Mandatory Fun, 1944 Kodiak Island edition

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Coming off of the long Independence Day weekend (I hope you got four days of downtime, my friends!) I thought this view of how the “Eight Ballers” of the 8th Special Naval Construction (Seabee) Battalion kicked back on their July 4th celebration 80 years ago while stationed at Women’s Bay on Kodiak Island in the Alaska Territory.

From the 8th Special’s 201-page WWII cruise book:

For the record, the “Special” designation for the 8th SNCB comes from the fact that they were formed in April 1943 largely from professional East Coast longshoremen whose expertise in rapidly loading and unloading cargo was desperately needed. 

They deployed to Alaska– after a modicum (14 days) of military training under Marine Corps DIs followed by a three-week A school to make sure they were all on the same page– first to Kodiak (“Island X”) in August 1943 and then to Attu (“Island Y”) where their specialized skillset was put to hard use in extreme conditions. Smaller dets went further west in the Aleutans including Adak and Shemya, often having to build the docks while they worked them.

Don’t think of these guys as “cargo apes” as the work they did was often very technical, for instance, take a look at this balance chart for a liberty ship:

Those guys no doubt earned their day off on Kodiak’s bear-prone beach.

Shipped back to the West Coast post-war, the 8th SNCB was inactivated at Port Hueneme, California on 29 October 1945 and has never been reformed.

The NGSW You Have at Home

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The Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program, which SIG won in April 2022, aims to use the XM7 rifle to replace the M4 Carbine series with America’s warfighters and the XM250 machine gun to do the same for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. While the M4 and M249 are 5.56 NATO platforms, the new NGSW series will use the Army’s new 6.8 Common Cartridge family of ammunition.

An infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), executes chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense (CBRN defense) day qualification with the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle and Fire Control while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (Photo Credit: Mark Scovell, Visual Information Specialist, U.S. Army Operational Test Command)

That’s what makes the newest MCX Spear variant offered commercially so cool, as it is chambered not in SIG’s consumer .277 Fury variant of the cartridge but in 6.8x51mm – and SIG plans to make overruns of Army ammo available to consumers.

The rifles will still be able to shoot dimensionally identical .277 Fury, while other caliber options such as .308 and 6.5 CM are a barrel swap away.

Plus, there is military overrun ammo inbound.

The military overrun ammo on hand was 113-grain copper solid ball in 20-round boxes, 460-round cans, and 920-round crates. With a .330 ballistic coefficient and 3,200 FPS velocity out of a 16-inch barrel, these rounds spec out at 2,569 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. The case is a brass/stainless steel hybrid that allows for increased muzzle velocity/energy compared to traditional brass.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Scratch and Dent 4th Hand Coast Guard Cutter up for Grabs

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A port view of the Point class patrol boat USCGC Point Glass (WPB 82336) as it passes the starboard side of the harbor tug USS Arcata (YTB 768), Jan. 1983, likely in the Bremerton, Washington area. U.S. Navy Photo DNSC8506808 by PH3 F. Davidson, NARA 6392124

So this listing popped up for sale for a retired 82-foot USCG Point-class patrol cutter which appears to still be in very good shape:

The ad (for posterity):

Coast Guard cutter . Point glass. 82foot patrol boat. With a 4 foot dive platform which has a total length of 86 feet. Twin catipillar 3412 800hp turbocharged diesel motors. Hours are right over 2000 hours. Cummins twin diesel generators with around 600 hours…. History is from the us coast guard to NOAA. From NOAA to the Sea Scouts to myself. Always maintained. Many upgrades. Diver inspected. New zincs. Bottom, shafts and props are in good condition. Asking $150,000. Engines /trans/ alone worth $200,000. Reasonable offers considered.

USCGC Point Glass (WPB-82336) was built by the USCG Yard in Maryland and commissioned on 29 August 1962. Her Coast Guard service saw her stationed at Tacoma, Washington, from 1962 to 1970; Gig Harbor, Washington, from 1971 to 1989; and at Fort Lauderdale, Florida from 1990 until she decommissioned in 2000 when she was transferred to NOAA for use as a survey ship in the Gulf of Mexico.

Point Glass in her original early 1960s configuration without the racing stripe. Note the wooden punt. 

