Category Archives: submarines

Wreck of ‘Hit em Harder’ confirmed

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One of the 52 WWII American submarines considered on Eternal Patrol, the resting place of the Gato-class fleet boat USS Harder (SS 257), which received six battle stars for her wartime service, has been confirmed.

Laid down at EB in Groton a week before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Harder was commissioned on 2 December 1942 and earned the Presidential Unit Citation through five wildly successful wartime patrols.

The recently commissioned Harder (SS-257) steaming on the surface of Narragansett Bay, 20 January 1943.

Harder, accompanied by sisters Hake (SS-256) and Haddo (SS-255) departed Fremantle on 5 August 1944 for her sixth war patrol, assigned to haunt the South China Sea off Luzon. Two weeks later the American wolf pack splashed four Japanese cargo ships while Harder and Haddo attacked and destroyed the escort ships Matsuwa and Hiburi on 22 August.

By 24 August, with the out-of-torpedo Haddo returned to base, Harder and Hake had one final joint engagement, one that Harder would not survive.

As noted by DANFS:

Before dawn on 24 August 1944, Hake sighted the escort ship CD-22 and Patrol Boat No. 102 (ex-Stewart, DD-224.)  As Hake closed to attack, the patrol boat turned away toward Dasol Bay. Hake broke off her approach, turned northward, sighting Harder’s periscope 600 to 700 yards dead ahead. Swinging southward, Hake sighted CD-22 about 2,000 yards off her port quarter. To escape, Hake went deep and rigged for silent running. At 0728 Hake’s crew reported hearing 15 rapid depth charges explode in the distance astern. Hake continued evasive action, returning to the attack area shortly after noon to sweep the area at periscope depth – only finding a ring of marker buoys covering a radius of one-half mile. Japanese records later revealed that Harder fired three torpedoes at CD-22 in a “down-the-throat” shot, which the enemy vessel successfully evaded. At 0728, she launched the first of several depth charges, which sunk the American submarine.  

The Navy declared Harder presumed lost on 2 January 1945. Her name was stricken from the Navy Register on 20 January.

She is in remarkable condition after sitting on the floor for almost 80 years, sitting upright under the crush of more than 3,000 meters of sea.

4D photogrammetry model of USS Harder (SS 257) wreck site by The Lost 52. The Lost 52 Project scanned the entire boat and stitched all the images together in a multi-dimensional model used to study and explore the site. Tim Taylor and The Lost 52 Project grants the US Navy permission to use their image for press release of the discovery of the USS Harder with photo credit given to Tim Taylor and the Lost 52 Project.

And so we remember Harder and her 80 souls. 
 
There are no roses on sailors’ graves,
Nor wreaths upon the storm-tossed waves,
No last post from the King’s band,
So far away from their native land,
No heartbroken words carved on stone,
Just shipmates’ bodies there alone,
The only tributes are the seagulls sweep,
And the teardrop when a loved one weeps.
 

(Photo: Chris Eger)

The Ghosts of Da Gama off Greenland

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We’ve covered the hectic op-tempo of the Portuguese Navy’s submarine force a few times in recent years. Their pair of very modern fuel cell AIP variants of the German Type 209PN/Type 214PNs, including NRP Tridente (S160) and NRP Arpão (S161), in particular, have been clocking in around the globe, with the latter accomplishing a 120-day patrol last year that included transiting the length of the African continent, while completely submerged, in just 15 days.

Well, Arpão, just left Portugal on 3 April for another 70-day stint as part of NATO’s Operation Brilliant Shield, with her first stop being the frigid waters of the Davis Strait off Greenland where she will be the first submarine of the Marinha Portuguesa to navigate under the Arctic ice, where she will be in operations with the militaries of Canada, Denmark, and the U.S.

After lengthy practice dives, she made a port call at Gl.atlantkaj, Godthab, Greenland on 26 April.

