Guam, some 31 years young at the time, left Morehead City, North Carolina, on 27 Jan 1996 at the head of an ARG that included the transport dock ship USS Trenton (LPD 14) and the dock landing ships USS Portland (LSD 37) and USS Tortuga (LSD 46). Embarked was the 22nd MEU (SOC), made up of Battalion Landing Team 2/4, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 261, and assorted support elements, sailing under U.S. Sixth Fleet orders.
Just over two months into her (planned) six-month deployment to the Med and afloat in the Adriatic on a series of planned exercises, the call came on 11 April 1996 for Guam— the Mediterranean ARG with the embarked Landing Force Sixth Fleet– to sail at best speed to Monrovia, Liberia, some 3,000nm distant, where trouble was brewing. Leaving Tortuga behind (she was in Haifa, Israel, with the MEU artillery– Battery B, 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, and the light armored reconnaissance company, Company D (-), 2d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion) to take part in exercise Noble Shirley), Guam and the rest of the ARG made for West Africa.
Four days later, on 15 April, the Marines of the 22nd MEU’s flyaway forward liaison cell arrived at the embassy in Monrovia to begin coordinating with the deployed European Special Operations Command’s forward headquarters in the country.
By 19 April, Guam and the promise of embarked Marines just offshore became real when they arrived at Mamba Station located off the coast of Liberia. The mission now assigned to 22d MEU was to conduct noncombatant evacuation operations and to provide security for the American Embassy in Liberia– Operation Assured Response.
USS Guam (LPH-9), Op Assured Response off Liberia, April 1996. Note her mix of CH-46Es, CH-53Ds, AH-1s, and UH-1s.
As noted by the 82-page Marine History of Assured Response:
At 0600 on 20 April, the first helicopter sorties carrying Marines arrived to replace the soldiers at the embassy in Monrovia. The well-briefed platoon guides from Company F and Weapons Company BLT 2/2 came ashore first. The main body of Marines began arriving at the basketball court landing zone one hour later. Company F arrived first, quickly followed by the small 22d MEU forward command element and some MEU Service Support Group 22 (MSSG-22) personnel. Fast attack vehicles debarked carrying .50-caliber machine guns, Mk19 grenade launchers, and tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided
missiles, commonly called TOW missiles. These vehicles, combined with the mortars, machine guns, and sniper weapons already on station at the embassy, significantly enhanced the Marines’ firepower. The MEU completed the entire lift by 1015.
Company F, commanded by Captain Eric M. Mellinger, assumed security of the compound. The smooth transition left Marine squad leaders and platoon commanders with fire plans and field sketches drawn by the departing airborne troops. Starting at about 1230, soldiers from Company C, 3d Battalion, 325th Infantry, left in six sorties of three Boeing MH-47D Chinook helicopters. The last flight out of the embassy at 2015 included the outgoing commander of the European Special Operations Command’s Joint Task Force Assured Response. That evening, more than 275 Marines protected the compound. Captain Mellinger noted the embassy staff seemed overjoyed the Marines had arrived.
Guam, her two fellow gators, and (most of) the 22nd MEU would remain in/off Liberia with the ships often within direct-line sight of Monrovia for weeks as USAF aircraft ran a quiet evac operation ashore (103 combined sorties via MH-53 Pave Low helicopters, MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft, AC-130 gunships, KC-135 Stratotankers, and C-130 cargo aircraft) from M’Poko Airfield, with the Navy/Marine force providing muscle and presence.
USS Guam (LPH-9), Op Assured Response off Liberia, April 1996
The already split ARG/MEU was further dimenished when Trenton left for the coast of Spain to join with Tortuga for Exercise Matador 96 in early May, and Portland left on 20 June, leaving Guam alone on station off Liberia until the scratch-built SPMAGTF Liberia (732 Marines and Green side Navy personnel with 5 LAVs and 9 AAPV7s, along with six CH-46Es of HMM-264) arrived crammed aboard USS Ponce (LPD 15) on 27 June.
Between 9 April and 18 June, Joint Task Force Operation Assured Response evacuated 2,444 people (485 Americans and 1,959 citizens of 72 other countries) from Liberia.
USS Guam was decommissioned on 25 August 1998 and was disposed of as a target off the East Coast on 16 October 2001 in a SINKEX conducted by the John F. Kennedy Battle Group.
Although battered, Guam took over 12 hours to sink. One tough girl to the last.
