Swimming with the Manta

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This understated Tisas 1911, which sports an Ed Brown Bobtail to minimize printing – and maximize comfort – when carrying concealed, has proved smooth and dependable in testing.

We’re talking about the Manta.

I’ve been kicking around one for the past couple of months, wearing it both IWB and OWB, and putting well over 500 rounds through one.

One favorite minimalist OWB carry was the always popular Galco Yaqui Slide, paired with a bamboo Boker Burnley Kwaiken. When carried with a spare mag in N8 Tactical’s new Magna-Clip carrier, you had 17 rounds of Speer Gold Dot at the ready.

A more deep carry concealment setup was a Bianchi Leather Model 100 Professional IWB holster with a high back. An extra mag in a Crossbreed Confidant, which can be carried IWB as well, makes a good companion as does a fixed blade.

Does the cut make a difference when it comes to carry? The smoothed extended beavertail grip safety, coupled with the rounded hammer, keeps from digging into the side while sitting and moving, as does the Bobtail.

As someone who has carried lots of standard Government profile 1911s over the years, I can vouch that it is more comfortable. Plus, with the trailing edge of the rear grip effectively rounded off, you print less with a cover garment.

The full review in my column at Guns.com.

Schooling up the kids…

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Two different takes in two different ends of the same rock.

In Estonia, the Riigikaitseõpetuse (National Defense Education) program is aimed at teens. Organized into 70 hours of formal instruction, half are delivered online via remote education, then capped by an intense three-day field camp. Besides military history, drill, and courtesy, it also spends nine hours covering land navigation, 14 hours in basic weapons training, 14 hours in first aid, and 10 hours in CBW/NBC along with civil defense tasks such as basic firefighting and search and rescue.

It was first established in 2015 and, while no substitute for some serious BMT, is better than nothing and courses like this can serve as a spark to encourage seeking additional training. It would be nice if something like this was offered wholesale here, in addition to current programs like JROTC, Sea Scouts, etc. 

Attendance is voluntary and unpaid, and those who graduate from the course receive the Riigikaitseõpetuse rinnamärk or National Defense Education badge, with lapel wear encouraged

A camp, one of many across the country, was held last week for 377 students from 12 schools.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe…

Philippine lawmakers are considering making introductory military training mandatory for all college and university students, via four semesters of ROTC and an inactive reserve commitment to serve as O1s should things go south.

 

Happy 101st, Mr. Miskelly

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U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Southwest recently saluted the 101st birthday of a WWII-era Coastie, Lewis Miskelly Jr.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1922, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts prior to the conflict and volunteered for the Coast Guard just after Pearl Harbor. While not an official war artist, he painted what he saw while in Atlantic convoy duty on the Coast Guard Cutter Mojave (WPG-47), a 240-foot Tampa-class cutter.

Shown here is the ‘Tampa’ class gunboat type cutter USCG Mojave (WPG-47), 1942, operating amid ice floes off Greenland.

As noted by the USCG Historian’s Office during that period:

Mojave was assigned to the Greenland patrol in 1942, where she took part in convoy escort and rescue operations. While acting as escort for the slow group of Convoy SG–6 which had departed Sydney, Nova Scotia 25 August, she assisted in the rescue of 570 men from the torpedoed army transport Chatham. The escort and antisubmarine accomplishments of the cutters were truly vital to the winning of the Battle of the Atlantic.

Miskelly’s paintings: 

And in the Pacific while on the the Coast Guard-manned General G. O. Squier-class troop transport USS General R. L. Howze (AP-134).

USS General R.L. Howze (AP-134) anchored off Manus Island, Marshall Islands, circa 1944-45.

Commissioned in early 1944, Howze completed 11 voyages to the combat areas of the Pacific, before returning to San Francisco 15 October 1945, carrying troops and supplies to New Guinea, Guadalcanal, Manus, Eniwetok, and “many other islands as the rising tide of the Navy’s amphibious offensive swept toward Japan.”

As for Miskelly, in a recent profile by The Press Democrat:

When he was 52, he learned how to surf. He cruised the waves of Pacifica and Santa Cruz until he was 85. He does tai chi everyday and still loves biking and driving his car.

For most of his life, he worked as a structural engineer and naval architect, which took he, his late wife June and four kids from Marconi to Petaluma in 1963. He worked until he was 75.

