Many firearms are popular and have been seen often in world history. Some are iconic like the AK47 or M1 Garand. Some are legends in foolishness like the Chauchat. Some, like the 1911, are remembered for their simple effectiveness. The Mosin-Nagant falls into this latter category.
Produced in figures of no less than 48 million by at least a dozen countries from 1891 through 1973 (and still made by Molot and Zastava as commercial hunting rifles today) the Mosin-Nagant rifle was robust, accurate, and reliable. The Mosin was the bread and butter of the Russian and later Soviet Armies until 1947, fighting in the Boxer Rebellion, Russo-Japanese War, Russo-Polish War, Finnish Winter War, Russian Revolution and Civil War, as well as both World Wars. It then started a second life around the world in the hands of Warsaw Bloc proxies from Spain, North Korea, and Vietnam to Nicaragua and Grenada. It is still found in almost every third world country’s arsenals to this day. For a design that is 126-years old and predates the Ford Model T by a generation, that’s not too shabby.
With so many out there, for sure some are very collectible such as some Finn variants, early Tsarist models in their original condition, and others. Then, there are millions of non-collectible, well-used examples that have been steadily turned into Archangel-stocked target rifles, obrez cutoffs, camp guns, “truck guns” and others.
Here are a couple of “wasteland” models that I’ve come across lately.
As noted by the maker, “It was a Russian that was nearly destroyed but still shot straight. Stock was from a Chinese T53 and bailing wire, nails and a sling made from a blanket strip.”
Then there is this creative Mosin SBR fire-breathing dragon blaster made by Polniy Pesetc overseas.
Overall, interesting concept, and as long as it isn’t a collectible/rare M.91, I say go for it.
Rock Island Auctions has over 100 Lugers at their upcoming Premier Auction in May including carbines and artillery models and rare pistols meant for Persian, American, Argentine, Mexican, Swiss and Russian markets. They got em in 7.65 blank, 7.65×21mm Parabellum (which almost became U.S. Army issue!), and good ole 9mm parabellum.
DWM Model 1900 7.65mm “Ejercito Mexicano” marked commercial pistol made in hopes of gaining contracts with the Mexican military. Only one other example has ever been documented.
A rare DWM-made Model 1906 9mm para made for the Tsarist Russia contract. One of just 1,000 made, it includes Cyrillic safety markings and crossed Mosin Nagant rifle engravings (Photos: RIA)
From the Australian Army on the reservists that patrol the sparsely populated northern half of the island continent:
A Patrolman is a member of a Regional Force Surveillance Unit Patrol. These patrols are highly mobile teams that use small patrol tactics; skills employed by our Special Forces (SF). Their role is to gain information by observation and patrol in the remote north and western regions of our vast land where the population and infrastructure is widely dispersed. Most Patrolmen are Army Reservists who are knowledgeable on the local area and are able to work in small teams, living rough for days or weeks on end.
The intelligence they gather assists the ADF and other government agencies such as Border Protection, Customs and Department of Primary Industry in ensuring our sovereignty is not violated.
A Patrol is normally a six-man team: Patrol Commander, Patrol 2IC (second in command), Patrol Signaller, Patrol Medic, Patrol Scout and Patrolman. Some tasks may see the team numbers change to as low as two Patrolmen. RFSU patrols rely on stealth; the ability to move and see without being seen, and liaising with the local community as they gather intelligence.
The image above show a Patrolman listening to an ‘O’ group (Orders Group) as he gets details on his mission.
The other image is of the AOs (Areas of Operations) of the three RFSUs: The Pilbara Regiment; the North West Mobile Force, aka NORFORCE; and 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment (51 FNQR)
The group’s The G-Wagons are pretty fly
Mercedes Benz G-Wagon 6 x 6 Truck, Light, Surveillance and Reconnaissance variant. Normally crewed by three soldiers, they have been modified for Australian conditions and prove a great asset to our Regional Force Surveillance Units such as Pilbara Regiment, North West Mobile Force – NORFORCE and 51st Battalion, The Far North Queensland Regiment – Image by CPL N Campos
Warship Wednesday, April 26, 2017: Always a bridesmaid
Here we see the fourth ship of the Colossus-class of British Royal Navy carriers, HMS Venerable (R63), in her final career as the Argentine carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2). As you can tell from this statement, she would go on to change flags a few times and later serve as a very real threat to her original owners.
