HMSPWS Update

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The modified Queen Elizabeth-class carrier HMS Prince of Wales— the largest British warship ever completed, has been busy off the U.S. East Coast for the past month conducting DT-3 (Development Test, phase three– with phases one and two conducted already aboard HMSQE) to spin up the class ready to work the F-35B.

Her embarked airwing was small– just two Merlins and a Wildcat– with the F-35Bs being from Pax River, the home to the F-35 Integrated Test Force, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get a lot of work in.

She conducted some F-35B “Beast Mode” tests with 500-pound Paveway IVs on four stations and four 1,000-pounders in the weapons bay while still having spots available for a pair of AMRAAMs and a pair of Sidewinders 

The ability to be a bomb truck is important for the F-35B concept, as detailed by the RN: 

Fully loaded, the F-35B can deliver 22,000lb of destructive and defensive power: air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and conventional and laser-guided bombs. If you’re struggling to imagine a 22,000lb payload… it’s the equivalent of the heaviest bomb carried by a WW2 Lancaster bomber (the Grand Slam or ‘earthquake’ bomb). And it’s nearly three times more than the UK’s last carrier-borne strike aircraft, the Harrier GR9, over a decade ago.

Other landings and tests as noted by the RN:

In all 60 shipborne rolling vertical landings’ (SVRL) were conducted, including ten by night. Other trials successfully completed include: 20 backwards landings (facing towards the stern), ten at night; nearly 150 take-offs by day and night in various weather conditions/sea states.

U.S. Marine Corps test pilot Maj. Paul Gucwa performs a vertical landing (VL) in an F-35B Lightning II short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) variant strike fighter during a mission to expand the flight envelope for the technique aboard the U.K. aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09) Oct. 29, 2023. Gucwa also performed the first night shipborne rolling VL (SRVL) during the evening’s flight period. Gucwa is one of three test pilots from embarked with a broader team from the Patuxent River F-35 Integrated Test Force (PAX ITF) to conduct flight test during the ongoing developmental test phase 3 (DT-3) flight trials. HMS Prince of Wales, the U.K.’s newest aircraft carrier and biggest warship, is deployed to the Western Atlantic for WESTLANT 23. 231029-O-PF253-1439

She also hosted fly-ins from USMC MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors, CH53 Super Stallions, and Viper gunships as well as supply drone trials, totaling a dozen different aircraft types during the testing. 

There was also lots of underway maneuvering at sea, producing some great images, like these doing a RAS from the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8). To starboard of Arctic is the endangered but still beautiful Tico-class cruiser USS Leyte Gulf.

HMSPWS also linked up with Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington and France’s brand-new fleet tanker/support ship Jacques Chevallier. (Pictures: LPhot Unaisi Luke, HMS Prince of Wales, and PO Nicholas Russell, USS George Washington)

Of interest, HMSPWS embarked a group of visiting Japanese carrier experts to gain some first-hand knowledge and prepare for their own Izumo-class helicopter carriers being converted for the F-35B.

“The delegation from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force joined HMS Prince of Wales for a fortnight of stealth fighter trials off the USA – helping to pave the way for their own trials in the same waters in 12 months’ time,” says the RN.

The prospect of Japanese F-35s cross-decking from British and American carriers shortly surely would have the ghosts of Yamamoto, Genda, and Kusaka watching with curiosity

Tragedy in Tustin

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Any fan of aviation or naval history is familiar with this incredible image, that of a monstrous hangar filled with 150~ fresh and brand new F4U Corsairs and at least another 100 F6F Hellcats, plus a few random Helldivers, likely heading for points Pacific in WWII.

The image was inside one of the two wooden blimp hangars at Naval Air Station Santa Anita in Tustin, Orange County, California. Built in 1942 for the U.S. Navy’s Lighter Than Air Program, they were constructed of Douglas Fir, with each some 1,072 feet long, 292 feet wide, and 192 feet high.

Hangar construction with blimp in the air, Lighter Than Air (LTA) Base, 1942

Hangar construction of the roof, Lighter Than Air (LTA) Base, 1942

Hangar construction, Lighter Than Air (LTA) Base Tustin

Hangar Number One under construction, Lighter Than Air (LTA) Base, Tustin, 1943

Each was large enough to store six fully inflated K-class blimps.

Keep in mind a K blimp had a 425,000 cu ft volume and went 251 feet in length.

Or seven in a pinch.

After the war, when the LTA program was put to bed, the base became Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Tustin and was an important cradle for USMC helicopter operations in the Korean and Vietnam eras. 

