinese Nationalist Army from Hong Kong to Chinwangtao and Tsingtao in North China to fight the Reds.

On 1 December, her war ended; she left for Seattle, packed with officers and men bound for Home.

Her 10 battle stars earned her a Navy Unit Commendation (NUC). As far as I can tell, no APA had a better record.

  • Guadalcanal-Tulagi Landings, 7 to 9 August 1942
  • Capture and defense of Guadalcanal, 12 November 1942
  • Guadalcanal (Third Savo) 12 to 15 November 1942
  • Consolidation of Southern Solomons, 17 February and 18 May 1943 (including Action off Malaita)
  • Treasury Island landings, 1 and 18 November 1943
  • Bismarck Archipelago operation (Admiralty Island landings), 11 to 12 April 1944
  • Marianas, capture and occupation of Guam, 21 to 25 July 1944
  • Capture and occupation of southern Palau (Caroline) Islands, 8 September to 14 October 1944
  • Leyte landings, 16 to 27 October and 14 November 1944
  • Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 6 April to 30 June 1945

Her September-December 1945 crew were also eligible for the Navy Occupation Service Medal and China Service Medal (extended).

Her wartime APA sisters, Charles Carroll, Monrovia, and Calvert, all survived the war, seeing almost as much action as Crescent City, picking up a very decent 23 battle stars between them.

USS Charles Carroll (APA-28), on December 11, 1945, Norfolk, wearing camouflage 32/6T. “Lucky Chuck” earned six battle stars from Torch to Sicily to Husky, Normandy, and Okinawa 19-LCM-APA28-1

USS Charles Carroll (APA-28) December 11 1945 Norfolk wearing camouflage 32/6T 19-LCM-APA28-2

USS Charles Carroll (APA-28) December 11 1945 Norfolk wearing camouflage 32/6T 19-LCM-APA28-3

As for her two pre-war Sparrows Point Delta Line sisters, SS Delbrasil/USS George F. Elliott (AP 105) and Delargentino/USS J. W. McAndrew (AP 47), both survived the war and, as they had no extensive APA conversions done to them, were soon back in the commercial trade as SS African Endeavor and African Enterprise, operated by the U.S. based Farrell Lines during the post-war era on passenger and trade routes between New York and South/East Africa. By the 1960s, they were laid up in the Reserve Fleet, then scrapped by 1972.

Cold War

Departing Seattle on 23 January 1946, Crescent City transited back to the East Coast for the first time since 1942, arriving at Norfolk on Valentine’s Day.

The ship was detached from the amphibious forces and was operating as a unit of the Naval Transportation Service (NTS). She operated from New York and Norfolk in the Caribbean for the next 20 months, typically carrying dependents back and forth to the myriad of new U.S. bases down south.

Crescent City at Brooklyn Navy Yard,15 May 1947. Gone are the landing craft, replaced by lifeboats under her davits, although she remains a fully armed and commissioned naval vessel. Other NTS ships also wore the broad black band around the top of the stack at this time. NARA, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-142584, NY3-142G.

Outboard and inboard profiles of USS Crescent City (APA-21) as a dependents’ transport in March 1947. Drawing from “U.S. Amphibious Ships” and Craft by Norman Friedman.

10 August 1947. Panama Canal Zone. A group of Marines who have finished their tour of duty in the various guard detachments throughout the Canal Zone board the USS Crescent City for the happy voyage back to the Good Old States USMC Photo 167170 via NARA 127-GR-49-167170

Sent back to the West Coast, she arrived at San Francisco on 1 November 1947.

Crescent City was placed out of commission in reserve 30 April 1948 and transferred to the Maritime Commission 3 September 1948. Sister Charles Carroll was laid up the same year.

Two other APA sisters remained in service until 1966 (Calvert) and 1968 (Monrovia), respectively, and were scrapped by 1977.

Crescent City C3 Delta class troopships, 1960 Janes

Crescent City was permanently transferred to the Navy Department’s Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay on 3 September 1958, where she remained at a cost of $118 per month until 9 June 1970, when she was sent to WISCO for a hull survey in hopes she could be of further use.

It turned out that she would

Training Ship

The old Crescent City, aged 30, was transferred from MARAD on loan to the California Maritime Academy on the morning of 28 August 1970.

While I’m not an expert on the CMA’s operations, suffice it to say that Crescent City, disarmed and painted in a white-and-blue livery, sailed as TS Golden Bear II from May 1971 to July 1995, conducting 28 major ocean cruises.

California Maritime Academy training ship TS Golden Bear II passing under the Golden Gate Bridge inbound at San Francisco Bay circa 1993. Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum File name: APA 21 – GBII Circa 1993, via Navsource.

Artship

With the California Maritime Academy done with the 50-year-old APA, ex-Crescent City/Golden Bear was returned to MARAD in July 1995 for layup at the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay.

Four years later, President Clinton signed an order donating her to the Artship Foundation in Oakland in August 1999 after a six-year quest for a vessel to serve as a floating cultural warehouse. Renamed Artship, she was moored at the city’s Ninth Avenue Terminal until a city lawsuit forced the group to renounce the title in 2004, abandoning the social program.

She was sold for $200,000 scrap value to Esco Marine Inc. in Brownsville in February 2004.

A group called the Friends of the USS Crescent City tried to save her, citing that she was the last ship afloat from Guadalcanal, but their efforts fell flat.

Epilogue

Crescent City’s war diaries and war history are digitized in the National Archives and are superb.

