PACIFIC OCEAN (Jan. 20, 2018) Amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), front, transits the Pacific Ocean conducting a passing exercise next to Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).
(U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sean M. Castellano/Released)
Of course, America can operate 16 or more F-35Bs, generating 40 sorties in a 14-hour period, which is more than most of the world’s carriers out there, and the last America (CV-66) was a full-fledged carrier that held the line for 30 years during the Cold War, but hey…
Built at Pascagoula and commissioned Oct. 2014, the current America served for almost three years as a test bed for the class and non-carrier operations of the F-35B while underway and is just now finishing up her maiden deployment, a seven-month cruise as the flag of her ARG hosting the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Warship Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018: The wandering Dutchman of the Baltic
NHHC Catalog #: 19-N-11-21-10
Here we see the Holland-class Pantser-dekschepen (protected cruiser) HMNLS Gelderland of the Royal Netherlands Navy (who else?) at the Jamestown Exposition Naval Review, Jamestown, Virginia, 12 June 1907– with her laundry out to dry as a schooner passes. Designed before the 20th Century, she would go on to have the longest life of her six pack of sisters and, modernized to fight a very different war than she was intended, suffer a curious fate.
The Hollands were the Dutch answer to the Royal Navy’s Apollo-class second-class protected cruisers (3,600-ton, 19.75 kts, 6×6-inch, 6×4.7-inch) and the class leader was ordered in 1894. The first flight of three cruisers (Holland, Zeeland, Friesland) had a displacement of 3,840-tons while the second batch (of which Gelderland was the lead followed by Noord Brabant and Utrecht) went 4,100-tons as they held 12 Yarrow boilers as opposed to 8 in the original design and went just a couple feet longer. Speed was 20-knots on the latter trio while the ships were armed with a pair of 149mm/37cal singles fore and aft and a half-dozen 120mm/37cal guns in broadside as well as smaller guns, all made by Krupp. The “protected” in their designation came from a thin coating of Harvey nickel armor.
They were handsome craft and could both show the Dutch flag in the Caribbean-protecting the Netherlands Antilles, the Pacific where Holland held the sprawling Netherlands East Indies, and of course in metropolitan waters in Europe.
Class leader HMNLS Holland colorized by Postales Navales
The subject of our tale, Gelderland, was laid down at Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij, Rotterdam in 1897. Commissioned 15 July 1900, our new cruiser, on the orders of Queen Wilhelmina herself, was dispatched to carry the former Transvaal president “Oom Paul” Kruger into exile from Portuguese Mozambique, through British sea lanes, to the French port of Marseille.
She left Africa with Kruger on board in October, arriving in France on 22 November where a crowd of 60,000 awaited.
President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic (left) leaving Delagoa Bay, Mozambique on 20 October 1900 aboard HNLMS Gelderland. Photo Nat. Cult. Hist. Museum”, presumably the National Cultural History Museum in Pretoria, South Africa.
From the Med, Gelderland proceeded to her first posting, the Dutch East Indies, where she served until rotating back to Europe in 1905.
She was off again in 1907 to represent the Netherlands at the Jamestown Exposition Naval Review in Hampton Roads.
GELDERLAND (Dutch cruiser, 1898) Caption: At the Jamestown Exposition Naval Review, Jamestown, Virginia, 12 June 1907. Description: Catalog #: 19-N-11-21-9
Then came a sortie to Curacao in 1908-09 along with her sister Friesland in response to a brush war from Venezuelan strongman Cipriano Castro who was pissed that his political rivals were being sheltered by the Dutch in their Caribbean colony offshore.
Castro sent his small naval forces to meet the much more imposing Dutch fleet and Gelderland promptly captured the Venezuelan coast guard ship Alix off Puerto Cabell on 12 December 1908. The Venezuelans offered no resistance and the Gelderland towed the Alix as a prize into Willemstad, making headlines around the world. The Dutch then proceeded to effect a naval blockade of the South American country’s coastline. The crisis only ended when vice president Juan Vicente Gómez, with U.S. help, seized power and Castro fled to Germany.
Returning to Europe, Gelderland was rushed to the Bosporus in 1912 to protect Dutch interests during the Balkan Wars, and a 100-man landing force from her crew along with Korps Mariniers of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps defended the legation area in Constantinople.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands was a well-armed neutral during World War I, though the Germans occupied neighboring Belgium and the country absorbed a million refugees (as well as 30,000 escaped Belgian soldiers and the majority of the British 1st Royal Naval Brigade). Though spies from all sides swarmed across the country and German U-boats and mines sank numerous Dutch merchantmen and fishing craft, the Dutch Navy, though mobilized, escaped conflict.
