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.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Carney launches land-attack missiles while operating in the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command area of responsibility, Feb. 3, 2024. The Carney was deployed as part of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to support maritime security and stability in the Middle East. U.S. Navy Photo 240203-N-GF955-1012
Her epic 235-day October 2023-May 2024 deployment to the Red Sea to keep the area open in the face of Houthi attacks earned her a Navy Unit Commendation (her third) and she took part in a staggering 51 engagements against a high-low mix of everything from cruise missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles to swarms of much simpler prop-driven one-way attack drones.
She also made the first publicly acknowledged SM-6 combat intercept, downed air-to-air targets with her 5-inch gun (!), and launched retaliatory TLAM strikes against targets ashore.
Her entire crew earned the Navy’s Combat Action Ribbon while her skipper picked up a Bronze Star and other key members of the crew received Meritorious Service Medals, Navy Commendation Medals, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals– well deserved as the ship had the highest anti-air op-tempo that the U.S. Navy has seen since 1945.
An excellent 10-minute Navy film, USS Carney: A Destroyer at War, dives deeper with crew interviews:
“In a quiet inlet of the Bering Sea, a YP Boat gets a coat of paint and a sub ties up for fuel and provisions. The short Alaskan day is ending and lights may be seen in the barracks until total darkness requires a blackout.”
Painting, Oil on Board; by William F. Draper; 1942; Framed Dimensions 20H X 24W NHHC Accession #: 88-189-N
While the naval aspect of the Aleutians Campaign ended strong for the US, with RADM Charlie McMorris’ victory off the Komandorski Islands in March 1943 and the swansong of Operation Cottage five months later, it started rough, at the raid on Dutch Harbor in June 1942, and was a long uphill slog that, considering Nimitz’s big fleet problems in Guadalcanal, 5,000 miles on the other side of the Pacific, was always a backwater.
The so-called SADF Recce “Niemoller Rig” or Niemoller webbing belt kit, hailing from the Bush War era, is iconic when it comes to minimalist gear with a maximalist capability.
Sterile for deniability and everlasting– intended for use on 200-mile insertions (and 1,200-mile exfiltrations) across inhospitable terrain– it was born out of desperation.
It’s often been cheaply imitated while historical gear, while of much better quality, also comes with political baggage and runs a fortune as it is more often bought by collectors rather than folks looking for a good, functional rig.
Niemoller webbing gets its name from its designer, SADF member Johann Niemoller, who served in deep reconnaissance and raids into enemy strongholds.
Young Johann Niemoller on the MG
Kommandostore has worked with Niemoller to reintroduce the design under their North Equipment Collection, which makes having actual made-in-South-Africa rigs made with the by-in from its inventor one of the coolest gear stories I can think of.
As detailed by the man himself in a very interesting 11-minute sit down:
These recent shots of Army SF and Marines doing the small boat/frogman thing, complete with Dräger LAR rebreathers and CRRCs. (Components of images have often been blurred for Persec).
U.S. Army Special Forces, from the 7th Special Forces Group, perform an amphibious assault demonstration during the Hyundai Air and Sea Show and U.S. Army SaluteFest, Miami Beach, Fla., May 26, 2024. The events, were held throughout Memorial Day Weekend, (U.S. Army Photos by Master Sgt. Justin P. Morelli).
Coming in hot! Of course, almost any operational landing would be at oh-dark-30, and would be weapons secure until the last possible minute, but you have to show off for the crowds
The 7th SFG’s Area of Responsibility (AOR) includes Latin America, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and parts of the Atlantic Ocean
Note the Gen 3 Glock in the Safariland holster of the SF M240 man
Yup, Gen 3 Glock. Probably a G19, which were always popular in SF
Meanwhile, he’s rocking a SIG M17– you can tell by the distinctive spare mags. Also, note the blank firing device faux suppressor
Another Glock, third-gen judging by the finger grooves on the grip
Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) conduct underwater operations in Key West, FL from Nov. 12-19, 2024. The training was a chance to rehearse realistic missions in a maritime environment using a specialty infiltration technique.
Remember, folks each of the 12 companies within each of the five active Special Forces Groups mans, trains, equips, and deploys a full 12-man Special Forces Underwater Operations (SFUWO) ODA, meaning there are supposed to be something on the order of 60 dive-rated “A teams.”
The 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (5th SFG (A)) is responsible for the Middle and Near East.
A swim with an M240 has to be a chore
Marines with 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, train to conduct small boat raids as part of a course hosted by Expeditionary Warfare Training Group, Pacific (EWTGPAC) at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California. U.S. Marine Corps photos by Cpl. Kyle Chan
U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, pilot combat rubber raiding craft during an infantry company small boat raid course hosted by Expeditionary Warfare Training Group Pacific at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California, Nov. 14, 2024. During the course, Marines trained to plan and execute swimmer reconnaissance for a small boat raid company in preparation for deployment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kyle Chan)
That view, though.
And in related news, how about this deep dive into a Recon Marine’s VBSS kit.
With that, how about a short look at the 20th Century U.S. Army Indian Scouts program?
While the Army used native troops going back to the Revolution, the colonials had native allies as far back as the Pequot War in 1634, and four regiments of Indian Home Guard– recruited in Kansas– were raised in the Civil War, Congress only authorized active recruitment and enlistment of native soldiers– up to 1,000– in 1866, to act as scouts, with detachments in each active regiment, designated “Troop L” in each of 10 cavalry regiments and “Company I” in each of 25 infantry regiments, although generally not of full troop of company strength.
