Category Archives: US Navy

Rock photoex

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How about two great shots of NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT) ships steaming in formation off the Rock of Gibraltar, February 1979.

The flagship destroyer HMCS Iroquois (280) is in the center, carrying a Canadian commodore, Capt.(later RADM) Gordon Lewis “Gordie” Edwards.

Just to the right (her port side) is the British Type 42 class destroyer HMS Sheffield (D 80), which would be lost just three years later in the Falklands War.

On the outside starboard is a Knox-class frigate USS Paul (FF-1080), while outside right is the West German Bundesmarine’s Köln-class frigate Lübeck (F224) with the Leander class frigate HMS Ariadne (F72), and the Dutch Van Speijk-class class (“Dutch Leander“) frigate Zr.Ms. Evertsen (F815) on either side of the Iroquois and Sheffield

Iroquois, a regular in STANAVFORLANT and later SNMG1 service, was kept steaming with a Maple Leaf from her stem until paid off in 2015, capping a 43-year career.

While Lubeck would be retired after 25 years of service, as the Germans tend to like newer ships, she would ironically be joined by Paul as a parts hulk in the Turkish fleet, while Ariadne would go on to a second career in Chile, with the latter sunk as a target in 2004.

Of interest, Evertsen, transferred to Indonesia as KRI Abdul Halim Perdanakusuma (355) in 1989, is still in operation at some 60 years young.

KRI Abdul Halim Perdanakusuma (355) ex Dutch Leander Zr.Ms. Evertsen (F815), photographed in 2024

As for SNMG1, it still sails after STANAVFORLANT’s founding some 58 years ago, and was recently in the high north operating within the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group as part of exercise Neptune Strike 25-3.

Among the participating forces are the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mahan (DDG 72) and Bainbridge (DDG 96), the Royal Danish Navy Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate Niels Jeul (F363), and the Swedish Navy Visby-class corvette HSwMS Helsingborg (K32).

Korean Privateers

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How about this great circa 1952 Kodachrome of an airstrip “somewhere in Korea” (likely Taegu Air Base, K-9) showing a USAF RF-51D photo Mustang (s/n 44-84775; c/n 44631, formerly F-6D) of the 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron with a second RF-51D to its left while in the distance to the right you see two huge dark blue Navy Convair PB4Y-2 Privateers of VP-871 and a USAF Douglas R-4D1 Skytrain.

342-FH-4A39909-K90259, National Archives Identifier 176889420

The legendary Privateers weren’t a fluke, as no less than 22 Navy VP squadrons made 38 deployments to support the Korean War between 16 July 1950 and December 1953.

While most of these were with the new P2V-3/3W/5/6 Neptune (7 squadrons, 14 deployments) or PBM-5/5S/5S2 Mariner flying boats (8 squadrons, 14 deployments), at least seven squadrons of WWII-era PB4Y-2S Privateers (VP-9, VP-17, VP-22, VP-28, VP-42, VP-772, and VP-871) made 10 deployments. The last two Privateer squadrons mentioned (VP-772 and VP-871) were USNR units that were activated and rushed to the theatre, with planes often taken out of long-term storage.

PB4Y Privateer patrol planes of VP-23, in formation over Miami, Florida, July 1949. PB4Y-2 in foreground is Bu. no. 60006. Note that by this time, their dorsal gun mounts had been removed. 80-G-440193

The Privateers served in sea patrol, SAR, and night interdiction missions as well as supporting combat ashore. Of note, the reservists of VP-871, which is now VUP-19, earned its “Big Red” nickname during Korea for its role in night missions, dropping hundreds of red illumination flares to support allied air and ground units.

These “Lamp Lighter” or “Firefly” missions typically saw a P4Y rendezvous with four attack aircraft, search for truck convoys, and illuminate the targets for the attack aircraft, with each long-legged patrol bomber carrying as many as 250 flares.

During Korea, 5 PBMs and 6 P2Vs were lost in the conflict (including 16 KIA and 2 POW in combat-related crewmember losses), while only two Privateers were seriously attacked. Both of these were PB4Y-2Ss of VP-28, jumped off the coast of Red China by PRC MiG-15s on 20 September and 23 November 1952, respectively. Neither were lost, although one had to make an emergency landing in Okinawa.

