Category Archives: weapons

Farewell, Gazelle

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The so ugly it’s pretty Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter, made domestically by Westland, began its British military career on 6 July 1974, and after nearly 50 years of service that spanned all branches of the Forces, the beloved 5-seat whirlybird was retired on Halloween. It is the only helicopter to have been produced for and served with all of the British services.

In total, Westland produced nearly 300 Gazelle helicopters, with 282 of them being delivered to the British armed forces: 

  • Westland SA.341B Gazelle AH.1, for the Army Air Corps and Royal Marines (Commandos)
  • Westland SA.341C Gazelle HT.2, for the Royal Navy
  • Westland SA.341D Gazelle HT.3, for the Royal Air Force
  • Westland SA.341E Gazelle HCC.4, for the Royal Air Force

Famously, a handful of RM and AAC “Gazzys” (11 of 3 Commando Brigade Air Sqn, 6 of 656 Sqn Army Air Corps) performed vital reconnaissance, liaison, medivac, resupply, and ersatz gunship roles in the Falklands, where British air power ashore was almost non-existent. For reference, the only other rotary-winged aircraft available to the Marines and Tommys were three squadrons of overworked and aged Fleet Air Arm Wessex HU.5s (CH-34s) that also had to crossdeck troops and supplies across the fleet, 9 tiny Wessex Scouts, and a single magical Chinook.

THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT, APRIL – JUNE 1982 (FKD 313) The Battle for Tumbledown. A casualty of the Scots Guards is rushed by stretcher to a Gazelle helicopter for evacuation on Goat Ridge, below Mount Harriet. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205189227

RM SA341B in the Falkland Islands in 1982. Note the dark green-black scheme which really didn’t do any favors in the mossy sub-polar region, and the unguided 68mm SNEB rocket pods mounted, borrowed from RAF Harriers.

This is in addition to hard service in Northern Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, Canada, Kenya, Belize, Cyprus, Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan.

To mark this historic end, the last British operator, 5 Regiment Army Air Corps, flew a formation of three Gazelle helicopters from Aldergrove Flying Station to their final resting place at Vector Aerospace International Ltd in Gosport. The flypast included HQ 38 (Irish) Bde in Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn, and various historic locations in GB.

The Gazelle replaced the H-13 Sioux and in turn, is being phased out in favor of the Airbus H135 (MBB EC135). They continue to fly overseas with something like 20 different operators including the French (along with a dozen French allies across Africa) and the Egyptians.

Fast, nimble, and agile, it was the “sports car of the air” explains Army Air Corps pilot David Caldwell, who flew Gazelles from 1976 to 2009:

Grenada at 40: The Eastern Caribbean Peace Force

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The green light to intervention in Grenada, besides the fact that 50 American diplomats and 600 American medical students were caught in the crossfire of the country’s latest military coup, was that the acting head of the eight-member OECS, Prime Minister Eugenia Charles of Dominica, asked the U.S. to intervene in Grenada. Her request was made on behalf of seven members—Dominica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. This request was endorsed by Commonwealth member Grenada’s figurehead governor-general, Paul Scoon, who represented the queen on the island but was under house arrest at the time and had no voice in the Marxist government.

While a mixed task group of Delta-augmented Rangers, SEAL-augmented Marines, and a brigade of the 82nd Airborne did the ground fighting from 25-29 October, a smaller light battalion-sized follow-on force drawn from the OECS, dubbed the Eastern Caribbean Peace Force, arrived to provide a constabualry force on Grenada for the next 23 months.

Prime Minister Seaga promised a reinforced infantry company from Jamaica and Prime Minister Adams a reinforced infantry platoon from Barbados. At the same time, the other prime ministers–Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis– contributed detachments from their police forces. Antigua and Barbuda later chipped in an infantry squad.

Until that time, the forces had never worked together although they did share a mix of Commonwealth (British) kit including some WWII-vintage helmets, Pattern 58 web gear, and inch-pattern FN FAL L1A1 variants– which at least used 7.62 NATO, the latter about the only thing the Americans could support.

Consisting of 353 troops from allied Caribbean nations, the force was under the command of Colonel Rudyard Lewis, who began his military career in 1951 when he enlisted as a cadet in the old Barbados Regiment and, after graduating from Sandhurst in 1962 and 15 years of service with the Jamaica Defence Force, became Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force in 1980.

The U.S. accepted transport and supply ownership of the ECPF from the get-go, with the USAF flying the contingents to the island via C-130s and the Navy covering their immediate logistics needs (such as food, helmets, flak vests, boots, and some field radios), a task that later fell to the Army.

