Veterans...Get the hell in here now!

smokinrav

smokinrav

Well-Known Member
Deepest shipwreck ever discovered surveyed. The destroyer USS Johnston, sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, arguably the most heroic ship attack of the war. She was hit while maneuvering against the Yamato and three other battleships!

CNN : The world's deepest shipwreck has been fully surveyed.
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The world's deepest shipwreck has been fully surveyed

The world's deepest known shipwreck, a World War II US Navy destroyer, has been fully mapped and filmed by a US-based crew.
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Rewerb

Rewerb

Well-Known Member
I honestly take my hat off to anyone in the Naval services as having balls of steel.

Turn the green light on & chuck me out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft at fucking-stupidly-low levels at night with more than my own body-weight attached & I was happier than a pig in shit.

Water-bourne operations...... Nah! That shit scared the fuck out of me until I was back on dry land.
 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
What We Fought Against: Ohrdruf
On April 4, 1945, the US 4th Armored Division and 89th Infantry Division of the Third US Army came face to face with the horrors of Nazi brutality. The men discovered Ohrdruf, a Nazi labor camp and a subcamp of the Buchenwald system.

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Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and Omar Bradley view charred prisoner remains that SS troops tried to destroy and corpses found scattered around the camp grounds, lying where they were killed prior to the camp’s evacuation.
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"In November 1944, the Nazis established Ohrdruf south of Gotha, Germany. As a subcamp, Ohrdruf was located about 30 miles west of Buchenwald. Codenamed SIII, the Ohrdruf camp was established to supply forced labor to construct a route that would lead to a communications center in the basement of nearby Mühlberg Castle, located in the town of Ohrdruf. Prisoners were to connect the castle with a railway by digging tunnels through nearby mountains. The tunnels would also serve as an emergency shelter for the train that contained Hitler’s headquarters, the Führersonderzug, in the event of an evacuation from Berlin. Local civilians were hired to handle the dynamiting, while prisoners would come in behind to dig and pick up rocks. With poor working conditions and no protective gear offered, many prisoners suffered from serious injuries and often were killed in the process. The communications center, however, was never completed and the project was abandoned due to the advance of US troops.

By March 1945, the prisoner population in Ohrdruf reached 11,700. The prisoners included people of various nationalities—French, Belgian, German, Hungarian, Czech, Latvian, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, and Yugoslav. In addition, the camp housed prisoners who the Nazis judged as anti-social, plus homosexuals and Jews. In early April, with the oncoming advance of Allied forces, the SS evacuated almost all of the prisoners in a death march to Buchenwald. Many prisoners who were too weak or ill to partake in the march were summarily killed.

Ohrdruf was the first Nazi camp to be liberated by US forces. On April 12, a week after the camp’s liberation, Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and Omar Bradley toured the site, led by a prisoner familiar with the camp. Numerous corpses were found scattered around the camp grounds, lying where they were killed prior to the camp’s evacuation. A burned out pyre was discovered with the charred remains of prisoners, proof of the SS’s hurried evacuation and attempt to cover their crimes. Evidence of torture was present, and prisoners demonstrated for the generals various torture methods used by the guards. In a shed, a pile of roughly 30 emaciated bodies were discovered, sprinkled with lime in an attempt to cover the smell. Patton, a man privy to the violent scenes of war, refused to enter this shed as the sights and smells in the camp had previously caused him to vomit against the side of a building. German citizens from the nearby town of Ohrdruf were forced to view the camp and bury the dead, a practice that was later repeated in other camp liberations. Following the tour, the mayor of Ohrdruf and his wife were discovered to have hung themselves in their home.

Following the generals’ visit to the camp, Eisenhower ordered all American units in the area and not engaged in frontline battle to be sent to Ohrdruf. He cabled General George C. Marshall, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, D.C., requesting that members of Congress and journalists be sent to liberated camps to witness and document the horrific scenes US troops were uncovering. Additionally, the generals discovered the prisoner who acted as their guide during their visit to Ohrdruf was recognized by another prisoner as a former camp guard, and was beaten to death. Though Eisenhower said visiting Ohrdruf left him feeling sick from the overpowering sights, he acknowledged it put him “in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”

A group of prominent journalists, led by the dean of American publishers, Joseph Pulitzer, came to see the concentration camps. Pulitzer initially had “a suspicious frame of mind,” he wrote. He expected to find that many of “the terrible reports” printed in the United States were “exaggerations and largely propaganda.” But they were understatements, he reported.