Her Guadalcanal commander and commodore of the Unholy Four, Ingolf Kiland, earned a DSM, Navy Cross, and two Legions of Merit during the war. As a rear admiral, Kiland and his amphibious task group took Karama Retto in early 1945, routing out the suicide boat caves scattered on the island and ensuring it could be used as a support for the ensuing assault on Okinawa.

He later commanded all amphibious forces of the Pacific Fleet during the Korean War (COMPHIBPAC)– not bad for a man who started his career as an ensign navigation officer on the four-piper tin can USS Sterett (DD-27) during the Great War. Retiring as commandant of the Fifth Naval District in 1957, capping a 40-year career, VADM Kiland, son of Norwegian immigrants, passed in the warmth of Coronado in 1992 at age 96.

VADM Kiland is buried at Arlington, Section 1, Site 808.

While the Navy has not commissioned a second Crescent City, the fifth USS New Orleans (LPD-18) is a San Antonio-class amphib that joined the fleet in 2007. She is based in Japan, which is fitting.

The U.S. Navy (Pre-Commissioned Unit) San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock Ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18) sails beneath the Huey P. Long Bridge as it moves on the Mississippi River towards New Orleans, La., on March 5, 2007, in preparation for its commissioning ceremony on March 10, 2007. MCS Kurt Eischen, USN.

Thanks for reading!

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

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Marines watch the tracks fade away

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Men of the 7th Infantry Division head for the beaches of Okinawa in LVTs. 1 April, 1945. SC 205191

Marine LVTP-5 in Vietnam. From the Kenneth W. Koldys Collection (COLL/5791) at the Marine Corps History Division

The legacy AAVP7. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Jacqueline C. Arre)

The AAV, or assault amphibious vehicle, Model 7, has served with the U.S. Marine Corps since 1972, replacing the mammoth LVTP-5, adopted just after Korea and used in Vietnam. And, naturally, it continued the legacy of the 18,000 WWII-era Amtrac LVT “gators” that began entering service in July 1941.

Now the age of the amtracker has ended, as the AAV7 made its final operational employment during Exercise Sea Breeze 26 in the Black Sea.

Check out this somber requiem as the age of the tracked vehicle comes to an end in the Marines, with their tanks disbanded along with the assorted M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV), M9 Armored Combat Earthmovers, and Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges of the Marines’ engineer battalions. The  AAV7 has been replaced by just over 600 of the 8×8 Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV), which will have several roles in addition to toting Marines over the beach.

Steel, Walnut, and Style: The New SA-35

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A 16-shot capacity meets vintage class in Springfield’s newest SA-35 4-inch model, which brings compact carry wrapped in polished carbon steel and checkered walnut.

We were among the first to cover the reintroduction of the classic (and then-recently retired) Browning Hi-Power by an American gunmaker when Springfield introduced the SA-35 in 2021.

Since then, the SA-35 line has grown and evolved while retaining the improvements to Mr. Browning’s original design, with a chopped-down 4-inch compact model performing nicely in a review we published in April.

With its more Detective-length, the “Dick” SA-35 4-inch is very slim and actually makes a good carry gun

Now, the company has added a 4-incher with an eye-catching polished blued finish on its carbon steel frame and slide. We’ve been passing it around the office for the past few weeks to get a sneak peek.

Drink it in, folks.

the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
This new SA-35 features a polished blued finish on its carbon steel frame and slide, giving the durable forged components a deep, lustrous appearance. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
Complementing the polished steel are attractive walnut grip panels with natural grain and finely cut checkering for confident purchase. 
the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
As with all SA-35 pistols, its 4-inch barrel features improved feed ramp design for reliable function with modern defensive ammunition and is forged for durability and strength. It ships with a branded zipper case.

Made in the U.S.A., the SA-35 features rugged forged steel parts for strength and durability, improved ergonomics and enhanced controls, a factory-tuned trigger, modernized Tactical Rack rear and white-dot front sights, an improved feed ramp design, and an increased 15-round capacity in the flush-fit magazine.

the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
The polished 4-inch SA-35 compared to the standard matte-finished model. 
the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
The SA-35, especially in this new polished version, salutes the appeal of the “wood and steel” era of arms making. 
the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
And yes, it shoots. This is two magazines running the BHP classic Mozambique failure drill at 10 yards. In all, we put just over 300 rounds through the pistol right out of the box without fail. 
the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
Don’t sleep on this one as a carry gun if needed. With its twin 15-round flush-fit steel Mec-Gar magazines, superior accuracy, excellent single-action trigger, and wide holster availability (see Commander-sized 1911 fits), it makes a lot of sense.   
the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
And if nothing else, it can be something of an “instant” heirloom. 
the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished model
Like you need an excuse for some extra steel…

The MSRP of the new Springfield Armory SA-35 4-inch polished (Model HP9205) is $799, the same as the matte-finished variants.

Pontoon No.1, now 125 Years in the rearview

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In 1901, 24-year-old LT Forster Delafield Arnold-Forster, RN, arrived at the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness to take command of a curious, rather hush-hush craft. He found the project shrouded in secrecy, located inside a building labeled “Yacht Shed” with parts marked for “Pontoon No. 1.”

His description of what would become officially HM Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 1, launched without ceremony on 2 October 1901, was downright unflattering.

What surprised me most when I did find the boat was her small size. She was only 63 ft. long and was shaped like a very fat and stumpy cigar. She had fins and a tail with a single propeller and two rudders, one for steering and the other for diving.

There was a small conning tower on top just big enough to put one’s head and shoulders in. Her speed turned out afterwards to be seven knots on the surface and never more than about four knots under water.

