Volturno Crossing

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80 years ago today: A U.S.-supplied M4 Sherman medium tank of 4th County of London Yeomanry (4CLY) making ready to cross the Volturno river at Grazzanise, Italy, 17 October 1943 to take on the German Viktor Line. Note the camouflage on both turret and hull and a rarely seen (in the field) partial wading kit.

Photo by Mott (Sgt), No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit, IWM NA 7858

The good SGT Mott captured the same tank while it was crossing

Note the recognition flash on the hull and letter on her turret. IWM NA 7859

As noted by Mott on the back of the card for NA 7858:

The bridge built by the RE [Royal Engineers] over the Volturno at Grazzanise would not take the weight of the heavy tanks. Our tank formation found a spot where the water was no more than six feet deep and with the aid of a bulldozer to haul them up the opposite beach, they forded the river.

The 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) was a volunteer cavalry regiment formed in September 1939. However, they trace their lineage back to the old Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles of 1794.

4CLY saw much action across North Africa (including El Alamein), Italy (where several tanks were left submerged in flood-swollen waters), and Normandy, where, suffering serious losses, was amalgamated with 3CLY to form the 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) in 1944, which went on to help liberate Holland in Market Garden and cross the Rhine.

The Sharpshooters received 42 battle honours (including “Volturno Crossing”) for World War II, a total exceeded by only one other Cavalry or Yeomanry regiment. Individually Sharpshooters received one George Medal, 9 DSOs, 42 MCs, 8 DCMs, and 71 MMs. The regimental roll of honour records 381 names.

The unit, through amalgamations, still exists as 265 (KCLY) Support Squadron in the Territorials while the Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry Museum is in Croydon.

Victory is Certain, or Damn the Torpedoes?

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The early flight II (VLS-equipped) Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS San Jacinto (CG-56) is the third U.S. Navy warship named in honor of the decisive 1836 battle of the Texas Revolution, following in the path of a Civil War-era screw frigate and a WWII light carrier (CVL-30). Ingalls-built at Pascagoula, she was commissioned in 1988 and, among other notable service over the past 35 years, fired the opening shots of Operation Desert Storm.

San Jac received a Navy Unit Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for exceptional support of the Eisenhower Strike Group during their difficult Covid-era 206-day, no port visit, 2020 deployment.

San Jacinto decommissioned on 15 September 2023 in a ceremony at Norfolk, joining sisterships USS Lake Champlain (CG-57), USS Mobile Bay (CG-53), and USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) who likewise have been paid off this year with USS Vicksburg (CG-69) still to go on the schedule.

Before the end of the year, just 12 of the 27 members of the class will be active going into next year. The Navy plans to put the final Ticos in mothballs by the end of FY 27.

San Jac, whose motto is “Victory is Certain,” after a quote from General Sam Houston’s speech as he spoke to his outnumbered men before the Battle of San Jacinto, was towed off to Philadelphia’s “red lead row” this week.

Since the battleship USS Texas’s old berth at San Jacinto Battlegrounds is vacant, it has been floated by some that the recently decommissioned USS San Jacinto (CG-56) should take it over.

There is a certain logic to that as she is orders of magnitude smaller and in better material condition than a 28,000-ton battleship with a 113-year-old riveted steel hull. Yes, the USS Texas (BB 35), once she leaves drydock, will be going somewhere else, likely Galveston, as the San Jac battlefield is low-traffic and not enough to sustain the Two World War veteran dreadnought, it is about time that a circa 1980s Cold War Reagan/Lehman-era vessel is preserved as none of the Sprucans, Perrys, Knoxes, Garcias, Adams, or assorted classes of CGs have been. Besides the obvious Texas tie-in, she would be a centrally located mecca for former bluejackets from the “600 Ship Navy” as well as Gulf War vets. 

Sure, the circuit boards on all the commo, sensors, and EW gear will have to be removed and her VLS, CIWS, Harpoon cans, Mk.32s, and Mk.45s demilled, but it could be done fairly easily.

