The German DW network has just released (in English) a sobering and fairly honest look at the massive 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union by the Axis, an event now 84 years past.
It is two hours long in two parts and uses first-person accounts from both sides as well as extensive period color footage.
If you have the time, it is worth watching.
Men of the 304th Army Cavalry Group perform night firing exercises with the 3.5-inch M20 “Super Bazooka,” 31 July 1952. A Boston-based Reserve unit, the image was likely taken at Pine Camp (Fort Drum) during summer training before the unit became the short-lived 57th Tank Battalion.
Signal Corps photo SC 405194-S
Designed after learning from the captured German 8.8 cm RPzB 43 and RPzB 54 Panzerschrecks during WWII, the Super Bazooka was slow walked into service but rushed to Korea in July 1950 when the smaller M9 2.36-inch ‘zook proved ineffective against North Korean T-34s.
By August 1950, some 900 Super Bazookas were holding the line during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and ROK forces used them to knock out enemy tanks the same month.
The Superbazooka even appeared in Army recruiting posters during the Korean War
The Polish military in the first half of the 20th Century cultivated a rich armored train (Pociag Pancerny) tradition that started in early 1918 with Polish units formerly serving in the Russian Army and newly independent.
This early train, Związek Broni (Arms Association), was created at the Bobruisk (Babrujsk) fortress using captured Russian rolling stock and armed with a combination of Pulitov 76.2mm M1902 field guns and Maxim machine guns. At the same time, a flatcar carried a damaged Austin armored car.
Zwiazek-Broni’s Austen armored car flatcar
Polish armored train near Arkhangelsk – 1918 during the Russian civil war. Note the Polish national eagles on their helmets. Signal Corps image via NARA
With 90 armored locomotives constructed by the Poles, this was later expanded to over 40 named war trains in the 1919-21 period of combat against the Reds, Balts, and Ukrainians in the East and German Freikorps types in the West.
During the Third Silesian Uprising, Polish insurgents used no less than 16 armored trains, such as “Kabicz,” seen here, against the German irregulars. The train consists of a T37 armored steam locomotive and two 2-axle iron coal wagons. NAC PIC_1-H-446-2
Once the wars were over, the better trains were retained and, eventually, modernized.
Just in case.
Polish armored train (Pociąg pancerny) Danuta in July 1935. Note the flatcar with motorcycles. NAC PIC_107-738-67
Polish armored train, 1939
By September 1939, the Poles had at least a baker’s dozen war trains in their arsenal, each typically supported by a dedicated supply train that included sleeping and coal cars, repair workshops, and flatbeds carrying light tanks. The allowance for a full crew of an armored train (with its support train) in 1939 consisted of 8 officers, 59 non-commissioned officers, and 124 riflemen, with most cross-trained in repair and maintenance tasks.
The Polish armored train PP 11 Danuta from 1939. From the left: artillery wagon, infantry assault wagon, armored Ti3 steam locomotive, artillery wagon. The train carried two 100mm wz. 1914/19 howitzers and 75mm wz.1902/26 field guns mounted on rotating turrets as their primary armament, while secondary armament was composed of nine 7.92 mm wz. 08 machine guns. She fought against the Germans for two weeks until trapped and scuttled by her crew.
With this tradition behind them, it was logical for the Free Poles evacuated to Britain from France and elsewhere post-Dunkirk to man some armored trains. After all, there was a cadre of men among them familiar with their operation.
Starting in July 1940, troops of the 1st Polish Corps soon manned a series of 12 armored trains, organized into four dedicated battalions. The idea was that these trains could race up and down the coastline and form a mobile reserve in the event of German amphibious landings, or shuttle inland to tackle paratrooper insertions.
Produced in the Derby Carriage and Wagon Works and by the LNER works at Stratford in London, the trains were dubbed A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, and M. While these varied in length, construction, and armament, they were usually much shorter than the type the Poles had operated 1918-1939, typically of just 4-5 cars with an engine in the middle.
A few images exist in the IWM with good detail.