In addition to their role as scouts, they often proved invaluable as interpreters during negotiations, particularly with the Apache.
1870s. A group of Apache Scouts drills with rifles at Fort Wingate, New Mexico. U.S. Army Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-87797. NARA Identifier 530918
The service was not easy, and many perished while on orders. This list is just of those killed on relatively quiet “Northern” service (e.g the Dakotas, Montana, Oklahoma, and northern Texas):
At least a dozen (some sources cite as many as 16) Scouts are listed as having earned a Medal of Honor, all during the Plains Wars in the late 19th Century.
Alchesay. Sergeant, Indian Scouts. Place and date: Winter of 1872-73. Entry of service date unknown. Entered service at Camp Verde, Arizona. Born: 1853, Arizona Territory. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Blanquet. Indian Scout. Place and date: Winter of 1872-73. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Chiquito. Indian Scout. Place and date: Winter of 1871-73. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Co-Rux-Te-Chod-Ish (Mad Bear). Sergeant, Pawnee Scouts, U.S. Army. Place and date: At Republican River, Kansas, 8 July 1869. Birth: Nebraska. Date of issue: 24 August 1869. Citation: Ran out from the command in pursuit of a dismounted Indian; was shot down and badly wounded by a bullet from his own command.
Elsatsoosu. Corporal, Indian Scouts. Place and date: Winter of 1872-73. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Jim. Sergeant, Indian Scouts. Place and date: Winter of 1871-73. Birth: Arizona Territory. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Kelsay. Indian Scout. Place and date: Winter of 1872-73. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Kosoha. Indian Scout. Place and date: Winter of 1872-73. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Machol. Private, Indian Scouts. Place and date: Arizona, 1872-73. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during the campaign and engagements with the Apache.
Nannasaddie. Indian Scout. Place and date: 1872-73. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Nantaje (Nantahe). Indian Scout. Place and date: 1872-73. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 12 April 1875. Citation: Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with the Apache.
Rowdy. Sergeant, Company A, Indian Scouts. Place and date: Arizona, 7 March 1890. Birth: Arizona. Date of issue: 15 May 1890. Citation: Bravery in action with Apache Indians.
Sgt Rowdy, standing, with his MoH loaned to a comrade, was a member of Co A, Indian Scouts, & received the Medal of Honor for a March 7, 1890, action, during the Cherry Creek Campaign in the Arizona Territory. His citation reads, “Bravery in action with Apache Indians.” He was the last of 16 Scouts who earned the MoH. He passed in 1893 and is buried in Sante Fe National Cemetery in New Mexico.
After Geronimo laid down his arms in 1886 and the Cherry Creek Campaign in 1890, the Scouts’ active use declined, and they were withdrawn from other districts to the Arizona Territory.
Authorized at no more than 275 men in 1889, this was trimmed to 150 in 1891 and just 75 Army-wide by 1898.
Patrolling the Huachuca Mountains for trespassers, typically smugglers coming up from Mexico, they also constructed fire trails and breaks. They further cared for the post’s livestock and performed odd carpentry and blacksmithing duties, helping to maintain some 60 miles of post fencing.
Of note, their quarters were off-limits to non-native personnel.
From Huachuca, at least some Scouts were utilized as “trailers” in the tense border region during the Mexican Revolution and Civil War, followed by the 1916-17 Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa.
Apache members of the U.S. Scouts assigned to the Punitive Expedition in 1916
Photograph of Apache Scout, Mexican Punitive Expedition, May 13, 1916. Note the traditional head and footgear, relaxed grooming standards, and regular GI blouse, trousers, and web gear. 111-SC-102733. NARA 329589935
On 3 June 1916, the Scouts were folded into the Army proper, with their members carried on the rolls as regulars and not auxiliaries.
From muster rolls in the National Archives, the Jan. 31, 1920 roster for the Detachment of Indian Scouts at Huachuca lists a 1SG, Eskehnadestah, two corporals, and 18 privates. An 1893 enlistment, Eskehnadestah retired to Whiteriver, where he lived to the age of 95, dying on February 3, 1955.
Follow the names on these rosters, and you will quickly see this small detachment would endure for years.
Fort Apache was deemed surplus to requirements in October 1922, and the few remaining Scouts were consolidated at the Huachuca det, the unit’s last home. At the same time, recruitment of new Scouts was discontinued, but those in good standing and of good health could continue to reenlist until they reached the mandatory retirement age.
This bumped the Huachuca force from 21 to 23 by August 1924, led by SGT Askeldelinney, who was listed as a private on the 1920 roster.
Note this September 1924 roster with eight scouts, a corporal, and seven privates, detached for maneuvers with the 10th Cavalry.
In early 1925, a retired Kiowa Scout, 1SG Tahbonemah (I-See-O), who had logged at least 42 years in the service, mostly with the Seventh Cav, visited the White House with a tribal delegation in uniform, complete with four long service stripes on his left sleeve, where he met the Secretary of War and President Coolidge.
SECWAR John Weeks is seen on the left, and Coolidge to the right
By October 1931, there were only 12 Scouts, a sergeant (the long-serving Charles Bones, seen in the roster as a private in both 1920 and 1924), two corporals, and nine privates.
Around this time, the Scouts and their families, who had lived in tents and traditional dwellings at a camp near the Old Post, were moved to new-built adobe structures at Apache Flats. Wired for electricity and furnished with Army cots, tables, and desks, each dwelling consisted of two rooms– a large living room and a smaller sleeping room in the back.
The move met with mixed results.
