As you know, the Dragunov SVD sniper rifle is a semi-automatic, gas-operated designated marksman rifle, chambered in old-school Mosin 7.62×54R, and developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. While the Russians have moved on to more advanced DMRs, the classic SVD is still in widespread use in the Third World and former Warsaw Bloc.
Click to big up. 1280×273. BATFE Photo
This particular firearm was used on June 2, 2005, by insurgents who shot at U.S. Army soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division while they were on patrol in Baghdad. In a videotaped attack, you can see one soldier being hit in the chest by the enemy sniper. Seconds after impact he was able to get up and take cover behind a Humvee.
Luckily, modern SAPI plate is rated to withstand .30-06 AP, which thumps a little harder than 7.62x54R.
After making contact with the enemies who shot him, the soldier rendered medical aide and took them into custody. The Army managed to retrieve the rifle in that attack and donated it to the ATF to add to their 15,000 gun reference library, where it remains today.
Starboard bow view, July 24, 1961. (Official U.S. Navy Photograph)
USS Thresher (SSN-593), commissioned in August 1961, was the lead ship of a new class of nuclear-powered, fast-attack submarines and was the most technically advanced ship in the world.
On April 10, 1963, she sank approximately 200 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. All souls aboard were lost that day; 129 U.S. Navy Sailors and civilian workers. Thresher was the first nuclear-powered submarine lost at sea, and the largest loss of life in the submarine force’s history.
As a result of this, the Navy immediately restricted all submarines in depth until the causes of this tragic loss could be fully understood, leading to SUBSAFE.
This week, 53 years on, she is still remembered. This week the U.S. Naval Undersea Museum added to their permanent Thresher display the ceremonial dress sword of LCDR Pat Garner, Thresher‘s Executive Officer when she sank. This is the first time the sword, on special loan to the museum, has ever been exhibited.
“It’s been 53 years since we lost Thresher and out of the loss came the SUBSAFE program,” said Rear Adm. Moises DelToro, deputy commander, Undersea Warfare in a statement. “Our challenge today, 53 years after the loss of Thresher, is to maintain our vigilance, intensity and integrity in all matters involving the SUBSAFE program and to avoid ignorance, arrogance and complacency.”
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) is forward deployed to Rota, Spain to help provide a ABM shield over Europe and allow NATO members to sleep well at night. Well, as part of her gig with 6th Fleet, she ran up to the Baltic Sea and chilled in Gdynia, the primary Polish Naval base. There, offshore, she conducted flight ops with a Polish Navy SH-2G Sea Sprite..
Isn’t it cute…
These these guys showed up,
160412-N-ZZ999-008 BALTIC SEA (April 12, 2016) A Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft makes a very low altitude pass by USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) April 12, 2016. Donald Cook, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer forward deployed to Rota, Spain, is conducting a routine patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. (U.S. Navy photo/Released)
On April 11, two Russian Su-24 attack planes made numerous passes while the destroyer, on routine deployment in support of NATO operations, was conducting operations with the Poles. Out of safety concerns, the Cook‘s commander suspended air operations.
Then on April 12, a Russian Ka-27 Helix helicopter began circling Cook, making no less than seven passes that were deemed “unsafe and unprofessional” by the ship’s commanding officer. This was followed up by another pair of Su-24s who made 11 low-altitude passes.
Just Ivan dropping in below the bridge wing…Welcome to the Baltic
“The Russian aircraft flew in a simulated attack profile and failed to respond to repeated safety advisories in both English and Russian,” noted a release from U.S. European Command.
Warship Wednesday, April 13, 2016, Champagne on ice via Corbeta
Here we see the steam corbeta/canonera (corvette/gunboat) ARA Uruguay of the Armada de la República Argentina as she appeared in 1903, fresh from her Antarctic adventures. This plucky steel-hulled barque served some 34 years in the fleet and another 108-ish in various other roles (not a misprint).
In the 1870s, Argentine President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was a fan of a big Navy and wanted one bad. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of yards in the Latin American country that could cough modern steam warships up so he turned to Laird/Cammel brothers in Birkenhead outside of Liverpool and quickly ordered what became known as “Sarmiento’s Squadron” of four mortar ships (Constitution, Bermejo, Pilcomayo, Republic), two Ericcson-type monitors (Los Andes and El Plata) and two gunboats with a draft shallow enough to go upriver (Parana and Uruguay). It is the final ship mentioned that is our subject.
Mounting a quartet of 7-inch breech-loading guns mounted on then-novel iron Vavasseur pivot mountings, one forward, one aft of it, one on each side towards the bow; the 152-foot long Uruguay was well-armed for her size.
