80 years ago this month. An M18 (T70) Hellcat of the 603rd Tank Destroyer Battalion during Patton’s Lorraine Campaign in an ambush position down Rue Carnot in recently liberated Lunéville, France, 22 September 1944. The dismounted .50 cal M2 gunner is going to have a bad day if the Hellcat’s 76mm gun gets rowdy, especially in the days before hearing protection.
Via the Bovington Tank Museum.
Established 15 December 1941 as the TD unit for the 3rd Infantry Division, by D-Day the 603rd had been sent to England and, reequipped with M18s, deployed to the continent in support of the “Super Sixth” 6th Armored Division. They landed at Utah Beach and entered combat on 28 July 1944.
Loading shells onto a B Company, 603rd Tank Destroyer Battalion M18 just outside Brest, France, are, left to right: T/5 Francis J. Kangas, Astoria, Oregon; Pfc. Dominic Juncewski, Silver Lake, Minn.; Sgt. Emory Triggs, Arkansas City, Kansas; Pvt. John Horns, Dickinson, N.D., and Cpl. Cliff Pratt, Selah, Washington. 12 August, 1944. SC 195544
Fighting through Northwest Europe, the 603rd raced through Brittany then Lorient, and through Lorrane to the Moselle. Then came the Saar, Bastogne, crossing the Rhine, and pushing through the Fulda Gap where it later helped free Buchenwald and, with the rest of the Super Sixth, is recognized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a Liberating Unit.
Disbanded in 1946, one of the Hellcats from the 603rd is on display at the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Wyoming.
M18 Hellcat of the 603rd Tank Destroyer Battalion at the NMMV
Did you know that, while the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions jumped/glided into Holland during Market Garden some 80 years ago this week with relatively light air-cooled machine guns (M1918 BARs and M1919 Brownings), the British and Polish airborne forces landed with 60 proper full-sized water-cooled Vickers MGs in both their parachute and airlanding battalions?
On a more somber note, the Americans, Brits, Dutch, Poles, and even the Germans have been in attendance for the anniversary of the jumps.
The 82nd in Nijmegen, Mook, Grave and Groesbeek:
U.S. Army Paratroopers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division stand in formation during a commemoration ceremony at the 82nd Airborne Division Memorial near Mook, Netherlands Sep. 18, 2024. Each year, U.S. Army units’ partner with Dutch communities to celebrate their shared history from the campaign and the initial liberation of the Netherlands during World War II. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Matthew Diaz)
The 101st at Nuenen and in unveiling bridge monuments in Sint Oedenrode and Son:
A convoy of vintage U.S. military World War II vehicles passes through the Netherlands town of Nuenen during the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden in Nuenen, the Netherlands, Sept. 14, 2024. Over 200 vintage U.S. military World War II vehicles, including jeeps, trucks, and even an M24 Chaffee tank, traveled in a convoy from the Netherlands town of Nuenen south to the town of Veghel, following the route that the 101st Airborne Division took alongside British soldiers against German forces during Op
Two fallen Brits from the battle were interred at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery:
The U.S. Coast Guard spotted four Russian Navy warships on Sunday, 57 miles northwest of Point Hope, Alaska.
The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) encountered and shadowed four Russian Federation Navy (RFN) vessels 57 miles northwest of Point Hope, Alaska, on Sept. 15, 2024. The Russian Surface Action Group consisted of a Severodvinsk-class submarine, a Dolgorukiy-class submarine, a Steregushchiy–class Frigate, and a Seliva-class tug. Stratton patrolled under Operation Frontier Sentinel, a Coast Guard operation designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)
From USCG PAO:
While on a routine patrol in the Chukchi Sea, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) observed the RFN vessels transiting southeast along the Russian side of the Maritime Boundary Line (MBL).
The crew of the Stratton witnessed the RFN vessels cross the MBL into the U.S. Arctic and moved to observe the vessels. The Russian vessels were assessed to avoid sea ice on the Russian side of the MBL and operated according to international rules and customs as they transited approximately 30 miles into the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.
