2LTs are known for getting people lost. I worked with the Army while in the navy. And the LT couldn't read a map for shit
Veterans...Get the hell in here now!
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- Start date
CaliRootz88
Well-Known Member
I had a different experience. My LT I deployed with to Iraq was prior service Staff SGT. I lucked out.
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Could You Survive...The Moon, The Stars and The Navigators Triangle?©
For more information on the Navigators Triangle, read “The 'Navigator’s Triangle'...What?©”, HERE and for more on how to use the nigh...
thewoodsmansjournalonline.blogspot.com
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sinks within minutes in shark-infested waters. Only 316 of the 1,196 men on board survived. However, the Indianapolis had already completed its major mission: the delivery of key components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped a week later at Hiroshima to Tinian Island in the South Pacific.
The Indianapolis made its delivery to Tinian Island on July 26, 1945. The mission was top secret and the ship’s crew was unaware of its cargo. After leaving Tinian, the Indianapolis sailed to the U.S. military’s Pacific headquarters at Guam and was given orders to meet the battleship USS Idaho at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines to prepare for the invasion of Japan.
Shortly after midnight on July 30, halfway between Guam and Leyte Gulf, a Japanese sub blasted the Indianapolis, sparking an explosion that split the ship and caused it to sink in approximately 12 minutes, with about 300 men trapped inside. Another 900 went into the water, where many died from drowning, shark attacks, dehydration or injuries from the explosion. Help did not arrive until four days later, on August 2, when an anti-submarine plane on routine patrol happened upon the men and radioed for assistance.
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, inflicting nearly 130,000 casualties and destroying more than 60 percent of the city. On August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, where casualties were estimated at over 66,000. Meanwhile, the U.S. government kept quiet about the Indianapolis tragedy until August 15 in order to guarantee that the news would be overshadowed by President Harry Truman’s announcement that Japan had surrendered.
In the aftermath of the events involving the Indianapolis, the ship’s commander, Captain Charles McVay, was court-martialed in November 1945 for failing to sail a zigzag course that would have helped the ship to evade enemy submarines in the area. McVay, the only Navy captain court-martialed for losing a ship during the war, committed suicide in 1968. Many of his surviving crewmen believed the military had made him a scapegoat. In 2000, 55 years after the Indianapolis went down, Congress cleared McVay’s name.
On July 30, 2020, the United States Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal—its highest civilian honor—to the Final Crew of the USS Indianapolis CA 35 during a ceremony at the Indiana War Memorial. The virtual ceremony was held on the 75th anniversary of the loss of the vessel.
The specially cast gold medal has a unique design that commemorates all 1195 crew members of the USS Indianapolis CA 35. Created by the U.S. Mint, every Congressional Gold Medal is one-of-a-kind solid gold, unlike any other one in the world.
“On behalf of the 1,195 Sailors and Marines who served aboard USS Indianapolis, it is an honor to receive a Congressional Gold Medal,” Harold Bray, 93, the youngest remaining survivor and chair of the USS Indianapolis CA-35 Survivors Organization, said in a Wednesday statement provided to USNI News.
“Eight survivors remain today, and we are proud to represent our shipmates who are no longer with us. We are very grateful to Congress for this special recognition.”
Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis by Dan Kurzman
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man Lynn Vincent
Abandon Ship!: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster Hardcover by Richard F. Newcomb, Peter Maas
On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sinks within minutes in shark-infested waters. Only 316 of the 1,196 men on board survived. However, the Indianapolis had already completed its major mission: the delivery of key components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped a week later at Hiroshima to Tinian Island in the South Pacific.
The Indianapolis made its delivery to Tinian Island on July 26, 1945. The mission was top secret and the ship’s crew was unaware of its cargo. After leaving Tinian, the Indianapolis sailed to the U.S. military’s Pacific headquarters at Guam and was given orders to meet the battleship USS Idaho at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines to prepare for the invasion of Japan.
Shortly after midnight on July 30, halfway between Guam and Leyte Gulf, a Japanese sub blasted the Indianapolis, sparking an explosion that split the ship and caused it to sink in approximately 12 minutes, with about 300 men trapped inside. Another 900 went into the water, where many died from drowning, shark attacks, dehydration or injuries from the explosion. Help did not arrive until four days later, on August 2, when an anti-submarine plane on routine patrol happened upon the men and radioed for assistance.
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, inflicting nearly 130,000 casualties and destroying more than 60 percent of the city. On August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, where casualties were estimated at over 66,000. Meanwhile, the U.S. government kept quiet about the Indianapolis tragedy until August 15 in order to guarantee that the news would be overshadowed by President Harry Truman’s announcement that Japan had surrendered.
In the aftermath of the events involving the Indianapolis, the ship’s commander, Captain Charles McVay, was court-martialed in November 1945 for failing to sail a zigzag course that would have helped the ship to evade enemy submarines in the area. McVay, the only Navy captain court-martialed for losing a ship during the war, committed suicide in 1968. Many of his surviving crewmen believed the military had made him a scapegoat. In 2000, 55 years after the Indianapolis went down, Congress cleared McVay’s name.
On July 30, 2020, the United States Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal—its highest civilian honor—to the Final Crew of the USS Indianapolis CA 35 during a ceremony at the Indiana War Memorial. The virtual ceremony was held on the 75th anniversary of the loss of the vessel.
The specially cast gold medal has a unique design that commemorates all 1195 crew members of the USS Indianapolis CA 35. Created by the U.S. Mint, every Congressional Gold Medal is one-of-a-kind solid gold, unlike any other one in the world.
