From the National WWI Museum and Memorial, this 1919 Independence Day flyer, with a sentiment that is 100 years old today, and is still on target.
Don’t think so? Check out this Pentagon Hall of Heroes speech by Staff Sgt. David G. Bellavia, MOH:
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 (or unit) each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday, July 3, 2019: The Frogmen of Balikpapan
U.S. National Archives 80-G-274676 via NHHC
Here, on a special WW where we take a break from an actual warship, we see a group of young U.S. Navy Underwater demolition personnel of UDT-18 aboard the fast transport (converted destroyer) USS Kline (APD-120) watching as Army B-25 bombers of the 13th Bomber Command plaster the Operation OBOE 2 invasion beaches off Balikpapan, Borneo circa 3 July 1945– 74 years ago today. They are waiting for orders to leave their boat to clear underwater obstacles to go clear the beach to allow allied Australian troops to land. While the Pacific War would be over in less than two months, these frogmen, many of which are on their first mission, could not know that was looming and they had a Japanese-held beach to clear of obstacles.
According to Lt. JG C.F. Waterman, who took these amazing pictures, “Things looked rather bad at the moment and everyone was thoroughly scared.”
Originally formed in May 1943 as Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDU), teams were created to clear beach obstacles in enemy-held areas. During the Torch Landings in North Africa, a group of Navy salvage personnel with a one-week crash course in demo hit the beaches but it was obvious that a more dedicated force would be needed. That led to LCDR Draper L. Kauffman’s efforts to train teams ready to go ashore to clear a path. By Normandy, 34 NCDU teams would land on D-Day, suffering 53 percent casualties. They would repeat their efforts in the Dragoon Landings in Southern France in August 1944.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific, nine dedicated Underwater Demolition Teams were formed, largely from Seabees with a smattering of Marines, to work across Japanese-held atolls. First hitting Kwajalein on 31 January 1944, the Pacific teams initially were dressed for land combat like many of the NCDU members in Europe, with uniforms, boots, M1 helmets, and small arms in addition to their demo charges.
Underwater demolition team members boarding a landing craft off Saipan. Note belt equipment, life belt equipment, life belt and M-1 carbine of man in right-center. His shirt indicates that he is a member of UDT-6. Photographed by Commander Bonnie Powell. 80-G-274665
This soon changed as men skipped down to their swim trunks and swam on night missions to map the beaches before the landings. This later morphed into standard gear.
A model of the typical late-war 1944-45 UDT swimmer shown at the SEAL/UDT Museum in Ft. Pierce. Note the dive mask, boots for use on coral, swim trunks, emergency life belt, demo bag, fins, and knife. Around his chest is a pencil to use on a board for drawing his section of the beach. Around his right wrist is a plumb for measuring depth and distance. (Photo: Chris Eger)
Across Peleliu, the Philippines, Guam, and Iwo Jima, UDTs left their mark and went in first to guide the landing craft in and make a hole for them to hit the beach if needed.
A UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) explosive charge blows up an underwater obstacle off Agat Beach, Guam, during the invasion of that island, July 1944 80-G-700639
By Okinawa, no less than eight full teams with 1,000 frogmen were utilized. There the nearly naked combat recon swimmers used aluminum paint (yikes!) to camouflage their skin against Japanese snipers– and to help insulate against the chilly Northern Pacific waters which could quickly lead to hypothermia.
Okinawa UDT members daubed aluminum paint on their bodies as camouflage to throw off Japanese marksmen. Photographed on the fantail of a fast transport (APD), circa Spring 1945 80-G-274695
Japanese Army type 93 anti-tank mine in the sand of Tinian Island. This mine was nicknamed a “tape measure” by UDT men due to its shape
A selection of Japanese mines found and defused on Iwo Jima. USMC photo.
Japanese Type 4 anti-landing mines, Iwo Jima island, February 1945, with their horns removed. Buried in the low-tide surf line, party favors like this waited for Allied landing craft across the Pacific
Balikpapan would be the swan song of WWII frogmen ops with the final UDT demolition operation of the war on 3-4 July 1945, as the swimmers UDT-11 and UDT-18 removed their helmets and slid over the side of their landing craft before paddling to destiny in broad daylight.
