Following 16 years of service with the Royal Navy and another 26 with the Marinha do Brasil, the veteran Type 22 frigate HMS Broadsword (F 88)/ fragata Greenhalgh (F 46) was retired on 10 August 2021.
Frigate HMS Broadsword, Irish Sea, 1990. Taken by Royal Yacht photographer contributed by Harvey Page, via the HMS Broadsword Association
Broadsword was laid down at Yarrow 7 February 1975, intended to face off with the growing Red Banner Fleet in the North Atlantic, and joined the RN in 1979– just in time to face off against the nominal Western-allied Argentine Navy in the South Atlantic.
During the Falklands conflict, Broadsword stood by the stricken HMS Coventry, recusing 170 of that destroyer’s crew. Broadsword was hit by one bomb herself, which bounced through the frigate’s helicopter deck before exploding just off her stern. In retribution, Broadsword was credited with downing an Argentine Dagger and a partial kill on an A-4C Skyhawk.
After continued Cold War service, and a stint enforcing UN sanctions off Yugoslavia in the 1990s, she was decommissioned on 31 March 1995 and sold to the Brazilian Navy three months later. She had been the second and final Broadsword in the Royal Navy, following in the footsteps of HMS Broadsword (D31), a Weapon-class destroyer launched in 1946 and broken up in 1968. Jeffrey Archer’s novel First Among Equals mentions the frigate and the ship has a very active veterans association.
She is also remembered extensively in maritime art for her Falklands service.
David Lidd-HMS ‘Broadsword’ Rescuing Survivors from HMS ‘Coventry’, 25 May 1982.
HMS ‘Broadsword’ with HMS ‘Hermes’ by John Alan Hamilton via MoD (c) Mrs. B.G.S. Hamilton (widow); Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
Renamed “Greenhalgh” in honor of Brazilan naval hero João Guilherme Greenhalgh, fragata Greenhalgh (F 46) continued to deliver another quarter-century of service in the South Atlantic, familiar stomping grounds for the warship. The name had previously been used for a British-built torpedo boat in the 1900s as well as a Marcílio Dias-class destroyer that operated against the Germans in WWII.
Brazilian frigate Greenhalgh F-46, former HMS Broadsword of Falklands fame
The Republic of China Air Force, popularly known outside of Taiwan as the Taiwan Air Force, this month is celebrating two events, the Air Battle Over Hangchow, now commemorated as “Republic of China Air Force Day” and the 80th Anniversary of the First American Volunteer Group, popularly just remembered as Claire Chennault’s Flying Tigers, taking to the air.
The 14 August 1937 air battle over Hangchow, in which the first Chinese Air Force (of the Nationalist Kuomintang’s) fighter squadrons, the which Chennault had just been hired to advise, took to the air over Shanghai and Nanjing to provide the incoming Japanese bombers the first air-to-air threat they had ever experienced. The American-made Curtiss Hawk IIIs of the Chinese 21st, 22nd, and 23rd Pursuit Squadrons (borrowing the term used at the time for fighter squadrons in the U.S. Army) destroyed four Japanese Mitsubishi G3M Type 96 (Nell) long-range bombers without losing a single plane in return. The event is referred to these days by the Taiwan Air Force as “814” after its date.
Box art for the 1:48 Hawk III kit sold by Special Hobby (SH72223), depicting the events of 814 against IJN G3M2 “Nells”. The 30 or so Hawk IIIs used by the pre-war ROCAF were gradually replaced by Soviet fighter types they were destroyed, and Russian-built I-15 and I-16 types were imported to rebuild it.
Likewise, the Flying Tigers were formed in April 1941 with 100 former and on-leave American military aviators employed by the shell “Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company,” and were later married up with an equal number of crated Curtis P-40B Warhawks shipped via slow boat to Rangoon. By August 1941, 99 Warhawks were more or less assembled and on their way to the AVG training unit at Toungoo where they would be fitted with gunsights, radios, and wing guns which Curtiss was not allowed to supply. They would enter combat on 20 December 1941, 12 days after Pearl Harbor.
1941 AVG Flying Tigers 3rd Pursuit Squadron in front of a P-40 Tomahawk fighter.
A “blood chit” issued to the American Volunteer Group Flying Tigers. The Chinese characters read, “This foreign person has come to China to help in the war effort. Soldiers and civilians, one and all, should rescue and protect him.” The same flag as flown by the old Republic is Taiwan’s current flag. (R. E. Baldwin Collection)
Hell’s Angels, the 3rd Squadron of the 1st American Volunteer Group “Flying Tigers”, photo by RT Smith.
To celebrate the two events, the ROCAF has specially designed a commemorative emblem incorporating both, showing “the spirit of victory, inheritance, and loyalty and unremitting struggle.”
