Happy 246th Birthday, USMC!

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The First Recruits, December 1775, by Col. Charles Waterhouse, USMCR, shows Capt. Samuel Nicholas, 1st Lt. Matthew Parke, and a scowling sergeant with prospective Leathernecks on the Philadelphia waterfront. (USMC Art Collection)

“On November 10, 2021, U.S. Marines around the globe celebrate a 246-year legacy of battlefield prowess defined by courage, discipline, loyalty, perseverance, adaptability, leadership, and warfighting innovation.

The annual birthday message delivered by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. David H. Berger, and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. Troy Black, acknowledges the generation of Marines who joined after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, who later served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who now approach their retirement milestone.”

70 Years Ago Today: Black Dragon Pays a Visit to the 38th Parallel

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A break from Warship Wednesday to celebrate both the USMC’s birthday and the below event.

Here we see the Iowa-class battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) firing a full broadside salvo of nine 16″/50cal guns during naval gunfire support against enemy targets in Korea, purportedly adjacent to the 38th Parallel. Smoke from shell explosions is visible ashore, in the upper left. The photo is dated 10 November 1951.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-435681

New Jersey, which like the rest of her class except for Missouri, had been placed into reserve in the late 1940s as a money-saving measure, was the first battleship reactivated for the Korean War. She arrived in Japan on 12 May 1951 and became the flagship of the Seventh Fleet under ADM Harold Martin, and reached the east coast of Korea five days later to start the first of her two tours of duty during that conflict.

During this first tour, New Jersey fired three times the number of 16-inch shells than she had in all of World War II. Let that one sink in.

For a deeper dive, including period footage of battlewagons at play off the Korean peninsula, check out this 1952 Navy film. 

She would end her first Korean tour on 22 November 1951, relieved by her sister ship Wisconsin, fresh from mothballs.

Swimming with the Mako

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With a 13+1 capacity and the option of an optics-ready slide, the very concealable Kimber R7 Mako is competitive in the micro-compact field.

Introduced in August, the R7 Mako is a striker-fired 9mm with a polymer frame. When it comes to specs, it runs just 6.2 inches long overall, 4.3 inches high, and one inch wide. Weight, in its most basic form, is 19.5 ounces. This puts the new double-stack ultra-compact Kimber in the same category as guns like the Sig Sauer P365 and Springfield Armory Hellcat series.

The weight of the R7 Mako O.I., with the CTS-1500 red dot nstalled, the extended magazine inserted, and 14 rounds of Browning 147-grain X-Point loaded, is 28.6 ounces on our scale. My first CCW gun back in the early 1990s was a much heavier and larger Browning Hi-Power with the same capacity and the only hollow points it could feed reliably were 115-grain Hydra-Shoks. Times change.

Over the course of the past several weeks, I’ve run 500~ rounds through one and carried it for about 200 hours. I have a list of likes and dislikes about it after the jump over to my column at Guns.com. 

FDR’s Ace of Spades

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45 Years Ago Today:

Official caption: “Mediterranean Sea. U.S. Marine Corporal J.E. Goldsburg cleans the windshield of an AV-8A Harrier Advanced Vertical Take-Off and Landing Close Support Aircraft on the flight deck of USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV 42).”

Photographed by PH3 Greg Haas, November 9, 1976. U.S. Navy Photograph, 428-GX-USN 116818, now in the collections of the National Archives

The shot was taken during VMA-231’s Bicentennial Med cruise which saw the Ace of Spade’s squadron integrate their brand-new Hawker Siddeley-made early model Harriers with Carrier Air Wing 19 in regular operations.

After stops in Spain, Italy, Sicily, Kenya, and Egypt, the Aces cross-decked to the amphibious assault ship USS Guam (LPH-9), which at the time was the testbed for the ADM Zumwalt’s Sea Control Ship concept. Guam, acting as one of the world’s first “Harrier Carriers,” would pass through the Red Sea and participate in Kenya’s Jamhuri Day Independence celebration.

USS Guam (LPH-9) with AV-8A Harriers, 12.9.76. Note the four airborne Harriers in a diamond formation, flown by VMA-231 “Ace of Spades” squadron Marines, and at least five more on deck. Catalog #: USN 1169189

As for the Aces of VMA-231, they are one of the last Harrier operators in the world.

