Codename Snake Eyes and Jungle Green

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Royal Marines exercise “Codename Snake Eyes” circa 1960 documentary– in Color!— by the Central Office of Information for the Admiralty. A great way to spend a half-hour. 

The exercise involves a combined-arms amphibious attack on a fictitious Mediterranean island nation that looks suspiciously like Cyprus, complete with an airfield and radar station.

It is jolly good stuff, complete with pipe smoking, beards, Denison smocks, a wet predawn paradrop from an RAF Boxcar by SBS frogmen, Fleet Air Arm Vampires launched from an RN carrier conducting rocket attacks to soften things up, dory-landed (and Enfield/Sterling-armed!) Royal Marines from 45 Commando leaping ashore from LCVPs to complete a rock face free climb, then reinforced by Wessex helicopter-delivered 40 Commando (“choppers may be useful but they have no natural dignity”), finished off by LCM-landed 42 Commando (who finally have some FN FALs/L1A1s) on the third wave after NGFS from gun-armed cruisers.

And that’s just in the first 10 minutes!

Enjoy.

For a less varnished but no less fascinating look at Royal Marines at the sharp end, check out “Jungle Green,” a 1964 BBC documentary following an isolated 25-man long-range patrol/listening post of 40 Commando and their two Iban trackers some 50 miles deep in the bush in Borneo during the very Vietnam-ish Konfrontasi, the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation.

Squishnut up for sale, cheap!

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The Navy was already experienced in marine salvage prior to World War II. However, the service did not have ships specifically designed and built for salvage work when it entered WWII, and it was not until the start of the war that salvage ships become a distinct vessel type.

Then came the purpose-built Diver-class.

The U.S. Navy rescue and salvage ship USS Shackle (ARS-9), circa in 1945. She witnessed the torpedoing of the famed battlewagon Pennsylvania (BB-38) at Buckner Bay in August 1945 and immediately commenced salvage work on the damaged battleship, part of earning three battlestars in WWII. (Lt. Kirk Fistick, U.S. Navy – U.S. Navy photo.)

Built at Basalt Rock Co., Napa, Calif. — a gravel company that was in the barge building biz– 17 of the new 213-foot vessels were constructed during WWII. Fitted with a 20-ton capacity boom forward and 10-ton capacity booms aft, they had automatic towing machines, two fixed fire pumps rated at 1,000 gallons per minute, four portable fire pumps, and eight sets of “beach gear,” pre-rigged anchors, chains, and cables for use in refloating grounded vessels. And of course, they were excellently equipped to support divers in the water with one double re-compression chamber and two complete diving stations aft for air diving and two 35-foot workboats.

They had a surprisingly long life and, even though they almost all left U.S. Navy service fairly rapidly in the 1970s, several gained a second career. Two went to South Korea where one, ex- USS Grapple (ARS-7) is still active as ROCS Da Hu (ARS-552) in Taiwan and another, ex-USS Safeguard (ARS-25), went to Turkey. The latter is supposedly still active as TCG Isin (A-589) though her replacement is nearing.

Three, Escape (ARS-6), Seize (ARS-26) and USS Shackle (ARS-9) went to the Coast Guard as USCGC Escape (WMEC-6), USCGC Yocona (WMEC-168), and USCGC Acushnet (WMEC-167) respectively.

USCGC Acushnet (WMEC-167), ex-USS Shackle (ARS-9) arriving at Kodiak, AK, 26 August 2008.
Photo courtesy Marine Exchange Alaska. Via Navsource

Escape was sold for scrap in 2009, Seize/Yocona was sunk as a target in 2006, and Shackle/Acushnet, decommissioned in 2011 as the last Diver-class vessel in U.S. service and the oldest vessel then in the Coast Guard. She was subsequently put up for sale for years in Anacortes, Washington with efforts afoot to save her in one form or another. 

Well, Shackle/Acushnet was eventually sold in 2018 to a non-profit group called Ocean Guardian, which intend to put her back to work as a research ship/museum/education vessel in conjunction with the National Maritime Law Enforcement Academy.

Thus: 

 

However, it seems like that fell through and the old Squishnut– as she was known while stationed in Mobile in the 1990s– is currently in the Seattle/Vancouver area and for sale. 

