Monthly Archives: October 2023

Triple bruisers

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80 years ago today: A trio of rather different U.S. Navy heavy cruisers: (listed from left to right) the sisters USS Salt Lake City (CA-25) and USS Pensacola (CA-24), along with the lead shp of her class, USS New Orleans (CA-32), nested together at Pearl Harbor, 31 October 1943. Note the varied radar antennas, gun directors, and 8-inch guns on these three cruisers.

Official U.S. Navy photo 80-G-264236 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command

Going past the cruisers, Ford Island is at the left, with the sunken (though still in commission) battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) under salvage at the extreme left, just beyond Salt Lake City’s forward superstructure. Two New Mexico-class battleships are visible in the background between Pensacola and New Orleans.

As for the above cruisers, while the New York-built SLC (aka “Swayback Maru”) and P’Cola (the “Grey Ghost”) are sisters and were commissioned within three months of each other, note the different radar fits, with the former carrying a CXAM and the latter an SG, like the newer USS New Orleans (“the NO Boat”) at dockside.

When it came to main guns, while all three carried the same general 8″/55 cal guns, typically re-gunned during WWII with Mark 14 variants, the Pensacolas had cramped gun houses with fixed below-deck magazine handling rooms to save treaty tonnage (at the sake of poor dispersion patterns) while New Orleans had much more efficient gun turrets with both more room and rotating stalks, albeit at a weight gain of about 50 tons per turret.

Of note, Salt Lake City had just returned to service in this photo after seven months under repair following heavy damage from Japanese cruiser fire in the Komandorski Islands.

In all, the three above cruisers would earn no less than 41 battle stars (with New Orleans holding 17 of those) for their WWII service. As a reward, the older two were disposed of as Atomic targets shortly after the war while New Orleans, after 12 years in mothballs, was sold for scrap in 1959.

Nuclear Winter?

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These three developments are from the Pentagon regarding the next generations of nukes.

From Monday’s DOD Contracts (emphasis mine):

Lockheed Martin Corp., King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $996,215,214 contract for the MK21A Reentry Vehicle (RV) program. This contract provides for conducting engineering, manufacturing, and design to provide a low technical risk and affordable RV for Sentinel. Work will be performed in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and other various locations, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 20, 2039. This contract is a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2024 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $26,612,031 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8219-24-C-0001).

The Mk21A will carry the future W87-1 warhead, the first newly manufactured warhead added to the U.S. arsenal since the Cold War, replacing the aging W78 335–350 kiloton warhead and its Mark 12A reentry vehicle, which has been in service since the 1970s.

While it could be used on Minuteman III, it is intended for the U.S. Air Force’s future Sentinel ICBM.

This came three days after the DOD announced that the U.S. “will pursue a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, designated the B61-13, pending Congressional authorization and appropriation.”

The B61 has been around for a half-century, but as you can tell by the tacks it has seen numerous upgrades to keep it in service.

The B61-13 would be deliverable by modern aircraft, strengthening deterrence of adversaries and assurance of allies and partners by providing the President with additional options against certain harder and large-area military targets.

It would replace some of the B61-7s in the current nuclear stockpile and have a yield similar to the B61-7, which is higher than that of the B61-12 (which is currently almost done with a Life Extension Program that has been underway since 2013).

Flight tests at Sandia National Laboratories’ Tonopah Test Range in Nevada in March 2020 were the last in a series designed to demonstrate the refurbished B61-12’s compatibility with the U.S. Air Force’s F-15E Strike Eagle jet fighter:

The B61-13 will not increase the number of weapons in the U.S. stockpile. The number of B61-12s to be produced will be lowered by the same amount as the number of B61-13s produced.

The B-16-12 and B-61-13 will be certified for delivery on current strategic aircraft (B-2A) and dual-capable aircraft (F-15E, F-16C/D & MLU, PA-200) as well as future platforms (F-35, B-21).

Likewise, with the Russians now resumed underground nuclear testing (and folks like North Korea and Iran possibly on the cusp of similar activities), a team led by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week conducted a non-nuclear underground chemical explosive test in Nevada to improve the US ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions around the world.

