Category Archives: US Navy

A fitting cap on the Freedom-variant LCS

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In an allegory to the tale of the 16 vessel class, the final monohulled Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship, the future USS Cleveland (LCS 31), was christened and launched last weekend at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Marinette, Wisconsin Shipyard.

A traditional (for the yard) side launch, while such events are always dramatic, this one proved even more so when PCU Cleveland was involved in a minor collision with a commercial tugboat that was helping her take to the water.

No injuries were reported, and damage to Cleveland was reportedly “limited” and above the waterline.

Even before the incident, the Navy had reported that “Follow-on ships are planned to be launched using a ship lift system,” which translates to the new Fincantieri-awarded USS Constellation (FFG-62) class frigates.

The future Cleveland is the fourth ship to be named in honor of the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Previous USS Clevelands were the World War I cruiser (C 19), the World War II light cruiser (CL 55), and the Vietnam-era amphibious transport dock (LPD 7), decommissioned in 2011.

Sadly, her class has been probably the most troublesome to the Navy in decades.

While the Navy originally wanted as many as 28 Freedom variants in 2005 (and a similar number of trimaran hull Independence-class LCS variants) to replace the 51 old Knox class frigates and 14 Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships, the program as a whole has proved such as let down that this has been capped at 16 Freedoms and 19 Indys.

While the Indys have had their own issues with mechanical failures and hull cracks, a series of propulsion hardware defects (particularly in the transmission and combining gear) led to the Freedoms having numerous high-profile breakdowns at sea that required extensive post-delivery repair and refit– a problem that is likely still not fully corrected.

This led to class leader USS Freedom (LCS-1) to be placed in mothballs in 2021 after 13 years of service, and the first nine vessels of the class (Fort Worth, Milwaukee, Detroit, Little Rock, Sioux City, Wichita, Billings, Indianapolis, and St. Louis) all show up on the Navy’s decommission wish list with planned lay-up dates as early as this year, even though the latter two ships are realistically just past their shakedown period.

While I’d love to see the vessels rebuilt to work properly, even if that meant just swapping them out to a humble diesel-electric plant that actually worked but dropped the speed down significantly, it may be for the best to sideline these albatrosses.

In related news, the Indys seem to be finally kind of hitting their stride and only the first two (Independence and Coronado) have been mothballed. Further, the two oldest that have not completed completed lethality and survivability upgrades– USS Jackson (LCS-6) and USS Montgomery (LCS-8), commissioned in 2015 and 2016, respectively– are now marked for foreign military sales as part of the decommissioning plan. 

A baker’s dozen is in active service, with USS Santa Barbara (LCS-32) just commissioned three weeks ago and the final four-pack set to join the fleet in a few years. 

The future USS Kingsville (LCS 36)— the 18th Independence-variant LCS and the first warship named for the town near Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas– will be christened during a 10:00 a.m. CST ceremony on Saturday, April 23, in Mobile, Alabama.

I’ve been to the commissioning of two of these thus far, including limited tours, and was impressed with the design even though I would like for them to be much better armed, especially when it comes to ASW and AAW.

Plus, they are increasingly getting outfitted with NSM anti-ship missiles and are seeing some real West Pac in USINDOPACOM deployments.

Moreover, their helicopter decks are huge for their size, allowing them to embark a lot of different packages. For instance, all these were recently aboard USS Montgomery (LCS 8):

Speaking of which, a group of shots taken by the “Scorpions” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 49 off San Diego earlier this month just captured four Indys at play off the coast in an ad-hoc surface action group. Reportedly the first ever LCS IPEX (integrated phase exercise) with a four-ship SAG. 

Four LCS underway, in early April 2023: USS Manchester (LCS 14), USS Kansas City (LCS 22), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Mobile (LCS 26)

Four LCS underway, early April 2023: USS Manchester (LCS 14), USS Kansas City (LCS 22), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Mobile (LCS 26)

Four LCS underway, early April 2023: USS Manchester (LCS 14), USS Kansas City (LCS 22), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Mobile (LCS 26)

I have to admit, something like this, paired with a flag DDG for air defense and loaded up with full  MH60/MQ-8C air dets, could be of some actual use.

It’s an idea that has been around for a minute. As suggested in a 2021 USNI article by LCDR Christopher Pratt: 
 
An LCS’s offensive capability comes primarily from weapons organic to the LCS hull, the SUW mission package, and the aviation detachment’s MH-60S Seahawk helicopter. Deploying multiple SUW-configured LCSs in a SAG would increase the targeting radius of the ships’ weapons and the lethality of their combined aviation detachments.
 