As related by Colonel Allen C. Miller, former Huachuca commander:
The scouts remained rugged individualists to the end. Only one of the last twelve scouts spoke English. All were very large, well-built men. Not only were they excellent horsemen, but foot marches of up to 85 miles in a single day are recorded. Individually and as a unit they were fine soldiers, but they never gave up many of their tribal ways. Until the mid-thirties, they lived with their families in tepees which were located in an area of the garrison some distance apart from the other troops. When the WPA (Works Projects Administration) offered to improve their housing conditions, the post commander at Fort Huachuca enthusiastically set about building adobe houses for the Indians. An impressive dedication was held to celebrate the movement of the Indian families into their new quarters. Great was his consternation to find soon thereafter that all the families had moved back into tepees and that the scouts’ horses were the only occupants in the new quarters
The Army also deeded them other land, in small parcels.
Indian Scout Cemetery in North Dakota 75-FB-603
By 31 December 1939, with the war on the horizon, the Scouts numbered only eight men: SGT Riley Luke Sinew, two corporals (one on furlough), and five privates. Sinew, a 1921 enlistment, is shown as a private in the 1924 rosters above and seen again as a corporal on the 1931 roster.
Carl Gaston, working with the Army Signal Corps, ventured to Huachuca in April 1942 and took a series of images of the last of the Scouts. Their age is apparent, as the Army ceased recruiting new scouts 20 years prior.
Note that the quoted captions are period captions, not mine.
SC131140 – “Sgt. Sinew L. Riley is receiving reports on the activities of the day from his scouts.” Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942) Signal Corps Photo #16 by Carl Gaston
SC131141 – “Private William Major and Private Andrew Paxson patrol the southern border from a peak of the Huachuca Mountains.” Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942) Signal Corps Photo #17 by Carl Gaston
SC131142 – “Sergeant Sinew L. Riley is serving his 21st year as a scout in the Army and is the 3rd generation of his family to serve as such. Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942).” Note the “USS” device on his cap. Riley died of appendicitis in 1958, and the Army later named an enlisted barracks at Huachuca in his honor. Signal Corps Photo #18 by Carl Gaston
SC131143 – “Sergeant Sinew L Riley is teaching his son, Larrie H., Indian wood lore.” Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942) Signal Corps Photo #19 by Carl Gaston
SC131144 – “These Indian scouts are shown filing up the side of a mountain on patrol.” Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942) Signal Corps Photo #20 by Carl Gaston
SC131145 – “Private Andrew Paxon is shown scaling a peak for a better view.” Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942). Note the slung M1903 Springfield. Signal Corps Photo #21 by Carl Gaston
SC131146 – “These grizzled Indian features make a very interesting picture.” L to R: Corporal Jim Lane, John Rope, and Kassey Y-32.Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942) Signal Corps Photo #28 by Carl Gaston
SC131147 – “Private Andrew Paxson is shown leaving his Army tent on outpost to start his scout duties.” Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942) Signal Corps Photo #50 by Carl Gaston
SC131150 – “Corporal Jim Lane is shown here after having quenched his thirst from a spring.” Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942) Signal Corps Photo #76 by Carl Gaston
SC131151 – “Sergeant Sinew Riley, US Army scout, listens to John Rope, (Black Larriet) retired US Army scout, relates the many battles he fought as an Army scout.” Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (April 1, 1942) Signal Corps Photo #37 by Carl Gaston
The Scouts remained activated, dwindling in number until only four remained, and the detachment was deactivated in 1947, when they were honorably retired.
In the end, only a single member of the final contingent of seven Scouts, a Private Kessay (Y-32), had served less than 25 years in uniform– having just 24 on his file. Two other privates, Jim Lane and Jess Billy, had 32 and 33 years on the books. Riley, Cpl. Antonio Ivan and Pvt. Andrew Paxson all had 26. Pvt. William Major had 25.
You can almost feel the sea spray on your eyelashes in this one.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL 755) crews interdict a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, October 2024. Munro is the sixth Legend-class national security cutter homeported in Alameda, California. U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL 755) crews interdict a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, October 2024. Munro is the sixth Legend-class national security cutter homeported in Alameda, California. U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo.
Of note, Munro just offloaded 29,000 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated value of $335.8 million, Tuesday in San Diego.
The nose candy came from a series of nine separate suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions or events off the coasts of Mexico and Central and South America by Munro, USCGC Vigorous, USCGC Hamilton, and the USS St. Louis (LCS-19), during September and October– the mix showing you just how crowded it is getting in 4th Fleet (USNAVSOUTH) in the East Pac, and how much of a white hull operation it is.
Speaking of recruiting, the USCG just established its first Hawaii-based JROTC, the 14th in the nation. Enrollment nationwide is expected to be 1,200 cadets.
Coast Guard JROTC instructors are hired and employed by the school district and certified by the service. Instructors must be Coast Guard retired, selected reserve, or qualified veterans with at least eight years of service.
Although they have been in hundreds of engagements and campaigns since 1775, only a handful of fights are noteworthy enough to have shaped the Marine Corps for generations and echo throughout history, becoming as much bywords among those who have earned the Eagle Globe & Anchor as “Valhalla” was to Norse warriors.
