Americans have long been a fan of shotguns, pumps, semi-autos, over and unders, you name it, we love em. One red-blooded American even ran into an interesting one while doing a little Wolverines-style combat in the Philippines and thought it would catch on back home once the smoke cleared. His name was Richardson, and his idea is best known as the Philippine Guerrilla Gun.
Read the rest in my column at Guns.com
Take an AK-47, give it a 75-round magazine then make it even more robust as to allow for long periods of full auto firing. What you would get might look like the RPK light machine gun and in a world where assault rifles are princes and the AK-47 is an aging king, the RPK is a god on the battlefield.
Machine guns were the deciding factor on modern battlefields ever since 1914. During World War One the US Army introduced the Browning M1918 BAR automatic rifle, a 16-pound select fire gun that spat 30.06 ammo out at 650-round per minute until its 20-round magazine ran out. These smaller, one-man machine guns could be issued down to the squad level to provide a huge increase in firepower. By World War II, the concept of a squad automatic weapon was widely spread and the Soviets wanted one.
Their first model, Vasily Degtyaryov’s RPD, came in at 16.31-pounds empty and brought a 100-round belt of 7.62x39mm ammo into the battlefield in 1945. While the RPD was a nice gun, it was heavy and used a milled receiver, which made production slow. In 1947 the Soviets went with the stamped receiver AK-47 and soon enough they were brainstorming about how to replace the RPD with a lighter and more AK-ish weapon.
This led to the RPK.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
At first glance, it seems like something from a steam punk fantasy. With more parts in common with an early automobile than a modern machine gun, the Russian M1910 Maxim Sokolov variant represents a thought process from a very different age. But what make this gun truly amazing is that while the technology of its day is long gone, it is not uncommon to find this hearty century-old gun still in service on the battlefields of today.
Today we are used to driving from place to place over nice paved roads in automobiles that have computers in them to keep them from driving too far over 100mph. Back in the 1900s, roads from city to city were made of dirt that turned to thick mud in the rain; even in the industrial United States, there was no such thing as asphalt. In 1903, it took an epic 63 days to cross the US from coast to coast by automobile—the roads in 1903 Russia were far worse. The primary means of transport for the Tsar of Russia’s 15 million man Imperial Army was by the soles of their boots.
With the heavy water-cooled Maxim guns issued to them weighing in at 60 kilos, even the strongest Ivans found it a tough hump. With this in mind, the Tsars machine gunners got a set of wheels.
The 1910 Maxim going for a drag
Invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1889, the machinegun that bears his name was the worldwide standard for automatic weapons by 1900. The militaries of Germany, Great Britain, as well as the US Navy among others had it in regular service. When the Russians adopted it, they greatly simplified the design to make it as soldier proof as possible. With the adoption of the short-wheeled mount and a steel plate shield to protect the gunner, the gun became known as the Pulemyot Maxima Sokolov Model of 1910, or simply PM 1910.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
Seen in the German army……Beach head is real?
Dying of wounds just a week before the end of hostilities in Europe, Kurt Knispel was rolled into a mass grave with 15 other German war dead behind a church wall in Vrbovec. He had fought in every type of German tank as a loader, a gunner and a commander – received a fatal wound just ten days before the end of the war. At age 23, the highest scoring tank ace of WWII – Kurt Knispel – was dead.This village in the South Moravian Region of what is today the Czech Republic, was the front line of the Eastern front in April 1945. However it was just a hundred miles from Kurt’s home. And his body has just been found and identified by his dog tags.
When his country was absorbed by Germany in 1938, Sudeten Czech Kurt Knispel soon found himself in the German Army. Attached to 1st Company of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, he became one of the highest scoring tank aces of World War II with a total of 168 confirmed tank kills. The actual number, although unconfirmed, may be as high as 195 as he killed several tanks that he did not claim, and whenever a kill was disputed he backed away. He is counted with Johannes Bölter, Ernst Barkmann, Otto Carius and Michael Wittmann as being one of the, if not the, greatest tank ace of all time.
Kurt was a hero on both sides of the panzer though. He had several conflicts with higher Nazi authorities (for instance, he assaulted an Einsatzgruppen officer whom he saw mistreating Soviet POWs) and general lack of military bearing, sporting a goatee and hair longer than regulations.
