Category Archives: US Navy

Woleai, back in the news after 80 years

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An isolated coral atoll of 22 islands inhabited by about 1,000 locals, Woleai is 35nm away from the nearest other inhabited island (which has a population of about 500) and is 400 miles away from the nearest serious airport in Guam.

The current civil airfield, an overgrown 1,200-foot strip that hasn’t been used in two decades, is listed as “closed for repairs.” The most reliable physical connection to the outside world these days is a semi-regular four-day boat service with Yap, some 350 miles away.

Considered part of the Caroline Islands under the Spanish from 1686 on, and briefly under the Germans from 1899, the Japanese navy scooped up the chain in 1914 as part of the Emperor’s contribution to the Great War. Post-Versailles, the Japanese retained Woleai under the South Seas Mandate and during WWII transformed it into a fortress, complete with a 3,300-foot airstrip (Falalap Airfield), seaplane base, and port facilities, protected by a 6,000-strong garrison.

Starting in late March 1944 and continuing for the next 18 months, the U.S. military turned the airfield and harbor at Woleai into a smoking ruin as extensively detailed in NARA reports.

Woleai under attack, 1 April 1944, by Navy carrier-based aircraft. US Air Force Reference Number: 60226AC

Japanese airfield on the Island of Woleai Atoll under attack by Task Force 58 planes, probably on 1 April 1944. 80-G-45318

The first large raids, by TF 58 F6Fs, SBDs, and TBFs from USS Lexington (CV 16), USS Bunker Hill (CV 19), and USS Hornet (CV 12), were followed after August 1944 by Army tactical air (P-47s, etc) flying from recently occupied Saipan. Then came regular airstrikes by land-based Navy bombers and flying boats (PB4Y-1s, PV-1s, and PBY-5s) of VD-5, VPB-133, VP-33, VP-52, VB-150, and VPB-151.

Left to wither on the vine, the garrison had constricted to just over 1,600 when USS Sloat (DE-245) arrived two weeks after VJ Day with the unarmed 9,300-ton Japanese hospital Takasago Maru to accept the island’s surrender. It was all very unceremonial.

Unlike other islands in the Pacific, there were no documented holdouts on Woleai. The Japanese there just wanted to go home.

Members of the Japanese garrison on Woleai Island in the Caroline Islands about to be evacuated by a waiting ship. Japanese prisoners are searched by US Marine Corps enlisted men. The Japanese appeared to be in good physical shape, in direct contrast to those found on other islands. 80-G-495722

Japanese rifles and samurai swords are neatly stacked by members of the Japanese garrison on tiny Woleai, an island in the Carolines just west of Truk, preparatory to being evacuated by US Pacific Units cleaning up by-passed islands in the Pacific, September 1945. 80-G-485723

Three days later, with the garrison loaded on Takasago Maru and the garrison’s weapons and interesting equipment stowed aboard Sloat, the two vessels went their separate ways.

Administered by the Navy (U.S. Naval Base Woleai for a time) as a Trust Territory until 1979, the Carolines became the Federated States of Micronesia, and Woleai soon after the Cold War became a backwater for real. I can’t find where a U.S. warship has visited the island since Johnson was in office (USS Brister (DER-327) in February 1965).

So it should not be surprising that the Chinese government just recently broke ground on a new airport project in Wolei.

Did we mention this is just 400 miles from Guam?

As noted by The Island Times, “The FSM maintains diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China, while Palau and the Marshall Islands, which also have Compacts of Free Association with the United States, recognize Taiwan.”

Ash Cans Away!

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Something once incredibly common, a staple then on its last legs.

75 years ago this week, the Gearing-class destroyers USS Epperson (DDE-719), center and USS Sarsfield (DD-837), at right, dropping depth charges during anti-submarine warfare exercises, 15 June 1950. Sarsfield has also fired her Mark 6 K-Gun depth charge projectors, making vertical smoke trails (aft of the ship) and impact splashes to port and starboard.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-415520

First fielded by the U.S. Navy in 1916, when it ordered 10,000 100-pound Mark 1 depth charges, the fleet would place orders for 43,466 “ash cans” during the Great War in seven varieties, with the largest being the mammoth 745-pound Mark IV.

This figure was swamped in WWII with orders for 622,128 depth charges of all types placed by the Navy Department between December 1941 and September 1945, with the 420-pound Mark VI being the most numerous (218,922 built). The last new conventional American DC was the Mark 16, a 435-pounder developed in 1946 that used an advanced acoustic fuse.

