Here we see the submarine Bars (Snow Leopard), the first of a class of 24 planned boats for the Imperial Russian Navy, after being launched on 2 June 1915 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg (then Petrograd).
Note her Romanov eagle bow crest and four port topside “drop collar” torpedo launcher positions. Designed by a Polish-Russian submarine engineer, Prof. Stefan Karlovich Dzhevetskiy, the launchers were a cost-effective and easy way of carrying torpedoes and were used by both the French and Tsarist navies. However, the design proved an issue in winter months, especially in ice, and greatly shortened the lifespan of the weapons carried.
On 25 July 1915, the boat, under the command of LT V. F. Dudkin, entered service and became part of the 1st Division of the Baltic Sea Submarine Force, and would be operational for the next 22 months.
Russia. Baltic. Submarine Bars 1915-1917. Note: torpedoes carried in the Dzhevetsky drop collars
Designed by Maj. Gen. (Russian admiralty officers in non-line billets were listed as colonels and generals, not admirals) Ivan Grigorievich Bubnov, the head of the GUK (Main Directorate of Shipbuilding), the Bars class was probably the most advanced and effective Russian submarines until the late mid-1930s when the Malyutka (type M) class boats began entering service.
Russian submarines Volk and Bars (center), iced in over a Baltic Winter. 1915-1917.
At 223-feet oal, they had a displacement of 650 tons (780 submerged) and could operate down to 300 feet. This made them almost ideal for the Baltic. Keep in mind that today’s Sweden’s Blekinge (A26)-class SSKs under construction right now run just 216 feet overall.
Diesel electric (with German Krupp or Russian Ludwig Nobel Kolomna plant diesels, later augmented by some American-made engines sent from New London) powering twin screws, they could make 9 knots submerged (13 on the surface) and carried enough fuel and food for 14 days of operations.
Heavily armed, they had eight 18-inch torpedos carried on the deck in Dzhevetsky drop collar trapeeze systems, and another eight fish in fore and aft torpedo rooms with two tubes in each. A small deck gun or two and a light machine gun were added. Mines could also be carried.
The Russians were able to complete 20 Bars-type boats, of which four were lost during the Great War (including Bars) while three others sank in peacetime operations. Four, as well as two of the unfinished hulls, were captured by the Germans in 1917-18. Post-war, the Soviets kept a dozen of the class in operation into the 1930s, with at least two surviving until the 1950s in use as training ships and battery charging barges.
The Soviets considered them the first “modern” submarines in Russian service.
Evolution of Soviet subs from 1914-1955 with Bars-class at top
In 1993, in the Baltic Sea, in the area of Gotska Sandön Island, the Swedish minesweeper Landsort discovered a Bars-type submarine (most likely Bars herself, which went missing in May 1917) at a depth of 127 meters.
Cap ribbon and model of the Russian submarine Bars at Vladivostok
As for her father, designer Bubnov died of typhus during the Russian Civil War in 1919, aged just 47.
MG Bubnov, in front of the building Tsarist submarine Akula, in happier days
Operation Sea Orbit: On 31 July 1964, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) (bottom), USS Long Beach (CGN-9) (center) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) (top) formed “Task Force One,” the first nuclear-powered task force, and sailed 26,540 nmi (49,190 km) around the world in 65 days. Accomplished without a single refueling or replenishment, “Operation Sea Orbit” demonstrated the capability of nuclear-powered surface ships.
The world’s first nuclear powered flattop and the longest carrier ever constructed (at 1,088 feet oal, later pushed to 1,123 feet, some 31 feet longer than a Nimitz and 17 feet longer than a Ford) will be deconstructed slowly in Mobile Bay through the end of the decade, under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She will disappear while docked at Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services, LLC (MARRS), where the former SS United States is now tied up.
The ex-USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, was ordered on 15 November 1957 during the Eisenhower administration and commissioned on 25 November 1961, somehow just four years later. She left on her inaugural deployment just seven months later in June 1962. In all, she would complete 25 overseas deployments in her career.
Keep that in mind when you note that Ford took nine years from ordering (2008) through commissioning (2017) and only deployed for the first time six years later (2023).
Big E’s original cost, in 1961 dollars, was $451.3 million. Her recycling, after over 55 years of service, will be more expensive until you consider inflation.