Danish Arktisk Kommando (Joint Arctic Command) has said in a statement that the 1,800-ton Knud Rasmussen class patrol vessel HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen (P571) acted as her support ship. She may also be an OPFOR, as the little vessel carries what has been described as a “mine-avoidance sonar” and has a fit for possible MU90 Impact ASW torpedoes.

Mikkelsen has also been hosting a Danish Navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopter of 723 Sqn off and on.

Meanwhile, in the nearby Faeroes Islands, NATO exercise Dynamic Mongoose is going on with 10 ships, 5 submarines and 9 aircraft, including the Danish 3,500-ton Thetis class OPV HDMS Hvidbjørnen (F360)-– with a SaabTech CTS-36 hull-mounted active sonar and towed Thomson Sintra TSM 2640 Salmon variable depth passive sonar– as well as the Faroese Fisheries Patrol (Fiskimanlastyrid) vessel Brimil out of Torshaven.

The Thetis-class’s Thomson Sintra TSM 2640 Salmon variable depth sonar fit

This comes as the Danish parliament has proposed a defense update that will include plans to put more Mark 54 ASW torpedoes on more platforms (which they have fielded since 2018) and call up 5,000 conscripts a year from 2026 (including women), up from the current 4,700, on six-to-nine-month tours.

Welcome back, Awesome Aggie

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Carrying the name of the legendary Greek king, the first HMS Agamemnon in the Royal Navy had earned a host of battle honors when in her prime. By 1805, she was an aging 64-gun third-rate that had seen better days and rightfully should have been condemned. Still, given a reprieve from the shipbreakers to serve as part of Nelson’s weather column at Trafalgar, she closed with and helped force the surrender of the first-rate 112-gun Spanish four-decker Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, complete with the deafened and injured RADM Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros aboard. Her “Trafalgar 1805” battle honor joined a quartet (Ushant 1781, The Saints 1782, Genoa 1795, Copenhagen 1801) she had already picked up.

Incidentally, Agamemnon was one of five ships that Nelson had commanded, and is regarded as his favorite. 
 

An 1807 composite painting by Nicholas Pocock showing five of the ships in which Nelson served as a captain and flag officer from the start of the French Wars in 1793 to his death in 1805. The artist has depicted them drying sails in a calm at Spithead, Portsmouth, and despite the traditional title, two of them were not strictly flagships. The ship on the left in bow view is the ‘Agamemnon’, 64 guns. It was Nelson’s favorite ship, which he commanded as a captain from 1793. Broadside on is the ‘Vanguard’, 74 guns, his flagship at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 flying a white ensign and his blue flag as Rear-Admiral of the Blue at the mizzen. Stern on is the ‘Elephant’, 74 guns, his temporary flagship at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. She is flying the blue ensign from the stern and Nelson’s flag as Vice-Admiral of the Blue at her foremast. In the center distance is the ‘Captain’, 74 guns, in which Nelson flew a commodore’s broad pendant at the Battle of St Vincent, 1797. Dominating the right foreground is the ‘Victory’, 100 guns, shown in her original state, with open stern galleries, and not as she was at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She is shown at anchor flying the flag of Vice-Admiral of the White, Nelson’s Trafalgar rank, and firing a salute to starboard as an admiral’s barge is rowed alongside, amidst other small craft. (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection)

The second Agamemnon, a 91-gun steam second rate, added a battle honor to the name in the Crimea.

The third, an early 8,500-ton Ajax class battleship armed with 12.5-inch ML rifles and clad in as much as 18 inches of cast iron armor, spent much of her 20-year career primarily in the East Indies and off Zanzibar and Aden, showing the White Ensign.

The fourth, a more modern 17,000-ton Lord Nelson-class battleship, had the rare distinction of shooting down the German Zeppelin in 1916 and earned a battle honor for the Dardanelles before she was disposed of in 1927 in line with the interbellum naval treaties.

9.2″/50 Vickers Mk XI guns of HMS Agamemnon firing on Ottoman Turkish forts at Sedd el Bahr on 4 March 1915. IWM HU 103302

HMS Agamemnon has her BL 12-inch Mk X guns replaced during a refit at Malta in May–June 1915, IWM Q 102609.