Eastern Caribbean Defense Force members arrive in Grenada. Note the British WWII-era Mk III/IV “turtle” helmet on the Barbados trooper in the front of the column, wearing green fatigues, the garrison belts and red-striped trousers of the assorted constables complete with Pattern 58 webbing, and the general armament consisting of the L1A1. NARA df-st-84-09830

Barbados troops with their distinctive OD fatigues and berets. Note the blue brassards on their uniforms, marking them as members of the “police” oriented ECPF. At some point shortly after arrival, the force was given American M1 steel pot helmets and Jungle boots from USMC stocks, which the trooper in the foreground can be seen wearing. Note the DPM-clad Jamaicans in the center background. NARA dn-sn-85-02056

While it was envisioned that the Carribean peacekeepers would, at the most, guard arrested Cuban nationals/surrendered Grenadian POWs until they were repatriated or paroled– a task they took over from 2nd Battalion, 75th Rangers on the afternoon of 24 October just after they landed– they were also used in a limited role in supporting JTF 123’s stalled attack on St. George’s on 25 October.

Cubans are guarded by a member of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force as they sit in a holding area waiting for their removal from the island during Operation URGENT FURY. Judging from the web gear and uniform, this appears to be a member of the Barbados detachment and the date is sometime between 24-28 October. NARA df-st-84-09823

Members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force board a US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at Point Salines Airfield during the multiservice, multinational Operation URGENT FURY. Note the American jungle boots, L1A1s, and assorted green utilities and black berets– marking these troops as members of the Barbados detachment. NARA DF-SN-84-10813

Barbados members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force participating in Operation URGENT FURY. Note the M1 steel pots, Pattern 58 gear, and L1A1s, NARA DN-SN-85-02035

DPM-clad Jamaican Defense Force Members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force board a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during Operation URGENT FURY. Note the newly supplied American jungle boots and M1 helmets, complete with EDRL covers, likely drawn right from USMC stocks. NARA DF-ST-84-09935

A Barbados member of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force participating in Operation URGENT FURY. He is armed with a 7.62 mm L1A1 and sports several new additions to his kit including an M69 flak vest, a pair of Zeiss Hensoldt military binos, and some jungle boots. His pants, rather than the fatigues they arrived in, seem to be Navy dungarees. NARA DN-SN-84-12051

Barbados Caribbean Peacekeeping Force members with their L1A1s, fatigues, and black berets, next to some JDF members in DPM. At first the American concern on the ground was the similarity the BDF uniforms had to Cuban regulars and they soon added lots of Marine kit to their wardrobe. NARA DN-SN-85-02057

The CMH’s history of the subject, The Rucksack War, notes, “The American officers who worked with the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force generally gave high marks to the soldiers from Jamaica and Barbados.”

The 2nd Ranger’s S-4 shop, led by Capt. Jose G. Ventura, also found the Jamaican and Barbadan troops to have a particular skill set.

From The Rucksack War:

Captain Ventura’s first thought after relinquishing the detainees was to obtain a share of the captured vehicles for the 2d Battalion. Some of the members of the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force, he noted, were quite adept at jump-starting trucks. One of them helped him start a number of vehicles that he wanted—two water trucks full of potable water and a big Soviet dump truck that could be used for hauling supplies.

By the 27th, the Barbados platoon of the ECPF was detailed to protect the residence of Governor General Sir Paul Scoon, who was the de facto government on the island at the time.

By the late afternoon of the 28th, the peacekeepers handed over the POW compound to the recently flown-in 118th Military Police Company of the XVIII Airborne Corps and switched to general policing and internal security roles. After that, the ECPF would report to Scoon directly.

Members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force in front of the police building during Operation URGENT FURY. Note the lightly equipped Jamaican Defense Force members in the center, clad in British DPM pattern uniforms, while four Barbados detachment members are to the left, including one on a radiotelephone. Note the different beret colors (green for the JDF, black for the BDF) and shared blue brassards. 

When the last U.S. combat unit on Grenada– 2d Battalion, 505th Infantry– left the island on 12 December– B. Gen. Jeffrey M. Farris (Citadel ’59) turned over command of the Urgent Fury operation (then renamed Operation Island Breeze) to the ECPF. 

Together with a 250-man group of XVIII Corps technical advisers and some British police trainers, they would rebuild the Royal Grenadian Police Force and stand guard during the 1984 presidential election on the island.

The mission completed, the last 60 soldiers from the XVIII Airborne Corps departed Grenada on 11 June 1985 and the final members of the ECPF left at the end of that September.

Brigadier Rudyard Lewis, GCM, CVO, ED, JP, received the Gold Crown of Merit from Barbados in 1983. In March 1989 he was honoured by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, being made Commander of the Victorian Order. He retired in 1999, capping 48 years in service.

The ECPF led to the creation of the Barbados-based Regional Security System, with most of the same member nations. They just observed the group’s 40th anniversary, and conduct a yearly Unity Exercise (UNEX) in addition to frequently activating the system’s Response Mechanism “to assist and support our Member States in the event of any occurrence of damage or threat to life,” usually in mutual humanitarian and constabulary support after hurricanes and tropical storms. They also share research, intelligence, advisory, technical, and administrative support among the member states.

Lt. Schneider, of New Guinea, I presume?