Per DOD’s contract announcements last Friday:
NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services LLC, Vernon, Vermont, is awarded a $536,749,731 firm-fixed-price contract (N00024-25-C-4135) for the dismantling, recycling, and disposal of Ex-Enterprise (CVN 65). Under this contract CVN 65 will be dismantled in its entirety, and all resulting materials will be properly recycled or disposed of. Specifically, hazardous materials, including low-level radioactive waste, will be packaged and safely transported for disposal at authorized licensed sites. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by November 2029. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $533,749,731 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment solicitation module, with three offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
How about these great recent Lightning Bug shots that just hit DVIDS from the F-35A Demonstration Team? All show Major Melanie “Mach” Kluesner of the 4th FS, 388th Fighter Wing, Hill Air Force Base, in action.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Melanie “Mach” Kluesner, pilot of the F-35A Demonstration Team, performs aerial maneuvers during the Southernmost Airshow Spectacular at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, on March 30, 2025. The team’s mission is to inspire, engage, and recruit the next generation of Airmen by showcasing the capabilities of the Air Force’s premier fifth-generation fighter. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)
(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)
(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)
U.S. Air Force Maj. Melanie “Mach” Kluesner, pilot of the F-35A Demonstration Team, performs aerial maneuvers alongside a P-51 Mustang and F-16 Fighting Falcon during a heritage flight formation at the Sun ‘n Fun Airshow in Lakeland, Florida, April 2, 2025. Heritage flights honor the history and evolution of airpower by showcasing multiple generations of aircraft flying together. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)
(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)
For reference, the birds are the throwback 50th Anniversary rollout livery F-16C Block 50D (91-0395) of the 20th Fighter Wing, TSI’s P-51D-20-NA Mustang “Double Trouble Too” (463684/N51EA), and the Demo F-35A (19-5483)
Tennessee-based Barrett teamed up with Mars, Inc., and brought a radical new 30mm grenade launcher over the finish line in an Army competition.
It is planned that the new gun will eventually be fielded as part of the Army’s Precision Grenadier System program. The PGS requirement is for a soldier-portable, shoulder-fired, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, integrated system that can engage targets in defilade– such as behind a hill– as well as aerial drones at close range via programmable ammunition. Ultimately, this allows the user faster fire than a 40mm, and with more power and round capabilities than the 25mm.
First launched in 2023 as part of a xTechSoldier Lethality contest designed to rapidly fill the requirement, the PGS competition soon boiled down to two platforms: FN’s PGS-001 and the Barrett-Mars 30mm Support Rifle System, and, with the SRS announced last week as the winner.
Barrett and Mars Inc. recently put their xTech Precision Grenadier System prototype to the test in a live fire event. (Photo: Barrett)
The Barrett-Mars 30mm Support Rifle System was recently picked for the Army’s PGS program. It uses the Vortex-made XM157 fire control system, which is also used by the Army’s planned 6.5mm Next Generation Squad Weapons, the M7 rifle, and the M250 machine gun. (Photo: Barrett)
The ammo used by the PGS will include Programmable Air Bursting High Explosive (HE), Proximity Fuzed, and Point Detonating HE, as well as a Close Quarter Battle Round. (Photo: Guns.com)
The SRS is intended to be portable and used by a single soldier. (Photo: U.S. Army xTech Program)
So, I spent last week bumming around Connecticut getting some cool behind-the-scenes stuff at Colt Firearms. Part of this involved visiting the State Archives and Library, which has a ton of historically important Colts on display (and more in storage).
How about a pre-Patterson Colt with an integral under-folding bayonet?
It is just over 9.5 feet long, making it roughly a 1:48 scale whopper of the 456-foot (oal) battlewagon that served as the flagship of the Great White Fleet on its 47,000-mile circumnavigation.
Showing Connecticut in a hybrid configuration that she never sailed in, with her original military pole masts and a later haze grey scheme while lacking her original ornate bow crest, the model was apparently constructed by the Navy around the time of the naval parade for the Hudson-Fulton Expedition in New York in 1909 for shoreside display during the event.
Notably, at the time of the Hudson-Fulton, Connie had been refitted with lattice masts, which she would carry the rest of her career. The masts and new paint scheme, as well as the deletion of ornamentation, came as lessons learned from the recent war between Russia and Japan.
Connecticut (BB-18) in the Hudson River for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, 25 September – 9 October 1909. Note the lattice masts. Detroit Photographic Company postcard photo via LOC LC-DIG-det-4a16075
The model later bounced around Navy museums and archives before being presented in 1952 to Connecticut State Librarian James Brewster by U.S. Senator William Benton (D-CT). Since being in state care, it has been moved several times and underwent extensive cleaning and restoration in 2014, in line with the 100th Anniversary of the Great War.