Troops pictured manning an armored train on a line at North Berwick in Scotland, 4 February 1941. The train was armed with a QF 6-pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss gun recycled from a Great War-era Mk IV “Male” tank, two Boys anti-tank rifles, and six Bren machine guns. Photo by Walter Thomas Lockeyear IWM H 7033
Official caption: “Polish troops are manning an armored train in Scotland. They are used for patrolling lines along the coast, reinforcing any threatened point, and dealing with tank attacks where the railway offers the best means of reaching them. Each of two engines with one 6-pounder, six Brens, and 2 AT rifles. A speed of 50 mph, range of 30 miles without refueling.” Photo by Walter Thomas Lockeyear IWM H 7034
As noted by one publication,
Armoured train K, powered by a single locomotive, No 7573, was armed with two 6-pounder guns, as well as six Bren machine guns, two Vickers machine guns, four Thompson sub-machine guns (Tommy guns) and numerous rifles carried by the crew. Initially, the train carried some 14,000 rounds of ammunition, which was later increased to some 38,000 rounds of varying calibers.
Polish Armored Train K
By 1942, with the chance of invasion of the British Isles slipping away and the Poles better used in North Africa, they left their trains behind for Home Guard use and pulled stumps for warmer, and more German-rich, climes.
As detailed by Brian Osborne’s The People’s Army:
In their Home Guard role, the trains were each initially armed with two Hotchkiss 6-pounder cannon, a Vickers machine-gun, and four Bren guns. They were manned by 16 Home Guardsmen under a captain, with a lieutenant as weapons training officer, two signalers, and a train crew of four. In addition, there was a mobile base consisting of a passenger coach and brake van to provide crew transport and catering. This came under the charge of the second in command, along with a company sergeant major, a train crew of three, and a fighting crew of six deploying two Bren guns and a Boys anti-tank rifle – an armorer and a further three men, making a total in the mobile base of 14. Thus, each armored train had a total complement of 38 officers and men. The mobile base would be detached from the train when going into action.
However, after the war, the Poles continued to use armored trains into 1952 when the Dywizjon Artylerii Kolejowej (Railway Artillery Division) was finally disbanded and its inherited German and Soviet trains placed in reserve, capping a winding 34-year run.
Polish Dywizjon Artylerii Kolejowej armored train, in the late 1940s, a recycled Wermacht Panzerzug with French M1890 194mm naval guns
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
If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”
Above we see the 255-foot Owasco-class gunboat, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Pontchartrain (WPG-70) during rough weather while slogging along in the Pacific, 8 January 1950.
Commissioned during the last days of WWII, some 80 years ago this week, “Ponch” had a lengthy career that included lots of dreary service on Ocean Stations (13 of those shifts during Korea), a Vietnam Market Time deployment, and numerous rescues at sea– including one that was spectacular.
The Coast Guard got seriously ripped off by the White House in early 1941 when 10 of its best (and newest) blue water cutters, the entire 250-foot Lake (Chelan) class, were transferred to the Royal Navy as part of FDR’s “Bases for Destroyers” deal. These hardy 2,000-ton turbine-powered low-mileage cutters became Banff-class sloops in RN service and saw lots of service, with three lost during the war and a fourth damaged so badly she was scrapped in the Philippines.
A splendid example of the 250-foot Lake class cutters, USCGC Pontchartrain (WPG-46) and USCGC Chelan (WPG-45), seen on 30 September 1937. Under the canvas awnings are a 5″/51 forward, a 3″/50 aft, and two 6-pounders.
By 1942, with it apparent that the old Lakes would likely never return from overseas (at least not for years) and the U.S. firmly in the war, the USCG moved to build a replacement class of ten ships. To this number was added another three hulls, to finally replace the ancient cutters Ossipee (165 ft, circa 1915), Tallapoosa (165 ft, circa 1915), and Unalaga (190 ft, circa 1912).