Balikpapan Beach Map AWM
Under the watchful eyes of Gen. MacArthur, whose flagship was just offshore, the frogmen, armed just with knives and demo charges, first mapped the beaches and then helped clear them, coming within range of Japanese mortars and small arms.
Balikpapan was to be no walkover, as the roughly 2,000 Japanese regulars there (augmented by 3,000 local Indonesian conscripts) defended the beaches well and, while they did not have Rommel’s Atlantikwall complete with Belgian Gates and Czech Hedgehogs, they did have thousands of punji stakes to impale infantry, mines, fougasse oil traps to burn men alive, wire obstacles, log barriers to hole landing craft, and the like.
Beach invasion spikes Posts were sunk in the sand, 2 feet and interlocked with barbed wire. Balikpapan, Borneo, 4 July 1945
Off-shore log barricade on the beach at Balikpapan, Borneo.
Underwater demolition swimmers, awaiting the signal to enter the water, watch American planes strafe the invasion beach, 3 July 1945. 80-G-274677
An underwater demolition swimmer checks his swim fins and face mask, during UDT operations at Balikpapan, 3 July 1945. The name on his trunks is “Hopper”. Photographed by Lieutenant Junior Grade C.F. Waters. Note tattoos. 80-G-274693
The above frogman, William DeWolf Hopper Jr., served with the Navy as a volunteer with the Office of Strategic Services in addition to his UDT work. As a member of UDT 10, he participated in operations on Peleliu, Anguar Island, and the Occupation of Ulithi in addition to the Invasion of Leyte, earning a Bronze Star. Originally from New York, Hopper reluctantly returned to California after the war and went on to have a career in Hollywood in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Although he is best known for his role in the series Perry Mason as PI Paul Drake, his other credits include the series Gunsmoke and the movie Rebel Without a Cause. William Hopper passed in 1970 at the age of 55.
An underwater demolition team’s LCPR leaves its fast transport (APD), towing a rubber boat, 3 July 1945. This shows the way the rubber boat is positioned for UDT swimmer discharge and pickups in a method still used 75 years later. The machine guns of the LCPR are the only direct support the swimmers had– and they were typically out of range by the time the swimmers closed with the beach. Photographed by Lieutenant Junior Grade C.F. Waters. 80-G-274700
UDT swimmers prepare to recover their gear and swim towards their objective area, after being dropped off by a landing craft. The photograph released circa 31 August 1945. It may have been taken during the Balikpapan Invasion that July. 80-G-274690
Underwater demolition swimmer prepares for pickup after he had completed his work off the Balikpapan beaches, 3 July 1945. A pickup boat is a rubber raft towed alongside a powerboat. Photographed by Lieutenant Junior Grade C.F. Waters. 80-G-274701
Recovery of a UDT swimmer, using a rubber raft towed alongside a powerboat. Note swimmer’s life belt, sheath knife, beach markers, and other equipment. The photo released on 31 August 1945. It may have been taken during the Balikpapan operation early in July. 80-G-274683
Underwater demolition team swimmers wait in the rain to be taken aboard their fast transport, off Balikpapan, 3 July 1945. The swab mounted on the stern of their LCP(R) means “Clean sweep, day’s work done”. They are watching casualties going aboard from another LCP(R). The boat is from USS KLINE (APD-120). Photographed by Lieutenant Junior Grade C.F. Waterman. 80-G-274686
Amazingly, the UDT teams at Balikpapan only suffered one, non-fatal, injury.
