These two images, of U.S. infantrymen some 100 years apart, show just how much the basic job of a foot soldier endures throughout time. You still feel exposed no matter what the cover is. You are still there for the Joe next to you. Your uncomfortable equipment is still made by the lowest bidder. You still just want to get through the day.
A soldier with 30th DIV sniping from a trench in Belgium on July 9, 1918. Note his Springfield M1903 rather than the more commonly-issued M1917 Enfield. Signal Corps image 18708
10th Mountain troops working the trench complex at Fort Drum, New York, Nov. 2018. For those who have experienced upstate NY this time of year, the pain is real.
The Estonian Army numbers some 6,000 active and 35,000 reservists, fielding two infantry brigades, a legit operations task group, and a number of smaller units. The country also fields a large and organized unpaid militia.
The force, however, is armed with a wide array of small arms to include 7.62mm Swedish-made AK4 rifles (licensed copies of the HK G3A3) and 5.56mm Israeli Galils alongside German HK G36s. Most were well-used surplus rifles even before they were passed on to Estonia.
That’s a lot of different rifles for an army that, when everyone is counted, still weighs in at less than a Corps-sized element.
To homogenize the Baltic state’s arsenal, LMT was selected this week as the winner of a $25 million tender to provide Estonia with 16,000 5.56mm M4 and 7.62mm AR-10 style weapons, beating out competitive designs submitted by Heckler & Koch, Sig Sauer, and Patriot Ordnance Factory.
Billed as a last-ditch defense option rather than a range plinker, the Pill Box is a throwback of sorts, but an interesting one.
Announced Monday, the tiny Pill Box uses a special wipe which GSL Technology says “should last at least 50 rounds minimum before needing replacement,” providing a sound reduction of some 24 dB. The wipe, a standard of suppressors dating back to WWII, has largely been phased out in recent years in favor of larger but more durable internal baffle systems.
The small black suppressor is made of 7075 aluminum and features standard 1/2x28TPI threads (Photos: GSL)
At a length of 1.44-inches and a diameter of under an inch, Pill Box weighs in at less than an ounce. The company says that it is the smallest can available on the market at the moment. As such, it stands to take the place of the old Gemtech Pill Bottle (prior to them being bought by S&W) and gives newer cans such as the Armtac Covert some serious competition in size.
To replace the wipe once it is worn out, GSL says a Type 7 FFL can do the work or they can replace it for $25 in-house. Sorry guys, they can’t ship spare wipes as they are considered to be regulated “suppressor parts” by the ATF.
Warship Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018: 41 and his paddle-wheel flattop
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-41715
Here we see the training aircraft carrier USS Sable (IX-81) moored in an icy Great Lakes harbor, probably Buffalo, New York, on 8 May 1943, the day she was placed in commission. Of note, she and a similar vessel– responsible for training thousands of budding Naval aviators in the fresh water of the Lakes– were the last paddle-wheel, coal-fired U.S. Navy ships on active duty.
Yes, paddle-wheeled.
Coal-fired.
Aircraft carriers.
In the 1920s, the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company (D&C) ordered a large side-wheel excursion steamship, Greater Buffalo, from the American Ship Building Company of Lorain, Ohio.
Built to a design by marine architect Frank E. Kirby, she was an impressive 518-feet overall with “26 parlors with bath; 130 staterooms with toilets; automobile capacity, 125; 650 staterooms; crew of 300 including officers.” Some 7,300 tons, she used 9 coal-fired boilers to power her inclined compound steam engine suite, which in turn drove 35-foot paddlewheels.
She was a gorgeous and well-appointed ship in Great Lakes service, often carrying as many as 1,500 paying passengers per excursion on the Lakes in the summer seasons between 1925 and 1942.
Her lounge
Hotel Buffalo wagon meets the Greater Buffalo as the liner arrives in Buffalo, N.Y., on the first trip of the 1942 season– the ship’s last (Detroit Free Press)
In late 1942, a plan to convert large Great Lakes steamers to training carriers in the 9th Naval District, far away from threatening U-boats and mines, was hatched and Greater Buffalo, along with fellow Kirby-designed Seeandbee, were acquired by the War Shipping Administration and fitted for flight.
S.S. Greater Buffalo arrives in Buffalo, N.Y., on Aug. 6, 1942, to be converted into aircraft carrier USS Sable (IX-81). Note the three funnels, you will see these again.
Seeandbee went on to become USS Wolverine (IX 64) while Greater Buffalo would be USS Sable (IX 81). While Wolverine picked up a 550-foot long Douglas-fir aircraft deck, Sable would be given a nice steel flight deck, as well as an island superstructure. The fact they did not have a hangar, elevators, or magazine did not matter too much, as they were just for the role of practicing traps and launches.
