Category Archives: military history

Von Der Tann’s Volcanic

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So this just surfaced at an upcoming auction by Milestone. 

SERIAL NUMBER 1738. BARREL 6″. CALIBER .41. The Volcanic lever-action repeating pistol was made by Volcanic Arms in New Haven after the original pistols made by Smith & Wesson. Made circa 1855-1857. Standard features include a factory engraved brass frame, two-piece walnut grips with square butt, blued octagon barrel and tube, ring lever, wind drift rear sight, and bead front. Condition. Superb, 95% smooth blue patina on barrel, legends sharp, crisp engraving on the frame, excellent grips, the frame never cleaned. Fine working order. The bore is near mint. A wonderful condition one-of-a-kind historic German presentation Volcanic.

This is where this pistol gets both interesting and possibly one of less than a handful ever presented to a foreign dignitary or power. The Volcanic Arms patent New Haven stamp is clearly placed on top of barrel. On the right side of the barrel, engraved and silver inlaid is “ZUR ERINNERUNG AN EXC.” which translates “to be remembered.”

On right side is engraved and silver inlay “General v.d. Tann 26 iv 1881.” Ludwig von der Tann’s death date

Ludwig Freiherr von der Tann (1815-1881), Hanfstaengl, Fotographie ca. 1860, Hintergrund mit Aquarellfarben übermalt

Born in Waterloo, Ludwig Samson Heinrich Arthur Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, best just known as Von Der Tann, started his military career in 1833.

Promoted to major in 1848, he was well connected with Bavarian Crown Prince Maximilian who soon became king. He was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle by the king of Prussian during the war with Denmark. Tann served Bavaria in the Austro-Prussian war then was promoted to the rank of general in 1869 and commanded troops during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.

Naval history buffs, of course, will recognize the name from the unique battlecruiser that carried the general’s name. The fastest battlewagon in the world when she was commissioned, the 21,000 ton SMS Von Der Tann was mauled at Jutland and later scrapped at Scapa Flow in 1919. Her construction sparked the growth of the evolutionary dead-end Invincible-class battlecruisers and similar vessels.

While the battlecruiser was raised by the British and scrapped, and the late general himself is entombed at the Alter Nordfriedhof in Munich, at least his pistol is up for grabs. The estimate for it is $7,500-$9,500.

3 Band Enfield, still in the field at 78+

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This hardy footsoldier is described as “Sikh Sentry Srinagar” standing post in the Kashmir region in 1945, complete with a regulation Dastar (turban), and KD uniform shorts with field shirt and wool knee socks. His weapon appears to be a P1853 “3 Band” Enfield rifle, possibly converted in the 1870s to a .577 Snider–Enfield breechloader although I don’t think so as it doesn’t have updated sights.

 
While his uniform may have updated from the 1880s, his armament and bearing have not. 
 

A Sikh sentry at Fort Johnston, Malawi, in circa 1880s period artwork by Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston GCMG KCB, (1858-1927) who designed the uniform

As the last P53 was produced in 1867, Srinagar is likely much younger than his weapon, but he likely would have used it without compunction if needed.

One hardy Sikh with a bayonet and smoke pole of any vintage is a daunting sentry.

Warship Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021: A Hell of a Night

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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 time 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, Oct. 6, 2021: A Hell of a Night

As I am currently roaming around the wilds of Utah all week, today’s WWeds is shorter than normal, but I trust no less interesting.

USS Selfridge (DD-357) NH 63121

Here we see the Porter-class tin can USS Selfridge (DD-357), the second warship named after the very sinkable Thomas O. Selfridge which we have covered a few times in the past, in her gleaming pre-war lines.

Fast forward to the night of 6 October 1943, some 78 years ago today. The place, Northwest of Vella Lavella in the hotly contested Solomon Islands. There, three American destroyers– Selfridge, Chevalier, and O’Bannon— bumped into a convoy of barges and auxiliaries escorted by nine destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy — Akigumo, Fumizuki, Isokaze, Kazagumo, Matsukaze, Samidare, Shigure, Yūnagi, and Yūgumo— with the latter equipped with the formidable Long Lance torpedo.

The confused, swirling action by moonlight and searchlight lasted less than an hour and left Yūgumo and Chevalier on the bottom while O’Bannon and Selfridge were seriously damaged and left to the field of battle when the Japanese withdrew to attend to their convoy which was filled with evacuated Japanese soldiers.

Selfridge suffered 13 killed, 11 wounded, and 36 missing, with most of those carried away with a hit to her bow from two Long Lances.

