Category Archives: US Navy

Mighty Mansfield

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56 Years Ago Today: Sumner-class destroyer USS Mansfield (DD 728) letting rip her 5″/38 DP Naval Guns at water-borne craft off the coast of North Vietnam, north of the demilitarized zone.

Photographed by PH1 V.O. McColley, November 25, 1966. USN photo 428-GX-K-35025.

Named for Marine Sergeant Duncan Mansfield of circa 1804 “Shores of Tripoli” fame, Mansfield (DD‑728) was laid down 28 August 1943 by the Bath Iron Works and commissioned just short of eight months later on 14 April 1944.

Earning five battle stars in the Pacific– including downing 17 Kamikazes in one day off Okinawa and later taking part in a daring high‑speed torpedo run with DesRon61 into Nojima Saki, sinking or damaging four enemy ships — she witnessed the formal Japanese surrender ceremony in September 1945 in Tokyo Bay.

Picking up a further three battle stars for Korean service while almost breaking her back on a mine off Inchon, Mansfield would be FRAM II’d in 1960, trading in her WWII kit for Cold War ASW work, and ship off for the 7th Fleet.

USS Mansfield (DD-728) Underway at sea, circa 1960-1963, after her FRAM II modernization. Taken by USS Ranger (CVA-61), this photograph was received in July 1963. NH 107137

Rotating through four deployments off Vietnam between 1965 and 1969, she also had enough time to serve as an alternate recovery ship for Gemini XI (and slated for the Apollo 1 mission).

Her Vietnam “Top Gun” Results, 1965-69:

  • 5″ Rounds Fired: 40,001
  • Days on Gun Line: 220
  • Times Under Hostile Fire: 8
  • Enemy KIA: 187
  • Active Artillery Sites Silenced: 30
  • Secondary Explosions: 59
  • Structures/Bunkers Destroyed: 495
  • Ships/Junks/Boats Sunk: 224

Decommissioned on 4 February 1971, Mansfield was disposed of and sold to Argentina on 4 June 1974 where she was mothballed at Puerto Belgrano and scavenged for spare parts to support that country’s other American surplus tin cans, then was eventually cut up for scrap in the late 1980s.

Mines: Still a Thing Even as USN’s MCM Force Fades

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Deployed to the Baltic, Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) just found a cluster of old Russian M/12 moored pendulum contact mines laid in 1917 along Parnu Bay on the Estonian coast. Latvian Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams rendered them safe. It is estimated that there are 80,000 sea mines left over from the two World Wars in the Baltic.

Currently, SNMG1 comprises flagship Royal Netherlands Navy HNLMS Tromp (F803), Royal Norwegian Navy HNoMS Maud (A530), and Royal Danish Navy HDMS Esbern Snare (F342).

Mine warfare has been a task that the U.S. Navy has been fine with increasingly outsourcing to NATO and overseas allies over the past generation, as its own capabilities in this specialty have declined.

Cold War Force fading

Probably the peak of post-Vietnam mine warfare in the Navy was reached in about 1996 when the old amphibious assault ship USS Inchon (LPH-12) was converted and reclassified as a mine countermeasures ship (MCS-12) following a 15-month conversion at Ingalls. Based at the U.S. Navy’s Mine Warfare Center of Excellence at Naval Station Ingleside, it could host a squadron of the Navy’s huge (then brand new) Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon mine-sweeping helicopters.

Going small, the Navy had just commissioned 14 new 224-foot/1,300-ton Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships by 1994 and another full dozen 188-foot/880-ton Osprey-class coastal minehunter (modified Italian Lerici-class design) with fiberglass hulls by 1999.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (1 March 1999). USS Inchon (MCS-12) underway for a scheduled five-month deployment to the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. US Navy photo # 990301-N-0000J-001 by PH1 Sean P. Jordon.

