Old School and the New Class

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80 Years Ago Today, 14 July 1943, while steaming from San Diego to Norfolk: The mighty dreadnought USS Nevada (Battleship No. 36), seen after her extensive repairs due to the pummeling she took at Pearl Harbor 19 months prior, returning from Alaska, where she had provided naval gunfire support from 11 to 18 May 1943 for the liberation of Attu (Operation Landcrab).

Photo # 80-G-74411 now in the collection of the US National Archives

Nevada, in the above, was bound for the Norfolk Navy Yard to undergo another several months of further modernization in preparation for service in the Atlantic Ocean and to support amphibious landings in the European Theater of Operations.

As noted by DANFS

After her time in the yard, she shifted to Boston and for several months, she engaged in convoy duty calling at New York, Maine, Massachusetts, and Ireland. On 18 April 1944, Nevada sailed from Casco Bay, Maine, bound for British waters in order to prepare for Operation Neptune, the landing component of Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.

Trailing astern Nevada is the newly commissioned Bogue-class escort carrier USS Croatan (CVE-25), one of just 11 who served in the U.S. Navy. Just finished at Tacoma in time to sail with the battleship for the East Coast, Croatan would eventually lead her own hunter-killer ASW group that would account for six German U-boats by the end of the war. She would outlast Nevada in the fleet, lingering until 1970 when she concluded her final use as the MSTS-manned aircraft ferry, USNS Croatan (AKV-43) carrying hundreds of Army helicopters to Vietnam.

Swatting drones, any which way you can…

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Footage from “somewhere in Ukraine” shows an improvised drone-buster made from six Kalashnikovs. 

The system, first seen in early July, is made from a half-dozen AK74s assembled in a rough circle along a hexagonal brace with the tops of the receivers facing inward. It includes a central charging handle and trigger solenoid as well as a simple circle-T anti-aircraft style iron reticle fitted to the top centerline. 

The initial design included guns still with their canvas slings.

Another short clip, posted last week, shows the gun in action against two low-flying target drones alongside a WWII-vintage DP28. 

The testing prototype was a little better arranged

The Armorer’s Bench, calling the device the “Ukrainian Minigun,” dives more into it in the below video, including some video of the mount being constructed in a shop. 

The primary source of counter-drone, counter-missile, and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine since 2021 has been the U.S. In addition to undefined “Equipment to sustain Ukraine’s existing air defense capabilities” as well as “Anti-aircraft guns and ammunition,” the $41.3 billion in counter-air weapons transferred from Pentagon stockpiles to the country include: 

  • One Patriot air defense battery and munitions
  • Eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and munitions
  • HAWK air defense systems and munitions
  • RIM-7 missiles for air defense
  • 20 Avenger air defense systems
  • Nine c-UAS gun trucks and ammunition
  • 10 mobile c-UAS laser-guided rocket systems
  • Over 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft systems

Plus, NATO allies have given the Ukrainians Cold War-era RBS-70s, Mistrals, Gephards, Orelikons, et. al. by the trainloads.

However, it should be noted that in 2023 with Iranian-made Shahed 136 “kamikaze drones” only costing the Russians about $20K a pop, systems like the “Ukrainian Minigun” may be a low-cost solution. 

Via the very interesting 94-page Defense Sitters Transforming European Militaries in Times of War report that debuted last week at Munich:

This dovetails with reports that Ukraine is running short of AAA ammo and SAMs:

I’d recommend bringing back the old M45 Maxson “Meat Chopper,” which used a four-pack of M2 .50-cals on a battery-powered chassis. 

We checked out one back in 2020 and such a concept, updated with better mechanics and the addition of an EW jammer for countering small drones (CUAS) should be something that could be CAD’ed up overnight and built from off-the-shelf components. 

Meanwhile, in Britain, the Army just took possession of the first of a planned 225 Smartshooter SMASH fire control systems, an add-on see-through optics with a lock and track system that can recognize a target and maintain a lock even if it or the user moves. It has a dedicated “drone hard kill mode” and will be employed in such a role.

If spread across the 33 active duty combat battalions of the Regular army, this gives about six SMASH-equipped rifles per battalion, or two per company, which seems about right, and could point towards Designated C-sUAS Marksmen being a thing. (Photo: British Army)

It is no wonder that companies such as Rheinmetall are now marketing SPAAGs like the Oerlikon Skyranger 30, platforms that look very 1980s but with a new twist.

“This highly mobile air defence system with integrated active and passive search and tracking sensors is a powerful, autonomous shooter with both gun and missiles. It is capable of engaging modern battlefield threats with a special focus on small unmanned aerial targets. It combines superior firepower with the dynamics and elevation needed to successfully engage highly agile single or swarming targets performing loiter, pop up or dive attacks.”

Everything feels very Red Storm Rising lately.