“We are actively patrolling our maritime border in the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and the Chukchi Sea, with our largest and most capable cutters and aircraft, to protect U.S. sovereign interests, U.S. fish stocks, and to promote international maritime norms,” said Rear Adm. Megan Dean, Commander of Coast Guard District Seventeen. “Coast Guard Cutter Stratton ensured there were no disruptions to U.S. interests.”
The Russian Surface Action Group consisted of a Severodvinsk-class submarine, a Dolgorukiy-class submarine, a Steregushchiy–class Frigate, and a Seliva-class tug.
The Stratton is patrolling under Operation Frontier Sentinel, designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters. The Coast Guard’s presence strengthens the international rules-based order and promotes the conduct of operations in a manner that follows international law and norms.
Coast Guard Cutter Stratton is a 418-foot legend class national security cutter homeported in Alameda, Calif.
Meanwhile on Shemya Island…
The Russian naval group was spotted just after elements of the Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division surged a force projection task force to Shemya Island in the Western Aleutians.
The airmailed group included a HIMARS and AN/TPQ-53 (Q-53) Multi-Mission Radar, delivered via C-17 Globemaster.
HIMARS has a published range of 130 or so miles while the Q-53 is limited to closer to 30-40.
Still, it sends a message.
U.S. Army soldiers assigned to Radar Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division, orient a Q-53 Radar on Shemya Island, Alaska as part of a force projection operation, Sept. 13, 2024. The operation to the remote island in the North Pacific Ocean demonstrates the division’s ability to project power quickly and effectively, throughout the Indo-Pacific, assuring allies and partner nations in the region. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brandon Vasquez)
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to Alpha Battery, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment (Long Range Fires Battalion), 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, setup communication systems for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) as part of the 11th Airborne Division’s force projection operation to Shemya Island, Alaska Sept. 12, 2024. The division’s ability to project power quickly and effectively assures allies and partner nations in the Indo-Pacific, and is the key to the strength of partnerships and relationships in the region. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brandon Vasquez) (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brandon Vasquez)
Brigadier General (Army of the United States, Captain in the Regular Army) James “Jumpin’ Jim” Gavin (USMA 1929), commander of the 82nd “All American” Airborne Division, checks his equipment before boarding a C-47 at Cottesmore airfield near Rutland, England for Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944. He was in Chalk number one of Serial A-7, 316th Troop Carrier Group. The aircraft was piloted by Major Kendig, CO of the 44th Troop Carrier Squadron.
National Archives and Records Administration Still Pictures Unit SC 232810
Note his M1 Garand along with the M1911A1 on his hip and a fighting knife behind the pistol. Gavin had jumped into Sicily carrying a lighter folding M1A1 Carbine but the gun jammed on his first encounter with the enemy, leaving the general to switch to the big .30-06 battle rifle as his personal weapon moving forward.
Gavin assumed command of the 82nd the month before Market Garden on 8 August 1944, the third Commanding General of the Division during the war, after Omar Bradley who led the reformed division in 1942 when it was still a “leg” unit, and Matthew Ridgway who had commanded the All Americans in Sicily, Italy and at Normandy. Jim was the only American general officer to make four combat jumps in the war.
For the record, a lookback by the IWM on “The Bridge Too Far” that was Market Garden and the Arnheim operation.
Gavin, at age 37, was also the youngest general to command an American division during the war. He was later the youngest Regular Army lieutenant general when promoted in July 1954, at age 47.
The California State Military History & Museums Program in Rancho Cordova recently received a pair of circa 1905 3-inch Salute Guns.
The museum believes they were originally part of the old San Diego Army Barracks (which closed in 1921 and became the property of the city in 1938) before standing guard in front of the Long Beach Seventh Street National Guard Armory from the mid-1930s until 2020.
The Long Beach Armory, 854 East 7th Street, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California, before its closure in 2020. Note the signal guns.
These guns are the last remnants of one of the best-known (and loved) field guns of the Civil War.
