With the undeclared asymmetric naval war in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden stretching into its eighth month (and Operation Prosperity Guardian into its sixth), it has largely fallen from Page 1 of the mainstream media to more like Page 25.
So what’s going on?
The official news has been limited, but CENTCOM continues to put out terse almost daily reports of engagements against anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM), uncrewed surface vessels (USV), uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), and one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) fired by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
These attacks seem to come mostly in the late night or early mornings, often under the cover of darkness, and, gratefully, are almost always anticlimactic, with coalition assets easily able to counter/destroy them through a usually undisclosed mix of soft and hard kill systems employed by both airborne and afloat assets with no damage or casualties to report.
Gone are the cumulative tracking announcements from CENTCOM (e.g. “this is the 29th attack) as, well, the numbers probably got too high.
Take the following pressers into account just for the first week of May:
May 2: “At approximately 2:00 p.m. (Sanaa time) on May 2, 2024, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces successfully engaged and destroyed three uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) in an Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.”
May 6:“At approximately 10:47 a.m. (Sanaa time) on May 6, 2024, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces successfully engaged and destroyed one uncrewed aerial system (UAS) launched by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists over the Red Sea.
Between approximately 11:02 p.m. and 11:48 p.m. (Sanaa time) on May 6, Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists launched three uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) over the Gulf of Aden from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. A coalition ship successfully engaged one UAS, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces successfully engaged the second UAS, and the final UAS crashed in the Gulf of Aden.”
May 7: “At approximately 5:02 a.m. (Sanaa time) on May 7, Iran-backed Houthi terrorists launched an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) over the Gulf of Aden.”
The most hectic day in recent memory was the swarm attack of 9 March that saw “28 uncrewed aerial vehicles between 4:00 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. (Sanaa time).”
Acknowledging the ongoing combat operations– keep in mind that Carrier Strike Group 2 (USS Dwight D. Eisenhower with Carrier Air Wing 3 embarked, cruiser USS Philippine Sea, and Burkes USS Gravely, USS Laboon, and USS Mason) have been in the Red Sea since 4 November 2023– the SECNAV on 24 April authorized Combat Awards and Devices for those in the Red Sea Area “effective from 19 October 2023 to a date to be determined.”
However, immanent danger pay is not authorized. Whomp, whomp.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet flies over the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) on Dec. 13, 2023. Deployed as part of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKECSG), the Philippine Sea is ready to respond to a range of contingencies in support of national security priorities. IKECSG is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to help ensure maritime security and stability in the Middle East Region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Keith Nowak) 231213-N-PS818-1001
Hopefully, the supply of precious (and expensive) SM-2s and AMRAAMs, which took decades to stockpile, is not emptying as fast as a fat kid with a big gulp. Word is that aerial gun systems (including helicopter door gunners) have been very effective against a lot of these low-speed targets. The French Navy, for one, has confirmed such a shootdown with video.
Speaking of coalition partners (and those coalition-adjacent), both Denmark (the frigate Iver Huitfeldt) and Germany (frigate Hessen) are learning from post-deployment follies to the Red Sea suffered from a variety of missile mishaps, ammo snags, and training problems showing themselves. As a silver lining, this is surely a good development as no casualties were suffered and everyone is taking a hard look at how to fix the problems moving forward.
This comes as the Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond, now on her second deployment to the region, has been bagging ASBMs with her, thus far very successful, Sea Viper missile system.
And, just because why not, the Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) has reported that piracy is back in style off the Somali Coast, with no less than 28 documented incidents since last November including 3 vessels assaulted and 2 reporting suspicious approaches in just the past 30 days.
Here we see the only World War II U.S. Navy destroyer escort with a predominantly black enlisted crew, USS Mason DE-529, with two of her smiling bluejackets at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 20 March 1944.
In recognition of Black History Month, which begins today, I give you the Mason‘s story.
While African-Americans served with honor in the Navy going back to the time of Washington, and even earned the Medal of Honor, per a 99-page 1947-era history of “negroes” in the Navy complied by the service:
Following World War I, enlistment of Negroes seems to have been discontinued by BuNav. Recruiting of Negroes as messmen may have been kept open formally, but at least in practice only Filipinos were recruited for this branch from about 1919-1922 until December, 1932. About December 1932, active recruiting of Negroes for the messman branch began and this was the only branch in which Negroes could enlist until recruiting for general service was opened to them as of June 1, 1942,
Messmen!
It should be noted that on 30 June 1942, there were just 5,026 African-Americans in the regular Navy– almost all of them mess attendants.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Mess Attendant Doris Miller earned his Navy Cross the hard way– carrying stricken fellow Sailors to safety on the battleship USS West Virginia, helping aid the mortally wounded Captain of the ship, and finally manning a .50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun until he ran out of ammunition and was ordered to abandon ship.
