Dugan Ashley Brought the 2A Community light, now he needs our help

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A lowkey Vet who gave a ray of light and humor to the gun community that has yet to be surpassed, has signaled that he is “going to be sitting this one out.”

Dugan Ashely, through his slapsticky yet educational firearms videos on YouTube, thrilled millions around the globe with his antics, producing content that, although imitated, is hard to match. Ashley was a legend for years but in 2015 dropped out of the public eye and deleted his CarniK Con Show channel, although mirrors exist of some of the more sensational clips.

Plus, despite the bargain bin outfits and campy humor, his weapon manipulation skills were absolutely on-point as this circa 2014 video on LMGs displays:

While making brief cameos on other channels from time to time, Ashley has been keeping a low signature for the past half-decade.

However, last Thursday, he surfaced in a video on a new channel, soberly informing fans of his ongoing battle with Multiple Sclerosis.

A GoFundMe has been authorized to collect money to help him combat his debilitating illness.

I gave. If you have the ability to do so, I am sure every little bit helps.

As Dugan would say, “$20 dollars is $20 dollars.”

The Gremlin to Join the Fleet

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Pennsylvania-born Emlen Lewis Tunnell earned a nickname in his football career of “The Gremlin” and was both the first African-American to play for the Giants (14 seasons before going to Green Bay, at the insistence of then-assistant coach Vince Lombardi) and the first to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

However, before all that, he was 17 years old during the attack on Pearl Harbor and, cutting short a subsequent college football career at the University of Toledo due to a broken neck (!) in a game against Marshall, he tried to enlist in first the Army, then the Navy, during WWII once he recovered.

Rejected by both, he kept trying and was accepted into the Coast Guard as a volunteer enlistee in the USCGR, serving on the Coast Guard-manned Crater-class cargo ship USS Etamin (AK-93) in the Pacific. When Etamin was disabled by a torpedo hit in Milne Bay in April 1944, Tunnell “saved a fellow crew member who was set afire in the blast, beat out the flames with his hands, sustained burns to his own hands, and carried the shipmate to safety.”

Just after the war, while assigned to frigid Naval Station Argentia in Newfoundland, Tunnell again saved a life by leaping into the water to save a man overboard, despite the fact that it was 32 degrees.

Tunnell was active in USCG team sports– playing on the racially integrated All-Pacific Coast service football team and the San Francisco Coast Guard basketball team– as well as served close enough to the fighting to catch a Japanese torpedo.

While the Coast Guard awarded two Lifesaving Medals to Steward’s Mate 1st Class Tunnell (one posthumously) and named an athletic building on the Coast Guard Academy campus in his honor, this week they will welcome a new 158-foot Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter into the fleet named after the Coastie and NFL great who kept knocking on recruiters’ doors to get in the game.

The USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145) will be commissioned in Philadelphia this week.

USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145)

The 45th of her class, like her namesake, however, will soon be headed overseas. The new cutter will join the USCGC Glen Harris (WPC 1144) for transit to homeport later this year in Manama, Bahrain, and serve as one of six Sentinel-class FRCs with the U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) as part of CENTCOM. Very much on the sharp end.

Von Der Tann’s Volcanic

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So this just surfaced at an upcoming auction by Milestone. 

SERIAL NUMBER 1738. BARREL 6″. CALIBER .41. The Volcanic lever-action repeating pistol was made by Volcanic Arms in New Haven after the original pistols made by Smith & Wesson. Made circa 1855-1857. Standard features include a factory engraved brass frame, two-piece walnut grips with square butt, blued octagon barrel and tube, ring lever, wind drift rear sight, and bead front. Condition. Superb, 95% smooth blue patina on barrel, legends sharp, crisp engraving on the frame, excellent grips, the frame never cleaned. Fine working order. The bore is near mint. A wonderful condition one-of-a-kind historic German presentation Volcanic.

This is where this pistol gets both interesting and possibly one of less than a handful ever presented to a foreign dignitary or power. The Volcanic Arms patent New Haven stamp is clearly placed on top of barrel. On the right side of the barrel, engraved and silver inlaid is “ZUR ERINNERUNG AN EXC.” which translates “to be remembered.”