A 31mm iron hull sheathed in teak and then in zinc plates, she had three watertight bulkheads. Her 82-foot mainmast helped keep 15 sails aloft totaling 612 m2, capable of up to 11 knots in a stiff wind and calm sea. For when the wind did not blow, Uruguay had two boilers and a horizontal reciprocating engine that generated 475 hp that could push her folding prop hard enough to creep about at 6 knots. She carried 97 tons of coal, enough to carry her 1,500 miles on steam alone.
Completed in 1874, Uruguay sailed from Liverpool to Argentina and was promptly involved in “el Motín de los Gabanes” — the “Mutiny of the Overcoats” involving students from the new Naval Academy. Then came an expedition to help crush the rebel Lopez Jordan the next year. She sailed up the Uruguay River, taking the 1st Infantry Regiment with her to aid in this task.
In her all-white livery that she boasted as a gunboat
In 1880 she swapped out her legacy cannon for a single QF 150mm Armstrong-Elwich mount and two 90mm guns of the same make.
Uruguay later sailed to establish Argentina’s sovereignty over Patagonia, helped escort a scientific mission to observe Venus from the Southernmost shores of the nation, and rescued the crews of the lost French barque Esperance de Bordeaux and the whaler Batista.
Off Patagonia
After serving as a quarantine ship in Los Pozos, she sailed for England in 1884 for a two-year overall which led to several port calls in Europe and South America on the return voyage to show off the spick and span gunboat.
After a spell as a station ship at Montevideo, where the ambassador often used her as a floating embassy, she performed more rescues (the British ship Caisson, three unnamed whalers off Puerto Deseado, and picking up castaways at Bahia Blanca) while conducting off and on patrols of the Uruguay, Parana and de la Plata rivers.
By 1893, Uruguay updated her armament again for a pair of 120mm Armstrongs and in 1900 picked up four new 76mm popguns as tensions with Chile were escalating.
At roughly the same time, the Organizing Committee of the International Antarctic Expedition approved no less than four different groups to head very far south.
-Robert Scott’s Discovery. This expedition included a young Ernest Shackleton.
-Erich Dagobert von Drygalski’s Gauss, which discovered Kaiser Wilhelm II Land for Germany
-William Bruce’s Scottish expedition aboard the Scotia (go figure)
-Otto Nordenskjöld’s Swedish group on the Antartic, which included at least one Norwegian, her skipper
Gilbert Kerr, a member of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition carried on the Scotia, serenading an Emperor penguin, 1904
With this in mind, the Argentinians kinda figured the South Pole-bound explorers from may run into some problems, and Uruguay was strengthened (8 bulkheads) at Arsenal de Marina de Dársena Norte, most of her armament was landed, her rig lowered and she was provisioned for a year’s journey with a crew of just 27 men (down from 104).
Her aged steam plant was replaced with two locomotive boilers and an 1850 shp triple-expansion steam engine from the wrecked Yarrow-built torpedo boat destroyer Santa Fe (doubling her speed) while her magazine was filled with high explosives to be used to help blast through the polar ice if needed.
Based on the RN’s Havoc-class TBDs, Yarrow built four sleek greyhounds for Argentina in 1896: “Corrientes” “Misiones” “Entre Ríos” and “Santa Fe”. The last of which was wrecked on a sandbar in 1897– but half of her machinery went on to power Uruguay for another two decades
The new ice-strengthened rescue ship, under Captain Julian Irizar Camara, with the unlikely joint assistance of Lt. Alberto Boonen Chamaler of the Chilean Navy, was ready to help support the expeditions and soon sailed to look for the lost Swedish group.
Argentina corvette Uruguay, to the command of Lieutenant Julián Irizar, sets sail for Antarctica to rescue the Swedish expedition of Dr. Nordenskjöld
1903 rescue mission officers
Captain Julian Irizar Camara of the Corvette Uruguay,1903. Historical Archive Dehn. Colorized by Postales Navales
Stranded on Paulet Island and Snow Hill Island, which is closer to South America than any other part of the Antarctic continent, after their ship was crushed in the ice, Uruguay located and brought back all the surviving members of the Nordenskjold party in October 1903.
Rescuing the Swedish expedition
The return trip was not easy for the corvette, having to dodge icebergs and some storms, but a huge crowd welcomed her when she returned to Argentina on Dec. 23 with the feared lost explorers.
She would soon return to the frozen continent, supporting Jean-Baptiste August Étienne Charcot’s French Antarctic Expedition in 1904.
‘Champagne on Ice’ The story of a famous but forgotten 1904 photograph, the third French mission to Antarctica, as supported by ARA Uruguay
From there, she was transferred to perform research and survey tasks (with the Hidrografía Naval), continuing to be listed as a warship for the next few years, though was disarmed.
She had an amazing 40 skippers in a non-stop string from Lt Col. Marina Erasmo Obligado on 08 Aug 1874 to Capt. Jorge Yalour who left her deck on 2 Dec 1908.