Official caption: “OSS Field Station, London, England, Looking over guns in guard room, 1944.” Note a dixie-cup clad bluejacket maintains the armory, while the rack is filled with Springfield M1903s sans slings and M1 helmets sans covers.
You can also see that this image, taken at the OSS’s “Area H” in England, is inside a Q-hut by the roof. National Archives Identifier 540070
While most think the OSS was primarily an Army operation, the Navy provided key intelligence and logistics support for the secret squirrel organization behind the scenes in European and Pacific theatres. This included providing supplies, equipment, and transportation for agents and resistance groups to operate behind enemy lines.
The OSS’s Special Operations Branch included a dedicated Maritime Unit, which, logically, had a lot of Navy personnel.
An OSS MU swimmer– complete with “Navy” tattoo– uses a Lambertsen Rebreathing Unit and negotiates anti-submarine concertina wire nets during underwater training.
Going well beyond that, the sea service also formed Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs) and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) who often served in conjunction and on loan with the OSS’s in-house Scouts and Raiders (S&Rs).
A monument to the NCDUs and S&Rs was erected last year overlooking the old “Dog Red” sector of Omaha Beach in the town of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer in Normandy.
Lots of interesting stories from the USCG that have likely slipped through under the radar for most in the past couple of weeks.
M4 profile, just the essentials
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Calhoun (WMSL 759)recently offloaded more than 19,055 pounds of cocaine and marijuana valued at approximately $140.9 million in Port Everglades, Florida, the result of five interdictions in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea by interagency partners under JIATF-S.
Check out this GM2’s carbine (and holstered Glock), from Calhoun.
Petty Officer 2nd Class David Hopkins, a gunner’s mate aboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Calhoun (WMSL 759), watches illegal narcotics in Port Everglades, May 16, 2025. (Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jessica Walker)
The no-frills setup runs an Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic (PRO) red dot reflex sight on a QRP2 mount rather than an ACOG or Elcan. His short quad rail has an inexpensive ($125 if you shop around) Streamlight TLR RM2 1,000 lumen white light. Note the KAC 300M flip-up rear sight in case the Aimpoint takes a nap. Magpul PMAG and Mechanix gloves for the win.
USCG Hero remembered on DDG
The keel for the future USS Quentin Walsh (DDG 132), an Arleigh Burke-class Flight III guided missile destroyer, was laid down during a ceremony on 20 May at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine.
The ship’s sponsor is Madison Ann Zolper, great-granddaughter of the ship’s namesake, Coast Guard Capt. Quentin R. Walsh (USCGA 1933), who earned the Navy Cross for his heroic actions during the liberation of the strategic French port of Cherbourg in World War II.
Future USS Quentin Walsh’s (DDG 132) sponsor, Madison Ann Zolper, welded her initials into the ship’s keel plate for authentication during a keel laying ceremony at Bath Iron Works, Maine. (NAVSEA photos)
Cmdr. Quentin R. Walsh in his dress blues bearing his recently awarded Navy Cross Medal. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
Armed with bazookas, hand grenades, rifles, and submachine guns, he and his party overcame sniper fire and blew open steel doors of underground bunkers. About 400 of the Germans in the arsenal area surrendered. Walsh’s command went on to capture Fort Du Homet and its garrison of 350 men. In all, his 53-man special force was credited with taking about 750 German prisoners and liberating 52 captured American paratroopers.
For his actions in and around Cherbourg beginning June 9, he received the Navy Cross. The citation for the award noted:
“Heroism as Commanding Officer of a U.S. Naval party reconnoitering the naval facilities and naval arsenal at Cherbourg June 26 and 27, 1944. While in command of a reconnaissance party, Commander Walsh entered the port of Cherbourg and penetrated the eastern half of the city, engaging in street fighting with the enemy. He accepted the surrender and disarmed 400 of the enemy force at the naval arsenal and later received the unconditional surrender of 350 enemy troops and, at the same time, released 52 captured U.S. Army paratroopers. His determination and devotion to duty were instrumental in the surrender of the last inner fortress of the Arsenal.”
First visit to Nuku Hiva in over 150 years
The Bear-class 270-foot cutter USCG Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC 903), the first of her class to be moved to the Pacific, has been roaming around recently. Last week, she called on Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. In doing so, she is the first American warship to dock there since the sloop-of-war USS Vandalia in 1858.