On right side is engraved and silver inlay “General v.d. Tann 26 iv 1881.” Ludwig von der Tann’s death date

Ludwig Freiherr von der Tann (1815-1881), Hanfstaengl, Fotographie ca. 1860, Hintergrund mit Aquarellfarben übermalt

Born in Waterloo, Ludwig Samson Heinrich Arthur Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, best just known as Von Der Tann, started his military career in 1833.

Promoted to major in 1848, he was well connected with Bavarian Crown Prince Maximilian who soon became king. He was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle by the king of Prussian during the war with Denmark. Tann served Bavaria in the Austro-Prussian war then was promoted to the rank of general in 1869 and commanded troops during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.

Naval history buffs, of course, will recognize the name from the unique battlecruiser that carried the general’s name. The fastest battlewagon in the world when she was commissioned, the 21,000 ton SMS Von Der Tann was mauled at Jutland and later scrapped at Scapa Flow in 1919. Her construction sparked the growth of the evolutionary dead-end Invincible-class battlecruisers and similar vessels.

While the battlecruiser was raised by the British and scrapped, and the late general himself is entombed at the Alter Nordfriedhof in Munich, at least his pistol is up for grabs. The estimate for it is $7,500-$9,500.

Remembering Sydney vs. Kormoran in a unique, and mutual, way

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The Type 123 Brandenburg-class frigate Bayern (F-217) deployed to the Pacific in August in an effort to “show more presence in the Indo-Pacific region.”

She has completed exercises and steamed with a host of foreign navies along the way.

PASSEX on Sept 7 2021 with the German frigate Bayern, Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Shiloh (CG-67), and the Pakistani Navy frigate PNS Alamgir (F260)– formerly USS McInerney (FFG-8)–in the Indian Ocean. (Photos: German Navy)

Notably, when Bayern arrived in Fremantle last week she was the first German navy ship to visit Australia since the tall ship Gorch Fock berthed in Sydney in 1988.

Historically, German and Australian naval ships don’t interact very often.

Speaking of which, there was one very memorable meeting between the two countries at sea on 19 November 1941 when the Leander-class light cruiser HMAS Sydney (D48) came across the notorious German auxiliary cruiser (Hilfskreuzer) Kormoran which was brazenly steaming just 150 miles south-west of the coast of Western Australia. The heavily-armed commerce raider, known as “Raider G” to the Allies, had been at sea for 352 days and her crack crew had chalked up some 75,000 tons of shipping. A wolf in sheep’s clothing found by Sydney while flying a Dutch flag, with the action beginning at what was effectively point-blank range. 

In the mutually destructive surface action that followed, both ships were lost with a combined butcher’s bill of 727 men dead to include every single member of the Australian cruiser’s complement.

The engagement echoed a similar one between the Dresden-class cruiser SMS Emden and the Chatam-class light cruiser HMAS Sydney off Cocos Islands in November 1914, only much bloodier.

Only a few weeks away from the 80th anniversary of the loss of Kormoran and the later Sydney, embarked exchange sailors from the Royal Australian Navy on Bayern this week joined a solemn ceremony held by the crew to observe the battle, over at 26°S 111°E.

Members of the Bayern’s ship’s company also participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the State War Memorial in Perth’s Kings Park. 
 

In ‘Optics-Ready Micro 9’ news…

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Smith & Wesson this week announced a new version of its “micro 9″ M&P9 Shield Plus 3.1 that comes with a 13+1 mag (which is comparable in capacity to the vaunted old Browning Hi-Power in a much smaller frame) and a factory slide cut for micro red dots. Sure, S&W could have just released the Shield Plus with an optics cut when it debuted earlier in the year– like Ruger did with the MAX-9– but where is the fun in that?

Further enhancements from past Shield models include a flat-face trigger and an optimized grip texture designed for concealed carry. It ships with two magazines: an extended 13+1 round magazine that adds to the overall grip length and pistol height, as well as a flush-fit 10+1 round magazine. The pistol features the M&P hallmark 18-degree grip angle, which S&W argues lends to a more natural point of aim, therefore helping to better manage recoil, and get back on target quickly.

For those keeping count at home, Ruger (MAX-9), S&W (Shield Plus), Taurus (G3C TORO), Springfield Armory (Hellcat OR), and Sig Sauer (P365 XL and P365 SAS) all now have optics-ready double-stack 9mm micro compacts that offer at least a 10+1 capacity in a gun roughly the size of a Glock 43. Meanwhile, Glock’s smallest answer to the micro-9 trend is the G43X MOS, which is only slightly larger.