Ingleside, Texas (Sept. 23, 2005) A cluster of Avenger and Osprey class mine warfare ships at NS Ingleside. The base’s first homeported warship was the new Avenger-class sweeper USS Scout (MCM-8) in 1992. U.S. Navy photo 050923-N-4913K-006 by Fifi Kieschnick

This force, of an MCS mine-sweeping flattop/flagship, 26 new MCM/MHCs, and 30 giant MH-53E Sea Dragons– the only aircraft in the world rated to tow the Mk105 magnetic minesweeping sled, the AQS-24A side-scan sonar and the Mk103 mechanical minesweeping system on four-hour missions– in three Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadrons (HM)s, was only to last for a couple of years.

As part of the slash in minesweeper money during the Global War on Terror, the increasingly NRF mission dwindled in assets with Inchon decommissioned in June 2002 following an engineering plant fire.

In 2006, USS Osprey (MHC-51), just 13 years old, was the first of her class decommissioned with all of her still very capable sisters gone by 2007.

Naval Station Ingleside, hit by BRAC in 2005, transferred all its hulls to other stations and closed its doors in 2010, its property was turned over to the Port of Corpus Christi.

The first Avenger-class sweeper, USS Guardian (MCM-5), was decommissioned in 2013 and so far she has been joined in mothballs by USS Avenger, Defender, and Ardent, with the eight remaining members of her class scheduled for deactivation by 2027, meaning that within five years, the Navy will have no dedicated mine warfare vessels for the first time since the Great War.

Speaking of shrinking assets, the Navy’s three Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadrons (HM 12, HM 14, and HM 15) are soon to become just two, with the disestablishment ceremony of HM 14 to be held on March 30th, 2023. HM-15 will absorb “102 full-time and 48 reserve enlisted personnel and four full-time and eight reserve officers” from her sister squadron and keep on rolling for now at least with a mission to “maintain a worldwide 72-hour Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) rapid deployment posture and a four aircraft forward-deployed AMCM and VOD capability in the Arabian Gulf,” in Manama, Bahrain in support of the U.S. 5th Fleet.

HM-12, on the other hand, serves as a fleet replacement squadron for the declining Sea Dragons in service, making HM-15 the sole deployable MH-53E squadron. After 2025, when the big Sikorsky is planned to be retired, the Sea Dragons will be gone altogether without a replacement fully fleshed out yet.

HM-14 currently has a four-aircraft forward-deployed detachment in Pohang, South Korea, in support of the U.S. 7th Fleet, and they recently had a great Multinational Mine Warfare Exercise (MN-MIWEX) with ROKN and Royal Navy assets last month, giving a nice photo opportunity.

The future

The Navy’s Mine Warfare Training Center (MWTC), located at Naval Base Point Loma, looks to have graduated about 18 Mineman “A” School classes so far this year, each with a single-digit number of students. These 150 or so Minemen will join their brethren and be eventually relegated to a few Littoral Combat Ships that plan to have a secondary mine mission with embarked UUVs and supported by MH-60S Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) helicopters that are closer to being a reality.

Let’s hope so.

The planned future is deployable Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures (ExMCM) teams, using UUVs off LCS platforms: 
 

PHILIPPINE SEA (Dec. 28, 2021) – Sailors assigned to Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5, transport a simulated Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) during a mine countermeasures exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan M. Breeden) 211228-N-PH222-1507

SEA OF JAPAN (May 15, 2022) – A Mark 18 MOD 2 Kingfish is lowered out Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) during Exercise Noble Vanguard. Kingfish is an unmanned underwater vehicle with the sonar capabilities to scan the ocean floor for potential mines. (U.S. Navy photo by Ensign James French) 220515-O-NR876-104

A standard ExMCM company is comprised of a 27-person unit with four elements: the command-and-control element (C2), an unmanned systems (UMS) platoon, an EOD MCM platoon, and a post-mission analysis (PMA) cell, all working in tandem, just as they would in a mine warfare environment.
 
The mission begins with and hinges on the UMS platoon providing mine detection, classification, and identification. The platoon, composed of Sailors from mixed pay grades and ratings, is led by a senior enlisted Sailor and employs the Mk 18 UUV family of systems.
 
