Warship Wednesday, August 27, 2025: A Tour of the Bay

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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 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

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Warship Wednesday, August 27, 2025: A Tour of the Bay

Photo by Sub-Lieutenant E R Jones, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Imperial War Museum catalog # A 30447

Above we see the “battle bowler” clad Lt. R M Howe, DSC, RN, explaining the plan of landing to his platoon of armed sailors and Royal Marines drawn from British Pacific Fleet warships before they disembark from the Buckley-class destroyer escort turned high-speed transport USS Sims (APD-50) into waiting LCVP landing craft to occupy the Japanese Coastal Forts at the entrance to Tokyo Bay on the morning of 30 August 1945, some 80 years ago this month. The item over Howe’s shoulder is one of Sim’s davits.

Knowing the background of the escort’s namesake, the joint operation should be of no surprise.

The Buckleys

With some 154 hulls ordered, the Buckleys were intended to be cranked out in bulk to counter the swarms of Axis submarines prowling the seas.

Just 306 feet overall, they were about the size of a medium-ish Coast Guard cutter today but packed a lot more armament, namely three 3″/50 DP guns in open mounts, a secondary battery of 1.1-inch (or 40mm), and 20mm AAA guns, and three 21-inch torpedo tubes in a triple mount for taking out enemy surface ships.

Buckley-class-destroyer-escort-1944 USS England by Dr. Dan Saranga via Blueprints

Then there was the formidable ASW suite to include stern depth charge racks, eight depth charge throwers, and a Hedgehog system.

Powered by responsive electric motors fed by steam turbines, they could make 24 knots and were extremely maneuverable.

Class-leader, USS Buckley (DE-51), cutting a 20-knot, 1,000-foot circle on trials off Rockland, Maine, 3 July 1943, 80-G-269442

Meet Sims

Our ship was the second greyhound named after ADM William Sowden Sims (USNA 1880), the Canadian-born officer who commanded all United States naval forces operating in Europe during the Great War.

He was the epitome of a “joint warrior” before such a thing was in vogue, often bending over backwards to keep his British and French allies happy.

Our humble ship followed the path blazed by a pre-war destroyer, the Bath-built USS Sims (DD-409), which commissioned on 1 August 1939.

USS Sims (DD-409) Off the Kennebec River, Maine, during her builder’s trials, 6 July 1939. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. 19-N-20822

After neutrality patrols, DD-409 was sent to the Pacific and became part of TF 17, the screen for the famed carrier USS Yorktown. She was with Yorktown at the Battle of the Coral Sea and took seven bomb hits and a dived Japanese plane to the stern, sent to the bottom after a magazine explosion that left but 13 survivors.

The second Sims was laid down on 7 September 1942 at the Norfolk Navy Yard and launched five months later, sponsored by Mrs. Anne Erwin Sims (nee Hitchcock), the widow of the late Admiral Sims. She had also sponsored the DD-409 four years prior.

Sims and her sister USS Reuben James (DE-153) were the only members of their class to carry the same armament as Buckley, to include a quad 28mm/75 Mk 1 “Chicago Piano” instead of a more effective twin or quad 40mm Bofors mount. The rest of the armament included the same triple 3″/50 DP singles in open, largely unprotected mounts, six 20mm Oerlikons, three 21-inch torpedo tubes, a Hedgehog Mk 10 ASWRL, and an impressive depth charge array.

Sims was commissioned on 24 April 1943 and was soon put to work.

Fighting U-boats across the Atlantic

4 October 1943, USS Sims moored at Pier C of the Brooklyn Navy Yard with the newly commissioned USS Reybold (DE 177) tied up on her port side. Sims had arrived in the Navy Yard on 28 September for scheduled maintenance and repair between convoys. 19LCM-dd68

USS Sims (DE 154) in New York Harbor, 17 April 1944, with a commercial barge and harbor tug alongside. 19-N-64416

USS Sims (DE 154) in New York Harbor, 17 April 1944, with a commercial barge and harbor tug alongside. 19-N-64418

A great stern shot at the same location and date as above, showing off the details of her ASW gear to include two chock-full Mk9 depth charge racks and eight Mk6 K-gun projectors. 19-N-64419

USS Sims (DE-154) in New York Harbor, 17 April 1944. Note the quad 1.1-inch “Chicago Piano” AAA mount just past her stern, No. 3, 3″/50, and her triple Mk15 torpedo tube turnstile amidships. 19-N-64417

After fitting out, Sims completed her shakedown cruise off Bermuda and then was assigned to Task Group (TG) 21.6, tasked with escorting vital tankers in large “CU” convoys from Curacao in the Dutch East Indies (later New York), across the Atlantic to Londonderry/Liverpool, with the return reverse runs being dubbed “UC” convoys.

She made 20 of these runs between July 1943 and September 1944, typically with at least five other DD/DEs:

  • CU 003 (11/07/43-24/07/43)
  • UC 003A (30/07/43-10/08/43)
  • CU 004 (26/08/43 09/09/43)
  • UC 004 (15/09/43-27/09/43)
  • CU 005 (13/10/43-24/10/43)
  • UC 005 (30/10/43-09/11/43)
  • CU 008 (02/12/43-13/12/43)
  • UC 008 (18/12/43-02/01/44)
  • CU 012 (19/01/44-30/01/44)
  • UC 012 (07/02/44-18/02/44)
  • CU 017 (10/03/44-20/03/44)
  • UC 017 (27/03/44-07/04/44)
  • CU 022 (24/04/44 06/05/44)
  • UC 022 (10/05/44-20/05/44)
  • CU 027 (08/06/44-18/06/44)
  • UC 027 (23/06/44-04/07/44)
  • CU 032 (19/07/44-29/07/44)
  • UC 032 (03/08/44-14/08/44)
  • CU 037 (27/08/44-07/09/44)
  • UC 037 (12/09/44-23/09/44)

The toughest of these was CU-17, a ten-day West-East slog from New York to Liverpool in March 1944. Shipping out with 22 merchantmen, mostly tankers but with the addition of the troop-filled U.S. Army Transport George S. Simonds, six tin cans, and the Bouge/Attacker class jeep carrier HMS Premier (D23), escorted the convoy.