If not San Jacinto, then I suggest taking her sister and fellow Gulf War vet, USS Mobile Bay (CG-53), and putting her alongside the old SoDak-class battlewagon-turned-museum ship USS Alabama (BB 60), which gets plenty of traffic. That would update that particular park past its current WWII-Korean War focus as well as highlight the nearby (an hour away) Ingalls shipbuilding, where she was built. Ingalls would likely get behind such an effort as well. 

SAN DIEGO (Aug.10, 2023) – The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) sits pier side during a decommissioning ceremony. The Mobile Bay was decommissioned after more than 36 years of distinguished service. Commissioned Feb. 21, 1987, Mobile Bay served in the U.S. Atlantic, Seventh, and U.S. Pacific Fleet and supported Operation Desert Storm. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Stevin C. Atkins)

Food for thought.

As these old Ticos will likely be disposed of sometime after 2027, the time to start the ball rolling on a museum ship is now. 

Selectable Binary Glock: The G-S173

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Two years ago, Nevada-based Franklin Armory broke SHOT Show by appearing at the event with the first commercial selector-switch-equipped slide with a companion two-position binary trigger for a 9mm striker-fired pistol. Set up especially for the Gen 3 Glock 17, it had all the G18-style aesthetic (while being NFA compliant) and a crowd-pleasing ability for binary fire – which allows the user to fire a round both on the pull of the trigger and the release.

The two-position selector. To cancel the release round on G-S173, simply move the selector lever located on the slide from binary to the “semi” position before releasing the trigger.

With some practice, 17-round mags ran dry in right around two seconds at SHOT Show 2022.

Rather than just “spray and pray” giggle time kinda fun on the range, such triggers have a very valid application. When used properly and with sufficient training, users will see much-reduced split times and produce tighter groupings, especially when running controlled pairs.

Fast forward to this week and Franklin Armory has released the G-S173 to the public– and I got one.

More in my column at Guns.com.

News from Pascagoula…

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Ingalls has been busy in the past couple of weeks.

The 10th national security cutter Calhoun (WMSL 759) was signed over to the U.S. Coast Guard last Friday.

How about some great images from Ingalls on the cutter’s sea trials earlier this summer?

Calhoun (WMSL 759) pictured in the Gulf of Mexico during builder’s trials in June 2023. HII photo

Calhoun (WMSL 759) pictured in the Gulf of Mexico during builder’s trials in June 2023. HII photo

Calhoun (WMSL 759) pictured in the Gulf of Mexico during builder’s trials in June 2023. HII photo

NSC 10 is named to honor Charles L. Calhoun, the first master chief petty Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard. Calhoun served in the U.S. Navy for three years during World War II and was honorably discharged in 1946 as a torpedoman’s mate petty officer 2nd class. He enlisted in the Coast Guard that same year and held varying positions of leadership over the course of his career.

The NSCs have been very busy, especially in Alaskan waters and in West Pac cruises, where they have essentially been clocking in as frigates, types the Navy no longer has.

The 11th NSC, the future USCGC Friedman (WMSL 760) is under construction and long lead materials for an unfunded 12th NSC have been purchased, although some $300 million was included in last year’s NDAA for the thus-far-unordered cutter. As the line is still hot and the first of the planned Constellation-class FFGs are expected to start hitting the water until at least late 2026, pulling the trigger on NSC 12 just makes sense. 

Bougainville hits the water

The Navy’s third America-class amphibious assault ship (and the first with a well deck) the future USS Bougainville (LHA 8) was launched from its floating dock into the Pascagoula River earlier this month after the 40,000-ton vessel translated from land to the company’s floating dry dock using translation railcars to support the ship in September.

As noted by Ingalls:

Bougainville is the first ship in the America class to be built with a well deck. The ship will retain aviation capabilities while adding the surface assault capability of a well deck and a larger flight deck configured for F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft. These large-deck amphibious assault ships also include top-of-the-line medical facilities with full operating suites and triage capabilities.