“On behalf of the 1,195 Sailors and Marines who served aboard USS Indianapolis, it is an honor to receive a Congressional Gold Medal,” Harold Bray, 93, the youngest remaining survivor and chair of the USS Indianapolis CA-35 Survivors Organization, said in a Wednesday statement provided to USNI News.
“Eight survivors remain today, and we are proud to represent our shipmates who are no longer with us. We are very grateful to Congress for this special recognition.”
Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis by Dan Kurzman
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man Lynn Vincent
Abandon Ship!: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster Hardcover by Richard F. Newcomb, Peter Maas
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
On July 31, 1917, the Allies launch a renewed assault on German lines in the Flanders region of Belgium, in the much-contested region near Ypres, during World War I. The attack begins more than three months of brutal fighting, known as the Third Battle of Ypres.
While the first and second battles at Ypres were attacks by the Germans against the Allied-controlled salient around Ypres—which crucially blocked any German advance to the English Channel—the third was spearheaded by the British commander in chief, Sir Douglas Haig. After the resounding failure of the Nivelle Offensive–named for its mastermind, the French commander Robert Nivelle–the previous May, followed by widespread mutinies within the French army, Haig insisted that the British should press ahead with another major offensive that summer. The aggressive and meticulously planned offensive, ostensibly aimed at destroying German submarine bases located on the north coast of Belgium, was in fact driven by Haig’s (mistaken) belief that the German army was on the verge of collapse, and would be broken completely by a major Allied victory.
After an opening barrage of some 3,000 guns and some 4.5 million shells (It is estimated,that as much as 30% of WWI ordnance failed to explode. Areas of France are still off limits due to UXO, ERW. See "Zone Rouge" bb) Haig ordered nine British divisions, led by Sir Hubert Gough’s 5th Army, to advance on the German lines near the Belgian village of Passchendaele on July 31; they were joined by six French divisions. In the first two days of the attacks, while suffering heavy casualties, the Allies made significant advances—in some sectors pushing the Germans back more than a mile and taking more than 5,000 German prisoners—if not as significant as Haig had envisioned. The offensive was renewed in mid-August, though heavy rains and thickening mud severely hampered the effectiveness of Allied infantry and artillery and prevented substantial gains over the majority of the summer and early fall.
Dissatisfied with his army’s gains by the end of August, Haig had replaced Gough with Herbert Plumer at the head of the attack; after several small gains in September, the British were able to establish control over the ridge of land east of Ypres. Encouraged, Haig pushed Plumer to continue the attacks towards the Passchendaele ridge, some 10 kilometers from Ypres.
Thus the Third Battle of Ypres–also known as Passchendaele, for the village, and the ridge surrounding it, that saw the heaviest fighting–continued into its third month, as the Allied attackers reached near-exhaustion, with few notable gains, and the Germans reinforced their positions in the region with reserve troops released from the Eastern Front, where Russia’s army was foundering amid internal turmoil. Unwilling to give up, Haig ordered a final three attacks on Passchendaele in late October. The eventual capture of the village, by Canadian and British troops, on November 6, 1917, allowed Haig to finally call off the offensive, claiming victory, despite some 310,000 British casualties, as opposed to 260,000 on the German side, and a failure to create any substantial breakthrough, or change of momentum, on the Western Front. Given its outcome, the Third Battle of Ypres remains one of the most costly and controversial offensives of World War I, representing–at least for the British–the epitome of the wasteful and futile nature of trench warfare. In 1918 all the ground that had been gained there by the Allies was evacuated in the face of a looming German assault. Passchendaele would be remembered as a symbol of the worst horrors of the First World War, the sheer futility of much of the fighting, and the reckless disregard by some of the war’s senior leaders for the lives of the men under their command.
Some 61 Victoria Crosses, the British Empire’s highest decoration for military valour, were awarded after the fighting. More Victoria Crosses—14 in total—were awarded for actions on the opening day of the Battle of Passchendaele than for actions on any other single day of combat in World War I.
www.britannica.com
On July 31, 1917, the Allies launch a renewed assault on German lines in the Flanders region of Belgium, in the much-contested region near Ypres, during World War I. The attack begins more than three months of brutal fighting, known as the Third Battle of Ypres.
While the first and second battles at Ypres were attacks by the Germans against the Allied-controlled salient around Ypres—which crucially blocked any German advance to the English Channel—the third was spearheaded by the British commander in chief, Sir Douglas Haig. After the resounding failure of the Nivelle Offensive–named for its mastermind, the French commander Robert Nivelle–the previous May, followed by widespread mutinies within the French army, Haig insisted that the British should press ahead with another major offensive that summer. The aggressive and meticulously planned offensive, ostensibly aimed at destroying German submarine bases located on the north coast of Belgium, was in fact driven by Haig’s (mistaken) belief that the German army was on the verge of collapse, and would be broken completely by a major Allied victory.
After an opening barrage of some 3,000 guns and some 4.5 million shells (It is estimated,that as much as 30% of WWI ordnance failed to explode. Areas of France are still off limits due to UXO, ERW. See "Zone Rouge" bb) Haig ordered nine British divisions, led by Sir Hubert Gough’s 5th Army, to advance on the German lines near the Belgian village of Passchendaele on July 31; they were joined by six French divisions. In the first two days of the attacks, while suffering heavy casualties, the Allies made significant advances—in some sectors pushing the Germans back more than a mile and taking more than 5,000 German prisoners—if not as significant as Haig had envisioned. The offensive was renewed in mid-August, though heavy rains and thickening mud severely hampered the effectiveness of Allied infantry and artillery and prevented substantial gains over the majority of the summer and early fall.