Aerial view of the Tustin MCAS blimp hangar and Tustin area, ca. 1960. Note the H-34s on the ground around the hangar

It hosted rotor-wing elements of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing into the early 1990s when it was hit by BRAC and closed in 1999.

Meanwhile, Hangars 1 and 2 endured and had been designated in 1975 as National Landmarks and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since then, they have appeared as backdrops in dozens of movies and TV shows.

Sadly, historic Hangar 1 met its end this week due to a fire. It was quick and couldn’t be contained.

Via the Tustin Police Department

Via the Tustin Police Department

Anyone with general questions can call the Tustin Police Department/OC Fire Authority hotline at (714) 628-7085.

Hopefully, Hangar 2 will continue to stand for another 81 years to offset the loss of its sister.

Warship Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023: Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

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

Warship Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023: Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

Above we see the mighty King Edward VII class battleship HMS Britannia, circa 1908, in all her fine peacetime glory. She would give more wartime service than her sisters and came within two days of finishing the conflict unscathed, tragically sent to the bottom 105 years ago this week.

The King Edward VII class

Hitting over 17,000 tons when fully loaded and with a 453-foot overall length, the eight battleships of the King Edward VII class (King Edward VII, Africa, Britannia, Commonwealth, Dominion, Hibernia, Hindustan, and New Zealand/Zealandia) were big for pre-Dreadnoughts (more than 2,000 tons heavier and 30 feet longer than the preceding Duncan class), as well as being fast, capable of hitting 18.5 knots on a pair of triple expansion steam engines driven by as many as 18 water tube boilers.

King Edward VII, the class leader, was completed in February 1905, just 22 months before HMS Dreadnought.

Carrying a 9-inch Krupp armor belt with barbettes, turrets, conning tower, and bulkheads thickening to as much as 12 inches, they could take abuse and could dish it out as well in the form of four BL 12″/40 (30.5 cm) Mark IX guns-– which were the first large-caliber British gun to use a Welin breech mechanism that considerably shortened the loading time. 

Forecastle of HMS Britannia ca. October 1914. Note the forward twin 12-inch/40 mount

Rather than the 6-inch secondary battery of the Duncans, the KEVIIs carried another four 9.2″/47 (23.4 cm) Mark Xs in single gun beam turrets with about a 170-degree arc of fire and 10 6-inch casemates as a tertiary battery.

Note one of the four single 9.2-inch mounts

Added to this were nearly 30 12- and 3-pounder counter-boat guns and a quartet of 18-inch torpedo tubes.

Jane’s 1914 on the King Edward VII class

Had it not been for the fact that Dreadnought came along in 1906, the KEVIIs would have been top-of-the-line but instead were obsolete almost as soon as they were finished. In fact, other than the two Lord Nelson-class battleships (which were just improved KEVIIs) the King Edward VII class was the last pre-Dreadnoughts ordered by the Admiralty.

Meet Britannia

Our subject is the sixth RN warship– going back to a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line launched in 1682– to carry the name of Britannia, the goddess and personification of Great Britain.

National Service Britannia poster by Septimus E. Scott Great Wr

One of the most majestic and hard-serving of the five prior ships (all sail-powered) was the 120-gun first-rate launched in 1820 and remained in the line through 1859 then endured as a training hulk for some years after.

HMS Britannia entering Devonport Harbor, 1820. Hand-colored lithograph print, from a painting by Thomas Lyle Hornbrook, (L) and HMS Britannia, a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line, lithograph by John Ward (R).

Laid down on 4 February 1904 at the Portsmouth Dockyard, our Britannia was launched that December and entered service in September 1906, just three months before Dreadnought— a short run on top!

Battleship HMS Britannia 1906 Symonds & Co Collection IWM Q 21042

Battleship HMS Britannia Photo by E Hopkins IWM Q 75235

Still, the new class of KEVIIs were majestic for a time and served as a unit with first the Channel Fleet and then the Home Fleet, with the class leader as the flag of each in turn.

Noted maritime artist William Lionel Wyllie sailed with the squadron and captured them in his eye.

Battleships steaming in two columns towards the artist’s viewpoint, led by the ‘King Edward VII’class ‘Britannia’ of 1904 on the right by William Lionel Wyllie. The ships are all of the type colloquially known as pre-dreadnoughts and the date is 1906-07, since ‘Britannia’ was the only one to carry a white funnel band mid-way on each funnel and she only wore these bands in those years. Wyllie has apparently used a very large number of pins to hold the paper down, suggesting the sketch may have been made at sea. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London RMG PU9918

