Lucky Number Three! Belgium. 12 January, 1945. 42nd Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division. They keep their fingers crossed as this is their third tank since the 29th of December. The other two were shot out from under them, but they sustained no injuries. Left to right: Cpl. Cecil M. Lindsey, Springfield, Mo.; Cpl. Walter P. Waymer, Seymour, Conn.; Capt. John Megglesin, Aurora, Ill., all of the 42nd Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division. Photographer: MacDonald. SC 335399.
23 April represents the observed 1,723rd anniversary of the execution in Nicomedia (modern-day İzmit, Turkey) of Nestor of Cappodocia, a Roman Army officer, punished by the Emperor Diocletian for not renouncing his religious faith.
He came to be known as “Saint George” by the Catholic Church. Over the years, legends grew that he appeared on horseback to save a village by slaying a Dragon.
Saint George Killing the Dragon, 1434, Bernat Martorell
Centuries later, Saint George has become the patron saint of many, including England.
But most importantly for the U.S. Army Armor Branch, Saint George is the only saint depicted fighting on horseback and thus is the patron saint of Cavalrymen and now modern Tankers and Cavalry Scouts.
The U.S. Cavalry and Armor Association honors old Nestor through the Honorable Order of Saint George, which, established in 1986, recognizes exceptional Tankers and Cavalrymen.
All four submarines were part of the Balao-class, and all were commissioned into the U.S. Navy in the final two years of WWII, although only Blenny arrived in time to make war patrols that earned battle stars (four) before VJ-Day.
Formation on 18 April 1966. The boats seen are: USS BLENNY (SS-324), CLAMAGORE (SS-343), COBBLER (SS-344), and CORPORAL (SS-346)
Of the quartet, Clamagore survived the longest, retired in 1980, and was scrapped in 2022 after four decades of slowly wasting away as a museum ship in Charleston.
Blenny, the WWII combat vet, decommissioned in 1973, was scuttled off Ocean City, Maryland, on 7 June 1989.
Cobbler, which transferred to Turkey in 1973, was renamed TCG Çanakkale (S 341) and somehow served until 1998.
Corporal also transferred to Turkey in 1974 and commissioned TCG Ikinci İnönü (S333), serving until 1996.
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Warship Wednesday 15 April 2026: The Fastest Yugo
Courtesy of Mr. C.W. Beilstein 1983. Naval History and Heritage Command Catalog #: NH 94341
Above we see the class-leading destroyer (razarac) Beograd of the Royal Navy of Yugoslavia (Kraljevska mornarica Jugoslavije, KMJ) shortly after she was completed at Nantes in 1939. Note her “B” hull identifier.
Lightning-fast at 39 knots during her trials, she was captured 85 years ago this week and went on to serve under two other flags until the final days of WWII.
The KMJ’s tin can needs
Emerging from the wreckage of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, mashed together with the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro by the Versailles Treaty in 1919, Yugoslavia needed a fleet.
The country inherited eight small 188-foot/250-ton torpedo boats, four Danube River monitors (the ex-Bosna, Enns, Körös, and Bodrog), four small TBs converted to minesweepers, and some scratch-and-dent auxiliaries from the Austrians. The largest ship collected from the smashed empire was the circa 1887 7,000-ton ironclad SMS Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf, which was condemned and sold for scrap within a couple of years.
In 1921, the budding polyglot country bought six surplus 500 ton German minelayers as tugs on the open market and armed them with new Skoda 3.5″/45s then followed that up in 1926 with the elderly German Gazelle-class light cruiser ex-SMS Niobe (2,370 tons) and added six new Skoda 3.4″/55s to that hulk, bringing her into service as the flagship Dalmacija.
Moving to purchase new construction, in 1927-31 the KMJ bought two small (236-foot/975-ton) 6-tubed Armstrong-built coastal submarines (Hrabri and Nebojsa), another two similarly small subs from France (Smeli and Osvetnik), the 250-foot/1,870-ton seaplane tender/minelayer Zmaj from Germany (capable of supporting 10 floatplanes, which the Yugos didn’t seem to have), and five 174-foot/130 ton Maclinska-class minelayers, the latter built by Yarrow’s Adriatic Yard in Kraljevica.
As part of the 1928 naval program, the KMJ moved to order from Yarrow, Scotstoun, what would be their most modern and well-armed surface combatant, the 2,800-ton destroyer leader Dubrovnik.
At 371 feet overall and powered by three oil-fired Yarrow boilers and dual sets of Parsons steaming and Curtis cruising turbines, she had 48,000shp on tap and was designed for 37 knot speeds (made 37.2 on trials).
Crtež razarača Dubrovnik, Yugo destroyer leader
Yarrow had built the experimental one-off destroyer HMS Ambuscade for the RN, delivered in 1927, and it could be argued that Dubrovnik was basically an enlarged take on that design.
Dubrovnik photographed by A.T. Kelly of Glasgow, while fitting out at the shipyard of Yarrow & Co., during the winter of 1931-1932. Courtesy of Mr. C.W. Beilstein. NH 94345
Same as above. NH 94344
Outfitted with four new 5.5″/56 Skoda single mounts— guns capable of firing 87.7-pound HE rounds at up to eight rounds per minute per tube out to 25,600 yards– Dubrovnik was one of the most heavily armed destroyers in the world at the time. In fact, her guns were the largest the KMJ ever had afloat, barring the trio of 12-inch Krupp M1888 L/35 guns on the old Erzherzog Rudolf, which were likely never put into service.
Škoda 140mm guns, Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik, May 1932, during a visit to the Netherlands, Den Helder, to install Hazemeyer fire control devices
Going past the 5.5″/56s, she had weight and space for an embarked seaplane, carried several 83mm M.1929 and 40mm/L67 Skoda AAA guns, and two triple 21-inch tubes for French-designed 1923DT torpedoes as well as depth charges and mines.
Dubrovnik was essentially a lead-in for the construction of a very similar new series of large (2,500-ton/377-foot) British destroyers authorized under the 1935 program, the well-liked Tribal class, which also had four gun mounts (for smaller 4.7″/45s), two funnels, and a three-boiler/two-turbine 44,000shp power plant for 36 knots.
The Yugoslavian fleet, circa 1937.
Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik in 1934
Delivered in May 1932, it was planned to build two sisters to Dubrovnik, and, since they were destroyer flotilla leaders, a whole class of modern tin cans for them to lead.
Which brings us to our subject of this week’s Warship Wednesday.
Meet Beograd
Named for the Yugoslav capital (Belgrade), the lead ship was ordered to a design from Ateliers et Chantiers after the fast French destroyer L`Adroit, which had entered service in 1929.
French destroyer torpilleur l’Adroit. The speedy French greyhound went 1,380 tons (standard) and ran 351 feet overall and, powered by three three-drum Temple boilers and two turbines for 31,000shp, could make turns for 33 knots.
French destroyer torpilleur l’Adroit. Armed with four 5.1″/40s and two triple torpedo tubes, she was a brawler, and the French would build 14 of her class.