The storming of Chapultepec Castle in 1847 (“From the Halls of Montezuma”), Presley O’Bannon’s Marines at Derne in 1805 (“To the Shores of Tripoli”), Belleau Wood in 1918 (“Teufel Hunden“), Guadalcanal in 1942 (The Southern Cross constellation), Iwo Jima in 1945 (raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi), the “Frozen Chosin” in 1950, Hue City in 1968 (the Dong Ba Tower and the later personification of “Animal Mother” and the gang) will endure with the Marines much as the Royal Scots will always mark Waterloo, the Rifles (Gloucestershires) will remember the Imjin River, the Legion will celebrate Camerone Day, and the 101st/82nd Airborne will “own” Overlord.
Operation Phantom Fury, the six-week so-called Second Battle of Fallujah fell broadly on the shoulders of four Marine rifle battalions (3rd Bn/1st Marines, 3rd Bn/5th Marines, 1st Bn/8th Marines, and 1st Bn/3rd Marines) and a LAV company (Charlie Company “Warpigs,” 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion) in November-December 2004, will surely join that pantheon.
With that in mind, check out the most current 88-page USMCU history on the subject, and these deep dive videos (some over an hour in length and very well done) that were recently dropped in the past week.
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Warship Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024: The Ones That Got Away
Above we see the period depiction by renowned German maritime artist Willy Stöwer of the armed sailing ship (segelschiff) SMS Ayesha off Hodeida (now Al Hudaydah, Yemen) in January 1915, to the warm welcome of allied Ottoman troops. Stöwer, best known for his decades of painting battleships, cruisers, and U-boats, apparently made an exception for the humble Ayesha, as she had an incredibly interesting story that began some 110 years ago this week.
And a tale rather different from the one shown above.
The Background
Part of Admiral Maximillian von Spee’s Eastern Squadron, the 4,200-ton Dresden class of light cruiser SMS Emden was detached from the rest of Von Spee’s force to become an independent raider in the Western Pacific, as the main force of five cruisers made for the Eastern Pacific and, ultimately, the South Atlantic. In doing so, Emden was sort of a sacrificial rabbit to draw away the British, Australian, French, Russian, and Japanese hounds as Von Spee made his exit.
In an epic 97-day patrol, Emden captured 23 merchant ships (21 Brits, one Russian, one Greek) with 101,182 GRT of enemy shipping, sending 16 to the bottom, releasing three, and keeping as four as prizes. In each encounter with these unarmed merchies, Emden practiced “cruiser rules,” in which all passengers and crew on board these ships were brought to safety. She took off the kid gloves and accounted for two warships by sucker punching the 3,500-ton Russian light cruiser Zhemchug and the 300-ton French destroyer Mousquet as they slumbered in Penang harbor in British Malaysia.
German cruiser SMS Emden off Madras. Artwork by Hans Bohrdt. Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Fire from Bombardment of Madras by SMS Emden
Emden also bombarded oil depots in Madras, India, sending shivers through the Raj, and tied up dozens of allied warships in running her to ground. This included four brawlers– any of which could make short work of the smaller German warship– that had closed the distance to within just 50 miles of the raider: the 14,600-ton British armored cruiser HMS Minotaur, the 16,000-ton Japanese battlecruiser Ibuki, and the twin 5,400-ton Australian light cruisers HMAS Sydney and Melbourne.
This game all cumulated in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands on 9 November 1914.
Direction Island
The remote Cocos (Keeling) Islands, two desolate flat, low-lying coral atolls made up of 27 islets in the Indian Ocean some 800 miles West of Sumatra, in 1914 only had a population of a few hundred. The British colony was defacto ruled by the Clunies-Ross family, which had settled the archipelago in the 1850s, and whose paterfamilias generally served as the resident magistrate and Crown representative.
Modernity had reached this corner of the British Empire, with the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company, in 1901, establishing a cable station on Direction Island on the top of the Cocos chain with submarine cables eventually running to Rodrigues (Mauritius), Batavia (Java), and Fremantle.
By 1910, this had been complemented by a Marconi wireless station, making it a key link in the communication chain between India and Australia.
A link worthy of breaking, in the mind of Emden’s skipper, Fregattenkapitän Karl von Müller.
Arriving just offshore of the Cocos over a deep trench– Emden needed at least 18 feet of seawater under her hull to float– in the predawn of 9 November, a landungskorps was assembled and ready to go ashore, seize the station, wreck it, and withdraw with any interesting portable supplies to feed the cruiser’s 360-member crew.
Going ashore at dawn in a steam pinnace and two whaleboats was Kpt. lt Hellmuth von Mücke, Leutnants Schmidt and Gysling, six petty officers, and 41 ratings, including two signalmen who knew what to destroy and a former French Foreign Legionnaire who was good with languages (among other things). Expecting resistance from a company-sized garrison at the colony, Mücke raided Emden’s small arms locker, taking four Maxim guns– each with 2,000 rounds of ammunition– 29 dated Gewehr 71 rifles, and 24 Reichsrevolvers.
With a strange warship offshore, disguised by a false fourth funnel, overhearing a coded signal from Emden to her prize ship-turned-tender Buresk, and three small boats filled with armed men headed in from the sea, the wireless station went into alert and started broadcasting at 0630 about the unknown man-of-war, only to be jammed by chatter from Emden’s powerful Telefunken wireless set turned to maximum power.
However, the part of the message broadcast before the jamming– “SOS strange ship in harbor,” and “SOS Emden here”– reached HMAS Sydney, escorting a convoy some 50nm away. The Australian cruiser replied that she was on the way to investigate. Her call letters, NC, led Emden’s signalmen to think she was the cruiser HMS Newcastle, which ironically was also in the Far East just nowhere near Emden, and they estimated by her signal strength and bearing that she was over 200 miles away.
In short, Emden’s skipper thought they had more time, but was very wrong.
