Besides Annapolis, the Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the Maritime Administration currently supports several four-year schools that produce merchant and USCGR/USNR officers. These six schools include the California State University Maritime Academy, Maine Maritime Academy, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Great Lakes Maritime Academy, Texas A&M Maritime Academy, and the State University of New York Maritime College.
However, these schools have long used second- (or third- or fourth-) hand seagoing vessels that in some cases date back to the 1960s and do not reflect any modern merchant vessel afloat.
With that, there are changes afoot.
Behold the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV). Note the Seahawk on deck
MARAD last week announced the selection of Philly Shipyard, Inc. of Philadelphia to construct the newest class of training ship; the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV), after a decade-long push.
“The shipyard will construct up to five new ships to provide world-class maritime training for America’s future mariners at the state maritime academies. The NSMV will feature numerous instructional spaces and a full training bridge with space for up to 600 cadets to train in a first-rate maritime academic environment at sea. The NSMV will also be available to uniquely support federal government efforts in response to national and international disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes.”
Principle Dimensions
• Length 159.85 m (524’-5”)
• Beam 27.0 m (88’-7”)
• Depth 16.8 m (55’-1.5”)
• Design Draft 6.5 m (21’-4”)
Range
• 11,000+ miles at 18 knots
Propulsion, Speed & Consumption
• Diesel Electric –4 main engines divided
between 2 engine rooms
• Total Installed Power –14,280 kW Main
Engines (four 4,200 kW);
• Plus one, 900 kW
• Full Speed –18 knots with 15% sea
margin –4 engines
• Cruising Speed –12 knots with 2 main
engines in one engine room
• Uni-fuel for simplicity and operation in
the US ECA –MGO only
Accommodation
• Training Ship Mode –600 cadets, 100
officer, faculty, staff & crew
• Surge capacity for Humanitarian
Assistance/Disaster Response missions
• Food Storage for 60 days
• Fresh Water Storage for 14 days
Upon completion, the first NSMV vessel will be delivered to MARAD who will then provide the ship to SUNY Maritime for use as a training ship.
Now to reboot the MSC and get some strategic sealift vessels made in this century on the list.
This 17 May 1988 image shows peak Cold War frogmen foreshadowing the role they would increasingly carry out in the Sandbox for the next 30 years.
Dig that chocolate chip camo! U.S. Navy Photo DN-ST-8902888 by PH2 Jeffrey Loshaw
Official caption: Two Sea-Air-Land (SEAL) team members, one equipped with an AN/PAQ-1 laser target designator, right, the other armed with an M14 rifle, assume a defensive position after assaulting the beach during an amphibious demonstration for the 14th Annual Inter-American Naval Conference.
The AN/PAQ-1 Laser Target Designator (LTD) was developed by Hughes Aircraft in the 1960s and 1970s, reaching IOC around 1979.
The chunky 16-pound infrared laser rangefinder/designator could either obtain target range or paint a target for early “smart” munitions like the Copperhead 155mm shell, Hellfire and Maverick missiles, and Paveway guided bombs.
Either shoulder or tripod-mounted, the LTD was shipped in a 64-pound transit case with accessories to include the designator, four battery-shoulder stocks, and a cleaning kit.
Of note, the current AN/PED-1 Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinder (LLDR) incorporates a thermal imager, day camera, laser designator spot imaging, electronic display, eye-safe laser rangefinder, digital magnetic compass, Selective Availability/Anti-Spoofing Module Global Positioning System (SAASM GPS) and digital export capability. With batteries for a 24-hour mission, it weighs 29.5-pounds. The Army is currently working on a better, and lighter, model.
Caption: Their ardor undampened by a drizzling rain, Marines and Navy Seabees attend open-air divine services atop Mount Suribachi on blood-stained Iwo Jima. Covered by a poncho, a small organ provides musical accompaniment while a small choir sings hymns. Even as Chaplain Alvo Martin conducted these Easter services, on 1 April, fellow Marines and Army troops were swarming ashore on Okinawa, hundreds of miles away.
An SH-60B Sea Hawk helicopter is secured by flight deck crewmen aboard the battleship Iowa (BB-61) on 1 Sep 1985. Official USN photo # DN-ST-86-02511, by PHC Jeff Hilton,
The Iowa-class battleships received official helicopter pads and a helicopter control station below their after 5-inch director–although no hangar facilities– in the 1980s during their Lehman 600-ship Navy modernization.
