Quantcast
Channel: World War One – laststandonzombieisland
Viewing all 580 articles
Browse latest View live

The Attack of the Dead

0
0

0I72rd

One of the most celebrated pieces of Eastern European military lore of the 20th Century came from the tiny fortress of Osowiec (also spelled/spoken variously as Osovets, Ossovetz, Osovetz, Ossowicz, and Ossovets depending on who and when it was mentioned) in what is now Poland.

Back in the late 19th Century, Imperial Russian military thinking was to leave rural Western Poland open to invasion more or less and then let potential Napoleons crash their armies upon a series of fortresses strung across Eastern Poland/Belorussia while the Tsar’s millions of faithful foot soldiers were mobilized behind it to protect the Motherland.

One of these masonry and concrete forts was Osowiec, facing the marshland of German East Prussia.

The thing is, most of these forts were designed to withstand 1870s era artillery and, by 1900s, were thoroughly obsolete. It was joked that the outposts were so outdated that their stables held unicorns and the Grand Duke Nicholas, commander of the Russian Army at the beginning of World War I, often referred to the great fortress at Kovno (Kaunas) as “Govno” which is Russian for “shit.”

The better minds on the General Staff advocated abandoning the forts, especially after what the Germans did to Liege in 1914. However, it was not to be and entrenched Russian military leaders, still stuck on fighting Napoleon, fed men, shells and resources that were desperately needed elsewhere into the old forts, which fell to the Germans and Austrians wholesale.

The massive 10-fort complex at Kaunas, where Lt. Gen. Vladimir Grigoriev had 90,000 men and 1,300 pieces of artillery, fell in just 11-days after it was cut off by four German divisions and a battery of 42-centimeter (17 in) Gamma-Gerät Mörsers pulverized the fortress.

At least the Russians left the guns in good condition...

At least the Russians left the guns in good condition…

Outside of Warsaw, another 90,000 Russians, including some crack Siberian units, under Lt. Gen. Nikolay Bobyr, manned Fortress Novogeorgievsk. Bobyr had 1,600 cannon, an airplane squadron to help spot for them, and a million shells to feed them. Hemmed up by the Germans and churned to gruel by six 16 inch (400mm) and nine 12 inch (300mm) howitzers, the fort was toast in just 10 days.

One of the smartest moves the Russians made was to abandon the fortifications at Ivangorod and Brest-Litovsk Fortress evac-ing what they could and blowing up what they couldn’t.

Surprisingly, one of the smallest of the Russian fortress cities, Osowiec, with but four forts including one modern polygonal one and staffed by just a few thousand reservists from the Voronezh region and some local Polish opolchenie (militia), held out a staggering 190 days against the might of the Kaiser. Russian Maj. Gen. Nikolai Brzhozovsky somehow defied the odds and, ordered to hold the Germans for two days to allow civilians to evacuate, did so from January through August 1915.

A big part of the reason why the fort endured was that Hindenburg was short of troops to assault it. This led the complex to be sieged by 14 battalions of 40~ year old Landwehr sent in from nearby Prussia while heavy artillery was sent for to blow the whole thing down.

Some reports hold that the Germans plastered the fort with over a million shells ranging from 77mm field guns to 420mm Morsers. Between 27 Feb – 3 March alone was a hurricane of over 250,000 shells.

The worst of the assault came at 4 a.m. 6 August 1915, when the Germans released 30 gas cylinder batteries equipped with chlorine and bromide that created a cloud reportedly eight miles wide that drifted and lingered over Osowiec for hours. Leaves on trees were reported to have fallen off. Grass turned yellow and died. Food and water supplies were spoiled. The poison crept into every casemate and magazine, fighting position and artillery position. The defenders, without gas masks, suffered, and died–and that was just the lucky ones.

Then, as the Germans were prepping to sweep over the cursed fortification around lunchtime, some 60 battered and weary survivors of the 13th company, 226th Zemlyansky Infantry Regiment, emerged from their shelter and rushed out to engage the Prussian Landwehr facing them. Wearing improvised gas masks made from undershirts coated with urine, the men hacked blood as they moved, literally coughing up lung tissue into their shirts.

Attack of the Dead. Osowiec, Poland, the Russian Empire. August 6, 1915

Attack of the Dead. Osowiec, Poland, the Russian Empire. August 6, 1915

All of the other officers dead, the company commander at the time was Junior Lt. Vladimir Karpovich Kotlinsky, who perished in the bayonet charge.

Attack of the Dead. Osowiec, Poland, the Russian Empire. August 6, 1915 a

Kotlinsky depicted front and center

The sight led the German line to break and aborted a larger overall attack on the fort.

226 th Infantry Regiment Zemlyansky

The end in sight, Brzhozovsky pulled back, spiking his remaining guns, and blowing the magazine from a distance.

8450313_zimowy-spacer-po-ruinach-fortu-zarzecznego-twierdzy-osowiec

When the Germans finally moved in, they found nothing but bodies and ruins, abandoning their prize within weeks.

Russian fortress Osowiec.

No impressive lines of pristine captured artillery at Osowiec

Osowiec

Today what is left is a military museum in Poland.

Kotlinsky for his part was awarded the St. George’s Cross, posthumously.

Still, the charge that day of the 226th, remembered as the Attack of the Dead, will remain in the annuals of martial lore forever.

Osowiec-Fortress-History-of-WWI



It werfs minen

0
0

A Scottish town had this lumpy old gun floating around for several decades. Some thought it a harpoon cannon.Others a Turkish naval gun recovered during the Great War. After coating it in thick black paint to help curb rust, the gun sat as a lawn ornament for years near the city center.

However in recent months, making the choice to see just what it was that they had, the town found out that their gun is a rare (just two in the UK and less than a half-dozen in the world) World War I era German Army 17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer.

Scotish.town_.saves_.rare_.German.Minenwerfer.from_.the_.scrapheap-1

More in my column at Guns.com


Warship Wednesday May 18, 2016: Spanish gunboats a-go-go

0
0

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday May 18, 2016: Spanish gunboats a-go-go

NHC NH 45328

NHC NH 45328

Here we see the General Concha-class cañonero (gunboat) Elcano shortly after she became the USS Elcano (PG-38) because of the activities of one Commodore Dewey. She would go on to serve 44 hard years in total.

Laid down 3 March 1882 by Carraca Arsenal, Cadiz, Spain, Elcano was a small warship, at just 157’11” between perpendiculars (165′ oal), and tipping the scales at just 620-tons with a full load. Slow, she could only make 11-ish knots. However, what she could do was float in just 10 feet of water and carry two 120mm low angle guns, a single 90mm, four Nordenfelt QFs and two Whitehead torpedo tubes around the shallow coastal littoral of the Philippines where the Spanish were having issues with the locals that often involved gunplay.

120mm 25cal Hontoria M1879 (left) in Spanish service. Elcano mounted two of these guns

120mm 25cal Hontoria M1879 (left) in Spanish service. Elcano mounted two of these guns. Note the opulent wheelhouse.

Sisters, designed for colonial service, included the General Concha, Magallanes, and General Lezo, they were officially and maybe over ambitiously listed as “Crucero no protegido de 3ª clase” or 3rd class protected cruisers.

Class leader, Cañonero de la Armada Española General Concha, 1897

Class leader, Cañonero de la Armada Española General Concha, 1897

Described as “pot-bellied,” Elcano had a quaint Victorian era ram bow and carried a mixed sailing rig for those times when coal, never plentiful in the PI, was scarce. She was commissioned into the Armada Española in 1884, arriving in Manila late that year. Like most of the 18 or so Spanish ships in the region (to include sister General Lezo), she was commanded by Spanish officers and manned by Filipino crews.

Cañonero español Elcano at commissioning. The Spanish liked dark hulls

Cañonero español Elcano at commissioning. The Spanish liked dark hulls

Her peacetime service was quiet, spending more than a dozen years puttering around the archipelago, waving her flag and showing off her guns. Then came the Spanish-American War.

Just five days after a state of war between the U.S. and Spain existed, on April 26, El Cano came across the U.S.-flagged bark Saranac—under Captain Bartaby—carrying 1,640 short tons (1,490 t) of coal from Newcastle, New South Wales, to Iloilo, in the Philippines for Admiral Dewey’s fleet and captured same with a shot across the bow.

You see the good Capt. Bartaby, sailing in the days without wireless and being at sea for a week had missed the announcement of hostilities and said into Iloilo harbor to the surprise of El Cano’s skipper, who dutifully placed the ship under arrest. Bartaby was able to cheat a Spanish prize court by producing convenient papers that Saranac had been sold for a nominal sum to an English subject just days before her capture, though she had sailed into a Spanish harbor with the Red White and Blue flying. We see what you did there, Bartaby, good show.

Dewey lamented this loss of good Australian coal, which was hard to find in the Asiatic Squadron’s limited stomping grounds after the Brits kicked them out of Hong Kong. Incidentally, the Saranac was the only U.S. ship captured during the war compared with 56 Spanish vessels taken by Yankee surface raiders.

Speaking of which…

The rest of Elcano‘s very short war was uneventful save for being captured during the Battle of Manila Bay 1 May 1898 along with the rest of the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo after Dewey battered his way into the harbor.

ELCANO at Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Island Description: Courtesy of D. M. MC Pherson, Corte Madena, California. 1967 Catalog #: NH 54354

ELCANO at Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Island. Note the extensive awnings. Description: Courtesy of D. M. MC Pherson, Corte Madena, California. 1967 Catalog #: NH 54354

Her three sisters all had more final run-ins. General Concha fought at San Juan, Puerto Rico and narrowly escaped capture only to wreck herself on a reef off Morocco in 1913. General Lezo was ruined by a magazine explosion and sank just after Manila Bay. Magallanes, escaping destruction in Cuba, was discarded after sinking at her dock in 1903.

As for Elcano, her Spanish/Filipino crew was quickly paroled ashore at Cavite, and she languished there for six months under guard until being officially taken over by the U.S. Navy on 8 November.

USS ELCANO (PG-38) at Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Island circa 1900, before being refitted for the U.S. Navy. Note she has been white-washed and her awning shown above in Spanish service deleted. Description: Courtesy of LCDR John E. Lewis, 1945. Catalog #: NH 54353

USS ELCANO (PG-38) at Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Island circa 1900, before being refitted for the U.S. Navy. Note she has been white-washed and her awning shown above in Spanish service deleted. You can also make out her starboard torped tube door just above the waterline. Description: Courtesy of LCDR John E. Lewis, 1945. Catalog #: NH 54353

Refitted for use to include swapping out her Spanish armament for American 4″/40cals (and plugging her 14-inch bow tubes), she was commissioned as USS Elcano (Gunboat No. 38) on 20 November 1902– because the Navy had a special task for the shallow water warship.

You see, once the U.S. moved into the PI, they used a series of captured and still-floating near-flat bottomed former Spanish gunboats (USS Elcano, Villalobos, Quiros, Pampanga and Callao) to protect American interests in Chinese waters. These boats, immortalized in the book and film the Sand Pebbles, were known as the Yangtze Patrol (COMYANGPAT), after the huge river system they commonly haunted. The first modern patrol, started in 1903, was with the five Spaniards while two more gunboats, USS Palos and Monocacy, built at Mare Island in California in 1913, would later be shipped across the Pacific to join them while USS Isabel (PY-10) would join the gang in 1921.

Elcano was based at Shanghai from February 1903, her mission to protect American citizens and property, and promote friendly relations with the Chinese– sometime promoting the hell out of them when it was needed. She kept this up until 20 October 1907 when she was sent back to Cavite for a three-year refit.

During this time, she served as a tender to 1st Submarine Division, Asiatic Torpedo Fleet, with the small subs of the day having their crews live aboard the much larger (dry-docked) gunboat.

USS Shark (Submarine # 8) In the Dewey Drydock, Olongapo Naval Station, Philippines, circa 1910. The gunboat Elcano is also in the drydock, in the right background. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1978. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 86963

USS Shark (Submarine # 8) In the Dewey Drydock, Olongapo Naval Station, Philippines, circa 1910. The gunboat Elcano is also in the drydock, in the right background. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1978. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 86963

Recommissioned 5 December 1910, Elcano took up station at Amony in China, and resumed the monotony of river cruises in China’s decidedly strife-ridden countryside that included bar fights with British gunboat crews, welcoming visiting warlords with an open hand (and a cocked 1911 under the table), sending naval parties ashore to rescue random Westerners caught in riots and unrest, besting other USN ships’ baseball teams to the amusement of the locals, and just generally enjoying the regional color (though libo groups were ordered to always go ashore in uniform and with canteens).

