Monthly Archives: December 2023

Ruger and Rabbits from Hats…

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You may not remember this, but FN coughed up the 5.7x28mm round in 1990 after nearly a decade of R&D. The Belgian gunmaker had a wrap on the cartridge and the guns– the Five-Seven pistol and P90 PDW– that used it for decades. This made it very niche and, by 2019, was close to falling out of production.

Then swooped in Ruger with their 57 pistol and it became a hit.

Soon, everyone was talking about 5.7 again.

In the past few years since, CMMG, Diamondback, KelTec, PSA, and S&W entered the 5.7 game while Ruger expanded their offerings to include carbines, forcing FN to release an updated Mk3 variant of the Five-Seven pistol. In the same period, ammo makers saw the writing on the wall and started making the rounds in quantity and variants never seen in the caliber, both increasing supply and halving the cost.

Amazing what can happen when someone takes an almost forgotten round and, through the introduction of a new gun, breathes life back into it.

Well, Ruger may be trying to do a repeat with a new chambering for an old revolver. Last week they announced a new variant of the vaunted double-action Ruger Super Redhawk in .22 Hornet.

I did not see this coming, at all

That’s an odd move for a wheel gun that was typically chambered in big hunting grade/counter bear calibers such as .44 Rem Mag and .454 Casull. Heck, Ruger created the .480 Ruger in 2003– then the largest-diameter production revolver cartridge– just for the Super Redhawk.

Further, it is the only new .22 Hornet handgun on the market anywhere. The last was the old bolt-action Savage Arms Striker bench gun that went out of production in 2005.

What’s so special about the .22 Hornet?

Developed by Townsend Whelen a full century ago, the .22 Hornet is not rimfire like the .22 Magnum and .22 LR but is instead a centerfire round that is about a half-inch shorter than a .223/5.56. The longer 35mm case of the .22 Hornet (the .22 Mag has a case length of 26mm) allows it to carry a heavier bullet at a faster speed, typically twice the velocity of a .22 Mag, while generating almost three times the energy downrange. In short, the .22 Hornet is a blistering fast little round (Hornady’s 35-grain VMax load has a released spec of 3,060 feet per second) and is ideal for use by varmint hunters and in survival guns– a use the military had for it for years.

The old M6 Aircrew survival weapon, which was a .22 Hornet over a 410 shotgun

However, today, the .22 Hornet is still around but should be listed as being on life support.

As far as I can tell, the only production guns in the .22 Hornet these days are bolt action rifles: the Savage 25 in several different finishes and barrel lengths, and the Ruger 77/22. Browning-owned Winchester still markets a Japanese-made Model 1885 Low Wall Hunter in the caliber, but production can’t be very brisk, and odds are they just pulling from a batch made years ago that is sitting in a warehouse somewhere.

Keeping these new guns and legacy models fed is likewise slim-picking but not impossible. The round is still in commercial production both in the U.S. by Federal, Hornady, and Winchester, and overseas by PPU and Sellier & Bellot.

Has Ruger been reading the tea leaves on this one and seen an opportunity to pull another rabbit out of the hat, caliber speaking, when it comes to the fading .22 Hornet? We’ll see.

Red Tails and Immortals Share a Ride for First Time

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The Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron, “The Immortals,” have been shuttered since 1982, after being stood up to fly Sea Harriers from HMS Invincible during the Falklands.

Before that, they operated the Blackburn Buccaneer from RAF Lossiemouth– as well as from the decks of HMS Ark Royal, HMS Hermes, and HMS Eagle— in the 1960s and 1970s including a famous show of force over Belize in 1972 to deter Guatemalan threats.

British Buccaneer XT283 of 809 Squadron arrives aboard HMS Ark Royal. Museum of Science, by Michael Turner, 1972

Going even further back, they operated Sea Venoms aboard HMS Albion in 1956 during the Suez Crisis while in WWII they flew Fairey Fulmars from the Med to North Russia and Seafires covering the Torch, Avalanche, Dragoon, Dracula, and Zipper landings from Casablanca to Malaya.

This week, 809 NAS became the first Royal Navy squadron to stand up to operate the F-35 Lightning.

The recommissioning sees the number of UK squadrons operating the Lightning expand to four, two front-line– the Dambusters of 617 Sqn plus 809 NAS– along with 207 Sqn (Operational Conversion Unit) and 17 Test and Evaluation Sqn.

As noted by the RN:

Of the more than 100 historic Fleet Air Arm units whose numbers are currently dormant, 809 was selected more than a decade ago as a F-35 Lightning formation, largely due to its illustrious history as a strike and attack squadron having received battle honours from operations in the Arctic, Mediterranean, Burma, Suez and South Atlantic over a 41-year period.