Ingalls has delivered 15 large-deck amphibious ships to the U.S. Navy. The shipyard delivered the first in the new America class of amphibious assault ships (LHA 6) in 2014. The second ship in the America class, USS Tripoli (LHA 7), was delivered to the Navy in early 2020. In addition to Bougainville, Fallujah (LHA 9) is also under construction, and the company authenticated the keel during a ceremony in September 2023.

First Flight III Burke joins the fleet

The U.S. Navy commissioned the first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, the Pascagoula-built USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), on Sat., Oct. 7, 2023, in Tampa, Florida. The shipbuilder has delivered 35 Burke-class destroyers to the U.S. Navy, with four currently under construction.

Sailors man the rails during the commissioning ceremony for the Arleigh Burke class Flight III guided-missile destroyer USS Jack H Lucas (DDG 125) in Tampa, Florida Oct. 7, 2023. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)

The new destroyer carries a superb name. 

Jacklyn Harold “Jack” Lucas was a great man, earning the MoH at age 17 as a Marine on Iwo Jima. I met him years ago at an event in Hattiesburg and he was humble and gregarious. 

Bush War Echoes: Espingarda M/961 Kits

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Apex has pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a small supply of parts kits drawn from vintage “Pre-G3” HK rifles. Officially dubbed the Espingarda automática 7,62 mm M/961 by the Portuguese military, these were only made for three years before the contract changed to producing the plastic-furniture M/963, which was by far the more widespread model.

The M/961 was very interesting as it used an early first pattern muzzle brake, ventilated stamped steel hand guards, a folding bi-pod, a flip sight (rather than the rotating drum sight), and a painted wooden buttstock modeled on the one used by the preceding Spanish CETME 58.

The M/961, note the cheesegrater handguards

The much more commonly-encountered HK G3 (M/963)

Portugal used these rifles in its series of Colonial wars in Africa in the 1960s and 70s in Angola, Guinea, and Mozambique, alongside the P-38 Walther, and the Portuguese Marines (Corpo de Fuzileiros) still use them, outfitted with some more modern accessories and handguards.

Apex just announced a parts kit of these old M/961s (that they call M/61 but anyway) that come complete with the stamped steel hand guards, folding bi-pod, flip sight, and wood stock. Parts have been sorted for matching numbers on the buttstock ferrule, fire control group housing, bolt, and carrier.

They are kind of spendy ($1,500), but you can always get a regular G3 set for $399 if you are a cheapskate.

More in the video below

What a Difference a Year Makes

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Laid down at Newport News on the 1st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1942, CV-13 officially earned her name some 80 years ago today on 14 October 1943.

The future USS Franklin (CV-13) at launch was sponsored by the indomitable LCDR Mildred A. McAfee, USNR (Vassar 1920), then-director of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, better known as the WAVES, and she smashed the bottle in full uniform, as shown in the below photo of the event.

Lieutenant Commander Mildred H. McAfee, USNR, Director of the Women’s Reserve, christens USS Franklin (CV 13) at its launching at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. Released October 14, 1943. U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-43444

And how about this great period Kodachrome of “Big Ben” floating out, with McAfee and eight of her fellow WAVES in the foreground.

PCU USS Franklin (CV-13). The ship floated out of her building dock immediately after christening, at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company shipyard, Newport News, Virginia, on 14 October 1943. 80-G-K-14015

The third USS Franklin was rushed to completion and commissioned just over three months later on 31 January 1944. Following a shakedown cruise, she crossed through the Panama Canal and reported for duty with TG 58.2 on 16 June 1944.

Quickly involved in the war, she supported the invasion of Saipan and of Peleliu, her planes raided Formosa and Okinawa, and by October she was taking part in the liberation of the Philippines which included the pivotal Battle of Leyte Gulf. In those not quite five months, her air group, CVG-12, logged 338 enemy planes damaged and/or destroyed, 409,500 tons of enemy shipping sunk and/or damaged, and 3,971 combat sorties flown.

It was on 30 October, just over a year past her launching, that Franklin encountered the Divine Wind off Samar Island.

