Category Archives: weapons

The Big E Takes Napoli

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Some 70 years ago today.

The hulking 46,000-ton Audacious-class aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (R05) and her escort, the aging County-class heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland (57) of Graf Spee near-miss fame, visit Naples, 5 August 1955. The warships called at the Italian port city for a week’s operational visit in line with NATO.

HMS Eagle, seen from her helicopter, shows the ship’s company fallen in on her flight deck as she steams into Naples Bay. Her wing shows 12 Seahawks of No. 804 squadron, the Wyverns likely of No. 830 Squadron, a few AEW Skyraiders of 849 Squadron, and at least one Westland WS-51 Dragonfly. She carries a recently-modified 5.5-degree angled flight deck, later changed to 8.5 degrees in 1964. Also note the 8×2 QF 4.5-inch Mk III guns in BD ‘RP10’ Mk II mounts. IWM (A 33319A)

“Twelve Sea Hawks of 804 Squadron form an avenue demonstrating British Naval Air Power in the Mediterranean.” IWM (A 33321)

HMS Eagle, HMS Cumberland in Naples, August 1955. One of the last three-funneled heavy cruisers, Cumberland would pay off just three years after this photo. IWM A 33318A

A period Kodachrome of Eagle’s airwing circa 1955, including Skyraiders, Seahawks, and Wyverns.

Laid down in 1942, Eagle only entered service in March 1952 (the 15th Royal Navy ship to carry the name) and was primarily known for her service in the Suez Crisis four years later and later the Aden Emergency.

HMS Eagle at Fremantle, Western Australi,a around 1968, with her late 8.5-degree deck and Buccaneers

She was paid off in 1972 to allow her hulk to be stripped of parts to keep her sister, HMS Ark Royal, in service for a few more years.

The “Big E” was scrapped in 1978.

PoW CSG heads to Japan

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HMS Prince of Wales (R09) and her Battlegroup 25 have left Australia, wrapping up Talisman Sabre, and, linking up with her Spanish escort ESPS Mendez Nunez (F-104), has been joined by the Japanese ships Kaga (DDH-184) and Teruzuki (DD-116) to continue Operation High Mast.

It will be the second British carrier to visit Japan in recent years, following up on sister HMS Queen Elizabeth’s 2021 deployment.

The below from Japan’s MoD.

She carries 19 F-35Bs: 9 from the “Dambusters” of 617 Squadron RAF, 9 from the “Immortals” of 809 Naval Air Squadron, plus a singular U.S. Marine Corps aircraft from the “Bats” of VMFA-242. She also has at least six Merlin Mk2 helicopters of 820 NAS and two HMA2 Wildcats of 815 NAS. This gives her 27 aircraft, the largest wing she has operated thus far.

She has also been conducting night ops, which have produced some great imagery.

Hospital Security: Upgrade Unlocked

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The famed MSC-operated Mercy-class hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), currently assigned to Commander, Task Force 49, has been underway in support of Continuing Promise 2025, the 16th iteration of the U.S. 4th Fleet/U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command-led mission since 2007, “which aims to foster goodwill, strengthen existing partnerships with partner nations, and form new partnerships between host nations, non-federal entities, and international organizations.”

A true “hearts and minds” kinda mission.

She has also gotten some old-fashioned naval work checked off the list, including a PASSEX in the Caribbean on 22 July with CTF 45/Desron 40’s Flight I Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, USS Cole (DDG 67).

USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) and USS Cole (DDG 67) passex. MC2 Rylin Paul 250722-N-MA550-1586

USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) and USS Cole (DDG 67) passex. MC2 Rylin Paul 250722-N-MA550-1867

USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) and USS Cole (DDG 67) passex. MC2 Rylin Paul 250722-N-MA550-1984

Further, Comfort has been carrying a det (Bravo Company’s 5th Platoon) from the Marine Corps Security Regiment’s Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) Battalion, which recently conducted a live-fire exercise aboard, likely while steaming from CONUS to her stops in Central America.

Note the KAC QDSS/NT4 suppressed HK M27 IARs with Trijicon VCOG SCOs. Probably the sweetest infantry rifle set up the Corps has ever sported. (Photos by U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rylin Paul and U.S. Army Cpl. William Hunter).

