TheList 5270

The List 5270 TGB


Good Saturday Morning April 11 to all. After the most rain in San Diego history our day has dawned with clear skies and sunshine which will last until tomorrow when the rain returns. Yesterday I finally had to get out and hook up a hose and start draining the pool to keep is from overflowing and it went well. No politics or virus have been found in this edition of the List.

Regards

Skip



Today in Naval History

April 10

1783

Congress declares the cessation of arms against Great Britain, just a few days after British Parliament passed a similar resolution, thus ending hostilities of the American Revolution.

1944

USS Redfin (SS 272) sinks the Japanese destroyer Akigumo in the eastern entrance to Basilan Strait.

1945

The kamikaze attacks during the Okinawa Campaign damage eight Navy ships.

1970

Apollo 13 is launched, commanded by Navy Capt. James A. Lovell. The ship endures an explosion forcing an immediate return to Earth. Recovery is by helicopters from USS Iwo Jima (LPH 2).

1991

The U.N. Security Council declares a formal cease-fire ending the Persian Gulf War.

1992

USS Annapolis (SSN 760) is commissioned at the Electric Boat Division at Groton, Conn. The 10th of her Los Angeles "Improved" class of attack submarines.



Thanks to CHINFO

No CHINFO on the weekends





NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

This Day in World History

April 11



1512

The forces of the Holy League are heavily defeated by the French at the Battle of Ravenna.


1713

The Treaty of Utrecht is signed, ending the War of Spanish Succession. France cedes Maritime provinces to Britain.


1783

After receiving a copy of the provisional treaty on 13 March, Congress proclaims a formal end to hostilities with Great Britain.


1814

Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.


1898

American President William McKinley asks Congress for declaration of war with Spain.


1941

German bombers blitz Coventry, England.


1942

Detachment 101 of the OSS--a guerrilla force--is activated in Burma.


1945

After two frustrating days of being repulsed and absorbing tremendous casualties, the Red Army finally takes the Seelow Heights north of Berlin.


1951

President Truman fires General Douglas MacArthur as head of United Nations forces in Korea.


1961

Israel begins the trial of Adolf Eichman, accused of war crimes during WWII.


1961

Folk singer Bob Dylan performs in New York City for the first time, opening for John Lee Hooker.


1968

President Johnson signs the 1968 Civil Rights Act.


1974

The Judiciary committee subpoenas President Richard Nixon to produce tapes for impeachment inquiry.


1981

President Ronald Reagan returns to the White House from hospital after recovery from an assassination attempt.


1986

Dodge Morgan sails solo nonstop around the world in 150 days.


1991

The United Nations Security Council issues formal ceasefire with Iraq.


1996

Forty-three African nations sign the African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty.




NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN



As a side note to this item click on the Speak like a Sailor below. Very informative and entertaining



Thanks to the Naval History and Heritage Command



Submarine Force's 118th Birthday.

Happy Birthday Submariners! The submarine force will celebrate its birthday on April 11. On March 17, 1898, the Navy's first submarine, Holland VI, successfully passed rigorous diving and surfacing testing in the waters off Staten Island, NY. She was the first submarine to have the power to run submerged for any considerable distance. The Navy purchased her on April 11, 1900, for $150,000 and ordered six more submarines of her type. Upon commissioning on Oct. 12, 1900, the Navy renamed her USS Holland (SS-1) after engineer John Philip Holland, who was responsible for her design. To see how far submarines have come, check out the Evolution of the U.S. Navy Submarine infographic at NHHC's website.

WEBPAGE OF THE WEEK

Have you ever wondered why morning coffee is called "cuppa Joe" or why gossip is synonymous with the term "scuttlebutt?" Now you can learn the origins of Navy language courtesy of this week's Webpage of the Week, Speak Like a Sailor, on NHHC's Heritage webpages. Learn nautical terms and phrases with their meaning and origin defined. Immerse yourself in infographics that tell us the meaning of "Side Boys" and "Field Day." Check it out today.



NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN



I hope that the attachment came through.



The Flying Drumstick



An A-6 driver's perspective.



Good short story by Coontz.



He of course wrote the Flight of the Intruder and other great books. The latest was the Dragon's Jaw with Barrett Tillman.



NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Thanks to Jerry….We had a very similar story on the USS Midway. Into port on Friday and left on early Monday Morning to return over 11 months later. CNO sent us on our way that morning with by saying "if you can't take a joke you should not have joined up"

Skip, I had to laugh when I read the below on the B-52 strikes. They may have struck "in the vicinity of Vinh" but they sure as hell didn't strike in the vicinity of the SAM's!

Below is a TINS I wrote awhile back for our company newspaper.

Cheers,

Jerry (KJ)Watson



1972 – Although the U.S. command refuses to confirm publicly the location of targets, U.S. B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam for the first time since November 1967. The bombers struck in the vicinity of Vinh, 145 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone. It was later acknowledged publicly that target priority during these attacks had been given to SAM-2 missile sites, which had made raids over North Vietnam increasingly hazardous. U.S. officials called Hanoi's SAM-2 defenses "the most sophisticated air defenses in the history of air warfare." These defenses consisted of advanced radar and lethally accurate air defense missiles.

19 APRIL 1972



During the Vietnam War I flew 288 combat missions, mostly in the Navy F-4J Phantom. This was one of my more memorable missions. Now, to set the stage for this tale- I returned from my first combat cruise in August of 1971 with the World Famous Black Lions, VF-213, to begin what was planned as a one year turn-around before the next deployment. I was scheduled for a Top Gun class as soon as we returned, so that sort of wiped out any stand down time. As soon as I finished the training we began our turn-around training in earnest. Fast forward to February 1972. We had begun Air Wing (CVW-11) workups with our ship, USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) (they were ATTACK carriers back in those days) and had just spent several weeks off SoCal, training. We had come into port for the weekend and were scheduled to go to sea the following week for our ship/airwing Operational Readiness Evaluation (ORE). As we were mustering that Monday morning, Captain Oberg came up on the 1MC and said, "Good morning, Kitty Hawk. I have some good news and some bad news. First, the good news. COMNAVAIRPAC says we are so *&$%^ hot that we do not need an ORE (yea). Now the bad news. We leave for Westpac Friday (not so yea)."

We did not make the usual stop at Hawaii for mai tais, but sailed straight to Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf. Intelligence had determined that the North Vietnamese were gearing up for a Spring invasion of South Vietnam, now commonly referred to as the "Easter Offensive". Since 1968 there had been a unilateral U.S. moratorium on bombing any targets in North Vietnam, and for four years we watched as the North completely rebuilt and rearmed their air defense system with the latest Soviet supplied equipment- and lots of it.



