West Point’s Museum, located on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy in New York, has had the first and last flags captured during the Revolutionary War on display for the past two years, but they are fixing to be returned to climate-controlled storage and it could be years before they are seen again.
Dubbed the Alpha and the Omega, the trophy flags were shown to Congress and eventually presented to Gen. Washington. Handed down to Washington’s step-grandson and adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis. Custis gave them to the War Department in 1858 for preservation and they have been at West Point for safekeeping ever since.
King’s Color of the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers), captured at Ft. Chambly, Quebec, on the 17th of October, 1775, and was the first enemy flag captured by the US Army. (Photo courtesy West Point Museum Collection)
When the Rebel forces invaded Canada in 1775, the regiment’s colors were in storage at Fort Chambly on the Richelieu River. The Rebels laid siege to that post with over 400 men and two galleys armed with heavy cannon. The primitive stone installation, built in 1711, was never intended to be defensible against armies armed with cannons. The 83 men defending the post capitulated very quickly. With the surrender of the fort, the colors of the 7th Regiment were captured by the Rebels. The men of the 7th taken prisoner during the defence of Canada were exchanged in British-held New York City in December 1776 and the unit went on to survive until it was amalgamated in 1968 with several other regiments to form the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea, Boer Wars, and both World Wars.
The final regiment to surrender in the War of Independence was the Ansbach-Bayreuth Regiment, a German mercenary unit in service to the British Crown, surrendered on 19 October 1781 at Yorktown. (Photo courtesy West Point Museum Collection)
It was sent to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia as a trophy and is one of a few regimental trophy flags to survive. This flag is made of white silk damask. One side features a wreath of a green palm and a laurel branch tied with pink ribbon around a crown with the letters “M.Z.B.” for Markgraf zu Brandenburg over date “1775.” A scroll bears the motto, pro principe patria or for prince and fatherland. The other side bears the monogram “S.E.T.C.A.” Sincere et Constanter, Alexander, or truthfully and steadfastly, Alexander, which is motto of the Prussian order of the Red Eagle and the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Bayreut. The regiment was formed in two battalions specifically for overseas service to Britain in 1775, arriving in New York in June 1777.
They go off display on Dec. 10, so if you are in the area…
Here we see Seaman David J. Lohr, USN. Serving with the Seaman Guard at Great Lakes, Illinois, after Boot Camp, 1917. Note the M1905 bayonet and scabbard with M1903 Springfield rifle to go along with his flat cap and Cracker Jacks.
Copied from the collection of David J. Lohr, by Courtesy of RM1 Pamela J. Boyer, USN, 1986. NH 100998
Next, we have a crisp new Blue Jacket at Great Lakes in the 1960s guarding a stack of M1s and the platoon guidon, likely during chow. Even while the fleet, by and large, was using M14s at the time, M1s (along with M1917s and 1903s) remained in use as training rifles not only there but at Orlando and San Diego for some time.
Stack, Arms. RTC San Diego 1970s. note the SA03s
And M1903A3 drill rifles with M1 bayonets still clocking in to one degree or another in 2002 in the below image. I’ve seen lots of images since then of Great Lakes trainees with M1s but they have all been chromed rubber ducks I believe.
020208-N-5576W-005 Great Lakes, IL (Feb. 8, 2002) — The Honorable Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy, inspects the recruit rifle team during the Recruit Pass in Review Ceremony held at Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, IL. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Michael Worner. (RELEASED)
If you aren’t following Paul Allen’s page for the RV Petreland are a fan of Pacific War shipwrecks, you are missing out.
The Seattle-based ship has been combing the location of some of the greatest battles that occurred in late 1944– those that saw the last stand of the Imperial Japanese Fleet in a last-ditch effort to slow down the U.S. reoccupation of the Philippines. This has included finding all five of the Japanese ships lost in the Surigao Strait: Yamashiro, Fuso, Yamagumo, Michishio & Asagumo.