Marines assigned to Marine Corps Security Force Regiment, FAST Battalion, Bravo Company, 5th Platoon, conduct a live-fire exercise aboard the Mercy-class hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) during Continuing Promise 2025, June 19, 2025.  

Marines assigned to Marine Corps Security Force Regiment, FAST Battalion, Bravo Company, 5th Platoon, conduct a live-fire exercise aboard the Mercy-class hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) during Continuing Promise 2025, June 19, 2025.  

Marines assigned to Marine Corps Security Force Regiment, FAST Battalion, Bravo Company, 5th Platoon, pose for a photo after a live-fire exercise aboard the Mercy-class hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) during Continuing Promise 2025, June 19, 2025. (USMC photo)

Marines assigned to Marine Corps Security Force Regiment, FAST Battalion, Bravo Company, 5th Platoon, conduct a live-fire exercise aboard the Mercy-class hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) during Continuing Promise 2025, June 19, 2025.  

Semper Paratus: Sandbox edition

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Today is the 235th anniversary of the circa 1790 founding of Alexander Hamilton’s old Revenue Cutter Service/Revenue Marine, which became today’s U.S. Coast Guard.

It is also the rough 35th anniversary of the beginning of the USCG’s continuing service in the Arabian and Persian Gulfs, which is about 6,700 miles as the crow flies from the continental U.S.

When Saddam crossed the line into Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the resulting Operation Desert Storm build-up in Saudi Arabia soon saw Coast Guard Marine Safety Offices (MSOs) activate personnel to inspect the nearly 80 Ready Reserve Fleet (RRF) vessels preparing for sea duty.

Soon after, four 10-man USCG LEDETs and a 7-man staff liaison team deployed to the Gulf to work from U.S. and allied vessels to inspect shipping.

USCG LEDET on a Turkish ship during Desert Shield

The first Iraqi ship impounded, Zanoobia, was on 4 September by a LEDET team from USS Goldsborough (DDG 20). Once the shooting started as Desert Shield became Desert Storm, LEDET personnel helped clear Iraqi oil platforms, securing 11 such platforms and aiding in the capture of 23 Iraqi prisoners, with one of the busiest being on the OHP-class frigate USS Nicholas (FFG-47).

Something like 60 percent of the 600 boardings carried out by U.S. forces were either led by or supported with the USCG LEDETs– which shows how busy those 40 guys were!

Further, 950 USCGR personnel were activated to support Desert Storm, with over half of those being in Port Security Units.

As noted by the USCG Historian’s Office:

  • On September 14th, PSU 303 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) became the first Port Security Unit deployed overseas when it was assigned to Al Damman, Saudi Arabia.
  • On September 22nd, PSU 301 (Buffalo, New York) deployed to Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia, and on November 14th, PSU 302 (Port Clinton, Ohio) deployed to Bahrain.
  • These PSUs featured the first Coast Guard women to serve in combat roles, including female machine gunners assigned to “Raider” tactical Port Security Unit boats.

The first allied craft into Kuwait’s Mina Ash Shuwaikh Harbor on 21 April 1991 was a Coast Guard Raider tactical port security boat from PSU 301, which gingerly led a procession of multinational vessels into the harbor.

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 302 patrol the harbor aboard a Navy harbor patrol boat during Operation Desert Shield.

Finally, to address the ecological nightmare that occurred once Saddam ordered scorched earth on the Kuwait oilfields during the liberation, on 13 February 1991, two USCG HU-25A Falcon jets, equipped with AIREYE side airborne looking radar (SILAR) and oil detection equipment, flew from Air Station Cape Cod to Saudi Arabia, supported by two Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules cargo aircraft from Air Station Clearwater packed with ground crew, spare aviation parts and support packages.

The Falcons were deployed for 84 days and mapped over 40,000 square miles of the Persian Gulf. They logged 427 flight hours in the region and maintained an aircraft readiness rate of over 96 percent. These flights provided daily updates on the size and direction of the spill.

Post Desert Storm, with LEDETs continuing work with the 5th Fleet Maritime Interception Force adjacent to Operation Southern Watch from 1992 onward, in November 2002, the all-USCG Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) was stood up with what would eventually become six 110-foot Island class cutters (USCGC Adak, Aquidneck, Baranof, Maui, Monomoy, and Wrangell).