Originally a 312-foot design that was a simplified follow-on to the service’s seven well-liked turbine-powered 327-foot Treasury (Campbell) class cutters, which had a provision to carry a JF-2/SOC-4 floatplane as well as two 5″/51s and ASW gear, this soon morphed into a much more compact 255-foot hull with an even heavier armament. The 255-foot oal guideline (245 at the waterline) conceivably allowed them to pass through the then 251-foot third lock of the Welland Canal in Ontario if needed, so they could operate on the Great Lakes at some future date.
The 1945 outfit for the class was twin 5″/38 DP mounts fore and aft, backed up by two quad 40mm Bofors, a Hedgehog ASWRL, two depth charge racks, and six K-guns. Overloaded already in such an arrangement, there was never a floatplane fitted, although the superstructure was divided into two islands to allow a midship location on deck for such a contraption.
While most carried SR and SU radar sets, Mendota and Pontchartrain carried more updated SC-4 and SF-1 radar sets. They all carried a QJA sonar set and Mk 26 FCS.
255 class leader CGC Owasco (WPG-39) off San Pedro, California. 18 July 1945. Note the short hull, packed with twin 5″/38s fore and aft as well as ASW gear and Bofors mounts.
Powered by twin Foster-Wheeler 2 drum top-fired Express boilers and a 3,200 kVa Westinghouse electric motor driven by a turbine, these cutters were good for 19 knots but could sail 10,000nm at 10 knots economically on 141,755 gallons of fuel oil, giving them extremely long legs. Able to navigate in three fathoms of sea water, they could get into tight spaces.
As detailed by the USCG Historian’s Office:
The 255-foot class was an ice-going design. Ice operations had been assigned to the Coast Guard early in the war, and almost all new construction was either ice-going or icebreaking.
The hull was designed with constant flare at the waterline for ice-going. The structure was longitudinally framed with heavy web frames and an ice belt of heavy plating, and it had extra transverse framing above and below the design water line. Enormous amounts of weight were removed using electric welding. The 250-foot cutters’ weights were used for estimating purposes. Tapered bulkhead stiffeners cut from 12” I-beams went from the main deck (4’ depth of web) to the bottom (8” depth of web). As weight was cut out of the hull structure, electronics and ordnance were increased, but at much greater heights. This top weight required ballasting the fuel tanks with seawater to maintain stability both for wind and damaged conditions.
Eleven of the class were to be built on the West Coast at the Western Pipe and Steel Company in San Pedro, California, with the first, Sebago, laid down on 7 June 1943.
Cost per hull was $4,239,702 in 1945 dollars.
Our subject is the second USCGC Pontchartrain, following in the footsteps of a circa 1928 Lake-class cutter which, transferred to Royal Navy 30 April 1941 as part of the Bases for Destroyers deal, entered service as HMS Hartland (Y00) and, 17 convoys later, was sunk by the French during Operation Reservist, the effort to seize the port of Oran as part of the Torch landings 19 months later.
While there was one CSS Pontchartrain on the Mississippi (for obvious reasons) during the Civil War, the U.S. Navy has never used the name.
One of only two 255s built on the East Coast at the USCG Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland (alongside sister USCGC Mendota, WPG-69), WPG-70 was the final Owasco-class cutter laid down by hull number, but far from the last completed. They were part of the initial six ships laid down in 1943, while the other eight all had their keels laid down in 1944. Both WPG-69 and WPG-70 were laid down on 5 July 1943.
Launched as Okeechobee on 29 February 1944, our subject was commissioned as USCGC Pontchartrain on 28 July 1945. Had the war not ended six weeks later, she surely would have made for the Panama Canal by Halloween and seen service in the Pacific with her sisters.
Eight of her 12 sisters were completed after VJ Day.
USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Aug 1945
USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Sep 1945. Note the split superstructure
Not destined to join Halsey for the push on Tokyo, Pontchartrain instead clocked in on a series of more than a dozen Ocean Stations, mid-way navigation, weather, and SAR points set up post-war to help trans-oceanic flights stay on path. Usually a three-week deployment, it was thankless and, on the very beamy 255s, sometimes one heck of a ride punctuated by regular twice-daily weather balloon launches, 450-foot bathythermograph drops every four hours, and an unceasing radio check.