The Florida State Guard’s Camp Blanding Joint Training Center just welcomed new members for a 24-day training cycle “designed to equip volunteers with the skills, discipline, and readiness to serve Florida when it matters most. Alpha and Bravo Companies completed administrative in-processing and medical screenings before moving into barracks, with cadre setting the standard from day one.”
The Florida State Guard’s Camp Blanding Joint Training Center
Say what?
Yup, while just about every state and territory authorizes a local defense force outside of the National Guard and Reserves, just 19 states and Puerto Rico have active ones, with the Sunshine State’s Guard, which traces its origin to 1941 (it numbered 2,100 men during WWII), as among the largest and best organized.
M1917-armed Florida Defense Force Personnel at U.S.O., Jacksonville. 1942. Spottswood Studio Collection. The Florida Defense Force, later known as the Florida State Guard, was formed in 1941 and numbered 2,100 men in 36 units two years later.
Benefitting from $10 million in annual funding from the state and access to surplus equipment from the DOD/DOW, the current FSG is authorized at 1,500 drilling members but only has about 1,000 on the rolls (hence the new recruit classes).
Authorized to wear UCP-ACUs and state markings to include a Florida flag shoulder patch, the FSG has a Crisis Response Battalion, a Maritime Response Squadron, an Aviation Response Squadron with two Bell 412EPs (N402TL and N77TL) helicopters, two surplus UH-1Ds (N205FS, N207FS ) two surplus UH-60As (N70K and N898VH), three Textron T206Hs (N152BF, N760CS, and N6384J) a Beech B300 (N5055J), two Cessna 206s; and an armed Special Missions Unit.
Florida State Guard Crisis Response Battalion
Florida State Guard Crisis Response Battalion Fat Trucks
Florida State Guard Aviation Response Squadron
Florida State Guard Aviation Response Squadron with UH-1D N205FS
Florida State Guard Aviation Response Squadron, note the Gator flash on the Huey
Florida State Guard Aviation Response Squadron
Florida State Guard UAS team
Florida State Guard Maritime Response Squadron Metal Shark 300 PQS
Florida State Guard Maritime Response Squadron
Florida State Guard Maritime Response Squadron
Florida State Guard Maritime Response Squadron Metal Shark 300
Florida State Guard Maritime Response Squadron Metal Shark 300 PQS
Even with air and marine assets, the FSG is separate from the Florida Naval Militia (formed in 1897 and dormant since 1941) and the 3,800 volunteer-strong Florida Wing of the U.S. Civil Air Patrol.
Should every other state emulate Florida?
It would not be that bad of an idea. If you extrapolate its 23.6 million population, a similar unit along state per capita lines in all 50 would yield a combined 23,000 volunteers on a comparably shoestring $150 million budget, and provide a genuine civil backup to the often-deployed National Guard and Reserve.
True homeland security– not at the call of the President.
Official caption: “An F-35B stealth fighter jet is prepared for flight aboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) as the amphibious assault ship sails in the Arabian Sea. Tripoli and its 3,500 Sailors and embarked Marines are executing the mission to blockade ships entering and departing Iranian ports. The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations.”
The “Green Knights” of Iwakuni-based Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121 trace their lineage back to 1941 and were charter members of the Cactus Air Force during the Guadalcanal campaign, then went on to produce 14 aces– more than any other Marine squadron during WWII– downing 208 Japanese aircraft in the process.
They went on to fight in Korea (flying Skyraiders), Vietnam (Skyhawks then Intruders), became the first Marine F-18D night attack squadron in 1989 once the A-6 was retired, logged over 2,000 combat sorties during GWOT, and have been riding the Lightning since 2012.
Their motto is “Have Gun Will Travel,” which tracks.
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!”
Warship Wednesday 15 April 2026: The Fastest Yugo
Courtesy of Mr. C.W. Beilstein 1983. Naval History and Heritage Command Catalog #: NH 94341
Above we see the class-leading destroyer (razarac) Beograd of the Royal Navy of Yugoslavia (Kraljevska mornarica Jugoslavije, KMJ) shortly after she was completed at Nantes in 1939. Note her “B” hull identifier.
Lightning-fast at 39 knots during her trials, she was captured 85 years ago this week and went on to serve under two other flags until the final days of WWII.
The KMJ’s tin can needs
Emerging from the wreckage of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, mashed together with the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro by the Versailles Treaty in 1919, Yugoslavia needed a fleet.
The country inherited eight small 188-foot/250-ton torpedo boats, four Danube River monitors (the ex-Bosna, Enns, Körös, and Bodrog), four small TBs converted to minesweepers, and some scratch-and-dent auxiliaries from the Austrians. The largest ship collected from the smashed empire was the circa 1887 7,000-ton ironclad SMS Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf, which was condemned and sold for scrap within a couple of years.
