Operation Steel Box/Golden Python kicked off some 36 years ago this month, on 26 July 1990. It was about as joint as can be, and for good reason.
It had to move legacy stockpiles of 100,000 Sarin (GB) and VX (nerve agent) filled chemical munitions, specifically M121 155mm and M426 8-inch unitary chemical projectiles, from their igloos in West Germany, some 13,000 miles around the globe, to remote Johnston Atoll in the Pacific for destruction.
It was believed there was enough agent to easily kill millions of people if deployed, only limited by the density of the local population.
The thing is, the shells were increasingly unstable and occasionally leaked or broke, many having been filled in the 1950s and subjected to 25 years of winter freezes in Germany.
A pallet of M121/A 155mm chemical artillery shells sits in its shipping crate before being unloaded during Operation Steel Box. SSGT. Val Gempis/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02497
The Army leg of it (it was their gas after all) saw 15 bunkers at the classified Sonderwaffenlager Site 59 in Clausen emptied into 28 road convoys by the 330th Ordnance Company (EOD) with the 110th Military Police Company riding shotgun and shuttled to the nearby Miesau Army Depot. Air-tight and haz-mat rated Secondary Steel Containers (SSC) were used to overpack the standard shipping pallets.
The munitions were loaded onto a special ammunition train for the 400-mile rail journey from Miesau to the port of Nordenham, shadowed by 80 West German police and U.S. Army vehicles which closed off each crossing to avoid accidents.
Waiting at the North Sea-adjacent port were the MSC-operated 30,000-ton 1,230-TEU auxiliary crane (sister) ships SS Gopher State (T-ACS-4) and SS Flickertail State (T-ACS-5), standing by to receive their moody cargo.
SS Gopher State (T-ACS-4) MSC photo
The ships’ crews had been given weeks of extra training in chemical response and firefighting, and the vessels had been specially modified for the mission at a cost of $53 million.
To monitor the cargo, the ships were equipped with three different systems for testing the atmosphere for the presence of chemical agents. These systems used special ventilation equipment, various air sampling devices, and on-board laboratories for sample analysis. The ship holds and hatch covers were modified to be airtight. Empty containers were loaded along the sides of the cargo holds, thus providing a buffer zone to protect the cargo in the event of a collision and to prevent the cargo from shifting during rough seas. The ships were also outfitted with collective protection systems that provided a constant flow of clean filtered air to the crew accommodations and most working areas. This protected these areas from contamination in the event of an accidental release of chemical agents. Other safety modifications included decontamination stations and upgrades to the ships’ medical facilities and firefighting/damage control systems.
Once loaded, the sea trip would be non-stop to avoid any possible disasters in a seaport and would skip the constricted Panama Canal by routing around Cape Horn at the tip of South America.
To keep tabs on the cargo, the auxiliaries carried 12 armed and MOPP-gear-equipped Army Technical Escort personnel on each ship.
For insurance, the two grey-hulled auxiliaries would be escorted for their 46-day trip by the nuclear-powered (for obvious reasons) Cold War veteran cruisers USS Bainbridge (CGN-25)and USS Truxtun (CGN-35).
USS Bainbridge firing a Harpoon in Exercise Red Reef III, 10 January 1992. DN-ST-92-07301
A port beam view of the nuclear-powered guided missile-cruiser USS Truxtun (CGN 35) underway steaming to her homeport of San Diego. 3 January 1989. DN-SC-90-02332
Single-class vessels built in the 1960s as 9,000-ton destroyer leaders then reclassed as cruisers, Bainbridge and Truxtun were more than capable of stopping any attempted hijacking on the high seas, carrying between them a 5″/45 Mk 42 gun, three twin Mk 10 launchers for a mix of 140 Standard SM-2 and ASROC missiles, 16 Harpoon AShMs, 10 ASW torpedo tubes, and four CIWS.
While not Aegis ships, they had long-range and advanced SPS-48 and SPS-52 3D radar sets as well as big SQS-26 sonar domes, so no rogue ship was going to get a drop on them. Their fire control systems allowed them to track and engage up to 16 targets simultaneously.
An eye in the sky was provided by Truxtun’s embarked SH-2F Sea Sprite, while Bainbridge had a helicopter deck but no hangar. Meanwhile, long-range land-based Navy and Air Force assets provided frequent overflights.
You can be sure that, in the event of some sort of runaway incident aboard one of the ships that couldn’t be contained, the crews would be evacuated and the Harpoons would fly, relying on the deep, dark waters to become the ultimate containment vessel.
It was slow going, averaging just over 11 knots, wallowing along monotonously in the same way that WWII convoys crept across oceans, moving at the speed of the slowest vessel.
Shoving off on 22 September, they arrived at Johnston Atoll on 6 November, without incident, despite experiencing several severe storms while “rounding the Cape.”
Replenishment food stores and boiler fuel oil for the auxiliaries were transferred underway.
Offloading took place over 12 days, with a commercial tug moving the Gophers around the small terminal while the recently commissioned 110-foot Island-class patrol boat, USCGC Kiska (WPB-1336), stood by the littoral to provide security.
She had steamed there independently from her station at Hilo, Hawaii, some 900 miles north, and had cleared the local waters a week before the task force’s arrival.
The Coast Guard large patrol craft USCGC Kiska (WPB-1336) ties up at the pier upon its arrival for Operation Steel Box, 1 November 1990. The Kiska is in place to provide security during the delivery of chemical munitions to the atoll. SSGT James M. Bowman/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02502
Coast Guardsmen aboard a rigid-hull inflatable boat pass through the harbor as the Military Sealift Command auxiliary crane ship Gopher State (T-ACS-4) is tied up to the pier behind them during Operation Steel Box. The Gopher State is delivering chemical munitions to the U.S. Army Chemical Activity on the atoll for storage and disposal. SSGT James M. Bowman/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02442
Note the all-important MOPP gear bag and clean shave! “A soldier from the 58th Military Police Company stands guard with an M-16A2 rifle as a convoy of M-878 yard tractor trucks carrying containers of chemical munitions prepares to depart from the pier area during Operation Steel Box. The trucks will carry the containers to the U.S. Army Chemical Activity on the atoll, where the munitions will be held for storage and disposal. The munitions were transported to Johnston Atoll aboard Military Sealift Command ships.” SSGT Val Gempis/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02487
Soldiers (the “Red Hats” of the 267th Chemical Company) prepare to unload a crate of 155mm chemical artillery shells before placing them in a storage bunker during Operation Steel Box. The munitions, which were transported to the atoll aboard Military Sealift Command ships, will be stored in the bunker until their disposal. SSGT Val Gempis/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02496
Steel Box concluded on 18 November, with no leaks or security breaches, and after the ships left, the “Red Hats” of the 267th Chemical Company– one of the only Chem Branch units with its own attached MP platoon (of the 58th Military Police Company)– slowly but safely disposed of the projectiles over the next decade.