The ingenious designer in New York evidently did not realize that the average naval officer has only two eyes and two hands, the little conning tower was simply plastered with wheels, levers, valves and gauges with which some superman was to fire torpedoes, dive and steer and do everything else at the same time.

At 63 feet long, the Phillip Holland-designed boat wasn’t much of a looker, but what she represented mattered.

Commissioned for target practice in August 1902 and for fleet operations by 1903, Holland No. 1 was soon made public, with postcards in wide circulation and news reports circling the globe.

The Admiralty ordered four more or-less identical sisters, which were in service by the end of 1903.

HM Submarine No. 3. This was a Holland-type submarine of the RN’s first type.  Nelson’s HMS Victory is in the background. Symons & Co postcard,  IWM (Q 41181)

Holland No. 1, in 1913, was lost in a tow, unmanned, in severe weather, and sank about a mile and a half off Eddystone Lighthouse.

After slumbering through two world wars, she was raised in the 1980s, restored, and is now on public display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport.

Incredibly, her lead batteries were cleaned and recharged, then found to be in good working order.

As for the RN’s first submarine skipper, Arnold-Forster returned to surface ships, commanded a series of destroyers, gunboats, and cruisers, earned a CMG during the Great War, and retired in 1922. Upgraded to a light admiral on the Retired List, he passed in 1958, at which time the RN had 26 active submarines and the country’s first SSN, the future HMS Dreadnought (S 101), had just been ordered from Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness- small world.

Currently, 2 October 1901 is seen as the start of the HM Submarine Service, and this week marks 125 years. Their motto is “We come unseen.”

Royal Navy Submarine Service badge

CMP: Yes milsurp shotguns and M14s are inbound

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A demo of the then-new M14 at Fort Dix in June 1959. Similar in size to the M1 Garand, with 29 of 116 parts interchangeable with that .30-06 semi-automatic rifle, the M14 was select-fire and had a larger, 20-round magazine. (Photo: Springfield Armory National Historic Site)

Gerald O’Keefe, who has served as Chairman and CEO of the Civilian Marksmanship Program since 2022, has just transitioned to Executive Chair.

He has been replaced by Fabian Loberia, but Jerry disclosed on his way out that the M14 program is on track (although the gun control hacks are publicly conspiring against it), and the Army has identified 2,027 surplus shotguns for transfer to the CMP, mostly Mossberg 500s but with at least some Winchester ’97s in the mix.

From the presser, via the CMP, emphasis mine:

M14 Update:

As previously announced, the CMP will soon be selling converted, semi-automatic M14s. The schedule for this project is on track. We’ll begin the conversion process over the next three months and plan to initiate sales in Jan ’27. Sales will occur initially via mail order, but we’ll bring the M14s to all our physical stores in AL, OH, and eventually WY as soon as possible thereafter. More details will be forthcoming later this Fall.

Stay connected to the latest updates as they come through our website at https://thecmp.org/l/m14-announcement/.

Shotgun Update:

The Civilian Marksmanship Program achieved an important legislative milestone via the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which expanded CMP’s statutory authority to receive and sell certain surplus military pump-action shotguns. This change authorizes a one-time transfer of eligible surplus shotguns from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force to the CMP, preserving an important part of American military history while creating a new opportunity for collectors, competitors, and firearms enthusiasts. The legislation specifically added pump-action shotguns to the list of firearms eligible for transfer and sale through the CMP, continuing Congress’s longstanding support of the CMP’s mission of marksmanship, firearms safety and youth development.

As implementation moves forward, the U.S. Army has identified 2,027 surplus shotguns for transfer to the CMP: 1,589 Mossberg 500 shotguns and 438 Winchester Model 1897 shotguns. These historic firearms represent more than a century of military service, spanning from the iconic trench-gun era of the early 20th century through modern military and security applications. We are working closely with Army officials to complete transfer requirements and develop restoration, inspection, and sales plans. We look forward to making these firearms available to eligible U.S. customers while ensuring future generations of Americans preserve and appreciate them. Expectation management: The NDAA allows for just this one-time surplus shotgun transfer, and 438 Winchester Model 1897 shotguns are a small quantity, given the likely demand.

Aries Got her Gun (back)

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We’ve always been fans of the six-pack of Pegasus-class hydrofoil patrol missile (PHM) boats that entered service in 1977, were sadly underutilized during the Cold War, and were retired wholesale when it ended.

Each carried eight Harpoons, a 76mm/62c MK75 OTO Melara Super Rapid forward, and a GE LM2500 gas turbine that could drive the whole enterprise at 48 knots.

These 133-foot “Boeing boats” were magic to behold.

Pegasus on trials

USS Hercules (PHM-2) and Taurus (PHM-3) 1983

Hydrofoil USS Hercules PHM-2 Squadron 2 in Key West DN-SC-90-09332

The plan was that the Navy was to build over 30 of these little boats to operate in a couple of forward-deployed squadrons, with Italy, Germany, and possibly Japan to follow, but as soon as PHM champion Elmo Zumwalt left the CNO’s office, that plan went right out the window and just six were completed– although Japan and Italy did build some even smaller (75-foot) Sparviero/1-go boats, still with the Otobreda 76 forward but with half as many missiles.

Sent out to the scrappers in 1993, only one survives: ex-USS Aries (PHM-5), preserved as a memorial on the Gasconade River in Missouri.

The Aries PHM museum was stripped of almost everything that made her such a fetching design, but recently got a distinctive MK 92 FCS “egg” dome to go back on her pilothouse and, finally, a deactivated MK 75 mount.