Once landed, Von Mücke’s shore party got busy wrecking. Local photographers A.J. Peake and R. Cardwell, apparently EETC employees, began snapping photos documenting the activities of the landing party over the next two days.
The force soon captured and wrecked the undefended telegraph office without a shot– the island’s entire arsenal amounted to a “few 12 bore guns and two small and ancient pea-rifles”– cut three of four underwater cables, and felled the station’s transmission mast via explosives. This caused collateral damage as coral shot around like shrapnel, holing buildings and destroying the island’s supply of scotch.
Emden’s launch grappling for cable at Direction Island. NLA obj-149336815
The Eastern Extension Telegraph Company office after the German raid, 9 November 1914. NLA obj-149337412
The bottom of the mast with the wireless hut at the back. NLA obj-149338323
The wireless mast as it lay across the garden. NLA obj-149338122
More shots of the destroyed cable station. Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19150107-39.
Under the German flag, Direction Island, November 1914. Note the sun helmet and Mauser of the German sailors. NLA obj-149336272
At 0900, with Emden spotting an incoming ship and soon acknowledging it was not her tender Buresk, the cruiser cleared decks and signaled her shore party to return immediately.
“Landing party having been recalled by the Emden, leaves the jetty but turns back on seeing Emden putting to sea.” In the background is the copra schooner Ayesha, owned by the Clunies-Ross family.” Note the white-uniformed officer complete with pistol belt. NLA .obj-149337219
“The Emdens’ landing party left the island on their futile attempt to rejoin their ship, Direction Island, 1914.” NLA obj-149336127
Not able to catch up to the withdrawing Emden, her away force returned to the docks on Direction Island. Soon signs of a battle could be seen over the horizon.
View from the beach of Direction Island with the battle between the SMS Emden and HMAS Sydney in the far distance. NLA obj-149338507
Unknown to Von Mucke and his men, nor to the colonists on Direction Island, Emden, and Sydney clashed between 0940 and 1120 in a one-sided battle that left the German cruiser grounded and ablaze on North Keeling Island with more than half of her 316 men aboard dead, missing, or wounded.
German raider, SMS Emden is sunk by Australian Cruiser, HMAS Sydney, RAN collection.
German cruiser SMS Emden beached on Cocos Island in 1914
Sydney suffered four fatalities and a dozen wounded.
Von Mucke knew that Emden was either sunk or had fled over the horizon and that the only warship coming to collect them would likely be an enemy. He set up his Spandaus on the beach and waited.
A German Maxim gun and ammunition boxes were set up to repel landings at Direction Island, on 9 November 1914. NLA obj-149337513
Meet Ayesha
The local coconut and cargo hauler, the 97-ton, 98-foot three-master schooner Ayesha, was anchored just off the docks on Direction Island, with Von Mucke’s crew passing close by on their way to the island that morning. She was a fine-looking vessel, for a coastal lugger, and typically sailed the local waters with a crew of five or six mariners and a master.
The schooner Ayesha, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, November 1914. NLA obj-149336020
Ayesha in open water State Library of Australia PRG-1373-29-15
The solution, to Von Mucke, was to seize the schooner, requisition supplies from the station, and load his men on board with the hope of heading to Dutch Sumatra, some 800 or so miles away, where they could figure out the next steps.
He boarded her with one of his officers for an inspection.
From a June 1915 New York Times interview with Von Mucke translated from the Berliner Tageblatt:
I made up my mind to leave the island as soon as possible. The Emden was gone the danger for us growing. I noticed a three-master, the schooner Ayesha. Mr. Ross, the owner of the ship and the island, had warned me that the boat was leaky but I found it a quite seaworthy tub.
“Schooner Ayesha commandeered by Germans being prepared for the voyage” Sails have been bent to the booms and forestays. AWM P11611.027.002
Germans commandeer cable station stores to provision the yacht Ayesha, owned by the Clunies-Ross family after the German raider SMS Emden was driven ashore at North Keeling Island by HMAS Sydney on 9 November 1914. On the evening of 10 November 1914, a party from the Emden used the Ayesha to escape from the island. AWM P03912.001
A German landing party at Direction Island, preparing to go aboard the yacht Ayesha, after their ship the German raider SMS Emden was destroyed by HMAS Sydney on 9 November 1914. AWM P03912.002
The master and mate were released from their duties, although they warned Von Mucke the ship’s hull, thin, “worn through” and overgrown, could not handle an ocean voyage. Inspecting the hold, the wood was indeed “red and rotten, so much so, indeed, that we stopped our scratching as we had no desire to poke the points of our knives into the Indian Ocean.”
On the evening of 10 November, the Germans used the Ayesha to escape from the island.
The locals– according to both German and British reports– actually gave the Germans three cheers as they left. Von Mucke said they went even further and asked for their autographs. Emden’s fame had proceeded them.
“Steam pinnace taking last of Germans aboard the Ayesha. The Germans are waving to the British, who have given them three cheers.” NLA obj-149339081
It wasn’t until the next day, 11 November, that sailors and Marines from HMAS Sydney arrived at Direction Island to find out that the Emden’s shore party had come and gone, with a decent head start.
A party of armed sailors from HMAS Sydney lands on Direction Island, on 11 November 1914. A party from the German raider Emden had landed and taken possession of the cable station on the island, but on the evening of the 10th, they escaped in the schooner Ayesha, which belonged to the owner of the island. AWM EN0390
Von Mucke raised their small war flag and christened the schooner SMS Ayesha (Emden II) to three hurrahs from her new crew. Nonetheless, she struck her flag soon after and sailors soon went over the side to paint over the ship’s name. Word had to have gone out and the British were no doubt looking for her.
