In 1951, arms maker J. P. Sauer und Sohn GmbH relocated from Suhl in then Soviet-occupied East Germany and set up shop in Eckernförde near the city of Kiel.
In 1976, the firm was purchased by Swiss firearms giant SIG, forming Sig Sauer– largely to have an outlet to fulfill overseas orders for guns like the P220 without having to cut through layers of Swiss red tape.
This also led to a huge series of West German police contracts for the P225/P6 handgun.
After that, Sig Sauer came to America, where it has expanded operations in a big way ever since. Today, the U.S. branch of the company employs 2,300 and is responsible for most of the recent R&D.
Meanwhile, the original German branch of Sig Sauer has atrophied to just 130 employees.
By 2021, there will reportedly be -zero- left in Germany.
“Dropped from above 25,000 feet, the mock B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb was in the air for approximately 55 seconds before hitting and embedding in the lakebed, splashing a 40- to 50-foot puff of desert dust from the designated impact area at Sandia National Laboratories’ Tonopah Test Range in Nevada.”
The platform for the tactical nuke? The common F-15E.
Samuel Colt launched his revolutionary revolver business in 1835 but within a decade started to see his products increasingly knocked off and the brand diluted by counterfeit and very much unlicensed clones.
Colt’s solution to helping make said cloning harder to pull off successfully was to introduce a series of scrollwork to his revolvers, specifically around the cylinder. His Model 1851, for example, had a naval scene.
Detail of Colt Model 1851, Serial No. 2, in the collection of the Met, note the naval combat scene on the cylinder. Some 215,348 Colt Navy models were produced. (Photo: The Met/Open Access Image)
The $13 billion supercarrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the inaugural ship of her class, has been underway for the past week or so in the Atlantic with the bulk of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 along for the ride– her largest aircraft embark to date— trying to work out some persistent bugs (more on that in a minute) but in doing so has was part of an amazing 40+ photo ex with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), whose strike group is returning home from a crazy long 270+ day cruise with 5th and 6th Fleet.
(U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ruben Reed and Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Riley McDowell/Released)
The 4 June passing was the first time a Ford-class and a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier have operated together underway.
The ships are near dead-ringers in size and general layout. Truman, the eighth Nimitz-class ship (last of the Flight II/Theodore Roosevelt subclass), was commissioned 25 July 1998 while Ford has been extensively working up since 2017.
Note that Ford has nearly 30 aircraft on deck, mostly Rhinos.
Both carriers tip the scales at around 100,000 tons and are the same general overall length within about a Volkswagen’s Beetle worth of difference (1,092 ft. on Truman, 1,106 ft. on Ford).
Unseen below deck, Truman carries a pair of older Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors, while Ford has newer Bechtel A1B nuclear reactors, with the latter reportedly cranking out about 25% more power while having a smaller footprint.
The islands are extremely different.
Truman carries AN/SPS-48E 3-D and AN/SPS-49(V)5 2-D air search radars along with a host of ATC and landing radars. Ford is equipped with AN/SPY-3 and AN/SPY-4 active electronically scanned array multi-function radar and her island is both 20 feet taller than that of the Nimitz class and is 140 feet further aft while being a yard closer to the edge of the ship (watch your step!)
Of note, the Navy was able to wave the banner of having seven carriers at sea at the same time for a couple weeks, anyway. Also a rarity.
Controversially, Ford has two other things that the proven steam-catapult equipped Nimitz class does not: the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), which is supposed to boost the number of sorties she can generate per day by 25 %, and advanced weapons and aircraft elevators. The thing is, both systems are buggy as hell, with the Navy basically being the Beta Tester on them.
For example, on June 2, just prior to a scheduled flight deck operation cycle, the ship’s Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) went down. Loss of EMALS curtailed flight operations to some extent, but the Strike Group, ship, and air wing team still accomplished significant goals scheduled for the Ford-class aircraft carrier.
After several days of troubleshooting and assessing a fault in the launch system’s power handling elements, embarked EMALS experts and Ford’s crew restored the system to enable the safe fly-off of the air wing on Sunday morning, June 7.
Five days with no catapult is for sure no Bueno for a carrier, although she was able to eventually pull off, “day and night cyclic flight operations totaling 324 catapult launches and arrested landings, qualifying 50 pilots,” during the weeklong period.
