Youtube comments of COL BEAUSABRE (@colbeausabre8842).
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One of my neighbors growing up had been the CO of an LCT during the great storm. She was blown ashore and had to wait for weeks to be salvaged. Due to fear of Luftwaffe attacks, no lights were to be shown at night and they were to lie low. Then, one night, it happened. Around dusk, first one ship, then another began firing, soon grounded vessels and Army AA batteries joined in. Artillery roared, small arms rattled and tracers sped into the night. Off shore, even the battleships and cruisers were giving their all. Flares and star shells illuminated a surreal scene. Convinced the Germans had broken through, and were headed to the beach, my neighbor sounded general quarters and rifles and submachine guns were issued to all hands not manning a gun. My neighbor strapped on his 45, determined to "take one with him." Then it occurred to someone to look at the calendar when making an entry into the log and yelled the news. That's how my neighbor and thousands of his brothers in arms celebrated July 4, 1944.
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The British took ownership of the ships under the Right of Angary, which permits a belligerent to seize neutral property if reasonable compensation is offered
"Angary (Lat. jus angariae; Fr. droit d'angarie; Ger. Angarie; from the Gr. ἀγγαρεία, angareia, "the office of an ἄγγαρος (courier or messenger)") is the name given to the right of a belligerent (most commonly, a government or other party in conflict) to seize and apply, for the purposes of war or to prevent the enemy from doing so, any kind of property on belligerent territory including what may belong to subjects or citizens of a neutral state.
Article 53 of the Regulations respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, annexed to the Hague Convention of 1899 on the same subject, provides that railway plant, land telegraphs, telephones, steamers and other ships (other than such as are governed by maritime law), though belonging to companies or private persons, may be used for military operations but "must be restored at the conclusion of peace and indemnities paid for them." Article 54 adds that "the plant of railways coming from neutral states, whether the property of those states or of companies or private persons, shall be sent back to them as soon as possible."
The articles seem to sanction the right of angary against neutral property and to limit it as against both belligerent and neutral property. It may be considered, however, that the right to use implies as wide a range of contingencies as the "necessity of war" can be made to cover "
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@pablosturm6640 No - From Yamato, an ancient name for Japan. It can also refer to the Yamato period in Japanese history, which lasted into the 8th century. The individual kanji are 大 meaning "great" and 和 meaning "harmony".
More than you ever wanted to know about Yamato
Yamato (Japanese: 大和) was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan.
Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan.
Japanese history
Yamato people, the dominant ethnic group of Japan
Yamato period, when the Japanese Imperial court ruled from Yamato Province
Yamato clan, clan active in Japan since the Kofun period
Yamato-damashii, the "Japanese spirit", or Yamato-gokoro, the "Japanese heart/mind"
Yamato nadeshiko, the ideology of the perfect Japanese woman
Yamato Takeru, a legendary Japanese prince of the Yamato dynasty
Yamato-e, classical Japanese painting
Yamato-uta, alternative term for waka (poetry)
Yamatai, ancient geographical term that may be associated with Yamato
Daiwa (disambiguation) is spelled using the same kanji as Yamato
Geography
Japan
Yamato Province, Japan, former province, present-day Nara Prefecture
Yamato, Fukuoka, a town in Fukuoka Prefecture
Yamato, Fukushima, a town in Fukushima Prefecture
Yamato, Gifu, former town now part of Gujo City, Japan
Yamato, Ibaraki, a village in Ibaraki Prefecture
Yamato, Kagoshima, a village in Kagoshima Prefecture
Yamato, Kanagawa, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture
Yamato, Kumamoto, a town in Kumamoto Prefecture
Yamato, Niigata, former town now part of the city of Minamiuonuma
Yamato, Saga, a town in Saga Prefecture
Yamato, Yamaguchi, former town now part of Hikari
Yamato, Yamanashi, a village in Yamanashi Prefecture
Yamato River, a river in Nara and Osaka Prefecture
Yamato Town, later renamed Wakō, Saitama
Yamato Village, later renamed Higashiyamato, Tokyo
United States
Yamato Colony, California, Japanese-American agricultural community
Yamato Colony, Florida, former Japanese farm settlement
Antarctica
Yamato Glacier
Yamato Mountains
Meteorites
Yamato 691, 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite
Yamato 791197, lunar meteorite found on Earth
Yamato 000593, Martian meteorite found on Earth
Ships
Yamato (ship), several Japanese ships of this name
Yamato-class battleship
Japanese battleship Yamato
Japanese corvette Yamato
Yamato 1
Companies
Yamato Life Insurance Company, Japan
Yamato Transport, Japan, delivery service
Animals
Caridina multidentata (Yamato shrimp)
Language
Yamato kotoba, native Japanese language vocabulary
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There were a lot more Greeks at the Hot Gates than the Spartans "Thermopylae is primarily known for the battle that took place there in 480 BC, in which an outnumbered Greek force probably of 7,000(including 300 Spartans, 500 warriors from Tegea, 500 from Mantinea, 120 from Arcadian Orchomenos, 1,000 from the rest of Arcadia, 200 from Phlius, 80 from Mycenae, 400 Corinthians, 400 Thebans, 1,000 Phocians, 700 Thespians, and the Opuntian Locrians)"
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@HighlanderNorth1 When Glatton's sister ship, HMS Gordon's magazine was inspected it was found that instead of the specified 5 inches of cork insulation covered with 3/4 inch of wood, there was folded up newspapers under the wood. Sure sounds like corruption to me, by 1) The shipyard workers 2) The shipyard foremen and management, who were supposed to supervise the work and were legally bound to insure it was done as specified in the contract 3) The yard's Supervisor of Shipbuilding and his staff, who were supposed to represent the Admiralty and monitor the work.
"A Court of Enquiry held immediately afterwards found that the explosion had occurred in the midships 6-inch magazine situated between the boiler and engine rooms. The cause was more difficult to establish, but the Court did note that the stokers were in the habit of piling the red-hot clinker and ashes from the boilers against the bulkhead directly adjoining the magazine to cool down before they were sent up the ash ejector. The magazine was well insulated with 5 inches (13 cm) of cork, covered by wood planking .75 inches (1.9 cm) thick and provided with special cooling equipment so it was not likely that the cordite had spontaneously combusted. The magazine of Glatton's sister ship Gorgon was emptied and examined. The red lead paint on the bulkhead was blistered beneath the lagging and tests at the National Physical Laboratory demonstrated that it had been subject to temperatures of at least 400 °F (204 °C). Recorded temperatures inside the magazine did not exceed 83 °F (28 °C) and a test of red-hot ashes was inconclusive as the temperature in the lagging only reached 70 °F (21 °C) with occasional hot spots of 150 °F (66 °C). Other tests did reveal that the cork could give off flammable fumes under high heat and pressurized air. While not entirely satisfied with this conclusion it found in April 1919 that "The slow combustion of the cork lagging of the 6-inch midship magazine of the Glatton led to the ignition of the magazine and then to the ignition of the cordite in it and so caused the explosion."
As a precaution, Gorgon's lagging was stripped out and replaced with silicate wool, revealing the real cause. Part of the cork was missing and folded newspapers were found in the empty space which were left there by the dockyard workers during construction. Furthermore, a number of rivets were entirely missing which meant that 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) holes were present, which could have allowed the hot ashes to ignite the newspapers. The forced-draught pressure in the boiler room would have supplied air through the rivet holes, causing the cork to give off flammable gases, and eventually ignite the cordite charges.
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OK, here we go. One reason for the USN's dramatic cuts in ships under construction was that it had learned its lesson when it built up a huge fleet of Flush Deckers after the Kaiser War which were facing bloc obsolesence in the Thirties. Also, among the hangers on in the under construction category at the end of the WW2 Congress authorized that vessels 80 percent or more complete to be finished, vessels between 60 and 80 percent complete were to be suspended, less than 60 percent were to be scrapped. 1) All pre-war destroyers except two were either expended as targets at Bikini or scrapped. Two Porter class ships were converted as Radar Training ships and rated as miscellaneous auxiliaries (AG) but were scrapped in 1949. The four gun Benson and Gleaves classes went into mothballs, most never to return (some went to allied nations in the Fifties). The only active members of the class were those converted to 3 gun High Speed Minesweepers (DMS). They went into reserve after the Korean War (they were too vulnerable to modern mines) and had a paper re-rating to DD. Almost all the Fletchers also went into reserve, but a bunch were reactivated for the Korean War. Some were converted to ASW Escort Destroyers (DDE) with mount 52 replaced by a trainable Hedgehog or Weapon Able-Alfa, Mount 53 deleted in favor of a dual 3 inch gun and the torpedo tubes replaced by ASW tubes and an additional pair of dual 3 inchers. Many ended up their service being assigned to the Naval Reserve - a few in their 1945 configuration (maybe with updated radars) 2) All prewar subs were either targets at Bikini or were assigned as immobile (props removed) Naval Reserve dockside training ships rated AGSS. One reason for the number of subs remaining relatively high was the Navy was experimenting how to use them against something other than an island nation (Lookin' at you, Russia). It also converted a bunch to Fleet Snorkel, Guppy 1, Guppy 1A, Guppy 1B, Guppy Ii and Guppy III's. The Guppy 1's were a hurried conversion in 1945 - streamlined with more powerful batteries but no snorkel - designed to prove the concept and soon relegated to serving as ASW targets. The Fleet Snorkels were caused by a lack of funding to convert the number of subs desired to Guppy configuration. It removed the guns and installed a streamlined sail and snorkel. They retained their original batteries and unstreamlined hull, so had considerably reduced performance underwater compared to the Guppy's. Unconverted Fleet boats ended their careers as dockside trainers replacing the prewar boats and were eventually replaced by Fleet Snorkels and some Guppy's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Underwater_Propulsion_Power_Program 3) DE's were called by Freidman a perfect example of a WAR ship and demonstrating the folly of building a ship of limited capability to perform one mission - ASW in this case. By WAR ship, he meant a ship that had value to a war time navy, but either none or limited value in the missions navies perform in peace time. In addition to the DE's, he also included the Vietnam "Brown Water Navy", the RN's Hunt class, which disappered after WW2, and its Coastal Forces. Maybe the Danes and Germans needed them to fight in Baltic, the RN didn't. They were a waste of money for Britain (Tip of the hat to Jackie Fisher and his reforms of the early 1900's). The USN's DE program was huge - 1005 (!) ships were authorized. Of that number, 564 hulls were completed with 94 (of a planned 100) being either converted or completed as APD's (a huge over-strength compared to need) and two suspended at the end of the War being completed in the Fifties as the only steam powered Radar Picket Destroyer Escorts (DER) - part of NOARD's network of radar stations in the Cold War. As early as the Autumn of 1943, the Vice CNO reported that the battle they were designed to fight - the Battle of the Atlantic - was won and there was going to be huge over supply of escorts, when what the USN needed was amphibious shipping. There was considerable debate (including the impact on morale at shipyards where workers had been told the ships they had been building were vital and were now going to be told were unneeded) as to what to do with a large number of seaworthy hulls and eventually the decision was made to complete the last as APD's. I know that may hurt some families who had relatives serve on DE's and APD's but I refer you to Friedman https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Destroyers-Revised-Illustrated-History/dp/1682477576
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The Great D-Day Crossword Puzzle Scare
Todd DePastino
On 2 May, a British intelligence officer doing the London Daily Telegraph crossword puzzle noticed No. 17 across: “One of the U.S.” The answer, he knew, was “Utah.” Ordinarily, nothing remarkable about that.
But this was 1944, a month before D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion in history. And the answer to No. 17 across was the code name of the beach assigned to the American 4th Infantry Division A coincidence, or something more?
Two years earlier, the same newspaper had dropped a crossword puzzle clue, “French port,” whose answer was “Dieppe”–the very location of an Allied raid scheduled for the next day. British counter-intelligence, the MI5, ruled it a coincidence. Now, here it was again, but this time the clue leaked far enough ahead of the operation that it might alert German high command.
A quick scan of other recent crossword puzzles in the Daily Telegraph revealed more codewords: “Juno,” “Gold,” and “Sword,” all secret names for Allied landing beaches.
Then, two weeks before D-Day, the Daily Telegraph‘s crossword puzzle issued more codewords:
May 22, No. 3 down: “Red Indian on the Missouri” (answer: “Omaha”)
May 27, No. 11 across: “Big Wig” (answer: “Overlord”).
May 30, No. 11 across: “This bush is the center of nursery revolutions” (answer: “Mulberry”)
June 1, No. 15 down: “Brittania and he hold to the same thing” (answer: “Neptune”) For 40 years, this was the end of the story. The Great D-Day Crossword Puzzle Scare stood as the biggest coincidence in world history, an example of what can happen if you allow the natural human instinct for pattern-detecting get the better of you.
It turns out, however, that there was a pattern, as well as a secret. But the final twist to the story wasn’t known until the 40th anniversary of D-Day in 1984.
That year, the Daily Telegraph ran an article about the D-Day Crossword Puzzle Mystery, and one of Dawe’s former students, a man named Ronald French, came forward with an astonishing claim. He told his story exclusively to the Telegraph. https://veteransbreakfastclub.org/the-great-d-day-crossword-puzzle-scare-of-1944/#:~:text=The%20Great%20D-Day%20Crossword%20Puzzle%20Scare%20stood%20as,was%20a%20pattern%2C%20as%20well%20as%20a%20secret.
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"The USN originally procured torpedoes by contracting with private manufacturers. Each vendor was assigned their own Mark number series and was given a designation in metric or in metric and english dimensions specifying how large was the torpedo in both diameter and length and the manufacturing name. For example, the first Bliss-manufactured torpedoes based upon the Whitehead torpedo patents were designated as the Whitehead 3.55m x 45cm Mark I. The first Bliss-Leavitt torpedoes manufactured to their own design were designated as Bliss-Leavitt 5m x 21-inch Mark I.
In 1913, the practice of assigning a series of marks to each manufacturer was changed to a single series of marks covering all manufacturers and older torpedoes were redesignated. Surviving 45 cm torpedoes were designated as Types A through C while the 21-inch torpedoes were designated as Mark I through Mark 4. Details may be found in the Pre-World War II USA torpedo datapage. From that time onwards, the Mark number alone, or in a few cases the Mark and Mod numbers, uniquely identifies each torpedo.
USA torpedoes since that time are simply designated with "Mark" followed by a Numeral and a "Mod" followed by a number representing the change made since the basic design. For example, the Designation "Mark 12 Mod 2" means that the torpedo is the twelfth torpedo designed by the USN and that it has undergone two design revisions since the first model.
In 1922, all torpedoes prior to the Mark 7 were declared obsolete and removed from service. As of that point, only the Mark 7 (17.7") and Marks 8, 9 and 10 (all 21") remained in service.
All USN 18 inch torpedoes are actually 17.7 inches (45.0 cm) in diameter.
During World War I production was at the Alexandria Torpedo Station at Alexandria, Virginia. This station was closed shortly after the war ended. Production prior to World War II was at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island. Efforts to reopen the Alexandria Station prior to World War II were frustrated for political reasons for 11 years before it was finally reopened in July 1941. In addition to these two, Bliss and the Pontiac Division of General Motors made torpedoes during World War II and Westinghouse developed the Mark 18 Electrical Torpedo. After World War II, Honeywell and later General Dynamics were the primary manufacturers while General Electric made some of the acoustic ASW torpedoes."
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Regarding hot brass. When I was in Army ROTC, we were one of the first units to enroll women as a test. Anyway, we took the Freshman class out to fire for familiarization one Satuday in the Fall and I was assigned as a safety NCO (all the Juniors were NCO's, I was a Cadet Sergeant First Class). So, we're having a great time, blasting away, when one of the female cadets screams. All the range safety personnel yelled, "Cease Fire!" while the range officer and range NCO ran to find out what had happened. Somehow, Lord knows how, hot brass from somebody (probably not her) had found its way down in her fatigue shirt and was caught in her bra! I think the thought in all male cadets' minds was "Here, I'll help you get it out", she being pretty and from we had seen when we ran into her at the pool, had a nice figure.
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Four shipyards built subs for the USN in WW2 of which, Electric Boat had built the first USN sub in 1900, Portsmouth Navy Yard (1920), Mare Island (1930's), In the Thirties, the USN was ordering 6 boats a year, 3 from Electric Boat, 2 from Portsmouth and 1 from Mare Island so they were experienced. The one war time yard, Manitowoc, was a long established civilian yard. "Shipyard President Charles C. West contacted the Bureau of Construction and Repair in 1939 to propose building destroyers at Manitowoc and transporting them through the Chicago River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Illinois River, and Mississippi River in a floating drydock towed by the tugboat Minnesota. After evaluating the plan and surveying the shipyard, the Navy suggested building submarines instead. A contract for ten submarines was awarded on 9 September 1940. The Navy paid for lift machinery on Chicago's Western Avenue railroad bridge to clear a submarine. The 15-foot-draft submarines entered the floating drydock on the Illinois River to get through the 9-foot-deep Chain of Rocks Channel near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Submarines left the drydock at New Orleans and reinstalled periscope shears, periscopes, and radar masts which had been removed to clear bridges over the river.
Manitowoc had never built a submarine before, but the first was completed 228 days before the contract delivery date. Contracts were awarded for additional submarines, and the last submarine was completed by the date scheduled for the 10th submarine of the original contract. Total production of 28 submarines was completed for $5,190,681 less than the contract price.
SS-361 through SS-364 were initially ordered as Balao-class, and were assigned hull numbers that fall in the middle of the range of numbers for the Balao class (SS-285 through SS-416 & SS-425–426).[4] Thus, in some references they are listed with that class. However, they were completed by Manitowoc as Gatos, due to an unavoidable delay in Electric Boat's development of Balao-class drawings. Manitowoc was a follow yard to Electric Boat, and was dependent on them for designs and drawings" Before schedule and below cost!
