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Warship Wednesday, July 30, 2025: Ocean Station Savior

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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

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Warship Wednesday, July 30, 2025: Ocean Station Savior

Above we see the 255-foot Owasco-class gunboat, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Pontchartrain (WPG-70) during rough weather while slogging along in the Pacific, 8 January 1950.

Commissioned during the last days of WWII, some 80 years ago this week, “Ponch” had a lengthy career that included lots of dreary service on Ocean Stations (13 of those shifts during Korea), a Vietnam Market Time deployment, and numerous rescues at sea– including one that was spectacular.

The 255s

The Coast Guard got seriously ripped off by the White House in early 1941 when 10 of its best (and newest) blue water cutters, the entire 250-foot Lake (Chelan) class, were transferred to the Royal Navy as part of FDR’s “Bases for Destroyers” deal. These hardy 2,000-ton turbine-powered low-mileage cutters became Banff-class sloops in RN service and saw lots of service, with three lost during the war and a fourth damaged so badly she was scrapped in the Philippines.

A splendid example of the 250-foot Lake class cutters, USCGC Pontchartrain (WPG-46) and USCGC Chelan (WPG-45), seen on 30 September 1937. Under the canvas awnings are a 5″/51 forward, a 3″/50 aft, and two 6-pounders. 

By 1942, with it apparent that the old Lakes would likely never return from overseas (at least not for years) and the U.S. firmly in the war, the USCG moved to build a replacement class of ten ships. To this number was added another three hulls, to finally replace the ancient cutters Ossipee (165 ft, circa 1915), Tallapoosa (165 ft, circa 1915), and Unalaga (190 ft, circa 1912).

Originally a 312-foot design that was a simplified follow-on to the service’s seven well-liked turbine-powered 327-foot Treasury (Campbell) class cutters, which had a provision to carry a JF-2/SOC-4 floatplane as well as two 5″/51s and ASW gear, this soon morphed into a much more compact 255-foot hull with an even heavier armament. The 255-foot oal guideline (245 at the waterline) conceivably allowed them to pass through the then 251-foot third lock of the Welland Canal in Ontario if needed, so they could operate on the Great Lakes at some future date.

The 1945 outfit for the class was twin 5″/38 DP mounts fore and aft, backed up by two quad 40mm Bofors, a Hedgehog ASWRL, two depth charge racks, and six K-guns. Overloaded already in such an arrangement, there was never a floatplane fitted, although the superstructure was divided into two islands to allow a midship location on deck for such a contraption.

While most carried SR and SU radar sets, Mendota and Pontchartrain carried more updated SC-4 and SF-1 radar sets. They all carried a QJA sonar set and Mk 26 FCS.

255 class leader CGC Owasco (WPG-39) off San Pedro, California. 18 July 1945. Note the short hull, packed with twin 5″/38s fore and aft as well as ASW gear and Bofors mounts.

Powered by twin Foster-Wheeler 2 drum top-fired Express boilers and a 3,200 kVa Westinghouse electric motor driven by a turbine, these cutters were good for 19 knots but could sail 10,000nm at 10 knots economically on 141,755 gallons of fuel oil, giving them extremely long legs. Able to navigate in three fathoms of sea water, they could get into tight spaces.

As detailed by the USCG Historian’s Office:

The 255-foot class was an ice-going design. Ice operations had been assigned to the Coast Guard early in the war, and almost all new construction was either ice-going or icebreaking.

The hull was designed with constant flare at the waterline for ice-going. The structure was longitudinally framed with heavy web frames and an ice belt of heavy plating, and it had extra transverse framing above and below the design water line. Enormous amounts of weight were removed using electric welding. The 250-foot cutters’ weights were used for estimating purposes. Tapered bulkhead stiffeners cut from 12” I-beams went from the main deck (4’ depth of web) to the bottom (8” depth of web). As weight was cut out of the hull structure, electronics and ordnance were increased, but at much greater heights. This top weight required ballasting the fuel tanks with seawater to maintain stability both for wind and damaged conditions.

Eleven of the class were to be built on the West Coast at the Western Pipe and Steel Company in San Pedro, California, with the first, Sebago, laid down on 7 June 1943.

Cost per hull was $4,239,702 in 1945 dollars.

Meet “Raunchy Paunchy”

Our subject is the second USCGC Pontchartrain, following in the footsteps of a circa 1928 Lake-class cutter which, transferred to Royal Navy 30 April 1941 as part of the Bases for Destroyers deal, entered service as HMS Hartland (Y00) and, 17 convoys later, was sunk by the French during Operation Reservist, the effort to seize the port of Oran as part of the Torch landings 19 months later.