Beograd would run a little shorter than L`Adroit (321 feet overall, 316 at the waterline with two funnels instead of three and less of a clipper bow) and hit the scales at 1,200 tons standard (1,655 full). Powered by three Yarrow boilers on two sets of Curtiss geared steam turbines, she had 44,000shp on tap and made just over 39 knots on trials versus a designed speed of 38.
Schemat niszczyciela Beograd
Armament would be four new model 4.7″/46 Skoda DPs, which could fire 52.9-pound HE shells at 10 rounds per minute to 18,000 yards. Secondary battery would be two twin 40mm Swedish Bofors with Dutch Hazemeyer fire control devices (one of the first mountings of such guns that would go on to become iconic), two 15mm Skoda heavy MGs, and two triple 21-inch torpedo tubes in addition to a stern depth charge rack. As many as 30 mines could be carried as well.
Laid down as Yard No. 585 at Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in Nantes in 1936, Beograd took to the water on 23 December 1937 and was completed in August 1939, just as Europe was marching to another world war.
Beograd photographed before World War II. Courtesy of Mr. C.W. Beilstein, 1983. NH 94342
Just 300 miles to the north of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia had just been swallowed up by Germany, Hungary (which occupied Carpathian Ruthenia), and Poland (which occupied and annexed the Zaolzie area), and things were getting tense between Russia, Poland, and Germany. Meanwhile, Italy invaded and swiftly annexed Albania to Yugoslavia’s south in April 1939, sending 22,000 troops across the Adriatic supported by two battleships, six cruisers, and two dozen escorts.
The first of at least two of Beograd’s planned sisters, Zagreb and Ljubljana, were ordered in 1936 from the new Ateliers et Chantiers-founded Jadranska Brodogradilista shipyard in Split, as Yard Nos. 22 and 23, respectively, and were likewise delivered in the summer of 1939.
Yugoslav Beograd-class destroyer Zagreb in the Bay of Kotor
Destroyer Zagreb, 1939
Jadranska brodogradilišta A.D shipyard in 1933, where Zagreb and Ljubljana were constructed between 1936 and 1939. The yard is still around, as Brodosplit, one of the largest Croatian shipyards.
War!
As noted by Dr. Milan Vego in his 1982 Warships International article on the KMJ, in 1940, the force counted 326 officers, 1,646 petty officers, and 1,870 seamen. At that time, just 64 former Great War era Austro-Hungarian officers (1 VADM, 27 CAPT, 27 Senior CDR, 5 CDR) were still on the rolls, while 336 officers were educated in the Yugoslav schools after 1918 (14 CDR, 110 LCDR, 27 ensigns).
The U.S. military attaché in Belgrade then observed that the “discipline and morale of navy personnel was very good. The men are content and like their life.” However, “higher commanders appear somewhat discouraged at the inferior position of the Yugoslav Navy due to totally inadequate appropriations.” In his view, “under such conditions the fleet units kept in service may be said to be in very good condition considering the small amount available for upkeep and training.”
Less than a month after commissioning, as Hitler marched into Poland, Beograd was sent to Britain with a large part of Yugoslavia’s gold reserves (7,344 ingots), which were deposited at the Bank of England for safekeeping.
Keeping their heads down in the event of a surprise attack from Italy, in which they had orders to make to sea to raid the Italian coast and shipping, Beograd and her sister ship Zagreb were deployed to the 1st Torpedo Division in the Bay of Kotor (Cattaro) with Dubrovnik. The third sister, Ljubljana, was undergoing repairs in the Tivat Arsenal after sinking in an accident on 24 January 1940.
It became clear that the Germans and Italians planned to move Yugoslavia into their orbit, especially after Mussolini invaded Greece in October 1940, using Albania as a springboard. When the 27/28 March 1941 coup in Belgrade changed the government’s polarization from semi-German to semi-Allied, the writing was on the wall. By 30 March, it became known that Germany and Italy had started evacuating their citizens living on the Yugoslav coast.
Mobilization orders were passed, and the KMJ’s warships were ordered to keep full bunkers, magazines, and stores, as well as charge the air valves in their torpedoes and depth charges. To keep from being picked off at pier side, they were ordered dispersed, and the crews of the ships camouflaged themselves along the coast; the destroyer Dubrovnik in the Bay of Kotor, the destroyers Beograd and Zagreb near Dobrota.
Royal Yugoslav Navy destroyer Zagreb heavily camouflaged with foliage on April 15, 1941
On the eve of the expected Axis (German, Italian, and Hungarian) invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Zagreb and Beograd, along with four 250-ton class torpedo boats and six MTBs, were sent to the port of Sibenik, about 50 miles south of Zadar– an Italian enclave on the Dalmatian coast which had been occupied since the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920– in preparation for an attack on the Italians, to be joined by a reinforced Yugo army division from landward.
While the assault on Zadar kicked off three days into the war on 9 April, it faltered, and Beograd suffered damage from Italian aircraft off Sibenik, which knocked out her starboard engine. Sailing back to the Bay of Kotor for repairs, Beograd and the rest of the Zadar assault flotilla set up a triangular kill box for attacking Italian aircraft, firing on successive waves over the next few days while the KMJ high command dithered over what to do.
Eventually, it was decided to try to evacuate the ships that could still fight to join the Allies in Greece and North Africa, and on the evening of 16 April, the submarine Nebojsa set out for Alexandria, followed the next day by the torpedo boats Kajmakcalan and Durmitor— without orders. Word was flashed to the KMJ that the surrender would begin at 0500 on the 17th.
With many of Zagreb’s crew heading ashore during the looming collapse, two of Zagreb’s lieutenants, Milan Spasić and Sergej Mašera, scuttled the destroyer, sacrificing their lives in the process on the afternoon of 17 April.
Spasic and Masera were posthumously decorated by exiled Yugoslav King Peter II with the Order of the Karađorđe Star with Swords in 1942, then awarded the Order of the People’s Hero by Tito in 1973. Zagreb never sailed again.
With Beograd hamstrung by her damaged engines, her crew disembarked in lifeboats and landed ashore at Kotor. She was captured there by rapidly advancing Italian forces just after Zagreb settled.
The destroyers Dubrovnik (left) and Beograd (right) photographed in the port of Kotor in 1941 after being captured by the Italian army. Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-185-0116-22A
Beograd in Bay of Kotor April 1941
Yugoslav Navy Beograd in Bay of Kotor, April 1941, Dubrovnik in the background
Beograd in Bay of Kotor April 1941 b
Dubrovnik in Bay of Kotor April 1941. Note the tall German Sd.Kfz. 231 armored car in the background.
Other vessels lost during the short war included the river monitor Drava, bombed and sunk by Luftwaffe aircraft off Cib with the loss of 54 of her 67 crew on 12 April, while her fellow monitors Morava, Vardar, and Sava were scuttled by their crews on the same day. The coasters Senj and Triglav were scuttled to prevent capture at the Island of Krk. Meanwhile, the cargo ships Karadjordje and Prestolonasledik Petar were sunk by Italian mines off Sibenik.