A great before and after. USS Wolverine (IX-64) at Buffalo, New York, in early 1942 just after completion. At left is the stern of SS Greater Buffalo, just beginning conversion to USS Sable (IX-81). Photo courtesy of C.C. Wright. Catalog #: NH 81059
The 518-foot deck, hundreds of feet shorter than those used on fleet carriers, was considered OK in an “if you can dodge a wrench” kind of way, and given eight arrestor wires as a bonus safety measure, which no doubt came in handy. As of note, even the old Langley‘s flight deck was 542 feet long. Still, for aviators headed to “jeep” carriers, it was spacious (e.g. the Bogue-class escort carriers had just a 439-foot-long flight deck.)
Converted at the Erie Plant of the American Shipbuilding Co., Buffalo, N. Y.; Sable was commissioned on 8 May 1943, CPT. Warren K. Berner (USNA 1922) was in command, and became one of only two coal-fired paddle-wheelers in Navy service. As such, she was a throwback to an early time.
Sidebar: The Navy exits coal
The first oil-burning American destroyer, USS Paulding (DD-22), was commissioned in 1910, at the same time the new USS Nevada-class battleships were planned for solely oil as fuel. In 1914, the last American battleship that was coal-fired, USS Texas (BB-35), was commissioned– the final large warship built for the U.S. Navy to rely on West Virginia’s finest and even she had a mix of 14 Babcock & Wilcox coal-fired boilers with 6 Bureau Express oil-fired boilers. In the mid-1920s, most of the battleships kept after the Washington Naval Treaty that did not burn oil was extensively converted to do so. Likewise, by the early 1930s, the old “peace cruisers” that smoked bricks were put to pasture. By 1940, the only purpose-built warships I can find on the Naval List still set up to burn coal were the old patrol gunboats Sacramento (PG-19) and Tulsa (PG-22), each of which, due to their 12-knot speed and light low-angle armament, were of marginal use outside of waving the flag in times of peace. Further, every single one of the Navy’s aircraft carriers burned oil. Yes, even the converted collier USS Langley (CV-1), was turbo-electric.
For reference, the iron paddlewheel gun-boat USS Wolverine, ex-USS Michigan, had been the last Navy paddle wheeler before Wolverine/Sable, and she left the fleet in 1923.
United States Navy sidewheel steamer USS Wolverine, ex-USS Michigan, in a Great Lakes port in the 1900s. Laid down in 1842, she spent her career– including the Civil War, in the Lakes. Wolverine was decommissioned on 6 May 1912, although the Navy kept her as an auxiliary until 1923.
Now back to our story.
For a sidewheeler, Sable was a deceptively good-looking aviation ship.
USS Sable (IX 81) formerly the Greater Buffalo, commissioned as a training ship on May 8, 1943, on the Great Lakes for carrier pilots. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, 80-G-41716, now in the collections of the National Archives.
80-G-354765: USS Sable (IX-81) underway on the Great Lakes, June 1945. See the funnels?
Similarly, Sable was made ready for bluejackets and aviation crews, picking up several experienced hands from the recently lost USS Lexington.
Crews’ Quarters scene, taken on 8 May 1943, the day the ship was placed in commission. Note the suspended pipe berths and bedding. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-41717
Sable’s Aviators’ Lecture Room, 3 June 1943. Officers present are Lieutenant Commander B.A. Bankert, Sable’s Air Officer (seated) and Lieutenant G.M. Cole, her Flight Deck Officer. Note the suspended pipe berths along the compartment’s bulkhead, and what appear to be dining room chairs used for student seating. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-41719
Sable departed Buffalo on 22 May 1943 and reached Chicago, Ill., her assigned home port, on 26 May 1943. Sable qualified her first two pilots just three days later– the first of many.
The training aircraft carrier USS Sable at the Navy Pier on Lake Michigan in Chicago
Importantly, the freshwater flattop served as a testbed for a revolutionary development in naval warfare for the age– an armed carrier-launched drone.
The Navy’s TDN-1 was a TV-guided remote-controlled assault drone developed by the Navy in 1942. Envisioned to operate from carriers under the control of a nearby TBM Avenger (or land-based with a PBY chase plane), the 37-foot-long twin-engine aircraft could carry either a 2,000-pound bomb or an aerial torpedo. The launches from Sable of the type are widely considered the first US drone to take off from an aircraft carrier– eat your heart out Stingray.
TDN-1 drones parked on the Sable’s flight deck, off Traverse City, Michigan, during flight tests on 10 August 1943. Note the inscriptions and cartoons on the aircraft noses, including Fatstuff and Coop’s and Roy on the nearer TDN, and Dilbert on the more distant one. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-387161
Sable (IX-81) Launching a TDN-1 drone while steaming off Traverse City, Michigan, during flight tests on 10 August 1943. Note this aircraft’s unoccupied cockpit. The TDN was intended for use as a television-guided attack drone. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-387174
In West Grand Traverse Bay, off Traverse City, Michigan, with two TDN-1 drones on her flight deck for tests, 10 August 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-387151
When it came to training aircrews, accidents on Sable and Wolverine were to be expected.