The Ordnance Shop at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard, which inherited the MK75 program from the Navy in 2015 when the last FFG-7 retired, recently released a precious OTO mount, #135, to Aries.

No. 135 is unique, as its gun house had been ported and windows installed so that it could be used as a training aid at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown, but with the service getting rid of the last of its MK75s as the old 270-foot Famous (Bear) class cutters go through a SLEP and get a smaller (MK38) mount, it wasn’t needed anymore and, incredibly, it is the same early OTO-made mount (not FMC) that came from Aries in 1993.

“We are delighted to know that the gun itself was original to the USS Aries,” noted the museum. “After all these years, they have been reunited due to the efforts of the Coast Guard Ordnance Yard in Baltimore, MD. We are so grateful for the contributions of all involved.”

Bravo Zulu, folks.

Now to get her some surplus Harpoon cans —maybe off a laid-up Tico before they are all sunk or scrapped.

Surely some dewatted Harpoon cans can be unbolted from these old girls and live on aboard Aries…

Just the USCG Enforcing International Naval Blockades, again

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The Coast Guard, while on its face tasked with preventing smuggling and maintaining the U.S. maritime border, also has a long history of running maritime blockades off the coasts of other countries.

The rundown:

  • The Civil War: Cutters like the USRC Harriet Lane (which fired the first maritime shot of the war at Fort Sumter) were deployed to enforce blockades off Charleston, Wilmington, and New Orleans, with smaller, shallow-draft cutters often tasked with inshore interdiction while the Navy stuck to more blue-water ops.
  • The Spanish-American War saw eight Revenue Cutters join the Navy’s blockade of Cuba and Puerto Rico. This included the USRC McCulloch, Morrill, Windom, Manning, and Hudson enforcing the outer and inner rings of the blockade off Havana and Cienfuegos, directly engaging Spanish shore batteries and gunboats while making turns to capture blockade runners.
  • WWII Neutrality Patrol: The USCG established maritime blockades off Greenland to deny Germany access to cryolite mines and weather tracking stations even before the U.S. entered the war.
  • Cuban Naval Quarantine-– Besides the Coast Guard patrol aircraft based in South Florida, at least 12 cutters were involved in the TF 136 and TF 137 blockade of Castro’s island during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, including the service’s only oceanography ship. Further, USCGC Barataria (WAVP-381), while on met duty at Ocean Station Echo in the North Atlantic some 2,200 miles northeast of Cuba, identified and solo trailed a Soviet freighter with missile deck cargo for several days until the Navy could join the effort.
  • Vietnam War: Operation Market Time, arguably the most comprehensive coastal blockade in USCG history, which included Squadron One (deploying 26 82-foot Point-class patrol boats) and Squadron Three (deploying 31 blue water High Endurance Cutters between 1967 and 1972) assigned to the effort, getting their hands dirty numerous times and sending NVA trawlers loaded with weapons to the bottom. RonThree alone conducted more than 65,000 vessel stops in the Vietnamese littoral.
  • The service conducted a sustained offshore surveillance of Grenada in 1983-84 (Operation Island Breeze) after the U.S. invasion of the island.
  • Operation Maritime Intercept (1990–2003): Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, cutters deployed to the North Arabian Gulf alongside Navy forces to enforce UN sanctions against Iraq. Coast Guard Boarding Teams (LEDETs) were heavily relied upon for their expertise in maritime law enforcement aboard civilian cargo ships.
  • Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003): Six 110-foot Island-class USCG patrol boats and Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETs) deployed to the Khawr Abd Allah waterway to maintain a blockade against Iraqi forces, secure oil platforms, and clear routes for humanitarian vessels.
  • The Vigilant Sentry effort off Haiti has been ongoing since 2004.
  • Operation Southern Spear combined maritime interdiction with the oil blockade and intervention in Venezuela, which has since morphed into JTF-WHEM last month. The Venezuelan oil blockade led the USCG to one stop (Skipper) and seven seizures, including the Guyanan/Russian-flagged Marinera (Bella 1) off Iceland after a leisurely 2,500 nm, 20-day pursuit. LEDETs may also have conducted three seizures in the Indian Ocean.

This brings us to a release last Friday announcing an all-USCG operation that stopped a vessel looking to break the oil blockade on Cuba, the M/V Grace, following the detention of a similar vessel earlier this summer, M/V Jaira Provider, also headed to Havana.

The old 210-foot cutter Alert (WMEC-630) stopped and rerouted the vessel to Mexico, assisted by the new 154-foot FRC Charles Sexton (WPC-1108) and other USCG assets.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Alert (WMEC-630) and Charles Sexton (WPC-1108) escort the motor vessel Grace in early September 2026. The Coast Guard interdicted the vessel following a coordinated international enforcement operation concerning its suspected illicit transport of fuel to Cuba. The vessel was later escorted to Progreso, Mexico, where a Mexican Navy inspection team confirmed the presence of large quantities of fuel in its ballast tanks. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

011026-G-KH296-1002

In early September, a Coast Guard tactical team boarded M/V Grace in the Caribbean Sea. M/V Grace was transiting to Cuba, carrying fuel, and was believed to be employing tactics common amongst the “dark fleet.” After the boarding, the Coast Guard escorted the M/V Grace to Progreso, Mexico, where a Mexican Navy (MARINA) inspection team confirmed large quantities of fuel in the vessel’s ballast tanks. The vessel was also carrying several containers believed to contain illicit fuel.