Two mutually supporting LCS SUW mission packages could triple the integrated sensor coverage, increasing weapons employment range.6 Multiple LCSs could combine intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data from all SAG assets, including the embarked MH-60S Seahawks and the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aircraft systems. Equipped with a multisensor targeting/surveillance system and surface-search radar, the MQ-8 is a valuable scouting platform. Two Fire Scouts operating concurrently in separate sectors theoretically could increase the surveillance range by 300 nautical miles, feeding ISR data into a common operational picture.7 The MH-60S is equipped with a Multi-Spectral Targeting System well-suited for integration into the kill chain. Two MH-60Ss and two MQ-8s would increase surveillance capacity and over-the-horizon targeting capabilities for weapons such as the Naval Strike Missile.
 
And that’s just two LCSs working together. What if it is a four-pack or a six-pack?

Dogs Playing Poker, Capt. Casey edition

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Happy National Bulldog Day!

This 1891 photograph via the Detroit Photographic Company shows Captain Silas Casey III (USNA 1860), skipper of the cruiser USS Newark (C-1), sitting in his well-furnished stateroom with his Old English Bulldog sleeping quietly on the floor.

Casey doubled down on being a dog lover as shown by his taste in art as the picture behind him is an illustration used for the “No Monkeying” brand of cigars, which depicts two bulldogs playing poker with a monkey, from a lithograph by Emile Steffens.

A better view of the stateroom is Lot 3000-F-14 at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, which still shows the dogs playing poker image on the bulkhead.

U.S. Navy protected cruiser, USS Newark (C-1), the cabin, possibly Captain’s Cabin. Note the dogs playing poker illustration and the spittoon

Laid down by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pa., on 12 June 1888, the brand-new 4,000-ton/311-foot cruiser was commissioned on 2 February 1891, with Casey in command, and was the first modern cruiser in the U.S. Fleet. The above images were likely taken around the time of her commissioning. 

Active in the Spanish American War– the warship bombarded the port of Manzanillo on 12 August 1898 and on the following day accepted its surrender then after the Battle of Santiago, she participated in the final destruction of Admiral Cervera’s fleet through the bombardment of the burned hulks– she went on to serve in the Philippines. She spent her last days as a station ship at Guantanamo Bay and then as a quarantine hulk for the Naval hospital in Providence/Newport until scrapped in 1926. USS Newark (C-1) unofficial plans, published in the Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, 1893. Published in the Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, NH 70105.

For reference, Casey was the son of the well-known Civil War Maj. Gen. Silas Casey, Jr., author of the three-volume System of Infantry Tactics manuals that were in use by the Army for a generation. During the Civil War, the younger Casey was very busy. He served aboard the USS Niagara in the engagements with the batteries at Pensacola; aboard the USS Wissachicken with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron including engagements with Fort McAllister; and on USS Quaker City with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron against Charleston and Fort Fisher.

After commanding Newark, Capt. Casey served a stint at Annapolis then went on to serve as rear admiral commanding the Pacific Squadron, 1901–1903, before retiring.

He passed in 1913, aged 71, no doubt with a dog somewhere near.

Warship Wednesday, April 12, 2023: Wind Them Up

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, April 12, 2023: Wind Them Up

Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 85018, Courtesy of Donald McPherson, 1976.

Above we see USS Winder (PCS-1376), the leader of her class of 89 very interesting Patrol Craft, Sweepers, seen in a World War II image, likely while on coastal escort out of Miami in 1944-45.

You’ll note that, although she is only 136 feet long overall, she is very well armed with both twin Mousetrap ASW rocket racks and a 3″/50 DP mount forward, four 20mm Oerlikon singles amidships, a 40mm Bofors aft, four depth charge projectors, and two depth charge racks over her stern.

These criminally forgotten little patrol boats went on to serve a myriad of roles in the Cold War.

Meet the 1376s

With the British 105-ft Admiralty-type motor minesweepers (MMS) making a good impression on the U.S. Navy– after all, the Royal Navy ordered more than 300 of those hardy 295-ton wooden coastal mine hunters from 1940 onwards and used them for everything from gunboat to light salvage in addition to their mine warfare roles– the idea of a PCS seemed a good one to the Americans.

With wooden hulls to counter magnetic influence mines, the 105-ft Admiralty-type motor minesweepers were very successful– and easy to make by small commercial shipyards. Here a 105, Motor Minesweeper J 636, is underway in British coastal waters. IWM A 14421

Whereas the Admiralty 105s typically only carried a few Oerlikons in addition to their sweep gear and acoustic hammer, the Americans needed something with longer legs and, they felt, a lot more firepower. As described above, they got it with a mix of 3-inch, 40mm, and 20mm guns as well as the capacity to carry as many as 50 depth charges to feed their racks and K-guns.

Hampton (PCS-1386), 4 November 1944, As completed. Line drawing by A. D. Baker III from U.S. Small Combatants: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman, Russian version.

Plus, there was Mousetrap.