While there was one CSS Pontchartrain on the Mississippi (for obvious reasons) during the Civil War, the U.S. Navy has never used the name.

One of only two 255s built on the East Coast at the USCG Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland (alongside sister USCGC Mendota, WPG-69), WPG-70 was the final Owasco-class cutter laid down by hull number, but far from the last completed. They were part of the initial six ships laid down in 1943, while the other eight all had their keels laid down in 1944. Both WPG-69 and WPG-70 were laid down on 5 July 1943.

Launched as Okeechobee on 29 February 1944, our subject was commissioned as USCGC Pontchartrain on 28 July 1945. Had the war not ended six weeks later, she surely would have made for the Panama Canal by Halloween and seen service in the Pacific with her sisters.

Eight of her 12 sisters were completed after VJ Day.

USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Aug 1945

USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Sep 1945. Note the split superstructure

Not destined to join Halsey for the push on Tokyo, Pontchartrain instead clocked in on a series of more than a dozen Ocean Stations, mid-way navigation, weather, and SAR points set up post-war to help trans-oceanic flights stay on path. Usually a three-week deployment, it was thankless and, on the very beamy 255s, sometimes one heck of a ride punctuated by regular twice-daily weather balloon launches, 450-foot bathythermograph drops every four hours, and an unceasing radio check.

The cutters steamed an average of 4,000 miles per patrol, and, with transit time included, staffed the station for an average of 700 non-stop hours.

One crew member noted: “After twenty-one days of being slammed around by rough, cold sea swells 20 to 50 feet high, and wild winds hitting gale force at times, within an ocean grid the size of a postage stamp, you can stand any kind of duty.”

Pontchartrain sister, the 255-ft. U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, takes a salty shower bath in rough North Atlantic weather on ocean station ‘Delta’, 650 miles southeast of Newfoundland and east of Nova Scotia

For the record, as noted by Scheina, Pontchartrain stood the lonely guard on 61 occasions:

Atlantic, while stationed at Boston and Norfolk:

  • 20 Oct-10 Nov 46 served on OS C
  • 6-11 Nov 48 served on OS Easy
  • 23 Jan-12 Feb 49 served on OS B
  • 18 Mar-8 Apr 49 served on OS Fox
  • 17 May-7 Jun 49 served on OS Easy
  • 17 Jul-6 Aug 49 served on OS Dog

Pacific, while stationed at Long Beach:

*During the Korean War:

  • Feb-13 Mar 50 served on OS Oboe
  • 14 May-5 Jun 50 served on OS Peter
  • 4-27 Aug 50 served on OS Nan*
  • 6-26 Mar 51 served on OS Sugar*
  • 13 Apr-5 May 51 served on OS Nan*
  • 8-29 Jul 51 served on OS Nan*
  • 21-29 Oct 51 served on OS Nan*
  • Nov-2 Dec 51 served on OS Nan*
  • 23 Dec 51-13 Jan 52 served on OS Uncle*
  • 23 Feb-16 Mar 52 served on OS Sugar*
  • 5-25 Apr 52 served on OS Sugar*
  • 29 Jun-20 Jul 52 served on OS Nan*
  • 22 Sep-12 Oct 52 served on OS Nan*
  • 28 Jan-18 Feb 53 served on OS Victor*
  • 30 Mar-20 Apr 53 served on OS Sugar*
  • 2-23 Jul 53 served on OS Uncle*
  • 25 Oct-15 Nov 53 served on OS Uncle
  • 28 Feb-10 Mar 54 served on OS Nan
  • 25 Jul-15 Aug 54 served on OS Nan
  • 17 Oct-7 Nov 54 served on OS Nan
  • 19 Dec 54-10 Jan 55 served on OS Nan
  • 15 May-5 Jun 55 served on OS Nan
  • 18 Sep-8 Oct 55 served on OS Nan
  • 12 Feb-4 Mar 5 served on OS November
  • 8-28 Jul 56 served on OS November
  • 30 Sep-16 Oct 56 served on OS November
  • 21 Dec 56-13 Jan 57 served on OS November
  • 13 May-9 Jun 57 served on OS November
  • 22 Sep-13 Oct 57 served on OS November
  • 17 Feb-8 Mar 58 served on OS November
  • 13 Jul-3 Aug 58 served on OS November
  • 14 Oct-4 Nov 58 served on OS Romeo
  • 7-28 Dec 58 served on OS November
  • 18 Jan-7 Feb 59 served on OS November
  • 27 Sep-17 Oct 59 served on OS November
  • 20 Feb-12 Mar 60 served on OS November
  • 1 16 Jul-6 Aug 60 served on OS November
  • 11-31 Dec 60 served on OS November
  • 7-27 May 61 served on OS November
  • 10-31 Mar 68 served on OS November
  • 12 May-2 Jun 68 served on OS November
  • 14 Jul-4 Aug 68 served on OS November
  • 25 Aug-15 Sep 68 served on OS November
  • 19 Jan-9 Feb 69 served on OS Victor
  • 2-23 Mar 69 served on OS Victor
  • 25 May-14 Jun 69 served on OS November
  • 17 Aug-7 Sep 69 served on OS November
  • 30 Nov- 18 Dec 69 served on OS November
  • 22 Aug-12 Sep 71 served on OS Victor
  • 3-24 Oct 71 served on OS Victor
  • 8-28 Jun 72 served on OS Charlie
  • 15 Aug-8 Sep 72 served on OS Delta
  • 29 Jan-23 Feb 73 served on OS Echo
  • 24 Apr-17 May 73 served on OS Delta
  • 6-26 Sep 73 served on OS Charlie

