Godspeed, Gen. Stafford

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Thomas Patten Stafford was a tall Oklahoman who, born too late for WWII, nonetheless served in the Oklahoma National Guard during high school and college. Starting his undergrad career at the University of Oklahoma on a Navy ROTC scholarship, he applied to Annapolis and was accepted his sophomore year for the Class of 1952, including a summer mid cruise on the battlewagon USS Missouri.

Opting to go Air Forceon graduation, Stafford qualified on the F-86 Sabre in 1954, flying with the Cold War-era 54th FIS and 496th FIS before completing Test Pilot School and becoming an instructor.

Accepted to NASA Group Two in 1962, he would head to space with crewmate Wally Schirra in 1965 on Gemini 6A, on Gemini 9 with Eugene Cernan, and orbit the moon on Apollo 10 with Cernan and his old USS Missouri cabinmate, John Young. Perhaps most famously, he shook hands while in orbit with cosmonaut Alexei Leonov during the Apollo–-Soyuz mission in 1975.

Returning to the Air Force full-time in 1975, Stafford would command the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB and was key to the design and development of the F-117 and B-2.

Stafford retired as a lieutenant general in 1979, having flown more than 120 types of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft and three types of spacecraft, with the USAF noting the year prior that had “completed 507 hours and 43 minutes in space flight and wears the Air Force Command Pilot Astronaut Wings. He has more than 6,800 flying hours.”

Via NASA:

Today we mourn the passing of Thomas P. Stafford at the age of 93.

In December 1965, Stafford piloted Gemini VI, the first rendezvous in space, and helped develop techniques to prove the basic theory and practicality of space rendezvous.

Later he commanded Gemini IX and performed a demonstration of an early rendezvous that would be used in the Apollo lunar missions, the first optical rendezvous, and a lunar orbit abort rendezvous.

He served as the commander of the Apollo 10 ‘dress rehearsal’ mission preparing for the first Moon landing and as Apollo commander of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission, a joint space flight culminating in the historic first meeting in space between American Astronauts and Soviet Cosmonauts, which ended the International space race.

Throughout his career, Stafford helped us push the boundaries of what’s possible in air and space, flying more than 100 different types of aircraft.

And in Submarine News…

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Lots of stuff for those interested in periscopes lately.

New Dutch Boats

The Dutch, eschewing a domestic(ish) submarine-making initiative between Sweden’s Saab Kockums and Damen, and opting not to go German, have instead turned south and tapped France’s Naval Group to build four new SSKs to replace their aging Walrus-class boats which have been in service since the late 1980s.

The $6 billion project will see the Dutch go with conventional Shortfin Barracuda models similar to the ones proposed to Australia a couple of years ago, capping a 10-year initiative to replace the RDM-built Walruses.

A Naval Group mockup showing a Shortfin Barracuda with the current Walrus class sailing off into the sunset

The class will be known as the Orka class and will carry traditional Dutch submarine names (Orka, Zwaardvis, Barracuda, and Tijgerhaai). The first two will be delivered within a decade after the contract has been signed.

The Dutch have been in the sub business for the past 118 years, commissioning the Damen-built Onderzeeboot Hr. Ms. O-1, a Holland 7P type boat, in 1906. (NIMH 2158_012475)

During WWII, Free Dutch subs gave a good account of themselves, with 10 successful subs credited with sinking 168,813 tons of shipping across 69 Axis vessels.

Welcome USS Idaho

Over the weekend, the Navy christened its newest Virginia-class hunter killer, the future USS Idaho (SSN 799), during a ceremony at EB in Groton.

The submarine, which began construction in 2017, will be the 26th Virginia and the fifth U.S. Navy ship to be christened with the name Idaho. She will be one of ten advanced Block IV boats of her class.

The last Navy warship named Idaho was the historic battleship BB 42, commissioned in 1919. That Idaho received seven battle stars for her World War II service and witnessed the signing of the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay before she was sold for scrap in 1947.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900 

USS Idaho (BB-42). Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900

More SSNs Appearing Down Under

And finally, the “improved” Los Angeles-class boat, USS Annapolis (SSN 760), recently arrived in HMAS Stirling in Perth.

ROCKINGHAM, Western Australia (March 10, 2024) – U.S. Navy Sailors assigned to the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Annapolis (SSN 760) and HMAS Stirling Port Services crewmembers prepare the submarine to moor alongside Diamantina Pier at Fleet Base West in Rockingham, Western Australia, March 10, 2024.

Why is this important?