Talk about the golden age of carry pistols.

Anywhoo, more in my column at Guns.com.

I thought this was a RedBull commercial or something at first

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Via the Australian Army:

The 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment [amalmataed 2nd Moreton Light Horse and 14th West Moreton Light Horse of the old Queensland Mounted Infantry] has commenced trialling Stealth Reconnaissance E-Bikes in conjunction with the Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle.

The electric bike allows reconnaissance soldiers to move quickly and quietly throughout the battlefield, covering long distances to gather vital information.

The E-Bikes have a range of up to 100 kilometres, meaning soldiers can travel further in a shorter time frame. With less of a noise and dust footprint than traditional motorcycles, the E-Bikes help prevent reconnaissance scouts being detected by enemy forces.

As 2nd/14th LHR is currently made up of three battalions, including one of M1A1 Abrams and two of light cavalry scouts based at Gallipoli Barracks in Queensland on the island continent’s northeastern corner, the E-bikes make a certain amount of sense.

However, I worry about the problem when fielding any electric equipment: how do you keep it charged?

Out West

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Sorry, I have been a little out of pocket this week, but I’ve been visiting a certain well-known suppressor and firearms maker in Utah for a few days and having a blast while doing it.

They actually let me in their gun vault. I guess they didn’t know me too well!

Who doesn’t like a legit HK MP7?

Stretching my legs with some .338LM (quietly).

Shitty wi-fi out here…

But, I can report that the SLC area has pumpkin beer, which isn’t half bad once you have three or four steins.

Perhaps this needs more research.

Anyway, I’m back home until my next adventure, so stay tuned as new products from mystery suppressor maker surface once the NDAs expire.

Silver Ships gets a 110-boat nod

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If you have ever been to Bellingrath Gardens along Mobile Bay or driven the long way to Fort Gains at the mouth of the Bay itself, you have passed a quiet little tan-yellow warehouse/workshop in Theodore with an aluminum patrol boat on display up front. Blink and you miss it.

That is Silver Ships.

While you may not have heard of them, you have probably seen their work as they have made hundreds of small aluminum-hulled workboats and RHIB style fast boats over the years that have been used by marine patrols, conservation, and fire agencies around the country, as well as the U.S Corps of Engineers and all five branches of the military, especially in the Gulf South region.

With that being said, this just came out on the DOD’s Contract announcements (emphasis mine):

Silver Ships Inc.,* Theodore, Alabama, was awarded an $8,239,095 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity single award contract (N00024-21-D-2205) for design and construction of up to 110 Navy 8-meter and 11-meter Surface Support Craft and Coast Guard Special Purpose Craft Law Enforcement Generation II (SPC-LE II). Work will be performed in Theodore, Alabama, and is expected to be completed in August 2023. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $51,663,787. Fiscal 2020 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,242,628 (39%); fiscal 2021 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,187,680 (39%); and fiscal 2021 other procurement (Coast Guard) funds in the amount of $1,808,787 (22%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is a small business set-aside. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.sam.gov website, with four offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Awarded Sept. 30, 2021)

Via Silver Ships’ presser on the award: 

8m Cabin SSC

8m Open SSC

The NSW SSCs are 8- and 11-meter aluminum deep-vee hulled boats with a protective collar.  Variants of the SSC include both open center console and cabin versions. These craft are used from inland bays and waterways to deep water over-the-horizon transits, in all operating conditions and weather. The Navy SSC vessels will support the Naval Special Warfare community via ocean diver and swimmer support, medical transport, vessel towing and water airdrop training, among other missions.

USCG 11m SPE-LE

The 11-meter craft has a multipurpose deck for carrying various payloads or mission gear. The 11-meter Coast Guard SPC-LE vessels are armed and will be operated in varying conditions along the length of the borders of the United States and the Caribbean. Typical SPC-LE missions involve intercepting suspicious vessels entering U.S. waters; the boats will also be used for port security. In addition to the U.S. Coast Guard, other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security will operate some of the boats.

More details on the 11-meter Surface Support Craft, via Silver Ships.

