Some 80 years ago today, the Kriegsmarine delivered a scratch-and-dent high-mileage Type IXC U-boat, in an example of East-West Axis solidarity against the Allies, to the custody of the Imperial Japanese Navy at Kure. The former U-511 thus became the Emperor’s new (to him) Ro-500 on 16 September 1943.
Photos were dutifully snapped of the warm exchange, with the outgoing U-511’s crew mingling with that of the oncoming Ro-500.
The amount paid for on U-511 is up for debate, with Combined Fleet noting:
Axis propaganda asserted U-511 was a “gift” from Hitler to Emperor Hirohito. Actually, the Germans treated U-511 as a partial payment for Japanese supplies (raw rubber and torpedoes in particular) already delivered by surface blockade runners. The Japanese and Germans always dealt on a strictly hard currency (or gold) basis.
The short version of U-511’s background was that she was built by Deutsche Werft AG, laid down on 20 October 1939, and commissioned on 8 December 1941– ironically, the day of the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor as recorded in Tokyo.
The boat conducted four combat patrols, all with 10. Flottille, first under Kptlt. Friedrich Steinhoff and then under Kptlt. Fritz Schneewind, the latter a recipient of the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold, which ranked between the EK1 and below the Ritterkreuz.
She was notable for trialing the deck-mounted Wurfkörper 42 rocket system in the Baltic in May 1942, one of the first experiments in submerged rocket/missile launching.
Underwater launch of a 300mm Wurfkörper 42 Spreng from Type XIC U-Boat U-511 during trials in the Summer of 1942. The reason U-511 was chosen was due to the fact that her skipper at the time, Kptlt. Friedrich Steinhoff, was the brother of scientist Dr. Ernest A. Steinhoff, the latter “Paperclipped” to the U.S. Army after the war. Doc Steinhoof passed at Alamogordo, New Mexico after a long career in rocket development for the Air Force. A park on Holloman AFB is named after him.
Her war record included a patrol in the Caribbean under Steinhoff in the late summer of 1942, which tallied with sinking two large tankers and damaging a third. Schneewind would take over for her second (unsuccessful) patrol, her third (which netted a 5,000-ton British freighter), and her fourth, the trip to Japan via the Indian Ocean, sinking a pair of 7,000-ton American Liberty ships along the way.
On her trip to Kure, U-511 carried a number of East-bound dignitaries including Ernst Woermann, the German ambassador to Japanese-puppet Chūka Minkoku China; VADM Naokuni Nomura, the Japanese naval attaché in Berlin who hadn’t been to sea since her commanded the aircraft carrier Kaga a decade prior; and assorted German scientists and engineers. Among the cargo was a set of Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet blueprints later used by Mitsubishi to develop the J8MI Shusui (“Sword Stroke”) rocket-powered interceptor.
Anyway, once the transfer was affected on 16 September 1943, the Germans remained around to train the new owners for six weeks until leaving for Japanese-occupied Singapore aboard the Italian freighter Osorno in November, later making their way to Penang to fill in as replacement crews for Gruppe Monsun U-boats on the Indian Ocean/Pacific beat.
For instance, former U-511 skipper Schneewind took command of U-183 (another Type IXC, painted in Japanese colors) at Singapore and completed four patrols in her, sinking a British merchantman and damaging two others. He came across USS Besugo (SS-321) on 23 April 1945, with the American Balao-class boat sending U-183, Schneewind, and all but one of his crew, to the bottom of the Java Sea.
Fritz Schneewind, the image on the right while he was on U-183
As for U-511/Ro-500’s service with the Combined Fleet, it was non-spectacular. She was used primarily for testing and training purposes, typically as an ASW OPFOR to simulate U.S. submarines for subchaser/kaibokan crews.
In August 1945, she made a brief (daylong) sortie to attack the Soviets in Sakhalin waters before returning to port.
Surrendered to the Allies post VJ-Day, the interesting boat was scuttled by the U.S. Navy off Kanmuri Jima, Wakasa Bay alongside I-121 and RO-68. The trio was located in 2008 by a team at 290 feet.
80 Years Ago: Early Vought “Corsair Mk I” fighters, of the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm fly in formation, during training for their pilots in the United States, September 1943. Planes are operating out of Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine.
Photograph by Lieutenant Charles Fenno Jacobs. National Archives Catalog #: 80-G-473440
Same as the above, 80-G-473438
While everyone remembers the Spitfire, Hurricane, Seafire, and Sea Fury, lots of people forget the FAA picked up a whopping 2,012 Corsairs for use in World War II, actually rushing them into use as carrier birds much faster than the U.S. Navy, as the latter was thought too unsafe for flattop operations. The RN pilots had a tough respect for the “wicked-looking bastard.”
The FAA used both the Vought F4U-1 and the F4U-1A/D, type classified as Corsair Mk I and Corsair Mk II, respectively, as well as the Brewster-made F3A-1D (Corsair Mk III) and the Goodyear-produced FG-1D (Corsair Mk IV), with the Goodyear bird making up almost half of the RN’s inventory.
The Brits proved their worth on carriers, using them both in Europe (they were in on attacks against Tirpitz!) and going on to see much action against the Japanese in 1944-45.