Patented in 1855 by cannon engineer John Griffen, superintendent at Phoenix Iron Co in Pennsylvania, and thus known originally as “The Griffen Gun,” the 3-inch (9.5 pounder) Ordnance Rifle, Model of 1861, became one of the most popular and prolific pieces of light artillery in Union service during the Civil War, with some 1,100 produced– 940 from Phoenix Iron alone. It was lighter (816 pounds) and more accurate than the slightly more common M1857 12-pounder Napoleons and available in better quantities than the 10-pounder M1861 Parrott.
Starting in 1885, the Army began replacing these Civil War-era guns with more contemporary steel, rifled, breech-loading models, ultimately resulting in the M1897 field piece, which would remain in service until the Great War.
Although a wrought iron muzzle-loading rifled cannon, the Army kept some 300 unconverted M1861 3-inchers on inventory for assorted reasons (primarily as gate guards) through the Spanish-American War, although none deployed to that conflict.
Another 350 usually non-spiked guns, many of which had been sold as surplus through Bannerman’s to local cities and towns, have made their way into the assorted state and National Military Parks since then.
Starting in 1905, the Army made a move to convert its stocks of remaining M1861s to breech-loading saluting guns capable of firing standard 3-inch black powder blank cartridges. They were then mounted on steel pedestal mounts and typically placed on either side of an installation’s flagpole.
Saluting guns, 3-inch, at Fort Worden circa 1930s. Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum Collection
3-inch M1861/05 Saluting gun, Washington Barracks, Washington, D.C. 1921. Note the breech. NARA 111-SC-000213-ac
From a 1908 War Department Ordnance report
In all, at least 25 were converted by the United States Rapid-Fire Gun and Power Company of Derby, Connecticut, and the balance (about 270) was done by Army cannon works, primarily Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, with the Army allocating $4,600 in 1905 and another $16,000 in 1906 for the conversions.
It was noted that a whopping 13,800 pounds of saluting powder was on hand in Army depots in 1907 (vs 367,183 pounds of smokeless powder for artillery) for use with such guns and many posts, besides lighting them off for special events and on holidays, would fire a “Noon-day gun.”
By the late 1940s, especially with the general contraction of bases following WWII, most of these saluting pieces found their way to the scrap heap.
As for the recently saved California guns, they will soon be installed on either side of the CSMH&MP’s Consolidated Headquarters Complex’s flagpoles.
Official wartime caption: “Members of the IX Troop Carrier Command hold a last-minute briefing session before another glider mission in Holland. 2 September 1944.”
U.S. Air Force Number 83086AC, NARA 342-FH-3A26203-83086AC
Note the invasion-striped CG-4 Waco glider behind the group along with the uncensored shoulder patches of the 101st “Screaming Eagles” Airborne Division.
Also seen, on the camo-net-clad M1 helmets of the assembled men, are the “clubs” markings for the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR).
The 101st’s helmet markings circa 1944:
With a lineage that dates back to the old 82nd “All American” Infantry in the Great War, the 327th was only redesignated as a glider unit and swapped over to the 101st on 15 August 1942.
Moving to Britain in September 1943, they spent eight months getting ready for the Overlord landings but, due to the shortage of C-47s on the early morning of D-Day (the Allied dropped the bulk of three airborne divisions at roughly the same time), the 327th wound up hitting the sand as “leg” infantry with the 4th Infantry Division on Utah Beach on D-Day.
“Hey, Mack, where’s the wings on this thing?” 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne, GIs mix with Joes from the 4th Infantry Division aboard an LCT on the way to Tare Green Sector, Utah Beach, Normandy, on D-Day.
Pulled back to England in mid-July to reform (the regiment had suffered over 100 KIAs at Carentan alone) and reequip for future operations, the 327th was placed on alert to glider into France (Operation Transfigure) and Belgium (Operation Limet 1) but both missions were scrapped as rapidly advancing ground forces made them irrelevant.