The UMS platoon deploys the MK 18 Mod 2 UUVs to locate potential mine shapes. Upon completion of their detection mission, the data from the vehicles is analyzed by the five-person PMA cell using sonar data and produces a mine-like contact listing to the C2 element for review.
 

Whistling up an Essex class carrier and matching Corsairs

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Ensign Jesse L. Brown, USN. In the cockpit of an F4U-4 Corsair fighter, circa 1950. He was the first African-American to be trained by the Navy as a Naval Aviator, and as such, he became the first African-American Naval Aviator to see combat. Brown flew with Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) from USS Leyte (CV-32). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. USN 1146845.

This week is the opening of the J. D. Dillard/Erik Messerschmidt Sony Pictures war biopic Devotion, focusing on the too-short life of Ens. Jesse Leroy Brown and his “Fighting Swordsmen” wingman, Lt. (j.g) Thomas J. Hudner Jr., who flew side-by-side at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.

The obligatory trailer:

And, from the Navy, Dillard and Glen Powell (who portrays Hudner) talk about the importance of maintaining historical accuracy while filming, which pulled in vintage Corsairs and F8F Bearcats from around the globe and the construction of a 1:1 scale CV-32 deck/island in a field in Statesboro, Georgia.

Nice they aren’t totally CGI!

As Brown was a Hattiesburg native Mississippian, his deeds have long been remembered at the Mississippi Military History Museum at Camp Shelby and the African American Military History Museum in Hattiesburg. The latter has a life-sized Brown standing on the deck of the USS Leyte.

It is great that this story is finally getting some bigger exposure.

In a deeper dive into the story overall, USNI host Eric Mills sits down with Thomas Hudner III, son of the real-life MOH recipient depicted in Devotion.

Warship 78 & Friends

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As we’ve covered in past posts, the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG) is in the Atlantic Ocean on its inaugural (albeit short) deployment, “conducting training and operations alongside NATO Allies and partners to enhance integration for future operations and demonstrate the U.S. Navy’s commitment to a peaceful, stable and conflict-free Atlantic region.”

In other words, showing that NATO muscle to Putin and associates as the Old World heads into the grips of what all signs point to being a very rough winter.

With most of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 aboard, Ford looks great.

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Nov. 7, 2022) An MH-60S Knighthawk, attached to the “Tridents” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9, prepares to land on the flight deck of the first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), Nov. 7, 2022. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins). VIRIN: 221107-N-TL968-2645

Alongside, Ford is cruising with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) and USS McFaul (DDG 74) with the aging-but-still-beautiful Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60) as her main consort.

As part of Exercise Silent Wolverine “a U.S.-led, combined training exercise that tests Ford-class aircraft carrier capabilities through integrated high-end naval warfare scenarios alongside participating allies in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean,” the GRFCSG has been steaming with an Allied six-pack of escorts including the Danish frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (FFH 362), the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal (FFH 336), the Spanish frigate Álvaro de Bazán (F 101), the Dutch frigates HNLMS De Zeven Povincien (F 802) and HNLMS Van Amstel (F 831), as well as the French frigate FS Chevalier Paul (D 621).

Besides pass-exs and drills, GRFCSG is executing a Sailor-exchange program with Sailors of all ranks across the strike group, spending a day aboard Allied ships to build interoperability and maximize their time with the six Allied ships steaming with GRFCSG.

Heck, Ford even has a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm aviator on exchange, pushing F-18s off her deck.

221112-N-DN657-1160 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Nov. 12, 2022) Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Sharp, a British exchange officer assigned to the “Golden Warriors” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87, conducts his final carrier landing on the first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) flight deck, Nov. 12, 2022. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Zack Guth) VIRIN: 221112-N-DN657-1160

Either way, though, it is refreshing to see arguably the world’s most advanced supercarrier flanked by nine escorts including a half-dozen supplied by long-time allies.

