Hitchiti’s final mission

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Aerial broadside view of the USS Hitchiti (ATF-103) underway off the coast of Hawaii, 12 January 1970, by Chief Photographer’s Mate T.J. Taylor, National Archives K-81123

Named for a North Florida/South Georgia Creek tribe, the 205-foot Abnaki (Apache)-class fleet tug USS Hitchiti (ATF-103) was built at the Charleston Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. over nine months from August 1943 to May 1944.

Her first of 21 U.S. Navy skippers was LT Harry Alonzo Guthrie, a regular who had volunteered in 1927 and worked his way up through the ranks.

After shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay area, Hitchiti sailed for the Pacific, reaching Pearl Harbor with four tows (AFDL-32, YO-94, YO-95, and YTB-376) on 26 August 1944. She then took part in the Leyte Gulf landings, followed by towing and rescue operations during the hard-fought Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns as the Pacific war drew near to the Japanese home islands in the spring of 1945, earning two battle stars (Luzon operation and Okinawa Gunto operation).

Among other notable missions was shepherding the bomb-damaged USS Blessman (DE-69/APD-48) from Iwo Jima, which had been hit by a Japanese Betty while carrying the men of UDT-15, to safety in Saipan. Hitchiti also escorted USS Hazelwood from Okinawa to Ulithi after a kamikaze had stripped most of her superstructure.

Following occupation service, our tug was sent to the West Coast to be laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Francisco Group, in 1948.

Reactivated for Korea, she earned three battle stars there (Communist China Spring Offensive 1951, UN Summer Fall Offensive 1951, and Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952).

Her third war earned her the Vietnam Service Medal with three campaign stars between August 1964 and August 1967. Hitchiti notably pulled LCU–1494 from a beach near Danang and salvaged a Marine Corps LVT at Phu Thuin in December 1965, picked up the mined Coconino County (LST 603) inside the mouth of the Cua Viet River and delivered her to Danang, and towed Summit County (LST 1146) off the beach after patching her and pumping out the engine room.

Besides the above, she had seven back-to-back Westpac cruises which saw her clocking in for roles as diverse as helping with U.S. nuclear testing at Johnston Island in 1958 (Hardtack I) and 1962 (Fishbowl) and conducting a two-month birdlife study on South Pacific islands for the Smithsonian Institute– the latter cataloged in Folders 7-8 SIC 7 and assorted field books in Record Unit 245 National Museum of Natural History, Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program. She also rescued the USS Diodon (SS 349) after the submarine suffered a fire and lost propulsion, and towed the sub to Yokosuka.

Decommissioned a second time, she was transferred to Mexico by cash sale under the Security Assistance Program in September 1979, renamed ARM Chac (R-55), and served the Armada for another 42 years, though with far fewer wars, retiring in June 2021 as ARM Cora (ARE 04).

The mighty Hitchiti/Chac/Cora completed her last mission earlier this month, sinking off Manzanillo as part of the Sistema Arrecifal Artificial de Colima program so her stripped, cleaned hulk can help develop a sanctuary for local marine flora and fauna.

The steel that served for over 70 years under two flags is now an “opportunity to boost biodiversity, strengthen sustainable tourism, and preserve naval history and culture.”

Notably, her first skipper, LT Guthrie, retired in 1955 as an LCDR, ending a 28-year naval career. He went on to work for the Post Office in Santa Cruz, California, and died in 1988 at age 79.

Overachiever Gets her Ticket

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Ground crews prepare to launch F-117 Stealth Fighters from Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. at the direction of the Secretary of Defense, William Perry, in response to an Iraqi missile attack against two F-16s flying over the northern no-fly zone. The 49th Fighter Wing F-117 Nighthawks were headed to Kuwait. By MSGT. Val Gempis. Published in Airman Magazine, November 1996. Exact Date Shot Unknown. 330-CFD-DF-ST-98-06090

Lockheed built a grand total of 64 F-117 Nighthawk airframes (5 YF-117A Scorpions, 59 operational F-117As) in the 1980s.

Not a lot.

Of those, one, 82-0806 (Something Wicked), was famously shot down over Belgrade in 1999, with her remains housed in assorted Serbian museums, while another six were lost to accidents between 1982 and 2008, when the type was retired.

Since then, the Air Force has demilitarized four YF models and 12 F models for use as base gate guards or loaned to museums (seven of them on federally operated reservations), leaving an estimated 40 F-117 airframes in inventory, stored and maintained in Type 1000 recallable storage or used at the Tonopah Test Range Airport in Nevada as “red air” adversary aggressors to train U.S. pilots against stealth targets, and for use as testbeds for radar and sensor development as stand-ins for stealthy cruise missiles. Lockheed is supporting this aging fleet of ‘Hawks through 2034.