The cutters steamed an average of 4,000 miles per patrol, and, with transit time included, staffed the station for an average of 700 non-stop hours.
One crew member noted: “After twenty-one days of being slammed around by rough, cold sea swells 20 to 50 feet high, and wild winds hitting gale force at times, within an ocean grid the size of a postage stamp, you can stand any kind of duty.”
Pontchartrain sister, the 255-ft. U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, takes a salty shower bath in rough North Atlantic weather on ocean station ‘Delta’, 650 miles southeast of Newfoundland and east of Nova Scotia
For the record, as noted by Scheina, Pontchartrain stood the lonely guard on 61 occasions:
Atlantic, while stationed at Boston and Norfolk:
Pacific, while stationed at Long Beach:
*During the Korean War:
During this service, her appearance changed significantly.
Laid up from 17 October 1947 to 5 September 1948 as the service ran into post-war budget cuts, she emerged from Curtis Bay with most of her armament removed. Gone were the twin 5-inchers, replaced by a single mount forward. Also deleted were her aft Bofors and all her ASW weapons save for Hedgehog. This nearly halved her complement from over 250 to 130.
USCGC Pontchartrain circa 1958. Note her single 5″/38 DP, with her open Hedgehog and last 40mm Bofors quad mount behind
It was while on Ocean Station November that our cutter, on 16 October 1956, stood by Pan American World Airways’ Flight 6, Boeing 377 Stratocruiser N90943, the “Sovereign of the Skies,” as she pulled off a water landing while en route from Honolulu to San Francisco.
The clipper, under the command of Pan Am Capt. Richard N. Ogg, with 31 souls aboard, was quickly running out of fuel with a windmilling No. 1 prop and a shutdown No. 4 engine, while still some 250nm out from the California coast.
Nearing OS November, Ogg radioed Pontchartrain, under CDR William K. Earle (USCGA 1940), who provided sea state and weather data to bring the clipper down easily.
The cutter then made ready for SAR and laid a trail of foam to mark the best course, a wet “runway” on the Pacific.
Coast Guard sailors aboard the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Pontchartrain use foam from firehoses to lay down a “runway” for Flight 6
The clipper ditched less than 2,000 yards away, just after sunrise.
As noted by This Day in Aviation:
At 6:15 a.m., at approximately 90 knots air speed, the Boeing 377 landed on the water. A wing hit a swell, spinning the airplane to the left. The tail broke off, and the airplane began to settle.
Injuries were minor, and all passengers and crew evacuated the airliner. They were immediately picked up by Pontchartrain.
Captain Ogg and Purser Reynolds were the last to leave the airplane.
Twenty minutes after touching down, at 6:35 a.m., Sovereign of the Skies sank beneath the ocean’s surface.
A USCG film about the incident, including original footage.
Besides Pan Am Flight 6, Pontchartrain escorted the disabled American M/V John C (1950), assisted the disabled F/V Nina Ann (1955), assisted USS LSM-455 aground on San Clemente Island, the disabled yacht Gosling, and the disabled F/V Modeoday (1957), aided the disabled yacht Intrepid (1958), the F/V Carolyn Dee (1959), went to the assistance of M/V Mamie and rescued three from the ketch Alpha (1960), medevaced a patient from USNS Richfield (1961), and assisted the disabled F/V Gaga (1963).
She was a lifesaver.
She was also a fighter.
A quarter-century after joining the fleet, Pontchartrain was finally sent to combat.
USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Jan 1970. Note she has her “racing stripe.”
She was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three, working in the Vietnam littoral, from 31 March to 31 July 1970. While her 13 stints on wartime Ocean Stations during the Korean War allowed her crew to earn Korean Service Medals, Vietnam was going to be a deployment of naval gunfire support in the littoral, rather than one of quiet radio and weather watches.
USCGC Wachusett (WHEC-44), a 255-foot Owasco-class cutter, providing some blistering NGFS off Vietnam
By this time, the 255s sported SPS-29 and SPS-51 radars, and some had provision for ASW torpedo tubes abeam of the superstructures, the latter aided by SQS-1 sonars. As such, they had been changed from gunboats to the more friendly “high endurance cutters,” or WHECs.
