Category Archives: US Army

That time the Navy escorted one of the deadliest convoys of the Cold War

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Operation Steel Box/Golden Python kicked off some 36 years ago this month, on 26 July 1990. It was about as joint as can be, and for good reason.

It had to move legacy stockpiles of 100,000 Sarin (GB) and VX (nerve agent) filled chemical munitions, specifically M121 155mm and M426 8-inch unitary chemical projectiles, from their igloos in West Germany, some 13,000 miles around the globe, to remote Johnston Atoll in the Pacific for destruction.

It was believed there was enough agent to easily kill millions of people if deployed, only limited by the density of the local population.

The thing is, the shells were increasingly unstable and occasionally leaked or broke, many having been filled in the 1950s and subjected to 25 years of winter freezes in Germany.

A pallet of M121/A 155mm chemical artillery shells sits in its shipping crate before being unloaded during Operation Steel Box. SSGT. Val Gempis/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02497

The Army leg of it (it was their gas after all) saw 15 bunkers at the classified Sonderwaffenlager Site 59 in Clausen emptied into 28 road convoys by the 330th Ordnance Company (EOD) with the 110th Military Police Company riding shotgun and shuttled to the nearby Miesau Army Depot. Air-tight and haz-mat rated Secondary Steel Containers (SSC) were used to overpack the standard shipping pallets.

The munitions were loaded onto a special ammunition train for the 400-mile rail journey from Miesau to the port of Nordenham, shadowed by 80 West German police and U.S. Army vehicles which closed off each crossing to avoid accidents.

Waiting at the North Sea-adjacent port were the MSC-operated 30,000-ton 1,230-TEU auxiliary crane (sister) ships SS Gopher State (T-ACS-4) and SS Flickertail State (T-ACS-5), standing by to receive their moody cargo.

SS Gopher State (T-ACS-4) MSC photo

The ships’ crews had been given weeks of extra training in chemical response and firefighting, and the vessels had been specially modified for the mission at a cost of $53 million.

From a 1991 GAO report:

To monitor the cargo, the ships were equipped with three different systems for testing the atmosphere for the presence of chemical agents. These systems used special ventilation equipment, various air sampling devices, and on-board laboratories for sample analysis. The ship holds and hatch covers were modified to be airtight. Empty containers were loaded along the sides of the cargo holds, thus providing a buffer zone to protect the cargo in the event of a collision and to prevent the cargo from shifting during rough seas. The ships were also outfitted with collective protection systems that provided a constant flow of clean filtered air to the crew accommodations and most working areas. This protected these areas from contamination in the event of an accidental release of chemical agents. Other safety modifications included decontamination stations and upgrades to the ships’ medical facilities and firefighting/damage control systems.

Once loaded, the sea trip would be non-stop to avoid any possible disasters in a seaport and would skip the constricted Panama Canal by routing around Cape Horn at the tip of South America.

To keep tabs on the cargo, the auxiliaries carried 12 armed and MOPP-gear-equipped Army Technical Escort personnel on each ship.

For insurance, the two grey-hulled auxiliaries would be escorted for their 46-day trip by the nuclear-powered (for obvious reasons) Cold War veteran cruisers USS Bainbridge (CGN-25) and USS Truxtun (CGN-35).

USS Bainbridge firing a Harpoon in Exercise Red Reef III, 10 January 1992. DN-ST-92-07301

A port beam view of the nuclear-powered guided missile-cruiser USS Truxtun (CGN 35) underway steaming to her homeport of San Diego. 3 January 1989. DN-SC-90-02332

Single-class vessels built in the 1960s as 9,000-ton destroyer leaders then reclassed as cruisers, Bainbridge and Truxtun were more than capable of stopping any attempted hijacking on the high seas, carrying between them a 5″/45 Mk 42 gun, three twin Mk 10 launchers for a mix of 140 Standard SM-2 and ASROC missiles, 16 Harpoon AShMs, 10 ASW torpedo tubes, and four CIWS.

While not Aegis ships, they had long-range and advanced SPS-48 and SPS-52 3D radar sets as well as big SQS-26 sonar domes, so no rogue ship was going to get a drop on them. Their fire control systems allowed them to track and engage up to 16 targets simultaneously.

An eye in the sky was provided by Truxtun’s embarked SH-2F Sea Sprite, while Bainbridge had a helicopter deck but no hangar. Meanwhile, long-range land-based Navy and Air Force assets provided frequent overflights.

You can be sure that, in the event of some sort of runaway incident aboard one of the ships that couldn’t be contained, the crews would be evacuated and the Harpoons would fly, relying on the deep, dark waters to become the ultimate containment vessel.

