America’s first true attack boat at 75 (and she is still around)

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Some 75 years ago this week, the first American submarine designed (not modified) for underwater performance rather than surfaced attacks under the GUPPY program entered service.

USS Tang (SS-563) was commissioned at Portsmouth Naval Yard on 25 October 1951.

USS Tang (SS-563), underway, circa post-1950s in an official Navy photo.

The 1,600 ton (2,100 submerged) 269-foot boat was smaller than the Navy’s WWII-era fleet boats but were quieter, much faster underwater (18.3 knots vs 9 knots) and could dive nearly twice as deep (700 feet vs 400), all courtesy of the cues derived from the advanced later war high-speed German Type XXI U-boats, of which two, U-2513 and U-3008, were studied directly by the Navy as prizes for a decade.

Just look at Tang’s original profile, which resembles most of today’s better SSKs.

Now compare that to a German Type 212A SSK of today:

German U-35 leaving eckenförde for Operation Irini in the Mediterranean Sea (Type 212A)

After an impressive 28 years of service, including earning four battle stars during Vietnam, Tang was decommissioned in December 1980 and transferred to Turkey.

After another 24 years under the White Crescent flag as TCG Piri Reis (S 342), she was decommissioned a second time in 2004 and preserved as a museum ship.

Ex-TCG Piri Reis (S 342), formerly USS Tang (SS 563), alongside the ex-TCG Ege (F 256), formerly USS Ainsworth (FF 1090), at the İnciraltı Sea Museum in İzmir, Turkey, where they have been on display together for 20 years.

Echoes of Fleet Week by the Golden Gate

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Today’s San Francisco is a far cry from the city it was during WWII, but it can still turn out for the Navy at Fleet Week.

U.S. Navy photo

U.S. Navy photo

Check out this view of the Parade of Ships under the Golden Gate, past Alcatraz, possibly including the last passing of a cruiser and an LSD.

You will see USS Ashland (LSD-48), USS Cape St. George (CG-71), and USCGC Munro (WMSL-755). You will also see USCGC Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132) and the former USS Potomac (AG-25)/USCGC Electra (WPC-187).

Making it rain during Market Time

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Some 60 years ago today, just some Market Time surface action.

The Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS Mansfield (DD-728) fires her 5″/38 guns at waterborne craft off North Vietnam, north of the DMZ, 25 October 66.

Photographed by PH1 V.O. McColley, November 25, 1966. USN photo 428-GX-K-35025.

From the report of her 1966 Vietnam Westpac cruise.

She would revisit Vietnam for two additional tours, chalking up an amazing 1,727 NGFS missions according to CONGA, while taking a hit by a North Vietnamese shore battery off Tiger Island, north of the DMZ, in 1967, suffering 20 casualties.

USS Mansfield (DD-728) Underway at sea, circa 1960-1963, after her FRAM II modernization. Taken by USS Ranger (CVA-61), this photograph was received in July 1963. NH 107137

Decommissioned 4 February 1971 after a 28-year career, she was sold to  Argentina in 1974 to keep that country’s surplus Navy tin cans in service for another decade.

Mansfield earned five battle stars for World War II service, three for Korean service, and three for Vietnam, and served as an alternate NASA recovery ship for Gemini XI.

Saarim? Sarem? Sarim? A Mauser Sniper by any other name…

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How about this Yemeni “Saarim” (also seen as “Sarem”) copy of the 98 Mauser sniper rifle making the rounds in the (attributed) hands of a Houthi rebel, with a very Insurgency Sandstorm/Far Cry 6 vibe.

Note the box magazine, pistol grip, garage-made suppressor (which, if nothing else, serves as a flash hider to help with counter-sniper fire), super-high mount (possibly to help overcome the 8mm Mauser’s rainbow ballistics), and relatively low-power optic.

For those curious, Sarim / Sarem (صارم) means: brave, resolute, sharp, or a sharp sword, all fitting names for a would-be sniper rifle.