British Royal Navy Vought “Corsair Mk II” (F4U-1A/D) fighters at Naval Air Station (NAS) Squantum, Massachusetts in 1943. Note fleet air arm personnel standing by the planes, and temporary numbers crudely marked on their cowlings. 80-G-K-15126
Corsairs and Barracudas of the British carrier HMS Formidable in July 1944, on their way to attack the Germán battleship Tirpitz
British FAA Corsair MkI of 1830 NAS – Red 7C JT108 (BuNo 18130) with Red 7A in the background, 1943.
Rabaul, Corsairs on the British carrier HMS Glory, 6 Oct 1945. AWM image
“No place to land” by Michael Turner. Royal Navy Corsairs return to their carrier HMS Illustrious to find a blazing flight deck following a Kamikaze attack in the South West Pacific, during the BPF deployment against the Japanese 1945. The print is widely available https://www.studio88.co.uk/acatalog/No_Place_to_Land.html
FAA Corsairs of 1834 and 1836 Squadrons aboard HMS Victorious spinning up to sortie in an attack against Sigli, Sumatra, in September 1944.
Perhaps one of the best books on FAA Corsair jocks is The Kamikaze Hunters: Fighting for the Pacific, 1945 by Will Iredale.
I reviewed Kamikaze Hunters back in 2015 and loved it!
Armoured Carriers has a great 20-minute take on the Corsair in British service, including interviews with a number of FAA pilots, below.
Back in the early 1970s, there was really nobody in what is now known as the “black rifle” space other than Colt with its R6000 series rifles and carbines (the now extremely collectible “SP-1” AR-15 with no forward assist) and the hard-to-find (and often out of production) Armalite AR-180. Every now and then, an importer would bring over a few FALs, Valmets, or HKs, but that was it.
Sure, you could get a wood-stocked M1 carbine, a couple of different semi-auto M14 variants, or the Ruger Mini-14, but if you wanted an AR, you basically had to call Colt.
Then came Capt. Mack Gwinn, who started what was first Gwinn Firearms, located in Winston-Salem, NC, and then Quality Parts, and finally Bushmaster, after the name of their first marketable firearm, the AR-ish Bushmaster “Armpistol.”
Bushmaster Armpistol ads started popping up in the early-1970s
The company also marketed what was called the “Bushmaster Assault Rifle” for a time, with a pedigree that was very Stoner while steering clear of Colt’s patents
After Gwinn left the company, Bushmaster eventually began making legit Stoner/Sullivan-style AR clones in the early 1980s, along with Olympic Arms, which were basically the first two non-Colt names in that space.
Under Richard Dyke, the company moved to Windham, Maine, and kept at it until 2006, when he sold the firm to a holding company that eventually became the terribly-run Remington Outdoors. Fast forward to 2011 and “Big Green” had made the decision to move the concern “lock, stock, and barrel” out of Maine to its factory in Ilion, New York, leaving behind many of the old workers and the factory in Windham.
Dyke, only days out of his non-compete agreement, rebooted the old Windam factory (which he had the title to) as Windam Weaponry staffed it with experienced former Bushmaster employees looking for jobs, and just three months later was in production, making WW-branded ARs.
Windham Weaponry did a great job with “retro” builds such as these 20-inch A1s
This kept on trucking for 12 years, until Dyke passed away in March. Now, Windam says everything has basically gone south and the company has closed its doors, headed for “a full liquidation which should happen within the next month or so.”
Of course, Bushmaster has since died out and then been rebooted in Carson City, Nevada as a subsidiary of Franklin Armory, but, with AR production ending in Windam after 30 years, it just seems like the end of an era.
Plus, it leaves Maine without a major gunmaker for the first time in a very long time. The state had 21 other Type 7 FFLs – firearm manufacturers – on record in 2021, the most recent figures available, but none produced more than 100 guns, and most made under a dozen guns.
In London this week, Beretta took the curtain off its newest rifle design, which may look familiar.
Dubbed the NARP for “New Assault Rifle Platform” – keep in mind that “assault rifles” are real and “assault weapons” are made up here, guys – the latest Beretta debuted at the 2023 Defence & Security Equipment International show on Tuesday. Offered in three different barrel length configurations (11.5. 14.5, and 16-inch) at introduction, the 5.56 NATO platform has a layout similar to a number of popular modular short-stroke gas-piston platforms on the market, such as the CZ BREN M2, FN SCAR, HK 416, IWI Carmel, and SIG Sauer MCX and sports AR-style controls.
The new Beretta NARP has fully ambidextrous controls and can use a range of telescopic, foldable, and collapsible stocks as it is an adjustable piston gun and doesn’t have a standard AR-style recoil buffer and DI gas system. (Photos: Beretta)
Other standard features are common MIL-STD-1913, STANAG 4640, and M-LOK interfaces, meaning optics will mount, AR/M4 mags will work (it is shown with Lancer L5 AWM mags), and all those groovy accessories will fit. (Photos: Beretta)
Among the variants shown off, clad in assorted optics from Beretta-owned Steiner, are an 11.5-inch CQB-style carbine and a more standard model with a 14.5-inch barrel. Importantly, Beretta stresses that the NARP is meant to run suppressed full-time if needed and the company has also introduced the new Beretta-made B-Silent sound suppressor to use with it. (Photos: Beretta)
Beretta stresses the developmental process behind the NARP is rigorous, with the platform vetted under extreme conditions. (Photos: Beretta)
As for what this means for the company’s futuristic ARX short-stroke piston rifles and carbines, which were introduced in 2008 and later offered as semi-auto sporter variants to the commercial market, it is unclear. With so many countries opting for assorted M4-looking platforms and the ARX more or less stalled with adoption by only a handful of Mil/LE users outside of Italy, it could be that Beretta is opting to go a little more contemporary and see who bites.