Within days, Congressional delegations came to visit the concentration camps, accompanied by journalists and photographers. General Patton was so angry at what he found at Buchenwald that he ordered the Military Police to go to Weimar, four miles away, and bring back 1,000 civilians to see what their leaders had done, to witness what some human beings could do to others. The MP’s were so outraged they brought back 2,000. Some turned away. Some fainted. Even veteran, battle-scarred correspondents were struck dumb. In a legendary broadcast on April 15, Edward R. Murrow gave the American radio audience a stunning matter-of-fact description of Buchenwald, of the piles of dead bodies so emaciated that those shot through the head had barely bled, and of those children who still lived, tattooed with numbers, whose ribs showed through their thin shirts. “I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald,” Murrow asked listeners. “I have reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it; for most of it I have no words.” He added, “If I have offended you by this rather mild account of Buchenwald, I am not in the least sorry.”

The liberation of Ohrdruf opened the eyes of many Americans, soldiers and civilians, to the barbaric conditions innocent people faced under Nazism. American troops would move on to discover and liberate multiple camps, including Dora-Mittelbau, Dachau, Mauthausen, and Buchenwald. Elie Wiesel, author of Night, was imprisoned in Buchenwald at the time of the camp’s liberation. As more camps were uncovered by Allied forces, it became evident to the world that the Third Reich had committed unprecedented atrocities everywhere the regime had reigned. Following the discovery of Ohrdruf, Eisenhower stated simply but profoundly: “We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, we know what he is fighting against.”"



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BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
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Navy Seabees Build VP Kamala Harris a Desk Out of Wood from USS Constitution

The vice president and Navy secretary now have new desks built out of materials from some of the most storied ships in U.S. history.
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Past and present came together when a team of Navy Seabees crafted a desk made of timber from USS Constitution for the Vice President of the United States. The desk project was initiated to deliver a desk of comparable provenance, history, and heritage as the president’s HMS Resolute desk.

One of the first six frigates of the U.S. Navy, USS Constitution was launched in 1797 in Boston, Massachusetts. Today, 224 years later, Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat. Her resolve and the Sailors who crew “Old Ironsides” are symbols of American steadfastness and naval history and heritage.

The team also built a desk for the Secretary of the Navy made of parts from the frigates USS Constitution, USS Chesapeake, sloop of war USS Constellation, and battleships USS Texas, USS New Jersey, and USS Arizona. The Secretary’s desk was made primarily of salvaged excess wood and copper from Constitution, a small amount of donated original wood from the frigate USS Chesapeake, donated salvage wood from the museum frigate USS Constellation, donated metal from the museum battleships USS Texas and USS New Jersey and a relic from the battleship USS Arizona.

“It’s a huge opportunity to be a part of,” said Builder 1st Class Hilary Lemelin, assigned to USS Constitution. “It’s amazing to create a desk for someone who makes such large decisions for the country and Navy; knowing they’ll sit there every day is huge. The importance of their job can affect everything we do. It’s a piece of history now.”

The Seabees constructed the desks in about seven weeks. Staining and applying finishing coats was the longest part of the process due to the 24-hour drying time between each layer. They used wood, copper, and nails from Constitution, wood from Chesapeake and Constellation, steel plating from Texas and Arizona, and deck bolts from New Jersey.

The team left square-nail holes in parts of the panels to show they came from the planks of the Constitution and as a reminder that Sailors served on it. The panels were a piece of history they didn’t want to cover up. Yet, these weren’t the parts of the desk that mean the most to Lemelin.

“In each desk, we built pen trays in the center drawer and SECNAV Kenneth Braithwaite has a note written in there with a piece of the Arizona,” said Lemelin. “That’s the biggest thing for me because every time they open that tray to sign an important document that could potentially change the Navy or the nation, I think I put that there for them to use. For me, that’s history and we’re helping whoever sits in those seats think about the immense weight they hold.”

The team unanimously stated it was more than personal pride, there was the pride of being a Seabee. The Construction Battalion’s “can do” motto reigned true throughout the entire mission.

“This was the highlight of my career for sure,” said Senior Chief Constructionman Noah Ziegler, assigned to Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Atlantic. “We worked together every day and learned from each other while we made desks that I’m extremely proud of. Watching the way the team meshed and helped each other on top of knowing these desks would be used for many years to come, it was an awesome overall experience. Saying it was an honor is a significant understatement.”

Ziegler said the team constantly talked about how they can maximize the materials they used to capture the spirit of the old ships and all the Sailors who served on them.

Steelworker 2nd Class Elijohana Cole, assigned to Public Works Department Washington, confirms how the learning and cross-rate training exemplified what being a “can do” Seabee is all about. She explained although she wasn’t as experienced with wood-working, her team didn’t let her down and in turn, she didn’t let them down.

“I didn’t know too much in that aspect so I was kind of afraid and nervous,” said Cole. “The whole team helped me understand how it worked and I was confident later on within myself that they could leave me with a task and I’d be able to do it.”

This tasking showed the quality and strength of the Seabees because it required four Sailors from different commands to come together and work as a solid unit in such a small time on a highly visible product. The desks are now a part of history and the pride of the team that put them together can be re-visited with every picture from here on out.