Dutch protected cruiser Hr. MS. Gelderland at Vlissingen, the Netherlands in 1916, The photo was published in the Dutch magazine De Prins dated 23 September 1916 page 148. The Dutch queen Wilhelmina is visible while walking on the pontoon bridge. Source: http://warshipsresearch.blogspot.com/2011/10/dutch-protected-cruiser-hrms-gelderland_27.html
Gelderland 1917
After the war, the class was considered obsolete and whittled down. To be sure, two units, Friesland and Utrecht were decommissioned in 1913 before the conflict and had been scrapped already. Another pair, Holland, and Zeeland, were decommissioned in 1920 and 1924 respectively. Noord Brabant was disarmed in 1920 and used as a barracks ship and hulk at Vlissingen while only Gelderland was retained in service– as a gunnery training ship.
Pantserdekschip Hr.Ms. Gelderland, 1930, via Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie
She undertook regular training missions and was often seen in warmer waters.
Gelderland well-lit during the night, a display in celebration of the birth of Princess Beatrix in January 1938. The photo was most likely taken at Curacao. (Collection J. Stolk via NetherlandsNavy.nl) http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/index.html
In 1939, the pivotal year that the Netherlands would try to escape a Second World War, Gelderland was armed with some additional .50 cal and 8mm machine guns in preparation for the conflict.
When the Germans swarmed into the country in May 1940, the Dutch managed to scuttle Noord Brabant at her moorings, but Gelderland was captured at Den Helder. Renamed by the Germans as Niobe after the figure in Greek mythology, the nearly half-century-old cruiser was heavily modified to serve as an anti-aircraft cruiser (flakschiff), she was given a FUMO 213 Würzburg radar, searchlights, and outfitted with a mixed battery of eight 105mm, 4 40mm, and 16 20mm guns.
Via NetherlandsNavy.nl
The Germans sailed the old Dutchman (slowly) to the Baltic in 1941 where she served as a floating AAA battery to protect key coastal points from the Red Air Force.
Niobe notably fought off Soviet swarms at the Finnish city of Kotka where the Russians thought she was the Finnish coast defense ship and former Warship Wednesday alum Väinämöinen. At Kotka, she was attacked by waves of more than 150 Red A-20 and Pe-2 bombers on 16 July 1944, sending her to the bottom that night after 9 bomb hits.
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.
With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.
PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.
Auto Mag’s president, Patrick Henry, told me it’s the same story over and over. With less than 10,000 original Auto Mags out there, and those numbers declining through attrition every year, the guns are rare and often cherished collectors’ items that rarely get a chance to leave the safe. Therefore, seeing a collection of them– brand new– is a jolt.
“It’s amazing to see guys stop as they walk past and then one will turn their head and gape and then grab their buddy and pull them over to take a look,” said Henry, who has shepherded the South Carolina-based company, reborn in 2015 with the express purpose to bring the iconic gun back from the dead.
The Honolulu-based Coast Guard Cutter Sherman (WHEC 720, shown here as she returned home Sept. 20, 2017, after a 94-day, 16,000-mile patrol in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by USCGC Sherman/Released)
The 50-year-old Hamilton-class 378-foot high endurance cutter USCGC Sherman (WHEC-720) has returned from her final trip under a U.S. flag last week following a 76-day patrol in the Bering Sea. She is scheduled to decommission in March.
From USCG Public Affairs:
During the three-month patrol, the crew supported the safe transit of a disabled vessel over 800 miles to Dutch Harbor, enforced fisheries regulations in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. They also provided a command and control platform capable of embarking a helicopter, thus providing search and rescue coverage to those operating in the Bering Sea.
Sherman has a storied history including being the last remaining U.S. Warship in the Coast Guard or Navy to have sunk an enemy vessel. It is also one of only two cutters to hold the Vietnam Service Award and the only cutter to hold the Combat Action Ribbon for action in the Vietnam War.
In 2001 it became the first cutter to circumnavigate the world, after conducting U.N. sanctions enforcement duty in the Persian Gulf and goodwill projects in Madagascar, South Africa and Cape Verde.
Adding to Sherman’s history, in March of 2007, a boarding team dispatched from the cutter discovered 17 metric tons of cocaine on the Panamanian-flagged freighter, Gatun. This seizure remains the largest drug bust in U.S. history with an estimated street value of $600 million. As the record holder, Sherman proudly wears the Golden Snowflake.
The crew rounded out the cutter’s storied career in the Bering Sea; conducting 16 fisheries boardings, issuing four fisheries violations and one safety violation, ensuring the integrity of the $6 billion fishing industry. As the primary search and rescue asset in the region at the time, Sherman also ensured the safe transit of the crew of the Resolve Pioneer, a Dutch Harbor-based ocean-going tug, following a severe casualty at the far end of the Aleutian chain, restricting their speed and maneuverability.