“Silver Ships has been building the AM1100 11-Meter Naval Special Warfare – Surface Support Craft (SSC) RHIB for the past seven years. There are three variants of the vessel; the most recent delivery is the Open Center Console version. The U.S. Navy uses these vessels for training and support of swim and dive operations, among other missions.”

3 Band Enfield, still in the field at 78+

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This hardy footsoldier is described as “Sikh Sentry Srinagar” standing post in the Kashmir region in 1945, complete with a regulation Dastar (turban), and KD uniform shorts with field shirt and wool knee socks. His weapon appears to be a P1853 “3 Band” Enfield rifle, possibly converted in the 1870s to a .577 Snider–Enfield breechloader although I don’t think so as it doesn’t have updated sights.

 
While his uniform may have updated from the 1880s, his armament and bearing have not. 
 

A Sikh sentry at Fort Johnston, Malawi, in circa 1880s period artwork by Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston GCMG KCB, (1858-1927) who designed the uniform

As the last P53 was produced in 1867, Srinagar is likely much younger than his weapon, but he likely would have used it without compunction if needed.

One hardy Sikh with a bayonet and smoke pole of any vintage is a daunting sentry.

Warship Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021: A Hell of a Night

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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 time 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, Oct. 6, 2021: A Hell of a Night

As I am currently roaming around the wilds of Utah all week, today’s WWeds is shorter than normal, but I trust no less interesting.

USS Selfridge (DD-357) NH 63121

Here we see the Porter-class tin can USS Selfridge (DD-357), the second warship named after the very sinkable Thomas O. Selfridge which we have covered a few times in the past, in her gleaming pre-war lines.

Fast forward to the night of 6 October 1943, some 78 years ago today. The place, Northwest of Vella Lavella in the hotly contested Solomon Islands. There, three American destroyers– Selfridge, Chevalier, and O’Bannon— bumped into a convoy of barges and auxiliaries escorted by nine destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy — Akigumo, Fumizuki, Isokaze, Kazagumo, Matsukaze, Samidare, Shigure, Yūnagi, and Yūgumo— with the latter equipped with the formidable Long Lance torpedo.

The confused, swirling action by moonlight and searchlight lasted less than an hour and left Yūgumo and Chevalier on the bottom while O’Bannon and Selfridge were seriously damaged and left to the field of battle when the Japanese withdrew to attend to their convoy which was filled with evacuated Japanese soldiers.

Selfridge suffered 13 killed, 11 wounded, and 36 missing, with most of those carried away with a hit to her bow from two Long Lances.

As noted by a Navy damage control report, “At 2306-1/2, a torpedo detonated at about frame 40, starboard. There was some indication that a second torpedo detonated almost simultaneously at frame 30, port. The bow severed completely at about frame 40 and floated aft on the starboard side.”

Battle of Vella LaVella (II) 6th-7th October 1943 Damaged USS SELFRIDGE (DD-357) after the battle. Her bow had been wrecked by a Japanese destroyer torpedo in this action. Note 5″/38 twin gun. Alongside is USS O’BANNON (D-450), which damaged her bow in a collision during the action. 80-G-274873.

Extensive details of the damage and how it was repaired while only barely off the line at Purvis Bay and at Noumea, here while the full period 54-page report of the engagement from Selfridge’s skipper’s point of view, here. 

Selfridge steamed 6,200 miles back to the West Coast with a temporary bow fitted, arriving at Mare Island looking, well, abbreviated.

USS Selfridge (DD-357), coming into Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for bow blown off just forward of the bridge in a heroic action in the Battle of Vella Lavella on October 6, 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-316295

Permanent repairs, including the installation of a new bow, were made at Mare Island and, after refresher training out of San Diego, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 May 1944 in time to join the forces staging for the invasion of the Marianas.

USS Selfridge (DD-357), steaming out to sea after repairs at Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Repairs were completed in the spring of 1944. 80-G-316296

Rejoining the war, Selfridge was active in the Philippines and the liberation of Guam, before switching oceans to escort convoys across the Atlantic in 1945, earning four battle stars for her WWII service.

Decommissioned on 15 October 1945, Selfridge was struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1945; sold to George H. Nutman, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y.; removed from Navy custody on 20 December 1946, and scrapped in October 1947.

***

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