Could Kzinti crash boats be called "Just Eat"?

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, August 12, 2022 - 12:12 pm: Edit

No,no,no! There is a whole fleet to feed.

Granted the Crash boat crews got first choice of the, er,ah, prime cuts, but the majority of the (and I use the term VERY LOOSELY) rescued enemy pilots and PF crews had to be reserved for the crews of the ships in the fleet!

By R. Burgess (Ataraxzy) on Friday, August 12, 2022 - 01:54 pm: Edit

There's the famous Kzin saying: "Loose Lips Float Away!" Usually followed closely by the admonition to "Bag and Tag your catch after carving!"

The Kzin are nothing, if not efficient.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Friday, August 12, 2022 - 02:02 pm: Edit

Buffet Boats?

--Mike

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Thursday, August 25, 2022 - 07:32 am: Edit

(a flying boat sea recovery, starts at 22:05 on U tube video from),
Rex's Hangar, Aircraft Overviews and Aviation History, 'Vought OS2U 'Kingfisher'

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, August 26, 2022 - 09:25 am: Edit

TEXAS IS MOVING!

The Battleship U.S.S. Texas is scheduled to enter dry dock in Galveston Texas on August 31, 2022.

There are some concerns as there appears to be serious hull damage due to years of deterioration. (Metal hull vs salt water.)

She is a grand lady, and I hope they treat her well!

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, August 26, 2022 - 09:38 am: Edit

Hope they have an easier time getting her moved than NYC did the Intrepid (Stuck in the Mud)....

By Mike Curtis (Nashvillen) on Friday, August 26, 2022 - 11:26 am: Edit

Best wishes for the move and subsequent dry dock. She does have some age issues like Jeff mentioned.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, August 26, 2022 - 03:04 pm: Edit

I hope I look as good after I pass 100 + years of age!

After all, she is a veteran of Two World Wars!

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Saturday, September 03, 2022 - 09:52 am: Edit

You tube has many clips posted of the U.S.S. texas arriving at Galveston.

The one that got my attention was the single cannon shot and the Harbor control sounding a horn as the ship entered the harbor, and the Texas responding with her own ships horn.

The ship has been preserved for seven decades. They must have restored the horn for service.

The brass band playing as the ship arrived was a nice touch!

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, September 11, 2022 - 05:55 pm: Edit

You tube video title “the D-day story and LCT 7074” was posted 2 weeks ago, though I only found it today.

Wreck sank in the river Mersey 7 years ago. Was a veteran landing craft that participated in the June 6, 1944 invasion at Normandy.

The hull was recovered, and over the last 7 years meticulously restored to its 1944 condition, and is now displayed at the WW2 exhibit in Portsmouth england.

Fine video, and if you like this sortof rebuilding story, it is worth a look.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, September 12, 2022 - 07:30 am: Edit

My old Fire Department used to operate a WW2 veteran DUKW as a rescue "boat" when there were floods

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, September 12, 2022 - 05:22 pm: Edit

And on another subject, the Royal Irish Guards, 2nd Battalion has been returned to duty. Disbanded at the end of WW2, the Irish Guards (Second Battalion) is currently assigned to Buckingham palace for ceremonial duties.

The First Battalion, Royal Irish Guards would normally be assigned to ceremonial duties, but at present it is in Ukraine training Ukrainian forces for combat.

Good to see that military tradition and ceremony is being continued in this day and age.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, September 16, 2022 - 09:22 am: Edit

Saw a good walkaround of Texas in the drydock this morning. The original teak-filled docking keels are holding well. She has a fair bit of buckling in the torpedo bulges, and the rudder is locked at 14 degrees starboard (and of course hasn't had shafts or screws since they were removed some 70+ years ago), but otherwise the hull looks good.

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Friday, September 16, 2022 - 08:41 pm: Edit

I saw that video, surprisingly good, overall, particularly after what did to her when they first parked her.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, September 16, 2022 - 10:33 pm: Edit

It was a good video, I thought.

The hull looked better than I would have expected considering all of the negative comments concernung the condition of the hull reported prior to the dry docking.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Friday, September 16, 2022 - 10:35 pm: Edit

The URL I watched is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4ySvXXpbI0

Nice, clear footage. It looks like it is tucked in nice ands neat in the dry dock and they'll have great access to do all their restoration work. Good luck to them!