Persian Gulf (April 27, 2005) – Coast Guardsmen aboard U.S Coast Guard Cutter Monomoy (WPB 1326) wave goodbye to the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 74) after the first underway fuel replenishment (UNREP) between a U.S. Navy cruiser and a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter. Antietam completed fuel replenishment with the Monomoy in about two hours and saved the 110-foot patrol boat a four-hour trip to the nearest refueling station. Antietam and Monomoy are conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the Persian Gulf as part of Commander, Task Force Five Eight CTF-58). U.S. Navy photo by Journalist Seaman Joseph Ebalo (RELEASED)

7/25/2007. NORTH ARABIAN GULF-Petty Officer 3rd Class William J. Burke performs a security sweep aboard a tanker ship in the North Arabian Gulf. Burke, a machinery technician, is part of Law Enforcement Detachment 106, which is deployed in the NAG to help train Iraqi Navy and Marine personnel in boarding procedures and tactics. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Public Affairs Specialist 2nd Class Nathan Henise.

As it had in Operation Desert Storm, the Coast Guard deployed port security units, law enforcement detachments, and patrol boats to the Middle East to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism. Adak captured the first Iraqi maritime prisoners of the war, whose patrol boat had been destroyed upstream by an AC-130 gunship.

USCG small boat team conducting operations in the Gulf – 31 August 2022

In OIF, LEDETs deployed on Coast Guard and Navy patrol craft continued to board and inspect vessels in the Northern Arabian Gulf. As a member of one of these LEDETs, DC3 Nathan B. “Nate” Bruckenthal died when boarding an explosives-laden dhow that detonated near USS Firebolt (PC-10).

Today, PATFORSWA is still very much in business with six new 154-foot Fast Response Cutters (USCGC Charles Moulthrope, Robert Goldman, Glen Harris, Emlen Tunnell, John Scheuerman, and Clarence Sutphin Jr) replacing the old 110s in 2021-22.

220822-A-KS490-1182 STRAIT OF HORMUZ (Aug. 22, 2022) From the left, U.S. Coast Guard fast response cutters USCGC Glen Harris (WPC 1144), USCGC John Scheuerman (WPC 1146), USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145) and USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147) transit the Strait of Hormuz, Aug. 22. The cutters are forward-deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet to help ensure maritime security and stability across the Middle East. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Noah Martin)

With some 300 personnel assigned, it is the largest Coast Guard command outside of the U.S.

Hanging with the Crayfish

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During the Warsaw Pact era, the Poles broke from the nominally allied Soviets a bit when it came to small arms. Instead of the straight AKM, they used the Kbkg wz. 1960/72. Whereas the Russkies went to the AK-74 in 5.45, the Poles came up with the wzór 1988 Tantal and the Onyks carbine. Rather than the Makrov PM, the Poles had the FB P-64 in the same caliber, later supplemented by the .380 ACP P-83 Wanad.

Whereas the Soviets generally replaced subguns with folding-stocked short-barreled AK variants, the Poles kept on chugging with the FB PM-84 Glauberyt (Pistolet maszynowy wz. 1984) and the smaller PM-63 RAK, both in 9×18 Makarov.

While the PM-84 was no beefcake, hitting the scales at just over 4 pounds unloaded and sporting a 5.5-inch barrel, the PM-63 was downright portable, running just 13 inches long with the stock collapsed and weighing in at 3.5 pounds.

Polish paratrooper armed with a PM-63 submachine gun RAK, with its stock and foregrip folded

Polish marine with a FB PM-63 RAK submachine gun, its stock and foregrip deployed. Note the scooped barrel, which serves as a sort of compensator. Coincidentally, RAK means “crayfish” in Polish

Polish tankers with RAKs in drop leg holsters. The PM-63 RAK, with its stock collapsed, was a true PDW and is akin to the Flux Raider of today.

The PM63 continues to see use

Further, while the PM-63 still floats around in combat use in Ukraine and elsewhere, parts kits complete with 9mm Mak barrels are here in the states for cheap.

