Category: Interesting stuff

Categories
A Victory! All About Guns Anti Civil Rights ideas & "Friends" COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good News for a change! Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad Interesting stuff Manly Stuff One Hell of a Good Fight Some Red Hot Gospel there! Stand & Deliver

Like It or Not, Trump Is Delivering on the Second Amendment by Scott Witner

Gun owners have plenty of reasons to be skeptical of politicians who suddenly discover the Second Amendment during election season. We’ve been through this before.

Campaign promises are easy. Following through is where things tend to get complicated.

That makes the second Trump administration worth looking at as a whole rather than judging it by whichever gun story happens to be dominating the news this week. There have been missteps, unresolved issues, and a few decisions that deserve criticism. But taken together, what the administration has done on the Second Amendment since returning to office represents a substantial shift in how the federal government approaches gun rights.

And arguably the biggest change isn’t coming from the White House itself.

It’s coming from the Department of Justice.

DOJ Is Actually Litigating for the Second Amendment

For decades, gun owners became accustomed to seeing the Justice Department on the opposite side of Second Amendment cases.

That’s what makes the creation of a dedicated Second Amendment Section within DOJ’s Civil Rights Division so significant.

The section isn’t merely advisory. DOJ says its mission includes investigating alleged patterns of Second Amendment violations by law enforcement, pursuing litigation, filing statements of interest, intervening in cases, and using amicus briefs to advance a broad interpretation of the right to keep and bear arms.

The federal government isn’t simply declining to defend a particular gun-control law. In several cases, it is actively suing state and local governments over restrictions DOJ believes violate the Second Amendment.

That includes challenges involving Los Angeles County’s handling of concealed carry permits, gun permitting practices in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington, D.C.’s ban on commonly owned semi-automatic rifles, Denver’s so-called “assault weapons” ban, Colorado’s magazine restrictions, California’s handgun roster and GLOCK restrictions, Virginia’s recently enacted semi-automatic rifle ban, and Montgomery County, Maryland’s expansive “sensitive place” restrictions.

The Denver rifle-ban lawsuit and Colorado magazine-ban lawsuit are particularly notable because DOJ isn’t dancing around the central issue. The government is arguing that commonly owned semi-automatic rifles and standard-capacity magazines are constitutionally protected arms.

That’s the kind of position gun-rights organizations have been arguing in court for years.

It Started With Trump’s Second Amendment Executive Order

On February 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled Protecting Second Amendment Rights, directing the Attorney General to review federal regulations, guidance, policies, international agreements, and other government actions that potentially infringed on the right to keep and bear arms.

That review included Biden-era firearms regulations and enforcement policies.

What could easily have become another symbolic executive order instead produced tangible changes throughout DOJ and ATF.

Among them was the end of the Biden administration’s so-called “zero tolerance” policy toward Federal Firearms Licensees.

The Department of Veterans Affairs also stopped reporting veterans to NICS as prohibited persons solely because they required fiduciary assistance managing their benefits.

Then there was the creation of DOJ’s Second Amendment Section itself.

Those aren’t campaign promises. They’re changes in federal policy.

ATF Has Been Moving in a Very Different Direction

ATF hasn’t exactly enjoyed a warm relationship with America’s gun owners.

That makes the agency’s current regulatory direction particularly interesting.

In April, DOJ and ATF announced a package containing 34 final and proposed rulemaking actions following the administration’s review of federal firearms regulations.

Some of the proposals are fairly technical. Others could have meaningful consequences for gun owners and FFLs.

ATF has moved to clarify the definition of an “unlawful user of or addicted to” a controlled substance, revise rules governing certain non-over-the-counter firearm transactions, and reconsider other regulations affecting dealers and gun owners.

Instead of searching for increasingly creative ways to expand existing statutory language, the agency is now publicly describing its regulatory work in terms of reducing unnecessary burdens and aligning regulations with current law and court precedent.

That’s quite a change from where ATF was only a few years ago.

The National Firearms Act remains one of the more complicated pieces of the administration’s Second Amendment record.

Congress eliminated the $200 tax on suppressors and short-barreled rifles, removing one of the NFA’s most recognizable burdens. Registration, however, remained.

That created an obvious legal problem.

If the tax that historically justified the NFA’s registration scheme disappears, what exactly is the constitutional basis for continuing to require registration?

That question is now being fought in court.

The administration has also taken positions suggesting suppressors receive at least some Second Amendment protection, an important development for challenges to state laws that ban them outright.