In 1921, the budding polyglot country bought six surplus 500 ton German minelayers as tugs on the open market and armed them with new Skoda 3.5″/45s then followed that up in 1926 with the elderly German Gazelle-class light cruiser ex-SMS Niobe (2,370 tons) and added six new Skoda 3.4″/55s to that hulk, bringing her into service as the flagship Dalmacija.
Moving to purchase new construction, in 1927-31 the KMJ bought two small (236-foot/975-ton) 6-tubed Armstrong-built coastal submarines (Hrabri and Nebojsa), another two similarly small subs from France (Smeli and Osvetnik), the 250-foot/1,870-ton seaplane tender/minelayer Zmaj from Germany (capable of supporting 10 floatplanes, which the Yugos didn’t seem to have), and five 174-foot/130 ton Maclinska-class minelayers, the latter built by Yarrow’s Adriatic Yard in Kraljevica.
As part of the 1928 naval program, the KMJ moved to order from Yarrow, Scotstoun, what would be their most modern and well-armed surface combatant, the 2,800-ton destroyer leader Dubrovnik.
At 371 feet overall and powered by three oil-fired Yarrow boilers and dual sets of Parsons steaming and Curtis cruising turbines, she had 48,000shp on tap and was designed for 37 knot speeds (made 37.2 on trials).
Crtež razarača Dubrovnik, Yugo destroyer leader
Yarrow had built the experimental one-off destroyer HMS Ambuscade for the RN, delivered in 1927, and it could be argued that Dubrovnik was basically an enlarged take on that design.
Dubrovnik photographed by A.T. Kelly of Glasgow, while fitting out at the shipyard of Yarrow & Co., during the winter of 1931-1932. Courtesy of Mr. C.W. Beilstein. NH 94345
Same as above. NH 94344
Outfitted with four new 5.5″/56 Skoda single mounts— guns capable of firing 87.7-pound HE rounds at up to eight rounds per minute per tube out to 25,600 yards– Dubrovnik was one of the most heavily armed destroyers in the world at the time. In fact, her guns were the largest the KMJ ever had afloat, barring the trio of 12-inch Krupp M1888 L/35 guns on the old Erzherzog Rudolf, which were likely never put into service.
Škoda 140mm guns, Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik, May 1932, during a visit to the Netherlands, Den Helder, to install Hazemeyer fire control devices
Going past the 5.5″/56s, she had weight and space for an embarked seaplane, carried several 83mm M.1929 and 40mm/L67 Skoda AAA guns, and two triple 21-inch tubes for French-designed 1923DT torpedoes as well as depth charges and mines.
Dubrovnik was essentially a lead-in for the construction of a very similar new series of large (2,500-ton/377-foot) British destroyers authorized under the 1935 program, the well-liked Tribal class, which also had four gun mounts (for smaller 4.7″/45s), two funnels, and a three-boiler/two-turbine 44,000shp power plant for 36 knots.
The Yugoslavian fleet, circa 1937.
Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik in 1934
Delivered in May 1932, it was planned to build two sisters to Dubrovnik, and, since they were destroyer flotilla leaders, a whole class of modern tin cans for them to lead.
Which brings us to our subject of this week’s Warship Wednesday.
Meet Beograd
Named for the Yugoslav capital (Belgrade), the lead ship was ordered to a design from Ateliers et Chantiers after the fast French destroyer L`Adroit, which had entered service in 1929.
French destroyer torpilleur l’Adroit. The speedy French greyhound went 1,380 tons (standard) and ran 351 feet overall and, powered by three three-drum Temple boilers and two turbines for 31,000shp, could make turns for 33 knots.
French destroyer torpilleur l’Adroit. Armed with four 5.1″/40s and two triple torpedo tubes, she was a brawler, and the French would build 14 of her class.
Beograd would run a little shorter than L`Adroit (321 feet overall, 316 at the waterline with two funnels instead of three and less of a clipper bow) and hit the scales at 1,200 tons standard (1,655 full). Powered by three Yarrow boilers on two sets of Curtiss geared steam turbines, she had 44,000shp on tap and made just over 39 knots on trials versus a designed speed of 38.
Schemat niszczyciela Beograd
Armament would be four new model 4.7″/46 Skoda DPs, which could fire 52.9-pound HE shells at 10 rounds per minute to 18,000 yards. Secondary battery would be two twin 40mm Swedish Bofors with Dutch Hazemeyer fire control devices (one of the first mountings of such guns that would go on to become iconic), two 15mm Skoda heavy MGs, and two triple 21-inch torpedo tubes in addition to a stern depth charge rack. As many as 30 mines could be carried as well.