The more things change…

U.S. Marine Cpl. Blake R. Phillips, a power line mechanic with Marine Attack Squadron 231, maintains an AV-8B Harrier II, Camp Leatherneck, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, March 5, 2013. Phillips maintains aircraft as part of his daily inspections. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Gabriela Garcia/Released)

New Eagle for the Eagle

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As we have touched on in past Warship Wednesdays, “America’s tall ship,” the United States Coast Guard Barque Eagle (WIX-327) is a 295-foot, three-masted training vessel assigned to the USCGA to serve as a schoolship for future Coast Guard and NOAA officers (as well as a smattering of cadets from overseas allies).

Built by Blohm and Voss in Hamburg, she entered service in the Gorch Fock-class segelschulschiff Horst Wessel in 1936, training the officers for the rapidly expanding Kriegsmarine.

Horst Wessel

Somehow surviving WWII, she was taken over by a USCG crew at Bremerhaven in 1946 and sailed to this side of the Atlantic where she has been active ever since. Today she is both the oldest Coast Guard vessel and the only one on active duty that participated in WWII, albeit under another flag.

She still had holdovers from her wartime service until recently, swapping out her original German-made diesel about 30 years ago for a Caterpillar D399 that was itself upgraded for a more efficient MTU 8V4000 in 2018.

Speaking of upgrades, she has just been fitted with a new figurehead.

Which is at least her fifth…

Her original German eagle figurehead

The massive figurehead was modified to carry the USCG crest in its talons, a more appropriate symbol.

Ditching the original eagle figurehead (which is now in the USCGA Museum), in 1952, the barque received the smaller eagle from the old revenue cutter-turned training vessel Salmon Chase.

Her original German figurehead is on display at the USCGA Museum

Chase’s 1890s era eagle fitted to Eagle. She carried it from 1952-70.

In 1971, it was decided to upgrade the figurehead and preserve the historic one from the Chase. With that, a copy of Chase’s was made of fiberglass and painted gold.

The fiberglass addler

It proved less than resilient and was severely damaged in heavy seas. I mean, it’s fiberglass.

In time for the Bicentennial in 1976, the damaged figurehead was replaced with a new 12-foot long one, carved of Honduras mahogany and weighing almost a ton. Gilded in gold, it served for 45 years and was just removed at the Coast Guard Yard last month.

The figurehead of the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle is seen on a foggy Sunday morning at the Coast Guard Yard, Baltimore, Nov. 17, 2013. The Eagle, a 295-foot barque home-ported in New London, Conn., is a training ship used primarily for Coast Guard cadets and officer candidates. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Lisa Ferdinando)

The new figurehead is being fitted at the USCG Yard and should be ready for sea shortly.

Via USCGY

Looking for a Reliable Little 22 Wheelgun that won’t Break the Bank?

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For the past couple of weeks, I have been testing and evaluating Diamondback Firearm’s new .22 rimfire Sidekick revolver. It has a lot of curious things going on.

First, although it looks like a .22 Single Action Army, ala the Ruger Wrangler or Heritage Rough Rider, it is actually a double-action revolver with a swing-out cylinder. Further, it is 9-shot, rather than the more often seen six-shooters. Finally, it comes with both a .22 S/L/LR cylinder and a .22WMR cylinder that can be easily swapped out.

Nice.

Best yet, the price on it looks to be in the $299 area.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

A lil Gustav in your eyes

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Somewhere in Aden, likely the Radfan mountains area, August 1963: “Royal Marines Demonstrate Army’s new anti-tank gun,” an early model Swedish-made FFV Ordnance Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifle.

45 Commando Marine Eric Pearson, of Salford, Manchester, prepares to fire the new anti-tank gun during trials at Little Aden. IWM A 34756.

In such an environment, “Charlie G” was sure to make a dust-up when fired, and you are gonna want some goggles.

Thus:

Marine Chris Pow, of Plymouth, firing the new anti-tank gun during trials at Little Aden. IWM A 34755

The 84s in the above images were the first crop of weapon adopted by the British as the “L14, Gun, 84mm, Infantry Anti Tank Weapon,” and later standardized with the improved M2 (L14A1) model after 1970.

It remained in service– seeing action in the Falklands– with the RM and British Army, especially the Paras, well into the 1990s when they were replaced by the more potent 94mm LAW 80 and subsequently the 150mm NLAW, disposable 84mm L1A1/A2 (AT4), and Javelin.