More recently, the government’s handling of the consolidated Silencer Shop v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF litigation has raised even bigger questions about whether DOJ intends to continue defending portions of the NFA registration regime.

TTAG covered the latest development when DOJ allowed the stay to expire, putting Silencer Shop’s NFA injunction into effect.

As of August 2026, that story is still developing.

What happens next could be one of the most consequential Second Amendment developments of Trump’s second term.

The Government Is Showing Up in Other Gun Cases, Too

DOJ’s direct lawsuits aren’t the entire story.

The federal government has also increasingly appeared as an amicus in major Second Amendment litigation.

That includes challenges involving so-called “assault weapon” and magazine bans, ammunition background checks, handgun rosters, and restrictions on where lawful gun owners may carry firearms.

The administration filed briefs in Wolford v. Lopez, for example, challenging Hawaii’s restrictions on carrying firearms on private property open to the public.

It has also participated in litigation involving California’s ammunition background-check system and Massachusetts’ handgun roster.

That matters because the Solicitor General and Justice Department carry institutional weight that another amicus brief from a gun-rights organization simply doesn’t.

It also creates something that has historically been missing from Second Amendment litigation: an executive branch willing to tell courts that state and local governments have gone too far.

There Are Still Reasons to Be Critical

None of this means gun owners should stop paying attention.

The administration’s record isn’t spotless.

DOJ has continued defending some federal gun laws, including portions of the NFA and the Gun-Free School Zones Act. Some of that is expected; the Justice Department ordinarily defends federal statutes. But gun owners aren’t obligated to pretend those positions suddenly become good policy because they’re being defended by a Republican administration.

There have also been questionable litigation decisions.

The government’s position on the scope of relief available to members of organizations involved in Second Amendment lawsuits created legitimate concerns about associational standing.

DOJ’s handling of Benson was another unforced error, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office urging the D.C. Court of Appeals to rehear a favorable Second Amendment decision en banc.

Then there are the pardons that haven’t happened.

Gun-rights advocates have repeatedly raised the cases of individuals such as Patrick Adamiak and Matthew Hoover. Trump has demonstrated no reluctance to use his pardon and commutation authority elsewhere, making the lack of action in some firearms cases increasingly difficult for supporters to ignore.

There have also been comments from Trump and administration officials following high-profile shootings that haven’t exactly inspired confidence among gun owners.

Look at the Whole Scorecard

The mistake is judging the administration’s Second Amendment record based on one lawsuit, one comment, one ATF rule, or one disappointing decision.

Look at the entire scorecard.

The administration ordered a government-wide review of federal firearms policy. DOJ created a section of its Civil Rights Division specifically dedicated to enforcing the Second Amendment. The Justice Department is suing governments over rifle bans, magazine restrictions, handgun rosters, carry permit practices, and sensitive-place laws. The federal government is filing briefs supporting gun-rights challenges nationwide. ATF has reversed enforcement policies and begun unwinding or reconsidering regulations. Congress eliminated the NFA tax on suppressors and SBRs.

There are still significant fights ahead, particularly over the remaining NFA registration requirements and the administration’s willingness to challenge other federal gun laws.

There are also legitimate criticisms that shouldn’t be dismissed simply because the overall trajectory is favorable.

Gun owners have spent decades fighting against the institutional power of the federal government. For perhaps the first time in the modern Second Amendment era, at least part of that institutional machinery is being pointed in the opposite direction.

Categories
A Victory! Good News for a change! Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad I am so grateful!! Interesting stuff Manly Stuff Our Great Kids Real men Soldiering Stand & Deliver The Green Machine This great Nation & Its People War

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words by Will Dabbs

World War 2 catalyzed a global military mobilization the likes of which have not been seen before or since. Pictures are worth a thousand words

It is difficult to appreciate the scope of World War 2. We modern folk simply have no frame of reference. It was death, tragedy, and destruction on a scale beyond our imagining.

Sixteen million Americans served. More than 400,000 died. Roughly one in every forty American troops who answered the call never came home. One in forty. That’s what it cost to ensure that our world would be free from Nazi death camps, Japanese genocides, and Aryan supermen.

Table of contents

We moved to capture the powerful tales of World War 2 just in time to keep them from being lost.

Hidden Treasures In Words

Thanks to Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Stephen Ambrose, we captured many of those priceless stories before it was too late. Their inspiration drove folks across the country to pin Grandpa down and insist that he tell his stories from the war while he still could. I chased those tales myself at every opportunity. What I discovered was poignant beyond my capacity adequately to describe.