Germany’s Balkanfeldzug sideshow had only cost the Axis about 4,500 casualties to conquer Yugoslavia in less than a fortnight, but is generally believed to have forced the delay of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, by some five precious weeks, which could have made a huge difference in the outcome of the frozen Battle of Moscow that winter, which was a hard-won victory for the Red Army.
Under a different king
Much of the KMJ was put back into enemy service under either Italian or puppet (Croatian) flags over the next couple of years.
Dubrovnik served as the Italian destroyer Premuda from 1941 to 1943.
The destroyer Premuda (ex-Dubrovnik ) in the port of Patras on August 5, 1942.
Ljubljana, sidelined during the war in the shipyard, was completed by her new owner, renamed Lubiana (the Italian translation of her name), and sent to escort convoys to North Africa. She ran aground on 1 April 1943 near Tunisia and was destroyed the next day by an Allied air attack.
Italian destroyer Lubiana, formerly the Beograd-class Yugoslav destroyer Ljubljana, at Pola in January 1943
Destroyer Ljubljana under the Italian flag
Beograd, repaired and up-armed with several Breda Model 35 20mm L/65 AAA guns, was commissioned into the Regia Marina as Sebenico in August 1941.
Italian Navy destroyer Premuda, former Yugoslavian Navy Dubrovnik, crossing into Taranto circa 1942
Sebenico ex Royal Yugoslav Navy Beograd, weighing anchor, autumn 1942. Note her camo scheme and SB identifier.
Beograd/Sebenico’s career in Italian service was much more active than under the KMJ ensign. She was immediately put to work as a convoy escort on routes between Italy and the Aegean Sea and North Africa, completing over 100 runs over a period of two years.
Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik (Premuda) and Beograd (Sebenico) listed incorrectly as the former Ljubljanka, USN ONI 202 Flashbook on Italy 1943
Under the Reichskriegsflagge
After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943, several ex-Yugoslav and ex-Italian units were taken over by the Kriegsmarine and designated Torpedoboot Ausland (foreign torpedo-boat). These included TA32 (ex-Premuda, ex-Dubrovnik), TA43 (ex-Sebenico, ex-Beograd), and the TA48 (ex-Italian and Yugoslav T3, ex-Austrian 78 T), which were amalgamated into the hodge-podge 9. Torpedobootsflottille, tasked with escort and minelaying in the still Axis-held northern Adriatic.
In German service, TA43/Sebenico/Beograd landed her torpedo tubes and saw her armament augmented by seven 37mm flak guns in one twin and five single mounts, as well as two single 20mm guns.
Surviving air attacks and both Italian and Yugoslav partisans, TA43 was scuttled by her German crew in Trieste on 1 May 1945, just a week before VE-Day. She narrowly survived Dubrovnik, which had been lightly damaged by British destroyers in March 1945 during the Battle of the Ligurian Sea and was scuttled in Genoa on 25 April.
Varying accounts have Beograd raised and scrapped postwar, generally in the 1947-48 time frame, as Trieste was under UN mandate as a Free Territory before it was split between Italy and Yugoslavia.
Salvage of the destroyer TA32 (ex-Dubrovnik) in Genoa in 1950.
Epilogue
Little remains of our destroyer that I can locate.
As for the treasure that Beograd rushed to London for safekeeping, following the war, the Bank of England restituted 334,654.186 ounces of gold and coins to the National Bank of Yugoslavia between 1948 and 1958.
Models of Zagreb, who had the most heroic ending of her class, dot museums in Zagreb, Belgrade, and Kotor, her story and that of her two defiant lieutenants retold throughout the past 85 years.
Thanks for reading!
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
***
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On 9 April, some 86 years ago, neutral Denmark was attacked and quickly occupied by the Germans in Unternehmen Weserübung-Sud as a stepping stone to the invasion of Norway (Weserübung, proper).
The 9th of April has always held special significance for the volunteer soldiers in the Danish Home Guard (Hjemmeværnet, or HJV) and other parts of the country’s military, with “Never Again April 9th” (Aldrig mere 9. april) as a motto.
Formed just after Liberation in 1945, when the country had a robust Resistance movement, the Home Guard initially was divided into the black guard (sorte hjemmeværn) and the blue guard (blå hjemmeværn), with the terms coming from whether they wore recycled Axis (German panzer) uniforms or donated Allied (RAF blue)!
Formalized in April 1949, HJV combat patrols (kamppatruljer) began to appear across the country, organized at the local Army district level, and remained a fixture in the Cold War.
Thus:
Danish home guard (Forsvarets Hjemmeværnet) under en øvelse i 1980
Danish home guard (Forsvarets Hjemmeværnet) under en øvelse i 1980
Today, the HJV has some 45,000 members, with demographics averaging skilled workers in their 30s to 50s who have prior active military service. HJV members have volunteered to be deployed overseas in the GWOT, to Bosnia, and UN operations in Africa.
This April is also the 67th anniversary of the creation of the HJV’s Special Support and Reconnaissance Company (Særlig Støtte og Rekognosceringskompagni, or SSR), a “stay behind unit” intended to come out after Soviet/Russian occupation to perform direct action.
You know, Danish Wolverines, but with government backing.
The SSR was formed in 2007 from the amalgamation of two previous patrol companies (PTRKMP/HOK and PTRKMP/ELK) that were stood up in 1994, which in turn dated back to the old Special Intelligence Patrols (Specielle Efterretningspatruljer, or SEP) whose official birthday is considered 9 April 1959.
Selected from very skilled Home Guard members, who are typically prior active service, SSR members undergo 400 hours of training in 12 months (one classroom weeknight every week, one weekend in the field every month) before joining their patrol.
To be able to be considered for an SSR training spot, a candidate has to complete a five-day Selection process and ace these minimum physical fitness requirements:
A 2600-meter run wearing running clothes in a maximum of 12 minutes.
Two 20 km marches wearing boots, uniform, basic gear, and backpack totaling 25 kg, incl. rifle, excl. water and food. Each march must be completed in a maximum of 3 hours and 50 minutes.
Two land nav orientation marches (daylight and dark) using 2 cm army maps, with satisfactory results.
Swim test (minimum 300 meters, 15 meters of swimming underwater, deep dive 4 meters to retrieve a dummy, jump from a seesaw)
The unit consists mainly of volunteer soldiers from all over the country and is based at Tirstrup Field in the West and Skalstrup Field in the East.
The SSR is considered part of the country’s Special Operations Command and can be tapped to support the Jægerkorpset and Frømandskorpset.
As such, they wear a green beret with a distinctive and hard-earned sword-and-lightning-bolt cap badge (huemærke).
Some 85 years ago today, Brooklyn Navy Yard, 9 April 1941. The first American battleship commissioned in 18 years.
On the 1st anniversary of the German invasion of neutral Denmark and Norway, across the ocean in New York, a class-leading super battleship came to life. And, of note, she had a Chicago-born skipper, the son of Norwegian immigrants.