Since 2021, the USAF has disposed of about four stored F-117 airframes per year.

The latest to get her retirement papers is 85-0818 (The Overachiever), which lived up to her moniker as she flew in all four major conflicts in which Nighthawks flew combat operations: Operation Just Cause (Panama, 1989), Desert Storm (1991, Gulf War), Allied Force (1999, Yugoslavia), and Iraqi Freedom (2003).

During her 1991 participation in Desert Storm, Overachiever flew 1,271 sorties alone, achieving an 80 percent mission success rate while suffering no battle damage.

Catching a ride earlier this month in an equally rare C-5M Super Galaxy (52 in existence) from the Air Force Reserve’s 512th Airlift Wing, Overachiever will be displayed at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, which logs more than a million visitors each year.

Airmen assigned to the Air Force Reserve’s 512th Airlift Wing pose with personnel from Lockheed Martin, Air & Space Forces Magazine, and the Smithsonian Institution for a photo in front of a wingless F-117A Nighthawk before loading it into a C-5M Super Galaxy in Palmdale, Calif., Oct. 5, 2026. The demilitarization process that qualifies an aircraft for museum display requires close cooperation between the War Department and its industry partner. Credit: Air Force Staff Sgt. Alexis Morris VIRIN: 261005-F-LI355-9871

And via Lockheed, reassembled and display-ready:

Over the Moon

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About 100 years ago this week, the Officers of Marine Aviation at Brown Field, Quantico, Virginia, sent an invitation to participate in a “Hop” Over the Moon in what appear to be Boeing O-2s. The costumed dance was scheduled for 22 October 1926.

From the Alfred A. Cunningham Collection (COLL/3034) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division

In 1926, Marine Corps Aviation operated a modest fleet of roughly 100 aircraft. During this interwar transition period—shortly before active interventions like the Nicaraguan Campaign—the Marine Corps phased out surplus World War I-era biplanes and attempted to modernize its inventory.

Marine Corps Boeing O2B-1, 1920s

Primary Aircraft Types in Service (1926)

  1. Observation & Light Bombardment
  • De Havilland DH-4B / O2B-1 (Boeing/Curtiss):
    • The workhorse of Marine Aviation during the 1920s. Originally a WWI-era biplane, many were modernized around 1925–1926 (redesignated as the O2B-1), with steel-tube fuselages replacing older wood frames. They were used extensively for observation, mail delivery, recon, and light bombing.
  1. Fighters & Pursuit Biplanes
  • Curtiss F6C Hawk Series (F6C-1 / F6C-2):
    • Marine Fighting Squadrons (such as VF-1M and VF-2M) operated early variants of the Curtiss Hawk fighter.

      Three Curtiss F6C-4 Hawks are seen flying over Quantico in 1931. From the Frederick H. Smith Collection (COLL/3072) at the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections

  • Boeing FB Series (FB-1 / FB-3):
    • Boeing produced early carrier/land-based naval fighters that served Marine fighting squadrons in small numbers.
  1. Training & Utility Aircraft
  • Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” / N9:
    • Primary trainers used for primary flight instruction at bases like Quantico and San Diego.
  • Consolidated NY-1:
    • Introduced in 1926 to replace aging WWI-era primary trainers.
  1. Transports & Flying Boats
  • Fokker / Ford Stout Transports:
    • Late 1926 marked the beginning of multi-engine transport evaluations (leading to the adoption of Fokker trimotors like the TA-1).
  • Curtiss HS-2L / Macchi Flying Boats:
    • Operated in limited numbers for coastal patrol and amphibian duties.
  • Loening OL-6 amphibians: Six Loening OL-6 amphibians from VO-10M deployed with a U.S. Marine force sent to Shanghai and Tientsin (Tianjin), China, in 1927, operating from Hsin Ho Airfield.

    “Loening OL-6 #7329 in front of hangar, Sumary, Guam, 1929.” From the Clayton Smith Collection (COLL/1224) at the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections

Authorized Strength: Throughout the mid-1920s, Marine Corps Aviation’s authorized officer strength was capped at around 100 officers, with roughly 800–900 enlisted personnel.

The 1926 Five-Year Naval Aviation Plan: Enacted by Congress in July 1926, this act set a target to “expand total Navy/Marine Corps aviation strength to 1,000 modern operational aircraft over five years,” kicking off a major modernization wave in 1927.