Destroyers Michishio and Yamagumo:
One half the rangefinder from the very top of the Pagoda used for the 356mm main artillery of IJN battleship Fuso:
“Asashio Class destroyer was the southernmost wreck we found in Surigao Strait leading us to believe it was the IJN Asagumo”:
From the National Museum of the Philippines:
Paul Allen and Navigea Ltd. partner with the National Museum to continue locating and documenting WWII shipwrecks in Philippine waters.
Pursuant to its legal mandate in the areas of underwater exploration, survey and archaeology, the National Museum through its director, Jeremy Barns, recently issued permits on behalf of the Philippine Government to facilitate the location and documentation of World War II-era shipwrecks in Philippine territorial waters, focusing particularly on the areas of the Surigao Strait and Ormoc Bay where key battles took place in October, and November-December, 1944, respectively, as part of the massive Allied undertaking to liberate the country from Japanese occupation.
The permits were issued to Navigea Ltd., which owns the research vessels M/Y Octopus and R/V Petrel on behalf of American businessman, philanthropist, and Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, who has in recent years been undertaking undersea explorations locating lost shipwrecks around the world with a multidisciplinary team led by Robert Kraft.
This same team, working with the National Museum and the Philippine Coast Guard, discovered the wreck of the famous Japanese battleship IJN Musashi at a depth of one kilometer in the waters of the Sibuyan Sea, Romblon, in 2015. Earlier this year in August, the wreck of the USS Indianapolis was identified and filmed at the astonishing depth of 5,500 meters in the Philippine Sea about halfway between Guam and the Philippines. In the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Solomon Islands, Mr. Allen’s team explored and surveyed the wrecks of other famous ships, such as the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, cruiser HMS Hood and battleship Roma and discovered the destroyer Artigliere and 29 wrecks from the Battle of Guadalcanal.
In all instances, the discoveries of the exact locations of these warships of various nations, the filming of their remains and, in the case of the HMS Hood, the delicate retrieval of its ship’s bell to serve as a memorial at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, have allowed for a greater sense of closure for the descendants of the thousands of servicemen who perished at sea aboard these vessels over seven decades ago.
Navigea Ltd. will be collaborating with the National Museum, through its Cultural Properties Regulation Division and Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division, together with other national agencies such as the Philippine Coast Guard as well as concerned local governments, in this latest initiative, which hopes to provide valuable new data and actual discoveries for the benefit of naval and war historians, underwater archaeologists, stakeholder nations in addition to the Philippines and, most importantly, the families of those who were lost.
The Nordic countries have always had an affinity for ski-bound troops, with the winter biathlon sport (which was originally called “military patrol” in the 1924 Winter Olympics) starting from regimental competitions in the Norwegian army in the 18th Century. Perhaps the two best-known uses in military history of ski-equipped light infantry were by the Norwegians in the short 1940 Campaign defending against the German invasion and by Finnish troops in the 1939-40 Winter War against the Soviet juggernaut.
However, I give you this:
“Ski raid in Karelia, 1921, by Soviet artist Alexei Katsblin” source:
(Auto translated) “A detachment of Finnish Red Army soldiers, under the command of Toivo Antikainen, during the repulse of the White Finn attack on Karelia, made a successful campaign along the enemy’s rear, the thunder of his communications, which made a great contribution to the victory over the enemy.”
Sure, it’s propaganda from the Soviet info machine, but it should be noted that Antikainen wrote “Vse na lyzhi!” (Everyone to Skis!) which argued for a greater use of skis by the military.
For what it’s worth, Stalin didn’t put much faith into giving the Red Army skis until after the Finns schooled them hardcore in their use in the Winter War, then after that, the Reds went all in, as the below 1942 film shows.
The Russians still have some ski-mounted troops today, as do most NATO mountain and arctic warfare units– oh yeah, and Finland.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Berry (WPC-1124) staging out of San Diego headed to Oahu, 2,600-nm West on a solo trip.