USS North Carolina (BB 55), the third ship to carry the name in the U.S. Navy, was commissioned this day in 1941, with her plank owner skipper, Capt. Olaf Mandt Hustvedt (USNA 1909), taking command of the most modern battlewagon in the fleet– packed with so much new technology that she was quickly dubbed “The Showboat.”
USS North Carolina during commissioning ceremonies at the New York Navy Yard, 9 April 1941. NH 44717
USS North Carolina commissioning ceremony, at the New York Navy Yard, 9 April 1941. Photographed by M. Rudolph Vetter. NH 96673-KN
USS North Carolina quarterdeck scene, during commissioning ceremonies at the New York Navy Yard, 9 April 1941. NH 44718
USS North Carolina officers and crew salute as the flag is raised for the first time, during commissioning ceremonies at the New York Navy Yard on 9 April 1941. NH 44719
Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox shakes hands with Captain Olaf M. Hustvedt, ship’s CO, during North Carolina’s commissioning ceremonies at the New York Navy Yard, 9 April 1941. At right is North Carolina Governor J.M. Broughton. NH 44721
USS North Carolina via 1938 Janes
North Carolina completed her shakedown in the Caribbean before the Pearl Harbor attack and, after intensive war exercises, entered the Pacific on 10 June 1942, with a long war ahead of her. Although fighting across the Pacific and being officially reported as sunk at least six times by the Japanese, she was a lucky vessel, suffering just 53 casualties.
Hustvedt, who was on Admiral King’s staff by Pearl Harbor and then on Ingersoll’s, went on to become Commander, Battleships, Atlantic Fleet, in 1943, then commanded Battleship Division 7 in the Pacific. He retired from the Navy in 1946 as a vice admiral, completing 41 years of service. He passed in 1978, aged a ripe 92, and is buried at Arlington, Section 7, Site 9044.
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Warship Wednesday 8 April 2026: Front Runner
USN Photo 80-G-08937 via the National Archives.
Above we see the Cramp-built Balao (not Tench) class fleet boat USS Tusk (SS-426), some 80 years ago this week, in April 1946, just after she was commissioned. Note her late WWII style “gunboat” arrangement with two 5″/25s and two 40mm Bofors clustered around her fairwater.
Remember, National Submarine Day is on April 11th, and Tusk, which never fired a torpedo in anger (that we know of), nonetheless has one of the most epic careers in naval history
The Balao Class
A member of the 180+-ship Balao class, she was one of the most mature U.S. Navy diesel designs of the World War Two era, constructed with knowledge gained from the earlier Gato class. Unlike those of many navies of the day, U.S. subs were “fleet” boats, capable of unsupported operations in deep water far from home.
The Balao class was designed to dive deeper (400 ft. test depth) than the Gato class (300 ft.) due to the use of high-yield-strength steel in the pressure hull.
Able to range 11,000 nautical miles on their reliable diesel engines, they could undertake 75-day patrols that could span the immensity of the Pacific. Carrying 24 (often unreliable) Mk14 Torpedoes, these subs often sank anything short of a 5,000-ton Maru or warship by surfacing and using their deck guns. They also served as the firetrucks of the fleet, rescuing downed naval aviators from right under the noses of Japanese warships.
Some 311 feet long overall, they were all-welded construction to facilitate rapid building. Best yet, they could be made for the bargain price of about $7 million in 1944 dollars (just $100 million when adjusted for today’s inflation) and completed from keel laying to commissioning in about nine months.
USS Roncador (Balao) class plans
USS Roncador (Balao) class plans
An amazing 121 Balaos were completed through five yards at the same time, with the following pennant numbers completed by each:
Cramp: SS-292, 293, 295-303, 425, 426 (12 boats)
Electric Boat: 308-313, 315, 317-331, 332-352 (42)
Manitowoc on the Great Lakes: 362-368, 370, 372-378 (15)
Mare Island on the West Coast: 304, 305, 307, 411-416 (9)
Portsmouth Navy Yard: 285-288, 291, 381-410, 417-424 (43)
Our subject is the only U.S. warship named for the cusk or tusk, a large edible saltwater fish related to the cod. The 14th and last submarine to be built by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia, she was laid down as the future SS-426 on 23 August 1943, and launched into the Delaware River on 8 July 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Carolyn Park Mills, wife of RADM Earle Watkins Mills (USNA 1917) who was soon to take over the Maritime Commission from the retiring VADM Emory S. Land.
Mrs. Mills christens the future Tusk, 8 July 1945. Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center, George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection, SCRC 170
Launch of Tusk, 8 July 1945. The sign on her bow says she was paid for via War Bond Purchases made by the people of Philadelphia. There were eight war loan drives from 1942 to 1945. By the end of the war, 85 million Americans had purchased 185.7 billion dollars of bonds. Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center, George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection, SCRC 170
With the end of the war, construction slowed, and Tusk was only commissioned on 11 April 1946.
Tusk had a late war “gunboat” style arraignment, including two 5″/25s and two Bofors guns, along with points for detachable 50 cals
Her first skipper was CDR Raymond A. Moore, USN, who seems to just be a placeholder as he was replaced within a fortnight by CDR Marshall Harlan Austin (USNA 1935), who had commanded the Gato-class fleet boat USS Redfin (SS-272) on her 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th War Patrols, sinking a Japanese destroyer and four merchantmen to earn a Navy Cross.
These images were taken the day before her commissioning:
(Cold) War!
Under Austin, Tusk completed her shakedown cruise in the South Atlantic, visiting ports in Brazil, Curacao, and Panama from June to July 1946. She returned to New London in August and the week before Thanksgiving 1946, President Harry S. Truman, ADM William D. Leahy, and Annapolis Commandant, VADM Aubrey W. Fitch, toured Tusk while she was tied up at the Naval Academy.
Photograph of President Truman and Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy inspecting the USS Tusk, a submarine, during the President’s visit to the U.S. Naval Academy. Note the well-turned-out MM1 watch stander’s dolphins and hash mark on the sleeves of his cracker jacks. National Archives Identifier: 198606
Photograph of President Truman aboard a submarine, the USS Tusk, during his visit to the U.S. Naval Academy: (left to right) the President; Vice Admiral Aubrey Fitch, Superintendent of the Naval Academy; Fleet Admiral William Leahy, Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief; and General Harry Vaughan, Military Aide to the President. NARA 198648
Truman waves from Tusk’s conning tower. NARA 198649
The next year saw Tusk participate in a series of exercises and a minor collision with the hospital ship USS Consolation (AH-15).
Repaired in Philadelphia, she then conducted oceanographic work along the Atlantic shelf with Columbia University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
She ended 1947 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for a Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program (GUPPY) II conversion, one of 24 Balao and Tench-class subs that received the SCB 47 rebuild.
During the subsequent seven months, Tusk underwent significant modifications to enhance her submerged performance. Four high-capacity 126-cell batteries replaced her original batteries, which had half as many cells, bedded into larger wells. The hull was streamlined by adding a rounded bow, recessing anchors, capstans, deck rail stanchions, and cleats; and eliminating propeller guards, improving hydrodynamic efficiency.
