Between December 13 and 31, 1944 – Cognac (Charente). Maintenance and inspection of a Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber belonging to the 4e flottille de bombardement (4e FB) of the French Navy.
Ref.: MARINE 389-7165, ECPAD
Ed Heinemann’s Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bomber was famous in U.S. Naval service, doing everything from bombing Vichy French tanks during the Torch Landings in Algeria to the day the update went back at Midway to “scratch four flattops” from the Empire of Japan’s lineup.
SBD-5 Dauntless dive bombers Marine Scouting Squadron 3 VMS-3 Devilbirds Kodachrome. Note the distinctive grey-blue-white Atlantic Theater camouflage on the aircraft. NHHC 80-G-K-14310
Nearly 6,000 came off the assembly line during WWII and most went to serve in American hands across the Navy and Marines (SBD) and Army (as the A-24 Banshee). However, the Royal New Zealand Air Force fielded a whole squadron (No. 25) of SBDs and post-war Chile, Mexico, and Morrocco would keep the plane flying into the Cold War.
However, it may surprise you that the second most prolific user of the SBD, after Uncle Sam, was the Free French Air Force and Aeronavale.
Nonetheless, between mid-1943 and June 1944, the Free French AF received as many as 50 A-24Bs, flown by I/17 Picardie and GC 1/18, while the Aeronavale picked up 32 SBD-5s. which would be flown by Flotilles 3FB (Lv Felix Ortolan) and 4FB (CC Raymond Béhic).
The French naval SBDs were placed under the initial command of U.S. Navy Fleet Air Wing 15 at NAS Port Lyautey.
French SBD Douglas SBD 5 dauntles de la 4F
SBD 5 of Flotilla 4.FB 166 and 174, GAN 2 Cognac winter 1944-45.
From providing air cover over the Dragoon landings to moving inland to support the Free French forces in the effort to liberate their country, the A-24s and SBDs were well used, with the Naval units, in particular, flying an average of three sorties a day per airframe towards the end of the war.
Battered French Douglas A24 crew pose with locals in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region 1945
Flying together as Groupe d’aéronautique navale n°2, the two French Navy SBD squadrons spent lots of time dopping ordnance on German pockets left along the Atlantic Wall. It sort of made sense as most of these were port units garrisoned by the Kriegsmarine, which made it, in a way, a French Navy-on-German Navy fight, albeit all conducted on land– with donated American dive bombers famous for sinking Japan’s finest.
French Douglas SBD Dauntless 4FB and 3FB at Cognac, late 1944
French Douglas SBD Dauntless 162 of 4FB Cognac, late 1944
French Douglas SBD Dauntless 3FB Cognac, late 1944, Note the star and crescent tail insignia
Crew members of Douglas SDB-5 Dauntless dive bombers, belonging to the 3FB or 4FB flotilla of the No. 2 Naval Aviation Group, returning from a mission as part of the operations to liberate the Atlantic pockets, 1945. Note the Yank and RAF flying gear mix, including British Enfield holsters and USN “Mae Wests”.
Post-war, the French AF relegated their A-24s to use as trainers Meknès, Morocco, a role they retained as late as 1953.
At the same time, the Aeronavale took their SBD act on the road, flying from them via Flotille 4FB from the light carrier Arromanches (HMS Colossus, on loan) and 3FB from the escort carrier Dixmude (HMS Biter), over Indochina in the late 1940s, ironically making the French the last folks to fly the Dauntless in combat. They converted to SB2Cs in 1949.
French Douglas SBD Dauntless of 3FB au dessus du porte-avions Arromanches.
French Douglas SBD Dauntless of 3FB on Dixmude
Dauntless de la 3.F sur le PA Dixmude en Indochine en 1947
Today, Flottille 4F, the most decorated squadron in the Aeronavale, flies Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes from the French Navy’s sole carrier, DeGaulle, and is the only non-USN carrier Hawkeye unit.
Meanwhile, Flottille 3F was dissolved in Hyères on 31 December 1954– 70 years ago today– after flying their SB2Cs danger-close at Dien Bien Phu.