Ommaney Bay found

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The Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract as M.C. Hull 1116 on 6 October 1943 at Kaiser’s Vancouver yard, launched on 29 December 1943 and commissioned on 11 February 1944 (the day she was delivered).

In all, a total build-out of just 128 days.

USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79). NHHC Accession #: UA 467

Her naval career, rushed into the front lines of the push to Tokyo, would only span 334 days.

She was lost during the landings in the Lingayen Gulf on 4 January 1945 when a twin-engine Japanese suicide plane, just before dinner, “nicked her island then crashed her starboard side. Two bombs were released; one of them penetrated the flight deck and detonated below, setting off a series of explosions among the fully-gassed planes on the forward third of the hanger deck. The second bomb passed through the hanger deck, ruptured the fire main on the second deck, and exploded near the starboard side.”

This led to a fire main break and uncontrollable fires that forced the ship to be abandoned and her blazing hulk sent to the bottom by a torpedo from the Fletcher-class destroyer USS Burns (DD-588). In all, Ommaney Bay would lose 93 of her crew and air group while Burns, standing by close when her torpedos went off, would lose two of her own bluejackets as well.

USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) burning in the Sulu Sea, off Luzon, on 4 January 1945, during the Lingayen Operation. She had been hit by a Kamikaze. A destroyer is standing by with fire hoses ready, likey USS Burns (DD-588). NH 89350

From her loss report in the National Archives:

Now, just past 78 years after her loss, the wreck of Ommaney Bay has been identified after a three-year effort.

From NHHC:

NHHC’s Underwater Archaeology Branch used a combination of survey information provided by the Sea Scan Survey team and video footage provided by the DPT Scuba dive team, to confirm the identity of Ommaney Bay. This information correlated with location data for the wreck site provided to NHHC in 2019 by Vulcan, LLC (formerly Vulcan, Inc.).

“Ommaney Bay is the final resting place of American Sailors who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country,” said NHHC Director Samuel J. Cox, U.S. Navy rear admiral (retired). “It is with sincere gratitude that I thank the Sea Scan Survey team; Mick Stefurak, Neil “Snake” Krumbeck and Joe Brothers for confirming the location of this wreck site. We would also like to thank the team of Australian divers from DPT Scuba; David Tipping, Chris McCran, Aimee McCran, Samir Alhafith, Heeman Lee and John Wooden for their deep diving expertise and assistance identifying the Ommaney Bay. This discovery allows the families of those lost some amount of closure and gives us all another chance to remember and honor their service to our nation.”

Are Zastava Imports to the U.S. on ice?

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My NFA-registered Zastava M85 NP SBR in 5.56. The definition of a sweet shooter that is still very effective with 77-grain loads out to 200 yards. However, it is a flame thrower, especially at night. The stock is a USMG Galil style side folder, grip by Hogue, mag by Magpul (customized by moi), and sling by an old CCCP contractor. With the stock folded, the whole thing stows in a 21-inch space while still having a 10-inch barrel. 

A thunderclap went through the AK community this week as rumors spread that the Serbian government was planning to halt exports of firearms and ammunition from the Balkan country. 

To be sure, there is some smoke to that fire, with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic reacting to the ongoing crisis with neighboring Kosovo and Metohija in a 30-minute public address on July 6 by calling for an emergency session of the UN Security Council and for all sides to consider de-escalation. As reported by English-language local news sites, Vucic further stressed that a potential decision to suspend overseas exports of arms and ammunition will soon be made, citing vital national interest.

“Serbia is not preparing for waging a war, but has done everything to de-escalate conflicts,” said Vucic, as reported by Belgrade-based Radio B92. “Everything must be prepared in case of aggression against the Republic of Serbia.” 

According to the most recent statistics by federal regulators, American importers brought in 46,799 firearms from Serbia in 2020, including 24,096 handguns and 22,703 rifles.

This represents the 14th highest country in terms of total firearms imported, falling just behind Israel (56,893 firearms) and Spain (58,981). 

Chief among Serbia’s firearms manufacturers is Zastava Arms, the historic government-owned gun and field artillery concern located in Kragujevac, about 90 miles from Belgrade. 

Zastava specializes in PAP series Kalashnikov variants and is one of the chief makers of European-made AKs on the American market. For reference, Romanian-made ROMARM/CUGIR AKs imported by Century under the Draco banner and Bulgarian-made Arsenal brands trail Zastava significantly in terms of quantity imported. Total firearm imports from Romania in 2020 amounted to 38,056 firearms, while those from Bulgaria numbered 20,671.

Long tied to importers such as Century Arms to bring their products into the U.S., Zastava formed an Illinois-based American subsidiary in 2019 and I was there to report on it.

Zastava USA issued a statement via social media this week regarding the reports of a looming export ban, stressing that everything was still undecided, and it was still business as usual for the time being. 