Bowman and others have been selling beautiful RAK kits for like $269

While traveling in Minnesota recently to film a bunch of podcasts for Guns.com, I stopped in to see friends at 2 if By Sea Tactical in New Prague, a Class 7 FFL, and put a few boxes downrange with a post-86 reweld “crawfish” they have in the shop.

At 650 rpms, you drained a mag quick.

It uses 15-round flush and 25-round extended magazines, giving you either 1.5 or 2.5 seconds of zpppppp.

With the stock extended, the length is 23 inches, which gives the user a very compact little PDW.

The Poles may have been on the right track with this interesting little guy.

 

Swashbuckling Baltic Baron of Boxer Fame

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Some 125 years ago this month, this guy was the biggest hero in Russia, having recently picked up not only the St. George Cross but also five foreign orders “in recognition of exemplary bravery and selflessness.’

I give you 37-year-old Lieutenant Baron Ferdinand (Vladimirovich) Arthur Lionel Gotthard von Rahden, of the Tsar’s Navy, who commanded the Russian naval infantry unit drawn from the crews of the battleships Navarin and Sisoy the Great during the defense of the Peking Legation Quarter during its 55-day siege in the Boxer Rebellion.

Hailing from a family of hereditary Baltic barons (he inherited the title from his late father, Vladimir, the former vice-governor of Estonia, in 1881), Ferdinand graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps in 1886 and from 1889 onward held down spots on Russian warships drifting further and further East. From the Black Sea Fleet to the Caspian Flotilla and the cruiser Admiral Kornilov in the Indian Ocean. By 1891, he was a navigator on the cruiser Vladimir Monomakh in Vladivostok. By the time of the Boxer Rebellion, he was head of the 01 Division on Navarin and was selected to lead the 71-member company to Peking.

Of the 445 foreign soldiers, sailors, and Marines holding the Legation wall, the Russians had the third-largest force, just behind the only slightly larger British (79 Marines) and the French (75 sailors) contingents.

Russian sailors on a barricade before the Peking Legation Boxer Uprising, Niva magazine, No. 43, 1900

During the siege of Pekin, Baron von Rahden received several wounds, including a contusion of the cranial bone, but, importantly, his force captured four guns from the besieging Boxers, which were of great use to the defenders.

“Peking, China. 1900. A Russian officer, Baron Randen [sic], and four armed soldiers behind a barricade, probably at the Russian Legation, during the Boxer Rebellion.” Note he appears armed with a Steyr M.95, which may have been borrowed from Austrian Marines in the Legation, while his men have Mosin M.91s (AWM A05909)

Baron von Rahden, as portrayed in 55 Days at Peking, albeit in a much nicer costume, complete with sword belt sash, than the uniform he actually wore

After the Boxer Rebellion, Von Rahden, promoted to Captain (2nd rank), rode a wave of good assignments, including XO of the gunboat Koreets and command of the destroyer Ryany, which operated out of Vladivostok during the Russo-Japanese War. A scouting mission with his greyhound along the Korean peninsula during the conflict earned him an Order of St. Stanislav and a promotion to Captain (1st rank).

Then came a position as port captain of Vladivostok, followed by what would be the pinnacle of his naval career, that of skipper of the cruiser Askold in 1910.

Russian cruiser Askold in Vladivostok

At that point, Von Rahden’s star burned out.

Dismissed from his post on embezzlement charges, the Vladivostok Naval Court handed down a sentence of 3.5 years in the brig and the removal of all ranks, orders, and privileges. After serving 22 months, the Tsar commuted his sentence in light of his past record, and he was dismissed from the Navy, ending his 26 years in the fleet with a squish.

When Russia marched to war again in 1914, Von Rahden repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, applied to return to service.

It was only after the twin seismic military disasters of 1914 and 1915 that, on Valentine’s Day 1916, Von Rahden was appointed from ignoble retirement to become a colonel and second in command of the 205th (Shemakha) Infantry Regiment, then part of the 52nd Division on the mud of the Austrian front. In January 1917, he was made commander of the 82nd Infantry (Dagestan) Regiment, on the Romanian front. In April 1917, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd degree with swords, one of the last issuances of that decoration.

Von Rahden, somewhat redeemed, was the 85th’s final colonel, and on 23 November 1917, he was promoted to major general, setting him up for command of a division. It was a position he held only briefly, being cashiered at the end of the year, following directives from the new Bolshevik military commissars who were eager to separate from the service any nobles still in uniform.