And, keeping the Navy Air-Aeronavale connection in the same space, this is from yesterday’s DOD contracts, emphasis mine:
General Atomics, San Diego, California, is awarded a $41,572,260 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001925F0028) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0014). This order provides for the advancement of the design of the future French carrier configuration of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and advanced arresting gear through the preliminary design review. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (91%); Lakehurst, New Jersey (5.6%); and Tupelo, Mississippi (3.5%), and is expected to be completed in January 2026. Foreign Military Sales customer funds in the amount of $41,572,260 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
80 years ago today. 30 December 1944 – Alsace. Gunners hide “Orléans,” an M7 HMC Priest self-propelled gun of the Free French 1re division blindée (1st Armored Division)’s 68e régiment d’artillerie, under a camouflage net. The outfit at the time was under the command of Maj. Gen André Zeller, a future chief of staff of the army and one of the later leaders of the Algiers coups in 1961.
The photograph is by Germaine Kanova (Kahn), born Germaine Sophie Osstyn, a well-known pre-war commercial photographer who pivoted from snapping images of actors and politicians to working with the Resistance– taking photos of sensitive German equipment for review by various Allied intelligence services in London. At age 42 in November 1944, she volunteered to follow the line as an official war photographer– the first female war correspondent of the French army– with the Section cinématographique de l’Armée française (SCA) chronicling the liberation of Alsace and then the invasion of Germany to include the liberation by French troops of the Vaihingen concentration camp outside of Karlsruhe.
Her wartime service was capped with putting down her camera in late April 1945 to fight on the line against German holdouts at Futzen alongside the “black feet” of the 2e bataillon de zouaves portés (2e BZP). These feats would earn her a Croix de Guerre, with a bronze star, in 1945.
Germaine Kanova, SCA, 1944-45
Returning to cinematic photography during the French Nouvelle Vague period in the ’50s, Germaine passed in 1975, aged 72.
Saved from a planned gutting by the Falklands operation, the capability was preserved– and even enhanced– for a 35-year run that included very successful over-the-beach operations in 2000’s Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone and then during Operation Telic during the 2003 Iraq War– where the latter saw a full brigade-sized amphibious assault on the strategically key Al-Faw peninsula in south-east Iraq.
Royal Marine Commandoes from 42 Commando hit MAMYOKO BEACH from Sea King helicopters of 846 Naval Air Squadron, in a demonstration of amphibious power during Operation Silkman in Freetown, Sierra Leone 13 Nov 2000. MOD image by Royal Navy PO Jim Gibson (Click to big up)
By the late 1990s, the RNs phibs included 13 dedicated new vessels: a 21,000-ton LPH (HMS Ocean), two 20,000-ton LPDs– HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, four 16,000-ton Bay-class landing ships of the civilian-manned Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and six 23,000-ton Point-class roll-on/roll-off merchant sealift ships permanently contracted to the MoD for use as needed. Basic math puts this at 263,000 tons of vessels dedicated to the ‘phib role, with about a quarter of that being RN manned and controlled.
However, this had been whittled away with the still-young HMS Ocean sold to Brazil– where she serves as that fleet’s proud flagship– and one of the four Bays (RFA Largs Bay) sold to Australia. Two of the Point-class RO/ROs have all been released from contract (while gratefully the other four have recently been retained on a new contract running until 2031).
Now, Maria Eagle, Minister of State for Defence, recently stated:
“All of the remaining crew from HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark have been reassigned: either to other platforms, to training courses, or into other positions supporting the Royal Navy’s highest priority outputs.”
Britain’s flagship HMS Albion (L-14), seen in the Java Sea, 2018. With a well deck capable of holding four LCU MK10s and another four LCVP MK5s can be held in davits, she can land 620 Marines on the beach in a single lift. Meanwhile, she can also accommodate three CH-47 Chinooks on her heli deck.
For reference, Albion and Bulwark only entered the RN in 2003 and 2004, respectively and the latter has been in an extended major refit to add 15 years of life to her! Both ships have been effectively in reserve since 2011, swapping places in reserve/high readiness conditions over that time, meaning both are low-milage vessels. The plan had been to retain them until at least the mid-2030s, but the Labor government has scrapped that idea.
The official disposal of Albion and Bulwark cuts the two most capable British “gators” from the fleet inventory, slashing 40,000 tons of sealift in the process. Coupled with the sale of HMS Ocean and RFA Largs Bay, and the release of MV Longstone and Beachy Head from the contract, the Royal Navy only has three Bays (two of which are laid up!) and four Points left on tap, representing 140,000 tons of shipping.
If the red button gets mashed in 2025, it looks like only one dedicated amphibious warship, the humble RFA Lyme Bay (L3007), would be able to take the call. Meanwhile, the Royal Marines have been reduced to just two deployable six-company battalion-sized units: 40 Cdo and 42 Cdo.