More Maritime Patrol Birds

With the USCG so busy doing maritime patrol and blockade work as of late, it is no surprise that last week the service also announced it will be buying another six HC-130J Super Herks, expanding its program to 31 such LRSAs, complete with a 360-degree, belly-mounted, AN/APY-11 multimode surface search radar, advanced IR cameras, and a 20+ hour endurance.

USCG Air Station Kodiak HC-130Js, AET3 Lauren Bulow

They have been especially useful in keeping tabs on Chinese ships in the Arctic just off Alaska.

An HC-130J Super Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak observes two Russian Border Guard ships and two Chinese Coast Guard ships approximately 440 miles southwest of St. Lawrence Island, Sept. 28, 2024. This marked the northernmost location where the U.S. Coast Guard has observed Chinese Coast Guard vessels. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)

These Tanks use a Great Deal of Gasoline!

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Some 85 years ago this month.

Original Caption: “1st Army Maneuvers in the Carolinas. An M2A2 light tank of the 191st Tank Battalion. These tanks use a great deal of gasoline. South Carolina. October 16, 1941.”

The M2A2 light tank ran a 668 cubic-inch (11.0 L) Continental 7-cylinder radial gasoline engine and carried 50 gallons of mogas. Photographer: 161st Signal Photo Co., Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-130131

Note the above shows some of the first use of U.S.-made 5-gallon “Jerry” or “Blitz” cans, which were hauled back to the U.S. across 10 international borders from Germany (where it was used as the Wehrmacht-Einheitskanister) in 1939 by an American engineer, Major Paul Pleiss, and ordered into low-rate domestic production in in the fall of 1940 after redesign by the Holabird Quartermaster Motor Base, with the can type classed later as the DHC-42.

By the end of the war, the Allies would make 21,000,000 of them to replace the infamous square GC100 “flimsy” can.

Another view of the above, same day, same place, showing off the 11-ton M2A2, which saw no combat service with the U.S. military, although 36 updated M2A4s did land with the Marine 1st Tank Bn at Guadalcanal. 111-SC-130069

In October 1918, the U.S. Army, gearing up to beat the Kaiser, had peaked at 2,395,742 active men in uniform with a few million more on the schedule.

Just 15 years later, the story was much different.

During the Depression, the Army was gutted to the point that in 1933 it could count only 135,015 officers, men, Philippine Scouts, and USMA cadets on active service.

Most battalion-sized units were so understrength they could not field 200 men for exercises. Keep in mind this included the Air Corps, which totaled under 20,000 men. On paper, the active Army had nine permanent infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions, but all save for four (1st Infantry, Fort Hamilton, NY; 2nd Infantry, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; 3rd Infantry, Fort Lewis, Washington; and 1st Cavalry, Fort Bliss, Texas) were cadre headquarters units. Empty shells in a hollow force.

Then there were the 138,513 men in the Organized Reserve (OR), almost all of whom (133,485) were officers accumulated over the years through a mix of former ROTC cadets, regular Army officers passed to the reserve list, and Citizens Military Training Camp graduates passed to the OR after receiving their commissions. Most of these were older men, as 1933 saw only 270 CMTC and 5,082 ROTC commissions granted. The small number of enlisted in the OR were largely organized into 30 company-strength MP battalions assigned to paper corps and army headquarters. By comparison, the Regular Army had only four active MP battalions, and the National Guard 11.

While the National Guard numbered 185,925 in June 1933, most were in units that rarely assembled other than for brief meetings at the armory one night a week (and not necessarily every week) for about 75 cents each pocket change (about $20 today), followed by a two-week summer camp (Annual Field Encampment) although attendance at the latter was often skipped, as many enlisted “cannot afford to let his family suffer while he is away at the field camps and consequently he elects to remain at work rather than go to camp.”

This was at a time when the National Defense Act of 1920 assumed a Regular Army of 280,000 men and a National Guard of 450,000, rapidly mobilizing to over a million in time of war, when new recruits would be quickly added, and the OR called back to the colors. Actual figures, if war had been declared in 1933, would have likely been half that.

This would markedly increase with FDR’s “Tree Army,” the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which took unemployed and underemployed young men aged 17 to 28 into regimented public works programs run by the Army. Enticed by a promise of $30 pay per month (which is only like $775 today) plus free room (tent) and board (chow) and 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. workdays, the program peaked at 500,000 men organized in over 2,500 camps in 1935, many later transitioning to the military or National Guard. It was estimated that 75 percent of the 3 million who cycled through CCC camps in the 1930s later served in the military in WWII.

Slowly, the Army and Guard beefed up as tensions rose overseas.

By August 1939, the Regular Army had grown to 187,893. The brand-new Regular Army Reserve (RAR) had been established for prior-service enlisted men and had 24,972 of them on its rolls. The Organized Reserve, primarily of officers, stood at 119,773. The National Guard had 199,491 effectives. Some 97,549 young men were in ROTC programs and another 36,783 in the CMTC. Around 240,000 were still kicking around the dwindling 1,500 CCC camps. All told, the country was approaching 900,000 men in Army fatigues when Hitler sent his legions into Poland.

In the summer of 1940, with Japan and China locked in a grinding military stalemate after three years of war while Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France had all fallen to the Germans in a matter of months– the last with help from Italy– the U.S. Army started to have division- and corps-sized maneuvers, including reservists and the National Guard.

However, size wasn’t everything. Equipment of every sort was lacking.

What looked formidable on paper looked much different in the field.