In August 1911, Elcano and the rest of the patrol boats were joined by the cruisers USS New Orleans and Germany’s SMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Hankow for the unrest that came along with the anti-monarchist putsch that ended the Manchu dynasty.

There, Elcano participated in an impromptu naval review along with other arriving vessels from Austro-Hungary, Japan, France, Russia and a six-ship task force dispatched by the British. The ceremony’s true purpose: keep an eye on the nearly one dozen semi-modern Chinese warships in the harbor to make sure a repeat of the Boxer Rebellion didn’t spark. During this period, Elcano‘s men joined others in the International Brigade, sending 30 bluejackets with their Colt machine guns in tow to help guard the Japanese consulate. They were relieved ashore later in the year by a company of the British Yorkshire Light Infantry and a half-regiment of Siberian Cossacks shipped in for the task.

While on the Yangtze River Patrol, circa 1917. Description: Courtesy of Arthur B. Furnas, Corte Madera, California, 1969. Catalog #: NH 69694

While on the Yangtze River Patrol, circa 1917. Description: Courtesy of Arthur B. Furnas, Corte Madera, California, 1969. Catalog #: NH 69694

During the Christmas season, circa December 1917, while in the Philippines. Note the Christmas tree on the bow and the other decorations aboard the ship. Description: Courtesy of Arthur B. Furnas, Corte Madera, California, 1969 Catalog #: NH 69697

During the Christmas season, circa December 1917, while in the Philippines. Note the Christmas tree on the bow and the other decorations aboard the ship.  She would keep up this tradition for years. Description: Courtesy of Arthur B. Furnas, Corte Madera, California, 1969 Catalog #: NH 69697

Elcano would get a short break from Chinese waters when the U.S. entered WWI, being recalled to Manila Bay to serve as a harbor gunboat, patrolling around Corregidor from April 1917-Nov. 1918, just in case a German somehow popped up. Then, it was back to the Yangpat.

Meanwhile in China, as the putsch of 1911 turned into open revolution and then Civil War, Elcano and her compatriots in the Yangpat were ever more involved in fights ashore, landing troops in Nanking in 1916 along with other nations during riots there, in Chungking in 1918 to protect lives during a political crisis, and again in March 1920 at Kiukiang (now Jiujiang on the southern shores of the Yangtze), where Elcano‘s sailors acted alone, and then at Ichang where she landed a company of Marines for the task and remained as station ship and floating headquarters until September 1922.

Some of the ships of the U.S. Navy's Yangtze River Patrol at Hangchow during the 1920s, with several local junks and sampans also present. U.S. Navy ships are (from left to right): USS Isabel (PY-10); USS Villalobos (PG-42); and USS Elcano (PG-38). Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 67127

Some of the ships of the U.S. Navy’s Yangtze River Patrol at Hangchow during the 1920s, with several local junks and sampans also present. U.S. Navy ships are (from left to right): USS Isabel (PY-10); USS Villalobos (PG-42); and USS Elcano (PG-38). Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 67127

Chinese general visiting Elcano. The commanding officer of Elcano is seen waiting to greet him at the top of the gangway, Ichang, China, circa 1920's. Also note how they have to walk right into the muzzle of the 4-incher when coming aboard-- very subtle. Look up: Gunboat diplomacy. Description: Catalog #: NH 68976

Chinese general visiting Elcano. The commanding officer of Elcano is seen waiting to greet him at the top of the gangway, Ichang, China, circa 1920’s. Also note how they have to walk right into the muzzle of the 4-incher when coming aboard– very subtle. Look up: Gunboat diplomacy. Catalog #: NH 68976

Ship's baseball team going ashore, in China, during the early 1920s. Description: Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, Valois, New York, 1971. Catalog #: NH 77142

Ship’s baseball team going ashore, in China, during the early 1920s. Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, Valois, New York, 1971. Catalog #: NH 77142

Rare today is a bluejacket who was a member of the Noble and Exclusive Order of the Brotherhood of Mighty River Rats of the Yangtze c.1903-1941. Photo via The Real Sand Pebbles.

Rare today is a bluejacket who was a member of the Noble and Exclusive Order of the Brotherhood of Mighty River Rats of the Yangtze c.1903-1941. Photo via The Real Sand Pebbles.

These two letters from Elcano sailors from the 1920 volume of Our Navy, the Standard Publication of the U.S. Navy. Note the mention of the ship’s baseball team, hooch at $1.20 a quart, and the retelling of how 60 bluejackets cleared the streets of Kiukiang by bayonet point:

elcano lettersDuring this service, Elcano proved a foundry for future naval leaders. Stars rained upon her deck, as no less than six of her former skippers went on to become admirals including Mississippian later Vice Adm. Aaron Stanton “Tip” Merrill, who picked up the Navy Cross at the Battle of Blackett Strait in 1943 by smashing the Japanese destroyers Murasame and Minegumo without a single casualty.

Airing her sails in Chinese waters during the 1920s. She was undoubtedly one of the last warships with canvas in the fleet. Description: Courtesy of Mr. Donald M. McPherson, Corte Madera, California, 1972. Catalog #: NH 75577

Airing her sails in Chinese waters during the 1920s. She was undoubtedly one of the last warships with canvas in the fleet. Courtesy of Mr. Donald M. McPherson, Corte Madera, California, 1972. Catalog #: NH 75577

In dry dock at Shanghai, China, circa early 1920's note the 4"/.40 caliber gun (lower) and the 3-pounder (above) Description: Courtesy of Mr. Donald M. McPherson, Corte Madera, California, 1969 Catalog #: NH 68978

In dry dock at Shanghai, China, circa early 1920’s note the 4″/.40 caliber gun (lower) and the 3-pounder (above) Courtesy of Mr. Donald M. McPherson, Corte Madera, California, 1969 Catalog #: NH 68978

In dry dock, at Shanghai, China, during the early 1920s. Note 4"/40 gun. Description: Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, Valois, New York, 1971. Catalog #: NH 77143

In dry dock, at Shanghai, China, during the early 1920s. Note stern 4″/40 gun. Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, Valois, New York, 1971. Catalog #: NH 77143

Between 1923-25, armed landing teams from Elcano went ashore and stayed ashore almost a half-dozen times in two extended periods in Shanghai during unrest and street fights between rival factions.

Armed guard, photographed in Chinese waters, during the early 1920s. Note Lewis machine guns. Description: Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, Valois, New York, 1971. Catalog #: NH 77144

Armed guard from Elcano, photographed in Chinese waters, during the early 1920s. Note Lewis machine guns. Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, Valois, New York, 1971. Catalog #: NH 77144

In March 1927, Elcano along with the destroyers USS William P. Preston, USS Noa, and the RN’s HMS Emerald took a “mob of undisciplined Nationalist soldiers” under intense naval gunfire outside of Nanking when the American Consul General John C. Davis and 166 others were besieged at the Standard Oil compound on Socony Hill.

It would be Elcano‘s last whiff of cordite.

By 1926, the seven veteran river gunboats were all worn out and the navy went shopping for replacements. With dollars always short in the Navy budget, it just made sense to build these new boats in China, to save construction and shipping costs. These new ships consisted of two large 500-ton, 210-foot gunboats (USS Luzon and Mindanao); two medium-sized 450-ton, 191-foot boats (USS Oahu and Panay) and two small 350-ton, 159-foot boats (USS Guam and Tutuila).

Once the new gunboats started construction, the five old Yangtze Patrol ships’ days were numbered. In November 1927, Elcano became a barracks ship in Shanghai for the newly arriving crews of the PCUs and by 30 June 1928, she was decommissioned after some 14 years of service to Spain and another three decades to Uncle Sam.

At Ichang China. Note trees on mastheads Description: Courtesy of Lt. Commander Merrill, USN, 1928. Catalog #: NH 54352

At Ichang China. Note trees on mastheads. Courtesy of Lt. Commander Merrill, USN, 1927. Catalog #: NH 54352

Elcano was stripped of all useful material, some of which went to help equip the new Yangpat boats, then towed off the coast and disposed of in a Sinkex by gunfire on 4 October 1928. Two of her former companions in arms suffered the same fate. Villalobos (PG-42), model for Richard McKenna’s San Pebbles, was likewise sunk by naval gunfire 9 October 1928, and joined by the ex-Spanish then-USS Pampanga (PG-39) on 21 November. The days of Dewey’s prizes had come and gone, with the Navy getting a good 30 years out of this final batch.

Of the other Spanish armada vessels pressed into U.S. Navy service, Quiros (PG-40) was previously sunk as a target in 1923, and Callo (YFB-11) was sold at Manila the same year where she remained in use as a civilian ferry for some time.

The website, Sand Pebbles.com, keeps the memory of the Yangpat and her vessels alive while scrapbooks and uniforms are preserved in the hands of private collectors.

However, in Nanjing, on an unidentified monument there, is a series of Navy graffiti left by those Yankee river rats, if you look closely, you can just make out USS Elcano under USS Chattanooga.

USS_Chattanooga_Nanjing graffitti I recently found inscribed upon a Chinese monument in Nanjing (Former Yangtze river capital 'Nanking')

They were there.

Group of crewmembers visit a joss house, in China, during the early 1920s. Description: Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, Valois, New York, 1971. Catalog #: NH 77147

Group of Elcano crewmembers visit a joss house, in China, during the early 1920s. Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, Valois, New York, 1971. Catalog #: NH 77147

Specs:

Displacement: 620 long tons (630 t)
Length: 165 ft. 6 in (50.44 m)
Beam: 26 ft. (7.9 m)
Draft: 10 ft. (3.0 m)
Installed power: 1,200 ihp (890 kW)
Propulsion:
2 × vertical compound steam engines
2 × single-ended Scotch boilers
2 × screws
Rig: Schooner
Speed: 11 kn (13 mph; 20 km/h)
Complement:
Spanish Navy: 115
U.S. Navy: 99-103
Armament:
As commissioned:
2×1 120mm/25cal Hontoria M1879
1x 90/25 Hontoria M1879
4×1 25/42 Nordenfelt
2x 356mm TT (bow)
1902:
4×1 4″/40
4×1 3pdr (37mm) guns
2x Colt machine guns
1x 3-inch Field gun for landing party along with Lewis guns and rifles, handguns and cutlasses

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has it place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!


Warship Wednesday May 25, 2016: The Kaiser’s Pirate of Nauset Beach

0
0

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday May 25, 2016: The Kaiser’s Pirate of Nauset Beach

u156

Here we see one of the few images remaining of the Deutschland-class handels type unterseeboot SM U-156 of the Kaiserliche Marine. Built to schlep cargo, she was converted to a U-Kreuzer and went on to wreak havoc off the coast of New England.

In 1915, with the Great War dragging into its second horrific year, Imperial Germany was cut off from overseas trade by the might of the combined British, French, Italian, Russian, and Japanese fleets, who certainly had a warship in every harbor from Seattle to Montevideo. That’s when an idea was hatched to cough up a fleet of large commercial submarines for shipping vital cargo to and from locations otherwise verboten to German freighters.

These handels-U-boots (merchant submarines) were helmed by 28-man civilian crews employed by the Deutsche Ozean-Reederei company, unarmed except for five pistols or revolvers and a flare gun, sailed under a merchant flag, and could carry as much as 700-tons in their holds.

A staggering 213-feet overall and some 2,300-tons, while small by today’s standards, these were the largest operational submarines of World War I.

uboat commerical

You get the idea…

The first of the class, Deutschland, was launched 28 March 1916 and in June voyaged across the Atlantic as a blockade runner carrying highly sought-after chemical dyes, carried medical drugs, gemstones, and mail to Baltimore where her crew were welcomed as celebrities before returning to Bremerhaven with 341 tons of nickel, 93 tons of tin, and 348 tons of crude rubber– worth seven times her 2.75 million Reichsmark cost. Her second trip to New London with gems and securities, returning to Germany in November was her last as a commercial venture.

You see Deutschland was taken up into the service of the German Navy in early 1917 and rechristened SM U-155, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Between 1916-17, a further six freighter u-boats were built to the same design as Deutschland in four yards, numbered in military service U-151 through U-157. These ships, however, were built to fight rather than make money (one other boat, Bremen, was completed for commercial work and she vanished in Sept. 1916 on her maiden voyage to New York–she was never part of the German Navy).

The subject of our particular tale is U-156, the only one of her class built at Atlas Werke, Bremen as Werke #382.

In war service these ships were completed with torpedo tubes and a torpedo and mine magazine rather than cargo holds and given a pair of large 150mm deck guns with a healthy supply of 1688 shells to feed them. Gone was the civilian crew, replaced by a 7 officer/69-man military crew that could spare up to 20 for prize crews.