USCG Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) at Nuku Hiva, CWO2 Michael Deaton & BM3 Joseph Curran
The windswept island has hosted Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson in the past, along with the famed 46-gun frigate USS Essex in 1813, putting Harriet Lane in good company.
CG SF in the PI
While the USCGC Stratton was in the Philippines, forward deployed as part of DESRON 15, a det from the Coast Guard’s San Diego-based Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) West has been working with the Philippine Coast Guard Special Operations Force in a dynamic training exercise in Puerto Princesa, leaving the question of what is better camo for sea ops, the green-based Scorpion OCP or the grey-based Camopat.
Photos by Petty Officer 3rd Class William Kirk:
Last Islands sent to Colombia
We’ve recently covered the recent decommissioning of the final three 110-foot Island class cutters on the beat in the U.S.– USCGC Liberty (WPB-1334),Mustang (WPB-1310), and Naushon (WPB-1311)-– long-serving in Alaska for the past 30 years. It seems they are headed south for continued service alongside each other, sisters to the end.
The decommissioned and disarmed USCGCs Naushon (WPB 1311), Mustang (WPB 1310), and Liberty (WPB 1334) transit through Seymour Narrows in British Columbia, Canada, in May 2025, heading from their longtime home in Alaska to San Diego and warmer climes. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of USCGC Mustang)
On 19 May, representatives from the Colombian Navy received the trio in a ceremony held at the port of San Diego through the Excess Defense Articles program. They will receive a refit in the States before the official handover.
Other members of the 49-member class have been transferred to Costa Rica, Georgia, Greece, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Ukraine. Only 14 have been scrapped. Not a bad run considering the last unit was delivered from Bollinger in 1992, and they had a 15-year planned lifespan.
While patrolling international waters off the Pacific coasts of Mexico, Central, and South America, Kimball’s crew interdicted five suspected drug smuggling vessels, seizing $191 million worth of cocaine and apprehending 18 suspected drug smugglers.
Maritime enforcement specialists from Tactical Law Enforcement Team South and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL 756) crewmembers interdict a suspected drug smuggling vessel while patrolling the Eastern Pacific Ocean, March 4, 2025. The U.S. Coast Guard is increasing its presence in key areas to secure the U.S. maritime border against the flow of cocaine, fentanyl, and other illegal drugs. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Max Hanfland)
Note her embarked crew included at least two NWU III camo-wearing USN enlisted (left) balanced against the ship’s crew in blue, the TACLET team in OCP, and the HITRON guys in Nomex flight suits. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Austin Wiley)
A video of one of the intercepts showing TACLET at work. Note the Gen 5 G19s. The USCG notably uses them rather than the M17/M18.
Kimball also released a very well-done 90-second moto video of the patrol, leaning into not only the seizure operations but also showing some rare footage of the cutter’s CIWS and Mk 110 in live-fire action along with small arms and HITRON clips.
Official period caption: “Soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division walk past mud-clogged tanks parked by the side of the road on Okinawa. 26 May 1945.”
U.S. Signal Corps Photo SC 208600. U.S. National Archives
The “tanks” are actually one of the more rarely seen armored vehicles in American service in WWII, the M8 Scott, an early 75mm self-propelled howitzer.
Offically known as “Howitzer Motor Carriage M8,” it picked up the easier moniker in a ode to “Old Fuss n Feathers” himself, Gen.Winfield Scott– the War of 1812 vet who lead the Army during the war with Mexico and the first year of the Civil War who later passed away at West Point just shy of his 80th birthday.
The M8 HMC was an interesting stop-gap vehicle. It used the hull, engine, tracks, and guts of the M5 Stuart light tank. It then substituted the 37mm popgun and the Stuart’s tiny turret for a new open-topped turret armed with a 75mm L18 M2 or M3 howitzer—an artillery piece that was essentially just an M1 howitzer modified for use in a vehicle.
Some 1,778 Scotts were made by the Cadillac division of General Motors from September 1942 to January 1944, and they were very useful in hill fighting due to the high angle of their guns.
“Members of the 758th Light Tank Bn. (Colored) fire their 75mm howitzer in support of infantry movements on the Fifth Army front. 4 April, 1945.” SC 329839
SC 329839 758th Light Tank Bn M8 Scott April 1945 4 April, 1945
M8 Scott HMC 75 howitzer passing a knocked-out Panther
Note that this M8 HMC is named “Laxative.”