“Please be assured that as of now, we are continuing to receive shipments as usual,” Zastava USA said on July 10. “While we understand the concerns surrounding this situation, we sincerely hope that the security situation in the region will be resolved peacefully. We believe that peace is in the best interest of all people in the Balkans, and we remain committed to supporting our customers and the community in any way we can.”

So, as of 0700 CST on 13 July 2023, the Serbian president hasn’t yet banned weapons export. Things still need to go through a legal process to make it happen. Further, as chances are that Zastava USA has a stockpile of guns and parts already waiting here in the States to clear Customs impound that are unlikely unable to be retrograded back “home,” even if Belgrade lowers the boom, what is currently in the pipeline will probably last for another year or so, which will (possibly) outlast the crisis, so don’t go panic buying.

With that being said, don’t go selling either…an AK in the hand is worth two in the bush so to speak.

Warship Wednesday, July 12, 2023: Mr. Gallatin’s Shallow Water Angel

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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, July 12, 2023: Mr. Gallatin’s Shallow Water Angel

Halftone photo from “War in Cuba,” 1898. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. NH 191

Above we see the fine Harlan & Hollingsworth-built schooner-rigged steam yacht Almy, with her summer of 1898 warpaint on, as the gunboat USS Eagle during the Spanish-American War. Late of the New York Yacht Club and rushed into naval service, she won what would turn out to be an unexpected victory over the much larger and better-armed Compañía Trasatlántica Española (CTE) steamer Santo Domingo some 125 years ago today.

Fine lines and good bones

In addition to making steam engines and railcars, Wilmington’s Harlan & Hollingsworth were one of the earliest iron shipbuilders. Constructing 347 hulls between 1844 and 1904 when they were acquired by Bethlehem Steel, besides their bread and butter fare like barges, ferries, and tugs, they also won a few Navy contracts (the monitors USS Patapsco, Napa, Saugus, and Amphitrite; the sloop USS Ranger, destroyers USS Hopkins and Hull, and torpedo boat USS Stringham).

Starting in the 1870s, they began a string of more than 30 fine hermaphrodite steam yachts including Dr. William Seward Webb’s Elfrida, William Astor’s Nourmahal, H W Putnam’s Ariadne, W. K. Vanderbilt’s Alva, Cass Canfield’s magnificent Sea Fox, Florida shipping magnate H. M. Flagler’s Alicia, and William DuPont’s Au Revoir.

Another of these yachts was contracted from H&H by New York attorney Frederick Gallatin. A resident of 650 Fifth Avenue (now a 36-story office tower adjacent to Rockefeller Center), he was a grandson of early Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin and from old Hamptons money. Married to Almy Goelet Gerry (daughter of Tammany Hall “Commodore” Elbridge Thomas Gerry, with the title coming as head of the NYC Yacht Club) it was only logical that Gallatin would order a yacht from H&H named for Almy.

Hull No. 256 was 177 feet long overall with a 24-foot beam, she had a nice stiletto-like 7.5:1 length-to-beam ratio and had a draft of just 7 feet with a 14-foot depth of hold. Powered by a single-ended cylindrical boiler pushing a T.3 Cy (18″,23″ & 42-33″) steam engine with a nominal 101 NHP (850ihp) venting through a single stack, she had an auxiliary two-mast sail rig and was good for a stately 12 knots although on her trials she made 15.5 knots. Coal stowage was 85 tons.

View of the engine room, of USS Eagle, built as yacht Almy, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, N.H. 31 August 1916. Note the builder’s plaque on the bulkhead and disassembled engine parts on the deck. NH 54333

Steel-hulled with a 364 GRT displacement, she carried electrical lighting in every compartment as well as topside and was reportedly very well-appointed. Her normal crew, as a yacht, was four officers and 20 mariners.

Delivered to Gallatin in August 1890– just in time to catch the end of “the season”– the New York Times mentioned Almy in its yachting news columns more than a dozen times in the next eight years including one mention in 1895 of an epic blue fishing trip to Plum Gut where “he landed some of the finest fish captured this season.”

Typically, Gallatin would ply her during the summer and, every October, send her back down to winter at the builder’s yard where she would be drydocked and freshly painted every spring, ready to do it all again.

Then came war

As part of the general rush to avenge the lost USS Maine on 15 February, the scions of the NY Yacht Club soon offered up their yachts to be converted to fast dispatch boats and scouts. Ultimately, the Navy bought no less than 28 large yachts, including 13 that topped 400 tons, in addition to almost 70 other auxiliaries for support duties to the fleet.

Several yachts took part in fights with Spanish forces including three, USS Gloucester, Hist, and Vixen, which were present during the Battle of Santiago. Among the former NYYC H&H-built yachts that went to the Navy for the war with Spain were Flagler’s Alicia (renamed USS Hornet after purchase for $117,500) and Dr. Webb’s Elfrida (which was taken in service as USS Elfrida for $50,000).

The 28 yachts converted to armed auxiliaries in 1898. Via The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Vol. VI, 1898, click to big up.