It should also be noted that the service has an affinity for the Tigers’ characteristic “sharks mouth” nose paint. Here, seen on a ROCAF F-16 and F-CK-1
The Forrestal-class aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV-62) (top), and USS Midway (CV-41) moored beside each other Naval Station, Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, 23 August 1991. Midway was en route from Naval Station, Yokosuka to California, where she was decommissioned the following April, while Independence traveled to Japan to take over as the U.S. Navy’s forward-based aircraft carrier.
Click to big up 2830×1850. Photo by PH Omar Hasan, U.S. Navy. National Archives Identifier (NAID) 6478213
On the occasion of the homeport swap between the two carriers, the above meeting gives a good view of their respective but very different air wings.
Although roughly similar in overall size (for Indy, compared to for Midway), the older carrier was designed in the age of the famed “Sunday Punch” of a carrier wing made up of some 108 prop-driven aircraft– F6F Hellcats, TBM Avengers, and SBD Dauntless dive-bombers, or equivalents. With that, the hangar deck height was a couple feet lower than that of the Forrestal class and later supercarriers. This meant that the hangar was too short to allow for all maintenance tasks (primarily removal of ejection seats) for such tall birds as the F-14 Tomcat and S-3 Viking.
And it is reflected on the decks of the two flattops, with Indy’s crowded by at least 16 visible Tomcats, with their wings swept closed, as well as a trio of Vikings.
Meanwhile, Midway’s mass of F-18s– she carried three squadrons at the time rather than the traditional two and two more of Tomcats for other carriers not in her class– is in full display with no less than 30 early model Hornets on deck along with five A-6E Intruders and two EA-6B Prowlers. To make up for the lack of ASW aircraft, they could carry more SH-3H Sea Kings. She also carried an extra squadron of Intruders to make up for the increased CAP taskings on the F-18s.
For the record, Midway’s last carrier air wing consisted of:
Compared to Indy’s CVW-14:
The more you know…
Marketed as a punishment to the Putin regime– although ammo sales only make up a tiny portion of Russian overseas exports and an even smaller slice of the country’s GDP– the State Department on Friday announced an almost immediate (effective Sept. 7) ban on granting import permits (ATF Form 6s) for ammunition “manufactured or located in” Russia.
While the sanction could (but probably won’t) fall off in a year, you can probably kiss those sweet, sweet deals on cheap and reliable Russian-made ammo such as Barnaul, Tula, Red Army Standard, and Wolf, a hard goodbye. Meanwhile, those with guns chambered in old Warsaw Pact calibers such as 7.62×39, 7.62x54R, 7.62×25 Tokarev, 9×18 Makarov, and 5.45×45 could be in a pinch to find any ammo, with the exception of surplus fodder from non-sanctioned former Eastern Bloc countries and a few outliers such as Igman, Sellier & Bellot, and PPU.
Going further, even if you don’t shoot that budget-friendly “steel cased Russian stuff,” which is generally seen as the rough equivalent to malt liquor if equated in terms of beer, such cheap ammo was the only thing keeping more traditional brass cased ammo prices in check. A safety valve if you will.
The bottom line, ammo is fixing to get even more scarce and expensive.
Case in point, looking at AmmoSeek pricing, when I first covered the story Friday afternoon for Guns.com, the best deal on 7.62×39 was 25-cents per round, for steel-cased Wolf bulk. As of the penning of this post on Sunday night, it was 57-cents per round for the same stuff.
Big oof.
A series of at least 84 cruisers of all sorts served first the Kaiserliche Marine, then the interbellum Reichsmarine, and finally, the WWII-era Kaiserliche Marine, starting with the protected cruiser SMS Irene’s circa 1886 keel laying to the handover of the famed but worn-out heavy cruiser KMS Prinz Eugen in May 1945.
And you would think that the book of Teutonic cruisers closed with the sinking of Prinz Eugen in December 1946 off Kwajalein Atoll, and the scrapping of the Soviet light cruiser Admiral Makarov (ex-KMS Nurnberg) in 1960.
Soviet light cruiser Admiral Makarov, formerly Nurnberg of Germany’s Kriegsmarine, in Tallinn for Navy Day, 1946 – Rahvusarhiiv
But then again, there was one more.
The schulschiff, or schoolship, Deutschland (A59) was commonly referred to by West Germany’s Bundesmarine as a “training cruiser” throughout her 24-year career.
15th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery returns a 21-gun salute from FGS Deutschland, then the West German Navy’s largest ship, as she enters Vancouver. This is the closest thing the ship came to receiving fire in her career.
Just 5,700 tons at the max, she wasn’t much of a “cruiser” when compared to contemporary Atomic-era designs (she was ordered in 1958). The 453-foot vessel had no armor, was capable of just 22 knots at maximum speed, and her main battery consisted of four 4″/55-cal guns, making her more of a very slow gun-armed destroyer.