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The senior officer of a merchant ship is its master, not its "captain". During the Middle Ages, there was no Royal Navy as such, ships and their crews were called up from the merchant service (in return for lower import duties, each of the Cinque Ports committed to providing a certain number of ships with their crews https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinque_Ports). The King then detailed a group of soldiers to serve as marines on each, appointing an officer called the captain (from the Latin capua = head) to command them. He did not necessarily have any maritime experience. So, the master was in charge of sailing the ship, while the captain was in charge of fighting her. This prevailed until the Pepys Reforms of the 1660's which required a prospective naval officer to demonstrate a knowledge of seamanship and navigation in order to be commissioned. Gradually, this led to a downgrading of the position of Master. He became the ship's senior warrant officer (one of three who was a member of the wardroom) "In 1808, Masters (along with Pursers and Surgeons) were given similar status to commissioned officers, as warrant officers of wardroom rank. The master ate in the wardroom with the other officers, had a large cabin in the gunroom, and had a smaller day cabin next to the captain's cabin on the quarterdeck for charts and navigation equipment " and was the ship's expert on sailing, seamanship and navigation, Masters either transferred directly from the merchant service, or, if a ship's mate, joined the Navy as a Master's Mate and were later promoted. Some Master's Mates were midshipmen who had passed their exam for promotion to lieutenant and were awaiting their promotion orders. Some unlucky passed midshipmen were never commissoned and settled into being Master's Mates were eventually promoted to Master. A prospective Master had to pass an oral exam conducted by a RN captain and three Masters of Trinity House. He was then eligible to receive his warrant from the Navy Board. From 1753, the position of Deputy Master existed aboard ships of the line - generally a Mate who had passed his exam for Master and was deemed capable of serving as such and and was awaiting a position to become available. Smaller rated ships had a Master's Mate as Deputy Master. Unrated ships were authorized an experienced Master's Mate in lieu of a Master. No further Masters were created after 1883 and the last retired in 1892. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_%28naval%29
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The class was named for French explorers Specifications Bougainville-class aviso
Displacement
1,969 t (1,938 long tons) (standard)
2,600 t (2,600 long tons) (full load)
Length 103.7 m (340 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam 12.7 m (41 ft 8 in)
Draught 4.15 m (13 ft 7 in)
Installed power 4,200 PS (3,100 kW; 4,100 bhp)
Propulsion 2 shafts; 2 diesel engines
Speed 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Range 9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement 14 officers and 121 crewmen
Armament
3 × single 138.6 mm (5.5 in) guns
4 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns
4 × twin 8 mm (0.31 in) machine guns
50 × mines
Armour
Hull: 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in)
Deck: 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in)
Gun shields: 3 mm (0.1 in)
Aircraft carried 1 × Gourdou-Leseurre GL-832 HY floatplane Savorgnan de Brazza remained in the Far East until a few months after the start of the Second World War in September 1939 when she departed on 19 December to begin a lengthy refit at La Pallice. It began on 14 February 1940 and involved the removal of the mainmast which was replaced by a platform with two additional twin mounts for 37 mm anti-aircraft guns and a pair of twin-gun mounts for the 8 mm Mle 1914 machine guns. The rangefinder was moved from the roof of the bridge to the aft end of this platform. Two 25-millimetre (1 in) Hotchkiss AA guns were added on the forward superstructure as were two twin-gun mounts for 13.2-millimetre (0.52 in) Mle 1929 machine guns. Another pair of twin-gun mounts for 8 mm Mle 1914 machine guns were fitted to the quarterdeck. The aft pair of paravanes was replaced by two smoke generators. The ship's anti-submarine capability was increased by the addition of four Thornycroft Mle 1918 depth-charge throwers on the quarterdeck, the installation of a rail for F28 depth charges above the stern and the replacement of the port mine rail by a rail capable of handling two 200-kilogram (440 lb) depth charges. The ship sailed to Cherbourg on 29 May to finish her refit which consisted of the addition of a 4-metre (13 ft 1 in) rangefinder on the bridge roof and the partial installation of a British Type 128A ASDIC. After the fall of France Savorgnan de Brazza received a brief refit there in which her ASDIC installation was completed, the pair of dual-gun mounts for 13.2 mm machine guns forward of the bridge were moved down to the forecastle deck and single mounts for 20-millimetre (0.8 in) Oerlikon guns were installed in their place. In 1942, Savorgnan de Brazza departed Aden on the 11th for an overhaul[20] at the Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend, Northumberland.[12] The ship's anti-submarine weapons were replaced by their British equivalent to simplify her logistical requirements and she received the latest small-ship radars to improve her ability to find and sink submarines. A Type 271 surface-search radar was installed on the bridge roof and a Type 286 search radar was also fitted. The aviso was now equipped with two British depth-charge rails, each with space for a dozen depth charges, and four newer Thornycroft depth-charge throwers, each with a ready rack for three depth charges. Oshe was transferred to the South Pacific in March–April. 1944. The ship returned to France to begin an lengthy refit at La Ciotat that lasted from January to October 1945.[ The refit reinforced Savorgnan de Brazza's anti-aircraft armament. The number of 37 mm guns was increased to eight, three 25 mm and two 20 mm guns were added and the number of 13.2 mm guns was reduced to two I wonder if it might been better if they mounted the Heavy AA/Dual Purpose 100mm Mlle 1933 (53 pound shell) instead of the low angle 138.6mm Mlle 1927 with its 88 pound shell. (the US 5 inch Mark 12 fired a 55 pound shell and no one considered that anemic.) but that is probably hindsight
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@treyhelms5282 "At the age of 19 in 1907 "he became the only American to win both the US National High Power Rifle and Pistol championships in the same year. In 1914 during the Veracruz campaign in Mexico he drew the fire of three enemy snipers, thereby exposing their positions and then shot them at long range. Lee participated in 14 events at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. He won 7 medals (5 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze), all in team events. His teammates for the various events were Dennis Fenton, Lawrence Nuesslein, Arthur Rothrock, Oliver Schriver, Morris Fisher, Carl Osburn, Lloyd Spooner, and Joseph Jackson. Lee and Spooner ended the 1920 Olympics with 7 medals each, the most anyone had ever received in a single games." I think he liked to shoot
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"Good morning, Gentlemen, I am Sergeant Beausabre. For the next 6 and half days, I will be your instructor on field stripping your M60A1 tank. Gentlemen, the M60A1 tank has 110,543 parts, but we are only allowed to disassemble 63,212 in field stripping. The first step is make sure the main gun is unloaded. Then grasp the hull with the left hand and press down firmly on the turret top with your right. Turn it one quarter turn to the left and the turret will come off. Gentlemen, it is spring loaded, so do not allow it to fly off and kill your buddy."
My AOBC class dreamed up a whole routine one night at Fiddler's Green at the O Club at Knox. "Gentlemen, these are the end connectors, they connect the ends", "Gentlemen, the sprocket wheel has 37 teeth. (Using pointer), One, Two, Three...."
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@WALTERBROADDUS Not it isn't. It's worthless in terms of neutralizing any US bases
"Well," you say, "the Japanese could use Midway as an advance base and establish air supremacy over Hawaii from there." There are two problems with this. First, Midway makes a miserable advance base. It is about the size of a postage stamp, has no fresh water, is possessed of only a relatively small harbor, and has room for but one small airfield. At best it could operate an air contingent of about 90-100 aircraft. In other words, there was absolutely no chance of using Midway as the sort of major logistics center (a la Truk or Rabaul) for further operations down the Hawaiian chain. Midway was, at best, an outpost.
Second, Midway is too far from Hawaii. Even if the Japanese had been able to install an airgroup at Midway, and keep it supplied, it had no chance of exerting a powerful influence on Hawaii, since it is nearly 1,300 miles from Oahu. During the Solomons campaign, the Japanese (who had the longest-ranged fighter in the Pacific in the A6M5 Zero) found it nearly impossible to exert air power from Rabaul to Guadalcanal, which was 650 miles away. By itself, then, Midway was useless as an advance base. If Hawaii's airpower was to be reduced, and Oahu taken, then the Japanese would have to do it using carrier-borne airpower and seaborne troops -- a virtual impossibility for all the reasons just discussed"
http://www.combinedfleet.com/pearlops.htm
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The shot of HMS London at around 5:30 in the video is after her rebuild to something resembling an eight-inch gunned member of the Town class light cruisers (note twin rather than triple stacks)
"From March 1939 she was under reconstruction at the Chatham Dockyard, and was much altered in appearance. Replacement of her machinery was considered, but later abandoned. She was given a new superstructure above the main deck and in many ways resembled a Fiji-class light cruiser. Her single 4-inch gun mounts were changed to twin mounts, and several 20mm AA guns and radar were added. In addition, she was fitted with a 3½-inch cemented armoured belt, 8 feet deep down from the main armoured deck which covered the machinery spaces. The reconstruction work was finally completed in March 1941. The refit was planned to be implemented to other ships of the County class, but due to wartime pressures no other ships were reconstructed."
This might really be because the refit was not successful as it overstressed the hull
"London's refit became a disaster. she emerged at 11,015 tons, the extra weight workers slapped on to her created unmanageable stress. When the hull began to crack, the upper portion was reinforced; leaks then opened in the lower portion. Water got into fuel oil, fuel oil got into the magazines, forming pools deep enough to require bucket brigades. The problems went unchecked until 1943"
My personal opinion is that this is evidence that the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors was undermanned and overworked as these stress problems should have come out in a thorough analysis of the design before it was approved. A similar near disaster had occurred when the stability of the Hunt class escort destroyers was miscalculated. This was discovered in the inclining experiment of the first to be completed, when she tried to capsize.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/inclining-experiment
"The demanding specifications in an overworked Admiralty design department resulted in a major design miscalculation. When the detailed calculations were done the centre of gravity was lower than expected and the beam was increased. As the first ships were being completed it was found that the design was as much as 70 tons overweight, top-heavy, leaving them dangerously deficient in stability. The first twenty ships were so far advanced in construction that it was necessary to remove the 'X' 4-inch gun mount and add 50 tons of permanent ballast. These ships became the Type I group and had the multiple 2-pounder guns relocated from behind the funnel to the more advantageous 'X' position.
The design deficiency of the Type I was rectified by splitting the hulls lengthwise and adding a 2½ foot section, increasing the beam to 31 ft 6 in and the margin of stability sufficiently for the designed armament to be shipped. These ships became the Type II group, and also had a revised design of bridge with the compass platform extending forwards to the wheelhouse face"
There just weren't enough naval architects (even with temporary wartime appointments from civilian life) to do the normal process of checking one another's work as required by the King's Regulations
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I think you are referring to Peter Tomich. "Five years before World War I began, Peter Tomich (Tonic) immigrated to the United States. When war broke out he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served until January 13, 1919. He received U.S. Citizenship and, ten days after his Army enlistment expired, joined the Navy. He had no known relatives so when the destroyer named in his honor was commissioned in 1943, it was decided to award his Medal to the ship itself. The award was presented on January 4, 1944 by Rear Admiral Monroe Kelly. In 1946 the U.S.S. Tomich was mothballed. In 1947, Governor Herbert B. Maw of Utah proclaimed Peter Tomich an honorary citizen of that State, and guardianship of his Medal was granted to Utah. In 1989 the Navy built the Senior Enlisted Academy in Newport, RI and named the building TOMICH HALL. The facility is a combination of academy, dormitory and museum. Chief Tomich's Medal of Honor was displayed there until 2006 when surviving family were identified and his Medal of Honor was presented to them"
"By 1941, he had become a chief watertender on board the training and target ship USS Utah.[On December 7, 1941, while the ship lay in Pearl Harbor, moored off Ford Island, she was torpedoed during Japan's raid on Pearl Harbor. Tomich was on duty in a boiler room. As Utah began to capsize, he remained below, securing the boilers and making certain that other men escaped, and so lost his life. For his "distinguished conduct and extraordinary courage" at that time, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor. His Medal of Honor was on display at the Navy's Senior Enlisted Academy (Tomich Hall). Later, the decoration was presented to Tomich's family on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the southern Adriatic city of Split in Croatia, on 18 May 2006, sixty-four years after US President Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded it to him
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To which you can add the USS Serpens, Port Chicago and Texas City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Serpens_(AK-97)#Destruction,_29_January_1945
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Chicago_disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster
Serpens was moored in the middle of the harbor and Port Chicago was deliberately chosen as a remote area in San Francisco Bay. But Texas City was in the middle of an industrial area (the ship that blew up was at a pier next to an oil refinery).
"The 1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on Wednesday, April 16, 1947, in the Port of Texas City, Texas, United States, at Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions. A mid-morning fire started on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp (docked in the port) and detonated her cargo of about 2,300 tons (about 2,100 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate. This started a chain reaction of fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities, ultimately killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City volunteer fire department"
The fire was blamed on someone smoking in the hold of the Grandcamp. Ammonium Nitrate is a fertilizer (the cargo was intended to aid French agriculture devastated by WW2), but it is a low explosive that the US Army uses in cratering charges (it "heaves" rather than "shatters" like high explosives)and it is used in mining
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Artificial ventilation helped, although in my father's experience sleeping on deck was allowed. Remember though, these were tougher men. My dad was born in 1918, he and his shipmates had grown up in a world without air conditioning. In dad's case, in Texas. The one air conditioned building in town was the movie theater, which advertised it was "refrigerated", So you grew up without a lot of the comforts we take for granted. Interesting enough, as he was an Electronics Technician, his battle station was in the one air condition compartment aboard his carrier, the Combat Information Center. The AC wasn't for their comfort, but to prevent the electronic gear from melting.
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1) It's “Rifle Number 1 Mark III*” - and I've read extensively on WW1 and WW2 and no one ever called it the “Smelly”. 2) Sir Charles Ross deserved to go to prison for the damage he did to the Canadian war effort. Having said that, the Ross Rifle remained in service as a sniper weapon as they could be expected to take better care of it than the PBI in the trenches and it was supposed to be more accurate than the Lee-Enfield. 3) Arisaka's easy recoil. It fired a 6.5mm round as opposed to the British standard .303 (7.7mm) 4) Mauser 1912. Eleven other Latin American countries besides Chile adopted the 7mm Mauser as their standard caliber and it made sense for the Chilean army and navy to use the same round and rifle. 5) The Remington Rolling Block was one of the most popular single shot shoulder weapons (made as both rifles and carbines) ever made, adopted by 44 countries. 6) M1892 lever action is the little brother of the highly successful M1886 and was made as both a rifle (“Musket”) and carbine and was a product of the genius firearms designer John Moses Browning. It was designed to fire pistol ammunition, by far the most popular being 44-40. This allowed one's sidearm and long arm to fire the same ammunition. 7) .455 Browning M1911. In the 1980's I stumbled on a .455 Browning in a gun shop. The shop had not examined it closely was selling it as a garden variety used .45ACP M1911. I was attracted to it as it looked to be a genuine M1911 (not an M1911A1), something I had only seen in museums. When I examined it, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was stamped with “CALIBRE .455” and “RAF” and the Royal Broad Arrow. Needless to say, it left with me. I can still find ammunition for it, one small US manufacturer makes about one run a year. I shoot it once or twice a year, I don't want to shoot an antique out. Note that the .455 Webley Automatic Round is not the same as .455 Webley Revolver Round (also known as .455 Eley). 8) Confusingly there were two M1917 revolvers! The Colt New Service Revolver. Introduced in 1898, the US Army adopted it as the M1909 as an interim step to replace .38 caliber pistols prior to adoption of the M1911. It was adopted by Canada in 1898 in 45 Colt to arm its troops in the Second Anglo-Boer War and subsequently adopted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “New Service revolvers, designated as Pistol, Colt, .455-inch 5.5-inch barrel Mk. I, chambered for the .455 Webley cartridge were acquired for issue as "substitute standard" by the British War Department during World War I. British Empire Colt New Service Revolvers were stamped "NEW SERVICE .455 ELEY" on the barrel, to differentiate them from the .45 Colt versions used by the US (and Canada).
The Colt New Service was a popular revolver with British officers and many of them had privately purchased their own Colt New Service revolvers in the years prior to World War I as an alternative to the standard-issue Webley Revolver. British Empire and Canadian forces received 60,000 Colt New Service revolvers during World War I and they continued to see official service until the end of World War II. The U.S. Army Model 1917 was created to supplement insufficient stocks of M1911 pistols during World War The Colt M1917 Revolver was a New Service with a cylinder bored to take the .45 ACP cartridge and the half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. Later production Colt M1917 revolvers had headspacing machined into the cylinder chambers, just as the Smith & Wesson M1917 revolvers had from the start. Newer Colt production could be fired without the half-moon clips, but the empty cartridge cases had to be ejected with a device such as a cleaning rod or pencil, as the cylinder extractor and ejector would pass over the rims of the rimless cartridges. As a result of these issues, a commercial rimmed cartridge the .45 Auto Rim was developed that allowed the M1917 to be fired without the need for moon-clips. After World War I, the revolver gained a strong following among civilian shooters. The M1917s saw action again during World War II, when it was issued to "specialty troops such as tankers and artillery personnel."[11] During the Korean War they were again issued to support-troops. The M1917s were even used by the "tunnel rats" during the Vietnam War. The Smith and Wesson Hand Ejector was the basis for the other hand cannon designated M1917. “From 1917 to 1919, Colt and Smith & Wesson produced 151,700 and 153,300 M1917s in total (respectively) under contract with the War Department for use by the American Expeditionary Force. The revolver saw prolific use by the "Doughboys" during World War I, with nearly two-thirds as many M1917s being issued and produced during the war as M1911s were.[6]
The military service of the M1917 did not end with the First World War. In November of 1940, the Army Ordnance Corps recorded a total of 96,530 Colt and 91,590 S&W M1917s still in reserve. After being parkerized and refurbished, most of the revolvers were re-issued to stateside security forces and military policemen, but 20,993 of them were issued overseas to "specialty troops such as tankers and artillery personnel" throughout the course of U.S. involvement in World War II. Overall, the two variants of the M1917 enjoyed over fifty years of service in the U.S. armed forces.
The British Army adopted it during World War I, and the Home Guard and the Royal Navy used it during the Second World War
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@richardarcher7177 And accumulated damage from WW2. Illustrious sustained machinery damage that caused so much vibration that it required the removal of one shaft and limited her speed to 24 knots. She was narrowly missed by a kamikaze whose bomb detonate so close plates and their supports were split and she was limited to 19 knots. Formidable sustained so much bomb damage that her hull was warped and limited her to 21 knots. Correcting this would require a complete rebuild of the hull due to the armor. Made the concept of a "fast carrier" a joke. So the choice of Victorious was choosing the best ship available
Nine Essex class carriers were modified to SCB-27 (1) or SCB-27A (8) standard. Three were updated to SCB-27C and three more to SCB-27C/SCB-125 status
"Officially, Ship Characteristics Board Program 27 proper referred to the completion of Oriskany, left unfinished at war's end, to a heavily revised design; reconstructions of earlier ships were programs SCB-27A and 27C. The SCB-27 modernization was very extensive, requiring some two years for each carrier. To handle the much heavier, faster aircraft of the early jet-era, the flight deck structure was significantly reinforced, able to support aircraft weighing up to 52,000 pounds (23,587 kg), namely the North American AJ Savage. Stronger and larger elevators, much more powerful catapults, and new Mk 5 arresting gear were installed. The original four twin 5-inch/38 gun mounts were removed, clearing the flight deck of guns. The new five-inch gun battery consisted of eight weapons, two on each quarter beside the flight deck. Twin 3-inch/50 gun mounts replaced the 40 mm guns, offering much greater effectiveness through the use of proximity fuzed ammunition. The reconstruction eliminated the difference between "short-hull" and "long-hull" ships; all now had similar clipper bows.
The island was completely redesigned, made taller, but shorter in overall length with the removal of its gun mounts. In addition, the boiler uptakes were rebuilt and angled aft to accommodate a single radar and communications mast atop the island. To better protect aircrews, ready rooms were moved from the gallery deck to below the armored hangar deck, with a large escalator on the starboard side amidships to move flight crews up to the flight deck. Internally, aviation fuel capacity was increased to 300,000 US gallons (1,135,624 L) (a 50% increase) and its pumping capacity enhanced to 50 US gallons (189.3 L) per minute.[1] Fire fighting capabilities were enhanced through the addition of two emergency fire and splinter bulkheads to the hangar deck, a fog/foam firefighting system, improved water curtains and a cupronickel fire main. Also improved were electrical generating power, and weapons stowage and handling facilities. All this added considerable weight: displacement increased by some twenty percent. The armor belt was removed and blisters were fitted to the hull sides to compensate, widening waterline beam by 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 m). The ships also sat lower in the water, and maximum speed was slightly reduced, to 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph).
The two sub-types of SCB-27 modifications were primarily a result of changes in catapult technology in the early-1950s. SCB-27A vessels used a pair of H 8 slotted-tube hydraulic catapults, while the later SCB-27C vessels were fitted with a pair of C 11 steam catapults, a British innovation (in fact the first four installed, on Hancock and Ticonderoga, were British-built). To accommodate the catapult machinery, the SCB-27C vessels were slightly heavier (43,060 vice 40,600 tons) and after bulging wider abeam (103 vice 101 feet) than their SCB-27A sisters. Additionally, the SBC-27C carriers were equipped with jet blast deflectors, deck cooling, fuel blending facilities, emergency recovery barrier and storage and handling for nuclear weapons, which was not included in all of the SCB-27A carriers. Under SCB-27C the No. 3 (after) elevator was moved to the starboard deck edge; this elevator was located further aft on the first three SCB-27C ships than it was on the ships which received it concomitantly with an angled flight deck under the SCB-125 program.[1]
The greater capacity of steam catapults meant that the 27C ships were able to serve as attack carriers through the Vietnam era while their hydraulic-equipped 27A sisters were relegated to antisubmarine duties"
Ten carriers were modified to SCB-125 units, one to SCB-125A and three more went through SCB-27C/SCB-125
"The SCB-125 modifications included
Angled flight deck
Enclosed hurricane bow
Mirror landing system
Mark 7 arresting gear
Primary Flight Control moved to aft end of island
Air conditioning
No 1 (forward) elevator lengthened (SCB-27C ships only)
No 3 (aft) elevator moved from centerline to starboard deck edge (on SCB-27A ships; had been part of SCB-27C refits)
The SCB-125 upgrade program was first applied to the final three Essex-class carriers to undergo the SCB-27C modernization while they were still in the midst of their original refit. Ultimately every SCB-27 ship would undergo the SCB-125 modification with the exception of Lake Champlain.
