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Warship Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023: Old Lovely

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023: Old Lovely

Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1976. Naval History and Heritage Command Catalog #: NH 84879

Above we see the 542-class tank landing ship USS Meeker County (LST-980) arriving at San Diego, California, on 6 September 1970, capping a four-year stint in Vietnam where she, just a few months before, had survived an attempted mining by a VC dive team. Note that her guns– including WWII-era Bofors– are covered and she is carrying much topside cargo to include vehicles and cranes.

The Normandy veteran was laid down 80 years ago this month, saw lots of service in a few different wars, and was among the very last of her class in U.S. Naval service.

The 542s

A revolutionary concept that, by and large, went a long way to win WWII (and later turn the tables in Korea) was the LST. Designed to beach their bows at the surf line and pull themselves back off via a combination of rear anchor winching and reverse prop work, they were big and slow, earning them the invariable nicknames of “Large Slow Target” or “Last Ship (to) Tokyo.”

While a few early designs were built by the British (the Maracaibo and Boxer classes) it wasn’t until the Royal Navy placed a wish list with the U.S. for 200 LST (2) type vessels that the Americans got into the landing tank ship design in a big way.

This general 1,800-ton, 327-foot vessel, powered (eventually) by two easily maintained GM EMD locomotive diesels, was ultimately built in a whopping 1,052 examples between 1942 and 1945. They could carry around 120 troops, which could be landed by as many as a half-dozen davit-carried Higgins boats, but their main claim to fame was in being able to tote almost 1,500 tons of cargo and vehicles on their tank deck for landing ashore.

Built across three different subclasses (390 LST-1 type, 51 LST-491 type, and 611 LST-542) in nine different yards spread across the country– including five “cornfield shipyards” in the Midwest, then shipped via river to the coast– our humble “gator” was of the latter type.

The 542s, while using the same general hull and engineering plant, were equipped with an enclosed navigation bridge, a large 4,000 gal per day saltwater distilling plant, and a heavier armament (1 3″/50 DP open mount, 2 twin 40mm Bofors w/Mk.51 directors, 4 single Bofors, and 12 20mm Oerlikon) than previous members of the class. This, however, dropped their maximum cargo load from 2,100 tons as carried by previous sisters, down to “only” 1,900.

LST-542 type, cutaway model. Note the extensive 40mm and 20mm gun tubs, six LCVPs in davits, and tank deck. The 542s and some late 491s used a simple ramp rather than an elevator to move vehicles from the topside to the tank deck and vice versa. NMUSN-4950

The first to enter service, LST-542, was commissioned on 29 February 1944, while the last completed was LST-1152, commissioned on 30 June 1945. Now that is production, baby!

Meet LST-980

Laid down on 9 December 1943, at Boston Navy Yard, LST-980 was constructed in just 79 days to be commissioned on 26 February 1944. T

hen came two months of shakedown and post-delivery refits before she left, packed with equipment, bound for England where “the big show” was soon to start.

Touring Beachside France

After leaving Southend on the afternoon of 5 June, on D-Day, LST-980, along with sisters LST-543, 981, 982, and 983, made up Flotilla 17, Group 52, Division 103, under CDR William J. Whiteside as commodore.

The group brought their loads, elements of the British Army, successfully to Juno Beach in the afternoon of the 6th.

Part of L Force, they carried the British 7 Armoured Division and 51 Division along with parts of both I Corps and XXX Corps.

Mitchell Jamieson, “Morning of D-Day from LST” NHHC 88-193-hi

LST in Channel Convoy June 1944 Drawing, Ink and Wash on Paper; by Mitchell Jamieson; 1944; Framed Dimensions 30H X 25W Accession #88-193-HK

After reloading, on 7 June, while carrying elements of the 1st British Army Corps to the No. 102 Beach area on Sword Beach, LST-980 was the subject of several low-level German air attacks, one of which hit the gator with two small (125 pound) (SC50?) bombs, neither of which seemed to have had enough time/distance to arm. The second passed through the main deck and continued into the water. The first, however, likewise passed through the main deck but came to rest in a truck parked on the tank deck.

This problem was carefully addressed by four engineers (LT JHB Monday, SGT H. Charnley, CPL J. McAninly, LCPL F. Crick) of 1 Electrical & Mechanical Section, 282 General Transport Company, who gingerly picked it up, placed it on a field stretcher, carried it to the opened bow doors, and deep-sixed it. While DANFS reports one killed in this incident, other sources note there were no personnel casualties and only minor damage.

Several of her sisters would not be as lucky.

LST-376 was sunk by German E-boats off Normandy on 9 June 1944, LST-499, LST-496, and LST-523 were lost to German mines between 8 June and 19 June; and LST-921 was torpedoed by U-764 on 14 August.