Will the NARP ever appear in the U.S. as a commercial sporter variant? Our bet is probably, but probably not with that name.
If so, will fans of House Beretta buy one to go with their 92F, PX4, and 1301? That’s a sure thing.
The name “Navajo,” referencing the Diné people, has been used by the U.S. Navy six times, five of these for hard-working and unsung tugs who, going beyond the title, typically served as rescue and salvage ships.
The first, the 800-ton USS Navajo (AT-52), was in commissioned service from 1908 to 1937 and in non-commissioned service as IX-56 (ex-Navajo) from 1942 to 1946. She spent her entire career in the Hawaiian Islands and was key in the salvage of Battleship Row, helping to return the sunken battleships USS California and West Virginia to service.
Salvage of USS F-4 (SS-23), April-August 1915. Description: All salvage pontoons on the surface, off Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 29 August 1915, with preparations underway to tow the sunken submarine into Honolulu Harbor. The salvage equipment was devised by Naval Constructor Julius A. Furer. Halftone photograph, copied from Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Volume 24, 1916, Figure 13. The tug in the center is probably USS Navajo (AT-52). NH 43499
The second USS Navajo (AT-64), was the lead ship of a new 1,300-ton class of seagoing tugs commissioned in 1940.
USS Navajo (AT-64), starboard bow view.
She was on duty on December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor and was one of the first on rescue duty after the attack.
USS Arizona (BB-39) sunk at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after her fires were out, on 9 December 1941. She was destroyed during the Japanese raid of 7 December 1941. USS Navajo (AT-64) and USS Tern (AM-31) are alongside, spraying water to cool her burned-out forward superstructure and midship area. In the left center distance are the masts of USS West Virginia (BB-48) and USS Tennessee (BB-43). NH 83064
Navajo later went forward with the fleet to the New Hebrides and, in the words of DANFS, “supported operations there with repair and salvage work at Espíritu Santo in the New Hebrides, Nouméa at New Caledonia, Tongatabu, Tonga, and Suva in the Fiji Islands, as well as under battle conditions at Tulagi, Guadalcanal, and Rennell in the Solomons.”
She was influential in recovering the battle-damaged USS Saratoga (CV-3) after the precious carrier was hit by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-26 in September 1942, then helped rescue the bulk of the crew of the lost cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29) the following January in the aftermath of the Battle of Rennell Island.
Caricature drawing by AOM2c M.O. Martindale (on board USS Saratoga 11 September 1942) of tug Navajo pulling Saratoga (CV-3) with the caption, “rest easy Saratoga, we have you in tow!” Courtesy of Fleet Admiral Nimitz. NH 58336
Sadly, the heroic tug was lost at sea 80 years ago this week while towing the loaded 6,600-ton gasoline barge YOG-42 from Samoa to Espíritu Santo, when the barge suddenly exploded. It was estimated the whole tragedy was over within two minutes before both vessels sank, taking 17 of Navajo’s crew to the bottom. The culprit: a single torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-39.
The third USS Navajo (ATA-211) was an 800-ton Sotoyomo-class rescue tug in commission from 1945 to 1962. A hearty vessel, she worked in the Gulf oil field industry for decades afterward and is still around, currently operating from Flordia as the Honduran-flagged tug Hyperion.
USS Navajo (ATA-211), seen in the late 1940s in Key West. NH 83829
The fourth, USNS Navajo (T-ATF-169), was a Powhatan-class fleet ocean tug in service with Military Sealift Command from 1980 to 2016. She is still in Navy custody, mothballed in Pearl Harbor.
USNS Navajo (T-ATF-169) tows the decommissioned USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) from the pier side in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 10 July 2006, out to open waters for an upcoming sink exercise (SINKEX) as part of exercise Rim of the Pacific 2006. US Navy photo # 060710-N-9288T-048 by MC2 Brandon A. Teeples.
On the morning of 14 September 1814, it became obvious to Admiral of the Blue, Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane, Commander-in-Chief, North American Station, that the failed 25-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry would force the British to abandon their assault on the port city of Baltimore.
A view of the bombardment of Fort McHenry, during the War of 1812, near Baltimore, by the British fleet, taken from the observatory under the command of Admirals Cochrane & Cockburn on the morning of the 13th of Sepr. 1814 which lasted 25 hours, & thrown from 1,500 to 1,800 shells in the night attempted to land by forcing a passage up the ferry branch but were repulsed with great loss. Engraving by John Bower. LOC print. LC-DIG-ppmsca-35544
That morning, aboard an American truce sloop near the 80-gun ship of the line HMS Tonnant was lawyer, author, and amateur poet Francis Scott Key, aged 35, whose subsequent poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry” was the next day penned at the Indian Queen Tavern in Baltimore.
