80 years ago today: The heavy cruiserUSS Minneapolis (CA-36) is seen bombarding Butaritari Island, Makin Atoll, on 20 November 1943, shortly before U.S. Army forces landed there as part of Operation Galvanic. Guns firing are from the cruiser’s starboard side 5″/25-caliber Mk 19 secondary battery. The simultaneous discharge of these guns indicates that they are firing under remote control.
(NHHC: 80-G-202518)
Her guns, as well as the rest of the bombardment force and the planes screening them, did fine work, apparently.
Wrecked facilities on Butaritari Island, Makin Atoll, on 20 November 1943, following the pre-invasion bombardment. Seen from a USS MINNEAPOLIS (CA-36) plane, on Chong’s wharf is in the center background, with bomb craters and wrecked buildings nearby. Note trucks by their garage in the lower center. 80-G-216785
U.S. Army casualties to seize the island were relatively light, with 64 killed and 150 wounded and the fighting soon over on Makin.
A New Orleans-class cruiser, Minneapolis was designed as a light cruiser but was redesignated as a heavy before she was commissioned in 1934. “Minnie” earned an impressive 16 battle stars in WWII across 25 combat engagements, but that didn’t save her from the breakers. She was sold for scrap, on 14 August 1959, after spending 12 years in mothballs.
US Coast Guard-manned LCVP landing craft carried invasion troops toward Luzon in Lingayen Gulf, 9 Jan 1945
PA31-17, a humble 36-foot long LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, and Personnel), or “Higgins boat” after the New Orleans manufacturer that churned them out by the thousands (23,000 to be exact) in WWII, was found derelict on the shores of Shasta Lake in fall 2021.
The thing is, although it was old and damaged, it was still in more or less original condition, still with lots of her Higgins-installed mahogany including the original paint on the ramp.
Further, it turned out that PA31-17, assigned throughout the war to the Crescent City class attack transport USS Monrovia (AP-64), landed troops on the beach in seven different campaigns– Sicily, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan (the last three with Devil Dogs of the 2nd Marine Division), Guam (77th Infantry Division), Luzon (96th Infantry then 1st Cavalry Division) and Okinawa (6th Marine Division).
Acquired by the Nebraska National Guard Museum in Columbus, Nebraska—the birthplace of Andrew Higgins, the organization made the move to protect it, not restore it.
So who do you get to stabilize an 80-year-old combat veteran wooden landing craft? A 75-year-old combat veteran woodworker, that’s who. Eric Hollenbeck with Blue Ox Millworks in Eureka, California took on the two-month task and it is documented in The Craftsman – Preserving the Last Higgins Boat, which I just saw online on Max but it is out there on other platforms as well.
From yesterday’s DOD contracts, a future 5th America-class amphibious assault ship, LHA-10:
Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded a $130,000,000 not-to-exceed undefinitized contract action for advance procurement of long lead time material and associated engineering and design activities in support of one Amphibious Assault Ship (General Purpose) Replacement (LHA(R)) Flight 1 Ship (LHA 10). Work will be performed in Beloit, Wisconsin (36%); Pascagoula, Mississippi (32%); Brunswick, Georgia (26%); and Walpole, Massachusetts (6%). Work is expected to be completed by July 2028. Fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion, Navy funding in the amount of $130,000,000 will be obligated at award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. This contract is awarded based on 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1) only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-24-C-2467).
The reason for the big outlay is that these are essentially aircraft carriers– they would be in any other navy in history– and they cost upwards of $1 billion to construct in a period spanning a half-decade (provided there are no pandemics, hiring issues, or supply chain issues) to build.
Via Ingalls:
The 844-foot LHA 6 America class amphibious assault ship takes approximately five years to build. Its construction consists of 216 structural units, requiring 170 erection lifts, including grand blocks, plus two lifts to set the deckhouse on board (the main house, followed by smaller forward section). These blocks are built on land, starting with the ship’s midsection, and later moved to drydock for launch by translation cars.
Two main turbines provide 70,000 shaft horsepower. Additionally, LHA 6 has a separate source of propulsion, a unique electrical auxiliary propulsion system (APS) that was designed for fuel efficiency. The APS uses two induction-type auxiliary propulsion motors powered from the ship’s electrical grid. America-class ships include 1,000 miles of electrical cable, 431,000 feet of pipe and enough hull insulation to cover 40 acres.
