Tag Archives: USS Nassau (LHA-4)

Doodlebugs over Nassau

Posted on by One comment

The amphibious assault ship “USS Nassau (LHA 4) cruises in the Gulf of Oman,” during Desert Storm by John C. Roach. with air cover provided by two AV-8B Harrier IIs of Marine Attack Squadron 331 (VMA-331).

(U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command Art Collection)

On 25 January 1985, the “Doodlebugs” became the first fully operational AV-8B Harrier II squadron in Marine Corps service.

The Doodlebugs deployed on the Nassau to the Persian Gulf for Desert Shield and eventually flew 243 sorties, dropping 256 tons of ordnance, during Desert Storm to become the first Marine Attack Squadron to conduct combat operations from a general-purpose amphibious assault ship in the process.

AV-8B Harrier II (VMA-331) aboard USS Nassau (LHA 4) – February 1991. NNAM

While supporting Operation Desert Storm, a Harrier from the squadron was shot down by a “two or more” SA-7s over Safwan, Iraq, on 27 February 1991. The pilot, Capt. Reginald C. Underwood, USMC, was killed in action, a more somber note for the Harrier in Marine service.

The 86 Marine Harriers in theatre flew 9,353 sorties and logged 11,120 hours during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Five were lost during the campaign.

Mission-capable rates averaged 90% throughout the war. Maintenance crews were able to hold five to ten aircraft per squadron in maintenance reserve and still meet the flight schedule. Turnaround times between sorties averaged 20 minutes for gas and arming. The land-based AV-8Bs consistently flew as many as 120 sorties a day, with highs of 160.

Flattop Broncos

Posted on by One comment

The Cold War carrier aircraft that wasn’t a carrier aircraft, the Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, served in Navy (Black Pony) and Marine use, and often popped up on flight decks during its career. Although, to be sure, it seems that when they did ship aboard CVs and LHs, it was loaded as deck cargo and then flown off to shore, not operationally carried.

“28 August 1968: Family Portrait: The Bronco (OV-10A), the newest addition to the Marine air arm, poses with 12 Leathernecks directly connected with its flight over South Vietnam. In addition to the pilot and aerial observer, standing next to the cockpit, the Bronco is supported and serviced by crash crewmen, factory technical representative, hydraulics men, mechanics, flight equipment personnel, metalsmiths, ordnancemen, avionics technicians, and air controllers. Based at the Marble Mountain Air Facility, near Da Nang, the new aircraft’s primary mission is observation (official USMC photo by Private First Class W. C. Schobel).”

Capable of carrying 1,200 pounds of ordnance (including Sidewinders) as well as four forward-firing M60 machine guns, the Bronco was a capable little gem of an aircraft.

In a pinch, it could even carry cargo or a couple of passengers, including parachutists.

USS Nassau (LHA-4) flight deck crewmen use an MD-3A tow tractor to position a North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco (BuNo 155447) of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron (VMO-1) on the port elevator of the ship in 1983. After its retirement, this aircraft was leased by the U.S. Department of State to the Colombian national police. Defense Imagery photo # DN-SN-88-007789, a US Navy photo by PHAN Dougherty, now in the collections of Defenseimagery.mil

A North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron (VMO-1) parked on the flight deck of USS Nassau (LHA-4) in 1983. US National Archives and Records Administration Identifier (NAID 6430453) NAID: 6430453, Local ID: 330-CFD-DN-SN-88-00787.jpeg by PHAN Dougherty

A U.S. Marine Corps North American Rockwell OV-10D+ Bronco observation aircraft as it taxis clear of the landing area onboard aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60) during testing flight qualifications off the coast of North Carolina (USA) on 10 September 1985. It was flown by CAPT George Webb, USN, a Navy test pilot flying from the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, MD. He did landing and take-off tests with the OV-10D+ aboard both USS Saratoga and USS Nassau (LHA-4). USS Saratoga Photo Lab – U.S. Defense Imagery photo VIRIN: DN-ST-00-03628

A North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron (VMO-1) prepares to take off from the flight deck of USS Nassau (LHA-4) in 1983. US Navy photo # DN-SN-88-00788 by PHAN Dougherty

A flight deck crewman stands by as a North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron (VMO-1) prepares to take off from the flight deck of USS Nassau (LHA-4) in 1983. US Navy photo # DN-SN-88-00791 by PHAN Dougherty

The launch of a North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron VMO-1 from the flight deck of USS Nassau (LHA-4) in 1983. DN-SN-88-00790

Four US Marine Corps OV-10 Bronco aircraft are parked on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Saipan (LHA 2), January 1987. 330-CFD-DN-ST-87-07341

Marine Broncos from both VMO-1 and VMO-2 served in Desert Shield/Storm. These were carried to the theater by the phib USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) as well as the carriers USS America and USS Theodore Roosevelt.