During this service, her appearance changed significantly.

Laid up from 17 October 1947 to 5 September 1948 as the service ran into post-war budget cuts, she emerged from Curtis Bay with most of her armament removed. Gone were the twin 5-inchers, replaced by a single mount forward. Also deleted were her aft Bofors and all her ASW weapons save for Hedgehog. This nearly halved her complement from over 250 to 130.

USCGC Pontchartrain circa 1958. Note her single 5″/38 DP, with her open Hedgehog and last 40mm Bofors quad mount behind

Pan American Flight 6

It was while on Ocean Station November that our cutter, on 16 October 1956, stood by Pan American World Airways’ Flight 6, Boeing 377 Stratocruiser N90943, the “Sovereign of the Skies,” as she pulled off a water landing while en route from Honolulu to San Francisco.

The clipper, under the command of Pan Am Capt. Richard N. Ogg, with 31 souls aboard, was quickly running out of fuel with a windmilling No. 1 prop and a shutdown No. 4 engine, while still some 250nm out from the California coast.

Nearing OS November, Ogg radioed Pontchartrain, under CDR William K. Earle (USCGA 1940), who provided sea state and weather data to bring the clipper down easily.

The cutter then made ready for SAR and laid a trail of foam to mark the best course, a wet “runway” on the Pacific.

Coast Guard sailors aboard the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Pontchartrain use foam from firehoses to lay down a “runway” for Flight 6

The clipper ditched less than 2,000 yards away, just after sunrise.

As noted by This Day in Aviation:

At 6:15 a.m., at approximately 90 knots air speed, the Boeing 377 landed on the water. A wing hit a swell, spinning the airplane to the left. The tail broke off, and the airplane began to settle.

Injuries were minor, and all passengers and crew evacuated the airliner. They were immediately picked up by Pontchartrain.

Captain Ogg and Purser Reynolds were the last to leave the airplane.

Twenty minutes after touching down, at 6:35 a.m., Sovereign of the Skies sank beneath the ocean’s surface.

A USCG film about the incident, including original footage.

Besides Pan Am Flight 6, Pontchartrain escorted the disabled American M/V John C (1950), assisted the disabled F/V Nina Ann (1955), assisted USS LSM-455 aground on San Clemente Island, the disabled yacht Gosling, and the disabled F/V Modeoday (1957), aided the disabled yacht Intrepid (1958), the F/V Carolyn Dee (1959), went to the assistance of M/V Mamie and rescued three from the ketch Alpha (1960), medevaced a patient from USNS Richfield (1961), and assisted the disabled F/V Gaga (1963).

She was a lifesaver.

She was also a fighter.

War!

A quarter-century after joining the fleet, Pontchartrain was finally sent to combat.

USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Jan 1970. Note she has her “racing stripe.”

She was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three, working in the Vietnam littoral, from 31 March to 31 July 1970. While her 13 stints on wartime Ocean Stations during the Korean War allowed her crew to earn Korean Service Medals, Vietnam was going to be a deployment of naval gunfire support in the littoral, rather than one of quiet radio and weather watches.

USCGC Wachusett (WHEC-44), a 255-foot Owasco-class cutter, providing some blistering NGFS off Vietnam

By this time, the 255s sported SPS-29 and SPS-51 radars, and some had provision for ASW torpedo tubes abeam of the superstructures, the latter aided by SQS-1 sonars. As such, they had been changed from gunboats to the more friendly “high endurance cutters,” or WHECs.

Jane’s 1965 entry for the 255s

Joining CGRON3’s fifth deployment to Southeast Asia, Pontchartrain was the “old man” teamed up with four brand-new 378-foot gas turbine-powered cutters, USCGC Hamilton, Chase, Dallas, and Mellon. Whereas nine of her sisters had been sent to Vietnam previously, Pontchartrain was the last Owasco to pull the duty.