“As Sherman and her crew return home from this final patrol, it is humbling to look back on the history and the accomplishments of this crew and the previous,” said Capt. Steve Wittrock, commanding officer of Sherman. “This final patrol has been significant in that the Bering Sea mission is one of the most demanding and historically important in the Coast Guard and I am very proud of the way that the crew has performed throughout the last two challenging months.”
Sherman is one of the Coast Guard’s four remaining 378-foot high endurance cutters still in operation. The 1960s era fleet of cutters is presently being replaced by the 413-foot national security cutters, which will soon serve as the Coast Guard’s primary, long-range asset. Honolulu will serve as a homeport to two of the national security cutters, replacing Sherman and the already decommissioned Morgenthau.
So far, the State Department has passed on three of the stricken “378s” to the Philippines (USCGC Hamilton, Boutwell, Dallas), two to the Nigerian Navy (Gallatin and Chase) and two to the Bangladesh Navy (Jarvis and Rush). Morgenthau went to the Vietnam Coast Guard last year. With Sherman decommissioned, only USCGC Mellon (WHEC-717) and Midgett (WHEC-726) based in Seattle, and Munro (WHEC-724) in Kodiak remain in U.S. service and are expected to be replaced by the National Security Cutter program by 2021.
Made it back alive (though the flight back from Vegas was full of walking wounded) so you neither have to avenge me nor get the opportunity to split up my gear.
Here are some of the more interesting developments, though I will circle back around later in the week with a couple of tales of interesting people I met on the way.
Franklin Armory’s BFS III-equipped Revelation “firearm” seems like it would be an SBR, but it only seems that way. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
So I got to check out the Reformation by Franklin Armory, and like I called it, it uses a non-rifled barrel (straight lands and grooves) with rifle ammo (.300BLK/5.56mm) to give you a non-NFA short barreled rifle (because, duh, it’s not legally a rifle!). I made contact on the range with it at close distances and it shot well but is billed with an accuracy of just 4 MOA at 100 yards, which is better than the old Brown Bess– or your typical SKS for that matter– but sill is generating a lot of hate as something as a Stormtrooper rifle. More on that in my column at Guns.com here.
Would you like to know more? (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Then there was the new Tavor TS12 shotgun, which looks like low-effort Starship Troopers cosplay but brings 15 shells of 12 to the party in a bullpup design that is just 29-inches overall (and 10 high!). Recoil impulse was…different. Meh, bullpups. More here.
Mossberg points out that their new 590M series, shown with a 20-round mag inserted above, allows for quick reloading in a smaller package than the other guys’ single-stacks. A pair of 10-round mags, standard to the shotgun, is seen to the left (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The surprise of the party was Mossberg’s HUGE double stack 12 gauge mags for a dedicated series of 590 shotguns. Sure they are expensive ($100) and giant (like a loaf of french bread for the 20-rounder big) but they are still smaller than comparable single stacks from Remington and Black Aces while being similar in price to Saiga mags. More on that here.
Cannon Row at Fort Moultrie is home to eight pieces of heavy artillery original to Charleston Harbor. Each piece has a story to tell of ingenuity, technology, and resourcefulness. Cannon Row includes a 13-inch seacoast mortar, two 10-inch Rodmans, a 10-inch Confederate Columbiad, a 10-inch Columbiad that was rifled and banded during the war, an 8-inch Parrott, a 10-inch Parrott, and the 7-inch triple-banded Brooke Rifle. Of the 8 pieces, the rifled and banded Columbiad and the Brooke are the most unique.
The modified Columbiad was originally a Union piece and then was captured by the Confederates during the surrender of Fort Sumter in 1861. At a later date, the gun was hit at least twice by artillery and became unserviceable. Beauregard sent the piece to be rifled by a private firm in Charleston. It was outfitted with a bronze trunnion band bearing the initials “CS.” When the gun was recaptured by the Union, they very crudely carved a “US” into the band.
The triple-banded Brooke, now at Fort Moultrie, is the only one surviving of the three ever cast. Thanks to its hard-hitting, iron-penetrating bolts, the gun became a favorite for the soldiers on Sullivan’s Island and a terror for the Union Navy.
Pictured above is Fort Moultrie’s cannon row with an impending thunderstorm in the background.
A COMPANY OF ONE HUNDRED MEN to be selected from the BEST RIFLE SHOTS, In the State, is to be raised to act as a COMPANY OF SHARP SHOOTERS through the War. Each man will be entitled to A BOUNTY OF $22,00, When mustered into the service of the United States, and 100,00 DOLLARS at the close of the War, in addition to his regular pay.