The big 154-foot Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters, built to replace the 110-foot Island-class patrol boats of the 1980s and 90s, (which in turn replaced the 1950s era 95-foot Cape-class cutters, et.al) are fast becoming a backbone asset for the Coast Guard. Designed for five-day patrols, these 28-knot vessels have a stern boat ramp like the smaller 87-foot WPBs but carry a stabilized 25mm Mk38 and four M2s as well as much more ISR equipment. The first entered service in 2012, just five years ago.
In a hat tip to the fact they are so much more capable, the USCG uses the WPC hull designation, used last by the old “buck and a quarter” 125-foot cutters of the Prohibition-era with these craft, rather than the WPB patrol boat designation of the ships they are replacing.
And the service, perhaps the most under-funded in the country, is holding true to its legacy and is naming these craft for enlisted heroes rather for politicians and top-lawmakers on important spending committees. Here is the latest batch:
As with their FRC sister cutters, the next flight of 19 FRCs will bear the names of enlisted leaders, trailblazers and heroes of the Coast Guard and its predecessor services of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, U.S. Lifesaving Service and U.S. Lighthouse Service.
These new cutters will be named for Master Chief Angela McShan; Surfmen Pablo Valent and Frederick Hatch; Mustang Officer Maurice Jester; Electrician Myrtle Hazard; Coxswains Harold Miller, William Sparling, Daniel Tarr, Glenn Harris and Douglas Denman; Pharmacists Mate Robert Goldman; Stewards Mates Emlen Tunnel and Warren Deyampert; Seamen John Scheuerman and Charles Moulthrop; Boatswain’s Mates Clarence Sutphin and Edgar Culbertson; and Keepers William Chadwick and John Patterson.
These enlisted namesakes include recipients of the Navy Cross Medal, Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Gold Lifesaving Medal, Silver Lifesaving Medal, Navy & Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart Medal.
Warship Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017: The bruised-up U-boat bruiser of the Outer Banks
Photo NOAA
Here we see the brand-new steel-hulled fishing boat Cohasset in Feb. 1942, just before she assumed her military guise as U.S. Navy Patrol Vessel, District (YP) #389, an anti-submarine trawler, and sailed off into a fateful, if one-sided battle.
Laid down at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts for R. O’Brien and Company of Boston as hull #1512 along with three sister ships on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II, the 110-foot trawler was meant to ply the fishing grounds off Gloucester and the Georges Bank.
R. O’Brien was reportedly a top-notch operation, and one of the first in the country to equip their whole fleet with R/T sets in the 1930s, and they landed in excess of 20 million pounds annual catch at the canneries in the area.
When war seemed unavoidable, the four new boats were quickly evaluated to be useful to the Navy and on 6 December 1940 the sister trawlers Salem, Lynn, Weymouth and Cohasset were signed over to the federal government in lieu of taxes by O’Brien and delivered under their ordered names as they were completed throughout October and November 1941. Cohasset was taken into custody by the Navy in February 1942 as a coastal minesweeper, USS AMc-202. This was changed to YP-389 on 1 May and she was refitted into a patrol craft at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Armed with a single 3″/23cal deck gun taken from naval stores, two Great War-era. 30 cal. Lewis machine guns, six depth charges on a gravity rack and assorted small arms, she was placed under command of one LT. R.J. Philips, USNR who sailed her with a crew that consisted of two ensigns and 21 enlisted (none higher than a PO1) with a mission to keep the U-boats terrorizing the Eastern Seaboard at bay– though she did not have sonar, ASDIC or a listening device of any kind.
(List of USS YP-389 crew and their disposition after the events of 19 June, 1942. Courtesy the National Archives)
In June 1942, USS YP-389 headed south to North Carolina with the primary duty to patrol the Hatteras minefield on her economic 6-cylinder diesels– just 9 knots when wide open.
There, in the predawn hours of 19 June, she came across Kptlt. Horst Degen’s Type VIIIC submarine, U-701, of 3. Unterseebootsflottille operating out of the pens at La Pallice, France.
