Semper Fidelis! To salute the 244th Anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps, established at Tun’s Tavern, November 10, 1775, here is the 168th poster, issued during the Corps’ hard-fought campaign for Guadalcanal.
Happy Birthday, Marines, (wherever you are)
Major General George Patton and Rear Admiral John Hall, US Navy (behind Patton – and, Yes, the Admiral has his helmet on backward) prepare to go ashore at Fedhala, Morocco during the North African operation, 9 November 1942.
The African-American Soldier with the Thompson gun in the center is MSG William George Meeks. Of note, Meeks, born in 1896, joined the U.S. Cavalry in 1916 and served in the Mexican Intervention chasing Villa, as well as both the Great War and, of course, WWII. He was a longtime orderly of Patton’s and later one of the General’s pallbearers on the military honors casket team that buried him.
It was Meeks that presented his widow Beatrice with Patton’s flag.
The Tommy gun bearing SCNO died in 1965 and is buried in Arlington, Sec: 43, Site: 369.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Oct. 3, 2019) Offical Caption: “The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, fly in formation with the B-29 Superfortress “Doc” during the 2019 California Capital Air Show in Sacramento.
The Blue Angels are scheduled to conduct 61 flight demonstrations at 32 locations across the country to showcase the pride and professionalism of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps to the American and Canadian public in 2019.”
191003-N-UK306-1503 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Schumaker/Released)
For reference, Doc is one of only two B-29s that are currently flying, the other being FIFI. Built by Boeing as a late model B-29-70-BW, SN#44-69972, she came too late in WWII to see combat but did endue in USAF service as a radar calibration aircraft and target tug before she was retired to range use in 1956. Her restoration took nine years.
So I am working on a new gun review currently. Check these two .45s out and tell me what you think.
Below on the left is a correct/all-matching circa 1943 Remington-Rand M1911A1 in excellent condition, produced for the War Department’s contract administered by the U.S. Army.
The gun on the right? It’s a new Auto-Ordnance M1911A1 BKO (black oxide finish) which came from the company’s assembly line in Massachusetts last week.
This should prove interesting…watch this space.
PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 1, 2019) An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter from the Magicians of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 35 conducts a hoist exercise with the Peruvian navy submarine BAP Angamos (SS-31) off the coast of San Clemente Island. HSM-35 is conducting antisubmarine warfare training to maintain readiness by utilizing a live submarine. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Patrick W. Menah Jr./Released)
SUBRON 11 this week announced that they would, for the next two months, host the Peruvian Submarine BAP Angamos (SS-31), a German-built Type 209 submarine (SSK), at Naval Base Point Loma as part of the Diesel-Electric Submarine Initiative (DESI) program.
“Each year, Submarine Squadron 11 looks forward to DESI and we are thrilled this year to be working with our Peruvian counterpart,” said Capt. Patrick Friedman, CSS-11. “By having an SSK operate and train with us, it allows us to practice on a platform that has a similar signature to our adversaries. Not to mention, there is a great deal of diplomatic goodwill that is fostered through these engagements.”
Peruvian submarines have been a part of the DESI since 2001 and have rotated through the program no less than 16 times since then including sending Angamos’s sistership, BAP Arica, north last year.
The Latin American country has been in the submarino biz since the 1880s.
The country boasts one of the first semi-modern combat submersibles to its credit, Peruvian railroad engineer Federico Blume Othon’s Toro. Built during the 1879-1884 Pacific War with Chile in his workshop in Paita, it was about 50 feet long and weighed 30 tons. Combining several very modern elements– a ballast tank, a fresh air blower, and a depth manometer– it was designed to carry four mines or two Lay-type torpedos but, like Turtle, Hunley, and Alligator was still human-powered, at least at first, then later carried a small steam engine for use on the surface. Toro was never used in battle, and, like the Confederate submarines of New Orleans in 1862, was scuttled in Callao on January 17, 1881, before Chilean troops could capture the port.