Venerable was one of 16 planned 1942 Design Light Fleet Carriers for the RN. This series, broken up into Colossus and Majestic-class sub-variants, were nifty 19,500-ton, 695-foot long carriers that the U.S. Navy would have classified at the time as a CVL or light carrier. They were slower than the fast fleet carriers at just 25-knots with all four 3-drum Admiralty boilers were lit and glowing red, but they had long legs (over 14,000 miles at cruising speed) which allowed them to cross the Atlantic escorting convoys, travel to the Pacific to retake lost colonies or remain on station in the South Atlantic (Falklands anyone?) or the Indian Ocean for weeks.
Capable of carrying up to 52 piston engine aircraft of the time, these carriers had enough punch to make it count.
The thing is, only seven of these carriers were completed before the end of World War II and even those came in during the last months and weeks. They effectively saw no service. Laid down beginning in 1942, most of the ships were launched but when the war ended, construction was canceled.
The hero of our tale, the fourth HMS Venerable in the RN since 1784 and the last hull to bear the name in that fleet, was laid down at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead on 3 December 1942 and launched just over a year later. Commissioned on 17 January 1945, she was made flagship of the RN’s 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron, Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt, CB, CBE, commanding.
Destined for service in the Far East where the war was expected to linger through 1946 or 1947, she was outfitted with an airwing of F4U Corsair fighters and Fairley Barracuda torpedo bombers of 814 and 1851 Squadrons and set off to join TF 37 of the US 3rd Fleet by way of the Med, which by early 1945 was quiet.
She arrived just in time to join with the carrier HMS Indomitable and the battleship HMS Anson to re-occupy Hong Kong in August 1945, followed by the re-occupation of Kowloon the next month. As far as I can tell, Venerable did not engage either German or Japanese forces in live combat during WWII.
October found her in Haiphong, French Indochina, picking up liberated Indian and Commonwealth prisoners of war to be repatriated home. November and December found her supporting Dutch efforts to reoccupy the Dutch East Indies before spending Christmas of 1945 in Freemantle, Australia. The next year saw her continuing her trooping efforts, shuttling refugees, displaced persons, and soon-to-be-mustered out servicemembers from Singapore to Hong Kong and other parts of the Far East, and bringing in fresh troops for garrison duty.
By February 14, 1947, after fleet exercises with the British Pacific Fleet, she set sail for Plymouth where she was laid up in May, having served just 29 months on active duty, mostly as a taxi service.
Dutch Service
The British, flush with flattops, broke and at peace, began a clearance sale over the next several years. In the end, class leader Colossus was sold to France as Arromanches. The Australians picked up Vengeance, Majestic and Terrible; the Canadians got Warrior (more on her later), Powerful and Magnificent; and India picked up Hercules.
On 1 April 1948, our still relatively new carrier, Venerable, was sold to the Royal Netherlands Navy, who commissioned her 28 May as HNLMS Karel Doorman (R-81), named after the famed Dutch admiral lost with his flagship light cruiser De Ruyter in WWII. She was the second, and last aircraft carrier of the Royal Netherlands Navy (their previous carrier, also after Doorman, was the former British escort carrier HMS Nairana.)
A Dutch propaganda poster, depicting Admiral Karel Doorman and his flagship, the doomed light cruiser De Ruyter
With the country fighting separatists in the Dutch East Indies and facing the always-curious Venezuelans in the Dutch West Indies, she was quickly given a topicalization that included boiler modifications and partial air conditioning and deployed along with the cruiser Jacob van Heemskerck and frigate Johan Maurits van Nassau to the Caribbean.
HNLMS Karel Doorman with former USN TBM-3E Avengers on deck
Dutch aircraft carrier KAREL DOORMAN, ex British VENERABLE, circa 1950. Note the Carley floats and extensive small boat arrangement
She carried a mix of 24 Fireflies and Sea Furies as her initial air wing. For rescue duties, a yellow Sea Otter was included, later replaced by an S-51 helicopter, called Jezebel. On the cruise was Prince Bernhard, who had a long history of military service and had racked up several thousand hours in combat aircraft.