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Somewhere in New Guinea, 1943. Official caption: “Displaying all the traits of a true air ace, Second Lieutenant Edwin A. Schneider of Passaic, N.J., shot down three of 23 Japanese aircraft destroyed by American fighters on February 6 over Wau, New Guinea. The enemy formation was defeated without the loss of an American fighter plane. On the wing is Schneider’s crew chief, Sergent R.D. Lathem of Canton, Georgia.”

U.S. Air Force Number B23581AC is now in the National Archives, 342-FH 001123.

Note Schneider’s aircraft, a Bell P-39 Aircobra (a P-400 variant, you can tell by the long, skinny 20mm cannon in the nose rather than the stubby 37mm of other P-39s), was an obsolete type that had seen hard service from Pearl Harbor through the Aleutians and the Solomons because, well, it was all the USAAF had besides the equally out-performed P-40 Warhawk. Still, it could be very effective in ground support and against low-flying Japanese bombers.

Schneider was assigned to the “Red Devils” of the 40h Fighter Squadron, which, along with the 39th FS and 41st FS was part of the 35th Fighter Group.

The Devils arrived in Australia in February 1942 and were soon flying intercepts over Port Moresby, New Guinea, with their first victory in May. They would continue operating their P-39s from New Guinea throughout 1942 and 1943, with the good 2Lt Schneider and fellow devils Capt. John Clapper, Lts. Carl E. Nelson, Nathan Smith, Phil Wolf, and Robert G. Allison each downing an intercepted Japanese bomber over Finschhafen on this day in 1943, some 80 years ago.

It would be one of the 40th’s last P-39 victories, as they began transitioning into the much more powerful P-47 Thunderbolt in December and finally to P-51s in 1945.

In all, the 40th destroyed 113 Japanese planes in aerial combat; 51 were shot down by P-39s, 55 by P-47s, and seven by P-51s during WWII.

The squadron produced five aces, with Schneider coming up short with “just” four kills across 262 combat missions involving 572 combat hours. The reason he didn’t get his fifth was likely because he was sent back stateside in 1944 to become an instructor.

He did see the elephant again, however. Graduating to jets, Schiender transitioned to the USAF in 1947 and would fly F-94s in combat over Korea with the 319th FIS.

Colonel Edwin A. Schneider passed away on December 28, 1969.

Big O, and One Wild Airwing

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70 years ago, the newly completed improved Essex-class attack carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34) at Sasebo, Japan, on 27 October 1953. The Iowa class battlewagon USS Wisconsin (BB-64), fresh off her Korean War service, is hiding in the background.

National Archives photo 80-G-642739 via the NHHC

Oriskany has CVG-19 aboard– the historic old airwing carried by Lexington and Enterprise in the tail-end of WWII. Looking very different from the days of Hellcats, Helldivers, and Avengers, for Oriskany’s 14. September 1953 – 22. April 1954 deployment she carried an AD-6 Skyraider squadron (VA-195), another of F9F-5 Panthers (VF-192), one of F9F-6 Cougar (VF-191), and a third different jet fighter squadron of F2H-3/4 Banshees (VF-193) types– all seen arrayed on her deck above. To this crazy mix were added some photo Panthers, a HO3S-1 det, a few AD-4W airborne early warning birds, and a handful of AD-4NLs “Night Raiders” and F2H-3s “Night Banshees” of VC-3/35. These night fighters and strike aircraft are easy to spot from the rest of the airwing due to their dark livery.

Laid down on 1 May 1944 by the New York Naval Shipyard, owing to the end of WWII and shrinking budgets, Oriskany’s construction was suspended until after the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in June 1950, then rushed to completion, commissioning on 25 September and being rushed for a Mediterranean deployment with CVG-4 embarked in May 1951.

After conversion to operate jets, Oriskany would make it to Korea with CVG-102/CVG-12– a hybrid air group with piston-engine Corsairs and Skyraiders along with two fighter squadrons equipped with Grumman F9F Panther jets and a Sikorsky HO3S helicopter squadron– embarked on Halloween 1952. Her combat there wrapped up in April 1953 and she returned to the West Coast for some downtime before departing San Francisco on 14 September 1953 for her second cruise to the Far East, arriving at Yokosuka on 15 October, as seen above.

Oriskany received two battle stars for Korean service and ten for Vietnamese service, wrapping up her 15th and final Westpac deployment on 3 March 1976. Decommissioned later that year, she was in mothballs for the rest of the Cold War, with SECNAV John Lehman long considering bringing her back to active duty.

Eventually, Oriskany was turned into a reef in 2006 off the Florida panhandle, the largest American warship even utilized for such a purpose.

Urgent Fury at 40: The Guns of Grenada

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Without diving too much into the background, the Caribbean Island nation of Grenada had its elected government overthrown by a Marxist-Communist coup in 1979 and suspended the constitution. In just a couple of years, Grenada was hosting nearly 700 Cuban engineers who were building a giant airstrip– though long enough to host Soviet bombers– while smaller groups of Soviets, Libyan, North Korean, East German, and Bulgarians had taken up residence. Meanwhile, the local Grenadian military was greatly expanded and armed with Warsaw Pact weaponry.