The battle should have been over before it started, as the patrol boat’s 3-inch popgun was out of operation with a broken firing pin and Degen’s 88mm and 20mm guns far out-ranged the 389‘s Lewis guns. Still, the surface action took place over a 90-minute period and saw the small patrol craft resort to dropping their depth charges set as shallow as possible in the U-boat’s path in an unsuccessful effort to crack its hull.
In the end, the trawler-turned-fighter was holed several times and sank in 320-feet of water, carrying five of her crew with her to Davy Jones’ Locker some five miles off Diamond Shoals. The crew of YP-389 had fired more than 24 drums from her Lewis gun as the gunners took cover behind trawling winches, answered by 50 shells of 88mm. In all, she had been in the Navy for just five months, most of that undergoing conversion.
The 18 survivors and one body floated overnight, with no life rafts or lifebelts, until they were rescued by Coast Guard picket boats (CG-462 and CG-486) the next morning. Four required treatment at Norfolk Naval Hospital.
In 1948, a Naval Board found that her sinking was in large part avoidable, as she was ill-fitted and suited for the detail assigned to her and, in effect, never should have been there.
Here is how Degen described the action to Navy interrogators a few weeks later:
On the night of June 17, U-701 surfaced off Cape Hatteras close to a U-boat chaser which challenged her with a series of B’s from a signal lamp. Thinking he was going to be rammed, Degen put about and drew away, without answering the challenge. The following day he saw what he thought was the same cutter escorting a tanker and a freighter in line ahead. Degen believed the cutter had made contact with him in passing, for as soon as the convoyed ships were out of range, the cutter returned and dropped depth charges near U-701. Degen said that on this occasion he did not hear the “ping” of Asdic.
The next night, June 19, U-701 surfaced off Cape Hatteras and again sighted what Degen took to be the same cutter. He opened fire with his 8.8 cm gun to which the cutter replied with machine-gun fire. U-701 expended a large number of shells. Apparently, the gun crew, groping over-anxiously in the dark, seized every available shell in the ready-use lockers without discrimination. Thus, fire was an unorthodox mixture of SAP, HE and incendiary shell, but it sank the cutter. Prisoners considered this a wasteful and “untidy” piece of work, and the captain gave the impression that he was ashamed of it.
Degen said he approached to look for survivors with the intention of putting them ashore, but he found none. He said he thought the crew made off in a boat. Prisoners gave the position of the attack as near the Diamond Shoals Lightship Buoy.
The 389 was not the only YP lost during the war and no less than 36 were destroyed while at least 17 earned battle stars (one, USS YP-42, the ex-Coast Guard cutter Gallatin, picked up three battle stars on her own). Though many of those lost foundered in heavy weather, sank after collisions, or were written off due to grounding, a number matched our YP’s combat service:
YP-16 (ex-CG-267) lost in Japanese occupation of the Philippine Islands YP-17 (ex-CG-275) lost in Japanese occupation of the Philippine Islands YP-26 destroyed by undetermined explosion in the Canal Zone, Panama, 19 November 1942. YP-97 lost due to Japanese occupation of the Philippine Islands YP-235 destroyed by undetermined explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, 1 April 1943. YP-277 scuttled to avoid capture east of Hawaii, 23 May 1942. YP-284 (ex-San Diego tuna clipper Endeavor) sunk by surface ships off Guadalcanal, 25 Oct 1942. YP-345 sunk southeast of Midway Island, 31 October 1942. YP-346 sunk by surface ships in the South Pacific, 9 September 1942. YP-405 destroyed by undetermined explosion in the Caribbean Sea, 20 November 1942. YP-492 sunk off east Florida, 8 January 1943.
Cover art for David Bruhn’s book provisionally titled, “Yachts and Yippies: the U.S. Navy’s Patrol Yachts and Patrol Vessels.” The painting by Richard DeRosset, titled “Night Action off Tulagi”, depicts the destruction of USS YP-346 by the Japanese light cruiser HIJMS Sendai and three destroyers off Guadalcanal on 8 September 1942. Three Navy Crosses were awarded for this action. Via Navsource
As for U-701?