Returning home to Estonia in 1918, Von Raden soon fell in with the German-allied Baltic Landeswehr, a proto-Freikorps-style force led by his fellow Couronian and Livonian nobility. Leading a company in that force, he fought with the Landeswehr against the Reds at Windau, Tukkum, and Mitau.

Once Riga was captured, with the Landeswehr being strongly disfavored by the recently arrived British and French military missions to the Baltic, he and his company moved over to General Yudenich’s White Russian Northwestern Army during what had become the full-blown Russian Civil War.

Leading the battalion-sized 17th Libau Regiment of the 5th Division during Yudenich’s failed push on Petrograd, Baron Von Rahden, formerly of the Tsar’s Navy, was killed in action in the village of Russkoye Koporye on 25 October 1919, aged 56 hard years.

German Army Looks to CZ P10 as New Pistol

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Reports from Europe point to CZ as being the winner of a huge contract to provide as many as 180,000 new pistols to the German military.

The German federal army, or Bundeswehr, has been conducting trials since last year to replace its polymer-framed hammer-fired 9mm P8A1 pistol, a variant of the HK USP, which has been in service since 1994. Current contenders to become the future P13 handgun in Bundeswehr service have been narrowed down to the Arex Delta, the Glock Gen 5 G17, and the CZ P-10 F.

German defense media site Hartpunkt reported earlier this month that the BAAINBw, the Bundeswehr’s acquisition agency, is finalizing a €25 million award to CZ for the new P13. The award will be for 62,000 pistols first, with an option for as many as 186,000 guns.

The striker-fired P-10 F, introduced by CZ in late 2018, is the largest of the company’s well-liked P-10 series, with a 4.5-inch barrel and a 19+1 capacity. While available in both optics-ready and suppressor-ready variants, it is not known which model the Bundeswehr has under consideration. (Photo: CZ)
CZ’s P-10 series is already in use with the militaries of the Czech Republic and Romania, both NATO allies of Germany. (Photos: Czech Army)

In addition to the P13 program, German KSK special operations and KSM frogman units recently adopted Walther PDP 4.5 and 4-inch variants as the P14/P14K series of pistols.

Before the adoption of the HK P8, the Bundeswehr issued the Walther P-38 and its postwar alloy-framed offspring, the P-1, going back to the service’s birth in 1955.

Savvy gun autists will, of course, point out that the 1940s-era German military used several different CZ variants.

Super Zook!

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Men of the 304th Army Cavalry Group perform night firing exercises with the 3.5-inch M20 “Super Bazooka,” 31 July 1952. A Boston-based Reserve unit, the image was likely taken at Pine Camp (Fort Drum) during summer training before the unit became the short-lived 57th Tank Battalion.

Signal Corps photo SC 405194-S

Designed after learning from the captured German 8.8 cm RPzB 43 and RPzB 54 Panzerschrecks during WWII, the Super Bazooka was slow walked into service but rushed to Korea in July 1950 when the smaller M9 2.36-inch ‘zook proved ineffective against North Korean T-34s.

By August 1950, some 900 Super Bazookas were holding the line during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and ROK forces used them to knock out enemy tanks the same month.

The Superbazooka even appeared in Army recruiting posters during the Korean War

Polish Pociag Pancerny Proclivity

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The Polish military in the first half of the 20th Century cultivated a rich armored train (Pociag Pancerny) tradition that started in early 1918 with Polish units formerly serving in the Russian Army and newly independent.

This early train, Związek Broni (Arms Association), was created at the Bobruisk (Babrujsk) fortress using captured Russian rolling stock and armed with a combination of Pulitov 76.2mm M1902 field guns and Maxim machine guns. At the same time, a flatcar carried a damaged Austin armored car.

Zwiazek-Broni’s Austen armored car flatcar

Polish armored train near Arkhangelsk – 1918 during the Russian civil war. Note the Polish national eagles on their helmets. Signal Corps image via NARA

With 90 armored locomotives constructed by the Poles, this was later expanded to over 40 named war trains in the 1919-21 period of combat against the Reds, Balts, and Ukrainians in the East and German Freikorps types in the West.