In honor of those rockets and mortars launched from the fireships HMS Erebus and HMS Meteor, along with four other British bomb vessels, against McHenry, here is an October 1981 montage of seven views showing parts of the test launching of a Trident I C-4 missile from the submerged Benjamin Franklin-class Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) and the Trident’s inert re-entry bodies as they plunge into the earth’s atmosphere and then into the Atlantic Ocean.
Via the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, 330-CFD-DN-SC-82-00005
Warship Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023: Mud Hen Regulus Pitcher
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-433460
Above we see, through the swirling smoke, the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser USS Toledo (CA 133) as she lets rip an 8-inch gun salvo into enemy installations at Wonsan in September 1951 during the Korean War. Note her Star-Spangled Banner and hull number identifiers on her turret tops, needed in the age of onboard helicopter detachments and fast-moving jets operating in a combined United Nations fleet.
Laid down 80 years ago today, our cruiser was too late to get in licks in World War II but as you can see, earned her keep in later conflicts.
The Baltimores
When the early shitstorm of 1939 World War II broke out, the U.S. Navy, realized that in the likely coming involvement with Germany in said war– and that country’s huge new 18,000-ton, 8x8inch gunned, 4.1-inches of armor Hipper-class super cruisers– it was outclassed in the big assed heavy cruiser department. When you add to the fire the fact that the Japanese had left all of the Washington and London Naval treaties behind and were building giant Mogami-class vessels (15,000 tons, 3.9 inches of armor), the writing was on the wall.
That’s where the Baltimore class came in.
These 24 envisioned ships of the class looked like an Iowa-class battleship in miniature with three triple turrets, twin stacks, a high central bridge, and two masts– and they were (almost) as powerful. Sheathed in a hefty 6 inches of armor belt (and 3 inches of deck armor), they could take a beating if they had to. They were fast, capable of over 30 knots, which meant they could keep pace with the fast new battlewagons they looked so much like, as well as the new fleet carriers that were on the drawing board.
Baltimore class ONI2 listing
While they were more heavily armored than Hipper and Mogami, they also had an extra 8-inch tube, mounting nine new model 8-inch/55 caliber guns, whereas the German and Japanese only had 155mm guns (though the Mogamis later picked up 10×8-inchers). A larger suite of AAA guns that included a dozen 5-inch/38 caliber guns in twin mounts and 70+ 40mm and 20mm guns rounded this out.
In short, these ships were deadly to incoming aircraft, could close to the shore as long as there were at least 27 feet of seawater for them to float in and hammer coastal beaches and emplacements for amphibious landings, then take out any enemy surface combatant short of a modern battleship in a one-on-one fight. They were tough nuts to crack, and of the 14 hulls that took to the sea, none were lost in combat.
Meet Toledo
Our subject was the first U.S. Navy ship named for “The Glass City” in Ohio, home off and on since 1896 to the famous Toledo Mud Hens.
Laid down on 13 September 1943 by the New York Shipbuilding Corp. at Camden, New Jersey, she was launched two days shy of VE-Day on 6 May 1945.
Bow view of the USS Toledo leaving drydock 6 May 1945. Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center
Her “hometown” was so impressed by the warship that the Navy League of Toledo was able to raise $12,500 for a beautiful 204-piece silver service worthy of a battleship and commissioned through the Gorham Silver Company of Rhode Island and engraved with local landmarks that were presented to the ship.
With WWII over and no rush to get Toledo into the fight anymore, she wasn’t commissioned at the nearby Philadelphia Naval Shipyard across the river until 27 October 1946. Her first of 17 skippers– all Annapolis grads– was Capt. August Jackson Detzer, Jr. (USNA ’21), who started his career as a midshipman during the Great War on the old battleship USS Maine (BB-10).
1946 Jane’s for the Baltimore class heavy cruisers, including the new Toledo
While many members of her class had to fight for their lives shortly after being commissioned, Toledo was much luckier, and she spent 1947 enjoying the life of a peacetime heavy cruiser in the world’s largest Navy. She ranged across the West Indies on a shakedown cruise, then was sent to the Far East to assist in Japan/Korea Occupation duties via the Mediterranean and Suez Canal, remaining in the West Pac until November of that year when she made sunny California, calling at her homeport of Long Beach for the first time, just in time for Thanksgiving. A nice first year afloat!
Toledo made two more peacetime deployments to the West Pac in 1948-49, notably calling on newly independent India and Pakistan on a goodwill cruise and standing by during the evacuation of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist KMT forces from mainland China to Taiwan.
It was during this period that Toledo saw her first of several major overhauls, done at Puget Sound NSY from 5 October 1948 to 18 February 1949, which included landing her 20mm Oerlikons and seaplane catapults/handling gear.
Moving forward, she would carry helicopters as needed.
USS Helena (CA-75) and sister USS Toledo (CA-133) at Pier 15, Balboa, Canal Zone, July 1, 1949. National Archives Identifier 202801697
USS Toledo (CA-133) at anchor, circa 1949. Note her glad rags flying and the small WWII-style hull numbers.
War!
At rest in Long Beach on 25 June 1950, having just returned home from her third West Pac cruise only 13 days prior, news came that the North Korean military rushed across the 38th parallel, sparking an international response.