While negotiations continued with a Navy purchasing agent, Gallatin allowed Almy to go to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 26 March to begin her conversion to an armed picket ship. Eventually, he let Almy go for $110,000 on 2 April 1898 and the Navy renamed her USS Eagle, the fourth such vessel to carry that name.

Given a coat of dark paint and armed with a quartet of 6-pounder 57mm deck guns (two forward, two aft) and two Colt machine guns forward of the deck house, her early admission to BNY allowed her to be commissioned three days later under the command of LT William Henry Hudson Southerland (USNA 1872).

Other changes from her civilian life, as detailed by The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Vol. VI, 1898, included:

  • Magazines for supplying ammunition to the above battery were built under berth deck, just forward of the fireroom bulkhead, with ammunition cranes to the hatches, directly over.
  • Steel plating 7/8 inch thick and 8 feet wide was worked on outside of the vessel for the length of the engine and boiler space.
  • Her foremast was cut down and made a signal mast, while the mainmast and fittings were entirely removed.
  • The ornate dining room was cleaned out and fitted up as crew space while extensive wood and brass works were removed.
  • The vessel was drydocked, cleaned, and painted throughout. All plumbing, drainage system, and auxiliaries were overhauled and put in order. The entire exterior of the vessel, including spars and metal deck fittings, was thickly painted a “lead color.”

She carried 75 men to war, drawn largely from the Naval Militia, when she left New York on 17 April headed for duty with the North Atlantic Squadron on blockade and dispatch duty in Cuban waters. She was at sea when war was declared on 25 April.

By 28 April, Eagle, along with the gunboat USS Nashville and the Montgomery-class unprotected cruiser USS Marblehead, established a blockade off Cienfuegos. The next morning, Nashville seized the Spanish steamer Argonauta which had Col. Corijo of the Third Cavalry Regiment (Regimiento de Caballería “Montesa” N.º 3) and 19 men of its headquarters troop aboard. This sparked a 25-minute naval gunfire duel between Eagle and Montgomery versus three Spanish torpedo boats coming out of the river to contest the affair under cover from a shore battery.

Southerland reported to RADM William T. Sampson that Eagle fired 59 rounds of No.4 shell in the engagement and suffered no casualties, although, ” Two of the enemies shot passed close over this vessel, another close astern, and another within a few feet of the bowsprit.”

On 29 June, Eagle shelled the Spanish battery at Rio Honda, showing that, while her little six-pounders were small, they could still breathe fire.

On 5 July, while Eagle was on the blockading route in the vicinity of the Isle of Pines, she sighted the provision-laden Spanish schooner Gallito five miles to the South and immediately gave chase.

As detailed by James Otis in “The Boys of ’98”:

The schooner ran in until about a quarter of a mile from the shore, when she dropped her anchor, and those aboard slipped over her side and swam ashore. Ensign J. H. Roys and a crew of eight men from the Eagle were sent in a small boat to board the schooner. They found her deserted, and while examining her were fired upon by her crew from the beach. Several rifle shots went through the schooner’s sails, but no one was injured. The Eagle drew closer in and sent half a dozen shots toward the beach from her 6-pounders, whereupon the Spaniards disappeared. The Gallito was taken into Key West.

A week later, on 12 July, Eagle came across her biggest prize yet. The Govan-built iron-hulled CTE screw steamer Santo Domingo, some 344 feet in length. Formerly the D. Currie & Co’s Dublin Castle (which carried British troops during the Zulu War), she had been sold in 1883 to Spanish interests and by 1886 was sailing for CTE on a regular Havana to New York service.

Santo Domingo

Otis describes the event:

The auxiliary gunboat Eagle sighted the Spanish steamer Santo Domingo, fifty-five hundred tons, aground near the Cuban coast, off Cape Francis, and opened fire with her 6-pounders, sending seventy shots at her, nearly all of which took effect.

While this was going on, another steamer came out of the bay and took off the officers and crew of the Santo Domingo. When the men from the Eagle boarded the latter, they found that she carried two 5-inch and two 12-pounder guns, the latter being loaded and her magazines open. The steamer had been drawing twenty-four feet of water and had gone aground in twenty feet.

The men from the Eagle decided that the steamer could not be floated, and she was set on fire after fifty head of cattle, which were on board, had been shot.

The Santo Domingo carried a large cargo of grain, corn, etc. While the steamer was burning, the vessel which had previously taken off the crew emerged from the bay and tried to get off some of the cargo, but failed. The Spanish steamer burned for three days and was totally destroyed.

It made big news back home.

On 30 July, Eagle supported the gunboat USS Bancroft with the seizure (twice) of a small Spanish schooner in Sigunea Bay. I say twice because, once taken by two rifle-armed sailors from Bancroft’s steam launch and tied near the wreckage of Santo Domingo devoid of crew, the Spanish promptly sailed out in two small boats to reclaim her, an event that ended with Eagle and Bancroft, by this time joined by the gunboat USS Maple, in a chase and possession of all three small enemy vessels.