RFA Lyme Bay in the Mediterranean as she makes her way back to the UK after training with the Italian Navy, in November 2020. LPhot Barry Swainsbury MOD 45167525
Designed for 356 embarked Royal Marines, she can double that for short, uncomfortable, stints. Her tiny well deck can hold either a single LCU or two LCVPs while her heli deck (without hangar) can only support a limited amount of vertical lift. Her self-defense armament is limited to a pair of 20mm CIWS and a few light guns.
Besides the light battalion landed on the beach in five or six (hopefully unopposed) lifts by Lyme Bay’s sole LCU, anything else would have to be flown in by fixed-wing RAF assets to marry up with equipment brought in sometime later by the Point class RO/ROs to a seized local port. This can be alleviated a bit by the use of Mexifloat connectors– provided of course that the beach can handle the load and the deep water curve is close enough to the surfline to accommodate Lyme Bay’s 19-foot draft without grounding.
Churchill wept.
Since you came this far, enjoy this recent interview with retired MG Julian Thompson, CB, OBE, who got the call to take 3 Commando to the Falklands in 1982– back when the RN had a proper amphibious force.
Snub-nosed carry revolvers have arguably been around since 1849 when Colt hit the market with the “Wells Fargo” Pocket model. Now pushing into their 175th year, there is a reason they are still popular: a blend of simplicity, reliability, and concealability.
This year saw Diamondback Firearms introduce their sleeper Self Defense Revolver, a six-shot .357 Magnum all-stainless snubby that takes K-frame speedloaders, fits in J-frame holsters, and accepts common S&W grip panels from the latter as well.
The SDR is a good-looking gun. All the edges are melted, leaving virtually no sharp points and few snag points other than the exposed hammer spur.
We’ve been kicking an SDR around for several months and found it easily supportable, dependable in use and operation, and innovative with an easily removable cylinder assembly. Further, while not meant for long-range benchrest target shooting, it is accurate to fill the needs of your typical EDC snub gun.
And it works, these from the 15-yard mark, standing and unsupported
Did Diamondback knock it out of the park their first time at bat when it came to a centerfire revolver? Looks like it.
Above we see the Balao-class fleet submarine USS Bergall (SS-320)upon her triumphal return to Freemantle, Australia, some 80 years ago this week, on 23 December 1944, on completion of her epic Second War Patrol. The path of a 278-pound 8-inch shell fired from the Japanese heavy cruiser Myokois clearly marked, having passed from port to starboard through the sub’s pressure hull.
But you should see the other guy!
The Balaos
A member of the 180+-ship Balao class, she was one of the most mature U.S. Navy diesel designs of the World War Two era, constructed with knowledge gained from the earlier Gato class. U.S. subs, unlike those of many navies of the day, were “fleet” boats, capable of unsupported operations in deep water far from home. The Balao class was deeper diving (400 ft. test depth) than the Gato class (300 feet) due to the use of high-yield strength steel in the pressure hull.
Able to range 11,000 nautical miles on their reliable diesel engines, they could undertake 75 day patrols that could span the immensity of the Pacific. Carrying 24 (often unreliable) Mk 14 Torpedoes, these subs often sank anything short of a 5,000-ton Maru or warship by surfacing and using their deck guns. They also served as the firetrucks of the fleet, rescuing downed naval aviators from right under the noses of Japanese warships.
Some 311 feet long overall, they were all-welded construction to facilitate rapid building. Best yet, they could be made for the bargain price of about $7 million in 1944 dollars (just $100 million when adjusted for today’s inflation) and completed from keel laying to commissioning in about nine months.
An amazing 121 Balaos were completed through five yards at the same time, with the following pennant numbers completed by each:
Cramp: SS-292, 293, 295-303, 425, 426 (12 boats)
Electric Boat: 308-313, 315, 317-331, 332-352 (42)
Manitowoc on the Great Lakes: 362-368, 370, 372-378 (15)
Mare Island on the West Coast: 304, 305, 307, 411-416 (9)
Portsmouth Navy Yard: 285-288, 291, 381-410, 417-424 (43)
Bergall was named for a small fish (Tautogolabrus adspersus) found along the East Coast.
Via the State of New York Forest, Fish, and Game Commission, 1901, painted by SF Denton.
Laid down on 13 May 1943 at Electric Boat in Groton, Bergall launched just nine months later and commissioned on 12 June 1944, her construction running just 396 days.
Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut. Shipway where future USS Bergall (SS-320) is under construction, circa summer 1943. Two welders are at work in the foreground. 80-G-K-15063
Her plankowner skipper, T/CDR John Milton Hyde, USN, (USNA 1934), had already earned a Silver Star as executive officer of the Salmon-class submarine USS Swordfish (SS-193) across four Pacific war patrols that bagged 11 Japanese ships and commanded that sub’s sister, Snapper (SS-185) while the latter was under overhaul.
Bergall carried out shakedown operations off New England for three weeks then, following post-shakedown availability at New London, set out for the Pacific via the Caribbean and the Panama Canal, pausing to rescue the two fliers of a crashed Army training plane in the Mona Passage off Puerto Rico.
She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 13 August and was soon ready for battle.
War!
Made the flagship of SubRon 26’s SubDiv 262, Bergall departed from Pearl Harbor on 8 September 1944 on her First War Patrol, ordered to hunt in the South China Sea.
Arriving off Saipan on the 19th, she soon had her first encounter with the Empire’s fighting men:
Her first contact with the enemy came a day and a half west of Saipan when in the high periscope she sighted a small boat containing five Japanese infantrymen. Bergall closed, attempting rescue, but the efforts were abandoned when the Japanese made gestures that indicated that they wanted us to leave them alone and that we were the scum of the earth. The Americans marveled at the pride and insolent bearing of the enemy, admired their courage, and pitied their stupidity.
Continuing West, she damaged a small Japanese transport vessel with gunfire east of Nha Trang, French Indo-China on 3 October with an exchange of 5-inch (20 rounds) and 40mm (40 rounds) gunfire, and six days later sank a small (700-ton) Japanese cargo vessel just south of Cam Ranh Bay with a trio of Mark 14 torpedoes.
She followed up on that small fry on 13 October by stalking a small four-ship convoy off the coast of Vietnam and sent the tanker Shinshu Maru (4182 GRT) to the bottom via four Mk 23s– and survived a five-hour-long depth charging in retaliation.
On the 27th, she torpedoed and sank the big Japanese tanker Nippo Maru (10528 GRT) and damaged the Japanese tanker Itsukushima Maru(10007 GRT, built 1937) south-west of Balabac Strait, a heroic action seeing the two vessels were protected by a thick escort of four frigates.
On her way back to Freemantle on 2 November, she sank, via 420 rounds of 20mm, a small junk loaded with coconuts and chickens east of the Kangean Islands. Hyde noted in his patrol report “Regret the whole affair as picayune.”
Bergall’s very successful First War Patrol ended at Freemantle on 8 November 1944, covering 15,702 miles. Seventh Fleet authorized a Submarine Combat Insignia for the patrol and credited the boat with sinking 21,500 tons of Japanese shipping.
Not a bad first start!
Hyde would pick up his second Silver Star while the boat’s XO, LCDR Kimmel was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V.”
Cruiser Shootout
On 2 December 1944, Bergall departed Fremantle for her Second War Patrol, ordered once again to hunt in the South China Sea.
On 13 December, nearing sunset, our boat spotted a large ship at 35,000 yards off Royalist Bank and made a plan to attack after dark.
Over the next couple of hours, running in just 12-to-14 fathoms of water, she fired six Mk 23s while on the surface and received gunfire back. It turned out she blew the stern off the heavy cruiser Myoko and left her dead in the water. In return, the surfaced submarine was bracketed by shells typically credited as being 8-inchers from Myoko but more likely 5-inch shells from the escorting Japanese destroyer Ushio. One of these zipped right through Bergall’s pressure hull, a disaster that kept the submarine from surfacing while floating some 1,200 miles inside Japanese territory.
Her patrol report on the attack:
While the shell impact left no personnel casualties, the sub was severely damaged and, with no welding capability, repairs consisted of a mix of brazed and bolted plates, plugged with pillows and mattresses:
With all guns manned, demolition charges set for scuttling, and her damage patched up as best as possible, Bergall headed for home and was grateful when, on the morning of 15 December, she rendezvoused with the Gato-class submarine USS Angler (SS-240).
Transferring 2/3rds of her crew (54 men and one officer, the junior ensign) to Angler, Hyde noted of the attempt to make the Karimata Strait:
“if mandatory we could dive in shallow water and sit on the bottom. With Angler near at hand the enterprise didn’t seem too bad for the skeleton crew and officers. To have scuttled our ship in itself seemed unthinkable and it wasn’t much further to deep water in the right direction that it was in the wrong. The weather was very much in our favor too. The sky was heavily overcast with rain storms coming from the west-northwest.”