The Venerable Andrew Hillier addresses guests and personnel from RAF Marham on parade for the 809 Naval Air Squadron Recommissioning Ceremony. A second frontline F-35B Lightning stealth fighter squadron has been stood up at RAF Marham. 809 Naval Air Squadron, known as the Immortals, has a long and distinguished history and has been recommissioned as the nation’s second front-line fighter unit operating the F-35B Lightning stealth fighter. At the parade at RAF Marham, Norfolk, Commander Nick Smith formally received the Squadron Crest from his predecessor, Cdr (Ret’d) Tim Gedge, close to 41 years to the day since 809 NAS decommissioned as a Sea Harrier squadron.

While British industry will build 15 percent by value of each of the more than 3,000 planned F-35s, by 1 May 2023, the UK had only received 31 of the planned 48 F35-Bs from its Tranche 1 initial order. A subsequent Tranche 2 order will bring an additional 27 aircraft, totaling 74, down from the originally planned 138. The RAF owns all of these STOVL birds and lets the RN operate some.

Redtails receive F-35s

Meanwhile, the “Red Tails” of the 100th Fighter Squadron, 187th Fighter Wing, of the Alabama Air National Guard, out of Dannelly Field, Alabama, last week received its first F-35s, becoming only the third ANG unit slated to transition to fifth generation fighter.

An F-35 Lightning II parked on the flight line at Dannelly Field, on December 6, 2023. The 187th Fighter Wing received their first aircraft from Luke AFB, Ariz., and will begin transitioning to their new mission. Photo by 1st Lt. Michael Luangkhot

Of course, the 100th FS, dating back to December 1941, is one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen squadrons of WWII.

USAAF armorer of the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, 15th U.S. Air Force checks ammunition belts of the 12.7 mm machine guns in the wings of a North American P-51B Mustang in Italy, ca. September 1944.

Flying P39s then P-40s, P-47s, and finally P-51 Mustangs during the war, the 100th became first a tanker squadron (in 1953) then transitioned to a training squadron in 1999 before chopping to replace the 160th FS in 2007, driving fighters again, this time F-16s.

187th Fighter Wing, the Alabama Air National Guard unit at Dannelly Field ANGB in Montgomery, deployed to Romania in August 2012 to participate in Dacian Viper 2012, a three-week joint exercise with the Romanian Air Force.

They hung up their Vipers earlier this year and will receive 20 F-35s between now and 2026 when they will be fully staffed.

The word is, a paint job is inbound.

Warship Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023: An Everlasting Pansarbat

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile 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

Warship Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023: An Everlasting Pansarbat

Swedish Marinmuseum photo D 15043

Above we see the Aran-class pansarskepp HSvMS Manligheten of the Royal Swedish Navy as she pokes around Europe in the summer of 1937 while on a midshipman’s cruise. Note her distinctive funnel flash and forward superstructure arrangement which differentiated the “coastal battleship” from her three sisters.

She is 34 years young in the above image– launched some 120 years ago this month in fact– but still looks clean and neat. It should come as no surprise that Manligheten would continue to be afloat and in use in one form or another until just a few years ago.

The Aran class

Just after Swedish-born engineer John Ericsson had introduced the ironclad turret warship in 1862 when he lent his genius to the USS Monitor, his homeland soon ordered two classes of iron-hulled coastal monitors to counter Baltic Sea rival, Imperial Russia, as the Tsar was upgrading his own fleet with American-designed monitors. However, by the 1880s, those aforementioned vessels were almost considered quaint by rapidly evolving naval technology.

To reboot their fleet from the first-generation ironclads to steel warships, the Swedes in 1883 placed an order for the 3,050-ton, 248-foot HSvMS Svea for 1.24 million kron, followed by her two half-sisters, HSvMS Göta and HSvMS Thule. Carrying large (10-inch) main guns and swathed in as much as 10 inches of armor plate, they were rightly considered something of a coastal battleship or slow protected cruiser for their period.

This pansarbarten/pansarskepp concept was well-liked by the Swedes, who ordered another three-ship class, the Oden-class pansarskepp-type coastal defense ships (3445 tons, 2-10 inch guns, 9.5 inches armor, 16.5 knots) which were completed in 1899 and the one-off HSvMS Dristigheten (Audacity) which was basically an improved Oden with better armament.

Then, with lessons learned around the world that came from the Spanish-American War, the four-ship Äran class was ordered.

Made of all riveted steel in a 287-foot hull with 11 watertight sections, they were the heaviest Swedish warships at the time of their construction, hitting the water at 3,700 tons due to a belt that ran as thick as 7 inches of Krupp armor (as opposed to Harvey nickel-steel in the previous ships). Able to float in just 16 feet of water at a maximum load, they could hug the shoreline where larger battlewagons could not tread and still make 17 knots on an engineering suite that included 8 coal-fired Yarrow boilers and two Motala 3-cylinder triple-expanding steam engines.