As noted by a Navy damage control report, “At 2306-1/2, a torpedo detonated at about frame 40, starboard. There was some indication that a second torpedo detonated almost simultaneously at frame 30, port. The bow severed completely at about frame 40 and floated aft on the starboard side.”

Battle of Vella LaVella (II) 6th-7th October 1943 Damaged USS SELFRIDGE (DD-357) after the battle. Her bow had been wrecked by a Japanese destroyer torpedo in this action. Note 5″/38 twin gun. Alongside is USS O’BANNON (D-450), which damaged her bow in a collision during the action. 80-G-274873.

Extensive details of the damage and how it was repaired while only barely off the line at Purvis Bay and at Noumea, here while the full period 54-page report of the engagement from Selfridge’s skipper’s point of view, here. 

Selfridge steamed 6,200 miles back to the West Coast with a temporary bow fitted, arriving at Mare Island looking, well, abbreviated.

USS Selfridge (DD-357), coming into Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for bow blown off just forward of the bridge in a heroic action in the Battle of Vella Lavella on October 6, 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-316295

Permanent repairs, including the installation of a new bow, were made at Mare Island and, after refresher training out of San Diego, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 May 1944 in time to join the forces staging for the invasion of the Marianas.

USS Selfridge (DD-357), steaming out to sea after repairs at Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Repairs were completed in the spring of 1944. 80-G-316296

Rejoining the war, Selfridge was active in the Philippines and the liberation of Guam, before switching oceans to escort convoys across the Atlantic in 1945, earning four battle stars for her WWII service.

Decommissioned on 15 October 1945, Selfridge was struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1945; sold to George H. Nutman, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y.; removed from Navy custody on 20 December 1946, and scrapped in October 1947.

***

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Happy 80th Electric Acorn

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The U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry “Tropic Lightning” Division was activated 10 October 1941 at Schofield Barracks, Wahiawa, Hawaii, where it is still in garrison.

Entering combat against the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, where members cracked open armories and used their rifles and small arms against IJN aircraft hitting the barracks, the division went on to a very tough war, suffering 5,432 casualties in its rapid advance from Guadalcanal– where they were the Thin Red Line– through the Solomons and Luzon.

25th Infantry Division Troops Burn Out A Japanese Pill Box At Baguio In The Philippines On 23 March 1945.

Then came the Korean War (10 campaign streamers, 14 MOH recipients), Vietnam (12 campaign streamers, 23 MOH recipients), and Cold War service. They have also been heavily involved in Iraq and Afghanistan (five Meritorious Unit Commendations).

M60 machine gunner of the 25th Infantry Division, 1968

Exercise Team Spirit 83 South Korea, 25th Infantry 

US Army (USA) Specialist Fourth Class (SFC) Theodore Amell, 2nd Platoon (PLT), Bravo (B) Company (CO), 1st Battalion (BN), 5th Infantry (INF), 25th Infantry Division (ID) (Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT)), scans the horizon with an M21 sniper weapon system for threats while on patrol near Mosul, Iraq. The SBCT is assigned to Task Force Freedom supporting Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. The M21 system is made up of a 7.62 mm M14 rifle with specially selected and hand-fitted parts and a scope.

1-21 infantry 25th ID Gimlet battalion continue training at PTA on Hawaii Island, April 2019

Lost Magazines on the Beach, and We aren’t talking Cosmo

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The National Park Service’s Gulf Island National Seashore– which includes a number of coastal defense positions and Third Period forts (Barrancas and Pickens) around Pensacola, Florida as well as Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island off Gulfport– has closed a section of Perdido Key.

The reason? Almost 200 19th century shells, some still live.

Via NPS: 

Following Hurricane Ida, military munitions were discovered near the far end of the seashore’s Perdido Key Area. This event has resulted in a temporary closure of the area, with an abundance of caution should there be additional undiscovered munitions still buried.

The area where the munitions were found is closed and marked with signs. Visitors walking or boating in this area are prohibited from entering. Staff will be monitoring and patrolling the area regularly.

“The park continues to monitor the area for newly discovered munitions and will secure the site(s) should any be found in the future,” said Darrell Echols, GUIS Superintendent. “Our goal is to ensure that the area is safe for the visitors and staff, and that cultural resources are protected.”

More than 190 cannonballs were detonated in September within park boundaries with help from other federal agencies. No more unexploded ordnances have been identified. Munitions found within national park boundaries are considered cultural artifacts and are protected by law. It is illegal for the public to harm, deface, damage, or remove these items.