Commissioned 16 Jul 1941, her career lasted but 12 months and, after claiming YP-389 and 25,390 GRT of merchant ships, was herself sunk on 7 July 1942 off Cape Hatteras by depth charges from an A-29 Hudson patrol bomber of the 396th Bomb Sqn, taking 39 dead to the bottom in 100 feet of water. Degen and six survivors suffered at sea for two days and were taken into custody and interrogated by Naval Intelligence extensively.
U-701 (German Submarine) Survivors are rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard, after their boat was sunk off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on 7 July 1942. She was lost just three weeks after she claimed YP-389, ironically just a few miles Diamond Shoals, where her victim rested. NH 96587
Horst Degen, Kapitänleutnant. C. O. U-701 as POW. U.S. Navy Photo
Known to researchers looking for the lost USS Monitor since the 1970s, in 2009, NOAA announced they had verified the wreck of YP-389, and documented the patrol boat and her combat as part of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Photomosaic of USS YP-389 wreck site. Photo: NOAA, Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
U-701 rests near her and is a popular dive attraction in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Both ships are protected.
Sonar visualization of the U-701 wreck site. Image ADUS, NOAA
Multibeam survey of U-701 wreck site taken by NOAA Ship Nancy Foster, 2016. Image NOAA
Diver taking images of U-701’s conning tower. Photo NOAA
Specs:
Displacement: 170 long tons (170 t)
Length: 110 ft. oal, 102.5 wl
Beam: 22.1 ft.
Propulsion: 4 6cyl diesel engines, 1 × screw
Speed: 9 kts, max.
Crew: 3 officers, 21 enlisted (1942)
Armament:
1 × 3 in (76 mm)/23 cal dual purpose gun (broken)
2 × .30 cal (7.62 mm) Lewis light machine guns
6 depth charges
small arms
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The group, drawn from across the Navy to include the Fleet Air Arm and HMs Submarines, trained for two weeks under the eye of instructors from the Coldstream Guards
A scratch group of 48 RN officers, NCOs and sailors are this week guarding Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, The Tower of London and St James’s Palace as a unit for the first time. The duty traditionally falls to one of the five Foot Guards Regiments from the Army’s London Garrison Household Division, but this is believed to be the first time the Royal Navy are mounting the Queen’s Guard– though Sir Walter Raleigh was appointed Captain of the Queen’s Guard in 1587.
The Royal Marines, meanwhile, have completed the Queen’s Guard on at least three occasions.
The sailors are “dressed in pristine navy blue double-breasted greatcoats with white belts, white caps, white gaiters and black boots” with SA80 (L85 Enfield) rifles and bayonets, complete with white and brass sheaths, in tow.
“The sight of sailors undertaking public duties in our capital city is a sign that the Royal Navy is back where it belongs, at the very heart of national life,” said First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones.
So what have the Guards been doing while the RN is on the watch? Well, at least one small group of Grenadier Guards have been hanging out in Africa fighting poachers in Liwonde National Park in Malawi. Armed with AK-47s and the like, armed poachers have killed over 100 park rangers in the past year.
The Grenadiers have been working “side by side with teams from African Parks and the Malawian Department of National Parks and Wildlife to mentor the Rangers. With 548 km2 of woodland and dry savannah to cover, a tactical shift to long-range patrols has paid off. During the three-month period, the teams removed 362 snare traps, two gin traps and more than 700 meters of illegal fishing nets in the park.”
Nine poacher camps have also been destroyed and a number of suspects arrested. So there’s that.
Rock Island Auction’s upcoming December Premiere Firearms event, which is this upcoming weekend, has a bunch of really nice goodies– especally if you are a M1903 rares collector.
Among the nicest I’ve seen is this great Griffin & Howe “exhibition quality” National Match Springfield. From hand-stippling on receiver ring to rich engraving on the barrel bands, floor plate, trigger guard, and rear sight base, this rifle is a showcase piece before you mention the jeweling on the bolt and hand-checkered English walnut stock.