Pontchartrain NGFS Vietnam 1970 Photo by LeRoy Reinburg

While the individual figures for Pontchartrain aren’t available, the large cutters of CGRON3 conducted no less than 1,368 combined NGFS missions during Vietnam, firing a staggering 77,036 5-inch shells ashore. Keep in mind that most of these cutters only carried about 300 rounds in their magazines, so you can look at that amount of ordnance expended as being something like 250 shiploads.

Check out this deck log for one day in July 1970, with Pontchartrain firing 175 rounds by early afternoon against a mix of targets.

Powder and shell consumption was so high that some cutters would have to underway replenish or VERTREP 2-3 times a week while doing gun ops.

Pontchartrain receiving 5-inch powder cases UNREP Vietnam 1970 Photo by LeRoy Reinburg

At sea off Vietnam. Australian destroyer HMAS Hobart approaching a Mispillion class replenishment oiler USS Passumpsic (AO-107) as it is tanking a Coast Guard 311-foot HEC, likely CGC Pontchartrain. AWM Photo P01904.005 by Peter Michael Oleson.

Returning to Long Beach, Pontchartrain settled back into her normal routine and continued Ocean Station, LE, and SAR work, along with the occasional reservist cruise.

In April 1973, the Coast Guard announced that, in conjunction with the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and the increased use of satellites, the OS program would be discontinued and 10 aging cutters retired– nine of them 255s. Sisters Sebago and Iroquois had already been put out to pasture.

Pontchartrain decommissioned on 19 October 1973, and by the following May, all her sisters had joined her. They would be sold for scrap before the end of 1974.

Epilogue

Some of Pontchartrain’s logs are digitized in the National Archives.

As for her skipper during the Pan Am Flight 6 rescue, CDR William K. Earle would go on to command the tall ship Eagle during Operation Sail—staged in concert with the 1964 World’s Fair—when 23 such ships assembled in New York Harbor. Retiring as a captain, he penned several articles for Proceedings, was executive director of the USGCA Alumni Association, and editor of the group’s journal. The Association maintains the annual Captain Bill Earle Creative Writing Contest in his honor. Captain Earle passed away in March of 2006.

Sadly, there has not been a third USCGC Pontchartrain.

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

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Cooling heels

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It happened 75 years ago today.

“Two North Koreans captured by men of F Co., 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, south of Chinju, Korea, are being searched and interrogated by a South Korean G-2 officer. 29 July 1950.”

Note the M1 Carbine-armed ROK officer’s rather unorthodox uniform capped by what could be a second-hand Australian bush (slouch) hat. Also, the Joe to the left has a muzzle cover on his carbine while the Soldier to the right is missing his canteen, which may have been loaned to the new EPOWs. Photographer: Butler. Signal Corps Archive SC 348779

After the armistice was signed in 1953, UN Command repatriated 70,183 North Korean prisoners of war as part of Operation Big Switch, which also included the return of 12,773 UN POWs to their respective countries; the latter figure contained just 7,862 South Korean POWs.

Another 22,959 Chinese/North Korean POWs elected to be sent anywhere else than home (mainly Chinese to Taiwan), with an Indian custodial force set to guard those defectors until they could be transferred abroad into 1954.

Some 7,614 Chinese and North Korean POWs died in UN custody during the war, mostly from tuberculosis and dysentery/diarrhea.

The ledger that recounts the number of Allied POWs that died in Chinese/Nork camps during the war has been forever lost to history.

Panthers on the Prowl

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It happened 75 years ago this month.

The Navy’s new F9F Panther jet fighter saw its first combat in July 1950, flying strikes from USS Valley Forge (CV-45) with the “Screaming Eagles” of VF-51 and “Sealancers” of VF-52.

Carrying four forward-firing Mk 3 20mm cannons, Panthers could also carry 3,000 pounds of bombs or eight 5-inch rockets. They chalked up some of the first Navy air-to-air kills in the Korean War (a Yak-9 by VF-51’s  LTJG. Leonard H. Plog on 3 July and a MiG-15 by VF-52’s LCDR William E. Lamb) in the process.