The nineteenth of April 1972 found me in my trusty Phantom over the Tonkin Gulf, heading for the first daylight strike on the Vinh rail yards since 1968. Vinh was a very important transportation hub linking the northern and southern halves of North Vietnam. And heavily defended with SAM's and AAA. I was part of an Alfa strike totaling 30 plus attack and fighter aircraft with the mission of destroying the rail yard and any rolling stock we could. I had a loadout of 4 MK20 Rockeyes (cluster bombs), 4 Sidewinders, and 2 Sparrows. My division of Phantoms had the SAM/flak suppression /TARCAP mission. (Note: "Flak suppression in North Vietnam is like opening up your canopy and trying to pressurize the world." Nick Criss 1972) We were to precede the attack group into the target area, attack any SAM/AAA sites that came up with the Rockeye, and then set up a CAP station over the target to protect the attack bubbas from any MiGs that might come on the scene. At 20 nmi from the target area CAG radioed, "Scouts Out!" which was our signal to plug in the afterburner and streak out ahead of the main strike group. To digress a little -In the cockpit we had a radar homing and warning display, better known as the "billboard". It had a bank of lights labeled: AAA, SAM, and AI (air intercept-MiGs). By which light was illuminated we could tell which particular radar type was lighting us up and in what RF band it was operating. We also had a SAM warning light which told us if a SAM was guiding on us and we had a radar warning receiver which told us by a strobe from which direction the SAM/AAA/AI radar was coming. In training we stepped through the signals from surveillance to initial track to missile launch and finally, guidance. It was supposed to be a nice orderly, gentlemanly sequence. But not today. About 10 nm from the coast every light on the billboard was lit up like a Christmas tree. The radios were blasting out SAM calls. I followed an RWR strobe back to the coast and saw what looked like a bomb going off, but we weren't there, yet. Out of the dirt cloud rose a 30 foot telephone pole. It arced over and headed my way. The SAM warning went straight to high warble which meant that a SAM was guiding on my aircraft. Now the training kicked in: Maneuver the SAM to 10 o'clock. Unload the aircraft and get some knots on it. Punch out a few bundles of chaff to give the gunners something to look at besides you. Wait for it. See if it nosed over to follow you as you unloaded. It did. Oh, crap. What's wrong with those guys! Wait for it. Now, when it's close enough and you can't stand it any longer, pull up into it, 6-7 G's whatever you have. Punch out more chaff. Hope like hell it overshoots. Watch it go by and blow up behind the aircraft. Now, look for the second one right behind it. Yep, there it is. Go through the whole process again. Seems like you are inching your way to the beach. Watch one SAM go by the canopy heading for the strike group behind you. Watch a Shrike ARM missile fly on a reciprocal flight path heading for the SAM site. Wonder which one got there first. Now we're feet dry and inside the minimum range of the SAM's. See a SAM lift off just ahead as you set up for a bombing run. Now you are on taxpayer time, doing what you are paid to do. Arm up the Rock eyes and pop to 12,000 feet to commence the run. Establish a dive angle of 40 degrees, 500 knots. Knowing that this is your most vulnerable part of the mission- a nice steady state target for the gunners. Watching little black clouds appear around you where there weren't any clouds a second ago. Hit your dive angle, airspeed, and pickle altitude with the target in the reticle. Pickle and pull. Now you're back on your time. Fly the early part of the Blue Angel solo routine. Look back and watch the Rockeye sub munitions as they twinkle all over the SAM site. See one SAM launch and begin cart wheeling through the air. Feel a great deal of job satisfaction. Then, back to business. See the rail yard just off to your left. Pull up overhead and set up a CAP station- looking for anything airborne that doesn't look like an A-7, A-6, or another F-4. Watch the attack bubbas go to work in a cloud of AAA fire. At last, CAG calls last man off and you start the retrograde to the beach. Radio CAG that Black Lions are feet wet. Look at your clock and realize the whole mission was less than 10 minutes. One down, seven months of this to go.



NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

.

Thanks to Rob.

This has been around before but it is still humorous. I would add that Dink and I lived right under the port JBD on the USS Hancock and at every launch the end of the jet was right over our heads. I had the top rack and was closer. When the F-8 hit the afterburner you could hear and feel it over the ship. I was not much beyond 8 feet away and I had no trouble feeling or hearing it. After a while I could sleep right through it. Skip

As a boat driver he missed out on flight ops. He also missed out by not having the cat track run next to his rack and trying to sleep when test loads are shot off the cat. Other than that, he hits the nail on the head and non-sailors will never get it.



Rob



A lot of truth in this humor. The guy who wrote had to have spent time at sea on Destroyer Escorts ad or Destroyers. Those of you who went to sea know the truth of these actions while enjoying the humor.

Best Regards to all in these trying times

George



CONSIDERATION - with people getting cabin fever during this lockdown period, and looking for creative ways to survive through this period – here are some suggestions for families with a Navy background.