Prize crews?

Yes, these huge subs would act as submersible cruisers (U-Kreuzer), hence the large battery and stock of shells.

ukrezuer storm

duestchland as ukreusier

Those are some serious popguns

U-156 was commissioned 22 Aug 1917 under the command of Kptlt. Konrad Gansser. Under Gansser’s command and that later of Kptlt. Richard Feldt, over the next 13 months the huge submarine successfully attacked 47 ships of which she sunk 45 (for a total of 64,151 tons) and damaged two.

A list of her kills over at U-boat.net shows that most of her “victories” were small craft, with only one merchant ship over 5,000 tons, the Italian flagged steamer Atlantide (5,431t) sunk off Madeira on 1 Feb 1918.

In fact, some 32 of her kills were against trawlers and small coasters under 950-tons, making her the scourge of the American and Canadian coasts.

151

Speaking of which, U-156‘s most important victory at sea came not from her guns or torpedoes, but from a mine.

The 13,680-ton USS San Diego (Armored Cruiser No. 6), formerly the USS California, hit a mine sown by U-156 southeast of Fire Island on 19 July and sank in just 28 minutes, taking six bluejackets with her to the bottom. She would be the only major warship lost by the U.S. in the Great War. Her skipper at the time, Capt. Harley H. Christy, was a Spanish–American War vet who went on to command the battlewagon Wyoming with the British Grand Fleet in 1918 and become a Vice Admiral on the retired list.

USS San Diego (Armored Cruiser No. 6) Painting by Francis Muller, 1920. It depicts the ship sinking off Fire Island, New York, after mined by the German submarine U-156, 19 July 1918. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 55012-KN

USS San Diego (Armored Cruiser No. 6) Painting by Francis Muller, 1920. It depicts the ship sinking off Fire Island, New York, after mined by the German submarine U-156, 19 July 1918. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 55012-KN

It was after this strike on the San Diego that the good Kptlt. Feldt sailed to the coast of Cape Cod and got into a little gunplay in shallow water and spread “schrecklichkeit” (fear) along the coast.

At about 10:30 a.m. on the morning of 21 July 1918, the Lehigh Valley RR. Company’s hearty little 120-foot/435-ton steel-hulled tugboat Perth Amboy was hauling a series of wooden barges some three miles off Orleans, Mass when she came under artillery fire from U-156‘s big guns. While the barges were sunk and the tug damaged, no casualties were suffered.

Via Attack on Orleans

Via Attack on Orleans

This led to a frantic call to the newly-built Chatam Naval Air Station who dispatched two Curtiss HS-1L seaplanes (Bu.No 1695 and 1693, the latter of which suffered engine problems and couldn’t sortie) and two R-9s (Bu.No. 991 and another) that arrived on scene about a half hour later. The freshly minted naval pilots dropped a few small bombs, which did not damage the submarine, who dutifully submerged and motored off.

Curtiss HS-1L seaplane (Bu. no. 1735) of the type flown against U-156, here shown at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida Caption: On the ramp at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, circa 1918. Note insignia (patriotic, "Uncle Sam" hat), presumably of Training Squadron Five. Description: Catalog #: NH 44224

Curtiss HS-1L seaplane (Bu. no. 1735) of the type flown against U-156, here shown at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida Caption: On the ramp at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, circa 1918. Note insignia (patriotic, “Uncle Sam” hat), presumably of Training Squadron Five. Description: Catalog #: NH 44224

In all, the attack lasted about 90 minutes from the first shot to the last bomb, and caused little practical damage.

The submarine ticked off some 147 shells, some of which landed on shore and the subsequent impact zone became a tourist attraction into the 1930s.

However, it was the first attack on the U.S. mainland by a uniformed European enemy since 1815 and the first time enemy shells landed on her soil since the failed siege of Fort Texas near Brownsville by General Pedro de Ampudia’s light artillery in 1846.

v61001

Damage suffered by Perth Amboy-- she would later go on to be sunk by a mine in WWII while in British service

Damage suffered by Perth Amboy– she would later go on to be sunk by a mine in WWII while in British service

U-156 then headed north to the Nova Scotia coast and captured the 265-ton trawler Triumph, which she used for three days in August as the first (and only) German surface raider to operate in Canadian waters. Using at times Canadian and at others a Danish flag, Triumph and U-156 worked in tandem, with the trawler creeping up on small craft, Germans taking said small boat over, rigging demo charges and allowing the Canuk mariners to row away in their dingy while the craft sank.

From an excellent article at WWI Canada:

One of Triumph’s first victim was the Gloucester schooner A. Piatt Andrew, which was fishing in Canadian waters. The schooner’s skipper told the U.S. Navy that when Triumph hailed him to heave to, he thought it was joke until “… four shots were fired across our bow from rifles. We brought our vessel up in the wind and the beam trawler came up alongside of us and I then saw that she was manned [by] German crew.’’

The Lunenburg schooner Uda A. Saunders was another score for Feldt. The vessel’s captain gave the U.S. Navy this description of the encounter: “The Huns hailed us and ordered a dory alongside. I sent two men out to her in a dory and three of the raider’s crew came aboard. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ said the one who appeared to be in command. ‘We are going to sink your vessel. I will give you 10 minutes to gather up food and water enough to last you until you get ashore.’”

However, U-156‘s days as a pirate were numbered.

On her way back to Germany, the U-Boat failed to report in that she had cleared the North Sea passage and it is surmised that around 25 Sep 1918 she struck an Allied mine and disappeared with all hands, leaving 77 dead.

With the exception of U-154, torpedoed in the Atlantic 11 May 1918 by HM Sub E35, U-156s sisters largely survived the war, but not by much.

SM U-151 was surrendered to France at Cherbourg and sunk as target ship at Cherbourg, 7 June 1921.

U-152 and U-153 went to Harwich, England, where they were surrendered to the British and sunk by the Royal Navy in July 1921 (image below).

Note how large the U-153 is compared to other common German submarines (IWM photo)

Note how large the U-153 is compared to other common German submarines (IWM photo)

U-157 was interned at Trondheim, Norway at the end of the war but later taken over by the French and broken up at Brest.

Deutschland/U-155, was surrendered on 24 November 1918 with other submarines as part of the terms of the Armistice and exhibited in London and elsewhere before being sold for scrap in 1921.

The Control Room. U155 (The Deutschland) Moored in St Katherine's Docks, London, December 1918 (iwm)

A British Jack secures the the Control Room of U155 (The Deutschland) Moored in St Katherine’s Docks, London, December 1918 (iwm)

German U-Boat U-155 surrendered to the British, lying alongside the British mystery ship HMS SUFFOLK COAST at St. Katherine's Docks in London, 4 December 1918 (iwm)

German U-Boat U-155 surrendered to the British, lying alongside the British Q-boat mystery ship HMS SUFFOLK COAST at St. Katherine’s Docks in London, 4 December 1918 (iwm)

German submarine U-155 on display in St. Katherine docks, London, England, December 1918

German submarine U-155 on display in St. Katherine docks, London, England, December 1918

With that being said, U-156 is better remembered than most of her class, at least in New England.

Today a historical sign on a private Nauset Beach in Orleans, Massachusetts marks the occasion in which the Kaiser reached out and touched the sand there.

For more information on the Attack on Orleans, here is an hour-long lecture by Jake Klim done in 2015 for the Tales of Cape Cod historical society.

Klim runs the most excellent “Attack on Orleans” website and social media page from which I borrowed the map above and recommend his book of the same title.

For more on these blockade breaking U-boats overall, check out this site in German.

Specs:

ukreuzer
Displacement:
1,512 tonnes (1,488 long tons) (surfaced)
1,875 tonnes (1,845 long tons) (submerged)
2,272 tonnes (2,236 long tons) (total)
Length:
65.00 m (213 ft 3 in) (o/a)
57.00 m (187 ft) (pressure hull)
Beam:
8.90 m (29 ft 2 in) (o/a)
5.80 m (19 ft) (pressure hull)
Height: 9.25 m (30 ft 4 in)
Draught: 5.30 m (17 ft 5 in)
Installed power:
800 PS (590 kW; 790 bhp) (surfaced)
800 PS (590 kW; 790 bhp) (submerged)
Propulsion:
2 × shafts
2 × 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) propellers
Fuel oil supply merchant submarine: 200 t
Fuel oil supply cruiser submarine: 285 t
Surfaced speed as merchant submarine: about 12 kn
Underwater speed as merchant submarine: about 6.7 kn
Surfaced speed as U-Kreuzer: about 11 kn
Underwater speed as U-Kreuzer: ca 5,3 kn
Dive time: 50-80 seconds depending on crew training
Compression depth: 50m
Range:
25,000 nmi (46,000 km; 29,000 mi) at 5.5 knots (10.2 km/h; 6.3 mph) surfaced
65 nmi (120 km; 75 mi) at 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) submerged
Test depth: 50 metres (160 ft)
Complement, commercial service: 28
Complement, military service: 6 / 50 Mannschaft
1 / 19 Prisenkommando
Armament:
2 50 cm (20 in) bow torpedo tubes
18 torpedoes
2 × 15 cm (5.9 in) deck guns with 1688 rounds

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has it place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!


You do know FitaFita, don’t you?

0
0
Fita-Fita Guard. The native Samoan Naval Guard Force is brought to attention by BMI/c Suitonu, USN, a veteran of 15 years on the force, March 1943. Naval Station in Samoa. Description:Catalog #: USMC 53188 Copyright Owner: National Archives

“Fita-Fita Guard. The native Samoan Naval Guard Force is brought to attention by BMI/c Suitonu, USN, a veteran of 15 years on the force, March 1943. Naval Station in Samoa.” Note the traditional uniform and the M1903 Springfields. Catalog #: USMC 53188/National Archives

The Sextant has a great piece up over there about the Samoan Fitafita Guard that was part of the U.S. Navy from 1900-1951.

The guard soon carved out their own military enclave in the South Pacific, serving both the U.S. Navy and their own people under a banner of mutual respect and admiration. The men of the Fitafita proudly served “with a full heart,” according to former Guardsman Tuala Sevaatasi.

The Fitafita Guard had many of the same rights and responsibilities of regular enlisted personnel. Fitafita were given regular Navy pay as well as 20% overseas pay. They were not, however, permitted to serve outside of the home islands at sea, which made them more of an honor guard and ceremonial band than fighting unit. One source stated that some Fitafita guardsmen were given sea duty on an ocean-going tug during the beginning of the outfit’s operation.

More here


Jack Cornwell, the heroic gunner of Jutland, 100 years ago this week

0
0
Jack as a 15 year old Boy assigned to the training ship, the old armored cruiser H.M.S. Lancaster which was based at Chatam during WWI to train gunnery crews.

Jack as a 15 year old Boy assigned to the training ship, the old armored cruiser H.M.S. Lancaster which was based at Chatam during WWI to train gunnery crews.

Born 8th January 1900 in Essex, John “Jack” Cornwell attended school for just eight years, dropping out in 1913 to work as a van boy for a baker. Still keeping up his commitment to the Boy Scouts, he won a special award for freeing a young girl from a drain.

He was that kind of kid.

At age 14 he tried to join the Royal Navy in the opening days of WWI, but was turned down. He kept trying and he was accepted as a Ship’s Boy just after his 15th birthday and shipped out aboard the freshly commissioned 5000-ton Town-class light cruiser HMS Chester as a gun layer, manning the sights and relaying firing orders through a headset and microphone at one of the ship’s 10 BL 5.5 inch Mark I (140 mm) /50 guns. The well-drilled RN crews on these exposed guns could fire 12 rounds per minute, lobbing a 82-pound shell out past 16,000m.

Chester and Jack found themselves up to their necks in German warships at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May.

Taking on four German cruisers of the High Seas Fleet’s  II Scouting Group in a night action, Chester was raked by no less than 18 hits. The Mark I guns of the cruiser had just a scant plate of armor on the front of the mount, with the backs and deck areas open to the environment. This meant that shrapnel from the German shells blasted down the decks and killed the exposed gunners at a staggering rate. Within minutes, 3 out of 10 mounts on Chester were out of action, their crews maimed.

At Jack’s mount,  the forward-most 5.5 inch gun on the forecastle, every single sailor had been killed or wounded outright, horribly maimed by the combat.