A Grumman F9F-2 Panther of fighter squadron VF-52 aboard the Essex-class fleet carrier USS Valley Forge (CV-45) on 4 July 1950. NARA 111-SC-343067

Grumman F9F-3 “Panther”, of Fighter Squadron 52 (VF-52). Taxies forward on USS Valley Forge (CV-45) to be catapulted for strikes on targets along the east coast of Korea, 19 July 1950. Note details of the ship’s island, including scoreboard at left. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-428152

USS Valley Forge (CV-45) Flight deck tractors tow Grumman F9F “Panther” fighters forward on the carrier’s flight deck, in preparation for catapulting them off to attack North Korean targets, July 1950. This photograph was released for publication on 21 July 1950. Valley Forge had launched air strikes on 3-4 July and 18-19 July. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the “All Hands” collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96978

VF-51 and VF-52 were assigned to Carrier Air Group 5 (CVG-5) for a deployment to the Western Pacific from 1 May to 1 December 1950. The hybrid group included two other squadrons, VF-53 and VF-54, with F4U-4B Corsairs, augmented by a couple of F4U-5N night fighters of VC-3 and F4U-4Ps photo birds of H&MS-11, and a squadron of AD Skyraiders, VA-55.

USS Valley Forge (CV-45) Flight deck crewmen wheel carts of rockets past a Vought F4U-4B fighter, while arming planes for strikes against North Korean targets in July 1950. This plane is Bureau # 97503. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the “All Hands” collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96976

USS Valley Forge (CV-45). A Vought F4U-4B fighter is fueled and armed with 5-inch rockets, before strikes against targets on the Korean east coast, 19 July 1950. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the All Hands collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96979

Douglas AD Skyraider attack planes of VA-55 from USS Valley Forge (CV-45), fire 5-inch rockets at a North Korean field position. 80-G-422387

In the hectic two weeks between 16 July and 31 July, the wing dropped 141 tons of GP bombs, 106 tons of napalm, fired 1,865 rockets, and 160,662 rounds of 20mm cannon shells. CVG-5’s two dozen jets (of VF-51/52) flew 260 hours while its three dozen piston planes covered another 1,344, showing which had a higher availability and longer endurance.

A fuel or ammunition train burns near Kumchon, North Korea, after being hit by planes from USS Valley Forge (CV-45). Photographed on the morning of 22 July 1950. NH 96977

Burning after being struck by USS Valley Forge (CV-45) aircraft on 18 July 1950. The photograph may have been taken on 19 July, when smoke from these fires was visible from the carrier, operating at sea off the Korean east coast. 80-G-418592

Under attack by aircraft from Valley Forge (CV-45) on 18 July 1950. Smoke from this attack, which reportedly destroyed some 12,000 tons of refined petroleum products and much of the plant, could be seen sixty miles out at sea. 80-G-707876

CAG-5’s scorecard for those two weeks in July:

For the record, the F9F Panther was retired from Navy service just a half-decade after Korea, while the Sealancers of VF-52 hung up their helmets for the last time in 1959. Valley Forge, at the time re-rated as an LPH, was laid up in 1970. Meanwhile, the Screaming Eagles of VF-51 transitioned through F-8 Crusaders, F-4 Phantoms, and F-14 Tomcats before they closed shop in 1995.

Echoes of TF 37 & TF 38

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Some 80 years ago today, carriers of the British Pacific Fleet, organized as TF 37, sailing under the command of ADM Bull Halsey’s U.S. Third Fleet, teamed up with the American carriers of TF 38 to strike targets in the Japanese Home Islands, softening them up for the looming Operation Olympic invasion to begin in November 1945.

It was the end of what was left of the Emperor’s fleet.

Raids on Japan, July 1945. Japanese battleship Haruna under attack by American and British carrier planes in Kure Bay, Japan, July 28, 1945. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-490226

Raids on Japan, July 1945. Japanese battleship Haruna under attack by American and British carrier planes in Kure Bay, Japan, July 28, 1945. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-490224

The British task force under VADM Sir Bernard J. Rowlings had four armored carriers (HMS Formidable, Victorious, Implacable, and Indefatigable) loaded with 15 FAA squadrons of Corsairs, Fireflies, and Avengers. They were escorted by a battleship (HMS King George), seven cruisers, including hulls from the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy, and 20 destroyers (six of which were from the Royal Australian Navy).

For those curious, at the same time, VADM John S. McCain’s TF 38 included over a dozen “Sunday Punch” toting Essex-class fleet carriers, another seven Independence-class CVLs, eight fast battleships (including the entire SoDak class), 24 cruisers, and almost too many tin cans to count.

Fast forward to the past few days, and, as part of Talisman Sabre ’25, American and RN carriers sailed together again, backed up by ships from the RCN, RAN, and now joined by a Norwegian.

In the double carrier formation was: the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG 62) [ex-Chancellorsville], the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG 86), the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09), the Daring-class air-defence destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33), the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tide-class tanker RFA Tidespring (A136), the Royal Australian Navy Hobart-class air warfare destroyer HMAS Sydney (DDG 42), the Royal Norwegian Navy Fridtof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F311), and the Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332).