Dissatisfied with his army’s gains by the end of August, Haig had replaced Gough with Herbert Plumer at the head of the attack; after several small gains in September, the British were able to establish control over the ridge of land east of Ypres. Encouraged, Haig pushed Plumer to continue the attacks towards the Passchendaele ridge, some 10 kilometers from Ypres.
Thus the Third Battle of Ypres–also known as Passchendaele, for the village, and the ridge surrounding it, that saw the heaviest fighting–continued into its third month, as the Allied attackers reached near-exhaustion, with few notable gains, and the Germans reinforced their positions in the region with reserve troops released from the Eastern Front, where Russia’s army was foundering amid internal turmoil. Unwilling to give up, Haig ordered a final three attacks on Passchendaele in late October. The eventual capture of the village, by Canadian and British troops, on November 6, 1917, allowed Haig to finally call off the offensive, claiming victory, despite some 310,000 British casualties, as opposed to 260,000 on the German side, and a failure to create any substantial breakthrough, or change of momentum, on the Western Front. Given its outcome, the Third Battle of Ypres remains one of the most costly and controversial offensives of World War I, representing–at least for the British–the epitome of the wasteful and futile nature of trench warfare. In 1918 all the ground that had been gained there by the Allies was evacuated in the face of a looming German assault. Passchendaele would be remembered as a symbol of the worst horrors of the First World War, the sheer futility of much of the fighting, and the reckless disregard by some of the war’s senior leaders for the lives of the men under their command.
Battle of Passchendaele | Facts, Maps, Summary, & Casualties | Britannica
Battle of Passchendaele (July 31–November 6, 1917), World War I battle that embodied the senseless slaughter of the Western Front. Passchendaele was the third and longest battle to take place at Ypres, Belgium. The Allied victory was achieved at enormous cost for a piece of ground that would be...
www.britannica.com
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
On August 1, 1943, 177 B-24 bombers take off from an Allied base in Libya, bound for the oil-producing city Ploiești, Romania, nicknamed “Hitler’s gas station.”
Operation Tidal Wave began ominously, with an overloaded bomber crashing shortly after takeoff and another plunging into the Adriatic Sea. 167 of the original 177 bombers made it to Ploiești, whose oil fields and refineries provided the Germans with over 8.5 million tons of oil per year. Whereas most Allied bombing in World War II was carried out from a high altitude, the bombers that raided Ploiești flew exceptionally low in order to evade the Germans’ radar. The bombers lost the element of surprise, however, when one group veered off on the wrong direction, forcing the others to break radio silence in order to direct them back on course. This unplanned adjustment also led to the bombers approaching from the south, where the Nazis had concentrated their anti-aircraft batteries.
The ensuing attack was dramatic, chaotic and costly. The Allies suffered heavy casualties, and smoke from the explosions caused by the first wave of bombers made visibility difficult for subsequent waves. Survivors reported debris like branches and barbed wire hitting and even ending up on the inside of their planes. Lt. Col. Addison Baker and Maj. John Jerstad were awarded the Medal of Honor for their (unsuccessful) attempt to fly higher and allow the crew to bail of our their badly damaged plane. Another pilot, Lt. Lloyd Herbert Hughes, also received a posthumous Medal of Honor for flying his critically-damaged B-24 into its target. Col. John Kane and Col. Leon Johnson, who each led bombing groups that reached their targets, were the only men who won the Medal of Honor and survived the raid.
Although the Allies estimated that the raid had reduced Ploiești’s capacity by 40 percent, the damage was quickly repaired and within months the refineries had outstripped their previous capacity. The region continued to serve as “Hitler’s gas station” until the Soviet Union captured it in August of 1944. 310 airmen died, 108 were captured and another 78 were interned in neighboring Turkey.
Operation Tidal Wave is largely considered a failure from the American perspective for this reason. However, there is some argument that can be made that this delay in production, even if only brief, was a victory for the Allies. It allowed the Red Army to take advantage of the lack of fuel for the panzers and launch two offensives at Smolensk and Dnieper, which helped liberate those previously German controlled areas.
Of the 178 planes that took off from Benghazi, only 89 returned. While the enemy destroyed 54 planes, others crash landed at bases throughout the area. Over 300 men died, over 100 captured, and 78 were interred in Turkey. Of the 89 returning planes, over a third were unfit to fly afterward. .
Operation Tidal Wave remains the most highly decorated military mission in U.S. History. Five Medals of Honor, 3 posthumously, were awarded, the most for any single air mission in history. 998 enlisted aircrew flew in Tidal Wave. 900 were decorated. 10 Silver Stars, 16 Distinguished Service Crosses and 879 Distinguished Flying Crosses were awarded to bombadiers, gunners, engineers and radioman for their heroics
On August 1, 1943, 177 B-24 bombers take off from an Allied base in Libya, bound for the oil-producing city Ploiești, Romania, nicknamed “Hitler’s gas station.”
Operation Tidal Wave began ominously, with an overloaded bomber crashing shortly after takeoff and another plunging into the Adriatic Sea. 167 of the original 177 bombers made it to Ploiești, whose oil fields and refineries provided the Germans with over 8.5 million tons of oil per year. Whereas most Allied bombing in World War II was carried out from a high altitude, the bombers that raided Ploiești flew exceptionally low in order to evade the Germans’ radar. The bombers lost the element of surprise, however, when one group veered off on the wrong direction, forcing the others to break radio silence in order to direct them back on course. This unplanned adjustment also led to the bombers approaching from the south, where the Nazis had concentrated their anti-aircraft batteries.