Recalling her crew and fixing what deficiencies they could, Toledo arrived off the Korean coast on 25 July, running her first of many, many naval gunfire bombardment missions just two days later, hitting Nork positions near Yongdok on 27 July.
USS Toledo’s forward 8-inch guns. They would get a lot of work off Korea. Kodachrome by Charles L Patterson, who served on her Marine Det in the 1950s
Perhaps one of the most beautiful images of a cruiser ever taken. USS Toledo (CA-133) Off the east coast of Korea while operating with Task Force 77. Photographed from a USS Essex (CV-9) aircraft. The original photo is dated 6 September 1951. NH 96901
USS Toledo (CA 133) blasts shore installations as her main battery sends a salvo into Communist transportation facilities in Korea. Operating with United Nations Forces, this was the first target upon reporting for duty, as a detached element of Task Force 77. Note the twin 5″/38 DP mounts in action at near max elevation, a depressed 8″/55 mount seen belching fire to the top right, and lifejacket/helmeted gun crews in the 40mm quad Bofors tub. 330-PS-2115 (USN 432090)
With Marine ANGLICO teams in short supply in this early stage of the war– busy operating in support of ROK and U.S. Army forces– the ship landed shore parties to provide direct naval gunfire support and correction of shot the old-fashioned way.
USS Toledo (CA-133) Shore fire control party from Toledo in an observation post overlooking the Han River, Korea, circa late April, or May 1951. They are ready to spot and correct the cruiser’s gunfire should the enemy appear. 80-G-432346
A shore fire control party from Toledo moves up past Korean tombs to man an observation post overlooking the Han River, circa late April, or May 1951. 80-G-432355
The smoke ring is formed by the escape gases and smoke as USS Toledo (CA 133) fires a 5” salvo at enemy installations in Wonsan, Korea. Photograph received September 23, 1951. 80-G-433428
USS Toledo (CA-133) Underway in Korean waters, with a battleship and a destroyer in the right distance. The original photo is dated 2 November 1952. NH 96902
USS Toledo (CA-133) The cruiser’s shells hit enemy installations in the Wonsan Harbor area, Korea, during a bombardment in early 1953. 80-G-478496
USS Toledo (CA-133) firing her forward 203 mm guns
She completed three wartime cruises off Korea during the conflict, in all conditions.
USS Toledo (CA-133). Official caption: “In Seas that Smoke with the wind and cold, the USS Toledo (CA-133) fights the elements as well as the enemy off the coast of North Korea. The heavy cruiser, now on her third tour of duty in the war zone, is due to return to the States for overhaul this coming spring.” Photograph and caption were released circa Winter 1952-53. The view was taken from Toledo’s icy forecastle, looking out over the cold Sea of Japan toward an aircraft carrier. The carrier is either the Essex-class Valley Forge (CVA-45) or the Philippine Sea (CVA-47). From the All-Hands collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 97171
In all, Toledo was authorized six (of a possible 10) Korean Service Medals, with the breaks in dates often due to leaving the gun line to get more shells:
K1 – North Korean Aggression: 26 Jul-12 Sep 50 and 18 Sep-23 Oct 50
K3 – Inchon Landing: 13-17 Sep 50
K5 – Communist China Spring Offensive: 26 Apr-30 May 51 and 12 Jun-8 Jul 51
K6 – UN Summer-Fall Offensive: 9-Jul-51, 25 Jul-7 Aug 51, 10-22 Aug 51, 5-9 Sep 51, 11-14 Sep 51, 17 Sep-4 Oct 51, 18-30 Oct 51, and 1-12 Nov 51
K8 – Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952: 13-29 Sep 52, 9-18 Oct 52, and 30 Oct- 30 Nov 52
K9 – Third Korean Winter: 1-Dec-52, 17 Dec 52-16 Jan 53, and 28 Jan-24 Feb 53
Besides her Korean battle stars (five listed in DANFS, six authorized according to NHHC) Toledo earned a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation for her service.
Needless to say, her gunners and deck division guys humped a lot of shells and charges during the war.
USS Toledo (CA-133) Crewmen bring eight-inch powder charges aboard from a barge alongside, at Sasebo, Japan, circa July-October 1950, while Toledo was engaged in Korean War combat operations. Note the ship’s after eight-inch triple gun turret trained on the starboard beam, and aircraft crane and hangar hatch cover at the stern. NH 96903
USS Toledo (CA-133) Eight-inch shells and powder charges on a barge alongside the starboard quarter, as Toledo replenished her ammunition supply in Sasebo Harbor, Japan, after combat operations off Korea, circa July-October 1950. Crewmen are carrying the powder cans into position to be hoisted aboard the cruiser. NH 96905
USS Toledo (CA-133) Crewmen loading ammunition from a barge in Inchon Harbor, Korea, before Toledo’s moving into position to support United Nations ground forces, as they attempt to stop the enemy’s spring offensive, circa late April 1951. The original photo is dated 14 April 1951, which is nearly two weeks before Toledo arrived in the combat zone to begin her second Korean War tour. Men in the center are carrying eight-inch powder cans, while those at right have hand trucks to move the heavy main battery projectiles. NH 96904
In return, on several occasions, she sorrowed through Chinese/Nork counterfire from the shore including some close calls where shells straddled our cruiser, but in the end, suffered no hits.
