Victory At Sea: 245 Years

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A 13 October 1775 resolution of the Continental Congress established what is now the United States Navy with “a swift sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage guns, and a proportionable number of swivels, with eighty men, be fitted, with all possible despatch, for a cruise of three months….” After the American War of Independence, the U.S. Constitution empowered the new Congress “to provide and maintain a navy.” Acting on this authority, Congress established the Department of the Navy on 30 April 1798.

In 1972, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt authorized official recognition of 13 October as the birthday of the U.S. Navy. Since then, each CNO has encouraged a Navy-wide celebration of this occasion “to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage, and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service.”

NORWEGIAN SEA (Nov. 22, 2019) The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley (DDG 101) fires its Mark 45 5-inch gun during a live-fire exercise. Gridley is underway on a scheduled deployment as the flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group One to conduct maritime operations and provide a continuous maritime capability for NATO in the Northern Atlantic. (U.S. Navy photo by Master-At-Arms 1st Class Joseph Broyles)

Crimean Cobra floated

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Meanwhile, in Crimea’s Kalamata Bay, a joint effort between the Russian Geographic Society and Russian Ministry of Defence has retrieved a gently-used Bell P-39 Airacobra from the bottom of the Black Sea.

Discovered at a depth of just 19 feet, about a half-mile offshore, the specimen joined the Black Sea Fleet in late 1943 as Lend-Lease and was lost in July 1944, piloted by one Lieutenant Vladimir Shishkin, who was able to swim ashore from his ditched aircraft, which he splashed down after the engine conked out.

Note her centerline 37mm M4 cannon in the prop hub and twin synchronized Browning M2 machine guns, probably the last Allied fighter designed to fire through a spinning propeller. P-39s also carried another pair of .50s in their wing roots, giving them a very centralized 5-gun punch.

Dubbed the Kobrushka (little cobra) by the Soviets, the aircraft was loved on the Eastern Front for its ability to operate from rugged strips and ticked up a great kill ratio against German attack and observation aircraft such as the slow-moving Stuka and Fw 189 Uhu while running ground support tasks.

Almost half of the P-39s and improved P-69s produced– 4,719– were sent to the Soviets, mostly flown and handed over warm via the Alaska-Siberia ferry route. 

Other “Red Star” Cobras have been found in better condition over the years

The Russians kept the type in service into the early 1950s, at which point the spares had run out and Washington wasn’t sending any more.

P-69 Kingcobras before being sent to the USSR via Alaska 1944 

Nice to see more metal

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No, I am not talking about Metallica, I am speaking of the trend in modern handguns to “throwback” from polymer frames to something with a bit more rigidity. Walther did this a minute ago by taking their Q5 and later their Q4 plastic guns and marketing them in a beefier steel frame format.

Now, Sig Sauer has taken their P320 model, which has a serialized internal fire control pack that can be swapped out among many different polymer grip modules and introduced it in an upgraded model with an alloy frame akin to the old P220-225-226-228-229 line.

Meet the P320 AXG Scorpion, with their new Alloy XSeries Grip module.

That’s nice…

Notably, Sig had previously used an alloy frame on their presentation M17s issued to the watch sergeants of the Old Guard’s Tomb Sentinels.

Determined Warrior

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Some 20 years ago today, on 12 October 2000, while she was being refueled in Yemen’s Aden harbor, the Ingalls-built Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Cole (DDG-67), was attacked by terrorists who left 17 sailors dead and 39 others seriously injured, damaging the ship to the point that she was almost lost.

Her crew endured, and the lessons learned from that attack have helped mold current DC and topside security protocals.

Today, almost a quarter-century after her commissioning, USS Cole is still very much on active duty.

An extensive tour of the “Determined Warrior,” below:

“He’s as bad as the worst and as good as the best of us”

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The Treasury-class United States Coast Guard Cutter George W. Campbell (WPG/AGC/WHEC-32) was 327-feet of rock and roll. Entering service on the eve of WWII, she spent the conflict first on the razor edge of FDR’s neutrality patrol, then, once the balloon went up, as a Navy gunboat on the more frozen regions of the North Atlantic, shepherding 19 convoys across the big, U-boat infested waters.

It was on this duty that maritime artist Anton Fischer famously accompanied the ship.

Coast Guard Cutter Campbell by Fischer.

Campbell would end the war as an amphibious warfare command ship in the Pacific then go on to have tours in the Korean War and Vietnam before she was finally dispatched in 1984 in a SINKEX.

After that final mission, the Commandant of the Coast Guard flashed, “The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen,” celebrating her 46-year career.

However, this post is about Campbell’s equally famous mascot, Sinbad.