Ayesha’s navigational equipment was limited to a sextant, two chronometers, and a circa 1882 Indian Ocean Directory, filled with quaint old high-scale charts and notes made as far back as the 1780s. With 50 men crowded onto a ship designed for five, they fashioned hammocks from old ropes and slept in holds and on deck.
Even more limited was the crew’s kit, as the men had landed on Direction Island for a raid and only had the clothes on their backs and cartridges in their pouches.
The whole crew went about naked in order to spare our wash…Toothbrushes were long ago out of sight. One razor made the rounds of the crew. The entire ship had one precious comb.
Further, Ayesha’s canvas was old and rotten, and three of the schooner’s four water tanks had been contaminated with salt water.
She had enough canvas to rig fore and aft sails on the main and mizzen and two square sails on the foremast. Still, these were threadbare and had to be patched constantly as they “tore at the slightest provocation.”
One condemned sail was rigged over the ballast for use as a shared bed by ratings, which sounds almost enjoyable until you find out that the schooner leaked so bad that water rose over the ballast at sea and typically sloshed around just below the sail bed.
From Von Mucke’s later book, as translated in 1933 and republished by the USNI:
Below deck, aft of the hold, were two small cabins originally fitted with bunks, but in these, we were compelled to store our provisions. Swarms of huge cockroaches made it impossible for human beings to inhabit them.
Another old sail was rigged up to catch and filter rainwater into three repurposed Standard Oil cans for drinking which was rendered palatable by “a dash or lime juice of which we had fortunately found few bottles among the provisions of the former captain.”
Gratefully, it turned out that the crew’s former Legionaire was a crack chef and managed to cobble together decent meals from the larder of rice and tinned beef.
At night, the only light was two oil lamps that “gave off more smoke than light.”
Most of the armament was secured down below, with the Spandaus concealed and arranged to fire through loopholes on deck should they be needed.
Leaving the steam pinnacle behind for the islanders to use, Von Mucke originally towed the two cutters from Emden behind the Ayesha, as there was no tackle available to bring them aboard nor deck space to house them but eventually, they were lost. Soon all they had in terms of small boats were a pair of jolly boats that the schooner carried in small davits, each able to hold two men. At times of doldrums, they were put out to tow the schooner with the help of Emden’s lost cutter’s long oars.
After 16 days at sea wandering towards Sumatra and keeping over the horizon from steamers, Ayesha was intercepted by the Dutch Fret-class destroyer Lynx (510 tons, 210 feet oal, 30 knots, 4×3″, 2xtt) on 26 November and was escorted into Padang in Wester Sumatra the next day.
Given 24 hours in port, Von Mucke was warned by Lynx’s Belgian-born skipper “I could run into the harbor but whether I might not come out again was doubtful.”
Von Mucke related that at the time he “felt truly sorry for the Lynx. It must have been very irritating to her to have to trundle behind us at the wonderful speed of one knot, a speed which, with the light breeze blowing, the Ayesha could not exceed.”
The Dutch did not allow Ayesha to take on clothes, charts, or tackle, as they could have added to the warship’s effectiveness. What was allowed were some tinned provisions and ten live pigs, the latter stored in a makeshift pen around the chain locker.
They left the Dutch port with reinforcements as two reserve officers, LTs Gerdts and Wellman, who had been interned at Pandang on German steamers earlier in the war and wanted to cast their lot with Von Mucke. Once smuggled aboard under darkness via rowboat, as berthing was already a problem, their spaces were found on the deck under the mess table.
The German schooner was towed back out to sea on the evening of the 28th. She was followed out of territorial waters by the Dutch cruiser De Zeven Provincien.
Another bright spot of her brief stay in the Dutch East Indies was that the local German consul managed to smuggle the crew a small bundle of chocolate, cigarettes, and German newspapers. There was also a promised rendezvous location out to sea in a fortnight or so with a German merchant steamer that was still afloat and filled with enough coal to steam anywhere on the globe.
With a few weeks’ worth of food left from the stockpile removed from Direction Island, but relying largely on rainwater for drinking and bathing, the schooner spent the next two weeks wandering West into the Indian Ocean, keeping hidden while drifting towards her promised rendezvous.
Finally, in heavy seas near South Pagai in the Dutch Mentawai Islands on 14 December, Ayesha spied the Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) freighter Choising (ex-Madeleine Rickmers), a slight vessel of just 1,657 tons. Still, she was the best Christmas present Von Mucke could ask for.
The meeting, in the fog and mist, was probably traumatic to the complement of the steamer whose ship’s officers and engineer were German, and most of the crew were Chinese.
Up flew our ensign and colours. The steamer ran up the German flag. The crew climbed aloft into the shrouds, and three cheers rang from deck to deck. As usual, our men were dressed in the manner customary in thc Garden of Eden, a costume which necessity had forced upon them. The men of the Choising confided to us later that they were speechless with astonishment when suddenly, out of the fog, emerged a schooner, the shrouds of which were filled with naked forms.
Having sailed Ayesha for 1,709 sea miles, the crews waited until the waters calmed on the 16th to transfer to the steamer then scuttled the schooner, Emden’s final victim. They removed Ayesha’s wheel and figurehead and took them along to their new ship.