Assembled airwings included CVW5’s F-18E/F Rhinos, EA-18G Growlers, F-35Cs, Hawkeyes, and CMV-22 Ospreys; along with 18 British F-35B fighters—from the RAF 617 Squadron “Dambusters” and the 809 Naval Air Squadron “Immortals”— plus some cross-decked F-35Bs of the VMFA-242 “Bats” and Merlin Mk 2s on PoW, Wildcat helicopters from the British escorts, Cyclones from Ville de Québec, an NH90 from Roald Amundsen, and assorted MH-60s from both the Navyair and RAN.

Spanish frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez, which is deployed with the PoW group, has temporarily detached and is forward-deploying towards Japan.

(U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kaleb C. Birch)

U.S. Navy aircraft, attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, fly over the U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group, as it participates in dual carrier operations alongside the U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025. 

U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group participates in dual carrier operations alongside U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025. 

U.S. Navy aircraft, attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, fly over the U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group, as it participates in dual carrier operations alongside the U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025. 

Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen

HMS Prince of Wales.

Ships front to back: Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, HMS Prince of Wales, Australian warship HMAS Sydney, with an F-35B taking off from HMS Prince of Wales.

Left to right: Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, HMS Prince of Wales, RFA Tidespring, Australian warship HMAS Sydney, HMS Richmond.

18th July 2025 – (Front/Rear) Australian warship HMAS Sydney and American warship USS Shoup.

Top to Bottom – United States Aircraft Carrier, USS George Washington, and UK Aircraft Carrier, HMS Prince of Wales.

Canadian Warship – HMCS Ville de Quebec.

Top to Bottom – United States Warships USS Robert Smalls, USS Shoup, and British Ship RFA Tidespring.

How about those HUGE national ensigns! Top to Bottom – Canadian Warship HMCS Vill De Quebec and Norwegian Warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen.

UK Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales.

18 July 2025 – US F/18 launches from US Aircraft Carrier, USS George Washington, as it sails alongside HMS Prince of Wales

Left to right – American aircraft carrier, USS George Washington, British Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales, Canadian Warship HMCS Ville de Quebec, Norwegian Warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, United States Warships USS Robert Smalls, USS Shoup, Australian Warship HMAS Sydney, British ship RFA Tidespring, and British Warship HMS Dauntless.

HMS Prince of Wales arrived at the Australian naval base, HMAS Coonawarra, on 23rd July, making her the first Royal Navy carrier to visit Oz since 1997 when the Harrier carrier HMS Illustrious docked at Fremantle as part of the Ocean Wave deployment.

Talisman Sabre is scheduled to run through August 4.

Vale, Vestal

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HMS Vesta (J215) IWM FL 21022

Some 80 years ago today, on 26 July 1945, the humble 255-foot Algerine-class minesweeper HMS Vestal (J215) earned two unenviable distinctions.

As part of Operation Livery, while about 55 nautical miles south-west of Phuket, Siam, clearing enemy minefields as part of Force 63, she was hit by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft that killed 14 of her 130-member crew and left her too damaged for economical repair. That afternoon, in 72 meters of water and unmanned, she was finished by gunfire from R-class destroyer HMS Racehorse (H 11).

Vestal, ship loss:

  • CUTHBERTSON, Robert A, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 109403, MPK
  • FRENCH, William, Stoker 1c, P/KX 710345, DOW
  • GOODY, Henry A, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88619, MPK
  • HOPGOOD, Leslie R F, Stoker 1c, P/KX 152396, MPK
  • JORDAN, Jack, Stoker 1c, P/KX 600989, MPK
  • KING, Frank W, Leading Wireman, C/MX 97190, MPK
  • MCLEOD, Henry N, Act/Petty Officer Stoker, P/KX 89871, MPK
  • OAKLEY, Roy C, Stoker 1c, P/KX 160385, MPK
  • PALING, Maurice J, Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 117299, MPK
  • STUBBS, James, Act/Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 79900, MPK
  • TILLING, Alfred W J, Engine Room Artificer 3c, P/MX 59689, MPK
  • WALKER, Percy, Able Seaman, P/JX 189030, MPK
  • WILSON, Derrick B, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 137209, MPK
  • WOOD, Stanley, Cook (S), C/MX 536782, DOW

This made Vestal the sole British ship to be sunk by a kamikaze attack and the final Royal Navy ship to be lost in the Second World War. Further, the clearing operation by Force 63, which returned to Ceylon after Vestal’s loss, was the last offensive operation by ships of the British Eastern Fleet.

Vestal has since become a destination of sorts for respectful Trimix divers.

Olga and the Gang’s Borneo Vacation

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Balikpapan Operation: “Olga,” a Royal Australian Air Force No 4. Squadron Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Boomerang interceptor, serial A46-121 coded QE-N, is shown parked on Sepinggang Airstrip, Netherlands East Indies. 25 July 1945. Only three weeks prior, the strip had been under Japanese control– and the Australians had already been flying from the site for two of them!