How to Be a Sailor at Home

1. Buy a dumpster, paint it green inside, and live in it for six months.

2. Run all the pipes and wires in your house exposed on the walls.

3. Repaint your entire house every month.

4. Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of the bathtub and move the shower head to chest level. When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while you soap down.

5. Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.

6. Once a week, blow air up your chimney, with a leaf blower and let the wind carry the soot onto your neighbor's house. Ignore his complaints.

7. Once a month, take all major appliances apart and reassemble them.

8. Raise the thresholds and lower the headers of your front and back doors so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through them.

9. Disassemble and inspect your lawnmower every week.

10. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn your water heater temperature up to 200 degrees. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, turn the water heater off. On Saturdays and Sundays tell your family they use too much water, so no bathing will be allowed.

11. Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling, so you can't turn over without getting out and then getting back in.

12. Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Have your spouse whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you go to sleep, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and say "Sorry, wrong rack."

13. Stand out on the porch at 0130 in a rain storm wearing binoculars around your neck, and the garden hose trickling down your back.

14. Make your family qualify to operate each appliance in your house - dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc. Re-qualify every 6 months.

15. Have your neighbor come over each day at 0500, blow a whistle so loud Helen Keller could hear it, and shout "Reveille, reveille, all hands heave out and trice up."

16. Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in your back yard at 0600 while she reads it to you.

17. Submit a request chit to your father-in-law requesting permission to leave your house before 1500.

18. Empty all the garbage bins in your house and sweep the driveway three times a day, whether it needs it or not. "Now sweepers, sweepers, man your brooms, give the ship a clean sweep down fore and aft, empty all trash cans and butt kits over the fantail!"

19. Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item before delivering the rest.

20. Watch no TV except for movies played in the middle of the night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch, then show - the same one every night.

21. When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone shouting "Now general quarters, general quarters! All hands man your battle stations!"

22. Make your family's menu a week ahead of time without consulting the pantry or refrigerator.

23. Post a menu on the kitchen door informing your family what they are for breakfast, ;lunch and dinner every day this week. Then make them wait in line and serve their food on a metal tray.

24. Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (Midrats).

25. Set your alarm clock to go off at random during the night. At the alarm, jump up and dress as fast as you can, making sure to button your top shirt button and tuck your pants into your socks. Run out into the backyard and uncoil the garden hose.

26. Every week or so, throw your cat or dog into the pool and shout "Man overboard, port side!" Rate your family members on how fast they respond.

27. Put the headphones from your stereo on your head, but don't plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck on a string. Stand in front of the stove, and speak into the paper cup, "Stove manned and ready." After an hour or so, speak into the cup again "Stove secured." Roll up the headphones and paper cup and stow them in a shoe box.

28. Make your family turn out all the lights and go to bed at 10 p.m. "Now taps, taps! Lights out! Maintain silence throughout the ship!" Then immediately have an 18-wheeler crash into your house. (for aircraft carrier sailors only.)

29. Build a fire in a trash can in your garage. Loudly announce to your family, "This is a drill, this is a drill! Fire in hangar bay one!"

30. Place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand in front of the podium for 4-hour intervals. Best done when the weather is worst. January is a good time.

31. Next time there's a bad thunderstorm in your area, find the biggest horse you can, put a two-inch mattress on his back, strap yourself to it and turn him loose in a barn for six hours. Then get up and go to work.

32. For former engineers: bring your lawn mower into the living room, and run it all day long.

33. Make coffee using eighteen scoops of budget priced coffee grounds per pot, and let the pot simmer for 5 hours before drinking.

34. Have someone under the age of ten give you a haircut with sheep shears.

35. Add 1/3 cup of Diesel fuel to the laundry.

36. Take hourly readings on your electric and water meters.

37. Every couple of weeks, dress up in your good clothes and pretend you're going to the scummiest part of town. Think of the most run down, trashiest bar, and drink beer until you are hammered.