The four members of the class were Äran/Eran/Aeran (Honor), Wasa/Vasa (in honor of several former Swedish ships of the line), Tapperheten (Bravery), and Manligheten (Manhood). To speed up construction as tensions were high with Norway at the time, they were completed at three different domestic yards– Lindholmen shipyard in Gothenburg (Äran), Finnboda shipyard in Stockholm (Wasa), and Kockum’s Mekaniska Verkstad in Malmö (Tapperheten and Manligheten). Approved in the Riksdag in 1899 (first three) and 1901 (Manligheten), all had entered service by 1904.

Launching of the Swedish coastal defense ship Wasa at Finnboda in 1901

Navy Yard Karlskrona with Pansarskepp Manligheten, Tapperheten, Wasa

While the earlier Sveas carried two Armstrong 1880s BL 10-inch guns, and the Odens two French-made 8.3″/42cal Canet m/94A guns, these new Äran-class pansarbarten would be equipped with a longer locally made 8.2″/45 m/98 gun produced by Bofors Gallspanz and trialed on Dristigheten. As noted by the 1914 Janes, these Swedish 8.2s could fire a 275-pound AP shell on a blend of special Bofors-made nitro-compound that was capable of penetrating 9.5 inches of armor at 3,000 yards. The maximum range was 11,000 yards due to the limited 12-degree elevation limits on the turret. The rate of fire was about one round per minute.

Here, the bow mount on Manligheten shows off one of her 8.2″/45 m/98s. The 21 cm kanon M/98 was made by Bofors and they were the standard main battery for Dristigheten, the four Ärans, and the circa 1905 one-off HSwMS Oscar II. Fo62130A

The secondary battery was another Swedish naval favorite, the 15,2 cm kanon (6″/45) m/98. Introduced in 1898 on Dristigheten, they would be used on the Ärans as well as the large minesweeper/training ship HSwMS Älvsnabben (M01). The Ärans would carry six of these guns in armored single-mount turrets, divided three on each broadside– a departure from casemated secondaries in previous Swedish pansarbarten. They were capable of firing a 101-pound shell to 10,000 yards at a rate of up to 7 shots per minute.

Dragning av en 15 cm kanon Manligheten Fo199419

The tertiary battery was 10 57mm/48 cal kanon m/89 guns. Made domestically by Finspongs bruk under license by Maxim-Nordenfeldt, these were QF guns that could fire 6-pounder shells out to 6,000 yards as fast as 35 rounds per minute as long as the passers and hoists could keep up. These were typically described as anti-torpedo boat guns in their era.

Manligheten Pansarskepp salute with 57mm ssk M89 mount. Note the 4,800-ton pansarkryssare or armored cruiser, HSvMS Fylgia in the background. Fo192889

Besides the mounted gun armament, the class carried a pair of m/1899 18-inch Armstrong torpedo tubes below the waterline for a dozen Whitehead m/93 and m/03 torpedoes while each of their two embarked 28-foot steam sloops could carry spar torpedoes and a one-pounder 37mm m/98B gun.

The Aran class, 1914 Jane’s

How the Arans stacked up against the rest of Sweden’s coastal battlewagons, via the 1915 Brassy’s.

Meet Manligheten

Laid down at Kockum’s behind her sister Tapperheten, Manligheten was launched on 1 December 1903. Her honorable name had been used by the Swedish Navy by a circa 1785 64-gun ship-of-the-line that had fought in Gustav III’s Russian war in 1788-80– blockading Viborg– as well as in the naval battles during the Finnish War of 1808–1809 and was only disposed of in 1864.

Manligheten was commissioned on 3 December 1904, the last of her class to join the fleet. A happy ship, she, along with her three sisters, formed the 1st Pansarbåtsdivisionen in 1905.

Pansarbåtseskader in Karlskrona i July 1906 showing Oden, Aran, Thule, Manligheten, Gota, Niord, and Svea. D 8868

Pansarbåten Manligheten år 1907 D 1391

She sailed in the summer of 1912, along with the cruiser Fylgia and the larger pansarbat Oscar II to bring King Gustav V and his family to Pitkepaasi outside Viborg for a meeting with the Tsar of Russia and his family to Russia.

HSvMS Fylgia, Manligheten, and HSvMS Oscar II in the 1912 painting by Johanson Arvid now in the Sjöhistoriska museet collection (Accession O 10597) celebrating the Swedish squadron’s return to Stockholm after the visit to Russia outside Viborg that summer. Salutes are being fired and King Gustav V and Queen Victoria are disembarking from a steam sloop.