From the CMH:

The summer maneuvers of 1940 came too soon to permit any marked improvement in training techniques, but by bringing together a total of 90,000 troops of the First Army, including Regular and National Guard components, and by offering a natural if unfortunate comparison with current battlefield operations as reported from Europe, they evoked far more public attention than had any previous maneuvers, as indicated by the extended accounts in the daily press of that period.

It was a public disturbed by discovery that National Guard divisions (the old “square” type), whose wartime strength was listed at 22,000 men each, reported as present an average of 10,414 enlisted men each; that in one of these were 3,000 recruits who never previously had attended field training; that a typical division had none of the new light or heavy mortars, none of the new antitank guns, and only one-fourth its quota of new rifles; that another was drilling still in armory-drill fundamentals; that some of the “cannon” used in the maneuver were merely iron pipes; that many of the “tanks” were actually commercial trucks used in simulation for purposes of the exercise; and that “bomber” planes similarly engaged were light observation planes serving an imagined role. As simulations for maneuver, they served well enough. They also served as demonstrations of the Army’s critical needs and gave eloquent support to the Chief of Staff’s recent arguments for better armament.

Then came the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, adopted in September, which by New Year’s Day 1941 had placed 18,933 draftees into active training, originally just for one year. Before Pearl Harbor, 922,000 American men had been conscripted, with a rough 2.4:1 ratio of men going to the Army (650,000) vs. the Navy (272,000).

Also over the next year, the now 241,612-strong National Guard was federalized in waves, adding 18 thin infantry divisions, 80 separate regiments, and 29 Army Air Corps squadrons to active service.

All eligible RAR soldiers were mobilized for active service on 15 February 1941.

In July 1941, the Army, swollen by conscripts, activated reservists, new volunteers (often with tree sap under their nails) and federalized Guardsmen, could count 1,462,315 officers and men.

In September 1941, the great maneuvers in the Louisiana-Texas area, employing 400,000 men of the Second and Third Field Armies, were by far the largest the Army had ever held and spanned 30,000 sq. miles from Shreveport south to Lake Charles and from Jasper, Texas, to the Mississippi River.

The next maneuvers, the last before America entered the war, were in the Carolina area. Conducted in a more compact area (9,375 sq. miles straddling the North Carolin and South Carolina border), they employed fewer troops but used armor more intensively and, for this reason, were of lively interest to Washington.

The forces involved would include the newly-motorized 4th Infantry Division, the brand new 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions, the more leg-borne 1st, 8th, and 9th Infantry divisions; seven NG infantry divisions (26th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 43rd, and 44th), six horse and hybrid “horse-mechanized” cavalry regiments (active 3rd and 6th, NG 101st, 102nd, 104th, and 107th), as well as such novel organizations as the 502nd Parachute Battalion (which had only been activated three months prior).

They fought across two major Blue vs. Red campaigns, the Battle of the Pee Dee River and the Battle of Camden, with troops beginning to stage in the first week of October and the exercises wrapping up on 30 November.

The photos from the event show a force in transition, and it is amazing to think that the same Army would take on the Afrika Korps in Tunisia just over a year later– with almost totally different equipment.

1941- U.S. 27th Field Artillery troops in T12 75mm GMC M1897A4 M3 during Carolina maneuvers.

1941- Townspeople watch as an M2 light tank makes its way through a street in Rock Hill during U.S. First Army maneuvers in South Carolina.

1941- Unit of Fort Myer, Virginia’s 3rd U.S. Cavalry is forced to retreat during maneuvers in North Carolina, horse-mounted

M2 light tanks, Carolinas Maneuvers, 16 October 1941

Carolina Maneuvers as seen in Stanly County

Carolina Maneuvers 101st Cavalry (New York City NG), 6th Corps, let their horses enjoy a refreshing drink from the Pee Dee River near Albemarle

Carolina Maneuvers Stanly County, half-track M1

M1 37mm AT gun Mass NG Carolina Maneuvers

Carolina Maneuvers 1941-1942. The horse-mechanized 102nd Cavalry from New Jersey with a Scout Car and GPW

US Army, October 1941 Carolina Maneuvers, with a GPW and a 37mm ATG

US Army, October 1941, the Carolina Maneuvers

128th Field Artillery doing live-fire exercises during the 1941 Carolina Maneuvers at Ft. Jackson, with M1897A2 75mm guns

Blue Force Curtiss P-40 Warhawks from the 20th Pursuit Group lined up on the ground during the 1941 Carolina Maneuvers

Red Force Curtiss P-38s, 1941 Carolina Maneuvers. The P-38 first flew on 27 January 1939, was the first U.S. aircraft to make extensive use of stainless steel and smooth, flush-riveted, butt-jointed aluminum skin panels, and was the first to break 400mph in level flight. By September 1941, the USAAF had 13 YP-38 prototypes and 65 production P-38s delivered, with the 1st Pursuit Group fielding them in its 94th, 27th and 71st Pursuit Squadrons. 

1st Pursuit Group P-38s assigned to the Blue Force during the Carolina Maneuvers, 1941.

After the Carolina Maneuvers ended, the Secretary of War summoned a conference in his office “to familiarize the officers present with the lessons which had been learned from the maneuvers and to exchange views.”

The after-action conference held by the War Department on 3 December 1941– just four days before Pearl Harbor- concluded the following:

(1) There was still dissatisfaction with the training of small units, and this training was to be stressed in coming months

(2) The outstanding question was the struggle between tank and antitank, fairly well tested in Carolina by the use of 865 tanks and armored cars, against 764 mobile antitank guns and 3,557 other pieces of artillery;155 the tactical employment of antitank weapons called for restudy, armored units likewise had not been sufficiently massed for field operation, and there was a demonstrated need for a higher ratio of medium tanks.