However, the Marines would only end up with 204 operational aircraft by Pearl Harbor.

By VJ Day, the service had more than 10,000 aircraft of all types in 153 authorized squadrons in 30 Marine Air Groups (MAGs) and five Marine Air Wings (MAWs), with four out of five of the latter in the Pacific and one on the East Coast.

USCG Aviation At 100 (Depending how you count it)

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While the Wright Brothers had huge, often-unsung help for their first powered flight in December 1903 from the nearby U.S. Life-Saving Station at Kill Devil Hills, it took time for the service’s descendant, the U.S. Coast Guard, to get full-time airpower of its own.

Just as the Wright Bros.’ flying machine lifted off, one of the witnesses pressed a rubber bulb attached to a box camera, capturing for posterity the miracle that occurred near Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903.  The man who took this photograph, probably the most famous aviation photograph in history, was Surfman John T. Daniels of the U.S. Life-Saving Service.

Some 100 years ago this month, the Coast Guard purchased three Loening OL-5 amphibians in October 1926, soon after Congress appropriated $152,000 to establish a permanent aviation detachment for the Coast Guard during that trying time of Prohibition and the service’s involvement in the offshore “Rum War.”

These three amphibians, USCG Nos. 1, 2, and 3, along with two Chance-Vought UO-4s (Nos. 4 and 5), were the Coast Guard’s first wholly-owned aircraft, and their purchase marks the true “beginning” of Coast Guard aviation. They operated these types from Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Ten Pound Island and Cape May, the latter the first permanent CGAS establishment Congress authorized.

Loening OL-5, “The first airplane constructed for the U.S. Coast Guard Air Service. Loening amphibian model OL-5 No. 1, delivered Oct. 1926 – autographed at the bottom of original photograph reads: ‘To Secretary Mellon with best regards, Mr. Grover Loening.”  October, 1926; Photo Number 10-30-26 (n)., along with “Machine gun and rung mount ready for action – showing magazine and shell catcher in place.  Gloucester, Mass.”; 8 March 1929; Photo Number 3-8-29 (14).

USCG Loening OL-5 No. 1, waterborne take-off

Before then, the Coast Guard had borrowed surplus Navy aircraft: four Curtiss HS-2L flying boats and two Aeromarine 40Fs operated from Morehead City, North Carolina, circa 1920-21, and a single UO-1 from Ten Pound Island from 1925-26.

Yes, USCG Aviator No. 1, 3d Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone, had been minted at Pensacola as Naval Aviator No. 38 in 1916, operated an all-USCG aviation detachment from the armored cruiser USS Huntington during the War,  and had flown one of the four Navy NC-4 Curtiss seaplanes across the Atlantic in 1919, but he and the service’s six other Great War-era aviators and assorted aircrews were assigned to Naval air stations in this country and abroad, flying Navy planes. For instance, CG Aviator No. 2, 1LT Charles E. Sugden, commanded the Naval Air Station at Ille Tudy, France, and earned the French Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Another, 2LT Philip B. Eaton (CG Aviator No. 6) commanded Chatham Naval Air Station and piloted one of two R-9 seaplanes that attempted to bomb and machine-gun SM U-156, a surfaced U-boat off Nauset Beach in July 1918.

The service continued to fly its OL-5s as late as the mid-1930s, by which time other, more modern types had replaced them.

Just 15 short years later, by 1941, the service had over 90 minted aviators, a mixture of 51 aircraft on hand of six types (Curtiss SOC-4, Douglas RD4, Fairchild J2K, Grumman JF-2, and PH-2/3 Hall flying boats) along with dozens of new (and armed) Catalina PBY-5s, OS2U Kingfishers, and Grumman JRF2/3/5Gs inbound, and nine established CG Air Stations (Port Angeles, Washington; San Francisco, California; San Diego, California; Biloxi, Mississippi; St. Petersburg, Florida; Miami, Florida; Elizabeth City, North Carolina; Brooklyn, New York; and Salem, Massachusetts) around the country.

Still, you have to give it up to the humble OL-5, the USCG’s first dedicated air asset

Early Flight by Dante Bertoni, CGAP. An OL-5 amphibian airplane flies over St. Joseph North Pier Lights at Lake Michigan, 1926-1935.

The ACU, err, UCP, throwback

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The U.S. Army used the pixelated Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), often incorrectly called ACU camo (which is the uniform style), from 2004 to September 30, 2019, making it a staple of the GWOT era. The Multicam-ish Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) replaced it because UCP performed poorly in desert and mountain environments like Afghanistan, and because the “pivot toward the Pacific” was formally announced in 2011.