The ensuing attack was dramatic, chaotic and costly. The Allies suffered heavy casualties, and smoke from the explosions caused by the first wave of bombers made visibility difficult for subsequent waves. Survivors reported debris like branches and barbed wire hitting and even ending up on the inside of their planes. Lt. Col. Addison Baker and Maj. John Jerstad were awarded the Medal of Honor for their (unsuccessful) attempt to fly higher and allow the crew to bail of our their badly damaged plane. Another pilot, Lt. Lloyd Herbert Hughes, also received a posthumous Medal of Honor for flying his critically-damaged B-24 into its target. Col. John Kane and Col. Leon Johnson, who each led bombing groups that reached their targets, were the only men who won the Medal of Honor and survived the raid.
Although the Allies estimated that the raid had reduced Ploiești’s capacity by 40 percent, the damage was quickly repaired and within months the refineries had outstripped their previous capacity. The region continued to serve as “Hitler’s gas station” until the Soviet Union captured it in August of 1944. 310 airmen died, 108 were captured and another 78 were interned in neighboring Turkey.
Of the 178 planes that took off from Benghazi, only 89 returned. While the enemy destroyed 54 planes, others crash landed at bases throughout the area. Over 300 men died, over 100 captured, and 78 were interred in Turkey. Of the 89 returning planes, over a third were unfit to fly afterward. .
Operation Tidal Wave remains the most highly decorated military mission in U.S. History. Five Medals of Honor, 3 posthumously, were awarded, the most for any single air mission in history. 998 enlisted aircrew flew in Tidal Wave. 900 were decorated. 10 Silver Stars, 16 Distinguished Service Crosses and 879 Distinguished Flying Crosses were awarded to bombadiers, gunners, engineers and radioman for their heroics
Drove to Ft Leonard Wood to get new ID's & hit the commissary yesterday, on the drive out I pointed out an A10 doing manovers about a mile away to momma - then I noticed another about 1000 yards to his 6 and saw this: 
I was jumping around in the drivers seat yelling "Did you see that??"
She didn't.
I was jumping around in the drivers seat yelling "Did you see that??"
She didn't.
raratt
Well-Known Member
I watched an AC-130 go over the range at Tyndall, the amount of firepower they carry is insane. If you see a C-130 doing slow left hand circles above you you are screwed.Drove to Ft Leonard Wood to get new ID's & hit the commissary yesterday, on the drive out I pointed out an A10 doing manovers about a mile away to momma - then I noticed another about 1000 yards to his 6 and saw this:
View attachment 5174321
I was jumping around in the drivers seat yelling "Did you see that??"
She didn't.
Yep, Dad told very few Vietnam stories but one that stands out is the destruction of a NVC compound that was somewhat close to Da nang by an AC-130. He was a B 52 guy so he knew fire power & to hear his description of that machine and what was happening on the ground was awe inspiring. The boys in boots loved her too!
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Carnitastaco
Well-Known Member
Coast Guard flies helicopters that look like the one from Airwolf.
CaliRootz88
Well-Known Member
Old Fort Lost in the Woods. Ill never forget boot camp there in 2007. Froze my ass off going in JanuaryDrove to Ft Leonard Wood to get new ID's & hit the commissary yesterday, on the drive out I pointed out an A10 doing manovers about a mile away to momma - then I noticed another about 1000 yards to his 6 and saw this:
View attachment 5174321
I was jumping around in the drivers seat yelling "Did you see that??"
She didn't.
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
A couple of days ago in Military History:
The battle which, more than any other, established Horatio Nelson’s fame began as the sun set on August 1st, 1798, over a French fleet of seventeen ships. Fifteen miles east of Alexandria and close to the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, anchored in line across Aboukir Bay on the Egyptian coast, they were in a strong and carefully selected defensive position, close inshore and protected by shoals and a shore battery on an island. Nelson had found them there after weeks of anxiously searching the Mediterranean.
At thirty-nine, Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson’s keenness for action, rapidity of judgement and eye for an opportunity were unequalled, as was his capacity to inspire his subordinates. ‘I had the happiness to command a band of brothers,’ he wrote to Lord Howe afterwards, ‘therefore, night was to my advantage.’
Not a moment was lost as the British fleet approached Aboukir Bay from the north-west at about 5.30pm. The French commander assumed they would not attack so late, but the wind was blowing directly along the French line and Nelson’s fourteen battleships divided into two groups. One group sailed along the outside of the French line, while the other, led by Captain Hood in Zealous and Captain Foley in Goliath, snaked through a narrow gap between the foremost French ship and the shore. The French were caught napping and were attacked from close quarters on both sides simultaneously in a wildly unorthodox and effective Nelsonian manoeuvre. The Culloden ran aground on the shoals, but the thirteen other English ships fell on the first eight of the French.
The firing began at 6.28pm and by 7 o’clock it was so dark that the British ships hoisted a row of white lamps at the mizzen peak so that they could distinguish each other from the enemy. The Bellerophon under Captain Darby was dismasted and almost wrecked by a colossal broadside from the huge French flagship L’Orient of 120 guns, but the attack was continued and the French ship caught fire soon after nine and blew up at 10.05, by which time six other French battleships had surrendered. In the end only two French ships of the line and two frigates were able to get away. Nelson himself, in Vanguard, was struck in the forehead by a piece of shrapnel and temporarily blinded by a flap of skin which dropped over his one good eye. It was quickly stitched by the surgeon and he resumed command.
On the 15th, Nelson sent seven of his ships with six enemy prizes to Gibraltar and himself made for Naples (where he was fatefully to meet Lady Hamilton). The news of the action was received with delight in England and the victor was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson of the Nile. Parliament voted him a pension, the City of London presented him with a sword, the East India Company gave him £10,000 (equivalent to £5 million or so today) and the Sublime Porte conferred on him the Order of the Crescent with a superb aigrette or ‘plume of triumph’. Napoleon’s army in Egypt was left stranded, cut off from France, and eventually could only tamely surrender, and French designs on India were thwarted.