This circa 1981 model of Toro is in the Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg
Post Great War, the country ordered a quartet of U.S.-made boats, sparking a long run of close U.S-Peruvian submarine partnerships. Those four 187-foot R-class submarines— BAP Islay (R-1), BAP Casma (R-2), BAP Pacocha (R-3), and BAP Arica (R-4)— were ordered from the Electric Boat Company in Connecticut, and delivered in the mid-1920s.
The four Peruvian R-class subs. Built during Prohibition in Connecticut, they remained with the fleet until 1960
Crucero peruano BAP Francisco Bolognesi y submarinos peruanos R3 y R4 fondeados en el puerto de Valparaiso
Carrying four torpedo tubes, these diesel-electric subs were involved in both the Colombian-Peruvian War and Peruvian-Ecuadorian War before being upgraded back at Groton to extend their life after WWII, at which point they were probably the last 1920s-era diesel boats still in front-line service.
Crew of the Peruvian submarine R-2 in Newport, Rhode Island on October 26, 1926.
Peruvian submarine R-1 in Newport, RI, United States, in 1926.
Peru R class submarines BAP R-4, BAP R-3, BAP R-2 and BAP R-1. Photograph taken before 1950 at the Callao Naval Base
Of note, the U.S. Navy used some 27 R-class boats of their own.
R-1 Class (Peruvian Submarine) Caption: Two of four ships, R-1 to R-4, built in the U.S. in 1926-28 and scrapped in 1960. Probably photographed in the 1950s. Description: Courtesy Dr. R. L. Scheina. Catalog #: NH 87842
To replace these were four more Electric Boat-produced modified U.S. Mackerel-class submarines ordered in 1953. Termed the Abtao-class in service, the quartet– BAP Lobo/Dos de Mayo (SS-41, BAP Tiburon/Abato (SS-42), BAP Atun/Angamos (SS-43), and BAP Merlin/Iquique (SS-44)— remained in service in one form or another into 1998.
Peru then picked up a pair of aging U.S. Balao-class diesel boats in 1974– BAP Pabellón de Pica/La Pedrera (SS-49), ex-USS Sea Poacher (SS/AGSS-406) and BAP Pacocha (SS-48), ex- USS Atule (SS-403)— which they kept in service as late as 1995.
BAP Dos de Mayo, Peruvian submarine
Peru has since acquired six German-built Type 209 (1100 and 1200 series) boats, commissioned starting in 1974:
BAP Angamos (SS-31)
BAP Antofagasta (SS-32)
BAP Arica (SS-36)
BAP Chipana (SS-34)
BAP Islay (SS-35)
BAP Pisagua (SS-33)
The evolution looks like this:
And they are effectively the U.S. Navy’s designated SSK OPFOR team
This month Hermann Historica has a special auction, Die kaiserliche Armee in Feldgrau (The Imperial Army in Field Grey) which includes the famed Lacey Collection of more than 100 often rare uniforms of German uhlan, hussar, field artillery, Marine and infantry regiments from the armies (and sometimes navies) of Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria. The prices aren’t as bad as you expect, with many of the tunics having starting prices of around 200-300 euros and cap visors less than half that.
There is, naturally, lots of M1910 and wartime grey uniforms, including this gem:
Tunic M1910 for officers of the Seebataillon, German marines
There is also a smattering of bright peacetime uniforms.
Uhlanka for officers in the 2nd Royal Saxon Uhlan Regiment No. 18
Attila for a Gefreiter in the Hussar Regiment Landgraf Friedrich II. von Hessen-Homburg (2nd Kurhessian) No. 14
And I thought this set was interesting: demobilization clothes issued of feldgrau cloth, for those members of the army headed back home post-Versailles. Swords to plowshares, it seems.
Dr. Bud
If you have ever watched Gods & Generals or read a biography of Stonewall Jackson or A.P. Hill, you are likely familiar with the work of Dr. James I. “Bud” Robertson Jr.