The helicopter control station on the 02 level of the battleship Iowa (BB-61). Official USN photo # DN-ST-86-09557, by PH1 Jeff Hilton
They used them to host visiting Navy SH-60 and SH-2s, as well as the occasional Marine UH-1, CH-46, and CH-53 while also running their own early RQ-2A Pioneer UAV detachments–to which Iraqi units would later surrender to during the 1st Gulf War.
Crew members on board the battleship USS Iowa (BB 61) prepare an HSL-32 SH-2F Seasprite helicopter for launch from the fantail of the ship during NATO Exercise Northern Wedding in August 1986. NNAM photo
Crew members aboard Iowa (BB-61) wait for a Helicopter Light Anti-Submarine Squadron 34 (HSL-34) SH-2F Seasprite helicopter to be secured before transporting a badly burned sailor injured during NATO exercise North Wedding 86. Official USN photo # DN-ST-87-00280, by PH1 Jeff Hilton
CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter approaches the landing area at the stern of the battleship USS IOWA (BB 61)
A CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter is parked on the helicopter pad during flight operations aboard the battleship USS IOWA (BB-61).
A U.S. Marine Corps Boeing Vertol CH-46D Sea Knight (BuNo 154023) of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165 (HMM-165) prepares to land aboard the battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64). The helicopter was transporting Allied military personnel who were coming aboard the ship to be briefed by Wisconsin´s Commanding Officer, Capt. D.S. Bill. The meeting was taking place during the 1991 Gulf War. 6 February 1991 Navy Photo DN-ST-92-07868 by PH2 Robert Clare, USN
The curator of the Battleship New Jersey Museum tours the ship’s helicopter deck.
However, the 1980s-90s by far was not the first time those dreadnoughts sported whirly-birds.
1948-55
Back in 1948, while the ships still had floatplane catapults and a quartet of Curtiss SC-2 Seahawk floatplanes on their stern, USS Missouri (BB-63) accommodated a visiting experimental Sikorsky S-51, piloted by D. D. (Jimmy) Viner, a chief test pilot for Sikorsky.
Sikorsky HO3S-1 helicopter (Bureau # 122527) landing on Missouri’s forward 16-inch gun turret, during the 1948 Midshipmen’s cruise. Guard mail, ships’ newspapers, and personnel were exchanged via helicopter while the Midshipmen’s cruise squadron was at sea. Most exchanges were made by hovering pick-up. The forward turret was used as a landing platform since the floatplane catapults on the ship’s fantail prevented helicopters from operating there. The photo was filed on 13 September 1948. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-706093
With the cats deleted in the early 1950s, the Iowas saw more HO3s, now equipped with folding blade rotors and externally-mounted rescue hoists.
USS New Jersey (BB-62) A Sikorsky HO3S-1 helicopter of squadron HU-1 takes off from the battleship’s afterdeck, while she was operating off Korea. The upraised green flag signifies that the pilot has permission to take off. Crash crew, in yellow helmets, are standing by with fire hoses ready. This helicopter is Bureau # 124350. The photograph is dated 14 April 1953. The photographer is Lt. R.C. Timm. 80-G-K-16320
USS Iowa (BB-61) steams out of Wonsan harbor, Korea, after a day’s bombardment. The photograph is dated 18 April 1952. Note HO3S helicopter parked on the battleship’s after deck. Also, note the WWII catapults are deleted but the floatplane crane is still on her stern. NH 44537
USS Wisconsin (BB-64) snow falling on the battleship’s after deck, 8 February 1952, while she was serving with Task Force 77 in Korean waters. Note 16″/50cal guns of her after turret, and Sikorsky HO3S-1 helicopter parked on deck. Photographed by AF3c M.R. Adkinson. 80-G-441035
Four Marine HO4S/H-19 (Sikorsky S-55) and one Navy HO3S/H5 on the fantail of USS Missouri during the Korean War, 1952. The H-19s are likely of HMR-161, which largely proved the use of such aircraft in Korea.
Vietnam
New Jersey also supported the occasional helicopter during her reactivation in the Vietnam war. Notably, she received 16-inch shells and powder tanks from USS Mount Katmai (AE-16) by H-34 helicopter lift, the first time heavy battleship ammunition had been transferred by helicopter at sea.
New Jersey (BB-62) underway off the Virginia Capes with an SH-3D Sea King from HS-3 “Tridents”, (attached to the Randolph CVS-15 and a squadron of CVSG-56), about to land on the fantail. However, it is more likely that the helicopter flew out to the “Big J” from NAS Norfolk. Official Navy Photograph # K-49736, taken by PH3 E. J. Bonner on 24 May 1968, via Navsource.