Of special interest is the use of extra large ensigns in the photo-ex to include the battle flags of Hudner and Normandy as well as “Warship 78’s” own blue and yellow ship’s pennant.

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Oct. 25, 2022) The first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) flies its battle flag while steaming in formation with German frigate FGS Hessen (F 221), Dutch frigate HNLMS Van Amstel (F 831), and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), Oct. 25, 2022. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Zack Guth). VIRIN: 221025-N-DN657-1130

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Nov. 7, 2022) The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), the Danish frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (FFH 362), the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal (FFH 336) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) steam in the Atlantic Ocean in formation, Nov. 7, 2022. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Zack Guth). VIRIN: 221107-N-DN657-1114

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Nov. 7, 2022) The first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) steams in the Atlantic Ocean in formation with the Spanish Armada frigate Álvaro de Bazán (F 101), the German frigate FGS Hessen (F 221), the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), the Danish frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (FFH 362), the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal (FFH 337), and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), Nov. 7, 2022. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins). VIRIN: 221107-N-TL968-2188

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Nov. 7, 2022) The first-in-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) steams in the Atlantic Ocean in formation with the German frigate FGS Hessen (F 221), Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), Danish frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (FFH 362), Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal (FFH 336), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), Spanish Armada frigate Álvaro de Bazán (F 101), Dutch frigate HNLMS De Zeven Provincien (F 802), French frigate FS Chevalier Paul (D 621), Dutch frigate HNLMS Van Amstel (F 831) and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74), Nov. 7, 2022. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jacob Mattingly) VIRIN: 221107-N-HJ055-2447

On the road again…

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Last week I was on the road filming in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia with three of my Guns.com homies. While this involved such pedestrian adventures as living out of rental van/suitcase/hotels, eating unhealthy food, drinking black coffee, and dodging Hurricane Nicole (the first November H-cane U.S. landfall in 37 years!), I also got to visit old friends such as Big Gray AL:

Which is currently undergoing an extensive deck replacement program.

And stop in to get some behind-the-scenes “off-tour” stuff in at the Army Aviation Museum onboard Mother Rucker.

Was stoked to see all these guys in the same place at once– video coming soon! FWIW, good eyes if you spotted the world’s only Bell 207 Sioux Scout, the prototype Bell Model 209 Cobra — with retractable skids– next to a rare former Spanish Navy G-model Cobra, an early AH-64 Apache, one of only two Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanches that exist, and one of only four surviving Lockheed AH-56 Cheyennes.

Anywhoo, I’m back now, baby, with no plans for (work) travel for the rest of the year, so buckle up.

The observance is about so much more than Veterans Day sales.

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Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 making it an annual observance, and it became a national holiday in 1938.

Sixteen years later, then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation changing the name to Veterans Day to honor all those who served their country during war or peacetime.

On this day, the nation honors military veterans — living and dead — with parades and other observances across the country and, in particular, a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

According to the Census Bureau and VA, there are some 16.5 million living military veterans in the United States in 2021. Of those, some 25 percent of the total are aged 75 and older while just 8.2 percent of veterans were younger than 35. Telling statistics.

A Bit of War History, The Veteran, by Thomas Waterman Wood (American, Montpelier, Vermont 1823–1903 New York), circa 1866

Freedom isn’t free, folks.

Also, be there for your fellow humans.

Veteran suicide is on the decline, but it continues to claim lives.