Point Glass had a key role in fighting the 1963 Tacoma dock fire, as noted by USCG History: July 14, 1963 — Pier 7 at Tacoma, Washington was engulfed in flames. CG-82336 (later designated USCGC Point Glass WPB 82336) based at Tacoma, proceeded immediately to the scene to assist the first department in fighting the blaze. The cutter towed the M/V Sanyo Maru away from the pier and was relieved of the tow by a tug. CG-82336 returned to the pier and towed the M/V Kikulo Maru to a safe anchorage. The Tacoma Fire Department then requested CG-82336 to coordinate firefighting efforts on the bay side of the pier, as the fire department was unable to cover the entire area because of the intensity of the fire. Unable to fight the fire under the pier, CG-82336 proceeded to a local boat mooring and acquired seven rental boats to assist. These boats, manned by local firemen and Coast Guard personnel, fought the fire under the pier. The fire was brought under control the next morning and Coast Guard units were secured. A fire Battalion Chief died and seven firemen were injured, but there were no Coast Guard casualties.

Point Glass in her later 1970s configuration with racing stripe and 81mm mortar/M2 .50 cal piggyback forward mount along with ready boxes. 

S/V Point Glass in her early 2000s NOAA configuration

She used to support the Sea Scouts on the Texas Gulf Coast from at least 2014 until 2020 when COVID basically killed the program.

The Literary Ghost of ATM

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Here we see a great shot of the Wickes-class flush-deck “four stacker” USS Mahan (Destroyer # 102) at anchor during the early 1920s, following conversion to a light minelayer. The round Mine Force emblem is painted on her bow. As noted by the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, “Though redesignated DM-7 in July 1920, she probably continued to wear her destroyer number for some years thereafter.”

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. NH 46924

Named for esteemed Edwardian-era naval theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan, Destroyer # 102 was laid down on 4 May 1918 by the Fore River Shipyard, at Quincy, Mass.; sponsored at launch three months later by the late RADM Mahan’s niece, and commissioned on 24 October 1918– just three weeks before the end of the Great War.

While her service was limited– she was decommissioned and scrapped in 1929 without firing a shot in anger– she went on to become somewhat immortal as a fictional version of Mahan appears, alongside her four-piper sistership USS Walker, in Taylor Anderson’s Destroyermen series of alternate history novels.

Loading up Gabby’s Jug

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From some 80 years ago this month comes this amazingly detailed and vibrant period Kodachrome.

Original Caption: “Armament men must exercise extreme caution in loading .50 cal. machine guns of a plane. 8th AF. Extreme caution must be exercised in loading .50 cal. machine guns of a P-47 fighter. It may mean the life of the pilot of another victory. These men are experts as you can see by the number of Jerries shot down by the pilot of the plane who is none other than Lt. Col. Francis Stanley “Gabby” Gabreski, Oil City, Pa., leading ace in the ETO, with 28 planes to his credit. Left to right: Sgt. John A. Koval, Rochester, NY, and Sgt. Joe Di Franza, East Boston, Mass.”

8th AF Photo K 2618, rec’d September 1944 (but taken in July 1944) from BFR, Filed War Theatre #12– England– Armarment and Gunnery. National Archives Identifier 325596069. Local ID: 342-C-K-2618

If you look at the loading door, there is a belt loading diagram. Of note, the P-47 could carry as many as 425 rounds per gun, with eight .50 cals, giving it a “throw” of some 3,400 rounds, which was tremendous compared to other U.S. fighters (1,840 rounds for the 6-gunned P-51 Mustang and 2,400 for the similarly armed F4U Corsair.) Also note that rather than a mix of tracers and other ammo, the belts all seem to hold standard M8 “silver tipped” armor-piercing incendiary (API) ammo belts ammo, which means this could just be a publicity shot and not a real “war load.”

Take count of “Gabby’s” scorecard, at the time, of 28 Nassi victories, dating the image to around July 5/6 1944.

Born in Franciszek Stanisław Gabryszewski in 1919 to immigrants from Frampol, Poland, Gabreski went through the USAAF’s Aviation Cadet program while at Notre Dame in 1940, and by late 1941 he was a 2nd LT in the 45th Pursuit Squadron of the 15th Pursuit Group at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, where he tried unsuccessfully to engage the Japanese on 7 December from behind the controls of an obsolete P-36 Hawk. Volunteering to work as a liaison with the Free Polish pilots of the RAF in England, Capt Gabreski was flying Spitfire Mark IXs with No. 315 (Dęblin) Squadron by January 1943 before he was tapped to lead the new 61st Fighter Squadron that summer, flying the P-47.