(Bernard flying off the carrier later in life, in an S-2 Stoof in 1967)
From 1955-58, Venerable saw extensive modernization at Wilton-Feijenoord Shipyard in Holland. During this time, she was fitted with a new steam catapult, an 8-degree angled deck, mirror landing sight, new island, massive mast, and funnel, as well as ultra-modern radar equipment, air search, height search, target acquisition, navigation, and carrier controlled approach radar systems. The latter was produced by the electronic company Holland Signaal.
Her dated AAA guns were replaced by 10 Bofors 40mm/L70s. Her new air wing consisted of 14 anti-submarine Avengers, 10 Hawker Sea Hawks, and 2 S-55 helicopters and she acted as the flagship of Smaldeel V (Task Force 5) operating in the North Sea as part of NATO.
Hawker Sea Hawks and Avengers on Karl Doorman
With Indonesia rattling the sabers over West Papua New Guinea, the Dutch carrier embarked a dozen Hawker Hunters besides her airwing and went to the Far East again in 1960 until that crisis was settled through negotiations. The Indonesians had planned to sink her with a six-aircraft sortie of Tu-16KS-1 Badger bombers using a dozen AS-1 Kennel anti-ship missiles, which her Bofors likely would have been unable to counter. Again, the carrier avoided combat by the luck of the draw.
Colossus-class aircraft carrier HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81)
Marine Luchtvaart Dienst, ‘Kon Marine’, VSQ-4 ‘D’ CS2F-1’s S-2A’s aboard HNMLS Karel Doorman R81. Note her distinctive green deck
The crisis abated, she returned to the Atlantic and made another trip to the New World in 1962, her air wing modified for ASW-only missions with 8 Grumman S2F Trackers and 6 S-58 (H-34) helicopters along with a company of Dutch Marines.
Dutch Aircraft carrier HNLMS Karel Doorman in 1962; All Hands and remembrance ceremony in the Dardanelles; Royal Marine Corps Band marching towards the bow
This is the English version of a film about the Dutch aircraft carrier Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman (R81). It shows everyday life onboard the aircraft carrier during the journey it made in 1962 to Suriname and the Dutch Antilles. The destroyers Hr.Ms. Groningen (D813) and Hr.Ms. Limburg (D814) joined her during this voyage:
In early 1968, the 23-year old carrier suffered a boiler room fire that extensively gutted her engineering spaces. The Dutch, defense budgets always slim, moved to replace her with land-based ASW aircraft and helicopters borne by surface combatants. She was stricken on 29 April 1968, deemed not worth the repair.
Third-hand aircraft carrier? Anyone?
Remember HMCS Warrior mentioned above? The Colossus-class carrier loaned to the Canadians? Well, the Canucks didn’t need so many carriers so they gave her back to the Brits who decommissioned the unmodified flattop in February 1958. Argentina, feeling outclassed by the purchase in 1956 by neighboring Brazil of the Colossus-class carrier Vengeance after the Australians were done with her– the first Latin American country to have a carrier– moved to pick up the Warrior from the UK which the commissioned as ARA Independencia (V-1) in July 1959.
ARA Independencia (V-1). She flew F4U-5s in 2′ Escuadrilla de Ataque. Colorized by Postales Navales
Independencia flew a wing of former USN F4U Corsairs, SNJ-5Cs Texans, and Grumman S2F-1Trackers but, with the Argentines looking to swap their aging Corsairs and Texans for jet-powered F9F Panthers, they needed an angled flight deck. This led them to purchase Venerable/Karel Doorman in crippled condition on 15 October 1968 and refurbish her as a cheaper option than giving Independencia the needed topside improvements to run jets.
Following a six-month repair at Rotterdam that saw her disabled boilers replaced by new ones transplanted from her incomplete sister ship HMS Leviathan, Venerable/Karel Doorman was commissioned into the Argentine Navy as ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (25 May– Argentina’s national day) (V-2) on 12 March 1969. For two years, on paper at least, Argentina had two carriers, though Independencia was soon withdrawn and by 1971 scrapped.
For the next 21-years, the Brazilian carrier Minas Gerais and the Argentine Veinticinco de Mayo— built as sister ships– were the yin and yang of Latina American carrier operations.
