Steeljaw Scribe

Come On Over to the Home Field . . .

2010-02-17T10:18:00.003-05:00

We're missing YOU!

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June 4th, 1942

2009-06-04T06:09:00.001-04:00

Pause...

Ponder...

Remember...

Honor..

From these honored aviators, Marines and Sailors - those departed and the few left with us, we draw our heritage...our ethos.

May they and their actions this day never be forgotten. And from their stand, may we evermore draw strength.
- SJS

North Korea: Here We Go Again - Part II

2009-06-03T01:15:00.000-04:00

As if the 29 April statement from the DPRK Foreign Ministry wasn't provocative enough, comes the latest missive dated 29 May (full statement here):

As long as the UNSC fails to respond to the DPRK's just demand, the DPRK will not recognize any resolution and decision of the UNSC in the future, too.
Third, if the UNSC will make further provocative actions, this will inevitably lead to the DPRK's approach towards adopting stronger self-defensive counter-measures.
The end of the Cold War worldwide works only between big powers, but a Cold War still persists on the Korean Peninsula.
The UNSC-crafted UN Command itself is a signatory to the Korean Armistice Agreement.
Any hostile act by the UNSC immediately means the abrogation of the Armistice Agreement.
The world will soon find out how the army and people of the DPRK will stand up against the high-handed and get-it-alone approach of the UNSC in defending its dignity and sovereignty.
The U.S. is keen on using a catchphrase "Carrot and stick."
It would be better for the "Donkey" of the U.S. Democratic Party to lick the carrot.

Well. What next Alphonse?

Some have said another strong statement from the UNSC would do the trick and if the Russians or Chinese don't join in it won't matter - though in light of the above we are hard-pressed to see how this would work. Others argue that it's time to effect kinetic solutions on the DPRK homeland, to which we respond - 'done a count of tube artillery in the hills outside of Seoul recently?' Clearly those two COAs represent the extremes of the range of operations (assuming 'do nothing' isn't an option). Reflecting some of the rising frustration on this issue, a commenter on another site remarked -"I hear a lot of frustration from pretty much everyone I talk to about this. But what does anyone actually think we should do?" Actually - there is a good bit we can do short of direct, kinetic effects. A couple, for example might be:

1. Step up rigorous enforcement of the Proliferation Security Initiative. Every nK flagged vessel is suspect of carrying materials for their ballistic missile and/or nuke program and hence gets stopped, wherever they are, and searched. Any problems with manifests, logs, etc. and the ship is impounded and the crew interred or sent back to nK, minus the ship.

2. Crack down on the backdoor hard currency exchanges that only serve to keep the leadership elite in power and do nothing to aid the people. We started doing this back in ‘06-07 and it hurt them so much they agreed to come back to the 6-party talks. Do it again and this time keep the pressure up.

And work on regional confidence building measures with our allies in Australia (yes, Australia - look at yesterday's chart and plot out a southerly trajectory to 4,000 nm/7500 km, roughly the same distance to Hawaii and you are in the heart of Australia), South Korea and Japan. Things like strengthening theater and regional defenses to include missile defense, for example.

Because every carrot needs a stick.

DPRK and Long Range Missiles: Here We Go Again

2009-06-02T01:18:00.001-04:00

Looks like the missiles of spring are coming back for return engagement this summer:

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea may this month test a missile designed to fly as far as U.S. territory and may also be gearing up for skirmishes with the South around their disputed sea border, South Korean media reported on Monday.

and

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has shifted its most advanced long-range missile — capable of reaching Alaska — to a new west coast launch site near the border with China, reports said Monday, in a move that threatens to further escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The regime could fire the long-range missile as early as mid-June — around the time South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and President Barack Obama hold a summit in Washington, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper in Seoul said, citing unidentified officials in Washington and Seoul.
The missile at the Dongchang-ni launch site on the northwest coast is believed to be a version of the Taepodong-2 rocket that the North fired on April 5 saying it was a satellite launch, the report said. The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper carried a similar report. A new long-range missile launch would mark a significant escalation in tensions already running high after the North's April rocket launch and an underground nuclear test conducted a week ago. The U.N. Security Council has been discussing how to punish Pyongyang for the atomic blast.

Well, say this about nK - they do stick to the script:

"In case the UNSC does not make an immediate apology, such actions will be taken as:
"Firstly, the DPRK will be compelled to take additional self-defensive measures in order to defend its supreme interests.
"The measures will include nuclear tests and test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
"Secondly, the DPRK will make a decision to build a light water reactor power plant and start the technological development for ensuring self-production of nuclear fuel as its first process without delay."

The new wrinkle in this iteration is the apparent use of a new west coast launch facility - adds al sorts of new factors in indications and warning and defense compared to the facility at T'aepo dong. Also raises questions about nK's turnaround/lessons-learned from the previous launch of a new TD-2 variant in April this year. Starts to possibly speak volumes about the nK's assessing the failure of April's launch and incorporating lessons learned form that event. By comparison is the almost three year period and new airframe from the 2006 TD-2 launch failure to April 2009 launch attempt.

It won't be a boring summer 'round these parts...that's for sure.

Midway Week

2009-06-01T08:29:00.001-04:00

This week is the 69th anniversary of the Battle of Midway. In recognition of that, check with your local VFW/American Legion Post for local observances and try and make it a point to attend. To help, here's a listing of known events from around the country:

2009 BOM ANNIVERSARY AND UNIT REUNION ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. 3 June, Arlington, VA: formal banquet, Army-Navy Country Club

2. 4 June, Washington D.C.: USN commemoration at the Navy Memorial

3. 4 June, Washington DC, BOM symposium (IMMF)

4. 4 June, Houston, TX: BOM commemoration by NOUS

5. 4 June, Boston, MA: BOM commemoration aboard USS Constitution (I'm sure Maggie will be there - right? - SJS)

6. 4-7 June, New Orleans, LA: USS Yorktown (CV-5) reunion

7. 6 June, Chino, CA: Coral Sea & BOM symposium and air show

8. 6 June, San Diego, CA: BOM commemoration aboard USS Midway.

9. 6 June, San Francisco, CA: formal banquet, Marines Memorial Club

10. 6 June, Jacksonville, FL: BOM commemoration & banquet hosted by Navy League

11. 6 June, Monterey, CA: formal “Dining Out” at Naval Postgraduate School

12. 8 June, Chattanooga, TN: BOM event begins “Navy Week.”

I'll be observing here in the heartland since this week I am also TAD for training and so posting will, perforce, be light. There are some posts scheduled for publication here and over at the USNI blog (most there focusing on Midway). Wherever you are on the 4th, take pause and remember those who dared, those who fought heavy odds - those who gave their all; and how much different the course of the war in the Pacific would have been otherwise...

w/r, SJS

Links to More Midway Sites:

The Course to Midway: Turning Point in the Pacific

Naval History & Heritage Command

International Midway Memorial Foundation

Battle of Midway Celebration at Army Navy Country Club

Navy PA Resources Website

BMD From the Sea - It's Not Just for SWO's

2009-05-27T22:11:00.002-04:00

It is time for Naval Aviation to become more than interested bystanders and step up to the plate for the ballistic missile defense mission. For those who have been otherwise engaged or looking elsewhere, the cover and main article in the May 2009 issue of Proceedings is your wake-up call. Now, besides the ever-present threat posed by cruise missiles, we can add ballistic missiles to the list of concerns. And to the naysayers who point to the Aegis community and say it's their job because they're the archer, I say not so fast, for several reasons. Chief among these is the growing threat itself.

Since the end of the Cold War, ballistic missiles have become a growth industry, especially in the short- and medium-ranged categories (figure out to 1500km). Missiles in these categories don't require the engineering, technology, and support structure of their larger IR/ICBM cousins and as such, lend themselves to a variety of domestic production programs using proliferated knowledge and technology, or, may be purchased wholesale from willing proliferators, such as the DPRK. These missiles lend themselves to mobile launchers which may be deployed far forward, reducing warning and engagement times, and employed in sufficient quantities as to greatly complicate planning and operations in a number of areas and conditions ranging from APOD/SPOD operations to choke point transits. The numbers may be troublesome enough on their own - add in WMD, especially where certain countries that are expanding their ballistic missile capabilities are also engaged in nuclear programs that are unsupervised by international agencies and the problem 3-5 years out grows more complicated. Factor in the addition of sophisticated technology by near-peer nations - MaRV's based on the Pershing II missile with millimeter terminal guidance radar for example, that are deployed in significant numbers on mobile platforms well within denied territory, and planning at all levels - tactical, operational and even strategic grows more difficult as options are taken off the table. Difficult or impossible, that is, absent a robust and credible defense.

CNO has declared BMD to be a core competency for all Navy - not just Aegis BMD. To be successful in that mission area will require efforts and capabilities that cut across communities and the operational and electromagnetic spectrum, much like we have and are doing for cruise missile defense. We must be able to bring to bear the full capabilities of sea-based power, kinetic and non- as all the elements of that sea-based power can provide force multiplier roles from pre-launch to terminal intercept. Naval aviation is a major player in this effort and not just as an attempt to "get a piece of the action."

While it is true that at present, the only active (read: hard kill) defensive capability is via the SM-3 family and SM-2 BlkIV, there are a number of near and longer term instances where naval aviation, and carrier aviation in particular, will play an increasingly important role. Emphasis in the last several years in the development of these missiles and Aegis BMD has focused on the mid-course/exo-atmospheric (SM-3) and terminal/endo-atmospheric (SM-2 BlkIV) intercept of short- and medium range ballistic missiles, along with the long-range search/track contribution of Aegis BMD as part of the BMDS designed to counter intermediate- and intercontinental ballistic missiles. However, with the recent shift in emphasis to the regional/theater fight and a renewed focus on ascent phase intercept (API), maritime forces will come to play a substantially increased role in all three areas of BMD - offensive action, passive and active defenses. How will this be possible? Through a combination of emerging/evolving platforms and capabilities teamed with core competencies already found across several NAVAIR communities. Let's look first at the platforms.

A key requirement and necessary capability for API to be successful is persistent ISR with rapid cueing via fast, redundant network paths to the shooter(s), in this case Aegis BMD-equipped ships. CVW's in the 3-5 year out view will see their capabilities grow in this area following planned upgrades and introduction of new platforms. Close at hand will be the wider deployment of AESA equipped F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and the EA-18G Growler. One potential vulnerability of mobile TBMs is their command and control networks, especially if there is intent to employ them in saturation raids in concert with anti-ship or land-attack cruise missiles. Identification of critical communications nodes and attack via non-kinetic means may result in disruption of attacks or even disablement of the missiles themselves. The capabilities inherent in AESA-equipped aircraft and the electronic attack capabilities in the Growler lend themselves to further investigation in this field. Netted and linked data between these platforms, passed via current E-2C's and fused with other off-board sensors (e.g., Predators, EP-3, and other joint platforms) build a richer picture for the afloat and ashore command elements. At the far end of that 3-5 year period the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye should begin seeing fleet introduction and the addition of its networking capability and revolutionary mechanically- and electronically scanned radar, among many other new or improved capabilities will bring battle management in the missile defense realm to new levels. Tapped into CEC or one of the other links for cueing, an Aegis BMD ship should be able to fire on remote, significantly expanding the battle space for API. Farther out, the addition of BAMS, P-8 and EPX, a possible marinized-Predator/Reaper and UCAV-N grow the range of possibilities for persistent ISR and cued attack, non-kinetic and kinetic. Indeed, even today Predators and their IR tracking have been successfully used in BMD tests. The carrier version of the JSF, the F-35C, will bring additional capabilities to the fight with its integrated sensor/weapons suite. And don't forget - Fire Scout is already out there with potential near shore/over the beach surveillance as well.

While the platforms are coming on-line, what is more important is recognition within the various NAVAIR communities, especially VAW, VAQ and VQ of these inherent BMD capabilities, that BMD is a core mission across the Navy and that their particular communities have a natural affinity for BMD. Particular skill sets are required in the areas of C4I, Battle Management, ISR, net-centric operations and data fusion, all of which are an inherent part of those communities and representative of a natural and evolving growth. Joint and combined operational experience would certainly underscore these skill sets.

Thirty years ago the VAW community, was geared to the long-range AEW/AAW fight and gave little thought to the overland ABCCC mission, for example. Yet by the time of operations in the Gulf and over former Yugoslavia it was increasingly engaged and tasked so. Those skill sets evolved from the battle management skills developed over a half-century of AEW and refined in the digital age with the introduction of the E-2C/F-14 teamed with Aegis with the assistance of organizations like the Carrier AEW Weapons School and Naval Strike Warfare Center. Today it should be no less so and with organizations like the Navy Air and Missile Defense and Naval Strike and Air Warfare Commands serving as the laboratory cum schoolhouse for such evolutionary expansion, the time to start is now.

Because the threat certainly isn't marking time...

North Korea's Nuclear Test

2009-05-25T09:57:00.002-04:00

It appears that second-time around worked for the North Koreans:

SEOUL (AFP) — North Korea carried out a second and more powerful nuclear test, defying international pressure to rein in its atomic programmes after years of six-nation disarmament talks. The hardline communist state, which stunned the world by testing an atomic bomb for the first time in October 2006, had threatened another test after the UN Security Council censured it for a long-range rocket launch in April. The North "successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defence in every way," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. "The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology," it said. The force of the blast was between 10 and 20 kilotons, according to Russia's defence ministry quoted by news agencies, vastly more than the estimated one kiloton blast three years ago.

While the Russians have historically over-estimated yields in their previous assessments, it is probably safe to say that the yield will fall around 10kt, more than surpassing 2006's fizzle @ 1/2 kt. Better refinement should come with independent verification by US and other international sources in the coming days.

And now all the chips are on the table. China has been vocal about not desiring to see North Korea armed with nukes and it has been the principle intermediary at the Six Party talks on behalf of the North Koreans. By far, it is the major supplier of energy resources to the North, keeping them from literally going dark. What will China do besides verbally condemn? Support full sanctions against the DPRK or block such a move? What about the Russians? Push-back expected on any measures beyond strong verbal condemnation in the Security Council? To be sure, expect one or both to forward the argument that harsher penalties will be "unproductive" and lead to greater instability in the region (read: China is afraid of provoking collapse of the DPRK government and subsequent rush of refugees across its borders into China). What of South Korea and Japan? The DPRK's on-gong missile tests, which have continued in the face of similar vocal condemnation and in spite of international agreements like the Missile Technology Control Regime or the International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, have energized Japan's missile defense efforts - will a successful DPRK nuclear test now result in a Japan that feels it must either develop its own nuclear weapons as a counter? Undertake a more offensively oriented military? How assured can/should the Japanese be about any U.S. guarantees via extension of its nuclear umbrella?

Unstated in the initial uproar is this little gem -- with a demonstrated proclivity towards proliferation whoring, particularly with Iran, what does this say about the future of nuclear arms control and non-proliferation? Were the parallel tests of an alleged new SRBM today demonstration of a nuclear capable missile? How close to a weaponized form was today's test? What are the implications for increased instability in other regions that are faced with their own issues of nuclear proliferation (viz. Israel-Iran)?

It's 0300 and somewhere there's a phone ringing...

This Date in Naval History: Battle of the Coral Sea - 7 & 8 May

2009-05-06T22:37:00.001-04:00

Sixty-seven years ago...

Day 1 - "Scratch One Flattop!":

Day 2: We lose USS Lexington:

. . . Japanese struck the American carriers shortly after Eleven, and, in a fast and violent action, scored with torpedoes on Lexington and with bombs on both carriers... rest of the story here and here

Midway awaits...

Saturday at the Movies: 33 Minutes

2009-05-01T22:45:00.001-04:00

Continuing the missile defense theme from the stand-up of the NAMDC, offered here is a new trailer for the Heritage Foundation film on the need for missile defense:

Stand-up of the Navy Air and Missile Defense Center (NAMDC)

2009-04-30T22:00:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, 30 April 2009, the Navy's newest Center of Excellence (COE), the Navy Air and Missile Defense Center, was opened for business onboard the Naval Weapons Development Center, Dahlgren Virginia. RADM Brad Hicks, who is also the Aegis BMD program director, will serve as the Center's first commander until a permanent flag is assigned later this year. The ceremony's keynote speaker, ADM Robert "Rat" Willard, Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet spared no words in underscoring the importance of this particular COE in the context of recent events to include the recent North Korean launch.

The challenge ahead of the center will be the role it plays in Navy's quest to equally field a national missile defense to shield the homeland, a regional defense for friends and allies and theater systems for protection of forward deployed forces while still accounting for the multi-mission nature of platforms like the Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers currently deployed. And the center's efforts won't end there, for the threat includes ever-increasingly proliferated cruise missiles and a host of other airborne threats. In that context the NAMDC will serve to integrate technical capabilities, warfighter concepts and C3 solutions to cover the entire kill chain, from the "high-end" of afloat BMD to the wave-tops.

The Center's focus also won't be Aegis- or even Navy-only, though that will constitute a good portion of its effort. As one of six envisioned Warfare Centers of Excellence that also include the Naval Strike Air Warfare Center in Fallon, Nev., and the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command in San Diego, Calif, NAMDC as the lead organization for Navy and Joint AMD will also partner and work closely with organizations like Joint Force Command's Joint Warfighting Center down the road in Suffolk, VA. I should also note that with close proximity to Pax River and Norfolk/Oceana, the center should also have ready access to work with the VAW and VFA communities, especially important when one looks at the capabilities currently available (e.g. Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), and the AESA in the newer Super Hornets) and planned (e.g., E-2D Advanced Hawkeye) for those communities.

This was a much needed step in beginning to restore balance to a force that has , frankly, become very power projection-centric. Along with other warfare areas, such as blue-water ASW, it seemed in the post-Cold War environment that integrated air and missile defense was increasingly pushed to the back even while threats like those posed by new generations of low-observable, fast cruise missiles were widely proliferated. However, the emerging area denial capabilities of countries like China and Iran, not to mention the requirements levied by the Maritime Strategy (and, one presumes, the NOC when it ever is released) clearly demand the establishment of an organization to oversee the disparate parts of the air defense picture. I would go further to say that it is one which should have taken place a couple of decades ago, around the time of the introduction of Aegis to the fleet with all the attendant integration, coordination and synchronization issues that presented with other ship- and airborne platforms, sensors and networks.

The NAMDC will have an initial staff of approximately 25 personnel, and grow over the next three years to a fully operational staff of about 75 members, equally divided between military personnel, government civilian employees and supporting contractors. Considering the magnitude of the challenge ahead, I'd say they will all be fully engaged, especially if what ADM Willard said, that the Center is "the most important thing to the future of this capability in the Navy" comes to pass.

Красная звезда среда - Red Star Wednesday

2009-04-28T21:19:00.002-04:00

Several items on the docket today:

If at first you don't succeed...

From Ria Novosti comes word the much troubled Bulava SLBM will be tested five times in the coming year:

Despite five failures in 10 trials, Russia's Defense Ministry is planning to complete a series of Bulava tests and put the ICBM into service by the end of 2009.
"Considering that we must ensure reliable performance characteristics of the [Bulava] missile, we have decided to raise the number of additional test launches to five, if everything goes well," Vladimir Popovkin said.
Popovkin, who is visiting the Russian exposition at the IDEF-2009 arms show in Turkey, said that a faulty detail caused a test launch failure in December last year, and that the on-board systems would undergo additional ground testing in June-July prior to the next test launch.

At the same interview, it was revealed that sea trials of the Yury Dolgoruky, Russia's first Borey class strategic nuclear submarine, are due to start in the summer, and two other Borey class nuclear submarines - the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh - are currently under construction at the Sevmash shipyard. They are expected to be completed in 2009 and 2011 respectively. Russia is planning to build a total of eight submarines of this class by 2015.

Some days you're the bug - others the windscreen

One of Russia's prototype Su-35's (SU-35BM) was destroyed earlier this week during testing. According to a plant spokesman, the prototype caught fire during take-off, but the pilot safely ejected:

"The accident occurred at 09.55 Moscow time [05.55 GMT] on Sunday at the Dzemgi airfield during the Su-35 prototype's take-off," Vitaly Tyulkin said, adding that the pilot ejected safely. "We will announce the details of the accident later in the day," he said.