Even the companion 1911-dated M1905 bayonet has gotten attention.
Then there is this late WWI model (1918-marked barrel) Springfield Armory Model 1903 rifle comes complete with a very hard to find Cameron-Yaggi device, one of several “trench periscope” setups tested for use in that horrible “War to end all wars.”
This particular rifle comes from Bruce Canfield’s own collection (he literally wrote most of the noteworthy books on U.S. military small arms currently in circulation) and was featured in a number of books itself. Every time I talk to Mr. Canfield I come away enlightened.
More on the exhibition gun in my column at Guns.com here and the Yaggi here.
Also, if you have about two hours to kill, check out Mae and Othais from C&Rsenal on a 1903 deep dive in the below video. They cover everything from the .30-03 and early rod-type bayonets to oddball WWI spin-offs like the Air Service Model, the periscope-equipped trench guns like the Guiberson, the Pedersen semi-auto and Warner-Swasey sniper variants.
Governor-General of Jamaica His Excellency the Most Honourable Sir Patrick Allen, ON, GCMG, CD, KSt.J inspects the Guard of Honour platoon furnished by the First Battalion, the Jamaica Regiment.
The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) is a descendant of the old British West India Regiment which dates to 1795 and the Jamaica Regiment consists of two light infantry battalions (1JR and 2JR) with a 3rd battalion made up of reservists.
While the force is constituted on a British Army model, their standard infantry arm is the M16A2 (and wear a MARPAT field uniform) though there are some second line units with the 1980s SA80 (L85) Enfield rifles.
Guard of Honour, furnished by The First Battalion The Jamaica Regiment (1 JR), — note the L1A1s
You will note, however, that the honor guard (and 3JR as a whole) still uses the old L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), the standard semi-auto inch pattern FAL adopted by the Brits in 1954. When the British replaced theirs in frontline use in the mid-1980s, they were forwarded over to Kingston– where they replaced even older WWII-era No. 4 SMLE .303s.
Jamaican soldiers training to fire the FN FAL in 2002.
1 Engineer Regiment (Jamaica Defence Force) recently deployed on Ceremonial Guard Duty at the National Heroes Park, note they have M16s
The SMLE’s did not go to waste, however, as they were passed on to the constabulary.
Here we see a waterfront view of Naval Station Key West sometime likely around 1925. Visible to the right is the Wickes-class destroyer USS Maury (DD-100) just behind the local twin-masted schooner Eureka, while the tug to the left is USS Saco (YT-31).
Named after famed 19th Century astronomer and hydrographer, CDR Matthew Fontaine Maury and commissioned 23 September 1918, the 1,199-ton Maury was a “flush-deck” or “four-stack” type destroyer common to the Navy until the 1930s and got in one Atlantic convoy run in the Great War before she was sidelined on red lead row. Reactivated in 1920 as a destroyer minelayer (DM-5) in July, 1920, she carried her former destroyer bow number (100) through her active career, which she largely spent on the East Coast– with the exception of a Caribbean cruise in the summer of 1925 that included a stopover at Key West. She later struck in 1930 as part of the fallout from the Washington and London naval treaties and was scrapped in 1934. Incidentally, three other ships went on to carry Maury’s name, including DD-401 and two survey ships, the most recent of which just entered service.
Purchased for use as a yard tug at the Naval Air Station Key West, Saco operated there as “Alexander Brown” until 24 November 1920, when she was renamed “Saco” and re-designated YT-31. She continued yard tug operations until struck from the Navy list on 22 October 1926. She was sold the next year and her ultimate fate is unknown.
As for Eureka, she sailed regularly around the Gulf throughout the 1920s as a coaster carrying various cargoes and I found mention in the Marco County library that she was still pulling houseboats down to the Keys as late as the 1930s. Odds are she crossed paths with Papa Hemingway in her travels and I wouldn’t be surprised if she was still around somewhere down south under a different name. Key West is funny like that.