As far as I can tell, the type first showed up in a 2017 Hoplite piece by Yuri Lyamin (Craft-produced anti-materiel rifles and light cannon in Yemen).

At the time, they appeared to be 8mm 98Ks or Yugoslavian M48s, fitted with 6x24mm POSP optical sights and a wildly optimistic 1,600-meter range.

The typical drop of an 8mm Mauser (7.92x57mm) at 1,600 meters is something like 1,360.86 inches (or 113.4 feet / 34.56 meters), assuming a standard European-spec 198-grain (12.8g) bullet. That’s one hell of a holdover. Even at 500 yards, you are looking at a 50-60 inch drop and falling below 1,000 ft./lbs of energy– the latter the minimum benchmark for medium game like deer and sheep.

Still, “Despite their age, these rifles may continue to pose a threat in experienced hands, particularly when fitted with an optic,” noted Lyamin.

Plus, the country has serious generational experience with the rifle.

Yemen has been awash in Mausers for something like 140 years.

A Yemeni man with a modded Mauser Oberndorf M1887 Ottoman Turkish long rifle in Sanaa, via Al Jazeera.

As noted by Rob Krott back in a 2006 Small Arms Review piece after traveling the country extensively:

Mausers and Mauser variations are among the most common weapons in Yemen. Some are in the hands of youths whose parents have acquired more modern weapons. As the owner’s first token of manhood they are often prized possessions. The Mausers in Yemen today are nearly all Ottoman Empire in origin and represent the continuous re-equipment of the Ottoman forces throughout their occupation of Yemen, though there is also a large number of World War II era German 98K Mausers fielded in Yemen. It’s possible these 98Ks were from captured stocks provided by the Soviets as aid in the 1960s. While visiting a Bedouin encampment in the Hawdramawt, I fired probably a half-dozen Mauser 98Ks over the course of three days in impromptu shooting competitions. All were well maintained and serviceable.

While, sure, the Sarim is kinda hokey-looking, if it is zeroed and holds point of aim/impact, and the user understands its dope, I wouldn’t want to be downrange of it under any circumstances.

A Decent Looking CSG by any measure

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How about this great PHOTEX featuring the 30,000-ton F-35-equipped Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour (CVH 550), her companion strike group, and the multinational squadron of Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2), sailing together during Exercise Mare Aperto (Italian for “Open Sea”) ’26 in the Western Mediterranean.

The Freedom-class littoral combat ship off Cavour’s port side is actually TCG Burgazada (F-513), a Turkish Navy Ada-class ASW corvette that’s almost a dead ringer for the LCS, but with some decent sub-busting gear.

Note the collection includes 13 escorts and three replenishment ships. At least six are FREMM-class frigates (Italian Bergamini class, French Aquitaine class), with their very distinctive tall silhouettes visible.

Cavour is carrying a mixed air wing of 11 AV-8B and F-35Bs, an AB212, and two SH-90s.

The exercise runs until 24 October in the waters around Sardinia, with the Cavour group at its core.

For those curious, SNMG2 is under the command of Greek Commodore Georgios Kypriotis on his flagship, the Elli (Kortenaer) class HS Kountouriotis (F462), with the Spanish Bazan-class frigate ESPS Blas de Lezo (F103), Italian FREMM (Bergamini)-class ITS Federico Martinengo (F596), Turkish corvette TCG Burgazada (F513), and Spanish AOE ESPS Patiño (A14).

Carrier Group escorts include the frigates ITS Virginio Fasan (F 591), along with the Spanish Bazan-class SPS Cristóbal Colón (F 105), and Santa Maria (FFG 7) class SPS Navarra (F 85).

Gremlins and Hornets: Gun Industry Leaning into Drone-on-Drone Combat

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Last week, Federal, Mossberg, and SIG quietly announced new initiatives to arm unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for future air-to-air combat.