Post-WWII, rocket-propelled Hedgehog, Mousetrap, Squid, and Alfa/Alpha devices supplemented and then replaced the more traditional depth charge. Then came dedicated ASW homing torpedoes with the Mk 32 in 1950, followed by the Mk 43 and Mk 46, which helped bring the Rocket Assisted Torpedo (later ASROC) on-line in 1958.

While the 29-pound counter-frogman Mark 10 depth charge remained in limited service, and assorted tactical nuclear depth charges were kept as special weapons, the Navy was eager to remove its huge stocks of WWII-era charges from inventory by the late 1950s due to their high maintenance requirements and outright danger– just recall the final moments of the USS Reuben James.

When the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) program for updating the Navy’s WWII-era destroyers for the Cold War kicked off in 1958, depth charge racks and projectors were “unceremoniously removed.”

As recalled by Captain Eli Vinock, U. S. Navy (Retired), in the meeting about the program with CNO Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, probably the most renowned destroyerman to ever hold a rank in the fleet:

Depth charges were unceremoniously removed as a weapon system for destroyers that presentation. As the list of weapon systems (new and old) that would be ‘incorporated in destroyers was being presented. Admiral Burke interrupted at the mention of depth charges and said, “Who included those things?” There was an embarrassing pause. Without comment, I drew a line through “depth charges,” turned toward the admiral, and said, “Sir. depth charges have been removed.” Good,” he said, and that was that.

SSNs and yellow drone submarines, coming to an ocean near you

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Of course, they won’t be yellow when they get operational, but the Navy quietly marked a milestone in undersea warfare: the successful forward-deployed launch and recovery of the HHI Yellow Moray uncrewed underwater vehicle, a variant of the company’s REMUS 600 series UUV, from the USS Delaware (SSN 791), a Block III Virginia-class submarine. In a further note, Delaware was the first American warship commissioned while underwater, making her the ideal historical testbed for such devices.

250501-N-N0736-1001 NORFOLK (May 01, 2025) – Sailors attached to the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Delaware (SSN 791) lower a Yellow Moray (REMUS 600) unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) into the water during a UUV exercise in Haakosnsvern Naval Base in Haakonsvern, Norway, and then swim it to the sub. (Courtesy Photo)

Via DOD:

The Yellow Moray UUV executed a pre-programmed mission profile showcasing the potential to greatly enhance the Navy’s subsea and seabed warfare (SSW) capabilities. The successful completion of this mission demonstrates the feasibility of deploying robotic and autonomous systems from submarines, opening new possibilities for clandestine operations and battlespace preparation. As part of this operation, Delaware executed three Yellow Moray UUV sorties of about 6-10 hours each using the same vehicle, validating the reliability of the system and the ability to execute multiple missions without the need for divers to launch and recover the vehicle.

But wait, there is more:

This deployment also highlighted the ability of the Submarine Force and UUV Group 1 to learn fast and overcome barriers. During the first attempts to launch and recover in a Norwegian Fjord in February, the vehicle failed to recover to the torpedo tube after multiple attempts. After recovering the UUV to a surface support vessel, technicians discovered damage to a critical part. To avoid impacts to the ship’s deployment schedule and operations, the Submarine Force (SUBFOR) shipped the UUV back to the U.S. and replaced the failed component. Knowing there was another opportunity to operate the system later in the deployment, SUBFOR returned the UUV to the theater where Delaware completed an expeditionary reload, and multiple successful UUV torpedo tube launch and recovery operations. As part of the expeditionary load, the team also executed a first-ever pierside diver torpedo tube load of the UUV in Norway, providing the operational commander with flexible options.

While the Yellow Moray itself doesn’t have much information, check out this backgrounder on the REMUS 620, its developmental “daddy”:

Bluejackets taking in the sights

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It happened 80 years ago this week. Wesermünde (Bremerhaven), Germany. 11 June 1945.

Official caption: “Two members of the USN security guard aboard [redacted] inspect the surrounding harbor together with two members of the party directing the re-fitting.”

Photographer: Pvt. Gedge, 3908 Bremen. SC 364338 Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.

(L-R) Leslie Graber, Momm 2/CL, Canton, Ohio; Jack Beach, MM 1/CL, Flint, Mich.; Grover Bradford, MM3 3/CL, Newman, Ill., and Ollin Donohue, Momm 1/CL, Wichita Falls, Tex.