Despite the drastic alteration of the carriers' appearance, the SCB-125 refit involved relatively little modification of the ships' existing structure compared to SCB-27, and took around six to nine months as against the approximately two years of the earlier program. The original SCB-27A vessels, which were fitted with a pair of H 8 hydraulic catapults, were not upgraded with the C 11 steam catapults fitted to their SCB-27C sister ships due to machinery space limitations. The SBC-27As also did not receive the enlarged No. 1 (forward) elevator installed in the 27C ships as part of SBC-125.
The first three 27C ships (Hancock, Intrepid and Ticonderoga) had had their No 3 elevators moved from the centerline to the starboard deck edge, in a position relatively far aft. The next three (Shangri-La, Lexington and Bon Homme Richard), which underwent 27C and 125 concurrently, had the elevator relocated to a deck-edge position farther forward, and this location was used for the 27A ships as they in turn underwent SCB-125.
Oriskany, the prototype for the SCB-27 conversion, was the final Essex to undergo SCB-125 conversion and as such, received further enhancements. As a result of the addition of aluminum flight-deck cladding, Mk 7-1 arresting gear and more-powerful C 11-1 steam catapults to the standard SCB-125 modifications, Oriskany alone was referred to as a SCB-125A vessel.[1] These changes also made Oriskany the only SCB-27A vessel to receive steam catapults.
"
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Defenses of the Canal Zone
(Battery Name/Number/Caliber/M = Mortar RY = Railway DC=Disappearing Carriage PM = "Panama Mount" P = Pedestal Mount BCLR = Barbette Carriage Long Range CBC = Casemented Barbette Carriage AMTB = Anti Motor Torpedo Boat)
Panama Mount
"The term Panama Mount describes a gun mount developed by the U.S. Army in Panama during the 1920s for fixed coastal artillery positions. Panama mounts were widely used during the buildup to and during World War II by the United States military.
The mounts could be constructed as either full, 3/4 or half circles of steel rail set in concrete with a diameter of approximately 36 feet (11 m). A concrete column with a diameter of ten feet (3.0 m) was constructed in the center of the circle to support the gun and carriage. The concrete column was connected to the outer concrete ring by concrete beams for alignment/stability. Originally traverse was accomplished with several men and prybars to move the trailing arms around the steel ring. Later installations included a geared steel ring just inside of the outer steel rail for improved traverse. The Canon de 155mm GPF, designated 155 mm gun M1917 (French-made) or M1918 (US-made) in U.S. service, was often married with Panama mounts; these were the primary weapons of the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps' tractor-drawn mobile units 1920-1945."
The Harbor Defenses of Cristobal, Panama (Panama Canal Zone, Atlantic side )
FORT RANDOLPH / Margarita Island / 1911 to Panama, 1979; commercial development / KK
Webb /2/14″/ DC /1912-1948
#1/2/14″/ RY / 1928-1948 / 2 guns for Panama, 4 empl. (#1 & #8) 1 empl. destroyed
Tidball /4/12″ / M /1912-1943
Zalinski /4/12″/ M /1912-1943
Weed /2/ 6″/ DC /1912-1946
X(4A) /4/155 mm / PM /1940
2C / 4 /155 mm / PM
5A / 4 /155 mm / PM
FORT DeLESSEPS /Colon / 1911 /to Panama, 1950s /KK
Morgan/2/ 6″/P /1913-1944/modified casemate mounts M1910
AMTB #3b/4/90 mm/F/1943-1948/Cristobal mole, built over
FORT SHERMAN / Toro Point / 1911 / MD, MC /to Panama 1999/KK
#151/2/16″/CBC/NB
Mower/1/14″/DC/1912-1948
Stanley/1/14″/DC/1912-1948
Howard/4/12″/M/1912-1943
Baird/4/12″/M/1912-1943
Pratt/2/12″/BCLR/1924-1948/Iglesia Pt., casemated-WWII
MacKenzie/2/12″/BCLR/1924-1948/Iglesia Pt., not rebuilt
Kilpatrick/2/ 6″/DC/1913-1946
W/4/155 mm/PM/1940
Other sites / ?
U/4/155 mm/PM/1918/Tortuguilla Point
V/4/155 mm/PM/1940/Naranjitos Point
Y/4/155 mm/PM/1940/Palma Media Island
Z(1A)/4/155 mm/PM/1940/Galetta Is.
1B/4/155 mm/PM//Galetta Is.
The Harbor Defenses of Balboa, Panama (Panama Canal Zone, Pacific Side)
FORT KOBBE (ex-Ft. Bruja)/ Bruja Point /Howard AFB to Panama 1999/ KK
Murray/2/16″ /BCLRN/1926-1948/Bruja Pt., casemated-WWII
Haan/2/16″ /BCLRN/1926-1948/Batele Pt., not casemated, empl. buried
AMTB #6/4/90 mm/F/1943-1948
Z (3A)
FORT AMADOR / Balboa / to Panama, 1997; commercial development /K
Birney/2/ 6″/DC/1913-1943/buried
Smith/2/ 6″/DC/1913-1943/buried
FORT GRANT /Balboa /to Panama, 1979 private development /MD, MC /KK
Newton/1/16″/DC/1914-1943/Perico Is., filled to loading platform level
Buell/2/14″/DC/1912-1948/Naos Is.
Burnside/2/14″/DC/1912-1948/Naos Is./
Warren/2/14″/DC/1912-1948/Flaminco Is., empls. filled to parapit edge
Prince/4/12″/M/1912-1943/Flaminco Is.
Merritt/4/12″/M/1912-1943/Flaminco Is.
Carr/4/12″/M/1912-1943/Flaminco Is.
Parke/2/ 6″/DC/1912-1948/Naos Is.
#8/2/14″/RY/1928-1948/Culebra Is., empl (see #1, Randolph), covered
T/2/155 mm/PM//Flamenco Is.
U (10A)/2/155 mm/PM//Flamenco Is.
V(10B)/2/155 mm/PM//Culebra Is.
Other sites /?
W (1B)/4/155 mm/PM//Taboquilla Is.
2B/2/155 mm/PM//Taboquilla Is.
unnamed/4/155 mm/PM//Paitilla Pt.
X/2/155 m/PM//Urara Is.
Y (1A)/4/155 mm/PM//Taboga Is.
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The 17 pounder was a 76mm (3 inch) weapon. Its size made it hard to install in tanks so the 77mm was developed (used in last Cruiser tank, the Comet ). It was actually 76mm and fired the same projectiles as the 17 pounder - but to shorten the gun, the cartridge case was shorter and wider (so it held the same amount of propellant). So you got the same performance out of a gun that was easier to install in tanks and had easier to handle ammunition
"When the Cromwell's replacement, the Comet, was at the design stage, the 75 mm HV concept was reworked to fire the same projectiles as the 17-pounder through a shortened 17-pounder barrel, but retaining the 3-inch cartridge case firing from a standard 3-inch breech.
This has the benefit of greater ease of use on tanks, many of which would not have sufficient turret space to accommodate the breech length and recoil distance of the 17-pounder. Similarly, the smaller 3" based ammunition was easier to store and handle in the tank's cramped interior.
This new gun's ammunition was not interchangeable with the 17-pounder, however, and to prevent confusion over ammunition supplies, it was renamed the 77 mm HV—the 'HV' standing for High Velocity—although it was the same 76.2 mm calibre as the 17-pounder."
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The G&H had 4 nose 50 cals, 4 "package" fuselage mounted guns firing forward and the 2 gun forward turret could be locked forward. But the ultimate gunship was the B-25J-2 " North American Aviation also produced an alternate, “strafer” nose section, called the B-25J-2 nose, initially shipped to air depots as kits, and then later fully incorporated onto new aircraft. This nose housed eight M2 heavy machine guns in two vertical columns of four guns each, and there was no 75mm cannon anymore. In addition, the top gun turret, just behind the cockpit, could be rotated forward, adding two more weapons for low level strafing. This was a combined total of 14 forward-firing, Browning M2 heavy machine guns, with an overall, throw weight of approximately 215 pounds of projectiles per second, and one very late version carried 18 forward-firing guns!" (8 Nose, 4 Package, 2 Turret, 4 Gun Pods under the wings.....More Dakka! Plus two waist guns and 2 tail guns. It was a Browning airplane made by North American) "The B-25J-2 “strafer” armament usually consisted of eight Browning M2 heavy machine guns in the nose, and four more M2s in the blister mounts, each with 400 rounds per gun, two M2 guns in the top turret with 400 rounds per gun, two M2 waist guns with 250 rounds per gun, and twin tail guns with 600 rounds per gun. M8 armor-piercing incendiary (API) ammunition was frequently used due to its devastating effects. Later in the war, many of the side-mounted, blister guns were removed in the field, in order to reduce weight and aerodynamic drag, since the eight forward-firing, nose guns were deemed sufficient for strafing missions. Strangely, the pilot had only simple, iron sights for aiming this vast array of powerful machine guns. The bomb bay could hold up to 3,000 pounds of munitions, including 23-pound, M40 para-frag bombs, 100-pound M30A1bombs, 250-pound M57 bombs, 500-pound M64A1bombs, 1,000-pound, M65A1 bombs, 1,600-pound armor-piercing bombs, or 325-pound depth charges. HVAR rockets could be mounted beneath the wings using special kits"
"The B-25 pilots from Fifth Air Force were now employing daring, new, anti-shipping tactics, including two methods developed with the help of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force, skip-bombing and mast-height bombing. The B-25’s speed (272 mph with a full bomb load) made it particularly effective at these attack techniques, plus low-level strafing with its fearsome, nose armament.
Skip-bombing was exceptionally hazardous, because the B-25 had to fly very low over the water, peppering the enemy vessel with its nose guns to suppress defensive fire, and then release a bomb with a time-delay fuze to skip over the water and slam into the Japanese ship’s hull, hopefully exploding after the low-flying Mitchell was clear of the target vessel on the far side. There was great danger from the enemy antiaircraft guns, avoiding the ship’s masts, and the possibility of the bomb skipping back up into the air and striking the B-25 instead.
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In terms of "worst" carrier conversions, I'd nominate the first two US built CVE's, USS Long Island and HMS Archer, The Maritime Commission had a world of trouble with its diesel powered C2's and C3's - so much so that the USN got rid of as many as possible after WW2, Unfortunately, both the vessels were diesel C3's and suffered accordingly. The Long Island was never trusted with a combat mssion, but served as an aircraft transport and training ship. The Royal Navy gave up in disgust with the Archer, " Her transmission was a constant cause of problems which led to her being withdrawn from front-line service. She was used as a stores ship and then as an accommodation ship before a refit and subsequent use as a merchant aircraft ferry ship, Empire Lagan" Of her diesel powered half-sisters, HMS Avenger was torpedoed, HMS Dasher blew up at her moorings and HMS Biter was fobbed off to the unlucky French. A war record to be truly proud of. Fortrunately, the steam powered C3 conversions of the Bogue/Attacker and Prince William/Ruler classes proved much more successful.
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Here, lazy Battleaxe G18/D118 Yarrow and Company, Scotstoun 22 April 1944 12 June 1945 23 October 1947 Broken up, 1964
Broadsword G31/D31 20 July 1944 5 February 1946 4 October 1948 Broken up, 1968
Cutlass G74 28 September 1944 20 March 1946 not completed Cancelled 23 December 1945, broken up at Troon, 1946
Dagger G23 7 March 1945 not launched Cancelled 23 December 1945, scrapped on slip
Crossbow G96/D96 John I. Thornycroft and Company, Woolston 26 August 1944 20 December 1945 4 March 1948 Broken up, 1972
Culverin G28 27 April 1944 March 1946 not completed Broken up at Grays, 1946
Howitzer G44 26 February 1945 not launched Cancelled 15 October 1945, scrapped on slip
Longbow G55 11 April 1945
Scorpion (ex-Tomahawk, ex-Centaur) G64/D64 J. Samuel White, Cowes 16 December 1944 15 August 1946 17 September 1947 Broken up, 1971
Sword (ex-Celt) G85 17 September 1945 not launched not completed Cancelled 15 October 1945, scrapped on slip
Musket G78 not laid down Cancelled 15 October 1945
Lance (ex-Rapier) none allocated
Carronade G82 Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Greenock 26 April 1944 4 April 1946 Cancelled 23 December 1945, broken up at Troon, 1946
Claymore G34 not laid down not launched Cancelled 15 October 1945, scrapped on slip
Dirk G02 Cancelled 15 October 1945
Grenade G53 Cancelled 22 November 1944
Halberd G99
Poniard G06
Rifle G21 William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton 30 June 1944 Cancelled 27 December 1945, scrapped on slip
Spear G30 29 September 1944
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Unsung - I don't think so! My dad's ship, the light carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), like her eight sisters of the Independence class, had an air group consisting of a double strength fighter squadron (VF) flying 36 F6F's and torpedo bomber squadron (VT) flying 9 TBM's. Such was the demand for Hellcats, that Grumman could not build the TBF's and F4F's (used on the small escort carriers (CVE) due to their small size and anticipated use as antisubmarine or close air support ships in amphibious operations not needing high performance fighters) the Navy needed. The solution was that General Motors converted four of its otherwise idle auto plants in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania (which became its Eastern Aircraft Division) to build them as TBM's and FM's, respectively. There was a plan to convert the CVL's into fighter carriers carrying two squadrons of 24 F8F's each for Operation Olympic in March, 1946 and to replace the FM's on the CVE's with the F2M - a license built F8F. Of course, events in early August, 1945 changed that. I can remember watching the TV documentary series Victory At Sea as a boy and with my dad ("I want to know what we were doing out there" - the guys at the sharp end know the least about what is going on "the big picture") and him pointing out Independence class carriers and the F6F's and TBM's they carried - as well as shots of the Combat Information Center (CIC) in operation, which was my dad's battle station when general quarters was sounded. He was an Electronics Technician and he was there to fix any problem with the radars, radios and homing beacons ASAP!
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I'd like to point out that the crew of the Pigeon was some of the last of the interwar Old Navy. To a man, members of the Regular Navy, they were a different breed from the "civilians in a blue suit" that made up the Wartime Navy, the Navy was their home. Many had service records dating back into the Twenties and some Petty Officers wore ribbons for service in the Kaiser War. Often, they reenlisted for the same ship, serving years on the same vessel with the same men. Of course, their ranks would soon be overwhelmed by the men of the Wartime Navy, but a "Salty Old Timer" was an asset to any ship. Many were promoted to Petty Officer, made Warrant Officers or, even commissioned, to provide needed experienced leadership
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Col John Parker was known as "Gatling Gun" Parker for his use of that weapon at San Juan Hill in 1898 and commanded the AEF Machine Gun School until given regimental command. He was regarded as one of the world's experts on automatic weapons.
""San Juan Hill, Santiago de Cuba, 1 July 1898. An important yet little known incident in American arms occurred during the assault on San Juan Hill in the War with Spain. The going was tough up the hill, since the Spaniards were well entrenched. Lieutenant John H. Parker was in command of the Gatling Gun Detachment composed of men from four different infantry regiments. Parker believed that his guns, which normally played only a defensive role in battle, could be of decisive importance in the attack by giving fire superiority to the infantry just when most needed. Receiving permission to advance the guns, Parker brought his detachment abreast of the Infantry, in fact ahead of some elements of it, and opened fire. This, the United States Army's first use of close support machine guns in the attack, was decisive in the capture of San Juan Hill. Lieutenant Parker's initiative developed an important principle of fire and maneuver, the use of close-support machine guns in the attack."
https://pixels.com/featured/gatlings-to-the-assault-granger.html
"As an Army officer, Parker continued to expound his theories on the tactical employment of machine guns, particularly in the offense. He was a prolific writer and contributed numerous articles and treatises to the Infantry Journal and other Army publications. Parker was promoted in rank to Captain in 1900 and was transferred to the 28th Infantry Regiment. In January 1908 he was assigned the task of developing organizational schedules and training regulations for the U.S. Army's dismounted machine gun companies.
During World War I, Parker—by now a Colonel in the 102nd Infantry Regiment, 26th Division, A.E.F.—saw combat on numerous occasions, and was singled out numerous times by his superior officers for his efficiency and bravery in the field. As an instructor at the Army Machine-Gun School at Langres, France, Parker instructed AEF troops in the use of the machine gun, for which he received the Distinguished Service Medal. From January–November 1918 Parker received the Silver Star Citation and the Distinguished Service Cross four times for valor displayed on four separate occasions (his final DSC Citation was a Third Bronze Oak Leaf in lieu of a Fourth Award of the DSC). (Note - during and shortly after World War I, bronze oak leaves, rather than oak leaf clusters, were awarded to represent additional awards of decorations.) His fourth DSC citation states that he was receiving the award for extraordinary heroism in action:
During the attack on the village of Gesnes Colonel Parker displayed great gallantry and fearlessness in leading and directing his front line with utter disregard for personal safety and urged his men forward by his personal example, all under heavy machine-gun, high-explosive, gas-shell, and shrapnel fire. He was abreast of his front line until he fell, twice wounded, but thereafter remained in active command for a period of five hours, when he was relieved by the lieutenant colonel of his regiment.
Black Jack Pershing, Gatling Gun Parker and John Moses Browning - a formidable trio if there ever was one,
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@derkrampus9986 And it is FRENCH, imagine the galley stores and wine cellar. In my career, I encountered the French equivalent of both C-Rations and MRE's. Quite good, I thought. The absolute dregs was the German "Cheeseburger In a Can". I won't subject you to a description, you can look it up on line. Although it was gone before my time, the French also had Vinogel - jellied concentrated red wine. You added it to your canteen, added water and voila! At Dien Bien Phu, the French made an airdrop that landed behind Viet Minh lines. The Legion ferociously attacked and recaptured the Vinogel, so every legionnaire could have wine to drink the next day, which was Camerone Day, the holiest day of the year in the Legion. It is celebrated with a formal ceremony followed by what has been described as "a sort of orderly military orgy". I have seen a former Viet Minh officer say that, with enough sugar, Vinogel wasn't bad.
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Torpex (TORPedo EXplosive) was invented by British by adding 42 percent RDX (Research Department eXplosive) and 18 percent aluminum powder to 40 percent TNT for greater blast effect. It worked, Torpex is 50 percent . more effective than the same weight of TNT. They also came up with Minol for use in mines, depth charges and, yes, torpedoes
Minol-1: 48% TNT, 42% ammonium nitrate, and 10% powdered aluminium.
Minol-2: 40% TNT, 40% ammonium nitrate, and 20% powdered aluminium.
Minol-3: 42% TNT, 38% ammonium nitrate, and 20% powdered aluminium.
Minol-4: 40% TNT, 36% ammonium nitrate, 4% potassium nitrate, and 20% powdered aluminium.