--Mike

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Saturday, September 17, 2022 - 09:58 pm: Edit

There are several bloggers following the U.S.S. texas.

At least one of them uses a drone, and has posted some very fine views of the ship before , during and after the tow.

Pity about the removal of the shafts and propellers and rudder.

By Vincent Solfronk (Vsolfronk) on Thursday, December 08, 2022 - 03:48 pm: Edit

The last of the RAF Dambusters has passed:

Johnny Johnson, the Last World War II ‘Dambuster,’ Dies at 101

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/world/europe/johnny-johnson-dead.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-time-cutoff-30_impression_cut_3_filter_new_arm_5_1&alpha=0.05&block=more_in_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=526967983&impression_id=00beaa10-7739-11ed-870d-0329831aeb51&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=more_in_pools%2Feurope®ion=footer&req_id=494367407&surface=eos-more-in&variant=0_bandit-all-surfaces-time-cutoff-30_impression_cut_3_filter_new_arm_5_1

By Steve Stewart (Stevestewart) on Monday, December 12, 2022 - 07:47 am: Edit

Per Ardua Ad Astra

By Vincent Solfronk (Vsolfronk) on Monday, January 30, 2023 - 12:46 pm: Edit

The passing of another Tuscaloosa airman, Harold Brown:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/28/obituaries/harold-brown-tuskegee-airman-who-faced-a-lynch-mob-dies-at-98.html

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, March 02, 2023 - 03:35 pm: Edit

Beaumont and Baytown are out of the running to serve as the new home for Texas. Galveston is the most likely remaining candidate.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, March 08, 2023 - 02:28 pm: Edit

I mentioned to Steve Petrick on the drive back from lunch that I greatly enjoyed Balkoski's book on UTAH BEACH and OMAHA BEACH and wished he had written books on the British/Canadian beaches.

Steve Petrick gasped: "Bill Cosby wrote books on World War 2?"

By Eric Snyder (Esnyder) on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 - 12:09 am: Edit

War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945, by Edward S. Miller. I hadn't read the book in years, but one part in particular has always stuck with me. I just picked it up again recently to refresh some of the enjoyment I had gotten out of it.

The author writes, "War Plan Orange, the secret program of the United States to defeat Japan, was in my opinion history's most successful war plan. In plans developed before the war, Japan was code-named Orange, the United States, Blue, hence the name of the plan developed over nearly four decades by the best strategic minds of the military services. As it was implemented in World War II, it was remarkably successful, especially considering the difficulties of Pacific geography and the many political and technological changes that had occurred over the years. The prewar plans of other great powers proved, by and large, to be costly failures. The vaunted German General Staff, for example, won campaigns but lost wars".

The two main rival factions in the planning were known as the "thrusters" and the "cautionaries". The thrusters envisioned driving the main battle force across the Pacific and taking the Philippines, sometimes byway of Guam. The cautionary approach, which will sound familiar to you, was to take a string of good harbors across the Pacific in a slow and methodical advance towards Japan. The planners agreed that their plan should not assume cooperation from any ally. The war would be strictly Blue-Orange.

Now for the interesting part: During WWI the Empire of Japan seized German possessions in the Marianas, Carolines, Marshall Islands and Palau groups (i.e. German Micronesia).

The thrusters, who included Alfred Thayer Mahan, wanted the U.S. to fight the Japanese possession of these islands at the post-war treaty table in Versailles. Japanese possession would clearly threaten the supply lines of a thruster campaign. The cautionaries saw the possession of these good harbors by Japan as a God-send (as they could retake them with no political consequence), and they pressed to have the possessions confirmed, but with a non-militarization clause. The cautionaries got their way and ultimately put Plan Orange in its final form.

Although the war ended up being not just a Blue-Orange affair, I can't help but wonder what it would have looked like if it was, and how brilliant the decision to not fight Japan's annexation of the German possessions would have turned out.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 03:57 pm: Edit

Really interesting article on the BBC tonight about a French Resistance Fighter from WW2.

It seems the Resistance Unit he was a member of executed 'up to' 40 German POW's they had captured just after D-Day (and prior the SS Das Reich Massacre of several hundred civilians in Oradour-sur-Glane).

He initially revealed the information just before COVID and so it seems this delayed certain aspects of the investigation and dig by the German War Graves Commission (VDK).

If German Camp Soldiers are still being prosecuted for War Crimes - what should the French do?