Laid down as Yard No. 585 at Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in Nantes in 1936, Beograd took to the water on 23 December 1937 and was completed in August 1939, just as Europe was marching to another world war.
Beograd photographed before World War II. Courtesy of Mr. C.W. Beilstein, 1983. NH 94342
Just 300 miles to the north of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia had just been swallowed up by Germany, Hungary (which occupied Carpathian Ruthenia), and Poland (which occupied and annexed the Zaolzie area), and things were getting tense between Russia, Poland, and Germany. Meanwhile, Italy invaded and swiftly annexed Albania to Yugoslavia’s south in April 1939, sending 22,000 troops across the Adriatic supported by two battleships, six cruisers, and two dozen escorts.
The first of at least two of Beograd’s planned sisters, Zagreb and Ljubljana, were ordered in 1936 from the new Ateliers et Chantiers-founded Jadranska Brodogradilista shipyard in Split, as Yard Nos. 22 and 23, respectively, and were likewise delivered in the summer of 1939.
Yugoslav Beograd-class destroyer Zagreb in the Bay of Kotor
Destroyer Zagreb, 1939
Jadranska brodogradilišta A.D shipyard in 1933, where Zagreb and Ljubljana were constructed between 1936 and 1939. The yard is still around, as Brodosplit, one of the largest Croatian shipyards.
War!
As noted by Dr. Milan Vego in his 1982 Warships International article on the KMJ, in 1940, the force counted 326 officers, 1,646 petty officers, and 1,870 seamen. At that time, just 64 former Great War era Austro-Hungarian officers (1 VADM, 27 CAPT, 27 Senior CDR, 5 CDR) were still on the rolls, while 336 officers were educated in the Yugoslav schools after 1918 (14 CDR, 110 LCDR, 27 ensigns).
The U.S. military attaché in Belgrade then observed that the “discipline and morale of navy personnel was very good. The men are content and like their life.” However, “higher commanders appear somewhat discouraged at the inferior position of the Yugoslav Navy due to totally inadequate appropriations.” In his view, “under such conditions the fleet units kept in service may be said to be in very good condition considering the small amount available for upkeep and training.”
Less than a month after commissioning, as Hitler marched into Poland, Beograd was sent to Britain with a large part of Yugoslavia’s gold reserves (7,344 ingots), which were deposited at the Bank of England for safekeeping.
Keeping their heads down in the event of a surprise attack from Italy, in which they had orders to make to sea to raid the Italian coast and shipping, Beograd and her sister ship Zagreb were deployed to the 1st Torpedo Division in the Bay of Kotor (Cattaro) with Dubrovnik. The third sister, Ljubljana, was undergoing repairs in the Tivat Arsenal after sinking in an accident on 24 January 1940.
It became clear that the Germans and Italians planned to move Yugoslavia into their orbit, especially after Mussolini invaded Greece in October 1940, using Albania as a springboard. When the 27/28 March 1941 coup in Belgrade changed the government’s polarization from semi-German to semi-Allied, the writing was on the wall. By 30 March, it became known that Germany and Italy had started evacuating their citizens living on the Yugoslav coast.
Mobilization orders were passed, and the KMJ’s warships were ordered to keep full bunkers, magazines, and stores, as well as charge the air valves in their torpedoes and depth charges. To keep from being picked off at pier side, they were ordered dispersed, and the crews of the ships camouflaged themselves along the coast; the destroyer Dubrovnik in the Bay of Kotor, the destroyers Beograd and Zagreb near Dobrota.
Royal Yugoslav Navy destroyer Zagreb heavily camouflaged with foliage on April 15, 1941
On the eve of the expected Axis (German, Italian, and Hungarian) invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Zagreb and Beograd, along with four 250-ton class torpedo boats and six MTBs, were sent to the port of Sibenik, about 50 miles south of Zadar– an Italian enclave on the Dalmatian coast which had been occupied since the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920– in preparation for an attack on the Italians, to be joined by a reinforced Yugo army division from landward.
While the assault on Zadar kicked off three days into the war on 9 April, it faltered, and Beograd suffered damage from Italian aircraft off Sibenik, which knocked out her starboard engine. Sailing back to the Bay of Kotor for repairs, Beograd and the rest of the Zadar assault flotilla set up a triangular kill box for attacking Italian aircraft, firing on successive waves over the next few days while the KMJ high command dithered over what to do.