Willy Stöwer – Ayesha im Indischen Ozean nach Treffen mit Choising
The overloaded Choising set out West across the Indian Ocean towards Yemen on the Arabian peninsula, part of the now-German allied Ottoman Empire. Thumbing through Choising’s Lloyds book, the freighter assumed the identity of the Italian steamer Shenir, which was similarly sized and had the same general layout.
This included painting Shenir, Genoa on her bow and crafting an approximated Italian flag from sailcloth and a green window curtain from the captain’s cabin.
They stayed out of the shipping lanes, celebrated a low-key Christmas and New Year at sea, and after entering the Bab-el-Mandeb, passing close abreast of two British gunboats in the darkness, made it to Hodeida on 5 January 1915, having crossed 4,100 miles of the Indian Ocean successfully.
Cruise of the Emden, Ayesha, and Choising. Bestanddeelnr 22032 010
Arabian Nights
With the French cruiser, Desaix spotted near Hodeida, Von Mucke and his men bid Choising farewell. With no Ottoman naval officials to turn to, she went across the straits to Massawa in Eritrea which was under Italian control and still neutral, intending to link up with the cruiser SMS Konigsberg which they thought was still off the coast of Africa but was trapped upriver in the Rufiji.
Choising, remaining in Somaliland, would go on to be seized by the Italian government once that former German ally declared war against the Empire in May 1915. This led to her final service as the Italian-flagged Carroccio. As part of a small Italian convoy, she was sent to the bottom of the Adriatic Sea on 15 May 1917 off the coast of Albania by the Austrian destroyer Balaton in a messy surface action known today as the Battle of the Strait of Otranto.
Meanwhile, contrary to early rosy reports that the Turks welcomed Von Mucke with open arms in Hodeida and soon spirited them via train up the Hejaz railroad to Constantinople and from there to Germany, it would be five long months of slogging across Arabia to Damascus before the Germans had any sort of safety.
Overland from Hodeida, from Von Mucke’s book
The reason for choosing the port was simple:
Our only knowledge regarding Arabian ways and customs was a ” round the world’ guidebook that would have answered the purposes of a sight-seeing couple on their honeymoon very well. From it we learned that Hodcida is a large commercial city, and that the Hedjaz railway to Hodeida was in course of construction. As the book was some years old and as one of my officers remembered that years ago he had met a French engineer who told him that he had been engaged in the construction of a railway to Hodeida, we took it for granted that the railway was completed by this time.
Nonetheless, the word would precede them, hence Willie Stower’s fanciful depiction of the long-scuttled Ayesha arriving at a big red carpet Ottoman welcome at Hodeida.
Another such propaganda piece from 1915:
With the railway incomplete, the journey, which is a bit off subject for a Warship blog, included a three-day firefight with a battalion-sized force of Arab rebels, unruly camel caravans with wary Bedouins watching from the dunes, creeping up the uncharted coast on local fishing dhows (zambuks), and avoiding being kept as “guests” by local Turkish garrison commanders and sheiks looking to add the Teutonic travelers to their muscle.
SMS Emden crew is attacked by Arabs on their desert hike to Jeddah, Der Krieg 1914/19 in Wort und Bild, 35. Heft
Finally arriving at the terminus for the Hejaz railroad at Al Ula, a trek of 1,100 miles from Hodeida on 7 May, the force met Berliner Tageblatt correspondent Emil Ludwig, who was waiting for them, and within days they were being hosted by the German counsel in Damascus. By this point, their firearms cache had been whittled down to one machine gun, a few revolvers, and just 13 rifles, the rest bartered along the way for food, safe passage, boats, and camels; or lost in zambuk wrecks.
The photo of the Damascus meeting shows the Emden’s men complete with crisp new Turkish uniforms and fezes!
Besatzungsmitglieder von SMS Ayesha im Garten des Kaiserlichen Konsulats in Damaskus 11. Mai 1915. 2) Kapitänleutnant Hellmuth von Mücke, 3) Konsul Walter Rößler. Note the Gewehr 71 Mausers.
Then came an even larger show in Constantinople, attended by foreign legations and German RADM Wilhelm Souchon, former commander of the Kaiser’s Mediterranean Squadron and current unofficial commander of the Ottoman fleet. Souchon had a gift for the men: Iron Crosses sent directly from Berlin.
Six of the 50-man forces that had landed at Direction Island six months prior had been left behind, three killed by rebels, and three by assorted diseases and accidents. Of Emden’s 360 crew, virtually all except Von Mucke’s detachment were dead or POWs by this point in the war– to include the Kaiser’s own nephew. The same could be said broadly for all the fine young men of Von Spee’s squadron.
The arrival of Captain Mücke with the SMS Emden’s landing party in Constantinople
Captured German photograph of the captain and officers of the Ayesha being presented to the Turkish authorities by the American Ambassador. Figures from right to left are (1) Enver Pasha; (2) German Ambassador; (3,5,6) Officers of the raider Emden; (4) Provost of Town; (7) Admiral Suchow Pasha of Goeben. AWM A011403
Captured German photograph showing the arrival of the officers who escaped from the raider Emden after commandeering the yacht Ayesha, with the German flag which saved them from falling into the hands of the enemy. AWM A01402
They were lucky.
Soon after Von Mucke’s trip up the Arabian peninsula, another group of Von Spee’s men, elements of the crew of the river patrol boat SMS Tsingtau including Kptlt. Erwin von Möller, LtzS Hans von Arnim, Vizesteuermann Heinrich Deike, Karl Gründler, Heinrich Mau, Arthur Schwarting plus Turkish ship’s cook Said Achmad, sailed the coastal schooner Marboek for 82 days from Sumatra where they were interned to the Arabian coast at Hadramaut, then headed out overland for Sana, much like Von Mucke.