During the Third Silesian Uprising, Polish insurgents used no less than 16 armored trains, such as “Kabicz,” seen here, against the German irregulars. The train consists of a T37 armored steam locomotive and two 2-axle iron coal wagons. NAC PIC_1-H-446-2

Once the wars were over, the better trains were retained and, eventually, modernized.

Just in case.

Polish armored train (Pociąg pancerny) Danuta in July 1935. Note the flatcar with motorcycles. NAC PIC_107-738-67

Polish armored train, 1939

By September 1939, the Poles had at least a baker’s dozen war trains in their arsenal, each typically supported by a dedicated supply train that included sleeping and coal cars, repair workshops, and flatbeds carrying light tanks. The allowance for a full crew of an armored train (with its support train) in 1939 consisted of 8 officers, 59 non-commissioned officers, and 124 riflemen, with most cross-trained in repair and maintenance tasks.

The Polish armored train PP 11 Danuta from 1939. From the left: artillery wagon, infantry assault wagon, armored Ti3 steam locomotive, artillery wagon. The train carried two 100mm wz. 1914/19 howitzers and 75mm wz.1902/26 field guns mounted on rotating turrets as their primary armament, while secondary armament was composed of nine 7.92 mm wz. 08 machine guns. She fought against the Germans for two weeks until trapped and scuttled by her crew.

Then, in Britain…

With this tradition behind them, it was logical for the Free Poles evacuated to Britain from France and elsewhere post-Dunkirk to man some armored trains. After all, there was a cadre of men among them familiar with their operation.

Starting in July 1940, troops of the 1st Polish Corps soon manned a series of 12 armored trains, organized into four dedicated battalions. The idea was that these trains could race up and down the coastline and form a mobile reserve in the event of German amphibious landings, or shuttle inland to tackle paratrooper insertions.

Produced in the Derby Carriage and Wagon Works and by the LNER works at Stratford in London, the trains were dubbed A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, and M. While these varied in length, construction, and armament, they were usually much shorter than the type the Poles had operated 1918-1939, typically of just 4-5 cars with an engine in the middle.

A few images exist in the IWM with good detail.

Troops pictured manning an armored train on a line at North Berwick in Scotland, 4 February 1941. The train was armed with a QF 6-pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss gun recycled from a Great War-era Mk IV “Male” tank, two Boys anti-tank rifles, and six Bren machine guns. Photo by Walter Thomas Lockeyear IWM H 7033

Official caption: “Polish troops are manning an armored train in Scotland. They are used for patrolling lines along the coast, reinforcing any threatened point, and dealing with tank attacks where the railway offers the best means of reaching them. Each of two engines with one 6-pounder, six Brens, and 2 AT rifles. A speed of 50 mph, range of 30 miles without refueling.” Photo by Walter Thomas Lockeyear IWM H 7034

As noted by one publication,

Armoured train K, powered by a single locomotive, No 7573, was armed with two 6-pounder guns, as well as six Bren machine guns, two Vickers machine guns, four Thompson sub-machine guns (Tommy guns) and numerous rifles carried by the crew. Initially, the train carried some 14,000 rounds of ammunition, which was later increased to some 38,000 rounds of varying calibers.

Polish Armored Train K

By 1942, with the chance of invasion of the British Isles slipping away and the Poles better used in North Africa, they left their trains behind for Home Guard use and pulled stumps for warmer, and more German-rich, climes.

As detailed by Brian Osborne’s The People’s Army:

In their Home Guard role, the trains were each initially armed with two Hotchkiss 6-pounder cannon, a Vickers machine-gun, and four Bren guns. They were manned by 16 Home Guardsmen under a captain, with a lieutenant as weapons training officer, two signalers, and a train crew of four. In addition, there was a mobile base consisting of a passenger coach and brake van to provide crew transport and catering. This came under the charge of the second in command, along with a company sergeant major, a train crew of three, and a fighting crew of six deploying two Bren guns and a Boys anti-tank rifle – an armorer and a further three men, making a total in the mobile base of 14. Thus, each armored train had a total complement of 38 officers and men. The mobile base would be detached from the train when going into action.