Things came to a head in October 1983 when the Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, was overthrown by a military junta and executed. The military council instituted a national “shoot on sight” curfew.

With 600 American medical students attending classes on the island caught in the middle of the crisis, and Grenada’s neighbors asking for U.S. assistance, the Reagan administration mounted Operation Urgent Fury to invade the island with “D-day” set for Oct. 25, 1983, some 40 years ago this week.

The American units tasked with the operation included the reinforced 2nd Battalion/8th Marines of the 22d Marine Amphibious Unit, the ready brigade of the 82d Airborne Division, and two Ranger battalions. A small force of Navy SEALs performed beach reconnaissance for the Marines and took control of the island’s radio station. Meanwhile, the Navy supplied 22 ships including an aircraft carrier and an amphibious assault group. The Americans were joined by some 350 peacekeepers drawn from six assorted allied Caribbean nations.

While it may seem like the operation would be a cakewalk, planning for the invasion estimated that the combined Cuban engineer battalion and the Grenadian People’s Revolutionary Army, when fully mobilized, were equivalent to 10 infantry battalions backed by armored vehicles while just four light American battalions– the Rangers, Marines, and one battalion of paratroopers– would be able to land on Oct. 25, the first day, meaning they expected to be outnumbered.

It wasn’t until Oct. 28, when the Americans and the Eastern Caribbean Peace Force counted seven (ish) battalions on the ground by which time the Cubans and PRA had laid down their arms.

Three battalions of paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division– the “All Americans” of 2/325th Inf, 2/505th Inf, and 1/508th Inf–would land in Grenada, although by helicopter and airlift, not via parachute. As a rapid deployment force, they were equipped with lots of new gear including the Army’s new M81 woodland camouflage BDUniforms and Kevlar PASGT helmets and vests. They were typically armed with M-16A1s, M-60 machine guns, and M-21 sniper rifles. (All photos: National Archives)

The Rangers of the 1st and 2nd battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, accompanied by 35 Delta Force operators, would conduct a combat parachute jump at Point Salines, Grenada, to capture the island’s airport. They were more distinctive from the other American forces on the island due to their old-school OG-107 olive drab fatigues and M1 steel pot helmets, whenever they weren’t wearing patrol caps.

The Marines of the 22nd MAU typically wore the older ERDL style of leaf camouflage uniform with M1 helmets. As you can see, the Corps had more of a shoestring budget with the radio operator in the center having a sling made from a length of rope. Also, you gotta love the ciggy in the hand of the radio operator to the left and the double pistol magazine pouches on the Marine to the right. Across the board, American forces used the M1911 as a sidearm as the Beretta M9 would not be adopted until 1985.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Hellcat Pro Gets Threads

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The new Hellcat Pro Threaded model in Desert Flat Dark Earth debuted on Monday and is the first model to ship in that colorway with an extended threaded barrel and both 15+1 round flush fit and 17+1 round extended magazines.

Springfield loaned me a test and evaluation sample of the new model prior to launch and I had a chance to give a first look at this feature-loaded desert cat.

Why would you want to have a threaded barrel on a micro 9mm subcompact? 

When it comes to the reasoning behind the Hellcat Pro Threaded, it all just comes down to value added. Users can opt to carry it as bare bones as possible, with no lights, optics or muzzle devices, and have the flush-fit mag inserted with the extendo as a spare should things get really really real, and the platform is still very concealable. Then, for quiet time on the range, a suppressor can be added without degrading performance. If weight and concealability is not a factor, say, for home defense, a user can add all the bells and whistles and run the larger mag full-time.

Plus, there is always the scenario of using a loaded-out Hellcat Pro Threaded as one’s home defense pistol while keeping a standard, more bare-bones, Hellcat Pro for carry use. This keeps the same manual of arms and practice factor across both duties while being able to share mags, most holsters, and spare parts. Could be a win on a bunch of fronts.

Masters of the Ice

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Some 64 years ago this month: The last U.S. Coast Guard Boeing PB-1G “Flying Lifeboat” CG-77254 parked next to the first Coastie Lockheed SC-130B Hercules; beyond them is a Coastie R5D Skymaster seen at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, in 1959. The final PB-1G, the last B-17 Flying Fortress in U.S. military service, as far as I can tell, was not withdrawn from service until October 1959.

USCG photo

Converted B-17G bombers, the PB-1G carried no armament and, in addition to Loran, fitted a surface search radar in place of the chin mount, but still toted the Norden bombsight. It came in handy when dropping the self-bailing lifeboat it carried under the belly.

As noted by the USCG Aviation History Association:

Eighteen B-17Gs were set aside by the USAAF for transfer via the US Navy to the Coast Guard to be used as search and rescue aircraft. Rework began to convert the aircraft in question for search and rescue duties. On 1 January 1946, the Coast Guard was returned to the Treasury Department, but nevertheless, the Navy continued to rework the B-17s and transferred the first of 18 to the Coast Guard in July 1946. These aircraft were Lockheed-Vega and carried Navy serial numbers. An additional PB-1G was obtained directly from the USAAF in 1947 and it served with a truncated AAF serial number. Two additional aircraft PB-1R configured for VIP operation and one aircraft configured for photo mapping were also provided.