“No.2 / Reduce speed to 30 Revolutions’ [‘King Edward VII’, ‘New Zealand’, ‘Hibernia’, ‘Britannia’, ‘Hindustan’, ‘Africa’] by William Lionel Wyllie. Numbered and inscribed by the artist, as title, and with the ship names identifying those shown. It is one of a group of four (PAE1035-PAE1038) showing battleships of the ‘King Edward VII’ class during squadron evolutions in the period 1907-09 while serving in the Channel Fleet. The set, each within a ruled frame, was probably made for illustration use. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London RMG PV1036

A general view of Line B with the battleships at anchor during the Naval Review or Kings Review of the Fleet at Spithead. HMS King Edward VII in front, with Britannia, Hindostan, and Dominion behind. The ship on the column on the left side of the photo is the Queen. The ships were in Spithead for a naval review witnessed by King Edward VII, in July 1909. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London RMG 4793355124

King Edward VII-class battleships on maneuvers ca. 1909

By 1912, with the number of modern fast battleships filling the ranks of the Royal Navy, the eight still young but out-gunned KEVIIs made up the newly-formed 3rd Battle Squadron, where they were nicknamed “the wobbly eight” due to their slight tendency to roll in heavy seas and have issues holding formation due to their hull form.

HMS Hindustan seen astern of HMS Britannia ca. October 1914. While they had long legs, the KEVII’s were not great seaboats

And, of course, running these coal-eating and steel-spitting leviathans required a lot of hard work. 

Royal Naval Coaling Crew, HMS Britannia 12.9.09. The class had bunkerage for 2,150 tons of coal and another 400 of oil for superheating, allowing a range of 7,000nm at 10 knots. 

Soon after they were ordered to the Mediterranean to stand by during the Balkan Wars but were back in home waters by 1913.

Royal Navy’s Third Battleship Squadron at Valetta’s Grand Harbour, Malta – 1st December 1912. Working from left to right HMS Hindustan (bow only), Africa, Hibernia, and King Edward VII.

War!

The 3rd Battle Squadron, under VADM Edward Bradford, spent the tail end of 1914 and most of 1915 racing around in support of the cruisers on the Northern Patrol but managed to not bump into the Germans.

Battleship HMS Britannia 1914 Symonds & Co Collection IWM Q 21043A

It was during this period that Britannia ran aground on Inchkeith in January 1915 and suffered severe damage that took her offline for repairs at Devonport. Further, Hibernia and Zealandia were detached for Gallipoli.

The squadron was permanently reduced in early 1916 when class leader King Edward VII struck a mine laid by the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Mowe off Cape Wrath and took 10 hours to sink. The remaining seven members, with Hibernia and Zealandia, returned and Britannia back from repair, screened by the 3rd Cruiser Squadron (HMS Antrim, Devonshire, and Roxburgh) and the destroyers Beaver, Druid, Ferret, Hind, Hornet, Mastiff, Matchless, and Sandfly, was left behind when the Grand Fleet went to scrap with Scheer at Jutland in May.

Post-Jutland and with the Allied effort to force the Dardanelles abandoned, there was little for Britannia and the rest of the 3rd BS to do in Northern Europe, and she and sister Africa were sent to rove in warmer waters.

Britannia left Portsmouth on 18 October 1916 for Taranto via Gibraltar and Malta, arriving in the Italian port on 20 November. She would remain there through Christmas and New Years, conducting training and sending parties ashore before shoving off on 16 February 1917 for the South Atlantic, turning left at Gibraltar and heading to Freetown, Sierra Leone then setting out to escort a six-ship convoy from West Africa to Bermuda in late March.

Returning to Sierra Leone in May, Britannia would sortie 3,700 miles down the continent to Simonstown, South Africa, beginning on 7 June 1917 in convoy with two merchantmen, passing the French cruiser Dupleix and Japanese cruiser Tsushima with their own Northbound convoys on the way. Britannia would arrive in South Africa then promptly turn back around on the 26th with another Freetown-bound eight-ship convoy, arriving there on 11 July when she hoisted the flag of RADM T.D.L. Sheppard, commanding the 9th Cruiser Squadron.

After a quick run to Ascension, Britannia would return to Freetown to pick up a 10-ship convoy to Simonstown on 8 August and remain in South African waters for a spell, shifting to Cape Town, before heading back to Sierra Leone at the end of September– with the battleship herself carrying a load of bullion north in addition to her escort role.

“Nearing Cape Town.” Portrait of a ship and the Table mountain range behind taken from the SS Durham Castle which was being escorted by HMS Britannia from Sierra Leone to Cape Town. The image is from an album chronicling the wartime experiences of Archibald Clive Irvine (1893-1974) in East Africa. During this time he would meet Dr John W Arthur which in turn would lead to his missionary work at Chogoria in Kenya.