6253327716_2bca35a5de_z

During the action, Jack was credited with volunteering to go to the top of the turret to wipe the glass so that the rangefinder could line the target, and another report says that he managed to ram home one last projectile, close the breech and press the firing button and that this projectile exploded on the German ship SMS Wiesbaden, causing damage which led to her sinking. (Later evidence found post-war concluded that the shell that sank Wiesbaden came from HMS Invincible, but it does not make the tale of Jack and HMS Chester any less heroic)

Jack was found after the cruiser had disengaged, standing alone at his gun, still ready to fight. His body was riddled with shellfire, including splinters in his chest. He was still alive but barely, and eager for orders.

Damage to the deck of HMS CHESTER sustained during the battle of Jutland. Several sailors can be seen on deck including one bending down to inspect the hole. Boy (1st Class) Jack Travers Cornwell was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for remaining at the forward gun on board the cruiser. The ship was badly shelled by four German cruisers and Cornwell's position was hit four times, killing all the crew apart from Cornwell. The badly wounded boy sailor was taken back to Grimsby where he died on 2 June. (Surgeon Parkes photographic collection of ships portraits ) https://www.facebook.com/182158581977012/photos/a.182161278643409.1073741827.182158581977012/282071908652345/?type=1&theater

Damage to the deck of HMS CHESTER sustained during the battle of Jutland. Several sailors can be seen on deck including one bending down to inspect the hole. Boy (1st Class) Jack Travers Cornwell was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for remaining at the forward gun on board the cruiser. The ship was badly shelled by four German cruisers and Cornwell’s position was hit four times, killing all the crew apart from Cornwell. The badly wounded boy sailor was taken back to Grimsby where he died on 2 June. (Surgeon Parkes photographic collection of ships portraits )

As British ships came alongside HMS Chester, survivors of other gun mounts sat on deck, limbless, smoking cigarette and cheering the passing fleet. Many would not see the next dawn.

Jack passed away after an agonizing two day ordeal in the ship’s infirmary, giving his last, full, measure.

lg-chester

His VC, awarded posthumously, states:

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the grant of the Victoria Cross to Boy, First Class, John Travers Cornwell, O.N.J.42563 (died 2 June 1916), for the conspicuous act of bravery specified below. Mortally wounded early in the action, Boy, First Class, John Travers Cornwell remained standing alone at a most exposed post, quietly awaiting orders, until the end of the action, with the gun’s crew dead and wounded all round him. His age was under sixteen and a half years.

He is the youngest recipient of England’s highest military honor.

His great grandnephew, Alex Saridis, is keeping the family tradition alive and is currently an Able Seaman in the Royal Navy. He asks in the above video only that future generations remember Jack, and those that fell alongside him and share their story.

On Jack’s grave, the epitaph reads

“It is not wealth or ancestry
but honourable conduct and a noble disposition
that maketh men great.”

john travers cornwall


100 years ago today: The hell of Jutland (Skagerrakschlacht)

0
0

On this day in 1916, the German High Seas Fleet under Admiral Reinhard Scheer attempted an ambush on the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea by defeating Admiral Sir David Beatty’s Battlecruiser Force first without Sir John Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet getting involved, but things didn’t quite work out like that.

jutland

Jutland was a harsh running nightmare of fire and steel that involved 250 ships and nearly 100,000 men. While Scheer was able to initially plaster Beatty’s battlecruisers, once Jellicoe showed up and the battle shifted dramatically, it was all over.

Jutland - SMS Kaiser fires a salvo against HMS Warspite

Jutland – SMS Kaiser fires a salvo against HMS Warspite

The night battle

The night battle

The HMS Bellerophon at Jutland, 1916 by Paul Wright

HMS Bellerophon at Jutland, 1916 by Paul Wright

HMS Lion at the Battle of Jutland” by Mal Wright

HMS Lion at the Battle of Jutland” by Mal Wright

Losses were horrific on both sides but not unsustainable in the grand scheme of things to effect a strategic shift.

The Germans damaged Beatty’s flagship, HMS Lion, and sank HMS Indefatigable, Invincible, and Queen Mary, all of which blew up when German shells hit their magazines. The British lost 14 ships and over 6,000 men.

HMS Marlborough limping home from the Battle Of Jutland. Painting by Miller. Royal Marines Museum; (c) Royal Marines Museum; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

HMS Marlborough limping home from the Battle Of Jutland. Painting by Miller. Royal Marines Museum; (c) Royal Marines Museum; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Looking through a shell-hole in HMS Tiger after Jutland

Looking through a shell-hole in HMS Tiger after Jutland

The bow and stern of HMS Invincible stick out of the water during the Battle of Jutland. HMS Invincible's ammunition magazine exploded after the battlecruiser was hit by German shells. HMS Badger can be seen in the distance as it moves in to rescue survivors, but only six men survived. IWM SP 2470.

The bow and stern of HMS Invincible stick out of the water during the Battle of Jutland. HMS Invincible’s ammunition magazine exploded after the battlecruiser was hit by German shells. HMS Badger can be seen in the distance as it moves in to rescue survivors, but only six men survived. IWM SP 2470.

HMS INVINCIBLE explodes during the battle of Jutland after she was hit five times by shells from the German battlecruisers DERRFLINGER and LUTZOW, the last hit blowing the roof off "Q" turret and setting fire to the cordite propellant, the flash soon spread to the magazine and INVINCIBLE was ripped in two by the explosion. There were only three survivors with those killed including Rear-Admiral The Hon Horace Hood IWM SP 2468

HMS INVINCIBLE explodes during the battle of Jutland after she was hit five times by shells from the German battlecruisers DERRFLINGER and LUTZOW, the last hit blowing the roof off “Q” turret and setting fire to the cordite propellant, the flash soon spread to the magazine and INVINCIBLE was ripped in two by the explosion. There were only three survivors with those killed including Rear-Admiral The Hon Horace Hood IWM SP 2468

The Germans, who had lost 11 ships including battlecruiser Lützow, pre-dreadnought Pommern and light cruisers Frauenlob, Elbing, Rostock, Wiesbadenand, as well as over 2,500 men. The battlecruiser Seydlitz suffered almost unimaginable damage.

German battle cruiser Seydlitz burns in the Battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916

German battle cruiser Seydlitz burns in the Battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916

German battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz,low in the water after jtland

German battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz,low in the water after Jutland

german and brtish losses at jutland
Beatty withdrew until Jellicoe arrived, sending the Germans running for their bases, not to emerge again until surrender in 1918.

More on the official commemorations here and here.

The BBC has live coverage of today’s events here.

German naval artist Claus Bergen did some of the best and most nightmarish depictions of Skagerrak, and they are in a past Combat Gallery Sunday post, here.


Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Thomas Baumgartner

0
0

Much as once a week I like to take time off to cover warships (Wednesdays), on Sundays (when I feel like working), I like to cover military art and the painters, illustrators, sculptors, photographers and the like that produced them.

Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Thomas Baumgartner

Born in Munich in 15 July 1892, Thomas Baumgartner was a Bavarian through and through. Studying at the Aktklasse at the Munich Academy from 1911, he was awarded the prestigious Goldene Medaille from the Münchner Glaspalast following exhibition of his works, including that of General Von Keller in particular.

Specializing in portraits, the young man was not picky about who he painted, spending the same amount of time and attention on both high society and common man

Portrait of Bavarian author Ludwig Thoma by Thomas Baumgartner 1912. This image was oddly enough used by a brand of beer and thus on beer steins in Munich for years.

Portrait of Bavarian author Ludwig Thoma by Thomas Baumgartner 1912. This image was oddly enough used by a brand of beer and thus on beer steins in Munich for years.

Bavarian Koenig Ludwig III

Bavarian Koenig Ludwig III

During the Great War, Baumgartner was tapped to continue to craft portraits of high-ranking Bavarian and other German officers, as well as a wonderful series of paintings of captured Allied troops highlighting their uniforms in 1916.

Assorted Russians

Assorted Russians from three different regiments, with the soldier in the center wearing the typical short cap of those worn by Tsarist Rifles battalion.

Portraits of soldiers first world war by Thomas Baumgartner (1892-1962) 8

Asiatic Russians. The one on the right is a junior NCO, a lance sergeant, as noted by his pogoni (shoulder boards) too bad you can’t make out the regimental number

Portraits of soldiers first world war by Thomas Baumgartner (1892-1962) 9

Note the scars on these West African French soldiers, likely from Senegal

Portraits of soldiers first world war by Thomas Baumgartner (1892-1962) 7

Asian Commonwealth soldiers, likely from the Malay Rifles though it is broadly possible though unlikely they are from “The Suicide Battalion” 46th Battalion (South Saskatchewan), CEF due to the battalion insignia. The 10th Regiment (1st Burma Rifles) Madras Infantry was formed during the war, but served in the Middle East after Baumgartner painted this picture, making it unlikely these men were from that unit.

Portraits of soldiers first world war by Thomas Baumgartner (1892-1962) 6

British Indian troops

Portraits of soldiers first world war by Thomas Baumgartner (1892-1962) 5

French Tirailleur Algerians

French Tirailleur Algerians

Nepalese Gurhkas

Nepalese Gurhkas

Scots

Scots, with tartans very close to that of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

Portraits of soldiers first world war by Thomas Baumgartner (1892-1962)

British commonwealth troops, possibly from the West Indies but it’s hard to tell without shoulder or collar insignia

After the War, Baumgartner resumed his more traditional work.

In the 1920s he became first a regular contributor then later an editor for Jugend (Youth) magazine, a Bavarian art journal that popularized “Jugendstil” a sort of German art nouveau style that remained well liked through the Wiemar era while the style lost favor in the rest of the world.

jugend

Jugend remained in publication, though heavily edited, after the Nazis came to power, until 1940 when it folded for good. After all, Hitler thought himself both something of an artist and a Bavarian.

This led Baumgartner into some very dark works during the 1930s and 40s including Der Kampf des Arztes mit dem Tod but was nonetheless an “approved artist” under National Socialism and during the same time provided portrait services to many in the upper level of the Third Reich, which I don’t have the stomach to repeat here.

He was one of the driving forces behind founding the Haus der Deutschen Kunst (House of German Art) in Munich.

Baumgartner survived the war and lived until 1962, returning to the occasional portrait of those close to him in the twilight of his life.

Baumgartner's neighbor in Kreuth, farmer Lorenz Hagen, who was 99 years and 9 months old when painted.

Baumgartner’s neighbor in Kreuth, farmer Lorenz Hagen, who was 99 years and 9 months old when painted.

Some 46 of his paintings are in the collection of the Deutschen Nationalbibliothek and his traditional portraits trade modestly.

Thank you for your work, sir.



This is sure to get your attention in the trenches

0
0

Here we see perhaps the pinnacle of German Great War sniping rifles.

JP Sauer & Sohn Gewehr 98 Sniper Rifle with detachable Zeiss 2.5x monocular optical sight that superimposed a pyramidal aiming point in the field of view and trench mag 2
It is a JP Sauer & Sohn Gewehr 98 Sniper Rifle with detachable Zeiss 2.5x monocular optical sight that superimposed a pyramidal aiming point in the field of view. The large objective allowed for better light-gathering, but the best feature was a radium-enhanced reticle that allowed precise sighting in near darkness.

JP Sauer & Sohn Gewehr 98 Sniper Rifle with detachable Zeiss 2.5x monocular optical sight that superimposed a pyramidal aiming point in the field of view and trench mag

Best of all, the optic could be removed easily if the regular “iron sights” were the best for a specific shooting scenario.

Also of note is the 20-round “trench mag,” hinged breech cover to keep mud, blood and beer out, and the classic Mauser pigsticker on the end, for when raiders come a’ callin.


No .4 gun reporting for duty

0
0

From Kevin Smith at the Cruiser Olympia at Independence Seaport Museum:

“Today the crew performed the task of a gunners gang, taking down the traversing gear for our #4 5″/51 broadside gun, which we use for demonstration. The gearing was assessed to be too dirty, slowing the travel of the gun left and right. The gearing was taken apart, cleaned thoroughly, and greased anew”

USS Olympia museum No 4 5 inch 51 broadside gun, used for demonstration, cleaned USS Olympia museum No 4 5 inch 51 broadside gun, used for demonstration, cleaned 2 USS Olympia museum No 4 5 inch 51 broadside gun, used for demonstration, cleaned 3 USS Olympia museum No 4 5 inch 51 broadside gun, used for demonstration, cleaned 4
USS Olympia (C-6) was of course Dewey’s flag at Manila Bay, commissioned 5 February 1895 after her completion in San Francisco.

Laid up in 1906, she was brought back out of mothballs in 1916 with the Great War on the horizon and her 5″/40 cals that she carried against the Spanish were replaced with the newer 5″/51s that were standard on battleships (as secondary armament) and cruisers of that time.