The listing, for posterity: 

*Reduced to $135,000(USD) Offers encouraged*

USA Registered. USCGC Acushnet was originally built as a U.S. Navy diver-class rescue and salvage ship, then served as a coast guard cutter for a long career. Always well maintained and substantially upgraded before her 2011 retirement.

All engines ready to fire up. Opportunity for hundreds of ocean related industrial uses such as FEMA response ship or world class patrol boat. Big commercial galley, walk in freezers, water makers, hospital, theater, 48 berths, 13 heads and showers, laundry, 2 deck cranes and two Zodiac Hurricanes with diesel outdrives for tender vessels.

Lots of extra tools and machinery included.

Photo dump from the listing: 

Would make a great liveaboard for less than the cost of your average three-bedroom ticky tacky house in the suburbs. 

Food for thought. 

Behind the scenes at Maxim Defense

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One of the places I stopped at on my trip to Minnesota last month– in the 91-degree heat just a couple hours south of Canada?!– was Maxim Defense. For a company that didn’t exist seven years ago, they have really come out of nowhere and made a name for themselves.

They specialize in the “short space” so to speak, with products like the PDX.

The PDX had its origin in a PDW project for Tier 1 operators which specified a gun that, above all, was extremely compact for close quarter encounters– but still able to fire 5.56mm rounds. Crafted with that use in mind, Maxim’s result was a gun that is as sweet as it gets– just 18.75-inches long overall with a 5.5-inch barrel that ends in a Hatebrake muzzle booster while the collapsible stock is Maxim’s in-house SCW stock system. The PDX includes an integrated BCG with interchangeable buffer weights to maximize performance. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Check out the video tour and interviews in my column at Guns.com. 

Warship Wednesday, August 11, 2021: The Guacolda-class submarines, via Quincy, Mass

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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, August 11, 2021: The Guacolda-class submarines, via Quincy, Mass

Original caption: July 4, 1917, Boston (Charlestown) Navy Yard, “Six British subs bottled up in Navy Yard because of U.S. Neutrality are given to the Chilean government in exchange for a Man of War which could not be built by England.”

The Chilean flag was hoisted in that day over six Holland-type submarines, marking the creation of the Chilean Navy’s submarine branch, which has the motto, “Semper Fidelis.” Photo by Leslie Jones, via Boston Public Library, Print Department. Note the famed “original six” frigate USS Constitution in the background. 

Ordered in 1914 from the Fore River Yard at Quincy, Massachusetts, once the Great War kicked off, then-neutral Uncle Sam interned HMS H11 through HMS H20 for the duration of hostilities (or at least, it turned out, American neutrality), despite the fact they did not have their torpedo tubes installed.

Holland 602 type submarines designed to meet Royal Navy specifications, nine other 150-foot/360-ton H-class boats were built by Vickers Canada in Monreal for the Admiralty while another 23 were ordered from Vickers, Cammell Laird, Armstrong Whitworth, and William Beardmore in Britain.

HM Submarine H.4, one of the Canadian Vickers-made boats, at Brindisi, August 1916. Notably, H4 sank U-boat UB-52 in the Adriatic on 23 May 1918, one of the biggest wins for the class. Photograph SP 578 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums

Of the 10 Yankee “H” boats, the British eventually transferred two, later christened HMCS CH-14 and CH-15, to Canadian service, while HMS H11 and H12 were cleared to sail after the U.S. entered the war in April 1917 only to be scrapped shortly after the conflict.

CH14 and CH15, Canadian submarines 1920-22

Likewise, the Canucks laid up their H-boats by 1922 and disposed of them soon after.

The remainder, H13 along with H16 through H20, were transferred to the Chilean government to partially compensate for Chilean vessels under construction in Britain that were seized in 1914 (such as the dreadnoughts Almirante Latorre/HMS Canada and Almirante Cochrane/HMS Eagle) for the fight against the Kaiser.

Commissioned into the Chilean Navy as Guacolda (H1), Tegualda (H2), Rucumilla (H3), Guale (H4), Quidora (H5), and Fresia (H6), on 28 March 1918, the flotilla set sail for Valparaíso on its maiden voyage under the command of RADM Luis Gomez Carreño.

These obsolete craft remained in service in Latin American waters through WWII, with the last only scrapping in 1949. Rucumilla had a particularly interesting rescue/salvage after she was lost at sea. 

As far as I can tell, they were the last pre-WWI Holland design sent to the breakers, and probably the last to submarines to carry 18-inch tubes on active duty. Of note, the Brits completed H21 and above with 21-inch tubes, some of whom continued to serve in WWII. 