The Mk 20 Mousetrap anti-submarine rocket system is both loaded/ready to fire and stowed on a similarly sized PC. The projectiles were 7.2 inches in diameter and weighed 65 pounds with an explosive charge of 31 pounds. Unlike the Hedgehog weapon, the Navy classified the projectile as a rocket, as it utilized propellant that burned for 0.2 to 0.7 seconds.

They carried an SF-1 type radar (some later fitted with more advanced SO-1 or SU-1 sets) and a QHA sonar set (later upgraded to the more mine-sensitive FM sonar in some ships).

First fielded in 1942, the SF-1 was a 10cm 150 kW surface search radar good out to 16nm. Here, USS PCS-1389 is seen on 12 December 1944, showing an updated SO-1 radar antenna. NH 64671

Simple and cheap, their engineering suite consisted of a pair of General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, generating 800hp, using Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, turning two shafts. This enabled a top speed of 14 knots but meant the cruising speed was still in the 12-13 knot range.

Constructed by firms as diverse as the Burger Boat Co of Manitowoc, Tacoma Boat, Western Boat in Tacoma, Astoria Marine Construction Co., Bellingham Marine Railway & Boatbuilding Co, Wheeler Shipbuilding of Long Island, Robert Jacob Shipyard in the Bronx, Greenport Basin & Construction Co in Connecticut, W.F. Stone & Son Shipyard in Alameda, and the Gibbs Gas Engine Co of Jacksonville, these warships could be made fast and without tying up a lot of precision slipways or using tough-to-source material.

Our class leader was laid down on 13 October 1942 as PC-1376 at Wheeler on Long Island, soon reclassified to PCS-1376 while still under construction, and commissioned on 9 July 1943.

As befitting an overgrown armed yacht built on Long Island, her skipper was LT J. P. Morgan III, USNR, (Harvard 1940), the great-grandson of robber baron J. Pierpont Morgan and son of Junius Spencer Morgan III– the latter at the time an OSS officer. Along with three other officers (two ensigns and an LT jg) and 54 enlisted, they provided PC-1376‘s first crew.

Check out the rates, for those curious, as seen in the ship’s war diary:

Her first ammo draw from Iona Island on the Hudson River included 296 3-inch shells (270 service, 16 target, 2 practice, 8 dummy), 1,784 40mm shells (1760 service, 16 target, 8 dummy), 2,800 rounds of .45 for the Tommy guns and M1911s in her small arms locker; and 1,800 rounds of .30 caliber for her M1903A3 rifles. This did not include depth charges, Mousetrap bombs, and 20mm ammo.

The class leader had a rather boring war career, being ordered for duty as a school ship at the Submarine Chaser School located in Miami after she completed her shakedown. She would spend the rest of the war there, alternating between use as a training bot and in coastwise patrol, riding shotgun on convoys from Miami to Cuba and back.

But our story is about all the 1376s.

The rest of the class…

USS PCS-1421 in San Francisco Bay, 2 March 1944. 19-N-66847

USS PCS-1423. Note her Mousetraps ready to fire. World War II photograph. NH 89237

USS PCS-1424 photographed by her builder, Burger Boat Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on 24 November 1943. NH 96491

USS PCS-1424 photographed by her builder, Burger Boat Company, at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on 24 November 1943. Note that she is fitted with Mousetrap anti-submarine rocket launchers forward. NH 97492

A baker’s dozen became Control Submarine Chasers (PCSC) almost as soon as they were completed. This conversion was simple, removing the 40mm mount to allow a radio shack to be built. In this role, they could better control swarms of inshore landing craft headed toward the beach.

A sort of mini amphibious command ship.

This was detailed by the NHHC further in its coverage of the Iwo Jima landings:

The Iwo Jima operation provided the first test of the amphibious forces’ newly formed permanent control organization. This organization was established following the Marianas campaign, where it was realized that proper control of the ship-to-shore movement of the amphibious craft had become a continuing 24-hour-a-day task, requiring specially trained control personnel and specially equipped control vessels.

The control organization for the Iwo Jima operation consisted of the Transport division, Transport Squadron, and Central (Amphibious Group or Force) Control Officers, permanently assigned to the staff of their respective commanders. This organization now parallels the echelons of both the beach party and the shore party. Control officers were embarked in the same ships as their opposite number in the beach and shore party, giving the maximum amount of time for coordination and understanding of each other’s problems prior to the landing.

Each control officer was provided with a control vessel (PCE, PCS, PC, or SC) which had been previously equipped with special communication facilities and provided with a control communication team and advisors from the troops. The control vessels were obtained and equipped, and the personnel were trained in their specialized duties, well in advance of the operation. As a result, for the first time the task of controlling the ship-to-shore movement, both during the assault and unloading phases, was handled by a “professional.” In addition, the control-equipped craft was provided to the different troop staffs for use as floating command posts.