SwarmShot

Federal Ammunition, Mossberg,  and the Palladyne AI Corp have teamed up to develop “SwarmShot,” which is being described as a modular, autonomous airborne counter-UAS system. In other words, an armed drone that is capable of shooting down other drones.

Designed to counter hostile drone swarms affordably and effectively, the system will integrate Federal’s unnamed specialized counter-UAS shotshell ammunition, a lightweight Mossberg airborne weapon module (we guess based on the 990 Aftershock autoloader), and Palladyne’s IntelliSwarm autonomy software.

One of these, san grips, fore arm, and anything else not needed, fired via solenoid:

Gremlin-X has a 10-pound payload and the 990 Aftershock, loaded 5+1, only goes a bit over 7, with furniture, which won’t be needed.

Initially launching as a modular mission add-on for Palladyne’s Gremlin-X quadcopter mini-bomber, which will let a single aircraft toggle between precision-strike and counter-drone missions, effectively a small drone “fighter bomber,” the technology is planned to expand into a kit for drones made by others.

“One SwarmShot-equipped aircraft is a reusable interceptor. Multiple aircraft operating through IntelliSwarm become a coordinated kinetic swarm,” said Ben Wolff, President and CEO of Palladyne AI. “Gremlin-X gives us the first complete system, and the multi-OEM kit gives the partnership a path to scale.”

As for Mossberg, they are engineering the weapon module around a set of unique requirements of recoil, remote actuation, reliability, and safety. Meanwhile, Federal, building on recent counter-drone work with the U.S. Army, will determine the best loads for the module.

“Federal provides the terminal effect. Mossberg provides the weapon. Palladyne AI provides the reach, intelligence and teammates,” Wolff said.

SIG Debuts the Hornet

This week at the Association of the United States Army trade show in Washington, D.C., SIG Sauer exhibited not only its staple small arms but also a whole slate of drone technologies including the fixed-wing Scythe in two different sizes and the 5-inch Saber quad-copter.

 

The XRAY9 C-UAS optic, sure to see at least some trials with the NGSW…

And a super interesting .22 LR “payload attachment.”

Dubbed the MH322 M-Hornet, the module is a light (under 21 ounces), electronically actuated, remote-controlled .22 LR firearm designed to be used “across compact unmanned platforms.”

The SIG M-Hornet. (Photo: SIG)

Servo-activated, it has a 20- or 25-round magazine and offers visible or IR laser aiming. With the “322” designator, you have to wonder how much of the Hornet is based on the P322 pistol, which uses a stainless steel internal chassis that holds the fire control unit and is one of the neatest new rimfire handguns on the market.

At SHOT Show earlier this year, we saw SIG with an underslung M250 6.8mm light machine gun on an APUS-60 quadcopter UAV, so it’s nice to see a more compact kinetic option as well.

The future is now, guys.

Bengals on the Road in Finland

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Check out this great tiger-striped F-35B from the “Fighting Bengals” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 224 on a highway near remote Tervo, Finland (pop. 1,385), earlier this year conducting hot-pit refueling FARP operations as part of during Exercise Ramstein Flag 2026.

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Keng Lee, from Wisconsin, a powerline mechanic with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 224, Marine Aircraft Group 31, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, salutes Maj. Danny Sorrells, from Georgia, an F-35B Lightning II pilot with VMFA-224, during exercise Ramstein Flag 2026 in Tervo, Finland, June 10, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Mya Seymour)

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jaheim Elrasul, from New York, an expeditionary fuels technician with Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 272, Marine Air Control Group 28, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, conducts forward arming and refueling point operations in a simulated chemical biological radiological and nuclear environment during exercise Ramstein Flag 2026 in Tervo, Finland, June 10, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Mya Seymour)

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Mya Seymour)

Two U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 224, Marine Aircraft Group 31, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, land during exercise Ramstein Flag 2026 in Tervo, Finland, June 10, 2026. The F-35 serves as a versatile asset in support of expeditionary and rapid deployment operations, displaying U.S. capabilities alongside NATO allies throughout RAFL26. RAFL26 is NATO’s premier multi-domain tactical exercise involving 19 nations and over 15 operational locations. The exercise provides realistic combat scenarios in complex environments and is designed to enhance the Alliance’s deterrence and collective defense. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Mya Seymour)