The only convoy that Sims rode shotgun on that lost a ship, on 19 March, just West of Lands’ End, the German Type VIIC submarine U-311 (Kptlt. Joachim Zander) somehow found itself among the convoy and fired fish into the armed American tanker SS Seakay (10,342 tons), with one of her Navy Guard members killed. Wallowing, she was evacuated and later sent to the bottom with 14,000 tons of vapor oil and 14 aircraft (stored on deck).

Sims and her fellow greyhound pursued Zander and his U-boat relentlessly, but to no avail.

From Sim’s report:

Instead, Zander was boxed in by the Canadian frigates HMCS Matane and HMCS Swansea southwest of Ireland a few weeks later, and U-311 was sent to the bottom, with all hands. Seakay had been the sub’s (and Zander’s) only victim.

USS Sims (DE-154) Underway at sea, circa 1944. NH 107614

Sent to take on the Emperor

Sims became one of the most well-traveled of her class. Whereas most either served in the Atlantic or the Pacific during WWII, Sims got plenty of both.

On 23 September 1944, Sims entered the Boston Navy Yard for conversion into a high-speed transport, or APD. This resulted in her landing all her 3-inch guns, her torpedo tubes, her Hedgehogs, and her K-guns (leaving the stern depth charge racks). She gained a single 5″/38 Mk 12 mount forward as well as two twin 40mm Bofors. Also added were large davits supporting four 36-foot LCVP Higgins boats, and her crew berthing was modified to carry 162 troops in cramped, temporary conditions, even for the 1940s.

Clad in mottled green Measure 31 camouflage, she became a “Green Dragon.” The Navy wanted to convert 50 Buckleys to this spec, but only managed 37 before the end of the war.

The work completed, Sims (now APD-50) departed Boston on 6 December 1944 for Norfolk, where she was used as an amphibious training ship near Little Creek for the next seven weeks.

Shipping out for the Pacific, she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 20 February 1945.

U.S. Navy high-speed transport USS Sims (APD-50) at anchor, circa 1945. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 31, Design 20L. Note her davits and single 5-inch gun. Photo via Navsource

Moving forward for the Okinawa landings, Sims was assigned to TF 51 (CTG 51.5) and on 27 March 1945 sailed from Leyte as an escort for Transport Group Dog. She spent most of the next month supporting the landings, performing ASW patrols, scanning for frequent enemy air attacks, sinking floating mines with gunfire, and rescuing souls at sea (Ensign E.G. Johnson, blown off the cargo ship USS Tyrell on 2 April). During this period, Sims fired 64 rounds of 5-inch, 731 of 40mm, and 1,002 of 20mm, claiming two enemy aircraft downed.

In May, she became the flagship of Capt. J.M. Kennaday, USN, Commander of Transport Division 105, continued more of the same.

The work was hazardous in the extreme.

During a six-week stint off Okinawa, no less than 10 Buckleys were damaged by Japanese aircraft and kamikazes, including one, USS England, which was so heavily damaged that she was never repaired. An 11th, USS Gendreau, was severely damaged by Japanese coastal guns during the same period. Sims was one of these 11, having fought off two kamikazes on 24 May whose near misses remarkably left her with only some popped seams, an oil leak, and 11 injured, four seriously.

A 12th Buckley, USS Bates, was sunk when she was hit by a cluster of three kamikazes at Okinawa on 25 May 1945.

The same day that Bates sank, Sims went to the aid of the damaged, burning, and abandoned USS Barry (APD-29), an old Clemson-class destroyer turned Green Dragon. A volunteer DC boarding party of two officers and 10 men from Sims went aboard and extinguished the blaze in a little over two hours. Later towed to Kerama Retto to be used as a decoy for the kamikazes, the unmanned Barry was sunk there on June 21 by suicide planes.

Meanwhile, Sims returned to Leyte via Saipan in early June to effect repairs, then was back on the line off Okinawa on the 26th, returning to service as Kennaday’s flag. In her stint off Okinawa in May, she fired 32 rounds of 5-inch, 575 rounds of 40mm, and 516 rounds of 20mm in anti-air operations.

Kennaday provided the following accolades:

Tokyo Bay

On 13 August, Sims, with Kennaday aboard, proceeded to Buckner Bay for supplies, then the next morning left with five other APDs– USS Barr, Pavlic, Bass, Wantuck, and Runels, to form Task Unit 30.3.6, shifting to Third Fleet command. The task: prepare for the Tokyo Bay Occupation. 

British Pacific Fleet elements attached to the Third Fleet organized a light company-sized landing force– of 22 officers and 120 enlisted, mixed Royal Marines and Tars– to occupy the coastal forts and batteries ringing Sagami Bay, located south of Tokyo Bay, and the island of Azuma.

Sims was detailed as their chariot, and on 20 August, she dispatched her landing craft alongside the battleship HMS King George V, and the Australian destroyers HMAS Nizam and HMAS Napier. The men collected from KGV included a contingent of Kiwi sailors from the cruiser HMNZS Gambia that had been cross-decked to the battlewagon. The force also included a team of Commonwealth war correspondents, which means the images of the event made it into the Imperial War Museum and the Australian War Memorial.