The fifth Agamemnon (M10) was an unsung WWII minelayer, and, since 1946, the Royal Navy has not had the name on its list…well, until now.

The sixth and future HMS Agamemnon (S124), coincidentally the sixth Astute-class hunter-killer, has been under construction alongside sister HMS Anson at BAE Systems’ yard in Barrow-in-Furness, since 2010 and was christened inside the cavernous Devonshire Dock Hall on 22 April.

As noted by the RN:

HMS Agamemnon will act as both sword and protector – able to strike at foes on land courtesy of her Tomahawk cruise missile – and fend off threats on and beneath the waves with Spearfish torpedoes.

“Awesome Aggie” is expected to enter the fleet later this year.

Warship Wednesday, April 24, 2024: A Flower So Nice They Painted Her Thrice

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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, April 24, 2024: A Flower So Nice They Painted Her Thrice

Imperial War Museum Collections FL 5516 (RCN)

Above we see a detailed image of the plucky little Flower-class corvette HMCS Snowberry (K166) of the Royal Canadian Navy underway during World War II. She is pictured in the above just after she left Charleston Navy Yard in South Carolina following a much-needed refit that saw her both refreshed and her fo’c’s’le extended to provide better handling of the stubby 925-ton escort while on North Atlantic convoy runs, her staple employment for the duration of the war.

The Flowers

A handy little sub-buster that could be cranked out in record time but was still very capable of escorting slow-moving merchantmen from the Americas to Europe during the Battle of the Atlantic, the Admiralty would order more than 300 Gladiolus/Flower-class corvettes from 1939 onward.

Essentially a stretched version of the Smith’s Dock’s 582 GRT, 160-foot steam-powered whaler design built in 1936 for the Southern Whaling & Sealing Co. Ltd (SWSC), they were single-screw vessels powered by a pair of cylindrical Scotch marine boilers feeding a single VTE engine that could, when turning at maximum RPMs, generate a theoretical 2,750 h.p., enough to push the little tub 16 ish knots while an economical load of 230 tons of fuel oil would get them 3,500nm at 12 knots, enough to make it across the Atlantic on the 2,700-mile Halifax to Liverpool route with some fuel left for maneuvering.

The Flowers were based on the SWSC’s Southern Pride, shown here in her pre-war whaler service. The vessel would be requisitioned by the RN (K 249) in 1940 and lost in 1944 off Freetown. 

Using the simpler boiler pattern and including enough space for a crew of 80 officers and men (later to swell to as much as 110), the dimensions shifted from a 160-foot whaler to a 205-foot corvette. With a correspondingly wide 33-foot beam, they had a stubby 1:6 length-beam ratio.

Armament was slight: a single 4″/45 BL Mk IX forward, a 40mm/39 2pdr QF Mk VIII pom-pom on a “bandstand” platform aft, a couple of depth charge throwers and two depth charge racks over the stern, with provision for up to 40 ash cans. They also had a perfectly adequate Type 123 or Type 128 sonar and (eventually) a Type 271 or Type 286 radar. Of course, there were extensive modifications to this and tweaks across the massive production line, but you get the idea. Late war fits included as many as 70 depth charges, a Hedgehog ASW device, and a half-dozen 20mm Oerlikons.

 

Drawing of a Flower Class Corvette showing the ship’s layout by John W. McKay – 1992. Source: “Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy 1939-1945” by Ken MacPherson and Marc Milner

Built to merchant (Lloyds) standards rather than to those of the Admiralty, they could be churned out rapidly at about any small coastwise commercial shipyard and several dozen shipyards participated in the program in the UK and Canada. Some 13 Canadian yards alone (Burrard, Canadian Vickers, Collingwood, Davie & Sons, Davie SB, Kingston SB, Marine Industries, Midland SY, Morton Eng. & D.D. Co, Port Arthur SB, Victoria Machinery, and Yarrows Esquimalt) made a whopping 122 Flowers during the conflict.