According to the 2022 NATIONAL VETERAN SUICIDE PREVENTION ANNUAL REPORT:

  • In 2020, there were 6,146 Veteran suicide deaths, which was 343 fewer than in 2019. The unadjusted rate of suicide in 2020 among U.S. Veterans was 31.7 per 100,000.
  • Over the period from 2001 through 2020, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates for Veterans peaked in 2018 and then fell in 2019 and 2020. From 2018 to 2020, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates for Veterans fell by 9.7%.
  • Among non-Veteran U.S. adults, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates also peaked in 2018 and fell in 2019 and 2020. From 2018 to 2020, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates for non-Veteran adults fell by 5.5%.
  • In each year from 2001 through 2020, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates of Veterans exceeded those of non- Veteran U.S. adults. The differential in adjusted rates was smallest in 2002, when the Veteran rate was 12.1% higher than for non-Veterans and largest in 2017, when the Veteran rate was 66.2% higher. In 2020, the rate for Veterans was 57.3% higher than that of non-Veteran adults.
  • From 2019 to 2020, the age- and sex-adjusted suicide rate for Veterans fell by 4.8%, while for non-Veteran U.S. adults, the adjusted rate fell by 3.6%.
  • From 2019 to 2020, among Veteran men, the age-adjusted suicide rate fell by 0.7%, and among Veteran women, the age-adjusted suicide rate fell by 14.1%. By comparison, among non-Veteran U.S. men, the age-adjusted rate fell by 2.1%, and among non-Veteran women, the age-adjusted rate fell by 8.4%.
  • In each year from 2001 through 2020, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates of Recent Veteran VHA Users exceeded those of Other Veterans. The differential in adjusted rates was smallest in 2018, when the rate for Recent Veteran VHA Users was 9.4% higher and largest in 2002, when the rate was 80.9% higher. In 2020, the age and sex-adjusted suicide rate of Recent Veteran VHA Users was 43.4% higher than for Other Veterans.
  • In 2020, suicide was the 13th leading cause of death among Veterans overall, and it was the second leading cause of death among Veterans under age 45.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic was announced in early March 2020. By the year’s end, COVID-19 was the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States, both overall10 and for Veterans. Despite the pandemic, the Veteran suicide rate in 2020 continued a decline that began in 2019.
  • Comparisons of trends in Veteran suicide and COVID-19 mortality over the course of 2020, and across Veteran demographic and clinical subgroups, did not indicate an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Veteran suicide mortality.

If you or someone you know needs help –

Link: https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/index.asp

 

The Howling Sea Wolf

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Some 80 years ago: the Sargo-class fleet boat USS Seawolf (SS-197) seen waging her very successful “Maru War” in the Pacific while on her 7th war patrol.

USS Seawolf (SS-197) – Periscope photograph of a sinking Japanese ship, torpedoed by Seawolf in the Philippines-East Indies area during the fall of 1942. This ship carries at least one landing craft forward, has a searchlight above her pilothouse, and a gun mounted at the aft end of the midship superstructure. Her general configuration resembles Gifu Maru, sunk on 2 November 1942, but she could also be the converted gunboat Keiko Maru, sunk on 8 November. Note the boat hanging from a davit amidships, as crewmen attempt to lower another boat further forward. US Navy Photo #: 80-G-33192

USS Seawolf (SS-197) – Periscope photograph of a sinking Japanese ship, torpedoed by Seawolf on a war patrol in the Philippines-East Indies area in the fall of 1942. This ship is possibly Gifu Maru, sunk on 2 November 1942 in Davao Gulf, Mindanao. US Navy Photo #: 80-G-33187

Leaving Freemantle, Australia on 1 October 1942, Seawolf (LCDR F.B. Warder in command) was ordered to patrol off the Davao Gulf, southern Philippines.

In the same one-week period she would sink the Japanese water tender Gifu Maru (2933 GRT) west-south-west of Cape San Augustin, Mindoro, the Japanese troop transport Sagami Maru (7189 GRT) off Davao, and the Japanese auxiliary gunboat Keiko Maru (2929 GRT) off Cape San Augustin, Mindanao.

Periscope photograph taken from USS Seawolf (SS-197), while she was on patrol in the Philippines-East Indies area in the fall of 1942. 80-G-33184

The sub would then end her patrol at Pearl Harbor on 1 December– just in time for a Christmas refit.