And the rest, as they say, is history, putting in 300 flying hours with the Eight Air Force on 166 combat sorties logged in just over 13 months and was officially credited by the USAAF with 28 aircraft destroyed in air combat and 3 on the ground between 24 August 1943 and 5 July 1944, making the 25-year-old the leading American ace at the time. 

Lt. Col. Gabreski was shot down on 20 July 1944, spending the rest of the war with 9,000 other Allied airmen at Stalag Luft I in Western Pomerania, liberated in April 1945 by the Soviet Red Army.

Post-war, he chopped over to the newly formed USAF, while at the controls of an F-86 shot down 6.5 MiG-15s in Korea for 123 combat missions, totaling 289 for his career with 34.5 “kills.”

Gabreski retired on November 1, 1967, at the time commander of a wing of F-101 Voodoos. When he left the military, he had over 5,000 flying hours. 

He earned the DSC, DSM, Legion of Merit, 2 Silver Stars, 13 DFCs, a Bronze Star, and 7 Air Medals. He passed in 2002, aged 83.

Irony, Independence Day 1918

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SMLE-armed Pvt. Harry Shelley, Co A, U.S. 132nd Infantry Regiment, 33rd “Prairie” Division receives the British Distinguished Conduct Medal from King George V, for his 4 July 1918 actions in the Battle of Hamel, where elements of the 33rd were attached in platoon-sized groups to Australian units– the first time American outfits were under British command in the Great War. The award was issued, among others, at Molliens, on 12 August 1918

The four companies of Yanks fighting at Hamel earned no less than 4 DCMs, 4 Military Crosses, and 6 Military Medals.

The same group was decorated with a host of American honors including at least one Medal of Honor (CPL Thomas A. Pope Company “E”, 131st Infantry Regiment, the last surviving Great War MoH recipient who died in 1989, aged 94) and 8 DSCs, with the above PVT. Shelley received one of the latter. 

King George V and General John Pershing inspecting men from every unit of the 33rd American Division which took part in the fighting at Hamel on 4 July and Chipilly on 8 August. Molliens, 12 August 1918. IWM Q 9259

Activated in July 1917, the 33rd was formed from the Illinois National Guard and, from Hamel through Saint-Mihiel suffered almost 7,000 casualties (KIA – 691, WIA − 6,173) in just five months on the Western Front.

Reformed for WWII, they would fight in the Pacific from New Guinea to Luzon, earning six Presidential Unit Citations after suffering another 2,500 casualties.

Warship Wednesday, July 3, 2024: Brace for Ramming

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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

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi

Warship Wednesday, July 3, 2024: Brace for Ramming

U.S. Navy photograph, 80-G-700007, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Above we see, just south-east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the mine-filled shattered bow of the German Type XB U-boat, U-233, pointing to the sky just before plunging to the bottom after the submarine was rammed by the Cannon-class destroyer escort USS Thomas (DE 102) some 80 years ago this week– 5 July 1944. The unlucky U-233 was on her first combat patrol, tasked with sowing mines off key Canadian and American harbors.

She never made it that far and was one of Thomas’s three U-boat kills during the war.

And that was just in the destroyer escort’s first career.

What were the Cannons?

USS Cannon (DE-99) Dravo builder’s photo. USN CP-DE-99-19-N-51457

The Cannon class, ordered in 1942 to help stem the tide of the terrible U-boat menace in the Atlantic, was also known as the DET type from their Diesel Electric Tandem drive. The DET’s substitution for a turbo-electric propulsion plant was the primary difference from the predecessor Buckley (“TE”) class. The DET was in turn replaced with a direct drive diesel plant to yield the design of the successor Edsall (“FMR”) class.

Besides a heavy ASW armament, these humble ships carried a trio of Mk.22 3″/50s, some deck-mounted torpedo tubes to be effective against larger surface combatants in a pinch, and a smattering of Bofors/Oerlikon AAA mounts.

In all, although 116 Cannon-class destroyer escorts were planned, only 72 were completed. Some of her more well-known sisters included the USS Eldridge, the ship claimed to be a part of the infamous Philadelphia Experiment. The vessels were all cranked out in blocks by four yards with Thomas— along with class leaders Cannon and Bostwick— among the nine produced by Dravo.