Speaking of August, look at this report from LST-980 filed in September, covering her continued operations on the England to France cross-channel run. Among the more interesting spots are narrowly avoiding German coastal batteries on occupied Gurnsey Island while loaded with artillery shells, shipping 167 U.S. Army vehicles (including 25 tanks and two batteries of field artillery) and 521 soldiers to the Continent while returning to England with 1,106 captured German personnel (guarded at a ratio of 200 EPOWs to 9 MPs) including 30 female nurses.

By February 1945, with the prospect of further amphibious landings in the European Theatre unlikely, LST-980 was sent back to the East Coast to serve as a training ship at Little Creek for troops headed to the Pacific for the ongoing push on Tokyo and the Navy/Coast Guardsmen that would carry them. Our gator was there on VE-Day and VJ-Day.

Naval Gun Factory, Navy Day, October 27 October 1945. Visitors are shown to the U.S. Navy ships at the waterfront. Shown right to left: USS Meeker County (LST 980); USS Dyson (DD 572); USS Claxton (DD 571); USS Converse (DD 509); and USS Charles Ausburne (DD 570). Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph, Navy Subject Files, WNY Box 7, Folder 1.

In April 1949, just three weeks after NATO was formed, LST-980 sailed for a six-month stint with the 6th Fleet in the Med at a time when Europe was still very much in a post-war recovery, with the Cold War dawning.

Records indicate her crew was eligible for a battle star for the Invasion of Normandy from 6 June to 25 June 1944 and later a Navy Occupation Medal for service in Europe from 19 May to 19 September 1949.

When it came to her sisters, no less than 41 were lost during the conflict including six in the so-called West Loch Disaster, two at Slapton Sands to German E-boats during Exercise Tiger, seven to Japanese aircraft and kamikaze, six to Japanese and German submarines, and one (LST-282) to a German glider bomb

Post-war service

In the period immediately following VJ-Day, the Navy rapidly shed their huge LST fleet, giving ships away to allies, selling others on the commercial market (they proved a hit for ferry conversions, as coasters in remote areas, and use in the logging industry), and laying up most of the remainder. More than 100 vessels that were still under contract but not completed were canceled. 

By August 1946, only 480 of the 1,011 survivors were still in some sort of active U.S. Navy service with many of those slated for conversion, mothballs, or disposal.

Many had been reclassified to auxiliary roles as diverse as PT-boat tenders (AGP), repair ships (ARL), battle damage repair ships (ARB), self-propelled barracks ships (APB), cargo ships (AKS), electronic parts supply ships (AG), and salvage craft tenders (ARST). Others, like LST-822, were transferred to the civilian mariner-run Military Sea Transportation Service and traded their USS for USNS. Heck, some had even served during the war as mini-aircraft carriers, toting Army Grasshoppers.

Jane’s 1946 listing, covering a thumbnail of the U.S. Navy’s LST classes.

However, LST-980 remained on active service through the Korean conflict, where she was semi-exiled to support the Army and Air Force’s polar basing efforts in Greenland, carrying supplies through the barely thawed Baffin Bay in the summers of 1951, 1952, and 1953, earning a trifecta of Blue Noses for her crew.

USS LST-980 working her way through the Baffin Bay icepack en route to U.S. Air Force Base Thule, Greenland in the summer of 1953. USS LST-980 sailed in August from NAB Little Creek, VA. to Thule Air Force Base, Greenland. LST-980’s load was construction equipment. The ship moved through the icepack behind the Icebreaker USS Northwind (AGB-5). Despite careful sounding of the landing route to the beach at Thule, LST-980 settled on a huge underwater boulder puncturing two of the ship’s fuel tanks and disabling two of the three ship’s generators. After unloading, divers from the seagoing tug in our company patched the punctures and LST-980 proceeded back to Portsmouth, VA. at reduced speed, in the company of the tug. At Portsmouth, the ship was hauled out onto a marine railway for repairs. LST-980 was not able to pump out the damaged fuel tanks, consequently, thousands of gallons of diesel fuel drained into the James River. Repairs were made and LST-980 was back in the fleet in a couple of months. Photo from Alvin Taub, Engineering Officer USS LST-980, via Navsource.

As something of a reward, LST-980 would spend the winters during the same period schlepping Marines around the sunny Caribbean on exercises, typically out of Gtmo and Vieques/Rosy Roads.

LST-980 photographed circa 1950s. Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1976 NH 84878

In July 1955, the 158 LSTs remaining on the Naval List (including the two post-WWII era LST-1153 class and the 54 Korean War-era LST 1156 class vessels) were given county names to go with the hull numbers. Thus, our LST-980 became USS Meeker County, the only ship named in honor of the rural south-central Minnesota county with Litchfield as its seat.

By this time, with over a decade of good service on her hull and most of her class either under a different flag or rusting away in mothballs, the ax came for our girl.

On 16 December 1955, the newly named Meeker County was decommissioned and placed in reserve status, first in Green Cove Springs, Florida, and then in Philly.

Reactivation, and headed to China Beach

With the problems in Southeast Asia suddenly coming to a head in 1965, and the Marines of Battalion Landing Team 3/9 wading ashore at Red Beach Two, north of Da Nang, on 8 March, the Navy suddenly found itself needing more gators.