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In addition, the Canadians converted their M1919s to the C1/C5 (which I got to fire when my unit hosted a Canadian unit at Ft Lewis in the late Seventies) and these are just some of what is out thereMG4 is a South African upgrade of the M1919 in current use with the South African National Defence Force. The MG4 upgrade was done by Lyttleton Engineering Works, Pretoria.[38]MG m/52-1 and MG m/52-11 were Danish designations for the M1919A4 and M1919A5 respectively.[38]The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used vehicle-mounted M1919A4 guns converted to 7.62mm NATO on many of their armored vehicles.[38]Ksp m/22 is the Swedish designation for license-built M1919s chambered for 8×63mm patron m/22 cartridges, for aircraft use.Ksp m/39 is the Swedish designation for M1919A4 license-built by Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori chambered in 6.5×55mm and 8×63mm patron m/32, and from about 1975 rebarreled in 7.62×51mm NATO. Intended for use in tanks and armoured vehicles, it's available with both left- and right hand feeding, the former is used in CV 90.Ksp m/42 was the Swedish designation for license-built M1919A6 used for infantry support, normally chambered in 6.5×55mm but occasionally in 8×63mm patron m/32, and from about 1975, mostly fitted with barrels in 7.62×51mm NATO. The Ksp m/42B was a lighter version with bipod and shoulder stock (used in a similar way as the M1919A6), chambered in 6.5×55mm and later in 7.62×51mm. Even the ksp m/42B proved too heavy, and was replaced by the ksp m/58 (FN MAG). In the late 1980s, most remaining ksp m/42 was rebuilt into ksp m/39 to be installed into the CV 90s.The Poles developed a copy of the Browning M1919 chambered for 7.92×57mm Mauser, designated Ckm wz.32, similar to the earlier Ckm wz.30.
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The first four classes of DE's - Evarts, Buckley, Cannon and Edsall - were armed with 3 inchers as limited 5 inch production had to go to destroyers, cruisers, battleships and carriers. So, the majority of DE's mounted 3 inch guns. The last two classes - Rudderow and John C Butler - carried 5 inchers as the supply situation eased. The USN planned to rebuild all the 3 inch gunned ships except the Evarts class with two 5 inch guns, but only did a few prior to the end of WW2 and cancellation of the project. It should be remembered that DE's were Destroyer ESCORTS and designed to swat down pesky airplanes, for which 3 inchers might have been superior to 5 inch, and kill submarines, not (Samar to the contrary) fight surface actions. Note that the British Hunt class DDE's, which inspired the DE's, mounted 4 inch AA guns, while RN fleet destroyers mounted 4.7 inch low angle guns.
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It was entirely political. Churchill had proclaimed Britain as the champion of the free world. He had boxed himself into a corner, he HAD to come to the aid of Greece. As far as Crete goes, the reason it was a defeat for the British was Freyberg's mismanagement of the battle. "In the chaos of the retreat from the Battle of Greece in 1941, Churchill gave Freyberg command of the Allied forces during the Battle of Crete. Although instructed to prevent an assault from the air, he remained obsessed with the possibility of a naval landing and based his tactics on it, neglecting adequately to defend the airfield at Maleme, ignoring ULTRA intelligence messages, which showed that the assault was coming by air" No lost battle, no evacuation, no lost ships. Admittedly, there then occurs the problem of keeping Crete supplied, but Hitler solved that by invading Russia which pulled most of the Luftwaffe into that meatgrinder. The Axis could either try attacking the Malta convoys or attempting to blockade Crete from the air. Malta was obviously the more important of the two - Malta based RN subs and light forces and the RAF were slaughtering the convoys to North Africa and starving Rommel of supplies. But. Hitler could no longer execute Operation Hercules, his airborne capability died at Crete.
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The history of the carrier Bearn in WW2 may be of interest .In June 1940 she transported part of the French Gold reserves to the US, then "Béarn began loading aircraft ordered from American manufacturers on 3 June, including 15 new Curtiss H-75A-4 fighters, 25 Stinson 105 utility aircraft, and 6 Brewster Buffalo fighters intended for the Belgian Air Component. Sold as surplus by the US Navy, 44 Curtiss SBC Helldiver biplane dive bombers arrived on 15 June and were loaded that day. The carrier and Jeanne d'Arc departed the next morning, bound for Brest. The ships did not hear the French High Command's order to divert to Fort-de-France, on the island of Martinique in the French West Indies, broadcast on 18 June, but did hear the repeat message on the 20th, after Brest had already been occupied by the Germans. They arrived at Fort-de-France on 27 June and became one of a dozen or so French ships that were effectively interned at Martinique—at U.S. insistence—to prevent their use by Germany. The carrier's aircraft were unloaded ashore on 19 July and the 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns aboard the fighters were removed to be used to bolster the anti-aircraft defenses of the French ships; Béarn received a dozen of the weapons.[3
The Vichy Government ordered that the ships in the Antilles be sabotaged on 5 May, but Robert procrastinated following the order, despite reiterations on 12 and 19 May. That day the carrier was run aground near the entrance to the port; one compartment flooded when the hull was pierced by wreckage. On 15 June, Béarn was reduced to special reserve. Robert ordered her propulsion machinery compartments flooded on 3 July as a further act of sabotage, but this likely would have caused her to capsize so the turbines and boilers were filled half-full of seawater. When her aircraft were surveyed in June, 27 Stinsons and 10 Curtis Hawks were still serviceable for service in North Africa. The French Antilles joined the Free French when the destroyer Le Terrible arrived in Martinique on 14 July.[43]
Béarn was refloated on 8 September, after she had been pillaged of equipment by the other units based in Martinique, although one dynamo and a steering motor were refurbished to facilitate her tow to Puerto Rico that began on 27 September and ended three days later when she arrived at Ensenada Honda. The next several months were spent refurbishing her propulsion machinery and electrical equipment. The carrier began post-refit trials on 17 November, but they were unsuccessful as she had to be towed back to the dockyard. After repairs and further testing, Béarn steamed to the Todd Shipyards facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, arriving on 3 December.[44]
Given her age and limitations, the French did not wish to begin a long and costly conversion into an escort carrier, but settled for a faster and cheaper conversion into an aircraft transport. Shortages of materials, skilled labor and the difficulties of working with French equipment caused the conversion to take much longer than expected. By May virtually all of the propulsion and auxiliary machinery had been removed to be overhauled with the shipyard expecting all of the work to be completed by 1 September 1944. The Marine Nationale did not believe that estimate; its concerns were borne out when a more realistic estimate of 15 December was made on 20 June. Even that date was missed by several weeks as work finally ceased on 30 December.[45]
One of the major changes made during the conversion was that her original armament and fire-control equipment was replaced by four 38-caliber 5-inch (127 mm) Mk 37 dual-purpose guns in single mounts where the 155 mm guns had formerly been, twenty-four 1.1-inch (28 mm) guns in six quadruple mounts, one each at the bow and stern and the remaining guns in sponsons on the side of the hull, and twenty-six 20-millimeter (0.8 in) Oerlikon guns in individual mountings. Four Mk 51 directors were added to control the 5- and 1.1-inch guns and SA-2 early-warning and SF surface-search radars were installed on the island. Béarn stowed 300 rounds per gun for the 5-inch guns, 2,210 for each 1.1-inch gun and 8,862 rounds for each Oerlikon. Other changes included the removal of the middle elevator, the addition of a 17-metric-ton (16.7-long-ton) crane on the port side of the flight deck and the replacement of her diesel generators by a pair of 300-kW General Motors generators. The protective coal was removed and the coal bunkers were converted into oil tanks, which increased her fuel capacity to 4,500 t (4,429 long tons).[46]
The ship departed New Orleans on 30 December, bound for Portsmouth, Virginia, where she was docked on 8–19 January 1945 to fix issues that arose on the voyage. On 24 February Béarn conducted speed trials and reached 17.93 knots (33.21 km/h; 20.63 mph). She spent the next month working up and was declared ready on 26 February. Béarn had to wait for the arrival of 230 additional crewmen before she could steam to New York City to pick up her cargo on 3 March. This included 148 American soldiers and sailors, 88 aircraft and 85 cases of material that totalled 455 t (448 long tons). Twenty-six North American P-51 Mustang fighters and three Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers were stowed inside the hangar with fourteen P-51s and forty-one Republic P-47 Thunderbolts on the flight deck. The ship also embarked a four-man US Navy liaison detachment.[47]
Béarn steamed from New York on 7 March as part of Convoy CU 61. Early on the morning of 13 March, the transport briefly lost power during heavy weather and collided with the troop ship USAT J. W. McAndrew. The impact killed 68 soldiers and 1 Naval Armed Guardsman aboard the troop ship and Béarn had 1 crewman missing, 3 killed and 7 wounded. Both ships suffered hull damage and the transport had her starboard forward guns disabled. They both sailed to Ponta Delgada, Azores, for emergency repairs and arrived there on the 22nd. Béarn received permanent repairs at Casablanca from 15 March to 18 July. Despite this, she required further repairs which she received at Gibraltar on 22–30 July. After sailing to Oran on 31 July, the ship loaded 535 personnel, 400 t (390 long tons) of material and part of a damaged Breguet 730 flying boat bound for Toulon, where she arrived on 3 August. She then loaded 1,378 men of the 13e Demi-Brigade de la Légion Etrangère (13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion), 280 airmen and 275 vehicles that she ferried to Algiers on the 9th and then transported 174 legionnaires to Oran four days later. Béarn was refitted there from 13 August to 9 September.[48]
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@thunberbolttwo3953 Excuse me, the Seafire was notorious for things like landing gear collapsing, tail hook pulling out and remaining with the arrester cable while the aircraft roared down the deck into the barrier, even having the entire tail pull off, it had the ditching qualities of a submarine. At Salerno, sixty percent of the Seafires were lost due to accidents on the first day
". As a carrier based fighter, the design was a compromise and suffered many losses through structural damage that was inflicted by heavy landings on carrier decks: a problem that continued even with the strengthening introduced by the Mk II. The Seafire had a narrow undercarriage track, which meant that it was not well suited to deck operations.[1] The many modifications had shifted the centre-of-gravity aft, making low-speed control difficult and the aircraft's gradual stall characteristics meant that it was difficult to land accurately on the carrier, resulting in many accidents. Other problems included the basic Spitfire's short range and endurance (fine for an interceptor fighter but not for carrier operation), limited weapons load and that it was dangerous in ditching.
The low point of Seafire operations came during Operation Avalanche the invasion of Salerno in September 1943. Of the 106 Seafires available to the British escort carriers on 9 September only 39 were serviceable by the dawn of D-Day plus Two (11 September).
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1)The Number 5 (dual 12 inch) turrets of the USS Utah and USS Wyoming could also rotate 360 degrees
2) The position of C turret on the Nelson and Rodney was to allow mutineers to threaten the officers on the bridge
3) Subtle damage. Many people wonder why HMS Victorious was picked for rebuilding with an angled deck and why the modernization was extended to her sisters. The short answer is that she was only one not severely damaged. The carrier Illustrious suffered battle damage that resulted in such severe vibrations from the center propeller shaft that the prop had to be removed and the shaft locked resulting in a top speed 24 knots. A near miss by a kamikaze led to further hull damage and by the end of WW2 she was down to 19 knots. HMS Formidable was hit by two bombs in 1941 that warped her hull. Fixing this would have required a complete rebuild - probably easier and quicker to build a new carrier. Her speed was limited to 21 knots for the rest of her life. As far as Indomitable goes "On 3 February 1953, she was badly damaged by an internal fire and explosion; the damage was later covered in concrete and never repaired. "
On the American side the light carrier Independence (CVL-22) was severely damaged by an an aircraft torpedo in the starboard quarter. I wonder is this doesn't explain why she first became a night carrier while her sisters remained day carriers and her use as a target in CROSSROADS at Bikini. Was her propulsion system suffering lingering damage or her hull warped? Last the carriers USS Franklin and Bunker Hill suffered massive battle damage/ Although both were repaired, apparently the USN didn't trust that all their problems were solved and they never saw any further active service. This is ironic since their rebuilds made them the most modern members of their class until the SCB-27 rebuilds of the 1950's
4) IJN CL's. This is going to be lengthy. They differed from RN and USN CL's built from the Leanders and Brooklyns forward. They were based on a British concept, the Fleet Cruiser. Unlike traditional cruisers operating separately from the battle fleet, these "Scout Cruisers" served primarily as Flotilla Leaders for the fleet's destroyers and torpedo boats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flotilla_leader
""A scout cruiser was a type of warship of the early 20th century, which were smaller, faster, more lightly armed and armoured than protected cruisers or light cruisers, but larger than contemporary destroyers. Intended for fleet scouting duties and acting as a flotilla leader, a scout cruiser was typically armed with six to ten destroyer-type guns of 3-inch (76 mm) to 4.7-inch (120 mm) calibre, plus two to four torpedo tubes."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_cruiser
The British C and D classes were intended to serve in a similar role, while the E class with its 16 torpedo tubes was an extreme example of the type. The first Town class and the Frobisher class were intended for the traditional cruiser role. Its arguable that the second Arethusa class was the last of the type
"The Arethusas were a smaller version of the Amphion group of the earlier Leander class, having the unit machinery layout and two funnels of the former. The design was judged to be the minimum required for a "trade route cruiser" to counter the threat of the auxiliary cruiser over which, even with their reduced armament, they would enjoy a comfortable superiority. They were also to be capable of acting as a fleet cruiser (which was fortunate because, in the end, they were used almost exclusively with the fleet)."
And we finally get to the point
The IJN enjoyed a close relationship with the RN - practically big brother-little brother and we all know they loved their torpedoes. So the IJN's CL's can be viewed as and were used as Scouts or Fleet cruisers, leading the destroyer squadrons
"The Tenryū class was designed to act as flagships for destroyer flotillas. The design represented an intermediate class between the light cruiser and the destroyer, which had few counterparts in other navies of the time, although it was inspired by a similar concept to the Royal Navy's (first) Arethusa and C-class cruisers. The IJN and Japanese shipbuilding industry were still closely associated with that of the British because of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, and were able to improve on that experience."
5) Lofoten Raids' Fish oil is high in Vitamin D - "Liquid Sunshine"
"Fish oil is rich in a number of nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. Made from a range of different fish or, in cases like salmon oil or cod liver oil, from one specific fish type, fish oil has been taken safely as a dietary supplement for years. Because many fatty fish, including those that are used to make fish oil, are rich in vitamin D, fish oil is also a good source of vitamin D"
The Germans issued fish oil and Vitamin D pills to its troops. U-boat crews who might go for weeks without exposure to sunlight and troops operating in the Arctic and on the Eastern front in winter were vulnerable to lack of Vitamin D produced by sunlight.
Glycerine, of course, is used in explosive manufacture
5) Loss of HMS Victoria. Drach's explanation is an example of the over control that militaries seem prone to. A perfect example has been the Soviets and, now, Russians, with individual initiative discouraged in favor of a centralized command system. "Who authorized you to think"? is more than a joke in some militaries. Perhaps the most extreme, but - ironically - successful example I can think of is Frederick the Great's Prussian Army where the troops were supposed to be automatoms. "Achtung! Freiderich komm!" ranks up there with "Attencion! Monsieur Martinet arrive!" in inspiring terror in your own troops.
"Jean Martinet (d. 1672) was a lieutenant-colonel and Inspector General of the armies of Louis XIV. Martinet is famous for being an extremely strict drillmaster--so much so, in fact, that his name has come to mean "a rigid disciplinarian, someone who demands strict adherence to rules." His military training policies set the pace for the armies of the late 17th-18th century. Martinet created out of the French army a well-oiled military machine, one which fired and operated with extreme discipline."
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In WW2 the RN considered the sloops of the Black Swan class to be its premier escort ships. Capable of 20 knots, mounting 3X2 4inch AA guns and pom-poms (later 40mm and 20mm) to deal with the aerial threat, with good sonar and ample depth charges for ASW and sea worthy, they were Western Approaches Command's "Capital Ships". Famous U-Boat Killer Captain "Johnnie" Walker's Second Support Group - designed to go to the aid of a convoy under attack - was comprised entirely of "Dirty Ducks". But they had full warship features, notably geared turbines, hard to procure in war time and had long construction times. Accordingly, an "economy" or "austere" sloop that became the frigate was designed, the River Class. These were based on mercantile rather than naval practice, had two corvette standard VTE reciprocating engines rather than turbines (6 of 151 had turbines) and all the non essentials were discarded. They were also sea worthy ships, capable of 20 knots, but were purely ASW vessels. They mounted two 4 inch low angle (not AA capable) guns in B and X positions and up to 10 20mm Oerlikons. The later were not so much for AA use as to sweep the decks of subs forced to surface of gun and bridge crews. They had no Y gun in favor of a large number of depth charges and, crucially, gave up A gun in favor of a Hedgehog - much superior to depth charges for killing U-Boats. Late in the war they were replaced in production by the Loch class, prefabricated to expedite production (again some with turbines). These were superior to the Rivers in that while they only mounted a single 4 inch gun, a 1X4 pom-pom, 2X2 20mm or 2X1 40mm Boffin mounts and 2-8X1 20mm, they mounted 2X3 12 inch Squid ASW mortars in B position - an even more deadly weapon against U-Boats. This allowed the number of depth charges to be reduced to 15 from over 100 in the Rivers. They had a superb sensor suite "In addition to the new weaponry, the Lochs also carried new sensors, in the form of Radar Type 277. This set utilised the cavity magnetron to transmit on centimetric wavelengths for target indication purposes, excelling at picking out small targets such as a submarine periscope or snorkel from the surface clutter. The increased weight of the stabilised antenna array and the carriage of HF/DF at the masthead meant that a lattice mast was stepped in lieu of the traditional tripod or pole. Some vessels completed with Radar Type 271 or 272 and the associated "lantern" radome until Type 277 became available. ASDIC Type 144 was carried for search and attack functions with Type 147B used for depth finding." ASDIC 147B introduced the idea of an underwater fire control system, which helped make Squid so effective. Destroyers were not well suited to escort work, the speed they required was wasted i n the ASW role as ASDIC could not be operated above 20 knots due to self-generated noise and they were too short ranged, The RN did modify the Great War Era V&W and later the interwar A to I classes as they were replaced as fleet destroyers by new construction as Long Range Escorts, but considerably mutilated them in the process. One boiler was removed, the upper part of the boiler room becoming berthing space for increased war time crews and the lower part becoming fuel bunkers. This reduced speed to around 24 knots, but greatly increased range. The armament was first reduced by having Y gun and the after torpedo tubes removed for increased depth charge stowage. The second stage was to replace A gun with Hedgehog, Later A gun was reinstalled on a few when split Hedgehog (two 12 spigot mounts alongside the gun instead of one 24 spigot mount) was introduced. Close range AA grew from 2X1 pom-poms to 4/6X1 20mm - but were primarily used for anti-personnel work against surfaced U-Boats. They usually served as flagships for Escort Groups,. Also joining the escort groups were the inter-war sloops, corvettes, deep sea trawlers (many used as rescue ships) and the Algerine Class minesweepers (The RCN's had no sweep gear and were solely employed as escorts). Later Lend-Lease DE's (which the British rated as frigates) of the Captains Class and the US version of the River Class, the Tacoma Class PF's, joined in. If you want the definitive history see
https://www.amazon.com/Atlantic-Escorts-Ships-Weapons-Tactics/dp/1399029908?msclkid=88194859c4d511ecb394beef9f7e11f9
https://www.amazon.com/British-Destroyers-Earliest-Second-World/dp/1591140811?msclkid=bfa1b98fc4d511ecb672c783f88ff5cc
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USS Savannah? She took a Fritz -X 3460 pound guided armor piercing bomb " The bomb pierced the armored turret roof of Savannah's No. 3 gun turret, passed through three decks into the lower ammunition-handling room, where it exploded, blowing a hole in her keel and tearing a seam in the cruiser's port side. For at least 30 minutes, secondary explosions in the turret and its ammunition supply rooms hampered firefighting efforts.
