I’ve always liked Mike Rowe’s work and was thrilled to meet him at an NSSF event at SHOT Show a few years ago. Really great storyteller. Probably our generation’s Mark Twain.
On his new “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” show, Mike was welcomed aboard the Norfolk-based supercarrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) while underway with an embarked airwing. The next 18 minutes are decent and give a good window into the current flattop life.
Enjoy.
65 years ago today. The well-traveled Yorktown-class aircraft carrier, ex-USS Enterprise (CVS-6) awaiting disposal at the New York Naval Shipyard on 22 June 1958. She was sold for scrapping ten days later, on 2 July.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph. Catalog #: USN 1036995
The new Forrestal-class supercarrier USS Independence (CVA-62), almost twice as large by displacement, is fitting out on the opposite side of the pier. Ships visible in the left foreground include (from the front): the destroyer escorts USS DeLong (DE-684), USS Coates (DE-685), and the diesel fleet boat USS Hoe (SS-258). Ten other destroyers are also present, as is a Liberty-type ship. The Schaefer Brewery is visible in the center background.
The 7th U.S. Navy ship to bear the name, Enterprise was present and in the thick of it at Midway, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the Santa Cruz Islands, Guadalcanal, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and the Leyte Gulf, winning 20 battlestars the hard way. From the period between USS Wasp‘s sinking on 15 September 1942 and USS Essex‘s entrance to the Pacific after rushed builder’s trials in May 1943, she and Saratoga, which earned 8 battlestars, were the only U.S. fleet carriers in the Pacific.
Decommissioned on 17 February 1947, the Big E was scrapped in 1958 though remnants of her have remained aboard both the 8th Enterprise (CVN-65) and the newest to carry the name, CVN-80.
Steel from CVN-65 will be recycled into the hull of the new USS Enterprise (CVN-80) as will the portholes from her Captain’s cabin (which were carried on CV-6 during WWII!) and her bell.
One of six porthole frames and covers was removed from the bridge of USS Enterprise (CV-6) in 1958. These portholes were installed in the Captain’s cabin aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and are slated to be installed aboard the next ship to bear the name of Enterprise, CVN-80.
Builders plaque from USS Enterprise (CV 6) at keel laying of CVN-80
Bomb and kamikaze fragments from USS Enterprise (CV 6) at keel laying of CVN-80
On the road this week covering an industry event in Oregon so not enough spare time on hand to do a proper Warship Wednesday.
In lieu, and in a salute to all this rain we seem to be getting, how about this amazing image taken 80 years ago today.
Official caption: “Track at Amchitka on the Heavy Side. A U.S. Navy Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina long-range flying boat raises a veritable cloud of mud as it comes to rest on the muddy landing field at Amchitka, American advance base in the Aleutian Islands, June 23, 1943.”
U.S. Navy Photograph. Photographed through Mylar sleeve. Lot-803-1: Aleutian Islands Campaign, June 1942 – August 1943.
Located about 80 miles from Kiska Island in the Aleutians, Allied forces landed on Amchitka unopposed in January 1943 and quickly built a Marston Matting airfield there to support the recapture of Attu and Kiska. Once the Emperor was driven out of Alaska, Amchitka-based Navy patrol bombers of Fleet Air Wing Four and the 11th Air Force began regular attacks into the Japanese Kurile Islands from there well into early 1944, by which time the war moved further West and left Amchitka again as a backwater.
With the founding of the USAF’s Strategic Air Command in 1947, the largely vacant base was redesignated the Amchitka Air Force Base and used the lengthened strip as a refueling stop for B-29 and B-47 Bombers being deployed from the United States to Japan. This mission was short-lived, and the base shuttered again in 1950 other than for use as a relay station in the 1960s and 1970s.
80 years ago today: 20 June 1943. Finnish army training grounds outside of Hyrynsalmi, in the country’s rural and heavily forested Kainuu region of North Karelia.
On the move is a domestically-made 109-pound Lahti L39 20mm “anti-tank” (really just “anti-material” by this period of WWII) rifle and what looks to be a French-made Hotchkiss (canon de 25 mm SA mle 1934) 25mm anti-tank gun, dubbed the PstK/37 “Marianne,” of which the Finnish army had received 40 during the Winter War.