Since the class leader was laid down in 2009, the Navy has taken possession of just two of these vessels (USS America LHA 6 and USS Tripoli LHA 7) — both Flight 0 ships without well decks.
The first Flight I ship, (PCU Bougainville LHA 8) with the standard LHA/LHD style well deck to support LCACs and LCUs as well as a host of smaller boats just transitioned to the water of the Pascagoula River and is set to christen on 2 December and commission sometime next year.
Meanwhile, PCU Fallujah (LHA 9) was only just laid down in September, meaning there will be a gap from 2024-2028 where no LHAs are delivered.
The “Replacement” designation for (LHA(R)) Flight 1 Ship (LHA 10) comes as it is planned to fill the gap left by the scrapped and very similar Pascagoula-built Wasp-class LHD USS Bonhomme Richard which, instead of rejoining the fleet after a mid-life refit in 2020, was decommissioned due to a very preventable fire that hopefully a lot of folks learned some stuff from.
200712-N-BL599-1044 SAN DIEGO (July 12, 2020) Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department boats combat a fire onboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) at Naval Base San Diego, July 12. On the morning of July 12, a fire was called away aboard the ship while it was moored pier side at Naval Base San Diego. Local, base and shipboard firefighters responded to the fire. USS Bonhomme Richard is going through a maintenance availability, which began in 2018. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christina Ross)
The seven remaining Wasps, which the Americas were supposed to eventually replace, are getting older by the day, with USS Wasp herself currently 34 years old and even the newest member, USS Makin Island (LHD-8) just marking her 14th year in the fleet.
The Navy has a love/hate relationship with these big ‘phib hulls, but even new math saw they are running low, with only 9 semi-available now, and pulling the punch when it comes to buying more.
Meanwhile, the forward-based 12th Marines just became the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment and will be packing up everything that isn’t anti-ship truck-related with beachfront delivery to be made by a force of 35 (!) yet-to-be-built Landing Ship–Mediums (LSMs), which are basically just an updated 1940s LCI/LST, although not as heavily armed.
Passing this on to those of you who may be itching to buy a big piece of vintage military gear in superb condition (or know someone who would like one in a stocking next month).
Bowman (I’ve bought lots of old training and dewatted ordnance from them) has German WWII portable artillery rangefinders from Finland, where they were sent during the conflict as aid, and later refurbed by SA into “pristine” condition during the Cold War then put into storage.
Compare to these:
Gotta admit they look pretty sweet, are only $499, and if I had room for one I’d buy two, especially considering my Finnish-used/German-made helmet collection.
How about this short vid from Boeing showing a Qatar Emiri Air Force F-15QA Ababil preparing for flight demonstrations at the Dubai Airshow at the hands of one of the company’s test crews. “During practice test flights at Al-Udeid Air Base, the Boeing test pilots consistently experienced 9 g-forces.”
Inside the cockpit, Boeing Test & Evaluation Experimental Test Pilot Jason “Mongoose” Dotter and BT&E Experimental Weapon System Operator Mike “Houdini” Quintini focus on a demonstration flight to prepare them for the first air show performance of the F-15 in almost 20 years.
The Boeing flight and ground crews prepared, launched, and captured the demo rehearsal flights a total of 19 times at Al Udeid Air Base, starting at a minimum of 2,000 feet (600 meters) and gradually working down to just 500 feet (150 meters).
The F-15EX is based closely on the Advanced Eagle that Saudi Arabia (F-15SA) and Qatar (F-15QA) both procured. Those models introduced iterative enhancements, such as General Electric F110-GE-129 engines, ALQ-82(V)1 AESA radar, 10- by 19-inch large-area display in the cockpit, and the ability to carry up to 12 air-to-air missiles or 15 tonnes of ordnance.
A digital fly-by-wire flight control system alleviates the previous need to avoid asymmetric loads and cross-control maneuvers, while restricting normal airframe load to 9Gs and speed to Mach 2.5, although the airframe can exceed both in extreme situations. The aircraft’s power and maneuverability are being exhibited at the Dubai Airshow in the spectacular flying display flown by a Boeing test pilot in a Qatari F-15QA.