Between 1942 and 1945, the years of the carriers’ operations, there were 128 losses and over 200 accidents. Although most losses resulted in only minor injuries, a total of eight pilots were killed. These numbers seem significant until it is considered that during that time over 120,000 successful landings took place, and an estimated 35,000 pilots qualified. The training program, in this light, was a huge success.
General Motors FM-2 Wildcat fighter Upended after a barrier crash onboard USS Sable (IX-81), during pilot training in the Great Lakes, May 1945. Another FM-2 is flying past in the top center. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Photo #: 80-G-354753
Additionally, Sable and her twin trained thousands of deck crews and landing signals officers in how to move, launch and recover aircraft in high-tempo operations. Without such men, the war in the Pacific would have been impossible.
USS Sable: Landing Signal Officer, LT Whitaker, in action during training operations on the Great Lakes, May 1945.
SNJ Texan trainer makes the ship’s 50,000th landing on Sable, during training operations on the Great Lakes, May 1945. Catalog #: 80-G-354737
Among those trained on her decks was one TBM Avenger pilot, George H.W. Bush, who volunteered for flight training on his 18th birthday.
Flying from the light carrier USS San Jacinto (which was a “small” flattop but still had a longer deck, 552 feet, than Sable!), he completed 58 combat sorties, picking up the DFC and three air medals before VJ Day.
While Bush went on to a bright future, Sable would soon be forgotten in the victory.
Decommissioned on 7 November 1945, Sable was stricken from the list of ships on the Navy Register on 28 November 1945. Sold by the Maritime Commission to H. H. Buncher Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., on 7 July 1948, as a scrap hull, she was reported as “disposed of” on 27 July 1948. Likewise, the Navy decommissioned Wolverine on 7 November 1945 and she was sold for scrap in December 1947.
However, her legacy in aviation history may be more enduring.
It is estimated that well over 100 aircraft working from Sable and Wolverine were lost during the war due to accidents– as of course, they were slow, small, and unforgiving platforms filled with (by nature) fledging and unsure aviation hopefuls. By Navy records, at a minimum, the losses included: 41 TBM/TBF Avengers, one F4U Corsair, 38 SBD Dauntless dive bombers, four F6F Hellcats, 17 SNJ Texans, two SB2U Vindicators, 37 FM/F4F Wildcats and three experimental TDNs.
Many of these have been located over the years, providing fodder for aviation museums around the world as the airframes are in generally good condition due to freshwater immersion if the zebra mussels haven’t gotten to them. Many of the aircraft have been found in good condition with, for instance, “tires inflated, parachutes preserved, leather seats maintained, and engine crankcases full of oil. Often paint schemes are well preserved, allowing for easier identification.”
One such F4F-3 (BuNo 4039) lost from Wolverine and recovered in 1991 is on display in a “Sunken Treasures” scene in Pensacola as she would appear on the bottom of the Lakes.
In December 2012, a WWII aircraft, FM-2 Wildcat 57039 was discovered and salvaged in Lake Michigan. She had been lost by Ensign William Forbes on 28 December 1944 as he flew from Sable. She is being restored by the Air Zoo Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan (Photo: Michigan Tech)
The name “Sable” has not graced another U.S. Navy ship.
Specs:
Displacement 6,584 t.
Length 535 ft.
Beam 58 ft.
Propulsion
two compound reciprocating engines
Scotch boilers
Ship’s Service Generators
two turbo-drive 75Kw 120V D.C.
three turbo-drive 100Kw 120V D.C.
two sidewheels
Complement: 300 crew when in civilian service
Armament: none
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Before he was President, George H.W. Bush was a Navy pilot in WWII and carried a S&W revolver in case he had to bail out. After he managed to keep the .38 with him when he ditched his flaming Avenger in the Pacific and even in his time in the drink before a passing submarine picked him up, he parted ways with the gun in 1944 and didn’t see it again until 2007.
You see Bush, one of several downed aviators picked up by the crew of the Gato-class fleet sub USS Finback, “hot bunked” with one of the boat’s junior officers– Lt. (JG) Albert Brostrom– until she completed her 10th War Patrol.
As a gesture of thanks for splitting the precious real estate with him, Bush passed on his .38 once Finback made it to port.
Brostrom held on to it until his death in 1983 but his son, Ron, who knew the story and the Bush-tie-in, presented it to the 41st President at Philadelphia’s Constitution Center.