Eventually, it was decided to try to evacuate the ships that could still fight to join the Allies in Greece and North Africa, and on the evening of 16 April, the submarine Nebojsa set out for Alexandria, followed the next day by the torpedo boats Kajmakcalan and Durmitor— without orders. Word was flashed to the KMJ that the surrender would begin at 0500 on the 17th.
With many of Zagreb’s crew heading ashore during the looming collapse, two of Zagreb’s lieutenants, Milan Spasić and Sergej Mašera, scuttled the destroyer, sacrificing their lives in the process on the afternoon of 17 April.
Spasic and Masera were posthumously decorated by exiled Yugoslav King Peter II with the Order of the Karađorđe Star with Swords in 1942, then awarded the Order of the People’s Hero by Tito in 1973. Zagreb never sailed again.
With Beograd hamstrung by her damaged engines, her crew disembarked in lifeboats and landed ashore at Kotor. She was captured there by rapidly advancing Italian forces just after Zagreb settled.
The destroyers Dubrovnik (left) and Beograd (right) photographed in the port of Kotor in 1941 after being captured by the Italian army. Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-185-0116-22A
Beograd in Bay of Kotor April 1941
Yugoslav Navy Beograd in Bay of Kotor, April 1941, Dubrovnik in the background
Beograd in Bay of Kotor April 1941 b
Dubrovnik in Bay of Kotor April 1941. Note the tall German Sd.Kfz. 231 armored car in the background.
Other vessels lost during the short war included the river monitor Drava, bombed and sunk by Luftwaffe aircraft off Cib with the loss of 54 of her 67 crew on 12 April, while her fellow monitors Morava, Vardar, and Sava were scuttled by their crews on the same day. The coasters Senj and Triglav were scuttled to prevent capture at the Island of Krk. Meanwhile, the cargo ships Karadjordje and Prestolonasledik Petar were sunk by Italian mines off Sibenik.
Germany’s Balkanfeldzug sideshow had only cost the Axis about 4,500 casualties to conquer Yugoslavia in less than a fortnight, but is generally believed to have forced the delay of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, by some five precious weeks, which could have made a huge difference in the outcome of the frozen Battle of Moscow that winter, which was a hard-won victory for the Red Army.
Under a different king
Much of the KMJ was put back into enemy service under either Italian or puppet (Croatian) flags over the next couple of years.
Dubrovnik served as the Italian destroyer Premuda from 1941 to 1943.
The destroyer Premuda (ex-Dubrovnik ) in the port of Patras on August 5, 1942.
Ljubljana, sidelined during the war in the shipyard, was completed by her new owner, renamed Lubiana (the Italian translation of her name), and sent to escort convoys to North Africa. She ran aground on 1 April 1943 near Tunisia and was destroyed the next day by an Allied air attack.
Italian destroyer Lubiana, formerly the Beograd-class Yugoslav destroyer Ljubljana, at Pola in January 1943
Destroyer Ljubljana under the Italian flag
Beograd, repaired and up-armed with several Breda Model 35 20mm L/65 AAA guns, was commissioned into the Regia Marina as Sebenico in August 1941.
Italian Navy destroyer Premuda, former Yugoslavian Navy Dubrovnik, crossing into Taranto circa 1942
Sebenico ex Royal Yugoslav Navy Beograd, weighing anchor, autumn 1942. Note her camo scheme and SB identifier.
Beograd/Sebenico’s career in Italian service was much more active than under the KMJ ensign. She was immediately put to work as a convoy escort on routes between Italy and the Aegean Sea and North Africa, completing over 100 runs over a period of two years.
Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik (Premuda) and Beograd (Sebenico) listed incorrectly as the former Ljubljanka, USN ONI 202 Flashbook on Italy 1943
Under the Reichskriegsflagge
After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943, several ex-Yugoslav and ex-Italian units were taken over by the Kriegsmarine and designated Torpedoboot Ausland (foreign torpedo-boat). These included TA32 (ex-Premuda, ex-Dubrovnik), TA43 (ex-Sebenico, ex-Beograd), and the TA48 (ex-Italian and Yugoslav T3, ex-Austrian 78 T), which were amalgamated into the hodge-podge 9. Torpedobootsflottille, tasked with escort and minelaying in the still Axis-held northern Adriatic.
In German service, TA43/Sebenico/Beograd landed her torpedo tubes and saw her armament augmented by seven 37mm flak guns in one twin and five single mounts, as well as two single 20mm guns.