Toledo was also a lifesaver, with her helicopters and boats plucking several downed pilots from the water, including one, from the carrier USS Boxer (CV-21), twice.
Peace again
Arriving back in California from her third combat deployment on St. Patrick’s Day 1953, she was sidelined at Hunter’s Point NSY for a five-month overhaul when the truce was worked out on 27 July. So far, it has held.
Our recently refitted cruiser had a series of snapshots captured during this refit. Importantly, she shipped her 40mm guns ashore for 10 twin 3″/50 (7.62 cm) Mark 33 Mounts and new Mk 56 FC radar fits.
USS Toledo (CA 133), sometime after her 1953 refit. Note the forward port 5″/38 DP mount at maximum elevation, 3″/50 mounts, and the Commencement Bay-class escort carrier in the background. NH 67806
Following her refit and the outbreak of an uneasy peace on the Korean peninsula, Toledo completed her seventh and eighth West Pac deployments (November 1953- May 1954 and September 1954- March 1955), spending lots of time ranging from Japan to Korea and Taiwan where she once again supported a KMT evacuation, this time from the Tachen Islands in January 1955 where her guns rang out once again against the Red Chinese.
USS Toledo (CA-133) (left) and sister USS Helena (CA-75) (right) moored at Yokosuka, Japan, 1955
Missile days
Four Baltimores were refitted for the nuclear deterrent role, USS Helena, Los Angeles, Macon, and our own Toledo. This saw them pick up the ability to carry as many as three nuclear-capable SSM-N-8A Regulus I cruise missiles on the stern and a distinctive 8-foot diameter AN/SPQ-2 S-Band mesh symmetrical parabolic antenna’d missile guidance radar to control them. Of course, Regulus had an over-the-horizon operational range of some 500 nm while the SPQ-2 was limited to just 50 under ideal conditions, but hey.
The Regulus was a big boy, 32 feet long with a 21-foot wingspan and a launch weight of 13,685 pounds. Essentially the same size as an F-86 Sabre. Capable of using first the W5 (120 kT) then the W27 (1,900 kT) thermonuclear warheads.
Sailors aboard the USS Helena (CA 75) inspect a Regulus missile mounted on the stern of the ship. The Helena is moored at an unknown Far East port in early 1956. Note the old seaplane service hatch open. LIFE Magazine Archives, Hank Walker photographer.
To accommodate the installation, the aircraft catapults were removed as were any remaining 40mm guns and the stern 3″/50 mount.
October 1959, heavy cruiser Helena gets her Regulus I missiles maintenance done before she departs for Japan
It was a hell of a thing to see one launch from one of these cruisers.
Official caption: “Nuclear Assault A Regulus I boils white smoke from booster charges as it roars away from its launcher aboard the heavy cruiser USS Los Angeles off San Diego. The launch, a routine evaluation ‘shoot’, was conducted during the time that 600 members of the Institute of Aeronautical Science were embarked aboard the attack carrier USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14), right. The demonstration, which included a ‘Terrier’ guided missile interception of the Regulus, power exhibition, carrier operations, and a HUK exercise, was highlighted by the Regulus launching. The Terrier was fired at the Regulus from the USS Norton Sound (AVM-1), background, on August 7, 1957.” NH 97391
A U.S. Navy Regulus missile is launched from the USS Helena in February 1957. K-21731
Toledo received her missile fit during a four-month overhaul at the Puget Sound NSY in the summer of 1955.
C.1955. Starboard-bow view of the cruiser USS Toledo (CA-133) firing a Regulus I surface-to-surface guided missile. The missile is controlled by the SPQ-2 radar trained to starboard at the head of the mainmast. Other radars visible include the SPS-4 Zenith surface search at the head of the foremast and the SPS-6 air search below it. A Mark 25 fire control radar is fitted on the Mark 37 secondary armament director, which is trained to port and partially obscured by the Mark 13 fire control radar on the main armament director. Note the twin 3-inch/50 AA guns on the main deck forward and the raised platforms amidships abaft the twin 5-inch/38 gun turret. They are controlled by the Mark 56 directors mounted on either side of the forward superstructure and amidships.
Original Kodachrome of an SSM-N-8 Regulus cruise missile on USS Toledo (CA-133) in 1958. Note she still has her seaplane crane, a common feature. U.S. Navy photo from her 1958 cruise book available at Navysite.de
Between early 1956 and November 1959, Toledo remained very active when it came to keeping up appearances in the West Pac, making no less than four more deployments to the region in that period.
USS Toledo (CA 133) at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on 4 August 1956. City of Vancouver archives.
USS Toledo (CA-133). Port bow view while underway in 1957. Note her extensive twin 3″/50 DP fits, including one forward and aft as well as three on each broadside, and multiple AN/SPG-35 (Mk56) GFCS AAA fire controls. A big-gun cruiser to the max!
USS Toledo (CA-133) seen turning away from USS Columbus (CA-74) after a highline transfer. Photo taken from USS Columbus during her 1956 WESTPAC cruise. Note the helicopter on deck. From the collection of Domenic S. Terranova, USS Columbus Fire Control Officer. Via Navsource.