Thank you for your service, and your work, Mr. Miskelly.

Lancer’s last flight

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The Romanian Air Force has been flying MiG-21 models since 1962, the equivalent generationally of an American F-100 or F-105. While the Super Saber and Thunderchief have long ago been put to pasture, the old MiG-21 soldiered on, with Romania flying more than 400 in a half dozen different models over the past 61 years.

Well, that came to an end this week with the service sending off their final MiG-ul 21 LanceRs on Monday.

Modernized in cooperation with Israel between 1993 and 2002, the LancerR is arguably the most advanced MiG-21 ever fielded but its time has come and gone.

The 711th Combat Aviation Squadron at Câmpia Turzii was the final user.

Raportăm “Misiune îndeplinită!” și dăm ștafeta mai departe. Cer senin! (We report “Mission Accomplished!” and we pass the baton on. Clear sky!)

Romania now uses a squadron of 17 second-hand F-16AM/BM Block 15s (!) bought recently from Portugal, and signed a contract with Norway in November 2022 to another 32 additional 40-year-old F-16A/Bs for 388 million euros, to ensure the future transition to the new F-35 fighter jet. All of the RoAF F-16s are set to be upgraded to M6.5.2 operating configuration, with Kongsberg providing support.

The Romanians have proved fast learners to the Viper, with the first RoAF F-16s dispatched to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission having successfully scrambled to identify and escort two Russian Sukhoi Su-27 Flankers last month.

The Romanian Air Force F-16s deployed under NATO’s Baltic Air Policing, on April 7, 2023, conducted their first Alert Scramble out of Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania. Photo by Romanian Air Force.

Warship Wednesday, May 17, 2023: Hugo’s Everlasting Clouds

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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, May 17, 2023: Hugo’s Everlasting Clouds

Swedish Marinmuseum photo identifier D 8751

Above we see a nice view of the Royal Swedish Navy drawn up at Karlskrona, circa 9 July 1904, dressed for Queen Sofia’s 68th birthday. The line includes an array of immaculate coastal battleships (pansarbat) and cruisers to the left including Oden, Aran, Wasa, Tapperheten, Thule, Thor, and Gota; the sleek new Yarrow-built destroyer (Sweden’s first) Mode, center, and, foreground, the 850-ton torpedkryssare (torpedo cruiser/torpedo boat tender) Psilander.

Directly in front of the dowdy Psilander is the old training brig Falken. To the right, floating like clouds, are the twin new gleaming skeppsgossefartygeten (ships boys ships) Najaden and Jarramas.

While everything you see has long since been scrapped, the two tall ships have endured.

HM Övningsfartyg

Designed by famed Swedish naval engineer Hjalmar Hugo Lilliehøøk– who had a hand in every single one of the above vessels– Najaden (Swedish for Naiad, or water nymph) was the first of the twins and was built at Orlogsverftet in Karlskrona in Sweden in 1897 as a training ship (Övningsfartyg) for the Swedish Navy. As such, she would be at the disposal of the Skeppsgossekaren (The Ship’s Boy Corps), a formation that dated back to 1685 and was responsible for recruiting, raising, and training young boys in the art of seamanship.

The beautiful three-masted full-rigger– claimed by many to be the smallest made– Najaden was compact, at just 160 feet overall, counting her bowsprit, and could carry a full 24 sheets including jibs and staysails although the typical 16-sheet rig used covered over 8,000 sq. ft. of canvas by itself.

With a draft of just 12 feet, she was capable of speeds as fast as 17 knots, her main mast towering 82 feet above her deck.

Swedish Royal Navy sail training ship HMS Najaden

At some 335 tons, she was much larger than the circa 1877-built Falken (Falcon), which drew only 110 tons on her 77-foot length. This allowed Najaden to carry a crew of 20-25 professional cadre and as many as 100 naval cadets and boy sailors, easily three times those on the smaller Falken. Her typical complement was 118, including 92 boys. Her regular year-round crew consisted of 5 officers, 6 NCOs, a ship’s doctor, and 14 ratings, almost all of which served as instructors as well.

For an armament, used primarily for training and signaling, she carried a small arms locker of rifles and pistols, a pair of 3-pounder 47mm guns, and a quartet of 1-pounder 37mm pieces.