According to the news report in Ria Novosti, speculation is centering on a faulty fuel pump. The aircraft was one of three Su-35 prototypes that incorporate improved engines and avionics (including the new Irbis-E AESA radar allowing automatic detection and tracking of up to 30 targets and engaging up to 8 of those) with the proven SU-27 airframe to create what is billed as a "4++ gen fighter with 5th generation features." The third prototype had been recently added to the program in hopes of speeding up test and development flights to 160 or so a month and stay ontrack for deliveries to the Russian air force, Malaysia and Algeria among others.

Aircraft carriers - everyone wants them it seems; India, China and now Russia talks about new plans:

A deputy minister for defense procurements, Vladimir Popovkin was quoted on a recent trip abroad as saying that final plans for the next generation of new Russian aircraft carrier will be finalized sometime in the 2011-2012 timeframe. Nuclear-powered and with an expected displacement of close to 60K metric tons (for comparison, the Kuznetsov is about 55K metric tons), the new carrier is expected to host new fixed- and rotary wing aircraft (ed. think a hummerinski will be amongst them this time? - SJS) to include a fifth generation fighter to replace the SU-33/MiG-29K currently employed. In one interesting note that hints at the possible configuration, Vice Adm. Anatoly Shlemov, the head of defense contracts at the United Shipbuilding Corporation noted that unlike past carriers, the new one would not be armed with cruise missiles as "that's not part of it's job description..." Cost is estimated at $4 billion.

While the next item may seem surprising, when one considers Turkey already deploys Russian-made anti-tank and has cooperated with the Chinese on SRBMs, it seems less so:

According to Ria Novosti, Turkey has approached Russia regarding purchase of the S-400:

"Turkey has expressed a strong interest in buying S-400 air defense systems from Russia," said Anatoly Aksenov, a high-level adviser to the head of Russian arms export firm Rosoboronexport. "We have explained to Turkish officials that S-400 is not just a simple air defense system but an element of strategic missile defenses, which can be placed in one country but protect the airspace over a number of neighboring countries," said a source who accompanied Aksenov as part of the Russian delegation to this year's International Defense Industry Fair in Istanbul

The prospect of this sale raises questions on any one of a number of fronts. As Aksenov points out, the range of the S-400 is enough to provide defense to more than just the deploying nation. Given that there is no love lost between the Turks and Greeks, especially where Cyprus is involved, there may be something there (i.e., protection of Turk interests on Cyprus and in the Aegean). The same with Syria - no love lost there either. A more likely answer may lay to the east and southeast - towards one country (Israel) which has demonstrated an ability for long-range airstrikes that may have violated Turk airspace as well as an unacknowledged regional nuclear strike capability with its Jericho II MRBMs. Further to the east is another country that appears bent on acquiring nuclear weapons and certainly is working hard to develop and deploy a long-range missile system to deliver the weapons when able. The recent successful Safir SLV launch certainly imputes a nascent IRBM capability to Iran. Given the S-400's alternate role as part of a strategic (i.e., regional) missile defense system, Turkey may well be seeking an indigenous capability that will not rely on the US (which has been very busy in cooperative efforts with Israel to develop and build a multi-tiered BMD system for the protection of Israel) and provide protection from Israeli OR Iranian attack. To be sure, if Turkey goes through with the purchase, it would make it difficult to integrate with one of the US regional systems coming online - THAAD or land-based SM-3, for example.

То все для теперь - см. вас следующая неделя!

Bye, Bye Bandit...

2009-04-27T19:35:00.000-04:00

...and GTO.

GM puts a bullet in Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer.

And, of course, a greater share by the feds of the General...

The Ridiculous Not Restricted to DC

2009-04-27T19:33:00.001-04:00

Meantime, the denizens of NYC were, not surprisingly, alarmed at the sight of a large airliner being intercepted and escorted by a fighter near the site of the World Trade Center:

Yep, you're not seeing things - it's the 747 that serves as Air Force One on a photo op over downtown NYC...

But hey, it's ok - the director of the White House Military Office apologized...

Springtime in DC

2009-04-27T17:50:00.002-04:00

Ahhhh, just soak it in -- warm days, Dogwood blooming, pollen a dustin' and all around the city, the sap is rising:

Alas, for the poor dears - not as many this year as in years past because, you know, it's *expensive* coming to DC and what with the economy and all, mom and dad just couldn't spring for a spring break trip to DC this year...

More Hawkeye Pics

2009-04-26T21:09:00.001-04:00

Via Pinch, comes a bevy of new E-2D shots from NAVAIR:

Delta1 And 2 Presentation

View more presentations from Steeljaw Scribe.

Rememberig Columbine - 10 Years Later

2009-04-20T03:45:00.002-04:00

It began as an ordinary, early spring day - teachers going about their business of teaching students; students doing what normal high school students are wont to do. At 1140, itdramatically, tragically changed with 12 students and a teacher dead and 23 others physically wounded - many more emotionally scarred.

Two years, four months and 22 days later, another "ordinary" day would close with thousands dead and many more physically and emotionally scarred. At the Pentagon, among the hundreds and thousands of cards and remembrance banners received, there was one that is still etched in my memory, for I saw it on my way into the building each and every day the following weeks and months. It was a profoundly simple banner from the students, faculty and parents of Columbine HS that stated their support, love and remembrance.

Today, I return my own as we remember the events of that day ten years ago and the innocence lost. God bless you all. - SJS

This Date in Naval Aviation History: 15 Apr 1969 - Deep Sea 129

2009-04-14T22:10:00.002-04:00

The weak can be rash. The powerful must be restrained.- Secretary of State William Rogers, April 1969

For most of these past several weeks, international attention has been focused on the activities taking place near a peninsula on the north-east coast of Korea. There, despite protests and warnings from around the world, the North Koreans attempted to duplicate the success of another pariah state, Iran, and place a satellite in orbit atop a missile that also had ICBM capability. That effort failed in its stated intent, with the payload finding a watery grave in the broad ocean area of the Pacific, but the fact that the North Koreans defiantly carried out their intent should not have come as a surprise to international community. Indeed, roughly 100 nm east-north-east of the launch site is the site, unmarked, of another North Korean action undertaken in contravention of international norms. That spot is the terminus of Deep Sea 129’s final flight, now forty years ago this April 15th (Korea time, April 14th US).
Deep Sea 129 was a Navy EC-121 Warning Star operated by VQ-1. With a crew of 31 (8 officers and 23 enlisted), the flight launched from NAS Atsugi, Japan on what was known as a BEGGAR SHADOW mission to collect ELINT information off the Soviet port of Vladivostok. The big four-engined aircraft was originally designed and built as a land-based AEW follow-on to Project CADILLAC II’s PB-1W’s with a capability to haul a significantly larger and more powerful radar aloft, remain onstation much longer and carry a larger crew to support the expanded mission and endurance. All of those characteristics made it an ideal platform to modified for the PARPRO mission. PARPRO, the Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance PROgram, covered the variety of airborne missions flown by US Army, Navy and Air Force crews near what was termed “denied territory” which constituted hostile nations such as the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea among others. These missions gathered information on radar and other electronic equipment (signals intelligence or SIGINT), communications such as those found at regional or sector air defense centers (communications intelligence or COMINT), photography of critical facilities or geographic features (PHOTOINT which later became imagery intelligence or IMINT) or a combination of COMINT and SIGNINT – ELINT. The program began shortly after WWII when it became apparent the Soviet Union had designs on expanding its reach in to western Europe, the Mediterranean and Far East. As an Iron Curtain was reigned down on the Soviet perimeter, the need for intelligence collection grew on the capabilities of Soviet forces. With the acquisition of the atomic bomb by the Soviets in 1949, the urgency of that requirement grew. Surprises, like the appearance of the MiG-15 jet fighter and China’s ground incursion during the Korean War underscored the importance of intelligence collection and the need for expanded coverage from the air and sea.
Most of the PARPRO missions were flown in international airspace – electronic signals don’t obey national borders, but some were flown immediately adjacent to and at times, across those same borders. Sometimes, the effort was safely completed, all too frequently it wasn’t. And sometimes, despite the fact the aircraft, or ships (viz. USS Liberty) were operating in international airspace or waters and clearly marked with US colors, they were still attacked. Some survived and were rescued or captured and disappeared into the Gulag – many never came back. That was Deep Sea 129’s lot.
There were no indications of possible hostile intent on the North Korean’s part when the WV-2 launched on the morning of the 15th, despite the capture of the USS Pueblo a bit over a year ago. Setting course for the operating area, a point off Musu Point where it would set up 120nm orbits focused on Vladivostok. Besides the Navy airmen onboard, there were 9 Naval Security Group cryptologists and Russian and Korean linguists onboard, including a Marine. The mission was under strict orders not to approach the Korean coast any closer than 50 nm and the two hundred-some odd flights in the past three months by USN and USAF aircraft on the BEGGAR SHADOW track had given no foreshadowing of possible action by the Koreans – but then, neither had there been for the Pueblo.
PARPRO missions, since the Gary Powers shootdown over Russia required monitoring and tracking by ground-based sites to serve as both a means of flight following and to provide warning if danger approached. That day, radar sites in Japan and Korea monitored Deep Sea 129’s mission, and the USAF 6918th Security Squadron at Hakata Air Station, Japan, and Detachment 1, 6922nd Security Wing at Osan Air Base monitored the North Korean reaction by intercepting its air defense search radar transmissions. Additionally, the Army Security Agency communications interception station at Osan listened to North Korean air defense radio traffic, and the Naval Security Group at Kamiseya, which provided the seven of the nine CTs aboard Deep Sea 129, also intercepted Soviet Air Force search radars. Still, there was no airborne escort and it would take several minutes, long agonizing minutes, for interceptors to be airborne and reach the Warning Star’s OPAREA should it come under attack. But with nothing showing on the boards that would lead commanders to think otherwise, no alerts were moved up or placed airborne.
It is an axiom of aviation that a problem in the developing stages tends to be slow and stealthy, but in the final stage it reaches completion in a rush. Thus an incipient icing condition builds slowly, steadily stealing lift until an aviator finds himself in an impossible coffin corner of airspeed, maneuverability and altitude with fatal results. So too did the final hour of Deep Sea 129’s mission progress.
At 1234 local, radar and listening posts reported the launch of suspected Mi-21’s in North Korea. Alerted, the larger monitoring network pricked it’s electronic ears and eyes to attempt and see and hear more. Deep Sea 129 completing a 1300L “ops normal” report to parent squadron VQ-1 and twenty-two minutes later the MiG’s were lost, not being re-acquired until 1337L. Alerted, VQ-1 passed a “Condition 3” report to the Warning Star indicating a possible intercept might be in progress. LCDR Overstreet, plane an mission commander for the flight, acknowledged the report and instituted abort procedures to terminate the mission. At 1337L the radar tracks of the MiG’s and Deep Sea 129 merged with radar and radio contact with the EC-121 and its crew lost two minutes later.
No CAP was launched and while a rescue effort was launched later that day, and eventually expanded to include over 20 aircraft, no debris was sighted until the following morning – which just happened to have been recovered by two Soviet destroyers in the area. When US ships arrived on the scene that evening, the USS Henry W. Tucker (DD 875) recovered a piece of the aircraft, riddled with shrapnel. The bodies of LTJG Joseph R. Ribar and AT1 Richard E. Sweeney were also recovered, the only ones thus so. The Soviet ships turned over what wreckage they had recovered to the US ships who then returned to Japan.
North Korea not only acknowledged the shoot down, they loudly and boastfully celebrated their action. President Nixon suspended PARPRO flights in the Sea of Japan for three days and then allowed them to resume, only with escorts. No reparations were ever paid to the US or the families of the lost airmen.
And Kim Il-Sung celebrated another birthday (April 15th).
The crew of Deep Sea 129:
LCDR James H. Overstreet,
LT John N. Dzema,
LT Dennis B. Gleason,
LT Peter P. Perrottey,
LT John H. Singer,
LT Robert F. Taylor,
LTJG Joseph R. Ribar,
LTJG Robert J. Sykora,
LTJG Norman E. Wilkerson,
ADRC Marshall H. McNamara,
CTC Frederick A. Randall,
CTC Richard E. Smith,
AT1 Richard E. Sweeney,
AT1 James Leroy Roach,
CT1 John H. Potts,
ADR1 Ballard F. Conners,
AT1 Stephen C. Chartier,
AT1 Bernie J. Colgin,
ADR2 Louis F. Balderman,
ATR2 Dennis J. Horrigan,
ATN2 Richard H. Kincaid,
ATR2 Timothy H. McNeil,
CT2 Stephen J. Tesmer,
ATN3 David M. Willis,
CT3 Philip D. Sundby,
AMS3 Richard T. Prindle,
CT3 John A. Miller,
AEC LaVerne A. Greiner,
ATN3 Gene K. Graham,
CT3 Gary R. DuCharme,
SSGT Hugh M. Lynch,(US Marine Corps).

Underway ... Again

2009-04-14T19:17:00.004-04:00

Well, pulling the old blog out of mothballs and getting underway again. Seems certain organizations just can't get their blocking software to work uniformly across the net. Of course, for those of us who have experienced first hand those same organization's abilities at more mundane matters, like, oh, maybe migrating user's domains, we aren't very surprised...

So here's the gameplan. Check the mothership first, if no joy, pogo this.
Steeljaw sends...

Come on Over...

2009-02-02T18:21:00.002-05:00

...the water's great!

If by chance you have landed here from another site or print article, the location of the current/active site is http://steeljawscribe.com See you over there!
- SJS

Changes, changes, changes...

2007-12-30T18:42:00.000-05:00

First - not to worry - we've just re-directed you to the old site whilst doing some work on the current site. Because, you see despite the best efforts of the distaff side yesterday with an unplanned site mod to the den (which we wrapped up in the wee-hours of the night with the last a/v cable re-zip-tied in place, btw) - plan on seeing some major changes around here with the New Year. Fear not - the favorites will remain and it won't be going off on a wild-@$$ tangent, just some changes. And afterall, change is good...n'est ce pas ? See you in the New Year...back over at http://steeljawscribe.com

Well - shoot...

2007-11-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

Hi all -

If you're reading this post it's *probably* because you've been redirected from the primary site, http://steeljawscribe.com

This is because:

Your humble, all thumbs scribe has managed to hose up the upgrade/maintenance work (a phrase from an ancient and salty Maintenance Master Chief comes to mind re. aircrew and toolboxes, but this is a family blog...) or
The host is having database or other "issues"

So...check the link above - if it looks like the problem is going to be prolonged we'll post here until it is resolved.
- SJS

New Site

2007-06-08T04:17:00.000-04:00

I have shifted my pennant to a new site:

http://steeljawscribe.com

Looking forward to seeing you over there!
- SJS

Midway 65 Years Later - Lessons Learned

2007-06-07T07:41:00.000-04:00

"I can run wild for six months … after that, I have no expectation of success." - Fleet Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

In racing there is a saying - 'luck is where preparation meets opportunity' Perhaps there is no truer an example than the Battle of Midway. Popular literature seems to emphasize the American forces stumbling into a heaven-sent scenario of laden carrier decks and little to no opposition to the dive bombers, while giving short shrift to the preparation that enabled them to make use of that opportunity. How so?

COMINT: Communications Intelligence - the US code breakers labored mightily to figure out what the IJN was up to. Were it not for their efforts prior to Midway, and some particularly inspired thinking and risk taking, the US may well have fallen for the feint up to Alaska and end up caught in the trap laid by Yamamoto.

Damage Control: Had the crew of the Yorktown not been so proficient in DC, particularly something as seemingly mundane as draining the avgas lines and filling them with inert gas prior to the battle of Coral Sea, the Yorktown may very well have been lost, leaving CINCPAC with only two carriers facing four, forcing a different battle plan. Conversely, the almost lackadaisical approach the Japanese took in repairing Shokaku's damage or replinishing Zuikaku's air wing and repairing her light damage from Coral Sea's action ensured their nonavailability for Midway, keeping the balance of forces on a razor's edge.

Training: The contrast between USN and USMC effectiveness in employing dive bombers at Midway was signatory. Using the same platform (SBD-3's) USN pilots scored major hits while minimizing losses to AAA and fighters, whereas the Marines suffered significant losses for little, if any gain. The difference? Tactics, training and procedures or TTP (yes, we know -ugh, one of those modern terms...) - the Navy employed steep, usually 70-degree, dives on the target whereas the Marines used much shallower, gliding approaches. The former minimizes your exposure time and profile to AAA and fighters while increasing the likelihood of a hit. However, it requires considerable practice at obtaining the proper dive angle, avoiding target fixation and knowing how/when to pullout of the dive and avoid over-stressing the airframe. Lots of practice, underscoring the maxim about training like you are going to fight...

Employment of forces: The Japanese were the first to employ massed striking power using carriers and the strike at Pearl (and subsequent actions through SE Asia and the IO) validated the philosophy. The problem was the Japanese failed to comprehend the inherent flexibility of carrier-based air and thus eschewed opportunities to utilize it in other scenarios, such as scouting, which in turn, led to less than robust search plans and reliance on out-dated search aircraft and methodologies. Curiously, the Japanese broke this rule in planning the Aleutian invasion, diverting forces on a mission of questionable value and success for territory that would prove to be exceptionally harsh on man and machine while yielding little, if any strategic value outside of propaganda for an overly wrought plan of entrapment. This leads to questions of planning...

Planning/Command: In studied contrast to the run-up at Pearl, Japanese planning for Midway was poorly thought out, egregiously evaluated and gamed and haphazardly executed (cf: the entire submarine picket plan). Indeed, it was put together and executed in such a toxic atmosphere of arrogance and bluster that even when one of the final wargame sessions showed American forces gaining an upper-hand because of gaps in the air search pattern, referees for the wargame manipulated the environment and other factors to bring about a successful conclusion for Kido Butai. As for dealing with changing factors at sea, commanders were loath to step outside the boundaries of the plan and demonstrate initiative. In studied contrast were the actions of the Americans from Nimitz's orders based on calculated risk to Dick Best's last minute change in targets.

Luck indeed smiled on the Americans that day, but she did not grab them by the hand (or scruff of the neck) and tell them what must be done in PowerPoint bulletized format. She merely opened the door, a crack, and offered a fleeting moment to change the course of the battle...the Americans grasped it and changed the direction of the war.

Review the list above - these are timeless lessons learned, every bit as applicable today as they were 65 year ago. My observations lead me to believe we are ignoring them at our future peril.

(ed. This is the last in the Midway series, one that YHS has thoroughly enjoyed working on and fielding your comments. There are some other items of note in work - such as a Flightdeck Friday on the USS Macon with some interesting original source material passed my way and, hopefully soon, breaking out my pennant on a new site. More to follow. - SJS)

65th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway: 4/5 June - Forces Engaged

2007-06-04T10:19:00.000-04:00

In carrying out the task assigned … you will be governed by the principle of calculated risk, which you shall interpret to mean the avoidance of exposure of our forces without good prospect on inflicting, as a result of such exposure, greater damage on the enemy. (Extract from CINCPAC Operational Order to TF 17 Commander)

In every battle there is a moment when the combatants, and the world, seem to catch their breath. It is a fleeting moment, lost in the blink of an eye. But in that same blink, everything changes. Such moments are borne of desperation, of courage, of plain dumb luck. But they are pivotal - for what was before is forever changed afterwards.

Until 1019 on the morning of 4/5 June 1942, things had gone badly for the US and its allies. With few exceptions, the Allies were fighting a losing battle in the Pacific. Indeed, as events unfolded that morning, it appeared as of the rout was on. The attacks by land-based air forces from Midway had utterly failed culminating in the loss of many aircraft. The strikes by the torpedo aircraft were decimated - an entire squadron of TBDs shot down with only a sole survivor to claim witness. An entire airgroup missed the Japanese carriers and the battle altogether and of the remaining forces, they were scattered and disorganized. The future was looking grim.

At 1019, Hiryu's senior lookout shouted he had spotted dive bombers attacking Kaga from overhead. Despite being thrown into a hard turn, Kaga was struck by a 500 lb bomb and then successive strikes utterly crushed her...

At 1024 Soryu was struck a mighty series of blows...

At 1026, LT Dick Best led a flight of two other SBDs away from Kaga in an attack on Akagi. Attacking in a "V" formation from a right-hand turn, history held its breath as the first bomb missed and the third narrowly missed the carrier. But the second bomb, a 1,000 pounder from LT Best's aircraft bore through the aft edge of the elevator and exploded in the upper reaches of the Akagi's hangar bay, in the midst of the refueled/rearming aircraft parked there. In the blink of an eye, fate turned and three carriers lay burning.