Miller
Commended by SECNAV Knox himself, Miller went back to sea, first on the carrier Enterprise, then the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (!) and was later killed when the jeep carrier USS Liscome Bay‘s magazine went up in 1943 following a Japanese torpedo strike.
With all this in mind, on 16 January 1942, Knox– prodded by FDR, FLOTUS, and the director of the NAACP– asked the General Board to submit a plan for taking 5000 African-Americans for billets other than in the messman branch, requesting further that the Board state their ideas as to the type of duty, assignments, etc., “which will permit the Navy to best utilize the services of these men.”
The study came to the conclusion that, barring mess rates, blacks should not serve in the general fleet but could be utilized in “service units throughout the naval establishment (including shore activities of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard); yard craft and other small craft employed in Naval District local defense forces; shore based units for other parts of District local defense forces; selected Coast Guard cutters and small details for Coast Guard Captains of the Port; construction battalions; composite Marine battalions”
“District craft duty in the United states. [Photograph is bound in book and top part of caption is not available. The first sailor’s name is not available. Readable are: Edward L. Williams, Motor Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class; Clifton W. Allen, Ship’s Cook 2nd Class; Carl E. Harris, Seaman 1st Class; and Charles H. Brown, Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class.] Official US Navy Photograph.”
By December 31, 1943, there were 101,573 blacks on active duty in various rates, 37,981 of whom were Stewards Mates (about one in three), and the service moved to expand their “experiment.”
In late 1943, the Navy decided to trial a pair of segregated warships, the 173-foot PC-461-class submarine chaser USS PC 1264, with 65 officers and men; and the subject of our tale, the 289-foot Evarts-class destroyer escort, USS Mason (DE-529), with the much more significant complement of 198– 160 of which were to be African-American, including one officer, Lt.(.j.g) James Hair.
Envisioned to be a class of a staggering 105 vessels, the Evarts-class DE’s were plucky 1,360-ton ships referred to at the time as the “battleships of the anti-submarine war.” Equipped with a quartet of GM Model 16-278A diesel engines, they weren’t especially fast (just 19-knots when wide open, though they were designed originally for 24), or especially well-armed (just a few 3″/50 Mk22 guns, some smaller pieces for AAA defense, and an array of depth charge devices), but they didn’t have to be to escort convoys and chase off German and Japanese subs.
Mason was named after Ensign Newton Henry Mason, D.D.S., U.S. Naval Air Corps, who gave his last full measure at the ripe old age of 23 when he flew his F4F Wildcat from the deck of USS Lexington during the Battle of the Coral Sea and was never seen again.
Extreme left, back row: ENS Newton H. Mason was killed in action against Japanese forces in the Battle of the Coral Sea, May 1942. He had joined the squadron just five months before, fresh from flight school.
He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross (posthumously) and was remembered by a memorial service at Columbia University, his alma mater. Mason’s mother, Mrs. David Mason, was at the launching ceremony for our destroyer escort, 17 November 1943 at Boston Navy Yard.
Commissioned 20 March 1944, Mason‘s crew was mainly African-American, who had been trained in the months leading up to manning the rails.
“I just wanted to get in the Navy with all those ships,” said Gordon D. Buchanan, a veteran of Mason (DE 529). “All I wanted was to go to sea. I didn’t know what blacks were doing at sea, I just wanted to join and fight for my country. I am a patriot.”
Quartermasters receive compass instruction, during training for Mason’s crew at the Norfolk Naval Training Station, Virginia, 3 January 1944. The instructor is QMC L.J. Russell, USNR (left). Trainees are (left to right): QM2c Charles W. Divers, QM2c Royal H. Gooden, QM2c Calvin Bell, QM3c Lewis F. Blanton. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-214542
NORFOLK, VA (January 3, 1944) Under the direction of CGM Rex Ashley, USN, three gunner’s mates assemble and study a 20 mm gun, the type which they man aboard the USS MASON (DE 529). Trainees at Norfolk are l. to r.: Albert A. Davis, GM2c; Frank Wood, GM2c; and Warren Vincent, GM2c. (National Archives Photo # 80-G-44826)
Signalman 1st Class Ernest V. Alderman, USNR, (right) explains various parts of a signal lamp to SM2c Julius Holmes, during training for Mason’s crew at Norfolk Naval Training Station, Virginia, 3 January 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-44827
Commissioning ceremonies on the ship’s fantail, held in a driving snowstorm at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 20 March 1944. Her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander William M. Blackford, USNR, is in the center with some of the crew standing in ranks behind him. Ship in the background is an LST, with bow doors partially opened. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the Collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-218856
African-American crewmembers look proudly at their ship while moored at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 20 March 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-218861
By 30 June 1944, a total of 142,306 African-Americans were in the Navy, of whom 48,524 were Steward’s Mates (about 33%).
Following her shakedown cruise, Mason escorted an Eastbound convoy to the Azores in July.