She carried and used those weapons in training new bluejacket gunners during the war, then in support of the U.S. Expeditionary Forces to Russia during the civil war in that country, and in carrying the Unknown Soldier of WWI back from France.

It’s nice to see, that although she was decommissioned as a warship 9 December 1922 (now some 93-years ago) and has been used as a relic and museum ship since, at least one of these old 5-inch casemate guns is still fit for service.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA


You do know the Standschutze Hellriegel, don’t you?

0
0

Historical Firearms has a good piece on the the Austro-Hungarian Standschutze Hellriegel submachine gun. Apparently this mad bulky water cooled (!) burp gun was developed during 1915 and blended pistol caliber ammunition with the firepower of a machine gun making it one of the first weapons which could be considered an SMG.

When you think SMG, you don't really think something with the same portability as a Vickers Maxim with 1/10th the range

When you think SMG, you don’t really think something with the same portability as a Vickers Maxim with 1/10th the range

Dig the assistant gunner with the leather and wood frame spare mag carrier

Dig the assistant gunner waiting patently with the leather and wood frame spare mag carrier

That looks easy to load

That looks easy to load

More here


Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Geoffrey Stephen Allfree

0
0

Much as once a week I like to take time off to cover warships (Wednesdays), on Sundays (when I feel like working), I like to cover military art and the painters, illustrators, sculptors, photographers and the like that produced them.

Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Geoffrey Stephen Allfree

Born 11 Feb 1889 in Kent, England, to the Rev Francis Allfree– the vicar of the Parish of St Nicholas-at-Wade and Sarre, young Geoffrey Stephen Allfree embarked on a career as a merchant mariner until 1911 when he took up painting.

He volunteered to take the King’s Schilling at the outbreak of war in 1914 as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve and served several years in motor launches. By 1918, he was named a war artist and covered a number of maritime subjects of the Great War.

The Wake of a P-boat. A view from the stern of a patrol boat of the waves and spray created by the boat as it moves across the surface of the water. Another vessel is visible in the patrol boat's wake..IWM ART 563

The Wake of a P-boat. A view from the stern of a patrol boat of the waves and spray created by the boat as it moves across the surface of the water. Another vessel is visible in the patrol boat’s wake..IWM ART 563

A Monitor's Turret. A detailed side-on view of the two-gun turret of a Monitor, with part of the ship's superstructure visible behind the turrent to the left. A portion of the deck is visible, with a sailor standing on it in the right foreground. The silhouettes of buildings are visible in the background, showing that the Monitor is moored in a dock. IWM 564

A Monitor’s Turret. A detailed side-on view of the two-gun turret of a Monitor, with part of the ship’s superstructure visible behind the turrent to the left. A portion of the deck is visible, with a sailor standing on it in the right foreground. The silhouettes of buildings are visible in the background, showing that the Monitor is moored in a dock. IWM 564

Submarines In Dry Dock. a view of two Royal Navy submarines being refitted in a dry dock. The foremost submarine is shown from the bow, whilst the second, to the left, is shown from the stern. Both are supported by scaffolding and struts. Men work on the deck and hull of the foremost submarine, with a few men also standing on the floor of the dry dock. IWM 777

Submarines In Dry Dock. a view of two Royal Navy submarines being refitted in a dry dock. The foremost submarine is shown from the bow, whilst the second, to the left, is shown from the stern. Both are supported by scaffolding and struts. Men work on the deck and hull of the foremost submarine, with a few men also standing on the floor of the dry dock. IWM 777

HMS Revenge in Dry Dock, Portsmouth, 1918. A view of the looming bow of the Royal Navy battleship HMS Revenge whilst undergoing maintenance in dry dock at Portsmouth. The huge ship is tethered to the dockside and supported against the side of the dock with large struts. The lower half of the hull, usually below the water level, is a rusty orange colour. Only the tallest part of the ship's superstructure is visible at the top of the composition. The lead ship of her class of 5 30,000-ton modern battleships, Revenge was commissioned in 1916, just before the Battle of Jutland and survived both World Wars, going to the breakers in 1948. IWM 765

HMS Revenge in Dry Dock, Portsmouth, 1918. A view of the looming bow of the Royal Navy battleship HMS Revenge whilst undergoing maintenance in dry dock at Portsmouth. The huge ship is tethered to the dockside and supported against the side of the dock with large struts. The lower half of the hull, usually below the water level, is a rusty orange color. Only the tallest part of the ship’s superstructure is visible at the top of the composition. The lead ship of her class of 5 30,000-ton modern battleships, Revenge was commissioned in 1916, just before the Battle of Jutland and survived both World Wars, going to the breakers in 1948. IWM 765

HMS Revenge In Dry Dock At Night, Portsmouth The Work was Continued through the Night by the Aid of Huge Flares. IWM 761

HMS Revenge In Dry Dock At Night, Portsmouth The Work was Continued through the Night by the Aid of Huge Flares. IWM 761

A Monitor. A front-on view of a large Monitor at sea, with its two-gun turret facing towards the bow. Parts of the ship's superstructure are painted in a chequered pattern. A number of sailors are visible standing on deck and there is a stationary gun platform visible in the background to the left. IWM 568

A Monitor. A front-on view of a large Monitor at sea, with its two-gun turret facing towards the bow. Parts of the ship’s superstructure are painted in a chequered pattern. A number of sailors are visible standing on deck and there is a stationary gun platform visible in the background to the left. IWM 568

Dazzled Tramp In Portsmouth Harbour. a view of the starboard side of a dazzle camouflaged Merchant Navy transport ship, which is moored in Portsmouth harbour. IWM 793

Dazzled Tramp In Portsmouth Harbour. a view of the starboard side of a dazzle camouflaged Merchant Navy transport ship, which is moored in Portsmouth harbour. IWM 793

A Torpedoed Tramp Steamer off the Longships, Cornwall, 1918. A tramp-steamer in dazzle camouflage keeled over to port and grounded on a cliff-lined Cornish beach. A heavy sea flecked with foam washes over the wreck, while a stormy sky passes overhead. Shafts of sunlight illuminate the sea and cliffs with an unearthly glow. The remains of an earlier wreck can be seen stranded on the point in the upper left. IWM 2237.

A Torpedoed Tramp Steamer off the Longships, Cornwall, 1918. A tramp-steamer in dazzle camouflage keeled over to port and grounded on a cliff-lined Cornish beach. A heavy sea flecked with foam washes over the wreck, while a stormy sky passes overhead. Shafts of sunlight illuminate the sea and cliffs with an unearthly glow. The remains of an earlier wreck can be seen stranded on the point in the upper left. IWM 2237.

HMS Iron Duke. The ship is starboard side on, steaming from left to right with a smaller ship in front of the battleship's bow. The lead ship of her 29,000-ton class, Iron Duke was commissioned into the Home Fleet in March 1914 as the fleet flagship, fought at Jutland, and made it through WWII to be broken in 1946. IWM149.

HMS Iron Duke. The ship is starboard side on, steaming from left to right with a smaller ship in front of the battleship’s bow. The lead ship of her 29,000-ton class, Iron Duke was commissioned into the Home Fleet in March 1914 as the fleet flagship, fought at Jutland, and made it through WWII to be broken in 1946. IWM149.

A Dazzled Oiler, With Escort. A large dazzle-painted oiler at sea being escorted by a smaller vessel, with the white chalk cliffs of the coastline visible in the background. IWM 567.

A Dazzled Oiler, With Escort. A large dazzle-painted oiler at sea being escorted by a smaller vessel, with the white chalk cliffs of the coastline visible in the background. IWM 567.

Motor Launches Engaging a Submarine. A motor launch at full steam, moving from right to left, with her bow lifting out of the water. Two figures on the deck are manning a light gun. Another motor launch is visible just behind. Both are moving quickly towards a German submarine that has surfaced, in the background to the left. The artist served in motor launched throughout the war, even while in work as a war artist, so this image was real life for him. IWM 148

Motor Launches Engaging a Submarine. A motor launch at full steam, moving from right to left, with her bow lifting out of the water. Two figures on the deck are manning a light gun. Another motor launch is visible just behind. Both are moving quickly towards a German submarine that has surfaced, in the background to the left. The artist served in motor launched throughout the war, even while in work as a war artist, so this image was real life for him. IWM 148

His work included very popular if stark memorial art to the loss of the cruiser HMS Hampshire

Speaking of loss, the artist was killed at age 29 during the war when on 29 Sept 1918– just six weeks before the Armistice– his craft, HM Motor Launch No. 247, was lost at sea.

From the IWM:

A four boat flotilla of Motor Launches had entered St Ives Bay for shelter during a strong southerly gale, which rapidly escalated to hurricane force winds. In the eye of the storm,the Motor Launches started engines and tried desperately to work their way into deeper water. Allfree’s launch developed engine trouble, one mile off Clodgy Point and started to drift helplessly towards Oar Rock. The St. Ives’ lifeboat raced to reach the stricken ship, but arrived minutes too late by which time the launch had blown up on impact with the rock, presumably as its depth charges detonated. There was only one survivor.

He is commemorated on a brass tablet in St Nicholas’ church as well as on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

A number of his pieces are in the National Collection in the UK and displayed at various public locations while the Imperial War Museum has some 53 on file and keeps a detail of his own biography as part of their Lives of the First World War series.

Thank you for your work, sir.


Warship Wednesday June 22, 2016: A hard luck mini battlewagon

0
0

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday June 22, 2016: A hard luck mini battlewagon

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 46708. Colorized by irootoko_jr.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 46708. Colorized by irootoko_jr.

Here we see the proud Mississippi-class battleship Lemnos, sometimes spelled Limnos (Greek: Θ/Κ Λήμνος) of the Royal Hellenic Navy at Constantinople, Turkey, probably in 1919. The Greek torpedo boat Dafni (completed 1913) is alongside.  At the time this image was taken she had but 15 years on her oldest keel plate and another 22 years of service ahead of her.

First, let us talk about her background.

Authorized under the Naval Budget of 1903, the two-ship Mississippi-class battlewagons were the last predreadnought battleships to be designed for the U.S. Navy and were a compromise design aimed at saving money while still being able to compete with the British, French, Germans and, increasingly, Japanese on a global scale.

NH 76662 NH 76661
Smaller than the 16,000-ton Connecticut-class that preceded them, the Misssip‘s were squatty 13,000-ton ships with roughly the same armament (4x 12″/45 caliber Mark 5 guns in a pair of twin turrets) but could carry more rounds per tube (71 vs the Connecticuts‘ 60) and could be built for about 70 percent of the price. However, they were slower (just 17 knots compared to 18.85), and even if coal was wedged in every nook and cranny (which could lead to fire and explosions) they could only steam 5,800 nautical miles at 10 knots whereas some of the Connys could go 7,590nm.

And of course, when HMS Dreadnought was commissioned 2 December 1906, every battleship in every navy around the world was obsolete.

When meant that when the Greek battlewagon of our tale, which started off as USS Idaho (Battleship #24), Mississippi‘s sistership, was commissioned after construction at William Cramp and Sons on 1 April 1908, she was already second-class at best.

At best.

Still, Idaho was beautiful and new and the Navy had fun showing her off to the citizens of the country in the days of the Great White Fleet.

NH 60214 Naval History and Heritage Command. Both ships of this class initially carried a pole mast above the conning tower, though shortly after commissioning, both ships had lattice masts added aft, and in 1910, the forward masts were replaced with lattice masts. Also note the elegant white and buff scheme, similar to that of the Great White Fleet that she was built too late for, that she carried for just a few months.

Idaho in 1909 just after commissioning. NH 60214 Naval History and Heritage Command. Both ships of this class initially carried a pole mast above the conning tower as shown in the plans above this photo, though shortly after commissioning, both ships had lattice masts added aft, and in 1910, the forward masts were replaced with lattice masts. Also note the elegant white and buff scheme, similar to that of the Great White Fleet that she was built too late for, that she carried for just a few months.

Figurehead, USS IDAHO Caption: Photographed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28 June 1909. Description: Presented by information section, O.N.I., 1927. This was soon removed in the effort to make the fleet more battle-ready, but I cannot find what happened to it. Catalog #: NH 115210

Figurehead, USS IDAHO Caption: Photographed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28 June 1909. Description: Presented by information section, O.N.I., 1927. This was soon removed in the effort to make the fleet more battle-ready, but I cannot find what happened to it. Most of these ornate crests were donated to state legislatures or kept by the Navy and used to adorn bases. Catalog #: NH 115210

(Battleship # 24) Photographed in 1909 by Brown & Shaffer. Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 101497

Idaho (Battleship # 24) Photographed summer 1909 by Brown & Shaffer. Note how she is now wearing haze gray and her figurehead shown above is removed. Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 101497

Idaho joined the giant international naval review that was Hudson-Fulton in New York City from 25 Sept- 9 October 1909 upon the Hudson River just after greeting the Great White Fleet at Hampton Roads upon their return to U.S. waters.