Topside, her deck guns were removed and sail enlarged and refined to accommodate three new masts (snorkel induction, snorkel exhaust and ESM), the snork enabling diesel-powered operation at periscope depth and battery recharging while submerged. The periscope and radar mast were enclosed. A BQR-2 sonar was fitted with hydrophones under the forefoot and its electronics housed in the forward torpedo room. Likewise, her Elliot Motor Co. high-speed drive electric motors with reduction gear were swapped out for low-speed direct drive motors of 2,500 hp per shaft, up from 1,370.
Her step-side Portsmouth Sail had a thinner top than those fitted to other GUPPYs by EB, with a curved trailing edge, square windows, and a sharper lower forward edge. They also had a fitting for the sub’s SV radar screen.
These upgrades transitioned Tusk from a submersible to an actual submarine and, while her surface speed was cut by about two knots, her submerged speed rose from 10 knots to about 15 knots.
After her G.II conversion in early 1948, she emerged looking very different from her original 1946 configuration, and, amid the Berlin Crisis, conducted a simulated war patrol to the Canal Zone in June and July as part of her post-modernization shakedown.
Her skipper during the cruise was CDR Guy F. Guggliotta, USN, another wartime sub driver who had commanded USS S-28 (SS 133), Halibut (SS 232) on her 10th War Patrol, and Raton (SS 270) on her 8th War Patrol, earning a pair of Silver Stars in the process.
Tusk, post GUPPY II conversion with her step side Portsmouth sail, seen off the New London Harbor Lighthouse.
Tusk seen between 1948 and 1962 post GUPPY II conversion with her step side Portsmouth sail, NH 67826
Cochino’s Last Dive
Attached to Submarine Development Group 2 out of Newport for the first six months of 1949, she sortied to the North Atlantic that July with SubRon 8 for a series of multinational NATO exercises that saw her visit Londonderry and Portsmouth in the British Isles.
At this point, Tusk was on her fourth skipper, WWII sub captain CDR Robert Kemble Rittenhouse Worthington, USN, who had earned a Navy Cross during Balao’s 8th, 9th, and 10th Patrols after sinking over a half-dozen small vessels, adding to a Silver Star he earned as a junior officer on four patrols aboard USS Silversides.
As noted of Cochino by DANFS, “huge waves slammed the submarines’ snorkel so violently, and jolted the boat so severely, that the pounding caused an electrical fire and battery explosion, followed by the release of deadly hydrogen [chlorine] gas,” forcing the stricken sub’s crew to evacuate the surfaced boat in terrible weather, and hunker down on her deck.
The last known photograph of USS Cochino (SS 345) was taken in July 1949. She now lies in deep water north of Norway near 71.35N. 23.35E, sunk stern first on 0146 on 26 August 1949 with no personnel aboard.
Receiving the underwater sonar signal from Cochino “Casualty surfacing,” Tusk worked over the next 14 hours on the rough seas to save first Cochino herself, then, after a second battery explosion made that impossible, to rescue Cochino’s 77 embarked souls via a prow rigged between the two boats on the open sea. Tragically, Tusk wound up trading 11 of her own crew and an embarked Philco techrep (Mr. Robert Wellington) to Poseidon in the deal, with only six later recovered from the sea alive.
A depiction of the USS Cochino battery fire that led to the sinking of the submarine in 1949, and cross-decking to Tusk, by Stanley Borack.
Greater detail from Tusk’s deck log:
Tusk, packed with nearly 150 personnel, many of them injured and suffering from exposure, she made for Hammerfest Harbor, Norway, and tied up at 0845 on the 26th to immediately receive a Norwegian medical team aboard.
Besides an officer (LCDR Richard M. Wright) sent to a Norwegian hospital in Tromso and four men flown home to Westover AFB for transfer to the Navy hospital at Chelsea, Massachusetts, the remaining 72 Cochino survivors crammed aboard Tusk once again two days later tor the return trip back across the Atlantic, arriving at New London on 9 September for a home town welcome.
Truly an epic sea story.
The 1950 Silent Service installment “The Last Dive” (Season 1, Episode 22) covered Cochino and Tusk’s final 14 hours together. A young Walter Matthau, DeForest Kelley, and Leslie Nielsen portrayed Cochino crewmembers, with LCDR Wright appearing at the end of the show, having completed 14 months of medical rehab.
Continued Cold War service
Tusk was assigned to the Submarine School at New London, then Submarine Development Group 2, interspersed with regular Atlantic Fleet exercises.
One of her declassified Dev Group tests now in the public archives is one for the Naval Research Laboratory in 1957, which involved the use of a light pulse transmitter to communicate with aircraft while submerged at depths of 90 feet.
In November 1949, during maneuvers 175nm off the Labrador coast in 40-foot seas, Tusk struck her periscope on the screw of a Navy supply ship USS Aldebaran (AF-10), picking up minor damage but suffering no casualties.
In late 1952, Tusk was assigned to SubRon 10 for a six-month Med cruise with the 6th Fleet, visiting Malta, Gibraltar, Cannes, Piraeus, Izmir, and French Oran.
USS Tusk (SS 426) post GUPPY II conversion 1 August 1952 USN 477116
Tusk would make four further European cruises over the next two decades. Notably, this would include a visit to Fiumicino during the 1960 Rome Olympics, calling in Portugal to mark the 500th anniversary of Prince Henry the Navigator, and a 1967 cruise where she would visit Bremerhaven, Aarhus, and Göteborg.
USS Tusk sailing into Malta on one of her Med deployments, pre 1965
Jane’s 1960 entry for the Tench class, with both the Cramp-built GUPPY’d Tusk and Trumpetfish listed incorrectly as members. At the time, the Navy was also operating at least 80 Balaos, including NRF ships and those in mothballs.
Tusk also pulled three shorter Operation Springboard readiness deployments to the Caribbean, a region of growing importance post-Castro. As you can imagine, annual Springboard exercises involved high-profile mock ASW, amphibious landings, and fleet maneuvers around Puerto Rico. It was a common gathering for GUPPYs in the 60s and 70s.
Balao-class Springboard GUPPYs with North Atlantic sails: USS Bang (SS-385) preparing to tie up alongside USS Chivo (SS-341) at San Juan Naval Station, Puerto Rico, during Operation Springboard. Of note, the lowest point on the keel to the IFF antenna atop the lowered snorkel was 49 feet 8.25 inches, while the height to the top of the whip antenna is 78 feet from the keel. You weren’t going to submerge one of these bad boys in 10 fathoms! Bang’s skipper, CDR R.J. Carlin, is giving orders from atop her sail. The bow of a Canadian Ojibwa (Oberon) class SSK is visible in the lower left, and a U.S. Coast Guard HU-16 Albatross amphibian is flying low in the center background. Photograph by PHC CJ Wiitala, USN, released 14 March 1968 by Tenth Naval District Public Affairs Office. NH 98697
Further, Tusk was involved in at least two extensive polar ice operations, including with USS Tench (SS-417) on ICEX ’60 and SUBICEX 1-62 with Skate (SS-578) and Entemador (SS-340).