Via DOD: 

This marks the second visit by a U.S. fast-attack submarine to HMAS Stirling since the announcement of the AUKUS [Australia, United Kingdom, United States] Optimal Pathway in March 2023. The Optimal Pathway is designed to deliver a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

“Historically, we’ve had allied SSNs visit Australian ports for many decades totaling more than 1,800 days,” said Rear Adm. Matt Buckley, Head of Nuclear Submarine Capability at the Australian Submarine Agency. “Starting with USS North Carolina (SSN 777) last August, these visits are taking on a more important meaning for the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Submarine Agency as we build the infrastructure, knowledge, and stewardship needed to establish SRF-West in 2027.”

Great SSN Memorial Concept

Speaking of 688s, the planned USS Cincinnati Cold War Memorial & Peace Pavilion was formally unveiled last week by the Cincinnati Navy League. It’s slated to open in spring 2025. USS Cincinnati (SSN-693) was commissioned in 1978 and, decommissioned in 1996, was fully recycled by 2014 with her reactor stored at Hanford.
 
Unlike some SSN memorials that are just sails or diving planes, the innovative Cinncinatti memorial will be full length, 360 feet long, and include about 100 tons of material from the former submarine including much of the fairweather, the 17-foot tall rudder, and a back-up diesel engine, which was painted red and referred to as the “Big Red Machine” in homage to the Reds’ baseball team lineup in the ’70s.
 
Which I think is very cool and would be a great way to better salute the memory of all these SSNs and SSBNs that have sailed since Nautilus. Add a small building for additional relics, photos, and keepsakes, and you are in business
 

Pioneer Old Home Days

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In my normal EDC travels on the Gulf Coast, I typically carry a double-stack 9mm (currently the Hellcat Pro as I have 3K rounds through it without a single reportable issue) IWB as my primary piece, often augmented by a backup gun of the single stack 9mm or 38 snub variety. Added to this is a small tactical light, a small fixed blade or large folder, and a multitool, the latter typically a Victorinox Cadet Alox as I just love Swiss Army knives.

Well, on a recent 18-day working trip to Western/Central Europe to attend IWA and visit three historic firearms makers (more on this to come), to comply with local laws my EDC was whittled down to just a SAK and a light.

The SAK of choice? A 9-tool Victorinox Pioneer X Alox, which is larger and beefier than the slimline Cadet while still falling within acceptable limits for pocket knives in the countries in which I was traveling.

It came in handy on numerous occasions, particularly in building and taking down camera gimble frames and chassis.

And, of course, there was a moment of pause to salute it when passing through its Alpine birthplace in the Swiss Confederation.

A Tortugas Tyger

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Most Americans are well aware of the majesty that is Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, a quick charter boat or seaplane ride from Key West.

Capable of holding an amazing 450 cannon in its massive six-sided, double-tiered walls (although never more than halfway armed), Fort Jefferson required 16 million bricks to complete over 15 years and is the largest masonry structure in the Americas.

Three centuries before the first brick was laid for Fort Jefferson, Juan Ponce de León visited the islands and gave them their name.

Fast forward to 1742, and, while on patrol in the War of Jenkins Ear between Britain and Spain, the 50-gun fourth-rate frigate HMS Tyger, under Captain Edward Herbert, wrecked on the uninhabited Spanish island, with her marooned crew living roughly on the site of the current fort for 66 days from where they constructed a barricade and fought a cannon duel with a Spanish sloop before setting out on an epic 700-mile voyage for Jamaica– carefully skirting Spanish Cuba– in several of the frigate’s remaining small boats and vessels constructed from her timbers.

Tyger had seen lots of campaigning over her nearly 100 years in RN service. Here, a depiction by a Dutch painter of HMS Tyger taking the Dutch ship Shackerloo in Cadiz harbor in 1674

An 18th-century map showing the route in green of the Tyger’s surviving crew’s return to Port Royal, Jamaica. Before arriving in Jamaica, the crew sailed in several makeshift small boats for 56 days.

The National Park Service has recently confirmed the wreck’s location, which was first thought to be located in 1993.

A National Park Service diver documents one of five coral-encrusted cannons found during a recent archeological survey in Dry Tortugas National Park. NPS Photo by Brett Seymour.

From the NPS presser:

Using leads from historical research, archeologists from Dry Tortugas National Park, the Submerged Resources Center, and the Southeast Archeological Center surveyed the site in 2021 and found five cannons approximately 500 yards from the main wreck site. Buried in the margins of the old logbooks was a reference that described how the crew “lightened her forward” after initially running aground, briefly refloating the vessel and then sinking in shallow water.