38. Lock yourself and your family in the house for six weeks. Tell them that at the end of the 6th week you'll take them to Disney World for liberty. At the end of the 6th week, inform them the trip to Disney World has been canceled because they need to get ready for an inspection, and it will be another week before they can leave the house.

Stay safe all.



NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

When ever I think of Napoleon I think of the following that reads the same thing read forward or backward. There is another one but like the name of what this is called my brain has not yet found it. It will continue to cycle through the alphabet until it pops up.

ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA



1814


Napoleon abdicates the throne and is exiled to Elba

·

On April 11, 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France and one of the greatest military leaders in history, abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba.

The future emperor was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15, 1769. After attending military school, he fought during the French Revolution of 1789 and rapidly rose through the military ranks, leading French troops in a number of successful campaigns throughout Europe in the late 1700s. By 1799, he had established himself at the top of a military dictatorship. In 1804, he became emperor of France and continued to consolidate power through his military campaigns, so that by 1810 much of Europe came under his rule. Although Napoleon developed a reputation for being power-hungry and insecure, he is also credited with enacting a series of important political and social reforms that had a lasting impact on European society, including judiciary systems, constitutions, voting rights for all men and the end of feudalism. Additionally, he supported education, science and literature. His Code Napoleon, which codified key freedoms gained during the French Revolution, such as religious tolerance, remains the foundation of French civil law.

READ MORE: The Personality Traits that Led to Napoleon Bonaparte's Epic Downfall

In 1812, thinking that Russia was plotting an alliance with England, Napoleon launched an invasion against the Russians that eventually ended with his troops retreating from Moscow and much of Europe uniting against him. In 1814, Napoleon's broken forces gave up and Napoleon offered to step down in favor of his son. When this offer was rejected, he abdicated and was sent to Elba. In March 1815, he escaped his island exile and returned to Paris, where he regained supporters and reclaimed his emperor title, Napoleon I, in a period known as the Hundred Days. However, in June 1815, he was defeated at the bloody Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon's defeat ultimately signaled the end of France's domination of Europe. He abdicated for a second time and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, in the southern Atlantic Ocean, where he lived out the rest of his days. He died at age 52 on May 5, 1821, possibly from stomach cancer, although some theories contend he was poisoned.



NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

"Old Glory" Narrated by Van Morris at SOCOM's 30th Anniversary Gala

thanks to Dutch and

USNA-At-Large:



https://raulrubiera.smugmug.com/RaulRubieraPhotography/RRP-Final-Images/2020/Evangelo-Morris-Old-Glory/i-zWkvH7G/A


Evangelo Morris (Van) performed this at the 30th Anniversary of SOCOM in Tampa.



Vann spent 26 years in the Navy, including as the Combat Systems Officer on the USS McCampbell DDG-85 from 2005 - 2007. He received his MBA from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2005. He graduated from Univ. of Memphis with a BS in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He was with SOCOM from 2011-2014.





NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Thanks to Dutch

Short On Pilots, Marines Debate Size Of F-35 Fleet « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary

thanks to BudD

Unbelievable! Ok, start a MARCAD program especially since college is over for the year, pickup the tuition debt as a signing bonus, send some DIs to Pcola to get the snowflakes up to speed and the Grunts will be good to go. Also if the tankers pass the eye test plug them in as well. What's not to like? Problem solved. What's next? Maybe an old fart recall to AD anything to get out the house.

Bud

.thanks to Doctor Rich

Hard to believe you can't find enough pilots to fly F-35's!!

I could understand F-22's though!!




https://breakingdefense.com/2020/03/short-on-pilots-marines-debate-size-of-f-35-fleet/
Short On Pilots, Marines Debate Size Of F-35 Fleet
"Our continued inability to build and sustain an adequate inventory of F-35 pilots leads me to conclude that we must be pragmatic regarding our ability to support" the program," Gen. David Berger says in a blunt new 10-year force design plan.