Surviving air attacks and both Italian and Yugoslav partisans, TA43 was scuttled by her German crew in Trieste on 1 May 1945, just a week before VE-Day. She narrowly survived Dubrovnik, which had been lightly damaged by British destroyers in March 1945 during the Battle of the Ligurian Sea and was scuttled in Genoa on 25 April.
Varying accounts have Beograd raised and scrapped postwar, generally in the 1947-48 time frame, as Trieste was under UN mandate as a Free Territory before it was split between Italy and Yugoslavia.
Salvage of the destroyer TA32 (ex-Dubrovnik) in Genoa in 1950.
Epilogue
Little remains of our destroyer that I can locate.
As for the treasure that Beograd rushed to London for safekeeping, following the war, the Bank of England restituted 334,654.186 ounces of gold and coins to the National Bank of Yugoslavia between 1948 and 1958.
Models of Zagreb, who had the most heroic ending of her class, dot museums in Zagreb, Belgrade, and Kotor, her story and that of her two defiant lieutenants retold throughout the past 85 years.
Thanks for reading!
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
***
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Taurus on Tuesday announced its first entry into the dedicated PDW space, the fully ambidextrous 9mm RPC.
Billed as being built to NATO standards– keep in mind that the company competes for and wins military and police contracts all over the world– the new RPC is lightweight via alloy construction and runs from curved 32-round magazines.
And did we mention that it has a roller delayed operating system, which offers a flatter recoil impulse?
Note the case in the air and the muzzle still on target. (Photos: Taurus)
Controls are fully ambidextrous, with the bolt release/lock and magazine release easily reached from both sides, and a reversible, non-reciprocating charging handle. Note the rear vert Pic rail for braces.
Using a 4.5-inch threaded barrel, the RPC features a single-stage flat-faced trigger, an AR-15 compatible soft rubber over-molded grip, and three integrated quick-detach sling attachment points in addition to fully ambi controls and a Picatinny top rail.
A short M-LOK handguard is standard.
The RPC will be offered in two variants at launch, both with a rear vertical Picatinny rail, either with (MSRP $1098.99) or without ($939.99) a Strike Industries FSA folding brace. That puts it a couple of hundred bucks less than the roller-locked Springfield Armory Kuna and will likely come in under the cost of the Stribog SP9A3 as well.
Expect more on this interesting little guy from NRAAM this week, and know that we are eagerly trying to get one of these in for review.
On 9 April, some 86 years ago, neutral Denmark was attacked and quickly occupied by the Germans in Unternehmen Weserübung-Sud as a stepping stone to the invasion of Norway (Weserübung, proper).
The 9th of April has always held special significance for the volunteer soldiers in the Danish Home Guard (Hjemmeværnet, or HJV) and other parts of the country’s military, with “Never Again April 9th” (Aldrig mere 9. april) as a motto.
Formed just after Liberation in 1945, when the country had a robust Resistance movement, the Home Guard initially was divided into the black guard (sorte hjemmeværn) and the blue guard (blå hjemmeværn), with the terms coming from whether they wore recycled Axis (German panzer) uniforms or donated Allied (RAF blue)!
Formalized in April 1949, HJV combat patrols (kamppatruljer) began to appear across the country, organized at the local Army district level, and remained a fixture in the Cold War.
Thus:
Danish home guard (Forsvarets Hjemmeværnet) under en øvelse i 1980
Danish home guard (Forsvarets Hjemmeværnet) under en øvelse i 1980
Today, the HJV has some 45,000 members, with demographics averaging skilled workers in their 30s to 50s who have prior active military service. HJV members have volunteered to be deployed overseas in the GWOT, to Bosnia, and UN operations in Africa.
This April is also the 67th anniversary of the creation of the HJV’s Special Support and Reconnaissance Company (Særlig Støtte og Rekognosceringskompagni, or SSR), a “stay behind unit” intended to come out after Soviet/Russian occupation to perform direct action.
You know, Danish Wolverines, but with government backing.
The SSR was formed in 2007 from the amalgamation of two previous patrol companies (PTRKMP/HOK and PTRKMP/ELK) that were stood up in 1994, which in turn dated back to the old Special Intelligence Patrols (Specielle Efterretningspatruljer, or SEP) whose official birthday is considered 9 April 1959.
Selected from very skilled Home Guard members, who are typically prior active service, SSR members undergo 400 hours of training in 12 months (one classroom weeknight every week, one weekend in the field every month) before joining their patrol.