The PB-1Gs were stationed throughout the hemisphere and were used primarily for search and rescue purposes. They were also used for Ice Patrol. The photo aircraft carried a nine-lens, $1.5 million dollar, aerial camera for mapping purposes. Interestingly, the Norden bombsight, used by the B-17s in the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was retained and was used to pinpoint targets for the camera.

They saw lots of use on the Ice Patrol.

Coast Guard PB-1G (B17) ice patrol plane, 1958

Original caption: “Somewhere in the region of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, taking a Loran fix in a Coast Guard PB-1G (B17) ice patrol plane, is John D. Murphy, Aviation Electronics man, 3rd class, working in close coordination with his navigator and the observer. By means of Loran, the navigator plots the plane’s position frequently over the fog-wrapped area under survey. Loran fixes enable the observer to check the exact location of icebergs along the course after they have been sighted. Working out from a Coast Guard attachment located at Argentia, Newfoundland, a four-engine PB-1G’s ordinary search flight lasts 10 or 11 hours and covers approximately 1,500 linear miles. The 1954 International Ice Patrol season began in February and extended into August.” NARA 026-g-051-005-001

Original caption: “Framed in the plexiglass nose of a Coast Guard PB-1G (B17) ice patrol plane, Ensign Theodore J. Wojner, USCG, Observer, with binoculars scans the ocean for field ice, growlers, and icebergs, in the vicinity of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. In this position, the observer has unrestricted visibility from beam to beam. Although Radar and Loran are used on International Ice Patrol aerial surveys, the observer knows that the human eye is still the most dependable instrument for detecting icebergs. Only after he sights an iceberg does he use the radar instrument shown here at his elbow, to determine the distance of the berg, which he enters in his log with the time. After the flight, the observer’s log entries are checked against the Loran fixes obtained by the navigator along the flight track. From this data, the location of the bergs is accurately determined. Working out of the Coast Guard Air Detachment at Argentia, Newfoundland, a PB-1G’s normal flight lasts 10 or 11 hours. During that time the observer constantly watches the area under survey.” NARA 026-g-051-003-001

The Forts were replaced by C-130s in the early 1960s, and the USCG still rocks the big Hercules.

Original caption: “The SC-130B is the first turbin[e]-propelled aircraft to enter U.S. Coast Guard Aviation. Built by Lockheed, this was the second accepted early in 1960 as the first step in the Coast Guard’s program of modernizing its air fleet and is station in Honolulu. A four-engine, all-weather, high-speed, long-range land plane, its primary mission is search and rescue but can also be used for transporting personnel, emergency equipment, and cargo. The “Hercules” replaces the old PB-1G (B-17) long-ranged model planes used since World War II.” National Archives Identifier 205576270

As detailed by the USCG Historian’s Office:

The final flight of the last PB-1G in Coast Guard service ended at 1:46 p.m. on Wednesday 14 October 1959 when PB-1G 77254 landed at AIRSTA Elizabeth City. She had faithfully served the nation’s oldest continuous sea service for fourteen years.

Catch this!

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80 years ago today: Canadian soldiers of The Carleton and York Regiment preparing to lob a Mills bomb hand grenade into a sniper’s hideout, Campochiaro, Italy, 23 October 1943.

Photo by Alexander Mackenzie Stirton, Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN 3200692 

Hailing from New Brunswick, as its name would imply, the Carleton York was created by the 1937 amalgamation of the Carleton Light Infantry and the York Regiment, units that dated to the old county militia days as far back as 1787 and went overseas to fight the Kaiser as the respective 12th and 140th and 44th and 104th battalions, Canadian Expeditionary Force, a factor that brought 18 Great War battle honors to the new regiment’s flag, along with a lineage of service in the Americas in the War of 1812 and against the Boers.

Embarking on the SS Monarch of Bermuda from Halifax on 10 December 1939 for Scotland, where they remained to protect the UK while threats of a German invasion subsided, they landed in Sicily in July 1943 and then fought their way into Europe, ending the war in May 1945 at Amersfoort, Holland.

The Carleton York suffered 348 deaths in their WWII service.

The regiment was amalgamated with The New Brunswick Scottish and The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment in 1954 to form the 1st New Brunswick Regiment (Carleton York). Two years later this word salad was renamed simply The Royal New Brunswick Regiment (RNBR), a Reserve unit that exists today as a one-battalion infantry unit that is part of 37 Canadian Brigade Group, 5th Canadian Division, with a combined 65 battle honors.

2nd Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiment, soldiers fire a Carl Gustav 84mm during Exercise Maritime Raider 12. Photo : Cplc Gayle Wilson, Canadian Forces

Warship Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023: The Duel of the Deputado and the Knight

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023: The Duel of the Deputado and the Knight

Above we see the humble ocean patrol boat (patrulhas de alto mar) Augusto de Castilho of the Portuguese Navy around 1918. If she looks a lot like a cod trawler with a couple of pop guns bolted on as an afterthought, you are correct.