The average construction time was 6-8 months, a process often sped up by the fact that the armament and sensors would be installed post-delivery at a nearby naval yard, sometimes in stages, a problem that meant some Flowers had to deploy for months before they received all their gear.

No less than 111 Flowers were assigned to the RCN at one point or another, of which 7 were canceled while still under construction, 80 were built from the start for the Canadians, and 24 RN corvettes (many of which were built in Canadian yards) transferred on loan.

RCN corvette in drydock. Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950910

Three Flower class corvettes tied up at St. Johns.

Meet Snowberry

Our subject, laid down for the Royal Navy on 24 February 1940 at Davie Shipbuilding (now Chantier Davie Canada Inc. but still in business) at Lauzon, Quebec, was named, in line with the convention used for the rest of the Flowers, after Symphoricarpos albus-– the common snowberry. Launched just six months later, she was delivered to the RN and commissioned at Quebec City on 26 November 1940, the gestation period of HMS Snowberry (K166) lasted but eight months.

War Baby

Manned by a Canadian crew led by LT Roy Stanley Kelly, RCNR, Snowberry sailed for Halifax to pick up her armament and then, after crossing the Atlantic with her first convoy (HX.108) she finished her fitting out process at Greenock, Scotland. Following a stint with Western Approaches Command, she was loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy and commissioned as HMCS Snowberry on 15 May 1941 with the same pennant number. In June 1941, she sailed for Newfoundland and would get to arduous work there in convoy service.

This image depicts a Canadian corvette as it comes alongside a U.S. Coast Guard cutter in April 1943

In all, Snowberry took part in an impressive 74 convoys between 3 February 1941 (HX.108) and 15 April 1945, broken down into 15 in 1941, 19 in the hellish year that was 1942, 16 in 1943, just 11 in 1944, and a baker’s dozen in just the first four months of 1945.

Most of these (29) were dangerous HX or ON convoys from New York/Halifax to Liverpool and vice-versa but she did manage to venture into the Caribbean every now and then on TAW, GN, and AH convoys.

HMCS Snowberry (K166), Charleston, South Carolina, May 1943, NARA

HMCS Snowberry (K166), Charleston, South Carolina, May 1943, NARA

Her two most notable brushes with the Jerries included the sinking of the brand-new Type IXC/40 U-536 (Kptlt. Rolf Schauenburg), on 20 November 1943 in the North Atlantic northeast of the Azores in conjunction with her Canadian Flower sister HMCS Calgary (K231) and the British River-class frigate, HMS Nene.

Schauenburg, on only his second war patrol of 2. Flottille out of Lorient, survived along with 16 of his men to become POWs.

From the official report of the sinking of U-536.

1943 Devonport Dockyard, Nov 25, 1943, U-536 survivors brought in by crews of HMCS Snowberry, HMS Tweed, and HMCS Calgary. Note the Lanchester SMG

LOSERS IN THE ATLANTIC BATTLE. 25 NOVEMBER 1943, PLYMOUTH, DEVONPORT DOCKYARD. MORE U-BOAT PRISONERS; 17 OFFICERS AND MEN BEING LANDED BLINDFOLDED IN THE SOUTH-WEST PORT FROM A CONVOY ESCORT SHIP WHICH PICKED THEM UP AFTER THEIR SUBMARINE HAD BEEN SUNK. (A 20600) U-Boat prisoners arriving at Devonport blindfolded. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205153048

The second notable incident with the Germans was in the first use of glider bombs against Allied shipping, deployed by the famous II.Gruppe/KG 100.

As detailed by Uboat.net:

On the 25th of August 1943, the Canadian 5th Support Group (Cdr. Tweed), consisting of the British frigates HMS Nene, HMS Tweed, and the Canadian corvettes HMCS Calgary, HMCS Edmundston and HMCS Snowberry were deployed to relieve the 40th Escort Group. While this was in progress the ships were attacked at 1415 hrs by 14 Dornier Do-217s and 7 Ju-88s. with the new German weapon, the Henschel radio-guided glide bomb, (the “Hs293 A-1”) designed by the German Professor Herbert Wagner. The sloops HMS Landguard and HMS Bideford of the 40th Escort Group were the first of the Allied and R.N. ships to be attacked and damaged by them. This was the first time their being brought into action against Allied ships. Several sailors were injured on HMS Bideford and one sailor was killed, the light damage as the 650-pound warhead did not detonate.

