Oh yeah, just in case you missed it, the scion of the Cold War G-I-UK Gap, the 2nd Fleet, is back after being shelved back in 2011.
In a nutshell, the 1-minute punch-up:
The 40~minute ceremony naming VADM. Andrew “Woody” Lewis as the 2nd Fleet boss during a ceremony aboard the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), 24 August, at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia:
Here we see a breathtaking image of a U.S. Navy McDonnell F-4N Phantom II (BuNo 150415) of Fighter Squadron VF-84 “Jolly Rogers” in flight over Sicily’s Mt. Etna, sometime in 1975.
U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.253.7269.024
VF-84 was long-assigned to Carrier Air Wing 6 (CVW-6) aboard the Midway-class aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB/CVA/CV-42) and the above was taken during a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from 3 January to 16 July 1975.
All of the above is a memory as the carrier “Swanky Franky” decommissioned 30 September 1977 and was scrapped and the Navy soon phased out Phantoms just after that (although one preserved in Pensacola flew from FDR’s sistership). As for VF-84, they went on to switch to F-14s (which they used in the epic sci-fi mashup The Final Countdown to scratch a pair of Japanese zeroes) before they disbanded 1 October 1995.
Mount Etna, of course, is still around and is just as active as ever.
Stumbled across this mash-up.
Pipe rifle? Han Solo send-up? 9/10 would buy if sub-$500 either way.
The backstory on it is that it was found by Slovakian police and is about as homemade as it gets. Still, I kinda dig it in an apocalyptic armorer type of way.
While the collapsible wire stock and corncob forearm catch the eye, the milling on the receiver looks time-consuming but strangely reliable in an Iron Curtain kind of way. The optic looks like a Warsaw Pact PU-style scope commonly fitted to the WWII-era Mosin 91/30 sniper rifle. The magazine appears to be from a Czech CZ 452 series .22LR rifle, a caliber that is backed up by the card seen in the photo.
Romanian guns coming
As a slightly more refined effort at factory-made small arms from all points East of Bratislava, news also popped up (that I covered at Guns.com) of Century importing new Romarm (Cugir)-produced underfolding WASR 10s and PSL designated marksman rifles, the latter complete with shitty Warsaw Pact optics.
If you are a fan of Romanian AK variants, CAI has your number, just don’t expect 2001 prices
Meanwhile, from Russia (without) love…
And from the Motherland comes the news that the Russian-based Kalashnikov Group is working on the new AK308, an AK model in (surprise) 7.62x51mm NATO (wait for the purists to argue that .308 is not 7.62N and vice versa).
That magazine, tho…
With an empty weight of 9.4-pounds and overall length of 34.7-inches at its shortest with a collapsed 4-position stock and 16.4-inch barrel, the select-fire AK308 is roughly comparable to a stubby AR-10 variant, sans the Stoner lineage. Use of an optional side-folding stock enables the gun to compact down to a handy 27-inch package. Chances of ever seeing on on this side of the Atlantic? Nyet.
Around the 1900s, the French firm of Schneider-Creusot, or Schneider et Cie, or simply just Schneider, was a steam-era industrial powerhouse. Starting off with locomotives and the Creusot steam hammer generation before, the company soon branched out into munition with their small and medium-caliber Canet guns for French-built warships and the famous “French 75,” the Canon de 75 modèle 1897, which would be the staple field gun of the coming Great War for her country.
By the 1910s, the company was regularly making bigger guns in 107, 120, 122, 152 and 155mm respectively, with guns and mortars of up to 280mm on the drawing board. Following a substantial contract for stubby 152mm howitzers to the Tsar in 1909 (with the local Putilov firm making them through 1919 in Eastern Europe), Schneider reworked the mount to take a 155mm bore tube and shopped it to the home team who adopted it in 1915. The aptly named Canon de 155 C modèle 1915 Schneider became the standard heavy howitzer of the French Army, who kept it in service through the Vichy era and sold spares to Allies in Belgium and Portugal.
