Tag Archives: Marine Detachment

Battleship Landing Party Bill, circa 1950s

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Ensign Schuyler F. Heim and other members of the landing party from the South Carolina-class battleship USS Michigan (BB-27) preparing to disembark, on 22 April 1914, at Vera Cruz. Their whites are made khaki through the use of coffee grounds. NHHC NH 100612

The Battleship New Jersey Museum just found the ship’s organization book from 1956 and posted a great video detailing the landing party bill.

Of note, the Korean War-era landing party 201-man rifle company (6 officers, 195 enlisted), was commanded by the Marine detachment’s skipper (a captain) and made up of a platoon of 36 Marines (presumably led by a Marine LT) then fleshed out by 165 bluejackets organized into a company HQ section (commanded by a second Marine LT), a 2nd and 3rd infantry platoon, and a machine gun platoon. The senior Navy officer would be a LtJG who would act as the company executive officer while the company’s First SGT would be a Marine MSgt and the company Gunnery Sergent would be a PO1, likely GM1.

Inspecting USS New Jersey’s Marine detachment, 1944. Of note, this was one of the first Marine Detachments to hit the fleet with M1 Garands. Catalog #: 80-G-82699

Armament included 154 M1 Garands, 20 M1911 sidearms, a whopping 27 M1918 BARs, and 6 light machine guns (probably M1919s).

The three infantry platoons (at least in the case of the two Navy-staffed platoons) would be further divided into 9 four-man fire teams, each with a team leader (M1), rifleman (M1), BAR gunner (M1918) and assistant BAR gunner (M1), combined into three squads each with an additional squad leader, with the whole thing led by a platoon leader, for 40 men per platoon. No platoon Sgt/CPO, and no HMs or commo at the platoon level. Hey, it was 1956…

Anyway, good stuff, and a quick explanation of why a Cold War-era Marine Det on a battleship or cruiser included a captain and two lieutenants for a platoon-sized element.

The last Marine Carrier Dets, useful shipboard for guarding admirals, performing TRAP missions, and keeping an eye on “special munitions” (aka nukes) were disbanded in 1998.

870 Love, Sh-tty Kitty Edition

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Official caption: “A Marine armed with shotgun and ammunition belt stands guard at a rail aboard the aircraft carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV-63), 12/15/1984”

Dig those crisp cammies and leather shell bandolier. Talk about Cold War esthetic. Photo 330-CFD-DN-ST-87-09135 by PH3 Davidson via NARA 

While many just talk about the Marines going from the Winchester 97 Trench Gun in WWI, to the Winchester 12 in WWII and the Mossberg 590 and Benelli M4 today, for years the Corps fielded a specialized version of the Remington 870, dubbed the M-870, Mark 1, complete with a bayonet lug forend over a lengthened mag tube. These guns are highly collectible when encountered in the wild today.

USNS JOSHUA HUMPRHEYS (T-AO-188), Marine FAST team member with an M870 MK1 Remington shotgun, notably missing the front sight post

A Marine demonstrates a standing firing position with a Remington 870 M-870, Mark 1 12-gauge shotgun, 5.3.1989. Note the kevlar, woodland BDUs, and Bianchi M84 holster with the M9 Beretta. DM-SN-93-00537 et.al via NARA.

As for Kitty Hawk, one of the Navy’s last conventional supercarriers, she was decommissioned in 2009 and is awaiting disposal. The Navy recently said she will undergo a drydocking in early 2021 at Puget Sound NSY’s Dry Dock 6 to remove sea life in anticipation of being moved to the breakers. She long outlived shotgun-wielding Marine Dets, which were pulled from flattops and disestablished in 1998.

Little Groups of Marines

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Ten U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Southern Command teamed up with the U.S. Navy for a three-month deployment aboard the Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport USNS Burlington (T-EPF 10), returning to Little Creek this week. The SPMAGTF-SC detachment provided the 1,500-ton Burlington, officially a noncombatant manned by civilian mariners of the MSC alongside a USN commo team, with an embarked security team, providing force protection for the deployment.