All Navy PB4Y-2s were retired by 1954, though unarmed PB4Y-2G Privateers served until 1958 with the Coast Guard before being auctioned off for salvage, with many of those going on to work in the Western States as firebombers well into the 2000s.

USCG Coast Guard PB4Y-2G Privateers over San Francisco, 026-g-024-031-001

Breaking out the Blues

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Although some perma-hot stateside posts such as in Southern Florida as well as overseas warm water bases at in Bahrain, Cuba, Diego Garcia, Hawaii, Guam, et. al never shift uniforms (while UK-based Bluejackets are always authorized to wear winter uniforms), for much of the Navy, the first week of October sees the summer whites replaced by winter blues, which continue to be authorized until the following April/May.

Some regions, such as Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas, delay the change to blues until as late as November or December, but in general, the tradition, established in 1841, endures.

USS Augusta (CA-31), ship’s officers, circa 1937. Courtesy of Capt. Pat Henry., USN (RET), 1973. Catalog #: NH 78378

USS Augusta (CA-31), ship’s company, circa 1936. Courtesy of CRM W.R. Lucas, USN (RET), 1973. Catalog #: NH 78372

Going home

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How about this great period Kodachrome of the New Mexico class battleship USS Idaho (BB-42) steaming through the Panama Canal with her glad rags flying, en route to the U.S. east coast for epic Navy Day celebrations in October 1945.

National Archives 80-G-K-6572

Commissioned in March 1919, she came too late for the Great War. Idaho only managed to escape being at her traditional home on Pearl’s Battleship Row on December 7, 1941, by being transferred to the Neutrality Patrol in the Atlantic just six months before the Japanese attack.

Headed back to the Pacific, Idaho earned seven battle stars for her World War II service and was present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September and was ordered to the East Coast on 7 September, carrying 600 veterans stateside in addition to her crew.

Tough as a two-dollar steak, off Okinawa alone, Idaho fired 2,338 14-inch shells, 6,487 of 5-inch, and another 4,647 of 40mm in NGFS.

Warship Comings and Goings

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The past week has been a very busy one when it comes to new warships coming online and old ones getting the (sometimes hard) goodbye.

Comings

The future Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128), equipped with the new-to-the-fleet AN/SPY-6 (V)1 radar and Aegis Baseline 10 Combat System, recently completed her builder’s sea trials. 

Stevens will be commissioned in Alaska in May or June 2026 as she honors the former senator from that state.

Ingalls delivered the first Flight III, USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), in June 2023 and has five others under construction. In all seriousness, these should probably be re-classified as Lucas-class cruisers (CG) as they are stepping into the AAW boss role in carrier battle groups left vacant by the retirement of the Ticonderogas.

Speaking of Flight III Burkes, the future USS Louis H. Wilson Jr (DDG 126) was christened on Bath Iron Works’ drydock over the weekend.

She was sponsored and christened by the daughter of Mississippi-born General Louis H. Wilson Jr., USMC, who served as the Twenty-Sixth Commandant of the Marine Corps during its immediate post-Vietnam rebuilding process. Wilson was no slouch when it came to valor, having earned a MoH while leading a rifle company of the Ninth Marines on Guam in 1944 at the ripe old age of 24.

When it comes to another storied WWII vet, the 82-year-old Gato-class fleet boat USS Cobia (SS-245) is looking great after a dry docking at Fincantieri shipyard. Among other things, she has blasted, primed, and coated with 1,945 gallons of paint, and her sea chests have been cleared of mussels and blanked off with metal plates. A leak was also found in main ballast tank 2, which was drained, cleaned, and repaired.

Her $1.5 million refresh is scheduled to take six weeks and keep her ship-shape for another 25 years, after which she will go back on display at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc around mid-October.

Cobia was last dry-docked in the fall of 1996, which tracks.

Goings

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) was officially decommissioned during a ceremony onboard Naval Station Norfolk on Sept. 25, 2025. Commissioned in 1989, she has given 36 years of hard service and is the second U.S. Navy warship to carry the name.

Now, only seven of the 27 Ticos are still in active service, with another 15, all decommissioned since 2022, nominally in the Reserve Fleet. Five earlier non-VLS Ticos have all been disposed of.