However, after the war, the Poles continued to use armored trains into 1952 when the Dywizjon Artylerii Kolejowej (Railway Artillery Division) was finally disbanded and its inherited German and Soviet trains placed in reserve, capping a winding 34-year run.

Polish Dywizjon Artylerii Kolejowej armored train, in the late 1940s, a recycled Wermacht Panzerzug with French M1890 194mm naval guns

Panthers on the Prowl

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It happened 75 years ago this month.

The Navy’s new F9F Panther jet fighter saw its first combat in July 1950, flying strikes from USS Valley Forge (CV-45) with the “Screaming Eagles” of VF-51 and “Sealancers” of VF-52.

Carrying four forward-firing Mk 3 20mm cannons, Panthers could also carry 3,000 pounds of bombs or eight 5-inch rockets. They chalked up some of the first Navy air-to-air kills in the Korean War (a Yak-9 by VF-51’s  LTJG. Leonard H. Plog on 3 July and a MiG-15 by VF-52’s LCDR William E. Lamb) in the process.

A Grumman F9F-2 Panther of fighter squadron VF-52 aboard the Essex-class fleet carrier USS Valley Forge (CV-45) on 4 July 1950. NARA 111-SC-343067

Grumman F9F-3 “Panther”, of Fighter Squadron 52 (VF-52). Taxies forward on USS Valley Forge (CV-45) to be catapulted for strikes on targets along the east coast of Korea, 19 July 1950. Note details of the ship’s island, including scoreboard at left. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-428152

USS Valley Forge (CV-45) Flight deck tractors tow Grumman F9F “Panther” fighters forward on the carrier’s flight deck, in preparation for catapulting them off to attack North Korean targets, July 1950. This photograph was released for publication on 21 July 1950. Valley Forge had launched air strikes on 3-4 July and 18-19 July. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the “All Hands” collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96978

VF-51 and VF-52 were assigned to Carrier Air Group 5 (CVG-5) for a deployment to the Western Pacific from 1 May to 1 December 1950. The hybrid group included two other squadrons, VF-53 and VF-54, with F4U-4B Corsairs, augmented by a couple of F4U-5N night fighters of VC-3 and F4U-4Ps photo birds of H&MS-11, and a squadron of AD Skyraiders, VA-55.

USS Valley Forge (CV-45) Flight deck crewmen wheel carts of rockets past a Vought F4U-4B fighter, while arming planes for strikes against North Korean targets in July 1950. This plane is Bureau # 97503. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the “All Hands” collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96976

USS Valley Forge (CV-45). A Vought F4U-4B fighter is fueled and armed with 5-inch rockets, before strikes against targets on the Korean east coast, 19 July 1950. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the All Hands collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 96979

Douglas AD Skyraider attack planes of VA-55 from USS Valley Forge (CV-45), fire 5-inch rockets at a North Korean field position. 80-G-422387

In the hectic two weeks between 16 July and 31 July, the wing dropped 141 tons of GP bombs, 106 tons of napalm, fired 1,865 rockets, and 160,662 rounds of 20mm cannon shells. CVG-5’s two dozen jets (of VF-51/52) flew 260 hours while its three dozen piston planes covered another 1,344, showing which had a higher availability and longer endurance.

A fuel or ammunition train burns near Kumchon, North Korea, after being hit by planes from USS Valley Forge (CV-45). Photographed on the morning of 22 July 1950. NH 96977

Burning after being struck by USS Valley Forge (CV-45) aircraft on 18 July 1950. The photograph may have been taken on 19 July, when smoke from these fires was visible from the carrier, operating at sea off the Korean east coast. 80-G-418592

Under attack by aircraft from Valley Forge (CV-45) on 18 July 1950. Smoke from this attack, which reportedly destroyed some 12,000 tons of refined petroleum products and much of the plant, could be seen sixty miles out at sea. 80-G-707876

CAG-5’s scorecard for those two weeks in July:

For the record, the F9F Panther was retired from Navy service just a half-decade after Korea, while the Sealancers of VF-52 hung up their helmets for the last time in 1959. Valley Forge, at the time re-rated as an LPH, was laid up in 1970. Meanwhile, the Screaming Eagles of VF-51 transitioned through F-8 Crusaders, F-4 Phantoms, and F-14 Tomcats before they closed shop in 1995.

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