Only his impressive track-record saved him from ending up in a military prison. This is thought to have kept him (though he was recommended for it four times) from winning the coveted Knight’s Cross, a standard award for most other World War II German panzer aces.
He is to be re-interred in a military cemetery in Brno, Czech Republic.
If every gun tells a story, the FBI’s reference firearms collection could fill a very, very large book. The inventory of more than 7,000 firearms—curated over 80 years—contains just about every make and model, from John Dillinger’s Prohibition-era revolver to the modern battlefield’s M16, and almost everything in between. More here:
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 period and will profile a different ship each week. – Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Here we see one of the most peculiar types of ships– the cruiser submarine. These big gun submersibles were seen as the most logical extension of the commerce raider after World War One. During the Great War, gun-armed auxiliary cruisers with long ranges circled the globe. These ships, like the Mowe and the Wolf, took dozens of prizes while submarines on all sides took hundreds– but had short legs. So, after 1919, the thinking was that you could take a large submarine with an extended cruising range, add a few large guns and some extra equipment, and bingo: the cruiser submarine. This particular example is the French Surcouf.
Named after Robert Surcouf, the Napoleonic French pirate (err….make that privateer, let’s be PC here!), this huge sub was built to be a swashbuckler. The namesake privateer and his brother Nicolas between 1789 and 1808 captured over 40 British and Portuguese prizes while flying the French flag alongside his own banner. Napoleon even offered him a Captain’s rank in the French Navy and command of a pair of new frigates, but Surcouf couldn’t take the pay cut.
The Statue of Surcouf in Saint-Malo by Alfred Caravanniez was erected in 1903. Swashbuckler complete with cutlass…
In one notable action, Surcouf, in command of the privateer Hasard (4×6-pdrs, 26 men) engaged and captured the larger and much more powerful East Indiaman Triton (26 12-pdr guns, 150 men) after a 45-minute hand-to-hand engagement that went cabin-to-cabin and deck-to deck.
January 29, 1796: The Corsair Cartier, 4 cannons and 19 men commanded by the famous Surcouf, at age 16, on the approach of the British East Indian Triton, 150 men, 26 cannons, in the Indian Ocean. Painting by Leon Tremisot
“You French fight for money, while we British fight for honor,” a captured English officer reportedly once told the French privateer.
“Sir, a man fights for what he lacks most,” Surcouf retorted.
The submarine that carried the name of this often-forgotten sea dog was ordered in December 1927, after the Washington Naval Treaty placed a limit on cruisers. Skirting the treaty by adding cruiser-sized guns to a submarine, the London Naval Treaty of 1931 limited both the overall displacement of and the size of guns carried by submarines moving forward, making Surcouf the only submarine of her class.
The British were so impressed with Surcouf that the big cruiser submarine was the front piece of the 1931 edition of Jane’s Fighting Ships
French submarine Surcouf
Over 361 feet long and 4400 tons when at a full load submerged, she carried an impressive armament of 12 torpedo tubes and two 8-inch (203mm) naval guns.
A side view of the 8-inch guns on the submarine. Note the muzzle tampinions.
The guns, 203mm/50 Modèle 1924 weapons just like the kind mounted on the Duquesne and Suffren classes of heavy cruisers as the main battery, were among the largest ever placed aboard a submarine. (The top prize goes to the three WWI-era British Royal Navy M Class submarines fitted with a deck-mounted 30.48-cm (12-in) gun taken from battleship stores. These subs were all out of service by 1932). On Surcouf, two guns were mounted in a sealed turret ahead of the conning tower.
Fitted with mechanically actuated tampions to allow quick diving, these guns could open fire 2.5 minutes after surfacing and fire approximately 3 rounds per minute. The maximum elevation of 30 degrees limited the maximum range to 21 nmi/39 km with a 270-pound shell. Of course, only 60 rounds were carried for these great guns (hey, it’s a submarine!) but these 8-inchers were pretty amazing.
The rear of the conning tower held the cutest little seaplane. This is similar to the Dry Deck Shelter (DDS) used by the US Navy since 1982 at least in overall concept anyway.