Sinbad of the USCGC Campbell (WPG-32) keeps an eye on the convoy in the North Atlantic with his fellow crewman, circa 1943

“Sinbad,” mascot on Coast Guard cutter Campbell, circa 1944, shown at “General Quarters” on the cutter’s 5″/51. Note the “kill” mark for a U-boat

As detailed by the USCGC’s Historian’s Office:

The crew of the Coast Guard cutter Campbell adopted a mixed-breed puppy in 1938. Little did they know that their canine companion would become a world-famous Coast Guard veteran. He was, literally, a member of the crew, complete with all the necessary enlistment forms and other official paperwork, uniforms, and his own bunk. He sailed on board the combat-tested cutter through World War II and saw much action, both at sea and in port.

As Life Magazine reported: “An Old Sea Dog Has Favorite Bars and Plenty of Girls in Every Port.” Until recently he had the honor and distinction of being the only Coast Guardsman to be the subject of a biography! It was Sinbad of the Coast Guard, written by Chief Specialist George R. Foley, USCGR and published by Dodd, Mead and Company of New York during the war. The book made him an international celebrity.

Sinbad was a common figure in recruiting-centered advertising during WWII.

Sinbad, who was aboard when Campbell fought U-606 on her convoy duty, was also kinda squirrely and got in trouble a lot. For instance, he was ashore on liberty one night in Southern Greenland and created quite a ruckus by chasing the residents’ sheep around the country-side. Sinbad was then duly masted and banished from shore leave in Greenland for the remainder of his days:

“Sinbad is a salty sailor but he’s not a good sailor. He’ll never rate gold hashmarks nor Good Conduct Medals. He’s been on report several times and he’s raised hell in a number of ports. On a few occasions, he has embarrassed the United States Government by creating disturbances in foreign zones. Perhaps that’s why Coast Guardsmen love Sinbad, he’s as bad as the worst and as good as the best of us.”

The old USCGC Campbell‘s name was recycled some 30 years ago in a 270-foot Famous-Class cutter homeported in Kittery, Maine. While she has had her own run-ins with a different kind of submarine in recent years.

A bronze Sinbad holds a place of honor over the cutter’s mess. 

Returning to her namesake’s stomping grounds, the current Campbell recently operated in conjunction with the Danish Navy in Greenland’s waters.

USCGC CAMPBELL transited south along the west coast of Greenland overnight with the HDMS KNUD RASMUSSEN and rendezvoused in a position just offshore of Evighedsfjorden (Eternity Fjord). CAMPBELL received KNUD’s Executive Officer, Commander Bo Ougaard, on board to serve as an ice pilot and provide local knowledge to assist CAMPBELL in safely entering and transiting Evighedsfjorden. Once inside Eternity Fjord, CAMPBELL launched her MH-65 Dolphin aircraft and proceeded up the fjord to the head where the glacier begins. (Photo by Seaman Kate Kilroy)

While in Greenland, they also took Sinbad ashore, with the Chiefs taking him drinking at a local dive.

Sinbad at the Port of Nuuk Greenland Campbell (Photo by Seaman Kate Kilroy)

As noted by Campbell’s goat locker:

Our Chief Petty Officers (the only ones allowed to touch the bronze Sinbad statue on our messdeck) brought Sinbad ashore in Nuuk, Greenland, for his return today. It’s good to see Sinbad back in Greenland again!

Bravo Zulu!

Of braces and Honey Badgers

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So, as a backgrounder, the Honey Badger, the gun that broke the internet in 2012 came originally from Georgia-based AAC, the byproduct of a proposed replacement for the HK MP5/MP7 for use by special operations groups.

Thus: The circa 2012 O.G. AAC Honey Badger, which was proposed as the Low Visibility Carbine for special ops about a decade ago, upping the ante on the MP5/MP7 with .300 Blackout. Of interest, I held this very gatt in Remington’s Gun Library in Hunstville a few years ago. 

Kevin Brittingham, whose team at AAC developed the Honey Badger initially, moved on and started Q in New Hampshire in 2017, with the current version of the HBP as its flagship firearm. Q, up until very recently, sold it both as an SBR which required a tax stamp, and as a no-stamp-required pistol using an SB Tactical stabilizing arm brace.

Boom: the current Q Honey Badger Pistol. No select-fire and an arm brace sans stock.

Well, the ATF has just come in and zapped them over the pistol version saying that, it too is an SBR, not because of the brace but because of the sub of its parts and how it was marketed.

A possible reason could be that Q formerly listed the HB Pistol version as having a “2-POSITION TELESCOPING STOCK” rather than a brace on their website once upon a time, which seems just like a copy/paste mistake when their e-comm person set up the page, using the same copy from the SBR page.

But, the minor mistake in advertising, which surely could be easily cleared up, has now gone nuclear and the ATF isn’t taking any prisoners in the effort to dub the HBP an SBR through some sort of arbitrary concept without showing their mental gymnastics. The end result could be upwards of 4 million legal gun owners who have braces on their AR/AK pistols becoming potential felons by default once the smoke clears.