War!

The Great War, with Sweden’s strictly enforced armed neutrality (Neutralitesvakten), saw the Arans were slightly modified in 1916, trading out a couple of their low-angle 57mm 6-pounders for some newer Lvk m/1924 models with increased elevation, meant for AAA and balloon busting.

Manligheten. Note her searchlights and mast arrangement. Fo197006A

As easy interbellum

In 1920, Manligheten took a cruise to Amsterdam, the first trip outside of Scandinavia by a Swedish coastal battleship since the summer of 1913.

In the mid-1920s, a refit saw new boilers installed including two oil-fired and six coal-fired. By this time, two further low-angle 6-pounders had been landed, replaced by two 25mm AAA guns– one on the top of each 8.3-inch turret.

25 mm automatkanon on aft turret Manligheten. This photo was during her WWII era. Fo199420

Pansarskeppet Manligheten D 14983_21

Manligheten i Oban MM01497

Manligheten Pansarskepp MM01485

Sisters Tapperheten and Manligheten, once completing their mid-life refit, would undertake two back-to-back European goodwill tours during the summers of 1926 (Amsterdam-Portsmouth-Guernsey-Vlaardinggen) and 1927 (Plymouth-San Sebastian-Bilbao-Rotterdam).

Swedish pansarskeppet Tapperheten and Manligheten in San Sebastian, Spain, during the long voyage they undertook together in 1927. Fo229219

Aran class Swedish coastal battleships Janes 1931

Besides her typical spate of peacetime drills and exercises, followed by iced-in winters, Manligheten survived a grounding in 1930 and was tapped for another European deployment in the summer of 1937. This latter trip, with port calls at Amsterdam, Newcastle, Rouen, Cardiff, Oban, Trondheim, and Memel, was her only solo tour and she embarked 90 officer cadets. It was largely followed by a repeat trip in the summer of 1938. By then, she carried both a pair of 25mm/58 cal Bofors m/32 AAA guns and 37mm Bofors as well. 

Manligheten in Memel Lithuania July 25, 1938. Note the 37mm AAA guns arrayed behind the 8.2-inch mount (with a covered 25mm gun atop) and four forward-facing 6-inch turrets. MM01502

Swedish Sweden Aran Class Coastal Defence Ship HSwMS Manligheten Queen Alexandra Docks Cardiff to Coal,1937

John Grantham, Lord Mayor of Newcastle on board the visiting Swedish warship Manligheten, 5 June 1937 TWAM ref. DF.GRA53

Swedish Aran Class Coastal Defence Ship HSwMS Manligheten at the Queen Alexandra Docks, Cardiff to coal, 1937

Swedish Aran Class Coastal Defence Ship HSwMS Manligheten at the Queen Alexandra Docks Cardiff, 1937. Note her large steam launch, covered to the left

That’s no joke

Blindfolded Boxing in Öresund on board Manligheten 1938 MM01487

A close-up of the above (MM01487). Check out those expressions.

Manligheten at sea 1938 MM01499

War, again

Then came World War II and, with Sweden seriously isolated and pressured by the Germans, stepped up her Neutralitesvakten as much as possible.

However, by this time the 40-year-old Arans were in rough shape. Tapperheten had been laid up in a sort of reserve capacity since 1928 while Aran was likewise mothballed in 1933. Wasa, which had not been refitted since 1924, was found to be in such poor condition that she was decommissioned in 1940 and rebuilt for use as a decoy target ship.

Manligheten, in the best material condition, retained her original 8.3-inch and 6″/45 guns as well as her pair of 25mm/58 cal Bofors m/32 AAA guns, but landed all of her old 57s in favor of a battery of four 57mm Bofors Lvk m/1924s, two 40mm/56 cal Bofors m/36s, and a pair of 8x63mm Browning Kulspruta Lvksp m/36 water-cooled heavy machine guns. Her torpedo tubes were retired. This armament package, along with topside changes, a single and more streamlined mast, camouflage, and recognition stripe, greatly changed her appearance.

H.M. Pansarskepp Manligheten WWII D 14983_23

Trainees on Manligheten note 40mm Bofors Fo196844

Pansarbåt Manligheten WWII Fo124AB

Tapperheten and Aran likewise received the same modernization.

Manligheten was, notably, a flagship for the task force searching for the lost Swedish Draken class submarine HSvMS Ulven (Wolf) in April 1943, which had been sunk by a mine.