Idaho (Battleship # 24) In the Hudson River off Fort Lee, New York, 1909. Photographed by William H. Rau. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Idaho (Battleship # 24) In the Hudson River off Fort Lee, New York, 1909. Photographed by William H. Rau. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Then the 1911 Naval Review

USS IDAHO (BB-24) Off New York City, 3 October 1911, during the naval review. Note she now has two lattice masts rather than the single aft one shown above. Catalog #: 19-N-13812 National Archives

USS IDAHO (BB-24) Off New York City, 3 October 1911, during the naval review with Grant’s Tomb visible just over her port side. Note she now has two lattice masts rather than the single aft one shown above. Catalog #: 19-N-13812 National Archives

And the 1912 Naval Review

USS Idaho (Battleship # 24) Dressed with flags during the Naval Review off New York City, October 1912. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. The number 30 is her place in the review.

USS Idaho (Battleship # 24) Dressed with flags during the Naval Review off New York City, October 1912. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. The number 30 is her place in the review.

In fact, in the 6.3 years of semi-active service she gave her nation, Idaho‘s only tense times were a trip right after she was commissioned to Panama where she observed the elections there and then in the summer of 1913 when she was in Mexican waters for the near constant series of crisis during that country’s revolution and civil wars.

Idaho did embark mids and naval militia on training cruises, wave the flag in Europe, and even sail as far up the Mississippi River as Vicksburg– possibly the last battleship to do so.

Still, in a move to make way for newer, larger dreadnought-style vessels, Asst. Scty of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to put enough pressure on to get rid of the low-mileage Idaho and her sister Mississippi by selling them to Greece amid the growing crisis in Europe that would bloom into World War I– making them the largest warships the Hellenic Navy ever operated.

The Greek battleline at the time consisted of the Italian-made Pisa-class armored cruiser Georgios Averof (10,200-tons/4×9.2-inch guns) and their elderly French-built ironclads: Hydra, Spetsai, and Psara– which were exceptionally small at just 5,300-tons, lightly armed (3x 10-inch guns) and slow (16 knots).

In a capital move, Greece paid $12,535,275 for the two American battleships– their full building cost.

So in effect, the U.S. got a  refund on the vessels when they transferred on 30 July 1914. Further, the funds were used to construct the New Mexico-class super-dreadnought, Idaho (BB-42), which at the time was unfunded by Congress.

Class leader Mississippi was renamed Kilkis after the crucial battle of the Second Balkan War, while Idaho became Limnos in honor of a victorious naval battle over the Turkish Navy during the First Balkan War.

Can you tell who Greece’s main rival was at the time?

Cruiser Averoff sandwiched with Kilkis and Lemnos

Cruiser Averoff outboard with Kilkis (ex-Mississippi) who has a very dark new scheme and Lemnos (ex-Idaho)

Greece’s World War I record was spotty and the French disarmed the two battleships in 1916 just to be on the safe side, reducing their crews and impounding their shells, breechblocks, rangefinders and torpedoes. However, after a change of government, the Greeks were allowed to rearm and nominally served in the Aegean in the last months of 1918– keeping an eye on the Turks.

Greek predreadnought battleship Kilkis (former USS Mississippi), Grand Harbour, Malta 1917

Greek predreadnought battleship Kilkis (former USS Mississippi), Grand Harbour, Malta 1917.

After the end of the war, Lemnos penetrated the Straits with the Allies and remained in and out of the Black and Marma Seas supporting Allied Intervention Forces in South Russia and the general occupation effort in rapidly imploding Turkey.

Speaking of which, both ships became very active once Greece and Turkey went to war in May 1919 and remained that way for the next three years.

Lemnos (Greek battleship, 1914) Firing a salute to U.S. Navy Admiral Mark L. Bristol, at Smyrna, Turkey, 15 September 1919. Lemnos is flying the U.S. and Greek flags at the foremast peak and the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. A British D-class light cruiser is in the right distance, also with the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Lemnos (Greek battleship) Firing a salute to U.S. Navy Admiral Mark L. Bristol, at Smyrna, Turkey, 15 September 1919. Lemnos is flying the U.S. and Greek flags at the foremast peak and the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. A British D-class light cruiser is in the right distance, also with the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Lemnos Dressed with flags at Smyrna, Turkey, in 1919, possibly on 15 September. She is flying the Greek flag at the foremast peak and the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. Photographed by Wayne. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.Catalog #: NH 46707

Lemnos Dressed with flags at Smyrna, Turkey, in 1919, possibly on 15 September. She is flying the Greek flag at the foremast peak and the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. Photographed by Wayne. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.Catalog #: NH 46707

The two battleships helped in the occupation and then evacuation of Smyrna in the disaster following the Greek collapse and their skippers cast their lot with the uprising by the Greek army and navy against the government in Athens in Sept 1922 that effected regime change by forcing the unpopular King Constantine I to abdicate and leave the country, with a military junta ruling the country until early 1924, shortly before the Greek monarchy was abolished and the Second Hellenic Republic established.

After 1932, Lemnos landed most of her guns, turrets and even a good bit of her armor plate, which were utilized as coastal defense batteries around island straits and choke points in Greek waters for another couple of decades (more on this below). She remained afloat with her likewise mothballed but sill armed sistership, being utilized for barracks, receiving and depot duties until World War II.

When the Germans busted through Greece in April 1941, both ships were found at anchor in shallow water at Salamis near Athens by Luftwaffe Ju-87 Stukas and were plastered.

German still of Lemnos and Kilkis under attack 13 April

German footage of Lemnos foreground and Kilkis background under attack 23 April

Photo #: NH 77440 Greek battleships Kilkis and Lemnos Sunk in the basin of the Greek naval base at Salamis after they were hit by German air attacks on 23 April 1941. Seen from the harbor pier following the arrival of the German army. Kilkis, the former USS Mississippi (Battleship # 23), is in the foreground. Lemnos, ex-USS Idaho (Battleship # 24), is in the distance, with her guns removed. Franz Selinger, via the U.S. Naval Institute, provided photograph and some caption information. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Photo #: NH 77440 Greek battleships Kilkis and Lemnos sunk in the basin of the Greek naval base at Salamis after they were hit by German air attacks on 23 April 1941. Seen from the harbor pier following the arrival of the German army. Kilkis, the former USS Mississippi (Battleship # 23), is in the foreground. Lemnos, ex-USS Idaho (Battleship # 24), is in the distance, with her guns removed. Franz Selinger, via the U.S. Naval Institute, provided photograph and some caption information. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Battleship Kilkis sunk

Battleship Kilkis sunk, German aerial photo. Note she still has her guns. Those on Idaho/Lemnos were removed before the war for use ashore.

Both ships remained on the bottom and they were broken up after the war.

But what of the guns we mentioned above?

The twin 12 inch (305mm) turrets from the Lemnos were installed in the 1930s at Cape Tourlos (37.767069, 23.554406) on the island of Aegina where they helped to defend the approaches to the port of Athens.

a_batt48

Captured by the Germans in 1941, they were manned by Marineartillerieabteilung 603 (MKB Ägina-Nord) until October 1944 and– along with the 19 152mm guns manned by the Italians on the island of Leros– helped proved the basis for the fictional “Guns of Navarone” by the Scottish writer Alistair MacLean, though in the book they were described as 280mm railway guns.

The emplacements (less guns) appear to be still visible on Google Earth. Idaho‘s 8″ and 7″ guns were likewise scattered and, knowing the Germans, may have been relocated anywhere in Festung Europa.

While it’s possible some of Idaho‘s guns and armor are somewhere in a forgotten coastal defense battery long since left to ruin, items left in the States from these briefly-used ships are slim.

The silver service and ship’s figurehead shield from the Mississippi are in downtown Jackson at the Magnolia State’s Capitol.

uss mississippi shield
Idaho‘s Tiffany & Co. presentation silver service, seen below in a 1912 photo, went on to serve on the Greek-funded USS Idaho BB-42 and was turned over to her namesake state in 1942 to prevent it from being lost during WWII. It had been paid for by a $7,500 allocation by the legislature in Boise and presented by Gov. Hawley to BB-24 some four years after she was commissioned.

idaho silver service 1912
I can only assume it is somewhere in Boise, hopefully on display.

The USS Idaho website remembers all ships of that name.

Specs:

As built, U.S. service, image via Shipbucket

As built, U.S. service, image via Shipbucket

In Greek service, image via Shipbucket

In Greek service, image via Shipbucket

Displacement: 13,000 long tons (13,200 metric tons); 14,500 full load
Length:     382 ft. (116 m)
Beam:     77 ft. (23 m)
Draft:     24.7 ft. (7.5 m)
Speed:     17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Range:        1,900 nm at 10 knots with standard 600t coal bunkerage. When overloaded with 1,800 tons could make 5,800
Complement: 34 officers and 710 enlisted in U.S. service. Unknown in Hellenic service.
Armament:     (As commissioned, largely disarmed 1932)
4 × 12 in (305 mm)/45 caliber Mark 5 guns (2×2)
8 × 8 in (203 mm)/45 caliber guns (4×2)
8 × 7 in (180 mm)/45 caliber Mark 2 guns
12 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns
2 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:
Belt: 7–9 in (178–229 mm)
Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm)
Turret (mains) 8–12 in (203–305 mm)
Turret (secondary): 7 in (178 mm)
Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has it place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!


Combat Gallery Sunday: The Martial Art of Geoffrey Muirhead Bone, of the Somme and the Sea

0
0

Much as once a week I like to take time off to cover warships (Wednesdays), on Sundays (when I feel like working), I like to cover military art and the painters, illustrators, sculptors, photographers and the like that produced them.

Combat Gallery Sunday: The Martial Art of Geoffrey Muirhead Bone

Sir Muirhead Bone N.E.A.C., H.R.W.S., H.R.S.A was born 23 March 1876 in Glasgow, the son of a journalist. Bone trained to be an architect, whilst attending evening drawing classes at Glasgow School of Art where, in 1894, he decided to become an artist.

He worked for a period as a freelance illustrator for the Scots Pictorial as he honed his skill in pencil, watercolor, charcoal and gouache; as well as an etcher and sculptor.

Summer, Isle of Whithorn 1930

Summer, Isle of Whithorn

His drawings of Scotland served as inspiration for later etchings, and this precise and charming watercolor has all the definition of an etching. Bone was an outstanding draughtsman with an acute sense of observation. Bone moved to London in 1901 but was to travel extensively throughout his life.

In May 1916, at the suggestion of William Rothenstein, 40-year-old Bone was appointed the first Official War Artist of the British War Propaganda Bureau, serving with Allied forces on the Western Front and for a time with the Navy.

The war artist Lieutenant Muirhead Bone crossing a muddy road, Maricourt, September 1916. IWM

The war artist Lieutenant Muirhead Bone crossing a muddy road, Maricourt, September 1916. IWM

His first assignment: The Somme, where the flower of British and Commonwealth youth was snuffed out in the blink of an eye 100 years ago this month.

As noted by the Imperial War Museum:

Bone arrived in France on 16 August 1916 at the height of the Somme offensive. He was made an honorary second lieutenant and provided with a car, giving him easier access to the battlefields.

He toured the Somme battlefields in the south – Maricourt, Fricourt, Montauban, Mametz Wood, Contalmaison, Trônes Wood, High Wood, Delville Wood and Pozières. He worked quickly in pencil, pen, charcoal and chalk and by 6 October had sent home approximately 150 finished drawings.

He mostly recorded life behind the lines, illustrating the context and impact of the battle rather than scenes of fighting. He depicted the work of the medical services, encampments, soldiers off duty, soldiers marching, landscapes and ruined towns.

He later said: ‘I did not like to imagine war scenes & so only drew what I saw & then only when I had a chance to draw it. I am afraid [this] resulted in rather prosaic work’.

The detail and accuracy of Bone’s drawings provided an authentic, eyewitness record of the immense logistic efforts of the Somme, one that proved extremely popular and resulted in more war artists being commissioned.

The Querrieu - Albert Road An Anti-observation screen

The Querrieu – Albert Road An Anti-observation screen

Welsh Soldiers

Welsh Soldiers

tanks!

tanks!