Savannah's crew quickly sealed off flooded and burned compartments, and corrected her list. With assistance from the salvage tugs Hopi and Moreno, Savannah got underway under her own steam by 1757 hours and steamed for Malta. Savannah lost 206 crewmen in this German counterattack. Thirteen other sailors were seriously wounded, and four more were trapped in a watertight compartment for 60 hours. These four sailors were not rescued until Savannah had already arrived at Grand Harbor, Valletta, Malta, on 12 September" If the bomb hadn't blown out the ships bottom and flooded the forward magazines, they could well have detonated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFgx0GFllZQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k5CKYhklVs and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_X#Usage_in_combat and
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According Friedman's British Destroyers Vol 1 Pages 236-237, the standard British depth charge pattern in WW2 was (depending on the period) 10 or 14 depth charges. Hedgehog fired 24 bombs, not 18
Your post is drivel and shows you are totally ignorant of the subject
Squid was NOT a failure. Three of first four attacks using it sank the U-boat with one volley. Friedman's British Destroyers Vol 2 Page 146 Regarding trials aboard HMS Ambuscade "They showed that her double Squid was the best ASW weapon devised to date, FAR SUPERIOR TO HEDGEHOG." farther down the page, "In practice, in 1945 (Squid) effectiveness was 40.3 percent compared to 26,3 percent for Hedgehog and 7.5 percent for depth charges."
"A trio of squids going off on your foredeck is likely to take out the bridge crew. Not so much for hedgehog" Tell that to the crew of the USS Turner, whose sinking has been blamed on a mishandled Mousetrap round (Mousetrap was a rocket propelled Hedgehog). Or the crew of the USS Solar, which mishandled a Hedgehog round
"On 30 April 1946, Solar was berthed at Leonardo Pier I of the Naval Ammunition Depot Earle, New Jersey, to discharge ammunition. The operation went smoothly until, shortly after 11:30, one of the crewmen dropped a hedgehog charge. ("The United Press quoted witnesses as saying a shell being passed by Seaman Joseph Stuckinski of Baltimore from the ship to a truck on the pier exploded in his arms and set off the blasts. Stuckinski was not injured.") He was able to escape with relatively minor injuries, but three ensuing explosions blasted the ship near her number 2 upper handling rooms. Her number 2 gun was demolished and the bridge, main battery director, and mast were all blown aft and to starboard. Both sides of the ship were torn open, and her deck was a mass of flames. The order to abandon ship came after the second explosion and was carried out expeditiously. Nevertheless, the tragedy claimed the lives of seven sailors and injured 125 others"
"Why did Hedgehog fall out of favor? Simple. Submarine sailors dominated procurement after the war." Absolute garbage, Squid was a far superior weapon which enabled the Hedgehog armed River Class frigates depth charge load out (as back up weapons) to go from as many as up to 150 charges to 15 in the Squid armed Loch class that followed them.
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New York Central's "Black Beetle" It was never intended to be a prototype, it was strictly to see how fast a conventional train could go on conventional track. "The construct was then successfully sent on test runs over the existing tracks between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio.. The line had been chosen for its arrow-straight layout and good condition, but otherwise unmodified track. On July 23, 1966, the car reached a speed of 183.68 mph (295.6 km/h), an American rail speed record that still stands today.
Even with this spectacular performance, and even though it had been built relatively cheaply, using existing parts, the project was not considered viable commercially. The railroad gathered valuable test data regarding the stresses of high-speed rail travel on conventional equipment and tracks then existing in America"
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OK, Everybody, calm down! The El Lay water supply has a large amount of bromide in it. Mix bromide, chlorine (to purify the water) and sunlight and you get bromate, a carcinogen. The water district looked at solutions like chemically removing the bromide (too expensive), erecting sunshades (attract tons of birds, which then poop in the water and cause health problems), etc, etc. The balls are a commercially available product, made from food safe plastic (like in milk jugs at the store). The coloration is from carbon black, a common and neutral item used for many purposes in industry (like sugar refining) and it was chosen because uncolored plastic lasts for about a year under the intense sun, while the carbon black infused plastic lasts ten years. So the balls prevent sunlight getting to the water and there is no bromate reaction. Savings from less evaporation - which at a billion gallons per year, are not trivial - are just a side benefit.
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The reasoning behind the long bayonet is simple, a horse can NOT be made to charge an obviously dangerous object like a row of sharp points. It will refuse to move (except away), swerve, buck, even throw its rider. It will not charge. This is the reason that early modern armies had units of pikemen. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/301248662548901711This was brought in to the peak of perfection in the Spanish Tercio as employed by El Gran Capitan, Gonzalo de Cordoba , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Fern%C3%A1ndez_de_C%C3%B3rdoba which combined pikemen and musketeers in one formation, the pikemen to protect the musketeers, the later to kill enemy cavalry. https://crossfireamersfoort.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/nrdlingenterciotorralto.jpgAround the mid 1600's someone in Bayonne (France, not New Jersey) got the idea to stick a knife on the end of a musket, allowing the two duties to be combined. These original bayonets were designed to be stuck in to the musket's bore, hence the term "plug bayonet https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Plug_Bayonet_1650.JPG, which was eventually replaced by the familiar socket bayonet offset to one side. The British infantry battalion of the Napoleonic Wars had 8 musket companies and one each of light infantry and grenadiers ("flank companies). On campaign, the "Light Bobs" and Grenadiers were often detached to form ad hoc battalions with companies from other battalions. So when the command "Prepare to Receive Cavalry" was given, the battalion would form a square two companies (in two ranks, front kneeling and rear standing) wide that was impregnable to horsemen. https://www.flickr.com/photos/55485758@N04/6288781127/ andhttp://www.stuartbriggs.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Wellingtons-squares-2.jpgThe only time I can remember reading about a square having broken was when somebody shot a horse and the dying animal fell and collapsed the corner of a square, allowing the French to pour in and massacre the BritishThe last American bayonet charge occurred during the Korean War and routed the Communists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonet#/media/File:Millett;s_Charge.jpgMore than you ever wanted to know about bayonets.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonet"What is the spirit of the bayonet?" "TO KILL, DRILL SERGEANT, TO KILL!!"
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How about these?
FORT HANCOCK/ Sandy Hook, N.J. /1885/ Gateway NRA, USCG/ MD, MC/ KKKKK
Proving Ground/many – various/various/1890-1920/Proving Ground moved to Aberdeen, 1920
Dynamite/2/15″/Pne/1896-1902/USCG shooting range
&/1/8″/Pne/1896-1902/mine casemate 1921
Potter/2/12″/GLC/1890-1907
McCook/8/12″/M/1898-1923/advanced HECP-HEDP post 1943
Reynolds/8/12″/M/1898-1918/
Alexander/2/12″/DC/1899-1943
Bloomfield/2/12″/DC/1899-1944
Richardson/2/12″/DC/1904-1944
Kingman/2/12″/BCLR/1922-1946/casemated 1943
Mills/2/12″/BCLR/1922-1946/casemated 1943
Halleck/3/10″/DC/1898-1944/one gun removed 1910s
Granger/2/10″/DC/1898-1940s/
Arrowsmith/3/8″/DC/1909-1921/partially destroyed
Peck/2/6″/P/1903-1946/guns & carr. relocated ’43 to Gunnison site
Gunnison/2/6″/DC/1905-1943/extensively rebuilt for Peck’s guns
Peck “II” /New Peck/guns from original Peck/1943-1946/(ex-Gunnison), guns repl 1976 Still Empl., battery being restored
Engle/1/5″/BP/1898-1917/CRF built on empl.
unnamed/1/4.7″/P/1898/temporary (Schneider)
Urmston/6/3″/MP + P/1903-1944/2 guns later replaced with M1903 P
Morris/4/3″/P/1908-1946
New Urmston (#6)/2/3″/P/1942-1946/partially covered
AMTB #7/2/90 mm/F/1943-1946
AMTB #8/2/90 mm/F/1943-1946/on ex-Peck
Highlands Military Reservation, New Jersey (Navesink)/Hartshorne Woods County Park /KK
Lewis (#116 )/2/16″/CBC/1944-1948/
unnamed/4/12″/M/1917-1920/only one empl. remains uncovered
#219/2/6″/SBC/1944-1949/
FORT MOTT/ Finns Point, N.J./ 1900/ state park/ KKK
Arnold/3/12″/DC/1899-1943
Harker/3/10″/DC/1899-1941 /guns and carr to Canada, guns still at location in Canada
Gregg/2/5″/P/1901-1910
Krayenbuhl/2/5″ /BP/1900-1918
Edwards/2/3″/CM/1902-1920
Cape May M. R/ Cape May, NJ/ state park/ K
#223/2/6″/SBC /1944-1947/now in surf
AMTB #7/2/90 mm/F/1943-1946/now in surf
unnamed/4/155 mm/PM//in surf
temporary/1/6″/P/1917-1919/C.G. base east of town, destroyed
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Actually the British did have a hand grenade at the start of the Great War, the Mark I, adopted in 1908. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._1_grenadeIt had a wooden handle to increase leverage and, hence range. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._1_grenade#/media/File:HandGrenadeNo1Mk1.jpgBUT"When the battlefield became confined to the trenches, the long handle became a liability, causing several accidents. Reaching back for the throw, the fuse could strike the trench side.[3] The No. 3, a variant of the No. 1, had a shorter handle for easier use in trenches."The reason for improvised devices was"Manufacturing the No. 1 was difficult, as it required a special detonator that could only be produced by the ordnance factories. Because of this, the British Expeditionary Force got far fewer No. 1s than were ordered"
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Because of something called Coast Artillery. The Canal was such an obvious place to attack that it was crawling with soldiers, covered with sea coast and ant-aircraft batteries, had a lot (by 1941 standards) of aircraft and had naval forces as well. Any incoming ships would be picked up well out to sea and tracked all the way in. Both sides of the Canal had Harbor Entrance Control Posts, which controlled traffic on the local approaches. Any wrong move or failing to follow their instructions and you'd be blown out of the water, no questions asked. Don't forget, not everybody was blind as a General Short. Plus, for decades, the US Army assumed the Canal would be first to be attacked, so the aggressive members of the US Army, the ones who wanted to fight, enlisted for a Canal Zone assignment. I've been told that the men in Panama considered the Japanese to be especially evil for attacking Pearl and not the Canal. There wouldn't have been the sort of peace time mentality and hesitation in Panama that you saw elsewhere
The Harbor Defenses of Balboa, Panama (Panama Canal Zone, Pacific Side)
FORT KOBBE (ex-Ft. Bruja)/ Bruja Point /Howard AFB to Panama 1999/ KK
Murray/2/16″ /BCLRN/1926-1948/Bruja Pt., casemated-WWII
Haan/2/16″ /BCLRN/1926-1948/Batele Pt., not casemated, empl. buried
AMTB #6/4/90 mm/F/1943-1948
Z (3A)
FORT AMADOR / Balboa / to Panama, 1997; commercial development /K
Birney/2/ 6″/DC/1913-1943/buried
Smith/2/ 6″/DC/1913-1943/buried
FORT GRANT /Balboa /to Panama, 1979 private development /MD, MC /KK
Newton/1/16″/DC/1914-1943/Perico Is., filled to loading platform level
Buell/2/14″/DC/1912-1948/Naos Is.
Burnside/2/14″/DC/1912-1948/Naos Is./
Warren/2/14″/DC/1912-1948/Flaminco Is., empls. filled to parapit edge
Prince/4/12″/M/1912-1943/Flaminco Is.
Merritt/4/12″/M/1912-1943/Flaminco Is.
Carr/4/12″/M/1912-1943/Flaminco Is.
Parke/2/ 6″/DC/1912-1948/Naos Is.
#8/2/14″/RY/1928-1948/Culebra Is., empl (see #1, Randolph), covered
T/2/155 mm/PM//Flamenco Is.
U (10A)/2/155 mm/PM//Flamenco Is.
V(10B)/2/155 mm/PM//Culebra Is.
Other sites /?
W (1B)/4/155 mm/PM//Taboquilla Is.
2B/2/155 mm/PM//Taboquilla Is.
unnamed/4/155 mm/PM//Paitilla Pt.
X/2/155 m/PM//Urara Is.
Y (1A)/4/155 mm/PM//Taboga Is
The Harbor Defenses of Cristobal, Panama (Panama Canal Zone, Atlantic side )
FORT RANDOLPH / Margarita Island / 1911 to Panama, 1979; commercial development / KK
Webb /2/14″/ DC /1912-1948
#1/2/14″/ RY / 1928-1948 / 2 guns for Panama, 4 empl. (#1 & #8) 1 empl. destroyed
Tidball /4/12″ / M /1912-1943
Zalinski /4/12″/ M /1912-1943
Weed /2/ 6″/ DC /1912-1946
X(4A) /4/155 mm / PM /1940
2C / 4 /155 mm / PM
5A / 4 /155 mm / PM
FORT DeLESSEPS /Colon / 1911 /to Panama, 1950s /KK
Morgan/2/ 6″/P /1913-1944/modified casemate mounts M1910
AMTB #3b/4/90 mm/F/1943-1948/Cristobal mole, built over
FORT SHERMAN / Toro Point / 1911 / MD, MC /to Panama 1999/KK
#151/2/16″/CBC/NB
Mower/1/14″/DC/1912-1948
Stanley/1/14″/DC/1912-1948
Howard/4/12″/M/1912-1943
Baird/4/12″/M/1912-1943
Pratt/2/12″/BCLR/1924-1948/Iglesia Pt., casemated-WWII
MacKenzie/2/12″/BCLR/1924-1948/Iglesia Pt., not rebuilt
Kilpatrick/2/ 6″/DC/1913-1946
W/4/155 mm/PM/1940
Other sites / ?
U/4/155 mm/PM/1918/Tortuguilla Point
V/4/155 mm/PM/1940/Naranjitos Point
Y/4/155 mm/PM/1940/Palma Media Island
Z(1A)/4/155 mm/PM/1940/Galetta Is.
1B/4/155 mm/PM//Galetta Is.
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@hernerweisenberg7052 Totally irrelevant. The merchant ships sunk by S&G were a drop in the bucket
"Third, and unlike the Allies, the Germans were never able to mount a comprehensive blockade of Britain. Nor were they able to focus their effort by targeting the most valuable cargoes, the eastbound traffic carrying war materiel. Instead they were reduced to the slow attrition of a tonnage war. To win this, the U-boat arm had to sink 300,000 GRT per month in order to overwhelm Britain's shipbuilding capacity and reduce its merchant marine strength.
In only four out of the first 27 months of the war did Germany achieve this target, while after December 1941, when Britain was joined by the US merchant marine and ship yards the target effectively doubled. As a result, the Axis needed to sink 700,000 GRT per month; as the massive expansion of the US shipbuilding industry took effect this target increased still further. The 700,000 ton target was achieved in only one month, November 1942, while after May 1943 average sinkings dropped to less than one tenth of that figure.
By the end of the war, although the U-boat arm had sunk 6,000 ships totalling 21 million GRT, the Allies had built over 38 million tons of new shipping.
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BUT, they were aircraft Brownings - a version of the US AN-M2 - which had a higher rate of fire, lighter (more delicate) parts and was in short supply as the RAF and FAA needed all they could get ""With assistance from firearms engineers at Fabrique Nationale de Herstal,[12] Belgium, the Model 1919 was completely re-engineered into the .30 caliber M2 AN (Army-Navy) aircraft machine gun. The .30 in M2 AN Browning was widely adopted as both a fixed (offensive) and flexible (defensive) weapon on aircraft. Aircraft machine guns required light weight, firepower, and reliability, and achieving all three goals proved a difficult challenge, with the mandate for a closed bolt firing cycle to enable the gun to be safely and properly synchronized for fixed-mount, forward-aimed guns firing through a spinning propeller, a necessity on many single-engined fighter aircraft designs through to nearly the end of World War II. The receiver walls and operating components of the M2 were made thinner and lighter, and with air cooling provided by the speed of the aircraft, designers were able to reduce the barrel's weight and profile. As a result, the M2 weighed two-thirds that of the 1919A4, and the lightened mechanism gave it a rate of fire approaching 1,200 rpm (some variants could achieve 1,500 rpm),[12] a necessity for engaging fast-moving aircraft. The M2's feed mechanism had to lift its own loaded belt out of the ammunition box and feed it into the gun, equivalent to a weight of 11 lb (5 kg).[13] In Ordnance circles, the .30 M2 AN Browning had the reputation of being the most difficult-to-repair weapon in the entire US small arms inventory.[13]
The M2 also appeared in a twin-mount version which paired two M2 guns with opposing feed chutes in one unit for operation by a single gunner, with a combined rate of fire of 2,400 rpm. All of the various .30 M2 models saw service in the early stages of World War II, but were phased out beginning in 1943, as hand-trained rifle-calibre defensive machine guns became obsolete for air warfare (the .50 in/12.7 mm M2 Browning and 20 mm Hispano HS.404 automatic cannon had replaced the .30 in as offensive air armament as well). The .30 in M2 aircraft gun was widely distributed to other US allies during and after World War II, and in British and Commonwealth service saw limited use as a vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft or anti-personnel machine gun.[14]"http://www.aviation-history.com/guns/303.htmhttps://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=1017 and
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@SmilingIbis Funnel bands designated the flotilla that a ship was assigned to and its number within the flotilla Second World War
When single funnelled destroyers entered the fleet with the J class in 1939 and with an expansion in the number of flotillas, the system was changed accordingly. Single funnelled ships wore a 3 feet (0.91 m) deep band as a flotilla leader. As a divisional leader they had a 2 feet (0.61 m) wide vertical band the same colour as, and extending 6 feet (1.8 m) below, the upper flotilla band. Leaders bands were white for Home Fleet, red for Mediterranean Fleet, and the system of flotilla bands changed to;
1st Destroyer Flotilla (Mediterranean) — 1 red, G class
2nd Destroyer Flotilla (Mediterranean) — 2 red, H class
3rd Destroyer Flotilla (Mediterranean) — 3 red bands, then none, I class
4th Destroyer Flotilla (Mediterranean) — none, Tribal class
5th Destroyer Flotilla (Mediterranean) — none, K class
6th Destroyer Flotilla (Home) — 1 white, Tribal class
7th Destroyer Flotilla (Home) — 2 white, J class
8th Destroyer Flotilla (Home) — 3 white, F class
9th Destroyer Flotilla (Home) — 1 black & 2 white, V and W class
10th Destroyer Flotilla (Home) — none, V & W class
11th Destroyer Flotilla (Western Approaches) — 1 black over 2 red, V and W class
12th Destroyer Flotilla (Rosyth) — 1 white over 1 red, E class
13th Destroyer Flotilla (Gibraltar) — 1 white over 2 red, V and W class
14th Destroyer Flotilla (Home) — 1 red over 1 black, V and W class
15th Destroyer Flotilla (Rosyth) — 1 red over 2 black, V and W class
16th Destroyer Flotilla (Portsmouth) — 1 red over 1 white, V and W class
17th Destroyer Flotilla (Western Approaches) (from 1940) — 1 red over 2 white, Town class
18th Destroyer Flotilla (Channel) — 1 white & 1 black, A class
19th Destroyer Flotilla (Dover)— 1 white over 2 black, B class
20th Destroyer Flotilla (Portsmouth) — 2 white over 1 black, C class
21st Destroyer Flotilla (China Station) — 2 white over 1 red, D class
Flotilla bands were used throughout the war although war-losses, operational requirements, and new construction broke up the homogeneity of the destroyer flotillas. Vessels were deployed as and when they were needed or available, and were often incorporated into mixed "escort groups" containing a range of vessel types such as sloops, corvettes, frigates and escort carriers. A few of the escort groups adopted funnel bands; others (like the B7 escort group) wore letters on their funnels.
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Ref the FG42. My understanding it was deeply influenced by the German experience on Crete. The fallshirmjager had been equipped with a relatively high proportion of MP40 submachine guns and found themselves outranged by the British who were using Lee-Enfield rifles (of course that's the tradeoff, for a given weight, you get more firepower, but less range from a SMG). So one of the "lessons learned" - or thought to be learned - was that the paratroopers needed a weapon with rifle range, but SMG firepower. Voila! The FG42. Now how much of the experience of Crete was unique (long fields of fire) and how much could be generalized, is something that history seems to tell us the Germans got wrong. After all, everybody accepts some loss of range with their assault rifles. Now, today, based on our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan with their long fields of fire, we have designated marksman rifles, to give the squad something to use for longer range engagements, but it is not general issue, it's normally one per squad. And that's fine, the enemy is carrying a lot of AK's with range capabilities like the M16/M4, only the occasional jihadi is carrying grandpa's Enfield or Mauser.