Based on their size, features and location, the guns were determined to be British six and nine-pound cannons thrown overboard when HMS Tyger first ran aground. This discovery and reevaluation of the site led archeologists to make a sound argument that the wreck first located in 1993 was in fact the remains of HMS Tyger. The findings were recently published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

“Archeological finds are exciting, but connecting those finds to the historical record helps us tell the stories of the people that came before us and the events they experienced,” said Park Manager James Crutchfield. “This particular story is one of perseverance and survival. National parks help to protect these untold stories as they come to light.”

More on Tyger, here.

Catching up on the paper with the lads

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St. Patrick’s Day in a dugout, 80 years ago today, the official caption: “Men of the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers read ‘Ireland’s Saturday Night’, a Belfast newspaper, in their foxhole in the Anzio bridgehead, 17 March 1944.” 

Loughlin (Sgt), No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit. Note SMLE MkIIIs IWM NA 13062

A patrol from the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Anzio, Italy, March 1944. Note the No. 4 Enfields. IWM NA13224

St Patrick’s Day in the Anzio bridgehead, 5th Army. While L/CPL Niland is playing the bagpipes, RSM Kilduf issues a special rum ration to Fusiler Rogers of Drunsteeple. The unit is an Irish battalion: the 2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 17 March 1944. Photo by LT G. Loughlin, No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit. IWM NA 13057

With a lineage dating back through the old 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot to 1689, 2 Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was formed in 1881 and, like the 1st battalion, was recruited from four Irish counties: Donegal, Londonderry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh, with the first three being in Ulster.

The 2nd saw garrison duties across the British Empire, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, South Africa, and India– where it fought in the Tirah Expedition (1897) on the North West Frontier of India. Then came service in the Boer War and further pre-Great War postings to Egypt, Crete, Malta, China, and India. The 2nd then landed with the British Expeditionary Force’s 4th Division in France in August 1914, and remained there for the duration, finishing Armistice Day as part of the 36th (Ulster) Division.

NAM. 1983-11-114-1

Disbanded in 1922, as part of most of the British Army’s Irish units folded their colors— County Fermanagh, one of the regiment’s recruiting counties was in the new Irish Free State– 2 RIF was stood back up in 1937 as the Army once again expanded with trouble on the horizon.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE 1939 (O 3) Men of the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers disembarking at Cherbourg from the steamer ‘Royal Sovereign’, 16 September 1939. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204991

Deploying to France with the BEF again in 1939, the battalion managed to escape being bagged as POWs at Dunkirk. It assisted in the capture of Madagascar in 1942, before joining the Sicilian and Italian campaigns (as seen in the top two images) from 1943 to 1945.

Disbanded a second time from 1948 to 1952 on being reformed, 2 RIF went on to serve in the Suez and Cyprus, where it engaged EOKA insurgents in 1954-55 before permanently disbanded the following year.

The legacy of the battalion was transferred in 1968 when the regiment was amalgamated with The Royal Ulster Rifles and The Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria’s), to form The Royal Irish Rangers (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th), which was then further merged in 1992 when it was folded into The Royal Irish Regiment, which still exists.

Besides the Inniskilling Museum at Enniskillen Castle and the regimental association, they are remembered by the Combined Irish Regiments Association.

Likewise, the old Ireland’s Saturday Night ceased publication in 2008 after 114 years, although most of its archives are online.

The Lost Battleship of the Atlantic

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80 years ago this month: Here we see the Great War-vintage Brazilian dreadnought São Paulo in Recife, in March 1944, with the old battlewagon at this point in her career reduced to a role as a harbor defense ship.

Laid down by Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness, on 30 April 1907 just 13 days after her sister, Minas Geraes, was laid down at Armstrong in Elswick, the 20,000-ton beast carried a full dozen EOC 12″/45 guns, which were also used on a dozen battlewagons for the Emperor of Japan.

Protected by a 9-inch armor belt with as much as 12 inches of armor on the CT and turrets and capable of 21 knots, these two Brazilian battleships were the opening salvo in a Latin American dreadnought race that saw Argentina and Chile order a pair of even larger and more heavily armed ships from U.S. yards (the Rivadavia-class) and Armstrong (Almirante Latorre-class), respectively.

By WWII, the race had petered out and the once-mighty floating war engines were vestigial sea monsters of another era. Tame dragons kept around to impress the neighbors in the next kingdom. 

Chile had only received one of her battlewagons, Latorre, after it had served in the RN as HMS Canada during the Great War, seeing action at Jutland. After 1933, the old vet was in mothballs although she was brought back out for neutrality patrols during WWII.