In 1971, Argentina bought 16 USN A-4B Skyhawks plus two for spare parts, then modified them with five weapon pylons and the ability to carry AIM-9B Sidewinders, creating A-4Q fighter bombers. These replaced the 1950s era F9F Panthers. Sea King ASW/SAR helicopters were added to the wing. Though it should be noted that in 1969 the Brits tested an early Harrier GR.1 on board her, which the Argentines declined to buy.
Argentina carrier 25 de Mayo along with the Gearing class destroyers Miguel Angel Gutierrez Barquin Al frente la 2da división de destructores (Espora, Brown y Rosales).
Note the Skyhawks. Colorized by Postales Navales.
With the Argentina military junta in charge in the late 1970s, the U.S. cut support to the country because of the fratricidal Dirty War, which made Veinticinco de Mayo‘s air wing increasingly hard to fly. The Argentines looked elsewhere and in 1978 negotiated a contract to buy 14 Dassault-Breguet Super Étendards and a quantity of air-launched Exocet anti-ship missiles from France. This came in conjunction with the surface-to-surface Exocet sales and France throwing in two corvettes, originally built for the apartheid Regime in South Africa. The corvettes, Good Hope and Transvaal, could not be delivered because of anti-apartheid embargoes. In Argentina, they were renamed ARA Drummond and ARA Guerrico.
The Argentine Navy, with their carrier in the forefront, moved to invade the Chilean islands of Picton, Nueva, and Lennox in the Beagle Channel in a territorial dispute in 1978, however, the junta reversed themselves before the conflict turned hot. Once more, our flattop did not fire a shot in anger.
Then came the Malvinas.
With just four Super Étendards (with five Exocets) and 10 A-4Qs operational in the Argentine Navy, the carrier made ready to sortie for that country’s push to retake the Falkland Islands from Great Britain in yet another dangerous territorial dispute. In April 1982, 35 years ago this month, she put to sea as the flagship of Carrier Task Force (CTF 79.1) tasked by the Naval High Command to support the invasion, codenamed Operation Azul.
Carrier ARA 25 de mayo (V-2) S2-Trackers, A4-Q Skyhawks, Aerospatiale Alouette. Note the camouflaged S-2. It should be noted the Etendards were not carrier certified until after the Falklands war.
Once the Brits mustered a task force to take the islands back, 25 de Mayo was ordered to sea to attack the arriving English carrier battle group, made up of the HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible. With the two British carriers bristling with over 25 radar-equipped Sea Harriers armed with later model AIM-9L Sidewinders and surrounded by dozens of Sea Dart and Sea Wolf equipped escorts, the likelihood that the Argentine A-4s could have prosecuted a successful attack on the fleet was slim. Nonetheless, a strike was prepared and, with her S-2’s picking up the British fleet over the horizon, was only scrubbed at the last minute due to poor weather conditions. It would have been the first time since 1944 that a carrier v. carrier fleet action occurred.
ARA Veinticinco de Mayo makes A-4 Skyhawk jets ready during the 1982 Falklands War note Invincible marked bomb
The image summarizes the deployment of Ar+Br naval forces around the Falklands Islands before the sinking of the ARA Belgrano during the Falklands War according to Ruben O. Moro with a hint that Middlebrook set the Argentine forces no more than 60-90 nautical miles from TEZ in opposite to Moro who set it further. Via Wiki
Further, once a British submarine sank the WWII light cruiser ARA General Belgrano (former USS Phoenix) with heavy loss of life on May 3, the Argentine Navy lacked the appetite to further risk their carrier. While her Skyhawks and Étendards made gallant and even successful strikes on British escorts and auxiliaries while flying from land at the Rio Grande over the next six weeks, Veinticinco de Mayo returned to port and remained there for the rest of the war, again not bathed in the blood of her enemies.
With the junta swept away after the Falklands War and military funding withering, the Argentines could put all their working French strike planes online but their carrier was increasingly restricted to port with bad engineering casualties. With her Skyhawks lost in 1982, her last air wing in her twilight years was 12 Etendards, six Grumman Tracker ASW aircraft, four SH-3D Sea King ASW, and one utility helicopter.
Argentine carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo 25, A-4 forward, Etendards aft
Inoperable by 1990, the Brazilians were allowed to plunder her for parts to keep their own carrier at sea in exchange for granting Argentine carrier pilots a chance to tail hook on their neighbor’s ship to keep their qualifications up to date.