The gear itself wasn’t bad; it was just in a subpar camo pattern.

Since then, UCP surplus gear has flooded the market, and you can get amazing deals from folks like Venture Surplus and Centerfire Systems, which has the whole kit for $75 right now.

The above includes:

  • Tactical Fighting Load Carrier Vest with Zip front, padded waist belt, mesh main body (NSN: 8465-01-525-0577)
  • Load-bearing Waist Pack with zip front pouch (NSN: 8465-01-524-7263)
  • 3-Day Assault Pack (NSN: 8465-01-524-5250)
  • Shovel Carrier (NSN: 8465-01-524-8407)
  • (4) Grenade Pouches (NSN: 8465-01-525-0589)
  • (2) Canteen Cover/General Purpose Pouches (NSN: 8465-01-525-0585)
  • (2) M4 Three Mag Pouches, Shingle Type (NSN: 8465-01-525-0598)
  • (2) Molle II Bandolier Ammunition Pouches (NSN: 8465-01-524-7309)
  • (3) M4 Double Mag Pouches (NSN: 8465-01-525-0606)
  • Pieces: 17
  • Material: CORDURA Nylon
  • Assault Pack Dimensions: 19″ x 15″ x 8″
  • Assault Pack Weight: 3.5 lbs.
  • Assault Pack Capacity: 2,280 cu. in. (37.36 L)

If nothing else, this stuff may be seriously collectible in another 20 years, as M81 has suddenly. You can always get two sets, one to use for whatever purposes (it actually looks pretty good when dyed green or tan with some Rit) and the other to mothball.

Just saying.

America’s first true attack boat at 75 (and she is still around)

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Some 75 years ago this week, the first American submarine designed (not modified) for underwater performance rather than surfaced attacks under the GUPPY program entered service.

USS Tang (SS-563) was commissioned at Portsmouth Naval Yard on 25 October 1951.

USS Tang (SS-563), underway, circa post-1950s in an official Navy photo.

The 1,600 ton (2,100 submerged) 269-foot boat was smaller than the Navy’s WWII-era fleet boats but were quieter, much faster underwater (18.3 knots vs 9 knots) and could dive nearly twice as deep (700 feet vs 400), all courtesy of the cues derived from the advanced later war high-speed German Type XXI U-boats, of which two, U-2513 and U-3008, were studied directly by the Navy as prizes for a decade.

Just look at Tang’s original profile, which resembles most of today’s better SSKs.

Now compare that to a German Type 212A SSK of today:

German U-35 leaving eckenförde for Operation Irini in the Mediterranean Sea (Type 212A)

After an impressive 28 years of service, including earning four battle stars during Vietnam, Tang was decommissioned in December 1980 and transferred to Turkey.

After another 24 years under the White Crescent flag as TCG Piri Reis (S 342), she was decommissioned a second time in 2004 and preserved as a museum ship.

Ex-TCG Piri Reis (S 342), formerly USS Tang (SS 563), alongside the ex-TCG Ege (F 256), formerly USS Ainsworth (FF 1090), at the İnciraltı Sea Museum in İzmir, Turkey, where they have been on display together for 20 years.

Echoes of Fleet Week by the Golden Gate

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Today’s San Francisco is a far cry from the city it was during WWII, but it can still turn out for the Navy at Fleet Week.

U.S. Navy photo

U.S. Navy photo

Check out this view of the Parade of Ships under the Golden Gate, past Alcatraz, possibly including the last passing of a cruiser and an LSD.

You will see USS Ashland (LSD-48), USS Cape St. George (CG-71), and USCGC Munro (WMSL-755). You will also see USCGC Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132) and the former USS Potomac (AG-25)/USCGC Electra (WPC-187).

Making it rain during Market Time

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Some 60 years ago today, just some Market Time surface action.

The Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS Mansfield (DD-728) fires her 5″/38 guns at waterborne craft off North Vietnam, north of the DMZ, 25 October 66.

Photographed by PH1 V.O. McColley, November 25, 1966. USN photo 428-GX-K-35025.

From the report of her 1966 Vietnam Westpac cruise.

She would revisit Vietnam for two additional tours, chalking up an amazing 1,727 NGFS missions according to CONGA, while taking a hit by a North Vietnamese shore battery off Tiger Island, north of the DMZ, in 1967, suffering 20 casualties.

USS Mansfield (DD-728) Underway at sea, circa 1960-1963, after her FRAM II modernization. Taken by USS Ranger (CVA-61), this photograph was received in July 1963. NH 107137

Decommissioned 4 February 1971 after a 28-year career, she was sold to  Argentina in 1974 to keep that country’s surplus Navy tin cans in service for another decade.