By 2003, the facility itself had been demolished, and the 267th was deactivated the next year. The 58th is in garrison at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.
Steel Box was among Bainbridge and Truxton’s final hurrahs before being decommissioned in 1995-1996 and recycled.
Kiska was decommissioned in Guam in October 2020, after 30 years of service, then transferred to Ukraine as Viacheslav Kubrak (P194), current status unknown.
Both Flickertail State and Gopher State outlived them all. Held in the MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force along with sister SS Cornhusker State (T-ACS-6) at Newport News, Gopher State is subject to recall on a five-day notice, despite both being over 50 years young. Meanwhile, Flickertail State is held in the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) at Alameda so that her spare parts can be stripped for her two sister ships.
To cap RIMPAC 26, two large SINKEXs took place, targeting the long decommissioned Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship ex-USS Peleliu (LHA-5) and the more recently laid up Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser ex-USS Mobile Bay (CG 53).
The event took place in deep water (+6,000 feet) north of Hawaii to keep the broken wrecks safe from unwelcome eyes.
Of course, Big Navy did what Big Navy is well-known for, deep-sixing ships De Soto style that some on Capitol Hill would like to see returned to service. Peleliu, the last of her class, had been laid up since 2015 but drew interest as a short-term replacement for Bon Homme Richard for a few years until a new ‘phib could be completed. Likewise, cruiser fans hate to see every Tico get a hard goodbye, especially if they still “look” so good.
I mean, look at Mobile Bay when she was decommissioned just under three years ago:
SAN DIEGO (Aug.10, 2023) – The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) sits pier side during a decommissioning ceremony. The Mobile Bay was decommissioned after more than 36 years of distinguished service. Commissioned Feb. 21, 1987, Mobile Bay served in the U.S. Atlantic, Seventh, and U.S. Pacific Fleet and supported Operation Desert Storm. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Stevin C. Atkins)
If they are at the bottom of the Pacific, the NDAA can’t authorize millions to reactivate elderly vessels– so that the money can be spent on shiny new ones.
Mobile Bay SINKEX from Royal Canadian Navy submarine HMCS Cornerbrook. Corner Brook fired a warshot Mk 48 Mod 7AT heavyweight torpedo into Mobile Bay during the event. It was the first time a Canadian sub took part in RIMPAC since HMCS Victoria in 2014.
Mobile Bay SINKEX from Royal Canadian Navy submarine HMCS Cornerbrook.
Plus, obtaining valid weapons testing evaluations on a big deck LHA– from a class that the Navy’s current LHAs and LHDs are based upon– is worthwhile.
Peleliu had already been towed out to sea from her retirement home in the West Loch earlier this year to simulate battle damage in various spaces and then towed back to Ford Island as part of an extensive Repair Technology Exercise (REPTX) which brought together various technologies for inspection, repair, and/or prevention of damage.
Shore-based rocket batteries (M142 HIMARS of the Kentucky National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 623rd Field Artillery, and Type 12 anti-ship missiles from the Japanese Army’s 8th Surface-to-Surface Missile Regiment) got their real-world tasking and showed the continued promise of mobile sea control from the shore.
Perhaps the Navy is eager to assuage allies that their 1970s-designed anti-ship missiles can still, you know, anti-ship.
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Kongo-class guided missile destroyer JS Kongo (DDG 173) fires a Harpoon missile at the hulk of decommissioned Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) during a combined sinking exercise in the Pacific Ocean as part of Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2026, July 17, 2026. (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force photo)
Although, to be fair, HMAS Sydney did get a chance to test out one of the RAN’s new Naval Strike Missiles.
HMAS Sydney (V) conducts a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) firing during RIMPAC Sea phase off the coast of Hawaii, United States.
Getting Spiked
Of note, among those who got in licks were a flight of AH-64D Longbow Apaches from the Fort Lewis-based 16th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 7th Infantry (Hourglass) Division, which carried Israeli-made Spike NLOS missiles. The 75-pound fire-and-forget missile has a 20+ mile range and a 28-pound warhead while only costing about $250K. In effect, a sort of super Hellfire.
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command – Pacific) load a Spike missile on the an AH-64 Apache in preparation for their role in a sink exercise, where each aircraft fires a Spike missile at a decommissioned warship for the purpose of at-sea live-fire training during exercise Rim of the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii, on July 11, 2026. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christian Morton)
Said Army Apaches flew from USS Essex (LHD-2) alongside Marine Cobras (Vipers) and Hueys (Venoms).
Note the Spike aboard
Two U.S. Army AH-64 Apaches from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command – Pacific) participate in a sink exercise, where each aircraft fires a Spike missile at a decommissioned Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53), for the purpose of at-sea live-fire training during Exercise Rim of the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii, on July 11, 2026. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Christian Morton)
A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, Multi-Domain Command – Pacific, fires a Spike Non-Line of Sight missile at the USS Mobile Bay for a Sink Exercise during Rim of the Pacific in Hawaii, July 11, 2026.
The Spikes were joined by Penguins fired from an RNZN SH-2G SeaSprite (they do exist!) from the Anzac-class frigate HMNZS Te Mana (F 111), a Marte from an Italian SH-101 flying from the frigate Giovanni Delle Bande Nere (P 434), and Hellfires from a pair of RAN MH-60Rs flying from both Sydney and cross-decked from USS Wayne G. Meyer (DDG 108).
RNZN SH-2G SeaSprite Penguin RIMPAC SINKEX
Italian Navy SH-101 launching a Marte anti-ship missile during Exercise RIMPAC, flown from Giovanni Delle Bande Nere
Flight 607 personnel load Hellfire missiles into MH-60R Seahawk “DUNDEE” on the flight deck of HMAS Sydney (V) during RIMPAC sea phase off the coast of Hawaii, United States.