M8 troop E, 106th Cavalry Recon Group, Karlsbrunn 6 February 1945
Post-war, they were quickly withdrawn, replaced with 105mm SPGs, but they went on to serve with U.S. allies such as Mexico and the KMT Army in exile in Taiwan for another two decades. They saw particularly hard Cold War service in Vietnam, first by the French and then by the Cambodians and South Vietnamese who inherited them.
M8 Scott 75mm howitzer motor carrier, October 1950, Pingtung exercise, ROC Taiwan, KMT
The crew of USS Texas (Battleship No. 35) assembled for a USO Show onboard in Leyte Gulf on 22 May 1945, relaxing after being relieved from the Battle of Okinawa.
Courtesy of the National Archives & Records Administration.
As detailed by the Battleship Texas Foundation, just the week prior:
USS Texas was relieved from the Battle of Okinawa after 50 days in action. Texas expended a staggering amount of ammunition in those 50 days:
While the battle was over for Texas on May 14, 1945, Okinawa was not secured until June 22nd. This long, protracted battle was grueling for the land forces but also exposed the Navy to near-constant air attacks. The Navy lost nearly 5,000 men and another 5,000 were wounded. 36 ships were sunk and over 350 were damaged. Texas emerged from her time off Okinawa unscathed in large part due to her crew’s constant state of readiness. Captain Charles Baker included the following praise in his after-action report:
“It is worthy of comment that this vessel remained in Condition I or I Easy [“battle stations”] throughout the entire period off the coast of Okinawa, some seven weeks. That the men took this without undue fatigue is a tribute to their spirit and physical condition. It is not believed that any lesser condition of readiness can meet adequately the emergencies of suicide bombers and suicide boats. The only answer to the approaching [kamikaze] is early and great volume of fire, using every gun that will possibly bear, and early warning by radar cannot always be relied upon. The men realized this and preferred to remain at their stations, resting and sleeping there as opportunity offered, rather than be called up frequently from below as would inevitably have happened. The rest period when it finally came, however, was much appreciated.”
-Captain Baker’s Report for the Battle of Okinawa, filed May 26, 1945
The French-built Daphne-class submarine SAS Johanna van der Merwe (S99) was ordered in 1967 by South Africa for use by the SAN, one of 26 of Daphnes constructed during the Cold War for service in six different fleets around the world.
Commissioned in 1971, “JDM” gave lots of shadowy and unsung service during the assorted “Bush Wars” in the 1970s and 80s in which South Africa was a proxy for the West against the Soviets in Angola and Mozambique.
SAS Johanna van der Merwe Daphne-class submarine South African Navy by Tim Johnson
She reportedly took part in at least ten clandestine special operations, dropping commandos behind enemy lines. However, Söderlund details at least 11 commando runs by JDM as: Op Extend (June 1978), Op Lark 1, Op Bargain (January 1979), Op Artist (February/March 1980), Op Nobilis (July 1984), Op Legaro (September 1984), Op Magic (March 1985), Op Argon (May 1985), Op Cide (February/March 1986), Op Drosdy (May/June 1986), and Op Appliance (May/June 1987).
Kept in operation somehow despite layers of embargoes, she outlasted the Apartheid era in South Africa and was renamed SAS Assegaai in 1997 with the change in government in Jo’Burg.
Decommissioned in 2003 after a 32-year career, her three sisters in SAN service were cut up for scrap, but a shoestring operation over the past 22 years has finally saved her. While she spent a few years as a floating museum before closing to the public in 2015, the “Silent Stalker” is now preserved on shore in Simon’s Town.
South Africa – Cape Town – 30 April 2025 – The Naval Heritage Trust (NHT) celebrated the official opening of the SAS Assegaai Submarine Museum in Simon’s Town. This milestone marks the culmination of years of dedication and hard work by NHT volunteers, donors, and stakeholders. This also happens to be the first submarine museum in Africa, a valuable tourism drawcard for the Western Cape. SAS Assegaai, formerly known as SAS Johanna van der Merwe, was a Daphné-class submarine of the South African Navy. Launc
South Africa – Cape Town – 30 April 2025 – The Naval Heritage Trust (NHT) celebrated the official opening of the SAS Assegaai Submarine Museum in Simon’s Town. This milestone marks the culmination of years of dedication and hard work by NHT volunteers, donors, and stakeholders. This also happens to be the first submarine museum in Africa, a valuable tourism drawcard for the Western Cape. SAS Assegaai, formerly known as SAS Johanna van der Merwe, was a Daphné-class submarine of the South African Navy. Launc