Jane’s 1965 entry for the 255s
Joining CGRON3’s fifth deployment to Southeast Asia, Pontchartrain was the “old man” teamed up with four brand-new 378-foot gas turbine-powered cutters, USCGC Hamilton, Chase, Dallas, and Mellon. Whereas nine of her sisters had been sent to Vietnam previously, Pontchartrain was the last Owasco to pull the duty.
Pontchartrain NGFS Vietnam 1970 Photo by LeRoy Reinburg
While the individual figures for Pontchartrain aren’t available, the large cutters of CGRON3 conducted no less than 1,368 combined NGFS missions during Vietnam, firing a staggering 77,036 5-inch shells ashore. Keep in mind that most of these cutters only carried about 300 rounds in their magazines, so you can look at that amount of ordnance expended as being something like 250 shiploads.
Check out this deck log for one day in July 1970, with Pontchartrain firing 175 rounds by early afternoon against a mix of targets.
Powder and shell consumption was so high that some cutters would have to underway replenish or VERTREP 2-3 times a week while doing gun ops.
Pontchartrain receiving 5-inch powder cases UNREP Vietnam 1970 Photo by LeRoy Reinburg
At sea off Vietnam. Australian destroyer HMAS Hobart approaching a Mispillion class replenishment oiler USS Passumpsic (AO-107) as it is tanking a Coast Guard 311-foot HEC, likely CGC Pontchartrain. AWM Photo P01904.005 by Peter Michael Oleson.
Returning to Long Beach, Pontchartrain settled back into her normal routine and continued Ocean Station, LE, and SAR work, along with the occasional reservist cruise.
In April 1973, the Coast Guard announced that, in conjunction with the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and the increased use of satellites, the OS program would be discontinued and 10 aging cutters retired– nine of them 255s. Sisters Sebago and Iroquois had already been put out to pasture.
Pontchartrain decommissioned on 19 October 1973, and by the following May, all her sisters had joined her. They would be sold for scrap before the end of 1974.
Some of Pontchartrain’s logs are digitized in the National Archives.
As for her skipper during the Pan Am Flight 6 rescue, CDR William K. Earle would go on to command the tall ship Eagle during Operation Sail—staged in concert with the 1964 World’s Fair—when 23 such ships assembled in New York Harbor. Retiring as a captain, he penned several articles for Proceedings, was executive director of the USGCA Alumni Association, and editor of the group’s journal. The Association maintains the annual Captain Bill Earle Creative Writing Contest in his honor. Captain Earle passed away in March of 2006.
Sadly, there has not been a third USCGC Pontchartrain.
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
***
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Each summer, I like to run a veggie garden. Just a small manually tended plot with cucumbers, beans, peppers, squash, tomatoes, etc. I love it and often have more than enough for personal use, passing on bags of surplus to grateful friends and neighbors.
(It’s always interesting how much produce you can get from a plot as small as a 1/16 acre)
I can’t recommend it enough.
The only bad part is that (generally) non-GMO, non-irradiated veggies grown without enhancers and pesticides turn south pretty fast. Sometimes faster than you can use them.
One cool thing is that the old ways seem to be growing more popular.
For instance, I saw this old card catalog (oh, the memories) repurposed into a free community seed bank while exercising my predilection to haunt library used book sales.
Good to see.
It happened 75 years ago today.
“Two North Koreans captured by men of F Co., 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, south of Chinju, Korea, are being searched and interrogated by a South Korean G-2 officer. 29 July 1950.”
Note the M1 Carbine-armed ROK officer’s rather unorthodox uniform capped by what could be a second-hand Australian bush (slouch) hat. Also, the Joe to the left has a muzzle cover on his carbine while the Soldier to the right is missing his canteen, which may have been loaned to the new EPOWs. Photographer: Butler. Signal Corps Archive SC 348779
After the armistice was signed in 1953, UN Command repatriated 70,183 North Korean prisoners of war as part of Operation Big Switch, which also included the return of 12,773 UN POWs to their respective countries; the latter figure contained just 7,862 South Korean POWs.