This experiment, conducted in the P tunnel in Area 12 of the NNSS, used chemical high-explosives and radiotracers. (NNSA)

Grenada at 40: The Eastern Caribbean Peace Force

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The green light to intervention in Grenada, besides the fact that 50 American diplomats and 600 American medical students were caught in the crossfire of the country’s latest military coup, was that the acting head of the eight-member OECS, Prime Minister Eugenia Charles of Dominica, asked the U.S. to intervene in Grenada. Her request was made on behalf of seven members—Dominica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. This request was endorsed by Commonwealth member Grenada’s figurehead governor-general, Paul Scoon, who represented the queen on the island but was under house arrest at the time and had no voice in the Marxist government.

While a mixed task group of Delta-augmented Rangers, SEAL-augmented Marines, and a brigade of the 82nd Airborne did the ground fighting from 25-29 October, a smaller light battalion-sized follow-on force drawn from the OECS, dubbed the Eastern Caribbean Peace Force, arrived to provide a constabualry force on Grenada for the next 23 months.

Prime Minister Seaga promised a reinforced infantry company from Jamaica and Prime Minister Adams a reinforced infantry platoon from Barbados. At the same time, the other prime ministers–Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis– contributed detachments from their police forces. Antigua and Barbuda later chipped in an infantry squad.

Until that time, the forces had never worked together although they did share a mix of Commonwealth (British) kit including some WWII-vintage helmets, Pattern 58 web gear, and inch-pattern FN FAL L1A1 variants– which at least used 7.62 NATO, the latter about the only thing the Americans could support.

Consisting of 353 troops from allied Caribbean nations, the force was under the command of Colonel Rudyard Lewis, who began his military career in 1951 when he enlisted as a cadet in the old Barbados Regiment and, after graduating from Sandhurst in 1962 and 15 years of service with the Jamaica Defence Force, became Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force in 1980.

The U.S. accepted transport and supply ownership of the ECPF from the get-go, with the USAF flying the contingents to the island via C-130s and the Navy covering their immediate logistics needs (such as food, helmets, flak vests, boots, and some field radios), a task that later fell to the Army.

Eastern Caribbean Defense Force members arrive in Grenada. Note the British WWII-era Mk III/IV “turtle” helmet on the Barbados trooper in the front of the column, wearing green fatigues, the garrison belts and red-striped trousers of the assorted constables complete with Pattern 58 webbing, and the general armament consisting of the L1A1. NARA df-st-84-09830

Barbados troops with their distinctive OD fatigues and berets. Note the blue brassards on their uniforms, marking them as members of the “police” oriented ECPF. At some point shortly after arrival, the force was given American M1 steel pot helmets and Jungle boots from USMC stocks, which the trooper in the foreground can be seen wearing. Note the DPM-clad Jamaicans in the center background. NARA dn-sn-85-02056

While it was envisioned that the Carribean peacekeepers would, at the most, guard arrested Cuban nationals/surrendered Grenadian POWs until they were repatriated or paroled– a task they took over from 2nd Battalion, 75th Rangers on the afternoon of 24 October just after they landed– they were also used in a limited role in supporting JTF 123’s stalled attack on St. George’s on 25 October.

Cubans are guarded by a member of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force as they sit in a holding area waiting for their removal from the island during Operation URGENT FURY. Judging from the web gear and uniform, this appears to be a member of the Barbados detachment and the date is sometime between 24-28 October. NARA df-st-84-09823

Members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force board a US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at Point Salines Airfield during the multiservice, multinational Operation URGENT FURY. Note the American jungle boots, L1A1s, and assorted green utilities and black berets– marking these troops as members of the Barbados detachment. NARA DF-SN-84-10813

Barbados members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force participating in Operation URGENT FURY. Note the M1 steel pots, Pattern 58 gear, and L1A1s, NARA DN-SN-85-02035

DPM-clad Jamaican Defense Force Members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force board a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during Operation URGENT FURY. Note the newly supplied American jungle boots and M1 helmets, complete with EDRL covers, likely drawn right from USMC stocks. NARA DF-ST-84-09935

A Barbados member of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force participating in Operation URGENT FURY. He is armed with a 7.62 mm L1A1 and sports several new additions to his kit including an M69 flak vest, a pair of Zeiss Hensoldt military binos, and some jungle boots. His pants, rather than the fatigues they arrived in, seem to be Navy dungarees. NARA DN-SN-84-12051

Barbados Caribbean Peacekeeping Force members with their L1A1s, fatigues, and black berets, next to some JDF members in DPM. At first the American concern on the ground was the similarity the BDF uniforms had to Cuban regulars and they soon added lots of Marine kit to their wardrobe. NARA DN-SN-85-02057

The CMH’s history of the subject, The Rucksack War, notes, “The American officers who worked with the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force generally gave high marks to the soldiers from Jamaica and Barbados.”