The “enemy” has detached itself from the hill and pst. the riflemen hastened to secure its possession. Hyrynsalmi 1943.06.20 (“”Vihollinen”” on irroittautunut kukkulalta ja pst. kiväärimiehet kiirehtivät varmistamaan sen omistuksen. Hyrynsalmi 1943.06.20) SA-Kuva 132062
“On the way to the combat training ground. Hyrynsalmi 1943.06.20. (Matkalla taisteluharjoituspaikalle. Hyrynsalmi 1943.06.20). SA-Kuva 132058
Note the rider and the shell carriers along with all the slung Mosins. SA-Kuva 132059
Note the tiny shell to the right.”The anti-tank gun fires. The fire was marked with pile stakes. Hyrynsalmi 1943.06.20″ (Panssaritorjuntatykki tulittaa. Tulta markkeerattiin kasapanoksilla. Hyrynsalmi 1943.06.20) SA-Kuva 132065
Besides the 40 Mariannes that the French sent to the Finns directly in 1939, the Germans gave (some accounts said sold) them another 200 that they had captured. They remained in inventory for quite a while despite their liliputian caliber.
As detailed by Jaeger Platoon:
Report concerning antitank guns used by the Finnish Army dated February 1942 notes from the 25 mm French guns that: “Their armor-penetration capability is such, that they have no meaning as actual antitank-weapons…”
The last 25-mm antitank guns were withdrawn from frontline use in the year 1943.
After the war, they were mothballed for possible further use until being declared obsolete in 1959. The remaining 225 guns were sold to Interarmco that year and exported in 1960. The guns sold to Interamco included 125 M/34 and 100 M/37.
The future USS Iowa (SSN 797) was officially christened by Christie Vilsack, the ship’s sponsor and former first lady of Iowa, during a ceremony at the Electric Boat shipyard facility in Groton, Connecticut last Saturday. She is the 23rd Virginia-class submarine and the 6th advanced Block IV boat of the class.
230617-N-UR986-0140 GROTON, Conn. (June 17, 2023) – Christie Vilsack, sponsor of the pre-commissioning unit (PCU) USS Iowa (SSN 797), christens the ship during a ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard facility in Groton, Connecticut , June 17, 2023. Iowa and crew will operate under Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) FOUR
230617-N-UR986-0042 GROTON, Conn. (June 17, 2023) – The crew of the pre-commissioning unit (PCU) USS Iowa (SSN 797), stand in ranks next to their ship during a christening ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard facility in Groton, Connecticut, June 17, 2023.
The future USS Iowa (SSN 797) is the fourth U.S. Navy vessel and first submarine named in recognition of the state. Previous ships named after the state were battleships, as well as, a converted merchant ship that was never activated.
Her crest includes BB-61, “The Grey Ghost” that I saw recommission in 1984 as an excited 10-year-old at Pascagoula– and accidentally bumped into then Veep George Bush in a passageway.
The final battleship Iowa decommissioned on 26 October 1990 and her name was stricken from the NVR on 17 March 2006, leaving an almost 16-year gap on the Navy List without the Hawkeye State.
Ironically, the first USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) was launched on 16 June 1897– 126 years and one day prior.
John Moses Browning’s most famed and enduring design is now available in domestic production to a potential 1.4 billion new fans.
As I previously covered, Webley & Scott India spun up in early 2020 with a new manufacturing facility near Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. Operating via a 2017 partnership with the famed English firm that dates back to 1790, the company started with traditional designs such as a reboot of the classic W&S Mark IV top-break revolver in .32 S&W Long for the commercial market – essentially a more polished answer to the overpriced Nirbheek revolver sold by the country’s state-owned Indian Ordnance Factory at Kanpur.
However, they are now making something much more, well, Red White & Blue.
Webley & Scott India’s 1911, dubbed the catchy WP4523 by the company, is an all-steel gun made in-house. It uses 70 Series internals, is chambered in .45 ACP, runs a skeletonized trigger, Novak-style combat sights, a rounded A1 style mainspring housing, and a round spur Commander-style hammer.