Speaking of Allies, when the U.S. entered the war and went heavily into French and British weaponry (the main rifle of the AEF was the British-contract P14 Enfield modified for 30.06, while the principal LMG was the French Chauchat for better or worse and the primary field gun was the French 75 backed up by the French GPF), the U.S. dutifully ordered 155mm Schneiders as well.
The M1917/M1918 Schneider gun used by the U.S. was an interrupted-screw breech, 155mm bore, 13.4-caliber, built-up nickel steel cannon on a two different carriages with the first model (made in France) having a curved shield and metal tires coupled to a continuous-pull firing mechanism while the latter (U.S.-made variant) used a straight shield and pneumatic tires with a firing lock mechanism. In each variant, the total weight was about 7,600-pounds.
A total of 3,008 were bought or built with U.S. guns made under license by the American Brake Shoe Co. on carriages by Osgood-Bradley Car, using recoil mechanisms made in Detroit by Dodge.
Canon de 155 C modèle 1917 (Schneider et Cie); the curved shield and metal tires indicate that this was taken in 1918 (in France). The American produced model, 155mm Howitzer Carriage, Model 1918 (with straight shields and rubber tires) didn’t make it into action before the end of the war. The cannon cockers are wearing the M1909 holster for M1917 .45 revolver.
WWI, 1918 – The French-made artillery piece, nicknamed “Calamity Jane,” operated by a crew from the US 11th Artillery Brigade, that fired the last shot of the war for the Allies near Laneuville sur Meuse, France, November 11, 1918.
The guns, especially the M1918s, remained popular interwar.
SGT James B. Aets uses a quadrant to determine the elevation of the 155mm Howitzer M1918, while CPL Charles J. Hines sights on the aiming stake. Circa 1930s. Note the straight shield and rubber combat tires of the U.S.-built model. Photo courtesy the National Archives
Another photo of the 11th FA, taken in 1936 while the unit was located in Hawaii. These artillerymen are armed with M1911 pistols carried in M1916 holsters.
1941- Troops of Battery “B”, 77th Field Artillery, man a camouflaged 155mm “Schneider” howitzer during maneuvers in Louisiana.
The M1917/1918s were used extensively in WWII by both the Army and Marines (as well as Allies in Australia and the PPhilippines) who appreciated the compact howitzers for use in island hopping during which their 7-mile range was not a handicap.
An M1918 155mm howitzer is fired by artillery crewmen of the 11th Marines in support of ground forces attacking the enemy, Guadalcanal, 1942. Despite the lack of sound-flash equipment to locate hostile artillery. Col del Valle’s guns were able to quiet enemy fire. Department of Defense (USMC) Photo 61534
Below is a surviving example I ran across outside of a VFW in Wetumpka, Alabama.
When looking at the rare images of the Ottoman Army in the Great War, one thing stands out– the odd headgear.
German 7.7 cm Feldkanone 96 used by Turkish gunners as an anti-aircraft gun. Note the ready rounds to the left of the gun.
An Ottoman army heliograph station in Palestine. A heliograph flashes sunlight to make Morse code messages.
Speaking of Spandaus, here we see Ottoman soldiers posed “shooting at a British plane” with their gun mounted on a cartwheel for balance and traverse, somewhere in the Sinai, 1916
Ottoman Machine-gun Corps, Gaza, 1917. Note the German-supplied Spandaus with their distinctive ammo cans
1914, Ottoman 3rd Army with winter gear
Ottoman gun crew at Gallipoli
Middle East in WWI. Turkish Infantry Column at rest, April 6, 1915. George Grantham Bain Collection. Note the stacked Mausers and Crescent flag
Ottoman Turks with Mauser rifles
For info on the headgear– I give you a quick and easy reference to the M1909 Kabalak & Bashlyk!
The German Elbing-class torpedo boat T-24 (front) and Type 1936A-class Zerstörer Z-24 (rear) under attack by British RAF Beaufighters, August 24th, 1944. Both ships were crippled in this engagement and finished off by British bombers off Le Verdon the next day.
The twin-engine Bristol Beaufighter was an unsung brawler of the RAF in the war and, packing a quartet of 20 mm Hispano Mk II cannons in the nose as well as rockets, bombs or a torpedo underneath, they were hazardous to the health of Axis shipping.