“Coming Ashore: Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines [BLT 3/9] wade ashore from landing craft at Red Beach 2, just north of Da Nang on March 8, 1965.” From the Jonathan F. Abel Collection (COLL/3611) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division

Several mothballed LSTs were inspected and those found to be in better condition were modernized and reactivated for West Pac service.

The retrofit saw modern (ish) radars and commo gear installed on a new mast to the rear of the wheelhouse, the four forward Higgins boat davits removed while two aft were retained for 36-foot LCVPs, the armament reduced, and a helicopter deck installed on the top deck between Frames 16 and 26.

Observed the changes as shown on sister USS Hamilton County (LST-802) click to big up:

Meeker County was towed to Baltimore, modernized, and recommissioned on 23 September 1966.

A much cleaner Meeker County. Note the helicopter pad and large rear mast but retained 40mm and 20mm guns

Four months later she shipped out for Guam, her official “home port” although she would be bound for semi-permanent service with Landing Ship Squadron Three in Danang. LSRON3 was composed of a dozen modernized WWII LSTs (LST-344, 509, 525, 603, 819, 839, 901, 980, 1077, 1082, 1123, and 1150).

Meeker County, nicknamed at this point “Old Lovely” by her crew, would spend most of the next four years deployed to the South Vietnam littoral, with the gaps between the below periods generally seeing the LST in Subic Bay, Guam, Hong Kong, or Pearl Harbor undergoing maintenance, rotating crewmembers, or getting some much-needed R&R. 

In country: 

  • April-June; September-December 1967
  • February-May; June-October, and December 1968 (including the Tet Offensive)
  • January; March-April 1969
  • January-March, June-July 1970

Beautiful color footage exists from this period. 

Check out this great two-pager, “Shuttle Run,” covering Meeker County‘s role in moving the Army’s 5th Cavalry Division from Danang to Cua Viet in the I Corps area of Vietnam, just a hair south of the DMZ, by JOC Dick Benjamin in the July 1968 issue of All Hands.

Two snippets:

These are not milk runs. Meeker County and her sister LSTs are often shelled by enemy mortar and artillery fire.

And, as the LST was almost done unloading:

Just a few trailers were left to unload when mortar rounds started coming in, hitting 200 yards from the ship. Before the enemy could correct their range, the unloading was completed and LT [Frank Elwood] Clark backed the ship away. As Meeker County started toward the narrow inlet, heavier artillery rounds began hitting the ramp. More rounds followed the ship as she made her way to the open sea; each succeeding round hit where the ship had been only a few seconds before.

Besides shells and mortar bombs, American ships were subject to repeated attacks by swimmers carrying improvised limpet mines.

These crack Binh chủng Đặc công sappers mounted at least 88 successful attacks against shipping in Vietnamese waters between January 1962 and June 1969 which killed more than 210 personnel and wounded 325. The worst of these was on a gator, USS Westchester County (LST-1167), which resulted in the U.S. Navy’s greatest single-incident combat loss of life during the entire Vietnam War: 25 killed and 27 wounded.

At a camp in the jungle, Viet Cong (VC) swimmer sappers raise their right arms in salute at the completion of a briefing for a demolition attack on a bridge in the province. The original photograph was captured from the VC. AWM P01003.010

To counter such attacks, ships inshore would mount extensive topside sentries with grenades and rifles and occasionally spin up their props to scare away sneaky swimmers.

Note this passage from Meeker’s deck log:

Meeker, in a repeat of her Normandy bombing, was once again lucky when the sappers came paddling through.

At 0220 on 28 June 1970, while berthed at the De Long Pier in Vung Tau with 14 feet of muddy water under her keel, a sentry on Meeker County spotted a nylon line secured to the pier, and soon after a swimmer was spotted in the area.

Coming to her assistance were EOD divers of the Royal Australian Navy’s Clearance Diving Team 3. LT Ross Blue, Petty Officer John Kershler, and Able Seaman Gerald Kingston.

As described by the Australian War Memorial:

Kershler dove into the water to discover explosives wrapped in black plastic, and four fishing floats secured to the nylon line.

The bundle was drawn clear of the ship and Blue towed it away using a small craft, so it didn’t touch the bottom of the harbour. It was secured to an empty barge a kilometer from the Meeker County and away from the main shipping channel. The plan was to move it to a nearby mud bank at high tide to inspect it more closely.

A few hours before that could occur, the package exploded, shooting water ten metres into the air. Fortunately, no one was near the package at the time, and there were no injuries or damage from the blast.

Meeker County’s deck log for the day:

CDT 3 7th Team 1970: Rear: ABCD Jock Kingston, LSCD John Aldenhoven, (Inset ABCD Bob Wojcik, Killed 21 June 1970). Front: CPOCD Dollar, LT Ross Blue, and POCD John Kershler. Photo via the Military Operations Analysis Team (MOAT) at the University of New South Wales (Canberra)/AWM P01620.003

All told, Meeker County would earn 10 battle stars, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, and the Navy Unit Commendation for Vietnam service, adding to her WWII battle star from Normandy and her Occupation Medal.