Finally, the retired Norwegian Olso-class (modified Dealy class DEs) frigate KNM Bergen (F301) was disposed of in a sinkex off the coast of her homeland last month.

There is some confusion over whether she was sunk by a torpedo from the Ula-class submarine KNM Uthaug (S 304) or a Quickstrike delivered by a visiting USAF B-2. As some of the photos released by the Norwegian Navy are clearly taken via periscope, it may be a combination of the two.

It is known that a visiting B-2A “Spirit of Indiana” (82-1069), accompanied by a Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35A Lightning II and P-8A Poseidon aircraft, did use a 2,000-pound class GBU-31 JDAM (Quicksink variant) against “a maritime target” off Andøya in the Norwegian Sea, on 3 September, so this may have been against ex-Bergen.

Either way, it was a dramatic end to the 2,000-ton frigate, which served faithfully on the front lines of the Cold War from 1967 to 2005.

Kindle Liberty 83 Time Machine

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How about a great 18-minute full color clip from the AP Archives, recently published, from Operation Kindle Liberty 83 in the Panama Canal Zone from February 1983?

The clip opens aboard the circa 1956 Ingalls-built Thomaston-class dock landing ship USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), a hard-working gator of old that continued in U.S. service until 1989 and was later turned into a reef in the Florida Keys. It includes a close-up of her twin 3″/50 Mark 22 and an LCU in her well deck (some things never change). Her bluejackets are clad in the old denim working uniform, complete with bellbottoms. There is also a short clip of a pair of 1950s Bluebird class 144-foot coastal minesweepers (MSC) tied up.

Then you get a visit to the old Howard AFB (note the naming convention used as standard for American bases, while overseas bases were Air Stations).

Aboard Howard, which was carved out of the jungle by the USAAF back in 1942, are visiting F-16As of the Hill AFB-based “Black Widows” of the 421st Fighter Squadron, which operated increasingly advanced Viper models until switching to the F-35A in 2017. You also see the old C-141 Starlifter in its full-color MATS livery and visiting woodland camouflaged Air National Guard A-7s. Turned back over to Panama in 1999, today, Howard is the Panamá Pacífico International Airport.

A short C-47 ride puts you in the jungle with U.S. Army and OD-clad PDF forces, including both the M-151 MUTT and the Jeep CJ at play in the same convoy.

At 11:27, you get a neat cameo by the RN’s West Indies guardship at the time, the Leander class frigate HMS Diomede (F 16), a veteran of two Cod Wars with the Icelanders and the recent scuffle over the Falklands. Still young and beautiful in the news footage, with just 12 years on her hull, she would be sold to Pakistan in 1988 and serve as PNS Shamsheer until 2003.

By 11:48, you get the treat of the Canal Zone’s mighty green protectors, the Harbor Patrol Unit’s 32-foot Mark II PBR (Patrol Boat, River) boats, a force that later became SBU-26 in 1987. A holdover from the old Vietnam PBR days, complete with twin .50s up front, they proved really useful in 1989’s Operation Just Cause before the unit was disestablished in 1999. All you are missing are “Clean,” Lance, Chief Philips, and Chef Hicks.

You also get a few close-ups of the Swift-built aluminum-hulled PDF patrol boats Comandante Torrijos and Ponte Porras (both of which I believe were sunk in Just Cause), as well as a 50-foot PCF Swift boat of the HPU out of Rodman NS, another Vietnam leftover. The PCF even sports a piggyback 81mm mortar/.50 cal M2 on the stern.

Drink it in!

Happy National Coffee Day!

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Sailor with a talker helmet enjoys a coffee on the Brooklyn-class light cruiser USS Philadelphia (CL-41) during Operation Torch off of Safi, Morocco, 8 November 1942.

It was a busy day for Philly as was provided fire support as the transports offloaded troops in the early morning darkness, which included French shore batteries opening fire at 0428, and within two minutes Philadelphia joined New York (BB-34) in the bombardment of Batterie Railleuse which, with four 130mm guns, was the strongest defense unit in the Safi area. Later in the morning, Philadelphia bombarded a battery of three 155mm. guns about three miles south of Safi.