As for Argentina, her two battleships, Rivadavia and Moreno, last refit in 1924, were also in and out of mothballs and only occasionally used for the occasional state visit and retained, much like Latorre, to enforce a sense of armed neutrality in WWII.

With that, only the two Brazilian ships saw WWII service with the Allies, although of the sort of limited flavor depicted in the above image. Two days after Brazil declared war on German on 21 August 1942, São Paulo was moved to Recife while Minas Geraes was sent to Salvador, with both fulfilling a harbor defense role.

Battleship São Paulo a Brazilian naval base circa 1942.

When it comes to their fates, Minas Geraes was scrapped in Italy in 1954, Moreno in Japan in 1957, Rivadavia in Italy in 1959, and Latorre in Japan into 1961– with elements of her used in the restoration of Togo’s Vickers-built flagship, Mikasa.

But what of São Paulo? The mighty Brazilian battleship vanished at sea in November 1951 with an eight-man caretaker crew aboard her while being towed to the breakers in Europe.

After a six week search, she was declared lost and has never been found.

I’d like to believe that she is an armored Flying Dutchman of sorts, still roaming the waves of the Atlantic, an everlasting crew of steel ship sailors lost in those waters from the Falklands to the Barents Sea running gunnery drills and holding court for Poseidon.

The Yin-Yang of Pacific PBY Life

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Two shots captured two very different moments in time some 80 years ago this month.

First, I give you the typical image when someone says, “PBY Catalina ‘Somewhere in the Pacific.”

U.S. Navy mechanics checked a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina patrol bomber before it leaves the airstrip at Majuro Island, Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, in March 1944. Note the Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters in the background, with many warships anchored beyond. U.S. Navy photo 80-G-401015

Next, follow that up with this:

“A PBY coming in for a landing in the Aleutians, March 1944.”

It was a wild theatre, indeed.

Zebra stripes: Beauty in Steel and Walnut (or polymer)

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One of the eye-turning guns I spotted at the SHOT Show in January was this custom Barret MRADELR, I mean, you just don’t see zebra-striped anti-material rifles very often.

Now that is 23 pounds of different.

I snapped the above pic and didn’t think much about it until I just saw this John Rigby & Company (of Pensbury Place, London) customized Highland Stalker M98 Mauser. You may have seen a Mauser or seven, but you’ve never seen a Mauser like this.

Chambered in .30-06, this unique bolt-action rifle features a deluxe grade Turkish walnut stock, complemented by eye-catching zebra style ornamentation across the visible metal parts – from the action to the bolt handle, trigger guard, and floorplate.

Maybe that’s the new thing for 2024. Zebra stripes. I’ve seen crazier.

Gallic red and blue

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I am always struck by how the French Army of 1870 looked remarkably similar to the French Army of 1914.

Observe this French soldier by a cannon on 23 July 1870 in the Franco-Prussian War via Brown University:

Compare the above to this image:

1914 – Lyon (Rhône), French soldiers of the 14e Escadron du Train des Équipages Militaires ready their equipment. Mobilized in August 1914, the formation, the support train for the 14th Army, totaled 7,215 men, 8,250 horses, and 2,346 assorted voitures (vehicles.) During the conflict, the support unit recorded no less than 469 men “Mort pour la France, honorifique posthume.“

Réf. : AUL 86 Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud/ECPAD/Défense

Citroen Echos

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Spotted this classic 1970 Citroen H-Van (Camionette) in New Orleans while trolling a monthly Arts Market for used books at Marsalis Harmony Park (formerly Palmer Park), now in service as the Petite Rouge Cafe Camionette.

And it struck me just how functional and universal these little Citroens were.

For instance, the French military used assorted Citroen lightweight vans by the thousands in the Great War and WWII, and the Germans went on to keep them in production during the latter. They were used for radio-command posts, ambulance work, field canteens, mobile shops, light supply lorries…just about anything you could think of.

Post-WWII, the VW Beetle-sized Citrogen 2CV Camionette/Truckette, with a curb weight of just 1,300 pounds, was ideal for use on primitive roads such as in Indochina and Algeria where the French did much campaigning from about 1946-62.

One of the neatest uses was in a mobile gun platform tested by GHAN–Groupe d’Hélicoptères de l’Aéronavale (Navy Helicopter Group) N°1– based in Algeria in 1961. They paired down a few of these little guys and tested them with recoilless rifles and MG151 20mm cannons. They were light enough to be carried by a Piasecki H-21C/Sikorsky H-34.

Results, however, were mixed, as there is such a thing as being too light of a mobile gun platform.

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