Another 22,959 Chinese/North Korean POWs elected to be sent anywhere else than home (mainly Chinese to Taiwan), with an Indian custodial force set to guard those defectors until they could be transferred abroad into 1954.
Some 7,614 Chinese and North Korean POWs died in UN custody during the war, mostly from tuberculosis and dysentery/diarrhea.
The ledger that recounts the number of Allied POWs that died in Chinese/Nork camps during the war has been forever lost to history.
It happened 75 years ago this month.
The Navy’s new F9F Panther jet fighter saw its first combat in July 1950, flying strikes from USS Valley Forge (CV-45) with the “Screaming Eagles” of VF-51 and “Sealancers” of VF-52.
Carrying four forward-firing Mk 3 20mm cannons, Panthers could also carry 3,000 pounds of bombs or eight 5-inch rockets. They chalked up some of the first Navy air-to-air kills in the Korean War (a Yak-9 by VF-51’s LTJG. Leonard H. Plog on 3 July and a MiG-15 by VF-52’s LCDR William E. Lamb) in the process.
A Grumman F9F-2 Panther of fighter squadron VF-52 aboard the Essex-class fleet carrier USS Valley Forge (CV-45) on 4 July 1950. NARA 111-SC-343067
Grumman F9F-3 “Panther”, of Fighter Squadron 52 (VF-52). Taxies forward on USS Valley Forge (CV-45) to be catapulted for strikes on targets along the east coast of Korea, 19 July 1950. Note details of the ship’s island, including scoreboard at left. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-428152
USS Valley Forge (CV-45) Flight deck tractors tow Grumman F9F “Panther” fighters forward on the carrier’s flight deck, in preparation for catapulting them off to attack North Korean targets, July 1950. This photograph was released for publication on 21 July 1950. Valley Forge had launched air strikes on 3-4 July and 18-19 July. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the “All Hands” collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96978
VF-51 and VF-52 were assigned to Carrier Air Group 5 (CVG-5) for a deployment to the Western Pacific from 1 May to 1 December 1950. The hybrid group included two other squadrons, VF-53 and VF-54, with F4U-4B Corsairs, augmented by a couple of F4U-5N night fighters of VC-3 and F4U-4Ps photo birds of H&MS-11, and a squadron of AD Skyraiders, VA-55.
USS Valley Forge (CV-45) Flight deck crewmen wheel carts of rockets past a Vought F4U-4B fighter, while arming planes for strikes against North Korean targets in July 1950. This plane is Bureau # 97503. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the “All Hands” collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96976
USS Valley Forge (CV-45). A Vought F4U-4B fighter is fueled and armed with 5-inch rockets, before strikes against targets on the Korean east coast, 19 July 1950. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the All Hands collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96979
Douglas AD Skyraider attack planes of VA-55 from USS Valley Forge (CV-45), fire 5-inch rockets at a North Korean field position. 80-G-422387
In the hectic two weeks between 16 July and 31 July, the wing dropped 141 tons of GP bombs, 106 tons of napalm, fired 1,865 rockets, and 160,662 rounds of 20mm cannon shells. CVG-5’s two dozen jets (of VF-51/52) flew 260 hours while its three dozen piston planes covered another 1,344, showing which had a higher availability and longer endurance.
A fuel or ammunition train burns near Kumchon, North Korea, after being hit by planes from USS Valley Forge (CV-45). Photographed on the morning of 22 July 1950. NH 96977
Burning after being struck by USS Valley Forge (CV-45) aircraft on 18 July 1950. The photograph may have been taken on 19 July, when smoke from these fires was visible from the carrier, operating at sea off the Korean east coast. 80-G-418592
Under attack by aircraft from Valley Forge (CV-45) on 18 July 1950. Smoke from this attack, which reportedly destroyed some 12,000 tons of refined petroleum products and much of the plant, could be seen sixty miles out at sea. 80-G-707876
CAG-5’s scorecard for those two weeks in July:
For the record, the F9F Panther was retired from Navy service just a half-decade after Korea, while the Sealancers of VF-52 hung up their helmets for the last time in 1959. Valley Forge, at the time re-rated as an LPH, was laid up in 1970. Meanwhile, the Screaming Eagles of VF-51 transitioned through F-8 Crusaders, F-4 Phantoms, and F-14 Tomcats before they closed shop in 1995.