Another key element of the F-15EX is the BAE Systems ALQ-250 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS), which represents a major enhancement in the ability of the system to adapt rapidly to emerging threats. EPAWSS has reached the final stages of development, and an export-optimized version is also being formulated.
How about this full-page ad from the 1946 edition of Jane’s in my collection? Taken out by the De Havilland company, it shows one of its new Sea Vampire jets– LZ551G– over the recently-completed RN Colossus-class aircraft carrier, HMS Ocean (R68).
As we have covered in the past, it was on 3 December 1945, when an early model Sea Vampire flown by LCDR Eric “Winkle” Brown made the first ever carrier landing of a purely jet-powered aircraft when he touched down on HMS Ocean, then soon after completed the first take off. It is the same one in the above ad.
De Havilland Sea Vampire Mk.10 LZ551G catches the arresting wire aboard HMS Ocean, on 3 December 1945.
Ocean, which served in the Korean War as a traditional flattop and in the Suez Crisis as a helicopter platform, was scrapped in 1962.
Meanwhile, Capt. Eric Melrose “Winkle” Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, retired from the RN in 1970 capping a 31-year career during which he flew 487 types of aircraft. Brown passed in 2016, aged 96.
But he did get to see his old De Havilland again.
Captain Eric M. Brown with the De Havilland DH.100 Sea Vampire Mk.10, LZ551, at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, Somerset, England. (Nigel Cheffers-Heard, Fleet Air Arm Museum)
One thread that I have noticed is that the personnel and cash-strapped U.S. Coast Guard is plugging in a lot more joint spaces, both within DOD and with international partners. While a lot of people have some sort of misunderstanding that the USCG is just a guy sitting in a fan boat on the iced-over Great Lakes in winter, or some poor shlub cleaning the weeds from a channel marker in the middle of the Ohio River, they are also spanning the globe.
During the patrol, James’ crew disrupted illegal narcotics smuggling, interdicting 12,909 kilograms of cocaine and 7,107 pounds of marijuana valued at over $380 million. While in theater, James interdicted eight drug-smuggling vessels and apprehended 23 suspected traffickers, including one low-profile vessel laden with contraband.
James’ crew conducted multiple joint operations with foreign partner nations such as Ecuador and Mexico. James conducted a passing exercise with the Mexican Navy’s ARM Chiapas. During the exercise, James practiced close-quarters tactical maneuvering and landed the Chiapas’ Panther helicopter on deck. 230806-G-G0100-1001
If you take a look at the crew that shipped out on the four-month East Pac cruise, not only do you see the Coast Guard blue, but there are also four contractors (top left) for the Scan Eagle UAV, as well as a contingent of two Marines, a Soldier, and five Bluejackets (center) who most likely provided medical, commo, and terp support in the region. At the stern is a HITRON MH-65 detachment of airborne precision rifle experts.
Coast Guard Cutter James Port Everglades, Florida, Oct 26, 2023. 231026-G-FH885-1002
Horne
The 154-foot Fast Response Cutter Terrell Horne (WPC-1131) returned home to California last week after a 52-day patrol across 4,000 miles of the Eastern Pacific, conducting operations and international engagements with Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and Costa Rica. That’s a lot of time and distance for a 154-foot boat, a platform that is proving very adept at ranging far and wide.
The crew of the Terrell Horne deployed in support of multiple missions, including Operations Green Flash, Albatross, Martillo, and Southern Shield, within the 11th Coast Guard District’s area of responsibility. During the patrol, Terrell Horne’s crew conducted a range of missions encompassing law enforcement, counter-drug operations, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing enforcement, and search and rescue operations.
Dauntless
Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, the Portsmouth-based RN Type 45/Daring-class destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33) is currently serving as the West Indies station ship and, with a USCG Tactical Law Enforcement Team (TACLET) aboard, spent the summer running successful interdiction missions with the ship’s embarked Wildcat helicopter and RM 42 Commando snipers riding shotgun.
HMS Dauntless flies the Royal Navy Ensign and Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) flag from the sea boats prior to boarding a suspect vessel in the Caribbean Sea.