(3) The horse units had not proved their value.

(4) Tactical air forces were poorly coordinated with the ground units they were to support.

(5) Motor transport was used without a realistic sense of limitations that actual field maintenance would impose.

(6) Larger and earlier use of mines was called for.

(7) Radio communications from ground to air were “awful,” in General Arnold’s judgment.

(8) Communications generally were too slow.

In the main, the maneuvers were declared better than earlier maneuvers, which was to be hoped for at this late date, and there was a difference in the judgments of air and ground officers as to responsibility for the admittedly poor co-ordination of those elements. One hopeful situation was pointed out: the ammunition plants were beginning to function more fully, and during the winter a far better supply of small arms cartridges would come to hand for training the troops.

They would need them.

Things would change dramatically after Pearl Harbor, and in one month alone, just a year after the Carolina Maneuvers, 514,345 enlisted men would be added to the Army’s rolls in the single month of October 1942.

Built like a Panzer: The Arminus, err, Windicator .357 Magnum Snub Nose

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Earlier this year, we had Chase with EAA in the GDC studio as a podcast guest and got the lowdown on the company’s Windicator series of European-made wheel guns– which they have been importing for 30 years.

“I mean, they’re just tanks,” he said. “And look, I mean, there’s no denying that Germans make some great firearms. And they have a very deep history in making really, really, well-made firearms. For sure. So it’s just cool to see those out there. And people kind of, you know, they’re neglected. People sleep on them. They do. They 100 percent sleep on them.”

Produced by Hermann Weihrauch Revolver GmbH in Mellrichstadt, Germany – about 30 miles from the legendary Thuringian firearms-making and gunsmithing hub of Suhl – Weihrauch dates back to 1899. Btw, for those curious, you would pronounce the name “Vyre-owk” with a hard “ch” on the end. Really put the sauerkraut into it. Likewise, “Windicator” is likely a take on the maker’s last name blended with Vindicator, using the German more V-like pronunciation of the W.

After origins as a rifle maker, the company introduced its HW Arminius series revolvers in the 1960s, named for a Teutonic hero of the first century AD famous for slapping around the Romans at the Teutoburg Forest.

Imported and sold in the U.S. under a variety of brands (e.g., the Dickson Bulldog and Herter’s Guide Model) and by assorted firms (F.I.E., LA Distributors, etc.), the revolvers were a staple in hardware stores and gun shops coast to coast for generations.

FIE Arminus
An HW Arminius .32 in the Guns.com Vault and an FIE ad on the series from 1976. For reference, the quoted $120 price is $725 in today’s dollars. 

EAA has imported assorted double-action Weihrauch revolvers into the U.S. under the Windicator name since at least 1993, later adding Bounty Hunter–branded single-action wheel guns from the same factory.

Today, EAA sells the Windicator in both .38 Special and .357 Magnum, in 2-, 4-, and 6-inch formats, and in blue/black or nickel (not a misprint). As snubby fans, we opted to review the blue/black 2-inch .357 (770130), right off the boat from Bavaria.

EAA Windicator 357 Magnum Snub 2 inch 741566103605 770130 Eger
The EAA Windicator 2-inch .357 six-shot double-action revolver. Weihrauch catalogs this model as the HW 357 T. (Photos unless noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
EAA Windicator 357 Magnum Snub 2 inch 741566103605 770130 Eger
It is beefy for a snub, tipping the scales at nearly 29 ounces, unloaded. By comparison, similar six-shot .357s such as S&W’s $1,300 Model 19 2.5 Carry Comp weigh 33 ounces, while the $900 Colt King Cobra Carry 2-inch is billed at 26 ounces. 
EAA Windicator 357 Magnum Snub 2 inch 741566103605 770130 Eger
The snub 2-inch Windicator is a medium-frame, not a small-frame, revolver. It feels closest, in the author’s opinion, to his Fink’s Custom (at Gunsite Academy) chopped-down S&W 2-inch K-frame.

For full disclosure, EAA provided this Windicator revolver to Guns.com for review purposes. All testing was done on this one gun, which has been under evaluation since early May.

What we found:

  • It takes K-frame speedloaders.
  • It was dependable over the course of 500 mixed rounds of .38 and .357
  • It has a very stout double-action trigger that you need to take your pre-workout to run at the range.
  • It is affordable.

The only big rock we could toss at the $400~ Windicator was its very limited aftermarket support (no grips, can’t change the sights, virtually no parts). But EAA carries a lifetime warranty if something goes wrong (by comparison, Colt runs a three-year warranty).

With that in mind, if you want to upgrade your snub with different sights and accessories at some point, you may want to look toward a Colt or S&W. The closest six-shot .357 Mag snub we can find in the Windy’s price range is the Diamondback SDR,  which runs nearly $700.

If you want a basic .357 (big) pocket gun that will go bang and you don’t anticipate upgrading, the Windicator is a, well, win.

Full review over in my column at Guns.com.

Shiloh gone as Ticos, and Civil War namesakes, fade away

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The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67) was honored in her homeport of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam with a formal decommissioning ceremony yesterday, marking 34 years of continued service at sea and a revered naval legacy.