The U.S. has long been trying to establish an Extended Continental Shelf in seven offshore areas: the Arctic off Alaska, the Atlantic (east coast), the Bering Sea, the Pacific (west coast), the Mariana Islands, and two areas in the Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico).
While past the 200nm EEZ, the U.S. ECS seabed stretches as much as 400 miles offshore, protecting exclusive drilling and mining rights in those waters. It’s a real thing under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the U.S. has been actively mapping these ECS areas since 2003.
And inside our claimed area was recently found the China-flagged research ship Xue Long 2 (Snow Dragon 2), which, at 14,300 tons, is China’s first domestically-built polar research vessel, and only entered service in 2019.
The advanced Finnish-designed vessel, operated by the state-owned Polar Research Institute of China, can accommodate 90 crew and scientists and has helicopter/UAV facilities as well as extensive survey capabilities.
A Coast Guard C-130J Hercules aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak detects and responds to the China-flagged research ship Xue Long 2 on the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) in the U.S. Arctic, approximately 290 NM north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, July 25, 2025. The C-130J aircraft was operating under the Coast Guard Arctic District’s Operation Frontier Sentinel, which is designed to meet presence with presence in response to adversary activity in or near Alaskan waters. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Air Station Kodiak)
Same as above
The U.S. Coast Guard detected and responded to the China-flagged research ship Xue Long 2 on the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) in the U.S. Arctic, approximately 290 NM north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, on Friday.
A Coast Guard C-130J Hercules fixed-wing aircraft from Air Station Kodiak responded to the Xue Long 2, an icebreaker operated by the Polar Research Institute of China, and 130 NM inside the ECS boundary.
The U.S. has exclusive rights to conserve and manage the living and non-living resources of its ECS.
“The U.S. Coast Guard, alongside partners and other agencies, vigilantly monitors and responds to foreign government vessel activity in and near U.S. waters to secure territorial integrity and defend sovereign interests against malign state activity,” said Rear Adm. Bob Little, Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Arctic District.
The C-130J aircraft was operating under the Coast Guard Arctic District’s Operation Frontier Sentinel, which is designed to meet presence with presence in response to adversary activity in or near Alaskan waters.
Some 80 years ago today, carriers of the British Pacific Fleet, organized as TF 37, sailing under the command of ADM Bull Halsey’s U.S. Third Fleet, teamed up with the American carriers of TF 38 to strike targets in the Japanese Home Islands, softening them up for the looming Operation Olympic invasion to begin in November 1945.
It was the end of what was left of the Emperor’s fleet.
Raids on Japan, July 1945. Japanese battleship Haruna under attack by American and British carrier planes in Kure Bay, Japan, July 28, 1945. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-490226
Raids on Japan, July 1945. Japanese battleship Haruna under attack by American and British carrier planes in Kure Bay, Japan, July 28, 1945. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-490224
The British task force under VADM Sir Bernard J. Rowlings had four armored carriers (HMS Formidable, Victorious, Implacable, and Indefatigable) loaded with 15 FAA squadrons of Corsairs, Fireflies, and Avengers. They were escorted by a battleship (HMS King George), seven cruisers, including hulls from the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy, and 20 destroyers (six of which were from the Royal Australian Navy).
For those curious, at the same time, VADM John S. McCain’s TF 38 included over a dozen “Sunday Punch” toting Essex-class fleet carriers, another seven Independence-class CVLs, eight fast battleships (including the entire SoDak class), 24 cruisers, and almost too many tin cans to count.
Fast forward to the past few days, and, as part of Talisman Sabre ’25, American and RN carriers sailed together again, backed up by ships from the RCN, RAN, and now joined by a Norwegian.
