Military History

Let's get something of an ongoing thread here about what happened 'today' in military history. First off ... Scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon, 27 November 1942 (DefenseNews, Intercepts blog) Feel free to add to the thread with links to events or your own thoughts and commentary.

The Austro-Prussian War - Austria's War with Prussia and Italy in 1866, by Geoffrey Wawro Bomber County, by Daniel Swift Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea, by Robert K. Massie Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut Cauldron, by Larry Bond Combat Days of Infamy Dragon Strike - A Novel of the Coming War with China, by Humphrey Hawksley and Simon Holberton Duel For The Golan: The 100-Hour Battle That Saved Israel, by Jerry Asher with Eric Hammel Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England, by Alison Weir Executive Intent, by Dale Brown First Battle of the Marne, by Robert B. Asprey …

A series of illustrations of Soviet era warships, most probably taken from a mid 1980s book ... Kirov (Project 1144 Orlan) Slava (Project 1164 Atlant) Moskva (Project 1123 Kondor) Kiev (Project 1143 Krechyet)

Hi guys, Perhaps in either shore leave or here in Military History you can create a "Currently Reading" subfolder where participants can enter what they are reading, how it relates to Harpoon, Naval Warfare, Warfare, or History in general. I just finished a very interesting book on the First Battle of the Marne by Robert B. Asprey, and am currently reading From Normandy to the Ruhr: With the 116th Panzer Division in World War II by Heinz Günther Guderian.

I'm looking for authoritative sources on the composition of various US Navy carrier battle groups during the war in Vietnam. The carriers and their air wings are themselves generally easy enough to find, but I'm also looking for escort ships, support vessels, submarines, etc. Specifically for 1972, but if we can fill out the whole period, that'd be awesome. Thanks in advance.

I've been taking a Harpoon hiatus to work on transferring photos and slides of ships I've visited into JPEGs. I thought I'd share them as I go along, so every week I plan to post a new set. This week, USS Hornet at Almeda CA. Feel free to post comments or correction directly onto the site. This should be the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?unam...&feat=email Larry Gertner wombat1417

Newsday.com An F-14 Tomcat's final trip - to Bethpage by road BY JAMES BERNSTEIN james.bernstein@newsday.com June 2, 2008 If you happened to be out and about in Farmingdale or Bethpage in the wee hours of the morning May 6 and saw a Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter jet on the roadway, you do not need an eye exam, and you were not hallucinating. The plane was being towed from the Airpower Museum at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale to the Northrop Grumman Corp. plant in Bethpage, where it is now on permanent display outside the main gates on Grumman Road West. The trip took about three hours, according to Barbara Nilsen, president of the Grumman Club,…

I have transcribed an except from Norman Polmars book "Cold War Submarines" that describes just how good SOSUS is. Might be handy for you scenario developers out there. SOSUS SOSUS was a network of hydrophones emplaced on the ocean floor to detect low frequency noise sources. During WWII, the US, British, and Soviet navies installed limited capacity acoustic arrays on the ocean floor in shallow waters, primarily at the entrance to harbors. After the war, the US Navy began the development of deep ocean arrays. The first developmental SOSUS type array was installed at Eleuthera in the Bahamas in 1951-52, followed by a small experimental array off Sandy Hook, sout…

An Interesting article article about the Israeli Air Forces campaign in Lebanon 1982, with particular attentio to SEAD/Anti SAM operations. Find this article here. In one spectacular engagement in the skies over Lebanon, modern airpower took a dramatic leap forward. The Bekaa Valley War By Rebecca Grant In June 1982, Israeli ground forces pushed into Lebanon in an effort to put an end to cross-border terror attacks. Operation Peace for Galilee, as Israel dubbed it, led to a prolonged conflict with Lebanon and produced mixed overall results. However, the initial phase of that operation included a spectacular moment when the Israeli Air Force destroyed 19 surf…

From Air Force Magazine, July 2007 A top airpower analyst looks back at the greatest air war that never was. How the West Would Have Won By Christopher J. Bowie Driving through Germany these days, one frequently encounters abandoned runways surrounded by huge, camouflaged, and “hardened” aircraft shelters. Their concrete walls and heavy sliding doors typically are painted a dark green, matching the colors of the surrounding countryside. Future generations may well wonder how and why these relics came to be scattered across Europe. What was their purpose? The answer is that, in the 1980s, those massive shelters housed and protected thousands of sleek fight…