USS Toledo underway Kodachrome by Charles L Patterson
On board the heavy cruiser Toledo during her visit to Sydney in May 1958 for the commemoration of the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Bluejackets hanging out with some local ladies during Toledo’s visit to Sydney in May 1958 for the commemoration of the Battle of the Coral Sea. Note the Regulus
USS Toledo (CA-133) anchoring in Tokyo Bay, in 1959.
End game
With the Navy converting five Baltimore and Oregon City-class heavy cruisers into guided missile cruisers, scraping off most of their guns in favor of batteries of Talos and Tartar missile launchers while the nuclear-powered USS Long Beach (CLGN-16) was slated to commission in 1961, keeping a bunch of (almost) all-gun cruisers in commission in the age of the atom seemed increasingly antiquated.
This led the Navy to mothball just about every unconverted heavy and light cruiser in the inventory, including the mighty 20,000-ton USS Des Moines (CA-134) and sister Salem (CA-139), only keeping the newest of that class, USS Newport News (CA-148) around to fill in as the last active all-gun heavy cruiser in the fleet, lingering until 1975.
Dovetailing into this retirement program, Toledo was placed out of commission at Long Beach on 21 May 1960, then moved to the reserve basin at San Diego and remained there for the next 14 years.
In 1973, the 7 remaining unconverted Baltimores, Toledo included, made their final appearance in Jane’s.
Long laid up, these were listed as “fire support ships.”
On 1 January 1974, Toledo’s name was struck from the Navy list, and then she was sold to the National Metal & Scrap Corp. on 30 October 1974. Her sisters had either already been disposed of or were soon to follow except for USS Chicago (CA-136/CG-11), which somehow was not decommissioned until 1980 and scrapped until 1991.
And of Regulus?
Besides the four Regulus-equipped cruisers, the Navy fielded the early cruise missile on two converted WWII diesel submarines and three purpose-built boats. Meanwhile, 10 Essex and Midway-class carriers were equipped to fire the missile as well.
By 1961, Regulus and its SPQ-2 control radar were replaced by the Polaris A1 SLBM carried by a new generation of Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines, largely ending the strategic nuke role by the U.S. Navy surface fleet. Tactical nukes, however, endured in the form of the 40-mile ranged RIM-2D Terrier BT-3A(N) with its W30/W45 1kT nuclear warhead, the TLAM-N (capable of carrying a W80 200 kT nuclear warhead 1,200nm), nuclear depth charges, and the Mk 23 “Katie” 16-inch nuclear shell used on the Iowas.
While the Army developed assorted nuclear shells (Mark 33/T317/M422/M454) designed for use in various 8-inch howitzers in land combat, first fielding them in 1957 and keeping them in the arsenal until 1992, I can’t find anything where the Navy did the same for its 8-inch gunned cruisers, which remained in service until
Epilogue
The National Museum of the Pacific War has a plaque, installed by her veterans’ association in 2000, in Toledo’s honor.
Speaking of her veteran’s association, I cannot find a listing for them any longer with what appears to be their website going offline in 2018. The archive is great.
Most of the cruiser’s ornate circa 1945 silver service is on display aboard the museum ship USS Midway (CV-41), having been returned to the city of Toledo briefly after USS Toledo was decommissioned, then, in 1961, being loaned to the USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) — named after an Ohio town near the city. From there, the service was then transferred (missing a martini pitcher) to the new supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) in 1963 with the blessing of the Toledo City Council, due to the Ohio connection with the Wright Brothers. After the “Battle Cat” was decommissioned in 2009, the service was sent by the NHHC to live aboard Midway.
Toledo/Kitty Hawk silver service aboard USS Midway
As for the name, “Toledo” was recycled by the Navy for the 58th Los Angeles-class hunter-killer (SSN-769) a late VLS-equipped 688(i) variant commissioned in 1995. Among other claims to fame, she was observing the ill-fated Russian cruise missile submarine Kursk when the boat suffered its catastrophic incident then took part in the 2003 Iraq War where she launched TLAMs from a station in the eastern Mediterranean.
She is still on active duty, assigned to Portsmouth, Virginia and, since commissioning, has carried two of the old cruiser’s silver platters aboard for special occasions.
USS Toledo (SSN-769) aerial view of the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Toledo (SSN-769) underway on the surface. Catalog #: L45-284.05.01
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.
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In production for 15 years and out of production for more than 20, the all-stainless-steel Smith & Wesson Model 5906 is an enduring classic that remains hard to beat. This is especially true in the case of “often carried but seldom used” police trade-in guns.
I grabbed this particular example from a stack of Police Trade-ins that came through GDC recently.
This bad boy looked a little rough on the outside but, when broken down and inspected, seemed in excellent condition on the inside.
Smith confirmed the “born on” date was August 18, 1993.
I ran 100 rounds of mixed ball and JHP from the original “pre-ban” mag with zero problems.
A typical run:
Still supportable
Although S&W stopped production on the standard 5906 in 1999 (and the railed TSW variant in 2004), replacing the line with the polymer-framed striker-fired S&W M&P9 series, these old Wondernines are still supportable. While many LE trade-ins typically just come with a single mag, the 5900 series magazine is easy to source and Mec Gar makes an excellent flush-fit 17+1 round model that is an easily unlockable upgrade. Further, lots of new and recycled parts are out there. Replacement grips are also out there as well and, as far as holsters go, odds are you can find one without too much of an issue, although they may not be of the latest styles.