To be able to be considered for an SSR training spot, a candidate has to complete a five-day Selection process and ace these minimum physical fitness requirements:
A 2600-meter run wearing running clothes in a maximum of 12 minutes.
Two 20 km marches wearing boots, uniform, basic gear, and backpack totaling 25 kg, incl. rifle, excl. water and food. Each march must be completed in a maximum of 3 hours and 50 minutes.
Two land nav orientation marches (daylight and dark) using 2 cm army maps, with satisfactory results.
Swim test (minimum 300 meters, 15 meters of swimming underwater, deep dive 4 meters to retrieve a dummy, jump from a seesaw)
The unit consists mainly of volunteer soldiers from all over the country and is based at Tirstrup Field in the West and Skalstrup Field in the East.
The SSR is considered part of the country’s Special Operations Command and can be tapped to support the Jægerkorpset and Frømandskorpset.
As such, they wear a green beret with a distinctive and hard-earned sword-and-lightning-bolt cap badge (huemærke).
Not a lot of times you see an Ecuadorian fighter buzzing a CVN with a Rhino of Strike Fighter Squadron 137 (VFA-137) “Kestrels” as a wingman.
You know that Hornet is pushing stall speed to get this photo! Credit: Navy Lt. William Shortal, VIRIN: 260408-N-NO803-9035
Official caption: “Blue on Blue” An Ecuadorian Air Force Embraer A-29 [EMB 314] Super Tucano flies alongside a U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet above the USS Nimitz during a bilateral maritime engagement in the Pacific Ocean, April 8, 2026. The USS Nimitz is deployed as part of Southern Seas, an exercise designed to enhance capability, improve interoperability, and strengthen maritime partnerships with countries in the region through joint, multinational, and interagency exchanges and cooperation.
If you are interested, it looks like the Sidewinder carrying 18E above is the Falcon 12 CO bird 301, BuNo 168866, carrying the NA tail code of CVW-17. It is a Block III circa 2013 bird, construction number E243, and used to belong to VFA-97 until the latter went Lightning.
The Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana’s 2311th Squadron (La Escuadrilla de Combate 2311 “Dragones”) operates all 17 of the country’s Tucanos, purchased in 2009 to replace Ecuador’s elderly fleet of Vietnam-era Cessna A-37 Dragonflies, and is the country’s only combat aircraft type.
If you are a fan of U.S. military arms, especially of the 20th Century, you are well aware of Mr. Bruce Canfield.
The March American Rifleman has an article penned by Bruce on the Short Life of America’s Anti-Tank Rifles. Of note, he includes the early Browning .50-caliber AT variant, the Winchester Model 1918 .50-caliber High Power Bolt Action Swivel Gun, and the T1E1, a .60-caliber experimental design tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground in October 1942.
We saw an amazing picture-perfect sunny splashdown off San Diego this weekend of Artemis II, wrapping up a manned moon flyby that spanned 10 days and 694,481 miles, setting several records.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist, aboard, was seen as it splashed down at 5:07 p.m. PDT in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. NASA’s Artemis II mission took Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
With the splashdown process, the Navy is back in the space vehicle recovery game for the first time since the ASTP (Apollo-Soyuz) mission in July 1975, with the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) as primary recovery ship, launching a det of MH-60S Seahawks from the “Wildcards” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23 (HSC-23), and a four-man dive medical team with Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group ONE (EODGRU-1) to make the first contact.
Navy divers approach NASA’s Artemis II module to recover the crew in San Diego after returning from a lunar mission, April 10, 2026. The USS John P. Murtha is underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations, supporting the Artemis mission following its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Credit: Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class David Rowe VIRIN: 260410-N-MJ302-9161
Amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) steams through the Pacific Ocean, April 8, 2026. John P. Murtha is underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations supporting NASA’s Artemis II mission, retrieving the crew and spacecraft following their return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. NASA’s Artemis II mission sent four astronauts on a flight around the moon in the Orion space capsule, marking the first time humans journeyed to deep space in over 50 years. (U.S. Navy phot
An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, prepares to land aboard amphibious transport dock USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) following the extraction of NASA astronauts from the Orion crew module in the Pacific Ocean, April 10, 2026. USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) is underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations supporting NASA’s Artemis II mission, retrieving the crew and spacecraft following their return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. NASA’s Artemis II
There was a lot of nostalgia on this mission.
For instance, the crew reportedly took a small piece of the lost shuttles Challenger and Columbia, along with a one-inch square clip of canvas from the Wright Flyer sent over from the Smithsonian, making the Wright Brothers fly higher than they would have seen possible, Challenger make it to space one last time, and Columbia make it safely home.