The large harbor tugs Wapakoneta (YTB-766), left, and Wathena (YTB-825) push on the bow of the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) as the ship departs for the Persian Gulf region to support Operation Desert Shield. Two Marine Corps OV-10 Bronco aircraft are on the IWO JIMA’s flight deck, August 1990. 330-CFD-DN-ST-91-03867

A Marine Observation Squadron 1 (VMO-1) OV-10 Bronco aircraft takes off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS America (CV 66) as the ship passes Rota, Spain, while en route to the Persian Gulf region for Operation Desert Shield. The six VMO-1 aircraft that were carried across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the America will stop in Rota before continuing to Saudi Arabia. January 1991. 330-CFD-DN-SC-92-02746

Some even self-deployed from CONUS!

In August 1990, VMO-2 made aviation news by launching six OV-10s on an unprecedented 10,000-mile journey to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield.

Beginning in January 1991, the squadron flew a total of 286 combat missions totaling 900 flight hours during Operation Desert Storm. Missions were flown around the clock for the duration of the conflict, focusing primarily on controlling U.S. and Allied artillery, numerous attack aircraft, and naval gunfire, including spotting for the USS Wisconsin’s first combat firing since the Korean War.

The squadron performed these demanding and crucial missions despite being targeted by Iraqi surface-to-air missile gunners over 94 times and while trying to avoid large concentrations of anti-aircraft artillery.

In December 1990, VMO-1 embarked its OV-10s aboard USS America and USS Theodore Roosevelt to deploy to Kuwait in support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm. The squadron flew over 1,000 combat sorties, losing one crew to enemy action (1 KIA, 1 POW).

The Marine Broncos remained in the region until May 1991, when they were loaded onto USS Juneau (LPD 10), bound for San Diego, where they arrived in June.

Several Marine Corps OV-10 Bronco aircraft sit on the flight deck of the amphibious transport dock USS Juneau (LPD-10) as it arrives for a visit to the naval station. The Juneau is stopping at Pearl Harbor while en route to its home port of Naval Station, San Diego, Calif., after serving in the Persian Gulf region during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. 330-CFD-DN-SC-92-03563

The type was retired in 1995, with both VMO-1 and 2 disestablished, and hasn’t been replaced.

Why not today?

Still, it begs the question of, if the Bronc was capable of carrier ops, why not utilize its modern equivalents, the converted crop duster L3Harris OA-1K Skyraider II, or the MQ-9B STOL UAV family, in the same roles in certain circumstances?

Even when it comes to just adding a ramp to an old container ship or tanker taken up from the surplus ship market to make an instant carrier akin to the old MAC ships of WWII?

Looks like China is already working that problem out.

Navy to consign Bonnie Dick to the scrappers

Posted on by One comment

200716-N-WD349-1423 SAN DIEGO (July 16, 2020) Sailors depart the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) after combating a fire on board. On the morning of July 12, a fire was called away aboard the ship while it was moored pier side at Naval Base San Diego. Base and shipboard firefighters responded to the fire. Bonhomme Richard is going through a maintenance availability, which began in 2018. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jeffrey F. Yale/Released)

After an epic four-day fire that captured headlines around the world and scorched or flooded 11 of 14 decks, the Navy has decided that USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) will not be going back to her Pascagoula birthplace for a $3B/5-year rebuild, or get a cheaper $1B conversion to a non-combatant hospital ship, command ship, or submarine tender, and will instead be decommissioned, stripped of all useable components and materials to keep her sisters in service, then sent to the breakers.

“We did not come to this decision lightly,” said Secretary of the Navy Kenneth J. Braithwaite. “Following an extensive material assessment in which various courses of action were considered and evaluated, we came to the conclusion that it is not fiscally responsible to restore her.

“Although it saddens me that it is not cost-effective to bring her back, I know this ship’s legacy will continue to live on through the brave men and women who fought so hard to save her, as well as the Sailors and Marines who served aboard her during her 22-year history,” Braithwaite said.

As noted by USNI News, “Decommissioning the ship – and the inactivation, harvesting of parts, towing and scrapping the hull – will cost about $30 million and take just nine to 12 months.”

Of ominous note, the loss of BHR will go in the books as the worst U.S. Navy casualty in terms of tonnage, even eclipsing the destruction of the battleships USS Arizona (BB-39) and USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at Pearl Harbor.

As for a replacement? The well-used Tarawa-class gators USS Nassau (LHA-4) and USS Peleliu (LHA-5), whose keels were laid in the 1970s, have spent much of the past decade growing rust and greenery in the backwater of Pearl Harbor’s lochs. Bringing either one back– Peleliu has only been sidelined since 2015– would surely be a headache, especially for their crews as their huge CE boilers by all accounts didn’t age well, but may prove a useful stopgap until the current America-class LHA pipeline can take BHR’s place in the Western Pacific.

“Harry Greene flies his Boeing Stearman Kaydet Primary Trainer airplane over the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, May 30, 2016. Greene is a helicopter pilot at Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point and an aircraft enthusiast in his off-duty time.” Note Peleliu and Nassau in the foreground. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Tara Molle/Released)