Military History

Post-Iranian Revolution, Pre-Desert Storm, did US carriers routinely operate in the Persian Gulf? I'm pretty certain the Enterprise launched the Helos in the Iranian hostage rescue attempt from within the gulf. I recall the carriers supporting Operation Preying Mantis operated outside. I suspect that the carriers mainly operated in the northern Arabian Sea during the shooting phases of the Iran-Iraq Tanker War? Can anyone point me to a reliable source(s)? Thanks as always

Looking for Saint Petersburg air defenses I found this web site. I visited it some years ago for WWII German Air Defence and this part is new. Apparently very dense and of complex navigation, as the organization it reflects. Don't miss it, very useful for scenario design. Also the site dates go at least to 2009, not 1990 as the site entry states! As example: Entry: http://www.ww2.dk/new/newindex.htm PVO Strany air defences entry level by weapon type/task: http://www.ww2.dk/new/pvo/pvo.htm PVO Strany air defences by region/oblast: http://www.ww2.dk/new/pvo/pvostrany.htm Latvia, Estonia, Leningrad and Pskov air defences level: http://w…

Back from a couple weeks of holiday, and this local news story caught my eye ... U-boat search in Labrador river

Don't miss it ! Some hours of in-deep and good reading. Very well researched, detailed and illustrated web site, browse about the ship and about the Talos missile: http://www.okieboat.com/ http://www.okieboat.com/Talos%20history.html The author, Phillip R. Hays PhD LT USNR-R, was a Nuclear/Special Weapons Officer on the USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5) from January, 1970, to April, 1972, as related in http://www.okieboat.com/Talos%20antiradiation%20shot.html

Yesterday, we had a 101-st anniversary of Dreadnought hoax - a practical joke by a Bloomsbury Group, beautifly portrayed by Robert K. MAssie in "Dreadnought" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought_hoax

Not very clear yet the issue: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/frammande-ubat-hittad-i-svenskt-vatten/ Someone suggested was a WWI British sub, but clearly not (my own research): "All the British WWI sub losses are localized and is not a British WWI sub (Russian troll idea?). And is none of these, but is an interesting story (from Wiki E-1 entry): "E1‍ 's service ended on 3 April 1918 outside Helsinki, 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) off Harmaja Light in the Gulf of Finland. She was scuttled by her crew, along with E8, E9, E19, C26, C27, and C35 to avoid seizure by advancing German forces which had landed nearby."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40knj0qg_Us

Hi, The other day I was taking a look for no special reason at my old book "Kiev & Kuznetzov Russian Aircraft Carriers" by Barry Dean published in 1993 by Concord when I notice a strange radar in the bottom picture on page 28, it also appear on page 18 and on page 19 you can see its box plainly. Well for those who don’t have the book the radar (I think its a guidance radar of some sort as it have a small round dish) is in a box between the rear SA-N-3 Shtorm and the AK-276 dual 76mm gun, the box has a lead the opens to starboard and stands on two supports and when opened the radar inside pops up, the radar is only visible in a couple of pictures taken probably…

Reading a lot about the 50's and 60's warplanes, I've find this curious and hilarious incident previouly unknown to me, in http://www.vectorsite.net/avjavlin.html The incident as relation with the little known Beira Patrol: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beira_Patrol http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JI...55/ai_87146676/ Not mentionated in the interesting site http://www.britains-smallwars.com/main/index1.html The incident remembers me also about sci-fi tales with syntetic bugs or microorganisms eating materials as plastics or metals, and getting out of control. I remember also the actual search of bacteries for eating chemical, oil, or radioactive waste…

For any of you guys who'd like to refight Gettysburg and change some of the decisions made there, here's a chance to try your luck: http://images.military.com/Resources/Games...mp;ESRC=navy.nl Buddha

If we did not know the truely tragic effects, this video would be considered entertaining, especially with the soundtrack. Apparently there is a 1 and 3 to go along with this 2. South Atlantic Adventure 2

Just for jigs, I was thinking about how the Soviet Fleet would have looked around the year 2000 if the USSR had not implosioned, let's say they dismiss Gorbachev (on health grounds evidently...) and manage to ride high oil prices to last one more decade. Would the fleet list look like this: carriers 1 CVN: Ulyanovsk (would have been accepted around 1996-7) 2 CVs: Tbilisi & Riga (no name changes there) 4 CVHs: Kiev, Minsk, Novorossiysk, Baku (presumably Kiev would have been refitted around 1990) cruisers 5 BCGNs: Kirov, Frunze, Kalinin, Yuri Andropov & Kuznetsov (commissioned around 1995) 1 CGN of the Anchar project (name?) 8 CGs of the Slava …

OK, who hear remembers what happened 20 years ago yesterday? It of course had large impact on military history.

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,…

From Air Force Magazine, January 2012 [excerpt]

Intrigued on if the Improved Los Angeles-class (from USS San Juan) has a ducted screw and it qualifies them for the "Does not cavitate" flag. I don't remember any photo of any Los Angeles with a ducted screw, but ... Analysing navysource.org photos (I saw all the boats photos today!), some curious results here: USS Jacksonville (SSN-699, Flight I) launching ceremony, unshrouded screw probably covered with tarpaulin: http://navsource.org/archives/08/700/0869914.jpg USS Buffalo (SSN-715,Flight I), clearly unshrouded screw (this was a very difficult one to detect in the thumbnails!): http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/0871520.jpg USS Oklahoma City (…

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…

Guns and trains? Yeah, that will be popular. Steam Trains Were 19th-Century Super-Weapons (War is Boring)

Impressive, really.

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…