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@teopalafox Master Gunner Course - now at Benning. Every tank battalion is authorized one in the S3 (Operations and Training) Shop to serve as the unit's expert on all things related to gunnery and improve the level of training of its tank crews. You first go through the Common Core, then specialize by vehicle (I've included the M1 track) "Purpose: Train noncommissioned officers on advanced universal gunnery methodologies, gunnery training with a focus on vehicle mounted machine gun weapons systems, and the planning and implementation of gunnery training programs.
Phase Scope: Master Gunner Common Core is taught in 25 days in four modules:
DIRECT FIRE AND WEAPONS TRAINING: Trains the direct fire engagement progress to provide a standardized method of engagement for weapons and platforms on the battlefield. This method allows Soldiers and leaders to maximize the effects of lethal fires against the enemy while reducing or eliminating the effects of fires on friendly or neutral personnel, equipment, or facilities. Trains maintenance procedures used to identify and troubleshoot complex malfunctions that occur during the firing of M240, M2, and MK19 machine guns.
AMMUNITION AND BALLISTICS: Trains the ability to identify, classify, and forecast direct fire ammunitions that will enable Soldiers to manage ammunition allotments and training requirements at the Battalion level. Trains atmospheric effects on rounds due to nonstandard conditions to increase probability of first round impacts on target. Discusses lethality capabilities of all current and future ammunitions against various enemy threats encountered in the operational environment. Develops surface danger zones and verifies live fire training is being conducted IAW Installation and DOD regulations.
GUNNERY TRAINING MANAGEMENT: Develops gunnery programs that sustain and improve unit gunnery proficiency training based on the Commander’s intent and the Commander’s assessment of unit’s strong and weak areas. The Gunnery Program provides supervised decentralized training to include but not limited to key collective tasks, Warfighting Skills, preliminary gunnery training and integration of training devices and simulations, individual and crew-served weapon training and qualification. The emphasis on gunnery standards focuses a unit’s direct fire lethality in combat operations to build and maintain ready units conducting unified land operations for Combatant Commanders as outlined in ADP 7-0.
UNIT TRAINING PLAN: Develops a mounted machine gun company-level unit training plan. Soldiers conduct in-progress reviews throughout the course to ensure they are covering all resources and prerequisites required for a crew qualification. The course culminates with a briefing of the unit training plan they designed to a panel of simulated Battalion staff." and "Abrams Master Gunner
Introduction
The mission of the Master Gunner is to train the unit for combat and act as subject matter expert for all weapon system platforms in the ABCT. The Master Gunner advises commanders at all echelons, and assists with the planning, development, execution, and evaluation of all combat and gunnery-related training (individual, crew, and collective)
Purpose: To train accomplished armor noncommissioned officers in advanced gunnery methodology, turret weapons systems maintenance, and gunnery training management. These acquired skills and knowledge will allow them to function as the unit's master of gunnery, the tank commander's mentor and the commander's gunnery technical adviser. Scope: The M1A2 SEP Master Gunner Course accomplishes this mission by focusing its curriculum on the following areas of Armor Soldier development: INDIVIDUAL TRAINING: Physical Fitness MAINTENANCE TRAINING: Trains maintenance procedures used to identify and troubleshoot complex malfunctions that occur in the tank turret electrical, hydraulic, armament, and fire control systems. GUNNERY TRAINING: Trains advanced gunnery methodology, doctrinal, and technical procedures needed to assess crew proficiency, identify crew procedural errors that causes a tank not to hit a target, and provide training for crews to operate the tank to its designed capabilities. GUNNERY TRAINING MANAGEMENT: Trains Unit Training Planning and Management as outlined in ADP 7-0, FM 7-0, and TC 3-20.31 with the main emphasis on tank gunnery standards, preliminary gunnery training, supervised decentralized instruction, integration of training devices, assessment of units strong and weak areas, and development of an annual gunnery program that sustains and improves unit tank gunnery proficiency. Course Outcomes: - Identifies and troubleshoots complex malfunctions that occur in the tank turret electrical, hydraulic, armament, and fire control systems. - Assesses crew proficiency and identifies crew procedural errors that causes a tank not to hit a target.- Provides training to crews to operate the tank to its designed capabilities.- Develops an annual gunnery program that sustains and improves unit tank gunnery proficiency."
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Ulithi was the only spot of dry land my dad walked on (3 different days liberty at the Rec Center on Mog Mog. The highllight was that you got tickets for 3 cans of beer. During one stop a refrigerated freighter came in from the US with entire production of beer across the US for one day, about 10,000 tons. Now naval regulations prohibit alcohol aboard US Naval Vessels, so the San Jacinto's skipper loaded as many men as possible in the ship's boats, sent them to the freighter to get a share of the liquid goodness and to then cruise around the harbor until the beer was done and repeated the procedure until every man had his share. Not much of a surprise that Captain Harold Martin retired wearing four stars as a full admiral) in 18 months in the Pacific. "
Location
Mogmog Island located on the northern edge of Ulithi Atoll. Borders Ulithi Lagoon (Urushi Lagoon) to the south. Prewar and during the Pacific War part of the western Caroline Islands. Allied code name "Litharge". During the American occupation during late 1944 until the end of the Pacific War known as "Recreation Island". Today located in in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia.
"On October 15, 1944 construction of recreational facilities began including sports fields, a band stand, beverage storage and chapel. A large 1,200-seat theatre with a 25' x 40' stage with a Quonset hut roof was built in 20 days and opened December 20, 1944. By January 1945, Mogmog Island recreation area was completed and able to accommodate 8,000 enlisted men and 1,000 officers daily.}"
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He was the first captain of HMS Dreadnought and retired after serving as Director of Naval Ordnance to become managing director of Coventry Ordnance Works. COW produced the British Army's huge 12 inch howitzer and then produced an even bigger 15 incher. The Army didn't want anything to do with it, but Churchill bought it, the entire supply of shells, manned it with men of the Royal Marine Artillery and put Bacon in command with the rank of Colonel, Royal Marines. After a successful command tour, he reverted back to his rank of admiral and founded the famous Dover Patrol.
" On the outbreak of war, prompted by the German army's bombardment of the Liège forts, the Coventry factory privately designed the BL 15-inch howitzer, designed to be road transportable by three 105 hp Daimler-Foster Artillery tractors. The Army was unimpressed by its lack of range and didn't adopt the weapon, but Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, formed the Howitzer Brigade of the Royal Marine Artillery with the twelve guns. The first howitzer was shipped to France in February 1915 and Bacon was given a temporary commission in the Royal Marine Artillery as an extra Colonel 2nd Commandant.] In April 1915 he was called to the Admiralty, where Churchill and Jackie Fisher were keen to send a single 15-inch howitzer to Gallipoli. He arranged for the howitzer (no. 3) to be transported, and a few days later was in Paris ready to start for the Dardanelles, when he was recalled to London by Churchill and made Commander-in-Chief, Dover, replacing Rear-Admiral Horace Hood."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BL_15-inch_howitzer
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@MilitaryHistoryVisualized I disagree.
Sounds like a typing mistake, or somebody didn't know what "SmK" stood for. "7.92 mm S.m.K. - Spitzgeschoß mit Kern ("spitzer with core") hardened steel cored projectile for use against targets behind thick covers, tanks, or airplanes. Red circular cap groove, yellow bullet, bullet weight 11.85 g (182.9 gr), muzzle velocity 785 m/s (2,575 ft/s), operating pressure 300 MPa (43,511 psi). This ammunition was also produced in a S.m.K.-v high-velocity or "v" ammunition variant that added 100 m/s (328 ft/s) muzzle velocity to the normal S.m.K. variant.[40] There was also a version S.m.K.H. - Spitzgeschoß mit Hartkern ("spitzer with hardcore") which had a tungsten carbide core instead of a steel core. Sintered iron and mild steel cores also came into use in this ammunition. German Spitzgeschoss mit Kern armor-piercing bullets were very good, being very stable and accurate at long ranges"
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.,
Comments. Oh boy, do I have comments
1. M85, put me in the “I never had a problem with it” club. Had the advantage of a quick change barrel.
2. Hull mounted machine guns on early M4 Mediums
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/631348441489057679/
“Michael” - first M4 transferred to Britain
https://twitter.com/PanzerDB/status/525378339247509504/photo/1
3. M3 lights started with sponson mounted machine guns. They were gotten rid of, the holes were plated over and the sponsons used for storage
http://afvdb.50megs.com/usa/pics/m3stuart.html
4. Tank Destroyer Platoon – Had two 37mm-Dual 50 caliber half-tracks M15. The battalion also had a company of armored cars to locate the enemy.
5. CROWS ancestor – The Humber Scout Car prototype mounted a remote controlled BREN in 1942. Where the idea went for the next 50 or so years is any body's guess.
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=340087
See AFV's of the World Volume 3 Britain 1940-46 page 203
6. This why TOW is still around. BGM-71F TOW 2B flies over the target and fires an explosively formed projectile into its weak top armor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbqgOuqC2jY
Fire and forget – how about fitting Javelin's guidance to create TOW 3.....
7. Marine tank ammunition is wrong. They don't have tanks.
Use past tense, please.
8. Tank ATGM's don't have the flexibility of guns - TOW doesn't have a canister warhead...
9. Slow missiles – I knew a LTC who ran the slide projector when GEN Donn Starry briefed the Arny Staff on why it should get rid of the M551 in Cavalry units and the M60A2. Based on intelligence of how many targets needed to be “serviced” (if you're a farm boy, you know that's what a bull does to a cow) in per minute if the balloon went up in Germany. They couldn't shoot missiles fast enough.
10. Closed Ciruit TV – Supposed to be the answer to a scout's prayer, so where are they....
https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2015/05/whatever-happened-to-elevating-sensor-masts/
11. Parts – Man, I could have finally got a tank heater that actually worked! Forsome reason, the heater on every tank I ever served on didn't work
12. Machine Gun Mania – The M1 Combat car mounted a 50 caliber and three 30's
https://warspot.net/141-combat-car-m1-armour-for-american-cavalry/images?name=%2F00
See picture 11
13. Light Rapidly Deployable Tank – Based on the philosophy of “Better a light tank, than none at all”, the sad story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armored_Gun_System
14. 75 vs 76 mm HE – The US Army had a long range counterpart to the 155mm howitzer in WW2, the 4.5 inch gun. This started out as a 4.7 inch (120mm) piece, but since the British already had a 4.5 inch (114mm), it was decided to change the caliber and use the British ammunition. “On the other side, the 4.5 inch gun was criticized for insufficient power of its high explosive shell. The shell was produced from low grade ("19 ton") steel, which necessitated thick walls. As a result, it carried only about two kg of TNT or substitute, in fact less than the 105mm high explosive shell”
15. Coax Caliber – During development, everyone wanted the M1 to have a 50 caliber coax, but extensive computer simulations and war gaming at the Armor School showed a 7.62mm gun to be the right choice, so the Army ditched the 50 coax. See Orr Kelly's “King of the Killing Zone”
https://www.amazon.com/King-Killing-Zone-Story-Americas/dp/0393332934
If you absolutely must have a 50 coax, there's the Israeli practice of mounting a Fifty on top of the 105mm barrel
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8a/e7/4b/8ae74babd2069c712cda8e61fe868322.jpg?epik=dj0yJnU9Qng5V00ybGh3T3FwZkp1blZ1bEhYOUZTTnlqUEZCYmUmcD0wJm49ZFV3Nnd3dlRkSC1VcUhzTnl0Z1djdyZ0PUFBQUFBR0FTemtJ
16. What's French for “carbine” - “Mousquton”
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/frances-great-war-carbine-the-berthier-m1892-mousqueton/
17. 50 Caliber Spotter Round for M8C Spotting Rifle -
https://www.bevfitchett.us/army-amunition-data-sheets-for-small-caliber/info-rzr.html
I want one of these
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/05/10/mark-serbu-shoots-rn-50-rifle-chambered-50-spotter-tracer/
18. 14.5mm – KPV machinegun
https://soldat.pro/en/2018/06/29/pylemet-vladimirova-kpv-patron-kalibr-145-mm/
19. It's not Lee-mah (as in Peru) but Lie-mah (as in bean), Ohio
20. Stupid Ways of Killing a Tank – Noted author Ian Hogg remembered being part of a tank killing team when he was a teenaged Home Guardsman during WW2. Number 1 – Carried a blanket to place over the sights Number 2 – Carried and placed a satchel charge Rest of the squad – Carried a section of steel rail to jam in the tracks. A typical 1940's steel rail would weight over 100 pounds per yard. Good luck that, you're on hernia express.
21. Vodka vs Russian Tankers – I read an account in one of the Army's publications by the staff officer who had the idea. His method was to have huge depots of vodka and signs in Russian saying “Vodka This Way” with an arrow on our side of the border. Seriously, alcoholism in Russia is a national curse. “40% of Russians—almost 57 million people—drink to excess, per capita alcohol consumption is twice the critical norm set by the World Health Organization, and tens of thousands of Russians die from alcohol poisoning every year”
22. Multi-National Tank Programs – Always fail. Germany and France resulted in Leopard and AMX-30. US & Germany resulted in M1 and Leo 2. The dream has always been to produce a standard tank that would be adopted by all of NATO.
23. The M22 was capable of being carried by the Hamilcar glider and, just a few years later by the C-82 Packet.
http://worldwar2headquarters.com/HTML/normandy/airborneAssault/hamilcar.html
24. Kubinka's Wild Collection – The Russians built some craaazzzy stuff
https://www.net-maquettes.com/pictures/420mm-2b1-oka-self-propelled-gun-mortar-walk/
https://englishrussia.com/2013/07/04/soviet-nuclear-mortar/
25. Battlefield Lasers – The first laser range finders were NOT eyesafe. You had to pray that nothing reflected the laser beam at you
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dw. The most famous vessel was original one, the steam sloop that won the battle against the Confederate raider, Alabama, off Cherbourg. She lasted until the early 1890's when she struck a reef off Central America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(1861)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86176.htm
Her loss caused much grief in the USN who viewed her as a sort of mascot. So, the Secretary of the Navy requested Congress to allow him to deviate from the law that stated all first class warships should be named for states and name a new battlewagon in her honor. This was approved - making her the only US battleship not named after a state - and the resulting pre-dreadnought served until about 1920. Instead of being scrapped like her contemporaries. her superstructure was razed and a 250 ton capacity crane mounted amidships. She was re-rated as AB-1 and later renamed "Crane Ship Number One" after the passage of the "Two Ocean Navy" act prior to World War Twice to free her name for an aircraft carrier. She proved a very useful auxiliary for installing armor, turrets and guns on battleships and cruisers and repairing battle damage. From DANFS
"In place of military trappings, Kearsarge received an immense revolving crane with a rated lifting capacity of 250 tons, as well as hull "blisters," which gave her more stability. The 10,000-ton craneship rendered invaluable service for the next 20 years. One of many accomplishments was the raising of sunken submarine SQUALUS off the New Hampshire coast. On 6 November 1941 she designated Crane Ship No. 1, giving up her illustrious name which was assigned to a mighty aircraft carrier. But she continued her yeoman service and made many contributions to the American victories of World War II. She handled guns, turrets, armor and other heavy lifts for new battleships such as Indiana and Alabama; cruisers Savannah and Chicago; and guns on the veteran battleship Pennsylvania.
In 1945 the crane ship was towed to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard where she assisted in the construction of carriers Hornet, Boxer, and Saratoga. She departed the west Coast in 1948 to finish her career in the Boston Naval Shipyard. Joe McDonald, master rigger, described her as "a big gray hulk of a thing" which was "pulled around by two or three tugs" on the job; "But the old girl has brought millions of dollars worth of business to Boston. Without her we would never have been able to do many of the big jobs, that cost billions of dollars.""
She was stricken in 1955 after being condemned by the Board of Inspection and Survey as being uneconomical to refit for further service. After almost 60 years of service, she didn't owe the US taxpayers a penny.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(BB-5)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(BB-5)#/media/File:USS_Kearsarge_as_crane_ship_AB-1.jpg
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/05a.htm
The aircraft carrier was a member of the Essex class. missed WW2, but fought in Korea and Vietnam and lasted until 1974.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(CV-33)
https://www.navsource.org/archives/02/33.htm
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Sounds like a typing mistake, or somebody didn't know what "SmK" stood for. "7.92 mm S.m.K. - Spitzgeschoß mit Kern ("spitzer with core") hardened steel cored projectile for use against targets behind thick covers, tanks, or airplanes. Red circular cap groove, yellow bullet, bullet weight 11.85 g (182.9 gr), muzzle velocity 785 m/s (2,575 ft/s), operating pressure 300 MPa (43,511 psi). This ammunition was also produced in a S.m.K.-v high-velocity or "v" ammunition variant that added 100 m/s (328 ft/s) muzzle velocity to the normal S.m.K. variant.[40] There was also a version S.m.K.H. - Spitzgeschoß mit Hartkern ("spitzer with hardcore") which had a tungsten carbide core instead of a steel core. Sintered iron and mild steel cores also came into use in this ammunition. German Spitzgeschoss mit Kern armor-piercing bullets were very good, being very stable and accurate at long ranges"
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In the US, firearms over a certain age classified as "Curios and Relics" - "A regulation implementing federal firearms laws, 27 CFR § 478.11, defines curio or relic (C&R) firearms as those which are of special interest to collectors by reason of some quality other than is associated with firearms intended for sporting use or as offensive or defensive weapons.
To be recognized as C&R items, firearms must fall within one of the following categories:
Firearms which were manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date, but not including replicas of such firearms;
Firearms which are certified by the curator of a municipal, state, or federal museum which exhibits firearms to be curios or relics of museum interest; and
Any other firearms which derive a substantial part of their monetary value from the fact that they are novel, rare, bizarre, or because of their association with some historical figure, period, or event."
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Totally wrong on the New York Central's "Black Beetle" It was never intended to be a prototype, it was strictly to see how fast a conventional train could go on conventional track. "The construct was then successfully sent on test runs over the existing tracks between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio.. The line had been chosen for its arrow-straight layout and good condition, but otherwise unmodified track. On July 23, 1966, the car reached a speed of 183.68 mph (295.6 km/h), an American rail speed record that still stands today.
Even with this spectacular performance, and even though it had been built relatively cheaply, using existing parts, the project was not considered viable commercially. The railroad gathered valuable test data regarding the stresses of high-speed rail travel on conventional equipment and tracks then existing in America"
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Who forced you to take P-40's, P-47's, P-51's, A-20's, B-25's, Baltimores, Maryland's, Liberators, Dakotas, Catalinas, Martlets/Wildcats, Avengers, Corsairs, etc?
And gee I never knew the Meteor, Vampire, Venom, Canberra (which the EVUL Americans had Martin build as the B-57), Scimitar, Attacker, Buccaneer, Hunter, Lightning, Vulcan, Valiant and Victor were built by US firms.
What killed British military aviation was the "Sandystorm" (the Defense white paper of 1957) published ubder Defense Minister Duncan Sandys
"With the development of missiles, those roles that missiles could cover meant that certain aircraft in development could be cancelled.
These included the next generation of supersonic interceptor for high flying bombers, the F.155 and the interim aircraft that would have covered it until its introduction in 1963, namely the Saunders-Roe SR.53 and Saunders-Roe SR.177. Sandys felt that the existing interceptor fleet would serve until the Bristol Bloodhound was in service, and after that point, a bomber attack was unlikely as the world increasingly switched to missiles. As such, even the Blue Envoy surface-to-air missile was also cancelled; although it offered much higher performance than Bloodhound, by the time it arrived in the mid-1960s it would have nothing to shoot at.
The RAF was especially critical of one part of Sandys' conclusions. They noted the introduction of the Tupolev Tu-22 and Myasishchev M-50 supersonic bombers would occur before Bloodhound was fully deployed, and that their existing interceptor aircraft like the Gloster Javelin were incapable of successfully attacking these aircraft. Sandys relented and allowed the English Electric P.1 (which would become the Lightning) to continue development, along with a new air-to-air missile to arm it, the Hawker Siddeley Red Top.