Meeker County was decommissioned, in December 1970, at Bremerton and laid up there. She joined 15 remaining WWII LSTs in U.S. service in mothballs while the last of the type on active duty, USS Pitkin County (LST-1082), was decommissioned the following September.

The 1973 Jane’s listing for what was left of the class, all of which were laid up.

By 1975, with Saigon fallen, the Navy moved to dispose of the last of its WWII LSTs, and they were stricken from the Naval Register. The hulls would be transferred overseas, some scrapped, and others sold on the commercial market. The last to go was USS Duval County (LST-758), sold by MARAD in 1981.

Our Meeker County struck on April Fool’s Day 1975, was sold that December to Max Rouse & Sons, Beverly Hills, and soon was resold to fly a Singapore flag as MV LST 3. By 1978, she was operated by a Panama-owned Greek-flagged firm as MV Petrola 143 (IMO 7629893). Out of service by 1996, she was sold to a breaker in Turkey.

Epilogue

When it comes to enduring relics of our humble LST, little remains.

Some of her deck logs have been digitized in the National Archives.

The Admiral Benson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2818 in Litchfield, Minnesota is a dedicated Navy Club that remembers USS Meeker County.

Further, the LST Memorial has several photos of LST-980 and her crew digitized and preserved. 

One curious relic, the simple handmade snorkel that was left behind by Viet Cong saboteurs who tried to blow up Meeker County in 1970 was recovered by the Australian divers of CDT3 and is cataloged as part of the AWM’s collection.

“Improvised snorkel with plastic tube connected to a rubber mouthpiece, made from a tyre. Tied around the tube is a piece of khaki green lanyard, to be worn around the neck. A piece of roughly woven string is also attached to the snorkel. It divides at the other end into two piece of string, to which are attached two small balls for insertion in the nose while in use.” AWM RELAWM40821

As for the Ozzies of CDT 3, in the four years (February 1967 – May 1971) they were in Vietnam, they performed over 7,000 ship inspections and safely removed no less than 78 devices from allied hulls.

When it comes to Meeker County’s vast collection of over 1,000 sisters and near-sisters, 11 remain in some sort of service including Mexico, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines– where one, BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57), ex USS Harnett County (LST-821/AGP-281)/RVNS My Tho (HQ-800,) is famously grounded as an outpost on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.

Meanwhile, two WWII LSTs, none 542 types, are preserved as museum ships in the States. They are USS LST-325 in Evansville, Indiana, and LST-393 in Muskegon, Michigan. Please visit them if you have a chance.

And please visit and join the United States LST Association, a group that remembers them all.

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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Owen in the RVN

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Some 56 years ago this month:

“December 1967. Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 15233 Sergeant Reg Matheson of Hammondville, NSW, a member of 103 Field Battery, 1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), with his gun near a sandbagged area at the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) base.”

Photo by Michael Coleridge via the Australian War Memorial COL/66/0959/VN

Note Sgt. Matheson’s distinctive top-fed WWII-era Owen Mk 2/3 Machine Carbine (submachine gun).

Designed by 24-year-old Pvt. Evelyn Ernest Owen, with 2/17 Battalion of the Australian Army, the gun can generally be regarded as Australia’s STEN and was placed into wartime production in 1943 with some 40,000 produced. 

Production Owen Mk 1 painted in green and yellow camouflage for use in jungle fighting. The pistol grips are black plastic and the butt is wood. The 33 round 9mm magazine didn’t last long at the guns ripping 700 rounds per minute rate of fire — but “Diggers” would carry lots of spare mags to keep it stoked.

 

Late model Owen Mk 1/43 SMG complete with canvas sling mounted on the left-hand side. The butt is the skeleton frame type with a clip for an oil bottle — similar to the one found on the U.S. M1A1 Carbine.

 

The WWII era guns were refurbished at the Australian Lithgow Small Arms factory in the 1950s, which included stripping away the camo and giving them new MkIII style barrels and a safety catch. This is a good example of the latter type of “improved” Mk2/3 Owen.

As well documented in images online at the AWM, the 9mm Owen continued to see much front-line use in Korea, augmenting the bolt-action .303 Enfield with the Diggers against the Norks and Chinese “volunteers.”

20 September 1952, Korea. Informal portrait of 2400799 Private Bruce Grattan Horgan, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), standing near a trench on Hill 187. Pte Horgan is armed to go on a summer night fighting patrol, which usually consists of 15 men. His armament consists of a 9mm Owen sub-machine gun, seven magazines each holding 33 bullets, and four M36 Mills bomb hand grenades. AWM P06251.002

Owens remained in service with the Australians well into the 1960s– with Vietnam being its last hurrah, serving alongside M16s and inch-pattern semi-auto FALs– then they were replaced by the very Owen-like F1 submachine gun, which was in turn replaced by the Steyr F88 in the 1990s.
 