They were all killed in the desert by rebels on 25 May 1916.
Epilogue
Von Mucke, whose interviews with Emil Ludwig soon circled the globe, spent some time as head of a Turko-German river flotilla in the Euphrates, then finished the war back in Germany as head of the Danube Flotilla. You could say the Kaiserliche Marine wanted to keep him from being lost at sea. Sadly, half of the men who had returned with him from Emden had been killed later in the Great War.
His mug was snapped often and widely distributed. A dashing hero with a romantic tale.
Capt. Von Mucke & bride & sailors of EMDEN LOC ggbain-20400-20461v
Kpt. Von Mucke in Berlin LOC ggbain-19500-19578v
He also penned two thin wartime books, one on each of the vessels he served on during the conflict.
Postwar, retired from the Navy after an 18-year career, he had six children and earned a living in Weimar Germany through writing and conducting lecture tours, retelling his story. Turning to politics, he briefly held a seat in the Saxon state parliament, flirted with the Nazis (membership number 3,579) before they rose to power, then by 1930 had become an outspoken pacifist and member of the Deutschlandbund, an anti-Nazi group. Banned from writing after 1933, he was labeled a communist and tossed into concentration camps on at least two occasions. Despite the fact his naval pension had been suspended, he volunteered for combat with the Kriegsmarine in 1939 at age 58 but was rejected because he was considered politically unreliable.
Remaining in East Germany post-WWII, Von Mucke wrote pamphlets against the rearmament of West Germany for the communists but soon fell out with them as well. He passed in 1957 at age 76 and is buried in Ahrensburg.
As she sat in shallow water along the reefs off Keeling and was extensively salvaged over 40 years, literally tons of souvenirs of Emden exist, primarily in Australia, where her bell and several relics are on display at the AWM in Canberra while two of her 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns are in parks in the Canberra and Sydney.
Relics from Sydney and Emden’s battle on display at the Australian War Memorial
It is also likely that many tons of her good Krupp steel armor plate were recycled for use by the Japanese Combined Fleet, as her salvors for long periods in the 1920s and 30s were from Yokohama.
However, little, if anything, survives of Ayesha other than period photographs and romanticized postcards, along with the works of Von Mücke.
She is remembered in postal stamps of the Cocos Islands, for obvious reasons.
The small 4×6 Reichskriegsflagge flown over Keeling by Emden’s Landungskorps, then our subject schooner and brought back to Germany in 1915 with Von Mücke and the gang at some point was put on display in the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) in Lübeck.
Then in the 1930s, it was passed on to Kapt. Julius Lauterbach. A HAPAG reserve officer who had served on the liner Staatssekretär Kraetke before the war and as Emden’s 1st navigation officer during the conflict. He left the cruiser with a 15-man prize crew put aboard the captured 4,350-ton British steamer Buresk in September 1914 to serve as a tender. Captured after Emden was destroyed and Buresk scuttled, he escaped along with 34 other Germans held by the British in Singapore during the Sepoy Mutiny in February 1915. Returning to Germany on his own, (like Von Mücke he also wrote a thin book published during the war, “1000£ Price on Your Head – Dead or Alive: The Escape Adventures of Former Prize Officer S. M. S. Emden”) he was given command of a trap ship (German Q-ship), and subsequently the raider SMS Mowe. In 1955, Lauterbach’s widow donated the flag to German militaria collector Karl Flöck who placed it on display at the Gasthaus zum Roten Ochsen in Cologne for years until it went up to auction in 2009. It is now in private hands.
The tale of Emden has been told numerous times in numerous ways, but it generally left out that of Von Mucke and his refugees. Of note, a 2013 German film, Die Männer der Emden, included it. The trailer includes camels, suffering, and a bit of swashbuckling, as it should.
Ships are more than steel and wood And heart of burning coal, For those who sail upon them know That some ships have a soul.
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This seems like a great time to mention when a 110-foot subchaser dressed up like a 495-foot Bogue-class escort carrier some 80 years ago.
Yup, we are talking about Operation Swiss Navy’s USS SC-449.
Submarine chaser SC-449 disguised as the escort carrier USS Bogue (CVE-9), February 1945. Note the relative size of the men on the stern., via Navsource
SC-449 was one of three Submarine Chasers built in a design competition. Built as an experimental SC design she had 50 percent more stability than the production models that were built. In early 1945, she was selected by the Navy to be converted into a mock Escort Carrier (CVE) to be used in the invasion of the Japanese homelands (Operation Swiss Navy). Her deck was stripped and rebuilt with plywood to look like a CVE. The Navy liked what they saw but she was very top-heavy, so they shelved that idea, plus the atom bomb put an end to these plans.
Christopher C. Wright wrote about this in Warship International, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2008).
SC-449 was converted at Ocracoke, North Carolina, into a “deception ship” in a 1:46 scale CVE 9 configuration in November 1944. After a few months of testing, the vessel was reconverted in March 1945 at Norfolk Navy Yard back to its original configuration.
This series of photos is of the modified SC-449, part of a classified deception project by Amphibious Force Atlantic Fleet.
These photographs were taken on 18 November 1944. The aerial views are a few samples of those taken at 200 ft, 500 ft, 1000 ft, and 2000 ft. NARA collection.
Decommissioned after the war, she went on to work for Texas A&M’s Marine Department, served as a quarters boat for dredge crews, and finally as a yacht before she was scrapped in 1974.