So long, Tarawas
In the end, let’s pour out one for the Tarawas, which were first ordered 1 May 1969, amid the worst part of the Vietnam War. Peleliu’s sinking closes the book on the class, spanning a 57-year run.
Artist’s conception of a very preliminary design of the LHA, released by DoD, 15 February 1967. USN 1120262
They held the line in the Cold War and multiple evolutions of the Sandbox, combining big Harrier and Super Stallion capable air decks with large LCAC and LCU capable well decks and room for 1,700 embarked Marines. Nothing else came close before the class.
Of the five members, USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3) was the first disposed of, sunk in 2006, followed by Saipan (LHA 2), which was scrapped in 2009, Nassau (scrapped in 2021), and Tarawa herself, which was sent to the bottom in RIMPAC 24.
141022-N-NZ935-083 PHILIPPINE SEA (Oct. 22, 2014) The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) is underway as part of the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and is conducting joint forces exercises in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Joshua Hammond/Released)
Some 60 years ago this week, over the skies of the Republic of Vietnam.
An LTV F-8E Crusader of the “Hunters” of Fighter Squadron 162 (VF-162), fires 2.75-inch Zuni rockets in support of ground forces in South Vietnam during USS Oriskany (CVA-34)’s 1966 West Pac deployment. The photo is dated 23 July 1966. Eighteen rockets are visible in this image.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph USN 1117222, now in the collections of the National Archives.
VF-162 was established aboard NAS Miramar on 1 September 1960 as a Douglas F4D outfit but only flew their pokey Skyrays on their first deployment aboard USS Intrepid in the Med in 1961-62.
Switching to the speedy F-8 in 1963, they would make their next four deployments from Oriskany’s deck on Westpac cruises (Aug 63 – Mar 64, Apr 65 – Dec 65, May 66 – Nov 66, and Jun 67 – Jan 68).
A Sidewinder-armed F-8E Crusader from the VF-162 Hunters prepares to launch from USS Oriskany (CVA 34) on a mission over North Vietnam in August 1967. Note the “Hunters” moniker on the aircraft’s wing roots.
Keeping the Tonkin Gulf in their blood, the Hunters shipped out in 1969 for another Vietnam tour aboard USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) and their last on USS Shangri-La (CVS-38) in 1970.
With 16 aircraft lost in action, VF-162 had the second-highest combat loss rate after VF-111 of the F-8 fighter units deployed to Vietnam, but had two confirmed A-to-A MiG kills (9 October 1966, when CDR Dick Bellinger bested a VPAF MiG-21; and 14 December 1967, when LT Richard Wyman shot down a VPAF MiG-17).
VF-162 disestablished on 29 January 1971, having just nine years on the books but lots of time in combat.
The squadron’s last “deployed” aviator downrange, LCDR Richard Minnich, shot down over North Vietnam by an SA-2 in December 1968, had his remains repatriated in December 1985 and identified the next year.
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Warship Wednesday 23 July 2026: Semper Laborantes
USCG Photo 26-G-07-26-56(13). National Archives Identifier 205592132
Above we see the Balsam (Iris “C”)-class armed ocean-going buoy tender USCG Hornbeam (WAGL-394) hard at work at the scene of one of the most infamous maritime disasters in modern history, some 70 years ago this week.
In the photo, the once-proud Italian liner Andrea Doria lists dangerously in over 200 fathoms of water off Nantucket, with two of her lifeboats alongside Hornbeam.
The Balsams
In 1916, the Revenue Cutter Service and Lifesaving Service were merged to form the Coast Guard, to which the Bureau of Lighthouses was added on 1 July 1939, and as such, all U.S. lighthouses, tenders, and lightships became USCG installations and ships.
The thing is, the lighthouse and buoy tender fleet was a hodgepodge of antiquated single-use vessels to which the Bureau had been looking to replace with a new series of 177-foot lighthouse tenders modeled after the USLHT Juniper, the last vessel designed by the Bureau.
Taking these plans, the Coast Guard made some changes and produced an 180-foot/950-ton single-screw steel-hulled ship that incorporated some new features that the USLHS never needed (an ice-strengthened bow, search and rescue equipment and mission, allowance for armament, etc. al).
The first of these, USCGC Cactus (WAGL-270), was appropriated for $782,381 on 20 Jan 1941 and laid down at Marine Iron & Shipbuilding Corporation, Duluth, Minnesota, on 31 March.
USCGC Basswood through the Straits of Mackinac- 12 May 1944, a good example of the “180s.” Note the 3″/50 behind her wheelhouse facing over the stern as well as her 20mm mounts. ASW weapons, firefighting gear, and buoy-tending equipment were also shoehorned into these ships. Further, as shown above, they could break light ice, a feature that was to serve the units headed to the Pacific well!
The 39 Balsams were built in three slightly different flights: A, Cactus (13); B, Mesquite (6), and C, Iris (20).
All ships of the three subclasses have the same general characteristics, but with slight differences (e.g., the “A/Cactus” class tenders may be differentiated from the other two classes of 180-foot tenders by their unique “A” frame main boom support forward and their large 30,000 gal fuel tanks that allowed an economical 17,000nm cruising range on their gentle diesel suite.)
Likewise, they were constructed at three yards, Marine Iron & Shipbuilding (6 Cactus, 5 Mesquite, 10 Iris), Zenith Dredge (7 Cactus, 10 Iris)– both in in Duluth, Michigan– and the USCG Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland (1 Mesquite), with the first hull laid down on 31 March 1941 and the final ship commissioned 22 November 1944, an impressive run.
The building process averaged 192,018 hours of labor per vessel.
Which brings us to…
Meet Hornbeam
Our subject was the only warship named after the American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), a small hardwood tree.
Laid down as Yard No CG-152 at Marine and Iron Shipbuilding Corporation, Duluth, on 19 June 1943.
USCGC Hornbeam during construction at Duluth- 17 July 1943. USCG Photo
She hit the water in a side-launch on 14 August 1943 and was commissioned on 14 April 1944.
Launching of USCGC Hornbeam- 14 August 1943. USCG Photo
Our little tender was constructed in 300 days flat for a cost of $864,296. Only one C-series (Iris) Balsam class tender was constructed for cheaper (USCGC Sassafras) and that only barely so ($864,032).