Glider troops were the “heavy” option for airmobile infantry as they could carry Jeeps, pack artillery, and other items in their Wacos or Horsas that were far too big to fit through the jump door of a C-47. This even trickled down to the squad level, with glider troops carrying M1918 BARs, a platform rarely strapped to the back of a paratrooper.
Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division Load a Jeep Into the Open Nose of a Glider in Preparation for Airborne Landings in Holland, in early September 1944. 111-SC-198683_001
Then came a big lift– Operation Market Garden– in which the 327th finally got the green light to ride their gliders into battle for the first time. Carried into German-occupied Holland over three days, they were tasked with Landing Zone – W, north of Eindhoven.
A glider-dotted area where the First Airborne Army landed, Holland. 18 September 1944. (U.S. Air Force Number 75246AC)
The 327th would spend the rest of the war in heavy combat, earning the name “Bastogne Bulldogs” during the Battle of the Bulge for their tenacity.
The 327th would go on to earn campaign honors for Normandy (with arrowhead), Rhineland (with arrowhead), Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe.
The regiment suffered 524 casualties in Normandy, 662 in Holland, and 580 in Bastogne.
Today, two of its battalions (1st BN “Above the Rest” and 2nd BN “No Slack”) are still on active duty with the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne, but prefer UH-60s and CH-47s over gliders.
The 101st Airborne (Air Assault) has pulled off some pretty deep “Hail Mary” style operations in past military history.
For example, in Desert Storm, a group of Apaches led by AFSOC Pave Lows as Task Force Normandy fired the first shots of the air campaign by penetrating 150nm from the Saudi border to target EW sites near Baghdad. The Apaches cleared the way for the F-117s.
The division as a whole followed up on that opening act once the ground war got underway with the 101st’s three brigades conducting the longest and largest helicopter-borne air assault in history at the time, moving over 350 miles in 96 hours.
The thing is, Desert Storm was 33 years ago and, with the possible exception of some retired guys retread as DoD civilians or CW5s sipping coffee in the back of a shop somewhere, the 101st doesn’t have anyone left that pulled off those big lifts. While there was at least one notable rotor wing loss in Afghanistan (Turbine 33), the concept of having to pull a big-unit deep penetration against a near-peer/peer adversary ready to shoot you down is something rarely done in recent years– but maybe something needed soon.
With that, the 101st last month airlifted a full 3,000-member brigade (2nd MBCT) from its garrison at Fort Campbell, Kentucky to the JRTC at Fort Johnson (Polk), Louisiana– a distance of 500nm. The move saw the mix of 80 UH-60s, CH-47s, and AH-64s utilize a series of six forward arming and refueling points (FARPs)– mainly in Northern Mississippi– and a lot of night flying.
UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) depart the Oxford-University Airport, Miss. during forward arming and refueling point (FARP) operations on August 14, 2024. (Staff Sgt. Raymond Valdez)
For anyone who has ever flown over Mississippi at night, it’s almost all dark space and may as well be the middle of the desert of the ocean. That’s a big reason why the training bases at Columbus AFB and Meridian NAS exist.
Ukraine Stinger MANPADS, M141 BDM (SMAW-D), the NLAW and the Javelin ATGM, seen with transit cases in the Ukraine.
Since 2021, the Pentagon., as authorized by the White House, has drawn down “more than $56.2 billion” in weapons and equipment from DoD stocks to provide security assistance to Ukraine.
While the list of that aid spans more than three pages, the amount of anti-armor/anti-bunker weapons supplied is staggering including:
More than 10,000 FM-148 Javelin anti-armor systems;
More than 120,000 other anti-armor systems and munitions;
More than 9,000 BGM-71 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
The “other” anti-armor systems mentioned above are a mix of man-portable, typically “disposable” single-shot munitions including 66mm M72 LAWS, and a trio of 84mm devices: M136 AT4s, Mk 153 SMAWs, and M141 Bunker Defeat Munitions (SMAW-Ds). That and a smattering of Combloc RPGs the U.S. had around for training and SOCOM use.