And the gun, a S&W “Victory” Model, still looked great.
Over the weekend I took a break from my typical kayaking, prop-comic research, napping, beer, and bingo to pitch in at the annual wreath-laying at Biloxi National Cemetery.
There were enough volunteers to honor all 20,000 graves in just an hour of work, which is great. The crowd to pick up the wreaths after Christmas will typically be smaller, but just as hard working.
It is a solemn and important way to spend a morning…and catch up with old friends in some cases.
The below images are from the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum, depicting Doughboys of the newly formed National Army’s 38th “Cyclone” Infantry Division preparing at Camp Shelby outside of Hattiesburg for overseas service in WWI. The photos give a window into the equipment, men and animals of an ammunition train, a vital service which kept the Army fighting longer than 30 minutes.
Field marching order, note the M1917 Enfield
Pup tents and Army mules
Note the pioneer tools
As anyone familiar with the training area around Shelby should know, the roads there was good practice to those rutted muddy paths on the Western Front.
The 17-page scrapbook was donated to the museum in 1990 by TD White of Purvis, MS, and sadly the names of the men and mules in it are lost to history.
As a 10-year-old youth who spent his spare time watching B&W war films, building Testors scale models, and plinking with his .22 at targets that approximated the most heinous enemies you could imagine, I had a chance to attend the recommissioning of the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) on a warm spring day in Pascagoula.
Visiting the immense haze gray super dreadnought, bristling with 16-inch guns and Tomahawk cruise missiles, I made extra effort to crawl, slide into, and otherwise creep around parts of the vessel that was…off limits…unless you were part of the crew. As I was a regular visitor to the USS Alabama and did the same there, I feel I had been training for that very moment for years already.
This set me up for a collision course– literally– with a group who were getting a private, though more sanctioned, tour: Vice President George H.W. Bush.
It was one of the first times I had ever met a President (or Vice) and he spoke very briefly to me before his party resumed their endorsed inspection and I was promptly ushered back to more civilian-approved areas.
Anyway, that’s my story of how I almost got kicked off a battleship but met a Bush.
Vale, Mr. President.
Of note, he was a former WWII veteran himself, having joined on his 18th birthday. An Avenger pilot, the 20-year-old was shot down on a raid over Chichijima, about 150 miles north of Iwo Jima. Targeting an important radio station, Bush’s aircraft was hit by ground fire and, his engine aflame, headed out to sea back towards the U.S. fleet, desperate to reach his carrier again. Ditching his crippled aircraft, Bush was picked up by a U.S. submarine, the USS Finback, and eventually returned to his squadron.
Others were not so lucky. His two crewmen in the TBF were killed while aviators who were shot down and reached the isolated island were later found to have been killed and partially eaten on the order of Japanese officers.
In a 2007 interview with the U.S. Naval Institute, Bush said there is “nothing heroic” about getting shot down and that he still thinks of the loss of his two crewmen “to this very day.”
The Canadians picked up 41 early SH-3s in 1963 as kits assembled by United Aircraft of Canada as their primary ship-borne maritime helicopter and have kept them running for 55 years. The fleet has flown in excess of 550,000 combined hours which at cruising speed of an SH-3 is roughly equivalent to flying 7,200 times around the Earth, or the equivalent of the distance from Earth to Mars.
The Canadian Armed Forces gave a final salute to the type, which they term the CH-124, in a parade held last week at CFB Esquimalt in Victoria, B.C., flown by 443 Squadron, the last operational Sea King unit the country.
“The Royal Canadian Navy has been well served by the Sea King – our longest range weapon and sensor – for decades,” said VADM M. F. Ron Lloyd, Commander of the RCN. “It was an honour to fly with the crew of Black Horse, the helicopter deployed with HMCS St. John’s, during the Sea King’s last operational deployment supporting NATO assurance measures this summer. Canada’s Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force continue to forge ahead with an exciting new chapter, marked by the first operational deployment of Avalanche, the Cyclone helicopter currently deployed on NATO operations with HMCS Ville de Quebec.”
The last overseas deployment for the Sea King came during the first half of 2018 aboard HMCS St. John’s as part of Operation Reassurance.
“During the Civil War, from 1 January 1861 through 30 June 1866, the national government purchased:
3,477,655 muskets, rifles, carbines, and pistols,
544,475 swords, sabers, and lances,
2,146,175 complete sets of infantry accouterments,
1,022,176,474 small arms cartridges, and
1,220,555,435 caps for small arms.” – Hartzler, Yantz & Whisker.
An impressive amount of munitions for any military of any age. When you take into account that the peacetime strength of the U.S. Army in 1860 was 16,000 and the Marines just another 3,500, it is even more so.
Springfield model rifled muskets stacked by the Soldiers from Company B of the 7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, fighting for the Union. July 1861