Another 33 became Auxiliary Motor Minesweepers (YMS), renumbered YMS 446-479. This involved landing most of their ASW weapons and loading up on the sweeping gear.

USS YMS-475 (ex PCS-1447) and USS YMS-461 (ex PCS-1448) In San Francisco Bay, California, shortly after the end of World War II, circa late 1945 or early 1946. YMS-475 was disposed of in 1947 and YMS-461 was later transferred to South Korea as Hwaseong (PCS 205). Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1976. NH 84992

USS LST-277 sails in the background while USS PCS-1404, is being refueled while en route to Saipan, by an unidentified vessel, on 15 June 1944. US National Archives Identifier 193832778 US Army Air Corps photo # A63650A.C.

Some managed to get some real trigger time in, for instance, USS PCS-1379 participated in the invasion of Peleliu and Angaur Islands, shelled Japanese targets on Eil Malk and in the Abappaomogan Islands, then saddled up for the Okinawa campaign.

PCS-1391 took part in the Leyte and Lingayen Gulf operations in the Philippines, serving as a landing craft direction vessel. Then at Okinawa, she carried Maj. Gen. Pedro del Valle, the Commanding General of the First Marine Division, to the beach during the initial assault landings.

USS PCS-1391 photographed circa 1945-1946. Courtesy of William H. Davis, 1977. NH 85160

Okinawa Campaign, shipping as seen from the beach in May 1945. Most ships present appear to be amphibious types. USS PCS-1391 is just to the right of the exact center, with USS LCI(L)-77 partially hidden behind her bow. 80-G-K-16204

PCS-1452 participated in operations at the Marianas, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. She had lots of company, as no less than 10 of her class were present at the latter two operations.

YMS-481 (exPCS-1462) was lost to Japanese shore batteries off Tarakan, Borneo, on 2 May 1945.

YMS-478 aground after taking fire from a shore battery at Tarakan, Borneo.

PCS-1396 was damaged off Okinawa by a Japanese Kamikaze but would shrug it off and continued serving until 1949.

PCS-1407, PCSC-1418, PCS-1440, PCS-1454, PCS-1461, and YMS-472 were lost to the September-October 1945 Typhoons Ida and Louise off Japan and Okinawa.

PCS-1435 was present in Tokyo Bay during the Japanese surrender ceremony in September 1945.

PCS-1445 would serve with the 7th Fleet for the last ten months of the war then spend another eight months as the harbor entrance control vessel for the Yangtze River at Shanghai.

Jane’s 1946 listing on the type.

Some would serve in the Korean conflict as mine hunters, with PCS-1416 for instance clearing a channel more than 60 miles inland from the Yellow Sea and up the Taedong River to Chinnampo.

Catching names

Oddly, while many were laid up in the 1950s, they picked up a series of names, typically those of small towns. This non-inclusive list shows some of the variety. Sadly, many of these towns have never had another warship named in their honor.

  • Provincetown (PCS 1378)
  • Rushville (PCS 1380)
  • Attica (PCS 1383)
  • Eufaula (PCS 1384)
  • Hollidaysburg (PCS 1385)
  • Hampton (PCS-1386)
  • Beaufort (PCS 1387)
  • Littlehales (AGSC 7, ex-PCS-1388)
  • Deming (PCS 1392)
  • Sanderling (MHC 49)
  • Dutton (AGSC 8, ex-PCS-1396)
  • Coquille (PCS 1400)
  • McMinnville (PCS 1401)
  • Elsmere (EPCS 1413)
  • Swallow (MSC[O] 36)
  • Prescott (PCS 1423)
  • Verdin (MSC[O] 38)
  • Conneaut (PCS 1444)
  • Waxbill (MHC 50)
  • John Blish (AGSC 10)
  • Medrick (AMc 203)
  • Minah (MHC 14)

Shifting duties and designations

Postwar, besides utility work, many became naval reserve training vessels, with their shallow draft allowing them to be stationed well inland. For example, PCS-1423 was stationed at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and PCS-1431 in Louisville.

Louisville, KY, 1958, U.S.Navy sub chaser USS Grafton (PCS 1431) passing 

Their designations often shifted to Coastal Minesweepers (AMc), or Motor Minesweepers (AMS) in the late 1940s, designations they carried until they were decommissioned and struck.

Another quartet became Coastal Surveying Ships (PCS-1388, PC-1396, PC-1404, and PC-1457 became AGSC 7/8/9/10).

Survey ship USS Littlehales (AGSC 7, ex-PCS-1388) Courtesy of D.M. McPherson. NH 51413

Three of the ships, PCS-1393, PCS-1456, and PC-1465, would be reclassed no less than four times as a YMS, then an AMS, then a Coastal Minesweeper Underwater Locator (AMCU), and finally a Coastal Minehunter (MHC)– carrying five different pennant numbers in 12 years.