The Avro 730 supersonic light bomber was also cancelled, as was the Blue Rosette nuclear weapon to arm it.
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force's flying role was also brought to an end."
So it was not a self inflicted wound, the EVUL Americans had nothing to do with it.
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"Current navy would never be able to pull off a Korean era reactivation today"
Certainly can't - there's not a ship designed to be capable of fighting, as opposed to sailing (maybe), in reserve - they're all stricken, for foreign military sale or targets. The Navy ships that have a useful purpose if reactivated are the Amphibs (6) and Auxiliaries (4) (assuming they are all still mission capable) Here's MARAD's National Defense Reserve Fleet (cargo, tanker and training ships) and the ships at Naval Reserve Ship Maintenance Facilities
JAMES RIVER
SS Cape Ann (AK-5009)—training use[4]
SS Cape Avinoff (AK-5013)—training use[5]
SS Cape Juby (AK-5077)—logistics support[6]
SS Cape Nome (AK-1014)—logistics support[7]
MV Freedom Star—training vessel.
SUISUN BAY
SS Cape Bover (AK-5057) – Logistics Support (1966 C4-S-66a)
SS Cape Fear (AK-5061) – Logistics Support (1971 C8-S-81b – Barge Carrier, was Austral Lightning)
SS Cape Girardeau (AK-2039) - Logistics Support (1968 C5-S-75a)
SS Cape Jacob (T-AK-5029)
SS FB-62 (APL-24) – 1944 Barge for Fleet Support, a Type B ship
SS Green Mountain State (T-ACS-9)
SS Petersburg (T-AOT-9101)
USNS Triu
In January 2016, the Department of Transportation and MARAD have officially announced the fleet closure in February 2017. All remaining ships will be sold at auction or scrapped.
BEAUMONT
Ported at the Port of Beaumont:
MV Cape Texas (T-AKR-112)
MV Cape Taylor (T-AKR-113)
MV Cape Trinity (T-AKR-9711)
Ported in the Beaumont Reserve Fleet:
USNS Paul Buck (T-AOT-1122)
USNS Samuel L. Cobb (T-AOT-1123)
USNS Richard G. Matthiesen (T-AOT-1124)
USNS Lawrence H. Gianella (T-AOT-1125)
SS Diamond State (T-ACS-7)
SS Cape Gibson (AK-5051) (marked for disposal)
SS Cape Mendocino (AK-5064)
SS Cape Flattery (AK-5070)
SS Cape Florida (AK-5071) (marked for disposal)
SS Cape Farewell (AK-5073)
SS Chesapeake (AOT-5084)
SS Bravante V (SV-290)
SS Bravante VI (SV-290)
SS Bravante VII (SV-290)
SS Bravante VIII (SV-290)
SS Virginia Ann (SV-290)
USS Nassau (LHA-4)
Army Barges
Texas A&M School Ship, ported in Galveston:
USNS Contender (T-AGOS-2) (General Rudder)
PHILADELPHIA
Ship
Class
Type
Status
USS Barry (DD-933)
Forrest Sherman
Destroyer
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Boone (FFG-28)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Boulder (LST-1190)
Newport
Landing Ship, Tank
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Canon (PG-90)
Asheville
Gunboat
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Carr (FFG-52)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, possible foreign sale.
USS Charleston (LKA-113)
Charleston
Amphibious Cargo Ship
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS De Wert (FFG-45)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, possible foreign sale.
USS El Paso (LKA-117)
Charleston
Amphibious Cargo Ship
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Elrod (FFG-55)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, possible foreign sale.
USNS Grapple (T-ARS-53)
Safeguard
Salvage Ship
Inactive, out of service, in reserve
USS Halyburton (FFG-40)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, possible foreign sale.
USS Hawes (FFG-53)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USNS Hayes (T-AG-195)
Hayes
oceanographic research ship
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)
John F. Kennedy
Aircraft Carrier
Stricken, to be disposed of.[5]
USS John L. Hall (FFG-32)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Kauffman (FFG-59)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, possible foreign sale.
USS Klakring (FFG-42)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, possible foreign sale.
USS Mobile (LKA-115)
Charleston
Amphibious Cargo Ship
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USNS Mohawk (T-ATF-170)
Powhatan
Fleet ocean tug
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Nashville (LPD-13)
Austin
Amphibious Transport Dock
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Nicholas (FFG-47)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG-49)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, possible foreign sale.
USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Shreveport (LPD-12)
Austin
Amphibious Transport Dock
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Simpson (FFG-56)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, possible foreign sale.
USS Stephen W. Groves (FFG-29)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Ticonderoga (CG-47)
Ticonderoga
Cruiser
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Underwood (FFG-36)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be disposed of.
USS Yorktown (CG-48)
Ticonderoga
Cruiser
Stricken, to be disposed of.
BREMERTON
Ship
Class
Type
Status
USNS Bridge (T-AOE-10)
Supply
fast combat support ships
Inactive, out of service, in reserve.
USS Dubuque (LPD-8)
Austin
Amphibious Transport Dock
Inactive, out of commission, in reserve.
USS Ingraham (FFG-61)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be sunk as target.
USNS Rainier (T-AOE-7)
Supply
fast combat support ships
Inactive, out of service, in reserve.
USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
Kitty Hawk
Aircraft Carrier
Stricken, to be disposed of via scrapping.[6]
USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60)
Oliver Hazard Perry
Frigate
Stricken, to be sunk as target.
USS Long Beach (CGN-9)
Long Beach
Cruiser
Stricken, to be disposed of via scrapping.
PEARL HARBOR
Ship Class Type Status
USS Cleveland (LPD-7) Austin Amphibious Transport Dock Inactive, out of commission, in reserve.
USS Denver (LPD-9) Austin Amphibious Transport Dock Inactive, out of commission, in reserve.
USS Durham (LKA-114) Charleston Amphibious Cargo Ship Stricken, to be sunk as target.
USS Juneau (LPD-10) Austin Amphibious Transport Dock Inactive, out of commission, in reserve.
USNS Navajo (T-ATF-169) Powhatan Fleet ocean tug Stricken.
USNS Safeguard (T-ARS-50) Safeguard Salvage Ship Inactive, out of service, in reserve.
USS Tarawa (LHA-1) Tarawa Amphibious Assault Ship Inactive, out of commission, in reserve.
USS Peleliu (LHA-5) Tarawa Amphibious Assault Ship Inactive, out of commission, in reserve.
USS Vandegrift (FFG-48) Oliver Hazard Perry Frigate Stricken, to be sunk as target.
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German High Seas Fleet - And the money saved from not building and manning these ships goes into manning and equipping the one or two additional corps for the German right wing that allows das Heer to envelope Paris in September 1914. No Miracle of the Marne, the BEF is destroyed, Germany dominates Europe for the 20th Century, The Hohenzollern, Habsburg and Romanoff Dyansties continue to rule, there is no Bolshevik Revolution or "Red Menace" to combat, France in impoverished through reparations to Germany and loses more of its northern, industrial heartland to Germany through annexation, Germany retains its African, Asian and Pacific colonies. Britain and Germany become the leading economic powers, the US is third, the Pound remains the international currency, challenged by the Mark, Japan wins the Great pacific War due to its alliance with Britain, one cnsequence4 of which is the attempted US invasion of Canada is thwarted, In 1971, the Germans place the first man and in space and land on the moon in 1989, Russia industrializes, develops a middle class and becomes a constitutional monarchy as does Germany, Austris-Hungary splits up in a peacefull" "velvet revolution" into Austria, Hungary (ruled by a daet branch of the Habsburgs), The Grand Duchy of Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Its Balkan provinces join Greater Serbia - Montenegro. etc, etc, etc
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In WW2 the RN built over 1600 Motor Fishing Vessels to serve as tenders moving personnel and stores around harbors, anchorages, roadsteads, estuaries, etc MFV Tonnage Length Knots Range Gun 1-424, 435-467 50 61.5 9.5 100 303MG 661-999, 3000-3003 28.5 45 7.5 300 303MG 1000-1253 114 69.5 8.5 1700 20mm 1500-1607 200 90 9.25 2200 20mm 947-978 77 71 9-10 900-1100 20mm Yet the USN built only 100 Coastal Transports (APC) of 278 tons, 9.5 kts, 3100 miles range and had (counting prewar vessels) only 44 Miscellaneous Yard and District Craft (YAG) – many of which were ocean going ships) - and 60 Ferryboats and Launches (YFB) in spite of the fact that the USN was larger than all the rest of the navies on Earth – combined – by 1945. It had bases all over the world that would need this sort of maid of all work. Did the USN have such a huge fleet of LCVP's, LCM's, LCT's etc that a substantial portion could be diverted to this work. Or was the US Army's fleet of small freighters (FS and FP) take up the slack (at 450-500 tons, they seem large for the task)
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He had a feud with his air wing commander and was going to get him court martialed. So, being one of those "I've pissed more water than you've sailed over" types, he ignored advice to send up a patrol at dawn. Result, he was surprised by S&G
"In June 1939, as a captain, he was given command of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. D'Oyly-Hughes had learned to fly and continually rejected the advice of the ship's professional aviators, according to Winton. Returning to Britain from the Norwegian campaign on 8 June 1940, Glorious and her destroyer escort of HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent were surprised and caught by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the Norwegian Sea. All three British ships were sunk with the loss of at least 1,533 lives. D'Oyly-Hughes went down with his ship.
Glorious had been sighted in conditions of maximum visibility, a condition in which an aircraft carrier would normally have one or more aircraft out on a Combat Air Patrol. Glorious had no such patrol, and was unable to reach maximum speed before coming in range of the enemy's 11-inch guns. Winton describes D'Oyly-Hughes' lack of belief in the effectiveness of air patrols and the questions raised by numerous commentators, including eyewitnesses from Glorious and Scharnhorst, about the captain's judgement in this and other matters"
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@silverhost9782 Neptune 18,700 tons full load, Minotaur 18,425 tons full load Worcester 17,997 tons full load. NOT significantly larger. I'd put them as equal, especially as British machinery was not as efficient as the US due to lower steam conditions and was, thus, heavier for a given output. The Worcesters didn't need to be as heavy, they were slightly smaller but packed 125,000 shp compared to Neptune's 106,000 shp
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"Eventually most of the major ports and straits of Japan were repeatedly mined, severely disrupting Japanese logistics and troop movements for the remainder of the war with 35 of 47 essential convoy routes having to be abandoned. For instance, shipping through Kobe declined by 85%, from 320,000 tons in March to only 44,000 tons in July. Operation Starvation sank more ship tonnage in the last six months of the war than the efforts of all other sources combined. The Twentieth Air Force flew 1,529 sorties and laid 12,135 mines in twenty-six fields on forty-six separate missions. Mining demanded only 5.7% of the XXI Bomber Command's total sorties, and only fifteen B-29s were lost in the effort. In return, mines sank or damaged 670 ships totaling more than 1,250,000 ton" Yep, laying mines from aircraft is DUMB. Uh huh. Do some research before you post.
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@redhairdavid Because getting coal into the bunkers was Hell on Earth. Coal dust got EVERYWHERE. And it was an all hands job. I'm sure plenty of sailors from that era died of black lung disease,
"Mountains of Coal
The concept of coaling ship was simple: move enormous piles of coal from heaps on a dock, into coal bunkers below deck on a warship. The challenge was the sheer volume of coal to be moved. The battleship USS Massachusetts burned 8-12 tons of coal per hour at full power. In order to fully stock for a deployment at sea, a warship would load thousands of tons of coal on board ship, all of it moved by hand. All hands participated in this brutal marathon of hauling. The photo at right is a good example of coaling ship. Sailors at left swarm over a hill of coal, loading it into canvas bags. These bags are then swung up and over, onto the deck of the cruiser USS Tennessee. The last step was to pour the coal through holes on deck, down into bunkers, where it was kept until needed. A good crew could move perhaps 100 tons of coal per hour."
"A Filthy Crew
Coaling ship continued night and day until finished. If the ship had a band, it would often play music to accompany the brutal work. When finished coaling, sailors and ship alike were covered with a thick layer of coal dust. "
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@weldonwin The original British WW2 monitors were armed with US 14 inch guns built by Bethlehem Steel for the Greek battlecruiser Salamis being built in Germany. Since that had less than zero chance of being completed, the firm's president set sail for London after war broke out to flog the completed guns and any other odd things he had in the back lot to the unsuspecting Limeys. The Master General of the Ordnance declined the kind offer, but Winson Churchill, over at the Admiralty found it irresistible.
"These weapons and mountings had an unusual history. The Mark II guns were built by the Bethlehem Steel Company as part of a sub-contract from a German firm building the battlecruiser Salamis for Greece. After the start of World War I halted work on the battlecruiser, the guns and mountings were purchased by Britain to speed up construction of four monitors
The guns and mountings were disassembled and shipped to the Coventry Ordnance Works (for the Belfast-built monitors) and to the Elswick Ordnance Works (for the Tyne-built monitors).
Besides the guns and twin mountings, Bethlehem Steel also sold Britain four complete sets of turret shield armor, two sets of 8 inch (20.3 cm) barbette armor and 4,000 rounds of ammunition. The Bethlehem mountings were electrically powered and quite unlike anything built in Britain. After their re-erection and check-out problems were corrected, they proved to be very reliable in service.
These monitors were originally known as M1, M2, M3 and M4, then redesignated as Admiral Farragut, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and General Grant (showing their USA heritage). However, US diplomatic protests meant that they finally entered service as Abercrombie, Havelock, Raglan and Roberts.
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In the beginnnig of WW2, RAF's Coastal Command painted its maritime patrol aircraft with dark sides and blue bellies. One day, Air Marshall Sir John Slessor was visited at his Liverpool headquarters by professor of ornithology at the Liverpool Zoo. The professor told him that Coastal Command aircraft often flew over the zoo and he noticed they were painted entirely wrong. A shocked but intrigued Slessor asked him to explain. The professor told him they should be painted with dark grey upper surfaces and off white sides and bellies. Slessor said, "But that would make them stand out", The professor explained that was how gulls and other maritime birds had evolved over millions of years of hunting fish. Take a look out the window. Slessor, sat there thinking, "This is crazy, but he does make sense What do we have to lose?". He ordered an aircraft be painted like the professor suggested and borrowed a sub from the RN. Trials showed the official RAF painted aircraft was spotted much farther out than the experimental aircraft, giving the sub less time to react, and he ordered all his aircraft painted accordingly. Apparently, it works because a light colored plane is harder to spot against a bright sky than a dark one. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/542754192565139834/ and https://barbarashdwallpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/HD-wallpaper-seagull-in-the-water-1.jpg
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What is the year on this conversion? Because the Chauchat began being issued in mid-1916, by which time machine guns mounted on aircraft were common.
"As aerial warfare developed, the Allies gained a lead over the Germans by introducing machine-gun armed types such as the Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus fighter and the Morane-Saulnier L (the type L was introduced in 1914 and armed starting in December of that year). By early 1915, the German Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL, Army supreme command) had ordered the development of machine-gun-armed aircraft, to counter those of the Allies." "The Fokker Scourge (or Fokker Scare) occurred during the First World War from August 1915 to early 1916, when the Imperial German Flying Corps (Die Fliegertruppen), equipped with Fokker Eindecker fighters, gained an advantage over the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the French Aéronautique Militaire.
The Fokker was the first service aircraft to be fitted with a machine gun synchronised to fire through the arc of the propeller without striking the blades. The tactical advantage of aiming the gun by aiming the aircraft and the surprise of its introduction were factors in its success."
So why bother with a conversion in 1916, when the magazines would be available, when machine guns had been in use for 18 months or so? The "survival rifle" idea sounds rather far fetched to me. WW1 aircraft couldn't carry much, so every pound was precious and virtually every airman carried a pistol as a personal defense weapon (the RNAS had some Colt 1911's chambered in .455 Webley, for example. "Numbers of Colt M1911s were used by the Royal Navy as sidearms during World War I in .455 Webley Automatic caliber.] The pistols were then transferred to the Royal Air Force where they saw use in limited numbers up until the end of World War II as sidearms for air crew in event of bailing out in enemy territory")
Were "Chauchat" magazines developed and manufactured before the gun?
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The USS Pittsburgh lost her bow in a typhoon (no casualties) and several days later a fleet tig reported that she was towing the "suburb" back to port where it was grafted back on. The Court of Inquiry blamed inferior war time welding. "On 4 June, Pittsburgh was caught in Typhoon Viper which increased to 70-knot (130 km/h) winds and 100-foot (30 m) waves. Her starboard scout plane was lifted off its catapult and dashed onto the deck by the wind, then shortly after her second deck buckled. Her bow was thrust upward, then sheared off, but there were no casualties. Still fighting the storm, and maneuvering to avoid being hit by her drifting bow structure, Pittsburgh was held quarter-on to the seas by her engine power while the forward bulkhead was shored. After a seven-hour battle, the storm subsided, and Pittsburgh proceeded at 6 knots (11 km/h) to Guam, arriving on 10 June. Her bow, nicknamed "McKeesport" (a suburb of Pittsburgh), was later salvaged by the tugboat USS Munsee and brought into Guam. The 104-foot section of bow broke off owing to poor plate welds at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co. at the Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts. The typhoon damage also earned her the nickname "Longest Ship in the World" as thousands of miles separated the bow and stern." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pittsburgh_(CA-72)#/media/File:USS_Pittsburgh_(CA-72)_underway_after_she_lost_her_bow_in_June_1945.jpg
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Amazingly, the disaster was repeated 30 years later "The 1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the port of Texas City, Texas, United States, located in Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions.
The explosion was triggered by a mid-morning fire on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp (docked at port), which detonated her cargo of about 2,300 tons (about 2,100 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate. This started a chain reaction of fires and explosions aboard other ships and in nearby oil-storage facilities, ultimately killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of Texas City's volunteer fire department" Ammonium Nitrate is widely utilized both as a fertilizer as and as an explosive for mining, civil engineer and some military engineering. Grandcamp's cargo was intended to aid French agriculture feed its people after World War 2. "The cause of the initial fire on board Grandcamp was never determined. It may have been started by a cigarette discarded the previous day, meaning the ship's cargo had been smouldering throughout the night when the fire was discovered on the morning of the explosion.[1] Historian Hugh Stephens later identified human error as the cause, and cites numerous reasons as to why a minor fire became such a severe incident" Galveston's Fort Crockett' hospital had been mothballed in post-WW2 cuts, but was reopened within hours, many of the staff being volunteers who were wives of the post's troops who were fire fighting and conducting rescue operations at the site of the disaster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster
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Now back in my day, if there was a misfire on the range, the crew applied immediate action and if that didn't work, left the round in the gun with the breech closed. They then got out of the vehicle and the Range Safety Officer had the privilege of removing the round solo. Fortunately, I was never RSO when a misfire occurred, for which I was duly thankful. BTW, the danger isn't a misfire, it's that you have a hangfire on your hands. A hangfire is where the primer is burning but the main charge doesn't ignite for some unknown period of time after the trigger is pulled. Needless to say, if it happens while the breech is open, anyone inside the vehicle is crispy critters. Even if the breech is closed, you want to stay out of the recoil path, in case the hangfire decides to blow when you're in the way.