The men who remained aboard, all volunteers, comprised eight officers and 21 crew, the latter including at least three chiefs. This allowed an underway watch bill with two officers on the bridge, two men (helm and radar) in the tower, three (Chief of Watch, Aux, and I.C.) in the control room, and one EM in the maneuvering room.
By the end of the 16th, Bergall and Angler cleared the Karimata Strait without incident.
By the 18th, they cleared the Lombok Strait– just skirting Japanese patrol boats in the dark.
Making Exmouth on the tip of Western Australia’s North West Cape on the 20th, Bergall was able to remove the lightly brazed plating from the torpedo loading hatch and had new plates arc welded in place, enabling her to make for Freemantle on the 23rd where she ended her abbreviated patrol.
Hyde would receive the Navy Cross for the patrol and three other officers received the Silver Star.
The patrol was later dramatized in an episode of The Silent Service coined, “The Bergall’s Dilemma.” Hyde appears at the end of the episode for a brief comment.
As for Myoko, arriving at Singapore via tow on Christmas day, she would never sail again under her own power and surrendered to the Royal Navy in September 1945.
Japanese Heavy Cruiser Myōkō in Singapore four days after surrendering to Royal Navy units, tied up alongside the submarines I-501 (ex U-181) and I-502 (ex U-862) – September 25, 1945 IWM – Trusler, C (Lt) Photographer IWM A 30701
Captain Power visits the damaged Japanese cruiser. 25 September 1945, Singapore. In May 1944, five ships of the Twenty-Sixth Destroyer Flotilla attached to the British East Indies fleet, led by HMS Saumarez, with Captain M L Power, CBE, OBE, DSO, and BAR, as Captain (D), sank the Japanese cruiser Haguro in one hours action at the entrance to the Malacca Strait. When Saumarez entered Singapore Naval Base, Captain Power with his staff officers, paid a visit to Myoko, the sister ship of Haguro, now lying there with her stern blown off after the Battle of the Philippines. Crossing to the deck of the Myoko via the conning tower of a German U-boat, Captain Power and his party were met by Japanese officers who took them on a comprehensive tour of the ship. Two British naval officers examine what is left of the Myoko’s stern. IWM A 30703
However, with a short range (just 5,000 yards), the shallow-water Cuties had to be used up close to work. Carrying a warhead with just 95 pounds of Torpex, they were meant for killing small escorts.
Between 27 January and 7 February, Bergall made five nighttime attack runs with Cuties while in the Lombok, each time allowing a single slow (12 knots) Mk 27 to swim out at ranges as close as 200 yards. The result was in sinking of the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Wa 102 (174 tons)– picking up two survivors and making them POWs– and damaging the store ship Arasaki (920 GRT).
Moving toward the Philippines, Bergall sank the Japanese frigate Kaibokan 53 (745 tons) and damaged the tanker Toho Maru (10,238 GRT) off Cam Ranh Bay.
Then, on 13 February, working in conjunction with fellow subs USS Blower and Guitarro off Hainan island, she came across a ripe target for any submariner– a pair of Japanese battlewagons– the hybrid battleship/carriers Ise and Hyuga.
She ripple-fired six Mk 14s in a risky daylight periscope attack from 10,000 yards– without success.
She ended her patrol on 17 February at recently liberated Subic Bay, PI, having traveled 6,070 miles.
The “Cutie Patrol” would be immortalized in an episode of The Silent Service, “The Bergall’s Revenge.”
The hits keep coming
The boat’s uneventful Fourth War Patrol (5 March to 17 April) which included a special mission (typically code to land agents) and rescuing four USAAF B-25 aircrew from the water, ended at Freemantle.
Bergall then left Australia on 12 May 1945 on her Fifth Patrol, bound to haunt the coast of Indochina.
On the morning of the 18th, she battered a small Japanese coastal freighter in the Lombok Strait but didn’t get to see it sink as enemy aircraft were inbound.
Joining up with an American wolfpack in the Gulf of Siam including USS Bullhead (SS-332), Cobia (SS-245), Hawkbill (SS-366), and Kraken (SS-370), she sighted a small intercoastal convoy of tugs and barges in the predawn moonlight of 30 May, and sank same.
Then, on 13 June, she swept a mine the hard way while chasing an enemy convoy.
Ironically, the minefield, a mix of three dozen acoustic and magnetic-induction type mines, had been laid by Allied aircraft out of India in March and was unknown to the Seventh Fleet command. While the mine, which had at least a 490-pound explosive charge, was believed to be some 90 feet away from the hull when it went off, and Bergall’s hull retained integrity, it nonetheless rocked the boat severely.