The 2nd Ranger’s S-4 shop, led by Capt. Jose G. Ventura, also found the Jamaican and Barbadan troops to have a particular skill set.

From The Rucksack War:

Captain Ventura’s first thought after relinquishing the detainees was to obtain a share of the captured vehicles for the 2d Battalion. Some of the members of the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force, he noted, were quite adept at jump-starting trucks. One of them helped him start a number of vehicles that he wanted—two water trucks full of potable water and a big Soviet dump truck that could be used for hauling supplies.

By the 27th, the Barbados platoon of the ECPF was detailed to protect the residence of Governor General Sir Paul Scoon, who was the de facto government on the island at the time.

By the late afternoon of the 28th, the peacekeepers handed over the POW compound to the recently flown-in 118th Military Police Company of the XVIII Airborne Corps and switched to general policing and internal security roles. After that, the ECPF would report to Scoon directly.

Members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force in front of the police building during Operation URGENT FURY. Note the lightly equipped Jamaican Defense Force members in the center, clad in British DPM pattern uniforms, while four Barbados detachment members are to the left, including one on a radiotelephone. Note the different beret colors (green for the JDF, black for the BDF) and shared blue brassards. 

When the last U.S. combat unit on Grenada– 2d Battalion, 505th Infantry– left the island on 12 December– B. Gen. Jeffrey M. Farris (Citadel ’59) turned over command of the Urgent Fury operation (then renamed Operation Island Breeze) to the ECPF. 

Together with a 250-man group of XVIII Corps technical advisers and some British police trainers, they would rebuild the Royal Grenadian Police Force and stand guard during the 1984 presidential election on the island.

The mission completed, the last 60 soldiers from the XVIII Airborne Corps departed Grenada on 11 June 1985 and the final members of the ECPF left at the end of that September.

Brigadier Rudyard Lewis, GCM, CVO, ED, JP, received the Gold Crown of Merit from Barbados in 1983. In March 1989 he was honoured by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, being made Commander of the Victorian Order. He retired in 1999, capping 48 years in service.

The ECPF led to the creation of the Barbados-based Regional Security System, with most of the same member nations. They just observed the group’s 40th anniversary, and conduct a yearly Unity Exercise (UNEX) in addition to frequently activating the system’s Response Mechanism “to assist and support our Member States in the event of any occurrence of damage or threat to life,” usually in mutual humanitarian and constabulary support after hurricanes and tropical storms. They also share research, intelligence, advisory, technical, and administrative support among the member states.

B&T Makes it First to the Folding Chassis Market?

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The Swiss-American compact gun experts at B&T are promising a folding personal defense chassis that hides in plain sight.

The planned BWC9 in its 11.7-inch folded form has an integrated carry handle and looks sort of like a nondescript old-school boom box or…well…something other than a pistol. Then, with a flick of the wrist, it unfolds and locks into place as a 22-inch rifle if needed, an Aimpoint ACRO P-2 micro red dot providing sights.

In other words, going from this:

B&T BWC9 chassis, closed (Image: B&T)

To this:

B&T BWC9 chassis, open (Image: B&T)

The chassis is being sold as an accessory – no FFL required – and users simply add their SIG P320 fire control unit and compatible slide assembly (Sub-Compact through X-Five length, including threaded barrels) to have an all-up firearm.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Hail the mighty OHP at 50

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A half-century ago today, a big event happened in terms of naval history.

The class leader of what was probably the best type of frigate ever used by the U.S. Navy in the 20th Century, the sixth USS Oliver Hazard Perry (PFG-109) was ordered from Bath Iron Works on 30 October 1973 as part of the FY73 program.