HMS King George V, with LCVPs headed to USS Sims

At sea off Japan, 20 August 1945. Members of the British Landing Force embarking from HMS King George V for USS Sims, which was to ferry them ashore. Sub Lieutenant Leary of HMAS Nizam is in the foreground. (Photographer Capt. J. C. Goodchild). AWM 121207

Sagami Bay, Japan. c. September 1945. LCDR George R. Davis-Goff RNZN, from the cruiser  HMNZS Gambia, is addressing men of the British Landing Force on the quarterdeck of their transport USS Sims, only a few hundred yards from the shores of Sagami Bay. The white flag flying on the point in the background denotes the position of a gun emplacement surrendered by the enemy. AWM 019231

A chow line on Sims. Note the beret-clad Royal Marines contrasting against the assorted Commonwealth sailors

The enlisted Commonwealth contingents were excited about the landing as the tars escaped an all-hands call to paint their ships’ upperworks in an effort to remove the signs that the ships had been at sea for a long time. Plus, they were the tip of the occupation force.

Sagami Bay, Japan. Australian Naval personnel took the first snapshots of the Japanese mainland as seen from the decks of their transport USS Sims. There was a rush for cameras to record souvenirs of their first glimpse of the enemy’s territory, as the ship drew near the shores of Sagami Bay. Pictured, left to right: Leading Seaman Ken Edgerton of Orange, NSW; Able Seaman (Ab) Bob Skinner of Underdale, SA; AB Cliff Howard of Alberton East, SA; AB Colin Llewellyn of Cooroy, Qld; AB Bill Ives of Bathurst, NSW, and kneeling, AB Bruce Hazard of Caulfield, Vic. All are members of the destroyer HMAS Napier. AWM 019429

At sea off Japan, 1945-08-27. British landing force personnel on the forecastle of the destroyer USS Sims. Note her new 5″/38. (Photographer, Captain J. C. Goodchild) AWM 121192

New Zealand sailors, comprising part of the British Landing Force, lined up on the quarterdeck of their transport USS Sims before landing on Yokosuka, the largest naval base in Japan, situated in Tokyo Bay. In the background can be seen the gutted Japanese battleship Nagato, once a powerful flagship of the Japanese Navy. A carrier-based plane can also be seen flying overhead. AWM 019233

Capt. Herbert James Buchanan, DSO, RAN, who oversaw the British landing force, watching the party preparing to disembark from Sims. Buchannan, an Australian who joined the Navy as a cadet in 1915, earned his DSO at Dunkirk after his command, the destroyer HMS Valentine, was bombed and sunk by Junkers 87 Stuka dive bombers, leaving him and his crew ashore to organize beach control parties during the evacuation. He had later commanded the destroyers HMS Vanity and HMAS Norman and Napier, the latter of which brought him to Tokyo Bay, IWM (A 30445)

British platoons on the deck of the Sims are preparing to go ashore. IWM (A 30446)

Landing party disembarking from USS Sims to LCVPs IWM (A 30448).

And in the Higgins boats. IWM (A 30449)

The British landing party from USS Sims is taking over one of the Japanese forts. IWM A 30450

Continuing her work with the Occupation Forces, on 30 August, working with fellow APD USS Pavlic, Sims embarked Love Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment, under Major Wallace L. Crawford, and landed them first on Green Beach in Tokyo Bay then, reembarking them on 1 September, took them to Tateyama Naval Air Station on the northeastern shore of Sagami Wan to accept its surrender, reconnoiter the beach approaches for follow-on Army troops, and to make sure the Japanese aircraft there were disabled. Importantly, the “Old Fourth” had been chosen for this task by MacArthur as the regiment had been part of the 1942 Bataan Campaign.

Following the official surrender ceremony on 2 September, Sims brought L/3/4 back to Green Beach on 3 September once they were relieved at Tateyama by the Eighth Army’s 112th Cavalry Regiment.

Sims continued to operate in Japanese waters for the next three months before being ordered stateside, arriving at San Diego with 208 assorted GI and Navy passengers on 17 December, just in time for Christmas.

For her 20 convoys, pursuit of U-317, Okinawa actions, and Tokyo Bay mission, she earned a grand total of one battle star.

Cold War mothballs

Sims was sent through the Panama Canal, destined to be decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Florida, on 24 April 1946, and was then placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

Beyond the 37 APD conversions, the Navy converted others of the class, including USS Foss, Marsh, Wiseman, and Whitehurst, which were rigged as power supply ships with two large reels for power cables amidships.

Seven others became radar pickets (DER) with the addition of large air search radar sets on a second mast, while USS Cronin, Frybarger, and Raby were redesignated DEC (escort vessels, control) to guide landing craft to beaches. USS Vammen was converted to a DE (A/S) for testing new anti-submarine warfare sensors and weapons, while USS Francis M. Robinson, Jack W. Wilke, and Malay became EDEs (experimental destroyer escorts) for a time for much the same purpose.

Of the 46 Buckleys loaned to the Royal Navy during the war as the Captain-class, six were lost. Of the USN-operated vessels, USS Fechteler and Underhill were lost in action, as was one wartime APD conversion, USS Bates (APD 47, ex-DE 68).

The Navy retained nearly 100 Buckleys of all types on the Navy List into the early 1960s– but most were in mothballs– and then began whittling them down, with some transferred and the rest scrapped or sunk (12) as targets.

Jane’s 1960 APDs converted destroyer escorts, of both the Buckley and other classes, with Sims listed as a 1960 disposal.

The final Buckley on active duty with the Navy was Wiseman, decommissioned in 1965, while some were retained as pier-side naval reserve training ships as late as 1969. The last five members of the class were removed from Navy custody in 1974– not a bad run for “disposable” ships.