The impact of the detonation jarred the entire ship. Personnel were knocked off their feet, tossed out of bunks, and in the maneuvering room were thrown up against the overhead. Lighting failed in the maneuvering and after torpedo rooms. The overspeed trips operated on Nos. 2 and 3 main Diesel engines, which were on propulsion, and No. 1 main Diesel engine, which was charging the batteries, causing all three engines to stop and thereby cutting off power to the main propulsion motors.
However, just 20 minutes after the explosion, Bergall had restarted her engines and was motoring away. While still capable of operations, her engineering suite was so loose and noisy it was thought she would be unable to remain operational and she was ordered to Subic, arriving there on 17 June.
Quick inspection at Subic found that the facility was unable to effect repairs and Bergall was ordered to shlep some 10,000 miles back to New London via Saipan, Pearl Harbor, and the Panama Canal.
Arriving at New London on 4 August 1945, she was there when the war ended.
Bergall earned four battle stars and a Navy Unit Commendation (for her 2nd patrol) for her World War II service. Her unconfirmed record at the end of the war included some 33,280 tons of enemy shipping sunk across five sunken warships and five merchantmen along with another 66,000 tons damaged.
Her WWII battle flag carried an upside-down horseshoe with the number “13” inside of it since so many incidents in her service had occurred on the 13th day of the month.
CDR Hyde, when he left the vessel in September 1945, was given a farewell watch by his crew. Engraved on its back was a large “13.”
As for Myoko, she towed to the Strait of Malacca in 1946 and scuttled off of Port Swettenham (Port Klang), Malaya.
Cold Warrior
Finishing her repair and overhaul– she picked up new sensors including an SV radar– Bergall rejoined the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 1945 and, as part of SubRon1, would spend the next five years stationed in Hawaii. This typically involved a series of reserve training dives, simulated war patrols and cruises between the West Coast and Hawaii, ASW exercises with the fleet, and acting as a tame sub for maritime patrol squadrons.
From December 1948 through February 1949, she roamed to the West Pac, visiting Australia and Japan for a bottom mapping exercise, a cruise that earned her a Navy Occupation Service Medal and a China Service Medal.
Bergall at Brisbane in December 1948, note she is still largely in her WWII configuration. Via Navsource. Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
Transferring to the Atlantic Fleet in June 1950, she had her topside streamlined, landing her deck guns and receiving a new sail, then, between November 1951 and April 1952, received a Fleet Snorkel conversion at Philadelphia Navy Yard.
Bergall circa 1950, with her topside streamlined but before her snorkel conversion.
The first, in 1949, was to a passing Van Camp tuna boat off the California coast.
The second, during LANTFLEX on Halloween 1954, had her periscopes and radar masts where sliced through by the destroyer USS Norris (DDE-859)’s bow, luckily without any casualties.
Ironically, USS Angler, the same boat that stood by Bergall after she was holed in the fight against Myoko a decade prior, stood by her and escorted the sub into port.
Bergall (SS-320) as a causality on 2 November 1954. Photo and text i.d. courtesy of Mike Brood, bergall.org.
Repaired, she completed two Mediterranean cruises (9 Nov 1955-28 Jan 1956 and 31 Aug -6 Dec 1957), and, once she returned, was reassigned to Key West Naval Station for preparations to be handed over at military aid.
Bergall 1958, returning from Bermuda just before she was handed over to a NATO ally as military aid. Via Bergall.org
Turkish Guppy Days
Between May 1948 and August 1983, the Turkish Navy would receive no less than 23 second-hand U.S. Navy diesel submarines, all WWII-era (or immediately after) fleet boats.
These would include (in order of transfer): ex-USS Brill (SS 330), Blueback (SS 326), Boarfish (SS 327), Chub (SS 329), Blower (SS 325), Bumper (SS 333), Guitarro (SS 363), Hammerhead (SS 364), Bergall (SS 320), Mapiro (SS 376), Mero (SS 378), Seafox (SS 402), Razorback (SS 394), Thornback (SS 418), Caiman (SS 323), Entemedor (SS 340), Threadfin (SS 410), Trutta (SS 421), Pomfret (SS 391), Corporal (SS 346), Cobbler (SS 344), Tang (SS 563), and Gudgeon (SS 567).
Our Bergall would sail from Key West on 26 September 1958, bound for Izmir, Turkey, where she would arrive 19 days later.