This is the type of tasking that little groups of Marines will increasingly see in the future, no longer just the stuff of the “Gator Navy.”

Of course, it is something of a case of everything old is new again, as the Marines for something like 220 years regularly provided small dets on surface ships for security/gunnery/landing force missions. Back in the day, ships as small as gunboats, sloops, and frigates often had Marines aboard, although the practice was trimmed back to cruisers, battleships, and carriers by the 1920s (with a few notable exceptions).

The Marine Detachment, gunboat USS Dauntless (PG-61) – mid-1942

The last Marine Carrier Dets, useful for guarding admirals, performing TRAP missions, and keeping an eye on “special munitions” (aka nukes) were disbanded in 1998.

One generation removed from Mr. Lincoln’s Corps

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Marine Lt. Wendell Cushing Neville (far left, with sword) presents the Marine Guard detachment aboard the 2nd-class battleship/armored cruiser USS Maine (ACR-1), circa 1895. Note the Springfield M1884 “Trapdoor” single-shot .45-70 rifles with the same musket-style bayonet that Napoleon would recognize, kepi headgear, leather M1864 knapsacks and “U.S.M.C” marked haversacks.

All in all, not too different from the same Marine Corps that walked the decks for Dahlgren, Farragut, and Porter.

Note the ages of these regulars. You can bet they were rather salty. From the Wendell C. Neville Collection (COLL/2985) in the Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections.

Neville (USNA 1890), of note, would later receive a MOH for his work in Mexico, lead the much better-equipped 5th Marines at Belleau Wood, and become the 14th Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1929.

Maine would later be sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898, sparking the Spanish-American War.

The Devils’ 5-inchers

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Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-K-3037

Here we see a great image of one of the six twin Mark 32 Mod 4 5″/38 caliber mounts aboard USS Alaska (CB-1), one of the only two operational battlecruisers (though termed just “large cruisers”) ever to serve in the U.S. Navy. The gun’s lookout is Corporal Osborne Cheek, and in the local control position as mount captain is Platoon Sergeant George W. Ewell. Note the local control ring sight and the binoculars and sound powered telephones worn by Ewell. If the ranks sound odd, that’s because they are not Navy GMs or strikers, but Marines.

Since the days of Tun Tavern, Marines often manned naval guns aboard the ships they were assigned. WWII battleships, carriers, and cruisers were no different. Typically each battleship had one 5-inch mount manned by Marines, as well as other mounts.

As noted by the USS North Carolina museum, the ship’s 84-86 man detachment formed the 7th Division in the Gunnery Department and were very busy.

“The Marine Detachment was in the Gunnery Department. The Marines stood lookout watch and in battle manned 20mm and (provided officers in two) 40mm mounts. (They also manned a 5-inch mount early in the ship’s career.) The Marines also furnished twenty-four hour orderly services to the captain and the executive officer. In port the Marines were responsible for the security of the ship. The Marines helped with provisioning the ship and taking on ammunition. All Marines were trained in ship to shore operations, so in addition to helping with the security of the ship in port, we were prepared to be a landing force when necessary. This was necessary near the end of the war when all Marines in our battle group transferred at sea to attack transports and went into Yokosuka, Japan. This preceded the signing of the peace treaty by several days. The Marine officers stood top gunnery watches, officer of the deck and junior officer of the deck watches, and regularly assisted in summary and general courts martials acting either as the prosecuting or defending officer.” -Captain William Romm, USMC, Marine Detachment North Carolina

When the Navy recommissioned the Iowa-class battleships in the early 1980s, the det was smaller, typically platoon-sized, but they still dedicated a 14-man gun crew to control a designated Mk28 5-inch mount, typically marked with an EGA.

As noted in the below video aboard USS Wisconsin, now a museum ship, the MARDET would rotate between manning their 5-incher, manning the ship’s 8 .50-cal M2 single mounts, and serving with the ship’s reaction force.