Two U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 224, Marine Aircraft Group 31, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, fly overhead during exercise Ramstein Flag 2026 in Tervo, Finland, June 10, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Mya Seymour)

260611-M-GQ491-1018

U.S. Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 224, Marine Aircraft Group 31, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, taxi an F-35B Lightning II down a flight line during exercise Ramstein Flag 2026 at Rovaniemi Air Base, Finland, June 5, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Perri Wood)

The squadron has a lot of experience on austere airfields.

Commissioned as Marine Fighter Squadron (VMF) 224 on 1 May 1942 at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa Hawaii, the squadron was saddled first with Brewster F2A Buffalos then graduated to F4F Wildcats and was thrown into combat just four months later when, on 2 September, it assisted with intercepting a 40 plane raid on Guadalcanal’s embattled Henderson Field.

Later upgrading to Corsairs, VMF-224 ended the war with a confirmed tally of 115.5 enemy aircraft, 60.5 over Guadalcanal and another 55 during the Okinawa campaign.

1944 photo of bomb-laden Marine F4U Corsairs of VMF-224 taxiing out for an airstrike from Majuro Airfield

The jet age brought the F2H-2 Banshee to the squadron, then a re-rate to the attack role with the A4D Skyhawk in 1956– the first Marine outfit to fly the Scooter.

After taking Heinemann’s Hot-Rod to Vietnam in 1965, operating out of Chu Lai, they came back in 1971 as Marine All Weather Attack Squadron 224 (VMA(AW)-224) flying A-6 Intruders with CAW-15 off USS Coral Sea.

Shifting gears to the two-seat F-18D in 1993 as the A-6 was being phased out (they had just dropped  2.3 million pounds of ordnance during 422 combat sorties in Desert Storm), the squadron shifted to the F-35B in 2025.

And they had a double-nuts (00) “color” bird then as well, complete with stripes.

Illuminated by the setting sun after landing at Al Asad, Iraq, Jan. 15, a ‘tiger striped’ F/A-18D Hornet with Marine (All Weather) Fighter Attack Squadron 224 rests in the new hangar area prepared for the squadron by 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Marines. Photo by Cpl. Paul Leicht

Based at MCAS Beaufort, the Bengals these days fall under MAG-31 and 2nd MAW.

Shangri-La at 85

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On the road this week, so an abbreviated Warship Wednesday.

Some 85 years ago this week, the final Yorktown-class fleet carrier, USS Hornet (CV-8), was commissioned on 20 October 1941 at Naval Operating Base Norfolk, Capt. Marc Andrew “Pete” Mitscher (USNA 1910) in command.

Laid down on 25 September 1939, three weeks after Hitler crossed into Poland, she had launched at Newport News on 14 December 1940; sponsored by Mrs. Annie Reid Knox (nee Reid), wife of SECNAV Frank Knox.

These below LIFE images from Thomas Mcavoy cover her commissioning, after which she brought the U.S. Navy temporarily up to seven fleet carriers when counting the smallish but still capable Ranger and Wasp. It was a benchmark figure that, after May 1942 with the loss of Lexington, Yorktown, Wasp, and later Hornet herself, that the Navy would not see again until, ironically, an altogether different Hornet (CV 12) would enter the fleet in August 1943.

She would soon receive her “warpaint,” a Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage scheme, and soon after shipped out to the Pacific with it March 1942.

Original Kodachrome. USS Hornet (CV-8) at Hampton Roads, with Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage scheme. She still wears this scheme at the bottom of the South Pacific today. 80-GK-439

USS Hornet Entering Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, May 1942, 80-G-66129

She quickly made a name for herself in the Doolittle Raid, after which FDR remarked the Army B-25s had come from mystical Shangri-La.