Hostilities ceased on 13 August, capping the 16-week conflict. 

Continued peacetime service

Post-war, Eagle was painted white, two of her four 6-pounders landed, and she was retained for survey work, a role she was suited for with her extremely shallow 7-foot draft. She then spent much of the next two decades working to compile new charts and corrected existing ones for the waters surrounding Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Haiti– all central to American interests. In this task, she typically had a team of civilian engineers and surveyors aboard.

USS Eagle (1898) at anchor off Norfolk, VA. Jan. 19, 1899. UA 461.33 Henry Bundy Collection

As detailed by DANFS:

Troubled conditions throughout the Caribbean often interrupted Eagle’s surveying duty and she gave varied service in protecting American interests.

She patrolled off Haiti in January and February 1908 and again in November and December and off Nicaragua in December 1909.

In June 1912 she transported Marines to Santiago de Cuba and Siboney to protect American lives and property during a rebellion in Cuba and continued to investigate conditions and serve as base ship for the Marines until 1914.

She also had gunboat duty with a cruiser squadron during the Haiti operation of July 1915 to March 1916 and was commended by the Secretary of the Navy for her creditable performance of widely varied duty. 

She then headed back home for a much-needed dry docking and overhaul.

In dry dock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, N.H. in September 1916. Note bt this time she had her second mast reinstalled. NH 54334

Then came another war

Eagle as she appeared in early 1917. NH 64949

Once America entered the Great War, Eagle returned to Cuban waters as part of the American Patrol Detachment, Atlantic Fleet, and throughout 1917 and 1918 was continually on patrol off Cuba and the southern coast of the U.S. This was while the Ford-built “Eagle boats” were being cranked out in Detroit.

Eagle in Havana Harbor, Cuba, October 1917 NH 54335

At one point, Eagle was detailed to protect an American-owned sugar mill at Manati, Cuba, in early 1917, and did so by putting ashore a modest landing force including hauling one of the ship’s 6-pounders and machine guns ashore– half her armament. It was thought the mill would be an easy target for a German U-boat. A machinist’s mate among the crew, John G. Krieger, had a small portable camera and captured a great array of snapshots during this period.

Men from the Eagle with a mail bag and flag, at Manati, Cuba, in 1917, when the ship’s crew was protecting a local sugar mill. Note the sailors’ crackerjacks are whites that have been “tanned” via the use of coffee grounds. The officer is Ensign Hubert Esterly Paddock, who was with Eagle as Surveying Officer. The donor comments that Paddock surveyed with a motorboat and took regular watches at sea. Of note, Paddock would go on to command the destroyer tender USS Dobbin (AD 3) in WWII and retire post-war, passing in 1980, one of the last U.S. Navy officers left from the Great War. Photographed by John G. Krieger. NH 64955

Mounted Guard furnished by USS Eagle to protect a sugar mill at Manati, Cuba in 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered World War I. Note the motley uniforms and M1903 Springfields. The officer is the ship’s XO, LT (JG) Jerome A. Lee, a skilled electrician who had served on Arctic expeditions before his time on Eagle and would continue to serve through WWII. Photographed by Mr. John G. Krieger. NH 64957

Ford Automobile armed with a Colt M1895 “potato digger” machine gun complete with AAA shoulder rests, staffed by members of the Eagle’s crew, who were guarding a sugar mill at Manati, Cuba, shortly after the U.S. entered World War I. Photographed by Mr. John G. Krieger. NH 64958

Eagle crew members with machine gun-equipped “Gas Car” railway work wagon, assigned to the protection of a sugar mill at Manati, Cuba, in 1917. Photographed by Mr. John G. Krieger and donated by him in 1966-67. NH 64959

A six-pounder gun mounted in a tower at Manati, Cuba, in 1917 by Eagle’s crew. Photographed by Mr. John G. Krieger. NH 64960

Her 1916-17 skipper, LT Henry Kent Hewitt (USNA 1906), seen ashore on service in Cuba with Eagle’s landing party and on the bridge of his gunboat. He would go on to earn a Navy Cross commanding the destroyer USS Cummings escorting Atlantic convoys in 1918 and command the amphibious landing forces for the Torch, Husky, and Dragoon Landings in WWII. After chairing a post-war Pearl Harbor investigation, he would retire as a full admiral. The Spruance class destroyer USS Hewitt (DD-966) was named in his honor, christened at Pascagoula by his daughters. Photographed by Mr. John G. Krieger. NH 64953/64952

The entire landing party, about 40 strong– half the crew– posed for Krieger. NH 64956

Eagle in the Ozama River, Santo Domingo, in July 1917. U.S. Navy Coal Barges Nos. 300 and 301 are in the foreground. NH 64948

Post-war, with that Navy no longer needing a 30-year-old converted yacht with a pair of 6-pounders, Eagle was detached from her southern climes and ordered to Portsmouth Navy Yard in April 1919 to pay off, being decommissioned there on 23 May 1919.