PC-1413 and PC-1431 would be reclassified as Experimental Patrol Craft Sweepers (EPCS).

At least three picked up the curious designation of Coastal Minesweeper, Old (MSC(O)).

By this time, their fit had changed significantly, shedding most of their guns and Mousetrap devices in lieu of a large Hedgehog ASW device forward (which it was thought could also prove effective in minefield destruction).

USS PCS-1445 underway off the U.S. west coast. She has been fitted with a Hedgehog mounting forward, in place of her 3/50 gun. NH 96492

USS PCS-1400 off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, 24 January 1947. She was later named USS Coquille. Note her Hedgehog. NH 55385

USS Rushville (PCS-1380), 26 August 1959, showing her postwar fit, which saw all her weapons landed. USN 1043655

USS Eufaula (PCS-1384), late in her career, with Hedgehog. Note she still has DC racks and projectors as well. USN 1043656

USS Deming (PCS-1392), 1959. Note the Hedgehog, depth charge racks, and not much else. USN 1043658

USS PCS-1387 photographed circa the late 1940s, with extensive awnings in place. This ship was renamed Beaufort (PCS-1387) in February 1956 and used as a naval reserve training ship in St. Petersburg, Florida until 1967. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1976. NH 85019

Moving on…

While some were disposed of by scrapping as soon as 1947, the Navy would look to transfer others to allies and other missions.

One, PC-1458, served both as a Navy survey ship (AGS-6), in 1944, then was transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1948 as USC&GS Derickson, serving until 1954.

USC&GS Derickson, NOAA photo

Two other ships of the class, PC-1405 and PC-1450, were also transferred to the survey and named USC&GS Bowie (CSS 27) and USC&GS Hodgson (CSS 26), respectively. Bowie served until 1967 when she was scrapped, and Hodgson was transferred the following year to South Korea for further service.

USC&GS Bowie (CSS 27) (bow visible at left) and USC&GS Hodgson (CSS 26), circa 1965. NOAA photo

One, PCS-1425, was transferred by the WSA to the Puget Sound Naval Academy in 1947 to serve as a training vessel. At the same time, PCS-1445, formerly of the Yangtze squadron, went to Texas A&M.

As with any WWII-era American warship smaller than a heavy cruiser, several were transferred to the Allies as Lend Lease.

The Russians got a full dozen PCSs in 1945 which were active well into the late 1950s, serving as dive boats, degaussing ships, as well as mine vessels. Unlike most larger vessels, these were never repatriated.

Three were handed over to the Philippines at Subic Bay post-war as military aid (USS PCS-1399, USS PCS-1403, and PC-1404) and served into the late 1960s.

The Japanese got one (PCS-1416) while the South Koreans picked up five (PC-1426, PCS-1428, PCS-1443, PC-1445, and PCS-1448) and continued to use them into the 1970s. Meanwhile, Turkey got PCS-1436.

The end game

January 1958, left to right: ex-Rushville, ex-Deming (PCS 1392), and two unidentified PCS’/YMS’ at Mare Island awaiting transfer to civilian buyers.

The last in Navy inventory was McMinnville (PCS 1401), placed out of service and struck from the Naval Register in August 1962. Sold the next year to a group of treasure hunters in south Florida, she remained in the Keys as a yacht for another 20 years.

Ex-USS Prescott (PCS-1423) ashore after its towing vessel, the fishing craft Sea King, struck a rock jetty at Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey, and sank in February 1963. The Prescott had just been purchased from the Navy at Brooklyn, New York. She was later pulled free and, converted to a trawler, and would remain active into the 1980s. UA 455.12

Others were bought up at auction by fishing companies and converted to that life, bumping around with nets and dredges as late as the 1990s, often under Caribbean nation or Panamanian flags. 

One, ex-PCS-1438/YMS-470/AMS-37/MSC(O)-37, was bought by General Motors in 1959 and used as a corporate yacht in California, then was acquired by Windjammer Cruises to operate as the M/Y Royal Taipan out of Hawaii. She was famously almost lost at sea in 1990.

As for class leader Winder (PCS 1376), she was decommissioned after the war in February 1947, used for a time as a Naval Reserve training vessel at Norfolk, then was laid up in Florida where she was struck in 1957 and sold. Her ultimate fate is unknown. I’d like to think that she is still out there somewhere in some sort of low-pressure use. 

As far as I can tell, there are no surviving PCS-1376s afloat and they left behind few relics to prove they even existed, save for some war diaries in the National Archives.

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

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Thresher at 60

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Laid down only four short years after the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571) took to the sea, USS Thresher (SSN-593) was the lead ship of her 14-unit class.

USS Thresher. Starboard-bow view, July 24, 1961. (Official U.S. Navy Photograph)

Commissioned on 3 August 1961, she was longer than the preceding Skipjack class of attack boats but still ran a good deal shorter at 279 feet than the WWII-era “fleet boat” subs that had brought Japan to its knees.