In the double carrier formation was: the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG 62) [ex-Chancellorsville], the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG 86), the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09), the Daring-class air-defence destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33), the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tide-class tanker RFA Tidespring (A136), the Royal Australian Navy Hobart-class air warfare destroyer HMAS Sydney (DDG 42), the Royal Norwegian Navy Fridtof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F311), and the Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332).
Assembled airwings included CVW5’s F-18E/F Rhinos, EA-18G Growlers, F-35Cs, Hawkeyes, and CMV-22 Ospreys; along with 18 British F-35B fighters—from the RAF 617 Squadron “Dambusters” and the 809 Naval Air Squadron “Immortals”— plus some cross-decked F-35Bs of the VMFA-242 “Bats” and Merlin Mk 2s on PoW, Wildcat helicopters from the British escorts, Cyclones from Ville de Québec, an NH90 from Roald Amundsen, and assorted MH-60s from both the Navyair and RAN.
Spanish frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez, which is deployed with the PoW group, has temporarily detached and is forward-deploying towards Japan.
(U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kaleb C. Birch)
U.S. Navy aircraft, attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, fly over the U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group, as it participates in dual carrier operations alongside the U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025.
U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group participates in dual carrier operations alongside U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025.
U.S. Navy aircraft, attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, fly over the U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group, as it participates in dual carrier operations alongside the U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025.
Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen
HMS Prince of Wales.
Ships front to back: Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, HMS Prince of Wales, Australian warship HMAS Sydney, with an F-35B taking off from HMS Prince of Wales.
Left to right: Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, HMS Prince of Wales, RFA Tidespring, Australian warship HMAS Sydney, HMS Richmond.
18th July 2025 – (Front/Rear) Australian warship HMAS Sydney and American warship USS Shoup.
Top to Bottom – United States Aircraft Carrier, USS George Washington, and UK Aircraft Carrier, HMS Prince of Wales.
Canadian Warship – HMCS Ville de Quebec.
Top to Bottom – United States Warships USS Robert Smalls, USS Shoup, and British Ship RFA Tidespring.
How about those HUGE national ensigns! Top to Bottom – Canadian Warship HMCS Vill De Quebec and Norwegian Warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen.
UK Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales.
18 July 2025 – US F/18 launches from US Aircraft Carrier, USS George Washington, as it sails alongside HMS Prince of Wales
Left to right – American aircraft carrier, USS George Washington, British Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales, Canadian Warship HMCS Ville de Quebec, Norwegian Warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, United States Warships USS Robert Smalls, USS Shoup, Australian Warship HMAS Sydney, British ship RFA Tidespring, and British Warship HMS Dauntless.
HMS Prince of Wales arrived at the Australian naval base, HMAS Coonawarra, on 23rd July, making her the first Royal Navy carrier to visit Oz since 1997 when the Harrier carrier HMS Illustrious docked at Fremantle as part of the Ocean Wave deployment.
Talisman Sabre is scheduled to run through August 4.
The concept of the “Glock 26X” has been around for a while and is a favorite “hack” of the 80 percenters and 3D printing enthusiasts. The issue is that the G43X, while a great gun, is somewhat snappy due to its short grip. Additionally, aftermarket magazines that increase the capacity to 15+1 shots can sometimes compromise performance. Further, the standard G26, the famed “Baby Glock,” while a classic some 30 years on the market, is a bit stubby while also having an overly chunky grip that doesn’t allow more than 2-3 fingers, depending on hand size.
Enter the G26X, which combines the best features of the Glock 43X, 19, and 26 into one ideal EDC handgun. Built on the Glock 26 platform, it has an extended grip to match the length of a Glock 19, allowing the use of standard double-stack G19 magazines. The overall profile mirrors the Glock 43X, but with full OEM double-stack Glock magazine compatibility. It also features the same accessory rail as the 43X, making it compatible with subcompact weapon lights.
Lenny and the gang over at the Glock Store are building the loaded (serialized) frame, just add the G26 loaded slide and mags. All generations of Glock 26, 27, and 33 slides fit and function.
It is supposed to ship starting in September with a $150 ask.