Najaden proved so successful that an updated sister ship, Jarramas, was ordered from the same yard in 1899. The pair differed in construction when it came to hull material, with Najaden sporting an iron hull and Jarramas using steel. As such, Jarramas was the last sailing vessel to be built at Orlogsverftet, the end of an era. She carried the name of King Charles XII’s famed circa 1716 frigate, which was a Swedish corruption of the Turkish word for “mischievous.”

Jarramas proved even faster than her sister, logging 18.3 knots on at least one occasion. Neither ship was ever fitted with engines although by most accounts they did have generators for electrical lights and ventilation fans.

Övningsskepp typ Jarrasmas och Najaden

Jarramas under segel. Note the colorized accents to the flags and bow crest. D 14975_1

Jarramas under inspektion D 8874

Jarramas MM01916

HM Övningsfartyget Jarramas DO14939.126

Every spring the ships were rigged to run summertime trips to Bohuslän on Sweden’s West Coast or along the Gulf of Bothnia on the East Coast, stopping at various Baltic ports. Happy duty.

Najadens besättning 1902 D 8766

Wars

During the Great War, both ships canceled their summer trips and were used by the Swedish Navy as receiving ships and dockside training vessels, their classroom space was used to school recruits.

Once the guns of August fell silent again, they resumed their former schedules.

Najaden 1923 D 15061_14

Najaden 1923 D 15061_12

Najaden 1923 D 15061_3

Jarramas 1924, Lübeck D 15061_49

Gruppbild ombord Najaden 1923 D 15061_2

Swedish Royal Navy sail training ship HMS Najaden photographed off Karlskrona in 1933, sister Jarramas in the distance

Jane’s 1931 listing for Falken, Najaden, and Jarramas. Falken would be disposed of in 1943 after 66 years of service.

In 1939, the old Skeppsgossekaren was replaced by the newer Sjömansskolan, which still exists.

Najaden at the time was demasted and laid up, used during WWII as a stationary receiving ship.

Postwar, she was then towed to Torekov just south of Halmstad to serve as a breakwater. Her name was quickly reissued to a Neptun-class submarine that would commission in 1943 and serve through the 1960s.

Neptun-class Ubat Najaden underway, July 1953, at Hårsfjärden.

Meanwhile, Jarramas lingered in service until 1948, including use as a training ship in protected waters during WWII.

Post War Rescue

Najaden, in poor material condition and without her masts, canvas, or rigging, was saved by an outpouring of support by the people of the west coast city of Halmstad, who in the 1950s paid for a non-sailing restoration at Karlskrona that saw new masts stepped and some of her rigging plan restored.

She endured this “town ship” mission until 2013, during which she was twice again rebuilt (1989 and 1990-1996) and would host sea scouts, festivals, local events, and parties. A floating fixture of the community. In 2014, she was sold to a new group of enthusiasts who towed her to a new homeport in Fredrikstad in Norway, where her preservation continues.

Although not seaworthy, she is still used for seminars and conferences, lectures, concerts, and other activities, lying by the quay.

They hope to one day make her seaworthy once again, under a Norwegian flag. Of note, when she was built, Norway and Sweden were unified, so in a sense, she has a bit of Norwegian heritage as well. 

As for Jarramas, replaced by the new 128-foot training schooners HMS Gladan (S01) and HMS Falken (S02) in 1947, her days in the Swedish Navy came to an end.

However, just as Najaden was saved at Halmstad, Jarramas was saved by the city of Karlskrona where she was preserved as a museum ship and coffee shop of all things. Extensively renovated over the years, she reportedly requires extensive continuous maintenance, which led her to be taken over by the Marinmuseum in 1997.

Today, Jarramas is the centerpiece of the Marinmuseum in Karlskrona, preserved as Sweden’s last full rigger, alongside the minesweeper HMS Bremön, the motor torpedo boat T38, the Cold War era fast attack craft HMS Västervik, and the submarines HMS Neptun and HMS Hajen.

The minesweeper Bremön (rear), the FAC Västervik, and the full rigger Jarramas at the pier by the Marinmuseum in Karlskrona.

It’s great to see that both sisters are still with us.

Meanwhile, the Swedes still use the gleaming white circa 1940s skolfartyg schooners Gladan and Falken as the nation’s tall ship training squadron.