U.S. Navy Chief Interior Communications Electrician Deja Washington, assigned to the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67), left and led the crew in disembarking Shiloh for the final time at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Sept. 30, 2026. Shiloh was decommissioned after 34 years of continuous service. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Claire M. Alfaro)

Her sister, USS Lake Erie (CG 70), lowered her Navy Jack for the final time during the ship’s decommissioning ceremony held onboard Naval Base San Diego on 25 September, capping a 33-year career.

Erie deployed with Phibron8 just a few months ago, wrapping up her final cruise in style.

Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) approaches Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) for a replenishment-at-sea while underway in the Caribbean Sea, Feb. 3, 2026. U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of the U.S. Southern Command mission, Department of War-directed operations, and the president’s priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland. (U.S. Navy Photo by Seaman Andrew Eggert)

With Lake Erie and Shiloh inactivated, that leaves only five of 27 completed Ticos in the fleet: USS Princeton, Robert Smalls (ex-Chancellorsville), Gettysburg, Chosin, and Cape St. George.

All of these are scheduled to retire in the next few years.

Speaking of which, check out this sad batch of Ticonderogas awaiting disposition on “Red Lead Row,” the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) in Philadelphia, image taken on September 20th, 2026.

They include

  • USS Monterey (CG 61)
  • USS San Jacinto (CG 56)
  • USS Hue City (CG 66)
  • USS Anzio (CG 68)
  • USS Vella Gulf (CG 72)
  • USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55)
  • USS Philippine Sea (CG 58)
  • USS Normandy (CG 60)
  • USS Vicksburg (CG 69)

Even that assembly has changed for the worse, with Vicksburg being towed out of Philadelphia en route to Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping on 30 September.

These are from Warship Cam, SRC: YT- Al Stinger

Done with Civil War names?

The U.S. Navy of the late Cold War was replete with Civil War references, from battle names to the fighting men who fought there —on both sides. The Ticos alone had USS Vicksburg and Antietam, along with the aforementioned Shiloh, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Even sub-tenders were involved in the act (Dixon and Hunley). The Fig-7s took a break from 1812 and WWII heroes to name one for a Confederate officer (Capt. Duncan Ingraham, defender of Charleston Harbor).

Now, with Shiloh gone, Gettysburg and Smalls remain. The latter is named for a Civil War-era figure who went over to the North with the CSS Planter, then later served as a pilot for the Union fleet, including the ironclad USS Keokuk, during the Second Battle of Fort Sumter.

Of the great Union admirals and heroes, just two names endure, both on destroyers:

Admiral David “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” Farragut, commander of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron famous for forcing Mobile Bay, is on the fifth torpedo-carrying vessel to have his name: USS Farragut (DDG 99)

Farragut, a Goula Boy, has long had a banner across from the Jackson County Courthouse.

USS Farragut’s quarterdeck while in Mobile for Mardi Gras 2026 earlier this year, by Chris Eger

RADM David Dixon Porter, commander of the Mississippi Squadron, which handed Vicksburg to Grant, and later the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which took Fort Fisher. As with his adoptive brother. Farragut, Porter is also on his fifth torpedo-carrying vessel, USS Porter (DDG 78).

Both Admiral Farragut and Porter, brothers, were remembered on a joint postal stamp along with their closely associated flagships– including Powhatan

USS Porter (DDG 78) (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Juan Sua/Released) 200329-N-CR843-0264 

These storied names are gone from the fleet:

RADM John A. Dahlgren, the “Father of American Naval Ordnance” and later commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which met Sherman in Savannah without destroying it. He had three TBs and DD/DDGs named for him, the last decommissioned in 1992.

RADM Louis M. Goldsborough, who gave Burnside Roanoke Island, closing the coast of North Carolina. As with Dahlgren, he had a TB, a DD, and a DDG named in his honor; the last was decommissioned in 1993.

RADM Samuel Phillips Lee, Robert E. Lee’s cousin, commanded both the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the Mississippi Squadron at times; a destroyer (DD 310) and a research vessel (T-AGS-31) were named after him, with the latter leaving service in 1974.

RADM John Ancrum Winslow, who bested the commerce raider CSS Alabama off the French coast from the helm of the USS Kearsarge, later commanded the Pacific Squadron and had only two ships named after him. The last, DD-53, was paid off in 1922. Alabama’s pirate leader, Raphael Semmes, had two as well; the last was decommissioned only in 1992.

Capt. John A. Winslow (3rd from left) and officers on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge after sinking the C.S.S. Alabama, 1864

RADM John Marston, who cut his teeth on USS Constitution during the War of 1812, sailed with Perry to China, and commanded the USS Roanoke at the Battle of Hampton Roads– where he ordered the unproven USS Monitor to enter the battle against CSS Virginia— was described as “one of the most efficient officers of the United States Navy during the Civil War,” but he has never had a ship named for him.

RADM John Lorimer Worden, who commanded Monitor at Hampton Roads, then went on post-war to lead the European Squadron, became the first president of the USNI, and superintendent of Annapolis (where his Tiffany sword hangs), had four vessels named for him (DD 16, DD 288, DD 352, and CG 18), the last decommissioned in 1993.

Commodore William D. “Dirty Bill” Porter, David Porter’s (and by extension Farragut’s) brother who ably commanded the USS Essex during the war, has only ever had one ship named for him, an unlucky Fletcher-class destroyer.

As a sort of consolation prize, Admiral George Dewey (USNA 1858), before he became famous at Manila Bay against the Spanish, served as executive lieutenant on USS Mississippi, a steam paddle frigate assigned to the Union West Gulf Blockading Squadron during the Civil War. Currently a Burke, DDG-105, the third destroyer to carry his name, continues his legacy.

At least for now, anyway.

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