Meet Thomas

Our subject was the second warship named for LT Clarence Crase Thomas (USNA 1908). A son of Grass Valley, California, Thomas served pre-war in the USS Maryland (ACR-8), USS Yorktown (PG-1), USS Denver (C-14), USS Cleveland (C-19), USS West Virginia (ACR-5), and battleship USS Florida. Once the U.S. entered the Great War, he was detailed to command the naval armed guard det on the merchant steamship SS Vacuum in April 1917.

Lost to a German U-boat just two weeks later, Thomas was the first U.S. naval officer to lose his life in the war with Germany and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

His name was almost immediately issued to a Wickes-class destroyer (DD-182) then under construction, and sponsored by LT Thomas’s widow, Evelyn. That four-piper flush deck greyhound was decommissioned in 1922 and laid up until 1940, then transferred to the Royal Navy as part of the “bases for destroyers” deal, becoming first the Town-class destroyer, HMS St Albans (I15), then the Free Norwegian Navy’s HNoMS St Albans, and finally the Soviet destroyer Dostoyny/Dostojnyj before being scrapped in 1949.

Meanwhile, our subject, the second Thomas, DE-102, was laid down on 16 January 1943 by Dravo and commissioned on 21 November 1943 at Portsmouth, her build time spanning just 310 days.

War!

Assigned to Escort Division 48 as flagship, she was surrounded by five sisters– USS Bostwick, Breeman, Bronstein, Baker, and Coffman. Her shakedown took place off the East Coast and she spent the Christmas 1943/New Year’s 1944 holiday in Bermuda.

07 December 1943: Portsmouth, Va. – A starboard quarter view of Thomas taken near the Norfolk Navy Yard. U.S. Navy photo #CP-DE-102-19-N-60229

Her first bite at Dönitz’s grey sharks came as part of the hunter-killer group attached to the jeep carrier USS Block Island (CVE-21) for six weeks in February-March 1944. This included the 1 March 1944 kill north of the Azores of a submarine credited by the Navy as the Type VIIC U-boat U-709 (Oblt. (R) Rudolf Ites), sunk with all hands. Alternatively, some reports hold this was actually U-441, which was severely damaged but escaped.

Then came a stint riding shotgun on Convoy UGS 39 and its return (GUS 39) from the U.S. to the Med.

Then came more hunter-killer taskings.

USS Thomas was taken on 5 July 1944 from the escort carrier USS Card (CVE-11). 80-G-366262

On 5 July 1944, sisters Thomas (DE-102) and USS Baker (DE-190), from the jeep carrier USS Card’s hunter-killer force (Task Group 22.5), ran U-233 (Kptlt. Hans Steen) to ground off Halifax, Nova Scotia. The action began at 1910 when Baker picked up a sound contact at 1,500 yards.

Just 17 minutes and two depth charge patterns later, a submarine’s bow broke the surface and Baker took the enemy boat under surface fire, with Thomas closing in and opening up with her deck guns shortly after. The end came when Thomas rammed the shell-riddled U-boat on its starboard side just aft of the fairweather. By 1947 it was all over and the tin cans were plucking survivors from the water.

From the 12-page report filed by LCDR David M. Kellog, Thomas’s skipper:

A great series of shots captured from Thomas show the last dive of U-233.

German U-Boat, U-233, sinks as it is rammed. 80-G-700006

80-G-700005

Thomas picked up 20 of U-233’s 69-man crew, including Kptlt. Steen, who later died of wounds. The survivors, along with two Enigma coding wheels recovered from the pockets of one of the men, were transferred to Card.

Interrogations later revealed U-233’s mission and her cargo of 66 new type Drückunterschiedsmine (pressure differential mines) along with four T-5 and three G7e torpedoes, none of which the boat had a chance to use.

As far as Thomas was concerned, she suffered only minor damage from her ramming kill, chiefly in two flooded peak tanks and a leaking chain locker. Proceeding to Boston Navy Yard for repairs, she was back on duty by 18 July and spent the next six weeks shepherding new submarines out of Portsmouth and Groton undergoing shakedown in Long Island Sound.

USS Thomas (DE-102) underway while supporting submarine operations off the U.S. East Coast, 21 August 1944. Note the track of a torpedo that is passing under the ship. The ship is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 3D. Her hull number is painted atop the front of her bridge to assist identification by aircraft. NH 107610

September 1944 found her back with the Card hunter-killer group, surviving hurricane-force winds at least twice at sea before the end of the year as the task group roamed the stormy North Atlantic.