Chilian Guacolda (Holland 602/H-class) submarines, via Jane’s 1946

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45,000 tons of Courageous

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The Indian Navy, which officially dates back to the 1947 split with the British Empire and carries a curious mix of traditions from the Royal Navy and doctrine from the Soviets/Russians, saw an important milestone last week when INS Vikrant (R11), whose name roughly translates to “Courageous” took to the sea for builder’s trials, celebrating 60 continuous years of carrier operations.

The country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier and the largest warship to be built in the country, Vikrant is roughly the size of an American LHA but importantly uses a STOBAR aircraft launching system with a ski-jump and angled flight deck and can operate a mix of 40 MiG-29Ks and ASW helicopters.

Nice to see the old Sea King still around

She also has a serious self-defense armament (another ode to Russian carrier ops) including 64 Barak 8 missiles, four OTO 76mm guns, and four Russian AK-630 CIWS mounts. Powered by a quartet of GE LM2500 turbines, which are standard on just about every American destroyer and cruiser, she has an eclectic mix of Italian and Israeli electronics.

60 Years of Indian Carriers

India has been in the carrier game since 1961, when the original INS Vikrant, formerly the British light carrier HMS Hercules, was commissioned. Vikrant was later augmented in 1987 by the Centaur-class carrier INS Viraat (ex-HMS Hermes), which served for 30 years.

Vikrant in 1984 after many years of hard service. You can note the Sea Harriers, Sea King helicopters, Sea Hawks, and Alize aircraft on deck

Doing the math, India was a single-carrier operator for 26 years, then operated two flattops side-by-side for a decade before downsizing between 1997 and 2012. With the commissioning of the completely rebuilt INS Vikramaditya (ex- Russian carrier Baku/Admiral Gorshkov), the country then again operated a two-carrier fleet for five years. 

INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya in 2013. At the time, India had arguably the second-highest amount of operational naval tonnage in the world behind the U.S.

Since 2017, when Hermes/Viraat was finally retired, they have been back down to a single carrier but that will change once Vikrant officially joins the fleet next year.

Also, the “big deck” Vikramaditya enabled the Indians to retire their ancient early model Sea Harriers and go with MiG-29 carrier variants, of which they have some 45 in operation. Sure, they are not as capable of a carrier-based fighter as the F-18E or F-35B, but they are still a step up from Harriers.

Plus, keep in mind that the very professional Indians have probably the best track record in using MiGs in combat in the world. Just ask Pakistan. 

The Indian Navy has 45 MiG-29KUB carrier-based multirole fighters and is looking to acquire 57 more, with the possibility of building them locally. There is also talk of fielding variants of the F/A18E or the French Rafale instead.

Manning the Oerlikon

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Official caption: “Five steward’s mates stand at their battle stations, as a gun crew aboard a Coast Guard-manned frigate in the southwest Pacific.”

Note the gunner is missing his left shoe but doesn’t seem that affected by it, as there is a pile of 20mm brass in the gun tub. NARA 26-G-3797 https://catalog.archives.gov/id/513214

“On call to general quarters, these Coast Guardsmen man a 20mm AA gun. They are, left to right, James L. Wesley, standing with a clip of shells; L. S. Haywood, firing; William Watson, reporting to bridge by phone from his gun captain’s post; William Morton, loading a full clip, assisted by Odis Lane, facing camera across gun barrel.”

Besides their own vessels, the Coast Guard manned a myriad of ships on the Navy List to include LSTs, LCIs, and transports. Notably, of the 96 Tacoma-class patrol frigates built during the war, the USCG ran 75 (the balance had gone as Lend-Lease to Russia and Britain). Of those 75, most were detailed to convoy duty in the Atlantic but 18 that were built on the West Coast were dispatched in a squadron to the Pacific where they gave a good account of themselves in ASW patrols, landing Rangers and Marines on isolated atolls, and providing NGFS for invasion forces throughout the Philippine littoral.

LAPD Goes…FN?

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Since FN’s 509 series debuted in the aftermath of the Army’s Modular Handgun System program, which FN did not win, I’ve kinda liked it.