The Navy deleted the “DE” classification in 1975.

Sims, hulked, was sold to the North American Smelting Co. of Wilmington, Delaware, on 14 April 1961 and scrapped.

In a perhaps poignant touch, ADM Sims’ widow, Anne, passed in 1960, the year before the second destroyer to carry his name was sold for scrap. She was 85 and was buried next to her husband at Arlington National Cemetery. The U.S. Naval War College Archives maintain the Sims’ papers.

Epilogue

Today, little remains of Sims other than her logs and reports in the National Archives. 

Lt Howe, pictured in the first photo, became a regular and retired from the Royal Navy in April 1958 as an LCDR.

Capt. Buchanan, the Dunkirk hero who commanded the Commonwealth landing force that occupied Yokosuka and the Tokyo Bay coastal forts from the deck of Sims, joined the staff of Admiral Sir Louis Hamilton. He then later commanded the cruisers HMAS Shropshire and Australia. He received a CBE and retired as a rear admiral in 1957 and passed in Sydney in 1965, aged 63.

Post-war, the Navy recycled our ship’s name for the new Knox-class destroyer escort USS W. S. Sims (DE-1059, later FF-1059), commissioned in 1970. She served 21 honorable years and was decommissioned in 1991, then later transferred to Turkey for use as a floating spare parts platform for that NATO ally’s surplus Knoxes.

USS W.S. Sims (FF-1059) underway in the Mediterranean Sea, June 1987. Photographer: PH2 Hensley. DNSC8709254. National Archives Identifier 6418455

It is beyond past time for a new destroyer, the fourth, to carry the name Sims.

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

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Siriuspatruljen at 75

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Danish polar explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen is perhaps most famous to the internet for this image, snapped in 1912 after he and a partner survived two winters marooned and trapped in a cottage in northernmost Greenland:

To be fair to Mikkelsen, an explorer, author (eight books, numerous studies and reports), and administrator (he spent two decades as the Royal Inspector of East Greenland), was a pretty together guy who deserves his monuments and accolades.

Mikkelsen when not looking so haggard.

Well, he has returned to the frozen island in a sense in the form of the 1,750-ton Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessel HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen (P571), which is scouting the famed explorer’s old stomping grounds, which has since 1974 been known as the Northeast Greenland National Park. Covering about a fourth of the island, the park is some 375,000 sq. mi. in size, making it larger than 166 countries.

An interesting thing about Mikkelsen’s patrol of the NGNP is that it is carrying members of the Navy’s Sled Patrol Sirius (Slædepatruljen Sirius), aiding the elite unit in its summer sovereignty patrols and sending them ashore via small boat.

Mikkelsen, the explorer, had a role in the creation of Sirius, which was a carryover from a WWII sled patrol set up by the Greenland government while he was trapped back in occupied Denmark. The explorer was still Royal Inspector when the current patrol was rebooted 75 years ago this month.

The patrol and surveillance service was originally established to prevent unwanted activity during wartime and to fulfill Denmark’s sovereignty obligations through the surveillance service in peacetime. The patrol carries out its tasks year-round, using dog sleds in the winter months and patrol vessels in the summer.

Their traditional armament consists of the M1917 Enfield bolt-action rifle in .30-06 (typed as the Gevær M/53-17) and the Glock Gen 3 G20 in 10mm Auto. However, they have also been seen recently practicing with suppressor-equipped Gevær M/10 and Denmark’s Colt Canada-made C8/M4s.

Since its first sortie from Ella Ø Station on 18 August 1950, Sirius has mushed 773,108 miles in the northeastern part of Greenland. This is equivalent to 31 times around the world– and all of it with dog sleds in a high Arctic climate.

They use about 95 locally procured Greenlandic sled dogs (grønlandske slædehund) with new fur-clad talent scouted every year from around the island by a Navy veterinarian to keep the pack at its fittest.

Sirius consists of six sled teams (plans are to beef this up to eight teams in the next year), each consisting of two men and 11 to 15 dogs. These dozen men are supported by another dozen station personnel (stationsspecialister) at the four remote bases who handle support/meteorological/radio duties, giving the whole operation a force of 24. When traveling, each sled team carries approximately 770 to 1,100 pounds of gear, depending on the distance to the next depot.

Running 26-month tours, each sled team contains a senior member, the patrol leader (patruljefører), who has already “walked the beat” for 13 months and has mastered glaciers, frostbite, and polar bears, teamed with a junior member fresh out of training assigned to learn the ropes.

Speaking of training, before a new patrol member sets foot in Greenland, they have to pass a grueling 10-month Sirius Forskole course run by the Jaegerkorpset commando corps in North Jutland which typically starts with 48 carefully prescreened (marching and orientation tests, swim tests, rigorous health and psychological screening) volunteers and is whittled down to the best six over the evolution.

Sirius has its headquarters at Daneborg (over winter contingent 12, originally established in 1943 by the USCGC Storis with an Army weather detachment as Station OYK), and maintains personnel at Station Nord, Grønnedal, and Mestersvig, each with a 3-to-5 member overwinter team.

The only population in the region, other than the Sirius teams, their support personnel, and the ~400 inhabitants of the hunting village of Ittoqqortoormiit at the base of the park, are at three government-owned research stations at Brønlundhus (run by the University of Copenhagen), the Danmarkshavn weather station, and Zackenberg (run by Aarhus University). The research stations may sport as many as a few hundred transient expedition members in the summer, dropping down to a skeleton crew over winter.

Station Nord/Villum Research Station is the furthest north manned Sirius station, at some 700 miles overland from Thule (Pituffik Space Base, the DoD’s northernmost installation). It is also celebrating its 50th anniversary this month, established in 1975, and has been permanently manned since then.