However, the Armada was not done with Uruguay, using her with the occasional civvy crew to make regular trips each year to relieve and resupply the Argentine-manned Orcadas polar research station in the South Orkneys while continuing her work in coastal survey, updating nautical charts. Orcadas importantly was the first permanently inhabited base in the Antarctic and remains staffed today.
She also visited South Georgia Island (now very much a part of the British Falkland Islands territory) repeatedly during this time, to resupply the Argentine government’s meteorological station located at Norwegian sea captain Carl Anton Larsen’s Grytviken whaling station used by his Compañía Argentina de Pesca (Argentine Fishing Company). *More on this later.
Larsen, in another link to Uruguay, was the Norwegian alluded to on Nordenskjöld’s doomed 1903 expedition.
After a quarter-century poking around the ice, on 11 June 1926, Uruguay was decommissioned then stricken that November, though she remained tied up at the shipyard at Rio Santiago for another two decades as an ammunition barge until at least 1945.
As for her sistership ARA Parana, that craft remained in service as a warship like Uruguay until 1900, then was disarmed, renamed Piedrabuena, and used as a naval transport until as late as 1926.
Uruguay durante una visita a la ciudad de La Paz, ER
Saved from the breakers, her hulk was patched back together and in 1955 was officially restored to the Naval List by Presidential decree, designated as a museum ship after lengthy restoration in 1964.
In June 1967, she was declared a National Historic Landmark and in 1972 was transferred to the port area of Buenos Aires, where she remains today moored near the frigate ARA Presidente Sarmiento at the Museum of Sea and Navigation.
When the Argentine Association of Classic Sailboats (Asociación Argentina de Veleros Clásicos) was founded in 1984, she was issued the designation of Hull #01 by the group and serves as the association’s figurative flagship, being the starting point for the annual Buenos Aires to Río de Janeiro sail race.
They even have the ship’s mascot preserved
Here is a good short walk-through video of how she appeared in 2011
She is also remembered in a series of stamps issued over the years by the Argentine government.
*As an interesting side note, the anchorage at the South Georgia whaling station frequented by Uruguay took a weird twist in March 1982 when a handful of Argentine commandos dressed as civilians, brought from the Corbeta Uruguay base on windswept Thule Island (yes, named after our ship when established by the Argies in 1976) were landed at nearby Leith Harbor there in a precursor to the Falkland Islands War which would kick off just a week later.
Leith Harbor, March 25, 1982, Lieutenant Commander Alfredo Astiz at the head of the Buzos Tácticos Marine commandos photographed by Serge Briez. Astiz was known as El Ángel Rubio de la Muerte (The Blond Angel of Death) and the group infiltrated the island dressed as civilians, then switched to uniforms and rose the Argentine flag. Within a week, the Falkland Islands War was on.
As an ultimate result of that war, the Argentinians ended their occupation of Thule, which is claimed by the Brits, though Corbeta Uruguay base is still listed on the maps.
Speaking of forgotten islands in the Antarctic, monuments to ARA Uruguay endure on Snow Island (where she saved Nordenskjöld) and others, celebrating her work in the frozen south.
Specs:
Drawing Diego Carre CORBETA URUGUAY
Displacement: 550 metric tons (540 long tons) as built. 750 after 1903
Length: 152.1 ft.
Beam: 25.0 ft.
Draft: 11 ft.
Propulsion: Steam, 1-shaft, 3-cylinder compound engine, 475 ihp, 2 cylindrical boilers, replaced 1900-01
Sail plan: Barque
Speed:
Cruising: 6 kn
Maximum: 11 kn
Range: 1,500 nmi
Armament:
Original: four Vavasseur mounted 7-inch guns (bow, stern, port, and starboard)
1880: two 90 mm and one 150 mm Armstrong guns
1893: two 120 mm
1900: two 120mm, four 76mm (120mm’s removed in 1903)
1908: Disarmed
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Of course, they weren’t too far off from the real thing:
And we are really in no position today (get the pun) to cast shade on the old Creedmoor shooters compared to what we practice in 3-Gun and practical/tactical shooting today.
I’ve talked a lot about the Navy’s Sea Hunter program and others, but how about this news ICYMI from the Pitcairn Islands– you know, that windswept group of four volcanic atolls in the Pacific inhabited mostly by descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians who accompanied them. Sparsely populated, the British Territory sees the occasional USCG/USN or RN ship pass through the area, but there is no enduring presence.
It seems they have hit on the idea of protecting their huge EEZ (322,000 sq. mile, or about the size of Texas and Montana combined!) by unmanned submersible operated by Satellite Applications Catapult and the Pew Charitable Trusts at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Harwell, Oxfordshire.