Underwater demolition swimmer, SF1c John Regan gets a drink and smoke after setting charges off Balikpapan, circa early July 1945. Note his sheath knife 80-G-274698
Ensign S.E. Lanier holds the nose of a Japanese 37mm shell which hit but did not pierce, his helmet. Photographed released 31 August 1945. It may have been taken during the Balikpapan Invasion, early that July. 80-G-274691
Underwater demolition swimmers, MoM2c G.J. Bender, rests on board his UDT fast transport after working near the invasion beach, 3 July 1945. He is covered with oil, which was thick on the water near the beach. Note the boots. Photographed by Lieutenant Junior Grade C.F. Waterman. 80-G-274678
With the path cleared by UDT-18, 7th Australian Division troops come ashore from landing craft during landing near Balikpapan oil fields in Borneo. Some 33,000-strong combined Australian and Royal Netherlands (KNIL) troops would land in OBOE 2, the largest ever amphibious assault by Australian forces.
As for our frogmen, it was expected that if they would have hit the beaches at Honshu in late 1945, a mission they were detailed to until the A-bombs intervened, the men of UDT-18 would have suffered 100 percent casualties.
As it was, their unit was disestablished 3 November 1945, at Coronado.
At the SEAL/UDT Museum in Fort Pierce, where NCDU’s and UDTs were formed and trained in WWII, they have a massive 7-foot long model of the old USS Kline on display and a statue of an era frogman dedicated to the “naked warriors” of Balikpapan and all the other beaches in which their brothers landed.
USS Kline (APD-120) at Seal Museum Fort Pierce (Chris Eger)
(Chris Eger)
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The Royal Navy and Marinha do Brasil have extensive ties going back to the 19th Century.
It should be remembered that the battle of Jutland had a Brazilain battleship sailing for the British. HMS Agincourt, with her impressive battery of 14x 12-inch guns, had originally been ordered in 1911 as Rio de Janeiro from the British company Armstrong Whitworth. Of note, the Latin American country’s two previous battleships, Minas Geraes, and São Paulo, were also built at Armstrong.
However, Brazil recently apparently promised Argentina not one but two new (by Argie standards) submarines. According to Janes:
The Brazilian Navy has agreed to transfer two Tupi class submarines – Type 209/1400 – to Argentina, following a meeting between Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and his Argentine counterpart, Mauricio Macro.
The deal includes a potential future transfer of an additional two boats.
Brazilian submarine, Tupi-class Type 209 S Tikuna (S34)
The Argentine Navy has fielded 11 submarines over the years, but only two of these, a Type 209 (ARA Salta S31) and a Type 1700 (ARA Santa Cruz S41) are still active, and those only marginally. There has been lots of crowing in sub circles that ARA San Juan (S42), tragically lost in an accident at sea last year, suffered from poor maintenance and probably shouldn’t have been at sea.
The Argentine-Brazil sub deal could end up with four boats transferred in all, with an overhaul in Brazil prior to transfer. A quartet certified pre-owned German 209s could provide the Brits a good bit of heartburn in a Falklands Redux situation.
No comment from the First Sea Lord or MoD…who must be super happy they sold the RN’s gently used helicopter carrier HMS Ocean–now NAeL Atlântico (AND 140)— to Brazil late last year for the military equivalent of couch change.
This amazing early Colt Single Action Army, SN 5405, has an 1874 production date and “U.S.” stamps and a serious 7.5-inch barrel. The gun, likely an OWA (Orville Wood Ainsworth) proofed model, falls in the possible serial number range of Colts that were at the Battle of Little Bighorn, which is SN 4500 to 7527.
This makes sense as this gun is in the Canadian War Museum and was associated with Sitting Bull.
“Sitting Bull, a Lakota Sioux chief, and his followers came to Canada with this weapon after the 1876 battle of the Little Big Horn in the United States. The presence of these armed warriors worried the Canadian government. Officials feared that Canada’s western First Peoples would ally with Sitting Bull and use violence to disrupt settlement.”
Dallas, Georgia-based DRD Tactical has announced they have been awarded a fixed quantity-fixed price contract for M4 uppers to a U.S. allied country in Asia. According to DRD, the undisclosed end user is upgrading their older M16 rifles with the company’s billet uppers, M-LOK compatible handguards, 14-inch M4 barrel, front and rear flip up sights, and carbine stock assembly kits.
