Tag Archives: 6th fleet

Albany Sunsets

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70 years ago today: Oregon City-class heavy cruiser USS Albany (CA-123) moored between two British cruisers (appear to be Fiji class) in Valletta Harbor, Malta. Sunset, 28 November 1950

Catalog #: 80-G-429269

Albany, commissioned 15 June 1946, was a 14,000-ton brawler completed too late for WWII– she wasn’t laid down until three months before D-Day– but she did spend some significant time with the 6th Fleet in the Med (hence the image above) and would go on to be extensively converted to a guided missile cruiser (CG 10) by 1962, serving another 18 years.

Speaking of which:

HMS London (D-16), USS Albany, and USS Lawrence (DDG-4) anchored at Malta in 1971.

Albany was sold for scrapping on 12 August 1990.

Happy first day of fall

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And in thoughts of things colder, here is the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79) digging the Northern Lights as she transits the Arctic Circle Sept. 5, 2017.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan U. Kledzik/Released)

“Oscar Austin is on a routine deployment supporting U.S. national security interests in Europe, and increasing theater security cooperation and forward naval presence in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.”

Dragoon at 73: The Forgotten D-Day

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THEOULE-SUR-MER, France (Aug. 14, 2017) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79) is anchored off the coast of Theole-Sur-Mer, France, for a port visit. During the port visit Sailors assigned to the ship participated in events commemorating the 73rd anniversary of Operation Dragoon, the liberation of southern France by Allied forces during World War II. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan U. Kledzik/Released)

Overshadowed in military history by the Torch landings in North Africa, the Husky/Avalanche/Baytown/Slapstick landings in Sicily and Italy, and of course Overlord in Normandy, the month-long amphibious invasion of South France by the Allies in August-September 1944, Operation Dragoon, is often overlooked.

This is largely because the “walk-over” resulted in comparatively few casualties to the U.S. 7th Army/8th Fleet and Free French Armee B, and bagged over 130,000 German prisoners of Gen. Fredrich Wiese’s 19. Armee– though to be honest the Axis force was composed largely of fresh conscripts, shell-shocked second line troops and Hiwis.

Still, tell that to the more than 4,000 U.S. and French killed and missing from the op.