This 8,000-mile roundtrip convoy-and-gold run would repeat another five times (November 1917, January 1918, March 1918, May 1918, and July 1918), shelping gold from South African mines to Freetown for further shipment to England from there, then returning to Simonstown with ammunition and stores that had been sent down from Europe.

In general, she would accomplish the trip in 15 days from port to port, making the 3,700-mile trip at about 10 knots the whole way. While the idea of a sole battlewagon with no other escorts shepherding a slow convoy would seem ludicrous to most in WWII, in 1917-18 it wasn’t a bad idea when you keep in mind this was off Africa and the most likely German warship encountered would have been the occasional auxiliary cruiser commerce raider of the same sort as SMS Mowe (9,800t, 4×6″, 1x 4″, 2xtt, 13 knots) and SMS Wolf (11,000t, 8×6″, 4xtt, 11 knots). It was boring work, but Britannia found a useful niche that arguably needed a pre-dreadnought battleship to fill. Meanwhile, her six sisters left behind in Europe were at this time being relegated to ignoble use as depot, training, floating barracks, and support ships.

On 20 October 1918, she set off for Gibraltar on her final convoy run.

While our battleship did not (knowingly) come across a U-boat in all of these African cruises, between June 1917 and September 1918, her deck logs noted that she put her periscope target over the side for gunners and spotters to work with while underway on no less than 39 occasions while she “exercised submarine stations.” Besides, other than the rare case of the large cruiser submarine U-154 appearing off the coast of Liberia in April 1918, no German U-boat of the Great War made it into the South Atlantic.

In fact, Britannia almost made it to the Armistice without having a bad interaction with the Kaiser’s underwater sharks.

Almost.

The Tragic Final Act

The UB III type submarine SM UB 50 under Oblt. Heinrich Kukat was roving out from the Med in November 1918 from her home as part of the Pola, Croatia-based Mittelmeer II Flotilla. Notably, U-Flottille Pola had at the time been disbanded as Austro-Hungary was rapidly leaving the war (and dissolving as a country) with the eight remaining KM U-boats still there on 28 October (U-47, U-65, UB-48, UB-116, UC-25, UC-53, and UC-54) scuttled by their crews.

UB 50 had already been a terribly busy and successful boat during the war,  credited with sinking 39 Allied ships and damaging another 7 in just 14 months.

With both UB 50 and Britannia heading home from their respective wars, they chanced upon each other in the Strait of Gibraltar on the morning of 9 November 1918. Kukat managed to get close enough to fire two torpedoes into the Englishman while she was steaming 11 miles NNW of Cape Spartel just to the West of Gibraltar. Stopping dead in the water, a cordite explosion in one of Britannia’s 9.2-inch magazines went up and she was doomed.

HMS Britannia sinking NARA 45511435

Still, under the cool leadership of her skipper, Capt. Francis Wade Caulfeild– formerly the commander of the battleship HMS Venerable and cruisers Fox, Juno, and Royal Arthur— most of her crew (712 of 762) made it off as she sank slowly for nearly three hours. It was just two days before the signing of the Armistice and, other than the Racecourse-class minesweeper HMS Ascot that was sent to the bottom by UB 67 on 11 November, she was the last Royal Navy ship lost to combat in WWI.

Britannia was the eighth largest allied ship sunk by German U-boats during the war, coming in just behind the French battleship Danton (18,300 tons) and the 18,000-ton liners President Lincoln and Laconia.

Epilogue

At least 23 of the men whose bodies were recovered are interred at the Garrison Cemetery in Gibraltar while the others have No Other Grave than the Sea.

HMS Britannia and her lost crewmembers have been memorialized in no less than 42 locations around the UK, led by the Plymouth Naval Memorial that commemorates more than 7,200 Royal Navy personnel and 75 sailors of the Royal Australian Navy who died during the Great War.

Plymouth Naval Memorial

With her remains on the bottom of the Atlantic, the only relics of her in circulation are period postcards. 

Meanwhile, Combrig has a detailed scale model of her. 

Britannia, Combrig

Her last skipper, Caufield, was given command of the Bellerophon class dreadnought HMS Temeraire on 13 February 1919 then shifted to the Retired List in 1920 with the rank of Rear Admiral, capping a 28-year career. It was while on the list that he was increased to Vice Admiral in 1925. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by order of King George V in the 1936 New Year Honours.

Vice-Admiral Francis Wade Caulfeild, C.B.E passed in 1947, at age 75.

As for UB 50, she made it home to a collapsing Germany and, on 16 January 1919, was surrendered to the Allies. Awarded to Britain as a trophy ship, she was broken up in Swansea in 1922.