LIFE Magazine Archives – Eliot Elisofon Photographer WWP-PD

Note the handle-less “watch mug” was a staple of USN galleys, wardrooms, and messing areas from 1900 through the 1950s. The handle was deleted because the mugs could then be stacked and cleaned more easily, and take up less space while being more secure in a locker that may be rolling at 47 degrees.

Pig Safari

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Some 40 years ago this month, September 1985: “A Marine aboard the battleship USS Iowa (BB 61), armed with an M60 machine gun, participate in a self-defense force test during Exercise Ocean Safari ’85.”

Note the stern 16″/50 triple gun turret in the foggy Atlantic background and the battleship’s new Douglas fir deck which replaced her WWII-era teak. PH1 Jeff Hilton. 330-CFD-DN-ST-86-02496

Note the Woodland M81 pattern camo, and new PASGT kevlar frag vest (but not a K-pot, still rocking the WWII-era M1 steel helmet). The M60 appears to be a Vietnam standard “Pig” model. Around this time the Corps was replacing these heavy guns with the pared-down M60E3 which shaved a few pounds and, post-Desert Storm, would ultimately move (slowly) to the FN Mag 58 M240G variant in the 1990s.

As for Marine Dets on battleships and carriers, they went the way of the M60 in 1998.

For reference, the MarDet on Iowa in 1942 was 110 men, and by 1985 had shrunk to just 58.

Their jobs in the 1980s were primarily to man the ship’s eight M2 .50 cal mounts as well as the 27-member crew for Mount 55– their dedicated 5″/38 Mk 28 twin turret– spearhead the ship’s reaction force, as well as provide a guard for the skipper and admiral (if aboard) and protect any “special weapons” that may or may not have ever been carried by the battleships. 

Beretta M9 Still Riding the Seas with the Navy

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A recent photo series released by the U.S. Navy showcased the iconic Beretta M9, still in service with the country’s maritime forces.

The crew of the Pearl Harbor-based Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) was recently seen putting the M9 service pistol through its paces on a makeshift range set up on the ship’s helicopter deck.

Plus, you gotta love the old school “blue blob” silhouette transitional targets originally developed by the Treasury Department back in the 1990s.

250606-N-VM650-1158 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (June 6, 2025) A U.S. Sailor fires an M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo)

250606-N-VM650-1041 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (June 6, 2025) A U.S. Sailor fires an M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo)

250529-N-VM650-1574 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (May 29, 2025) U.S. Sailors fire the M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo)

250529-N-VM650-1535 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (May 29, 2025) A U.S. Sailor fires an M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo)

250529-N-VM650-1473 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (May 29, 2025) A U.S. Sailor fires an M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo)

250529-N-VM650-1357 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (May 29, 2025) A U.S. Sailor reloads an M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo)

250529-N-VM650-1125 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (May 29, 2025) A U.S. Sailor fires an M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo

250529-N-VM650-1303 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (May 29, 2025) A U.S. Sailor fires an M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo)

250606-N-VM650-1118 U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (June 6, 2025) A U.S. Sailor fires an M9 pistol during a small arms gun shoot aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official U.S. Navy photo)

“Watchstanders must prepare for anything, including the use of force when necessary,” said the ship’s social media feed on Wednesday. “Wayne E. Meyer ensures its Sailors are ready with regular small arms training to ensure we can protect the ship and its crew from anyone at any time!”

Adopted to replace the M1911A1 .45 Government Issue in 1985, the Beretta M9 became the standard sidearm across the then-Department of Defense, with some exceptions for specialty units. The initial five-year $56.4 million contract, to produce 315,930 units for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, ended up running more than three decades, greatly surpassing those numbers.

In 2017, the SIG P320 won the Army’s Modular Handgun System contract to replace the Beretta, and the last military contract M9 left Beretta’s Gallatin, Tennessee factory in September 2021.

While the Navy has acquired 60,000 SIG M18s to replace its current M9s, as shown by the photos from Meyer, the ol’ “Italian Stallion” continues to ride with some units.

And it’s not just on the Meyer, as photos taken recently on the cruiser USS Princeton and the amphibious ship USS Iwo Jima show.