As detailed by DANFS:

At 1405, VF-13 launched 12 Hellcats in response to an urgent request from a nearby fleet tanker that reported she was under attack by Japanese planes. Franklin’s crew went to general quarters and “no sooner had the fighters left the deck than Franklin was subjected to a bombing attack.” At the exact moment of the attack, the destroyer Bagley (DD-386) had been alongside Franklin taking on fuel, but quickly cast off. Six enemy planes identified as a mixture of Zekes and Yokosuka D4Y Suisei carrier bombers (Judys), came in at high speed “targeting the formation at about 3,000 feet.”

One of the planes, a Judy, “dove over Franklin,” just missing her starboard side, amidships. A Zeke, observed to still be carrying bombs then intentionally crashed into the carrier’s flight deck inboard of the No. 5 and No. 7, 5-inch mounts. A terrific explosion followed which caused a ferocious fire to sweep the nearby planes on the flight and hanger deck. A third low-flying plane attempted to bomb Franklin, but narrowly missed the carrier’s starboard side. The Japanese pilot then crashed his plane into the after portion of the Belleau Wood (CVL-24).

Two other Japanese planes crashed into the water as a result of errant suicide dives and a third one was shot down by Franklin’s gunners just as it was attempting to crash into Enterprise. Approximately 20 minutes after the attack on Franklin began additional fires broke out on the hanger deck and swept the second and third decks between frames 110 and 150. “All hands turned to,” and at about 1530 the flight deck fire was finally extinguished with the hanger deck fire lingering on until 1625. By 1800, all fires on board the carrier had been arrested with the exception of some that were still smoldering below decks. In total, casualties included 56 killed and 60 wounded.

USS Franklin (CV-13), at right, and USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) Afire after being hit by Japanese Kamikaze suicide planes, while operating off the Philippines on 30 October 1944. Photographed from USS Brush (DD-745. Note flak bursts over the ships. 80-G-326798

The damage was considerable and she made for Puget Sound Naval Yard via Ulithi and Pearl Harbor for repairs, knocking her out of the war for four months.

USS Franklin (CV 13), damage to flight deck following Japanese kamikaze attack on 30 October 1944. 80-G-270814

USS Franklin (CV 13), damage to V-2 spaces following Japanese kamikaze attack on 30 October 1944. 80-G-270811

Heading back West in March 1945 with Carrier Air Group 5 embarked, Franklin would suffer through her much more extensive and well-known brush with the kamikaze shortly after.

As for the good LCDR McAfee, she would leave the Navy in 1946 as a full captain, the WAVES growing to some 80,000 in number. She went on to return to the presidency of Wellesley College, sit on the board of a number of different corporations, and passed the bar in 1994, far outliving “Big Ben” which, laid up post-war, was quietly disposed of in 1966.

Screaming Eagles Get Hands on NGSW

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The Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program is rolling right along, with the SIG Sauer-produced firearms making an appearance at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The base, home to the iconic “Screaming Eagles” of the 101st Airborne Division, will be the first to field operational units with the new guns under current plans, and Campbell brass appeared on the firing line to get a feel for the new hardware.

U.S. Army Fort Campbell Command Sgt. Maj. Chad Stackpole fires a Next-Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) Machine Gun during a weapon familiarization demonstration, Sept. 25, 2023, at Fort Campbell, Ky. (Photo & caption: Kayla Cosby/U.S. Army)

U.S. Army Fort Campbell Garrison Commander Col. Christopher Midberry fires a Next-Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) Machine Gun during a weapon familiarization demonstration, Sept. 25, 2023, at Fort Campbell, Ky. (Photo & caption: Kayla Cosby/U.S. Army)

As outlined by Soldier Systems Daily, Company A of the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, a historic unit that has been part of the 101st since World War II, will begin a Limited User Test with the NGSW platforms this week, comparing them to legacy systems. The Army plans to have the 101st’s 1st Brigade be the first unit fully equipped with the NGSW, likely sometime early next year.

Last of the Amazons

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The Pakistani Navy recently released a well-done (English language) short documentary about the third PNS Tariq (D 181), which is the former Amazon-class (Type 21) frigate HMS Ambuscade (F172).