Paul McLeary

<MarineF35.jpeg>

A Marine secures a perimeter near an expeditionary advanced base during Pacific Blitz 2019.

WASHINGTON: The Marine Corps' inability to recruit enough pilots has led the commandant to question the F-35's place in the already budget-constrained Corps' future plans, a potentially huge shift for the service that first fielded the Joint Strike Fighter and fought harder than any other service to build it and buy it.

"Our continued inability to build and sustain an adequate inventory of F-35 pilots leads me to conclude that we must be pragmatic regarding our ability to support" the program," Gen. David Berger says in a blunt new 10-year force design plan. He calls for an external assessment of the aircraft's place within the service relative to what he's being asked to do in the National Defense Strategy and the forthcoming Joint Warfighting Concept, a document the Joint Staff is expected to wrap up later this year.

Berger not only singles out pilot shortfalls, but also notes high costs of maintaining and flying the F-35B as factors he's weighing "in reconciling the growing disparity between numbers of platforms and numbers of aircrew."

The general has been very clear he does not expect his annual budgets to grow at any point in the near future, suggesting the best case scenario is that they remain flat as he wrestles with fleets of aging planes, helicopters and vehicles which grow increasingly costly to maintain.

The new document also makes it clear Berger has had enough of the service's Abrams tanks, which were so effective in Iraq's Anbar province, but offer little utility on small islands in the Pacific. A series of wargames conducted between 2018 and 2019 led the Corps to the conclusion that the tanks are "operationally unsuitable for our highest-priority challenges in the future," the document states.

While questioning time-tested and iconic weapons like Abrams tanks, and the massive capabilities that the F-35 can bring, "they're looking at the totality of the force" said Dakota Wood, senior research fellow for defense programs at The Heritage Foundation. "Berger has been very bold in saying we just can't afford to have small batches of everything," so he has set out on a path to bear down on what is most critical to fighting a war in the Pacific against a modern Chinese military.

The new force design is slated to phase in over the next decade, but the changes will be seen as early as the fiscal year 2022 budget, slated to drop next February.

That gives the Marines months to build their case for reimagining the force, which includes buying new capabilities like mobile rocket artillery and long-range fires while scrapping legacy platforms like heavy- and medium-helicopter squadrons and towed artillery. The plan also calls for eliminating law enforcement units, bridging companies, three infantry battalions, and anti-aircraft units.

General Dynamics, which makes the Abrams, and Lockheed Martin, which produces the F-35, will certainly have opinions on these moves, as will the other major prime contractors who build the helicopters and ground vehicles and artillery systems to be tossed over the side and the lawmakers who have plants in their states and districts.

"Resistance to change is likely to be strongest for programs that already exist and have stakeholders that support them," RAND analyst Jonathan Wong wrote in a short essay, but the jury is out on how Congress and Defense Secretary Mark Esper will eventually weigh in on these issues.

It's not just industry who will want in on these discussions, but policymakers in the Pentagon and lawmakers on the Hill, as well.

"There's going to be a lot of pushback by people who aren't up to speed on these current issues who are reaching back to their own previous references of 10, 20, 30, years ago," Wood said. "Tanks are awesome in urban warfare environments, but if you haven't thought about the operating environment the Marine Corps will encounter in the near future, these ideas might be difficult to understand." .

Recommended
Navy Rushes Shipbuilding Deals To Keep Yards Going In Panddemic

"We're gonna have to brave the storm together, especially some of the smaller suppliers," said Lucas Hicks, vice president of new construction aircraft carrier programs.

Berger appears to be keenly aware he needs to bring the rest of Washington along with him: "A certain degree of institutional change is inevitable when confronting modernization on this scale, and that type of change is hard."

How hard will become clearer as Berger and his deputies get out there to evangelize for their vision of the future.