She would continue to serve with the Card group into 1945, alternating going to the rescue of sinking ships and chasing down sonar contacts. On 30 April 1945, Thomas, along with the frigate Natchez (PF-2), and sisterships Coffman and Bostwick, came across what is cited by the Navy as the advanced Type IXC/40 U-boat U-548 just east of Cape Hatteras but is now generally believed to be sister U-879 (Kptlt. Erwin Manchen), sending her to the bottom with all 52 hands.

Post VE-Day, Thomas would spend the next four months in a series of exercises before she was detailed to New York to take part in the massive Navy Day celebrations there and in November was tasked to escort the infamous Type IXC/40 U-boat U-530 (Oblt. Otto Wermuth), which had surrendered in Argentina two months after the end of the war in Europe.

Following a series of war bond tours with Thomas and U-530, the latter was utilized for a series of tests and deep-sixed in torpedo drills off Cape Cod.

USS Toro (SS-422) torpedoed the surrendered German submarine U-530, during tests 40 miles northeast of Cape Cod. Photo released 28 November 1947. Note the effects of torpedo explosion. 80-G-704668

However, by that time, Thomas had been decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Florida, in March 1946 and added to the 500-strong mothball fleet that swayed at a series of 13 piers built there just for the purpose.

USS Thomas (DE-102) likely in Green Cove Springs, Florida. Photo by Ensign Carl Gene Coin, USN, via Wikimedia commons.

She was not even listed in that year’s Jane’s Fighting Ships entry for her class.

Jane’s 1946 listing for the 57-strong semi-active Bostwick class, noting numerous transfers to overseas allies.

Thomas received four battle stars for World War II service.

Plank owner LCDR Kellogg, who earned the Legion of Merit for the U-233 ramming and commanded the vessel throughout the war, faded into history and I cannot find any further information on him.

A long second life

While Thomas’s initial service would last just three years, others could desperately put the low-mileage destroyer escort to good use.

Ultimately 14 of the Cannon/Bostwick class went to France and Brazil during the war, followed by another eight to the French– who apparently really liked the type– four to Greece (including USS Slater which returned home in the 1990s to become the only destroyer escort afloat in the United States), three to Italy, two to Japan, six to the Dutch, three to Peru, five to the Philippines, two to South Korea, one to Thailand, and two to Uruguay.

When it comes to Thomas, she and three sisters: Bostwick, Breeman, and Carter, in a short ceremony on 14 December 1948, were transferred to Nationalist (Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT) China. Thomas became class leader Taihe (also seen in the West as ROCS Tai He and ROCS Tai Ho) with the hull/pennant number DE-23.

The four destroyer escorts were soon put into emergency use. During the last phase of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the 26 loyal ships of the ROCN engaged in the protection of supply convoys and the withdrawal of the Nationalist government and over 1 million refugees to Taiwan.

These ships were captured in great detail during this period in Nationalist use by LIFE magazine.

In this image, she still has her 3″/50 Mk22s up front

Fuzing 40mm Bofors rounds. Note the traditional crackerjack and flat cap used by the Nationalists

Crackerjacks combined with M1 helmets and US Navy Mk II talker helmets

The No. 3 mount now has an additional 3″/50 rather than the 40mm Bofors. Also, that is A LOT of depth charges for those 8 throwers and two rails! Ash cans a-go-go

Needing bigger guns for the work envisioned of them, the Chinese quickly upgraded their two forward 3-inchers to a pair of 5″/38 singles in open mounts, as well as substituting the stern 40mm mount for one of the same which gave the ships a 2+2 format with twin 5-inchers over the bow and a 5-inch over a 3-inch over the stern. 

The 1950s saw the fleet heavily involved in the pitched and tense engagements around Kinmen (Quemoy), Matsu, and the Yijiangshan and Dachen Islands in the Taiwan Straits as well as the clandestine Guoguang operations in which the KMT tried to retake the mainland by landing would-be guerilla organization teams in Red territory.

Taihe notably took part in the Battle of Pingtan Island in August 1949, covered the retreat from Hainan Island in April 1950, the Battle of the Wanshan Islands in May 1950 (where she is credited with sinking the gunboat Jiefang and the LCI Guishan), the running Battle of the Tohoku Islands where she escaped a trap set by six Red corvettes and frigates, damaging the Changsha (216)– formerly the Japanese Type D coastal defense ship No. 118– in the process; rescuing the torpedoed destroyer Taiping (DE-22, ex USS Decker DE-47) during the Battle of Yijiangshan Island in November 1954, and conducting a series of tense patrols in the Spratly Islands in 1956.