USS Tusk, USS Entemedor, and USS Skate dusted with snow, 1962, during SUBICEX
Tusk on ICEX March 1960 with Tench
Entering Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in July 1965, Tusk was given a six-month major overhaul that including removing all her engines, motors, and generators for rebuild, receiving a new periscope with a built in electronic sextant for taking star shots while still submerged, and picking up the tall streamlined fiberglass/plastic clamshell “North Atlantic” style fairweather typically seen on most American GUPPYs after the mid-60s.
The new sail allowed extra room for the growing number of masts and aerials, a higher observation platform for lookouts, and a more habitable position for watch standers while on the surface. Tusk also received the new Prairie Masker bubbler system, increased air-conditioning capacity, additional storerooms, and additional fresh water tanks as part of the modifications.
Balao class GUPPY II sister USS Catfish post refit 1960s North Atlantic sail. Tusk had the same layout.
Balao class GUPPY II sister USS Catfish post refit 1960s North Atlantic sail. Tusk had the same layout.
Rejoining the fleet in January 1966, Tusk was transferred to SubRon 8.
Submarine Squadron Eight at New London, 1968, with a wild mix of eight Cold War fleet boat conversions. Left to right: USS Sea Robin (SS-407)(GUPPY IA with Portsmouth style step sail); Tusk (SS-426)(GUPPY II w North Atlantic sail); Sea Owl (SS-405)(Fleet Snorkel w EB style step sail and large Project Kayo BQR-4A horseshoe passive sonar array); Sablefish (SS-303)(Fleet Snorkel w North Atlantic sail); Halfbeak (SS-352)(GUPPY II w North Atlantic sail); Blenny (SS-324)(GUPPY IA w North Atlantic sail) and Becuna (SS-319)(GUPPY IA w Portsmouth step-sail). The eighth unidentified submarine on the left has PUFFS passive underwater fire control arrays for the BQG-4 system. NH 88415
Tusk (SS-426) at New London, Connecticut, June 1, 1968, as part of SubRon 8. USS Becuna (SS 319) is across the pier. Sailors on deck, civilians observe from the pier. Courtesy of D.M. McPherson, NH 86627
By 1969, Tusk had been transferred to SubRon 2 but was still based out of her traditional New London home. She was known as The Front Runner, so dubbed “due to its reputation for excellence and high-performance.”
This was supported by her being awarded the Fire Control “E” for several consecutive years and the Battle Efficiency “E” for fiscal year 1973.
Tusk underway in Hampton Roads, Virginia, 11 February 1970, as part of SubRon 2. NHHC K-81809
USS Tusk 1972 Provided by Tom Robinson QM2 (SS)
While on her fifth European deployment on 12 August 1972, while off the coast of Spain, the well-traveled Tusk made her 10,000th dive and surface, a benchmark few submarines have reached. Of note, Tusk’s Balao-class sister USS Spikefish (SS-404) had set the 10,000 record first in 1960 and earned the title of “The divingest Submarine in the World,” which was later claimed by another Balao, USS Piper (SS-409), who logged 13,724 before her decommissioning.
Speaking of decommissioning…
Under the Cog
In 1960, the ROC (Taiwan) Navy embarked on the Sea Shark Project, designed to create a submarine force.
This morphed into the Wuchang Project and, in October 1964, after months of wrangling, Capt Wang Xiling, the ROC naval attaché stationed in Rome, overcame diplomatic difficulties and ordered two 58-foot SX-404 class midget-submarines with a displacement of only 40 tons from the Italian commercial shipyard Cos.Mo.S. SpA, Livorno. Two CosMoS CE2F/X100 human torpedo chariot-style frogman SDVs were acquired as well.
ROCN 58-foot SX-404 class midget submarine Haijiao (Sea Dragon) (S-1) between 1968 and 1973
To avoid complications, the components were shipped from Europe to Tamsui and then assembled in Taiwan by CoS.MoS personnel. The two SX-404 boats were commissioned on 8 October 1969 as Haijiao (Sea Dragon) (S-1) and Hailong (Sea Dragon I) (S-2), and were immediately put to work as training vessels of the Wuchang Submarine Squadron for the nascent ROCN sub force. The CNO of the fleet, ADM Feng Qicong, personally handed out the country’s first dolphin badges that day to the program’s members.
By late 1970, and with two years of midget sub operations under the ROCN’s belt, Capt Wang Xiling, then moved to the embassy in Washington, persuaded the U.S. to sell two submarines to Taiwan as training vessels, citing the need to enhance the navy’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities. In other words, “tame mice” for the ROCN’s two dozen destroyers and frigates to play with.
On 21 April 1971, the U.S. confirmed the planned handover of two surplus GUPPY IIs, initially designated “Project Poseidon” by the Navy, and renamed “Project Mercury” in December. In March, 1972, the first batch of ROCN personnel receiving the Project Mercury submarines arrived at the U.S. Naval Submarine School in New London for training.
Tusk’s sister, USS Cutlass (SS 478), was transferred to the ROCN as ROCS Hai Shih (Sea Lion) (SS 91) on 12 April 1973, her hull number later changed to S-791
By May 1973, with Tusk just returned from a three-month Caribbean training cruise that saw her call at Guantanamo Bay, Ocho Rios, Port au Prince, and Montego Bay, she welcomed aboard 81 officers and men from the Republic of China to commence training for turnover.
In anticipation of the new (to them) vessels, Taiwan laid up its SX-404s and redesignated the Wuchang Submarine Squadron as the Republic of China Navy’s 256th Squadron (Submarine) in August 1973.
On 18 October 1973, Tusk was decommissioned at New London and was simultaneously transferred, by nominal sale, to the Taiwan Navy. Her name was struck from the Navy list on the same day.
She became ROCS Hai Pao (Seal) (SS 92) in the same ceremony, with LCDR David H. Boyd, USN, turning over the boat to CDR Cheng Kuo-Yu, ROCN. Kuo-Yu had served in the Wuchang Squadron since 1969 and had spent seven months in Sub School in New London before beginning training on Tusk/Hai Pao.
Jane’s 1975 entry on the Cutlass/Hai Shih and Tusk/Hai Pao. They have since changed their hull numbers to S-791 and S-792
Amazingly, both of Taiwan’s GUPPYs, for decades the last remaining Balaos in service, are still in operation with the 256th Squadron, training ROCN submariners for the current front-line subs, the Dutch Zwaardvis-class ROCS Hai Lung (Sea Dragon) and ROCS Hai Hu (Sea Tiger), which were delivered in 1988.
Nonetheless, they are still officially combat-ready and undergo regular dry docking, inspection, overhaul, and sea periods.