Crossing back to the West, she arrived in New York and helped escort Convoy NY119 in September into October, where she encountered a terrible storm at sea and the Mason carried her 20 merchantmen to Falmouth, England, though she was barely afloat herself.
According to the Navy:
During the worst North Atlantic storm of the century, the 290-foot long Mason was serving as escort to a convoy of merchant ships bound for England. The strength of the storm forced the convoy to break up, and Mason was chosen to escort a section of ships to their destination.
With land in sight, Mason’s deck split, threatening the structural integrity of the ship. Emergency repairs were made quickly and efficiently, and Mason returned immediately to assist the remainder of the convoy.
Mason’s crew had accomplished what the Atlanta Daily Press described on the day of the ship’s commissioning as an “opportunity to show the world that they are capable.”
“We were there to prove ourselves,” said Lorenzo A. Dufau, another Mason veteran. “It’s wonderful to know I played a small role in giving others opportunity.”
For saving their ship and continuing their mission, the Mason crew was recommended for commendations by their captain and the convoy commander. The commendations were never awarded.
Repaired, she was soon back to work.
Radarman Kieffer (left) and Radioman Graham (right) relaxing on smoke generators on Mason’s fantail somewhere in the North Atlantic while on convoy duty, 1944. Donation of James W. Graham, 1991. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 106731
Signalmen DuFau and Buchanan sending and receiving messages to Mason’s sister ship. Convoy duty, North Atlantic, 1944 (Her sister ship is not listed). Donation of James W. Graham, 1991. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 106730
Half-tone image taken from an unknown newspaper. Lieutenant Junior Grade Phillips, Communication Officer, looks on as Top Rank Signalman Lorenzo DuFau hands Captain Blackford a message. They are pictured on the flying bridge during North Atlantic convoy duty, 1944. Donation of James W. Graham, 1991. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 106732
By December, she was part of Task Force 64, headed to the Med and called at Oran in January 1945. Just four days out of that port, Mason had a contact, to which “She rang up full speed with all battle stations manned to attack the presumptive submarine, rammed, and dropped depth charges.”
Though the contact proved to be an abandoned derelict, the surface action showed the benefit of training– scores of other ships during the war plastered the marine life of the day chasing ghost contacts.
Escorting two more convoys to Europe before VE Day, Mason was later used briefly for sonar testing in Bermuda before being decommissioned at Charleston, 12 October 1945 and placed in mothballs there.
Stricken the next month, she was sold for scrapping at Charleston, S.C. to Mr. Thomas Harris of Barber, N.J.
As the war reached its climax, by 30 June 1945, the Navy counted on active duty 165,500 African-American enlisted personnel. 75,500 of these were Steward’s Mates (about 45%).
Mason‘s cousin, PC-1264, was honored by being selected as one of 47 warships for a review of the fleet by President Truman on Navy Day, 27 October 1945 and remained in service until 7 February 1946, when she was decommissioned.
On 26 July 1947, President Truman signed Executive Order 9981, officially desegregating the Armed Forces.
The tale of these two ships was almost lost to time, with 67 surviving crewmembers of USS Mason only being issued a citation for their harrowing storm at sea in 1994 at the hands of President Clinton.
Kelly went on in 2004 to write and direct a film version of the book, Proud.
In 2009, Signalman First Class Lorenzo DuFau, the last surviving crew member, introduced the screening of the film at the Buffalo International Film Festival. Actor Ossie Davis, in his last screen role, played an older DuFau.
As for Hair, one of the “Golden Thirteen” black officers in WWII, he left the Navy in 1946 and became a social worker of some note in New York, dying there in 1992. The U.S. Naval Institute has some 220 pages of transcripts from interviews done late in his life with archivists.
Though the Mason herself was not preserved, in 1998, SECNAV John H. Dalton named an Arleigh Burke Class destroyer the USS MASON (DDG-87) “in order to mark the contributions of USS MASON DE 529, Sailors’ equality and desegregation in Today’s Navy.”
ARABIAN SEA (Sept. 10, 2016) The guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87) conducts formation exercises with the Cyclone-class patrol crafts USS Tempest (PC 2) and USS Squall (PC 7). Mason, deployed as part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, is supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Janweb B. Lagazo)
Specs:
Displacement: 1,140 short tons (1,030 tonnes)
Length: 289 ft. 5 in (88.21 m)
Beam: 35 ft. 1 in (10.69 m)
Draft: 8 ft. 3 in (2.51 m)
Speed: 19 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement: 156 officers and men (as designed)
Armament:
3 × 3″/50 caliber guns
4 × 1.1″/75 caliber guns
9 × Oerlikon 20mm cannon
2 × depth charge tracks
8 × depth charge projector
1 × Hedgehog-type depth charge projector, up to 160 depth charges of all types could be carried.
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