U.S. Air Force Number 63247AC, NARA 342-FH-3A31731-63247AC

A second shot of Olga is in the Australian War Memorial

The Boomerang behind “Olga” appears to have a stylized traditional Aboriginal boomerang piece of nose art painted on the left side of the fuselage. In the background is another CAC Boomerang and a CAC Wirraway aircraft, coded ‘QE-U’, the serial number is obscured. (Donor: Museums and Art Galleries of the N.T., AWM P00630.007)

Located along the Vasay highway about 12 miles northeast of the strategically important Balikpapan Refinery, Sepinggang was originally constructed by the Dutch for the protection of the fields. Occupied by the Japanese in February 1942, by 3 July 1945 the strip was under new management for the third time in as many years after being almost completely destroyed by USAAF B-24s dropping 500 and 1000 lb. bombs over the first half of 1945.

Allied engineers were quick to make improvements, with the easiest fix being building a new strip across the road.

As detailed by the Australian Naval Institute:

The squadrons of No 61 Airfield Construction Wing RAAF were landed on 6 July, two days behind schedule, although they commenced work immediately. They managed to repair the damage at Sepinggang, with its 3,000-foot runway, and it became fully operational on 15 July, eight days later than originally planned.

August 1945. “Construction of Sepinggang fighter strip across the road from Sepinggang strip. Heavy equipment was used in the leveling area and hauling was sent to fill low spots. Note the typical Japanese pillbox in the center of the photo. This pillbox was uncovered and was being removed by blasting.” (U.S. Air Force Number 63290AC)

Besides the Boomerangs, Spitfire Mk.VIIIs of the RAAF’s No. 452 Squadron and P-40N Kittyhawk Mk.VIs of No. 80 Squadron moved into the strip, flying CAP and CAS missions until VJ Day and then transitioning to conducting pacification operations through the end of the year.

Balikpapan, Borneo. 15 July 1945. First RAAF fighter aircraft at Sepinggang airstrip prepare for action. Technicians were at work preparing these spitfire aircraft, code GY-G, GY-E, of No. 452 Squadron RAAF to meet Japanese raiders a few minutes after the aircraft had landed. AWM OG3042

Balikpapan, Borneo Spitfire Mk.VIIIs of No 452 Squadron, Sepinggang, NARA

The last RAAF airman killed in offensive operations in WWII was 22-year-old 80 Squadron Flight Sergeant Eldred “Ted’ Quinn” shot down by Japanese ground fire on 9 August over enemy positions at Sanga Sanga, Borneo.

The Allied, followed by the Dutch, eventually left and in 1960 handed Sepinggang over to the Indonesians. Today the field is the Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Sepinggan Airport.

You can almost smell the glue from here

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If you grew up like I did, the names Testors, Revell, and Tamiya were commonly encountered on your desk.

Founded by Yoshio Tamiya in 1946 as a small sawmill and lumber concern, the company started using scrap wood to craft scale models, which grew so popular that, by 1953, the company pivoted into a full-time model maker.

In 1960, they switched to plastic, and their first release in that medium was a 1:800 model of the battleship Yamato.

In the 1960s, Tamiya perfected the concept of box art, with Shigeru Komatsuzak’s and later Masami Onishi’s superb works bringing the models alive before the box was even opened, and set the stage for what would become the standard.

In 1966, Yoshio’s son, Shunsaku, began a regular series of pilgrimages to places like Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the Royal Tank Museum in Bovington to visit the company’s subject armored vehicles up close and personal, making detailed drawings to make sure future portrayals were correct.

Shunsaku became chairman of Tamiya in 1977. This week, he passed at age 90.

Thank you for your help over the years, sir.

The DOD’s 1981 Handgun Holdings

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According to the House Subcommittee on Investigations at the time, in July 1981, there were 412,339 .45 caliber pistols and 127,745 .38 caliber revolvers in the inventories of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

The last procurement of the .45 caliber pistol occurred in 1945. Since that time, the existing inventory has been maintained by rebuilding and reconditioning the worn weapons. Department of Defense witnesses testified that $1.5 million is currently budgeted for the procurement of replacement components for those handguns. They also testified that “field reports indicate that it is reaching the end of its maintainable life.”

The NYT, the previous month, gave the figure as a slightly different 418,000 .45s and 136,000 .38s, which may include guns in USCG inventory not otherwise captured by Navy figures.

As you can see in the article, even then, the Army speculated on selling the surplus guns to the public via the CMP (at the time run by the Army directly under DCM).