Developed in the 1960s to offer a more man-portable one-shot weapon instead of the 15-pound 90mm M20 “Super Bazooka,” the original 5.5-pound 66mm M72 LAW has seen continual service since then. The above images are from 1968 Vietnam, 1983 Grenada, and 2008 Iraq. The LAW endures, it would seem, and is still very much in use in Ukraine (Photos: National Archives)
That’s a lot of counter-armor/structure munitions but since the Ukrainians are fighting the mechanized Russian military it makes sense. Keep in mind the Germans made over 8 million Panzerfausts between 1943 and 1945 and still couldn’t stop it.
However, as only 50,000 Javelin missiles and just 12,000 reusable Command Launch Units have been made, and a lot of the disposables had been stockpiled back during the Cold War– ironically for just this purpose– the U.S. Army’s cupboard is looking a little bare right now.
This makes two DoD contract announcements this week very welcome news.
First is an announcement that the Javelin JV team picked up the largest single-year Javelin production contract to date, for $1.3 billion worth of missiles including more than 4,000 replacements for munitions sent to Ukraine already. The project “hopes” to ramp up production to 3,960 Javelin per year by late 2026.
Further, Saab just got a $500 million nod for the new XM919 “Individual Assault Munition” which is meant to replace the M72, AT4, and M141 with a single multi-use weapon.
Saab’s XM919 IAM submission is a modernized confined space AT4. Over 1 million AT4s have been produced since 1985, and the system is currently deployed by over 15 countries worldwide. (Photo: Saab)
Capable of functioning day or night and from within enclosures such as from inside buildings, bunkers, and in built-up urban environments, the requirements for the IAM is that it be a shoulder-fired, single-use munition that hits the scales at less than 20 pounds and tapes out at under 40 inches.
With an engagement envelope of between 30 and 200 meters, targets on the menu include light armor and earth and timber bunkers, as well as the ability – via a tandem warhead – to pierce double reinforced concrete, adobe, and triple brick walls with “lethality effects.” It also has to be able to operate inside a temperature swing of -40⁰F to +140⁰F.
Of course, delivery isn’t expected to wrap up on the M919– if it reaches IOC– until 2029, so there’s that.
The biannual RIMPAC exercises are always a double-edged sword in the aspect that there is typically a SINKEX or three that sees the deep-sixing of a hard-serving veteran without ceremony in a funeral pyre of expended ordnance worthy of a Viking king.
This loss is balanced in a series of PASSEX and PHOTOEX events in which some of the best and most enduring photos of the warships of the day pass from current media assets to historical records. Remember, the best images we have of the ships of old typically came during Fleet Problems and exercises of the sort that RIMPAC emulates.
With that, we have a run-down of each.
First, the bad.
This year’s RIMPAC saw the decommissioned 17,000-ton Austin-class amphibious transport dock ex-USS Dubuque (LPD 8) and the 40,000-ton big deck ‘phib (surrogate Chinese aircraft carrier) ex-USS Tarawa (LHA 1)pummeled to the seabed between July 11 and July 19 in waters 15,000 feet deep, more than 50 nautical miles off the northern coast of Kauai.
The blows came from a mix of air assets including Hellfires from Army AH-64 Apache gunships of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division; a Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) from a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet; 2,000-pound Quicksink bombs from a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, a Harpoon from a Dutch frigate, Norwegian-made Naval Strike Missiles making their first live-fires from American (USS Fitzgerald) and Australian (HMAS Sydney) destroyers, and a series of 105mm howitzer and 30mm cannon hits from an Air Force AC-130J Ghostrider from the 27th SOW out of Canon AFB.
And that is just what they disclosed.
The Army and Navy only released images of ordnance in flight, while dramatic footage of the Ghostrider working over Dubuque’s topside with its guns was made available.