It was slow going, averaging just over 11 knots, wallowing along monotonously in the same way that WWII convoys crept across oceans, moving at the speed of the slowest vessel.

Shoving off on 22 September, they arrived at Johnston Atoll on 6 November, without incident, despite experiencing several severe storms while “rounding the Cape.”

Replenishment food stores and boiler fuel oil for the auxiliaries were transferred underway.

Offloading took place over 12 days, with a commercial tug moving the Gophers around the small terminal while the recently commissioned 110-foot Island-class patrol boat, USCGC Kiska (WPB-1336), stood by the littoral to provide security.

She had steamed there independently from her station at Hilo, Hawaii, some 900 miles north, and had cleared the local waters a week before the task force’s arrival.

The Coast Guard large patrol craft USCGC Kiska (WPB-1336) ties up at the pier upon its arrival for Operation Steel Box, 1 November 1990. The Kiska is in place to provide security during the delivery of chemical munitions to the atoll. SSGT James M. Bowman/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02502

USCGC Kiska, Johnston Atoll, Operation Steel Box. DF-ST-92-02501

Coast Guardsmen aboard a rigid-hull inflatable boat pass through the harbor as the Military Sealift Command auxiliary crane ship Gopher State (T-ACS-4) is tied up to the pier behind them during Operation Steel Box. The Gopher State is delivering chemical munitions to the U.S. Army Chemical Activity on the atoll for storage and disposal. SSGT James M. Bowman/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02442

Note the all-important MOPP gear bag and clean shave! “A soldier from the 58th Military Police Company stands guard with an M-16A2 rifle as a convoy of M-878 yard tractor trucks carrying containers of chemical munitions prepares to depart from the pier area during Operation Steel Box. The trucks will carry the containers to the U.S. Army Chemical Activity on the atoll, where the munitions will be held for storage and disposal. The munitions were transported to Johnston Atoll aboard Military Sealift Command ships.” SSGT Val Gempis/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02487

Soldiers (the “Red Hats” of the 267th Chemical Company) prepare to unload a crate of 155mm chemical artillery shells before placing them in a storage bunker during Operation Steel Box. The munitions, which were transported to the atoll aboard Military Sealift Command ships, will be stored in the bunker until their disposal. SSGT Val Gempis/330-CFD-DF-ST-92-02496

Steel Box concluded on 18 November, with no leaks or security breaches, and after the ships left, the “Red Hats” of the 267th Chemical Company– one of the only Chem Branch units with its own attached MP platoon (of the 58th Military Police Company)– slowly but safely disposed of the projectiles over the next decade.

By 2003, the facility itself had been demolished, and the 267th was deactivated the next year. The 58th is in garrison at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.

Steel Box was among Bainbridge and Truxton’s final hurrahs before being decommissioned in 1995-1996 and recycled.

Kiska was decommissioned in Guam in October 2020, after 30 years of service, then transferred to Ukraine as Viacheslav Kubrak (P194), current status unknown.

Both Flickertail State and Gopher State outlived them all. Held in the MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force along with sister SS Cornhusker State (T-ACS-6) at Newport News, Gopher State is subject to recall on a five-day notice, despite both being over 50 years young. Meanwhile, Flickertail State is held in the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) at Alameda so that her spare parts can be stripped for her two sister ships.

CMP to Sell (Modded) Military Surplus M14s

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A Soldier with “Sykes Regulars,” 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, fires an M14 Rifle on March 7, 2019, at Nueva Ecija Province, Philippines. (Photo: U.S. Army)

The country’s clearinghouse for milsurp rifles and pistols announced over the weekend that a collectible American battle rifle will soon be available.

The notice from CMP:

By special authorization, the CMP is pleased to announce the future availability and sale of surplus M14 rifles. Prior to sale, the rifles will be modified to be permanently and irreversibly semi-automatic rifles. The modified semi-automatic M14s will be fully compliant with CMP enabling legislation authorizing the transfer and sale of military surplus .30 caliber rifles.

The CMP anticipates first order fulfilment in the late 2026 to early 2027 timeframe. More details will be published on the M14 order submission process, pricing, limits and sales channels (mail order and physical stores) at a later date. Proceeds from the sale of these and other historic firearms allow the CMP to teach firearms safety and marksmanship, conduct competitions, and provide scholarships and youth programs, nationwide.

Adopted in the late 1950s to replace not only the Garand, but also the M1 Carbine, M3 Grease Gun, and M1918 BAR, the Springfield Armory-designed M14 in 7.62 NATO was America’s battle rifle for a generation.