However, her crew was filled with lions, and led by a lawmaker, she foiled one of the Kaiser’s best, some 105 years ago this week.

The Marina do Portugal in the Great War

When the lights went out across Europe in August 1914, Portugal had a decent modern fleet…planned. This included a naval program with a pair of British-built 20,000-ton dreadnoughts, three new cruisers to scout for them, a dozen new 820-ton destroyers to screen for them, and a half dozen new submarines to do underwater stuff.

What they had on hand was a bit different.

The force consisted of the circa 1875 coastal defense “battleship” (cruzador-couraçado) Vasco da Gama and five smallish cruisers (none newer than 1898). Exemplified by prior Warship Wednesday alum Adamastor (1757 tons, 2×6″, 4×4.7″, 2 tt, 18 kts), these cruisers were slow and slight, meant primarily to show the flag in the fading empire’s overseas African and Asian colonies. Augmenting these aging cruisers were a handful of destroyers, torpedo boats, colonial gunboats, and a single Italian Fiat-made submarine.

“Navios da Marinha de Guerra Portugueza no alto “Mar 1903 by Alfredo Roque Gamerio, showing the revamped fleet with the “cruzadors” Vasco da Gama, Don Carlos I, São Rafael, Amelia, and Adamastor to the far right. Note the black hulls and buff stacks/masts. The fact that these ships were all ordered from British, French, and Italian yards at the same time had to have made for some awkward fleet operations, not to mention logistics and training issues.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese merchant fleet, consisting of 66 steamers (totaling 70,000 tons) and 259 sailing ships (totaling another 44,000 tons), needed protecting in the event of a modern anti-commerce U-boat war while offering few vessels ideal to convert to auxiliary cruisers and escorts.

While German and Portuguese colonial troops in Africa were soon fighting each other, and Portugal interned over 30 German and Austrian merchant ships trapped in its ports in 1914– saving them from British and French capture– the three countries did not officially exchange declarations of war until March 1916. That does not mean that little Portugal’s steamers and sailing ships were safe by any means.

The first Portuguese-flagged merchant lost to the conflict was the 248-ton 3-masted schooner Douro sunk off the Wolf Lighthouse in the Scilly Islands on 3 April 1915 (although some sources report the 1,633-ton steamer Mira was sunk on 24 November 1914). In all, no less than 89 Portuguese merchant vessels were lost during the war.

This sets the stage for our story.

Meet Augusto de Castilho

The Bensaúde-owned four-masted fishing schooner Argus, which ranged from the Azores to the Grand Banks searching for cod along with near sisters Creoula and Hortense. Working these vessels the old way was hard, using small dories that would run lines as long as 20 hours a day and return home to Sapal do Rio Coina in Portugal with cod loaded to the gunnels. The Bensaúde family harvested fish this way going back to the 1820s and by 1909 were looking to change.

Our subject was ordered by the firm of Parceria Geral de Pescarias, Lda. (PGP. trans: General Fisheries Partnership), Lisbon, a commercial fishing enterprise founded in 1891 and run largely by the Bensaúde family. Chiefly operating in the Azores, PGP in the early 1900s embarked on a move to modernize its operations by ordering steel-hulled ships for its fleet and beginning the use of artificial drying for cod harvesting.

The company’s first steel-hull steam trawler designed for cod, named the Elite, was ordered from Cochrane & Sons, Selby in Yorkshire as Yard No 453. Launched on 22 April 1909, she was delivered to PGP that same July.

Lloyds lists her as a steel-hulled steam trawler of some 487 tons with an overall length of 160 feet, a beam of 27 and a draft of just over 14. She had an Amos & Smith triple expansion steam engine that could generate 117 nhp on a single shaft, good for 12 knots. Deeply framed, she had electric lighting and a steam-powered hoist.

I cannot find an image of Elite in her PGP days. This is probably because they were brief as she was requisitioned by the Portuguese navy on 13 June 1916, three months after Lisbon, Berlin and Vienna exchanged official declarations of war.

War!

The Portuguese navy requisitioned eleven large trawlers and used eight of these as minesweepers (caça-minas) while three (República, Almirante Paço D’Arcos, and Augusto de Castilho) were equipped for both patrol and sweeping.

Elite entered service soon after as Augusto de Castilho, after Admiral Augusto Vidal de Castilho Barreto e Noronha, who capped a 49-year career in 1908 by becoming minister of the navy and overseas possessions (Ministério da Marinha e Ultramar) before passing in 1912 at age 71. He was also the brother of noted journalist and writer Julio de Castilho, and son of scholar António Feliciano de Castilho, known for developing the Castilho Method of teaching.

ADM Augusto de Castilho (1841-1912)

The fishing vessel’s transformation to a warship simply saw her land her fishing gear, add a paravane that could be used for mechanical minesweeping through the assistance of her existing blocks and hoist, and then mounted a 47mm/40 M1885 QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss over her stern. Later a French-made 65mm/50 M1891 Schneider 9-pounder was installed forward.