The Battle of the Nile has been called "arguably, the most decisive naval engagement of the great age of sail", and "the most splendid and glorious success which the British Navy gained." Historian and novelist C. S. Forester, writing in 1929, compared the Nile to the great naval actions in history and concluded that "it still only stands rivalled by Tsu-Shima as an example of the annihilation of one fleet by another of approximately equal material force". The effect on the strategic situation in the Mediterranean was immediate, reversing the balance of the conflict and giving the British control at sea that they maintained for the remainder of the war. The destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet allowed the Royal Navy to return to the sea in force, as British squadrons set up blockades off French and allied ports.
www.britishbattles.com
www.history.navy.mil
warfarehistorynetwork.com
The battle which, more than any other, established Horatio Nelson’s fame began as the sun set on August 1st, 1798, over a French fleet of seventeen ships. Fifteen miles east of Alexandria and close to the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, anchored in line across Aboukir Bay on the Egyptian coast, they were in a strong and carefully selected defensive position, close inshore and protected by shoals and a shore battery on an island. Nelson had found them there after weeks of anxiously searching the Mediterranean.
At thirty-nine, Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson’s keenness for action, rapidity of judgement and eye for an opportunity were unequalled, as was his capacity to inspire his subordinates. ‘I had the happiness to command a band of brothers,’ he wrote to Lord Howe afterwards, ‘therefore, night was to my advantage.’
Not a moment was lost as the British fleet approached Aboukir Bay from the north-west at about 5.30pm. The French commander assumed they would not attack so late, but the wind was blowing directly along the French line and Nelson’s fourteen battleships divided into two groups. One group sailed along the outside of the French line, while the other, led by Captain Hood in Zealous and Captain Foley in Goliath, snaked through a narrow gap between the foremost French ship and the shore. The French were caught napping and were attacked from close quarters on both sides simultaneously in a wildly unorthodox and effective Nelsonian manoeuvre. The Culloden ran aground on the shoals, but the thirteen other English ships fell on the first eight of the French.
The firing began at 6.28pm and by 7 o’clock it was so dark that the British ships hoisted a row of white lamps at the mizzen peak so that they could distinguish each other from the enemy. The Bellerophon under Captain Darby was dismasted and almost wrecked by a colossal broadside from the huge French flagship L’Orient of 120 guns, but the attack was continued and the French ship caught fire soon after nine and blew up at 10.05, by which time six other French battleships had surrendered. In the end only two French ships of the line and two frigates were able to get away. Nelson himself, in Vanguard, was struck in the forehead by a piece of shrapnel and temporarily blinded by a flap of skin which dropped over his one good eye. It was quickly stitched by the surgeon and he resumed command.
On the 15th, Nelson sent seven of his ships with six enemy prizes to Gibraltar and himself made for Naples (where he was fatefully to meet Lady Hamilton). The news of the action was received with delight in England and the victor was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson of the Nile. Parliament voted him a pension, the City of London presented him with a sword, the East India Company gave him £10,000 (equivalent to £5 million or so today) and the Sublime Porte conferred on him the Order of the Crescent with a superb aigrette or ‘plume of triumph’. Napoleon’s army in Egypt was left stranded, cut off from France, and eventually could only tamely surrender, and French designs on India were thwarted.
The Battle of the Nile has been called "arguably, the most decisive naval engagement of the great age of sail", and "the most splendid and glorious success which the British Navy gained." Historian and novelist C. S. Forester, writing in 1929, compared the Nile to the great naval actions in history and concluded that "it still only stands rivalled by Tsu-Shima as an example of the annihilation of one fleet by another of approximately equal material force". The effect on the strategic situation in the Mediterranean was immediate, reversing the balance of the conflict and giving the British control at sea that they maintained for the remainder of the war. The destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet allowed the Royal Navy to return to the sea in force, as British squadrons set up blockades off French and allied ports.
Battle of the Nile
Admiral Nelson's victory over the French Fleet on 1st August 1798 that made him a household name throughout Europe
Battle of the Nile
AN AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF HIS MAJESTY' s SQUADRON, UNDER THE COMMAND OF REAR-ADMIRAL SIR HORATIO NELSON, FROM ITS SAILING FROM GIBRALTAR TO THE CONCLUSION OF THE GLORIOUS BATTLE OF THE NILE; DRAWN UP FROM THE MINUTES OF AN OFFICER OF RANK IN THE SQUADRON. THE THIRD EDITION...
Thunder at Dusk: The Battle of the Nile
The French had made a brilliant move, but Admiral Nelson discovered a means that might bring it all to naught.
warfarehistorynetwork.com
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I think you're talking about the HH-65 Dolphin - when I was in we called them "The whistling shitcan" because they made an odd high pitched noise while flying and were grounded for maintenance so much.
If I was in need I'd much rather be sent an HH-60 Jayhawk.
Much more reliable & battle tested.
I see them almost daily as they fly from Selfridge along the St Clair River out into Lake Huron. Totally understand why they are called the "whistling shitcan". When they are flying low, it makes a god awful screeching sound, almost like a bearing has went bad at high speed.
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
and:
On August 6, 2011, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter in Afghanistan, killing all 38 people on board, including 15 Navy SEALS from Team Six’s Gold Squadron.
The Tangi Valley, located along the border between Afghanistan’s Wardak and Logar provinces some 80 miles southwest of Kabul, is a remote, inaccessible area known for its resistance to foreign invasion. Alexander the Great suffered heavy troop losses there during his campaign in Afghanistan in the fourth century B.C. In the 1980s, mujahideen fighters in Wardak and Logar provinces devastated an entire division of Soviet fighters.