However, as the McNamara-era Pentagon looked to Vietnam, and followed the Air Force’s lead in 1963 by fielding Eugene Stoner’s much handier AR-15 as the M16, the M14’s time in the spotlight was limited, and production ended in 1965.

The 7.62 NATO M14, center, was the bridge between the .30-06 M1 Garand, top, and the 5.56 NATO M16, bottom. (Photo: Sgt. James Stanfield/USMC Museum)

U.S. Sen.  Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) said that 100,000 M14s would be made available to CMP, with agreement from the Army and ATF already secured.

“Proceeds will fund marksmanship training and youth programs nationwide, including at the new Wyoming State Shooting Complex in Cody, which will partner with CMP,” said Lummis.

While over 5 million Garands were produced, only 1.38 million M14s were made by H&R, Springfield Armory, TRW, and Winchester between 1959 and 1965. Of those, something like 479,000 were fed to “Captain Crunch” at Anniston Army Depot in the late 1990s.

Another 321,000 were given away as military aid over the years to countries such as South Vietnam, Estonia, Lithuania, Turkey, Greece, the Philippines, and Ukraine. Other rifles, partially demilled, were issued to JROTC units for drill purposes.

Further, the M14 was never fully removed from U.S. military use and remains in limited service with a variety of units, including the Army’s “Old Guard” on ceremonial duties in the Washington, D.C area, with the Service Academies for drill use, with assorted EOD units to deliver disabling fire at distance, and as line throwers and service rifles aboard Navy ships.

The M14 remains in service with honor guard units such as the Army’s Old Guard, left, assorted Service Academies as drill rifles, and with EOD units and in the small arms lockers of hundreds of Navy surface ships. (Photos: Department of War via DVIDS)

The Bigger Deal Behind the Announcement

The importance of this news goes far past some M14s hitting the collectors’ market.

The ATF has long enforced a “once a machine gun, always a machine gun” policy when it comes to receivers, meaning they could only ever become scrap or remain an NFA item forever. Presumably, CMP has cleared the planned conversion of these surplus select-fire M14s with the ATF to be “civilian-legal” and non-NFA items, which could be part of the “Special Authorization” mentioned in the press release.

This could open the door to apply the same logic to the millions of surplus 5.56 firearms (M16A1, A2, A4s, etc.) in military storage, provided Congress tweaks the organization’s charter to include that caliber (currently the CMP is only allowed to sell surplus U.S. military .30-caliber and .22-caliber rifles).

Going past CMP, it could signal the end of the once/always standard, which could mean big things in terms of importing and commercial sales.

Price?

The question on everyone’s mind is, what about the cost? Well, CMP runs Garands currently for $1,150, and those are reconditioned guns using reclaimed drill rifle receivers with new barrels and furniture. Every other grade is sold out. The popular commentary on the M14 pricing, which hasn’t been announced, ranges from $4,000 to $6,000 on assorted CMP and collector forums, likely with a lottery system such as used in early batches of surplus M1911 sales.

This could make brand-new cast receiver Springfield M1As, which start at about $1,500 for base models, a good alternative. Even Fulton and LRB-made M14 clones, using forged receivers, are out there for under $4K.

RIMPAC 26 SINKEX: Final Cruise of USS Peleliu and USS Mobile Bay

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To cap RIMPAC 26, two large SINKEXs took place, targeting the long decommissioned Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship ex-USS Peleliu (LHA-5) and the more recently laid up Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser ex-USS Mobile Bay (CG 53).

The event took place in deep water (+6,000 feet) north of Hawaii to keep the broken wrecks safe from unwelcome eyes.

Of course, Big Navy did what Big Navy is well-known for, deep-sixing ships De Soto style that some on Capitol Hill would like to see returned to service. Peleliu, the last of her class, had been laid up since 2015 but drew interest as a short-term replacement for Bon Homme Richard for a few years until a new ‘phib could be completed. Likewise, cruiser fans hate to see every Tico get a hard goodbye, especially if they still “look” so good.

I mean, look at Mobile Bay when she was decommissioned just under three years ago:

SAN DIEGO (Aug.10, 2023) – The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) sits pier side during a decommissioning ceremony. The Mobile Bay was decommissioned after more than 36 years of distinguished service. Commissioned Feb. 21, 1987, Mobile Bay served in the U.S. Atlantic, Seventh, and U.S. Pacific Fleet and supported Operation Desert Storm. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Stevin C. Atkins)

If they are at the bottom of the Pacific, the NDAA can’t authorize millions to reactivate elderly vessels– so that the money can be spent on shiny new ones.