HMS Dauntless’ embarked Law Enforcement Detachment team (LEDET) go to ‘boarding stations’ after finding a suspect vessel in the Caribbean Sea.
HMS Dauntless conducting a drugs intervention/rescue mission whilst operating in the Caribbean region.
HMS Dauntless conducting a drugs intervention/rescue mission whilst operating in the Caribbean region.
HMS Dauntless’ embarked Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) leave the ship in sea boats in preparation to apprehending a suspect vessel in the Caribbean Sea.
Some 80 years ago today, on Armistice Day, now Veterans’ Day, we see the svelte 26-year-old fighter pilot that is Major Robert Gordon Owens Jr. of the “Fighting Corsairs” of Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 215, on Vella La Vella, 11 November 1943. Note his M1911 in a shoulder holster along with spare mags and a Ka-Bar on his webbelt.
USMC Photo by Sgt. D. Q. White, U.S. Marine Corps, 021206-M-3031H-101
The squadron, formed as Marine Scout Bomber Squadron 244 (VMSB-244) in March 1942, by September had been redesignated as VMSB-242 and then hung up its SBDs in favor of F4F Wildcats to become VMF-215. Then, by the time they made it to MCAS Ewa in Hawaii in February 1943, they transitioned to the gull-winged F4U Corsair and, on 14 August, landed the first Allied plane at the newly captured Munda airfield in the Solomons where they immediately began operating to cover the landings on nearby Vella Lavella– where they set up shop in November.
It was Maj. Ownes that made the inaugural Munda flight.
The first fighter plane to land on Munda Point airfield in New Georgia after its capture by Allied forces was a VMF-215 Corsair flown by Maj Robert G. Owens, Jr., on 14 August 1943. Flight operations began immediately to cover the Vella Lavella landings.
By the end of the war, VMF-215 was credited with shooting down 137 enemy aircraft, the fourth most in Marine Corps aviation history, and counted 10 aces in its wardroom– including Owens who had 7 kills and another 5 probable.
Original caption: Decoration of Marine Flyers in the South Pacific is often as informal as pictured here. These fighter pilots, at the end of a day’s flights against the enemy, line up by a revetment to be decorated by their skipper. In the background is a Corsair fighter plane. Photo shows, left to right: 1st Lt. Robert E. Clark reading citations, Major Robert G. Owens Jr., Major James L. Neefus, LtCol. Herbert H. Williamson, 1stLt. Lincoln F. Deetz, (Gold Star), 1st Lt. Bennie P. O’Dell (Air Medal), 1st Lt. David R. Moak (Air Medal), Capt. Don Aldrich (Purple Heart), 1stLt. Drury E. McCall (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Robert M. Hanson (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Thomas M. Tomlinson (Air Medal), 1st Lt. Otto K. Williams (Air Medal), and 1st Lt. Grafton S. Stidger (Purple Heart).
VMF-215 had probably the best insignia of any Corsair squadron.
Reformed after the war to fly jets, VMF-215 flew F9Fs, F4Ds, and, finally, the F-8 Crusader, before they were disestablished for the final time in 1970.
As for Owens, “Big O” picked up the Navy Cross, five awards of Distinguished Flying Cross, eleven Air Medals, and a Purple Heart for the wounds he received when shot down by Japanese flak over Rabaul. He went on to be a career Devil, commanding the 3rd and later the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing during Vietnam, and retired in 1972 as a major general after 33 years of active service. He has a fantastic oral history online in the Library of Congress.
MG Owens passed in 2007, aged 90, and is buried in Arlington.
The so-called Glock 19L, using the compact G19 grip with a full-sized G17-length slide and barrel, has been a thing for years, with folks typically hacking a Glock 17 grip to make it a 15-shot capacity pistol that accepts G19 mags. Others used a standard G19 frame with an aftermarket G17-length slide that was compatible with the shorter frame.
The benefit was that, for many, the G19 is considered easier to conceal with its shorter grip/height than the G17, while the longer barrel and slide give the user a longer sight radius.
The Glock 49 Gen 5 MOS was first leaked back in May 2022 by Vickers Tactical in a post that had over 3,000 likes and comments. A popular rumor on Glock groups at the time was that it was a spinoff of the company’s large 2019 CBP contract that saw the federal agency purchase $85 million worth of pistols including the crossover G47, which was designed to run a shorter Glock 19 recoil system in a Glock 17-sized slide and barrel with a slightly shorter dustcover on the frame.