Epilogue

Disarmed and sold by the Navy on 3 January 1920, the former pride of the NYC Yacht Club soon appeared as the tramp coaster Reina Victoria owned by one M.F. Kafailovich, sailing out of Santiago de Cuba.

She was listed in Lloyds as such from 1921 to 1927 and then disappeared.

Her final fate is not known.

As far as relics from Eagle, I can’t find any that exist other than the pennant and ensign of the Santo Domingo which were installed among the 600 banners installed in the United States Navy Trophy Flag Collection in 1913.

Gallatin? His dear Almy passed in 1917 and their $7 million estate was subsequently divided among their six adult children. After this, he withdrew to the Hotel Plaza where he passed in 1927, aged 86. His NYT obit memorialized him by saying “he was well known as a yachtsman.”

Eagle’s Span-Am War skipper, LT William Henry Hudson Southerland, would go on to serve as hydrographer of the Navy from 1901 to 1904, commanding the gunboat USS Yankee as well as the battleship New Jersey (BB-16), taking part in the Great White Fleet’s circumnavigation. Appointed rear admiral in 1910, he later became commander of the Pacific Fleet and was the final Civil War naval veteran (he was a 12-year-old powder monkey in 1865 before becoming a naval apprentice and attending Annapolis) still in active service.

Captain William H. H. Southerland, USN. A circa 1907 photograph was taken at the time he served as Commanding Officer of New Jersey (BB-16). NH 45029

RADM Southerland retired in early 1914 after 49 years of service, just missing the Great War, and passed in 1933. The Allen M. Sumner– class destroyer USS Southerland (DD-743) was named in his honor.

Curiously, other than a WWII Q-ship, USS Eagle (AM-132), which was quickly renamed USS Captor during her construction, the Navy has not elected to use further use the name USS Eagle.

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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500 Rounds with the Reflex (x2)

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FN over the past few years has been trying to shrink down its 9mm carry offerings as an answer to market demands sparked by guns like the SIG P365 and Springfield Armory Hellcat. While the 6+1-shot FN 503 was small and dependable, people seem to have that double-stack micro 9 itch and, to scratch it, FN has debuted the Reflex.

With a 3.3-inch barrel that gives it a 6.2-inch overall length, the FN Reflex falls into the increasingly familiar micro 9 subcompact category blazed by some rivals in the past few years. (All Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Hitting the scales at just 18.4 ounces right out of the box, it runs a flush-fit 11+1 round mag with a pinky extension for better grip support and ships with an extended 15+1 round mag.

FN sent me a pair of the guns– one a plain black standard model, the second an optics-ready MRD in FDE– and I’ve put 500 rounds through each.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Third Times’ the Charm in Torpedo Fishing

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The 137-foot Danish trawler St. Anthony (L 510), while operating from her home in the small fishing village of Thyboron in Jutland– it is home to the Sea War Museum Jutland– last week pulled up something downright unfriendly from the bottom of the North Sea just off the Norwegian coast: a WWII-era German G7a torpedo.

“It’s not entirely harmless to be a fisherman. This morning we caught this torpedo 8 meters and about 2500 kg. It’s going to be a blast 5 km out on the channel tonight,” noted the vessel on social media.

The Norwegian Navy’s MCM group advised the crew that the best thing to do was to– carefully– lift it back over the side and place it back from where it came.

They then dispatched an EOD team to control-detonate it on the seafloor.

The St. Anthony‘s skipper said it was his third time pulling up old ordnance from the North Sea!

First of Ford’s Subusters Hits the Water

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Here we see, 105 years ago today, “Patrol Eagle (PE) Boat #1” ready to be Launched at the Ford River Rouge Plant, on the outskirts of Detroit, 11 July 1918. The vessel is seen sliding bow-first from the mammoth construction that was “Building B,” which was considered a temporary structure at the time

Ford Motor Company. Photographic Department. From the Collections of The Henry Ford. THF97490

And there she goes…THF270203

During World War I, Ford built “Eagle” anti-submarine patrol boats at a new plant on the Rouge River. Ford assembled the boats using the same mass-production assembly-line techniques it perfected for its automobiles. The launching of the first Eagle, above, was cause for celebration.

The Rouge Plant consisted of a 1,700-foot assembly line that would spit out a 200-foot patrol boat at the end, ready to take on the Kaiser’s undersea pirates. When fully operational, it could do so at a rate of 25 vessels a month. It was initially thought that 125 Eagles would be a good number to start with.

During World War I, Ford Motor Company built “Eagle” anti-submarine patrol boats for the U.S. Navy. Henry Ford called on industrial architect Albert Kahn to design the Eagle factory, located at the mouth of the Rouge River. Kahn created three principal structures: a fabricating shop, a main assembly building, and a fit-out shop. Via the Henry Ford Museum

Eagle No. 1 had her keel laid on 7 May 1918, was launched on 11 July, and was commissioned on 27 October, a span of 173 days. This rate never really shortened, and, by Eagle No. 11, which was completed post-war, was stretching well over a year. 