A scholar of the Civil War, especially of Virginia’s role in the conflict and in the Shenandoah Valley campaigns, Robertson at the ripe old age of 31 was selected by JFK to lead the federal U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission in 1961. Going on to teach history at Virginia Tech for decades, Dr. Bud was renowned for his classes on the war, which packed in as many as 300 students per session. He also published more than 20 books, edited another 20, penned dozens of well-received papers and consulted on a number of big-budget Civil War films and television shows. Finally, he recorded hundreds of essays for NPR.
Dr. Bud passed away this week, aged 89. He long ago donated his 7,000-volume personal library to VT. The Virginia Center for Civil War Studies is maintaining a tribute page in his honor.
His family requests that those who may have Civil War artifacts in their homes to donate them to VT in Dr. Bud’s honor.
You almost get a sense of storm clouds on the horizon here in this beautiful image of a “treaty cruiser,” USS Indianapolis (CA-35) at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, 7 November 1931, her launch day.
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1946 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019: Italian Mosquitos of the Baltic
All photos, Swedish Sjöhistoriska Museet maritime museum unless noted. This one is file no. Fo196168
Here we see HSwMS T 28, a T 21-class motortorpedbåt (motor torpedo boat) of the Svenska Marinen (Royal Swedish Navy) in 1943 as she planes on her stern, her bow completely above the waves. If she looks fast, that’s because she was– like 50 knots fast.
The Swedes in the 1930s had the misfortune of being sandwiched between a resurgent Germany and a newly ambitious Soviet Union, both having come up on the losing side of the Great War and suffered much during the generation immediately following. This fear went into overdrive as World War II began.
With a lot of valuable coast to protect, the Flottan’s plan to do so was the new Tre Kronor (Three Crowns)-class of three fast cruisers (kryssaren) who were to each serve as a flotilla flagship of a squadron of four destroyers and six motor torpedo boats while three pansarskepps (literally “armored ships”) bathtub battleships would form a strategic reserve.
For the above-mentioned MTBs, Stockholm turned south, shopping with the Baglietto Varazze shipyard in Italy– which is still around as a luxury yacht maker). Baglietto’s “velocissimo” type torpedo boat, MAS 431, had premiered in 1932 and was lighting quick but still packed a punch.
MAS 431, via Baglietto
Just 52.5-feet long overall, MAS 431 was powered by a pair of Fiat gasoline engines, packing 1,500hp in a hull that weighed but 12-tons. The 41-knot vessel carried a pair of forward-oriented 18-inch torpedoes, a couple of light machine guns, six 110-pound depth charges for submarines (she had a hydrophone aboard) and was manned by a crew of seven.
MAS 431 craft proved the basis for the very successful MAS 500 series boats, with more than two dozen completed. These boats used larger Isotta-Fraschini engines which coughed up 2,000hp while they could putter along on a pair of smaller 70hp Alpha Romero cruising motors. The Swedes directly purchased four of these (MAS 506, 508, 511, and 524) which became T 11 – 14 in 1939. These 55-foot MTBs could make 47 knots.
MAS 500 in the Mediterranean 1938, via Regina Marina
However, the Swedes weren’t in love with the wooden hulls of the Italian boats and went to design their own follow-up class of MTBs in 1941. The resulting T 15 class, built locally by Kockums with some support from Italy, went 22-tons in weight due to their welded steel hulls. However, by installing larger Isotta-Fraschini IF 183 series engines, they could still make 40+ knots.
Swedish Motortorpedbåt T 15. 5 Just four of these craft would be built by Kockums. The camo scheme and white “neutral” racing stripe were standard for Sweden’s wartime fleet. Fo101806
Nonetheless, there was still room for improvement. Upgrading to larger 21-inch torpedo tubes and stretching the hull to 65-feet, the T 21 class carried 3,450hp of supercharged 18-cylinder IF 184 engines which allowed a speed listed as high as 50 knots in Swedish journals. They certainly were a seagoing mash-up of Volvo and Ferrari.