The 1973 Jane’s article on the project, showed the frigate with the same style stack arrangement as the Coast Guard’s 378-foot Hamilton class that had just been built, and the only gun being a twin 30mm over the hangar

The more fleshed-out FFG-7 impression, circa 1976. Note she now has a 76mm OTO MK75 installed

Laid down at Bath Iron Works in Maine on 12 June 1975 and redesignated as FFG-7 shortly after, launched on 25 September 1976, and commissioned on 17 December 1977, she was the first of 51 completed for the USN while another 16 were built for the navies of Australia, Taiwan, and Spain.

Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate FFG 7 launched in 1976, via Bath

Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate FFG 7 launched in 1976, via Bath

Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate FFG 7 trials, 1977, via Bath

While OHP herself was decommissioned in 1997 after an almost exactly 20-year career, and scrapped by 2006, a dozen of her younger sisters have been disposed of in assorted SINKEXs and, although gone from U.S. service for a half-decade, the class and subclasses live on with no less than 34 still in some form of active service with eight foreign fleets.

Making it Rain, Guam & Caron edition

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Of the 22 U.S. Navy warships and auxiliaries tasked with supporting Operation Urgent Fury– the invasion of Grenada– some 40 years ago this week, two really stand out, the old ‘phib USS Guam (LPH-9) and the newer Sprucan, USS Caron (DD-970).

Guam gets a big nod, of course, because, of the 116 American servicemen wounded in the four-day operation, Guam treated no less than 77 in her cramped hospital suite after they were medivaced to her deck just offshore.

Speaking of which, Guam was also the main launching/refueling point for the helicopters of the 82nd Airborne and 22nd MAU for the operation and logged a whopping 1,214 launchings and landings in Urgent Fury.

Flight deck crewmen hose down a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter upon its landing aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Guam (LPH 9) during Operation Urgent Fury, October 25, 1983. The helicopter’s engine was hit by anti-aircraft fire on the island of Grenada. JO1 Sundberg. DN-SN-85-02069

Flight operations take place aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Guam (LPH 9) off the coast of Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury. Visible on the flight deck are two UH-1N Iroquois helicopters, a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, and a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter. JO1 Sundberg. October 25, 1983. DN-SN-85-02037

But if Guam’s “Grenada Get Away” is largely forgotten, Caron’s is never even mentioned, which is a crying shame.

Commissioned 1 October 1977 at Pascagoula, USS Caron is the only warship ever named for HC3c Wayne Maurice Caron, a MoH recipient who gave his last full measure at age 21 as a corpsman with 3d/7th Marines in Vietnam, mortally wounded while going to save those who needed him.

The destroyer that carried his name lived up to it in Grenada.

As detailed by DANFS:

After embarking Capt. Grant A. Sharp, Commander, DesRon 32, on 19 October 1983, Caron got underway for deployment to the Mediterranean the following day as part of the Independence Battle Group. However, on 21 October, Caron was detached from the battle group and diverted to Grenada at “max speed” in support of Operation Urgent Fury.

As the first U.S. Navy ship to arrive on the scene on 23 October 1983, Caron paused 12 miles off the coast of Grenada to gather intelligence. With the Special Forces amphibious assault on the island already underway, in the early morning hours of 25 October, destroyer Moosbrugger (DD-980) and guided missile frigate Clifton Sprague (FFG-16) joined Caron, and the ships steamed at 25 knots for Point Saline with their arrival planned for daybreak. While advancing toward the island, Caron recovered a small craft with 12 Special Forces troops embarked that had been carried to sea by strong currents. Later in the morning while conducting a search and rescue operation for a downed Bell AH-1T Cobra of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261 near St. George’s Harbor, Caron avoided enemy mortar rounds while operating close to shore.

On the afternoon of the 25th, Caron fired her 5-inch guns towards the site of the communist propaganda station “Radio Free Grenada,” allowing a 12-man Navy Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) team to evade enemy forces surrounding their position there. That night, as fighting continued to rage on the island, Caron responded to a visual signal from shore and rescued ten of the SEALs who had escaped from the radio transmitter site, two of whom had suffered serious injuries. While Caron’s medical staff treated the wounded men, the destroyer directed Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawks to the beach to rescue the two remaining SEALs from the team. The following evening, the ship also saved 11 U.S. Army Rangers whose helicopter had crashed.