For the last year, the G47 allows the user to make a more or less OEM 19L pistol, by swapping a Gen 5 slide and barrel from a G19 over to the G47 frame.
For instance, take a look at this:
Showing off that modularity, I give you the “you got chocolate in my peanut butter” that is the G19X and G47 MOS with swapped uppers. Both guns shoot and cycle fine. You could do the same between the G47 and the G17 Gen 4/5, G45, and G19 Gen 4/5. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Chambered in 9mm Luger, it holds 15+1 rounds in standard magazine capacity, has a 4.49-inch barrel, all the standard Gen 5 characteristics like the accurate Glock Marksman Barrel, and the company’s MOS system for mounting optics. (Photo: Talo)
Hopefully for Glock, there is still interest in this concept. Even if there isn’t, they’ll probably sell a million of them.
The modified Queen Elizabeth-class carrier HMS Prince of Wales— the largest British warship ever completed, has been busy off the U.S. East Coast for the past month conducting DT-3 (Development Test, phase three– with phases one and two conducted already aboard HMSQE) to spin up the class ready to work the F-35B.
Her embarked airwing was small– just two Merlins and a Wildcat– with the F-35Bs being from Pax River, the home to the F-35 Integrated Test Force, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get a lot of work in.
She conducted some F-35B “Beast Mode” tests with 500-pound Paveway IVs on four stations and four 1,000-pounders in the weapons bay while still having spots available for a pair of AMRAAMs and a pair of Sidewinders
The ability to be a bomb truck is important for the F-35B concept, as detailed by the RN:
Fully loaded, the F-35B can deliver 22,000lb of destructive and defensive power: air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and conventional and laser-guided bombs. If you’re struggling to imagine a 22,000lb payload… it’s the equivalent of the heaviest bomb carried by a WW2 Lancaster bomber (the Grand Slam or ‘earthquake’ bomb). And it’s nearly three times more than the UK’s last carrier-borne strike aircraft, the Harrier GR9, over a decade ago.
In all 60 shipborne rolling vertical landings’ (SVRL) were conducted, including ten by night. Other trials successfully completed include: 20 backwards landings (facing towards the stern), ten at night; nearly 150 take-offs by day and night in various weather conditions/sea states.
U.S. Marine Corps test pilot Maj. Paul Gucwa performs a vertical landing (VL) in an F-35B Lightning II short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) variant strike fighter during a mission to expand the flight envelope for the technique aboard the U.K. aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09) Oct. 29, 2023. Gucwa also performed the first night shipborne rolling VL (SRVL) during the evening’s flight period. Gucwa is one of three test pilots from embarked with a broader team from the Patuxent River F-35 Integrated Test Force (PAX ITF) to conduct flight test during the ongoing developmental test phase 3 (DT-3) flight trials. HMS Prince of Wales, the U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier and biggest warship, is deployed to the Western Atlantic for WESTLANT 23. 231029-O-PF253-1439
She also hosted fly-ins from USMC MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors, CH53 Super Stallions, and Viper gunships as well as supply drone trials, totaling a dozen different aircraft types during the testing.
There was also lots of underway maneuvering at sea, producing some great images, like these doing a RAS from the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8). To starboard of Arctic is the endangered but still beautiful Tico-class cruiser USS Leyte Gulf.
HMSPWS also linked up with Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington and France’s brand-new fleet tanker/support ship Jacques Chevallier. (Pictures: LPhot Unaisi Luke, HMS Prince of Wales, and PO Nicholas Russell, USS George Washington)
Of interest, HMSPWS embarked a group of visiting Japanese carrier experts to gain some first-hand knowledge and prepare for their own Izumo-class helicopter carriers being converted for the F-35B.
“The delegation from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force joined HMS Prince of Wales for a fortnight of stealth fighter trials off the USA – helping to pave the way for their own trials in the same waters in 12 months’ time,” says the RN.
The prospect of Japanese F-35s cross-decking from British and American carriers shortly surely would have the ghosts of Yamamoto, Genda, and Kusaka watching with curiosity