Webley is offering their 1911 in a few different variants, including one with a matte finish, ambi safety lever, and Houge grips. Others carry a more traditional deep-blued finish and double-diamond wood grips. (Photo: W&SI)
First teased in March 2022, the pistol hit the market earlier this year and the company says sales are brisk.
“The Webley 1911 WP4523 .45 Auto is getting rave reviews across the country,” says the company. “Production is in full swing and we are working tirelessly to fulfill demand.”
Win won for Mr. Browning.
Austal USA in Mobile last week celebrated keel-laying of what likely will be the last Littoral Combat Ship to enter U.S. Navy service, LCS-38. The 19th of the Independence-class LCSs built in Mobile, the angular trimaran is set to become the USS Pierre.
Austal USA
A graphic illustration of the future Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Pierre (LCS 38). (U.S. Navy graphic by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Paul L. Archer/Released)
When commissioned, she will be only the second ship named for the South Dakota city.
The first, the PC-461 Class submarine chaser USS Pierre (PC 1141), while commissioned in 1943, only carried a hull number until 1956 when she picked up her more honorable moniker.
Decommissioned just two years later, she was then stricken and transferred to Indonesia. Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 85158.
Hopefully, the second USS Pierre will have a longer term on the Navy List.
Just 20 years ago, revolvers were dead. Colt and Dan Wesson had stopped making revolvers altogether. Taurus had just bought Rossi and was closing their revolver lines. Smith was trimming down their wheelgun offerings as was Ruger. Anyone forecasting what was to come would have surely pegged the downward spiral as one that would continue.
Well, a funny thing happened. Turned out, folks liked revolvers.
Colt is back making more than ever before. So is Smith. Two of Ruger’s top-selling product lines are the Wrangler .22 and the LCR, announced in 2017 and 2009, respectively. The biggest splash at SHOT Show 2016 was that Kimber was making revolvers. Rossi came back to the wheelgun world at this past SHOT Show.
Now, Henry, who has been a stalwart rifle and shotgun maker since they were re-booted in 1996, is making a .357 magnum revolver– and you know that I had to get one to try out.
The Big Boy is very S&W K-frame but with a brass backstrap/trigger guard.
A six-shot double-action/single-action medium-frame six-shooter, the Big Boy revolver is meant as a complementary wheel gun to the company’s popular Big Boy Brass Side Gate rifle, which carries an octagonal 20-inch blued steel barrel, American walnut furniture, and a polished hardened brass receiver. Likewise offered in .357/.38, it has a 10-round capacity via its underbarrel tube magazine.
More on what I have found out about the Big Boy in my column at Guns.com.
The Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard (or SuE) first flew in 1974. It was intended from the beginning as a lightweight single-engined, single-seat, carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft to replace the older transonic Étendard IVM (Dassault’s first solely navy aircraft), which had been in service with the French Navy since 1962 on the service’s newly built Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers, the Clemenceau and Foch.
French aircraft carriers Foch (R99) and Clemenceau (R98) in 1977
The original Dassault Étendard IVM was operated by the French Navy from 1960 to 1987. A total of just 69 fighters and 21 photo reconnaissance aircraft were acquired and this is one of the latter, as seen at Pima by me earlier this year.
While the Jaguar M, a navalized variant of the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar, was intended to be the Étendard IVM’s replacement, and doubtless would have been successful…
SEPECAT Jaguar M in July 1970 take-offs and landings from the French carrier Clemenceau
…Dassault swooped in and pulled out the W with the updated Super Étendard and the French would keep flying them for generations.
French Navy Super Etendard on Charles de Gaulle Carrier. Mediterranean Sea, 2015. The very 1960s-styled type earned the nickname late in its career of “Papy” even in its final Super Etendard Modernisé (SEM) update.