Caron remained on the scene at Grenada through 2 November 1983. During this time, she continued to patrol within range of hostile gunfire, ready to provide naval gunfire support for land and amphibious troops. All told, Caron’s search and rescue efforts saved 41 soldiers and sailors. “Caron demonstrated in a wartime environment what our forces are capable of,” Capt. Sharp remarked, “and the readiness that ‘Can-Do’ Caron is known for.” For her actions in the Grenadian conflict, Caron received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.

Artwork: “USS Caron Neutralizes Radio Free Grenada – Beausejour Bay”. by Mike Leahy, via the Naval History and Heritage Command. U.S. Navy Combat Art Center, Washington Navy Yard. U.S. Navy photo by the Navy Audiovisual Center.DN-SC-85-07100.

She would keep her guns blistered in the coming weeks.

Escorting Guam and the 22nd MAU from Grenada to Lebanon, she would be called for NGFS ashore on 8 February 1984, plastering enemy positions with 450 5-inch shells, then follow up on another fire call on 25-26 February, firing 141.

Keep in mind that Spruance-class tin cans only had enough room for about 1,200 rounds of assorted 5-inch in their magazines, if they were fully loaded.

Caron later received the Navy Expeditionary Medal for her service off Lebanon.

As for retirement, Guam decommissioned on 25 August 1998 after 33 years of service and was disposed of in a SINKEX three years later while Caron, decommissioned on 15 October 2001 after just 24 years, would likewise be deep-sixed at the hands of the same Navy she once served so well.

Coasties in New Places…and with new Cutters

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Last week, the 154-foot Sentinel-class fast response cutter USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143), based in Guam, visited Tacloban in the Philippines on the occasion of the 79th Leyte Gulf Landing Anniversary while the larger frigate-sized USCGC Stratton (WMSL 752) called in Manila.

Hatch is the first of her class to visit the Philippines and will certainly not be the last as the FRCs are sailing far and wide, increasingly roaming around the West Pac. If you are curious, while calling at Tacloban she was 1,300 miles away from home, certainly within range as they have been logging patrols as long as 8,000nm in recent months. 

Colleagues from the Philippine Coast Guard prepare to receive the crew of the USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143) at the pier in Tacloban, Philippines, on Oct. 19, 2023. In a historic first, the USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143) visited Tacloban, Philippines, from Oct. 19 to 23, 2023, and the crew conducted engagements marking a significant milestone in the enduring relationship between the United States and the Philippines. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Cmdr. Ryan Crose)

From the CG PAO:

“The expanded capabilities of the Fast Response Cutter represent more than just advanced technology; they symbolize the bridge of cooperation and goodwill between nations. The FRCs and their dedicated crews regularly play a pivotal role in international diplomacy. These vessels, along with their highly trained and professional crews, are ambassadors of peace and collaboration, said Capt. Nick Simmons, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam. “They foster understanding and trust across borders, making the seas safer not only for our own nations but for all nations that rely on the freedom of navigation and maritime security.”

Hatch is the 43rd FRC and was commissioned in July 2021, so she is a new hull.

The class has been around since 2012 when the leader, USCGC Bernard C. Webber (WPC 1101) was commissioned and sent to Miami.

Of relevance, the fourth of the class commissioned, USCGC Robert Yeard (WPC 1104) joined the fleet in 2013 and is currently out of the water at the CG Yard in Maryland where she is getting an overhaul, offering some great shots of her hull form.

As detailed by the cutter’s social media page:

Every three years the Yered gets hauled out for some much-needed maintenance including a top-end overhaul of the mains and a full paint job. For the next 140 days, it will be stripped, sprayed, welded, shafts and props dropped replaced, and cleaned. As hard as this ship works and runs, it needs it.

For reference, all of the FRCs are built by Bollinger in New Orleans and the current program of record is 65 hulls, although plans are for at least two to be placed in uncrewed a Recurring Depot Availability Program (RDAP)– otherwise known as “ordinary” back in the day, due to empty billets across the USCG. 