I plan on giving this one a full disassembly and deep clean, replacing all the springs, and grabbing a couple of new Mec-Gars.
The 5906 was the peak of S&W’s “Wondernine” evolution, benefiting from over 75 years of development of the platform as well as the feedback (and warranty returns) from thousands of users going back to the old Model 39 and the Army’s circa 1948-1954 X100 pistol program. In other words, it was about as perfect as Smith could make it for a duty-grade all-stainless DA/SA double stack 9mm. They are balanced, reliable, and shoot well, making them a good companion to similar all-metal hammer-fired guns of the era such as the CZ 75, Beretta 92, and SIG P226– but all American.
As for being a police trade-in gun, while LE customers may have used them for a decade or three, and lots of them are floating around as surplus, these guns are typically a long way away from being worn out, with most damage being of the cosmetic type.
For someone looking for a used 9mm pistol with a decent capacity and good performance that will likely still be working for generations to come, the 5906 stands tall.
A group of wreck hunters, working off the Belgian coast, have discovered a pair of German U-boats that have been lost since World War I. The wrecks include the Kriegsmarine’s German Type U 5 submarine class leader, SM U5 (Kptlt. Johannes Lemmer), and the Type UC I minelayer submarine SM UC-14 (Oblt. (R) Adolf Feddersen).
SM U-5 was an early pre-war boat, commissioned on 2 July 1910, and was small even for her era (500 tons, 181-foot overall) but she was still capable, carrying a single 37mm deck gun and four 17.7-inch tubes with six fish.
German Imperial Navy submarines at Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein (Germany), before the First World War. The boats are: U 13, U 5, U 11, U 3, and U 16 (first row, l-r); U 9, U 12, U 6, and U ? (second row, l-r). To the left of U 9 are the torpedo boat S 99 and the hulk Acheron. The Acheron had been the frigate SMS Moltke (I), commissioned in 1878. After decommissioning she was renamed on 28 October 1911 and used as a barracks ship for submarine crews at Kiel. She was finally scrapped in 1920. A battlecruiser or battleship is visible in the background.
SM U-5 was lost very early in the war– on 18 December 1914– with no recorded sinkings of enemy ships on her two patrols. She took all of her 29 crew members to the bottom.
As for SM UC-14, she was even smaller, displacing just 183 tons (submerged) and having an overall length of 111 feet.
Carrying no torpedoes or large caliber guns, her very successful class used six 39-inch top-loaded/bottom dropping tubes, each with two 710-pound Type II mines, each filled with 290 pounds of guncotton, to sow minefields.
Type II mine being loaded into a UC minelaying submarine. IWM photograph Q 20345.
SM UC-5, of the class UC-14 was in. This image after she was captured by the British.
SM UC-14, a war baby that was commissioned on 3 June 1915 just five months after she was laid down, conducted 38 short war patrols, and her minefields were credited with sinking 16 ships the Italian battleship Regina Margherita (13,215 tons) — one of the largest ships claimed by U-boats during the war.
Italian pre-dreadnought battleship Regina Margherita passing through the Canale Navigabile, Taranto, 1912
UC-14, a boat that lived by the mine, also died by the mine, sunk on 3 October 1917 by what appears to be a British minefield off Zeebrugbee, taking her 17-man crew to the cold dark below.
See the below video of the wreckage. The wreck of U 5 is reported to be in good shape while UC 14 was lost in a heavy explosion and in a bad shape.
And so we remember.
Auf einem Seemannsgrab, da blühen keine Rosen Auf einem Seemannsgrab, da blüht kein Blümelein Der einz’ge Schmuck für uns, das sind die weißen Möwen Und heiße Tränen, die ein kleines Mädl weint Der einz’ge Schmuck für uns, das sind die weißen Möwen Und heiße Tränen, die ein kleines Mädl weint
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers have passed an important threshold in their story: as of this month, they have hit nearly 50 percent strength in numbers with only 15 still active (soon to be just 12) of the 27 completed.
USS Lake Champlain (CG-57) was decommissioned on 1 September, capping a 35-year career. Here, she is being towed off. She earned 11 Battle E Awards, 3 Navy Unit Commendations, and 2 Meritorious Unit Commendations.
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)
Likely to still be retired this year from the class are USS Vicksburg (CG-69), USS Bunker Hill (CG-52), and USS San Jacinto (CG-56).
Sayonara, Shiloh
Meanwhile, one of the last in the fleet, USS Shiloh (CG 67), departed Yokosuka, Japan, on Sept. 5 to transit to her new homeport of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, “as part of a planned rotation of forces in the Pacific.”
Shiloh has been forward deployed in Japan for 17 years and is slated to be retired next year.
U.S. Navy Sailors and members of Ship Repair Facility (SRF) Yokosuka bow to the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67) in Yokosuka, Japan, Sept. 5, 2023. Shiloh departed Yokosuka on Sept. 5 to transit to its new homeport of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as part of a planned rotation of forces in the Pacific. Shiloh is attached to Commander, Carrier Strike Group 5 forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Askia Collins)