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 circa 2005
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 internals
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 Zuoying Naval Base Oct 2017 Tuo Chiang-class corvette
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 circa 2014
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 circa 2014
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 sail
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 circa 2014 Keelung
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 circa 2014 Keelung
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 circa 2014 Keelung
ex USS Tusk, now ROCS 海豹(seal), SS792 control room
ROC President Tsai Ing-wen attended the “2017 Naval Goodwill Flotilla Launch Ceremony and Submarine Indigenous Construction Design Initiation and Cooperation Memorandum Signing Ceremony,” emphasizing that submarine indigenous construction is the most challenging aspect of the national defense autonomy policy and a responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief to the nation. The ROC Navy’s Tusk/Hai Pao (SS-792) is moored to Tsai Ing-wen’s left fore-south.
When the first two domestically built Haikun (Seagull)-class SSKs arrive in service in 2026 and 2027 (?), Cutlass/Hai Shih and Tusk/Hai Pao are expected to be retired with the 40-year-old Dutch boats rotating to fill the roles of the old GUPPYs.
The President of Taiwan presides over the naming and launching ceremony of the prototype submarine built domestically, the future ROCS Haikun (SS-711), on September 28, 2023.
Epilogue
Tusk’slogs and plans are in the National Archives.
There is at least one blog and one crewmember reunion group (who last met in 2017) to cherish Tusk’s memory and those who served on her.
Her U.S. service is remembered in Cold War classic maritime art.
“Cat and Mouse” by Wayne Scarpaci shows the GUPPY II USS Tusk (SS-426) with a Lockheed (P2V) Neptune flying overhead in ASW training.
Her skipper during the Cochino rescue, CDR Worthington (USNA ’38), had been on subs that earned a dozen battle stars and sunk 100,000 tons of shipping during WWII, earning him a Navy Cross, Silver Star, and three Bronze Stars. He didn’t need more medals. He retired from the fleet as a Captain on the staff of the Twelfth Naval District in San Diego in 1962, capping a very busy 24 years of active service. Worthington received an M.S. in Physics and Electronics from UCLA and worked for Lockheed Corporation on the design and construction of the pioneering submersible Deep Quest,which achieved a depth of 8,000 feet during a test dive. Leaving Lockheed in 1975, Worthington returned to the sea, sailing as master on several ocean vessels in Caribbean and Alaskan waters. He passed away in 1996, in San Diego, leaving a wife and two children behind. His papers are in the U.S. Naval War College Archives, of which he was an alumnus.
Thanks for reading!
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
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Here we see, some 85 years ago this month, a spick and span SB2U-3 Vindicator, on 25 April 1941. Note the “meatball” national insignia and the aircraft’s ribs showing through its fabric fuselage. The Navy’s first monoplane scout-bomber, the Vindicator, entered squadron service with the VB-3 High Hats (now the VFA-14 Tophatters) in 1937, but was soon replaced by the better SBD Dauntless.
U.S. Navy picture via the NARA 80-G-3042
The above new production SB2U-3 (BuNo 2050) was delivered to Marine Scouting Squadron Two (VMS-2) on 14 March 1941, part of just 57 such aircraft ordered for the USMC in 1939.
On 1 July 1941, VMS-2 was redesignated Marine Scout-Bombing Squadron 231 (VMSB-231).
BuNo 2050 was later destroyed on the ground with six other “spare” Vindicators of the squadron when the Japanese attacked Ewa Marine Corps Air Station on 7 December 1941, the rest of the unit being sent aboard USS Lexington (CV-2) during the first week of December to reinforce some place few had heard of, far off Midway Atoll.
231’s sister Vindy squadron, VMSB-241, would give its best during the battle.
Obsolete fabric-covered SB2U-3 dive bombers of Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 241 taking off to attack the Japanese fleet striking force on the morning of 4 June 1942, during the battle of Midway. Part of Marine Aircraft Group 22 (MAG-22), they would earn a Presidential Unit Citation for their role in the epic naval clash.
The next time VMSB-231 met the Japanese in 1942, it would be from SBD Dauntless dive bombers, as the Corps was busy divesting itself of the old Vindy. No Marine SB2U-3 remains in existence, with only a sole Navy Vindicator, SB2U-2 BuNo 1383, on display at the NNAM in Pensacola.
Now in its 107th year of service, the “Ace of Spades” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMA) 231 is still around today, transitioning from AV-8Bs to F-35s.
Some 80 years ago this week. Off Istanbul, Turkey, on 5 April 1946.
Here we see the famed Iowa-class fast battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) moored in the Bosporus. She had just brought home for burial the body of the late Turkish Ambassador to the U.S., Mehmet Munir Ertegun. This visit was also aimed at influencing Russian Middle East policy. The Gearing-class destroyer USS Power (DD-839) is at left.
Note that Missouri is wearing a more peacetime solid-blue hull (Measure 22) over her wartime Measure 32/22d camouflage, which she wore through the end of WWII, just seven months prior. National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-702557
At right is the infamous Turkish Moltke-class battle cruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim (ex-SMS Goeben), some 36 years old at the time.
When Missouri, the light cruiser Providence (CL-82), and Power had entered the straits on 5 April, Missouri and Yavuz exchanged 19-gun salutes, two great bookends in battlewagon history.
A better look at Missouri on this cruise. Note the Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk floatplane on her catapult. Official caption: “Mediterranean Cruise 1946 of USS Missouri (BB 63). USS Missouri (BB 63) anchored in the harbor of Piraeus, Greece.” 80-GK-9343
Off Istanbul, Turkey, 5-9 April 1946. Missouri center. She had brought the body of the Late Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Mehmet Munir Ertegun, home for burial, on a mission that was also made to influence Soviet Middle East policy. USS Power (DD-839) is at left, and the Turkish Battlecruiser Yavuz (formerly the German Goeben) is at right. The Dolmabahce Mosque is in the foreground. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-366179
The camouflaged Yavuz (Turkish Battlecruiser, 1911, formerly the German Goeben). Off Istanbul, Turkey, in April 1946, during USS Missouri’s visit there. Photographed by Lieutenant Commander Dewey Wrigley. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-376888
Still somewhat capable of at least scratching the paint of a Soviet battleship or providing NGFS against land forces trying to close the strait, when Turkey joined NATO in 1952, Yavuz picked up a B-series hull number (B70) before she was decommissioned in 1954 after 42 years of service (40 of those to the Turks). Even while laid up, she continued to be used as a stationary headquarters for the Battle Fleet until 1960.
Offered as a museum ship to West Germany, and unable to preserve the historic 25,000-ton vessel themselves, Goeben/Yavuz was instead sold by the Turks for scrap to M.K.E. Seyman in 1971, although several relics were preserved.
Check out this great original color clip of the old girl in 1973 as she was preparing for tow to the breakers:
Some 75 years ago this week, IC-92646, an M8 Greyhound armored car of “Groupement Sizaire”, fords a river near Mao Khe in French Indochina, sometime between 31 March and 5 April 1951. Note on the front of the hull the anchor insignia of the French army’s colonial troops, a badge that earned such men the nickname “Marsouins” or porpoises.