On 17 October, she was decommissioned and handed over in a warm transfer to the Turkish Navy in a ceremony that saw her renamed Turgutreis (S-342), officially on a 15-year lease.
The highlights of the handover ceremony, in Turkish:
Ex-Bergall/Turgutreis (S-342) in Turkish service. She would take part in the Cyprus War in 1974, among other operations with the Turkish fleet.
Turkey’s collection of Snorkel and GUPPY modified U.S. Navy fleet boats via the 1960 edition of Janes, to include Bergall/Turgutreis.
While in Turkish service, Bergall in the meantime had her name canceled from the Navy List in 1965 and was stricken from the USN’s inventory altogether in 1973, with ownership transferred to Istanbul.
Following the delivery of new Type 209 submarines from West Germany, Bergall/Turgutreis was no longer needed for fleet operations and in April 1983 she was decommissioned.
Renamed Ceryan Botu-6, she was relegated to pier side service at Golcuk Naval Shipyard for another 13 years, where she was stripped of parts to keep other American boats in operations while serving as a battery charging boat with a 15-man crew, primarily of electricians.
In June 1999, Ceryan Botu-6/Turgutreis/Bergall was pulled from service and sold for scrap the following year.
Turkey only retired its last two ex-USN “smoke boats,” Tang and Gudgeon, in 2004
Her wartime skipper, John Milton Hyde (NSN: 0-73456), retired from the Navy following Korean War service as a captain with a Navy Cross and three Silver Stars on his salad bar. He passed in 1981, aged 71, and is buried in Arlington’s Section 25.
“The Old Man” completed 12 war patrols, five of them on Bergall.
The Navy recycled the name of its rough-and-tumble Balao for another vessel, SSN-667, a Sturgeon-class hunter-killer built, like her namesake, at EB, ordered on 9 March 1965.
USS Bergall (SSN-667) conducts an emergency surfacing test off the east coast, in September 1969. K-77428
Commissioned on 13 June 1969 (!) her ship’s crest carried five stars in a salute to the old Bergall’s five WWII Pacific war patrols. In another, less Navy-approved similarity to her namesake, she suffered a casualty-free peacetime collision with the submarine rescue vessel USS Kittiwake (ASR-13).
Notably, SSN-667 was the first submarine in the fleet to carry the Mk 48 heavy torpedo on deployment, as well as the first east coast-based submarine to carry a DSRV, and earned two Navy Unit Commendations. She decommissioned on 6 June 1996.
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.
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80 years ago this month. December 10-27, 1944 – Alsace. General de Lattre de Tassigny, at the head of the 1st (Free French) Army, and General Béthouart, commanding its 1st Army Corps, inspect the recently mechanized 1st Algerian Spahi Regiment (1er régiment de spahis algériens, 1er RSA) on the Alsace front.
ECPAD Ref.: TERRE 10038-L63
Note the American-supplied Stuart light tanks– the Free French operated a mix of 615 M3A3s and M5A1s during the war– and uniforms, particularly the famed 16-button “32-ounce” roll-collared Melton wool overcoats, beloved by Joes for their ability to remain warm even when soaking wet.
The 1er RSA– not to be confused with the later 1er régiment de marche de spahis marocains (1er RMSM)– was the first of the Spahi regiments in French colonial service, organized at Algiers in 1834 around a cadre of 214 horsemen seconded from the 1er régiment de chasseurs d’Afrique (1er RCA), which had been established two years prior.
It rapidly covered itself in glory in North Africa, earning six honors in 15 years (Taguin 1843, Isly 1844, Tedjenna 1845, Temda 1845, and Zaatcha 1849) across hard campaigning.
Detachments fought in the Crimea and against the Germans in 1870.
Shipping out to Indochina in 1884, it fought in the jungles of Southeast Asia for a generation– with one squadron sent for service in Dahomey– before earning further honors in Morocco fighting in 1907-13.
Rushed to the Continent in the Great War, the wild cavalrymen from Algeria were bled white at Artois in 1914 and the Aisne in 1915 before being sent back to the deserts, this time to the Palestine Front, to fight alongside the Australian Light Horse against the Ottomans.
Officers of 1er régiment de spahis algériens in 1920, with lots of Great War-era service medals via Spahis.fr
Disbanded in 1939 to form two infantry division reconnaissance groups (the 81st and 85th GRDI) which in turn were lost in the 1940 campaign, the regiment was reformed in Algiers in late 1942 around three squadrons of horse cavalry then got in some licks in the Tunisian campaign including the battles at Kranguet Ouchtatia and Ousseltia.