AWM caption: “Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1966. A Signal Corps linesman with a 9mm Owen Machine Carbine (Owen Gun) on his back, climbing a rubber tree at 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base.”

Operation Alamo at 80

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Markham Valley, Nadzab Airfield, near Lae, New Guinea: An Australian Digger and a U.S. Army Paratrooper link up on 6 September 1943. The day before, the paratroops had taken the valley in a surprise assault by air in conjunction with Allied landings at Lae, about a dozen miles to the East.

U.S. Army Signal Corps image SC 185994 via NARA

Note the Digger’s distinctive Owen submachine gun, which may denote him as a member of 2/6th Independent Company commandos, which was part of the small overland force that set out to rendevous at Nadzab from Tsili Tsili on 2 September. Also of interest is the apparently field-made assault vest worn by the Paratrooper of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, who had just carried out their first combat jump.

Besides the commandoes, the Australian overland group, primarily engineers and pioneers, consisted of B Company/Papuan Infantry Battalion, 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and detachments from the 7th Division Signals, 2/5th Field Ambulance and ANGAU, along with 760 native porters.

The day after the landing, the Australians and Americans went to work on the airstrip with hand tools. Trees were felled, potholes filled in, and a windsock erected while the waist-high Kunai grass was burned away.

(U.S. Air Force Number 67091AC)

Some 27 miles northwest of strategically important Lae by road and half that by air, it was as if Nadzab was placed in the middle of nowhere for a reason. A godsend to Allied strategists.

Founded in 1910 as a German colonial Lutheran mission station, by 1943, the grassland at Nadzab, at one time cleared from the jungle perhaps for experiments in farming, was some 900 yards long but it was thought it was easily clearable to 2,000 yards with a little work– making it an ideal location for an airfield in the Japanese’s back yard.

The strip to be captured at Nadzab is shown before the landing of the 503rd Parachute Infantry. (U.S. Air Force Number A25418AC)

After much planning, it was hit by 1,700 men of the 503 PIR in a full-scale regimental jump, with 31 Australian gunners of the 2/4th Field Regiment tagging along on what was only their second time leaving an aircraft via parachute. 

The 255-aircraft initial assault on 5 September was dramatic in the extreme, being led by 48 low-level B-25 bombers who blitzed the unoccupied valley with 2,800 20-pound frag bombs and their on-board .50 cals, followed by 7 A-20s laying smoke for the 79 C-47s that carried the paratroopers. Five B-17s brought up the rear, dropping supplies. Fighter cover was provided by a mix of 108 P-38s, P-39s, and P-47s. Another three B-17s filled with command observers– including MacArthur himself who received an Air Medal for the act– along with five more B-17s carrying weather and nav teams, kept everyone in line.

The 31 Ozzies of 54 Battery, 2/4th Field Regt, with only one practice jump under their belt, parachuted into Nadzab later that day with two dismantled 25-pounder-Short guns and 192 boxes of ammunition to provide the Americans some more support than their organic 60mm mortars, dropped by a mix of five C-47s and two B-17s.

This picture shows the attack on Nadzab at its height, with one battalion of paratroops descending from Douglas C-47s in the foreground, while in the distance (left) another battalion descends against a smokescreen. Coming in at 400-500 feet at 100 knots, each aircraft dropped its stick in just 10 seconds. The whole regiment was unloaded in 4.5 minutes (U.S. Air Force Number 25418AC)

“From one of the lowest altitudes ever attempted in battle, paratroopers jump among the trees and 12-ft. high kunai grass of the Markham valley.” (U.S. Air Force Number D25418AC)

While smoke screens build up, paratroopers drop from low-flying Douglas C-47 airplanes on each side, along the column of C-47s and about 1,000 ft. above them, come close-cover fighter support. (U.S. Air Force Number C25418AC)

Jumping unopposed, the 503rd lost three men killed and 33 injured in hard hits while one member of the Australian 2/4th Field Regt was likewise injured. Nonetheless, the results were so good that a follow-on glider force assault was canceled and the first transport aircraft landed at the improvised airstrip the next morning, with more than 40 planes cycling in on D+1 alone.

The next day, air-portable bulldozers and graders began arriving and within a month the airfield was fully functional with four strips. This enabled the Australian 7th and 9th Infantry Divisions to close with the Japanese. 

Natives of New Guinea crowd around supply-laden Douglas C-47’s which have landed at Nadzab Airstrip, New Guinea. In the distance, another plane comes in for a landing. 11 September 1943. (U.S. Air Force Number 67083AC)

Natives, supervised by men of the Australian 7th Division, unload supplies from a Douglas C-47 at Nadzab Airstrip in New Guinea. 11 September 1943. (U.S. Air Force Number 67085AC)

The landing forced the Japanese evacuation of Lae to take a route that proved to be disastrous for them and 3rd Bn/503d had a major skirmish with the rear guard of this exodus.