The men are likely on the seized 49,000-ton Norddeutsche Lloyd liner SS Europa, which survived the war largely intact. Commissioned as USS Europa (AP-177), she was used as a U.S. Navy troop transport until May 1946, when she was handed over to France in compensation for the loss of the SS Normandie during the war, and became the CGT liner SS Liberté.

The dazzle-camouflaged German passenger liner, SS Europa, moves out of drydock at Bremerhaven, Germany, 18 July 1945, while being reactivated. She soon became USS Europa (AP-177) and made two Southampton to New York troop-carrying voyages under U.S. control. Note U-boat hull sections on shore at left. SC 209687

As agreed by the Allied governments in February 1945, immediately following the German surrender in May 1945, the U.S. Navy assumed command of and took part in mine-clearing operations at the wrecked ports of Bremen and Wesermünde (now Bremerhaven) to clear the vital harbors for use. As such, the USAAF and RAF leveled 79 percent of the surrounding town but spared most of the port infrastructure itself.

Sending in roadborne recon teams on 29 May, the “Bremen Enclave,” under RADM Arthur Granville Robinson (USNA 1913), remained under U.S. Navy control through June 1946 before they were turned over to local authorities, albeit with American oversight. The Army sent in the 487th Port Bn and the 330th Harbor Craft Co for support, and it soon became the major German port complex used to support the Western Allies’ occupation. The curious part of this was that this USN-run enclave was inside the British zone of occupation.

U.S. Navy in Germany, 1945. Members of the U.S. Navy advance reconnaissance patrol keep a wary eye out for Nazi snipers as they rumble through the debris-lined streets of Bremen, en-route to the dock area. Photograph release May 29, 1945. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. Navy. 80-G-49286

Note the extensive presence of side arms and knives. U.S. Navy in Germany, 1945. Transported 400 miles across Europe by the U.S. Army, a force of Naval Officers and men took over the administration of the port activities of Bremen, Germany. Damaged but readily repairable facilities are inspected by the command staff of the U.S. Navy. Captain V.H. Coufrey points out salient features of Europe Hafen Docks to Rear Admiral Arthur G. Robinson. Photograph released May 29, 1945. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. Navy. 80-G-49281

The first American ships to unload in the harbor, post-war, were the freighters SS St. Thomas and SS Black Warrior on 22 June, with 22,000 tons of cargo discharged at the port by the end of the month.

By July 1945, this rose to 162,000 tons.

Busted Jeep Carrier

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Here we see the Kaiser-built Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Windham Bay (CVE-92) looking worse for wear in Guam in June 1945 after a brush with the same typhoon off Okinawa that Indiana was shown inside yesterday.

“Taken at Guam about 11th of June, 1945, after going through typhoon of off Okinawa, June 5th 1945” Bruce A. Blegen Collection Photo # UA 460.16.01 via NHHC.

As detailed by DANFS:

On 4-5 June 1945, while steaming with the logistics group in support of TF 38 and the strikes on Okinawa, Windham Bay encountered a typhoon. The heavy storm damage included the collapse of 20 feet of flight deck onto the foc’sle, a warped and ruptured catapult, as well as lost and damaged planes. On 16 June, she cleared the Marianas en route to Oahu. The warship reached Pearl Harbor on the 25th but departed again two days later. She entered port at San Diego on 11 July and immediately began repairs to correct the typhoon damage she had suffered earlier in the month. Those repairs lasted through late August, so that she missed the final weeks of the war.

Still, she earned three battle stars for her yeoman service in hauling Marine and Navy carrier aircraft (as many as 76 at a time) and squadrons across the Pacific for 12 solid months between June 1944 and June 1945.

Post-war, she conducted “Magic Carpet” rides bringing troops home from overseas and was placed in the Reserve Fleet out of commission on 23 August 1946.

When Korea broke out in 1950, she was dusted off for assignment to the Military Sea Transportation Service and, with a civil crew, served as an aircraft ferry (T-CVE-92, later T-CVU-92) for the next eight years shelping tactical aircraft to Japan from the West Coast along with loads of F8F Bearcats to the French in Indochina.

USS Windham Bay (T-CVU-92) passes under the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California, with a cargo of aircraft on her flight deck, 1958. Planes visible are mainly U.S. Air Force F-86D fighters, with a few U.S. Navy F9F and F2H fighters parked near and forward of the ship’s island. Courtesy of Robert M. Cieri, 1982. NH 94307

Decommissioned in January 1959, she was sold to the Hugo Neu Steel Products Corp and scrapped, ironically, in Japan in February 1961.