OPC Progress

Meanwhile, the future USCGC Argus (WMSM-915), the lead ship of the Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter program and the sixth cutter to carry the name, is set to side-launch at Eastern Shipbuilding Group’s Nelson Shipyard near Panama City, Florida on Friday and proceed to finish fitting out in prep for commissioning.

Offshore Patrol Cutter ARGUS in launch position. Photo Eastern Shipbuilding Group

Offshore Patrol Cutter ARGUS in launch position. Photo Eastern Shipbuilding Group

The Heritage class is so-called as they are all to be named for historic cutters, a move I for one support and wish the Navy would take a hint when it comes to naming conventions. For example, the initial cutter Argus was one of the first 10 ships assigned to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, a predecessor service to the Coast Guard in 1791. Of the 10 original cutters assigned to the RCS, Argus spent the longest time in service. Subsequent cutters Argus were commissioned in 1804, 1809, 1830, and 1850.

Interestingly, the first OPC’s sponsor is not a politician but  Capt. Beverly Kelley, USCG, (Ret). She was the first woman to command an American military vessel when she was piped aboard the 95-foot Cape-class patrol boat USCGC Cape Newagen in 1979.

Kelly, a University of Miami alum who graduated from OCS in 1976, seen on Cape Newagen’s bridge back in the day when the USCG still allowed beards without a profile. She went on to skipper the 270-foot cutter Northland (WMEC-904) as well as the 378-foot cutter Boutwell (WHEC-719) before retiring in 2006, capping a 30-year career that included 18 in sea-going billets.

More on the Heritage (Argus) class

OPC Characteristics:
• Length: 360 feet
• Beam: 54 feet
• Draft: 17 feet
• Sustained Speed: 22 Plus knots
• Range: 8500 Plus nautical miles
• Endurance: 60 Days

The main armament is an Mk 110 57mm gun forward with an MK 38 25mm gun over the stern HH60-sized hangar, and four remote .50 cal mounts. 

I say replace the Mk38 with a C-RAM, shoehorn a towed sonar, ASW tubes, an 8-pack Mk41 VLS crammed with Sea Sparrows, and eight NSSMs aboard, then call it a day.

But no one listens to me…

Current spending on the overbudget and overtime project puts the ships at $704 million per hull. Hopefully, this can be amortized out now that a second yard (Austal in Mobile) is working on the cutters and a big reason why Eastern is so far behind is a mix of teething issues with the brand-new design (in particular non-compliant shafts delivered by Rolls-Royce for the first to hulls) and the 2021-22 supply chain/Covid slow down.

As the OPC program of record is for 25 cutters– replacing the smaller 13-strong Bear class and 16-member Reliance classes of cutters– and, knowing the Coast Guard will be the backbone of the force in blue water for the next 40 years, it is important to get it right.

Lt. Schneider, of New Guinea, I presume?

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Somewhere in New Guinea, 1943. Official caption: “Displaying all the traits of a true air ace, Second Lieutenant Edwin A. Schneider of Passaic, N.J., shot down three of 23 Japanese aircraft destroyed by American fighters on February 6 over Wau, New Guinea. The enemy formation was defeated without the loss of an American fighter plane. On the wing is Schneider’s crew chief, Sergent R.D. Lathem of Canton, Georgia.”

U.S. Air Force Number B23581AC is now in the National Archives, 342-FH 001123.

Note Schneider’s aircraft, a Bell P-39 Aircobra (a P-400 variant, you can tell by the long, skinny 20mm cannon in the nose rather than the stubby 37mm of other P-39s), was an obsolete type that had seen hard service from Pearl Harbor through the Aleutians and the Solomons because, well, it was all the USAAF had besides the equally out-performed P-40 Warhawk. Still, it could be very effective in ground support and against low-flying Japanese bombers.

Schneider was assigned to the “Red Devils” of the 40h Fighter Squadron, which, along with the 39th FS and 41st FS was part of the 35th Fighter Group.