Battleship Manligheten. On the West Coast on 20 Apr. 1943 Fo89732A

Two Swedish minesweeping trawlers (Minsvepare) and Pansarskepp Manligheten, during the search for the submarine Ulven. Note the false bow and wave painted on her hull. Fo125AB

1945: The 1,500-ton Sveabolaget-owned cargo ship turned auxiliary cruiser (hjälpkryssaren) Fidra (Hjkr 10), pansarskeppet Manligheten, 1,200-ron Gothenburg-class destroyer leader (stadsjagare) Karlskrona (J8), and the 685-ton coastal destroyer (kustjagare) Mode (29). Marinmuseum IV1025

Gothenburg Squadron summer 1946, sans white recognition stripe. HMS Manligheten MM01373

The 1946 Jane’s listing for the three active members of the class (Wasa was a target ship by 1940).

Following the end of the war, Aran and Tapperheten were withdrawn from service on 13 June 1947 and scrapped, while the hulked target ship/decoy Wasa experienced a similar fate.

Manligheten was the last of her class in commission, withdrawn from service on 24 February 1950. She was partially scrapped in 1952-53 at Karlskrona.

Manligheten Skrotningar scrapping 1953 V5515

Manligheten Skrotningar scrapping 1953 V5516

While her guns (more on this below), superstructure, and machinery were removed, Manligheten’s welded-up armored hull, under the shortened name “MA” proved sturdy enough to continue service as a floating pontoon dock at the new Gullmarsbasen naval base in remote Skredsvik on the country’s west coast, where she served as a base for the minesweepers stationed there in the 1950s and the mothballed destroyers HSvMS Göteborg (J5) and HSvMS Stockholm (J6) in the 1960s.

It was planned to tow the old girl around the country for use as a Krigsbro (ersatz war bridge) if needed during WWIII.

In 1984, ex-Manligheten/MA was disposed of by the Swedish military after 80 years of service and sold commercially for continued use as a floating dock, a role she would continue until 2015, hosting tugs for the Switzer group at Lahälla in Brofjorden. It was only afterward that she was sold to the breakers. 

Manligheten’s hull in Lahälla in Brofjorden in Bohuslän in 2011. The ship’s hull then functioned as a berth for tugboats. Preemraff can be seen in the background. Photo via WikiCommons

Arming coastal outposts

The main and secondary armament from Oscar II, the three Svea class, and the four Aran class pansarskepp were extensively redeployed around the country in the 1940s ashore as kustartilleripjäs (coastal artillery piece) for use by the five coastal artillery regiments (kustartilleriregemente)– KA 1, Vaxholms; KA 2, Karlskrona; KA 3 Gotlands, KA 4, Älvsborg; KA 5, Härnösands. These included eight 210mm guns in three batteries and 22 152mm guns in nine batteries. In all, they would remain in operation (typically held in readiness for use by reserves upon mobilization) until the late 1960s in the case of the 210s and 2001(!) when it came to the 152s.

One of the three 152mm guns of Battery Trelge (TG), manned by KA3 in wartime, remained in materiel readiness a bit into the 1980s. Even these old guns, manned by a dozen reservists, could still crank out 101-pound shells at 7 shots per minute to a range of 23,000 yards. The cage around it is for camouflage netting. GFM.001870

21 cm kanon m/98A

  • Hamnskär (3 pj) HS KA1 Discontinued 1962, (last firing 1962).
  • Hultungs (3 pj) HG KA3 Discontinued 1964 (last firing 64), Decommissioned 1968.
  • Öppenskär (2 pj) ÖS KA2 Discontinued 1959, Decommissioned 1965.

15,2 cm kanon m/98E i 15,2 cm vallav m/38 (15,2 cm pjäs m/98E-38)

  • Korsö (2 pj) KO/KO1 KA1 Decommissioned 1992.
  • Korsö (2 pj) KO/KO1 KA1 Decommissioned 1992.
  • Söderarm (2 pj) SA/SA1 KA1 Replaced by 12/70, last KFÖ 1968.
  • Mellsten (3 pj) M1 KA1 Replaced by 12/70.
  • Bungenäs (3 pj) BN KA3 Replaced by 15/51, Decommissioned 2001.
  • Trelge (3 pj) TG KA3 Discontinued 1978/79, Decommissioned 1999.
  • Lungskär (3 pj) LR KA2 Discontinued 1978/79, Decommissioned 1999.
  • Trelleborg (Dalköpinge) (1 pj) TE/TE1 KA2 Replaced by 12/70.
  • Holmögadd (3 pj) HD/HO1 KA5 Replaced by 12/70, Decommissioned 1980.

The coast artillery augmented these static gun batteries with S.11 rockets (RBS- 52) and locally made RBS-15s as well as 24 Bofors 120mm R Kapj 12/80 KARIN mobile guns and 30 12/70 single ERSTA emplacements— the latter two based on the excellent domestically produced Haubits FH-77 field howitzer– in the 1980s.