Propaganda shells fired into Red-controlled areas. By John Dominis LIFE

In all, Thomas and her three sisters continued to hold the front lines of the Taiwan Straits for 25 years and, for the first decade of that, were the most powerful assets available to the ROCN, a title they held until two Benson-class destroyers (USS Benson and USS Hilary P. Jones) were transferred in 1954.

They were also later fitted in the 1960s with Mk.32 12.75-inch ASW torpedo tubes for Mk 44s– which were a lot more effective than depth charges.

Taizhao, ex Carter anchored at the Kaohsiung Xinbin Wharf, late 1940s.

Jane’s 1973-4 listing for the Taiwan Bostwicks, including Carter.

As part of the pressure on Communist China at the tail end of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the Nixon administration transferred a huge flotilla of more advanced warships to Taiwan between late 1970 and early 1973 that included two GUPPY’d Tench-class submarines (one of which is still active), five Gearing-class destroyers, six Sumner-class destroyers, four Fletchers, and USS McComb (DD-458)— a late Gleaves-class destroyer that had been converted to a fast minesweeper. With all these “new-to-you” hulls, the long-serving destroyer escorts could be retired and, by the end of 1973, Thomas and her three sisters in Formosan service had been disposed of for scrap. 

Epilogue

Few relics remain of Thomas in the U.S. Her war history and diaries are in the National Archives.

A painting of Thomas ramming U-233 by maritime artist John G. Gromosiak of Cincinnati is in the U.S. Naval Museum at Annapolis but I can only find this small image of it, via Navsource.

The U.S. Navy has yet to recycle LT Thomas’s name for a third vessel, which is a shame.

Besides the museum ship USS Slater (DE-766), now sitting dockside in Albany New York, and the pier side training ship USS Hemminger (DE-746) (now HTMS Pin Klao DE-1) in Thailand, there are no Cannon-class destroyer escorts still afloat.

USS Slater is the only destroyer escort preserved in North America– and is Thomas’s sistership

The Destroyer Escort Sailors Association honors the men of all the DEs, regardless of class. Sadly, their 45th annual convention in 2020 was their last as their numbers are rapidly declining.

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.

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find. http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

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One o’ Clock Jump and Sledge Field

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The whole nine yards including palm trees, Marston matting, Grumman carrier fighters, and high-octane nose art.

Radar-equipped F6F-3N/5N Hellcat night fighters of “The Bat Eyes” of Marine Night Fighter Squadron (VMFN) 541 on Peleliu Island (now in Palau), 1944.

Note that great nose art

VMF(N)-541 was established on 15 February 1944 at MCAS Cherry Point and flew F6F-5Ns throughout its entire 26 months of existence. The squadron’s inaugural deployment, seen above at Peleliu– which passed through Spanish, German, Japanese, and American custody in 1543, 1899, 1914, and 1944 respectively– with the USMC inheriting the airfield there on D+1 of the Allied invasion (on 16 September 1944). By the end of September, Grasshoppers of VMO-1 and Corsairs of VMF-114 were operating there, with the night fighters of VMF(N)-541 arriving shortly after.

The Bat Eyes would go on to earn the Marine Corps’s only aerial victory in the Palaus operation on 31 October while operating from Peleliu on a series of night bombing strikes and air patrols before moving up to the Philippines in December 1944, where they proved adept at chasing down speedy Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 “Oscar” night fighters which were too fast for Army P-61 Black Widows.

As for the old Marine (former Japanese) airstrip on Peleliu, now dubbed Sledge Field, fixed-winged USMC aircraft recently returned for the first time since its recertification in June.

240622-M-JC323-1354. A U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J Super Hercules aircraft with the 1st Marine Air Wing lands on a newly designated airstrip on Peleliu, Republic of Palau, June 22, 2024. For the first time since its recertification in June, a military fixed-wing aircraft has touched down on the historic Peleliu airstrip, marking a significant and triumphant return to this iconic World War II site. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Hannah Hollerud)

As noted by the USMC PAO:

This landmark event was made possible by the tireless efforts of the Marine Corps Engineer Detachment Palau (MCED-P) 24.1, comprised of engineers from the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group.