Acquired by the Pakistani Navy in 1993 sans installed Exocet and Seacat missiles, she was initially laid down at Yarrow in Scotland (Yard No. 1008) in September 1971 and entered service in 1975.

Among a ton of Cold War exploits, Ambuscade took part in the Falklands War of 1982— firing hundreds of rounds of 4.5-inch shells in NGFS missions and chasing at least two suspected enemy sonar contacts– as well service on the old Armilla Patrol and as the Belize Guardship back in the day.

Of the eight Amazons commissioned in the late 1960s-early 1970s, two (HMS Antelope sunk on 24 May 1982 and HMS Ardent on 22 May 1982) were lost in the Falklands.

The remaining six were transferred to Pakistan after the fall of the Berlin Wall and saw much service there. They have since been decommissioned, with no less than four already disposed of in SINKEXs.

Tariq/Ambuscade was the last of her type to leave service, decommissioned on 5 August 2023, her name to be used for a new corvette.

This “final Amazon” will be sent back “home” for the first time in 30 years and converted to a museum ship on the Clyde along Glasgow’s waterfront, the only Falklands vessel preserved, I believe.

The Pakistan Navy has already donated the now 48-year-old frigate to the Cylde Naval Heritage Group and plans to bring her back to Scotland. 

The good news is that she is still in reportedly good material condition, and was steaming as late as this summer. Further, at just 2,800 tons and 384 feet oal, she has a small footprint. All positive signs for a budding museum ship. 

Let us all hope this works out. 

Happy 248th, USN

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Just living the dream since 1775…(or maybe 1798, depending on how you mark it): 

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) fires its 5-inch gun during a live-fire exercise, Sept. 24, 2018. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryan U. Kledzik/Released) 180924-N-UY653-444

A 13 October 1775 resolution of the Continental Congress established what is now the United States Navy with “a swift sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage guns, and a proportionable number of swivels, with eighty men, be fitted, with all possible despatch, for a cruise of three months….” After the American War of Independence, the U.S. Constitution empowered the new Congress “to provide and maintain a navy.” Acting on this authority, Congress established the Department of the Navy on 30 April 1798.

In 1972, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt authorized official recognition of 13 October as the birthday of the U.S. Navy. Since then, each CNO has encouraged a Navy-wide celebration of this occasion “to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage, and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service.”

Henry Gunfighter?

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Henry continues to add interesting new pages to its catalog with the new Big Boy series of double-action revolvers, chambered in the profoundly serious .357 Magnum caliber.

The Henry Big Boy .357 revolver came out of nowhere and was likely not on anyone’s bingo card when it was introduced earlier this year. Few companies these days elect to get into the medium-framed .357 Magnum caliber double-action revolver market, and some (looking at you, Colt and Rossi) have even tried to exit that space in recent memory.

Still, Henry is doing a lot of things right with its inaugural wheel gun. It is accurate, has a decent trigger, and borrows enough things from proven legacy designs to seem familiar while having a very “Henry-ness” about it at the same time. You just don’t see lots of brass-accented revolvers in a double-action format, but Henry has pulled it off while still delivering a very solid-feeling and capable handgun to the market.

Chambered in .357 Magnum, the Big Boy also runs the slightly shorter .38 Special and is meant as an easy complement to the company’s popular Big Boy Brass Side Gate rifle in the same caliber. The Side Gate has an octagonal 20-inch blued steel barrel, American walnut furniture, and a polished hardened brass receiver. It has a 10-round capacity via its underbarrel tube magazine and feels like shooting a .22 Magnum.

One use I could see for the Henry Big Boy revolver is as a sidearm for outdoorsmen – particularly bow hunters in states that allow it – headed into the backwoods where interactions with black bears, feral hogs, or hostile bipeds can occur.

I’ve been putting one of these medium-framed wheel guns through its paces for the past few months and have a full breakdown of this new gem in Henry’s crown over in my column at Guns.com.

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