Station Nord today. 

Station personnel at the four Sirius bases, usually assorted Navy mechanics and maintenance rates, have to undergo a similar screening process and a shorter seven-month training school as well as make the same 26-month tour of duty, teaming up senior stationsspecialister with junior ones on a rotating basis.

Sirius also utilizes more than 50 unmanned depot huts scattered across the patrolled area. The nominally polar bear-proof caches are resupplied by small boats in the southern area, and by aircraft in the northern part.

The boys are back in town!

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Following the fall of the Netherlands East Indies, the remnants of the Dutch colonial army– the KNIL– and Royal Dutch Navy fell back to Australia to regroup and carry on the fight for liberation from exile. They were the lucky ones. Of the 42,000 European POWs taken by the Japanese in the East Indies in early 1942, almost one in five (8,200) would die before liberation.

This rag-tag group of survivors would carry on the war, with the Dutch submarine force being especially active, while the land forces would reform and wait.

The Netherlands East Indies Forces Intelligence Service, or NEIFIS, was formed in Australia from KNIL remnants starting in April 1942.

Regrouping of exiled Dutch/Dutch East Indies soldiers in Perth, Australia, April 1942. Inspection by, among others, Lieutenant Commander JAFH Douw van der Krap. Van der Krap was later assigned to the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service (NEIFIS) as head of Division II, Internal Security & Security.

NEIFIS was eventually given its own clandestine operations unit, dubbed the Korps Insulinde. In all, the Korps Insulinde would muster no less than 36 teams made up of 250 agents. They made 17 landings in Sumatra alone in 1943-44, in addition to operations in Borneo, the Celebes, New Guinea, and Java. Operating in small six-to-ten-man teams (many of which never came back), they gathered actionable intel that was used for air and sea strikes and organized guerrilla units across the islands.

Moving past covert operations, in the liberation of Borneo in 1945, a 3,000-strong overt force dubbed 1ste Bataljon Infanterie and the Technisch Bataljon of the KNIL landed on the beaches alongside Allied troops. Before that, the unit had its baptism of fire supporting the Americans at Biak.

Trained in Australia during the war, they had a very Allied flavor to include tin hat helmets and M1928 Thompsons, balanced with the KNIL’s favorite edged weapon, the klewang. To this was added increasing amounts of American kit.

KNIL troops in American overalls and webbing with M1928 Thompsons and Dutch Hembrug rifles, along with klewangs and a Lewis LMG, late 1942, Australia

Dutch volunteers from Suriname training at Australia’s Camp Casino 1944 for KNIL AKL022816

Arrival of Dutch West Indian troops (in front of Camp Casino) in Sydney. 1944 NI 4468

KNIL soldier training at Camp Victory, Australia, 1945 M1 Thompson SMG and klewang with USMC frog camo AKL022854

The battalion first returned to the Dutch East Indies on 30 April 1945, when a company landed with the Australian 9th Division at Tarakan on Borneo.

Australian and Dutch units land in Borneo on the island of Tarakan. On April 30, 1945, units of the Australian Imperial Forces 9th Division and the KNIL landed on the island of Tarakan of Borneo, starting the first combined Australian and KNIL attack on the Japanese army in Dutch East India. The photo shows Captain FE Meynders, commander of the 2nd Company of the 1ste Bataljon Infanterie of the KNIL, discussing the progress of the Tarakan campaign with Mr. L. Broch, war reporter for the Dutch news agency Aneta, on the beach of Lingkas on Tarakan Island.

Optreden KNIL op het eiland Tarakan AKL019794

“KNIL troops have been dropped off on the landing beach of Lingkas with some vessels of the invasion fleet and are going inland,” Tarakan, East Borneo, Dutch East Indies, May 1945. NIMH 2155_019811

By late August, the KNIL was in battalion strength and was fast rebuilding in Borneo.

KNIL soldaten Balikpapan 1945. NI 3248

Mariniers of KNIL bij herbezetting Balikpapan. NI 3249

Meanwhile, in North Carolina…

A force of 5,000 mostly newly minted Dutch Marines, the Mariniersbrigade, was being trained and equipped at Camp Lejeune with the thought that it would help liberate the DEI or, if not needed there, would land in Japan as part of the Operation Downfall plan to invade the Japanese Home Island in late 1945-early 1946.

The bulk of these trainees, formed around a cadre of regulars that had been stationed in the Dutch East Indies and Suriname, were Dutch volunteers who had lived in Holland during the German occupation and had joined up in 1944-45.

Mariniersbrigade (Marbrig) recruiting poster, complete with LSTs, Sherman tanks, and United Defense M42 sub gun

As you would expect, they looked very much like the USMC, right down to their uniforms, both service and field.

Mariniersbrigade op Camp Lejeune 2158_049882

Mariniersbrigade op Camp Lejeune 2158_049881

Mariniersbrigade op Camp Lejeune 2158_049964

Mariniersbrigade members with M1918 BAR and M1 Garands. 1947. Note the USMC-branded HBT uniforms. 2174-0787

The Mariniersbrigade was organized into three infantry battalions supported by M3A1 37mm AT guns and 81mm mortars, a scout company of M8 Geyhound armored cars, a tank company with M4A3E8 105mm gunned Shermans, an LVT-3/4 Amfibische tractor (AMTRAC) company, and an artillery battalion with 3-inch and 105mm batteries. Their logistical battalion was heavy with jeeps, M3 Halftracks, and M5 trucks.

Mariniersbrigade (Marbrig) M4A3E8

Mariniersbrigade M8 Greyhound in action at Porong, Java, 1947 2174-0698

LVT-4, Mariniersbrigade 2174-0136

Mariniersbrigade (Marbrig), M4A3E8 landing from LST

Diverted to the Dutch East Indies in December 1945 once their training was finished, they spent the next three years fighting Indonesian insurgents, which often included unreconstructed Japanese Imperial Army holdouts.