However, images have been seen of SAS downrange with the updated M3 Carl Gustav, showing that Charlie G still exists in some circles at least.

Monclar’s Winchester

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Raoul Charles Magrin-Vernerey was born in Budapest, then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1892 to French parents. Accepted to Saint-Cyr, France’s West Point, in 1912, he was rushed to graduation in August 1914 and joined the 60e régiment d’infanterie (60e RI) the day the Kaiser’s troops entered Belguim, with the rank of sous-lieutenant. Finishing the Great War as a captain, he had been wounded seven times and earned the Légion d’honneur and a whopping 11 Croix de Guerre.

Carrying his wounds with him the rest of his life– including having to wear glasses due to mustard gas scarring on his eyes– Magrin-Vernerey spent the interbellum period in North Africa and the Middle East in a series of postings commanding Foreign Legion and colonial troops. Real “Waiting for the Barbarians” stuff.

By the time Hitler sent his stormtroopers into Poland, he was a colonel and was given command of a scratch unit of two light battalions termed the 13e DBLE, the now famous 13th Demi-Brigade. Fighting at Narvik, he joined the Free French after Paris surrendered and headed to Africa, using the assumed nom de Guerre of “Ralph Monclar” where he was involved in the campaign in Eritrea and elsewhere.

Finishing WWII as a Major General with three additional Croix de Guerre, Monclar volunteered to train and lead the French Bataillon de Corée to Korea in 1950, commanding the unit with the U.S. 2nd Infantry Battalion (and adding an Indian Head combat patch to his uniform) after fighting at Wonju, the Twin Tunnels, Chipyong-ni, and Heartbreak Ridge.

Raoul Magrin-Vernerey, AKA Monclar, in his progression from 1916 to 1946 to 1951

Hanging up his uniform in 1951 due to reaching the mandatory retirement age, he died in 1964 in Paris, aged 72, and is entombed at the Église du Val-de-Grâce de Paris.

However, his preferred battle rifle, a French-contract Winchester 1907 chambered in .351SL, was recently placed on display at the Musee de la Armee as part of a showcase on the 1941 Eritrean campaign.

A Glipse Back in Time at Tucumcari

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USS Tucumcari (PGH-2) Makes a high-speed run in May 1971. Note the experimental twin 20mm gun mount fitted aft and the forward 40mm Bofors. USN Photo 1150501

A product of Boeing, the experimental hydrofoil gunboat USS Tucumcari (PGH-2) was one of two such prototypes ordered in 1966 by the Navy for testing, the other craft being rival Grumman-built USS Flagstaff (PGH-1).

Just 72-foot overall, the 57-ton Tucumcari could make over 40 knots on its Bristol Proteus gas turbine and really looked like a vision of the future when she arrived on the scene as witnessed by this amazing 20-minute period film:

Stricken 7 November 1973– some 48 years ago today– Tucumcari logged over 1500 “flying” hours during her brief service. Subsequently scrapped, her rival, Flagstaff, was loaned to the Coast Guard for a few years then disposed of sometime later.

To Find a Path

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77 Years Ago Today:

Jacquinot Bay, New Britain. 1944-11-06. Members of B Company, 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion aboard the former Hawkesbury River (New South Wales) vehicular ferry, the Frances Peat, which is to transport them to Pomio Village where the unit is to establish its headquarters. Identified personnel is company Sergeant Major Kube (with machete).

Note the machetes, Owen SMGs, No. III Lee-Enfields, dog tags, and British kit– along with not much else. Interestingly, many of the men have bicep dressings, possibly from recent inoculations. AWM Photo 076702 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/076702

One of four battalions raised in New Guinea during WWII, 1 NGIB was formed in March 1944 from a cadre that had been in the ranks as early as 1942 and soon started deploying company-sized elements in support of combat operations on Bougainville and on New Guinea, where their particular skillset was in high-demand in the thick jungle.

The unit was folded into the Royal Pacific Islands Regiment (RPIR) before being disbanded in June 1946.

Reformed in 1951 as part of the Australian Army, the RPIR became part of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) in 1975 and carried the battle honors of the old 1 NGIB on its crest. In an ode to their old task of ranging and scouting, the RPIR’s motto today is “To Find a Path.”

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