As noted by the Army, “The successful employment of Parachute troops, in the Markham Valley, has been credited with saving the concept of vertical envelopment from being abandoned following several less than successful engagements in Europe.”

Interior of Douglas C-47 showing Biak wounded, litter and walking cases, to be evacuated to Lae and Nadzab New Guinea. (U.S. Air Force Number D52993AC)

The field, besides being a logistical hub for the Australian-American forces pushing the Japanese out of New Guinea, Nadzab served as a base for assorted 5th Air Force units including the F-7 Dumbos of the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron (20th CMS), the B-25s of the “Air Apaches” of the 345th Bombardment Group, and the 43rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), with “Ken’s Men” flying their big B-24 Liberators from the growing base in 1944. Likewise, Navy units of the FAW-17, including the lumbering PB4Y-1 patrol bombers of VB-106, were stationed there as well.

The crew of the 64th Bomb Squadron, 43rd Bomb Group, pose beside their plane, the Consolidated B-24J-150-CO Liberator “Shining Example” at Nadzab, New Guinea. 25 May 1944. The aircraft, SN 44-40184, got her name as she was the first natural finish B-24 in SW Pacific. (U.S. Air Force Number 68882AC)

Post-war, Nadzab was abandoned by the Allies, almost as quickly as it was occupied.

Aerial View Of Nadzab Airstrip – Nadzab, New Guinea, July 1946. (U.S. Air Force Number 116758AC)

It eventually became a commercial airport, with, ironically, a redevelopment project spearheaded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

As for the 503rd, they jumped again in July 1944 at Noemfoor Island in New Guinea as an airborne reinforcement, helping to defend the Kamiri airstrip against Japanese counterattacks. After that operation, the 503rd shifted to the Philippine Islands where, on 16 February 1945, the regiment made its celebrated jump onto Corregidor Island in Manilla Bay, earning its nickname “The Rock.”

Today its first battalion (1–503rd IR) is still on active duty, assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Vicenza, Italy.

Full Color Ozzie Growler

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I do love full-color livery on warbirds. Check out this bad boy coming in to refuel.

Official caption: A Royal Australian Air Force Boeing E/A-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, #306 (Bu No. 169153) from No. 6 Squadron conducting a sortie during Exercise Talisman Sabre 23 over the Northern Territory, 26 July 2023.

Australian Defense Imagery TS20230096. Photographer: LAC Chris Tsakisiris

Note the anti-radiation HARM missile, AN/ALQ-218 wideband receivers on the wingtips, and ALQ-99 high and low-band tactical jamming pods.

Of the 172 Growlers produced thus far, almost all are in the U.S. Navy’s 16 VAQ squadrons. The sole current overseas operator is the RAAF which took possession of a baker’s dozen of aircraft for A$125 million a pop between 2015 and 2017 and achieved IOC in 2019.

Interestingly, besides the EW/SEAD role, the Australians use the Growler as a sort of replacement for the retired F-111 bomber, equipped with an ATFLIR targeting pod and assorted LGBs as well as the option for JSOW.

No, 6 RAAF dates back to 1939 and earned an impressive record in the Pacific during WWII. 

119,000-ton unofficial carrier four-pack

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So the recent biannual Talisman Saber 2023 exercise had a supercarrier in attendance, at least partially: the forward-deployed (to Japan) Nimitz-class USS Ronald Reagan and her strike group.

However, it also had four “other” non-carrier flattops on hand as well: the 27,000-ton Australian Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ship HMAS Adelaide (L01), the 45,000-ton amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), the 27,000-ton Japanese “helicopter destroyer” JS Izumo (DDH 183), and the 20,000-ton Korean Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship ROKS Marado (LPH 6112).

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas B. Contant)

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas B. Contant)

Three of the four are at least theoretically capable of operating STOVL F-35Bs as “Lightning Carriers”— and indeed, America had a detachment of Marine Lightning Bugs embarked– while the Koreans have been brainstorming running the aircraft from the Dokdo-class.

Sure, it is soft airpower as it would be hard for this quartet, even if fully loaded with all the F-35s they could park, to replicate the “throw weight” of a fully-loaded CVN. However, it is more underway airpower than Japan, South Korea, and Australia had a decade ago.

And the pictures of the complete formation are pretty sweet.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas B. Contant)

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas B. Contant)

Official caption (emphasis mine)

CORAL SEA (July 29, 2023) The forward-deployed amphibious assault carrier USS America (LHA 6), sails in formation with the Royal Australian Navy Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ship HMAS Adelaide (L01), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Izumo (DDH 183), Republic of Korea Navy amphibious assault ship ROKS Marado (LPH 6112), amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay (LPD 20), amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18), Royal Australian Navy landing ship HMAS Choules (L100), Republic of Korea Navy destroyer ROKS Munmu The Great (DDH 976), guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), dry cargo ship USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE-9), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force tank landing ship, JS Shimokita (LST 4002), Royal Australian Navy replenishment oiler HMAS Stalwart (A304) and fleet replenishment oiler USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO 199) during a formation steaming exercise, as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre, July 29. America, the lead ship of the America Amphibious Ready Group, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Talisman Sabre is the largest bilateral military exercise between Australia and the United States advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific by strengthening relationships and interoperability among key allies and enhancing our collective capabilities to respond to a wide array of potential security concerns.