Erecting Aeroplanes

Erecting Aeroplanes

The Château, Foucaucourt

The Château, Foucaucourt

A Dead Tank

A Dead Tank

Guards Mustering for a Royal Review behind the Somme 1916

Guards Mustering for a Royal Review behind the Somme 1916

Watching our Artillery Fire on Trônes Wood from Montauban 1916

Watching our Artillery Fire on Trônes Wood from Montauban 1916

The Untilled Fields

The Untilled Fields

Tommy, pencil 1916

Tommy, pencil 1916

Many of these were published during the war as The Western Front, a two-volume set of drawings with captions by Muirhead Bone, published in 1917, which is a classic of military art for the past 99 years.

The cover of The Western Front: Drawings by Muirhead Bone. Click here to download the full volume of drawings. https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2014/08/Country-Life_The-Western-Front_Muirhead-Bone_Part-I.pdf

The cover of The Western Front: Drawings by Muirhead Bone. Click here to download the full volume of drawings.

There was evidence this volume was used as propaganda during the war with the government’s own bio of Bone stating:

12,000 copies of the publications were to be sold, 12,000 were to be used for propaganda and 6,000 were sent to America. The publication was also translated into French (Agence et Messageries du Figaro, 1916) and 300 of these editions were sent to France along with 500 in the original English. Plates and postcards were also reproduced for distribution. There is also evidence to prove, however, that what was represented in Bone’s sketches, etchings and lithographs was represented as truthfully as possible.

Besides his work on the Western Front, he spent a good bit of 1917 observing the wartime RN, which enabled him to publish With the Grand Fleet

Between Decks (H.M.S. “Lion”)

Between Decks (H.M.S. “Lion”)

HMS Lion A Gun Turret

HMS Lion: A Gun Turret

Mounting a Great Gun

Mounting a Great Gun

Final Assembly of a Naval Great Gun

Final Assembly of a Naval Great Gun

Nightwork on the Great Gun 1917

Nightwork on the Great Gun 1917

Between the wars, he returned to what he loved and knew best: landscapes.

Then came WWII and Bone was off again, becoming a full-time salaried artist to the Ministry of Information specializing in Admiralty subjects.

Sir Muirhead Bone at work on the bridge. 1940

Sir Muirhead Bone, age 64, at work on the bridge. 1940

HMS Illustrious entering the Basin at John Brown's Shipyard, Clydebank 1940

HMS Illustrious entering the Basin at John Brown’s Shipyard, Clydebank 1940

Building HM Submarine Tradewind, a Royal Navy submarine under construction in a dockyard. The hull is in place in the water, with numerous workers on deck, where they are busy assembling the conning tower and whole upper deck. Two large cranes are visible in the background and there is a large rowing boat in the water in the left foreground. IWM ART LD 3315. Built as P329 at Chatham, and launched on 11 December 1942, HMS Tradewind was infamous for sinking the Japanese army cargo ship Junyō Maru on 18 September 1944. Unbeknown to the Commanding Officer of Tradewind, Lt.Cdr. Lynch Maydon, the Junyō Maru was carrying 4,200 Javanese slave labourers and 2,300 Allied prisoners of war of which she took down 5,620 with her into the darkness.

Building HM Submarine Tradewind, a Royal Navy submarine under construction in a dockyard. The hull is in place in the water, with numerous workers on deck, where they are busy assembling the conning tower and whole upper deck. Two large cranes are visible in the background and there is a large rowing boat in the water in the left foreground. IWM ART LD 3315. Built as P329 at Chatham, and launched on 11 December 1942, HMS Tradewind was infamous for sinking the Japanese army cargo ship Junyō Maru on 18 September 1944. Unbeknown to the Commanding Officer of Tradewind, Lt.Cdr. Lynch Maydon, the Junyō Maru was carrying 4,200 Javanese slave laborers and 2,300 Allied prisoners of war of which she took down 5,620 with her into the darkness.

A portrait of George Anderson and Lawrence Smith Halcrow, shown manning a Lewis gun in an emplacement on the deck of SS Highlander. IWM 3020

A portrait of George Anderson and Lawrence Smith Halcrow, shown manning a Lewis gun in an emplacement on the deck of SS Highlander. IWM 3020

Lowering a mine into the mining deck, Dec. 1940

Lowering a mine into the mining deck, Dec. 1940

Mine laying off Iceland

Minelaying off Iceland

Minelaying: The last of the lay

Minelaying: The last of the lay

Sir Muirhead Bone died on 21 October 1953 in Oxford, aged 77

Much of his Bone’s art is preserved and on public display throughout the UK, cataloged over at Art UK and in the collection of the Imperial War Museum and the Tate.

Thank you for your work, sir.


1916 redux

0
0

I’m not sure the origin of these layouts of 1916 military infantryman’s gear, but they are great.

French. Note this is well after the war began as the red trousers have been replaced.

The kit of a French Private Soldier in the Battle of Verdun, 1916, collection provided by Paul Bristow, Croix de Guerre Living History Group, photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note this is well after the war began as the red trousers have been replaced and the extensive grenade collection. The non-standard walking cane is great

British/Commonwealth. Note the SMLE .303 with bayonet and wirecutting accessory just off the muzzle. Also the extensive field mess kit. To the left there is the classic non-standard trench mace and the E-tool handle with pike/shovel blade.

Equipment of a British Sergeant in the Battle of the Somme, 1916. Supplied by Nigel Bristow, The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment. photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note the SMLE .303 with bayonet and wire-cutting accessory just off the muzzle. Also the extensive field mess kit. To the left there is the classic non-standard trench mace and the E-tool handle with pike/shovel blade. The canvas cover on the Brodie helmet is rare.

German. Note the camoflauged Stalhelm at the top right and the rifle grenade near the muzzle of the Gew 98 Mauser.

Equipment of a German Private in the Battle of the Somme, 1916, collection provided by Paul Bristow, Croix de Guerre Living History Group, photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note the camouflaged Stalhelm at the top right and the rifle grenade near the muzzle of the Gew 98 Mauser.

 

Russian. They spent a lot of effort on this one as you can tell from the ushanka fur cap (left) Shinel greatcoat (right) Gymnastiorka selection, Bashlyk Circassian hood and gloves. Also note the M1912 "Lantern Head" Grenade. Curiously, the Russians, widely beleived by many to be backward militarily at the time, was one of the first to adopt and issue hand grenades before the War to include the M1912 and the hex-shaped design of Col. Stender-- having gained experience in field expediant ones in the 1904-05 Seige of Port Arthur. This partiular model was redesigned and lived on as the M1914/30 which was only totally withdrawn from Warsaw Pact service in the 1980s. The only thing I have to throw rocks at on this one is that I think the rifle is a 91/30 and not a Mosin 91, but close enough. Also, the Adrian helmets were only used by the Russian Expeditionary Brigade sent to the Western Front.

Equipment from the 1st Russian Women’s Battalion of Death, collection supplied by Bruce Chopping, Ian Skinner and Laura Whitehouse of the 1914-21 Society, photographed by Thom Atkinson. They spent a lot of effort on this one as you can tell from the ushanka fur cap (left) Shinel greatcoat (right) Gymnastiorka selection, Bashlyk Circassian hood and gloves. Also note the M1912 “Lantern Head” Grenade. Curiously, the Russians, widely believed by many to be backward militarily at the time, was one of the first to adopt and issue hand grenades before the War to include the M1912 and the hex-shaped design of Col. Stender– having gained experience in field expedient ones in the 1904-05 Siege of Port Arthur. This particular model was redesigned and lived on as the M1914/30 which was only totally withdrawn from Warsaw Pact service in the 1980s. The only thing I have to throw rocks at on this one is that I think the rifle is a 91/30 and not a Mosin 91 (and many images of the Women’s Battalion show them with Japanese Arisakas, but I digress), but close enough. Also, the Adrian helmets were only used by the Russian Expeditionary Brigade sent to the Western Front.

US Infantryman (Doughboy), arrival in France, 1917. Equipment provided by: Lee Martin, historical adviser, collector and living historian, photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note the cleanest campaign hat ever! Also keep in mind that, while the "Regulars" showed up in France with M1903 Springfields, most of the new Yanks came over with Enfields. The dominoes are a nice touch

US Infantryman (Doughboy), arrival in France, 1917. Equipment provided by: Lee Martin, historical adviser, collector and living historian, photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note the cleanest campaign hat ever! Also keep in mind that, while the “Regulars” showed up in France with M1903 Springfields, most of the new Yanks came over with Enfields. The dominoes are a nice touch

If anyone knows the source, please let me know so I can link back. Thanks

Update: Apparently they showed up on Imgur last week. Original is here. Photos updated with sources.



Ghosts of the Somme

0
0

With the five month hell of the Somme remembered forever as the bloodiest battle of the British Empire’s history (481,842 killed, including a staggering 19,240 on the first day alone), some 1,400 reenactors in the UK have pulled down a very effective commemorative in the #WeAreHere movement in which, dressed as 1916 Tommies, they ride public transport and mill around many of the same locations that British soldiers of the time would have, handing out calling cards of those past to interested observers.

We are here Somme BEF reenactor wwi tommy We are here Somme BEF reenactor wwi tommy 2 We are here Somme BEF reenactor wwi tommy 3 We are here Somme BEF reenactor wwi tommy 4 We are here Somme BEF reenactor wwi tommy 5


British No. 1 Hand Grenade WWI

0
0

British No. 1 Hand Grenade WWI

The No. 1 Hand Grenade, as the name may suggest, was the first hand grenade designed by the British, and was the first grenade used in World War I. Unlike later grenades, which operate on timed fuses activated by pulling a pin, this grenade uses an impact fuse, meaning it detonates when it strikes the ground. To ensure it was thrown and activated properly, a long handle was included for easier throwing, and the cloth streamers on the tail stabilized its flight and made sure it impacted on its nose. The long handle, however, was dangerous in trenches, and resulted in several accidents when the grenade would be detonated as its nose knocked against the backs of trenches when soldiers were reaching back to throw. In addition, German prisoners informed their captors that it was possible to deflect the grenade with wooden boards, and, if it did not detonate, could also be thrown back. It was soon replaced by the No. 3 in 1915, which had a shorter handle. Eventually, the introduction of the timed fuse grenade in the form of the Mills Bomb would see the end of impact fuse hand grenades in the British military.

Text and image via the Ontario Regiment Museum


Warship Wednesday July 13, 2016: The tale of the pre-owned polar sub

0
0

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday July 13, 2016: The tale of the pre-owned polar sub

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1978 #: NH 86969

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1978 #: NH 86969

Here we see the O-class diesel-electric submarine USS O-12 (SS-73) at the Lake Torpedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, Connecticut, on 7 October 1918, just prior to her completion. Although her Naval service during the Great War and immediately after was limited, her mark on history was not.

The U.S. Navy, dating back to the Revolutionary War’s Turtle and the Civil War’s Alligator, was a world leader in submarine development.

Starting with the 64-ton gas/electric USS Holland (SS-1) in 1900, the Navy proceeded with the 7-vessel Plunger-class; 3-ship Viper/B-class; 5-ship Octopus/C-class (the first United States submarines with two-shaft propulsion and an overall length longer than 100-feet); 3-ship Narwhal/D-class (designed to survive flooding in one compartment); 2-ship E-class (first US diesel-powered submarines and first with bow-planes); 4-ship F-class; 4-ship G-class; 9-ship H-class; 8-ship K-class; 11 L-class boats (first US submarine class equipped with a deck gun); the unique M-1 (world’s first double-hulled design); 3 large 1,500-ton AA-1-class boats capable of 20-knots; and 7 smaller N-class boats (first US Navy submarine class completed with metal bridge shields) by 1917.

In all, some 67 submersibles built in less than two decades, with each teaching a lesson.

This led to the most capable class of U.S. Navy subs commissioned in World War I, the O-class.

Originally designed to fight off German U-boats along the East Coast, the boats of this class were not gigantic (500-600 tons, 173 feet oal) but had a decent 5,500 nm range and could carry 8 torpedoes as well as a deck gun. Laid down in five different yards (and two slightly different designs, one by Electric Boat the other by Lake) on both coasts starting in March 1916, all 16 were completed in 1918.

Built for $550,000 each, they were the first U.S. boats with really reliable diesel engines as well as the first in which each officer and man had his own berth and locker (even later designs would require “hot-bunking” well into the 1970s)

Wartime service on the O-class as limited, with two being shelled by an armed British steamer who thought them to be U-boats being the closest they came to combat.