It’s a shame that some of the shells weren’t saved, as surely not all were live, but I guess the NPS has enough on hand for their exhibits. Plus, if they would have said some weren’t dangerous, you can bet the would-be collectors would be sifting Perdido Key until all the Sea Oats were gone and the key itself washed away.

However, as someone who has grown up in the shadow of Vicksburg, Port Gibson, and the Battle of Mobile Bay battlefields, I can vouch that there are hundreds of old shells on mantles across the Gulf South– many still with fuzes.

Not saying it’s the safest thing in the world, and I wouldn’t recommend it, just making a statement that they are more common than you think.

Scout Car Wandering Around SC

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80 Years Ago Today:

Established in 1913 and associated with the New Jersey Army National Guard (unofficially carrying the lineage of the Civil War-era 1st New Jersey Volunteer Cavalry) after the Dick Act replaced state militia units, the 102nd Cavalry Regiment was taken into federal service for the Punitive Expedition against Villa in 1916 then shipped over to France where it served (sans horses, broken up into MP, field artillery, and train headquarters troops for the 29th Infantry Division) in the Meuse-Argonne/Alsace in 1918.

Interbellum, the 102nd was reformed in 1921 and assigned to the 21st (National Guard) Cavalry Division along will all the other horse cav in the Northeast. This association ended in 1937 with the general disbanding of most of the Army’s and Guard’s mounted units and, in 1940, the 102nd became gently mechanized.

Inducted into federal service on 6 January 1941, the unit was broken up into a couple of different cavalry reconnaissance squadrons (mechanized) and shipped out for England where they landed at Normandy and fought across Northwest Europe under Major General Leonard Gerow’s Fifth Corps.

Today, the 102nd is still mechanized, as a recon unit for the 50th IBCT, 42nd “Rainbow” Infantry Division, and is still part of the NJANG, although they don’t roll in WMC Scout Cars anymore.

Happy 495, Beretta

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As noted by Beretta:

“In 1526, Mastro Bartolomeo Beretta (1490-1565/68) of Gardone Val Trompia, Brescia, Italy, received 296 ducats as payment for 185 arquebus barrels sold to the Arsenal of Venice. Although there is a history of Beretta products’ production in the 1500s, this particular moment in our history is the first documented sale of Beretta products in the known world, and it is the foundational point from which our company began its commanding presence in the firearms manufacturing industry.”

Now close to the 500-year mark, Beretta is known for more than just their barrels.

‘I do not expect I shall want to drink coffee after I leave the Army’

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Happy National Coffee Day!

Via the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, in his war-time diary, Charles A. Wetherbee of the 34th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment describes how men in his unit consumed coffee and how important “strong black coffee” came to be in the U.S. Army.

“We draw more coffee, bread, and pork than we can use… We make very strong black coffee and drink about a quart apiece without sugar or cream.

We have gotten accustomed to it and like it that way. I do not expect I shall want to drink coffee after I leave the army, as I will not be able to get it strong enough.”

“Campaign sketches. The coffee call.” Print by Homer Winslow shows Army of the Potomac soldiers waiting for coffee at a campfire in an encampment. LOC https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2013650297/

Forager Pontoon Bees

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A motley but proud 302nd Naval Construction Battalion (Seabee) barge crew pose with captured Japanese yosegaki hinomaru “good luck” flag and Arisaka rifles aboard a beached 3×7-foot pontoon barge on Saipan, Mariana Islands, June 1944.

(l to r) S2c Charles, W. Barrett, BM1c Wally Jalloway, S2c Robert Fisher, CCM(AA) Ragnar Farnum, MM3c Paul Rhoades, and SF3c Carl Jones. Via U.S. Navy Seabee Museum

The 302nd NCB hit the beaches during Operation Forager supporting Lt. Gen. Holland M. “Howlin’ Mad” Smith’s V Amphibious Corps (2nd MarDiv, 4th MarDiv, Army 27th “New York” Inf Div) and was “one of the most unique Seabee groups that fought in the Pacific in WWII.”

302nd NCB pontoon barge, “Somewhere in the South Pacific” circa 1944

Formed in 1944 from five scattered company-sized CB Pontoon Detachments (1035, 1038, 1039, 1043, and 1054), which had already learned their trade “on the job” in a variety of landings, the Bees of the 302nd went on to operate pontoon structures for the assaults on Peleliu, Angaur, Luzon, and other points towards Tokyo.