Inside Building B at Rouge. Construction of Ford Eagle Boats (200′ Patrol Boats #1 to 60) Ford Motor Company, Detroit, Michigan. March 29, 1918. NH 112098

Ford Built Eagle Boat No 1 via Hampton Roads Naval Museum

Ford Built Eagle Boat No 1 via Hampton Roads Naval Museum

These boats had a solid cement bow, specially built for ramming and sinking submarines– a popular early Great War ASW practice. They were equipped with 4-inch guns on the bow and stern and also carried depth charges and primitive sound gear. Here, class leader, USS PE-1. NH 85434

Ford Built Eagle Boat No 1 via Hampton Roads Naval Museum

Note the depth charge stern racks and projectors. Via Hampton Roads Naval Museum

Ford Built Eagle Boat No 1 via Hampton Roads Naval Museum

However, the war ended four months later, before any of the boats saw combat, and, in the end, just 60 were built. Only the first three were in commission on Armistice Day. 

Downright ugly and generally seen as being unsuccessful due to poor speed and range, they were largely disposed of by the early 1930s without ever firing a shot, although eight survived long enough to see limited CONUS WWII service. It was in that later conflict that one, PE-56, was sunk on 23 April 1945 by the German submarine U-853 off Portland, Maine just two weeks before VE Day. 

Meanwhile, after Eagle production ended, Ford exercised its option to buy the production “B” Building from the federal government, which postwar became the core of Ford’s Rouge factory complex. It was from that building that “everything from Model As to Mustangs” were made. It remained in use until 2004.

The Ford has an extensive online resource on the Eagles.

Husky at 80

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“Invasion Craft—Sicily,” by U.S. Navy war artist Mitchell Jamieson.

Painting, Oil on Canvas; 1943; Framed Dimensions 44H X 35W. NHHC Accession #: 88-193-GA

“Grim, stark reality and the enemy lie ahead for these steel-helmeted men as they are huddled closely together inside an invasion craft bound for the beach at Sicily.”

Today is the 80th anniversary of the Allied amphibious landings in Sicily, 10 July 1943. Some 160,000 men from the U.S. Seventh Army (with attached Free French units) along with the Commonwealth forces of the British Eighth Army, hit the beaches in Operation Husky, the first time the Allies landed in Europe for other than raids since the withdrawal from France in June 1940.

By the time the Sicily campaign ended in August, the Allies would suffer over 23,000 casualties, including 5,600 dead.

Army Officially out of the Chemical Weapons Biz After 106 years

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The U.S. Army’s final Sarin (GB) nerve agent-filled M55 chemical rocket was destroyed on July 7 at the Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky. It was the last crumb of the more than 30,000 tons of chemical weapons agents on-hand in U.S. arsenals in 1986 when Congress pulled the plug on using the category of weapons, then later pivoted to destroying it.

Operators pose with the last GB nerve agent rocket as it is loaded for destruction at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant on July 7, 2023. The destruction of this munition marked the completion of the destruction of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile. U.S. Army photo.

The rocket was the last “of more than 100,000 mustard agent and nerve agent-filled projectiles and nerve agent-filled rockets” destroyed at BGAD since 2019, including 51,000 M55s.

In addition, a team of companies in Colorado wrapped up the destruction of more than 780,000 mustard agent-filled 155mm and 203mm projectiles at U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot on June 22.

“This is a momentous day for the U.S. chemical demilitarization program,” said Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth. “After years of design, construction, testing, and operations, these obsolete weapons have been safely eliminated. The Army is proud to have played a key role in making this demilitarization possible.”

1917 Beginnings

With the Germans, British, French, and Russians all neck deep in the active use of chemical weapons when the U.S. entered the Great War in 1917, General Pershing established the Gas Service to supervise chemical warfare activity in the AEF on 3 September. Back home, The Committee on Noxious Gases National Research Council was formed in early 1917 with a mixture of Army Medical Department and U.S. Bureau of Mines personnel.

A large-scale production plant at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland was established that eventually produced chlorine (CL), chloropicrin (PS), mustard (H), and phosgene (CG) filled in assorted 75mm, 155-mm, 4.7-inch, and Livens projectiles.

Edgewood Arsenal produced more than 935 tons of CG and 711 tons of H by 1918. Meanwhile, contractors made an additional 150 tons of Lewisite and 681 of CG.

The first U.S.-made and filled shell was tested in April 1918 although none of the US-manufactured chemical-filled rounds would reach Europe prior to the end of the conflict. Fundamentally, this means that no “warshot” lethal American CW has ever (officially) been used in battle. 

However, the Army did have a unit that got its hands in the war.