So long, Forceful

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The 121-foot coal-fired steam tug Forceful (288 tons) was built in Govan, Scotland in 1925 for the Queensland Tug Company and spent most of her working life working out of Brisbane.

She also had important WWII service as HMAS Forceful (W126), based at Fremantle and Darwin, surviving several Japanese air attacks at the latter, and rescuing the crew of a ditched American B-26. Besides towing lighters to Marauke in Dutch New Guinea, she also carried out secret missions in support of Z special mission types.

Retired from active use in 1970, she was donated to Brisbane’s Queensland Maritime Museum – one of Australia’s largest maritime museums– who used her in short sightseeing trips until 2006 when she was pulled from the water.

The QMM houses the River-class frigate HMAS Diamantina (K377) safely ashore in the South Brisbane Dry Dock, the historic Commonwealth Lightship 2 (CLS2) Carpentaria, the 116-year-old pearling lugger Penguin which was used by the Americans during WWII, along with the dinghy from General Douglas MacArthur’s motor yacht Shangri-La.

However, nothing lasts forever, and in a museum, especially a maritime museum, there is never enough money

From Capt. Sir Kasper Kuiper R.O.N, Chair, Queensland Maritime Museum Association:

After 30 months of desperately seeking a safe and final resting place for the Forceful, we have been unsuccessful in locating a suitable place for her.

The Chair and Board of Directors came to the realization that the QMMA is not able to keep the ship where she is. In the coming weeks, the Forceful will begin to be deconstructed. We are looking at retaining some artifacts of her to create a fitting tribute for her.

It is very sad that this is the final outcome, but there is no alternative.

I thank you for all the support you have shown for the Forceful.

The post brought dozens of disgruntled comments, but no offers of a solution, with the QMMA replying:

If you have a place for Forceful to go please call Chair Kasper on 38445361. Thanks

Paging Mr. Turtledove

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Remember that time Japanese and German troops hit the beach in Northern Australia?

Well, relax, we aren’t speaking about an alternate reality from 1942, we are talking about the events of the last week.

Among the 30,000 troops from 13 countries taking part in Talisman Sabre 2023 in “Sunny Queensland,” Australia is a group of 200 Germans including a platoon of marines from the Küsteneinsatzkompanie of 1. Seebataillon and a reinforced company of paratroopers from the 31. Fallschirmjägerregiment in Saxony.

The Luftwaffe flew the task force from Cologne-Wahn military airport in mid-July via two A400Ms and they have been working both with the Australians and aboard the gator USS New Orleans (LPD-18), gelling with the 31st MEU then participating in landings via LCU and LCAC.

Hanging out on USS New Orleans

German infantry members ride in a truck supplied by the U.S. Marine Corps’ 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit during Talisman Sabre 23 at Midge Beach, Australia, July 26, 2023. David Vergun, DOD VIRIN: 230726-D-UB488-011

German Army Soldiers conduct a MOUT(Military Operations on Urban Terrain) movement to tactically clear buildings during the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) rotation at Townsville Field Training Area (TFTA), Townsville, Australia, July 23, 2023. Talisman Sabre is the largest bilateral military exercise between Australia and the United States advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific by strengthening relationships and interoperability among key Allies and enhancing our collective capabilities to respond to a wide array of potential security concerns.(U.S. Army photos by Spc. Mariah Aguilar)

Besides the above-mentioned troops, there are also elements from the United Kingdom, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, France, and Indonesia, so there is a certain irony for WWII buffs in seeing Japanese and German paratroopers in Northern Australia, something worth of a Turtledove novel.

Japanese defense forces participate in Talisman Sabre 23 at Midge Beach, Australia, July 26, 2023. 230726-D-UB488-012C

Welcome back, USS Canberra

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The future USS Canberra (LCS 30), the Navy’s 16th and newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship earlier this week arrived at the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Base East in Sydney for her upcoming commissioning.

The future Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Canberra (LC 30) arrives in Sydney, Australia July 18, 2023. RAN Image by POIS Peter Thompson

As detailed by the RAN:

Why does a U.S. warship carry the name of an Australian city?

Well, as any naval history buff will point out, The first USS Canberra (CA 70), a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser nicknamed the “Kan-do Kangaroo” by her crew, was named in remembrance of the lost Australian Kent-class heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra (D33), that went down fighting side-by-side with U.S. forces at the Battle of Savo Island.

CA 70 was the first U.S. Navy ship named for a foreign capital.