Seawolf would go on to be lost on her 15th war patrol, believed lost with 83 officers and men as well as 17 Army passengers, tragically believed sunk by friendly fire from aircraft from the escort carrier USS Midway (CVE 63) and the ASW weapons from the destroyer escort USS Richard M. Rowell (DE 403) off Morotai on 3 October 1944.

She was the most successful Sargo-class submarine, honored with 13 battle stars and credited with 71,609 tons of enemy shipping. She is one of 52 American submarines regarded as on Eternal Patrol.

Port side view of the Seawolf (SS-197) underway off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 7 March 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. US Navy photo # NH 99549.

Fleet Gas Problem

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This great shot shows a Pennsylvania-class dreadnought– either USS Pennsylvania (Battleship No. 38) or Arizona (BB-39), to the left and a Tennessee-class battlewagon be it USS California (BB-44) or Tennessee (BB-43) moored in Elliot Bay during the Navy’s summer maneuvers, circa 1935. It is most likely that the ships are in Pennsylvania and California.

Notes: “These battleships are lying in Seattle’s harbor, in the shadow of Mt. Rainier, Washington State’s highest mountain peak. The United States battle fleet visits the North Pacific annually in the Summer, and ships can be seen in July and August in Washington ports, before and after maneuvers.” — typewritten on a note attached to verso. Washington State Digital Archives. Via Seattle Vintage

The Spring and Summer of 1935 saw Fleet Problem XVI, which lasted from 29 April through 10 June and saw the Navy use four carriers at sea for the first time. Operating across the “Pacific Triangle” between Hawaii, Puget Sound, and the Aleutian Islands, it saw 160 vessels and 450 aircraft taking part, the largest at-sea collection of warships since the British Grand Fleet in 1918.

As noted by DANFS:

The five phases of Fleet Problem XVI covered a vast area from the Aleutian Islands to Midway, the Territory of Hawaii, and the Eastern Pacific. Severe weather hampered the operations in Alaskan waters, but the problem demonstrated the value of Pearl Harbor as a base when the entire fleet with the exception of the large carriers was berthed therein. Patrol and marine planes took a major aerial role during landing exercises when combined forces launched a strategic offensive against the enemy.

During her first fleet problem Ranger joined Langley, Lexington, and Saratoga in the Main Body of the White Fleet. The slowness of sending patrols on 30 April enabled ‘Black’ submarine Bonita to close within 500 yards and fire six torpedoes at Ranger as she recovered planes, and for Barracuda to fire four torpedoes from 1,900 yards. Planes pursued the submarines and a dive bomber caught Bonita on the surface and made a pass before she submerged, but the ease with which the boats penetrated the screen boded poorly for the ships. A mass flight of patrol squadrons marred by casualties subsequently occurred from Pearl Harbor via French Frigate Shoals. The evaluators noted that the problem demonstrated the necessity of developing antisubmarine “material and methods”; the importance of training in joint landing operations; the lack of minesweepers capable of accompanying the fleet at higher speeds; and the slow speed of the auxiliaries.

Based in San Pedro, Pennsylvania participated in the exercise as part of the “White” force, as did California.

The problem also delivered a critical lesson when it came to any future high-tempo carrier war at sea: their constant need to be escorted by tankers for underway replenishment:

This shortcoming had first surfaced during Fleet Problem XV of 1935. While participating in this exercise, the USS Lexington (CV 2) became critically low on fuel after just five days of operations. During Fleet Problem XVI as well, conducted the following year, the Saratoga (CV 3) consumed copious amounts of fuel-as much as ten percent of her total capacity in a single day-when operating aircraft. The latter exercise, which involved extensive movements of the fleet from its bases on the West Coast to Midway Island and back, revealed in general that flight operations by carriers accompanying the fleet resulted in extremely high fuel consumption for the ships involved. In order to launch and recover aircraft, a carrier had to steam at relatively high speed and, necessarily, into the wind-thus usually on a course different from that of the main units of the fleet.