Apparently the preserve is home to at least 1,249 species of marine mammals, seabirds and fish, as well as some of the most near-pristine ocean habitat on Earth, and the 54 inhabitants of the Pitcairnians– who depend on the sea for survival– can’t stop trans-global poachers all by themselves.
The drone, made by US firm Liquid Robotics, will be directed by staff at the satellite watch room which is monitoring fishing vessels. The craft is equipped with a camera that can take snaps of fishing vessels that are in restricted areas, and satellite technology that can pinpoint their location. The unmanned craft starting patrolling late last month.
The Liquid Robotics drone, called a Wave Glider, is a two-part craft made up of an instrument-bearing boat that floats on the ocean surface that is tethered to a submersible. The craft uses the differential motion between the sea surface and the region the submersible traverses to propel itself.
The self-propelling propulsion system means the Wave Glider can stay at sea for months at a time.
In keeping with the post on shooting positions from the 1870s, here we have a super tricked out Winchester Model 1885 in .32-40 enhanced by noted Denver gunsmith George Schoyen. This falling-block also features a nice Winchester A5 telescopic sight, as well as a “tuning fork” front hand rest and double-set triggers. This John Browning design was originally offered from 1885 to 1913 and this rifle is undoubtedly from the Schuetzen type matches popular around the turn of the century.
Do you want more?
Ok, how about these:
Remington rolling block target rifle, in the National Firearms Museum
As NRA members competed at Creedmoor Range in the 1870s, one of the guns they used was the Remington rolling block rifle. Issued to NY National Guard regiments, the Remington was a reliable service as well as target gun, and this Creedmoor .45 example boasts a custom adjustable wrist feature.
Remington No. 3 Hepburn in .32-40 with Stevens scope, in the National Firearms Museum
From its introduction in 1880, the No. 3 Remington-Hepburn rifle was offered in a variety of sporting and target calibers, from .22 to .50. The above example, mounted with a Stevens telescopic sight, is chambered in .32-40. While perhaps 12,000 rifles were made, the unique falling block that opened with its side lever earned an excellent reputation with American hunters and target shooters. Designed by Remington’s superintendent of its mechanical department, the single-shot Remington-Hepburn design has a great “target gun” look to it. No surprise, as Lewis L. Hepburn was also a member of the Creedmoor International Shooting Team.
No. 2 Wesson Mid-Range in NFM
No. 2 Wesson Mid-Range rifle was likely quite a contender in the days of Creedmoor competitive shooting. Fitted with a vernier tang sight, this .44 caliber sidehammer rifle was manufactured circa 1879 by Frank Wesson.
Photo via NFM
Ballard A-1 Mid Range Rifle in .40/63, go ahead and see if you can find that round on the local big box shelf
Moving into the 1900s, here we see the (gently) modified Krag of Massachusetts militia rifleman John Caswell, whose competition K/J bears a target Stevens-Pope barrel. Caswell, also a renowned hunter, served as a major in the Ordnance Corps in WWI. The Caswell Trophy, still in competition at the National Matches each year, is a smallbore shooting award that was given by Colonel John Caswell in 1923.
An Instagram user posted images of a gently used Chinese-made Type 56 AK complete with custom furniture that has taken a licking but reportedly kept on ticking.
“The CEO of Underground Tactical sent me this pic of an AK47 he pulled off some poachers in Africa. It still worked. Impressive,” noted user Jon Wayne Taylor ( @jonwaynetaylor ) when he posted it to his feed last week.
If you notice, the pistol grip, buttstock and forearm are all replaced with random hunks of lumber that look to be salvaged from an old desk held on with baling wire and, yes, even string. Also, how about that dust cover (or lack there of), and the finish. It’s obvious that this is a nice thick milled receiver rather than a thin stamped one.
It’s nothing unusual for the AK to continue to shoot without parts, as witnessed in this video from Robski and Dima of the AK Operators Union, Local 47-74 below.
“This is an inflection point,” Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Work said in an interview, adding he hoped such ships might find a place in the Western Pacific in as few as five years. “This is the first time we’ve ever had a totally robotic, trans-oceanic-capable ship.”
Sea Hunter will now move to San Diego for a two year pilot program to R&D just what the platform can do and what sensor package works best.
The ship’s projected $20 million all-up price tag and its $15,000 to $20,000 daily operating cost make it relatively inexpensive to operate. For comparison, a single Littoral Combat Ship runs $432 million (at least LCS-6 did) to build and run about $220K a day to operate– but of course that is a moving target.
Still, its easy to see where a flotilla of Sea Hunters could provide a lot of ASW coverage on the cheap and even if mines or torpedoes take half of them out, it’s a hit to the treasury and not incoming C-17s to Dover with waiting honor guards.
And with that in mind, check out this super sweet walk-through/construction video to see just how simple this craft is.