Snowberry finished the war with the Portsmouth Command and was handed back to the RN at Rosyth on 8 Jun 1945.

However, the Brits were not keen to keep any of these converted whalers around and quickly disposed of them wholesale. Ex-Snowberry was sunk as a target vessel off Portsmouth in 1946, then her hulk was raised by a salvage company and broken up at Thornaby-on-Tees in 1947.

During WWII, Canadian vessels escorted over 181 million tons of cargo across the pond, sinking 27 German U-boats in the process (14 of which were bagged by RCN corvettes) as well as accounting for a further 42 Axis surface ships.

In return, the Canadians lost 24 ships of their own during the war, along with 1,800 men with hearts of steel. Of those 24 vessels, 10 were Flower class corvettes including HMCS Alberni, sunk by U-480; HMCS Charlottetown, sunk by U-517; HMCS Levis, sent to the bottom by German torpedoes in 1941; HMCS Louisburg, sunk by Italian aircraft off Oran; HMCS Shawinigan, sunk by U-1228; HMCS Trentonian, sunk by U-1004; along with HMCS Regina and HMCS Weyburn, lost to mines.

Epilogue

A crew site has been established for the diligent little corvette through the For Posterity Sake initiative.

Snowberry has been immortalized at least three times since the 1970s. The first was by renowned British maritime artist John Hamilton now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum.

The corvette HMCS Snowberry making way in a heavy sea by John Hamilton. She is shown starboard side on. IWM ART LD 7400

Another is from a Canadian artist. 

Snowberry Painted by Fread Thearle in 1988 Beaverbrook Collection of War Art. “Thearle’s painting depicts her crashing through heavy seas. Wind and weather constantly challenged Canada’s navy in its wartime roles during the Second World War. Large numbers of corvettes were produced during the war and used as convoy escorts. Their simple design made it possible to build them quickly in smaller shipyards, like the one at Lauzon, Québec, where the Snowberry was launched in 1940.” CWM 20060128-003

The German scale model company Revell in 2015 debuted a 1:144 version of Snowberry.

The kit included breathtaking box art by Danijel Frka.

Sadly, neither the Royal Navy nor RCN has seen fit to commission a second Snowberry.

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

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Polaris Surface Surprise

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Some 60 years ago this month, an important show of force for the Fleet Ballistic Missile Progam:

The Lafayette class ballistic missile submarine USS Henry Clay (SSBN-625) launches a Polaris A-2 missile from the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Kennedy, Florida, on 20 April 1964. This was the first demonstration that Polaris subs could launch missiles from the surface as well as from beneath the surface. Just 30 minutes earlier, Clay had successfully launched an A-2 missile submerged.

USN Photo 1094722

The above tactic would come in handy if, say, the FBM was stuck in port and an emergency launch order came, or, for instance, if surfaced in the icepack.

The objects flying through the air around the missile are launch adapters designed to detach themselves automatically once the missile has left the tube. The sub’s slight port list is a standard part of surface launch procedures. The tall mast is a temporary telemetry antenna installed for operations at the Cape only.

The 15th of the famed “41 for Freedom” boomers, Henry Clay was launched on 30 November 1962 and commissioned on 20 February 1964.

Henry Clay was decommissioned on 5 November 1990 and her recycling was completed on 30 September 1997.

Contracts: You can walk on the Sonobuoys and Harriers Get Support to 2029

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A few interesting things in yesterday’s DOD contract announcements.

Emphasis mine:

Sparton De Leon Springs LLC, De Leon Springs, Florida, is awarded a $106,391,400 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the production and delivery of a maximum of 20,000 AN/SSQ-125 Modified High Duty Cycle Sonobuoys for the Navy in support of annual training, peacetime operations and testing expenditures, as well as, to maintain sufficient inventory to support the execution of major combat operations based on naval munitions requirements process. Work will be performed in De Leon Springs, Florida (54%); and Columbia City, Indiana (46%), and is expected to be completed in March 2026. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1). Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001924D0113).