Two UH-1 Huey helicopters resting on the fantail of the New Jersey (BB-62) during her service in December 1968 off Vietnam. Courtesy of Howard Serig, via Navsource.
But wait, old boy
With all that being said, it should be pointed out that it was the Brits who first successfully used a helicopter on their last battlewagon, HMS Vanguard, in 1947, a full year before Missouri’s first rotor-wing visit.
Sikorsky R-4 Hoverfly landing on the quarterdeck of HMS Vanguard on February 1, 1947 off of Portland Bill.
Landing a Sikorsky R4 helicopter on the aft deck of the battleship Vanguard February 1, 1947
And Vanguard would go on to operate both RN FAA Westland WS-51 Dragonflies and USN Piasecki HUP-2s on occasion in the 1950s.
Here we see a bespoke U.S. Army cavalry officer, leaning on his French-style soldier’s cane, somewhere in Europe during the Great War. He is sporting the latest in chemical warfare fashion to include a British Small Box Respirator, M1917 “Brodie” helmet, and a gun belt with an M1911 pistol in a Model 1912 Mounted (Cavalry) holster with the tie cord wrapped around the bottom. He completes the ensemble with 1908 Pattern breeches (Jodhpurs) and officer’s riding boots while a Model 1918 Mackinaw coat keeps him as warm as German artillery fire.
Original caption, “Mammoth 274-mm railroad gun Captured in the U.S. Seventh Army advance near Rentwertshausen easily holds these 22 men lined up on the barrel. Although of an 1887 French design, the gun packs a powerful wallop. April 10, 1945.”
The men are likely from the 10th Armored and 45th Infantry Division, 7th U.S. Army.
U.S. National Archives photo 111-SC-203308 by T5c. Pat. W. Kohl, U.S. Army Signal Corps
Bouvet, the large circled secondary gun is a 10.8″/45.
Once these ships were disarmed and relegated to status as barracks barges or hulks, these big breechloaders, capable of firing a 500~ pound shell to as far as 17 miles if given enough muzzle elevation and powder charges, were repurposed during WWI by the French Army as railroad guns.
While it should be noted that almost every country that fought in the Great War (including the U.S.) utilized railway artillery, the French were the biggest fans, accumulating more than 400 pieces in all, including some very large specimens (they captured the only German 38 cm SK L/45 “Langer Max” to survive the conflict.)
At least 16 of these big 274s, mounted on five-axle railroad bogies, would still be in use by the Republic in 1940 when they served against the Boche once again.
Speaking of which, the Germans were able to put at a half-dozen of these monsters in service on the Eastern Front after 1941, designated “27.4cm K(E) 591(f)” with the big “E” being for Eisenbahnartillerie, or railroad artillery and the little “f” as being French.
Der 27.4 cm K.(E) 591 (f)
What became of Breslau?
As the U.S. pulled out of the Rentwertshausen area a couple weeks after this image was taken, it was likely grabbed by the incoming Soviets and hauled back to Russia where it is no doubt sitting in a forgotten tank farm somewhere in the Urals.
Nonetheless, the U.S. did bring home a similar German piece, “Leopold” a Krupp 28cm K5(E) railroad gun, from Italy and it had been at Aberdeen Proving Grounds for 65 years, as Anzio Annie. It was moved to Ft. Lee in 2010.
OLYMPIA’s propellers photographed in a floating drydock in 1904
Via the Independence Seaport Museum: Cruiser OLYMPIA’s two propellers (screws) were 14 feet in diameter and had three blades. The screws, like on most ships, counter-rotated from each other to prevent the ship from straying off course. They were also bent twice in her career!
The Cruiser Olympia Association long ago used one of the screws, which were removed when Olympia passed into use as a museum ship in 1957, for a series of commemorative coins that helped to fund the group’s operations. The 32mm bronze coins were issued for the 60th anniversary of the battle in 1958, although the Museum still had a number left in their gift shop when I visited in 2013.
Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser Blücher on sea trials
Some 80 years ago today the pride of the German Kriegsmarine, the Hipper-class heavy cruiser Blücher, met an unlikely end. Built to raid British shipping and help screen Hiter’s new grand blue water navy, the massive 16,000-ton super cruiser with her eight 203mm guns and up to 3-inches of armor never saw it coming on the morning of 9 April 1940, when she sailed quietly and darked-out into neutral Norwegian waters.