LCDR Taylor accepts USCGC Hornbeam from the builders. USCG Photo
War!
Following a short workup, Hornbeam served on the Great Lakes, between April and July 1944.
USCGC Hornbeam- 15 June 1944. USCG Photo
She was used for general ice-breaking (in spring) and aids-to-navigation work (in summer) before heading to the East Coast via the Weiland Canal (the St. Lawrence didn’t open until 1959).
Arriving at Woods Hole, Massachusetts on 14 August 1944, Hornbeam was a First CG District asset used for coastal ASW patrol in addition to her buoy and marker work.
She was well equipped for the task, delivered with a WEA-2 sonar, two depth charge racks, two forward Mousetraps over the bow, and four Y-gun type depth charge throwers. For surface action, she had her amidships 3″/50 on a bandstand behind the stack, two 20m Oerlikon singles, and a SL-1 radar.
Official wartime caption: “The latest U.S. Coast Guard armed buoy tender is shown slogging into a head sea during an Atlantic storm in this oil painting by USCG Combat Artist Hunter Wood. This type carries heavy guns in case it runs upon a U-boat.” Released February 11, 1944. National Archives Identifier 205575897
It was during the war that she came to the assistance of the USCGC Nemesis (WPC-111) following the 165-foot patrol cutter’s collision with SS Felipe de Neve on New Year’s Day 1945.
To Black Hull Service
Post-war, the Balsams continued in service, albeit without having to keep an eye peeled for Zeroes and U-boats. This meant most of their ASW weapons were removed, and they received a more work-a-day black hull scheme rather than grey and camouflage.
Enlisted crew of USCGC Hornbeam on her quarterdeck,1952
For tenders stationed in more northern climes, like our Hornbeam, this meant summers working buoys and markers while being on call for search and rescue and LE missions and the winters breaking ice.
The class was used for any number of ancillary duties. For example, one member, Redbug, was lent to the MSTS for use as a light cargo ship (AKL) in the 1950s, running around remote Pacific bases. The white-hulled Evergreen (later classed as WAGO-295) served as the USCG’s only oceanographic vessel off and on from 1948 through 1982.
Jane’s 1954 entry for the class, noting 38 in USCG service, with Redbud in MSTS but not mentioning Evergreen.
Settling in her regular beat, Hornbeam became one of a series of cutters who had an alternate identity in the Republic of Nantucket, dubbed the RONC Par A Sec 4.
The practice came as noted by the USGC Historian’s Office:
The commanding officers or officers-in-charge of Coast Guard cutters that are assigned to or visit Nantucket play the “Ring Game” with the Nantucket Angler’s Club for “ownership” of the cutter. If the skipper loses, then the Nantucket Angler’s Club becomes the cutter’s owner. The skipper is entitled to decide the newly acquired cutter’s “RON” name.
She clocked in where needed.
Besides her regular work, she regularly ferried personnel and supplies to the five manned lightships marking the northeast coast. She served temporarily as the Nantucket Light Station when the regular light ships were unavailable, and helped them regain station when drifting.
With the huge Gloucester fishing fleet in her stomping grounds, it was often that our tender was called out in an emergency, such as when she came to the assistance of the trawler FV Flamingo near Pollock Rip on 17 Feb 1954. She then came to the aid of FV Shamos, aground at No Man’s Land, that September. In November 1955, she towed the disabled FV Mideay, then turned around just days later and towed the similarly disabled FV Ballard. In 1956, she escorted the distressed MV Chelsea to New Bedford.
That was just a warm-up for something much bigger.
Andrea Doria
The collision between the westbound 29,083-ton luxury liner Andrea Doria, out of Genoa, Italy, racing behind schedule at nearly 22 knots to New York, and the motorship Stockholm (12,165 GRT), steaming east at 18.5 knots out of New York headed for Gothenburg, on the late night of 25 July 1956 while in heavy fog off Nantucket, is very well documented.
Fatalities were light, all things considered. Five were killed on Stockholm, 46 on Andrea Doria. However, it set the stage for a heart-pounding all-hands rescue, with the liner flooding and listing sharply, rendering half her lifeboats immediately unusable.
Although cracked up, Stockholm ended up carrying 572 survivors (327 passengers and 245 crew members) from Andrea Doria, in addition to her own passengers and crew, to New York under her own steam.
The stately but aging 46,000-ton CGT liner, SS Île de France, rushed to the scene and, of 1,706 surviving passengers and crew of the Andrea Doria, about 753 were transferred aboard the Frenchman in six hours.
Other ships were there too.
The Munargo (United Fruit) Lines Liberty ship SS Cape Ann picked up 129 survivors.
The Hornbeam sortied out– along with the cutters Campbell, Evergreen, Fredrick Lee, Owasco, and Yakutat— and made it to the scene just before sunrise.
She took aboard the survivors of the last two lifeboats, composed of the final crew to escape the doomed liner. They had remained aboard working the pumps in vain hope she could be saved.
Hornbeam with the badly listing Andrea Doria in the foreground on the morning of 27 July 1956, some 55 miles off Nantucket. Note her eight portside lifeboats are still in their davits. USCG Photo 26-G-07-26-56(04), National Archives Identifier 205592110
Andrea Doria’s skipper, 58-year-old Capt. Piero Calamai, watched his proud vessel slip below the waves from the deck of Hornbeam. Reports range from 45 to 77, the number that Hornbeam took aboard. As the boats had a capacity of 58, either number seems possible.
Andrea Doria rolling. Likely taken from Hornbeam. Note she still has all of her portside lifeboats in their davits. USCG 26-G-07-26-56(17)
Andrea Doria down. Likely taken from Hornbeam. The cutter brought two lifeboats back to Woods Hole, and those that could not be salvaged were sunk by gunfire to prevent them from being shipping hazards. USCG 26-g-097-123-003
Hornbeam transferred her survivors to the larger and faster destroyer escort USS Edward H. Allen (DE-531)to land at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and brought the two large lifeboats from Andrea Doria to shore at Woods Hole.
For her assistance, the destroyer was officially thanked by the Italian Government and her commanding officer, LCDR Boyd Henry Hempen, USNR (OCS ‘43), was decorated with the Italian Legion of Merit.