NH 86171-KN HMAS Canberra (Australian heavy cruiser, 1928) Watercolor by F. Elliott. This painting was received from USS Canberra (CA-70) in 1970.

A beautiful Kodachrome of USS Canberra (CAG-2) underway on 9 January 1961. KN-1526

As detailed by the Navy:

The first USS Canberra (CA 70) received seven battle stars for her service in World War II.

In May 1958, Canberra served as the ceremonial flagship for the selection of the Unknown Serviceman of World War II and Korea.

Canberra was decommissioned in a ceremony on Feb. 2, 1970, at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard.

One of her propellers is preserved at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, while the ship’s bell is on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

The new USS Canberra will be brought to life in an international commissioning ceremony, nearby the current HMAS Canberra, at 10:00 a.m. AEST on Saturday, July 22 (8:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 21).

As she will be homeported in San Diego as a part of Littoral Combat Ship Squadron ONE, the odds that USS Canberra will see Australia again are high.

Chassis No. 542

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Some 105 years ago today, after helping to break the British lines at Villers-Bretonneux, German A7V (Abteilung 7 Verkehrswesen) tank No. 542, better known as “Elfriede,” to the crew manning her, was overturned in harsh terrain and abandoned. This happened on 24 April 1918.

She was eventually captured and recovered

Elfriede was lost during the first recorded tank-vs-tank battle in history, where three A7Vs ((including 561, “Nixe,” and 506, “Mephisto“) faced off with three British Mark IVs (two female machine gun-armed tanks and one male with two 6-pounder guns).

Elfriede went on to become one of the most photographed of her type.

As detailed by Brooklyn Stereography:

A month later, a British unit managed to right the tank, which remarkably, was still in operational condition. After Armistice, Elfriede was put on display at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Two stereoviews of Elfriede wound up in A.O. Fasser‘s collection – though he had returned to America by the time these were taken:

Elfriede at the Place de la Concorde, sometime in late 1918 or early 1919. Stereoview on 6×13 cm glass diapositive from the Fasser Collection, courtesy of the Jordan/Ference Collection.

During its time on display, barricades were in place to prevent visitors from vandalizing Elfriede, taking souvenirs, etc. However, soon after, it was taken away and tested out. At this point it was covered in graffiti, as seen in a film taken by the French government to display the tank in motion. Its history between 1919 and 1940 is shaky – there is documentation in 1940 that mentions that it had been scrapped. But when was it scrapped? So far, no information on this is forthcoming. Most A7V tanks were scrapped in 1919 for their steel, and most historians believe that Elfriede was as well. But without documentation, it’s possible that the tank had some second life for another 21 years!

Only about 20 A7Vs were made and, while it appears that 18 of them were captured by the victorious Western allies, the only confirmed chassis remaining is, ironically, Elfriede’s old buddy from the Villers-Bretonneux tank scrap, Mephisto, which was captured by the 26th AIF Bn and is preserved in the Queensland Museum and dubbed by the Australian War Memorial, “The Rarest Tank in the World.”

 

Torres Strait LI at 80

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Some 80 years ago this month, on 17 March 1943, the Australian Army formed the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion, so named as it was drawn from the indigenous men of the fourteen inhabited islands along the Torres Strait between Northern Australia and New Guinea.

The 880 volunteers– many as young as 16– were organized into companies according to their island of origin:

A Coy – Murray, Darnley, York, and Stephen Islands
B Coy – Badu, Moa and Mabuiag Islands
C Coy – all the above
D Coy – Saibai and Boigu Islands (the two most remote islands)

As with Gurkha units, all of the unit’s officers, under Major Jock Swain and then Major Charles Frederick Mayne Godtschalk, were white.

Exercising in the jungle on Prince of Wales Island with the 5th Machine Gun Battalion and the 26th Battalion, AIF, by October they were testing out their military skills on patrols deep into the jungles of Dutch New Guinea. In the end, no less than 36 members of the unit perished on active service before it was disbanded in 1946.

Inspection of Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion, Thursday Island, 1945. AWM C202332/ C47381

The only “indig” regular army unit in the WWII Australian forces, they received only one-third the pay (later increased to two-thirds) of comparable ranks and it was not until the mid-1980s – four decades later – that the veterans of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion received their service medals and full pay to which they were entitled.

Today, their lineage is carried on by Charlie (Sarpeye) Company of the 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment (51 FNQR), which has been responsible for sovereignty patrols in the Torres Strait since 1987.

And they conduct a unique Sarpeye Steyr dance, complete with both traditional weapons and the current F88 Austeyr.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) commemorated the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion on Thursday Island, Queensland on 16-17 March 2023. Today, descendants of the Battalion continue to serve in the ADF across Australia, many within Thursday Island’s Charlie (Sarpeye) Company of 51st FNQR

LTGEN Simon Stuart, AO DSC, Chief of the Australian Army, along with members of 51 FNQR, was present at a ceremony on Thursday Island last week honoring the “ilan men” of the old battalion.

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