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The Antii-Mine treaty is just plain dumb. I'm a retired soldier and I could design and have a high school shop class mass producing the things inside of a week. On a cruder level, ever heard of IED;s (improvised explosive devices)> They can be made in someone's garage or basement. Good luck on banning flame weapons (Napalm was demonized by the Communists through a masterful propaganda campaign because it was effective and terrorized their troops) It is extremely easy to make homemade napalm and put it into Molotov cocktails (So I don't get banned from YT, I won't go into details). And yes, burning to death is a horrible way to die, so is having a lead pellet moving several times the speed of sound blown through your body (pistols, submachineguns, rifles, machine guns) , or having your limbs amputated or being disemboweled by red hot ,razor sharp pieces of metal (grenades, mortars, artillery, bombs, rockets). War means suffering and death and that is the unvarnished truth. If people understood what conventional weapons do to the human body, we'd hear a lot less about "humane" versus "inhumane" weapons
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1/3 of Wellington's Army was Portuguese. British Marshal Beresford was appointed commander in chief and he brought a group of British officers and NCO' s with him to be the backbone of a new Portuguese Army. They first acted as advisors, training it. Then when it was ready to take the field, they were appointed to leadership positions. For example, a battalion might have as its commander, a Portuguese Lieutenant Colonel with a British Major as his second in command and the captains, lieutenants and NCO's being half and half, but always being alternating nationalities. ' "Thanks to an existing conscription system, Beresford could recruit significant numbers of men. The challenge he faced was turning them into an effective fighting force. The initial British opinion of the Portuguese Army was not favorable as one commentator described its organization as a “monstrous hodgepodge.” As for its personnel, another observer characterized them as “Portuguese cowards, who won’t fight 1/16th of a Frenchman with arms, but murder and plunder the wounded.” Others criticized the army’s lack of basic hygienic practices as well as its elderly, corrupt, and often-absent officer class.
One of Beresford’s first reforms involved recruiting British officers into the Portuguese Army. He felt that their better discipline could serve as a model for the local troops. Officers in the British army were encouraged to join the Portuguese with the offer of an automatic step-up in rank. Thus, by simply enlisting in Beresford’s force a captain earned an instant promotion to major with an accompanying increase in pay. Some 300 British officers took this option over the course of the Peninsular War.
Beresford was careful to spread these men out and to avoid over-favoring them. He did not wish to stir up any nationalist resentment from the Portuguese. For any given number of British officers enrolled at a particular rank, a reasonable number of Portuguese officers likewise gained the same rank. For example, a typical five-company battalion would have three British company commanders, each with a Portuguese second-in-command and two Portuguese company commanders, each with a British second-in-command. It should be noted that the quality of the Portuguese officers was greatly improved as well. In only four months after taking command, Beresford and his staff dismissed 215 officers and ordered another 107 to retire. In addition, the officers and enlisted men saw their pay increased by 80-100% depending upon rank.
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The 5.25's that were mounted as coast defense/anti aircraft guns, like all other heavy flak in British service (3, 3.7 and 4.5 inch) belonged to the Army, not the RAF.
"In early 1942 the Governor of Gibraltar sought 5.25-in guns for dual anti-aircraft/coast defence role. None was forthcoming. However, later that year Anti-Aircraft Command in UK acquired three twin-gun turrets from the Admiralty, which were installed around London in permanent positions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_5.25-inch_naval_gun#/media/File:Twin_5.25_inch_AA_guns_Primrose_Hill_1943_IWM_H_032322.jpg
Trials and use led the army to design a single gun mounting in two marks, both with an underground engine room to provide electrical and hydraulic power for traverse, elevation, fuze setting, ramming and other tasks. Fitted with the standard army Machine Fuze Setter No 10, these guns had a rate of fire of 10 rds/min and a maximum height of 50,000 ft, with an effective height of 36,000 ft.[18] Mark 1A was a mild steel turret for anti-aircraft use only, Mk 1B was an armoured turret for anti aircraft and coast defence use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_5.25-inch_naval_gun#/media/File:5.25_inch_gun_Port_Moresby_1944_AWM_075214.jpeg
The gun was designated Mk 2.
By the end of 1943 only 16 of the new guns had been installed, far below projections. By the end of the war 164 guns had been produced. The high-explosive shells were fuzed with the standard army No 208 mechanical time fuze, used with 3.7 and 4.5-inch anti-aircraft guns. The guns remained in service after World War II, and in 1953 11 guns were installed in Gibraltar"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_5.25-inch_naval_gun#/media/File:5.25-inch_BL_Dual_Purpose_Gun.jpg
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My uncle Arthur was the hunter in the family. After he got back from Occupation duty in Germany (His company commander promised him sergeant stripes if he'd volunteer to extend his tour), he bought a M1917 from the Civilian Marksmanship Program with the intent of converting it to a hunting rifle. Well, one thing followed another and 27 years later, as a graduation and commissioning gift, I got the rifle - with bayonet, still slathered is cosmoline, still in its packing crate. It took me about a year to clean all the gunk off and I then had it checked by a gunsmith to make sure it was in a condition to be fired. It is marked "Eddystone" which was a plant built by Remington outside of Philadelphia specifically to build P14's. They hired a retired US Army Colonel to manage it - guy by the name of John Taliaferro (pronounced "Tolliver") Thompson - yes, he of the gun. "World War I began in Europe in 1914, and Thompson was sympathetic to the Allied cause. Since the U.S. did not immediately enter the war, and because he recognized a significant need for small arms in Europe (as well as an opportunity to make a substantial profit), Thompson retired from the Army in November of that year and took a job as Chief Engineer of the Remington Arms Company. While with the company he supervised the construction of the Eddystone Arsenal in Chester, Pennsylvania, at that time the largest small arms plant in the world. It manufactured Pattern 1914 Enfield rifles for British forces, and Mosin–Nagant rifles for Russia. "When the United States finally entered the war in 1917, Thompson returned to the Army and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He served as Director of Arsenals throughout the remainder of the war, in which capacity he supervised all small-arms production for the Army. For this service he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal." Anyway, I took my new-old rifle with me when I reported on active duty and, although I was permitted to keep it in my quarters, I preferred to keep in the company arms room. So several days after reporting in, I went to see the armorer. He had no problem making me a weapons card and putting it in the storage racks, but did a double take when he saw the bayonet. "Sir, where did you get this?" ""It came with the rifle. See" I fixed and unfixed the bayonet. "Hold on, sir" He unlocked a footlocker and pulled out the twin to my bayonet. It turns out that when the US Army adopted "Trench Guns" to teach Kaiser Bill a lesson, they specified they accept a bayonet and chose the M1917 as the pattern to adopt for that purpose. So every US martial shotgun adopted since then could mount an M1917 bayonet. Our company had a dozen trench guns to be issued at the commander's discretion. "Look at the manufacturing date, sir" 1967. My, God, WHAT WAS THIS!. Turns out during the Vietnam War there had been a huge demand for Trench Guns, but there weren't enough M1917 bayonets left in inventory, so the production line was restarted. They were identical. down to the two grooves going across the hilt. (https://www.ima-usa.com/products/u-s-wwi-m1917-enfield-bayonet-with-scabbard?variant=26168932997) Except I think mine was better quality.
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@alganhar1 The Master was not a Standing Warrant Officer like the Bosun, Carpenter and Gunner, and was paid off with the rest of the crew. Please allow me to quote - "Rank and status in the 18th century
In origin, warrant officers were specialist professionals whose expertise and authority demanded formal recognition. In the 18th century they fell into two clear categories: on the one hand, those privileged to share with the commissioned officers in the wardroom and on the quarterdeck; and on the other, those who ranked with more junior members of the ship's crew.[Somewhere between the two, however, were the standing officers, notable because, unlike the rest of the ship's company, they remained with the ship even when it was out of commission (e.g. for repair, refitting or replenishment, or whilst laid up); in these circumstances they were under the pay and supervision of the Royal Dockyard.
Wardroom warrant officers
These classes of warrant officer messed in the wardroom with the commissioned officers:
the master: the senior warrant officer, a qualified navigator and experienced seaman who set the sails, maintained the ship's log and advised the captain on the seaworthiness of the ship and crew;
the surgeon: who treated the sick and injured and advised the captain on matters of health;
the purser: responsible for supplies, food and pay for the crew.
In the early 19th century, they were joined in the wardroom by naval chaplains, who also had warrant officer status (though they were only usually present on larger vessels).
Standing warrant officers
The standing officers were members of the gunroom and were:
the boatswain: responsible for maintenance of the ship's boats, sails, rigging, anchors and cables;
the carpenter: responsible for maintenance of the ship's hull and masts;
the gunner: responsible for care and maintenance of the ship's guns and gunpowder.
Junior warrant officers
Other warrant officers included surgeon's mates, boatswain's mates and carpenter's mates, sailmakers, armorers, schoolmasters (involved in the education of boys, midshipmen and others aboard ship) and clerks. Masters-at-arms, who had formerly overseen small-arms provision on board, had by this time taken on responsibility for discipline.
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I didn't. He was TOTALLY wrong on New York Central's "Black Beetle" It was never intended to be a prototype, it was strictly to see how fast a conventional train could go on conventional track. "The construct was then successfully sent on test runs over the existing tracks between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio.. The line had been chosen for its arrow-straight layout and good condition, but otherwise unmodified track. On July 23, 1966, the car reached a speed of 183.68 mph (295.6 km/h), an American rail speed record that still stands today.
Even with this spectacular performance, and even though it had been built relatively cheaply, using existing parts, the project was not considered viable commercially. The railroad gathered valuable test data regarding the stresses of high-speed rail travel on conventional equipment and tracks then existing in America"
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New York Central's "Black Beetle" It was never intended to be a prototype, it was strictly to see how fast a conventional train could go on conventional track. "The construct was then successfully sent on test runs over the existing tracks between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio.. The line had been chosen for its arrow-straight layout and good condition, but otherwise unmodified track. On July 23, 1966, the car reached a speed of 183.68 mph (295.6 km/h), an American rail speed record that still stands today.
Even with this spectacular performance, and even though it had been built relatively cheaply, using existing parts, the project was not considered viable commercially. The railroad gathered valuable test data regarding the stresses of high-speed rail travel on conventional equipment and tracks then existing in America"
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OK, for your consideration 1) The USN planned to use aerial spotting extensively- even to the point of firing from over the horizon. How would that affect South Dakota's ability to hit Nagato at, say, 30000 yards. 2) The ability of the RN's armor piercing shells to penetrate armor was a disaster at Jutland. "The British in particular had badly misjudged how their shells would be used in action. They had based much of their doctrine around long-range engagements with common shells, intended to destroy the enemy’s unarmored upperworks, start fires and demoralize the crew, with AP shells to be held for finishing off enemy ships at closer range. This was used as a justification for not carrying out oblique impact tests on their AP projectiles, which turned out to be a serious mistake at Jutland, where few projectiles penetrated heavy German armor." So much so that an entire new generation of shells had to be designed and issued - the "Greenboys". So, you have to take into account when the Texas vs Irion Duke engagement occurred. 3) After the US entered the war, FDR ordered the US Atlantic Fleet's battle force (BB's, CV's, CA's, CL's and newest DD's) to be concentrated into Task Force 99 operating out of Iceland under Home Fleet operational control 4) Algerie vs Hipper. By repute, the British and Germans had the best fire control and armor quality, with the US right behind. The French were down with the Japanese, with the poor Italians at the bottom. Would this make a difference in this battle 5) When the battle occurred can be vital. US radar fire control led the world by a considerable measure in 1944-45 which would tip the odds in the US favor as opposed to, say, 1942. Is Texas vs Iron Duke fought in 1915 or 1918 with or without Greenboys....
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New York Central's "Black Beetle" It was never intended to be a prototype, it was strictly to see how fast a conventional train could go on conventional track. "The construct was then successfully sent on test runs over the existing tracks between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio.. The line had been chosen for its arrow-straight layout and good condition, but otherwise unmodified track. On July 23, 1966, the car reached a speed of 183.68 mph (295.6 km/h), an American rail speed record that still stands today.
Even with this spectacular performance, and even though it had been built relatively cheaply, using existing parts, the project was not considered viable commercially. The railroad gathered valuable test data regarding the stresses of high-speed rail travel on conventional equipment and tracks then existing in America"
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Good to see that Ian is ready to join Das Freikorps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikorps
fighting the Red Sparticists in the streets of Berlin
https://georgy-konstantinovich-zhukov.tumblr.com/image/44386453248
"Unteroffizier, Bayerisches Schutzenkorps (Freikorps von Epp)
In the first days of May 1919, after the suppression of the Räterrepublik, a veteran NCO of Bavarian Stosstruppen shows off his squad’s 'wonder weapon’. About 35,000 examples of the 9mm Machine Pistol 1918 (more popularly, Kugelspritz or 'bullet-hose’) were made during the war, and many were issued to the assault battalions. The Bergmann MP 18 was fed by 32-round 'snail’ drum magazines originally developed for the long-barrelled P08/14 'artillery’ pistol; our NCO also has one of these, with its detachable wooden stock attached to the back of the regulation holster, as well as a trench knife (Grabendolch).
His M1916 helmet is finished in the camouflage of green, ochre and red-brown segments divided by black lines prescribed in Gen. Lüdendorff’s order of July 7, 1918. The M1915 Bluse is entirely in field-grey, without the collar facing of dark green - a Bavarian peculiarity, as was the NCO collar Tresse in blue and white instead of matt metallic braid. His ribbon of the Iron Cross 2nd Class, a silver Wound Badge, and the badge of a qualified machine gunner on his sleeve testify to his Great War service; he has also added to his left sleeve the badge of the Freikorpsled by Oberst Franz Ritter von Epp. His light field-grey M1917 trousers have the leather knee patches typical of Stosstruppen; puttees, standard issue in 1918, could be of any drab shade between light grey and dark brown."
Berlin 1918
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP_18#/media/File:MP_18_Berlin_1919.jpg
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Random thoughts
1) No bipod? On a 25 lbs weapon!?
2) In 1941, the Cavalry, Airborne and Marines all wanted something lighter than the 37 mm and the US >almost< adopted Solothurn S18/1000 AT Rifle in 20/138 mm (Solothurn Long). I wonder if the Airborne wasn't a possible backer of this effort. If you made the barrel detachable, it could easily put in a weapons bag and dropped (on the other hand, the Paratroopers already had the 2.36 Rocket Launcher aka "Bazooka"). Maybe the Toy Shop at the OSS was interested in something that could be dropped to resistance fighters or perhaps given to DEtachment 101's 10,000 man private army in Burma, The Kachin Rangers (which were already armed with the M1917)
3) Yes, the M2HB is man portable. We even tried it ROTC once or twice. Per the manual, a four man crew. Commander - binoculars, ammo can. Gunner - Receiver. Assistant Gunner - Tripod. Ammunition Bearer - Barrel, ammo can. two ammo cans on packboard or rucksack frame.
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Believe it or not, they had competition - 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS “RONA” (1st Russian) (also known as the Waffen-Sturm-Brigade der SS RONA, and Kaminski Brigade). - "It was founded in late 1941 as auxiliary police with 200 personnel. By mid-1943 it had grown to 10,000-12,000 men, equipped with captured Soviet tanks and artillery.[1] Bronislav Kaminski, the unit's leader, named it the Russian National Liberation Army (Russian: Русская освободительная народная армия (РОНА), romanized: Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Narodnaya Armiya, (RONA))" - They went totally out of control in Warsaw, murdering, raping and pillaging in a manner last seen in the Thirty Years War. "At the same time, thousands of Polish civilians were killed by the RONA SS men during the events known as the Ochota massacre; many of the victims were also raped. " The last straw was when they raped and murdered a group of female German troops. At this point, apparently the local command took matters into their own hands. "On 18 August 1944 Bronislav Kaminski was killed. According to different sources, either an SS court found him guilty[citation needed] or the German Gestapo executed him without a conviction.[citation needed]", How bad do you have to be to make the SS and Gestapo look like the good guys....
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@markbullock3741 The exception was payday (I go far enough back that I served as Pay Officer several times). The payee would salute the pay officer when stepping up to be paid. "When reporting for pay, the soldier answers “Here, Sir (Ma’am),” or “Here, Sergeant,” when his name is called, salutes the officer making payment (in this instance, the officer does not return the salute), reports, “Sir (Ma’am), Private Jones reports for pay,” counts the money as it is handed to him, signs the pay voucher, and leaves the room without saluting again"
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Steve Valley. You don't want the 16 inchers from Nelson and Rodney. They were generally regarded as a failure. The mounts were nothing to write home about either, having a complex system of interlocks that was prone to getting out of order
"From inadequate firing trials, a mistaken theory was promulgated by the Director of Naval Ordnance (DNO) that held that a high-velocity, low-weight projectile would have superior armor penetration characteristics at large oblique angles of impact, a conclusion which was the opposite of previous findings. This theory was not substantiated by later trials, but these took place too late to affect the decision to use a lightweight APC projectile for new designs. As a result, these guns proved to be only marginally better in terms of armor penetration than the previous 15"/42 (38.1 cm) Mark I and much less satisfactory than those older guns in terms of accuracy and barrel life.
Numerous problems with liner wear, interlocks and turret roller-bearings were found and corrected in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but it wasn't until 1934 that Nelson's guns were first fired in a long, sixteen rounds per gun, all-gun sequence. A number of breakdowns occurred during this test, resulting in an energetic effort to correct the deficiencies. By 1939 the majority of the problems found had been rectified. However, these mountings were never trouble-free during the careers of Nelson and Rodney and they cannot be considered to have been a successful design."
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@Ushio01 Unquestionably Atlanta. The 5.25 inch mounts were notoriously crowded which meant they did not achieve in practice their theoretical ROF 0f 12 rpm, but instead were limited to 7-8 rpm. From the NAVWEAPS site " Unfortunately, the original design of the gunhouse was cramped and the heavy projectile and cartridge cases resulted in a lower rate of fire than expected. In addition, the slow elevating and training speeds of the mounts were found to be inadequate for engaging modern high-speed aircraft."
"As designed, the expected rate of fire for these guns was 10 - 12 rpm. However, the heavy weight of the projectile and cartridge case plus the semi-automated fuze setting mechanism meant that this round required much crew handling before it could be rammed into the breach. The tight design of the gunhouse also interfered with the smooth crew operation necessary to achieve high rates of fire. In the chapter regarding the design of the King George V class, "British Battleships of World War Two" states that: "The mounting was designed for a rate of fire of ten to twelve rounds per minute, but, in fact, the crews could not transfer shell and cordite from the hoists to the loading-trays at this speed, and the more usual rate of fire was seven to eight rounds per minute." This would imply that cruisers would have a similar rate of fire, as the layout of their gunhouse and movement of ammunition was essentially the same as for the battleship mounting.
The 5-38 inch had a theoretical rate of fire of 12 rounds/minute, but well drilled crews are routinely recorded as achieving up to 20 rpm. The AA cruiser HMS Delhi was unique in being rearmed with five 5-38's "the gunnery officer on Delhi reported that during gunnery trials in February and March 1942 that these guns were able to fire 25 rounds per minute with the ready-use ammunition stored in the handling rooms and 15 rounds per minute with the normal supply from the magazines.
So we're talking
Dido class = 5 turrets X 2 guns/turret X 8 rounds per gun = 80 rpm X 80 lbs/shell = 6400 lbs/minute
Oakland subclass (better apples to apples than the Atlantas) = 6 turrets X 2 guns/turret X 20 rounds/gun = 240 rpm (even at 12 rpm, it's 144 rpm) X 54 lbs/shell = 12,960 lbs/minute
An Atlanta would tear a Dido apart. It's only hope would be to stay out of range (24,000 vs 17,000 yards, No wonder the IJN talked about the "American 5 inch machine gun"
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This guy is what rail fans call a "crayonista" - someone who draws pretty lines on maps ignoring practical considerations such as demand, funding, etc. Brightline and Texas are exceptions to the rule - because, as private firms, they have to take those factors into account. Second, no private RR is going to agree to "hosting" HSR - it's too disruptive to try to mix 30 mph freights and 150 passengers (the NEC is almost entirely passenger, the territory having been overbuilt in the early 20th Century, the freight traffic is now routed over some of those redundant lines). And you can forget HSR on the NEC. It can't be upgraded beyond current speeds (and, by the way, the vaunted Acela only achieves its top speed on limited trackage - Elizabeth to Trenton, for example, roughly 40 miles of straight right of way, out of 460) due to curves and grades. If you want true HSR (150 mph and up), you have to build a band new railroad through some of most built up and expensive land in the US
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