By 1997, Veinticinco de Mayo was officially decommissioned and towed to India in 2000 for scrapping. As for the Brazilians, they replaced her sister with the larger and slightly more modern French aircraft carrier Foch the same year.
All the Colossus/Majestic class carriers are now gone, with the Indian INS Vikrant/HMS Hercules, saved briefly as a museum ship, scrapped in 2014 ending the era of these well-traveled light carriers.
Oddly enough, the British Imperial War Museum has some Argentine relics of the Veinticinco de Mayo, a UZI submachine gun and FN FAL rifle captured in the Falklands that are Dutch-marked and believed to have transferred with the carrier to the “Argies” then subsequently used with that country’s Marines ashore in the Falklands.
Specs:
CV R81 Karel Doorman via shipbucket. Click to big up
Displacement
15,890 tons standard
17,500 tons normal
19,890 tons full load
Length:
630 ft. (190 m) between perpendiculars
695 ft. (212 m) overall
Beam: 80 ft. (24 m)
Draught: 24.5 ft. (7.5 m)
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) at 120 revolutions
Range:
12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
6,200 nautical miles (11,500 km; 7,100 mi) at 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Complement: 1,000 + 300 air group
Sensors and processing systems: (1982)
Air search: Lockheed SPS-40B; E/F band
Surface search: Plessey AWS 4; E/F band
Navigation: Signaal ZW06; I band
Fire control: 2 × SPG-34; I/J band
CCA: Scanter Mil-Par; I band
Aircraft 52 piston (as-built)
20~ jets by 1958
Armament: (As designed, 1942)
6 × 4-barrelled 2 pounder anti-aircraft guns
16 × twin 20 mm Oerlikon mountings (1958)
10 × Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns (2 quads, 1 twin)
2 × 47 mm saluting guns
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FN America on Monday officially launched their new striker-fired 9mm handgun designed originally as the company’s entry into the Army’s Modular Handgun System competition.
Based on their FNS Compact platform, the 17+1 capacity handgun was beefed up to meet rigorous military requirements that saw more than 1 million rounds fired in reliability, ammunition compatibility, and durability testing. Changes to the legacy design, in addition to the improved internals, include enhanced grip textures and cocking serrations, guarded controls and a recessed target crown on the 4-inch barrel.
“When the requirements for MHS were released, our team of engineers immediately went to work, taking the successful elements of the FNS Compact and further developing those to meet the needs of the U.S. Army’s solicitation for a new, full-size pistol,” said Mark Cherpes, president, and CEO of FN America.
More in my column at Guns.com, and I will def be checking this bad boy out in Atlanta this week, so stay tuned to this same bat channel for updates.
Wentworth Military Academy and College’s board chairman and president announced the closure, effective May 31, in letters Friday to cadets, students, parents and alumni.
The letter to alumni says the site in Lexington about 50 miles east of Kansas City will pay its debts and liquidate its assets as part of “an orderly closure.”
APRIL 7, 2017 – The Board of Trustees of Wentworth Military Academy and College announces that the school will cease all educational and related operations at its campus located in Lexington, Missouri, and its learning site in Cameron, Missouri, at the end of this academic year, which falls on May 31, 2017. Key educational and school-related activities – including the Military Ball, commencement ceremonies, and the commissioning of new officers – will proceed as previously scheduled.
The closing of the school and the winding down of its operations will take place in an orderly manner, and Wentworth will make every effort to assist students and their parents in effecting the students’ smooth transition to other educational institutions.
The Board has directed the officers of the school to take all necessary and proper actions to cease all educational and related operations at the school’s Lexington campus, as well as to initiate the process of dissolving the school corporation and liquidating all corporate assets in accordance with the Bylaws of the corporation and Missouri legal requirements. The school has retained the law firm of Husch Blackwell LLP to provide legal advice and counsel with respect to the cessation of operations and pending dissolution.
There are no plans at present for the school’s facilities at the Lexington campus.
This image is available from the Collection Database of the Australian War Memorial under the ID Number: P05717.001. Caption by British and Commonwealth Forces
Group portrait of the Australian 11th (Western Australia) Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade, Australian Imperial Force posing on the Great Pyramid of Giza on 10 January 1915, prior to the landing at Gallipoli. In just a few months, many of these faces would be no more.