A sort of extension of the New Guinea campaign, but with more communist undertones.

Mariniers, Nederlandse strijdkrachten

De Mariniers Brigade op Java

Mariniers in actie in Nederlands-Indië at Kletek, Java, June 1946 2174-0189

Red Devils Mark a Century

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U.S. Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, stand in formation during a centennial ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Aug. 15, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Samantha Devine) 250815-M-YL719-1079

The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, earlier this month, celebrated the 100th anniversary of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232 “Red Devils,” an F/A-18C/D Super Hornet squadron with Marine Aircraft Group 11, during a commemorative ceremony aboard MCAS Miramar. It is the Marine Corps’ oldest active fighter attack squadron.

The squadron was established as VF-3M on 1 September 1925, at NAS San Diego, and its long combat history began less than two years later when the squadron’s Boeing FB Hawk single-seat biplanes provided reconnaissance and air support to Gen. Smedley Butler’s 3rd Brigade in Teintsin. Their ersatz mud field was about 35 miles from the city, and the ground crew had to provide their own security against bandits and warlords. The squadron nonetheless logged 3,818 sorties in support of the 3rd Brigade over 18 months.

The “Red Devils,” later flying SBD dive bombers as VMSB-232, became the first flying squadron to land on Guadalcanal’s Henderson Field on 20 August 1942 during World War II and made history as part of the Cactus Air Force, earning two presidential citations during the war.

Wreckage of an SBD scout-bomber, still burning after it was destroyed by a Japanese air attack on Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-14409

When it left Henderson two months later, only one of the original 15 Guadalcanal Red Devils was still walking.

Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 232 Insignia, circa 1942, Guadalcanal, where they specialized in paving Iron Bottom Sound with Japanese ships/The drawing was done by I.F. Waldgovel in 1983.

Then came Korea (the squadron itself did not deploy, but all of its original pilots and 40 percent of its enlisted were sent overseas as replacements), two tours in Vietnam, numerous carrier deployments, 740 combat missions in Desert Storm, etc. It later became the first F-18 squadron to land in Afghanistan in 2010 during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Over the past century, the squadron has flown 15 different aircraft (including TBM Avengers, F6F Hellcats, F4U Corsairs, FJ Furys, F-8 Crusaders, and F-4 Phantoms) and participated in every major (and many minor) U.S. conflicts.

The legacy aircraft figure will soon be updated to 16, as it is slated to move to F-35Cs in the next few years.

A U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18D Hornet, serving as the color bird for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, is staged in the hangar during a centennial ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Aug. 15, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Samantha Devine)

Winged Turtles

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Put yourself some 90 years ago in the mid-1930s.

Back when U.S. Navy flight school was six months (logging 258.75 hours in the air and 386.5 hours in ground school) and enlisted “Silver Eagle” Naval Aviation Pilots (NAP) were a thing (in 1927, 108 of 580 naval aviators were enlisted).

Then imagine you are a Vought O3U-1 Corsair floatplane pilot on the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) stationed in the romantic backwaters of the Philippines as part of the Asiatic Squadron.

This looks like terrible duty.

Vought O3U-1 Corsair from USS Augusta (CA-31) aviation unit, tethered to a palm tree at an island somewhere in the Sulu Archipelago, circa 1933-1934. NH 51874

Vought O3U-1 Corsair from USS Augusta (CA-31) attracting a crowd of young Moros for the camera. View taken at Tawi-Tawi, Sulu Archipelago, Philippine Islands, circa 1933-1934. Note the “winged turtle” motif on the tail, indicating a “cross the equator” flight. NH 51873

Vought O3U-1 Corsair from USS Augusta (CA-31) at an island somewhere in the Sulu Archipelago, circa 1933-1934. NH 51875

“Old Bird” class minesweeper/tender USS Finch (AM-9) with a Vought O3U-1 Corsair of the USS Augusta air group aboard, in Jolo, Sulu, Philippines, 1933-1934. Note the local outrigger canoes. NH 53904

Cavite, Philippine Islands, Vought O3U-1 Corsair from USS Augusta (CA-31 on the dock, with another O3U coming in for a landing in the bay and a Grumman J2F Duck from USS Heron (AVP-21) being hoisted out on the crane. Circa 1936. Courtesy of Capt. Pat Henry, USN (RET), 1973. NH 78380

Vought O3U-1 Corsair from USS Augusta (CA-31) in formation over Philippine waters, circa 1936. Courtesy of Rear Admiral J.P. Walker, USN (Ret), 1973. NH 78016

Vought O3U-1 Corsair from USS Augusta (CA-31) in formation over Philippine waters, circa 1936. Courtesy of Rear Admiral J.P. Walker, USN (Ret), 1973. NH 78017

Introduced in 1926, 289 assorted O3Us were built for the U.S. Navy, and in December 1941, at least 141 were still on hand as training and liaison aircraft. Outfitted with a 600hp Pratt & Whitney R-1690-42 Hornet, they could make 145 knots when clean and had a range of almost 600nm. Armament was three .30-06 Browning LMGs (two fixed, one flex), and they could carry four 116-pound bombs.

Site announcement: We hit a big milestone, fellas

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Well, it took 9,386 posts (including almost 700 Warship Wednesdays!) across 5,256 days to get here, but I feel that it is my obligation to let you guys know that we just hit six million (6,000,000) views on this blog.

Thanks for everything, guys. I started this just to cover things of interest to me, and it seems we have built a thing.

Here’s to the next six.