The weapons generator seem to be working a bit better:
200530-N-NX070-1123 ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 30, 2020) Aviation Ordnancemen assigned to the weapons department aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) bring inert training bombs up to the flight deck during flight operations, May 30, 2020. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting integrated air wing operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist RJ Stratchko/Released)
The air wing’s embark provided the first opportunity for Ford’s weapons department to execute a full ordnance movement using a lower stage weapons elevator. Performing as advertised, Ford’s AWEs conducted more than 1,300 cycles during this latest at sea period that enabled the successful transfer of 176 inert bombs in support of air wing operations. Ford’s AWEs have conducted over 10,000 cycles to date.
On the bright side, Ford was able to verify that her tactical data links are working and she embarked a strike group commander recently.
As noted:
Commander, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12 also embarked on Ford during this underway, marking the first time a Strike Group Commander and staff embarked on Ford for operations. CSG-12 was able to successfully conduct all intended command and control operations, control and distribute the link picture, and coordinate with Ford and Truman Strike Group assets as well as higher headquarters. Rear Adm. Craig Clapperton, commander, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12 assessed that the Strike Group and ship are ahead of schedule in this important command and control domain.
Most importantly, at least they got a Final Countdown photo for the cruise book…
200607-N-NX070-1076 ATLANTIC OCEAN (June 7, 2020) The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) steams through a storm in the Atlantic Ocean June 7, 2020, before disembarking Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8, following successfully integrated air wing operations. Ford is underway conducting an independent steaming event. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist RJ Stratchko/Released)
Almost forgotten in the shuffle with COVID and rioters, the 76th anniversary of the Overlord landings on Normandy just passed.
While over here we remember the double jump behind the lines by the 82nd (All American) and 101st (Screaming Eagles) Airborne Divisions are extremely well documented in their actions to the rear of Omaha and Utah beaches, the British/Canadian 6th Airborne Division also jumped that night behind Juno and Sword Beach in Operation Tonga, famously making a play for what is now remembered as Pegasus Bridge.
Two common pieces of kit observed on the Brit/Canuck Paras were skrim/scrim helmets and toggle ropes.
Future Elizabeth and the Queen Mother speak to British paratrooper 1944, prior to D-Day. Note his skrim camo helmet
1st Canada Parachute Battalion getting ready to leave Carter Barracks for their D-Day,. Note their STENs and chest pouches as well as skrimmed helmets.
Juno Beach, a weary 1st Canadian Paratrooper takes a rest in a slit trench. Varaville, Normandy. June 6, 1944. Toggle? Check. Skrim? Check
No. 4 Commando 1st Special Service Bde meet up with 6th Airborne Div Paras at Bénouville, 6 June 1944, behind Sword on D-Day. Note the Enfields, STENS with chest pouch, M1911 in the Commando’s hand, and various toggle ropes and scrim
British paratrooper during Operation Tonga with his skrim helmet and Mills bomb while a No. 4 Enfield bayonet is seen to the left, D-Day
Brothers, Lieutenants Joseph Philippe Rousseau & Joseph Maurice Rousseau, 1st Canadian Parachute Bn, looking like extras on “The Longest Day” of not “A Bridge Too Far” with their toggle & skrim
British 6th Para Div, DDay, Normandy. Do you see what I see?
The Toggle rope was (supposedly) very useful
Uniform and equipment worn by the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion paratrooper via Legion Magazine, note his helmet and toggle rope
Free French Navy commandos parade at Wellington Barracks on Bastille Day, 1943. They were issued British uniforms, Pattern 34 kit, and .303 caliber SMLEs but maintained elements of their distinctively French heraldry and kit, including French Navy blue berets with red pompons. Also note the toggle rope, an essential bit of kit issued to British commando types during this period, which could be used as both a weapon or for climbing/lashing
Double helmet scrim. Helmet from Op Herrick 2010 on left and OP Varsity, March 1945, Via the Museum of the Parachute Rgt
The Gemini IV space capsule is lifted aboard USS Wasp (CVS-18) on 7 June 1965 (55 years ago today), after completing a 62 revolution flight around the Earth in 97 hours and 56 minutes. The spacecraft, crewed by Astronauts James A. McDivitt and Edward H. White, landed about 48 miles short of its target and some 400 miles east of Cape Kennedy, Florida, at 12:12 PM Eastern Standard Time on 7 June.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Gemini IV mission covered over 1,600,000 miles in the longest multimanned space flight yet flown.
As widely noted by everyone from Military.com to the NYT, WSJ, and WaPo, Irene Triplett, aged 90, the last person to collect benefits for military service performed in the Civil War, recently passed away. Ms. Triplett, the daughter of a veteran of the conflict, received a $73.13 monthly check from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
As the last organized Confederate unit still in the field, Brig-Gen. Chief Stand Watie’s First Indian Brigade, laid down their arms at Doaksville, Oklahoma on June 23, 1865, this late chapter is closed 154 years, 11 months, and 8 days later.