To be fair, the French at the same time fielded a lightly armed “training cruiser,” Jeanne d’Arc. She served from 1964 to 2010
Nonetheless, FGS Deutschland was the fifth “Deutschland” in 80 years of German naval history, following in the footsteps of an ironclad, a pre-dreadnought-era battlewagon, and a well-known “pocket battleship.”
Unlike her forerunners, FGS Deutschland was a happy ship, carrying out three-month training cruises each summer for up to 250 naval cadets and chief petty officers, never seeing combat.
Check out this great 10-minute Cold War German film, covering the 2.5-month “School at Sea” during her 1984 cruise.
Lithuanian resistance fighters (left to right) Klemensas Širvys-Sakalas, Juozas Lukša-Skirmantas, and Benediktas Trumpys-Rytis stand in the forest circa 1949. Note their civilian attire, augmented by American pineapple grenades and pistol belts, likely Lend-Lease supplied to Soviet troops, as well as a Czech Sa vz. 23/CZ 25 sub-gun of more recent vintage. (Photo courtesy of the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania)
If the above image strikes an interest, check out the (free) newly published “Survival in the Russian Occupied Zone Command and Organization in Resistance Underground Operations,” by Col. Kevin D. Stringer, PhD, U.S. Army Reserve.
Kimber, at least for the past 25 years, has been seen as a steel-framed M1911 maker, and for good reason– until just a few years ago that was all they made. Then, in 2016, they jumped into wheel guns as well as their very compact Micro 9 series of aluminum-framed pocket autos.
Now, they have delivered their first polymer-framed, striker-fired gun, the R7 Mako.
I know, I know, yawn, right? These have been around since the early 1980s when Glock blazed that trail.
But the R7 is just 6.2-inches long overall, 4.3-inches high, and 1-inch wide. By comparison, this is a near match for the recently introduced Taurus GX4, Ruger MAX, Sig P365, S&W Shield Plus, and Springfield Armory Hellcat.
Unlike some of these micro-compact contemporaries, however, the Mako is optics-ready and has fully ambidextrous controls with a full wrap-around stippled texturing along with TruGlo Tritium Pro u-notch sights. Plus, its top half is stainless rather than some low-key carbon steel, with a matte FNC finish.
Looking forward to shooting this one…
More in my column at Guns.com.
Smoke billows from the decommissioned guided-missile frigate ex-USS Ingraham during a sinking exercise in the Pacific, Aug. 15. (U.S. Navy/MC1 David Mora Jr.)
Same, (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Danny Kelley)
“Lethal combat power was effectively applied to a variety of maritime threats over the last two weeks in a simulated environment as part of the U.S. Navy’s Large-Scale Exercise and expertly demonstrated Sunday with live ordnance. The precise and coordinated strikes from the Navy and our joint teammates resulted in the rapid destruction and sinking of the target ship and exemplify our ability to decisively apply force in the maritime battlespace.”
A Naval Strike Missile is launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands during the sinking exercise. (U.S. Marine Corps/MC2 Lance Cpl. Dillon Buck)
A Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System launcher deploys into position aboard Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands, Hawaii, Aug. 16, 2021. The NMESIS and its Naval Strike Missiles participated in a live-fire exercise, here, part of Large Scale Exercise 2021. During the training, a Marine Corps fires expeditionary advanced base sensed, located, identified, and struck a target ship at sea, which required more than 100 nautical miles of missile flight. The fires EAB Marines developed a targeting solution for a joint force of seapower and airpower which struck the ship as the Marines displaced to a new firing position. The Marine Corps EABO concept is a core component of the Force Design 2030 modernization effort. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Maj. Nick Mannweiler, released)
This is the last day to comment on the ATF’s pending idiotic proposed new receiver rule. Go do your part if you haven’t already.
The rule, pitched as a fix for “dangerous ghost guns” is actually far more complex and filled with minute tweaks, with the ATF’s ambiguous summary running to 1,600 words alone, and its analysis clocking in at 67 pages. Besides establishing a de facto ban on so-called 80-percent frames and receivers in the way they are in circulation today, it could also stand to regulate “split/multi-receiver” and “modular firearms” such as the AR-15 and P320 in ways that could require AR uppers and pistol slide assemblies to be a serialized firearm.
This would effectively end the days of uppers or unfinished frames/receivers shipped directly to the door of otherwise law-abiding folks, treating them instead as Title I firearms that would have to transfer through a licensed dealer with a Form 4473 with a NICS (and/or state) background check.
All you need is a couple of sentences. Just say something like, “I am writing AGAINST ATF’s proposed rule (Docket No. ATF 2021R-05). They seek to change the definition of a firearm receiver that’s been defined in law for 53 years. If a change is needed, it should be done by Congress!”
Just a couple of quick sentences and a NO or AGAINST is all you need.
Again, it is not about ghosts, it is about adding tons of new regulations without Congressional oversight or blessing, and you should be highly concerned with how it is being done.