Designed to dive to as deep as 1,300 feet to seek and destroy the increasing herds of Soviet subs, Thresher was lost with all hands during deep-diving tests, on 10 April 1963– the first of SSN in any fleet lost at sea but sadly not the last.

Her 129 souls aboard represented the largest single loss of life in the 123-year history of the U.S. Submarine Service. 

She was lost in 8,400 feet of water, a depth impossible for any SSN.

Illustration of the depth of 8400 ft where the Thresher sunk. From The Death of the USS Thresher by Norman Polmar, p96

In recognition of this loss, the National Archives has an excellent post on more resources available online.

And there is also this retrospective video from the USNI, and how the loss of Thresher, and later USS Scorpion (SSN-589), helped institute the SUBSAFE changes that have kept American boats from joining the “Eternal Patrol.”

In all, some 64 American submarines were lost between USS F-4 (SS-23) in 1915 and Scorpion in 1968, 52 of them during WWII.

The boats, and their 3,852 forever embarked crewmen, are still on patrol.

(Photo: Chris Eger)

Patched Minnie gets back to work

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Some 80 years ago today, check out these beautiful original color images of the New Orleans-class light/heavy cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA-36), seen at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on 11 April 1943, showing off her shiny new bow.

U.S. Navy photo 80-G-K-544. Note the New Mexico-class battleship in the left distance.

Same date, heading out for points West. 80-G-K-541

Same as above, 80-G-K-545

The 10,000-ton “Treaty” cruiser was commissioned in 1934 and, at the forefront of the Pacific War, would earn an amazing 17 battle stars for her combat service.

Some of these were harder than others, for instance, while at the Battle of Tassafaronga in late November 1942, while she is credited with sinking the Japanese destroyer Takanami with her 8-inch shells, Minneapolis took two torpedo hits which ultimately caused her bow to collapse back to the hawsepipes.

Able to repair under heavy camouflage at Tulagi, she ultimately made it back to Mare Island Naval Shipyard where a new bow had been constructed in the time it took her to retire to California.

Hence, she is seen in the above period Kodachromes less than five months later good as new and headed back to the fight. 

Laid up in 1947, she was ultimately scrapped in 1959.

Negative, Ghostrider

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What a stirring photo:

A F/A-18F Super Hornet from the “Jolly Rogers” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103 buzzes the new Flight II Burke-class destroyer USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) in the Mediterranean Sea, March 27, 2023.

U.S. Navy photo 230327-N-CS075-1209 by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christopher Stachyra

The Jolly Rogers are currently part of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7 assigned to Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 10 and the George H.W. Bush CSG.

Magnolia State Subs

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While most people are aware that there is a current submarine on the Navy List that has a Mississippi connection– the Virginia-class hunter-killer USS Mississippi (SSN-782) which was commissioned at Pascagoula a few years back– there are also a baker’s dozen former boats that have an even closer one.

I spotted this monument last week at the Vietnam Memorial in Ocean Springs, next to a Mk 14 torpedo. It covers the 13 boats constructed at Ingalls over a 15-year period in the Cold War including the country’s final “smoke boat” and 12 Sturgeon-class SSNs.

Back in the day, the crowds would assemble at the Point to watch “Submarine Races” as the Sturgeons would run out for trials and back.

They used to let the crew and dignitaries ride the boat down the ways at launching as well.

Barb (SSN-596) sliding down the launching ways at the Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, 12 February 1962. Today, all that swampland behind her is Ingalls’ West Bank, where LHDs, and DDGs are built. 

These days, the deep old sub docks at Ingalls East Bank just hold flounder.

And in (sometimes awful) Austal news…

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Over the weekend the Navy commissioned its latest warship, USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32), the newest (16th) Independence-variant littoral combat ship, in San Diego where she will be homeported.

As noted by the Navy, she is the third ship to carry the name but the first surface combatant:

LCS 32 is the third United States ship to bear the name Santa Barbara. The first Santa Barbara was a single-screw steel freighter built in 1916 by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia. Ordered and taken over by the Navy on February 1, 1918, from the Atlantic & Pacific Steamship Co. of New York, it was commissioned there on April 15, 1918. The second Santa Barbara, a Kilauea-class ammunition ship, was laid down on December 30, 1966 by the Bethlehem Steel Corp., Sparrows Point, MD, launched on January 23, 1968, and commissioned on July 11, 1970.

Two additional Austal-built LCSs are coming right along, with USS Augusta (LCS-34) launched last May and is expected to be commissioned in Maine later this year.

Meanwhile, USS Kingsville (LCS-36), the 18th of 19 planned Independence variants, just launched in Mobile last week.

She was followed by the Flight II Spearhead-class MSC-manned Expeditionary Fast Transport vessel, USNS Cody (EPF 14).