T 28 MTB Fo200188
Motortorpedbåten T 28. 1943 Fo88597A
T30. Bild Sjöhistoriska Museet, Stockholm SMM Fo88651AB
Besides the torpedoes, the craft was given a 20mm AAA gun in a semi-enclosed mount behind the pilothouse while weight and space for two pintle-mounted 6.5mm machine guns on either side of the house and one forward was reserved. As many as six depth charges were also carried.
Torpedbåt, motortorpedbåt typ T 21
The T 21s proved more numerous than the past Swedish MTB attempts, with a total of 11 boats produced by 1943. They proved invaluable in what was termed the Neutralitetsvakten (neutrality patrol) during the rest of WWII.
Assorted Swedish splinter boats clustered at Galo Island in Stockholm, 1943. (Motortorpedbåtar vid Gålö år 1943 Fo88679A)
Hkn Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland, who in the 1970s served as heir to his nephew King Carl XVI Gustaf, clocked in on Swedish torpedo boats during the first part of WWII before he was reassigned in 1943 as a naval attaché to London.
HRH Prince Bertil of Sweden aboard a torpedo boat, holding a pair of binoculars Nordiska Museet NMA.0028790
Due to their steel hulls, the craft proved much more durable than comparable plywood American PT-boats or the Italian MAS boats and, while the latter’s days were numbered immediately after WWII, the Swedish T 21s endured until 1959, still keeping the peace on the front yard of the Cold War.
In late 1940s service and throughout the 1950s they carried a more sedate grey scheme.
1947 Janes entry
Motortorpedbåt T 25. Propagandaturen på Vättern, Juli 1947 Fo88595A
T24, note another of her class forward, with the M40 20mm cannon showing
Swedish torpedo boat Motortorpedbåten T29, 1950 Gota Canal. Note the 20mm cannon, which is now better protected, and the depth charges with two empty racks. The Swedes, then as now, were not squeamish when it came to dropping cans on suspect sonar contacts in their home waters.
The T 21s were later augmented by the similar although up-gunned (40mm Bofors) T 38 class and finally replaced by the much-improved Spica-class, which remained in use through the 1980s with the same sort of tasking as the craft that preceded them.
The T-30, seen here in an idyllic peacetime setting, remained in Swedish service during the Cold War. The follow-on Motortorpedbåtar T38 class reached a speed of 51.6 knots during a speed test outside Karlskrona in April 1956.
At 139-feet oal, the Spicas were more than twice as long as the T 21s and carried a half-dozen torpedoes in addition to a 57mm Bofors gun.
However, that welded steel hull and the mild salinity of the Baltic has meant that at least one of the old T 21s, T 26 to be clear, has been preserved as a working museum ship in her Cold War colors and is still poking around, although she probably could not make her original designed speed at this point.
Fo196168
Update 9/2/2020: Motortorpedbåten T28, which has been in private hands since 1970 and stored ashore, is now undergoing further preservation as a running museum ship in Sweden.
Specs:
Displacement: 28 tons
Length: 65.66-feet
Beam: 15.75-feet
Draft: Puddle
Engines: 2 Isotta-Fraschini IF184 supercharged gas engines, 3450hp
Speed: 50 knots max
Range:
Crew: 7 to 11
Armament:
2 21-inch torpedo tubes forward
1 20 mm LuftVärnskanon M.40 AAA gun, rear
up to 6 6.5mm machine guns (if using dual mounts on three pintles)
6 depth charges
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Only made for a few years, the SHR 970 bolt-action rifle offered a marriage of Old World craftsmanship and modern innovation for a handful of lucky hunters.
The SHR (Swiss Hunting Rifle) series rifles were introduced in the U.S. in 1998 and imported to the country by SIG Arms with the tag line, “There are only two ways you’ll miss your target…not buying one or shooting with both eyes closed.” Pitched with one-gun functionality, the forward-looking rifle could be swapped out across seven calibers through an interchangeable barrel system– long before today’s modular platforms like the Daniel Defense Delta 5.
And they weren’t that bad looking either…
More in my column at Guns.com