UB 50’s final skipper, Oblt. Kukat, who held both the EK1 and EK2 and was a Komtur of the Königlicher Hausorden von Hohenzollern, threw in with the Freikorps crowd in the violent post-war era before the Weimar Republic and, as a company commander with Marine-Brigade von Loewenfeld, was killed in a clash in Bottrop during the Ruhr uprising in 1920, dead at 29. He was the only former U-boat captain killed in Freikorps service and those who served with him during the Great War including famed evangelist Martin Niemöller and some guy named Karl Dönitz spoke highly of him.

Oblt. Heinrich Kukat is listed on the memorial marker of the Loewenfeld Freikorps in Kirchhellen. Other members of the controversial interwar partisan unit included U-boat “ace of aces” Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière and future Abwehr boss, Wilhelm Canaris.

While the name Britannia did not grace another RN warship after 1918, the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth carried the name HMS Britannia as a Naval Shore Establishment after 1906, one that was retained until 1953 when the college simply became HMS Dartmouth and the name Britannia was issued to the newly launched royal yacht HMY Britannia, which in turn remained in service until 1997.

The Royal Yacht Britannia at the 1977 Spithead Fleet Review on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elisabeth II. In her 43-year career, she sailed over a million miles and visited 600 ports. She is preserved as part of The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust as a pier-side museum in Edinburgh.

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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Moskva? Is that you?

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From the AP’s Archive, how about this great 55-year-old color clip of the Soviet squadron (5th Eskadra) in the Mediterranean. Likely shot from a Navy P-2 Neptune (at least one can be seen in formation out the window), it shows a wide swath of the Red Banner fleet including the brand-new (only commissioned 11 months prior) 15,000-ton Project 1123 Kondor helicopter carrier Moskva, Kresta and Kynda-class cruisers, Kashin class destroyers, an Osa-class missile cutter, and a spy “trawler.”

As noted by the CIA at the time, ” In April 1968 the Soviets deployed almost as many ships to the Mediterranean as they had the previous June, apparently to carry out their first major exercise there. In September the new helicopter carrier Moskva was deployed to the Mediterranean for the first time and in October the number of ships in the squadron rose to a new high.”

All good Cold War stuff.

Enjoy!

Lady Lex Pow Wow

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Some 80 years ago this month, aboard the Essex-class fleet carrier USS Lexington (CV-16) in the Pacific: A great period Kodachrome of The “Fighting Airedales” of Fighting Squadron Sixteen (VF-16)’s Commanding Officer, LCDR Paul Douglas Buie (USNA ’33), (center) briefing his pilots for an upcoming mission, during the Gilberts operation, November 1943.

Photographed by Commander Edward Steichen, USNR. Official U.S. Navy Photograph 80-G-K-16053, now in the collections of the National Archives.

The above are (l-r): ENS WM. J. Seyfferle, LT(JG) A. R. Fizalkowski, LT(JG) A. L. Frendberg, LCDR (future RADM) Paul D. Buie (Commanding Officer), ENS John W. Bartol, LT(JG) Dean D. Whitmore, LT(JG) Francis M. Fleming, LT(JG) WM. C. B. Birkholm, LT(JG) Sven Rolfsen, Jr. plus two others not named in the group to the right of LCDR Buie. A F6F-3 Hellcat fighter is behind them. Note flight gear, markings on helmets, and life vests. The pilot at left wears an M1911 .45 caliber pistol on his belt in a leather flap holster just in case he was to become a member of “The Walking Club.”

The fifth warship (and second WWII flattop) to carry the name, Lady Lex had originally been laid down in July 1941 by Bethlehem Steel in Quincy in July 1941 while America was at an uneasy peace, with the intention she would be named USS Cabot. Instead, on 16 June 1942, just days after CV-2 was lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea, she picked up the mantle and was commissioned on 17 February 1943.

Her inaugural airwing would be Carrier Air Group 16, which had only been established on 16 November 1942 with all-new squadrons (VF-16, VT-16, VB-16, and VS-16). CAG-16 would remain with Lex until July 1945 and would earn their keep in November 1943.

As noted by DANFS:

After Caribbean shakedown and yard work at Boston, Lexington sailed for Pacific action via the Panama Canal, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 9 August 1943. She raided Tarawa in late September and Wake in October, then returned to Pearl Harbor to prepare for the Gilbert Islands operation. From 19 to 24 November, she made searches and flew sorties in the Marshalls, covering the landings in the Gilberts. Her aviators downed 29 enemy aircraft on 23 and 24 November.