While the legacy Etendard IVM carried Nord AS.30 (529-pound warhead to 7.4 miles) and AS.20 (73-pound warhead to 5.4 miles) air-to-surface missiles or up to 3,000 pounds of iron bombs with a combat radius of about 350 miles, the Super Étendard was intended as a platform for carriage and launch of the then-new sea-skimming fire-and-forget Aerospatiale AM39 Exocet (364-pound warhead to 38nm) solid-fuel anti-ship missile, with the jet’s more advanced Agave radar providing targeting data– although mounting it required de-installation of the onboard 30mm cannon to accommodate the black boxes for its fire control system. Moreover, the Super Étendard had a low-level combat radius of 530nm while carrying an Exocet (one missile with a drop tank under the other wing).
In short, it was a game-changer for its era.
Video via ECPAD, the French military’s archives:
The French started fielding the SuE and its AM39 by 1977 and would continue to use the combo for almost 40 years, updating the aircraft four times including swapping out the Agave radar for the more advanced Anemone, and stepping up the AM39 to at least Block 2 standard.
The Exocet-Super Etendard combo, sold in the early 1980s to Argentina which had a small aircraft carrier that could accommodate them, famously saw combat in the Falklands.
Argentine carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo 25, with SuEs and A-4s on deck. The country maintained its WWII-era light carrier until 1993
In a bit of further Gallic damage to NATO naval goodwill, Saddam’s Iraqi Air Force also used exported AM39 Exocets on its Mirage F1s and Super Étendards during the Iran–Iraq War, with two infamously being fired at the OHP-class frigate USS Stark (FFG-31) in 1987.
While the French retired the SuE in 2016, and the Iraqis returned their leased SuEs to France in 1985 and lost their F.1s in the Gulf War, the final AM39/SuE operator, Argentina, announced last month they are retiring the type as being unsupportable.
The Argies hadn’t sent their SuEs to sea for years, at least since the Brazilians– who had allowed the occasional touch and go with the Argentine Navy– retired Navio Aeródromo (NAeL) São Paulo (A12) (ex-Foch) in 2000. This puts the final seagoing SuEs as the ones retired by the French seven years ago.
Thus:
Final catapult (Dernier Cata) Super Etendard Modernisé S5 taking off from Charle de Gaulle for the last time, March 2016
Dernier Cata Super Etendard Modernisé S5 taking off from Charle de Gaulle for the last time
Of note, the Super Etendard was only made between 1974 and 1985, with just 85 airframes produced beyond the prototypes, which means everyone you have ever seen is a rare bird.
Meanwhile, although definitely an aged and arguably no longer top-tier anti-ship missile, MBDA still lists the AM39 Block 2 Mod 2 in their catalog, and various marks of the weapon are still carried in the arsenals of Brazil, Chile, Greece, Morrocco, and Peru. Notably, besides many tactical aircraft able to carry the “flying fish,” the AM39 can also be delivered by medium helicopters. Plus, the French validated that the new Rafael-M strike aircraft can carry the AM39 with a SINKEX in 2012.
But you aren’t ever going to see an airborne SuE with an AM39 again.
Thus, closing the page on that little piece of naval history.
Super Etendard launching, 1991, Foch, via the French Navy
Few cartridges have remained alive for more than a century in factory production. For every .30-06, 7.62x54R, and .38 Specials, there are dozens of .32 Short RF, 56-50 Spencer, and .577 Sniders.
To get around this and keep some calibers still in action, Cimarron Firearms, makers of replicas of Old West firearms, has partnered with Steinel Ammunition to deliver .45-60 Win. and .50-95 Win. ammunition to support customers.
For those keeping track, the circa 1870s .45-60 Winchester, carrying a big 300-grain pill and made for the Winchester Model 1876 and Colt Lightning carbines, stopped factory production around 1935 while the chunkier .50-95 Winchester Center Fire, an express cartridge shooting a heavier bullet, was never even as popular as the .45-60.
Now the new loads aren’t cheap, because let’s be honest, anything made in a limited run never is, but at least it’s new and made to spec on modern equipment and gives reloaders of these rounds another lease on life for a generation or three.
Cimarron currently offers Cimarron-stamped .45-60 Win. in a 20-round box for $67.10. The 300 gr. RNFP-coated rounds have an FPS of 1,380.
Cimarron’s .50-95 Win. Ammo is also offered in a 20-round box at $67.10. This 350 gr. RNFP round has an FPS of 1,300.