Mobile Bay SINKEX from Royal Canadian Navy submarine HMCS Cornerbrook. Corner Brook fired a warshot Mk 48 Mod 7AT heavyweight torpedo into Mobile Bay during the event. It was the first time a Canadian sub took part in RIMPAC since HMCS Victoria in 2014.

Mobile Bay SINKEX from Royal Canadian Navy submarine HMCS Cornerbrook.

Plus, obtaining valid weapons testing evaluations on a big deck LHA– from a class that the Navy’s current LHAs and LHDs are based upon– is worthwhile.

Peleliu had already been towed out to sea from her retirement home in the West Loch earlier this year to simulate battle damage in various spaces and then towed back to Ford Island as part of an extensive Repair Technology Exercise (REPTX) which brought together various technologies for inspection, repair, and/or prevention of damage.

Shore-based rocket batteries (M142 HIMARS of the Kentucky National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 623rd Field Artillery, and Type 12 anti-ship missiles from the Japanese Army’s 8th Surface-to-Surface Missile Regiment) got their real-world tasking and showed the continued promise of mobile sea control from the shore.

In the end, Peleliu was finished off by Harpoon missiles launched by the Spanish frigate Álvaro de Bazan (F 101) and the Japanese destroyer JS Kongo (DDG 173), emulating the use of air-launched Harpoons by an RNZAF P-8 Poseidon to sink the ex-USS Juneau last month in Valiant Spear.

Perhaps the Navy is eager to assuage allies that their 1970s-designed anti-ship missiles can still, you know, anti-ship.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Kongo-class guided missile destroyer JS Kongo (DDG 173) fires a Harpoon missile at the hulk of decommissioned Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) during a combined sinking exercise in the Pacific Ocean as part of Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2026, July 17, 2026. (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force photo)

Although, to be fair, HMAS Sydney did get a chance to test out one of the RAN’s new Naval Strike Missiles.

HMAS Sydney (V) conducts a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) firing during RIMPAC Sea phase off the coast of Hawaii, United States.  

Getting Spiked

Of note, among those who got in licks were a flight of AH-64D Longbow Apaches from the Fort Lewis-based 16th Combat Aviation Brigade of the 7th Infantry (Hourglass) Division, which carried Israeli-made Spike NLOS missiles. The 75-pound fire-and-forget missile has a 20+ mile range and a 28-pound warhead while only costing about $250K. In effect, a sort of super Hellfire.

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command – Pacific) load a Spike missile on the an AH-64 Apache in preparation for their role in a sink exercise, where each aircraft fires a Spike missile at a decommissioned warship for the purpose of at-sea live-fire training during exercise Rim of the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii, on July 11, 2026. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christian Morton)

Said Army Apaches flew from USS Essex (LHD-2) alongside Marine Cobras (Vipers) and Hueys (Venoms).

Note the Spike aboard

Two U.S. Army AH-64 Apaches from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command – Pacific) participate in a sink exercise, where each aircraft fires a Spike missile at a decommissioned Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53), for the purpose of at-sea live-fire training during Exercise Rim of the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii, on July 11, 2026. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Christian Morton)

A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, Multi-Domain Command – Pacific, fires a Spike Non-Line of Sight missile at the USS Mobile Bay for a Sink Exercise during Rim of the Pacific in Hawaii, July 11, 2026.  

The Spikes were joined by Penguins fired from an RNZN SH-2G SeaSprite (they do exist!) from the Anzac-class frigate HMNZS Te Mana (F 111), a Marte from an Italian SH-101 flying from the frigate Giovanni Delle Bande Nere (P 434), and Hellfires from a pair of RAN MH-60Rs flying from both Sydney and cross-decked from USS Wayne G. Meyer (DDG 108).

RNZN SH-2G SeaSprite Penguin RIMPAC SINKEX

Italian Navy SH-101 launching a Marte anti-ship missile during Exercise RIMPAC, flown from Giovanni Delle Bande Nere

Flight 607 personnel load Hellfire missiles into MH-60R Seahawk “DUNDEE” on the flight deck of HMAS Sydney (V) during RIMPAC sea phase off the coast of Hawaii, United States. 

So long, Tarawas

In the end, let’s pour out one for the Tarawas, which were first ordered 1 May 1969, amid the worst part of the Vietnam War. Peleliu’s sinking closes the book on the class, spanning a 57-year run.

Artist’s conception of a very preliminary design of the LHA, released by DoD, 15 February 1967. USN 1120262

They held the line in the Cold War and multiple evolutions of the Sandbox, combining big Harrier and Super Stallion capable air decks with large LCAC and LCU capable well decks and room for 1,700 embarked Marines. Nothing else came close before the class.