A U.S. Navy Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat from Fighting Squadron VF-16, Carrier Air Group 16, goes down deck for take-off of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-16) during the Gilbert Islands campaign. Photographed by Commander Edward Steichen (U.S. Navy photo 80-G-471179)

Pilots of VF-16 celebrate after shooting down 17 Japanese aircraft in the Marshalls & Gilberts area on 23 November 1943. They are (l-r): Ensign WM. J. Seyfferle, Lieutenant Junior Grade A. R. Fizalkowski, Lieutenant Junior Grade A. L. Frendberg, Lieutenant Commander Paul D. Buie (Commanding Officer), Ensign John W. Bartol, Lieutenant Junior Grade Dean D. Whitmore, Lieutenant Junior Francis M. Fleming, Lieutenant Junior Grade WM. C. B. Birkholm, Lieutenant Junior Grade Sven Rolfsen, Jr. plus two others not named in the group to the right of Lieutenant Commander Buie. Planes are F6F-3s. Photographed by Commander Edward Steichen, USNR. 80-G-44598

Lexington received the Presidential Unit Citation and 11 battle stars for World War II service, served off Cuba during the Missile Crisis with CVG-3 aboard then, at the end of 1963, tapped out sistership USS Antietam (CV/CVS/AVT-36) as the aviation training carrier at Pensacola, a task she would keep up for the rest of the Cold War, remaining the last of her class on active duty– and the final wooden decked carrier in the U.S. Navy.

She logged more than 493,000 arrested landings between 1943 and 1991.

Navy photograph of USS Lexington (AVT-16) at Pensacola December 1991 before towing to Corpus

She is preserved in Corpus Christi, where she has rested since 1992, outliving CAG/CVW-16 by two decades and VF-16 by four.

Assam Draggin Getting Ready for a ‘Thousand Pounder’ Raid

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“White 4” P-40K Warhawk “Konkubine” of the 25th Fighter Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, getting prepped for a mission with a 1,000-pound centerline bomb, ca 1943. From left to right; Private Anthony Zinkevich, Private Frank Bussell, Tech Sergeant Thomas Collins, Staff Sergeant Lynn Hansen, and Lieutenant Robert McClurg– who carries a Gurkha kukri at the ready and wears a CBI “blood chit” on his back.

This picture, taken 14th April 1943, appeared in the November 1943 edition of “Impact” magazine, but, noticeably, the 25th continued to fly Warhawks into 1945. Photo via NARA

Formed as the 25th Pursuit Squadron at Hamilton Field, Calif., on Jan. 15, 1941, by July the squadron received its first P-40s and by March 1942 had sailed around the globe to set up wartime operations in British India. Setting up shop in Assam, India the 25th picked up the name “Assam Draggins.” 

As noted by the USAF:

The 25th Fighter Squadron’s first real moment of glory began in February 1943 when the unit was tasked to defend Fort Hertz near Myikina. Fort Hertz was a vital cog in air operations near “the Hump.” The 25th bombed and strafed enemy troops, concentrations, supply dumps, bridges, and enemy communication lines for twelve consecutive days, but failed to slow the Japanese advance on Fort Hertz. B-25 heavy bombers were needed to halt the enemy’s drive, but none were available. Lt. Col. John E. Barr, the executive officer for the 51st Fighter Group, modified a P-40 to carry 1,000-pound bombs, and by May 1943, had halted the Japanese offensive. 

The 25th Fighter Squadron encountered more combat activity than any other unit within the 51st Fighter Group during the war. The squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated on Dec. 12, 1945.

Post-war, they flew F-80s, F-86s, and F-4s, switching to the A-10 in 1982, which they currently operate out of Osan Air Base, South Korea.

Get that Christmas Tree permit

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Rather than support “Big Tree” this year just spend $15 and go harvest your own on public land– helping the forest in the process.

Via the USDA:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is selling Christmas Tree permits through Recreation.gov, which makes it more convenient for visitors to find and purchase permits to cut holiday trees from their favorite national forest. Permits will be available beginning on October 12, and sale dates may vary by national forest.

“Venturing into a local national forest to find that special tree is an experience that creates treasured family memories and stories,” said USDA Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “It is through these experiences that people establish important connections to the forest that can lead to a lifetime of adventures and instill a commitment to stewardship.”

Marcina B. expressed their gratitude when visiting the Tahoe National Forest in California: “Our family loves getting Christmas tree permits and cutting down our own tree. Thank you for making this possible and allowing me and my family some unforgettable memories.”

Recreation.gov makes it easy to purchase a permit. “Visitor feedback has been extremely positive,” said Rick DeLappe, Recreation.gov Program Manager. “Of the nearly 1,200 ratings submitted by those who purchased permits on Recreation.gov during the 2022 season, 90 percent gave 4 or 5-stars ratings of their experience.”