The hero of our tale, USS O-12, was laid down at the Mr. Simon Lake’s Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut and commissioned 18 October 1918.

USS O-12 (SS-73) Photographed as she left her dock at the Lake Torpedo Boat Co., to start her official trials, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 21 August 1918. Note damaged bridge in background. #: NH 44559

USS O-12 (SS-73) Photographed as she left her dock at the Lake Torpedo Boat Co., to start her official trials, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 21 August 1918. Note damaged bridge in background. #: NH 44559

Made part of Submarine Division 1, she was sent with several sisters to secure the Panama Canal, where she spent almost all of her U.S. Naval career.

USS O-12 (Submarine # 73) At Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone in February 1920. Donation of Lieutenant Gustave Freret, USN (Retired), 1971. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 74644

USS O-12 (Submarine # 73) At Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone in February 1920. Donation of Lieutenant Gustave Freret, USN (Retired), 1971. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 74644

"O" Class Submarines photographed in port by A.E. Wells of Washington, D.C., circa 1919, with S.S. SOTHERLAND in background. Subs are (l-r): O-12 (SS-73), O-15 (SS-76), O-16 (SS-77), O-14 (SS-75), O-13 (SS-74), O-11 (SS-72).#: NH 44558

“O” Class Submarines photographed in Panama by A.E. Wells of Washington, D.C., circa 1919, with S.S. SOTHERLAND in background. Subs are (l-r): O-12 (SS-73), O-15 (SS-76), O-16 (SS-77), O-14 (SS-75), O-13 (SS-74), O-11 (SS-72).#: NH 44558

Submarines O-12, O-14, O-11, and others in dry-dock circa 1919 with floating Derrick No. 5 (YD-5). Description: Courtesy Philadelphia evening ledger. #: NH 42566

Submarines O-12, O-14, O-11, and others in dry-dock circa 1919 with floating Derrick No. 5 (YD-5). Description: Courtesy Philadelphia evening ledger. #: NH 42566

On 17 June 1924, after just a few years in commission, she was pulled from service along with all of her Lake Torpedo Boat Company design sisters, replaced by newer R and S-class submarines. Meanwhile nine of her Electric Boat designed classmates continued service (one, USS O-5, was lost in a collision 28 October 1923).

Rusting away in Philadelphia, O-12 was stricken on 29 July 1930 and was soon leased for $1 per year (with a maximum of five years in options) to Lake’s company for use as a private research submarine– as far as I can tell the first time this occurred. As part of the lease, she was disarmed and had to be either returned to the Navy or scuttled in at least 1,200 feet of water at the conclusion of her scientific use.

Australian explorer and man of letters Sir George Hubert Wilkins, MC & Bar, and American polar explorer and philanthropist Lincoln Ellsworth (whose family bankrolled Roald Amundsen’s 1925 attempt to fly from Svalbard to the North Pole) hammered out a deal to use the retired sub on a private trip to the North.

Simon Lake was all-in, and made tremendous modifications to the ex-O-12.

Cutaway illustration of the Nautilus for Modern Mechanics magazine, 1931

Cutaway illustration of the O-12/Nautilus for Modern Mechanics magazine, 1931

The prow of the submarine was equipped with a rounded plunger, which served as extra protection while diving under the ice. Her topside structure cleared for operating under ice, she was outfitted with a custom designed drill that would allow her to bore through ice pack overhead for ventilation and even transfer crew through the pack.

Elevating conning tower showing crewman exiting through tube on to ice

Elevating conning tower showing crewman exiting through tube on to ice

All 18 crewmembers–mostly ex-Navy men– had to sign a contract indemnifying Lake, the submarine’s skipper Sloan Danenhower and the Expedition against damages, including particularly claims for death.

Jean Jules Verne, grandson of Jules Verne, author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was present at christening, at the invitation of Lake, and the ship was named Nautilus. She was christened with a bucket of ice cubes.

460_001

Ellsworth contributed $90,000 to the project while newspaper tycoon Randolph Hearst added $61,000 for exclusive rights to the story. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute pitched in $35,000 and even Wilkins chipped in $25,000 of his own money. There were also a number of moneymaking tie-ins.

During the expedition, special radio telegrams were sent as were a series of 12,655 postal covers (mailed during the voyage at London, Bergen, Spitsbergen and from an unidentified port at the end of the expedition. The basic fee was 75 cents per cover for the first three legs, $1 for the final leg with additional fees for registry service and autographs.)

1931A

However, things started going bad almost immediately.

A June 1931 crossing to Europe almost ended in failure had Nautilus not been towed by the battleship USS Wyoming in the mid-Atlantic and emergency repairs in England. Setting out from Norway in August, they only had 600 miles to go to reach the Pole and make history.

Nautilus in the dry dock in Devonport, England undergoing repairs to the engines and other items things that failed during the first part of the voyage

Nautilus in the dry dock in Devonport, England undergoing repairs to the engines and other items things that failed during the first part of the voyage

Nautilus reached 82°N, the farthest north any vessel had reached under its own power, and preparations began to dive –first submarine to operate under the polar ice cap.

Captain Sloan Danenhower opening the conning tower hatch following a dive. A huge cake of ice can be seen jammed on the main ice drill

Captain Sloan Danenhower opening the conning tower hatch following a dive. A huge cake of ice can be seen jammed on the main ice drill

 The Nautilus in the Arctic, 1931.

The Nautilus in the Arctic, 1931.

The thing is, she was missing her diving planes, suffering from mechanical issues, facing thicker ice than anticipated and fighting severe storms and by September had to turn back for Spitsbergen and then Norway, for repairs, without ever reaching the Pole.

In Bergen

In Bergen

There in Norway, Wilkins threw in the towel on Nautilus and agreed with the Navy to sink her in deep water outside Bergen, which was done 30 November 1931.

Her wreck, in over 1,100 feet of water, was found in 1985 and has been visited several times since then. In good condition, the Bergen Maritime Museum has an extensive exhibit on her though there are no plans to raise this world’s first Arctic submarine.

naut_4

As for her sisters, the five other Lake designs were scrapped in 1930, USS O-9 (SS-70) and her 33 officers and men was lost on a test dive in 1941, and seven Electric-design classmates served through World War II at New London training thousands of students at the Submarine School, being scrapped in 1946. Few enduring relics remain of the class.

The Ohio State University Libraries have an extensive online exhibit on Nautilus as does PigBoats.com from which many of the images in this post originate. Dr. Stewart B. Nelson has a great post covering the vessel and her discovery here while the Universal Ship Cancellation Society Log details the philately history of the Nautilus covers in a way far outside the scope of this post.

Wilkins’ 1931 book “Under the North Pole: the Wilkins-Ellsworth Submarine Expedition” is available for download free online in multiple formats.

After his death, the Navy later took his ashes to the North Pole aboard the submarine USS Skate on 17 March 1959. The Navy confirmed on 27 March that, “In a solemn memorial ceremony conducted by Skate shortly after surfacing, the ashes of Sir Hubert Wilkins were scattered at the North Pole in accordance with his last wishes.”

Specs:

Simon Lake's O-12 (SS-73) retained his trademark stern and amidships planes (shown folded down in the outboard view). Note the separate flooding ports in the watertight superstructure. Drawing by Jim Christley, text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. Via Navsource

Simon Lake’s O-12 (SS-73) retained his trademark stern and amidships planes (shown folded down in the outboard view). Note the separate flooding ports in the watertight superstructure. Drawing by Jim Christley, text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. Via Navsource

O-12 (SS-73) was discarded in 1930 to be rebuilt by Lake & Danenhower Inc., of Bridgeport CT., for the Wilkins Artic expedition. Lake had long thought about submarine operations under ice; in 1903, he built a trestle atop his Protector and deliberately operated her in iced waters. The Nautilus conversion, shown here, was far more sophisticated. Drawing by Jim Christley, text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. Via Navsource

O-12 (SS-73) was discarded in 1930 to be rebuilt by Lake & Danenhower Inc., of Bridgeport CT., for the Wilkins Artic expedition. Lake had long thought about submarine operations under ice; in 1903, he built a trestle atop his Protector and deliberately operated her in iced waters. The Nautilus conversion, shown here, was far more sophisticated. Drawing by Jim Christley, text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. Via Navsource

Displacement:
491 long tons (499 t) surfaced
566 long tons (575 t) submerged
Length: 175 ft. (53 m)
Beam: 16 ft. 7 in (5.05 m)
Draft: 13 ft. 11 in (4.24 m)
Propulsion:
Diesel-electric
2 × 500 hp (373 kW) Busch Sulzer diesel engines
2 × 400 hp (298 kW) Diehl electric motors
1 shaft
18,588 US gallons (70,360 l; 15,478 imp gal) fuel
Speed:
14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) surfaced
11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) submerged
Test depth: 200 ft (61 m)
Complement: 2 officers, 27 men (Naval service), 20 scientists, explorers, and crew in civilian
Armament: (Disarmed 1930)
4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes, 8 torpedoes
1 × 3″/50 caliber deck gun

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has it place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!


You had to be under 5′ 4″ to man this armored coffin

0
0

A pretty decent look at the first real U.S. tank, the M1917 Renault, with Len Dyer of the National Armor and Cavalry Restoration Shop.

The U.S. Army Tank Corps picked up just under 1,000 of these in the last days of WWI and they remained in service to one degree or another through the 1930s.

1920s US soldiers including 1903s, 37mm gun and 1917 Renault tank

Posed 1920s US soldiers including 1903s, 37mm gun, BAR, light mortar and 1917 Renault tank

They made pretty good public relations tools, though…

Boys playing on M1917 tank, Raton, New Mexico 1920

Boys playing on M1917 tank, Raton, New Mexico 1920


The cannes de poilus

0
0
French Poilu 1918 by Stcyr74 Via Deviant Art

French Poilu 1918 by Stcyr74 Via Deviant Art

In showing a photo montage of Great War era infantryman’s typical loadout last week, it was interesting to note the non-standard equipment each often carried. While the Doughboy could be expected to have a domino set and the Tommy a trench mace, the French soldier’s kit was shown with a walking cane.

Yup, the canne de marche or cannes de poilus was very popular with the average French soldier of the period. Going back to the time of the little Emperor, senior sergeants in the Grand Armee often carried their own thick canes for correcting disciplinary problems and there was evidence this practice continued through the 1870s.

By the time of the Great War, the elite “blue devils” of the French Chasseurs Alpins and les troupes alpine were issued long handled walking sticks for use in skiing and mountaineering.

Nos diables bleus en reconnaissance

Nos diables bleus en reconnaissance

Carte Postale DESSIN JULLIAN - CHASSEUR ALPIN

Carte Postale DESSIN JULLIAN – CHASSEUR ALPIN

Carte Postale DESSIN JULLIAN - CHASSEUR ALPIN

Carte Postale DESSIN JULLIAN – CHASSEUR ALPIN

Then came the average soldier, or poilus (bearded ones) who often carried their own non-standard walking sticks to help during marches–especially along muddy roads of the era– or to kill rats in bivouac. As imagery from the time shows, these sticks were widespread and varied from soldier to soldier. Functional trench art if you will.

World War I Poilu French Infantry Soldiers groupe de poilus le 24 eme en 1916 Poilus-et-leurs-cannes-en-1916 cannes de poilus gasmask school Transport-de-pains-enfilés-sur-un-bâton edmond lajoux cannes de poilus 1915 poilus poilu cane
Some examples of walking sticks have even been found made from legacy infantry sabres.

There is some evidence the practice outlived the trenches of the Great War.

This image from 1919 portrays a soldier on occupation duty in Germany, his kit carried by a local German boy.

Alsatian Schoolboy carrying the haversack of a hairy bâton-de-poilu-par-Hansi-1919
Here are a set of French soldiers in 1939 with their own very well-made walking sticks:
cannes de poilus 1939

WWII Free French icon Gen. Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque was often seen with a cane though he may have used it honestly– as he broke his leg in two places in a fall from his horse in 1936– although in this 1947 image he seems to get along just fine without it.

Général Leclerc de Hauteclocque was often seen with a cane though

Further, tributes such as postage stamps and monuments across France all show Leclerc with his ever-present canne, though rarely showing him actually using it, giving even more credence to the fact that it was his own marshal baton throwback to the time when he commanded  First World War veteran poilus as a young sous lieutenant with the 5e Régiment de Cuirassiers on occupation duty in the Ruhr.

POSTE-1953-5
For more information, and the source of many of these images, please refer to the excellent (French) site Centre de Recherche sur la Canne et le Bâton.


Viewing all 580 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images