Of the five members, USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3) was the first disposed of, sunk in 2006, followed by Saipan (LHA 2), which was scrapped in 2009, Nassau (scrapped in 2021), and Tarawa herself, which was sent to the bottom in RIMPAC 24.

141022-N-NZ935-083 PHILIPPINE SEA (Oct. 22, 2014) The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) is underway as part of the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and is conducting joint forces exercises in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Joshua Hammond/Released)

It’s all positional

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How about this great series of photos of T/5 Walter Barnett of Oklahoma City, captured in July 1943 at Fort Pepperrell, Newfoundland, showing the correct form for riflery in sitting, prone, and standing positions with an M1 Garand. Note the M1941 “Daisy Mae” Army boonie hat, HBT dungarees, and M1938 leggings.

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364548

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364546

Photographer: Cpl. Howard Warner, 21st Sig. Serv. Co., Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive. SC 364549

All the above are great for training on a flat range, but often went out the window in more kinetic situations when the targets moved and returned fire.

For those curious, Fort Pepperrell was one of the British bases in the “Destroyers for Bases” deal between FDR and Churchill in 1940.

The first American troops, the “Old Guard” Regulars of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, arrived the following May, and by late 1942 some 5,500 yanks of all stripes were in attendance, ranging from Coastal Artillery and Army AAA units to Navy stevedores, civilian contractors, the USAAF’s 6604th Air Base Wing, and ground defense battalions. It was used primarily as a stepping stone to ship men and material across the Atlantic to Europe.

Following the post-war drawdown, the base transferred to the newly established USAF as Pepperrell AFB in 1947. Its runways and 208 buildings were handed over to the RCAF in 1961, well short of the original “99-year” lease.

A small portion of the old base is retained by the Canadian Forces as Garrison St. John’s under RCN control, with some 450 full-time military and civilian personnel, 1,500 reservists, and 5,000 cadets. Other sections are preserved as parks and have been developed for commercial use.

As to T/5 Burnett, I believe him to be Walter Loe Barnett, who graduated from Central High School, Oklahoma City, and served in the U. S. Army during WWII. He was 27 in the above photos (note the wedding ring). Post-war, he returned to the Sooner State, worked for Southwestern Bell for 42 years, and passed in 1997, aged 81. He left behind his wife, Peggy, and a host of family.

Reptar Disbands, 511th Stands Up

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You know the old 40th Tank Battalion of WWII from this amazing period Kodachrome, showing the outfit’s  M-4 Shermans lined up in a snow-covered field, near St. Vith, Belgium, just after the Battle of the Bulge.

M4 Shermans in temporary position near St. Vith, Belgium, fire on enemy positions beyond the city. 40th Tank Battalion. 7th Armored Division.” Date: 24 January 1945. Salis, U.S. Army Signal Corps photo 111-SC-199467

Constituted 13 January 1941 in the peacetime Regular Army, the 40th Armored Regiment soon became the 40th Tank Bn. It was attached to the 7th Armored Division for the duration of the European War, earning campaign streamers for Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, the Ardennes (Alsace), and Central Europe.

In the process of refitting with water-kit-equipped Shermans (as the 40th Amphibian Tractor Battalion) for the Olympic Landings in Japan, VJ Day caught up to the unit, and they were disbanded in February 1946.

Cold War reactivation saw the unit attached to the  4th Infantry Division (1948 to 1957), one of the only armored units in Alaska, as part of the 171st Infantry Brigade (1957 to 1969), then part of the Fort Polk-based 5th Infantry Division from 1987 to 1997, when it cased its colors once again.

Stood back up in 2005 as the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment (Airborne) at Fort Richardson, Alaska; it has been part of the 25th Infantry Division and then the 11th Airborne Division in the past 21 years, with breaks to earn four campaign streamers in Afghanistan and two in Iraq over that period.

U.S. Army Soldiers walk through a stream during a patrol near Sar Howza, Paktika province, Afghanistan, Sept. 2, 2009. The Soldiers are deployed with Bulldog Troop, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment. Photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Smith

Since 2005, 1-40 CAV’s unit insignia, a t-rex holding a charged sword, earned it the nickname “Reptar.”

The troopers of the 40th earned their unique silver spurs, which included airborne wings and the 25th ID’s “electric acorn” patch, during the multi-day Denali Spur Ride rite of passage.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Alejandro Peña)

During this most recent stage of 1-40’s life, it became the last ground (not Air) cavalry squadron in the Regular Army and the final cavalry unit to be airborne-certified.