Allen’s list of 77 Doria survivors, including Calamai, landed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard early on the 27th:
Hornbeam’s skipper, LT Roger F. Erdmann, joined LCDR Hempin of the USS Allen in a ceremony where 35 Navy and USCG personnel were decorated at the Italian Embassy in DC on 18 January 1957.
His Excellency Manlio Brassio [Brosio] [Brosio], Ambassador of Italy, decorates Lieutenant R. F. Erdmann, USCG, for assistance rendered the Italian ship, Andrea Doria, USCG Photo via NARA
Post-Doria
Hornbeam picked up her tackle and got back to work, yet continued to come in as a lifesaver in the clutch.
On 8-9 July 1957, she assisted the MV American Packer off Buzzards Bay
On 25 October 1957, she assisted MV Nicolos, which was aground at Hog Island
On 4 April 1958, she assisted MV Fort Felerman.
On 30 April 1958, she assisted FV Venture 1.
On 7 Aug 1958, she assisted following collision between MVs Graham and MT Gulf Oil in the East passage of Narragansett Bay.
On 29 January 1961, she assisted her sister cutter Spar, which was aground in Narragansett Bay.
USCGC Hornbeam off Nantucket in 1963. USCG Photo
In April 1965, she escorted the icebreaker USS Atka, which was taking on water off New Bedford.
In late November 1965, she assisted U.S. MVs American Pilot and Maume Sum following their collision west of the Cape Cod Canal
In January 1968, she freed the research ship Gosnold from ice near Woods Hole.
Still a warrior
She also undertook some genuine naval work in 1962, leaving her normal cruising grounds to participate in the shipping quarantine around Cuba.
Hornbeam shepherded several small (82 and 95 foot) patrol boats dispatched from New England that were involved in the operation that turned away several Soviet ships carrying offensive missiles intended for deployment in Cuba.
By this time, she carried an UNQ-1 sonar and SPN-11 or SPS-10 radar, and had ditched her Oerlikons for M2 .50 cals but still had her 3″/50 deck gun until at least 1967 when it was landed, leaving her just the .50s and her small arms locker.
Around this period, her unit patch included Semper Laborantes (Always Working), and for good reason.
Insignia patch of buoy tender assigned to First Coast Guard District, Boston. “Semper Laborantes, Aids to Navigation.” Description: Courtesy of Commander George Wildes, USCG, 1978. Catalog #: NH 88137-KN
Upgrades
In 1965, the service redesignated most large buoy tenders from WAGL (auxiliary lighthouse tender) to WLB (oceangoing buoy tender) to reflect the vessels’ evolving multi-mission capabilities– and the phasing out of manned light ships and light houses, with the latter declining from 670 in 1939 to just 158 by 1965.
The USCG kept these versatile 180-foot tenders in operation well past their prime. Of the 38 remaining Balsams, only 11 did not receive either a Major Renovation (MAJREN) in the 1970s (at which point they were in their 30s) and/or a Service Life Extension (SLEP) rebuild in the 1980-90s (at which point they were in their 40s and 50s).
Hornbeam was in the club of 12 that only ever got the 1970s MAJREN refit, picking up $17.5 million worth of work between 1 July 1976 and 29 Apr 1977 at the CG Yard.
Under the MAJREN program, vessels received new diesel engines while the main electrical motor and its control systems underwent a thorough overhaul. New electrical wiring and switchboards were installed, as were entirely new water piping and sewage handling systems. Each vessel received a bow thruster to improve its maneuverability in close quarters. Future crews benefited from the replacement and modernization of all furnishings in the living areas. Decreasing the size of the forward hold allowed the expansion of the living area itself. Fourteen 180s went through the MAJREN program. These repairs and improvements extended each vessel’s service life by an estimated ten to fifteen years
Following her MAJREN, Hornbeam shifted from Woods Hole, which she had called home for 32 years, and arrived at Cape May, New Jersey in early May 1977.
Post MAJREN and racing-stripe equipped USCGC Hornbeam underway on 15 February 1984. Note the ice accumulation amidships. USCG photo.
Based at Cape May, she was co-located with the service’s boot camp (TRACEN). This allowed her, whenever not on her regular ATON and SAR duties, to serve as a floating training bed for budding coasties and a host of assorted high-profile programs.
Yorktown, Virginia (Apr. 26 1999)–The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Hornbeam (WLB 394) secures the buoy chain after pulling a buoy out of the water as part of the JCOC demonstration at Reserve Training Center Yorktown. The Joint Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC), sponsored each year by the Secretary of Defense, brings together 60 noted civilians from around the country–a broad cross-section of opinion leaders–and gives them a weeklong, intense orientation on the U.S. military. The program begins with high-level briefings at the Pentagon and then takes the participants to various installations across the country for “hands-on” experiences. USCG photo by PA1 Telfair Brown.
Still, with her ice-strengthened bow, she came in handy on ice patrol and in coastwise icebreaking even at her advanced age.
USCGC Hornbeam underway on International Ice Patrol in 1984
In January and February 1994, Hornbeam, “during a record cold spell,” spent seven weeks breaking ice and installing ice buoys in the Delaware Bay and Delaware River.
While in Cape May, her patch touted Marvin the Martian, noting the tender was “Doing the Impossible.”
End Game
Starting in 1972 with Redbud decommissioned and transferred to the Philippines, the Coast Guard began whittling down the 180s. Before the end of the decade, four further 180s, all from the earliest Cactus variants (Balsam, Cowslip, Woodbine, and Tupelo), were taken out of service and disposed of.
Three of the 180s were lost in accidents.
Cactus ran hard aground in 1971, and the damage was so extensive that the government decided to decommission the vessel rather than repair her– nearly 30 years into her service career.
In January 1980, USCGC Blackthorn collided with a commercial tanker in Tampa Bay, Florida, and capsized the buoy tender, taking 23 members of her crew to the bottom.
In December 1989, USCGC Mesquite grounded on a rock pinnacle jutting from the bottom of Lake Superior, which damaged her so severely that the USCG decided to decommission the old gal, and she was scuttled by a commercial salvage company in 1990.