One big callback for me is that the four Artemis II crewmembers received personalized blue-and-gold snapback Ships’ Caps to wear on deck once aboard Murtha.
The tradition goes back to Gemini 11, which was recovered by USS Guam in 1966, with Navy CDRs Richard Gordon and Charles “Pete” Conrad carrying the baseball caps aboard their spacecraft and donning them just before they stepped onto the deck of the carrier.
(15 Sept. 1966) — The Gemini-11 prime crew, astronauts Charles Conrad Jr. (right) and Richard F. Gordon Jr. pose in front of the recovery helicopter which brought them to the USS Guam. Photo credit: NASA. Date Created:1966-09-15. NASA ID S66-50752
The tradition was carried on throughout the Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP launches.
A few for reference:
The Apollo 16 Command Module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 27, 1972, after an 11-day moon exploration mission. The 3-man crew is shown here aboard the rescue ship, USS Horton. From left to right are: Mission Commander John W. Young, Lunar Module pilot Charles M. Duke, and Command Module pilot Thomas K. Mattingly II. The sixth manned lunar landing mission, Apollo 16 (SA-511), lifted off on April 16, 1972. The Apollo 16 mission continued the broad-scale geological, geochemical, and geophysical mapping of the Moon’s crust, begun by the Apollo 15, from lunar orbit. This mission marked the first use of the Moon as an astronomical observatory by using the ultraviolet camera/spectrograph, which photographed ultraviolet light emitted by Earth and other celestial objects. The Lunar Roving Vehicle, developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, was also used. NASA ID: 0401428
(8 Feb. 1974) — The crewmen of the third and final manned Skylab mission relax on the USS New Orleans, prime recovery ship for their mission, about an hour after their Command Module splashed down at 10:17 a.m. (CDT), Feb. 8, 1974. The splashdown, which occurred 176 statute miles from San Diego, ended 84 record-setting days of flight activity aboard the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit. Photo credit: NASA S74-17744 Date Created:1974-02-08
The Commanding Officer of the USS New Orleans, Captain Ralph E. Neiger, welcomes aboard ASTP astronauts Thomas Stafford, Donald Slayton and Vance Brand. The astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii at 5:18 p.m. today, ending the nine-day ASTP mission. The mission was highlighted by the rendezvous and docking with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit. Date Created:1975-07-24 KSC-75P-408 NASA ID: 75p-408
You just gotta love it.
P.S. If you have to have a repro of the old missions, check out Luna Replicas (not a sponsor, we don’t have those).
Official caption: “Pfc. V.L. Creswell, Newport, Ark., 25th Inf. Div., an ammo bearer on a quad fifty machine gun, rests while he waits to reload the blazing gun.”
Photographer: Cpl. Tom Nebia (ON), U.S. Army Signal Corps Archives SC 364044.
Creswell, shown with a 110-round belt of linked .50 cal draped over his flak vest, worked a motorized Maxson M45 Quad turret, thus:
Oh yeah
Known as “The Meat Chopper” from its use against infantry, the M45 was designed as an anti-aircraft gun. The electrically powered mount moved at about 60 degrees per second and could elevate to near-vertical and depress slightly less than the horizon for use against ground targets in enfilade. Two 6-volt batteries that were recharged by a small Briggs & Stratton gas engine, coupled to a generator, fed the electric motor on the mount.
Note wheels cranked out when stationary
That comfy gunner’s chair
Note the electronic solenoid for the M2s. Without electrical power via battery or engine, the Maxson was a lawn ornament
To this mount, the design added a central gunner’s seat of luxurious canvas, a large spiderweb-type graduated sight, and four Browning heavy machine guns arranged in a pair on each side, which provided .50 cal suppression in surround sound.
Fully equipped with 800 rounds of ammunition, an armor shield for the gunner, oil, fuel for the engine, and all accessories, the mount topped 2,400 pounds. This size fit in the rear of a large truck, half-track, or could be towed alone on a small M20-style trailer, and their firepower made them very popular with the Joes in the field.
As for Creswell, born one of 10 children in Independence, Arkansas, he was just over 20 in the top photo, his older brothers Bundt and Wimps serving in WWII. He made it out of Korea and returned home to marry Ms. Juanita M Higginbotham on 24 May 1952 before going on to work at National Standard for 26 years. Active in the VFW (Post 360), V.L. “John” Creswell passed in 1996 at the age of 65, leaving behind two daughters and five grandkids. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, South Bend, St. Joseph, Indiana.