The Kriegsmarine never had very good luck when it came to escorts during the war, losing most of their modern destroyers in the Norway campaign in 1940. At least 7 of the 15 Type 136As were lost during the war as were 11 of the Elbings. Air superiority has a funny way with the lifespan of small surface combatants.
Although their doctrine runs back to the Rangers of the French and Indian War, and was carried by the famed Alamo Scouts in WWII and LRRPs in Vietnam, the Army has lost its appetite for long-range surveillance companies. These old-school groups, typically formed of 15 six-man teams led by a staff sergeant and used to monitor enemy movement and gather battlefield intelligence via Mk1 eyeball, are to be replaced by UAVs, ISR aircraft and satellites.
From the Nebraska National Guard:
Soldiers of Company E, 134th Infantry (Long Range Surveillance) cased their colors during an Aug. 12 inactivation ceremony held at the Titan Readiness Center in Yutan, Nebraska.
The unit, which was first activated in 1985 as part of the 1-167th Cavalry, became the last Army National Guard long range surveillance unit in existence prior to the inactivation order dated Sept. 30 this year.
“It’s sad and disappointing,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua Ames, who served with the LRS for 13 years including two deployments to Bosnia and Iraq. “I think it’s a valuable asset and the experience that these Soldiers have. I think it is disappointing that they’re not keeping that history and tradition alive.”
As a long range surveillance company, the Nebraska Soldiers’ mission was to provide intelligence from behind enemy lines. During the course of its 15-year history, the LRS deployed to Kuwait, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan in various peacekeeping missions. The LRS has also took part in relief and recovery missions in the wake of hurricanes, floods and tornadoes stateside.
Due to changing operational demands, the Army made the decision two years ago to end the LRS force structure and in 2017, the three active Army LRS units were deactivated along with the seven Army National Guard units spread across the United States.
Nebraska National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Herschel Talley
A battery of the 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment has been documenting their testing of the Mandus Group’s Hawkeye Mobile Weapon System over the past few weeks. I first noticed the platform back in 2012. The system blends an M20 howitzer, capable of firing all NATO standard 105mm semi-fixed ammunition, with an HMMWV chassis. Using an automated digital fire control system, Hawkeye has what Mandus calls “soft recoil technology” while still coming in lighter than legacy systems according to the propaganda.
It looks pretty swag to tell you the truth, although unarmored.
More on the system (including videos!) in my column at Guns.com.
HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) under escort by frigates HMS Iron Duke (F234) & HMS Sutherland (F81)
Next month will see the Westland 18, which will include the RN’s new Commando Merlin HC4 helicopters deploying onto the UK’s new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Royal Marines Col. Lenny Brown, Commanding Officer, Commando Helicopter Force (CHF) talks about their new aircraft, roles and future operational capabilities including Joint Personnel Recovery (JPR) Deployed SAR and Maritime Intra-Theatre Lift and Air-to-Air refueling in the below interview with Janes. The UK is currently in the process of upgrading 25 AW101 Merlins to the HC4 configuration to replace the retired Commando Sea King. This upgrade includes cockpit modernizations and minor redesigns, standard naval changes like a folding rotor head, strengthened landing gear, deck lashing points, and a fast-roping point for the Marines.
Incidentally, QEs afloat pub, The Queen’s Head, just opened, which includes a carrier-themed microbrew.
No doubt the U.S. Marines deployed on the British flattop to evaluate its use as an F-35 platform (capable of carrying 24 in the hangar and six on deck), will appreciate the suds.
Incidentally, the U.S. Navy officially became dry under General Order No. 99, issued on 1 July 1914 by the 41st SECNAV, Josephus Daniels– leading of course to the term “cup of joe” for coffee.
A 1914 lament on the infamous Order 99
Here we see a 17th Century gunner’s level, created by Victor Starck around 1635 from the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments in the collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.
Photographer: Jürgen Karpinski Via Google Arts & Culture https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/gunner-s-level/qwERU1v902d7-A
Looking at this, it is easy to see where artillerists of any era were the custodians of trigonometry and calculus and masters of azimuth, angle, and axis.