IGNORANCE IS RISK THE BIG LESSON FROM DESERT STORM AIR BASE ATTACKS Christopher M. Centner MANY observers have declared that the air campaign was the decisive component of Operation Desert Storm and that air base attacks were a critical component of the campaign. These attacks helped achieve air superiority, destroy many of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and lessen the long-term threat that Iraq poses to its neighbors. The video images from the campaign tend to give spectators the impression that air base attacks were flawlessly planned and executed. In reality, the anti-air base component of the air campaign highlighted a major--and dangerou…

An article in the Russian Wikipedia with not equivalence on other languages: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%82_(%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81)#.D0.A0.D0.B0.D0.BA.D0.B5.D1.82.D0.B0_9.D0.9C96 In short: SA-N-6a Grumble (1984),S-300F Fort (export Rif), missile 5V55RM,land equivalent S-300P 5V55R, speed 2597, range 40,5/2,7. SA-N-6b Grumble (1990), S-300FM Fort-M (export Rif-M), missile 48N6,land equivalent S-300PMU-1 48N6, speed 3888, range 81/2,7 (but effective maximum range limited to 93 Km/50,2 nm because guidance issues). …

Route Pack 6 By Walter J. Boyne Air Force Magazine Nov 1999 It was the most dangerous of the "Route Packages," taking airmen into the deadly defenses around Hanoi. In every war, there is a place that comes to symbolize its most ferocious moments. For airmen in the Vietnam War, it was Route Pack 6, taking the battle to the heart of Hanoi-"going downtown." A relatively small band of US pilots fought a long and valiant war under conditions that rarely made sense to them. Handicapped by onerous-foolish might be the better term-rules of engagement, they nonetheless flew into battle every day, delivering bombs on the most well-defended targets in history. Many brave…

What was the naval aviation predecessor in the role of the EA-6B Prowler? A carrier launched EW aircraft that would accompany/support a strike over Vietnam? Thanks

From Flight Global DATE:15/05/09 SOURCE:Flight International Comment: Phantom menace fading away I'm gonna be a re-con ranger! I'm gonna live a life of danger! I'm gonna fly an F-4 jet! I'm gonna waste a So-vee-yet! Well, since the collapse of the Empire so memorably dubbed Evil by Ronald Reagan, we don't hear that old marching song much any more, and that is surely a very good thing. But it's hard not to feel a little nostalgia for the days of nuclear stand-off as the operational end draws nearer for what, alongside the Boeing B-52 bomber, is the iconic piece of Cold War machinery. In service since 1960, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 may sport the mo…

With harpoon getting quite good for WW2 type actions (and a few good databases available for download) I often play in this era but wonder what were typical compositions of air groups attacking surface targets, shipping and land based Any one got info handy?

From Proceedings, May 2011 issue [excerpt]

1982: British sub sinks Argentine cruiser bbc.co.uk Argentina's only cruiser, the General Belgrano, has been sunk by a British nuclear submarine in the South Atlantic. It is the first serious attack on the Argentine navy by the British since the conflict over the disputed Falkland Islands began last month. The second largest ship in the Argentine navy was struck by two Tigerfish torpedoes from HMS Conqueror. It is thought there were about 1,000 men on board. British helicopters also sank a patrol boat and damaged another using Seaskua air-to-surface missiles. According to sources in Buenos Aires, at least five Argentine warships have been taking part…

Brooklyn Navy Yard gets a makeover By Richard Pyle - The Associated Press Posted : Monday May 19, 2008 7:11:34 EDT NEW YORK — Audrey Lyons was a $40-a-week parts inspector at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1944 when Margaret Truman was invited to christen the brand-new carrier Missouri. “We all took time off to see it,” recalls Lyons, now 84 and retired in Essex, Conn. But the daughter of Sen. (and soon-to-be-president) Harry S. Truman needed help to break the champagne bottle on the third try — a less than sparkling debut for the “Mighty Mo,” the last famous warship among hundreds produced at the yard since 1801. The Pentagon closed the Brooklyn Navy Yard…

Senator suggests deal for return of Pueblo By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Apr 19, 2007 5:42:11 EDT A war trophy on display at the Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Md., may be the key to securing the return of a Navy ship captured by North Korea nearly 40 years ago, Senator Wayne Allard, R-Colo., wrote in a March 18 letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The technical research ship Pueblo is the only commissioned U.S. warship currently in foreign hands. It has been on display in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang since it was captured off the North Korean coast during an intelligence-gathering mission Jan. 23, 1968. North Kore…