Without a declaration of war, Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway had begun with a series of sea and air penetrations of the Scandinavian county, one of which Blucher was leading.
As the flag of K.ADM Oskar Kummetz, she was packed with an 800-man contingent of the 163rd Infantry Division who would be landed in the nation’s capital of Oslo and quickly seize the government.
The German task force was spotted in the dark that morning by the Norwegian Coast Guard at Færder lighthouse and subsequently at Bolærne Fort in the narrow Oslofjord. They flashed a signal of the approaching foreign warships to Oscarsborg Fortress, strategically located at the narrowest point of the fjord. As the ships entered the Drøbak Sound, the commander at Oscarsborg, Col. Birger Eriksen, gave the order to open fire.
Two of the ancient 28 cm MRK L/35 (made by Krupp!) guns– nicknamed “Moses” and “Aron”– at Oscarsborg Fortress opened fire on the German cruiser at point-blank range, damaging the ship severely and setting it alight.
These bad boys…
Blucher German Admiral Hipper heavy cruiser trying to force her way past the Norwegian defenses protecting Oslo– Oscarborg Fortress, April 9, 1940
Though they had small warheads, the good Austrian tin fish held true and holed Blucher at 04:34.
All that is above ground of the secret Oscarborg torpedo battery is shown above. The six tubes themselves are below ground and were manned by reservists that morning that had never fired a live torpedo before!
Between 1887 and 1913, Norway ordered no less than 377 torpedoes of various marks from Whitehead Di Fiume S.A., with the largest buy (of 100 fish) in 1912. The battery contained nine Whitehead Mk Vd torpedoes on that fateful morning of April 1940, each with a 220-pound warhead.
Blücher rolled over and sank by 0730 in 210 feet, with heavy loss of life. This kept the Norwegian King and government from being taken prisoner, enabling them to escape to the north and eventually to Britain. The Blucher had only been in service for six months and 18 days.
A clip from the Norwegian movie “The King’s Choice” shows the interaction between Oscarsborg Fortress and Blücher in stark detail. English subtitles can be turned on for this clip.
The guns, torpedo tubes– and the Blücher for that matter– are still in their respective places as on that fateful morning 80 years ago today. That’s a lesson to never underestimate old but simple gear, especially if you drag your brand-new cruisers right in front of it.
As for the Norwegians, they kept Oscarborg in service until 1993, with the torpedo battery the last thing taken offline.
Anchor of the heavy cruiser Blucher in the harbor of Oslo
Denmark had a very brief baptism of fire during WWII. On 9 April 1940, the German Army swept across the unfortified border while simultaneously landing paratroops (the first use of such in combat) and conducting seaborne landings as well.
The Danish government, which had been controlled by socialists in the 1920s and 30s, had gutted the military and, while the rest of Europe was girding for the next war, the Danes were laying off career officers, disbanding regiments and basically burning the bridge before they even crossed it.
This made the German invasion, launched at 0400 that morning, a walkover of sorts and by 0800 the word had come down from Copenhagen to the units in the field to stand down and just let it happen.
That doesn’t mean isolated Danish units didn’t bloody the Germans up a bit. In fact, they inflicted some 200 casualties on the invaders while suffering relatively few (36) of their own. (More on that in detail here)
Five Danish soldiers with a 37mm anti-tank gun outside Hertug Hansgades Hospital in Haderslev on the morning of 9 April 1940
The head of the Royal Bodyguard, Colonel Mads Rahbek, in his function of Commandant in Copenhagen, installed a wreath in remembrance at the Vestre Kirkegård to the April 9 invasion on Friday. The large traditional ceremony was canceled due to COVID concerns.
To further commemorate the event, the Danish Ministry of Defense just released the two circa 1939 training films “Angrebet” (Attack) and “Forsvaret” (Defense) by Danish filmmakers Theodor Christensen and Ingolf Boisen. A total of 80 minutes in length, they detail field camouflage as well as basic small unit infantry tactics, and the like all while showing lots of really neat Danish military gear including Krag rifles and Madsen machine guns.
The films were reportedly also used extensively during the 1941-45 occupation era to train direct action cells in the Danish Resistance, a group that emerged strong and ready in April 1945.
Danish resistance fighters note the mix of arms to include an SOE-supplied BREN, several Danish Army Nagant revolvers, and a couple of very Darth Vaderish Royal Danish army helmets, the latter no doubt squirreled away in 1940 no doubt.