To be sure the battle was not over and a dreadful price remained to be extracted from the American carriers. Likewise, Kido Butai had not seen the last of the Americans either and would pay the final price later in that day.

Across a seaborne canvass that stretched over 176,000 sq nm, larger than the country of Sweden (as Parshall & Tully observe) the battle see-sawed back and forth. No other naval engagment has seen such breath-taking distances involved and few, short of a Trafalgar, have seen such a decisive turn of events. We honor today those who fought and gave their all in this signatory battle.

- SJS

_____

Notes:

1) Previous postings this series:

2) To appreciate the sweep of events and the timescale involved, the reader is recommended to view the history of the battle as laid out over at Historyanimated, located here for the Battle of Midway.

Countdown to Midway: 3 June – First Contact

2007-06-03T13:36:00.000-04:00

WEDNESDAY, 3 JUNE 1942

ALASKA: In an attempt to divert forces from the Midway area, a Japanese carrier-based bombers and fighters bomb and strafe Ft Mears and Dutch Harbor in several waves inflicting little damage but killing 52 US personnel. P-40s from Cold Bay trying to intercept them arrive 10 minutes after the last attack wave departs. Other P-40s at Umnak are notified too late due to communication failure. 9 P-40s and 6 B-26s fly a patrol but cannot find the fleet-l80 miles (288 km) S of Dutch Harbor- but 2 of the P-40s engage 4 carrier-based aircraft, shoot down one and damage another. An A6M2 Zero fighter crashes in the Aleutian Islands and is discovered intact five weeks later. It is shipped to the United States for testing and evaluation. (ed. – this is the Zero that the urban legend about the design of the F6F sprang from; in fact, the F6F will fly for the first time in a little over 3 weeks from today’s date)

Alaska - Japanese occupy Kiska and Attu in the Aleutians.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS: A flight of 6 B-25s of the 11th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy), earmarked for China, take off from Dinjan, India for China. They bomb Lashio, Burma en route to Kunming, but afterward 9 crashed into an overcast-hidden mountain at 10,000 feet (3,048 m) and another is abandoned when it runs out of fuel near Chan-i, China. The remaining 2 B-25's reach Kunming, China, 1 with its radio operator killed by a fighter.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force):

Preliminary action begins in the Battle of Midway …

On the morning of 3 June 1942 (4 Jun as the calendar was observed by the ships of Kido Butai), elements of Tanaka’s invasion force were discovered by PBYs flying out of Midway. Fist detection of the supporting minesweepers came @ 0830L and followed by another sighting by a different PBY forty-five minutes later (the infamous “Main Body” report). This was a good 700 nm from Midway and after Midway’s air commander satisfied himself it wasn’t the carriers, a long range strike by the Midway-based B-17’s was launched. Indicative of the distances the coming battle would be fought, the first attack force reached Tanaka’s ships around four hours later. Setting up for their runs from 8 to 12 thousand feet above the force, Tanaka’s ships did not react until the bombs were starting to explode around them. Maneuvering to avoid hits, all the ships escaped being hit, despite claims by the returning bombers of having hit and damaged or sunk five large ships.

As alluded to above, the distances in this theater of battle were huge – how each side developed and implemented their search surveillance plan would be critical. At this stage of the war, radar was not available for use in search aircraft with large, ungainly sets and antennas being the province of ships. Even then, the limitations of the radar horizon (straight-line distance to the Earths horizon. Below which surface and low flying targets could not be seen) which was approximately 30 -40 miles, severely constrained the employment of radar for now. Instead, scouting was to be carried out by land- and ship-based aircraft (ship-based only for Japan), one of the original missions envisioned for aircraft in their early naval days. Additionally, picket lines of submarines would be used to form a warning barrier that would be tripped by passage of the other side’s carriers.

The scouting aircraft used by the Japanese were either the Type 95 float plane (a range-limited bi-plane) or the fewer in number Aichi E31A Jake Type 0 float plane. Commonly found on heavy cruisers and battle ships, the former was found in far greater numbers the morning of 3 June. As such, because of the range demands, the limited numbers of Jakes were pressed into service. With a crew of three (pilot, bombardier and gunner) the Jake had a combat/search radius of about 600-650 nm. The search plan for Kido Butai had Jakes launching from Akagi, Kaga, Tone (2) and Chikuma (2). Flying out on assigned radials originating from Kido Butai’s center, each plane would fan out to 300 nm, turn left for 60 nm and then fly back to the origin point (see illustration below). At the patrol altitude of 1200-2000 ft, an optical search swath of about 25 nm, centered on the plane’s ground track could be maintained. Absent any other factors or tipper information, it was a chancy plan at best. Tipper information would come from tripwire notification passed by the submarine pickets as they picked up the carriers leaving Oahu. Except that by the time the subs arrived, the carriers had already left.

Contrast that search plan with the American plan – with 127 search aircraft (primarily PBYs backed up by thirty plus Marine SBDs as well as the B-17’s) on Midway, the Americans already had a more robust search capability. The PBY’s range was double that of the Japanese scouts and with a crew of 9, able to cover a search area. The American subs were also on station as well. But perhaps the most important distinction was the difference in employment of carrier air for scouting/search. Unlike the US, which had scouting squadrons assigned to the CVs (usually with SBDs assigned), the IJN did not employ carrier air. The primary reason goes back to operational philosophy and employment. The IJN was the first to use massed carriers to effectively employ carrier-based air. As such, they did not believe in dissipating any CV-based assets via scouting missions, preferring instead to reserve the force for massed attacks on the target(s) once located. The implications of this differing philosophy would be seen in the following day’s battle.

Later that evening, PBYs carrying jury-rigged torpedoes conduct a night attack on the supporting forces. One torpedo finds a target, impacting and detonating on the bow of a fleet oiler. Though slowed by the damage, it manages to rejoin the supporting fleet. Ironically, this would be the only successful airborne torpedo attack of the coming battle...

Flightdeck Friday: Countdown to Midway - USN Carrier-based Air Order of Battle (AOB)

2007-06-01T15:49:00.000-04:00

Task Force 17 - Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher in

Yorktown

Task Group 17.5 Carrier Group - CAPT Elliott Buckmaster

USS Yorktown (CV-5) CAPT Buckmaster

CVG-5 - LCDR Oscar Pederson

VS-5 LT Wallace Clark Short, Jr. 19 (17) x SBD-3
VF-3 LCDR John Smith Thach 27 (25) x F4F-4
VB-3 LCDR Maxwell Franklin Leslie 18 (17) x SBD-3
VT-3 LCDR Lance Edward Massey 15 (12) x TBD-1

Task Force 16 - Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance in Enterprise

Task Force 16 - RADM Raymond Ames Spruance

Task Group 16.5 Carrier Group - CAPT George Dominic Murray
USS Enterprise (CV-6) CAPT Murray

CVG-6 - LCDR Clarence Wade McClusky, Jr. 1 (1) x SBD-3

VF-6 LT James Seton Gray, Jr. 27 (27) x F4F-4
VS-6 LT Wilmer Earl Gallaher 18 (18) x SBD-3
VB-6 LT Richard Halsey Best 18 (18) x SBD-2, -3
VT-6 LCDR Eugene Elbert Lindsey 14 (14) x TBD-1

USS Hornet (CV-8) RADM Marc Andrew Mitscher

CVG-8 - Cdr. Stanhope Cotton Ring 1 (1) x SBD-3

VF-8 LCDR Samuel Gavid Mitchell 27 (27) x F4F-4
VS-8 LCDR Walter Fred Rodee 16 (15) x SBD-3
VB-8 LCDR Robert Ruffin Johnson 18 (18) x SBD-3
VT-8 LCDR John Charles Waldron 15 (15) x TBD-1

Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat

The F4F began life somewhat inauspiciously as a two-time loser – to the Brewster F2A Buffalo of all planes. Initially designed as an unbuilt biplane design entered in a US Navy competition, it was beaten by the monoplane Brewster F2A-1 design. Subsequently remodeled as the monoplane XF4F-2 it was evaluated against the Buffalo, only to come up short again (although it was marginally faster) - the Buffalo was otherwise superior and was chosen for production. Fortunately Grumman persisted and the prototype was then rebuilt as the XF4F-3 with new wings and tail and a most importantly, a supercharged version of the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 "Twin Wasp" radial engine. Subsequent testing of the XF4F-3 led to an order for F4F-3 production models, the first of which was completed in February 1940 and armed four .50 caliber Browning machine guns, joined active units in later that year.

The definitive version and the one by far seeing the most action was the F4F-4, which entered service in 1942 with six guns and folding wings, allowing more to be embarked on a carrier. Interestingly enough, this version was less popular with American pilots, because the same amount of ammunition was spread over two additional guns, decreasing firing time. With the F4F-3's four 50-caliber guns and 450 rounds per gun, pilots had 34 seconds of firing time; six guns decreased ammunition to 240 rounds per gun, which could be expended in less than 20 seconds. The increase to six guns was attributed to the Royal Navy, who wanted greater firepower to deal with German and Italian foes – Jimmy Thach’s observation was, "A pilot who cannot hit with four guns will miss with eight." Extra guns and folding wings meant extra weight, and reduced performance: the F4F-4 was capable of only about 318 mph at 19,400 ft. Rate of climb was noticeably worse in the F4F-4, while Grumman optimistically claimed the F4F-4 could climb at a modest 1,950 feet per minute, in combat conditions, pilots found their F4F-4s capable of ascending at only 500 to 1,000 feet per minute. Moreover, the F4F-4's folding wing was intended to allow five F4F-4s to be stowed in the space required by two F4F-3s. In practice, the folding wings allowed an increase of about 50% in the number of Wildcats carried aboard US fleet aircraft carriers.

Note the TBD's Hung in the Overhead...

The Wildcat was outperformed by the Mitsubishi Zero, its major opponent in the early part of the Pacific Theater, but held its own by absorbing far more damage and with the adoption of tactics that took advantage of the Wildcat’s abilities (diving attacks) and mutual support (Thach Weave). With relatively heavy armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Grumman airframe could survive far more than its lightweight, unarmored Japanese rival. Many US Navy fighter pilots also were saved by the F4F's ZB homing device, which allowed them to find their carriers in poor visibility, provided they could get within the 30-mile range of the homing beacon.

General characteristics

* Crew: 1
* Length: 28 ft 9 in (8.8 m)
* Wingspan: 38 ft 0 in (11.6 m)
* Height: 9 ft 2.5 in (2.8 m)
* Wing area: 260 ft² (24.2 m²)
* Empty weight: 5,760 lb (2,610 kg)
* Max takeoff weight: 7,950 lb (3,610 kg)
* Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-1830-86 double-row radial engine, 1,200 hp (900 kW)

Performance

* Maximum speed: 320 mph (290 knots, 515 km/h)
* Range: 770 mi (670 nm, 1,240 km)
* Service ceiling: 39,500 ft (12,000 m)
* Rate of climb: 1,950 ft/min (9.9 m/s)

Armament

* Guns: 6× 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, 240 rounds/gun
* Bombs: 2× 100 lb (45 kg) bombs

Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless

The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the U.S. Navy's main dive bomber from mid-1940 until late 1943, when it was supplemented (although not entirely replaced) by the SB2C Helldiver. Derived from the Northrop Model 8 attack bomber developed for the Army and export market, the Dauntless was developed at the Douglas Northrop facility at El Segundo, Calif., and featured a novel “Swiss Cheese” style dive flap arrangement. Slow but rugged (the aircraft was tagged as the “Slow But Deadly” Dauntless by her aircrew) the Dauntless when used in a steep dive profile was proved deadly to shipping, accounting for more ships sunk in the Pacific theater than any other US or Allied aircraft.

The SBD was involved in combat from the first day of the Pacific War, as Dauntlesses arriving at Hawaii from USS Enterprise were caught in the Pearl Harbor attack. The type's first major use was in the Battle of the Coral Sea, when SBDs and TBDs sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō. SBDs were also used as anti-torpedo combat air patrol and scored several times against Japanese aircraft trying to attack USS Lexington and USS Yorktown. the SBD's most important contribution to the American war effort probably came during the Battle of Midway (early June 1942), when SBD dive bomber attacks sank all four of the Japanese aircraft carriers (the Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū) as well as heavily damaging two Japanese cruisers (including the Mikuma, which sank before a Japanese destroyer could scuttle it.). 5,936 SBDs were produced in WWII.

General characteristics

* Crew: Two
* Length: 33 ft 1 in (10.08 m)
* Wingspan: 41 ft 6 in (12.65 m)
* Height: 13 ft 7 in (4.14 m)
* Wing area: 325 ft² (30.19 m²)
* Empty weight: 6,404 lb (2,905 kg)
* Loaded weight: 10,676 lb (4,843 kg)
* Max takeoff weight: 10,700 lb (4,853 kg)
* Powerplant: 1× Wright R-1820-60 radial engine, 1,200 hp (895 kW)

Performance

* Maximum speed: 255 mph (410.38 km/h)
* Range: 773 mi (1243.8 km)
* Service ceiling: 25,530 ft (7,780 m)
* Rate of climb: 1,700 ft/min (8.6 m/s)
* Wing loading: 32.8 lb/ft² (160.4 kg/m²)
* Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (0.18 kW/kg)

Armament

* 2x 0.5 in (12.7 mm) forward-firing machine guns
* 2x 0.3 in (7.62 mm) flexible-mounted machine guns
* 2,250 lb (1,020 kg) of bombs

Douglas TBD-1 Devastator

While the Dauntless may have earned the moniker "Slow But Deadly," the Douglas TBD Devastator just turned out to be deadly – to her crews at Midway. The TBD was ordered in 1934, first flew in 1935 and entered service in 1937. At that point, it was the most advanced plane flying for the USN and possibly for any navy in the world. However, the fast pace of aircraft development caught up with it, and by the time of the Japanese attack on

Pearl Harbor

the TBD was already outdated. It performed well in some early battles, but in the Battle of Midway the Devastators launched against the Japanese fleet were almost totally wiped out. The type was immediately withdrawn from service, replaced by the Grumman TBF Avenger.

The TBD Devastator marked a large number of "firsts" for the US Navy. It was the first widely-used carrier-based monoplane as well as the first all-metal plane, the first with a totally enclosed cockpit, the first with hydraulically folding wings; it is fair to say that the TBD was revolutionary. A semi-retractable undercarriage was fitted, with the wheels designed to protrude 10 inches (250 mm) below the wings to permit a "wheels-up" landing with only minimal damage.

A crew of three was carried beneath a large "greenhouse" canopy almost half the length of the airplane. The pilot, of course, sat up front; a rear gunner/radio operator took the rearmost seat, while the bombardier occupied the middle seat. During a bombing run, the bombardier lay prone, sliding into position under the pilot to sight through a window in the bottom of the fuselage, using the Norden Bombsight for either a single Mark XIII torpedo or a single 1000 lb (450 kg) bomb. Defensive armament consisted of either a .30 or .50 cal (7.62 or 12.7 mm) machine-gun firing forward, and a .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun for the rear gunner.

The Devastator suffered from two principle short-comings – it was excruciatingly slow on torpedo runs, which themselves required a log, straight un-maneuvering run-in to the target and from poorly designed torpedoes that if it did survive the run in, usually failed to detonate or ran deep under their targets. The fact that US submarine crews were likewise having similar problems with their torpedoes in the early stage of the war was cold comfort to the TBD crews and Navy leadership…

Eventually 129 of the type were purchased by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), equipping the carriers USS Saratoga, USS Enterprise, USS Lexington, USS Wasp, USS Hornet, USS Yorktown and USS Ranger. The last TBD was scrapped in 1944 and as a result (combined with combat and operational losses) there are no examples in existence today.

General characteristics

* Crew: Three: Pilot, Torpedo Officer/Navigator, Radioman/Gunner
* Length: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
* Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
* Height: 15 ft 1 in (4.60 m)
* Wing area: 422 ft² (39.2 m²)
* Empty weight: 6,182 lb (2,804 kg)
* Loaded weight: 9,862 lb (4,473 kg)
* Max takeoff weight: 10,194 lb (4,623 kg)
* Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-1830-64 Twin Wasp radial engine, 900 hp (671 kW)

Performance

* Maximum speed: 206 mph (331 km/h)
* Range: 435 miles (700 km)
* Service ceiling: 19,700 ft (6000 m)
* Rate of climb: 720 ft/min (3.7 m/s)
* Wing loading: lb/ft² (kg/m²)
* Power/mass: hp/lb (kW/kg)

Armament

* 1x 0.30 cal (7.62 mm) machine gun forward-firing
* 1x 0.30 cal (7.62 mm) machinegun in rear cockpit (later increased to two)
* 1x 1,000 lb (453 kg) bomb
* 1x Mark XIII torpedo - 1,200 lb (544 kg)

Oldest U.S. Carrier Makes Last Voyage

2007-05-31T13:52:00.000-04:00

Associated Press | May 23, 2007

TOKYO - The USS Kitty Hawk, the U.S. Navy's oldest ship in full active service, embarked on its last major maneuvers Wednesday before being decommissioned next year.

The 46-year-old vessel - the only American aircraft carrier permanently deployed abroad - eased out of its berth at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, escorted by a carrier strike group of cruisers and guided missile destroyers, Naval spokesman John Nylander said.

The voyage, to last several months in the western and central Pacific Ocean, was expected to be the last major mission for the ship before it is replaced next year by the USS George Washington and sent back to the United States for decommissioning, said Rear Adm. Richard B. Wren, commander of the Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Group.

"This is the last trip for USS Kitty Hawk," Wren told reporters.

The Kitty Hawk, with a crew of more than 5,500, was commissioned in 1961 and has served in Vietnam and Iraq.

The diesel-powered ship was deployed to Yokosuka in 1998, and will be replaced with the nuclear-powered George Washington as part of the U.S. military's effort to modernize its forces in East Asia - an area of potential flashpoints with North Korea or China.

But the vessel's replacement sparked a backlash in Japan, where critics oppose the basing of a nuclear-powered warship in domestic waters. Japan's government backed the idea, however, saying the George Washington would boost regional stability.

Nuclear-powered warships have visited Japanese ports hundreds of times since 1964, and the United States has provided firm commitments to Tokyo regarding the safe use of Japanese harbors by the nuclear-powered vessels.

Countdown to Midway: 30 May 1942

2007-05-30T21:09:00.000-04:00

USS Yorktown (April 1942).

EUROPE:

Britain launches its first 1000-plane bomber raid - the target: Cologne, Germany.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA:

Myitkyina, Burma is again hit by B-17's. Again no activity is observed and the attacks are discontinued. HQ 7th Bombardment Group transfers from Karachi to Dum-Dum, India.

ALASKA:

77th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 28th Composite Group, based at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Territory of Alaska, begins operating from Umnak, Aleutian with B-26's.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA:

7th Air Force begins flying B-17's from the Territory of Hawaii to Midway in the face of an expected attack on that. 394th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 5th Bombardment Group (Heavy), transfers from Hickam Field to Bellows Field, Territory of Hawaii with B-17's.

Pearl Harbor

On the 27^th of May, USS Yorktown arrived at Pearl Harbor bearing the wounds of her action from the Coral Sea action. Grievously wounded by both direct-hits and near-misses (even while having avoided a spread of eight air-launched torpedoes), Yorktown required at least a three month overhaul and refit. However, Nimitz knew Yorktown was the only carrier available to add to the task force that had previously sailed with Hornet and Enterprise. Two carriers against Kido Butai would not be sufficient – Saratoga, enroute from the West Coast, would not arrive until 7 Jun, too late to be of use. Ranger was otherwise engaged and Lexington, well, Lexington was lost after a valiant fight at Coral Sea. The third carrier had to be Yorktown.

When she entered Pearl on the 27^th, over 1,400 shipyard workers swarmed aboard and immediately set to work repairing the damage, along with ship’s company. On 28 May she entered dry dock to repair cracks in the hull and fuel holding tanks from the near misses. In forty-eight hours another in a series of miracles ensued and Yorktown made ready for sea. At 0900L 30 May 1942, Yorktown put to sea, her airwing replenished with three of Saratoga’s squadrons (VB-3, VF-3 and VT-3 replacing VS-5, VF-42 and VT-5, all of which had suffered heavy losses at Coral Sea).