So converted and manned by a 41-member crew (nominally two officers, 3 NCOs, 36 enlisted), she reported a top speed of just 9 knots.

Her first skipper, LT Augusto de Almeida Teixeira, while escorting the steamer Loanda between Lisbon and Funchal on 23 March 1918, reportedly opened fire on a German U-boat which immediately dived.

Her next skipper also had a brush with an enemy submarine, with 1LT (Primeiro-tenente) Fernando de Oliveira Pinto, on 21 August 1918, opening fire on a U-boat on the surface off Cape Raso.

Augusto de Castilho’s third skipper, 1LT José Botelho de Carvalho Araújo, assumed command of our little minesweeper in late September 1918. The 37-year-old career naval officer joined the naval academy as a midshipman in 1899 and had served in most of its surface ships including the old ironclad Vasco da Gama, the cruisers Adamastor and São Rafael, the gunboats Zambeze, Liberal, Diu, and Lúrio; the tug Bérrio, and on the transport Salvador Correia.

He was also a political creature, having taken part in the Navy-led revolutions in 1908 and 1910, was elected as a deputado to the Assembleia Constituinte to form the Portuguese Republic in 1911, and again to represent the city of Penafiel in the Portuguese Congress of 1915.

Carvalho Araújo was also appointed a district governor in Mozambique for 18 months, the latter a common task for promising naval officers as at the time the colonies were under the administration of the navy. For campaigning against the Germans in Africa in 1914-15, he earned the Medalha Militar de Prata.

Araujo’s last command before joining the crew of Augusto de Castilho was the minesweeper Manuel de Azevedo Gomes, who detected and destroyed four German mines near the Lisbon bar in early September 1916.

Araujo onboard Augusto de Castilho. The only other officers assigned to the vessel in October were three midshipmen– Manuel Armando Ferraz, Samuel da Conceição Vieira, and Carlos Elói da Mota Freitas. The crew was fleshed out by six NCOs, a telegraphist, a cook, a corpsman, four teenage cabin boys, and 38 assorted enlisted ratings and sailors, many of whom were recent enlistments.

Although the war was winding down in October 1918, with the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet in near-mutiny, his Army in France on the verge of catastrophe, the Bulgars quitting the conflict, and the Austrians and Ottomans planning on doing so themselves, the U-boat arm was still very much in the game and Germany’s greatest submarine ace was on the prowl.

The new cruiser submarine, SM U-139, unofficially named Kapitänleutnant Schwieger by her skipper, the aristocratic Kptlt. Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, was on its first war patrol. Make no mistake that it was a green crew or skipper, however, as Arnauld de la Perière had made 14 patrols in the smaller SM U-35, sinking a staggering 189 merchant vessels and two gunboats for a total of 446,708 GRT before he took the helm of U-139, earning the EK1, EK2, and the coveted “Blue Max” Pour le Mérite in the process.

U-139 claimed her first kills with the sinking of the 3,309-ton British steamer Bylands, and the 2,691-ton Italian freighter Manin, then damaging the RN boarding steamer HMS Perth, on the first day of October off Cape Vilano while haunting convoy HG109. The next day, she sank the 300-ton Portuguese three-master Rio Cavado via naval gunfire some 290 miles off Cape Prior. Arnauld de la Perière was very much a fan of using his deck guns rather than spending a torpedo and took most of his targets in such a manner.

Then, on 14 October, U-139, some 100 miles SW of the Azores, came across a juicy target, the Dixon-built 3,200-ton mixed cargo/passenger paquete liner San Miguel of Portugal’s Empresa Insulana de Navegação (EIN) line.

San Miguel in her peacetime livery. In 1918 she was clad in a mottled zigzag camouflage.

With accommodations for 135 passengers, San Miguel was overloaded with 206 souls in addition to her crew and, with a top speed not exceeding 12 knots, had little chance of outrunning a U-boat.

Sailing from Funchal to Ponta Delgada, San Miguel had the benefit of an escort– our Augusto de Castilho, capable of a blistering 9 knots. Placing his craft between U-139 and the liner, Carvalho Araújo and Arnauld de la Perière fought a two-hour surface gunnery duel as San Miguel lit her boilers red and made for the horizon, escaping undamaged.

With the much larger and better-armed U-boat– carrying a pair of 5.9-inch SK L/45 deck guns– versus the converted fishing boat’s lighter guns, the contest was never in any doubt. In the end, the battered Augusto de Castilho, ammunition exhausted, her telegraph and engine out of action, her wheelhouse peppered, her skipper and five men killed, along with another 20 men injured, struck her flag on the order of the wounded Midshipman Armando Ferraz.

Ever the old-school gentleman raider, Arnauld de la Perière allowed the crew of the surrendered vessel who had jumped ship to return to their vessel and stock two whaleboats with rations, a sextant, a compass, and charts.

The crew of U-139 captured images of the aftermath of the battle.