The Devils arrived in Australia in February 1942 and were soon flying intercepts over Port Moresby, New Guinea, with their first victory in May. They would continue operating their P-39s from New Guinea throughout 1942 and 1943, with the good 2Lt Schneider and fellow devils Capt. John Clapper, Lts. Carl E. Nelson, Nathan Smith, Phil Wolf, and Robert G. Allison each downing an intercepted Japanese bomber over Finschhafen on this day in 1943, some 80 years ago.

It would be one of the 40th’s last P-39 victories, as they began transitioning into the much more powerful P-47 Thunderbolt in December and finally to P-51s in 1945.

In all, the 40th destroyed 113 Japanese planes in aerial combat; 51 were shot down by P-39s, 55 by P-47s, and seven by P-51s during WWII.

The squadron produced five aces, with Schneider coming up short with “just” four kills across 262 combat missions involving 572 combat hours. The reason he didn’t get his fifth was likely because he was sent back stateside in 1944 to become an instructor.

He did see the elephant again, however. Graduating to jets, Schiender transitioned to the USAF in 1947 and would fly F-94s in combat over Korea with the 319th FIS.

Colonel Edwin A. Schneider passed away on December 28, 1969.

Big O, and One Wild Airwing

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70 years ago, the newly completed improved Essex-class attack carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34) at Sasebo, Japan, on 27 October 1953. The Iowa class battlewagon USS Wisconsin (BB-64), fresh off her Korean War service, is hiding in the background.

National Archives photo 80-G-642739 via the NHHC

Oriskany has CVG-19 aboard– the historic old airwing carried by Lexington and Enterprise in the tail-end of WWII. Looking very different from the days of Hellcats, Helldivers, and Avengers, for Oriskany’s 14. September 1953 – 22. April 1954 deployment she carried an AD-6 Skyraider squadron (VA-195), another of F9F-5 Panthers (VF-192), one of F9F-6 Cougar (VF-191), and a third different jet fighter squadron of F2H-3/4 Banshees (VF-193) types– all seen arrayed on her deck above. To this crazy mix were added some photo Panthers, a HO3S-1 det, a few AD-4W airborne early warning birds, and a handful of AD-4NLs “Night Raiders” and F2H-3s “Night Banshees” of VC-3/35. These night fighters and strike aircraft are easy to spot from the rest of the airwing due to their dark livery.

Laid down on 1 May 1944 by the New York Naval Shipyard, owing to the end of WWII and shrinking budgets, Oriskany’s construction was suspended until after the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in June 1950, then rushed to completion, commissioning on 25 September and being rushed for a Mediterranean deployment with CVG-4 embarked in May 1951.

After conversion to operate jets, Oriskany would make it to Korea with CVG-102/CVG-12– a hybrid air group with piston-engine Corsairs and Skyraiders along with two fighter squadrons equipped with Grumman F9F Panther jets and a Sikorsky HO3S helicopter squadron– embarked on Halloween 1952. Her combat there wrapped up in April 1953 and she returned to the West Coast for some downtime before departing San Francisco on 14 September 1953 for her second cruise to the Far East, arriving at Yokosuka on 15 October, as seen above.

Oriskany received two battle stars for Korean service and ten for Vietnamese service, wrapping up her 15th and final Westpac deployment on 3 March 1976. Decommissioned later that year, she was in mothballs for the rest of the Cold War, with SECNAV John Lehman long considering bringing her back to active duty.

Eventually, Oriskany was turned into a reef in 2006 off the Florida panhandle, the largest American warship even utilized for such a purpose.

Black Dragon warming up

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80 years ago today: The brand-new Iowa-class fast battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) silhouetted against the sea and clouds, as seen from a minesweeper, 26 October 1943. She was then engaged in training in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 45486

The second USS New Jersey was launched on the 1st Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and commissioned on 23 May 1943, then spent the rest of the year working up before heading West to eventually earn her “Black Dragon” nickname.

As noted by DANFS:

New Jersey completed fitting out and trained her initial crew in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean. On 7 January 1944 she passed through the Panama Canal war-bound for Funafuti, Ellice Islands. She reported there 22 January for duty with the Fifth Fleet, and three days later rendezvoused with Task Group 58.2 for the assault on the Marshall Islands.

The rest, including nine battle stars for World War II; four for the Korean conflict; and two for Vietnam, was history.

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