If you ask me, they are likely headed to a country that rhymes with “Ilippines,” who has some 150,000~ 1970s-80s vintage M16A1s on hand and a serious issue with both local insurgents and curious neighbors looking to expand.
Weapons of Philippine Army Rangers during a rest in the 2017 Marawi, anti-ISIS campaign, including domestically made M16A1s and M14 given as U.S. aid
More in my column at Guns.com.
Astronaut Ron Garan with a raygun prepared to defend Earth from an alien invasion. Just kidding, he is just holding NASA’s version of the sonic screwdriver
While there are no U.S. guns in space (that we know of) to secure their facilities nationwide, NASA contracts a variety of protective forces and maintains Emergency Response Teams while the agency’s Office of Inspector General has armed special agents who refer their findings from investigations to the Department of Justice for prosecution.
They also own and run a series of dedicated small arms ranges (for up to 7.62x51mm) to keep all of the above qualified and up to snuff.
With that, the country’s space agency just released a tender for some AR-15s, and it is written to pretty much be S&W M&P15s.
Now with Armornite!
More in my column at Guns.com.
The RQ-21A Blackjack, made by Boeing/Insitu is the Navy & Marine Corps’ Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) program of record, currently flown by Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1 and 2 (VMU-1 and VMU-2) supporting expeditionary operations worldwide. With a line-of-sight range of 55 miles, Blackjack has a 16+ hour endurance and is classified as a Group 3 (large) UAV.
Unarmed, the RQ-21A is an ISR platform with a max weight of about 130-pounds and a 16-foot wingspan and can launch and be recovered from a helicopter pad-sized area (or smaller).
Interestingly, the contract announced last week includes not only 63 more Blackjacks but 93 50-pound ScanEagle drones as well. Notably, ScanEagle has been used from vessels as small as 84-foot Mark VI patrol boats.
From DoD contracts:
Insitu Inc., Bingen, Washington, is awarded a $390,390,785 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for up to 63 RQ-21A attrition air vehicles for the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy. In addition, this contract provides for up to six RQ-21A unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and up to 17 RQ-21A air vehicles for foreign military sales (FMS) customers, including the governments of Canada, Poland, and Oman. The contractor will also provide up to 93 ScanEagle UASs in various configurations. In addition, this contract provides for associated services, including training, test, and engineering, development of engineering change proposals, operations support, organizational level maintenance, field service representatives, land and ship surveys, hardware site activations, hardware installs, repairs and data. Work will be performed in Bingen, Washington (83%) and various locations inside the continental United States (CONUS) (5%) and outside CONUS (12%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance (Navy), fiscal 2019 building partnership capacity, and FMS funds in the amount of $9,919,160 will be obligated at time of award, $9,519,160 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-19-D-0033).
Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden poses with a British Pattern 1853 Cavalry Trooper’s Sword at the National Army Museum’s “Britain’s Greatest Battles” exhibit in March of 2013.
Source: National Army Museum via Victorian Sword
Which of course, if you had a Trooper poster from the Maiden on your wall in the 1980s (like me) gives you a sense of nostalgia.
You never know who is going to crash a photography session. Trying to get some shots of my G19X after a year of use for an upcoming publication and this strange looking puppy dog edged in.
Her name is Reno and she is a sweetheart…
Of course, *no horses were hurt in the production of this post.
One hundred years ago today, the tragically flawed treaty was inked at the Paris Peace Conference between Germany and the Allies in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, ending the Great War as far as Berlin was concerned. The better part of the High Seas Fleet lay awash in Scapa Flow, scuttled just a week prior, and much of Germany’s western border regions were under Allied occupation. Meanwhile, Poland was flexing in the East and the Bolsheviks were within a year of winning the Russian Civil War.
The Versailles Treaty went into effect on January 10, 1920, and the ripples would be heard in 1939.
Stacking racks of heavily greased surrendered German Mauser 98 trophy rifles by the U.S. Army of Occupation. 12/22/1919. LOC 98 111-SC-67463