He then sent over a scuttling crew who found Carvalho Araújo on deck, the ship’s ensign covering his broken body, and sent the Portuguese man-o-war to the bottom with demolition charges.

Both whaleboats eventually made shore, with the larger, carrying 37 survivors, arriving at the island of Santa Maria in the Azores two days later with all but one still alive while the second craft with 12 survivors washed up on the more distant island of São Miguel the next week, having traveled 200 miles via paddle.

Arnauld de la Perière and his U-139 closed their final tally sheet with the sinking of Carvalho Araujo. Returning to Germany, U-139 surrendered to France on 24 November and post-Versailles became the French submarine Halbronn.

Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière survived the war, was retained in the Weimar-era Reichsmarine, taught at the Turkish Naval Academy for several years in the early 1930s, and went on to become a vizeadmiral in the WWII Kriegsmarine before perishing in a plane crash in 1941, aged 54. His record [195 ships sunk (455,871 tons) and 8 ships damaged (34,312 tons)] is unsurpassed, but his chance to add San Miguel to that list was spoiled.

1LT Carvalho Araujo was posthumously promoted to Capitão-Tenente and awarded the Cruz de Guerra de 1.ª Classe and the Ordem Militar da Torre e Espada, do Valor, Lealdade e Mérito.

Epilogue

Notably, the only other Portuguese warship sunk in the Great War besides Augusto de Castilho was NRP Roberto Iven, which was the PGB-owned fishing trawler Lordelo, lost in July 1917 between Cabo da Roca and Cabo Espichel to a mine laid by the German submarine UC-54.

As for PGB and the Bensaúde Group, the original owner of our tough little fishing vessel, they remained in the cod business until 1999 then transferred their archives to the Ílhavo Maritime Museum after they closed up shop. The yard that constructed Augusto de Castilho, Cochrane & Sons, faded into history in 1993 and was Selby’s last shipbuilder. The yard’s plans and files are preserved in the North Yorkshire County Record Office.

Augusto Castilho‘s fight with U-139 is remembered across Portugal in a series of maritime artworks.

Mural in the Museu de Marinha

SM U-cruiser U 139 in a battle with a Portuguese gunboat in October 1918. After a 2 hour battle, NRP Augusto Castilho

Combate do Augusto de Castilho com o U-139. Quadro de F. Namura. Museu de Marinha Portugal RM2572-506

Combate do Augusto Castilho by Elisa Felismino in the Museu de Marinha, showing the death of her skipper

Mural in the Museu de Marinha

In 1970, a corvette, NRP Augusto Castilho (F484) entered service to continue the name. She remained on active duty until 2003 and was disposed of in 2010.

BCM-Arquivo Histórico, corvette Augusto Castilho in Lisbon, April 25, 1999 BCM-AH_APEGM_12_41

As for the heroic lost naval hero Carvalho Araújo, streets in no less than 34 Portuguese municipalities bear his name while a bronze statue sculpted by Artur Anjos Teixeira was installed in Vila Real in 1931 and is frequently rendered military honors.

The statue of Carvalho Araújo has its hands clenched defiantly.

The EIN line, whose SS San Miguel survived the war and continued to operate until 1930, replaced her with a new 4,568 GRT Italian-built packet liner named SS Carvalho Araújo.

She continued to sail into the 1970s, and, fittingly for her namesake, often carried Portuguese troops back and forth to Africa.

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

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Volturno Crossing

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80 years ago today: A U.S.-supplied M4 Sherman medium tank of 4th County of London Yeomanry (4CLY) making ready to cross the Volturno river at Grazzanise, Italy, 17 October 1943 to take on the German Viktor Line. Note the camouflage on both turret and hull and a rarely seen (in the field) partial wading kit.

Photo by Mott (Sgt), No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit, IWM NA 7858

The good SGT Mott captured the same tank while it was crossing

Note the recognition flash on the hull and letter on her turret. IWM NA 7859

As noted by Mott on the back of the card for NA 7858:

The bridge built by the RE [Royal Engineers] over the Volturno at Grazzanise would not take the weight of the heavy tanks. Our tank formation found a spot where the water was no more than six feet deep and with the aid of a bulldozer to haul them up the opposite beach, they forded the river.

The 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) was a volunteer cavalry regiment formed in September 1939. However, they trace their lineage back to the old Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles of 1794.

4CLY saw much action across North Africa (including El Alamein), Italy (where several tanks were left submerged in flood-swollen waters), and Normandy, where, suffering serious losses, was amalgamated with 3CLY to form the 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) in 1944, which went on to help liberate Holland in Market Garden and cross the Rhine.

The Sharpshooters received 42 battle honours (including “Volturno Crossing”) for World War II, a total exceeded by only one other Cavalry or Yeomanry regiment. Individually Sharpshooters received one George Medal, 9 DSOs, 42 MCs, 8 DCMs, and 71 MMs. The regimental roll of honour records 381 names.

The unit, through amalgamations, still exists as 265 (KCLY) Support Squadron in the Territorials while the Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry Museum is in Croydon.

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