The MCED-P has been diligently rehabilitating the WWII-era Japanese airfield on Peleliu, a mission-critical to enhancing U.S. military strategic capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The successful landing marks the culmination of months of dedicated work by the Marine engineers.

The runway was named in honor of Eugene Sledge, a private first class with the 1st Marine Division during the Battle of Peleliu and author of the well-known book “With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa,” which provides a vivid account of the historic battle and used by many to explain what happened during the historic battle.

SIG Hits Both Retro and Ultra Vibes with new P226 models

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I recently attended SIG’s Next event in New Hampshire last week and thought it was interesting that, among the boatload of new products introduced, the company debuted two very different models of the same pistol– the P226.

The P226 was designed in 1984 – before SIG had even established a presence in the U.S. – to compete for the coveted XM9 Service Pistol Trials to replace the much-loved but aging M1911A1. While the P226 was only narrowly edged out by the Beretta 92 over an issue of cost per unit, the U.S. Navy SEALs would soon adopt the pistol and use it for decades. Well beyond this employment by the country’s frogmen, the P226 rapidly became the sidearm of choice for law enforcement customers and savvy consumers – not to mention hundreds of movies, games, and TV shows.

With their smooth dust covers (sans accessory rail) and pebbled grips, for instance in this specimen from the Vault, the old-school P226 is instantly recognizable.

As the standard P226s cataloged by SIG today have evolved into something that outwardly looks a good bit different from the pistols of the 1980s and 90s, the company has gone retro for a limited run of 40th-anniversary guns that share all the same feature set of those original handguns to include an alloy frame, double-stack 15+1 round magazines, a double-action/single-action trigger system, and a 4.4-inch barrel.

The P226 40th Anniversary Model. Rather than plastic like the originals, the grips are special aluminum models supplied by Hogue. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The P226 XFive Reserve

The new P226 XFive Reserve carries many of the top-tier features of the all-steel American XFive line including an extended beavertail grip, undercut trigger guard, extended magwell, and a factory Delta Point Pro/RMR footprint while still keeping suppressor height XRay3 day/night sights. It also has an SAO system with a three-position AX3 trigger installed that is fully adjustable for pull weight and overtravel while the trigger shoe is removable and adjustable for length of pull.

However, while the standard P226 XFive is all matte-brushed stainless, the new Reserve variant carries a high-polish DLC coating on its stainless slide and frame, a look complemented by a blacked-out set of intricate GridLOK grip panels. Further, to help tame recoil on this 48-ounce (!) 9mm, the slide is fitted with an integral compensator/expansion chamber akin to that seen on the P320 XTen Comp.

The P226 XFive Reserve, with a high polish DLC coating rather than SIG’s more pedestrian nitron finish, is stunning. (Chris Eger/Guns.com)

CMP has M1903 Springfields & M1917 Enfields on Hand (with Krags on the Way!)

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This U.S. Volunteer, photographed in Tampa in 1898, preparing to ship out for points south in the War with Spain, is carrying the distinctive Krag

It seems the returns from old VFW and American Legion posts have yielded some old war vets in quantity large enough to pass on to the public.

As noted in a memo from our Civilian Marksmanship Program friends in Anniston:

Effective June 26, 2024, customers are allowed to purchase up to six (6) bolt-action rifles per year while supplies last. The current inventory of M1903 and M1917 rifles by grade is listed below. CMP also plans to release up to 1,000 Krag-Jorgensen rifles beginning in mid to late July. These have not been worked so a grade break-out is currently unavailable. Given the six (6) bolt rifle per customer per year limit, please plan accordingly.

Once this inventory of bolt action rifles is exhausted the CMP does not expect to have further supply. The rifles will be sold via mail order and in CMP stores. Store sales may be limited due to inventory.

Additionally, if a customer has already purchased their limit of six (6) bolt action rifles they are authorized to bid on and purchase bolt action rifles for sale on the CMP auction site above the six (6) rifle limit.

Current Inventory:

M1903 Rifles — Service Grade: 78; Field Grade: 386; and Rack Grade: 356
M1917 Enfield Rifles — Service Grade: 203; and Field Grade: 1,067

Additional details, including rifle descriptions, ordering information, and purchase eligibility requirements can be found on our CMP Rifle Sales web page at https://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/rifle-sales/.

It seems current pricing on the M1903s ranges from $700 (rack) to $950 (Service) with S/H included while M1917s are a bit more spendy, running $1000-$1100.

No word on pricing for the Krags yet.

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