The first dedicated Army unit trained to use chemical weapons was constituted on 15 August 1917 in the Regular Army as the two-battalion 30th Engineer (Gas and Flame) Battalion (later Regiment) under the command of Col. Earl J. Atkisson.

Sent to France, it would deliver phosgene via British-supplied Livens projectors to German lines on the Western Front, assisting British gas troops in their use as early as March 1918 suffering their first casualty, Pvt. William K. Neal of Company B was killed at Cite St. Pierre by a German shell.

Their first all-American gas attack was against the “Boche” at Bois de Jury in the Toul Sector on the early morning of 18 June 1918. The unit was supported by 100 loaned French Tirailleurs Sénégalais, who helped emplace its hundreds of projectors. 

Livens projectors: simple 8-inch steel tubes fitted with a 28-pound baseplate and single 65-pound projectile (filled with 30 pounds of agent) and electrically fired. The 30th Engineers would use as many as 900 of these at a time, typically in 20-tube batteries set well back behind the lines to prevent enemy observation. Once fired, they had to be dug up and reset before firing again as their azimuth would be screwed. The range was out to 1850 yards, depending on the angle. The Army kept these around well into WWII.

Soon the 30th would be converted and redesignated 13 July 1918 as the 1st Gas Regiment and by that time was using British-supplied 4-inch Stokes mortars to deliver not only gas, but also thermite, and high-explosive shells and earned the nickname “The Hell Fire” battalion.

Demobilized on 28 February 1919, at Camp Kendrick, New Jersey, the 1st Gas earned campaign ribbons for Lys, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihel, Meuse-Argonne, Flanders 1918, and Lorraine 1918. They suffered 39 killed or died of wounds between 21 March and 10 November 1918. Today, the 2nd Chemical Battalion, which remained an offensive combat unit until 1958, carried the lineage of the old Hell Fire Boys 

It wasn’t until 28 June 1918 that the Army Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) was established, with seven main departments. By the end of the conflict, it would contain 1,680 officers and 20,518 enlisted, albeit most involved in chemical warfare defense.

WWII stockpiles

Between 1940 and 1945, the CWS produced roughly 146,000 tons of chemical agents at locations throughout the United States. These included: 

  • 500,000 4.2-inch mortar shells, 25,000 AN-M78 500-pound bombs, 63,000 AN-M79 1,000-pound bombs, and 31,000 7.5-inch aerial rockets filled with CG.
  • Hydrogen Cyanide (AC) was used to fill 5000 1,000-pound bombs.
  • Some 25 million pounds of Cyanogen chloride (CK) procured by the CWS in WWII went into 33,347 M78 500-pound bombs, each holding 165 pounds of agent, and 55,851 M79 1000-pound bombs, each holding 332 pounds.
  • Mustard gas, the American favorite for decades, filled no less than 2 million gallon-sized land mines as well as “540,746 4.2-inch mortar shells were filled and stored. For the artillery, 1,360,338 75-mm. Mk 64, 1,983,945 105-mm. M60, 784,836 155-mm. Mk 2A1, 290,810 155-mm. M110, and smaller quantities of other shells, were readied…The service procured 594,216 M70 and M70A1 115-pound bombs, developed by the Ordnance Department, and 539,727 M47A1 and M47A2 100-pound bombs.” The service also procured 92,337 M10 30-gallon airplane spray tanks. “A plane flying at an altitude of 100 feet and carrying four of these tanks could spray mustard over an area 75 to 80 yards wide and 600 to 700 yards long.”

Cold War

On August 2, 1946, the CWS became the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, which is still around today (despite the efforts of Creighton Abrams). Post-Korea, the Army looked to field more modern CW weapons including the 115mm M55 chemical rocket, capable of carrying 10 pounds of Sarin (GB) or Venomous Agent X (VX) nerve gas to 6 miles, as well as the M23 landmine and assorted modernized 105mm, 155mm, and 203mm artillery shells.

Along with the new TMU-28/B VX spray tank and MC-1 and MK94 GB bombs.

Meanwhile, much of the WWII mustard gas, with the exception of 155mm shells, were burned or deep-sixed off the coast. The NOAA chart for the Mississippi Sound and Florida panhandle has listed “mustard gas” dumps all my life.

Fielding an offensive BW program until 1969, the U.S. stopped production of new chemical weapons the same year and later de facto halted the ready availability of CW to the service in 1986 then soon began to destroy those still on hand.

By 2012, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity completed the destruction of nearly 90 percent of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile, then stored at six U.S. Army installations across the U.S. and on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific, closing all but Pueblo and BGAD.

That figure hit 100 percent last week.

“Following the elimination of the U.S. stockpile, the facilities will be closed in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and mutual agreements between the Secretary of the Army and the governors of Colorado and Kentucky.”

For a deeper dive, check out this 519-page official circa 1988 history of the Chemical Warfare Service branch.

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