Instead of visiting a Forest Service office in person, visitors can go to Recreation.gov and search for their local national forest. Once on Recreation.gov, national forests provide important details, like cutting area maps, types of trees to cut and important planning tips on their respective permit pages.

“It is important to remember that visitors will need to print the permit and display it on the dash of their vehicle on the day of their visit to cut their trees,” said DeLappe. Also keep in mind that many national forests may continue to sell permits in person or through local vendors.

Fourth graders with an Every Kid Outdoors pass are eligible for a free Christmas tree permit and can apply by entering the pass or voucher number when purchasing a permit. Kids of all ages can download, color, and decorate their tree with this Christmas tree ornament coloring page for a fun, handmade addition to their tree.

Cutting a Christmas tree improves forest health. The permit system helps to thin densely populated stands of small-diameter trees. Local forest health experts identify areas that benefit from thinning trees and tend to be the perfect size for Christmas trees. Removing these trees in designated areas helps other trees grow larger and can open areas that provide food for wildlife.

Online Resources:

Of course, all this reminds me of Clark’s tree. 

Army Reset, 1903 edition

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Some 120 years ago, the U.S. Army’s experience fighting in Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Spanish-American War, followed by overseas campaigning in the Western Pacific to pacify the Philippines, led the force to leave behind its only gently updated Frontier ways for something more modern. For example in these American Solider prints by H. Charles McBarron.

The 1898 U.S. Soldier shows the last use of the blue Army field uniform in a major U.S. war. The trend toward neutral colors had led to the adoption of a khaki tropical service uniform but few of the troops who reached Cuba were issued it. Also note the exposed cartridge Mills belt, from which hang his canvas haversack and the knife bayonet for his side-loading Krag rifle. In addition to the old “Union blue” uniform trimmed in black mohair, both the Medical Department officer and the artillery private are wearing the enameled red, white, and blue five-bastion fort badge of Headquarters, Fifth Army Corps, on their hats– an extension of the unit identification system introduced during the Civil War.

The below 1903 plate by McBarron shows the difference just a half-decade can make. Showing troops in the Philippine Islands, they are wearing khaki tropical service dress with bronze buttons. The Grab campaign hat, distinctively American, became the official head covering and was the most liked by the soldier.

In the left foreground is a first lieutenant with the gold hat cord and bronze coat of arms of the United States on his standing collar, both worn by all officers of the Army. On his coat he wears the silver shoulder bar of his rank and on his collar bronze crossed rifles indicate his arm, the infantry. The lieutenant’s breeches are laced from the calf nearly to the knee and are close fitting to go under his russet leather leggings. His waistbelt, of the same color of leather, supports his .38-caliber holstered service revolver and his saber.

The sergeant in the right foreground is in the same uniform as the lieutenant. He has an infantry blue cord on his hat and infantry blue chevrons on the sleeves of his coat despite the adoption of white as the infantry color in late 1902. Troops in or returning from the Philippines were permitted to continue using items in the old infantry blue until they were worn out and stocks were exhausted. On the sergeant’s hat can be seen the numeral and letter identifying his unit and on his collar the crossed rifles and the block letters U.S., all in bronze. In the place of the lieutenant’s leather leggings he wears khaki, canvas ones, and his belt is the blue-grey looped cartridge belt used with the .30-caliber Krag rifle.

The privates in the background are wearing the most frequently seen version of the khaki uniform without the coat—dark navy blue wool shirt, which was a holdover from pre-tropical service days. The soldier on the left is ready for field service with his blanket roll, covered by the khaki shelter half, slung over his shoulder. The soldier on the right, a sentry, carries only his rifle and wears the cartridge belt.

Of course, the Krag in 1903 was on its way out, replaced by the Mauser-based M1903 Springfield and its big M1905 bayonet, with the Mills belt to be phased out instead of the 10-pouch dual-stripper clip M1910 canvas belt that would become iconic in the Great War.

Similarly, the largely ornamental Model 1902 Army Officers’ Saber replaced the Civil War-era M1850 Staff & Field Officers Sword– resulting in the weapon no longer being suitable for campaigning– while the very capable M1911 .45 ACP would tap out the anemic Colt M1892 .38 Long revolver. 

With a few other changes, the road to the Doughboy of 1917 was clear.

Soldier with 30th DIV sniping from a trench in Belgium July 9, 1918. 

Lions from Ohio

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Some 105 years ago today, the doughboys of the U.S. 332d Infantry Regiment wrapped up the Vittorio-Veneto Operation as part of the Italian 31st Division under the command of the British XIV Corps and Tenth Italian Army.

The 332nd was the only American combat outfit to fight in Italy during the Great War. While Washington had planned to send three American divisions to Italy, it turned out the 332nd was all that made it. 