Of course, it would take four years before Beretta 92F became the M9 and 37 years before CMP sold the first batch of surplus 1911s to the public in 2018, but I digress.

Ravioli tank

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Some 85 years ago this week. North Africa. The Western Desert Campaign, fighting near the Libyian Wire Line.

Official period caption: “On the battlefield at Ghiba [Nezuet Ghirba?]. An abandoned Italian Fiat Ansaldo CV33 light tank pictured on the Libyan frontier, left behind after a battle with British armored cars, 26 July 1940.”

Photo by No. 1 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (E 396)

Developed from the British Carden Lloyd Mark VI tankette, the above armored vehicle is an upgraded Carro Veloce 33 model dubbed the L3/33 in Italian service, judging from its twin Fiat Model 14 8mm machine gun rig and 3,200 rounds ready, which differentiates it from the original CV-33 standard which only packed a single 6.5mm LMG.

Just 2.7 tons, the Italians purchased over 2,500 of these small vehicles, followed by another 1,200 very similar L3/35s, which were slightly heavier as they utilized marginally thicker but easier-to-apply bolt-on armor rather than riveted armor.

While they could make 25 mph on their tiny 43hp Fiat-SPA CV3 engine, and proved useful in the  Abyssinian War, Spanish Civil War (with Franco), in the occupation of Albania and the Greco-Italian War, North Africa proved to be a whole ‘nother story as they could be knocked out by even the man-portable .55 caliber  British Boys anti-tank rifle.

The Italian tankette Carro Veloce CV35

Italian Bersaglieri and L3 33 tankettes attacking Greek positions on the Albanian front, 1940-1941.

Greek soldier sitting on a disabled L3 33 Italian tankette during the invasion of Greece, 1940

Italian lieutenant sitting on his L3 35 tankette in Val Stretta, on the border between Italy and France, June 1940, note the twin 8 mm machine guns

Three-tone camouflaged Italian-made Ansaldo-Fiat 35M tankette in the WWII Hungarian Army, shown on an obstacle

They typically finished the war in second-line constabulary units, fighting partisans in the Balkans and the unruly areas behind the Eastern Front. By 1943, Allied troops were only encountering them while advancing into new areas.

82nd Airborne paratroopers, Sicily, code-named Operation Husky, began on the night of July 9, 1943. “All Americans” seen here with captured Italian tankettes

And, as they were made in serious quantity, they continue to show up in odd places.

Fiat L3 35 light tank tankette found in Iraq.

Texas closer to coming home; Pelican Island in trouble?

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The Battleship Texas Foundation announced this week that it has finalized an agreement with the Galveston Wharves Board securing Pier 15 as the two-world-wars champ’s future new home.

They still have lots of steps to accomplish in the next several months to move the ship from the yard and make her ready to open to the public in 2026:

  • Final engineering of the mooring system
  • Permitting by the US Army Corps of Engineers and other regulatory bodies
  • Dredging the Pier 15 berth
  • Finalize plans for shoreside facilities
  • Construction of the moorings and other infrastructure

Even then, the (re)birth of the new Texas naval museum site may be the death of another.

The battlewagon’s old home, in the mud pond of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, was a good 45 minutes away from Galveston– an hour in Houston traffic.

The new site will be just 7 short miles from Pelican Island, the home since 1971 of the Galveston Naval Museum, a small and unsung facility that hosts one of the last remaining Edsall class destroyer escorts, USS Stewart (DE-238), and the “Lucky Lady,” USS Cavalla (SS-244)— the Gato class fleet boat best known for sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku, one of the last Pearl Harbor attackers run to ground. She carries a streamlined SSK conversion superstructure from her Cold War service.

They also have the sail of the Sturgeon-class hunter-killer USS Tautog (SSN-639) and the still very WWII-esque Fleet Snorkel-converted conning tower of the Balao-class fleet boat USS Carp (SS-338), making the museum one of the few places where one can see the difference between three different submarine classes spanning from 1941 to 2005.

The move of Texas to Galveston could be a boon to the smaller ASW-focused museum nearly next door, with visitors coming specifically to see the battleship, then hitting the destroyer-sub museum as a side quest. I wish this to be the case.

However, I can vouch for the rapid decline in interest by a family accompanying dad to see old warships in humid southern seaports, and the side quest may end up being a quest too far. Warship museum burnout can be a thing.

That just leaves Stewart and Cavalla to possibly see their would-be visitors cannibalized by the much more impressive (and better located) Texas. Could you have taken the USS Drum seven miles from the USS Alabama and run it as a viable separate museum? I doubt it. Plus, as both of the Pelican Island vessels have been ashore for years, moving them closer to Texas to combine the museums is also likely a logistical no-go.

Again, I hope the latter is not the case.

Visit them while you can, please!

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