The 120mm 12/70 ERSTA emplacements and 12/80 KARIN mobile guns had a rate of fire of up to 16 rounds per minute and a range of 32 kilometers. They were only withdrawn in 2000. 

The last Bofors guns were fired on 26 September 2000 and the units disbanded by October 31 of that year, rebranded as amphibious troops (amfibiebataljonen).

Today they use portable Hellfire launchers, designated the RBS-17.

Swedish Älvsborgs amfibieregemente coast ranger RBS-17 Sjömålsrobot 17 Hellfire

A few 210s and 152 from the old battlewagons remain as museums, for instance, these at the Gotlands Försvarsmuseum

A 21 cm pjäs m98, removed from its emplacement. This was formerly a Pansarbåt gun.

Epilogue

When it comes to enduring relics, Manligheten’s 54×82 inch stern ornament is preserved at the Marinmuseum as well as some other items.

There is also some maritime art, such as the painting by Arvid above, and period postcards that remember the ship in better times. 

The Swedish Navy has not christened a third Manligheten.

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

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Kicking around an A4 Dissipator– that works

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The Dissipator concept came about briefly during America’s involvement in Vietnam. Early slab-sided Colt 601 AR-15s, Colt 602 XM-16s, Colt 604 M16s, and forward-assist equipped Colt 603 M16A1s all had full-length 20-inch barrels with a good portion of that being past the gas block/forward sight assembly. 

A circa-1962 layout from the U.S. Army’s Springfield Armory showing an early Colt 601. Note that the last 6 inches of its 20-inch barrel are past the forward sight assembly, with overall length hitting just shy of 39 inches.

 

Troops in tight situations, such as crammed into helicopters and pushing through triple canopy jungle, found themselves wanting something handier. This led to a “field modification,” which saw some simply hacksaw a few inches off the barrel to make the rifle shorter. This mod even became semi-official, with in-country workshops whittling down the barrel a couple of inches and then threading the muzzle to attach the flash hider. 

The hacked Dissipator was born – although there is no evidence that it was ever called this in military service. The mod made the 6.5-pound early M16 more compatible in overall length to the 35-inch long M1 Carbines which, while not in U.S. frontline service at the time, were often “acquired” from local South Vietnamese troops due to their ease of carry. 

The unwelcome news was that the Dissipator mod killed the rifle’s dwell time and made a gun that was already of questionable reliability at the time even more prone to fail. Doh.

Left is a workshop wall at the U.S. Army’s Springfield Armory with a Dissipator M16 second from the top. Its formal industry replacement, the Colt 610/XM177, can be seen above the Dissipator on the wall. Right is a Fleet Marine Force M16 workshop in South Vietnam apparently reworking guns to make them shorter ala Dissipator style, in April 1968. (Photos: Springfield Armory National Historic Site/National Archives.)

Colt even made the Dissipator concept refined with the Model 605, which included a bayonet-lug-less 15-inch barrel whose flash hider started right where the front sight assembly ended and a full-sized fixed buttstock and a rifle-length gas system. However, it was very soon superseded by the Colt 610/XM177/GAU-5A, which entered service by the late 1960s. With its adjustable two-position buttstock and a 10-inch barrel with a carbine-length gas system, it only took up about 28 inches of real estate and would go on to be the go-to shorty M16 for generations. 

While the military walked away from the Model 605, it turned out the concept of an AR-15 platform with a full-length fixed buttstock and handguards with a rifle-length gas system on a trimmed-down barrel made for a smooth-shooting rifle while still coming in (a little) shorter than a traditional 20-inch full-length rifle. 

A niche for sure, but one that black rifle makers took a chance on over the years with Adams Arms, ASA, Bushmaster, Delton, Doublestar, KAK, PSA, and Windham Weaponry all selling their own assorted takes on a Dissipator for the commercial market. The thing is, most of these are “mock” Dissipators, as they actually used carbine or mid-length gas systems with a low-profile gas block under the handguard. The A2 sight was pushed out as far as possible to give the short look of the Dissy while getting away from the old dwell time issue the Vietnam-era guns suffered from.

Faux Dissipator: top mid length 16inch, 2nd is a standard 20-inch rifle length pencil, bottom is a true dissipator with a rifle length system on a 16in HBAR

The latest Dissipator comes from Anderson, of all people, and they got the dwell time right without resorting to faux-ing it up.

I’ve got 500 rounds through it thus far and I think I am falling in love. 

The recoil impulse on this thing is smooth. I just wish it had a carry handle upper

More in my column at Guns.com.

Getting Muddy with the ‘Bees

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One of the best “events” I ever attended in Las Vegas was a talk given by Mike Rowe several years ago during the SHOT Show. To be sure, it was a very red-blooded crowd (Lt. Col. Oliver North was like five seats away from me), but Mr. Rowe delivered a lot of common sense akin to a modern Mark Twain.