Only formed on 30 August 1917 at Camp Sherman, Ohio, the regiment was comprised of large numbers of young men from the Buckeye State, including many from Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown. Training at Camp Perry in the bitter lake-affect winter cold, they shipped out for England and, post-Capporetto, were detailed to help shore up the faltering Italians.

Keep in mind the U.S. only declared war on Austria-Hungary on 7 December 1917, eight months after it declared war against Germany.

Members of the 83d Division’s 332d Infantry and 331st Field Hospital arrive in Villa Franca, Italy, NARA. Approximately 1,200 American soldiers took part in the Vittorio-Veneto Campaign.

Arriving at Milan on 28 July 1918, by September units were stationed on the front lines and taking casualties.

Doughboys of the 2nd Battalion, 332nd Infantry in front line trenches on the Piave sector, near Varage, Italy, September 28, 1918.

Doughboys of the 332d Infantry on the march near Grave di Papadopoli, Italy, NARA.

Then, on Halloween 1918, they crossed the Piave and fought as the point unit for the Italian division they were assigned to until the Austro-Hungarians quit the war on 4 November 1918. 

“American Soldier, 1918,” by H. Charles McBarron,” American Soldier Series, CMH. The image depicts Doughboys of the 332d Infantry training with a Bersaglieri regiment of the Italian army. Shown in the painting are U.S. Army and Italian Bersaglieri troops as they train in preparation for combat with the Austrians. The soldiers of the 332d Infantry Regiment are armed with the M1903 Springfield rifle and M1905 bayonet and are attired in the standard US Army uniform and equipment of the period. The Bersaglieri are wearing the standard 1909 grey-green uniform with steel grey helmets and cockerel feathers and carrying a pistol and an M1891 6.5mm Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and bayonet at the ready. U.S. Army CMH image

The shoulder sleeve insignia of the 332nd Infantry was created as a commemoration of its service in Italy and included the winged Lion of St. Mark (symbol of Venice) with one paw resting on an open Bible. U.S. Army CMH images

Then came several months of post-war occupation and peacekeeping duties in the Balkans spreading from Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia) to Montenegro.

Soldiers of Co “K”, 332nd Infantry in Fiume – Dinner Jan 9, 1919.

Returning home to a hero’s welcome in New York and Cleveland, they disbanded in May 1919 and, while reorganized and reactivated several times since then, have never seen combat again.

Parade in honor of returning heroes at Cleveland, Ohio. 332nd Infantry on Euclid Ave., at E. 14th, 29 April 1919. NARA 185-WW-85C31

Their story is probably best detailed in the 76-page Regimental history book printed for its Veterans in 1919.

Of course, fast forward to 1944 and a different 332nd from the U.S. Army would arrive in Italy with a whole ‘nother lineage and a valorous future to be written– but that is another story. 

American fighter pilot Edward C. Gleed of the 332nd Fighter Group watches as two aircraft technicians attach an additional fuel tank to the P-51D Mustang “Creamer’s Dream” at Ramitelli Airfield in Italy. March 1945. Judging by the inscription on the tank, its capacity is 110 US gallons (about 416 liters).

USAAF armorer of the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, 15th U.S. Air Force checks ammunition belts of the 12.7 mm machine guns in the wings of a North American P-51B Mustang in Italy, ca. September 1944.

Last Full Measure: Wilfred Owen

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Some 105 years ago today, poet and soldier LT Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, MC, 5th Bn. Manch. Rgt, was killed, on 4 November 1918, aged just 25. Owen died just a week before the signing of the armistice and is commemorated in Ors Communal Cemetery.

IWM Q 101783

He had earned his MC prior to death, although it was not gazetted until four months later. To quote his Military Cross citation in the Edinburgh Gazette in 1919:

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the attack on the Fonsomme Line on October 1st/2nd, 1918. On the company commander becoming a casualty, he assumed command and showed fine leadership, and resisted a heavy counter-attack. He personally manipulated a captured enemy machine gun from an isolated position and inflicted considerable losses on the enemy.”

A year earlier, Owen had penned his famous work, Anthem for Doomed Youth while recovering from shell shock at Craiglockhart War Hospital, where he had met mentor Siegfried Sassoon.

Owen’s writing does not seek to glorify war, nor does it speak of the honor or bravery of the men he fought alongside, instead it is a bitter tale of soldiers “bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags” who are hit by gas.

Returning to France in August 1918 after convalescence, he earned the Military Cross in October leading his company then was killed in an action whilst crossing the Sambre–Oise Canal, just a few days before the Armistice.

Discover more poets of the Great War, via the IWM.

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