By the 1980s, Evergreen, no longer needed with the service shuttering its oceanographic office, along with sisters USCGC Citrus (WLB-300) and Clover (WLB-292), were redesignated as Medium Endurance cutters (WMEC) to combat the rising drug trade and replace smaller 143-foot Sotoyomo-class fleet tugs that had been transferred from the Navy in the 1950s. These would later be replaced themselves in the early 1990s by much more effective 270-foot Bear-class cutters.
With the service moving to commission the new and much more capable 225-foot Juniper class of ocean-going buoy tenders, the writing was on the wall for the remaining 180s.
Hornbeam was decommissioned on 30 September 1999, capping a busy and oft-unrecognized 55-year career.
The laid-up tender was berthed first in Custis Bay, then in Baltimore after 2002, where she sat idle next to the Domino Sugar Factory.
The former USCGC Hornbeam (WLB-394), at Baltimore, MD, May 14, 2007.
In November 2007, the sugar factory had an explosion, and the ship was covered in black sugar soot residue.
The old girl was sold on the commercial market in January 2009 to Integrated Technologies & Systems, Ltd, and soon was floating around the Caribbean as the coaster M/V Rum Cay Grace (IMO 8660624).
It was in April 2010 that she was chartered to Volunteer Ministers, the outreach program for the Church of Scientology, to carry earthquake relief supplies (“including an ambulance, a pickup truck to be used as an ambulance, MREs, stoves and wood pellets, and wheelchairs, walkers and crutches”) from Miami to Haiti.
Scientology Volunteer Minister Ship, M/V Rum Cay Grace, (ex USCG Ship Hornbeam), arriving in Haiti, April 2010, bringing 165 tons of materials, food and other aids to the disaster-stricken country. Via Wiki Commons.
Left to languish in Haiti, the abandoned coaster was hijacked by “two old pirates” and a skeleton crew, and sailed to Panama in 2012, where she grounded and wrecked the following year, the end of her tale.
Hornbeam’s skipper during the Andrea Doria rescue, LT Roger F. Erdmann, USCG, retired as a captain. An exhibit honoring him is at the North Point Lighthouse outside of Milwaukee, where he was stationed from 1957 to 1961. He later commanded the famed 327-foot cutter Duane (WHEC-33) from 1969-1971 before ending his career in the 1st District in Boston. He passed in 1984, aged 65, and is buried in the Central Maine Veterans Cemetery in Augusta.
Two of Andrea Doria’s aluminum-hulled human-powered (Fleming geared) lifeboats, #1 and #13, survive, of which I believe the former was one of the two brought to Woods Hole by Hornbeam immediately after the disaster. No. 13 reportedly was found washed up in New York in 1981, having broken loose from her davits after the liner sank.
After the sinking of the Andrea Doria, Calamai, her final captain, retired. He had joined the Italian Navy in 1916 as an ensign, and had a solid 40 years of military and commercial maritime service under his belt. He is reported to have told one of his friends after the sinking, “Before I used to love the sea. Now I hate it.” When he died in 1972 at the age of 74, his last words were recorded as “Are all passengers safe?”
Wikipedia doesn’t even mention the Hornbeam in its entry on the infamous passenger liner. The USCG Historian’s Office long ago deleted her entry.
When it comes to her sisters, a few 180s survive in overseas service (Buttonwood, under a Dominican flag) while some others are in commercial or private hands as museum ships. One, Sundew, was at Hornbeam’s birthplace this week and still looks great.
To the crew of privately-owned former USCGC Sundew, departing Duluth this afternoon for the big USCG Festival in Grand Haven, Michigan, on July 24 – August 2. USCGC Spar (WLB-206), seen in the distance, will not be participating this year. Duluth, MN – July 20, 2026. Photo by David Schauer.
Thanks for reading!
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
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The Italian Navy has declared its stockpile of Cold War-vintage 9mm Beretta burp guns that are surplus to its needs and is actively seeking to part with them.
The Italian Defense Industries Agency (L’Agenzia Industrie Difesa) recently announced it is accepting bids for 16,165 assorted Moschetti Automatici Beretta, or MAB, submachine guns. Brig. Gen. Massimo Boschetto detailed in a tender announcement that the guns are located at three naval bases, Taranto (7,512), La Spezia (8,404), and Augusta (249), and are being sold as-is/where-is and sans magazines.
The MAB, Beretta’s Model 1938 submachine gun in 9mm Para, was a big hit for the company and can still be found in limited service around the world.
The MAB was a staple not only of the Italian military during WWII but also saw widespread use with guerrilla/resistance groups of all stripes and ultimately was in service with over 30 nations.
It was one of the more successful sub-guns of the conflict and was a favorite of Italian marine, mountain troop, and paratrooper units, seen here with “samurai” magazine holders.
A brainchild of Beretta’s storied chief engineer Tullio Marengoni – who also designed the Beretta M15, M17, M35 and M51 pistols, the latter the basis for the famed Model 92 – the MAB was first fielded in 1938 and remained in production until the early 1960s when it was replaced in the company’s catalog by the M12 SMG.
It is believed over 1 million MAB/Model 1938s were produced in a dozen variants.
This case in the Beretta Private Collection is full of assorted Model 38s with early circa 1930s Model 38As to the left and more simplified Model 38/44s and 38/49s to the right. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Several MAB variants exist in U.S. museums and in the collection of the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, brought back from all over the globe. (Photos: SANHS)
Even after the Italian army and national gendarmerie (Carabinieri) hung up the MAB in the 1960s and 70s, it remained in service with the Italian air force, as seen in these images during a NATO exercise in 1985, vibing alongside U.S. Air Force Security Police at Aviano Air Base. (Photos: USAF via the National Archives).
And it endured with the Italian navy for both base and ship defense, seen here aboard the training ship Amerigo Vespucci, which recently took part in the Sail 250 events in Norfolk, Baltimore, New York, and Boston. (Photos: Italian Navy).
While current ATF import regulations don’t allow for these beautiful and historic guns to be brought in intact for commercial sale, should a U.S. importer manage the high bid (which is likely), we could soon see some very nice parts kits show up over here.
With the recent visit to Baltimore, New York, and Boston, and victory in the Five Sisters Race off Cape Cod by the German training barque SSS Gorch Fock, repeating the windjammer’s Bicentennial Op Sail ’76 win, we would be remiss not to mention another German training ship that came by to bask in the 4th of July events back in ’86.