On a recent “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” episode, Rowe was in my neck of the woods and visited the Navy Seabees while they were in a Field Ex in the mud at Camp Shelby. It’s entertaining if you have 25 minutes to spare.

Hawaii Cruiser Cluster, 80 Years Ago

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Eight cruisers, including some of the most decorated and famous of the Pacific War, just taking a break before getting back to the push to Tokyo.

Via Haze Grey History:

“A cluster of cruisers moored in Pearl Harbor, on 12 December 1943, after returning from the Tarawa invasion. The berths shown, near to far, are C-3, C-4, C-5, and C-6 for the cruisers, plus X-6, X-7, X-8, and X-9 in the background.

Photo from the Admiral Furlong Collection in the Hawaiʻi State Archives

At berth C-3 are a trio of New Orleans-class cruisers, with USS Minneapolis (CA-36) nearest, New Orleans (CA-32) in the middle, and San Francisco (CA-38) outboard in the distance. Berth C-4 serves USS Indianapolis (CA-35) with Baltimore (CA-68) along her port side. Santa Fe (CL-60) and Mobile (CL-63), the original “Mighty Mo,” are at C-5. The Atlanta-class cruiser Oakland (CL-95) has C-6 entirely to herself.
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USS Phelps (DD-360) is at berth X-6, with the destroyer tender Prairie (AD-15) next at X-7. Though not readily visible, the destroyers MacDonough (DD-351), Maury (DD-401), and Mullany (DD-528) are nested alongside. Morris (DD-417) and Bache (DD-407) populate berth X-8. The assault transport Gemini (APA-75) rounds out the photo at the upper left, sitting at berth X-9.
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It’s interesting to note the anti-torpedo protection in this section of the anchorage. Nets surround berths C-3, C-4, C-5, and X-7 – basically any cruiser berth with multiple ships, and the destroyer tender nest. By the lack of netting at C-6, Oakland was apparently not deemed to be as inviting of a target as the more versatile heavy and light cruisers to starboard.”
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St. Louis Slugger

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No matter what you call it: The Double Ugly, Lead Sled, Flying Anvil, Flying Brick, Snoopy, Rhino, Old Smokey, the triumph of thrust over aerodynamics, et. al, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom is a beautiful aircraft that looks fast even while sitting in a boneyard.

Speaking of which, check out this sweet 1980s Cold War image from the Museum of Missouri Military History showing this “Lindbergh’s Own” F-4E-44-MC Phantom 69-7267, complete with an “SL” St. Louis tail code for Lambert Field and a red Missouri ANG tail flash. This is appropriate as over 5,000 Phantoms were built (for 16 countries) at MDD’s St. Louis factory and another nickname for the bird was the “St. Louis Slugger.”

McDonnell Douglas plant in St Louis, with F4s and F15s running side by side in the late 1970s

A 1969 model, Baugher lists the above aircraft as being used by the Air Force’s 469th TFS (388th TFW)– which flew Fast FAC duty in Southeast Asia at the time– then the 34th TFS (also based at Korat through 1975) and the 35th TFW while on active duty for 27 years then in service with the Missouri ANG’s 110th TFS in 1986– dating the above image.

By 1987, she was with the California ANG’s 196th TFS, then served with the Indiana ANG’s 163rd TFS. Upgraded to F-4G standard in 1990, she then went back to “Big Blue,” serving another six years with the 81st TFS (52nd TFW) and later the 561st TFS (57th FWW) at Nellis AFB. Sent to the boneyard at AMARC as FP1015 in early 1996, she was sent to Tracor to be converted to a QF-4G drone, #AF132, flying out of Holloman AFB from 1997 until she was expended in a missile test on 27 July 2002, capping 33 years of service in one form or another.

As for the 110th TFS, since 2008 they have been the 110th Bomb Squadron (110 BS) at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, and operate the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.

Rangers and 101st Beat on the NGSWs

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The Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program just completed an important milestone with the SIG Sauer-produced firearms wrapping up testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

First arriving in quantity at the base in early October, the NGSW just finished new equipment training and a limited user test with troops drawn from the 75th Ranger Regiment and the “Screaming Eagles” of the 101st Airborne Division.

The training started with classroom work on the new systems, including SIG Sauer’s XM-7 rifle, which will fill the role currently held by the M4 Carbine series, the SIG XM250 light machine gun slated to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, and the Vortex-produced M157 Fire Control optics system used on both platforms.

An infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), installs the suppressor on the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle during new equipment training while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (Photo Credit: Mark Scovell, Visual Information Specialist, U.S. Army Operational Test Command)

Then came live fire on static ranges, compared to the legacy systems, and a series of drills in the LUT segment.

An infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), executes chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense (CBRN defense) day qualification with the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle and Fire Control while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (Photo Credit: Mark Scovell, Visual Information Specialist, U.S. Army Operational Test Command)

An infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), fires the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Automatic Rifle during the buddy team live fire exercise while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (U.S. Army photo by Mark Scovell)

More in my column at Guns.com.

Poncho of the High Seas

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Some 80 years ago today: Poncho, the mascot of USS White Plains (CVE 66), 11 December 1943 as the ship conducts her shakedown cruise between Astoria and San Diego. In the background, note the jeep carrier’s sole 5″/38 open-mount gun.

NARA 80-G-384069

The Casablanca-class escort carrier was a “Kaiser Coffin” built in Vancouver in just 277 days from laydown (11 February 1943) to commissioning (15 November 1943).

Before the end of the year, she had wrapped up her shakedown and was back at sea, bound for Kiribati with 333 passengers from VC-66, Marine Air Warning Squadron (AWS) 1, and Marine Night Fighter Squadron (VMF (N) 531. She then picked up 39 aircraft of VMF-113 and VMF (N)-532, and 398 Marines bound for Tarawa, where she launched her first aircraft: Vought F4U-1 and F4U-2 Corsairs bound for shore.

USS White Plains (CVE-66) in San Diego harbor, California, circa April 1944. She is being assisted by the harbor tug Wenonah (YT-148). White Plains is painted in Camouflage Measure 33, Design 10A. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) collections, #80-G-302258.

It wasn’t until April that White Plains shipped to the war proper with an airwing of FM-2 Wildcats and TBM-1Cs to take part in Operation Forager– the landings in the Marianas Islands. She would continue her service in the Phippilipines– serving with Taffy 3’s CarDiv 25 at Samar, as well as Operation Iceberg—the invasion of Okinawa.

White Plains received five battle stars during World War II and the Presidential Unit Citation for her part in the Battle off Samar.

Postwar, White Plains was decommissioned on 10 July 1946 and, after a dozen years in the reserve fleet, was sold for scrapping.

No word on what became of Poncho the sea dog.

Calling in

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Um, U.S. Marines or possibly Army Alamo Scouts in the Pacific circa 1943-45?

Nope, the above are French paratroopers of “Ancien du 3,” the famed 3e BPC (Bataillon de Parachutistes Coloniaux) somewhere in Indochina in December 1952. Note the USGI surplus frogskin/duck hunter camo, the M1 Carbines, M1 steel pots, and the SCR-536 “handie talkie” radio, which had even less range than the Carbines. The only Gallic items in the image that give the paras away are the muzzle of a 7.5mm MAS-36 rifle to the left and the OF37 grenades on the belt of the para to the right. Of note the MAS carrier also has a slung M1A1 Carbine. 

The photo was snapped after the assault on Na San Base 24, with the battle-weary paras extracted after seven hours of vicious combat.

For those curious, the cadre of what was to become 3e BPC was formed in Vannes, France on 8 January 1948 and then shipped to Indochina where it was fleshed out with local drafts and remnants of other units to become the 3e BCCP (3e bataillon colonial de commandos parachutistes) in Saigon in November. Renamed the 3e GCCP (3e groupement colonial de commandos parachutistes) in 1950 and disbanded due to losses, 3e BCCP was reformed in 1951 from a cadre sent from Saint-Brieuc the redesignated the simpler 3e BPC on 28 May 1952, six months before the above image. It served notably in the battles of Dong-Khé, That-Khé, and Na-San.

July 6, 1952 – French Indochina. Preparation of paratroopers of the 3e BPC before boarding on a Dakota aircraft at Bach Mai Airport. Réf. : TONK 52-146 R1 ECPAD/Defense

Dissolved upon the end of the French involvement in Indochina (with its all-Vietnamese companies– 3e and 23e compagnies Indochinoises Parachutistes— transferred to form the core of the new Vietnamese airborne unit) 3e BPC was reformed once again in 1955 for service in Algeria, based at Sidi Ferruch, then redesignated the 3e RPIMa (3rd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment) in 1958.

Shifting its garrison to the castle of Carcassonne– in metropolitan France for the first time in its existence– in 1962, the current 3e RPIMa has since then served in Chad (several times), Lebanon, Djibouti, Central Africa, New Caledonia, Togo, Gabon, Rwanda, Iraq, Zaire, all over the former Yugoslavia, and the Congo.

The regiment’s motto is “Être et durer” (“to be and last”) and it carries the names of 477 paratroopers lost in battle since 1948 on its roll of honor.

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