Check out this snapshot of how 1944 went for the 302nd.

On orders of CINCPOA, the 302nd NCB was inactivated on 10 December 1945 at Intrepid Point and its men were transferred for leave, reassignment, or discharge.

Warship Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021: A Minesweeper Dressed as a Frigate for Halloween

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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, Sept. 29, 2021: A Minesweeper Dressed as a Frigate for Halloween

Photo via Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR)

Here we see the Valle-class patrulla oceánica ARM Valentín Gómez Farías (PO-110) of the Armada de México stirring the bottom as she gets underway for a regular offshore patrol circa 2020. In the background, far more modern Durango-class OPVs remain at the dock, content for the old lady to take the watch. Now in her 79th year afloat, the former Auk-class minesweeper is still on the job.

The Auks were a prolific series (95 hulls) of oceangoing escort minesweepers that were essentially slight upgrades of the preceding USS Raven (AM-55) and USS Osprey (AM-56), the latter of which was the first ship sunk off Normandy on D-Day. Some 1,250 tons, these 221-footers could make 18 knots on their diesel-electric plant and carried a 3-inch gun forward as well as a couple of 40mm Bofors AAA mounts amidships, their sterns clear for sweeping gear. Added to this were 20mm Oerlikons and depth charges, giving these ships an armament roughly equivalent to the larger 2,500-ton Tacoma-class patrol frigates or 1,800-ton Buckley-class destroyer escorts of the day, which is impressive.

While class leader USS Auk (AM-57) was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard, the other 94 were farmed out to at least nine small commercial yards around the country. Easy to construct, they were turned out rapidly.

USS Auk (AM-57) Off the Norfolk Navy Yard circa May 1942. NH 84027

Long before she was Farías, the subject of our tale was launched as USS Starling (AM-64) by the General Engineering and Drydock Co., Alameda, on 11 April 1942; and commissioned on 21 December 1942 after a 17 month construction period. As with all American minesweepers of the era, she carried the name of a bird and was the second such vessel on the Naval List to do so, with the previous USS Starling being a 141-foot fishing boat converted during the Great War for use as a coastal minecraft.

The only known WWII-era photo of Starling:

NH 89203 USS Starling AM-64

As a well-armed minesweeper built on the West Coast in 1942, it was obvious Starling would soon be deployed to the meatgrinder along the front lines of the War in the South Pacific.

Joining a convoy to Pearl Harbor in January 1943, she was soon in heavy use throughout the Solomons, and Guadalcanal was involved in patrol work, coastal escort duty, and, of course, clearing mines when found. Working with sisterships USS Dash (AM-88) and Constant (AM-86), she swept Ferguson Passage off Kolombangara in late October, destroying at least 135 Japanese mines. The group then cleared the minefield in Kula Gulf and swept Vella Gulf into November.

Then came more convoy duty well into mid-1944 when Starling transitioned to the Southern Attack Force for Operation Forager, the amphibious assault against Japanese-occupied Guam, and the follow-on Mariana and Palau Islands campaign through mid-October.

Off Guam in June as part of the anti-submarine screen for Task Group 53.3, she spent much of her time on alert against Japanese airstrikes.

This brought comment by her skipper in the report for the landings of:

After a refit on at Mare Island– that included a radar installation– Starling sailed for the Marshall Islands in February 1945 to join Minesweeper Group I, TG 52.4, for the invasion of the Ryukyus and was off Okinawa by early April. Next came a full month of aggressive zigzagging, patrolling station, constant underwater sound search (she dodged a torpedo track on 8 April), night radar search, and fighting at every opportunity, with the crew never far from their stations. There, besides supporting the landings with Mine Squadron Five, she was engaged in no less than three documented anti-aircraft actions.

The first, at sunrise on 6 April, saw her 40mm, 20mm, and .50 caliber batteries open on a Japanese A6M5 (Zeke) that dived on the ship from 5,000 feet and caught fire as it plunged to her deck, ultimately crashing 3,000 feet behind the steaming minesweeper. The sweeper recovered the body of a Japanese Navy petty officer and transferred the papers collected from the body to an intelligence group on the nearby command ship USS Eldorado (AGC-11) then buried the man at sea with full military honors.

The second attack, by three Japanese Yokosuka P1Y Ginga (Frances) bombers who approached on the night of 22 April at an altitude of 1,000 feet, saw Starling open up with everything she had, expending three 3-inch, 18 40mm, 250 20mm, and 40 .50 cal rounds inside of eight seconds. The results, one Frances splashed down 25 yards dead ahead of our minesweeper, which suffered no damage herself.