Here we see the training cruiser Deutschland (A 59) of the then-West German Navy passing during the International Naval Review celebrating the centennial of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on 4 July 1986.
Note the myriad of small boat traffic! The USCG would never allow that today. CWO3 Montie Talbert III, DN-ST-87-02482, National Archives Identifier 6421663.
And another shot from the same day.
Crew members man the rail aboard the training cruiser (Ausbildungskreuzer) Deutschland (A 59) during the International Naval Review in New York. Photographed by Emmet Francois, DN-ST-87-01180. National Archives Identifier 6421149
The schulschiff, or schoolship, Deutschland (A59) was commonly referred to by West Germany’s Bundesmarine as a “training cruiser” throughout her 24-year Cold War-era career.
Just 5,700 tons at the max, she wasn’t much of a “cruiser” when compared to contemporary Atomic-era designs (she was ordered in 1958). The 453-foot vessel had no armor, was capable of just 22 knots at maximum speed, and her main battery consisted of four 4″/55 guns, making her more of a very slow gun-armed destroyer.
Deutschland (A59). Via 1967 Jane’s
Nonetheless, FGS Deutschland was the fifth “Deutschland” in 80 years of German naval history, following in the footsteps of a London-built central battery ironclad of the 1870s, a pre-dreadnought-era battlewagon, and the well-known WWII “pocket battleship.”
Unlike her forerunners, FGS Deutschland was a happy ship, carrying out three-month training cruises each summer for up to 250 naval cadets and chief petty officers, never seeing combat.
Check out this great 10-minute Cold War German film, covering a summer “School at Sea” during her 1984 cruise.
How about this fantastic Cold War color image of “NAWC-47” (Bloodhound 47), a red-trimmed QF-4N drone (BuNo 152253) with an on-board crew assigned to the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Weapons Division, Point Magu.
The curious ordnance seen underwing is a Beechcraft AQM-37 Jayhawk, a zippy (Mach 4) little (14-foot, 600-pound) supersonic target drone of which some 5,000 were expended between 1963 and 2022.
Photo via NAWC, Pt. Magu
The above aircraft was built in 1964 as an F4H-1 (redesignated F-4B), MSN 934, and later converted to F-4J and F-4N standards. She is known to have flown operationally with VMFA-531, VF-14, VF-151, VF-84, VF-151, and VF-21.
Converted to a QF-4N after 1983, she was eventually expended in missile testing over the Pacific on 13 December 1994.
The U.S. Navy christened the future Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS George M. Neal (DDG 131) during a ceremony at Ingalls in Pascagoula on Saturday, after launching back in April.
While serving in a detachment of Helicopter Utility Squadron One (HU-1) deployed aboard the Australian carrier HMAS Sydney in 1951, Neal volunteered for a perilous mission deep in enemy territory to rescue a downed aviator. After their helicopter crashed under heavy enemy fire, he aided his fellow crew members in evading capture for nine days, enduring subsequent imprisonment as a POW before his release.
Her sponsor was AMM3 Neal’s daughter, Kelley Neal Gray, who saw the ship for the first time this weekend. The elder Neal passed in 2016 at age 86 and is interred at Arlington (Section 76, Grave 1082), as he should be.
The fourth Flight III Burke and, amazingly, the 62nd hull of her class (36 of them delivered by Ingalls already), Neal is expected to be commissioned in 2027 after fitting out, trials, and delivery.
Ingalls has delivered two FIIIs already: USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) and Ted Stevens (DDG 128).
Flight IIIs currently under construction in Pascagoula include Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), George M. Neal (DDG 131), Sam Nunn (DDG 133), Thad Cochran (DDG 135), and John F. Lehman (DDG 137). Ships in pre-planning include Telesforo Trinidad (DDG 139), Ernest E. Evans (DDG 141), Charles French (DDG 142), Richard J. Danzig (DDG 143), Intrepid (DDG 145), Robert Kerrey (DDG 146), and Ray Mabus (DDG 147).
By the way, looking at the list above, I would like to stress again that destroyers should only be named after naval heroes, notpoliticians or previous ships not named after heroes.
Flight III Burkes were ordered to fill the AAW Commander gap in carrier strike groups with the block retirement of the Tico-class CGs. As such, they will be the most advanced air defense escorts in the world and the first to field the new AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) and the Aegis Baseline 10 Combat System.
Everyone’s favorite Disco vintage super carrier and almost-Kidō Butai vanquisher just transited to her new home at Norfolk after being the center of the Sail4th naval parade/International Naval Review 250/FLEETEX 250 in New York.
Note: she still has an MQ-25 Stingray CBARS demonstrator on her deck.
She pulled “back” into her new home at Norfolk yesterday, passing her docked sisters USS Eisenhower (CVN 69) and Truman (CVN 75). It is appropriate, as Norfolk was her original home from 1975 to 1987 before her West Coast days at Bremerton/Everett (1987-2001, 2012-2026) and San Diego (2001-2012).
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) arrives at Naval Station Norfolk (NSN), Virginia, July 9, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Frankie M. Guage)
The 51-year-old carrier departed Navy Base Kitsap (Bremerton) on 7 March and has spent the past four months in a series of goodwill port calls and exercises throughout the Americas for Operation South Seas, a fitting send-off for what is likely her final cruise under her own power.
But not so fast.
Captain Joseph Furco, Nimitz’s commanding officer, recently told a press conference that the old girl may have some life left in her, specifically as a training carrier.
But not just for Carrier Quals, but actually taking out crews of flattops that are long sidelined in construction or refit, to give them some underway time. Remind them what it is to be a CVN on the ocean.
“All of those [Kennedy] sailors have not had the opportunity to go to sea,” Capt Furco noted. “I can take this ship to sea with 1,000 sailors from Kennedy, or [carrier USS John] Stennis [(CVN 74)] or [carrier USS Harry S] Truman [(CVN 75)] with their extensive [scheduled maintenance] yard periods and give sailors a taste of what their job is like outside the academic setting.”
Those sailors would normally discuss their roles, such as controlling aircraft on a flight deck, in simulations, but with Nimitz the Navy “could get them out here controlling aircraft. You can get them down on the reactor and turn the dials and run the steam through the pipes”. Nimitz could help certify crews, platforms, and pilots, he said.