In 2009, U.S. forces from the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army established a base in the Tangi Valley area after it became clear the Taliban had taken advantage of low coalition presence there to establish a stronghold within striking distance of the Afghan capital. As the United States and NATO allies began a drawdown of their troops in the spring of 2011, U.S. forces turned over the Tangi Valley outpost to their Afghan counterparts. They continued to run operations in the area, however, using helicopters and special operations forces to combat groups of insurgents in the region.
Under cover of darkness on the night of August 6, 2011, a special ops team that included a group of U.S. Army Rangers began an assault on a Taliban compound in the village of Jaw-e-Mekh Zareen in the Tangi Valley. The firefight at the house went on for at least two hours, and the ground team called in reinforcements. As the Chinook CH-47 transport helicopter (call sign: Extortion 17) carrying 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan commandos, an Afghan civilian interpreter and a U.S. military dog approached, the insurgents fired on the helicopter and it crashed to the ground, killing all aboard.
Of the 30 Americans killed, 22 were Navy personnel, and 17 were SEALs. These included two bomb specialists and 15 operators in the Gold Squadron of DEVGRU, or Team Six, the highly classified unit that conducted the raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan the previous May. None of the operators killed in the Afghan helicopter crash had been involved in that mission, officials said. In addition to the SEALs, the others killed in the Chinook crash included five other Naval Special Warfare (NSW) personnel, three Air Force forward air controllers and five Army helicopter crewmembers.
The attack on August 6 was the most devastating day in SEAL Team Six history, as well as the single largest loss of life for U.S. forces since the war in Afghanistan began in October 2001. More than twice as many NSW personnel died in the Wardak crash than were killed on June 28, 2005, during Operation Redwings. That day, eight SEALs and eight members of the members of the Army’s 160th Special Forces Operations Regiment (SOAR) were killed when insurgents shot down their Chinook helicopter in Kunar province, near Asadabad. Three SEALs involved in a firefight on the ground were also killed, in what would stand as the deadliest day in NSW history since the Normandy landings on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
“No words describe the sorrow we feel in the wake of this tragic loss,” General John R. Allen, senior commander of the international military coalition in Afghanistan, said after the crash. “All of those killed in this operation were true heroes who had already given so much in the defense of freedom. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”
As funerals for the fallen sailors and other servicemen took place throughout the United States, a team of specialists conducted an official investigation to determine the cause of the crash. The resulting report, delivered in October 2011, concluded that a Taliban fighter shot down the Chinook with a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) as the helicopter neared its landing zone, and that “all operational decisions, linked to the incident, were deemed tactically sound.”
Some later questioned the official narrative of the Extortion 17 crash, even suggesting the attack could have been an inside job, with Afghan forces tipping the Taliban off about the mission beforehand. Others criticized the planning and execution of the mission, including the decision to fly the helicopter into an area where it could be easily shot down and the use of a conventional helicopter rather than one designed for special operations missions. Family members of some of the SEAL Team Six operators killed in the crash, along with some military personnel, claimed that the U.S. government had turned the members of the elite unit into a target by revealing their role in the bin Laden raid. A congressional oversight committee even held a controversial hearing into the events surrounding the crash in early 2014.
Though the U.S.-led coalition formally ended its combat mission in Afghanistan in December 2014, the war has continued for more than two years beyond that point, marking its 15th anniversary last October. As of 2016, some 9,800 U.S. troops remained in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense estimates the total number of U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan at 2,254. Meanwhile, the civilian toll of the war grows ever higher; one estimate, by the organization International Physicians for the Prevention of War, put the total number of Afghans killed in the first 12 years of the conflict at some 220,000.
www.smithsonianmag.com
sofrep.com
The Tangi Valley, located along the border between Afghanistan’s Wardak and Logar provinces some 80 miles southwest of Kabul, is a remote, inaccessible area known for its resistance to foreign invasion. Alexander the Great suffered heavy troop losses there during his campaign in Afghanistan in the fourth century B.C. In the 1980s, mujahideen fighters in Wardak and Logar provinces devastated an entire division of Soviet fighters.
In 2009, U.S. forces from the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army established a base in the Tangi Valley area after it became clear the Taliban had taken advantage of low coalition presence there to establish a stronghold within striking distance of the Afghan capital. As the United States and NATO allies began a drawdown of their troops in the spring of 2011, U.S. forces turned over the Tangi Valley outpost to their Afghan counterparts. They continued to run operations in the area, however, using helicopters and special operations forces to combat groups of insurgents in the region.
Under cover of darkness on the night of August 6, 2011, a special ops team that included a group of U.S. Army Rangers began an assault on a Taliban compound in the village of Jaw-e-Mekh Zareen in the Tangi Valley. The firefight at the house went on for at least two hours, and the ground team called in reinforcements. As the Chinook CH-47 transport helicopter (call sign: Extortion 17) carrying 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan commandos, an Afghan civilian interpreter and a U.S. military dog approached, the insurgents fired on the helicopter and it crashed to the ground, killing all aboard.
Of the 30 Americans killed, 22 were Navy personnel, and 17 were SEALs. These included two bomb specialists and 15 operators in the Gold Squadron of DEVGRU, or Team Six, the highly classified unit that conducted the raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan the previous May. None of the operators killed in the Afghan helicopter crash had been involved in that mission, officials said. In addition to the SEALs, the others killed in the Chinook crash included five other Naval Special Warfare (NSW) personnel, three Air Force forward air controllers and five Army helicopter crewmembers.