Also, if you think I earned it, you can support this one-man show by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi

We have zero corporate partnership due to editorial discretion and don’t run ads, while the cost of hosting and domain continues to rise as high as the pagoda of a 1930s Japanese dreadnought.

Thanks again, guys!

Sliding through

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80 years ago today, aboard the 14,000-ton Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship USS Teton (AGC-14). 

Official period caption: “The little net tender sits by as we slide through the submarine net at Buckner Bay, Okinawa Island. 22 August, 1945.” As the Japanese had produced upwards of 400 Kaiten human torpedoes, the net was probably a good idea.

SC 364348 Photographer: T/4 A.C. Simmons. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.

Originally laid down under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1363) as SS Water Witch on 9 November 1943, Teton was acquired by the Navy while still under construction and, post AGC conversion, commissioned 18 October 1944. She carried extensive radio equipment, two single 5″/38 DP mounts, four twin 40mm Bofors, and 10 twin 20mm Oerlikons as well as accommodations for as many as 400 embarked staff.

Following shake downs, she headed to the Pacific as the flagship for the famed “Viking of the Sea,” RADM John L. Hall, Commander, Amphibious Group 12.

USS Teton (AGC-14), flagship of Rear Admiral John L. Hall during the Okinawa operation. Probably photographed at an anchorage in the Ryukyu Islands, circa spring 1945. NH 99932

On hand off Okinawa by 1 April 1945, she remained there for 72 days, controlling the landing operations on the Hagushi beaches and then providing standby control of offensive and defensive air operations.

As noted by her War History, those ten weeks saw: “183 alerts, during which a total of 223 hours, 56 minutes was spent on general quarters, or an average of 1 hour 13 minutes for each alert. One or more enemy planes appeared over the transport area in each of 66 of the alerts and were the targets of 84 rounds of 5″/38, 1,059 rounds of 40mm, and 1,222 rounds of 20mm fired by the ship’s guns.”

Teton, after swapping out RADM Hall’s staff on 17 August for the Waterborne Echelon and Special Mission Group for the U.S. Army Southwest Pacific (32 officers and 255 men under Stanford geology professor-turned MacArthur Section Chief, Lt. Col. Hubert Gregory Schenck), the ship received word to head for Tokyo Bay and was only the fifth American warship to enter it on 29 August 1945.

“USS Teton (AGC-14), Tokyo bound. A seaplane soars overhead as GIs watch the last rays of the afternoon sun shine upon the Iowa (foremost) & the Missouri (beyond). 26 August, 1945.” SC 364350. Photographer: T/4 A.C. Simmons. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.

For the first two weeks of September, Teton’s Marine radiomen established the first direct radio communication from Japan to the U.S. One of three AGCs present for the surrender ceremony, on 16 September, she became the first large allied ship to enter Tokyo’s inner harbor.

Following Magic Carpet runs that brought troops back to the states, Teton was decommissioned at San Diego on 30 August 1946. After 15 years in mothballs, she was sold for scrap.

Navy Orders $40 Million worth of 6.5 Creedmoor Ammo

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The Naval Surface Warfare Center has issued a contract for millions of rounds of 6.5mm Creedmoor ammo for use by Special Operations and the Marine Corps.

The $40 million maximum award, to South Dakota’s Black Hills Ammunition Inc., was announced by the Pentagon earlier this week, with Black Hills beating out submissions from five other companies. The pre-solicitation notice issued last December was for 17,367,760 rounds of DODIC AC58 6.5x49mm Special Ball Long Range Ammunition.

The 6.5 Creedmoor rifle cartridge was officially introduced by Hornady in 2007 as a long-range flat-shooting round with manageable recoil. Tested by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in 2017 for the Precision Intermediate Caliber Ammunition program, it was qualified for use by USSOCOM units the following year.

Since then, the FN SCAR 17 and 20 have been fielded in the caliber as have the MK 48 light machine gun, SIG MCX Spear, and the M110A3 variant of the Knight’s Armament M110.

In late 2023, Geissele Automatics announced its MRGG-S (Mid-Range Gas Gun, Sniper), a full-time suppressed 6.5 Creedmoor rifle with a 20-inch barrel, MOA accuracy, and a fully adjustable stock.

The MRGG-S went on to win a $23 million SOCOM contract with the gun type classified by the military as the Mark 1 Mod 0 rifle.

Geissele Mid Range Gas Gun – Sniper (MRGG-S),
The Geissele Mid Range Gas Gun – Sniper (MRGG-S), Mark 1 Mod 0 rifle. The new sniper support weapon and designated marksman rifle, chambered in 6.5 CM, was ordered “to improve the intermediate range sniper rifle lethality, reliability and performance when suppressed during 50-1,500 meter engagements,” according to its 2023 Pentagon contract announcement. (Photo: Geissele)

The new ammo contract follows on the heels of a 2020 award to Hornady.

Work will be performed in Rapid City, South Dakota, and is expected to be completed by August 2030.

Canada is trying, man

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While on a shoestring budget (just a tiny 1.37 percent of GDP, hovering at the bottom of NATO with Luxembourg), the Canadian Defence Forces are at least trying to field some new gear.

Besides the build-out of the (admittedly very lightly armed but at least ice capable) six-ship DeWolf-class Arctic patrol ships, a couple of new (to them) weapons platforms have broken cover.

Last month, the RCN armed and deployed a 17-foot uncrewed British Meggitt-OinetiQ Hammerhead USV-T (Unmanned Surface Vehicle, Target) with explosives during Exercise Trident Fury 2025, turning the target drone into a killer drone.

Launched from the City (Halifax)-class frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331) and guided via satellite link, the Hammerhead successfully struck a target vessel, ironically another Hammerhead, destroying both.