How significant was this action? In a word – it was pivotal. The urgency to turnaround Yorktown, bring aboard squadrons who had never operated off her before and in so doing, get a third carrier into action was one of the key points in the outcome of the coming battle – and make no mistake everyone from Nimitz down to the seaman on the Yorktown knew it. This was in studied contrast to the almost leisurely approach the Japanese took in repairing Zuikaku and replenishing her air wing (the Japanese did not rotate airwings between carriers and didn’t think about doing it until later in the war).

Naval Aviator Missing In Action From the Vietnam War Identified

2007-05-30T14:41:00.000-04:00

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense No. 672-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 30, 2007

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Lt. Michael T. Newell, U.S. Navy, of Ellenville, N.Y.He will be buried today in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

On Dec. 14, 1966, Newell was flying an F-8E Crusader aircraft as wingman in a flight of two on a combat air patrol over North Vietnam.During the mission, the flight leader saw a surface-to-air missile explode between the two aircraft.Although Newell initially reported that he had survived the blast, his aircraft gradually lost power and crashed near the border between Nghe An and Thanh Hoa provinces in south central North Vietnam.The flight leader did not see a parachute nor did he hear an emergency beacon signal.He stayed in the area and determined that Newell did not escape from the aircraft prior to the crash.

Between 1993 and 2002, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), visited the area of the incident five times to conduct investigations and survey the crash site.They found pilot-related artifacts and aircraft wreckage consistent to an F-8 Crusader.

In 2004, a joint U.S./S.R.V. team began excavating the crash site.The team was unable to complete the recovery and subsequent teams re-visited the site two more times before the recovery was completed in 2006.As a result, the teams found human remains and additional pilot-related items.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

The Rest of the Story...

(From the entry for LT Newell at The Virtual Wall)

On 14 Dec 1966 a Navy ALPHA strike from the USS TICONDEROGA was targeted against a vehicle depot at Van Dien, about 5 miles west of Hanoi. As usual, fighters were tasked with providing combat air patrol over the target area while the bombers worked the target.
While over the target LT Michael Newell, flying F-8E BuNo 149148, was hit by fragments from an SA-2 surface to air missile. LT Newell advised his flight lead that his aircraft was handling well, turned south to egress the target area, and began a climb from the 6,000 foot CAP orbit to a higher altitude. A few minutes later he advised that he had lost hydraulic pressure, and comrades watched helplessly as his Crusader entered into uncontrolled flight and dove into the ground from an altitude of about 17,000 feet. Newell did not eject before ground impact; since he was not injured by the SA-2 impact it may be that G-forces due to uncontrolled flight prevented him from ejecting. His remains have not been repatriated.
TICONDEROGA lost a second aircraft during the strike; LT Claude D. Wilson of Attack Squadron 72 (A-4E BuNo 151068) was hit by an SA-2 after departing the target area but stayed in the air. As he neared Thanh Hoa, he was hit a second time and his A-4E exploded in flight. LT Wilson's remains were repatriated in 1989.

LT Newell's flight on 14 December was part of Operation ROLLING THUNDER. Operation ROLLING THUNDER was a gradual and sustained U.S. 2nd Air Division (later Seventh Air Force), U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) aerial bombardment campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam) from 2 March 1965 until 1 November 1968, during the Vietnam War.

The target CVW 19 was engaged on that day was the Van Dien supply depot/barracks, target number 62 on the JCS-94 target list. Since it was in the vicinity of Hanoi, it resided under one of the most lethal anti-aircraft zones seen since the notorious flak/fighter corridors over Germany in WW2. The layered defense ranged from widely emplaced ZSU-23/4 cannon to anti-aircraft artillery for medium altitude up to SA-2 GUIDELINE missiles to cover the ingressing/high-altitude threat. All told, CVW-19/TICO would lose 14 aircraft to combat related action during the Oct.19, 1966 - May 29, 1967 deployment, with an additional three operational losses.

LT Newell Remembered

(from a 30 May 2007 article in the Times Herald-Record, serving New York"s Hudson Valley and the Catskills. This is an excellent article and it is recommended in entirety - the portion quoted below was particularly compelling - it serves as a reminder of what small town newspapers are really all about, people and those they have touched or affected over the years, something missing in the bigger national papers - SJS)

Mike Newell: A Reminiscence by His Friend Bob Kelb
Mike and I became good friends in grade school. We were both stubborn and had tempers. This would occasionally get the best of us, and we would have a fight. But I don't think we ever went more than a half hour before one or the other of us would call, apologize, and we would be back on the best of terms. Our friendship grew thru junior high, high school and in later years. When Mike first started to think about entering a service academy, I wasn't sure how he would manage in that environment. I was concerned about his temper (I never told him this). He worked hard to get his appointment to Annapolis. As a midshipman, he thrived in that difficult environment.

Mrs. Newell's brother was an Air Force B-52 bomber pilot and Mike was always interested in planes and flying. When we were growing up, we went to as many air shows as we could at Stewart Field.

One of his summer midshipman cruises was to the Mediterranean, during a NATO exercise. On returning, he mentioned how many pilots were lost during this exercise. As he approached graduation, he was considering both submarines and flying. I remembered the statistics from his Med. cruise, and suggested subs would be a good choice.

But flying was Mike's dream, and he went on to become a carrier pilot. His dream became his passion. (I just recently had a tour of a nuclear attack sub, the USS Albany. I think he made the right choice.) The only time I have been somewhat afraid in an airplane, Mike was at the controls. He had graduated from flight school and was flying an F8-U Crusader. Home on leave, he decided we should go to Wurtsboro Airport, rent a plane and fly over (aka buzz) his girl's (soon to be his wife Mimi's) house in Kerhonkson. Mr. Barone, the owner of the airport, went up with Mike to check him out in the Aeronca. On Mike's first pass at landing, he must have thought he was landing an F-8 on a carrier. He came in with power on. Mr. Barone did a lot of arm waving and Mike went around again and made a fine landing. Mr. Barone got out, Mike motioned to me to get in, and off we went. Well, the Aeronca looked much like a Piper Cub and was about as fast. It was much too slow for someone who had broken the sound barrier. He knew what the redline on the tachometer was for, but several times I had to remind him. I must say that his third landing in the Aeronca was at least as good as his second.

In the fall of 1964, I was in Army basic training at Fort Dix, N.J. I was summoned to report to the company commander in the orderly room. The CO told me that Lt. Michael Newell had called and requested that I be given a weekend pass so I could be an usher in his wedding. I had a good time at Mike and Mimi's wedding, dressed in my buck private's uniform, white gloves and shirt, and a black bow tie. The last time I saw Mike, was at Mimi's parent's home in Kerhonkson. He was home on leave between tours in Viet Nam. He talked about some of his missions and how he wanted to get a MIG when he returned.

I was once again in uniform for the memorial service that was held for Mike at St. Mary's and St. Andrew's church in Ellenville. It seemed so necessary and so incomplete.

Mike, I still think of you and remember our good friendship. Welcome Home! Rest in Peace!

Indeed LT Newell, welcome home now and rest in peace - your journey is complete...

Tuesday's Roll-up of Missile and Other News of Note

2007-05-29T14:41:00.001-04:00

I continue to be amazed (though I really shouldn't by now) at the volume of email that is generated over the course of a generic three-day weekend. This past weekend was no exception to that rule either - especially as the miserly mailbox sizes set by the sysadmins is, well, miserly, one must spend the first part of the day shoveling them out (one is doubly blessed with multiple mailboxes of varying classification...). On to today's news

Russia

Russia evidently was successful in the test launch of a new version of the SS-27/Topol M ICBM (called the RS-24 in reports) today (unlike, say, their new SLBM, the Bulava...) and of course, President Putin takes the opportunity to thump his chest again over how it demonstrated "new" technologies to enable it to overcome the US BMDS. Newsflash Vladimir - the BMDS was never designed as a counter to Russian ICBMs. That goes for the planned European leg as well. Rather, it was designed to counter the missiles from countries like North Korea, which, by the way, uses Soviet/Russian proliferated designs and technologies...

By the way, you might also want to consult your First Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov on that matter of MRBM/IRBM proliferation. Seems he was quite upset that here we are, 20 years after the signing of the INF Treaty (which he now claims is just a relic of the Cold War) and there are all manner of countries on their border that now possess these missiles. Of course, the Cold War relic prevents the US and Russia from possessing these weapons, so one might wonder what the next logical step would be.

A rational thought might be a regional missile defense network since, frankly, some of those countries (with proliferated Russian designs and technology - sometimes you do need a sharp stick to make a point) view Russia as a not too lesser Satan than the Great Satan and Russia may find itself the subject of an attack from the south. Of course, the only exoatmospheric option open to Russia at that point is the nuclear-based system around Moscow, with all the attendant fallout and collateral damage effects a 1-megaton exoatmospheric explosion would impart.

If participation in a regional defense plan doesn't stir your oars, why not work to extend the INF treaty to third parties? Granted there would be some considerable obstacles to overcome, not the least of which would be seeking to bring notoriously uncooperative states (like North Korea) to the table and others like China or France who would object based on the possibility of losing their national deterrent forces because their ranges fall in the construct of the INF Treaty. If linked in a larger condominium with a revitalization of the strategic arms talks between the US and Russia, there may be some possibilities. Alas, though, it is easier to throw rocks (including MIRVed ones), so one shouldn't expect much more than rhetoric, one supposes.

30 May Update: Here is Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister's take on yesterday's events:

Poland's top negotiator on planned U.S. missile defense bases in Europe said Tuesday that Russia has revealed a psychological problem in its opposition to the plan, and said Warsaw will ask U.S. President George W. Bush how seriously to take Moscow's threats. … “The Russians absolutely know that 10 missiles which are not equipped with any kind of warhead cannot do any harm against Russian military might,” Witold Waszczykowski, the deputy foreign minister and top Polish negotiator, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “From a technical point of view, we cannot convince them. They ignore, they neglect our arguments, and they are saying that any kind of a military installation on the territory of Poland, Czech Republic - that means on the territory of new member NATO states - is not acceptable for them,” Waszczykowski said. “That means they have a psychological problem, a kind of mental problem preventing them from accepting that the two nations are really sovereign - are not part of Soviet or Russian domination any more.” …
... works for me... - SJS

Speaking of the BMDS (and after the Midway postings, we will be back to the Missile Defense 101 series), there was a non-test this past Friday of the Ground-Based Mid-Course Interceptor (or GBI). What constitutes a non test? When the target missile fails to achieve a trajectory that in turn triggers the BMDS, identifying it as a threat and thereby not launching the GBI, that is a non-test event. The target missile was a re-worked Polaris SLBM with a generic warhead that contains telemetry and artifacts for the GBI test. The Polaris is used (as were old Minuteman upper stages) due to their availability after being withdrawn from service and consideration of disposal. This is permitted under the applicable treaties. The problem is - it is a 40 yr old missile and certain elements cannot be overhauled, that is the risk you run using missiles that are past their prime. It is however, a cost saving measure - when they work. Unfortunately, because of the cost, availability and time in preparation, there cannot be another sitting on the pad to launch in the event of the primary's failure, similar to what is done with drone targets used for endoatmospheric missile tests by aircraft and ships. One should expect the test to be rescheduled probably later in the summer or in the fall when a new target is available.

On the Navy side, there will be another Truxtun in the fleet again:

The Navy will christen the newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, Truxtun, Saturday, June 2, 2007, during a 10 a.m. CDT ceremony at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Pascagoula, Miss.

Designated hull number DDG 103, the new destroyer honors Commodore Thomas Truxtun (1755-1822) who embarked upon a seafaring career at age 12.When the U.S. Navy was organized, he was selected as one of its first six captains on June 4, 1798. He was assigned command of the USS Constellation, one of the new frigates, and he put to sea to prosecute the undeclared naval war with revolutionary France.On Feb. 9, 1799, Truxtun scored the first of his two most famous victories. After an hour's fight, Constellation battered the French warship L'Insurgente into submission in one of the most illustrious battles of the quasi-war with France.Truxtun retired from the Navy as a commodore and has had five previous ships carry his name: a brig launched in 1842, a destroyer with the hull number DD 14, a destroyer with the hull number DD 229, a high speed transport with the hull number APD 98 (initially designated a destroyer escort with the hull number DE 282), and a nuclear-powered frigate (DLGN) later re-designated a cruiser with the hull number CGN 35.

To refresh memories, here's the last Truxton

China

Lost in the churn of a three day weekend and other events, was the release of the "2007 Military Power of the People's Republic of China" report. The entire PDF version of the report is available for reading/download at:

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/070523-China-Military-Power-final.pdf

While there is a considerable amount to digest there, one of the areas worth perusing is the missile development, especially that of the DF-31. Pg. 5 notes that DoD assess it reached initial threat availability (ITA) in 2006. There is an interesting analysis of the DF-31 and the ITA issue over at Arms Control Wonk that merits your close attention - there are some pretty valid reasons for taking issue with the ITA declaration.

Venezuela

That paragon of freedom loving socialists 'round the world, Hugo (don't call me Hew-go) Chavez shut down the last private TV station this weekend, declaring it supported 'the oligarchy,' an alleged rich, pro-US group which threatens to overthrow Chavez's government. Judging from the reaction in the streets, it isn't the rich oligarchs (and how many can there be left in the new Socialist Paradise?) but the average populace and students that he ought to be concerned with. Then again, maybe they will just provide the target rich environment that will allow Hugo to employ his latest acquisition:

Countdown to Midway: 28 May 1942

2007-05-29T00:01:00.000-04:00

Pacific Theater:

ALASKA (11th Air Force): A B-17 flies the first armed reconnaissance from the secretly constructed airfield at Unmak , Aleutian over the Aleutian Chain, but finds no sign of the enemy. XI Fighter Command elements are not deployed at Unmak (P-40's and P-38's), Cold Bay (P-40's), Kodiak (P-39's), and Elmendorf Field [P-38's and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Kittyhawks].

USA - Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson warns Americans along the west coast to expect a Japanese attack as retaliation for the Dollittle raid on Tokyo.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (5th Air Force): B-26's attack the airfield at Lae, New Guinea.

New Hebridies - U.S. forces arrive at Espiritu Santo.

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii:

USS Enterprise, Hornet and escorts have sortied to meet the Japanese fleet bound for Midway. USS Yorktown, which arrived 27 May from action in the Coral Sea is in the shipyard undergoing deperate repairs to enable her to join Enterprise and Hornet.

In an inauspicious beginning, perhaps future, LCDR Lindsey, CO of VT-8 crashed astern of Enterprise while flying aboard Enterprise. He and the rest of his crew are rescued by the planeguard, USS Monaghan.

While Yorktown is in dock, her airwing receives new aircraft and performs maintenance on the others.

Kido Butai:

After clearing the Inland Sea on the 27th, Nagumo's forces have set a north-easterly course at 14 knots. Ships crews turn to the daily routine of maintenance, cleaning and participating in drills whilke the embarked aircrew amused themselves playing cards in the ready room or passing around novels while sunning themselves on the flight deck - some had brought wooden deck chairs for this purpose. (ed - It would appear there were (are) some universal similarities across naval aviation...). The overall mood of the crews was relaxed. Duty carrier rotation was set with Soryu taking the first watch on the 27th.
However, overnight on the 27th, CDR Fuchida Mitsuo, CAG for Akagi's air group, was diagnosed with acute appendicitis. Although he pleaded otherwise, the flight surgeon overruled him and operated immediately. Fuchida would miss the coming battle, at least leading the air group in battle, and this was dismaying to the veteran crews.
1430, 28 May - Kido Butai's supply ships are sighted and once they wer joined in the force, a course change to east-northeast was ordered. Speed remained at 14 knots in consideration of the destroyers and other fuel hogs in the fleet.

Memorial Day Remembrance – Ploesti Raid Aircrewman Returns Home

2007-05-28T00:01:00.000-04:00

Others remember too:

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced 11 May 2007, that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is 1st Lt. Archibald Kelly, U.S. Army Air Forces, of Detroit, Mich. He was buried on May 12 in Great Lakes National Cemetery, Holly, Mich.

On July 22, 1944, Kelly was the navigator on a B-24J Liberator on a bombing raid of the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania. Returning to Lecce air base in Italy, the plane was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed in what is now Croatia, approximately 430 miles southwest of Ploesti. Of the ten crewmen on board, eight survived and bailed out of the aircraft before it crashed. The rear gunner died and his body was later recovered. One of the surviving crewmen saw Kelly bail out before the crash, but said he struck a rocky cliff face when the wind caught his parachute. His body was not found at that time.

After researching information contained in U.S. wartime records, specialists from DMO's Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD) in 2005 interviewed residents from Dubrovnik and Mihanici village who had information related to WWII aircraft losses in the area. One resident recalled a crash in which one of the crewmen landed on a pile of rocks on Mt. Snijeznica after his parachute failed to open. He said locals buried the individual. Based on witness descriptions of the burial location, the team searched the mountaintop, but was unable to locate the burial site.

Additional JCSD archival research in Croatia confirmed the earlier information found in U.S. records. In June 2006, the Dubrovnik resident reported to JCSD that he had continued the search and found the grave site of the American serviceman. He sent pictures of both the site and the remains to DPMO. In September 2006, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the burial site, confirming with local villagers that it was the same site photographed by the Dubrovnik resident. The team recovered human remains at the site.

This raid on Ploesti wasn't the (in)famous one from August of 1943, yet it was representative of the many missions flown against industrial and military targets in Europe and the Pacific by the men of the Army Air Corps. On this mission 438 B-17's and B-24's took part with loss of "only" two aircraft. As we pause to give thanks this Memorial Day for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice - for keeping the Union intact, for our freedoms, to extend that umbrella of freedom to others - freeing them from tyranny and oppression, let us give thanks and always remember.

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain; As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain.

Welcome home Lieutenant Kelly, rest easy now that your mission is complete.

Countdown to Midway: 27 May 1942

2007-05-27T19:41:00.000-04:00

“The Inland Sea of Japan was still veiled in darkness when the anchorage at Hashirajima began to awaken. On board the aircraft carrier Akagi, white-clad crewmen, ghostly in the deep twilight on the forecastle, began raising the ship’s anchors. The clatter of the capstan was overlain with the bright sound of spraying water as the foredeck gang played hoses along the dripping anchor chains, washing them clean of the harbor’s mud. All around Akagi, just barely discernable in the gloom, lay dozens of great grey warships, many of them weighing anchor as well. Nautical twilight was at 0437. But the dark waters of the bay, sheltered by the mountainous islands, would remain shrouded in gray until well after sunlight dappled the hilltops. Akagi would sortie around dawn. The date was 27 May 1942.” – Shattered Sword (Parshall & Tully) 2005, p.3

JAPAN - Citing Japanese victories in the Coral Sea and other battles, Radio Tokyo the previous day announces that "America and Britain... have now been exterminated. The British and American fleets cannot appear on the oceans."

On board the new battleship, Yamato, a final round of planning and wargaming had wrapped on the 25^th, uncovering some potentially fatal flaws with Yamamoto’s plan – namely that there was a gap in the air search pattern south of the Hawaii/Midway axis which would prevent detection of American forces if they sortied to that area. Other officers were concerned that Nagumo’s forces were too far removed from the main body should additional support be required. However, Nagumo and his staff assured Yamamoto that they would be able to handle any such contingency, but another problem had arisen – namely that elements of Kido Butai would not be ready to sail on the established date.

Parshall & Tully note that Yamamoto declined to make changes in the operational schedule, believing that the tides at Midway would not accommodate Nagumo’s tardiness. Kido Butai would sail a day after the rest of the forces (invasion convoy and supporting force) and as such, would have one day less to knock out the island’s defenses for the invading force. No changes were made to the operational plan – no contingency plans put in effect. On the eve of departure for what the IJN leadership viewed to be the deciding battle, the battle that would utterly destroy the American fleet and end America’s presence in the Pacific, thereby securing the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the planning and wargaming was almost a polar opposite of the tightly scripted, minutely detailed effort that led to the attack at Pearl Harbor.