The attack on August 6 was the most devastating day in SEAL Team Six history, as well as the single largest loss of life for U.S. forces since the war in Afghanistan began in October 2001. More than twice as many NSW personnel died in the Wardak crash than were killed on June 28, 2005, during Operation Redwings. That day, eight SEALs and eight members of the members of the Army’s 160th Special Forces Operations Regiment (SOAR) were killed when insurgents shot down their Chinook helicopter in Kunar province, near Asadabad. Three SEALs involved in a firefight on the ground were also killed, in what would stand as the deadliest day in NSW history since the Normandy landings on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
“No words describe the sorrow we feel in the wake of this tragic loss,” General John R. Allen, senior commander of the international military coalition in Afghanistan, said after the crash. “All of those killed in this operation were true heroes who had already given so much in the defense of freedom. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”
As funerals for the fallen sailors and other servicemen took place throughout the United States, a team of specialists conducted an official investigation to determine the cause of the crash. The resulting report, delivered in October 2011, concluded that a Taliban fighter shot down the Chinook with a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) as the helicopter neared its landing zone, and that “all operational decisions, linked to the incident, were deemed tactically sound.”
Some later questioned the official narrative of the Extortion 17 crash, even suggesting the attack could have been an inside job, with Afghan forces tipping the Taliban off about the mission beforehand. Others criticized the planning and execution of the mission, including the decision to fly the helicopter into an area where it could be easily shot down and the use of a conventional helicopter rather than one designed for special operations missions. Family members of some of the SEAL Team Six operators killed in the crash, along with some military personnel, claimed that the U.S. government had turned the members of the elite unit into a target by revealing their role in the bin Laden raid. A congressional oversight committee even held a controversial hearing into the events surrounding the crash in early 2014.
Though the U.S.-led coalition formally ended its combat mission in Afghanistan in December 2014, the war has continued for more than two years beyond that point, marking its 15th anniversary last October. As of 2016, some 9,800 U.S. troops remained in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense estimates the total number of U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan at 2,254. Meanwhile, the civilian toll of the war grows ever higher; one estimate, by the organization International Physicians for the Prevention of War, put the total number of Afghans killed in the first 12 years of the conflict at some 220,000.
The Final Flight of Extortion 17
It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. Why did it happen?
Setting the record straight: Myths and misinformation about Extortion 17
The 6 August, 2011 downing of Extortion 17 has continued to make international headlines years after the terrible tragedy. This continued attention is due
sofrep.com
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
"On August 7, 1942, the U.S. 1st Marine Division begins Operation Watchtower, the code name for the U.S. plan to invade Guadalcanal and the surrounding islands and was the first U.S. offensive of the war.
Although not as well-known as the Battles of Midway or Iwo Jima, the Battle of Guadalcanal played a key role in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The six-month-long Guadalcanal Campaign took place on and around the island of Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands located in the South Pacific, to the northeast of Australia
On July 6, 1942, the Japanese landed on Guadalcanal Island and began constructing an airfield there. In response on August 7, 1942, , the U.S. launched Operation Watchtower, in which American troops landed on five islands within the Solomon chain, including Guadalcanal. Although the invasion came as a complete surprise to the Japanese (bad weather had grounded their scouting aircraft), the landings on Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu and Tananbogo met much initial opposition from the Japanese defenders.
But the Americans who landed on Guadalcanal met little resistance—at least at first. More than 11,000 Marines had landed, and 24 hours had passed, before the Japanese manning the garrison there knew of the attack. The U.S. forces quickly took their main objective, the airfield, and the outnumbered Japanese troops retreated, but not for long. Reinforcements were brought in, and fierce hand-to-hand jungle fighting ensued. “I have never heard or read of this kind of fighting,” wrote one American major general on the scene. “These people refuse to surrender.” The struggle on Guadalcanal was protracted, and the period from August 1942 to February 1943 saw some of the most bitter fighting of the war
The Americans were at a particular disadvantage, being assaulted from both the sea and air. But the U.S. Navy was able to reinforce its troops to a greater extent, and by February 1943, the Japanese had retreated on secret orders of their emperor (so secret, the Americans did not even know it had taken place until they began happening upon abandoned positions, empty boats, and discarded supplies). In total, the Japanese had lost more than 25,000 men, compared with a loss of 1,600 by the Americans. Each side lost 24 warships. The battle for Guadalcanal proved to be extremely costly for the Japanese Empire in terms of both material losses and strategy. With Guadalcanal secure, the Solomon Islands quickly fell to American forces as Henderson Field offered a direct base of support for American air units in the area. The sheer number of Japanese troops, supplies, and naval units were also irreplaceable at this point of the war. For many historians, the American victory at Guadalcanal, therefore, was a turning point for the war-effort as Guadalcanal served as a major boost to American morale, and a tremendous success for American military efforts in the Pacific.
Douglas Albert Munro was a United States Coast Guardsman who was posthumously decorated with the Medal of Honor for an act of "extraordinary heroism" during the Battle of Guadalcanal.. As of 2019, he is the only person to have received the medal for actions performed during service in the United States Coast Guard. Munro was assigned to Naval Operating Base Cactus at Lunga Point, from which small boat operations were being coordinated. At the Second Battle of the Matanikau in September 1942, he was tasked with leading the extrication of a force of United States Marines that had been overrun by Japanese forces. He died of a gunshot wound at the age of 22 while using the Higgins boat he was piloting to shield a landing craft filled with marines from Japanese fire.