To help spot the guns a small 2500-pound Besson MB.411 seaplane, specifically made just for the sub, was carried. This plane could putter at around 100 knots for two hours, allowing its pilot and onboard observer to correct the artillery of the sub.
Her Besson MB.411 floatplane with wings removed for storage. Looks like a tight fit
French submarine Surcouf in Casablanca, Marocco, 1938 note embarked floatplane
For seizing prizes at sea during commerce raiding missions, the Surcouf had space for 60 prisoners and held a 15-foot motor whaleboat in a sealed well deck.
Compared to other submarines of her day, where the standing room was almost unheard of unless the submariner was 5′ 2″, Surcouf is massive on the inside.
While not specified, it’s conceivable that the large submarine with extra space could have been used for commando-type missions.
French cruiser submarine Surcouf in 1939
The French boat is almost a dead ringer in size to the USS Argonaut, the submarine used to carry 120 of Carlson’s Marine Raiders to hit Makin Island in 1942.
Sailors man the 6 inch53 deck gun aboard USS Argonaut SS-166 (formerly the V-4) during her shakedown cruise off Provincetown, MA on June 21, 1928
As pointed out this image is of the submarine depicted in the fictional Japanese 2005 film “Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean”. The featured ship is a sub, design inspired by Surcouf by definitely not identical. Thanks, Eric!
Alas, for all her potential, this huge and well-armed submersible never had a combat career. Commissioned in May 1934 on the eve of WWII, she suffered from mechanical issues. She narrowly escaped capture in France in 1940 by limping away to England where she became part of General de Gaulle’s tiny Free French Navy.
Her only service was in escorting an occasional Atlantic Convoy and in seizing (liberating?) the Vichy French colony of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon in 1941 without a shot. During this operation, Surcouf served as flagship for ADM Muselier and his three small gunboats, which combined were less than half the warship that the submarine was.
Free French Naval Forces submarine Surcouf in Halifax Harbour (closest to depot ship) in 1941. Here, Royal Navy Depot Ship HMS FORTH with the Free French submarine SURCOUF and two other Royal Navy submarines rest in Halifax Harbour. Original Kodachrome via Library and Archives Canada
From World at War :
“Christmas Eve, 1941
The predawn blackness over the frigid waters of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence is broken by the flash of signal lamps, “Execute the mission ordered.”. A Free French task force slips past the undefended entrance to the harbor of Saint Pierre. A lookout reports no signs of life on shore. His Captain replies, “They sleep and dream of us for Christmas.”. The mail boat to Miquelon approaches and is ordered to turn about and follow alongside. It complies. A fishing dory emerges from the mist and passes the flotilla unmolested. The corvettes near the snow-covered coal wharf. A solitary figure, an ancient Breton fisherman, spies the Cross of Lorraine and races down the Quai de Ronciere. The click-clack of the old man’s sabots on the icy pavement and his bilingual curses, “Petain, le sacre bleu cochon, le old goat!” can be heard across the whole of the island. Sailors on the first of the ships to brush the dock toss him the bowline. As he secures it to the bollard the man exclaims again, “Vive de Gaulle, at last, I can say it. Vive de Gaulle!”.
Free French sailors and marines in full battle dress race from their ships. By now a crowd of bleary-eyed Saint Pierrais has gathered to cheer them on with shouts of Vive de Gaulle!, Vive Muselier! Homemade banners, Tricolors emblazoned with Croix de Lorraine, flutter in the chill North Atlantic breeze. The assault force, intent on seizing the town’s key administrative centers; the town hall, post office, telegraph station, and radio transmitter, seems oblivious to their welcome. They meet no resistance. The island’s 11 gendarmes surrender their Vichy-supplied machine guns and offer to assist in rounding up the usual suspects. Not a shot is fired nor a drop of blood spilled.
The operation is over in half an hour.”
When the Japanese came into the war, it was thought that Surcouf could live up to her name sinking Nippon Maru’s in the Pacific but she disappeared en route.
It is thought she was sunk on or about February 18. 1942 after a collision near Panama. Her wreck is thought to lie more than 3,000 feet deep and has never been found. She was announced lost on April 18, 1942, and stricken from the French Naval List the next year.