The 11th Battalion did much of their war training in Egypt and would be amongst the first to land on April 25, 1915.
In the five days following the landing, the battalion suffered 378 casualties, over one-third of its strength.
The 11th Battalion, from Western Australia, came ashore not at Anzac Cove, but on the beach beneath the slopes leading down from Ari Burnu Point and Plugge’s Plateau. Among the first to fall was Captain William Annear, 11th Battalion, of Subiaco, Western Australia. He was shot as he came up onto Plugge’s Plateau after the hard climb from the beach. Charles Bean described the scene:
The first Australians clambered out on to the small plateau … heavy fire still met the Australians appearing over the rim of the plateau, and was sufficient to force the first men to take what cover they could on the seaward edge … Captain Annear was hit through the head and lay there, the first Australian officer to be killed.
[Charles Bean, The Story of Anzac, Vol 1, ‘The Landing at Gaba Tepe’, Sydney, 1941, p.259]
Later, as the men of the 11th Battalion struggled up towards the heights of Chunuk Bair they met strong Turkish opposition around the slopes of a hill called Baby 700. Another young officer was killed there: Second Lieutenant Mordaunt Reid, of Coolgardie, Western Australia. Reid had been sent across the Nek with a small party to assist in the advance up the range:
Lieutenant Mordaunt Reid, who was carefully controlling the fire from the right of [the] line, was severely hit through the thigh. One of his men went to help him crawl to the rear, but Reid was never thereafter seen or heard of by his battalion.
[Charles Bean, The Story of Anzac, Vol 1, ‘The Landing at Gaba Tepe’, Sydney, 1941, p.290]
A Yeoman Warder in Tudor State Dress, from a series of Photochrom prints created by the Detroit Publishing Co. between about 1890 and 1900. Although the image makes the common mistake of calling him a Yeoman of the Guard, the Library of Congress clarifies him as a Beefeater, a.k.a. a Yeoman Warder.
Narratively has a great interview with Alan Kingshott, the Chief Yeoman Warder, or, the head of the Beefeaters. Officially termed “The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London” the 38-person (they began allowing women a few years back) military force is comprised of long-serving retired NCOs and whose TOE includes a Ravenmaster.
From the piece:
When Kingshott became a Beefeater, life in the corps was different. For 25 years he had served as a tank gunner in the Royal Hussars, seeing active duty in places like Northern Ireland and the Middle East. After a brief, dreary career detour to manage an electrical supply store, Kingshott signed on as a Warder in 1998. A balance of charisma and stalwart respect for tradition helped Kingshott rise through the ranks, from Yeoman Warder, to Yeoman Sergeant to Gaoler and finally, in 2012, Chief Yeoman Warder.
“The guys that were on the job when I first got here had a very different view of life and of the job. It was seen as a sort of gentlemen’s retirement club,” he says.
But Tower life today is anything but laid-back. Kingshott rises early in a bedroom that was once a prison cell – the locks still bolt from outside the door – and treads 48 steps down a spiral stone staircase to work. The scene looks staged for a Hollywood swashbuckler with Kingshott decked out in his medieval uniform.
Ceremony infuses his day. Mornings start with a brisk march to the main gate – ancient iron keys in hand and flanked by four regimental guards – where tradition dictates he open the Tower to the public. In his office, Kingshott is deluged with administrative duties, escaping now and then to confer with colleagues around the complex. But it’s evening and the Ceremony of the Keys that he cherishes most is about to begin…
The sailing ship Le Quy Don (286), operated by the Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN), berthed at Pier 15, South Harbor, Manila earlier this month for a goodwill visit to the Philippines.
Onboard were 50 cadets from Vietnam’s naval academy headed by its Deputy Director, Commodore Phan Van Van. The vessel was under the command of Lt. La Van Tam.
The 220-foot sail training ship (STS) was built in Poland and began service in the VPN last year as part of a naval expansion and is rated to carry a mixed crew of 110 officers/enlisted/cadets. A three-masted barque with some 1400 m² in canvas she also carries an auxiliary diesel or, as known in this type of vessel, a steel mainsail.
She is named after the 18th-century Annamese poet.