HMAS Sydney fires Royal Australian Navy’s first Naval Strike Missile during a SINKEX off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii as a part of Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024. The Royal Australian Navy has accelerated Naval Strike Missile installation in Surface Combatants, culminating in the 18 Jul live firing demonstration off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise RIMPAC 2024. This aligns with Government Direction announced in the 2022 Defence Strategic Review and the 2024 National Defence Strategy. LSIS Daniel Goodman, RAN
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), while participating in Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, fires the first naval strike missile from a U.S. destroyer on July 18. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jordan Jennings)
Royal Netherlands Navy De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate HNLMS Tromp (F803) fires an RGM-84 Harpoon missile during a long-planned live-fire sinking exercise as part of Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024. (Royal Netherlands Navy photo by Cristian Schrik)
An AH-64 Apache helicopter attached 2nd Battalion, 6th Cavalry Squadron, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division shoots an AGM-114 Hellfire missile towards the decommissioned Austin-class amphibious transport dock USS Dubuque for a long-planned, live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) off the coast of Kauai during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 11. Each SINKEX is conducted in strict compliance with applicable U.S. environmental laws, regulations, and permit requirements to minimize potential environmental harm. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Perla Alfaro)
Of note, no footage or images of Tarawa have been released, likely as it was subjected to most of the new ordnance, and, since those lessons are costly to learn, you might as well keep it as close to the vest as possible.
Now the good
Without further, how about those beautiful ship images, including some rarely seen platforms (escorts from Brunei, Canada, Germany, Korea, Mexico, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Holland, and Italy along with Korean ‘phibs and a German oiler). Then you have old platforms with new weapons (Kidd and Gridley with AN/SEQ-4 ODIN lasers, Fitzgerald with NSMs, Carl Vinson with embarked F-35Cs of VFA-97).
Plus there are just some downright interesting old hulls such as the circa 1991 Chilean frigate Almirante Condell (FF-06) which is the former RN Type 23 frigate HMS Marlborough (F233); and the circa 1970 Mexican gator ARM Usumacinta (A412), the former Vietnam-era USS Frederick (LST-1184).
Then of course this is possibly the last hurrah of the venerable USS Princeton (CG 59) which is projected for inactivation as soon as next October.
Enjoy!
Republic of Korea Navy destroyer ROKS Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin (DDH 975) sails in formation on July 22, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
German Navy replenishment ship FGS Frankfurt Am Main (A 1412) sails in formation off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Chilean Navy frigate CNS Almirante Condell (FF 06) sails in formation off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) sails in formation, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HMNLMS Tromp (F 803) sails in formation, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024 July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331) sails in formation, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Royal Brunei Navy offshore patrol vessel KDB Darulaman (OPV 08) sails in formation off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Indian Navy frigate INS Shivalik (F 47) sails in formation off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Mexican Navy frigate ARM Benito Juarez (F 101) sails in formation, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Royal Malaysian Navy frigate KD Lekiu (FFGH 30) sails in formation, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Indonesian Navy frigate KRI R.E. Martadinata (331) sails in formation on July 22, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Italian Navy offshore patrol vessel ITS Montecuccoli (P 432) sails in formation on July 22, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Multinational ships sail in formation on July 22, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024. Twenty-nine nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft, and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 27 to Aug. 1. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Corban Lundborg)
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force amphibious transport dock ship JS Kunisaki (LST 4003), South Korean Navy destroyer ROKS Yulgok Yi I (DDG 992), and the Virginia-class submarine USS North Carolina (SSN 777) along with other multinational ships sail in formation off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class R. Ezekiel Duran)
Multinational ships sail in formation on July 22, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024. Twenty-nine nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft, and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 27 to Aug. 1. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Mexican Navy tank landing ship ARM Usumacinta (A 412) sails in formation, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) led the formation of warships during RIMPAC 2024. She carries the “Air Wing Of The Future” including F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18E/F Block III Super Hornet, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, EA-18G Growler, and MH-60R/S Seahawk with cutting-edge new weapons such as the very long-range AIM-174B air-to-air missile. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier leads a group sail on July 22, off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Corban Lundborg)
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) sails in formation off the coast of Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 22, 2024. Note her ODIN laser forward. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) during RIMPAC 2024 Flight II Burke
USS Gridley (DDG 101), the 8th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer fitted with ODIN laser weapon systems.