Around the world, forces were joined and movement was afoot in this truly global war. In Russia, the 2^nd Battle of Karkhov was winding to a close. After initial Soviet successes and re-capture of the city, they now found themselves surrounded and an attempted breakout two days earlier had failed. Southward, in the Crimea, the Nazis have begun their summer offensive. In Africa, Rommel has undertaken an offensive against the British defensive positions at Gazala. In Britain, preparations are being made for the first thousand plane raid against Germany – American forces were just beginning to arrive under the command of Eighth Air Force, VIII Bomber Command, but would not see their first combat for another 2 months. In the China-Burma-India theater, 10th Air Force moved B-17’s of the 11th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy) from Karachi to Lahabad, India with B-17's. And in the Southwest Pacific Theater, 5th Air Force B-17's bomb the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul. 8th FG P-39s intercept Japanese fighters attacking Port Moresby, Australia losing two P-39F’s in the process. And at CINCPAC HQ, Ed Layton answers a question from Nimitz – name the dates and dispositions the enemy intends to take up around Midway:

“‘I want you to be specific,’ Nimitz said, fixing me with his cool blue eyes. ‘After all, this is the job I have given you – to be the admiral commanding the Japanese forces, and tell me what is going on.’
It was a tall order, given that so much was speculation rather than hard fact. I knew that I would have to stick my neck out, but that was clearly what he wanted. Summarizing all my data, I told Nimitz that the carriers would probably attack on the morning of 4 June, from the north-west on a bearing of 325 degrees. They could be sighted at about 175 miles from Midway at around 0700 hours local time.
On the strength of this estimate, Admiral Nimitz crossed his Rubicon on 27 May 1942…I knew very well the extent to which Nimitz had staked the fate of the Pacific Fleet on our estimates, and his own judgment, against those of Admiral King and his staff in Washington.” - …And I was There (Ed Layton) 1985, pg. 430.

Programming Alert: "Air Group 16 - We Came to Remember"

2007-05-26T09:33:00.001-04:00

Air date: Sunday, 27 May 2007 @ 2130 on your local PBS station

"Air Group 16: We Came To Remember" tells the story of the last reunion of Air Group 16 -- the pilots, radiomen and gunners who served on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in the Pacific in World War II. The film follows the veterans and their families as they make the journey by train, plane and car to Washington, DC, for their final reunion at the dedication of the National World War II Memorial in May 2004. Through stunning archival footage, period music and dramatic first-person accounts, the film follows Air Group 16 as they tell their stories, remember their fallen comrades, and are officially honored by the country they served.

Flightdeck Friday: Countdown to Midway - IJN Carrier-based Air Order of Battle (AOB)

2007-05-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

KIDO BUTAI

First Carrier Striking Force

VADM Nagumo Chuichi
Chief of Staff: RADM Kusaka Ryunosuke

Carrier Division 1 – VADM Nagumo

Akagi (flagship) – Captain Aoki Taijiro, commanding
18 x A6M2 carrier fighters (aka Zero)
18 x D3A1 carrier bombers (aka Val)
18 x B5N2 carrier attack aircraft (aka Kate)
6 x A6M2 fighters (6^th Air Group)

Kaga – Captain Okada Jisaku, commanding
18 x A6M2
18 x D3A1 27 x B5N2
9 x A6M2 (6^th Air Group)
2 x D3A1 (cargo for Soryu)

Carrier Division 2 – RADM Yamaguchi Tamon

Hiryu (flagship) – Captain Kaku Tomeo, commanding
18 x A6M2
18 x D3A1
18 x B5N2
3 x A6M2 (6^th Air Group)

Soryu - Captain Yanagimoto Ryusaku, commanding
18 x A6M2
16 x D3A1
18 x B5N2
3 x A6M2 (6^th Air Group)
2 x D4Y1 carrier bomber (experimental reconnaissance aircraft)

A6M2

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero ("A" for fighter, 6th model, "M" for Mitsubishi) was a light-weight, carrier-based fighter aircraft employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. At the time it was introduced, the Mitsubishi A6M was the best carrier-based fighter plane in the world and was greatly feared by Allied pilots.

Widely known as the Zero (from its Japanese Navy designation, Type 0 Carrier Fighter - Rei shiki Kanjo sentoki, 零式艦上戦闘機), taken from the last digit of the Imperial year 2600 (1940), when it entered service, in Japan it was unofficially referred to as both Rei-sen and Zero-sen.

When it appeared on the scene, the Zero was a strategic surprise of the nastiest sort for opposing fighters. Excellent maneuverability combined with exceptional range outclassed then-frontline Allied fighters like the P-40 and the F4F Wildcat, until it’s glass jaw was discovered. Mitsubishi had designed and built a leading edge fighter but in the process of doing all it could to lighten the aircraft (and thereby enhance speed, range and maneuverability) they left off armor plating, self sealing fuel tanks and other protective gear. A Zero could be brought down with a fairly short burst of gunfire. Even the Japanese pilots recognized it as Saburu Sakei noted:

“I had full confidence in my ability to destroy the Grumman and decided to finish off the enemy fighter with only my 7.7mm machine guns. I turned the 20mm. cannon switch to the 'off' position, and closed in. For some strange reason, even after I had poured about five or six hundred rounds of ammunition directly into the Grumman, the airplane did not fall, but kept on flying. I thought this very odd - it had never happened before - and closed the distance between the two airplanes until I could almost reach out and touch the Grumman. To my surprise, the Grumman's rudder and tail were torn to shreds, looking like an old torn piece of rag. With his plane in such condition, no wonder the pilot was unable to continue fighting! A Zero which had taken that many bullets would have been a ball of fire by now.”

Changes in tactics (diving attacks, Thatch Weave) would begin to offset the Zero’s advantages and when the next generation of fighters appeared on the scene – the Hellcat and Corsair especially, the Zero’s days as master of the skies was over.

The definitive version of the Zero was the A6M2 Type 0, Model 21 which saw 740 completed by Mitsubishi and another 800 by Nakajima. This was the version that escorted the attack at Pear Harbor and met American aircraft in the skies over and around Midway.

General characteristics (A6M2, Type 0, Model 21):

* Crew: 1
* Length: 9.06 m (29 ft 9 in)
* Wingspan: 12.0 m (39 ft 4 in)
* Height: 3.05 m (10 ft 0 in)
* Wing area: 22.44 m² (241.5 ft²)
* Empty weight: 1,680 kg (3,704 lb)
* Loaded weight: 2,410 kg (5,313 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: kg (lb)
* Powerplant: 1× Nakajima Sakae 12 radial engine, 709 kW (950 hp)
* Aspect ratio: 6.4

Performance

* Never exceed speed: 660 km/h (356 knots, 410 mph)
* Maximum speed: 533 km/h (287 knots, 331 mph) at 4,550 m (14,930 ft)
* Range: 3,105 km (1,675 nm, 1,929 mi)
* Service ceiling: 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
* Rate of climb: 15.7 m/s (3,100 ft/min)
* Wing loading: 107.4 kg/m² (22.0 lb/ft²)
* Power/mass: 294 W/kg (0.18 hp/lb)

Armament

* Guns:
- 2× 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine guns in the engine cowling
- 2× 20 mm (0.787 in) cannon in the wings
* Bombs:
- 2× 66 lb (30 kg) and
- 1× 132 lb (60 kg) bombs or
- 2× fixed 250 kg (550 lb) bombs for kamikaze attacks

D3A1

First flown in 1938 and deployed in 1940, in the first ten months of WWII the Aichi D3A (99式艦上爆撃機, Allied code name Val) accounted for more shipping sunk than any other aircraft in any other theater. The outcome of a competition between Achi and Nakajima, the Val’s design was inspired in part by e elliptical wings of the Heinkel He70 and the fuselage was similar to that of the Zero (though strengthened for stresses of dive bombing). Drag at the rather sedate speeds the Val would operate at was not as great a factor, so the gear was fixed and faired.

In December 1939 the Navy ordered the aircraft as the Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber Model 11. The production models featured slightly smaller wings and increased power - the directional instability problem was finally cured with the fitting of a long dorsal fin, making it highly maneuverable.

Armament was two forward-firing 7.7 mm Type 97 machine-guns, and one flexible 7.7 mm Type 92 machine gun in the rear cockpit for defense. Normal bomb load was a single, trapeze-mounted 550 lb bomb. Two additional 130 lb bombs could be carried on wing racks located under each wing outboard of the dive brakes.

Starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the D3A1 took part in all major Japanese carrier operations in the first ten months of the war, but it was their attacks on the cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire and the carrier HMS Hermes in an Indian Ocean strike in April of 1942. Eventually it was replaced by the Yokosuka D4Y ‘Comet’ (Judy). By 1944, the Val had been pretty much removed from frontline service and when pressed into the battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf, they were essentially massacred by the far superior American fighters. Their final role was to serve as kamikaze platforms – also ineffectively.

The version faced at Midway was the D3A1. Specifications:

General characteristics

* Crew: Two, pilot and gunner
* Length: 10.2 m (33 ft 5 in)
* Wingspan: 14.37 m (47 ft 2 in)
* Height: 3.85 m (12 ft 8 in)
* Wing area: 34.9 m² (375.6 ft²)
* Empty weight: 2,408 kg (5,309 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: 3,650 kg (8,047 lb)
* Powerplant: 1× Mitsubishi Kinsei 44 , 798 kW (1,070 hp)

Performance

* Maximum speed: 389 km/h (231 knots, 242 mph)
* Range: 1,472 km (795 nm, 915 mi)
* Service ceiling: 9,300 m (30,500 ft)

Armament

* 2 forward 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 97 Light Machine Guns
* 1 rear 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun
* 1 × 250 kg (550 lb) or 2 × 60 kg (130 lb) bombs

B5N2

Two aircraft designed, built and flown within a year of each other on opposite sides of the Pacific – the TBD Devastator for the US and the Nakajima B5N “Kate” for Japan – yet a world of difference in capabilities. The Nakajima B5N (Japanese: 中島 B5N, ) was the Imperial Japanese Navy's standard torpedo bomber for the first years of World War II. While the B5N was substantially faster and more capable than its Allied counterparts, the TBD Devastator and Fairey Swordfish, it was close to obsolescence by the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. Nevertheless, the B5N operated throughout the war. Although primarily used as a carrier-based aircraft, it was also used as a land-based bomber on occasions. The B5N had a crew of 3: pilot, navigator/bombardier/observer, and radio operator/gunner. One of the unique aspects of the Kate was the offset torpedo mounting to ensure clearance of the prop while dropping.

Early operations in the war against China had exposed weaknesses in protection that were similar to what hampered the Zero later – lack of adequate armor and self-sealing fuel tanks. Rather than take the penalty in weight by adding this items, Nakajima chose instead to increase the speed of the Kate hoping to enable it to out speed its expected fighter adversaries. That upgrade, the B5N2, was the definitive version of the Kate and saw action at Pearl Harbor and subsequent. Perhaps the actions the Kate is most famous for was its pivotal role in sinking the carriers Lexington, Yorktown and Hornet. All told, some 1,150 were built without a single example existing today. Those examples seen in museums or flying are replicas built for the film Tora!Tora!Tora! from Vultee BT-13s.

General characteristics

* Crew: 3
* Length: 10.30 m (33' 10")
* Wingspan: 15.52 m (50' 11")
* Height: 3.70 m (12' 2")
* Wing area: 37.7 m² (406 ft²)
* Empty weight: 2,279 kg (5,024 lb)
* Loaded weight: 3,800 kg (8,380 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: 4,100 kg (9,040 lb)
* Powerplant: 1× Nakajima Sakae 11 radial engine, 750 kW (1,000 hp)

Performance

* Maximum speed: 367 km/h (229 mph)
* Range: 1,935 km (1,202 mi)
* Service ceiling: 8,260 m (27,100 ft)
* Rate of climb: 6.5 m/s (1,283 ft/min)
* Wing loading: 101 kg/m² (21 lb/ft²)
* Power/mass: 0.20 kW/kg (0.12 hp/lb)

Armament

* Guns: 1x 7.7 mm Type 92 'Ru' ( Lewis )machine gun in rear dorsal position, fed by hand loaded magazines of 97 rounds
* Bombs: 1x 800 kg (1,760 lb)type 91 torpedo or 3x 250 kg (550 lb) bombs or 6 x 60 kg (132 lb)

Blocked in Beijing - or Not?

2007-05-24T11:55:00.000-04:00

Maybe it was this...

or this ....

perhaps some few noses got out of joint over this ....

but the end result is this:

... except some animals seem to be more equal than others...
So are we feeling chastened? Regretful perhaps?

Naw, blogging means never having to say you're sorry

Oh yeah, and to the censors - stuff this in your pipes and smoke it:

Countdown to Midway: Battlespace

2007-05-24T00:01:00.000-04:00

Timeline: SUNDAY, 24 MAY 1942USN - Carriers Hornet and Enterprise move towards Pearl Harbor, where they will quickly be refitted and sent to Midway. The Japanese preparing to attack Midway mistakenly believe these carriers are in the Solomons.

Geography: Midway Atoll is part of a chain of volcanic islands, atolls, and sea mounts extending from Hawaii up to the tip of the Aleutian Islands and known as the Hawaii-Emperor chain. Formed 28 million years ago, the island’s volcanic mass subsided over the years, gradually being replaced by a coral reef that grew around the former volcanic island and was able to maintain itself near sea level by growing upwards. That reef is now over 516 feet (160 m) thick and comprised of mostly post-Miocene limestones with a layer of upper Miocene (Tertiary g) sediments and lower Miocene (Tertiary e) limestones at the bottom overlying the basalts. What remains today is a shallow water atoll about 10 kilometers across.

Location: As its name suggests, Midway lays nearly half-way between the continents of North America and Asia (and, coincidentally, it lies almost halfway around the Earth from Greenwich, England. Because of this strategic position, the humble outcrop of coral and sand became an important point in the journey by sea and later, air, between the US and Asia. The first attempt to establish Midway as a strategic outpost came in 1871, 12 years after their discovery and being claimed for the US, and four years after the island was formally taken possession of by Captain William Reynolds of the USS Lackawanna. The Pacific Mail and Steamship Company started a project to dredge a ship channel through the reef to establish a coaling station while avoiding the high-taxes imposed at ports controlled by the Hawaiians. The project was an utter failure, however, and while evacuating the last of the workers, the USS Saginaw ran aground on Kure Atoll – an inauspicious beginning to be sure…

The next occupying effort came as part of laying the trans-Pacific telegraph cable. In 1903, in response to complaints about incursions by Japanese poachers, President Teddy Roosevelt placed the island under the protection of the U.S. Navy which in turn, saw a 21-man Marine detachment posted to the island. In 1935, with the introduction of flying boat service to Asia via Pan Am’s famous clippers, Midway became an important refueling and stopover point until war intruded in 1941.

Beginning in 1940, facilities at Midway were steadily built-up as Midway was deemed second in importance only to Pearl Harbor. The Naval Air Station was completed as were the ship channel and island defenses.

Strategic importance: A casual glance at the chart on the left will make immediately apparent the strategic importance of Midway. Given its location, long-range patrol bombers and submarines operating from the base would assert effective control of shipping lanes throughout the central Pacific region, directly impacting the movement of forces and supplies either East- or Westward bound. Possession of Midway also entailed control of the Hawaiian Islands, even absent an occupying force. If Japan’s goal of Asian domination was to be complete, it had to eliminate Hawaii as a launching pad for American forces – likewise, if America was to remain a factor in the Pacific, it had to keep Hawaii operational and, by extension, Midway.

The die which had been cast 28 million years ago was now coming a cropper…

Chronicles of Naval Aviation: Squadron Nicknames

2007-05-22T21:33:00.000-04:00

We get mail and some of it is darn interesting. Take this for example - sometime back we posted on the return of CDR Pete Mongilardi's remains from Vietnam. Following up on that posting came a note from the former OPS O of VA-153 relating how the Bluetail Flies came by that nickname.

It occurred while they were flying the F9F-5. Seems that one plane had a failure in the tail section and the only replacement on hand was painted in the old dark blue scheme. Grey body/blue tail and a new nickname is born ... have to love naval aviation, eh? Which, of course, brings to mind a question - anyone else out there that knows of a similar tale leading to a squadron nickname? Feel free to pass it along here...

-SJS

P.S. One of the VMI grads whose postings YHS has come to look forward to and appreciate has a right decent shot of a gaggle of hummers over at OPFOR - fair warning Lex, better not stare too long into all those props!

Factory fire in Russia sparks scare, rumors of atomic plant explosion

2007-05-22T01:05:00.000-04:00

In an area of the world where memories of Chernobyl are not a dim/receding thing of the past, it doesn't take much to invoke immediate concern, if not panic:

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) — A fire broke out Monday at a Russian factory that makes equipment for atomic power plants, but there was no risk of radioactive contamination because the plant does not work with nuclear materials, officials said.
The fire erupted under the roof of one of the buildings at the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk, about 600 miles south of Moscow, said Oleg Ugnivenko, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry in southern Russia.
It was extinguished a few hours later, he said. No injuries were reported.
Atommash's products include turbine and other equipment for nuclear and other types of power plants, but it does not work with radioactive materials, Ugnivenko said.
Reports of the fire sparked some panic and widespread concern in the region near the plant, Russian news media said, with some parents removing their children from schools and buying iodine tablets from pharmacies.
Russian atomic energy agency spokesman Sergei Novikov said the rumors were spread maliciously.

Evidently it was a little more than angst as regional emergency offices were flooded with over 300,000 phone calls (4,000 /day is the norm) and other reports note that local stocks of iodine have been completely depleted.

Russia's emergency ministry rejects rumors of blasts at
NPP
20/05/2007 17:17 KRASNODAR (southern Russia), May 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's emergencies ministry on Sunday rejected the rumors of blasts at nuclear power plants in the south of the country.

The ministry's department for the Krasnodar Territory has been receiving a growing number of phone calls from local residents about the alleged blasts since Saturday, the spokeswoman for the regional branch said.

Residents are making phone calls to ask about explosions at the nuclear power plants in Volgodonsk, Belorechensk, Slavyansk-on-Kuban and other cities of the southern federal district. The information about the blasts is false," Tatyana Kobzarenko said.

According to Kobzarenko, the rumors about the blasts appeared after scheduled exercises held by the emergency ministry at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine May 18.

"On May 18, a planned reactor shutdown took place at the Zaporozhye NPP. After that, rumors started to spread about blasts at Russian nuclear power plants," Kobzarenko said.

F-22 Raptor-ski: Part II

2007-05-21T20:18:00.000-04:00

Seems all isn't skittles 'n' beer over in Sukhoi land these days...

Funding for the new engine for Russia's next-generation fighter, the Sukhoi T-50, is in big financial trouble, and will force the aircraft's firsts flight in 2009 to be undertaken with AI-31 engines now used on the Su-27. NPO Saturn, which led the engine development for the T-50 (also known as the PAK FA), warns the program still has no financial support from customers, slowing the effort.
(Source: AW&ST/21 May 07)

Makes one wonder if the Chinese are being standoffish because of their own in-house engine development effort...

Smoked...

2007-05-20T19:29:00.000-04:00

So ... Luna Rossa smoked BMW Oracle to win the best-of-9 series, 5-1, sending the American team home and guaranteeing that for the first time in 24 years, there will be no American team in the finals...

Congratulazioni Luna Rossa, la squadra migliore vinta!

Flightdeck Friday: Countdown to Midway - Land-based Air (US)

2007-05-18T00:01:00.000-04:00

Sunday, 17 May 1942. PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force): The 7th Air Force is placed on alert in anticipation of a possible attack on Midway. For the next 10 days the old B-18's on hand are used on sea searches to supplement the B-17's. VII Bomber Command receives an influx of B-17's during this period, and the 72d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 5th Bombardment Group (Heavy), is converted from B-18's to B-17's.

Beginning with Billy Mitchell’s “demonstration” off VACAPES in 1921 where the Ostfriesland and ex-USS Alabama were sunk by heavy bombers, airpower proponents hailed the ability of land-based aircraft to protect our coastlines, claiming precision bombing would make surface ships obsolete. Now, in the wake of the attack by Japanese carrier-based aircraft on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent all out offensive through out the western reaches of the Pacific, land-based air began staging at Midway and would soon have the chance to prove if the advertising was true or not.

Onboard Midway, a collection of aircraft ranging from Marine fighters (F2A Buffalos and F4F Wildcats) and dive bombers (SBD Dauntless’s and SB2U-3 Vindicators) to Navy PBY Catalina’s and TBF-1 Avengers were joined by elements of the 7^th Air Force, contributing 17 of America’s frontline bomber, the B-17E Flying Fortress and 4 of the new Martin B-26 Marauders. The former would conduct long range patrols in concert with the Navy PBYs to locate Japanese forces and attack same from high altitude while the Marauders would be used for low-level attacks with airborne torpedoes.