The 36-pound SSQ-125 uses the standard LAU-126/A launcher, such as used on the P-8 Poseidon

Keep in mind that the use of sonobuoys by drones will be a real thing very soon, which could be a huge game changer in terms of ASW. 

This week from General Atomics: 

MQ-9B SeaGuardian Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) on the U.S. Navy’s W-291 test range in southern California.

GA-ASI’s SeaGuardian flew the full test flight event configured with the SDS pod and SeaVue multi-role radar from Raytheon, an RTX business. During the test, the SDS pod dropped eight AN/SSQ-53 and two AN/SSQ-62 sonobuoys. Upon dispensing, the sonobuoys were successfully monitored by the SeaGuardian’s onboard Sonobuoy Monitoring and Control System (SMCS).

Meanwhile, L3 Harris has been working on a modular launch tube sonobuoy for larger drones such as the Reaper

Harriers…

A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 223, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, taxis on the runway at Bodø Air Station, Norway, March 3, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Henke)

And in Harrier news, welcome to the last few USMC AV-8B units as well as the Italian and Spanish navies:

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $13,674,435 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-
delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide continued post-production support (PPS) for the T/AV-8B Harrier to include readiness improvements, upgrades, correction of deficiencies and issues related to structural fatigue. Outyear PPS is based on developed plans identifying optimum support options for sustaining engineering and integrated logistic support until the fleet is transitioned from T/AV-8B Harrier to the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter for the Marine Corps, and the governments of Italy and Spain requirements. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (80%); and Cherry Point, North Carolina (20%), and is expected to be completed in December 2028. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001924D0008).

Technology Security Associates, California, Maryland, is awarded a $13,661,338 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide program management, financial, engineering, logistics, administrative, security, and technical support services for the AV-8B Harrier Weapons System for the governments of Spain and Italy in support of the T/AV-8B Harrier Joint Program Office. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (30%); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (30%); Cherry Point, North Carolina (30%); and California, Maryland (10%), and is expected to be completed in April 2029. International Agreement (non-Foreign Military Sales) funds in the amount of $13,661,338 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-4(a)(2). Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001924C0039).

Happy Birthday, Dolphins

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One of the toughest badges to earn, the Submarine Warfare Insignia, aka the “dolphins” or “fish,” is also one of the Navy’s oldest warfare devices, having been adopted 100 years ago this week.

As detailed by the NHHC:

In the summer of 1923, while serving as Commander, Submarine Division Three, Captain Ernest J. King [Yes, the future WWII CNO] proposed that the Navy create a warfare insignia device for qualified submariners. The insignia came to be known as “dolphins” or “fish,” and is one of the Navy’s oldest warfare devices. The hard-earned badge distinguishes and identifies the members of the submarine community and has since become a source of pride for the “silent service.”

Not only did King propose the idea for the submarine warfare device, he also submitted the initial design. His drawing, which he submitted to the Bureau of Navigation for consideration, included a shield mounted on the beam ends of a submarine, with dolphins forward and aft of the conning tower. The bureau considered a shark and shield motif as well but ultimately hired a Philadelphia jewelry design firm to create the design.

The final design of the device was approved for wear on 24 March 1924. It displays a bow view of a surfaced O-class submarine with two dolphins resting their heads on the submarine’s bow planes. The dolphins depicted on the insignia are actually dolphinfish, or mahi-mahi, not the marine mammal.

One of the earliest designs of the submarine warfare insignia, circa 1924. Enlisted personnel wore this insignia, embroidered in silk, with white silk for blue clothing and blue silk for white clothing, on their right sleeve, midway between the wrist and elbow, a practice that continued until 1950 when the enlisted device became the current silver-plated metal version of the pin. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Naval Undersea Museum)

And in Submarine News…

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Lots of stuff for those interested in periscopes lately.