HMS Falken (S02)

They are assigned to the Skonertdivisionen at the Naval Academy and are based in Karlskrona, nearby the old Jarramas.

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find. http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships, you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Know a high school-aged kid interested in a summer marksmanship camp?

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Public service announcement time here, via the CMP:

Camp Perry, Ohio– May 2023– If you’re a junior interested in learning more about rifle marksmanship, there’s still room within the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s (CMP) Junior Rifle Camps!

Each year, the CMP hosts a series of hands-on, informative Junior Rifle Camps for high school-age students and coaches during the summer months. Participants in the camps receive valuable lessons on intermediate and advanced marksmanship skills through various exercises and demonstrations, all led by current collegiate rifle athletes.

CMP Junior Camps with open availability include:

  • Standing Camp 1, Camp Perry, OH– May 31-June 2
  • 3P Air Camp 2, Camp Perry, OH – June 5-9
  • 3P Air Camp 6, Casper, WY – June 26-30
  • Smallbore Camp 1, Elk River, MN – June 27-30
  • 3P Camp 8, Camp Perry, OH – July 3-7
  • Standing Camp 2, Tampa, FL – July 10-12
  • Standing Camp 4, Anniston, AL – July 19 – 21
  • 3P Camp 9, Anniston, AL – July 24-28
  • 3P Camp 11, Perry, NY – July 31-Aug 4

The camps are excellent tools in developing each athlete’s strengths within the physical and mental aspects of the sport while refining trouble areas that may need more attention. Students are able to apply the constructive lessons learned in camp to their own budding marksmanship careers, with many moving on to college programs and beyond.

The Junior Rifle Camps are designed to train rifle fundamentals and techniques through group discussions and personal guidance from collegiate mentors on the firing line. The schedule also includes instructional smallbore camps for even more opportunities to learn on the range.

All experience levels are welcome! Find a list of dates and more detailed camp information, including registration info, on the CMP website at https://thecmp.org/youth/junior-air-rifle-camps-and-clinics/.

— By Ashley Dugan, CMP Staff Writer

The Civilian Marksmanship Program is a federally chartered 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation. It is dedicated to firearm safety and marksmanship training and to the promotion of marksmanship competition for citizens of the United States. For more information about the CMP and its programs, log onto www.TheCMP.org.

Restricted 18+ in CA in compliance with CA State Assembly Bill 2571 prohibiting the marketing of firearms to minors in the State of CA.

Logging that Pattaya Beach time

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The Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) series of bilateral military exercises conducted between the U.S. Pacific Fleet and allied nations in Southeast Asia, never really gets a lot of attention, although it has been a thing since 1995.

It isn’t anywhere as big and sexy as the biannual RIMPAC exercises, or involves a large dynamic ground force element such as Balikatan, so it doesn’t provide a lot of great images.

However unsung, CARAT allows USPACFLT to interface with all the old SEATO allies in the region at sea but without the 1960s Cold War vibes, although the Chinese are now the proxy for the Soviets.

The current ex has seen the recently completed Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Mobile (LCS 26), in a good sort of flag waving use for the class, hanging out in and around Sattahip, Thailand for CARAT 29 8-16 May.

Besides the normal feel-good ship tours, festivities, and community relations events, Mobile got some underway formation time with three Thai assets that are very interesting in the respect that two are Chinese exported warships and while the third is a rather modern ROK-built vessel.

These included:

HTMS Naresuan (FFG-421), a modified version of the 3,000-ton Chinese-made Type 053 frigate, albeit outfitted with largely 1980s American gear.

HTMS Bangpakong (FFG-456), a 2,000-ton variant of the Chinese-built Type 053H2 frigate complete with YJ-8/C-801 anti-ship missiles and a full Eye Shield/Square Tie/Sun Visor/Rice Lamp sensor/EW suite. While dated, it is always nice to get an up-close look at stuff like that from both ends.

HTMS Bhumibol Adulyadej (FFG-471), a 3,700-ton variant of the So Korean Gwanggaeto the Great-class “stealth” frigates. She only entered service a few years ago and has a mix of European sensors and American weapons.