Ms. Triplett’s pa, Mose Triplett, in true Brother-vs-Brother fashion, was a Tar Heel that fought on both sides as the war went on.
He mustered in first in the (Confederate) 53rd North Carolina Infantry then transferred to the much more well known 26th North Carolina— a unit that many historians suggest lost more men than any other at Gettysburg.
Pvt. Triplett later flipped sides and signed on with the bushwhacking Kirk’s Raiders, the controversial (Union) 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, in late 1864. He died in 1938 at age 92 after marrying Irene’s mother very late in life.
In related news, Virginia’s likewise controversial governor, Ralph Northam, says a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will be removed as soon as possible from Richmond’s Monument Avenue.
And in Mobile, City officials removed the statue and plaques of Confederate RADM/Brig. Gen. Raphael Semmes from its pedestal, where it has stood near the top of Mobile Bay, for the past 120 years.
Semmes– who by all accounts was an absolute officer and gentleman (although eschewed by some as he was a catholic)– was not a proponent of slavery and, indeed, had married Anne Spencer, an anti-slavery Protestant from Cinncinatti. Before skippering the famed commerce raider CSS Alabama (under cruiser rules), Semmes had been a U.S. Navy officer, having served 34 years which included fighting at Veracruz during the Mexican War, and served as head of the U.S. Lighthouse Service just before the war.
Perhaps the Semmes statue will be re-installed at one of the forts at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Fort Gaines or Fort Morgan, where it can be properly conceptualized, and not lost to history.
Nebraska-based ammo maker Hornady on Wednesday announced a new short-action cartridge designed to push the limits while at the same time big name gun makers unveiled rifles for it.
Based on the 6.5 Grendel case, the new SAAMI-approved Hornady 6mm Advanced Rifle Cartridge, in a nutshell, was designed for a military user that wanted a round delivering comparable ballistics to a .308 Winchester from an AR-15 platform.
“The 6mm ARC began with a simple question: What can we do with today’s technology to maximize the performance of the AR-15 platform?” said Hornady Ballistician Jayden Quinlan. “We subsequently modeled and tested a variety of designs in different calibers until we were able to produce the most flexible cartridge possible within the limits of the AR-15 system.”
Reports are that the 108 gr. ELD Match bullets leave the 18-inch PROOF Research match-grade stainless steel or carbon fiber barrel on an AR-15 platform at over 2,630 fps, remaining supersonic past 1,000 yards.
Note Gorenc’s strapped down M1 Thompson SMG and fighting knife on his boot. Notably, he chose not to use a Griswold jump bag for his Tommy Gun, preferring to have it available immediately when landing (U.S. Army Signal Corps Photo)
“Sgt. Joseph F. Gorenc from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the assistant S3 of HQ/3, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division climbing aboard the lead transport aircraft C-47 Dakota 8Y-S “Stoy Hora” of the 440th Troop Carrier Group at RAF Exeter Airfield, Devon, the UK on the night of 5/6th June 1944 for a drop behind Utah Beach on the Cotentin Peninsula of France near Cherbourg.
Sgt. Gorenc was taken prisoner on June 8th at St. Côme-du-Mont and reported as MIA. He apparently escaped from a Prison train in July and he was in action again at ‘Operation Market Garden’.
He returned home after the war, married, and had two daughters and at the age of 34 was an officer in a new startup manufacturing firm. While he, the owner, and another man were working late in the shop one night, an oil tank exploded. The young man; Joe and the owner were all injured but Joe’s injuries were life-threatening and he died two weeks later. (Taken from an account given by his sister Pat)”
Joseph F. Gorenc, born April 24, 1923 – died October 30, 1957, aged 34.
New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer reports they have recently delivered their Next Generation Squad Weapons system to the U.S. Army for testing and evaluation.
Sig is one of three contractors who last year got the nod from the Pentagon to continue with the NGSW program, which is designed to replace 5.56mm NATO small arms– such as the M4 Carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon– in the Army’s frontline units.
Sig’s belt-fed MG 6.8mm machine gun, which is submitted as the NGSW-AR, is billed as being 40% lighter than the M249 but with “dramatically reduced felt recoil.” It has ambidextrous AR-style ergonomics, quick detach magazines, increased M1913 rail space, and a quick-detach Sig-developed suppressor.
Meanwhile, Sig’s MCX Spear rifle, submitted as the NGSW-R rifle, is also chambered in the new 6.8mm cartridge, has a fully collapsible and folding stock, rear and side charging handle, free-floating reinforced M-LOK handguard, fully ambi controls, and a quick-detach suppressor.