ECPAD Réf. : TONK 51-37D R7
Colonel Robert Sizaire’s scratch Mobile Group (groupe de mobile, or GM) was formed in late January 1951 and was a two-battalion experimental blend of light infantry and light armor, with the former carried via halftracks and the latter built around 18-ton M-24 Chaffee (the French used 1,250 of the little “Cadillac tanks” in the 1950s-60s) and Greyhounds.
Crossing a bamboo bridge by the first elements of the “Sizaire” group armed with M24/29 FM LMG and MAS 36 rifles. Note the “Chapeau de Brousse” bush hats.
The M-24 Chaffee “Angouleme” of Group Sizaire, with riders from the 6th BPC (paras) and local Thai partisans (beret) differentiated from the bush-hatted tankers and grenadiers.
This could almost pass for Italy in 1944. However, it is the square at Sept Pagodes (now Phả Lại part of Hải Dương Province, in Vietnam’s Red River Delta) where the members of the “Sizaire” group are gathered, circa March 1951. Note six M-24 Chaffees, at least 13 M3 Half-Tracks, two Jeeps, and a GMC CCKW “Deuce-and-a-Half” 2.5-ton 6×6 truck
The Sizaire Group, combined with the 6th BPC (6th Colonial Parachute Battalion), platoon of the RICM (Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco), a company of African riflemen (from 30e Bataillon de marche de tirailleurs sénégalais), and Lt Nghiem Xuan Toan’s Tho partisan company, successfully defended the isolated Mao Khe and Ben Tam outposts on Provincial Route 18 (PR 18), between Bac Ninh and Hong Hai against a determined attack by the Viet Minh TD (Trung Doan) 36 and 209 regiments in between 29 March and 5 April– later reinforced by elements of three divisions– with the tanks being crucial in the counter-attack that broke the back of Giap’s guys.
Advance of M24 Chaffee tanks from the “Sizaire Group” towards Mao Khe across the Tonkin landscape. In the foreground, the M24 Chaffee “Metz” tank, bearing the number 5 on its turret.
Mao Khe with a knocked-out Sizaire Group Greyhound after the fighting.
The fighters of Dong Trieu (these are the first elements of the “Sizaire” group), the day after a night of fighting. In the background, a damaged watchtower. Note the bush hats, MAT-49s, and M1 Carbines.
While successful, the poor road network made even light armor problematic in Indochina– a boogeyman of later suffered by American/ARVN M-48s and M-113s– and Sizaire’s unit was soon broken apart and sent its separate way.
The M24 Chaffee “Angoulême” tank (registration number IC-93003) fell into the water when the scrap metal bridge collapsed.
The column of M24 Chaffee tanks, under the command of Colonel Sizaire, is stopped in April 1951. In the foreground, an M24 Chaffee tank is stuck in the mud, seen from above; it bears the number 6 on the turret; in the background, the M24 Chaffee tank registered IC-93016 and bearing the number 12 on the turret.
Who was Sizaire?
Colonel Sizaire at the wheel of a jeep, March 1951. His passenger is General de Lattre de Tassigny, at the time the French commander in Indochina. Note that Sizaire’s cap has the colonial troops’ anchor.
Born in 1904 in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Sizaire’s father, Emile Vital Pascal Sizaire, was a literature professor in his 40s who left his position at the university to meet his death as a field officer at Verdun in 1916. Does it get any more old republic?
Our younger Sizaire went on to make the military his career. Enlisting as a volunteer in 1922, he fought against the Rif in Morocco, within a unit of Senegalese riflemen (23e RIC). Passing through Saint-Maixent in 1926, he served in a variety of positions in the colonial forces, taking his bride, Lucienne, while stationed in Bamako (French Sudan) in 1931, before assignments in Algeria (1932) and Indochina (1935).
A junior officer during the Battle for France, leading a company of the 12th RTS (12e Regiment de Tirailleurs Senegalais), he was redeployed to Dakar and finally to Morocco under Vichy orders. Post Torch in November 1942, he cast his lot with De Gaulle and, as a battalion commander (Chef de Battalion) with colonials of the 4th RTS participated in the liberation of Corsica (Operation Vesuvius) in September 1943, the capture of the Italian island Elba in June 1944 (Operation Brassard)– his battalion capturing Monte Tambonne and the German batteries at Aquabonna– and the August 1944 Dragoon Landings which led to the liberation of Toulon and Southern France that August, picking up an American DSC in the process. After the Battle of Colmar in 1945, he finished WWII as the second in command of the 21e RIC (the old 4th RTS), standing on German soil.
It was as a colonel commanding the 21e RIC that he arrived in Indochina in April 1946, joining the fight against the Viet Minh. Once the 21e RIC was sent back “home” to Africa, Sizaire remained in-country as colonel of the newly arrived 3e RIC. Sent back to France in 1949, he flew back to Indochina to join his “Marsouins” in late January 1951, setting up his Groupement Sizaire as detailed above.
He went on to become the French commander in Laos (commandant les Forces du Laos) until January 1953.
Then came a brigadier’s star and command in Brazzaville for the next four years, where he helped stand up the army of the newly independent Congo. After serving as the commandant of the NATO Defense College in 1959, Lt. Gen. (Général de corps d’armée des troupes coloniales) Sizaire was moved to the retired list in 1964 after helping create and equip the Cameroonian Army. He held numerous decorations, including two Croix de Guerre, and was a Grand Officier of the Légion d’Honneur
He then spent a decade as mayor of Cayeux-sur-Mer. He passed in Picardy on a Saturday in the summer of 1975, aged 71, leaving behind three children and a host of grandchildren.
America’s last living “triple ace,” BGEN Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson, was laid to rest this week at Arlington, having passed at age 102.
He was interred in section 38, joining his beloved wife of nearly 70 years, Eleanor Cosby, who was buried in 2015.
A horse-mounted honor guard draws the casket of retired Air Force Col. Clarence “Bud” Anderson during his interment at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., March 30, 2026. Anderson, a World War II fighter pilot, died May 17, 2024, at the age of 102. (Eric Dietrich, Air Force)
If you have ever seen a classic American war bird with an “Old Crow” nose art, an ode to the cheapest whisky of the time, it is a salute to Bud who used the moniker on his first aircraft at age 22, P-39Q, tail number 42-20746, then kept using it on three different P-51Bs during his first WWII combat tour with the 357th FG at Leiston Airfield, England, and famously on P-51D 44-14450, Code B6-S, on his second tour. Finally, on F-105D 60-5375 as Wing Commander of the 355th TFW stationed at Takli Air Base in Thailand during Vietnam.
He flew 116 individual combat missions that resulted in 16 downed German aircraft and one shared combat victory between March and December 1944, earning him triple ace status.
As a fighter pilot, test pilot, and combat and operational commander, Anderson logged over 7,500 flight hours and flew more than 130 types of aircraft. His many decorations include five Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Legions of Merit, 16 Air Medals, and the French Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre.
Appropriately, Bud’s services this week saw a double flyover: first by four F-35s, followed by four World War II-era P-51 Mustangs, two of which bore Old Crow livery.