I say this because, last Friday, 1-40 CAV conducted its final airborne operation into Malemute Drop Zone, taking that “leap of faith” from C-17As of the 535th Airlift Squadron.

The same day, 1-40 CAV reflagged as the 1st Battalion, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, “restoring one of the Army’s most distinguished airborne lineages to active service as part of the Army’s ongoing transformation efforts.”

The old 511th, formed in 1943, was one of the 11th’s regiments during WWII and is best known for its combat jump onto Tagaytay Ridge and its role in the Raid at Los Baños, where paratroopers helped liberate more than 2,100 civilian internees from a Japanese prison camp. The unit had such a reputation for being on hopeless “behind the 8-ball” missions that they even added it to their patch

General Kruger Discussing Plans For A Paratroop Drop With Officers Of The 11Th Airborne Division, 511Th Parachute Infantry Regiment. 4:30 a.m., 23 June 1945, at Lipa Airstrip, Luzon, In The Philippine Islands. (U.S. Air Force Number A60741AC)

During the war, the regiment earned two Medals of Honor, nine Distinguished Service Crosses, 326 Silver Stars, 1,126 Bronze Stars and 884 Purple Hearts before serving in the occupation of Japan. The regiment was inactivated in 1957.

So, out with one storied lineage in for another.

Welcome back 511th!

 

The Day Old Frankie took the Plunge

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Some 105 years ago, 18 July 1921, off the Virginia Capes

Successive leisurely flights of land-based Army and Navy bombers dropped an assortment of bombs over the moored and abandoned 6,600-ton German Wiesbaden-class scout cruiser SMS Frankfurt, formerly of the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet, and (eventually) sank same.

To help with aimpoints, she even conveniently had two round targets painted on her deck, fore and aft.

From the Alfred A. Cunningham Collection (COLL/3034) at the Archives Branch, Marine Corps History Division

Frankfurt, commissioned in October 1915, survived Jutland specifically, the Great War as a whole, and even scuttling at Scapa Flow.

She was hard to kill.

The German Wiesbaden-class scout cruiser SMS Frankfurt, late 1918, Scapa Flow. IWM (Q 64195)

Ceded to the U.S. as a war prize on 11 March 1920 in England, commissioned there on 4 June as USS Frankfurt, she was towed to the East Coast and disposed of via SINKEX.

Capable of over 27 knots on a 31,000shp plant, she was built for speed, not to take punishment. Her armor scheme only included a 2.4-inch belt and deck coverage over her vitals (magazines and fire/engine rooms), and 3.9 inches on the conning tower.

Moored about 50 miles, 83 degrees true, off the Virginia Capes, the bombing took place from 0912 that morning until 1651 that afternoon.

A total of 74 bombs, a mix of 250, 500, 520, and 600-pounders, were dropped in sticks by the Navy and singly by the Army, with only two direct hits and 10 very near misses (counted as hits). She settled on the bottom 28 minutes after the final drop. The average passing speed for the lumbering bombers was about 85 knots.

From an Air Service report:

The tests of the Frankfurt began with an attack by Navy planes carrying 250-pound bombs. Twenty-four of them were dropped, scoring five direct hits. This was followed by an attack by Army planes which dropped twenty-nine 500-pound bombs, registering two hits. Navy planes then dropped seven 520-pound bombs, of which three were hits. The final attack, with fourteen 600-pound Army bombs, scoring two hits, resulted in sinking the vessel.

It would be fair to conclude, then, that attacks upon light cruisers should be with bombs of 500 pounds or heavier. Of the Navy bombs scoring hits, none of the 250-pound bombs detonated, and one of the 550-pound bombs failed. All Army bombs detonated.

NH 44010

NH 44015

NH 44012

NH 44017

NH 44026

The final dive. NH 44016

Frankfurt now rests in about 400 feet of water in the Southern Drill Grounds. 70 miles off the Virginia Capes, and has been extensively surveyed by NOAA.

What’s a little tinnitus among friends?

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Or, “Pardon, I didn’t catch that…” for the rest of your life.

Official period caption: “American howitzers shell German forces retreating near Carentan, France. 11 July 1944.”

Note the shoulder patch has been obscured by the censors. Photographer: Franklin. U.S. Signal Corps Archive SC 191933

The above was taken among the attached artillery train of the U.S. 4th “Ivy” Division, either of the 29th, 42nd, or 44th Field Artillery Battalions, all of which fielded 105mm M1 howitzers at the time.

The Ivy Division first came ashore at Utah Beach on D-Day, and the above image was snapped as it was inching its way towards Paris, which it would help liberate in August. They went on to keep fighting across Northern France and into Germany, slugging through the Hürtgen Forest and clocking in during the Battle of the Bulge.