New Dutch Boats

The Dutch, eschewing a domestic(ish) submarine-making initiative between Sweden’s Saab Kockums and Damen, and opting not to go German, have instead turned south and tapped France’s Naval Group to build four new SSKs to replace their aging Walrus-class boats which have been in service since the late 1980s.

The $6 billion project will see the Dutch go with conventional Shortfin Barracuda models similar to the ones proposed to Australia a couple of years ago, capping a 10-year initiative to replace the RDM-built Walruses.

A Naval Group mockup showing a Shortfin Barracuda with the current Walrus class sailing off into the sunset

The class will be known as the Orka class and will carry traditional Dutch submarine names (Orka, Zwaardvis, Barracuda, and Tijgerhaai). The first two will be delivered within a decade after the contract has been signed.

The Dutch have been in the sub business for the past 118 years, commissioning the Damen-built Onderzeeboot Hr. Ms. O-1, a Holland 7P type boat, in 1906. (NIMH 2158_012475)

During WWII, Free Dutch subs gave a good account of themselves, with 10 successful subs credited with sinking 168,813 tons of shipping across 69 Axis vessels.

Welcome USS Idaho

Over the weekend, the Navy christened its newest Virginia-class hunter killer, the future USS Idaho (SSN 799), during a ceremony at EB in Groton.

The submarine, which began construction in 2017, will be the 26th Virginia and the fifth U.S. Navy ship to be christened with the name Idaho. She will be one of ten advanced Block IV boats of her class.

The last Navy warship named Idaho was the historic battleship BB 42, commissioned in 1919. That Idaho received seven battle stars for her World War II service and witnessed the signing of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay before she was sold for scrap in 1947.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900 

USS Idaho (BB-42). Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900

More SSNs Appearing Down Under

And finally, the “improved” Los Angeles-class boat, USS Annapolis (SSN 760), recently arrived in HMAS Stirling in Perth.

ROCKINGHAM, Western Australia (March 10, 2024) – U.S. Navy Sailors assigned to the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Annapolis (SSN 760) and HMAS Stirling Port Services crewmembers prepare the submarine to moor alongside Diamantina Pier at Fleet Base West in Rockingham, Western Australia, March 10, 2024.

Why is this important?

Via DOD: 

This marks the second visit by a U.S. fast-attack submarine to HMAS Stirling since the announcement of the AUKUS [Australia, United Kingdom, United States] Optimal Pathway in March 2023. The Optimal Pathway is designed to deliver a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

“Historically, we’ve had allied SSNs visit Australian ports for many decades totaling more than 1,800 days,” said Rear Adm. Matt Buckley, Head of Nuclear Submarine Capability at the Australian Submarine Agency. “Starting with USS North Carolina (SSN 777) last August, these visits are taking on a more important meaning for the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Submarine Agency as we build the infrastructure, knowledge, and stewardship needed to establish SRF-West in 2027.”

Great SSN Memorial Concept

Speaking of 688s, the planned USS Cincinnati Cold War Memorial & Peace Pavilion was formally unveiled last week by the Cincinnati Navy League. It’s slated to open in spring 2025. USS Cincinnati (SSN-693) was commissioned in 1978 and, decommissioned in 1996, was fully recycled by 2014 with her reactor stored at Hanford.
 
Unlike some SSN memorials that are just sails or diving planes, the innovative Cinncinatti memorial will be full length, 360 feet long, and include about 100 tons of material from the former submarine including much of the fairweather, the 17-foot tall rudder, and a back-up diesel engine, which was painted red and referred to as the “Big Red Machine” in homage to the Reds’ baseball team lineup in the ’70s.
 
Which I think is very cool and would be a great way to better salute the memory of all these SSNs and SSBNs that have sailed since Nautilus. Add a small building for additional relics, photos, and keepsakes, and you are in business
 

Warship Wednesday, March 13, 2024: SEAL Time Capsule

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday to 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, March 13, 2024: SEAL Time Capsule

Sorry about the short WW this week. I’m currently in the midst of a 17-day work trip to Europe visiting iconic old-world gunmakers for factory tours. We’ll be back to our regular format next week!