As described by the Navy:

Capable of transporting 600 tons of personnel and cargo up to 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots, each EPF vessel includes a flight deck to support day and night aircraft launch and recovery operations.  The ships are also capable of interfacing with roll-on/roll-off discharge facilities and can load and off-load heavy vehicles such as a fully combat-loaded Abrams Main Battle Tank.

The Navy plans for up to 19 EPFs, with the last five being capable of configuration as “Expeditionary Medical Ships.”

This came just after 60 Minutes aired a fairly well-done 30-minute piece on the Navy’s readiness to take on China, including interviews with the CNO and CINCPAC, the latter conducted on the deck of the 50-year-old Nimitz with ADM Samuel Paparo looking very like Admiral Bill Adama giving a pre-war chat with the reporters aboard the soon-to-be-retired Battlestar Galactica.

You know, right before the Cylons attack and clean the fictional Colonials’ clock.

The 60 Minutes piece includes some much-deserved shade thrown at the Zumwalts and the LCSs, even whipping out the “Little Crappy Ships” nickname.

Then, also last week, the DOJ announced indictments against a trio of Austal execs for fraud— and it sounds bad.

Via DOJ:

The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly manipulated the EAC figures in part by using so-called “program challenges” – ostensibly cost-savings goals – but which in reality were “plug” numbers and fraudulent devices to hide growing costs that should have been incorporated into Austal USA’s financial statements, and ultimately reflected in Austal Limited’s reported earnings. The defendants allegedly did this, among other reasons, to maintain and increase the share price of Austal Limited’s stock. When the higher costs were eventually disclosed to the market, the stock price was significantly negatively impacted and Austal Limited wrote down over $100 million.

And the beat goes on…

80 Years Ago: Patching Up the Swayback Maru

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On 27 March 1943, the Pensacola-class heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City (CA-25), the bruiser of RADM Charles McMorris’s Task Group 16.6, steaming along with the much smaller Omaha-class light cruiser USS Richmond (CL-9), and the destroyers USS Coghlan, Bailey, Dale, and Monaghan, bumped into VADM Boshirō Hosogaya Northern Force off the Soviet Komandorski Islands.

Hosogaya was riding heavy, with two hulking cruisers (Nachi and Maya) that were at least a match for Salt Lake City and Omaha, along with a further two light cruisers, Tama and Abukuma, and a force of three destroyers. While burdened by escorting three transports, his force had easily twice the combat power of TG 16.6.

Nonetheless, in a swirling 3.5-hour daylight engagement that saw both sides mauled but no ships sunk and only about 30 casualties on each side, the Japanese ultimately broke off the engagement and retired, leaving the Americans with a tactical victory as, while the transports were safe, they were not able to reinforce the Japanese bases in the Aleutians.

It came with a price for SLC.

While she had arguably “given better than she got” in the firing of 806 AP shells and 26 HE shells from her 8-inch guns– exhausting her supply of the former– Salt Lake City came away with lots of structural damage that would require five weeks of extensive repair at Mare Island.

She was hit by at least five 8-inch shells from Maya. Reports from her spotters also observed nearly 200 near-misses within 30 yards.

With her rudders jammed and her boiler room flooded, at one point she was dead in the water and saved only via the shelter of a destroyer-laid smoke screen.

Battle of the Komandorsky Islands, 26 March 1943, USS Salt Lake City (CA 25) in action during the battle. At right is a smoke screen laid by U.S. Navy Destroyers. 80-G-44937

The summary from her damage report done at Mare Island weeks later:

For those interested, the full 30-page BuShips report on the damage is in the National Archives.

Below we see a series of images taken 80 years ago today while she at Dutch Harbor, on 30 March 1943, getting evaluated and patched up enough to make California.

8”/55 Guns of Turret #3, USS Salt Lake City (CA 25), showing heat scale on the tubes from extensive firing during the action. The image was taken at Dutch Harbor, on 30 March 1943. Note snowflakes falling. National Archives photograph: 80-G-50221.

Blistered triple 8”/55, Mk.14 Guns of the USS Salt Lake City (CA 25)’s turret #3, photographed at Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on 29 March 1943, three days after the Battle of the Komandorski Islands. Note turret rangefinder at left. National Archives photograph, 80-G-299018.