After recovering aircraft, she would need to maintain high speed again in order to catch up. Of course, steaming at high speeds used enormous amounts of fuel. At twenty-five knots, a carrier’s normal speed for operating aircraft in light winds or for trying to overtake the fleet, the fuel consumed by the Saratoga exceeded thirty tons per hour! At this rate, her steaming radius was only 4,421 nautical miles, much less than the 10,000 miles (at ten knots) specified by her designers. As a result of these problems, the General Board recommended that the fuel capacity of both the Lexington and the Saratoga be increased. It is likely that in the interim, someone in War Plans decided that the carriers would have to be refueled at sea.

Rhino Feed: $1B Gets 784 GE F414 Engines

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DOD Contracts posted this the other day:

General Electric, Lynn, Massachusetts, is awarded a not-to-exceed $1,085,106,892 indefinite-delivery, performance-based logistics requirements contract for repair, replacement, and program support of 784 F414 engine components in support of F/A-18 aircraft. This contract includes a five-year base with no options. Work will be performed in various continental U.S. contractor locations that cannot be determined at this time (99%), and in Jacksonville, Florida (1%). Work is expected to be completed by October 2027. Working capital (Navy) funds in the amount of $81,383,017 will initially be issued for delivery order N00383-23-F-0DM0 as an undefinitized contract action at time of award, and funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. Individual delivery orders will be subsequently funded with appropriate fiscal year appropriations at the time of their issuance. One company was solicited for this non-competitive requirement pursuant to the authority set forth in 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00383-23-D-DM01).

The General Electric F414, which had its first run in 1993, is an afterburning turbofan engine in the 22,000-pounds-of-thrust range (in afterburn, “just” 13,000 lbf without) that was developed from the old F412 non-afterburning turbofan planned for the Cold War A-12 Avenger II, the A-6E Intruder replacement that was never ordered.

Some 2,400 pounds (dry weight) it is just under 13 feet long and was planned first to be the engine on the navalized F-117 Nighthawk (that also was never ordered) then twin-packed on the downright chunky F-18 Super Hornet.

For reference, the smaller F-18C/D was powered by two 11,000 lbf thrust F404-GE-402s (which the F412, in turn, was based on!) giving you an idea of just how much more powerful the Rhino engines are. Of course, the maximum take-off weight of the F-18C is around 50,000 lbs while the F-18E runs over 65,000, so the extra thrust is both needed and appreciated.

In all, over 5,600 F404/F414 engines have been built, and a combined 18 million engine flight hours run through them, with the 1,600 F414s delivered since 1999 accounting for about 5 million of those hours. It is expected the influx of new and rebuilt engines will give the Navy/Marines’ 777-aircraft F-18/EA-18 program a stockpile of engines for about the next 25 years– in peacetime op tempos.

Besides the Rhino and Growler, the F414 powers some types that you may not be familiar with:

Mighty Mo and ADM Nimitz, together again

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35 Years Ago Today, Gulf of Oman: Below we see a classic “Sea Power” image showing a bow view of the nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) underway astern of the Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), with the latter’s Turret No. 3 starboard 16″/50 caliber gun framing the shot. A Spruance class destroyer photobombs in the distance.

Note the Cold War classic dungarees on Iowa’s stern, along with the A-6 and S-3 rich airwing carried by Nimitz. You can almost hear “Danger Zone” in the distance. U.S. Navy photo DNST9300653 by PHAN Brad Dillon. National Archives Identifier: 6485327.

Of course, not far from Missouri’s Turret No. 3 stands a marker denoting the location where representatives of the Empire of Japan signed the instrument of surrender ending WWII before the assembled Allied representatives. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (USNA 1905), who led the Pacific Fleet to that victory, was aboard that day and revisited the spot at least once again, in 1954.

While Nimtz would pass in 1966, at which point Missouri was in mothballs and likely never to return to service, the huge carrier that bears his name was ordered in 1967 and is still kicking while “Mighty Mo” would in fact be reactivated in the 1980s for one last hurrah.

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