The plaque to the submarine’s honor at Cherbourg, her original WWII home port. It lists the names of the 130 officers and men whose fate to this day lies somewhere on this lost warship.
The French Navy, of course, still has a great love of Surcouf.
Specs
Displacement: 3,250 long tons (3,300 t) (surfaced)
4,304 long tons (4,373 t) (submerged)
2,880 long tons (2,930 t) (dead)
Length: 361 ft
Beam: 29 ft 6 in
Draft: 23 ft 9 in
Installed power: 7,600 hp (5,700 kW) (surfaced)
3,400 hp (2,500 kW) (submerged)
Propulsion: 2 × Sulzer diesel engines (surfaced)
2 × electric motors (submerged)
2 × screws
Speed: 18.5 knots (surfaced)
10 kn (submerged)
Range: Surfaced:
10,000 nmi at 10 kn
6,800 nmi at 13.5 kn
Submerged:
70 nmi at 4.5 kn
59 nmi at 5 kn
Endurance: 90 days
Test depth: 260 ft
Boats & landing craft carried: 1 × motorboat in watertight deck well
Capacity: 280 long tons (280 t)
Complement: 8 officers and 110 men
Armament: 2 × 203 mm (8 in) guns (1×2)
2 × 37 mm (1.46 in) anti-aircraft guns (2×1)
4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) anti-aircraft machine guns (2×2)
8 × 550 mm (22 in) torpedo tubes (14 torpedoes)
4 × 400 mm (16 in) torpedo tubes (8 torpedoes)
Aircraft carried: 1 × Besson MB.411 floatplane
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO)
They are possibly one of the best sources of naval lore http://www.warship.org/naval.htm
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.
Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.
I’m a member, so should you be!
Take a Walther PP, give it a two-stage trigger (with the first stage located on the front of the grip), make it a gas-piston operated, striker-fired 9mm and what do you get? Well, if you have been following along at home with your scorecards you may have figured it out it’s the HKP7. When this gun was first introduced it was one of the most unique handgun designs out there and since then it has inspired a simmering love-hate relationship in the gun community lasting for almost 40-years.
Why it was created
German police for much of the 20th Century used very innovative pistol designs. Indeed, the “PP” in Walther PP stands for Polizeipistole (Police Pistol) and by the 1970s, their stock of Walther PP/PPK/P1 pistols, in the hands of the dozens of large law enforcement agencies across the capitalist side of the country, were wearing out. In response, the West German government held a series of trials for local gun makers to submit replacement guns and Walther, Sauer, and Heckler and Koch all came up with guns that met the design specifics (enhanced safety features, chambered in 9x19mm Parabellum, etc.). The Germans gave the Walther design the designation P5; the Sauer made gun (a license built version of the SIG P225) the P6, and the HK gun the P7.
And the HK P7 met all of the requirements and then some.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com ( i checked the link this time Aron!)
Today every squad of soldiers or marines has at least one fully automatic man-portable light machine gun issued to it. In 1918, this concept was foreign and a firearm that could fill this newly arrived at need was non-existent. Not to worry though, that most genius of American firearms engineers John Moses Browning, had something up his sleeve. The Army called it the M1918, but the troops just called it the BAR.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
The Cold War simmered for over 40 years and during this time the we saw the birth of many of the worlds most iconic arms, such as the AK47, FN FAL, and M16. However, the efficient and effective NATO caliber SMG of this era, the Sterling submachine gun, has been largely swept into the shop-bin of firearms history.
Submachine guns, essentially just compact, pistol-caliber select fire carbines, were born in the final months of the First World War as an answer to the madness of trench warfare. By the Second World War, these handy little guns were everywhere.
Submachine guns were used pervasively to equip tank crews, paratroopers, and squad leaders mostly due to their smaller profile and high rate of fire when compared to full size rifles. Great Britain had three sub machine guns during the War: the Lanchester, the Tommy gun, and the ubiquitous STEN. One of these designs was obsolete, the second was heavy and expensive, and the third was more of an emergency design, neither accurate nor desired. In 1944, with WWII raging, the British General Staff requested a replacement for these weapons that would address and correct all these flaws in one gun.
That design was the Sterling.
Read the rest at my column at GUNS.com