(Ed note: Because of the ranges involved, Japanese land-based air was not a factor. Since the Marine and Navy fighters and bombers had counterparts on the carriers, they will be covered in next week’s installment which centers on ship-based air. – SJS)

The PBY Catalina

Ubiquitous, jack-of-all trades, vital, lifesaver. Many adjectives came to describe the PBY Catalina, perhaps the widest produced and used seaplane of record. Designed with the extreme distances of the Pacific and the rise of a potential rival, Japan, in mind, the PBY (PB – Patrol Bomber, Y-Consolidated Aircraft) first flew on 28 March 1935 as the XP3Y-1 (it later would be changed to PBY) – the final construction figure is estimated at around 4,000 aircraft, and these were deployed in practically all of the operational theaters of World War II.

The XP3Y-1 soon proved to have significant performance improvements over current patrol flying boats. The US Navy requested further development in order to bring the aircraft into the category of patrol-bomber, and in October 1935 the prototype was returned to Consolidated for further work. The work included installation of 900 hp (671 kW) R-1830-64 engines. For the redesignated XPBY-1, Consolidated introduced redesigned vertical tail surfaces. XPBY-1 had its maiden flight on 19 May 1936, during which a record non-stop distance flight of 3,443 miles (5,541 km) was achieved.

While the Catalina would see extensive service as an ASW aircraft, night attack and SAR, its most famous missions were as a long range patrol aircraft – first locating the German pocket battleship Bismarck and later at Midway, making the initial sighting of the Japanese fleet bound for Midway. Thirty-one PBY-5s from Patrol Wings 1 and 2 (under Captain Cyril Simmard, USN) were onboard Midway serving this mission and providing SAR capabilities as a secondary function.

The B-17E Flying Fortress

On 8 August 1934, the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) tendered a proposal for a multi-engined bomber to replace the Martin B-10. Requirements were that it would carry a "useful bomb load" at an altitude of 10,000 feet for ten hours with a top speed of at least 200 mph. Also desired were a range of 2,000 miles and a speed of 250 mph. The Air Corps were looking for a bomber capable of reinforcing the air forces in Hawaii, Panama, and Alaska. The competition would be decided by a "fly-off" at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. Boeing competed with the Douglas DB-1 and Martin Model 146 for the Air Corps contract.

At the fly-off, the four-engine Boeing design displayed superior performance over the twin-engine DB-1 and Model 146, and General Frank Maxwell Andrews of the GHQ Air Force believed that the long-range capabilities of four-engine large aircraft were more efficient than shorter-ranged twin-engined airplanes. His opinions were shared by the Air Corps procurement officers and, even before the competition was finished, they suggested buying 65 B-17s.

In spite of a crash of the prototype later that year, the USAAC had been impressed by the prototype's performance and, on 17 January 1936, the Air Corps ordered, 13 YB-17s for service testing. The YB-17 incorporated a number of significant changes from the Model 299, including more powerful Wright R-1820-39 Cyclone engines replacing the original Pratt & Whitney’s.

On 1 March 1937, 12 of the 13 YB-17s were delivered to the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field in Virginia, and used to help develop heavy bomber techniques and work out other bugs. In one of their first missions, three B-17s, following lead navigator Lt. Curtis LeMay, were sent by General Andrews to "intercept" the Italian ocean liner Rex 800 miles off the Atlantic coast and take photographs. The successful mission was widely publicized.

In late 1937 the Air Corps ordered ten more planes, designated B-17B and, soon after, another 29. Improved with larger flaps, rudder and Plexiglas nose, the B-17Bs were delivered between July 1939 and March 1940. They equipped two bombardment groups, one on each US coast. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, fewer than 200 B-17s were in service with the Army, but production quickly accelerated, and the B-17 became the first truly mass-produced large aircraft. The aircraft went on to serve in every World War II combat zone, and by the time production ended in May 1945, 12,731 aircraft had been built by Boeing, Douglas and Vega (a subsidiary of Lockheed).

The B-17E variants at Midway were an extensive redesign of that used in previous models up to the B-17D. The most obvious change was the vertical stabilizer, resulting in a shape that was distinctive for the time.

Because experience had shown that the plane would be vulnerable to attack from behind, a tail gunner and powered two gun turret behind the cockpit were added to the B-17E design. (Before this, crews had to devise elaborate maneuvers, to deal with a direct attack from behind, including jerking the aircraft laterally, allowing the waist gunners to alternate shots at it.) The configuration with 3-window box would also appear on the B-29, and also adopted by Soviet bombers as late as the Tupolev Tu-16 Badger, and in different form on the B-52. The teardrop-shaped sliding panels of the waist gunners were replaced by larger rectangular windows for better visibility. In the initial fifth of the production run, the ventral bathtub turret was replaced by a remote-sighted Bendix turret. Aircraft built after that used a Sperry ball turret. A total of 512 were built, making the B-17E the first mass-produced version of the B-17. The B-17E’s at Midway were under the command of Lt. Col. Walter C. Sweeney, USA and were assigned to the 7^th Air Force.

The Martin B-26 Marauder

In 1939, the United States Army Air Corps issued a specification for a twin-engined medium bomber, Circular Proposal 39-640. Six months later, Glenn L. Martin Company presented a design to the Air Corps. Peyton M. Magruder led the design team for this aircraft after Martin won the contract. This design, Martin Model 179, was accepted for production before a prototype even flew, due to the desperate need for medium bombers following the intensification of the war in Europe.

Once the first aircraft came off the production line in November 1940, Martin conducted tests, the results of which were promising. The first B-26 with Martin test pilot William K. "Ken" Ebel at the controls, flew on 25 November 1940 and was effectively the prototype. Soon after, it was turned over to the Army Air Corps to be service tested. It went from paper concept to working plane in less than two years.

While the B-26 was a fast plane with better performance than the contemporary B-25 Mitchell, its relatively small wing area and resulting high wing loading (the highest of any aircraft used at that time) led to tricky high-speed landings (approach at 140 mph (225 km/h) and stall at 130 mph (210 km/h) indicated airspeed). The R-2800 engines were reliable but the electric pitch change mechanism in the propellers required impeccable maintenance and was prone to failure. Failure of the mechanism placed the propeller blades in flat pitch with instant total loss of power. Due to the rotund fuselage, the B-26 engines were placed far outboard and loss of power on one side resulted in a violent snap roll flipping the aircraft on its back. This led to a high number of accidents during takeoff, thus earning B-26 the nickname "Widowmaker" by its pilots (other colorful nicknames included "Martin Murderer," "The Flying Coffin," "B-Dash-Crash," "The Flying Prostitute," (because it had no visible means of support, referring to the small wings) and "The Baltimore Whore" (because the Martin Company was located there).

The toll eventually led to a halt in production. During this time a commission of inquiry (led by then-Senator Harry Truman) was appointed to look into the problem. When Truman and the other commission members arrived at the Avon Park Bombing Range, they were greeted by the still-burning wreckage of two crashed Marauders. Indeed, the regularity of crashes by pilots training at MacDill Field — up to fifteen in one thirty day period — led to the only mildly exaggerated catchphrase, "One a day in Tampa Bay."

The B-26 began combat operations in early 1942 in the Pacific, but saw most of its action in the Mediterranean and European theaters. These aircraft, also a part of 7^th Air Force, were under the command of Capt. James Collins,

USA

Missile Defense 101 – The Threat

2007-05-17T00:02:00.000-04:00

(Part II of the series - Part I (ICBM Fundamentals) may be found here)

Musudan, North Korea: 0307Z 31 August 1998. On the pad stands an intelligence surprise – a three-stage developmental ICBM which on this day, will attempt to place a small satellite on orbit, broadcasting the immortal hymns of The Dear Leader. Flying over Japan and ultimately self-destructing over the Pacific Ocean, the launch will nonetheless stun the intelligence community (itself later charged by the 9/11 Commission with a “failure of imagination” after another surprise in 2001) and the world – the US and Japan in particular. One year later, Congress would pass and President Clinton sign into law, the National Missile Defense Act of 1999 stating in part:

"It is the policy of the United States to deploy as soon as is technologically possible an effective National Missile Defense system capable of defending the territory of the United States against limited ballistic missile attack (whether accidental, unauthorized, or deliberate) with funding subject to the annual authorization of appropriations and the annual appropriation of funds for National Missile
Defense."

However, there was a panel of nine specialists who had just completed their work some few weeks earlier for whom the launch did not come as a surprise. Almost presciently, the Rumsfeld Commission in July had completed their report warning that a rogue nation could deploy an intercontinental range missile within five years of doing so, if only by strapping together smaller and fairly primitive Scud missiles. The Rumsfeld Commission departed from the rest of the intell community (IC) in their assumptions that countries developing ballistic missiles would not follow the US/Soviet models and high standards of accuracy, safety, reliability or numbers, figuring instead that the ability to land a single (nuclear) blow on a “soft” target would be sufficient capability to engender some form of deterrence or strike-back at the US or its allies. As a result, programs would be able to move to fielding quicker than conventional modeling had suggested.

Primary Threats

Right now, in 2007, there are only two potentially hostile countries that can reach the US with their active/deployed ICBM inventory – Russia and China. Of the two, Russia’s is the most robust and diverse in terms of launch platform, throw-weight, decoys/penetration aids and megatonnage. Its capabilities far outstrip almost anything the current limited capabilities of the BMDS have, save a possible accidental/rogue launch of a single missile. As such, this series of articles will not focus on the Russian threat.

Russian and Chinese ICBM Comparison.

China

The quantity and quality of China’s ICBM force is growing well beyond the early limitations of the CSS-4, but it is doubtful that the Chinese ICBM inventory will approach anything equating to Russia’s for a variety of reasons. For a worthwhile read on China’s nuclear force and approach to deterrence, read Jeffrey Lewis’ The Minimum Means of Reprisal: China’s Search for Security in the Nuclear Age (available through MIT Press).

Besides the US, China strategists also have to consider India, Russia and of course, Taiwan and any foreign interests that would come to her aid. Useful in meeting these concerns are a very large and rapidly growing inventory of dual-capability use MRBMs and IRBMs. While some future elements of the BMDS (e.g., Airborne laser (ABL) and Kinetic Interceptor (KI)) may be employed against these threats in the boost phase, today they will primarily be met either via conventional strikes against launchers (hard enough to do vs. mobile launchers deep in China) or more likely, in the mid-course or terminal phase by theater systems like AEGIS/SM-3 (blk Ib or blk II), PATRIOT and THAAD. Garnering particular interest is the CSS-5/DF-21.

The DF-21 (NATO code name: CSS-5) is a two-stage, solid-propellant, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) system developed by China’s Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology Academy (also known as 2nd Aerospace Academy). The missile design is based on the two-stage JL-1 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The DF-21 is capable of delivering a 500kT nuclear warhead over a distance of 1,800km. The improved DF-21A was introduced in 1996. The missile’s CEP is estimated to be about 300~400m. The missile carries a single 100kT, 200kT, or 500kT nuclear warhead, but can also configured to carry conventional HE warheads – which, given advancing Chinese capabilities and interest in foreign developments, can be presumed to include submunitions. Additionally, there are reports in some quarters that a MaRV variant is being tested that would provide limited maneuverability in the terminal phase to improve accuracy or attack a mobile target (e.g., carrier strike group). Previous postings here have detailed China’s growing theater capabilities and readers are encouraged to review them for the details provided.

North Korea and Iran: Les méchants jumeaux

We begin with North Korea, for it is NK that by far, has sought the hardest to exploit and develop an indigenous missile development and manufacturing industry and concurrently, has the worst track record for proliferation. Beginning with reverse engineering of Scud-B and –C models, provided by Russia and technology supplied by China and stolen on the market, North Korea has steadily grown its own capabilities while cultivating a clientele of the world’s pariah nations for export of missiles and/or technology. Among the notables on the list are Yemen, Syria, Pakistan, from whom, it is believed, NK received the technology needed for its nuclear weapons development program, via the notorious A. Q. Khan, and Iran. The pantheon of missiles produced by NK include the SCUD series with ranges of 300-650 km (more of a threat to the South), the No Dong (also known as Ro Dong) MRBM with a range of 1,300 km, the 2-stage variant of the (still to successfully launch) Tae Po Dong 1 and, in particularly disturbing development, a new IRBM, the Musudan, allegedly revealed at the April Military parade. The Musudan is alleged to have been developed from the Russian SS-NX-6 with a range of 5,000 km, bringing distant targets such as Guam within range. Other sources claim a more modest 3,200 km based on the original SS-N-6 (mod) range estimates. Still, this is troubling on several counts – one being that it departs from what has been a development cycle based on SCUD technology and design (itself a legacy of Soviet copies and enhancements of German V-2s) and thereby provide a more robust avenue of development. As a single staged missile with storable liquid propellant, it would also be significantly easier to conceal both the missile and support facilities as well as preparations for launch, thereby decreasing warning time. Of course, unveiling an airframe at a parade is different than a successful flight test, much less a series of successful launches, and to date, as demonstrated by the failures of the three stage TD-1 and it’s presumptive follow-on, the TD-2, there are significant technological hurdles to overcome when one crosses the dividing line between SR/MRBMs and IR/ICBMs. As the saying goes, it is rocket science…

Illustration of No Dong (left) and Musudan (right).

Working hand-in-glove with the North Koreans on development of ballistic missiles is Iran. At present, Iran’s inventory reflects that of North Korea’s and includes indigenously developed SRBMs (like the Zel zal and Fateh 110) and Shahab variants (derived from the No Dong), of which the Shahab 3 has the longest range at 1,300 km. Like North Korea, Iran has made no secret of its desire to obtain longer range missiles. The degree of cooperation between the two is such that Iranian observers were present for the July ’06 missile firings, complimenting a number of diplomatic, scientific and engineering cooperative efforts in ballistic missile development and possibly on the nuclear front. The latest indication of troubling developments on this front are reports that Iran has purchased components of several ex-Soviet SS-N-6 missiles which, as noted above, apparently form the basis of the new Musudan IRBM (enough for up to 12 by some reports) and is working with North Korea on their re-assembly and future deployment.

In Context

In any analysis there is always the caution that the capabilities may be artificially inflated or de-emphasized owing to agendas, faulty data or the like - history is replete with examples. It is very easy to over-hype Korean and Iranian capabilities, especially if taking a superficial review of North Korea’s single (and incomplete) nuclear weapons test with their July 4/5 missilex. Likewise, Iran contributes to the hype with its own over-exaggerated claims. Nevertheless, they can not and should not be cavalierly dismissed out of hand. Progress in missile development is not necessarily linear (e.g., improvements to component a lead to incremental improvements in component b, etc.), but rather can have a rapid, multiplicative effect that could lead to a breakout capability. Consider the launch failures China was experiencing with commercial payloads in the 90’s. Technology and iterative analysis tools provided by Western companies (who were losing their payloads on Chinese boosters) led to improvements in guidance packages and subsequent reliability improvements on a rapid scale. Not coincidently, radical improvements in reliability and capability were noted in their military missiles as well not long afterwards.

Some are quick to dismiss based on racial or ethnic stereotypes – yet again though, history recounts how that has been proved false on an almost consistent basis. “The Japanese are too nearsighted and backward to ever develop a competitive carrier-based plane” and "the Russians are decades behind the US in developing their own atomic bomb because all they can do is just copy designs" are but two such statements made in the past that rang hollow.

Indeed, both nations have doggedly pursued their ballistic missile and nuclear programs in the face of disapproval and, at times admittedly haphazard international pressure to halt these programs. That they continue to pursue them, in spite of control régimes like the Missile Technology Control Régime and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty among others as well as opportunity costs in bi- and multi-lateral fora, should speak volumes of caution. Viewed from their end – the motivation is clear:

Dissuade/deter the possibility of direct US or US-led military action against their respective countries;
Gain regional hegemony;
Market missiles for profit/hard currency

Lessons learned from actions in Kosovo/Serbia and more importantly, Iraq, have made clear to Iran and North Korea that even if it is a nascent or very limited capability, a nation possessing nuclear weapons and a means to deliver them will likely not have direct military action taken against it by the US or a US-led coalition. At present, this means that US forces deployed to and friends and allies in the respective regions could be held hostage. Extrapolating trends, this would lead ultimately to a direct threat to the US homeland – present now if only in a potential capacity. Factor in the megalomaniac tendency in these two nation’s current leaders and ideological tenancies leads one to conclude that the degree of rationality that ruled the US-Soviet nuclear balance of terror during the height of the Cold War will likely be absent in dealing with these nations in a crisis situation and one may well come to see multiple flights of missiles inbound to deployed forces, allies and even the large population centers in the US in the not so distant future. The ability to directly counter that kind of threat is what the present drive towards a layered, global missile defense is all about.

Coverage for Missiles Launched from North Korea (furthest = notional TD-2)

Population-center Coverage of Musudan (2900 km) from launch site in Western Iran.

Population-center Coverage of Musudan (2900 km) launched from Eastern Iran.

Up next: Layered Defense – an Overview.

Navy Names Two New Guided Missile Destroyers

2007-05-16T21:54:00.000-04:00

YHS' take - as long as there are destroyers in the Navy, one should be named Spruance...

Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter has announced the names for the U.S. Navy's two newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyers to honor two American heroes famous for their naval service.

DDG hull number 110 will be named the USS William P. Lawrence to honor Vice Adm. William P. Lawrence, who served nearly six years as a prisoner of war (POW) in North Vietnam and later as superintendent of the Naval Academy.

Lawrence was born Jan. 13, 1930, in Nashville, Tenn.He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1951.At the Naval Academy, he played three varsity sports and was president and brigade commander, in which capacity he helped establish the Brigade Honor concept.He graduated from the Naval Air Test Center as an honor graduate and in 1958 was the first naval aviator to fly twice the speed of sound.

During the Vietnam War, as commanding officer of Fighter Squadron 143, Lawrence earned the Silver Star for a strike against a heavily defended target in North Vietnam.He completed his mission, but was captured after his aircraft went down and he remained a POW until March 1973.He earned the Distinguished Service Medal for his leadership to fellow POWs.Along with fellow prisoner and naval aviator, Vice Adm. James Stockdale, Lawrence became noted for resistance to his captors.Stockdale remarked that Lawrence, "repeatedly paid the price for being perceived by the enemy as a source of their troubles through his high crime of leadership.He could not be intimidated and never gave up the ship.

In August 1978, he became superintendent of the Naval Academy and subsequently served as commander Third Fleet and chief of naval personnel. Following promotion to rear admiral in 1974, he served as: commander, Light Attack Wing, U. S. Pacific Fleet; director Aviation Programs Division on the staff of the chief of naval operations; assistant deputy chief of naval operations (air warfare); superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy; commander, U. S. Third Fleet in the Pacific; and chief of naval personnel, retiring in 1986.

DDG hull number 111 will be named the USS Spruance to honor Adm. Raymond A. Spruance, whose calm and decisive leadership in command of Task Force 16 at the Battle of Midway contributed to the pivotal American victory.

Spruance was born in Baltimore, on July 3, 1886.He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1906..His career was extensive, including command of five destroyers and the battleship Mississippi.

In the first months of World War II in the Pacific,. Spruance commanded a cruiser division. He led Task Force 16, with two aircraft carriers, during the Battle of Midway. Spruance's disposition of forces and management of available aircraft proved to be brilliant. His decisions during that action were important to its outcome, which changed the course of the war with Japan.

After the Battle of Midway, he became chief of staff to the commander in chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas and later was deputy commander in chief. In mid-1943, he was given command of the Central Pacific Force, which became the Fifth Fleet in April 1944. While holding that command in 1943-45, with the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) as his usual flagship, Spruance directed the campaigns that captured the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and defeated the Japanese fleet in the June 1944 Battle of Philippine Sea.

Spruance held command of the Pacific Fleet in late 1945 and early 1946.He then served as president of the Naval War College until retiring from the Navy in July 1948.In 1952-55, he was ambassador to the Philippines.Spruance died at Pebble Beach, Calif., on Dec. 13, 1969.

The USS William P. Lawrence and the USS Spruance will provide dynamic multi-mission platforms to lead the Navy into the future. Using a gas turbine propulsion system the ship can operate independently or as part of carrier battle groups, surface action groups, amphibious ready groups, and underway replenishment groups.Combat systems center around the Aegis combat system and the SPY-lD, multi-function phased array radar. The combination of Aegis, the Vertical Launching System, an advanced anti-submarine warfare system, advanced anti-aircraft missiles and Tomahawk, the Arleigh Burke-class continues the revolution at sea.