The third attack, a morning rush by a sole Japanese Nakajima B5N (Kate) bomber approaching just 300 feet off the deck on 4 May saw the plane “disintegrated and splashed” in a hail of 3-inch and 40mm fire. The Kate had initially approached a nearby troopship off Kerama Retto, but Starling’s fire seemingly caused it to divert and go after the minesweeper.

Whereas several destroyers survived hits from kamikazes, some even after multiple strikes, such damage would be fatal for a 221-foot minesweeper. Case in point, one of Starling’s sister ship, USS Swallow (AM-65), was sunk by a kamikaze near Okinawa, 22 April 1945– the same day Starling fought off the three Frances– sent to the bottom just three minutes after the Japanese plane impacted. Another sister, USS Sentinel (AM-113), was lost due to German Messerschmitt Me-210 bombers off Anzio.

USS Sentinel (AM-113) sinking off Sicily, on the morning of 10 July 1943. NH 89208

Starling also came to the rescue while off Okinawa. When the transport USS Pinkney (APH-2) was rocked by an explosion on her stern from a low-flying kamikaze on 28 April, our minesweeper moved in to assist in firefighting, recover casualties, provide AAA screen for future attacks, and cover the whole scene in a smokescreen cover.

After her time in the barrel, Starling then sailed for the Philippines. From Leyte, the ship moved to Iwo Jima and back to Okinawa which she reached on 18 August, three days after hostilities ended. She then switched to post-war clean-up, sweeping Japanese sea mines off the China coast, from 7 September to 30 October before switching operations to Japan’s home waters for similar duties throughout the rest of the year.

Mothballs and a new life

No less than 11 Auks were lost during the war to a variety of causes including mines and submarines. The butcher’s bill carried USS Skill (AM-115), torpedoed by U-593 off the North African coast in 1943, and three sweepers in British service lost to German midget subs off Normandy.

Auk-class minesweeper USS Tide (AM-125) sinking off Utah Beach after striking a mine during the Normandy invasion, 7 June 1944. Note the Elco 80-foot PT boat coming to her aid. 80-G-651677

With 21 other sisters transferred to overseas allies for good, the Navy was left with 63 remaining Auks in 1946. One of these, ex-USS Toucan (AM-387), sailing with the Republic of China Navy as ROCS Chien Men (PCE-45), was lost in an engagement with Chicom naval assets in 1965.

The entry from Jane’s 1946.

Starling received three battle stars for World War II service and was placed “in reserve, out of commission,” on 15 May 1946 in San Diego. Towed to Long Beach in 1948, she lingered in mothballs where she was, along with the rest of her class, administratively reclassified a Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull) and received hull number MSF-64 in 1955.

Struck from the Naval Register 1 July 1972, ex-USS Starling (MSF-64) was sold to the Republic of Mexico on 16 February 1973 along with nine of her sisters. The Mexicans apparently really liked the class as they had already bought 10 laid-up Auks on 19 September 1972. Together, the 19 WWII-era escort minesweepers, their armament reduced to just the forward 3-inch gun and two 40mm Bofors, would be more patrol craft than mine warfare ships.

Jane’s entry on the class in Mexican service, 1973.

While under a Mexican flag, the Auks were first designated as corbetas (corvettes) with “C” pennant numbers, then as a Guardacostas Cañonero, a coastal gunboat, with IG pennant numbers. Starling, therefore, became ARM Valentín Gómez Farías (IG-11) and has served in the Mexican Pacific fleet ever since, spending her entire life in that body of water.

The class:

  • USS Starling (AM-64) transferred as ARM Valentín Gómez Farías (C79/IG11/P110)
  • USS Herald (AM-101) as ARM Mariano Matamoros (C??/IG17/P1??)
  • USS Pilot (AM-104) as ARM Juan Aldama (C85/IG18/P116)
  • USS Pioneer (AM-105/MSF-105) as ARM Leandro Valle (C70/IG01/P101)
  • USS Sage (AM-111) as ARM Hermenegildo Galeana (C86/IG19/P117)
  • USS Sway (AM-120) as ARM Ignacio Altamirano (C80/IG12/P111)
  • USS Symbol (AM-123) as ARM Guillermo Prieto (C71/IG02/P102)
  • USS Threat (AM-124) as ARM Francisco Zarco (C81/IG13/P112)
  • USS Velocity (AM-128/MSF-128) as ARM Ignacio L. Vallarta (C82/IG14/P113)
  • USS Champion (AM-314/MSF-314) as ARM Mariano Escobedo (C72/G03/P103)
  • USS Chief (AM-315/MSF-315) as ARM Jesús González Ortega (C83)
  • USS Competent (AM-316) as ARM Ponciano Arriaga (C??/IG04/P1??)
  • USS Defense (AM-317) as ARM Manuel Doblado (C73/IG05/P104)
  • USS Devastator (AM-318) as ARM Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada (C74/IG06/P105)
  • USS Gladiator (AM-319/MSF-319) as ARM Santos Degollado (C75/IG07/P106)
  • USS Spear (AM-322) as ARM Ignacio de la Llave (C76/IG08/P107)
  • USS Roselle (AM-379/MSF-379) as ARM Melchor Ocampo (C78)/Melchor Ocampo (IG10)/Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora (P109)
  • USS Scoter (AM-381) as ARM Gutiérrez Zamora (C84)/ARM Melchor Ocampo IG16/ Felipe Xicoténcatl (P115)

 

ARM Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora (IG-10)/USS Scoter (AM-381) in Mexican service, 1980s wearing her glad rags. The other 18 of the class would have a similar profile into the 1990s

In 1994, Starling/Farías was updated to pennant GC-79 after the ship received a modernization that included two new Caterpillar 3516B diesel engines, commercial navigation radars, marine GPS and electronics; and an elevated stern deck to support a light helicopter. The platforms were for the dozen 12 Bo105-CBS helicopters the Mexican Navy acquired from MBB in West Germany in the late 1980s.

They can carry rockets and machine gun pods and have a surface search radar in the nose

(April 29, 2009) A Mexican BO-105 Bolkow helicopter fires 2.75-inch high-explosive rockets in a sinking exercise that took place during UNITAS Gold. This year marks the 50th iteration of UNITAS, a multi-national exercise that provides opportunities for participating nations to increase their collective ability to counter illicit maritime activities that threaten regional stability. Participating countries are Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Mexico, Peru, U.S., and Uruguay. USCG Photo 090429-G-6464J-330

Farías later changed in 2001 with the redesignation of a Patrulla Oceánica, pennant PO-110.

Farías, in new format

Farías

Today, at least eight of the 19 Auks in Mexican service have long since been retired, their components used to keep their re-engined sisters in operation.

However, 11 of these hardy mine boats are still in service, known as the Valle class although Valle herself was hulked in 2008. Those still around have had a similar upgrade to the same helicopter deck/Catapiller diesel format as Farías.

Former Auk class minesweeper USS Champion (AM-314 / MSF-314) transferred as ARM Mariano Escobedo (C72 / G03 / P103)

Former Auk class minesweeper USS Defense (AM-317) transferred as ARM Manuel Doblado (C73/IG05/P104)

ARM Valentín Gómez Farías and two other Auks/Valles. Note the cased 40mm Bofors. Mexico at this point is one of perhaps just two or three navies that still operate the WWII 3″/50 and 40mm platforms

Mexico is the last country to operate the Auks in any form, with the Philippines retiring the last of their two examples in 2020. They remain hard at work in trying to root out smugglers crossing Mexican waters and engage in multinational exercises such as RIMPAC and UNITAS frequently.

ARM Valentín Gómez Farías (PO-110) keeping up with the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Winnipeg FFH-338, and an unidentified Reliance-class U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, 2015

The Krogen 42 trawler liveaboard MY Dauntless, during its circumnavigation of the globe in 2018, was the recipient of a literal “shot across the bow” from the old minesweeper turned OPV that “splashed a hundred feet off our bow. Thick black smoke poured from the funnel of the WWII vintage ship as she pushed thru the seas at her full speed of 18 knots.”

Kinda nice to know the old girl is still out there.

As far as her echoes in the U.S., I can find no veterans group, as there are likely few if any of her WWII crew still around on this side of Poseidon. The only ghost of her in the country is her engineering drawings and war diaries in the National Archives. 

Specs:

Displacement 890 t.
Length 221′ 2″
Beam 32′ 2″
Draft 10′ 9″
Propulsion: Two 1,559shp ALCO 539 diesel-electric engines, Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts.
Speed 18.1 kts
Complement 105
Armament:
(1943)
One 3″/50 Mark 20 dual-purpose gun mount
2 x 40mm gun mounts, single
8 x 20mm guns, single
2 x depth charge tracks
5 x depth charge projectors

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find. http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

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