Designed in the 1960s and commissioned in 1975, Nimitz is slated to be inactivated in FY 2027, beginning the process of dismantling the ship, according to the Navy Shipbuilding Plan released in May.
Her fuel rod matrix, revitalized in her 37-month (1998-2001) Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH), is on its last legs, and her AW4 reactors were only designed to be refueled once. A 142-page RAND report on the subject says the fuel is exhausted after 23 years, and it’s been 25 since CVN-68 completed her RCOH.
Still, Furco would be the person most qualified on the planet to know if his reactors are only filled with radioactive memories or there are still a couple of electrons in there with a “I didn’t hear no bell” attitude about them, so if he thinks 68 can still clock in for training missions, he is probably correct.
With that in mind, and acknowledging she can’t undertake another serious deployment into harm’s way, perhaps it is time to re-rate her as an AVT, akin to USS Forrestal’s 1992-93 retirement stint as AVT-59 and Lexington’s 1978-1991 run as AVT-16.
A Training Squadron 9 (VT-9) T-2C Buckeye aircraft takes to the air after performing a touch-and-go landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal October 10, 1991. PH1 Scott M. Allen 330-CFD-DN-ST-92-02118
T-2C Buckeye aboard USS Lexington (AVT-16) April 1989. U.S. Navy photograph 330-CFD-DN-ST-89-08969. Photographer Jim Bryant. Via NARA. National Archives Identifier: 6445247
Plus, such a move would allow a dedicated platform for T-45 Carrier Qualifications (CQ) for the next year or two, provided Nimitz could keep it up, freeing other CVNs from having to perform the task.
Her sister, Eisenhower, which just came out of overhaul, recently conducted 428 traps and 143 touch-and-go landings, qualifying 24 aviators over three days underway.
A U.S. Navy T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft takes off from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), June 27, 2026. Eisenhower is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting carrier qualifications for student naval aviators assigned to Naval Air Training Command.(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Miguel Santiago)
U.S. Navy Lt. Miguel Smith launches a T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft off of the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), June 27, 2026. Eisenhower is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting carrier qualifications for student naval aviators assigned to Naval Air Training Command. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Miguel Santiago)
Further, it could help wring out the T-45’s remaining underway CQ potential, as the type is set to retire in the 2030-2035 time frame.
The two remaining contenders to replace the T-45, the SNC Freedom Jet and a Leonardo-Textron-Beechcraft M-346N, will not be carrier-capable, as the Navy’s new Undergraduate Jet Training System will eschew the traditional cats-and-traps evolutions for simulator work, because what can go wrong?
The SNC Freedom Jet and a Leonardo-Textron-Beechcraft M-346N. While the SNC trainer is a clean-sheet design, the M-346N is a navalized, American-built variant of the Italian Leonardo M-346 Master/Yak-130.
In a follow-up to the 250th Color Birds of NASA post on Monday, we would be remiss not to bring up the fact that the agency has a four-plane aerial demonstration team made up of privately owned (not a misprint) F-5 Tigers.
Do what?
Current NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, 45, is a tech billionaire entrepreneur, alum of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, a noted private pilot with 7,000 hours in over a dozen types, a commercial astronaut (via SpaceX’s Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn, which he funded), and co-founder of “red air” defense contractor Draken International (which owns 130 jets including A-4Ks, Mirage F1s, and MiG-21s).
He’s also donated over $35 million to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville and the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola to support youth programs.
Talk about a flight nerd!
Isaacman personally owns at least three 1970s vintage F-5s, which he recently had painted in a red-white-and-blue Freedom 250th anniversary NASA livery (with the classic NASA “worm”) and has been using them for incentive flights for agency employees as well as some remarkable flyovers that will live on in aviation art for sure. While the titles haven’t been transferred, they are under “NASA control.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is seen flying his personal F-5 aircraft, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If you look close, he is wearing a helmet with an Imperial “cog” in TIE fighter style. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)
One of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s personal F-5 aircraft is seen during an employee incentive flying event, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rachel Kraft, Artemis communications lead at NASA Headquarters, was flying in the back seat. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flies in his personal F-5 aircraft, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Isaacman was joined by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in the back seat for a flight around Launch Complex 39B, the Vehicle Assembly Building, and surrounding areas at Kennedy. Photo Credit: (NASA/John Kraus)
Isaacman’s personal F-5E (FAA N591EM) is a former USAF aircraft (77-1777) registered to his investment company, JDI Holdings LLC of Easton, Pennsylvania, while two of the other NASA Tigers, N592EM (78-0803) and N593EM (79-1918), are two-seater F-5Fs also owned by JDI.
All three had been sent to the Royal Jordanian Air Force soon after construction, then were among 21 RJAF F-5E/F aircraft brought to the U.S. in 2017 by Reno-based Tactical Air Support Inc, which already had five ex-Canadian CF-5Ds at the time and has acquired more of the type since. A private red air contractor founded in 2005, TacAir uses the F-5s (and other types) to support U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force adversary contracts.
A fourth privately owned F-5 has recently joined the NASA squad in the same livery but is not a JDI-registered airframe.
The FAA currently has 37 privately-owned Tigers (two F-5As, four F-5Bs, 23 F-5Es, seven F-5Fs, and one NF-5B) active with TacAir (TASLO)/United States Aviation Museum owning 23 of those. Comanche (Maverick) Air in Houston, the second largest operator, owns four F-5Es.
The type usually runs around $1M a pop on the commercial market, making them one of the most obtainable “fast movers.” Further, the Navy still operates the type as a MiG-28-style aggressor (supported by TacAir) while some 500 T-38Cs still fly with the USAF, as we have covered recently.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman leads a flyover featuring his personally owned F-5 Tiger over the Great American State Fair, Saturday, July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman leads a flyover featuring his personally owned F-5 Tiger during the Great American State Fair, Saturday, July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)
It wasn’t their first air expo, as they flew in Sun n’ Fun in Florida in April.
NASA Freedom 250 at Sun n Fun 26 over Lakeland, Florida (NASA/John Kraus)
NASA Freedom 250 at Sun n Fun 26 over Lakeland, Florida (NASA/John Kraus)
They also plan to attend four more events.
July 23–24: EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
August 23: Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.
October 3–4: Pacific Air Show in Huntington Beach, California.
October 31–November 1: Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Houston Air Show