Wednesday's Child

2007-05-16T00:01:00.000-04:00

...or "Lex visits the Flight Doc for his Annual Physical"

(sorry - too hard to resist...)

...and since we can take as well as we give here's equal time for a rejoinder:

... as the Scribe will get his "in the end"... as it were...

DoD Blocks Websites

2007-05-14T17:01:00.000-04:00

Guess lunchtimes will be a bit duller around DoD offices these days:

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2007 - The Defense Department is blocking access to many popular Internet sites from department-owned computers due to bandwidth issues, U.S. Strategic Command officials said today.

Joint Task Force Global Network Operations, which directs the operation and defense of the Defense Department's global information grid to assure timely and secure capabilities in support of the department's warfighting, intelligence, and business missions, blocked 12 popular sites on government computers today.

The sites are: youtube.com, pandora.com, photobucket.com, myspace.com, live365.com, hi5.com, metacafe.com, mtv.com, ifilm.com, blackplanet.com, stupidvideos.com and filecabi.com.

The popularity of the sites has not affected operations yet, but blocking them prevents them from causing such a problem, officials said . "It is a proactive measure: we do not want a problem with demand for these sites clogging the networks," a U.S. Strategic Command official said.

The blocks affect only Defense Department computers and local area networks that are part of the department's global information grid. The department has more than 15,000 local and regional networks and more than 5 million computers in the grid.

Department officials stress they are not making a judgment about the sites. Blocking the sites "is in no way a comment on the content, purpose or uses of the Web sites themselves," the official said. "It is solely a bandwidth/network management issue."

Reflections

2007-05-13T00:01:00.000-04:00

The mind is a funny thing sometimes. During a recent (long) layover at a major metropolitan airport your humble scribe was gazing out a window, as he is wont to do from time to time, and watched the ground crew prepping yet another jet for its journeys over the horizon. His attention was drawn to one pair of maintenance personnel in particular. Now you should know that while he holds a fondness and warm spot in his heart for all sailors, it was the aviation maintenance folks - the wrench turners, box swappers and chock-draggers that held a special place in his heart, for they were (are) the ones that made it all happen. And so it was while watching this pair, one a grizzled vet – the other a young nugget that his mind began to wander.

It has been a few years now since he has worn the uniform in service to his country, but the mind – ah yes, the ever surprising mind, brought memories back like it was just yesterday - a long look back so to speak. And so herewith, are his poor scribblings of the rich tapestry of memory presented for your enjoyment…

“Unbelievable – this is finally it” he thought.

Standing on the tarmac at NAS Pensacola, the young Ensign drank in the sights and sounds, smells and action of the flight line outside the VT-10 hangar. In the pre-dawn light the rows of T-2C Buckeyes stood in purplish shadow, the orange of their wings and tails discernable, some with canopies already open in anticipation of the day’s events. In the distance a diesel generator started up and power applied to an aircraft, its navigation lights blinking to life. A gentle breeze brought the mixed scent of JP, diesel and fresh cut grass across the ramp. Almost like a certain day at a Nebraskan airfield in what now seemed the far distant past.

The road taken to this point had been hard fought with obstacles to surmount and dues to be paid along the way. The winnowing process had begun at college – his freshman class at The Citadel had started out with 647 eager “knobs” that humid August morning, four years ago. By graduation just a bit over two months ago, it had been whittled down to 242. Many hadn’t hacked the 4^th class system and failed to return from that first Thanksgiving break freshman year. Others had fallen by the wayside academically or had been dismissed because of honor code violations. In his own company, there were a couple of Iranian Navy cadets, recalled to Iran to who knew what fate awaited them in a country that seemed to be rapidly heading to hell in a hand basket. During Aviation Indoc, the sadists over at NAMI had claimed some more – those deemed Not Physically Qualified for flying after their poking, prodding and prying eyes had set upon them. Here, the eternal enmity between aviator and medical personnel was established, the one existing for the health and well being of the other, but regarded with deep suspicion by the former. More fell by the wayside in classrooms as they struggled with aerodynamics or navigation problems. The winnowing continued in the training squadron – those that failed their closed book exams or emergency procedures or simulator rides.

But all that was behind him – he’d passed through the gate and was in the next inner courtyard, ready for his first flight as a student NFO…

“Hey Ensign, let’s get moving – there’s a flight schedule to keep you know…” his Instructor Pilot tossed over his shoulder on the way out to the plane.

Stopping outside the ancient hangar in the cold winter air he pauses to look around at his surroundings. Across the way, a big twin engine turboprop began its start sequence with first one, then a second engine roaring to life. He’d made it. Again, another winnowing process met and successfully passed and a little further into the inner courts. So many had fallen alongside the roadway. Airsickness, an inability to think fast and speak on the radios, family issues – they all had taken their toll. He’d had some great instructors and others that were sheer terrors who reveled in their notoriety. He’d survived a bird strike on a low level (got an automatic “Above” on the grade sheet for his comment to the pilot when both had ducked below the glare shield and he looked at the pilot saying “who’s flying this thing?”) and an overstressed T-2C following a SAM break demonstration. The BFM syllabus was a blast as he had gone against a fellow student who had become a fast friend and the engagements each ended in a draw. Instrument work was OK and he was headed for fighters when one day a strange aircraft dropped out of the overhead onto the tarmac at Pensacola, offering orientation flights for those interested. Of course, being the flight hour hound he was, he made haste to schedule a flight in this oddity called a Hawkeye. It had been a revelation. True, there’d be no yanking and banking, but it quickly became apparent to the young Ensign that this was truly an NFOs plane and from what he saw, the ability to be deeply engaged in all the missions of carrier battle group operations would be there for the offering. His class standing was such that he could be assured of going where he wanted and, not without some puzzled headshaking in the front office, he chose Hawkeyes. And so here he was, NAS Norfolk, home of RVAW-120 the E-2C replacement training squadron and ready to take on the world. Grinning to himself, he entered the hangar, seeking out the SDO to check in and begin the new adventure.

Fingering, as if in disbelief, the golden wings that adorned his otherwise naked left shirt breast, he marveled at both his progress to date and grew increasingly aware of one of the tenants of adulthood – that no matter the progress one made in achieving one level, there were more heights to be scaled, expectations to be met – seniors to convince. Even now, having accomplished the dream he had held for so many years, he was keenly conscious of the fact that now the pressure was ratcheting up – for that coming Monday they began the grueling tactics phase of training. There would be tough battle problems to be met (looking back later, much later, he would laugh at their agonizing simplicity) and the penultimate rite of passage – the NATOPS evaluation. The first was always the toughest – open- and closed book exams, oral exams and a flight evaluation, all geared to plumb the very depths of his knowledge of his fleet aircraft. His fleet aircraft. That had a nice ring to it. Squadron assignments were still weeks away, but already he’d heard he was headed for the Bluetails of VAW-121 who were flying the newest variant of the Hawkeye, equipped with the APS-125 Advanced Radar Processing System. The thought of what awaited brought a smile to his face and a quickening to his heart. Each day, one step closer to the real Navy – the deploying Navy out over the horizon, and all the adventures that portended.

“Skipper – it’s time Skipper” his Command Master Chief gently prodded him. Another in a long line of CMCs whose outstanding leadership and personnel skills he had been fortunate to have been associated with over the years, he glanced up to see understanding in his eyes. Sighing softly he pulled himself out of his reverie. Moving to the mirror in his office he checked himself once more – medals straight, sword properly mounted and cover squared away.

“Seventeen years” he thought “Seventeen years of flying this plane, of friends made and shipmates lost” Images and memories flashed in rapid sequence through his mind. First flight, first trap, qualification as CICO, months spent in the IO off Iran, operations in the cold North Atlantic, special missions that he’d never be able to talk about and hours of sheer boredom drilling holes in eastern Pacific waiting for smugglers. Of storm tossed decks and field traps on icy runways. Of deployments and saying goodbye to first his wife, then his children – one, two sons and now a daughter. Of dreams conceived and disappointments. “Sorry, not this year…” to “Congratulations Skipper – you’re going to be CO of the Steeljaws” to “Skipper, the good news is your command tour is going to be longer than most, the bad news, you’re also going to be the last Steeljaw CO.” And so here he was today, passing through another gate – headed off to new career challenges as navigator on his first carrier, the Eisenhower, but before that happened, he had to stand down the squadron, one of the original 4 squadrons created back in 1967. And it was breaking his heart.

“Skipper – the rest of the official party is arriving, time to go”

“Well Gator, what do you think? Ready to turn over the watch?” It was the last arrival in Norfolk, a clear, cold February day – the kind of day that from the bridge of one of the mightiest warships to have sailed the seas, one could see forever. Except for just now. It had been a hard two years, joining a ship in the yards is always difficult – doubly so when the one you are relieving has been pulled off to fill the need on another ship and the yard period shortened. Manning had been a major fight with the Bureau and with a high turnover rate; he had set to sea with a very green bridge crew. On the plus side was a CO who put teeth in the “train as you fight” mantra and had rapidly grown to trust his judgment and leadership on the bridge. There’d been plenty of shocks to the system along the way (he recalled with a faint smile one particular event involving lobster traps and fog) and was fond of saying that he’d probably shaved a half-dozen years off his life expectancy – a phrase that now brought half-hidden smiles to the bridge watch teams. In all likelihood this would probably be the last time he’d stand on the deck of a warship in a leadership role and he found himself saddened by the prospect. The post-cold war drawdown had substantially narrowed the possibilities for deep draft in his year group – no bitter remonstrance, just a fact of life. Looking around the bridge one last time, he smiled at the new ‘gator and said it was all his now and headed to the quarterdeck to leave the ship. Meeting the Officer of the Deck, one last time he stood at attention and announced that he had permission to leave the ship. The OOD returned the salute with a “Godspeed Gator” and after saluting the flag aft he headed down the brow…

A bell rang out behind him; “Navigator, departing”

Must be the cold, he thought, as he blinked to clear his eyes…

“Twenty-six years and here I stand on another threshold” he thought. The things he’d seen and done. From the ends of the earth to the offices of the power elites in Washington. Intel and policy, strategy and doctrine. He’d seen it being made and had a hand in the process. He wasn’t always happy at how it had turned out on occasion and lately had been pretty concerned about directions the Service and country were headed. He’d also suffered grievously – whether it was in the wake of the terrorist strike where he lost so many friends and shipmates in the shattered Navy Command Center (including almost all of one of his branches) or the subsequent crippling pain and physical disability of a back where suddenly things were going wrong – badly wrong. Twenty-six years – from the bright optimism and promise of a newly commissioned Ensign standing on the tarmac at Pensacola to an older, presumably wiser and more sanguine Captain standing in the theater of the Navy Memorial. “What a journey it was” he thought. Looking across the faces of family, friends and shipmates – some new, some of old, he steeled himself for the final ceremony, the last speech, the final walk through the side boys.

“Captain – it’s time, are you ready sir?” Looking down to the master of ceremonies and his latest partner in crime from the JACO office he gave a barely perceptible nod to commence the ceremonies.

“Yep” he said “Let’s do it” And like so many times before, stepped across the threshold to new adventures, to face new trials and experiences.

Annotated Bibliography - Aviation

2007-05-12T10:35:00.000-04:00

Over in the comments to one of my posts someone asked for some recommended books to learn more about Naval Aviation. What I'd like to do is start the list, then open it up to further comments/additions from the readership. Feel free to range wider afield in either realm - aviation and or naval topics.

Whilst contemplating YHS' library (which remains large, much to the chagrin of Mrs. SJS...) several books of note seemed worth recommending, some of which you have seen around here before:

Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K. Gann. A compelling first hand account of flying from the 30's to the 60's. Two accounts, thunderstorm penetration over the Adirondack Moutnains in a DC-3 and flying into Bluie -Two West in Greenland duirng WW2 ended up with personal resonance for me in my flying career.
Gold Wings, Blue Sea : A Naval Aviator's Story by Rosario Rausa - everything you ever wanted to know about flying SPADs and carrier aviation in 1950s and 6hers 0s (not just for prop lovers either)
Bridges at Toko-ri by James Michner - should be mandatory reading for everyone, not just those in aviation.
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully - there have been many books written on Midway; some good (Miracle at Midway, 'And I was There') others not so. The universal theme for all have been utilization of the same POV and resources. Parshall and Tully use a staggering quantity of original source materials - deck logs, diaries, message traffic, from both sides to piece together a detailed accounting of the battle that strips some of the better known but inaccurate perceptions. Along the way we learn how the IJN and USN operated their fleets, carriers and how different flight ops were within each navy. This is original reserch of the highest order.
Clash of the Carriers by Barret Tillman - the little told story of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, of which the Marianas Turkey Shoot was one of the more recognized components. The re-telling of the late afternoon strike against the IJN carriers, knowing full well that they were at max range (250+ nm) and that return and recovery would be at night (night flight ops were not a common practice back then) alone is worth the read.
Afterburner - Naval Aviators and the Vietnam War by John Sherwood - Sherwood compiles and analyzes an incredible breadth of information about the details of each of the Navy's operations during the air war and then relates the key parts of the narrative through the eyes of an pilot or flight officer involved in each action. Through tales of courage and fear, triumph and horror, Sherwood reveals the lives of common aircrew who performed extraordinary service. Their experiences illustrate the personal nature of war—even from the air.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe - Tom Wolfe began The Right Stuff at a time when it was unfashionable to contemplate American heroism. Nixon had left the White House in disgrace, the nation was reeling from the catastrophe of Vietnam, and in 1979--the year the book appeared--Americans were being held hostage by Iranian militants. Yet it was exactly the anachronistic courage of his subjects that captivated Wolfe. In his foreword, he notes that as late as 1970, almost one in four career Navy pilots died in accidents. "The Right Stuff," he explains, "became a story of why men were willing--willing?--delighted!--to take on such odds in this, an era literary people had long since characterized as the age of the anti-hero."
Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coontz.

As mentioned, there's more - but enough of that, let's hear what you, dear reader, consider to be your favorites...

Flightdeck Friday - The F7U Cutlass

2007-05-11T00:01:00.000-04:00

Star-crossed (stär'krôst', -krŏst') adj. Opposed by fate; ill-fated.

“Star-crossed” – an apt descriptor for this week’s subject – the F7U Cutlass, also known by such endearing labels as “Gutless Cutlass” and “Ensign Eliminator.” How bad was it? Try this – shortly after the Cutlass arrived at Pax River in 1949 for flight evals, it was taken up for a formation flight/photo shoot – and had a midair with the photo plane, causing both to crash with the loss of their crew. At the cusp of a stall, it had an un-nerving tendency to flip end over end, like a badly designed paper airplane, before entering a spin. Carrier suitability testing was nothing short of a disaster - pilot visibility was unsatisfactory in final carrier approach, wave-off characteristics for latter stage wave-offs were unsatisfactory and the arresting hook assembly was so complicated that its practicability for service use was doubtful. The Blue Angels reached the point with their two demo birds that when they diverted to NAS Memphis with maintenance problems, they left them there, never to fly with the Blues again.

Obviously the Cutlass wasn’t designed to intentionally fail – what happened?

On the heels of the debacle with the XF6U Pirate, Vought sought to design and develop a cutting edge aircraft. By this time, captured German documents from near the end of the war indicated German aeronautical engineers had, if not a solution, at least a workable effort towards solving the issue of compressibility effects in control of high speed aircraft by using swept wings. Other documents showed interest and initial work towards a radical, tailless aircraft. Clearly interested, Vought took these design elements and added hydraulically boosted controls and planned to add a new Westinghouse, afterburning engine to create a fast, agile fighter. Instead it turned out to be a bridge too far. The engines, Westinghouse J-34’s at first for the XF7U-1 an F7U-1, were dreadfully underpowered and the J-46’s that mandated a major re-design of the aircraft, yielding the F7U-3 were a story unto themselves in their underwhelming performance and how they hobbled an entire generation of naval aircraft designed around their use. The flight hydraulic system, as a first generation design, was another creature of ill-repute. Consider this story, relayed by (then) LT Whitey Feighner who ended up with a fair amount of cockpit time in the Cutlass, both as test pilot and as one of the two Blue Angels solo pilots flying the F7U-1:

The company [Chance Vought] pilots had been flying it up to this point, and a few senior Navy pilots had made brief hops in it. The pilot who flew it just before I took it on was D.C. 'Whisk' Caldwell. The F7U-1 had one of the first hydraulic flight-control systems. To build feel into it, they had built a heart-shaped cam with a roller on it on the bottom of the control stick. Caldwell took off in the plane one day, and the throw on the stick somehow sent the roller over the edge of one of the lobes on the heart-shaped cam. Caldwell was immediately faced with a partial
control reversal. When he pulled back on the stick, the airplane went down, and when he pushed forward on it, the airplane climbed. Lateral control was normal. So, he flew around for a few minutes while the base crash crew scrambled and debated whether he should eject or not. He thought, 'I think I'll take a little time and see if I can fly this. I think I can land the airplane.' Sure enough, he landed successfully and rolled in. He got out of the airplane, walked straight into the hangar, sat down at his desk without even taking off his helmet and wrote his resignation from the Navy and quit right there! That's when I inherited the project.

And this:

…[O]n almost every flight, we lost the hydraulic boost and ended up flying on the mechanical backup system. It took 11 seconds to engage the mechanical system, and you can't imagine how long that seemed. We had constant hydraulic problems. I probably had 370 hours in the F7U-1 and I can't ever remember once writing 'OK' for the hydraulics on the yellow post-flight evaluation sheet. Something was always wrong. The Vought engineers practically rebuilt the Dash-One. They were wizards at coming up with fixes, but the Cutlass sure taxed them.

Not all was doom and gloom. In the hands of a careful, skilled pilot, like Whitey or the late Wally Schirra, the Cutlass could perform masterfully. Schirra has said that no other aircraft could turn or match his roll-rate in an F7U-3 at altitude. With a pressurized cockpit, that altitude could be as high as 50,000 ft and as a weapons delivery platform, it was relatively stable in delivery mode. Unfortunately its range was horrendous – with a combat radius of around 150 nm it just wasn’t going to go very far with conventional ordnance, much less with the big and heavy first generation tactical nukes. In Vought tradition, it was a good gun platform, with the singular exception of the location of the muzzles under the cockpit created a good bit of flash which took the Cutlass out of the night fight. Around the ship, the Jekyll-Hyde nature continued. With fistfuls of drag, the Cutlass was relatively stable around the pattern with high levels of power utilized to control altitude. Unfortunately, the early models had atrocious over-the-nose visibility, which raised adrenaline levels with the “cut” signal from the LSOs:

"When we went to the [USS] Midway (CV-41), an old straight-deck carrier, to do the first carrier landings, we discovered that the problem was worse than we had thought. On the first landing, when I got in close, I didn't realize that I was skidding the airplane to keep the LSO in sight. He was almost abeam of me when he gave me the cut signal. When I took the cut and looked forward over the nose, I couldn't see any part of that carrier-nothing, not even the stacks- just water. I knew I had been cut late and I did what I had schooled myself never to do: I dipped the nose because I thought, I’m really going up the deck! I'll miss the barricade and go into the pack [of parked airplanes] up front!' Well, instead, I snagged the number-one wire. The minute I dipped that nose, the airplane fell straight down. I barely made the flight deck! The tail hit eight feet from the ramp and scared the LSO to death…We continued on with the trials, making landings 15 feet off centerline, left and right. On the last landing, the LSO was so nervous that when he gave me the cut, my landing gear was 33 feet above the flight deck! We had pictures to prove it. Not being able to see the deck, I just let it drop from there. I waited and waited to touch down, and just as I started to worry, blam, the airplane hit the deck, and it sounded as though
somebody had taken a big flat board and clobbered the wings with it. The fuselage broke behind the cockpit and you could see daylight at the midpoint, but it didn't collapse on the deck and break off completely. That ended the project, but we still hadn't reached the yield on the nosewheel!

Along with the re-design to accommodate the engines, the cockpit was redesigned as well to afford better visibility over the nose. Still, there remained enough problems with the aircraft that the navy eventually brought the program to a halt and by 30 Nov 1957, the last Cutlass departed from squadron service. Over the course of its brief life, the Cutlass claimed 4 test pilot’s and 21 fleet aviator’s lives and while deployed with several squadrons, never saw any combat. Yet what Vought learned in the process helped form the quintessential single-seat gunfighter, the F8U Crusader.