February 1943 – Tunisia. Patrol of spahis from the 1st Algerian spahi regiment advancing in the desert during the Tunisian campaign. Ref.: TERRE 22-221
Official caption: “Algiers, North Africa – The Famous French Arabian Cavalry- The Spahis- On Review During Presentation Of Curtiss P-40’S To The Free French By America.” (U.S. Air Force Number K87. Color)
Trading their horseshoes from tracks, the 1er RSA– technically now the 1er Régiment de Spahis Algériens de Reconnaissance (RSAR)– landed in Marseilles in Southern France as part of the Dragoon Landings in late 1944, they fought in Alsace at the Battle of Frédéric-Fontaine, breached the Belfort Gap, and stormed the Saint-Louis barracks. In early April 1945, they spearheaded the division’s crossing of the Rhine at Maxau and ended the war in German territory, fighting a die-hard SS unit at Merckelfingen in the last days of the war.
After returning to Northern Africa post-war, they fought against the AFN insurgency and, zeroed out after 1962, was formally disbanded in 1964, its banners cased and badges retired.
One of the unit’s spectacular service uniforms is preserved in the Musée de l’Armée.
Designed beginning in 2008, the French F21 Artemis heavy torpedo is under production by the Naval Group (formerly DCNS) at the Bertaud Castle (Gassin) torpedo factory which dates back to 1912.
Designed to replace the old F17 which has been in service since the 1980s, the F21 carries a 440-pound warhead at 50+ knots and can be either wire-guided or active/passive acoustic when hunting for targets. It is an all-Western European program, with subcontractors including Thales and Atlas Elektronik, so it has a solid pedigree.
Going past validation shots in 2015-2018 before IOC, the F21 hasn’t been seen at work much.
Well, that is until earlier this month when a war shot F21sliced the Type A69 aviso ex-Premier-Maitre L’Her (F 792) in two, sending each separately to the bottom of the Bay of Biscay on 14 December. The shot came from an unidentified French hunter-killer.
The 4-minute 4K video release:
The F21 equips not only the Republic’s 10 boats (four Le Triomphant class SSBNs and six Suffren and Rubis class SSNs) but has also been exported to Brazil to equip that nation’s advanced Scorpene-class SSKs. Other current and future Scorpene operators, including Chile, India, and Malaysia, may also opt for the new fish.
80 years ago today. 25 December 1944, Philippines. Original wartime caption: “Left to right: Pfc. Philip H. Dunbar (Worcester, Massachusetts) and Pvt. Si Gerson (New York City) giving Christmas candy to Filipino children in San Jose, Mindoro Island.”
Photographer: Pvt. Ben Gross, Signal Corps image 111-SC-377725, National Archives Identifier 148727530
For the record, the rations, “Candy, Pan Coated Disks” were M&Ms– which were introduced to the commercial market in 1941– and were often regarded at the time as “Air Crew Lunch.”
Of note, Simon W. “Si” Gerson was a longtime member of the CPUSA and editor for The Daily Worker. He passed in 2004, on the day after Christmas, aged 95.
The Greatest Generation included Americans of all kinds.
The fourth U.S. Navy vessel named for the state of Iowa, the future USS Iowa (SSN-797), was delivered to the Navy on 22 December 2024.
Commissioning is planned for Spring 2025, to be held in Groton as the Hawkeye State is slim on blue water ports.
NEW LONDON, Conn. – (241219-N-UM744-1001) NEW LONDON, Conn. — The pre-commissioning unit (PCU) Iowa (SSN 797) arrives for the first time at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, December 19, 2024. The future USS Iowa was delivered to Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 4 from the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipbuilding facility downriver after recently completing a series of at-sea testing. The fast-attack submarine PCU Iowa and crew operate under SUBRON 4 and its primary mission is to provide fast-attack submarines that are ready, prepared, and committed to meet the unique challenges of undersea combat and deployed operations in unforgiving environments across the globe. (RELEASED: U.S. Navy photo by John Narewski)
The last Iowa, the famed BB-61, which was christened on 27 August 1942, was only stricken from the NVR on 17 March 2006 and endures as a floating museum at Los Angeles, the only West Coast battlewagon.
SSN-797 is the 24th Virginia class hunter killer delivered since 2004 and is the sixth advanced Block IV variant, which includes the big new LAB sonar array and 12 VLS cells. Going past that, she is the 12th battle force ship delivered to the Navy this calendar year.