330-PSA-61-63 (USN 1066434)

Official caption for the above photograph, released 61 years ago today, 13 March 1963

U.S. Navy frogmen have the capability of being air-dropped into coastal waters, fully equipped to perform any of their various missions. After landing in the water, they abandon their parachutes, take to the underwater environment, and upon completion of their tasks are picked up by anyone of a variety of methods including aerial, high-speed surface, or submarine retrieval.

The first two U.S. Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams, commonly known as SEALs, were stood up under orders from JFK– himself a WWII Navy man– in January 1962, with one based on the West Coast at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California, and another on the East Coast at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia. Drawn from the Navy’s preexisting underwater demolition teams dating back to WWII, the plankowners of SEAL Team ONE and TWO only numbered 60 frogmen each.

While they would soon face their first test in Vietnam, they got to show off for the cameras in the Virgin Islands in March 1963 for this set of interesting photos showing off a lot of classic gear including what look to be Sportsways Hydro Twin regulators long before Draeger units were a thing, round facemasks, and slab-sided early XM16s complete with waffle mags.

The sub used in the exercise was the old USS Sealion (APSS-315), which earned five battle stars during World War II and then spent almost the entire period from 1954 to 1967 in a series of such exercises with Marines, Underwater Demolition Teams, SEALs, Beachjumper units; and, on occasion, Army units ranging from the Virginia coasts to the Caribbean.

U.S. Navy Frogmen on training exercises at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, leave the submerged submarine USS Sealion through the forward escape trunk carrying their demolition equipment, proceed to the beach as the spearhead forces of an amphibious assault, and after their mission is accomplished, rendezvous with the submarine and reenter through the escape trunk. 330-PSA-61-63 (USN 1066438)

U.S. Navy Frogmen on training exercises at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, leave the submerged submarine USS Sealion through the forward escape trunk carrying their demolition equipment, proceed to the beach as the spearhead forces of an amphibious assault, and after their mission is accomplished, rendezvous with the submarine and reenter through the escape trunk. 330-PSA-61-63 (USN 1066431)

“US Navy SEAL holding a rifle near a shack, during a military demonstration at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands,” by Marion S Trikosko. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection (Library of Congress). LC-U9-9190- 21

“US Navy SEALs wearing and holding aquatic equipment during a demonstration at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands” by Marion S Trikosko. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection (Library of Congress). LC-U9-9194- 29

“US Navy SEALs training on a boat and rubber raft at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands,” by Marion S Trikosko. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection (Library of Congress). LC-U9-9194- 29

Catch you guys next week!

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And the heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
they know
That some ships have a
soul.

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What a Dazzling Balao

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How about this great series of photos of the brand new Balao-class diesel-electric fleet submarine USS Tilefish (SS-307) off Mare Island Navy Yard on 2 March 1944, USN photos # 1434-44 through 1436-44. Commissioned just nine weeks prior, she is pictured here just after her post-shakedown maintenance before departing for points West to get in the war.

Broadside view of the Tilefish (SS-307) off Mare Island on 2 March 1944. USN photos # 1434-44 through1436-44, courtesy of Darryl L. Baker. Via Navsource

A past Warship Wednesday alum, Tilefish gave hard service under the U.S. flag, earning five battle stars across six war patrols during WWII and another star for her Korean service. Given a Fleet Snorkel upgrade post-war, she was decommissioned and transferred to then-U.S. ally Venuzela in 1960 with 16 years on her hull. Her second career, as ARV Carite (S-11), would ironically stretch out another 16 years.

Of interest, Tilefish was a bit of a movie star, appearing in Glen Ford’s Torpedo Run as well as James Gardner’s Up Periscope while in the USN and, in Venuzlan service, as a curiously dazzle-camo’d German U-boat in 1971’s Murphy’s War, which starred Peter O’Toole as the eponymous Murphy.

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