Recognized as a Liberator unit, they marched into the Dachau subcamp near Haunstetten in late April 1945 and were the most welcome thing anyone could set their eyes on.

Logging 299 days of combat, Ivy accumulated 22,660 casualties, 155 percent of the division’s authorized strength.

One of its members was 25-year-old budding author Jerome David “J. D.” Salinger, who finished the war as a staff sergeant in the MI section of the 4th’s 12th Infantry Regiment. Fluent in French and German, he interrogated captured Wehrmacht and SS officers, including those taken around Dachau.

Salinger later remarked postwar, “You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live.”

SSG Salinger, 4th Infantry Division, ETO

Hunter’s Fountain

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Some 85 years ago this week, the 10,000-ton Dutch Java-Pacific Lijn/VNS passenger steamer SS Jaegersfontaine pulled out of San Francisco on 10 July and, steaming West across a wide and nervous ocean, arrived a little over 8,000 miles away at Rangoon in British Burma on the 28th, making it in a handy 18-knot average.

Built in 1934 at Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Mij NV, Amsterdam, Jagersfontein means “Hunter’s fountain.” She was a lucky ship, but it was a quirky kind of luck.

Among the accumulated cargo and passengers aboard Jagersfontein on her July 1941 trip to Rangoon were 300 young American men, most slim with sharp eyes and short hair, all civilian employees of the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, or CAMCO. Among them were 99 pilots and 201 assorted ground crewmen and support personnel. Nine of the latter were Chinese-American mechanics specifically recruited from New York and San Francisco’s Chinatowns and rushed through a quick school at Allison Engine Works in Indianapolis on one particular powerplant: Allison’s liquid-cooled V-1710-33 twelve-cylinder V-type 1,040 hp piston engine.

You know, the one in the P-40B Warhawk/Tomahawk IIA

Soon after making Burma, Claire Chennault’s 1st American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, was becoming the stuff of legend.

Claire Chennault Flying Tiger P-40 Artist Darrell Lum USAF DF-SC-84-04112

However, as it is with every irregular group on the fringes of institutionalized military logic, they soon were disbanded and absorbed by the regulars, and on 4 July 1942 the crumbs that were left became the USAAF’s 14th Air Force’s brand new 23rd Fighter Group, which, all these years later, is still around as part of the now USAF.

Based at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, they have flown the A-10 Warthog since 1992, and recently painted one of their birds in the livery of White 48, the Panda Squadron P-40B flown by Army Air Corps Brig. Gen. David Lee “Tex” Hill, an original Flying Tiger (originally a Naval Aviator) who rolled over to the 23rd as a major in 1942 and would finish WWII with 18.25 confirmed victories, 12.25 of those carried over from the AVG.

The A-10C includes the iconic shark teeth nose art and a literal flying tiger over olive drab, a big departure from the rest of the 23rd’s gray-on-gray Compass Ghost schemes.

A heritage A-10C Thunderbolt II is positioned on the flight line at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., April 28, 2026. The aircraft now displays the distinctive Flying Tigers-inspired paint scheme applied by airmen assigned to the 23rd Maintenance Squadron. (Air Force Senior Airman Savannah Carpenter)

A heritage A-10C Thunderbolt II is positioned on the flight line at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., April 28, 2026. The aircraft now displays the distinctive Flying Tigers-inspired paint scheme applied by airmen assigned to the 23rd Maintenance Squadron. (Air Force Senior Airman Savannah Carpenter)

Ever heard a for real strafing run from a P-40?

In related news, the Soaring by the Sea Foundation jumped through a year’s worth of FAA and ATF hoops required to re-install six working M2 .50 cal machine guns into a restored Curtiss P-40N Warhawk in Flying Tigers’ Adam & Eve Squadron livery and, well, did the thing with live ammo, expending approximately 7,000 rounds across ground testing and two days of airborne firing while under the control of Lt. Col. Ray “Hollywood” Fowler, an F-16 pilot with combat tours in the sandbox.

You better believe there is video.

NASA’s Next Moon Mission includes a Coastie and an Army Astronaut

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Following up on yesterday’s NASA color birds article on their patriotic-themed 42-year-old F-15D and F-18B, let us take a look at the interesting lineup of Artemis III astronauts.

While we noted Artemis II was replete with Hornet drivers, both U.S. Navy and RCAF, the quartet at bat for AIII has a very different flavor.

With no USAF or Navy personnel, it is commanded by a Marine Hornet vet joined by an Italian test pilot, a Coastie and an Army astronaut.