No man will be accepted or mustered into service who is not an active and able-bodied man, and who cannot when firing at a rest at a distance of two hundred yards, put ten consecutive shots into a target the average distance not to exceed five inches from the centre of the bull’s eye to the centre of the ball; and all candidates will have to pass such an examination as to satisfy the recruiting officer of their fitness for enlistment in this corps.
Recruits having Rifles to which they are accustomed are requested to bring them to the place of rendezvous.
Recruits will be received by JAMES D. FESSENDEN, Adams Block, No. 23, Market Square, PORTLAND, Maine.
Sept. 16, 1861. Bridgton Reporter Press,—S. H. Noyes, Printer.
The above broadside, is, of course for Col. Hiram Berdan’s U.S. Sharpshooters. Tasked in 1861 with recruiting of 18 companies of marksmen, from 8 states, which were formed into two regiments (1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters) later year. Company “D” of the 2nd USSS was raised in Maine on November 2, 1861.
Their distinctive green uniforms served them well until they were replaced with more standard Union blue by 1863.
1st USSS Rgt early in the war, by Woodbridge
When the Sharpshooter brigade was disbanded altogether in late 1864, the remaining Mainers of the company were rolled into the 17th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment and ultimately mustered out on June 10, 1865, after the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomatix Campaign.
(U.S. Navy Museum Number: 428-GX-USN 1172664) Soviet strike bomber Tupolev Tu-22M (Russian: Туполев Ту-22М; NATO reporting name: Backfire) Photograph received by U.S. Naval Intellegence, July 1978.
Though the type first flew in 1969 and was operational by 1972, it’s existance was not widely known in the West until it popped up over the Baltic on an excercise in 1980 during the international heartburn over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the footage appeared on state-run TV.
Found this on the range and, despite it’s odd recoil impulse and sometimes confusing weapon manipulation, is very interesting in a 1960s High Standard HS10 kinda way. I give you the IWI Tavor TS12, a bullpup semi-auto shotgun with a 15-shot capacity.
The Israeli shotgun uses a trio of 5-shot (using 2.75-inch shells) tubular magazines that automatically loads the next round in the 3-inch chamber when the mag is rotated into place. When using 3-inch shells, the capacity drops by one shell in each mag. The 18.5-inch barrel is threaded for Benelli or Beretta chokes and one is included. Weight empty is advertised as being 8 pounds. The shotgun includes a one-piece Picatinny top rail and M-Lok slots on the forward handguard. The ambi design allows the user to swap out for left or right controls and ejection.
And there is also this thing, which shoots very well, but they still aren’t letting on how it is done. I am still on record that it uses a form of rifling that isn’t considered such by BATFE. We shall see.
Franklin Armory promises 11.5-inch barreled non-NFA firearm, with a stock
Also, no Warship Wednesday tomorrow. Sorry gang. Will rejoin WW already in progress next week. The past two weeks have been swamped. If I don’t make it back alive, you know the drill: avenge my death.
The Armada of the Mexican Republic awhile back contracted with the Dutch (Damen) to build a series of four Sigma 10514 POLA (Patrullera Oceánica de Largo Alcance, eng=Oceanic Long Range Patrol) ships to replace the elderly 1960s steam FFs bought from the U.S. and augment their locally-produced light (read= lightly armed yacht) OPVs.
The 344-foot, 2,000-ton frigates are pretty nice and are really comparable to the German MEKO 200s (and frankly better than the LCS). While Indonesia is getting some that are pretty tricked out, the Mexican Navy has opted for a Bofors 57mm, 25mm secondaries (Mk38s), RAM, Harpoon, and Mk. 32 ASW tubes. Check out the below to get a fix on them and how the work will be split into modules between Holland and Mexico.
The Government of Mexico has requested to buy six (6) RGM-84L Harpoon Block II surface launched missiles, twenty-three (23) Block II Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) tactical missiles and six (6) MK 54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedoes. Also included are eight (8) MK 825 Mod 0 RAM Guided Missile Round Packs (GMRP) tri-pack shipping and storage containers; RAM Block 2 MK 44 Mod 4 Guided Missile Round Pack (GMRP); two (2) MK 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes (SVTT) triple tube launchers; two hundred and fifty (250) rounds of AA98 25 mm high explosive and semi-armor piercing ammunition; seven hundred and fifty (750) rounds A976 25mm target practice and tracer ammunition; four hundred and eighty (480) rounds of BA22 57mm high explosive programmable fuze ammunition; nine hundred and sixty (960) rounds of BA23 57mm practice ammunition; containers; spare and repair parts; support and test equipment; publications and technical documentation; personnel training and training equipment; U.S. Government and contractor representatives’ technical assistance; engineering and logistics support services; installation services; associated electronics and hardware to control the launch of torpedoes; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated cost is $98.4 million