Mansfield earned five battle stars for World War II service, three for Korean service, and three for Vietnam, and served as an alternate NASA recovery ship for Gemini XI.

Saarim? Sarem? Sarim? A Mauser Sniper by any other name…

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How about this Yemeni “Saarim” (also seen as “Sarem”) copy of the 98 Mauser sniper rifle making the rounds in the (attributed) hands of a Houthi rebel, with a very Insurgency Sandstorm/Far Cry 6 vibe.

Note the box magazine, pistol grip, garage-made suppressor (which, if nothing else, serves as a flash hider to help with counter-sniper fire), super-high mount (possibly to help overcome the 8mm Mauser’s rainbow ballistics), and relatively low-power optic.

For those curious, Sarim / Sarem (صارم) means: brave, resolute, sharp, or a sharp sword, all fitting names for a would-be sniper rifle.

As far as I can tell, the type first showed up in a 2017 Hoplite piece by Yuri Lyamin (Craft-produced anti-materiel rifles and light cannon in Yemen).

At the time, they appeared to be 8mm 98Ks or Yugoslavian M48s, fitted with 6x24mm POSP optical sights and a wildly optimistic 1,600-meter range.

The typical drop of an 8mm Mauser (7.92x57mm) at 1,600 meters is something like 1,360.86 inches (or 113.4 feet / 34.56 meters), assuming a standard European-spec 198-grain (12.8g) bullet. That’s one hell of a holdover. Even at 500 yards, you are looking at a 50-60 inch drop and falling below 1,000 ft./lbs of energy– the latter the minimum benchmark for medium game like deer and sheep.

Still, “Despite their age, these rifles may continue to pose a threat in experienced hands, particularly when fitted with an optic,” noted Lyamin.

Plus, the country has serious generational experience with the rifle.

Yemen has been awash in Mausers for something like 140 years.

A Yemeni man with a modded Mauser Oberndorf M1887 Ottoman Turkish long rifle in Sanaa, via Al Jazeera.

As noted by Rob Krott back in a 2006 Small Arms Review piece after traveling the country extensively:

Mausers and Mauser variations are among the most common weapons in Yemen. Some are in the hands of youths whose parents have acquired more modern weapons. As the owner’s first token of manhood they are often prized possessions. The Mausers in Yemen today are nearly all Ottoman Empire in origin and represent the continuous re-equipment of the Ottoman forces throughout their occupation of Yemen, though there is also a large number of World War II era German 98K Mausers fielded in Yemen. It’s possible these 98Ks were from captured stocks provided by the Soviets as aid in the 1960s. While visiting a Bedouin encampment in the Hawdramawt, I fired probably a half-dozen Mauser 98Ks over the course of three days in impromptu shooting competitions. All were well maintained and serviceable.

While, sure, the Sarim is kinda hokey-looking, if it is zeroed and holds point of aim/impact, and the user understands its dope, I wouldn’t want to be downrange of it under any circumstances.

A Decent Looking CSG by any measure

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How about this great PHOTEX featuring the 30,000-ton F-35-equipped Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour (CVH 550), her companion strike group, and the multinational squadron of Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2), sailing together during Exercise Mare Aperto (Italian for “Open Sea”) ’26 in the Western Mediterranean.

The Freedom-class littoral combat ship off Cavour’s port side is actually TCG Burgazada (F-513), a Turkish Navy Ada-class ASW corvette that’s almost a dead ringer for the LCS, but with some decent sub-busting gear.

Note the collection includes 13 escorts and three replenishment ships. At least six are FREMM-class frigates (Italian Bergamini class, French Aquitaine class), with their very distinctive tall silhouettes visible.

Cavour is carrying a mixed air wing of 11 AV-8B and F-35Bs, an AB212, and two SH-90s.

The exercise runs until 24 October in the waters around Sardinia, with the Cavour group at its core.

For those curious, SNMG2 is under the command of Greek Commodore Georgios Kypriotis on his flagship, the Elli (Kortenaer) class HS Kountouriotis (F462), with the Spanish Bazan-class frigate ESPS Blas de Lezo (F103), Italian FREMM (Bergamini)-class ITS Federico Martinengo (F596), Turkish corvette TCG Burgazada (F513), and Spanish AOE ESPS Patiño (A14).

Carrier Group escorts include the frigates ITS Virginio Fasan (F 591), along with the Spanish Bazan-class SPS Cristóbal Colón (F 105), and Santa Maria (FFG 7) class SPS Navarra (F 85).

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