Orders In Hand, Capt. Marc A. Mitscher, USN, skipper of USS Hornet, chats with Lt. Colonel James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle before pinning a Japanese “peace medal” to a 500-pound bomb headed for Tokyo with his raiders. (U.S. Air Force Number 84959AC, Official U.S. Navy Photograph W-TR-1-41191)

She then took part in Midway and the Guadalcanal operations, but was lost after being severely damaged in the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942, having completed 372 days of service.

Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942. USS Hornet (CV-8) is hit by a Japanese “VAL” dive bomber, which dove into the ship’s superstructure after being damaged by anti-aircraft fire, 26 October. More Japanese flames are at right. One frame of a sequence, taken from USS Pensacola (CA-24). National Archives photograph, 80-G-33948.

It was a strong year, one for the record books.

Her replacement, CV-12, decommissioned in 1970 with seven WWII and another seven Vietnam campaign stars to her credit and  and is preserved as a museum ship, but it is long since time that the Navy bring the name back for the ninth USS Hornet.

Long since.

USS Hornet CV-8 by Gordon Grant NH 82718-KN

Faughs in Kenya

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The active four-year period of the Mau Mau Rebellion in British Colonial Kenya wrapped up 70 years ago this week on 21 October 1956 with the capture of wounded Kenya Land and Freedom Army Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi. The 36-year-old revolutionary, whose formal military training amounted to a month “taking the King’s shilling” in 1940 before being discharged for drunkenness, was subsequently tried and hanged.

Speaking of taking the schilling…

Official period caption: “At the Naivasha Rifle Range, the 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Fusiliers give members of the Rift Valley Home Guard the chance to handle modern weapons including a Vickers machine gun.”

Dig those windproofs! IWM (MAU 867)

As detailed by the Royal Irish:

The 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Fusiliers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel G J Hamilton DSO, landed in Mombasa on 30 January 1955. The Battalion deployed A Company to North Kinangop and B Company to South Kinangop in the West Aberdares. The rest of the Battalion deployed around Navisha in the Rift Valley with a Tactical Area of Responsibility of around 1,600 square miles.

The Battalion conducted counter-terrorist operations against the Mau Mau fighters who were raiding white Kenyan-owned farms and properties and terrorising the black Kenyan workers.

The Battalion’s advance party arrived at Ogbourne St George, England, in October 1955, and the main body departed Kenya on 24 December 1955 aboard the HMT Captain Cook. However, within weeks, the Battalion was moved to Bulford, and then in June 1956, the Battalion moved to Wuppertal in the Federal Republic of (West) Germany.

Kenya became independent in 1963, has been in the Commonwealth since 1964, and “The Faughs” of the Royal Irish Fusiliers– from their motto Faugh-a-Ballagh (“Clear the Way”)– in 1968 were amalgamated with the other regiments of the North Irish Brigade, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Royal Ulster Rifles, to become the Royal Irish Rangers, which were in turn later merged with the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1992 to form today’s The Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th and the Ulster Defence Regiment) which was deployed in Africa as recently as 2022 to Mali.

The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum is in Armagh.

Fear God and Dread Nought

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As you know by following this page, the original game-changing battleship whose form would dominate all its type moving forward, HMS Dreadnought (00), entered service some 120 years ago, launched at HM Dockyard Portsmouth on 10 February 1906 and commissioned on 2 December.

The 18,000-ton juggernaut (21,000 tons deep load) was swathed in as much as 12 inches of Krupp cemented armor produced under license at William Beardmore’s mill in Dalmuir, Scotland. The warship was held together by nearly 2 million rivets.

To salute the ship, Korth Waffen in Germany has developed a tribute to “The Beauty of Brutality,” a limited edition 5-inch .357 Magnum with a smoked nitride finish dubbed simply, Dreadnought, complete with faux rivet pattern.

Not sure how many were produced, likely a handful, but Nighthawk had them listed for $9,574, as befitting Korth wheel guns.

Had.

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