The NASA Artemis III crew poses for an official portrait (from left: CDR Andre Douglas, USCGR; Col. Luca Parmitano, AM; Col. Randy Bresnik, USMC (Ret); Col. Frank Rubio, U.S.Army).

NASA astronaut Randolph “Randy” James Bresnik, Mission Commander, is a 58-year-old retired Marine colonel and Citadel graduate who flew F-18Cs with VMFA-212 on three overseas deployments before seeing combat in OIF with the Vikings of VMFA(AW)-225 and wrapping up his service as ops officer of VMFA-232. In NASA service, he flew on one of the last Shuttle missions (STS-129) and logged 138 days aboard the ISS, catching Soyuz MS-05 up and back for that one.

The Pilot for AIII is ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Salvo Parmitano, a 49-year-old colonel in the Italian Air Force who formerly flew zippy little AMXs before shifting gears to become a test pilot. He’s racked up 366 days in space between two stints on the ISS, both carried back and forth via Soyuz.

Things start to get really interesting with mission specialist CDR Andre Douglas, USCGR.

Douglas is a USCGA grad (regimental commander, class of ’08) who went on to earn advanced engineering degrees from the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins, and George Washington University. He spent four years on active duty, including as an engineering officer on the old 210-foot Reliance-class USCGC Vigilant (WMEC-617) working out of Florida, then reactivated his commission in the reserve in 2024. A Group 23 class ‘naught, this will be his first time in space, the only “rookie” on the crew.

Douglas, 40, is the only third Coast Guard astronaut since 1996, following in the footsteps of Capt. (ret.) Daniel Burbank and CDR (ret.) Bruce Melnick. Burbank, now a professor of mechanical engineering at the Coast Guard Academy, spent 188 days in space on two Space Shuttle missions and one mission aboard the ISS. Previously, Melnick, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, logged over 300 hours in space.

AIII’s fourth member is the very well-traveled Col. Frank Rubio (USMA 1998) of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. One of just 20 Army astronauts since 1978, Rubio has the American record for the longest single spaceflight, having spent 371 consecutive days aboard the ISS on Expeditions 68 and 69 from September 2022 to September 2023, during which he logged 5,963 orbits of the Earth, traveled more than 157 million miles, and conducted three spacewalks totaling 21 hours and 24 minutes.

Colonel Rubio on the ISS in 2017. Photo 221001-A-D0431-1001

Rubio definitely “walked the walk” before heading to NASA, flying over 1,100 hours in Army aircraft– including more than 600 as a Blackhawk pilot in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq- before serving as a member of the Black Knights parachute team, a flight surgeon at Redstone Arsenal, and as a battalion surgeon with “The Originals” of the 10th Special Forces Group.

New: Army Space Branch

Of note, the Army recently established its new Space Operations Branch, giving FA40 Space Operations Officers a dedicated “forever home” and, for the first time, joining it with newly created 40D enlisted Tactical Space Operations Specialists.

While FA40s have served the Army since 1999, they previously lacked an enlisted counterpart. The Army previously sheep-dipped enlisted personnel from the Air Defense Artillery, Signal, and Military Intelligence branches to temporarily execute space missions.

U.S. Army Space Branch will continue to use the USAF/USSF Space Operations Badge in Basic, Senior, and Master grades. The badge dates back to 1982 when it was first adopted by the Air Force and has been authorized for Army use since 2006.

The Master Space Badge, seen above Army jump wings.

NASA Looking for Folks for Year-long Simulated Mars/Moon missions

And in further NASA news, the agency is “recruiting research participants for the agency’s next simulated deep space mission. Beginning no earlier than August 2027, research volunteers will spend one year living and working in interplanetary environments at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, operating under isolated conditions expected during crewed missions to the Moon or Red Planet.”

King of the Hill

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One of the most aggressively American images I have seen in a long time.

It is beautiful.

Official caption: “U.S. National Guardsmen join service members from Croatia and nine other countries for Combat Power in Slunj, Croatia, June 27, 2026. The exercise was designed to bring partners together to conduct joint operations in land, air and sea domains.”

U.S. Army Photo 260627-Z-DY230-9221 by Army Staff Sgt. Mahsima Alkamooneh

Of note, elements of the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry Regiment, of the Minnesota Army National Guard, are currently in Croatia, showing how to sport around in the 62 refurbished M2A2 Bradley IFVs which were transferred to the country’s Army starting in late 2024 to modernize its forces. Minnesota and Croatia have been united through the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program for 30 years.

The 2-136 IN (CAB) is part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division, and their motto is “REX MONTIS” or “King of the Hill,” which tracks.

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