“People seem to think Seabees only do humanitarian work or putting up structures,” said Cole. “No, we are a construction force who also knows how to make awesome furniture. We have all the crafts and we excel in everything we do. I am proud to be a Seabee and I am really proud we had the chance to do this task.”
 
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BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
seabeemuseum.wordpress.com

U.S. Navy Seabee Museum

Collecting, preserving and displaying historical material of the Seabees and the Civil Engineer Corps
seabeemuseum.wordpress.com seabeemuseum.wordpress.com

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PEARL HARBOR, HI, UNITED STATES
05.07.2019
Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Allen Amani
Navy Public Affairs Support Element Detachment Hawaii

190507-N-YM720-1287 PEARL HARBOR (May 7, 2019)
Steelworker 3rd Class Cameron Fields, crew leader at Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303 detachment Hawaii, cuts a piece of steel salvaged from the USS Arizona. This piece, as well as other historical relics, will be displayed in one of more than 100 locations around the world. These visible pieces will allow the public to consider and discuss the significance of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Allen Michael McNair)
 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Salvage divers from the Seabee's were the ones that dove on many of the Dec 7 Pearl Harbor ships for rescue and remains retrieval. In 1942 and 1943, divers worked to repair, salvage, raise, remove unexploded ordinance and dismantle the ships and planes, spending a combined 16,000 hours underwater during 4,000 dives, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Ed Raymer was the Senior Petty Officer in charge of the Navy salvage dive team that were the first ones to enter the Arizona in early January 1942. His team brought up the initial 40 some bodies from Arizona before it was decided by Navy and Congress that due to the horrific condition of the remains, it was best to leave them entombed. The team was also instrumental in raising the West Virginia, Nevada and California. The book is his story. bb
Descent into darkness : Pearl Harbor, 1941: a Navy diver's memoir / Edward C. Raymer.
 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
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On April 7, 1945, the Japanese battleship Yamato, one of the greatest battleships of its time, is sunk in Japan’s first major counteroffensive in the struggle for Okinawa.

Weighing 72,800 tons and outfitted with nine 18.1-inch guns, the battleship Yamato was Japan’s only hope of destroying the Allied fleet off the coast of Okinawa. But insufficient air cover and fuel cursed the endeavor as a suicide mission. Struck by 19 American aerial torpedoes, it was sunk, drowning 2,498 of its crew.

warfarehistorynetwork.com

Death of the Super Battleship Yamato and Musashi

The battleship Yamato, the world’s largest and most powerful, was destroyed in under two hours by an uncounted number of bombs and torpedoes.
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H-044-3: Death of Battleship Yamato

H-Gram 044, Attachment 3 Samuel J. Cox, Director NHHC April 2020
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The Yamato's Last Mission

In April 1945, the Yamato and what was left of the Imperial Japanese Navy was ordered to Okinawa by the emperor himself. It would be the end of the fleet.
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BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
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ON APRIL 8, 2009, four pirates armed with AK-47s clambered up the side of the U.S.-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama, sailing off the coast of Somalia. But after a brief scuffle with some of the 20 crewmembers, the pirates opted to abandon the 508-foot long ship, sailing off in one of its motorized lifeboats. They may not have captured the Maersk Alabama, nor looted its millions of dollars' worth of food and humanitarian aid bound for Kenya, but they didn't leave empty handed. The pirates had a captive: Maersk Alabama's captain, Richard Phillips.

Four days later, three of the four pirates were dead -- each from a single .30-caliber rifle bullet to his brain, courtesy of the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team Six. The fourth pirate, just 16 years old, was in Navy custody. And Phillips was on his way home, unharmed but for the psychological strain from four days in captivity in a sweltering lifeboat, unsure whether he would live or die. The fourth pirate, Abdul Wali Muse, who was already aboard the Bainbridge for medical treatment, was brought to the United States for trial. Muse was the first person charged with piracy in a US court in over 100 years. In May 2010, Muse pled guilty to hijacking, kidnapping and hostage-taking. In February 2011, Muse was sentenced to almost 34 years in federal prison.

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8,000 Miles, 96 Hours, 3 Dead Pirates: Inside a Navy SEAL Rescue

A 2009 pirate standoff that could have ended in military disaster was instead resolved bloodlessly for the U.S., thanks in large part to a small team of far-flying, night-parachuting, tireless, sharpshooting Navy commandos. Their exploits would remain relatively obscure, if not for a retired...
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3 shots. 3 kills. How SEALs carried out rescue.

From wire reports WASHINGTON The hard part was not the distance, 75 feet, an easy range for an experienced sniper. Far more difficult were all the moving parts: the bobbing lifeboat, the rolling sh…
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Piracy Off the Horn of Africa

Lauren Ploch Analyst in African Affairs Christopher M. Blanchard Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs Ronald O'Rourke Specialist in Naval Affairs R. Chuck Mason Legislative Attorney Rawle O. King Analyst in Financial Economics and Risk Assessment September 28, 2009
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