Spread Your Wings…

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While EVH wasn’t a vet, Van Halen did produce what was the best low-key recruiting video of 1986 with Dreams, filmed in conjunction with the Blue Angels during that odd 12-year period between the F4 and F-18 when the Blues flew Kelly Johnson’s Heinemann’s Hot-Rod.

Vale, Eddie.

California Cossacks in the PI

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“Cossack Outpost” Circa 1899:

“Shows Filipino breastwork constructed of bamboo and bundles of reeds piled up. Thatched roof building in the background, a wall lined with soldiers armed with rifles, one carries binoculars.

“California created the First Battalion of California Heavy Artillery, United States Volunteers in answer to the President’s call for troops. Consisted of four batteries, A through D, batteries A and D were assigned to Philippine Islands Expeditionary Forces, remaining batteries served in the U.S.”

Photo drawn from the album documents experiences of Frank Freeman Atkinson, Sergeant in Battery D., Plates in: Spanish American War and Philippine insurrection: photographic album of California Heavy Artillery, with scenes in camp and views of the Philippines, v. 2, pg. 3, no. 81.

Aliens inbound

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For the past couple of years, I have been chasing around the Laugo Arms Alien, an interesting albeit pricy competition pistol made in the Czech Republic to a clean sheet design by the same guy who came up with the CZ Scorpion EVO.

(Photo: Chris Eger)

This week it was announced that Lancer Arms, in Pennsylvania, was granted an import license for the Alien and, after what is expected to be 4-6 weeks or so of hoops on the Czech end of things, the pistol should finally be here.

Now if they could just do something about the price.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Welcome back, USS Constellation

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I am a sucker for naval tradition and, while 20th Century frigates/destroyer escorts were named either for small towns (see Asheville– and Tacoma-classes) or heroes that are often otherwise forgotten (see Evarts-, Buckley-, Cannon-, Edsall-class, et.al), it was announced yesterday that the fleet’s next frigate class will start off with a familiar name– that of one of the First Six frigates of the newly-formed U.S. Navy, USS Constellation.

Action between U.S. Frigate Constellation and French Frigate Insurgente, 9 February 1799. Painting by Rear Admiral John W. Schmidt, USN (Retired), depicting Constellation (at left) taking position ahead of Insurgente. After an hour-and-a-quarter engagement, the badly outmaneuvered and damaged French frigate surrendered. Constellation was commanded by Captain Thomas Truxtun. Courtesy of the artist. Official U.S. Navy photograph, KN-2882.

Serving from 1797 and named in honor of the collection of 15 stars on the young country’s flag, the original 164-foot, 38-gun Constellation, called “The Yankee Racehorse” due to her speed, endured until 1853 when she was “greatly repaired” at Gosport Navy Yard to become the 179-foot 20-gun sloop-of-war that carried the same name and is currently preserved in Baltimore.

The third completed Connie, of more modern vintage, was the massive Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier which was in service from 1961 to 2003 and is remembered for her hard service in Vietnam, the Cold War, the Tanker War, and Iraq as “America’s Flagship.” Sadly, she was scrapped in 2015.

An aerial port beam view of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CV-64) as crew members form the Battle E awards for excellence on the flight deck of the ship. 1 August 1986 National Archives and Records Administration photo, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 6429186 https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6429186

Now, as announced by SECNAV Kenneth J. Braithwaite this week, USS Constellation (FFG 62) will be the lead ship in the new Guided Missile Frigate (FFG(X)) class.

Appropriately, he made the announcement while aboard the museum ship Constellation in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

BALTIMORE (Oct. 7, 2020) Secretary of the Navy Kenneth J. Braithwaite announces USS Constellation (FFG 62) as the name for the first ship in the new Guided Missile Frigate class of ships while aboard the museum ship Constellation in Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Md., Oct. 7, 2020. As the first in her class, the future Guided Missile Frigates will be known as the Constellation Class frigates. Braithwaite visited the museum ship Constellation for the announcement to honor the first U.S. Navy ships authorized by Congress in 1794. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Levingston Lewis)

The Navy emphasized that the FFG-X will be fighting ships, rather than the LCSs we currently have:

As the next generation of small surface combatants will contribute to meeting the goal of 355 battle force ships. With the ability to operate independently or as part of a strike group, it will deliver an Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR), Mk 41 Vertical Launching System, and Baseline 10 (BL 10) Aegis Combat System capabilities. The ships lethality, survivability, and improved capability will provide Fleet Commanders multiple options while supporting the National Defense Strategy across the full range of military operations.

It would be great if the next ships of the class repeat other First Six names (Chesapeake, Congress, and President) not currently in use, and carry forward with other famous ship names moving forward (e.g. why do we not have a Ranger, Hornet, Intrepid, etc?).

Either way, it is better than naming them for politicians and labor leaders. 

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