250717-N-BT947-1457 SOUTH CHINA SEA (July 17, 2025) U.S. Navy Chief Fire Control Toby Hughes, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, fires an M9 pistol during a small arms weapons qualification aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59), July 17, 2025. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is underway, conducting routine operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jacob I. Allison)

ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 11, 2025) Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Kaleb Jenkins, from Huntsville, Alabama, fires a Beretta M9 pistol at a target during a small arms firing exercise on the flight deck of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Andrew Eggert)

This shouldn’t be surprising, as most ships traditionally maintain the same small arms locker inventory they were originally outfitted with when commissioned into service, unless they go through a long-term multi-month/year overhaul/SLEP process. As a warship can be in service for 20 or 30 years or more, that can leave its small arms locker a bit…dated.

For instance, in the first couple of years of World War II, it was common for Navy ships to still have supplies of cutlasses in their inventory for boarding teams, items that ironically became useful as ersatz machetes for Marines fighting across the jungles of the Western Pacific. During Vietnam, some vessels still had Tommy guns and Garands in their armory. As Meyer commissioned in 2009, still having Berettas on board tracks.

Further, the service tends to keep older small arms on hand much longer than is typical for Army and Marine units. After all, the M14 is still often seen in service afloat. 

Nonetheless, the cool and classy Beretta 92 remains a thing of beauty and a great shooter, so we don’t blame the Navy at all for keeping it around.

A dictated meeting with Oley

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80 years ago today, VADM Jesse Barrett “Oley” Oldendorf (USNA 1909), left, “dictates the terms of surrender” to RADM Tomomatsu Nakazawa (often incorrectly cited as “Vice Admiral Hoka”) and RADM Yoichi Fujii (often incorrectly cited as “Rear Admiral Yofai”) on 22 September 1945 at Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. Oldendorf, commander of Battleship Squadron One, had arrived offshore in the old dreadnought USS Tennessee (BB-43), a Pearl Harbor vet, the morning prior.

The forces in the region had long before laid down their arms and were simply providing Oldendorf the most current charts of the area, lists of naval vessels and merchant shipping in the Osaka, Kobe, and Wakayama areas, and up-to-date information on navigational aids in Southern Honshu waters in preparation for an upcoming landing by the U.S. Sixth Army’s well-traveled 33rd “Prairie” and green 98th “Iroquois” Infantry Divisions in the area scheduled for the 25th. The two divisions would remain on occupation duties in Honshu until they were deactivated in early 1946.

It turned out that a lot of the fierce defenses overlooking Wakayama beach were faux, with numerous “Quaker Guns” photographed in the region.

Close-up of a dummy AA gun that the Japanese constructed around a fish oil and acid-producing factory off the beach at Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. Photo by: T/5 Eisman, 111-SC-213311

Close-up of a dummy AA gun that the Japanese constructed around a fish oil and acid-producing factory off the beach at Wakayama, Honshu, Japan. Photo by: T/5 Eisman, 111-SC-213310

American troops of Major General Innis P. Swift’s I Corps had arrived in the Wakayama area on 7 September, and the Navy had used the port as a rally and evac point under a Beachmaster Shore Patrol for Allied POWs in the area. Between 11 to 18 September, the hospital ships USS Consolation (AH 15) and Sanctuary (AH 17), augmented by the ‘phibs USS Cabildo (LSD 16) and Hopping (APD 51), operating under the control of RADM Ralph S. Riggs with his flag on the cruiser Montpelier (CL-57), rescued 2,568 POWs including 167 were litter cases and 281 injured ambulatory personnel.

The 2,568 Allied POWs were recovered from the beach by 18 LCMs and 18 LCVPs from USS Cabildo (LSD 16) due to the clogged/mined port facilities. Note the LSD-16 hull numbers on her craft. 

These men, many of whom had been imprisoned since 1941, came from POW and civilian internment camps at Obe, Zentsuji, Nii hamа (Hiroshima no. 2), Tamano (Hiroshima no. 3), Omine (Hiroshima no. 4), Motoyami (Hiroshima no. 6), and Ohama (Hiroshima no. 7). They included U.S. Sailors from Guam, U.S. Marines from Wake, U. S. Soldiers from Corregidor and Bataan, Australians captured in Java, Dutch officers from Sumatra, and British taken at Singapore and Hong Kong. Even an Armenian civilian was found.

No wonder “Oley” looked so stern.

 

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