With a 135-hp gas 3.0L MerCruiser Alpha 1 engine, the 1-ton Hammerhead can hit 35 knots and has enough fuel for 12-hour operations. No word on how big the charge was, but it looked dramatic. However, keep in mind that this COTS USV has been trialed in swarm operations with up to 40 vessels.

Which could be cool.

Meanwhile, in the Baltics

CAF members, operating in the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group in Latvia, have been operating Saab RBS 70 NG Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) systems during Exercise Baltic Zenith.

“From setup to missile launch and teardown, the system was put to the test and delivered the desired effect.”

Members of the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group conduct a teardown of the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) during Exercise BALTIC ZENITH near the Baltic Sea, Latvia, on 04 June 2025. Photo: Corporal Michael Vandenbroek, Canadian Armed Forces Imagery Technician

Members of the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group conduct setup of the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) during Exercise BALTIC ZENITH near the Baltic Sea, Latvia, on 04 June 2025. Photo: Corporal Michael Vandenbroek, Canadian Armed Forces Imagery Technician

Medium shot of the moment a missile is fired from the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) by the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group during Exercise BALTIC ZENITH near the Baltic Sea, Latvia, on 04 June 2025. Photo: Corporal Michael Vandenbroek, Canadian Armed Forces Imagery Technician

Wide drone shot of the Multinational Artillery Battalion Group firing the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORD) during Exercise BALTIC ZENITH near the Baltic Sea, Latvia, on 04 June 2025. Photo: Corporal Michael Vandenbroek, Canadian Armed Forces Imagery Technician

Canada has been acquiring a small number of RBS-70s since 2024, specifically “to counter the assessed air threat within the Baltic region.”

The platform, originally fielded in the late 1970s, has been steadily updated and is in its at least fifth generation at this point. It has recently claimed several low-flying (under 10,000 feet ceiling) Russian aircraft (Ka-52, Mi-8, Su-24, and large UAVs) in Ukraine– so you know it works.

You would be remiss to not consider their use by the Marine Littoral Regiments in their area denial role in the Pacific.

Marines putting 155mm howitzers back into maritime prepositioning

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Marines have been using 155mm howitzers in expeditionary warfare in remote places since at least Guadalcanal.

A 155mm howitzer is fired by artillery crewmen of the 11th Marines at Guadalcanal

Back in 2005, the Marines replaced their venerable M198 155mm towed howitzer, which had been in service since the 1970s, with the new M777. While both were 15mm L39 guns (6.1″/39), the M777 only weighed 9,300 pounds (as opposed to 15,300) and had both lower manpower requirements and superior electronics (digital fire control).

The Marines bought 580 of the new guns, a purchase larger even than the Army, which used them in its light/airborne infantry divisions. The Marines used them in 21 active and 12 reserve artillery batteries (with six howitzers each) with the “extra” 375~ guns allocated for training, wartime spares, and prepositioning stocks both ashore, such as in Norway (MCPP-N), and afloat.

A U.S. Marine with the 2nd Marine Division cleans an M777 prior to staging it in a Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway cave facility. The Marines have used Norwegian storage facilities since 1981. 160705-M-IU187-013

Well, with the large-scale divestment efforts that began in late 2019 as part of Force Design 2030 to transition the Corps to a leaner organization, the Marines ditched all its 450 M-1 Abrams, all its AN/TPS-59 radar sets, all its M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicles, M88A2 Recovery Vehicles, and Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges, et.al, ad nauseum.

Also trimmed back to the ground were the M777s, with the number of active batteries sliced from 21 to 5 (or maybe 7) and from 12 reserve to (maybe) 8. Likewise, pulled from the prepositioning stocks, along with the tanks, bridges, radars, and recovery vehicles, were the howitzers.

Notably, since then, some 200 M777s were provided to Ukraine from U.S. stocks along with more than 3 million shells.

Well, with the continued hard use of the M777 in that conflict, soaking Russian lines with upwards of 5,000 shells daily, and a high-profile deployment of a Marine 155 unit to Syria that was so busy it burned out two barrels, it seems someone has decided maybe storing some nice shiny howitzers on forward deployed cargo ships for a rainy day is a good idea.

This from Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island (Jacksonville) PAO:

U.S. service members, government civilians, and defense contractors backloaded M777 howitzers aboard the USNS Pililaau (T-AKR 304) on Aug. 19 at Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island in Florida, marking the artillery system’s return to maritime prepositioning with the latest maintenance cycle.

An M777 howitzer is towed aboard the USNS Pililaau during backload operations Aug. 19, 2025, at Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island in Florida. The return of howitzers to maritime prepositioning, along with new innovations such as a recoil exerciser, strengthens long-term readiness for global contingencies. (Official Marine Corps Photo/Dustin Senger)

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jeremiah Murray, of Pacific, Missouri, awaits M777 howitzers as they are placed into the holds of the USNS Pililaau during backload operations Aug. 19, 2025, at Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island in Florida. An embarkation specialist with Blount Island Command, Murray worked alongside defense contractors to return howitzers to maritime prepositioning in the latest maintenance cycle. (Official Marine Corps Photo/Dustin Senger)

The USNS Pililaau is the first vessel in the latest rotation, a process of offloading, inventorying, maintaining, and modernizing equipment and supplies aboard maritime prepositioning ships. Each rotation ensures cargo ships, operated by Military Sealift Command, carry combat-ready gear for global contingencies.

Along with the return of howitzers to maritime prepositioning, the cycle introduces a newly fielded recoil exerciser designed to preserve large-caliber artillery in long-term storage. Using a winch-driven pulley, the system replicates a full recoil stroke, improving lubrication and maintaining operational reliability.

Maybe someone is waking up.

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