One of the first Medals of Honor given to a Marine in WW2 was awarded to Sgt. John Basilone for his fighting during Operation Watchtower. According to the recommendation for his medal, he “contributed materially to the defeat and virtually the annihilation of a Japanese regiment.” Later, Gunnery Sgt. Basilone would be posthumously awarded the the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross for his actions on Iwo Jima"
(20 MOH's were awarded for the Guadalcanal campaign.bb)
Books:
Midnight in the Pacific : Guadalcanal : the World War II battle that turned the tide of war / Joseph Wheelan. (One of the best I’ve read on Guadalcanal)
The conquering tide : war in the Pacific Islands, 1942/1944 / Ian W. Toll.
Pacific crucible : war at sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 / Ian W. Toll.
The barrier and the javelin : Japanese and Allied Pacific strategies, February to June 1942 / H.P. Willmott
The first South Pacific campaign : Pacific Fleet strategy, December 1941-June 1942 / by John B. Lundstrom
www.newworldencyclopedia.org
allthatsinteresting.com
These last two are detailed Army and Navy reports and analysis of the campaign(s) at Guadalcanal:
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/browse-by-topic/War and Conflict/WWII-Pacific-Battles/Battle of Guadalcanal 5.pdf
https://history.army.mil/html/books/005/5-3/CMH_Pub_5-3.pdf
"On August 7, 1942, the U.S. 1st Marine Division begins Operation Watchtower, the code name for the U.S. plan to invade Guadalcanal and the surrounding islands and was the first U.S. offensive of the war.
Although not as well-known as the Battles of Midway or Iwo Jima, the Battle of Guadalcanal played a key role in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The six-month-long Guadalcanal Campaign took place on and around the island of Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands located in the South Pacific, to the northeast of Australia
On July 6, 1942, the Japanese landed on Guadalcanal Island and began constructing an airfield there. In response on August 7, 1942, , the U.S. launched Operation Watchtower, in which American troops landed on five islands within the Solomon chain, including Guadalcanal. Although the invasion came as a complete surprise to the Japanese (bad weather had grounded their scouting aircraft), the landings on Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu and Tananbogo met much initial opposition from the Japanese defenders.
But the Americans who landed on Guadalcanal met little resistance—at least at first. More than 11,000 Marines had landed, and 24 hours had passed, before the Japanese manning the garrison there knew of the attack. The U.S. forces quickly took their main objective, the airfield, and the outnumbered Japanese troops retreated, but not for long. Reinforcements were brought in, and fierce hand-to-hand jungle fighting ensued. “I have never heard or read of this kind of fighting,” wrote one American major general on the scene. “These people refuse to surrender.” The struggle on Guadalcanal was protracted, and the period from August 1942 to February 1943 saw some of the most bitter fighting of the war
The Americans were at a particular disadvantage, being assaulted from both the sea and air. But the U.S. Navy was able to reinforce its troops to a greater extent, and by February 1943, the Japanese had retreated on secret orders of their emperor (so secret, the Americans did not even know it had taken place until they began happening upon abandoned positions, empty boats, and discarded supplies). In total, the Japanese had lost more than 25,000 men, compared with a loss of 1,600 by the Americans. Each side lost 24 warships. The battle for Guadalcanal proved to be extremely costly for the Japanese Empire in terms of both material losses and strategy. With Guadalcanal secure, the Solomon Islands quickly fell to American forces as Henderson Field offered a direct base of support for American air units in the area. The sheer number of Japanese troops, supplies, and naval units were also irreplaceable at this point of the war. For many historians, the American victory at Guadalcanal, therefore, was a turning point for the war-effort as Guadalcanal served as a major boost to American morale, and a tremendous success for American military efforts in the Pacific.
Douglas Albert Munro was a United States Coast Guardsman who was posthumously decorated with the Medal of Honor for an act of "extraordinary heroism" during the Battle of Guadalcanal.. As of 2019, he is the only person to have received the medal for actions performed during service in the United States Coast Guard. Munro was assigned to Naval Operating Base Cactus at Lunga Point, from which small boat operations were being coordinated. At the Second Battle of the Matanikau in September 1942, he was tasked with leading the extrication of a force of United States Marines that had been overrun by Japanese forces. He died of a gunshot wound at the age of 22 while using the Higgins boat he was piloting to shield a landing craft filled with marines from Japanese fire.
One of the first Medals of Honor given to a Marine in WW2 was awarded to Sgt. John Basilone for his fighting during Operation Watchtower. According to the recommendation for his medal, he “contributed materially to the defeat and virtually the annihilation of a Japanese regiment.” Later, Gunnery Sgt. Basilone would be posthumously awarded the the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross for his actions on Iwo Jima"
(20 MOH's were awarded for the Guadalcanal campaign.bb)
Books:
Midnight in the Pacific : Guadalcanal : the World War II battle that turned the tide of war / Joseph Wheelan. (One of the best I’ve read on Guadalcanal)
The conquering tide : war in the Pacific Islands, 1942/1944 / Ian W. Toll.
Pacific crucible : war at sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 / Ian W. Toll.
The barrier and the javelin : Japanese and Allied Pacific strategies, February to June 1942 / H.P. Willmott
The first South Pacific campaign : Pacific Fleet strategy, December 1941-June 1942 / by John B. Lundstrom
Battle of Guadalcanal - New World Encyclopedia
The Hot, Bloody, Brutal Campaign Of Guadalcanal: America’s First WWII Offensive In The Pacific
What started as a simple mission to capture an airstrip in the Pacific from the Japanese dragged on for six months as Japan kept trying to take it back.
allthatsinteresting.com
These last two are detailed Army and Navy reports and analysis of the campaign(s) at Guadalcanal:
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/browse-by-topic/War and Conflict/WWII-Pacific-Battles/Battle of Guadalcanal 5.pdf
https://history.army.mil/html/books/005/5-3/CMH_Pub_5-3.pdf
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