How many Sidewinders Does $1.1B Buy?

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U.S. Marines with Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA(AW)) 533 transport an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Sept. 28, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Gabriel Durand)

First fired successfully in September 1953 (!) and bagged its first confirmed aerial kills in 1958, the AIM-9 Sidewinder is still very much in demand and on front-line service in its 70s.

Of course, the current fifth-generation infra-red AIM-9X tactical weapon system family, which debuted in 2004 and has delivered well over 10,000 examples, is not your grandfather’s Sidewinder.

Unlike previous AIM-9 models, the AIM-9X can even be used against ground targets and has Lock-On-After-Launch and Data Link capabilities. Little wonder that it is used by 29 countries.

With that in mind, it should be no surprise that the DOD just announced a $1.1B contract for right at 2,000 war-shot and around 200 training missiles for both U.S. and overseas customers. This points to a cost of about $500K per round, which is a bargain compared to a $1.3 million longer-range AIM-132 AMRAAM.

As Sidewinders have proved useful against incoming Iranian and Houthi missiles in the Middle East in the past couple of years, a lot of these new purchases are likely to backfill for expended rounds.

Plus, the Ukrainians have shown them to be useful when fired in a novel fashion from their Magura 7 SAM-equipped air defense drone boats, which have claimed two shootdowns of Russian tactical aircraft in recent weeks over the Black Sea, ala Cold War M48 Chaparral style.  

Anyway, the announcement:

Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, is awarded a $1,100,806,209 modification (P00004) to a previously awarded fixed-price incentive (firm-target) contract (N0001924C0032). This modification exercises options for the production and delivery of AIM-9X production Lot 25 requirements as follows: 1,756 AIM-9X-4 Block II All Up Round Tactical Missiles (492 for the Navy, 456 for the Air Force, and 808 for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers); 242 AIM-9X-5 Block II+ All Up Round Tactical Missiles for FMS customers; 187 Captive Air Training Missiles (CATM)-9X-4 (40 for the Navy, 62 for the Air Force, and 85 for FMS customers); 13 Special Air Training Missiles (NATM) (five for the Air Force and eight for FMS customers); six Data Air Test Missiles for FMS customers; 30 Multi-Purpose Training Missile for FMS customers; eight Block I Tactical Sectionalization Kits for the Air Force; seven Block I CATM Sectionalization Kits for the Air Force; 33 Block II Tactical Sectionalization Kit (21 for the Navy, eight for the Air Force, and four for FMS customers); 34 Block II CATM Sectionalization Kits (24 for the Navy, six for the Air Force, and four for FMS customers); 31 Block II Tactical Maintenance Kits (30 for the Navy and one for FMS customers); 28 Block II CATM Maintenance Kits (27 for the Air Force and one for FMS customers), as well as various associated spares, containers, and support equipment. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (36.14%); North Logan, Utah (9.96%); Niles, Illinois (7.83%); Keyser, West Virginia (7.65%); Hillsboro, Oregon (4.71%); Midland, Ontario, Canada (3.17%); Heilbronn, Germany (2.58%); Goleta, California (2.5%); Simsbury, Connecticut (2.49%); Anaheim, California   (2.39%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (2.10%); Murrieta, California (2.10%); Valencia, California (1.68%); San Diego, California (1.57%); Kalispell, Montana (1.56%); St. Albans, Vermont (1.21%); Anniston, Alabama (1.15%); San Jose, California (1.12%); Cincinnati, Ohio (1.03%); and various other locations within the continental U.S. (7.06%), and is expected to be complete by October 2028. Fiscal 2025 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $490,708,962; fiscal 2025 missile procurement funds in the amount of $183,651,109; fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $2,082,840; fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $952,404; fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $664,351; fiscal 2024 missile procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $55,470,485; fiscal 2024 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,961,405; fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $952,404; fiscal 2023 missile procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $8,768,269; fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,448; and FMS customer funds in the amount of $597,227,867, will be obligated at the time of award, of which $19,623,826 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract action was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

 

Rainy Day on the Mighty I

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It happened 80 years ago today.

The South Dakota-class battleship USS Indiana (BB-58), seen taking water over the bow, while steaming through a typhoon in the Okinawa area, circa 5 June 1945.

Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-342732

The storm was bad enough to claim one of her floatplanes. From her deck log that day:

The “Hoosier Houseboat” earned nine battlestars for her WWII service and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet’s Bremerton Group in 1946 alongside her sister, Alabama, and decommissioned the following year for mothballs.

While “Big Al” got a ticket home to Mobile for museum ship service in 1960, Indiana instead went to the scrapyard, although lots of her relics are on display in her home state.

Indiana War Memorial in Indianapolis (Photo: Chris Eger)

It’s official: CVN-65 headed to Mobile for final cruise

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Operation Sea Orbit: On 31 July 1964, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) (bottom), USS Long Beach (CGN-9) (center) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) (top) formed “Task Force One,” the first nuclear-powered task force, and sailed 26,540 nmi (49,190 km) around the world in 65 days. Accomplished without a single refueling or replenishment, “Operation Sea Orbit” demonstrated the capability of nuclear-powered surface ships.

The world’s first nuclear powered flattop and the longest carrier ever constructed (at 1,088 feet oal, later pushed to 1,123 feet, some 31 feet longer than a Nimitz and 17 feet longer than a Ford) will be deconstructed slowly in Mobile Bay through the end of the decade, under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She will disappear while docked at Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services, LLC (MARRS), where the former SS United States is now tied up.

The ex-USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, was ordered on 15 November 1957 during the Eisenhower administration and commissioned on 25 November 1961, somehow just four years later. She left on her inaugural deployment just seven months later in June 1962. In all, she would complete 25 overseas deployments in her career.

Keep that in mind when you note that Ford took nine years from ordering (2008) through commissioning (2017) and only deployed for the first time six years later (2023).

Big E’s original cost, in 1961 dollars, was $451.3 million. Her recycling, after over 55 years of service, will be more expensive until you consider inflation.

Per DOD’s contract announcements last Friday:

NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services LLC, Vernon, Vermont, is awarded a $536,749,731 firm-fixed-price contract (N00024-25-C-4135) for the dismantling, recycling, and disposal of Ex-Enterprise (CVN 65). Under this contract CVN 65 will be dismantled in its entirety, and all resulting materials will be properly recycled or disposed of. Specifically, hazardous materials, including low-level radioactive waste, will be packaged and safely transported for disposal at authorized licensed sites. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by November 2029. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $533,749,731 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment solicitation module, with three offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

 

The Terrible T at Play

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It happened 80 years ago today.

The Tambor-class submarine, USS Tautog (SS-199), photographed from an altitude of 300 feet off the Florida coast by Navy airship ZP-31 on 29 May 1945. Note the scoreboard painted on her conning tower, representing Japanese ships sunk by the fleet boat.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-323879

Over the course of 13 war patrols, Tautog received 14 battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation for her war service. According to Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee figures, she sank 26 Japanese vessels, accounting for 72,606 tons of enemy shipping, against 39 ships claimed for 133,726 tons.

Artwork of USS Tautog’s (SS-199) World War II battle flag. Photographed circa the early 1970s. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photograph, NH 98808-KN.

After the war, Tautog served as a USNR training boat for about a decade in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before her illustrious career ended in 1959.

Crackerjacks in the OSS

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Official caption: “OSS Field Station, London, England, Looking over guns in guard room, 1944.” Note a dixie-cup clad bluejacket maintains the armory, while the rack is filled with Springfield M1903s sans slings and M1 helmets sans covers.

You can also see that this image, taken at the OSS’s “Area H” in England, is inside a Q-hut by the roof. National Archives Identifier 540070

While most think the OSS was primarily an Army operation, the Navy provided key intelligence and logistics support for the secret squirrel organization behind the scenes in European and Pacific theatres. This included providing supplies, equipment, and transportation for agents and resistance groups to operate behind enemy lines.

The OSS’s Special Operations Branch included a dedicated Maritime Unit, which, logically, had a lot of Navy personnel.

An OSS MU swimmer– complete with “Navy” tattoo– uses a Lambertsen Rebreathing Unit and negotiates anti-submarine concertina wire nets during underwater training.

Going well beyond that, the sea service also formed Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs) and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) who often served in conjunction and on loan with the OSS’s in-house Scouts and Raiders (S&Rs).

A monument to the NCDUs and S&Rs was erected last year overlooking the old “Dog Red” sector of Omaha Beach in the town of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer in Normandy.

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