Specifications:
First flight: August 1948
Wingspan: 39 feet 8 inches
Length: 43 feet 1 inch
Height: 14 feet 4 inches
Weight:
Empty: 18,500 lbs
Combat: 24,068 lbs
Range: About 575 nautical miles
Armament: Four pylons, 2000 lbs, four 20 mm cannon
Engine: 2 Westinghouse 4,000 lbs J46-WE-8 engines (Originally J34 engines)
Crew: 1

Sources:

Tegler, Jan, “Cursed Cutlass: The USN's Ensign Eliminator.” Flight Magazine, October,2003.(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3897/is_200310/ai_n9342016/pg_1)

Swanborough, Gordon and Bowers, Peter M. United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. Naval Institute Press, 1990.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f7u.htm

http://www.voughtaircraft.com/heritage/

Flag and General Officer Announcements

2007-05-10T18:37:00.000-04:00

No. 562-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2007
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

Flag and General Officer Announcements

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced today that the President has made the following nominations:

Navy Vice Adm. Eric T. Olson has been nominated for appointment to the grade of admiral and assignment as commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.Olson is currently serving as deputy commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

One of the flag officers I had the great pleasure to have served as the N51B (Deputy Director, Strategy & Policy) on the Navy Staff was then-Rear Admiral Eric T. Olson. He did not suffer from the hubris that infected others on the staff. And you want a warrior? Here is the warrior's warrior...

Congratulations Admiral and best wishes for continued success in your endeavors with USSOC.
- SJS

Reflections - Sympathy for an HT

2007-05-10T00:01:00.000-04:00

Naval Aviators (and by extension, Naval Flight Officers), of the tailhook variety that is, tend to be a peculiar lot. On the one hand we live to fly “at the boat” and yet, the prospect of actually doing anything besides actually aviating is well, anathema – for some. Early on the behavior was learned at the feet of our elders – the sage department heads and XO and of course, the grand wizard himself, the CO (with occasional helpings from the local deity – CAG). GQ station? Rack or Ready Room, door locked and flicks on the reel (that’s movies on a reel-to-reel projector for the iGeneration…). Later, when offered the opportunity to serve as ship’s company, we feign the vapors and allege as how we will “be forever scarred and isn’t there a spot on CAG staff or (shudder) even an afloat staff and why do I have to go back to sea but not in a squadron?” Well, some that is. Others, think differently.

For you see, it is during that tour that one comes to work with a whole new breed of creature in a way that the temporary residents of the air wing never could – ship’s company. An assortment of black shoes, brown shoes (of the, you know, VP type), and nukes. Ah yes, the nukes – but that’s another story. Maybe. One comes to work and appreciate the skills and sacrifice of such a diverse clan made up of SK’s, OS’s, QM’s (don’t get me started), IC’s, AB’s, BM’s and HT’s amongst others. Now each has their own field of specialty – the SK’s were supply folk, the QM’s did the navigation grunt work (for the ‘gator and his henchmen, the ANAV and QMC were not believers in GPS and demanded a full day’s navigation work, including celestial, the taskmaster…) and the HT’s, well, the HT’s were the handymen of the ship – doing the dark, dirty, hot, nasty jobs that kept the gleaming city of aviators and sailors afloat and functioning.

So it was that YHS found himself midway on another numbing at sea period as navigator on the second ship of the renowned Nimitz-class, the USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN 69). Now one of the many responsibilities of the ‘gator and the Nav Department is the material condition of the navigation bridge (home, as it were to the CO, ‘gator and bridge watch teams during underway periods) as well as several other spaces through the island. Included in that roster of spaces are the head (“rest room” for our Air Force buds) that is just aft of the port side entrance to the Nav bridge and abreast an area quaintly known as the “blue tile” area – so named for an area that is a pathway for distinguished visitors on their way to visit the CO. Ergo, it is an area to be kept spit/polished clean and shiny. Or else. And it was, of course, owned by the Nav department.

Funny thing about heads – just like their shore-based counterparts found in dwellings across the land, there is a requirement to vent gasses overboard. And just like their shore-based counterparts, they can get blocked. Not necessarily by bird’s nests, but any one of a number of other devices including corrosion or misplaced rags. The end result is the same – noxious odors like uninvited guests settling around one’s self.

So it was during this particular underway period that the faint beginnings of a malodorous presence was detected by the ‘gator who, ever alert for that which would offend the big CO, made haste to summon the denizens of Nav, posthaste, to clean the offending head. With much elbow grease and disinfectant, they applied themselves and the odor withdrew, for the moment. Alas, as it was summer and this was the warm waters of the Caribbean, temperatures crept inexorably upward and the odor reasserted itself. This wicked game of olfactory hide and seek continued over the next day, day and a half and finally drew the baleful glare of said CO upon the ‘gator. “Fix it” was the non-verbal communication – passed and quite clearly received.

The Chief Engineer was summoned and with him a young hull tech (HT). By this point in time, the odor, an overly ripe, heavily ammonic one, had manifested itself throughout the blue-tile passage way and hung like a curtain in front of the entrance to the bridge. With SECNAV hisself due on the morrow for a visit, the pressure was well and fully on. The Chief Engineer departed the premises to consult his oracle, leaving the HT to continue the search and the ‘gator in dark funk. The sun was setting in the west – and a glorious setting it was, in all manner of vermilions and gold and yet, the ‘gator – he a connoisseur of such, was unable to appreciate as he and the HT began an expanding circle search for with to locate the source of the odor.

Let us hit the “pause” button for a moment here and further describe the lay of the land. At twenty some years of age, IKE was not quite the spring chicken she was when the ‘gator first boarded her as a young Ensign with his first squadron, the Bluetails of VAW-121. In the intervening years sensors and other equipment had been added and removed. Supporting those systems, like great bundles of ganglia, were cable runs located in the overhead. When he and the ship had been young, such was the paucity of cables in the overhead that he could walk relatively upright with little fear of busting his noggin at the top of his 6’4” frame on said cables. Now, twenty years later and thick, twisted bundles snaked their way down through the island to the main part of the ship below – obstructing what lay behind them to all but the most determined of searches – the same kind normally reserved for finding the rear-most sparkplug on a V-8 shoe-horned into a cavity reserved for a wimpy 4-cylinder. The kind that required fingers of, oh, a foot or so in length. With eyeballs on the end to better see what one was looking for.

So, it was while thinking evil thoughts and contemplating the immediate future, of a visiting SECNAV having to be escorted to his bridge through his spaces wearing a HAZMAT suit because of the increasing toxicity of the air that he turned to the HT and asked if he could sense any differences in the intensity of the smell, all the better to try and locate the source.

Whereupon, said HT, who must have been all of a very young 18, paused, and turning to the ‘gator (with the most mournful look the ‘gator had ever beheld), said “sir, I’ve been sniffing sh*t for so long I can’t smell anything anymore”

And with that, the ‘gator’s heart melted and his dark mood fled as he said with a slow smile “Well son, I’ve been shoveling sh*t for so long now that together we ought to be able to locate it by sight” and they recommenced the search this time starting with a careful inch by inch search in the passageway’s overhead. And it was while doing this, stretching from the top of an overturned wastebasket (and hoping the Safety Nazi’s wouldn’t put in a surprise appearance) that the ‘gator felt something crumble under his hand. Grasping some more a cascade of brown powder fell on the ‘gator and a surprised HT – both of whom were quickly reduced to retching coughs in the face of a flood of gasses, freed from the now open vent.

Sometime later it was determined that the offending vent pipe had so many coats of paint sprayed on it over the years that that coating was all that was left when the original pipe material had rusted (‘scuse me, corroded) away. A repair party was summoned and by daybreak, a new vent pipe was installed, restoring the decorum of the sacrosanct area well ahead of SECNAV’s arrival.

And the ‘gator had new found appreciation of the great American White Hat (aka sailor) to add to his esteem for the aviation wrench turners and box swappers with whom he was previously acquainted. As well as a story to relate to you, gentle reader.

Wednesday's Child

2007-05-09T21:21:00.000-04:00

Missile Defense 101 – ICBM Fundamentals

2007-05-09T00:01:00.000-04:00

In order to accurately discuss ballistic missile defense we need to ensure a common base understanding of the fundamentals – the physics, technology and classification of ballistics missiles and their flight regime.

Definition – Ballistic Missile: A missile that is guided (powered) in the ascent portion of a high arch-trajectory and freely falling in the descent. (See illustration).

Ballistic missiles are categorized by ranges into the following classes of missile:

Short-range: less than 1,000 km. Typically these are what have been called “battlefield” missiles and are represented by the likes of the SCUD-class, SS-21, Fateh 110 and Al Fatah.
Medium-range: 1,000 – 3,000 km. Missiles in this class include the CSS-5, No Dong, Shahab-3 and Taepo Dong-1
Intermediate-range: 3,000 – 5,500 km. Missiles here include the Agni II and III.
Intercontinental-range: +5,500 km Only Russia, US, UK, France and China have demonstrated capabilities here with examples being the SS-27 (Russia), Minuteman III (US), Trident (UK & US – this is a sub-launched missile), M-5 (France – also an SLBM) and the CSS-4 (China). North Korea is developing a capability with the Taepo Dong 2.

There are three phases to the flight of a ballistic missile – ascent or boost, mid-course and terminal or free fall phases. These terms are important because they also define the three areas that characterize a missile defense system.

Boost phase: During this phase the missile is applying thrust to gain acceleration while establishing its trajectory downrange. During this phase, the fuel from all stages is exhausted. Typically, this phase lasts anywhere from 3-5 minutes endo-atmospheric and generates a highly visible plume of exhaust gases which is critical to initial detection and warning.
Midcourse phase: This is the longest part of the flight – usually about 20-30 minutes for ICBMs and occurs outside of the atmosphere for ICBMs. IRBMs will see a portion of their midcourse flight exo-atmospheric, but SR-and MRBMs typically will remain endo-atmospheric, but skirt the edge of space at their apogee. This is also the time of flight that penetration aids and countermeasures are dispensed along with multiple warheads (if equipped).
Terminal phase: Terminal phase is marked by re-entry into the atmosphere with exceptional energy being generated in free fall (up to 14,000 mph). Penetration aids and debris accompanying the warhead(s) are usually stripped away by the atmosphere at this point as well. This time frame usually lasts only 1-2 minutes.

Missile construction: Major components of a ballistic missile consist of:

Frame housing: usually what is thought of as the missile’s airframe (minus the payload) it is made of aluminum or more recently, composites (fiberglass re-enforced plastics typically) for strength and light weight.
Rocket motor or engine: These may be either solid- or liquid-fueled or a combination (liquid-fueled lower stages, solid fuel upper stage).
Propellant: propellant includes both the fuel (e.g., liquid hydrogen, hydrazine) and an oxidizer like liquid oxygen or nitrogen tetroxide. There are actually three types of propellant, each with their own inherent advantages and disadvantages:

Liquid: either-

Cryogenic: must be kept extremely cold and fueled just prior to launch but provides a 40% higher impulse than other liquid variants;

Hypergolic: liquid at room temperature and when combined, spontaneously combusts requiring no ignition source; or

Monopropellant: provides the best power performance and re-start capability, but is highly unstable, exceptionally toxic and corrosive.

Solid: Preferred for mobile systems as it may be pre-loaded for storage/transportation, but is vulnerable to cracking and has no shut-off/re-start capability;
Hybrid: solid fuel/liquid oxidizer – provides a safe, storable capability as well as shut-off/restart, but is very expensive and technically demanding to produce.

Control & Guidance systems: consists of a Flight Path Control System (determines flight path) and Attitude Control System (keeps missile on path). May be provided by:

Inertial guidance: based on an inertial platform based on mechanical or laser ring gyros, predominately used in the boost phase;
Celestial: using stars to align the missile on track – usually mid-course, may also be combined with GPS or GLONASS satellite navigation systems;
Terminal: using onboard sensors (the Pershing II, for example, used terrain-matching digital radar in the terminal phase to achieve a CEP of less than 10 meters).

Vehicle launch system (or BUS): the vehicle that carries and dispenses the warheads and penetration aids.

Payload: the re-entry vehicle(s) which may be:

Unitary (a single, non-separating warhead that remains attached to the body such as the Scud)
Multiple Re-entry Vehicles (MRV): not independently targetable, used to ensure Pk by overwhelming a point defense with warheads in the expectation that some will get through terminal defenses
Multiple Independently Targeted Re-Entry Vehicles (MIRVs) – individual RVs assigned targets independently along the flight path. Complicates defenses by increasing the defended area.

Maneuverable Re-Entry Vehicle (MaRV): via either RV body shaping or use of deployable mini-aerodynamic fins, the MaRV permits terminal area maneuvering or flight path extension to offset defensive measures established on predicted re-entry paths.

ASV-3 ASSET LIFTING BODY

The ASSET program was the first phase of Spacecraft Technology and Advanced Re-entry Tests (START). This was a USAF research program designed to develop a reusable, maneuverable, re-entry vehicle capable of being flown from earth orbit to a precise landing point on earth.

Note that the warheads themselves may be conventional or WMD (Chem/Bio/Nuclear).

Countermeasures/Penetration aides: In the early 1960s when it was increasingly becoming apparent that the US and Soviet Union were developing a nuclear endo- and exo-atmospheric ABM system, each side began working to develop penetration aides to counter detection, identification, classification and destruction of the RVs. One example of this may be seen in the Chevaline system jointly developed between the US and Britain and employed on British Polaris missiles in the 1960s. Penetration aids, just like their airborne cousins, include chaff, flares, replica decoys, metallized balloons, multi-layered RV shrouds and more. All are designed to overwhelm defensive systems by either jamming sensors or overwhelming with a mass of objects. An additional counter-measure is a technique called salvage fuzing, whereby a nuclear weapons effect (NWE) is generated when an offensive warhead self-detonates after being struck by a hit-to-kill interceptor. This creates the intense thermal and radiation effects associated with a nuclear detonation and can thereby also disrupt a defensive system. Because it is a highly complex and technical feature, it is also unlikely to be incorporated in a first-generation nuclear warhead/ICBM.

Chevaline Warhead bus

Shrouded RV

Atlas Missile Launch

Battle of Coral Sea: Day 2

2007-05-08T04:27:00.000-04:00

Events of 8 May 1942

Before dawn on 8 May, both the Japanese and the American carriers sent out scouts to locate their opponents. These made contact a few hours later, by which time the Japanese already had their strike planes in the air. The U.S. carriers launched theirs' soon after 9AM, and task force commander Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher turned over tactical command to Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch, who had more carrier experience. Each side's planes attacked the other's ships at about 11AM. At that time the Japanese were partially concealed by thick weather, while the Americans were operating under clear skies.

Planes from USS Yorktown hit the Shokaku, followed somewhat later by part of USS Lexington's air group. These attacks left Shokaku unable to launch planes, and she left the area soon after to return to Japan for repairs. Her sister ship, Zuikaku, was steaming nearby under low clouds and was not molested.

The Japanese struck the American carriers shortly after Eleven, and, in a fast and violent action, scored with torpedoes on Lexington and with bombs on both carriers. For about an hour, Lexington seemed to have shrugged off her damages, but the situation then deteriorated as fires spread through the ship. She was abandoned later in the day and scuttled. Yorktown was also badly damaged by a bomb and several near misses, but remained in operational condition.

By the end of the day, both sides had retired from the immediate battle area. The Japanese sent Zuikaku back for a few days, even though her aircraft complement was badly depleted, but they had already called off their Port Moresby amphibious operation and withdrew the carrier on May 11th. At about the same time USS Yorktown was recalled to Pearl Harbor. After receiving quick repairs, she would play a vital role in the Battle of Midway in early June.

ref: Dept of the Navy - Naval Historical Center

Battle of the Coral Sea: Day 1 (7 May 07)

2007-05-07T05:57:00.000-04:00

First, go over to EagleSpeak and read this very excellent account of how the US came to be involved in the Pacific to begin with. Then come back for the Battle of the Coral Sea. - SJS

Battle of the Coral Sea, 7-8 May 1942 --The Events of 7 May 1942

The Battle of Coral Sea by Robert Taylor (Picture from Dave's Warbirds site)

The first day of the carrier battle of Coral Sea, 7 May 1942, saw the Americans searching for carriers they knew were present and the Japanese looking for ones they feared might be in the area. The opposing commanders, U.S. Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher and Japanese Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi and Rear Admiral Tadaichi Hara, endeavored to "get in the first blow", a presumed prerequisite to victory (and to survival) in a battle between heavily-armed and lightly-protected aircraft carriers. However, both sides suffered from inadequate work by their scouts and launched massive air strikes against greatly inferior secondary targets, which were duly sunk, leaving the most important enemy forces unhit.

Japanese scouting planes spotted the U.S. oiler Neosho (AO-23) and her escort, the destroyer USS Sims (DD-409), before 8AM, in a southerly position well away from Admiral Fletcher's carriers. Reported as a "carrier and a cruiser", these two ships received two high-level bombing attacks during the morning that, as would become typical of such tactics, missed. However, about noon a large force of dive bombers appeared. As was normal for that type of attack, these did not miss. Sims sank with very heavy casualties and Neosho was reduced to a drifting wreck whose survivors were not rescued for days.

USS Sims (DD-409) (Boston - 1940)

USS Neosho burning after Japanese attack (7 May 1942)

Meanwhile, a scout plane from USS Yorktown (CV-5) found the Japanese Covering Group, the light carrier Shoho and four heavy cruisers, which faulty message coding transformed into "two carriers and four heavy cruisers". Yorktown and USS Lexington (CV-2) sent out a huge strike: fifty-three scout-bombers, twenty-two torpedo planes and eighteen fighters. In well-delivered attacks before noon, these simply overwhelmed the Shoho, which received so many bomb and torpedo hits that she sank in minutes. Her passing was marked by some of the War's most dramatic photography.

Adding to the confusion, if not to the score, Japanese land-based torpedo planes and bombers struck an advanced force of Australian and U.S. Navy cruisers, far to the west of Admiral Fletcher's carriers. Skillful ship-handling prevented any damage. Australia-based U.S. Army B-17s also arrived and dropped their bombs, fortunately without hitting anything.

All this had one beneficial effect: the Japanese ordered their Port Moresby invasion force to turn back to await developments. Late in the day, they also sent out nearly thirty carrier planes to search for Fletcher's ships. Most of these were shot down or lost in night landing attempts, significantly reducing Japanese striking power. The opposing carrier forces, quite close together by the standards of air warfare, prepared to resume battle in the morning.

Tomorrow - Day 2 of the action and loss of the Lexington.

ref: Dept of the Navy - Naval Historical Center

Sunday Air Plan

2007-05-06T20:59:00.000-04:00

Well -- nothing like a full afternoon/evening spent upgrading an OS to make your day complete - not. So far, looks like the it is working (fingers crossed).

Milblog conference was great - more for the sidebars than some of the panels. It was well worth the time/$'s to finally meet in person those with whom one has been conducting correspondence via blogs and email for the past year. In particular, met up with Curt (xformed - and congrats on winning the fabled Golden Laptop), Lex, Army Girl, FbL (and congrats on the much deserved recognition and awards for VALOUR-IT), Pinch, AW1 Tim, Mark (Eagle1), Black5, Noonan and Slab (even if they are *cough* VMI grads), John (Castle Argghh), Fred (Fred Fry International) and Murdoc.

OK - back to work now. With the exception of this coming Friday the next several days will be spent in a detailed examination of missile defense, call it Missile Defense 101. We'll lay the ground work with some basic terminology, ballistics and missile construction, follow with an examination of the threat then a break down of the individual elements of the BMDS and show how they are integrated into a layered defense. Goods and warts will be addressed and commented on as well. Why are we doing this? There is a lot of misinformation and misconceptions out there and this is one of the critical systems we will need in the years to come.

Also have several more installments of Reflections in various stages of completion - those will be posted over the coming weeks too.
- SJS

Air Plan: 4 May 07

2007-05-04T08:07:00.000-04:00

Busy shoveling out the "in" boxes at work and attending the Milblogging conference this weekend - so, we're going to take a hiatus for Flightdeck Friday today (if you haven't yet, scroll down and read the write-up on Wally Schirra - next week's subject is prominently featured therein). In the meantime, the 'phibian has an excellent post up for Fullbore Friday - highly recommend you take a moment to read it. See you for the debrief.
- SJS