To be fair, I also have reviewed (and run 5K rounds through) the Glock G19X and Sig Sauer P320-M17), the last two models standing for the MHS contract, and, while I liked them as well, the texture/ergos and sights of the 509 appealed to me more. Over the years, I’ve run (and now often carry) the FN 509 Compact, and the FN 509 Edge LS longslide (which I liked, but found overpriced for what it is and who it competes against), so I think I have done my time with the family.

Well, although FN couldn’t get the nod from Big Army, it looks like they did just catch the eye of big LE, as the LAPD is apparently moving away from generations of Glocks, Berettas, and S&Ws and is going with a variant of the FN 509 MRD as its new duty pistol.

The 509 MRD-LE model selected by LAPD, has a 4-inch target crowned hammer-forged barrel with a polished chamber and ramp. Other features include the company’s new flat-faced precision trigger and high-performance striker, adapted from the FN 509 LS Edge, as well as 3-dot tritium night sights co-witnessed to installed micro red dots that can be mounted via FN’s Low-Profile Optics-Mounting System, originally developed for the Army’s Modular Handgun System program.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Warthogs Along State Highway 32

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Four A-10s, pulled from the Arizona-based 15th Air Force’s 354th Fighter Squadron and the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing, landed on a four-lane stretch of Michigan state highway 32 as part of Northern Strike 21, a large-scale training exercise, in Alpena, last week.

While the Air Force has long trained to operate from roadways in Europe and Asia, and it is a common tactic often trained by overseas allies, it is super rare here in the states.

“This is the first time in history that the Air Force has purposely landed modern aircraft on a civilian roadway in the U.S.,” said the service in a statement.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alex M. Miller)

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alex M. Miller)

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alex M. Miller)

From the USAF: 

The 355th Wing participation in this exercise demonstrates the unit’s continued effort to refine its agile combat employment capabilities and Dynamic Wing concept, which improve its Airmen’s ability to operate from austere locations with limited infrastructure and personnel. The A-10’s ability to land on a variety of surfaces, like highways and unimproved landing strips, allows the Air Force to project combat airpower closer quickly.

“This proof of concept proves that we can land on any highway and continue to operate,” said Capt. John Renner, 354th FS flight commander and one of the pilots who participated in the highway landing. “The A-10 allows us to land a lot more places to get fuel, weapons and other armament so we can operate anywhere, anytime. This will allow us to get away from using built-up bases that our adversaries can target by moving much more rapidly.”

Two C-146A Wolfhounds [Dornier 328s] assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command also executed highway landings as part of the exercise, highlighting the service’s ability to integrate and employ diverse missions in austere environments. These landings align with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr.’s “Accelerate Change or Lose” strategic approach by testing and proving innovative tactics that are not typically trained to, which positions the force to outpace any potential adversary.

“This is a small step toward increasing our confidence in operating from austere locations,” said Lt. Col. Gary Glojek, 354th FS commander. “We are increasing the number of areas we can operate from to generate and deliver attack airpower by operating from dirt and pavement runways. Accelerating change is all about seizing every opportunity to move forward to increase your readiness.”

The Michigan State Police assisted the operation by blocking off the rural highway in the LP.

“No speeding citations were issued during the exercise,” noted MSP on social media.

Action at Sea!

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This image has it all, and you can almost smell the saltwater and burnt propellant. Note the assorted seagoing tattoos, Dixie cup hats, total lack of eye and ear pro, and the assistant gunner with his burning stogie.

USCG Photo 26-G-508. National Archives Identifier: 205572937

Original caption: On the target are these alert, fighting Coast Guardsmen aboard a Coast Guard ‘Sub-Buster’ somewhere on the Atlantic. Discharged shells fall to the deck from their spitting gun.

From the looks of that bronze one-piece deckhouse and the water-cooled .50 cal, the vessel in question is one of the early 83 footer “Jeep of the Deep” patrol boats used by the Coast Guard in WWII.

Deckard, is that you?

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If this doesn’t spark thoughts of attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion or C-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhauser gate, I don’t know what will.

(Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

FK Brno recently sent me the above, their PSD Multi-Caliber Pistol. A single action, tilting barrel, positive-lock mechanism pistol with a patented recoil attenuating system developed specifically to handle the “potent and highly terminal 7.5 FK cartridge.” It comes with an extra dual-caliber barrel in 10 mm/.40 S&W or in 9mm. Contrary to its looks, it actually feels really good in the hand.

So stay tuned for more interesting posts on this bad boy.

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