Muzzles of 8″/55, Mk. 14 guns of turret #3, USS Salt Lake City (CA 25), taken at Dutch Harbor after the action, 30 March 1943. Note 1/2″ of liner creep that occurred during the battle. 80-G-50222

Crewmen of USS Salt Lake City (CA 25) examine shrapnel holes in the outboard catwalk of the ship’s starboard catapult, at Dutch Harbor on 30 March 1943, after the battle. 80-G-50211

Crewmen of USS Salt Lake City (CA 25) hunting for shell fragment souvenirs on their ship’s main deck, at Dutch Harbor, after the action. 80-G-50210

USS Salt Lake City (CA 25) crewmen cutting a patch to cover a shrapnel hole in their ship’s side, at Dutch Harbor after the action, 30 March 1943. Note the fire extinguisher. 80-G-50216

Patching shrapnel holes in the main deck of USS Salt Lake City (CA 25), at Dutch Harbor, after the action, 30 March 1943. Note 8″ powder cans at right. 80-G-50215

Crewman cutting damaged metal from a shrapnel hole in the side of USS Salt Lake City (CA 25) at Dutch Harbor, after the action, 30 March 1943. Note rigging for scaffold platform. 80-G-50212

View of the forward outboard side of 40mm director #5 platform on USS Salt Lake City (CA 25) showing damage caused by concussion of gunfire by turret #4 during the battle. Photographed at Dutch Harbor on 30 March 1943. 80-G-50229

Her crew also buried their two war dead, one of the few instances where men killed in blue water surface actions in the theatre were not interred at sea.

Funeral of Lieutenant Commander Colvig Gale and Fireman Second Class Frederick David, crewmen of USS Salt Lake City (CA 25), at Dutch Harbor, Alaska, soon after the battle. They had been killed by shrapnel during the action. Chaplin is Lieutenant R.W. Hodge. National Archives photograph: 80-G-50251.

Funeral of USS Salt Lake City (CA 25) crewmen, Lieutenant Commander Winsor Colvig Gale and F2/C Frederick David, who was killed by shrapnel during the action. Photographed at Dutch Harbor, Alaska, soon after the battle. National Archives photograph, 80-G-50249

For additional details and personal remembrances of SLC at Komandorski, see the ship’s Veterans’ page.

Salt Lake City would ultimately return to service, earning 11 battle stars for her Pacific War.

She retired after surviving two atomic bombs during the Crossroads tests in 1946, ultimately sunk as a target on 25 May 1948, some 130 miles off the Southern California coast.

The “Swayback Maru” couldn’t shrug off that one.

Super Shorties Spotted in 3rd FLT

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A newly commissioned littoral combat ship was recently spotted with her crew sporting some very compact little carbines.

Based in San Diego, the USS Mobile, an Independence-class LCS variant that only joined the fleet in 2021, earlier this month left her home port to take part in the Oceania Maritime Security Initiative. The initiative is designed to “reduce and eliminate illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing, combat transnational crimes, and enhance regional security” across the Western Pacific region under U.S. 3rd Fleet orders.

Embarked with the ship, besides a Navy helicopter and drone group, is a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment, or LEDET, from the Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team.

Mobile recently posted some images while underway on the Initiative showing what looks to be members of her crew and the LEDET getting some range time with some noticeably short carbines.

Like super short. (Photo: U.S. Navy) “PACIFIC OCEAN (March 20, 2023) Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class Haines Ybarra, from Eaton, Ohio, assigned aboard Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Mobile (LCS 26) Blue Crew, fires an M4 rifle during small arms shoot on the flight deck, March 20.”

It looks like they are running ELCAN Specter DR sights with this example having a PEQ in addition to a white light. (Photo: U.S. Navy) “PACIFIC OCEAN (March 20, 2023) Fire Controlman Chief Petty Officer Kelly Hall, from Harbor City, Calif., assigned aboard Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Mobile (LCS 26) Blue Crew, fires an M4 rifle during small arms shoot on the flight deck, March 20. 

The guns, which look to have barrels in the 8-to-10-inch range, still feature a big A2-style front sight as well as a bayonet lug and what looks like a KAC QD flash hider. This gives it a fairly similar look as the old (circa 2000) Colt CQBR but with a short quad rail for accessories, or yet another variant of the vaunted Mk 18 frogman special.

In short (see what we did there?) it looks to be an Mk 18 Mod 1, which points to Coasties as the Navy and SF guys who used the Mk 18 have since switched (post-2017) to 416s and URG-equipped models.

Colt has even introduced their own URG system for 2023 in a move to get back in the shorty 5.56 game

The USCG has often used the Mk 18 in its LEDETs embarked on Navy littoral combat ships in the past (see USS Sioux City (LCS 11), Dec. 13, 2021).

Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, another LCS, USS Milwaukee, with embarked Coast Guard LEDET 104 aboard, last month seized an estimated $27.4 million in suspected cocaine from a drug smuggling go-fast vessel at sea. We’d bet there may have been some Mk 18s involved in that as well.

For a deeper dive into the Mk 18 concept, check out the below by Jeff Gurwitch, a retired Green Beret, who has much downrange first-hand experience with the platform in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gurwitch also covers why it was (and still is) loved by many despite the loss of velocity due to its abbreviated 10.3-inch barrel.

He calls it a “300-meter gun, easy,” saying you can stretch out hits to 400-500 yards with it.

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