Keeping Clean

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80 Years Ago this month. A great original Kodachrome. Official caption: “Sergeant Elms of 16/5 Lancers and his tank crew at El Aroussa; Trooper Bates, Royal Armoured Corps, Signalman Bower, Royal Corps of Signals, and Trooper Goddard, Royal Armoured Corps, clean the 6-pounder gun of their Crusader tank while preparing for the drive on Tunis..”

By War Office official photographer Loughlin, G. (Lieutenant), IWM TR 939

The 16th/5th Queen’s Royal Lancers was formed in 1922 by amalgamating the 16th The Queen’s Lancers and the 5th Royal Irish Lancers, both of which were in India at the time.

As noted by the National Army Museum:

The new unit was posted back to Britain in 1926, before returning to India in 1937. It was still there on the outbreak of the Second World War (1939-45). Still a mounted regiment at the time, it sailed for England in January 1940 to mechanise.

The regiment initially provided motorised machine-gun troops to defend Britain against possible German invasion in the autumn of 1940. Once that threat had gone, it switched to training on Valentine and Matilda tanks in November 1940.

It deployed to Tunisia in November 1942, where it was re-equipped with Sherman tanks the following year. It then fought at Kasserine and in the final capture of Tunis in 1943.

In January 1944, the regiment landed at Naples. The mountainous Italian terrain was ill-suited to armoured warfare and so its soldiers often ended up operating as infantry. By the time of the German surrender in Italy in May 1945, the 16th/5th Lancers had pushed the furthest west of any unit in the Eighth Army, linking up with the Americans.

Post-war, the 16th/5th served as occupation troops in Austria, then a stint in Egypt, multiple deployments to West Germany, Aden, Cyprus, Beirut, Northern Ireland, and, finally, the First Gulf War before it was amalgamated in 1995 with the 17th/21st Lancers to form The Queen’s Royal Lancers, which was later merged in 2015 with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s) to form The Royal Lancers of today.

Spotted in the Mississippi Sound: Cool Little Haze Gray AUSVs

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So we came across this interesting little guy while wandering around the small craft harbor in Gulfport last week.

A closer look shows lots of solar panels on the folded sail over a torpedo-shaped hull, a forward-facing camera, and a FLIR gimble over the stern.

This is it being towed into the harbor past the Gulfport Yacht Club by a 25~ foot RHIB workboat with sparse markings.

CF 9065 LE. Looks to be a repurposed old CG 26ft RB-S, note the painted-over red sides

They motored up to the recreational boat ramp by the repro Ship Island Lighthouse where a guy with a pickup truck and a wheeled recovery cart was waiting.

Up she comes.

The hull form has a centerline thruster stem/stabilizer.

It could be deployed by two-three men. While we watched they unloaded two of these, towing them each off with a Toyota Tundra.

Stumped? It is an Ocean Aero Triton, which is capable of sailing autonomously for 3 months on solar and wind power at speeds of up to 5 knots.

The TRITON is the world’s first and only Autonomous Underwater and Surface Vehicle (AUSV). It can sail and submerge autonomously to collect data both above and below the ocean’s surface and relay it to you from anywhere, at any time.

The TRITON was built to be versatile and to handle a range of missions across a number of industries. Our pre-packaged payloads will cover 90% of the applications in the defense, research, and off-shore energy sectors, but the system is designed to support rapid NRE efforts for more specific use cases. Optional state-of-the-art payloads include advanced modal communications for high bandwidth data transfer in remote areas as well as obstacle avoidance software/hardware to ensure autonomous reactions to unexpected mission complications.

The Specs, and some shots from Ocean Aero of the Triton submerged:

Click to big up 3452×2154

SIG Keeps Cranking the 210 Machine

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SIG has added a new Custom Works P210 model to its catalog this month. With the Germans and Swiss no longer making the vaunted classic, it has been left to the American branch to keep the flame going on these single-action single-stack 9mm handguns.

The newest model takes the rather plain P210 Carry and dresses it up quite a bit, adding a fully DLC-coated slide with factory engravings, an E-nickel trigger, and a set of Rosewood grips.

Like the standard P210 Carry, it uses 8-round mags and includes a set of SIG night sights rather than the sweet target sights seen on other models.

The cost is likely to be around $2K.

However, lots of folks feel SIG missed the mark and should have made a double stack akin to a Swiss 2011, which would have turned a lot of heads.

Of course, I love the standard P210 Carry, and it handles great

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