So many of those great old guys were reluctant to revisit that world. However, whenever I saw an old WW2 vet in the clinic I would gently ask. What I got in return for those innocent queries was simply amazing.

One old gentleman ran a local hardware store before he retired. If you saw him in church or walking down the street you wouldn’t give him a passing thought. He looked like everybody’s grandfather—bald and slightly stooped with a shuffling gait. However, back in 1944 this guy was an absolute beast.

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was an objectively beautiful airplane. It was also a horrible place to die.

The Humanity of Total War

My buddy flew B-17 Flying Fortresses in Europe. He did his twenty-five missions and rotated home. He once mentioned that he had designs on an exceptionally attractive young lady in town before the war. He explained that another boy in his class fancied her, too. The girl chose the other suitor. My buddy then said matter-of-factly, “That other guy became a pilot as well. He flew P-38 Lightnings in the Pacific. He died fighting the Japanese.”

There was no emotion to the statement. It was simply a fact. This kid he went to high school with was blown to pieces in the skies over some forgotten South Pacific island, and he was just gone. That was the world in which he lived.

This B-17 Flying Fortress took a flak hit to the nose that killed the bombardier. It nonetheless still miraculously limped back to base.

I once asked this man to tell me about his most memorable mission. He said he was in a low formation over Italy when somebody screwed up. The upper bomb group dropped their ordnance, and one errant five hundred pounder struck his Fort just ahead of the cockpit. The bomb did not explode, but it tore the nose off of his airplane, taking his bombardier and nose gunner with it. These were two of his closest friends in the world, and they died horribly five feet in front of his face. He wrestled with the mangled airplane for two interminable hours before landing it safely back at base. He told me this story as though he was describing the weather. There was no bravado or pride. He was simply relating facts.

Connections of Words

I sat mesmerized with him and a dozen or more others, all of whom came to see me for medical care. In my mind’s eye I tried to visualize the scene—the sounds, the smells, and the fear. In each case I’m sure my efforts were woefully inadequate. Some emotions are so intense they just don’t translate well into words.

This vibrant young Russian officer died mere minutes after this picture was taken while fighting the Germans near Kiev.

World War 2 was the first of humanity’s countless scraps to be thoroughly documented. All involved knew what they were doing would be studied, dissected, and potentially venerated for generations to come. Cameras were bulky and awkward by modern standards, but they were still available.

Personal Connection

My wife’s grandfather fought in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He dropped out of school in ninth grade to feed his family during the Depression, but he was a mechanical savant. He took a nice German camera off of a captured Wehrmacht officer and found undeveloped film in his Battalion S2 Intelligence section. He improvised a darkroom using an Army raincoat and a red lens flashlight and carefully cut the film by hand to fit his liberated camera. He scored a few chemicals and processed his own negatives the same way. After he died we found a shoebox full of little pictures he had taken during the war. They were all intriguing, but he had never been willing to explain the details. Regardless, these images offer some fascinating insights into what his life was really like during those long years of combat in Europe.

Joe Ronsenthal’s amazing picture of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi during the invasion of Iwo Jima is one of the most compelling images ever captured on film. It is widely accepted as perfect.

There are literally countless images to have come from WW2. Some were arcane or tedious. Others, like the raising of the flag over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, were quite literally iconic. Each one tells a story. This story that follows was particularly compelling.

The Plane

The Douglas A-20 Havoc was an advanced and capable twin-engine single-pilot attack aircraft developed early in WW2.

July 22, 1944, was a Friday. 1LT James Knarr and his gunner, SSG Charles Reichley, were up early to preflight their Douglas A-20G-25 Havoc medium bomber. Theirs was one of a dozen Havocs assigned to the 387th Bombardment Squadron of the 312th Bombardment Group. They were slated to attack a sprawling Japanese seaplane station and barge depot on the island of Kokas in the South Pacific. Their aircraft was loaded with 115 kg bombs optimized for attacking small ships in the harbor.

The A-20 didn’t seem to get as much press as other similar Allied planes. However, more than 7,000 copies were produced. Around half of these went to the Soviet Union.

The Douglas A-20 Havoc was not as well-known as were the B-17 Flying Fortresses or B-24 Liberators. It even took a back seat to twin-engine medium bombers like the B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder. However, the A-20 was a potent and effective ground attack platform.

First flown in January of 1939, the A-20 was designed from the outset as an attack plane. It was powered by a pair of 14-cylinder Pratt and Whitney R-2600-7 Twin Cyclone radial engines, each producing 1,700 horsepower. By war’s end some 7,478 airframes had rolled off the lines.

Low-level strafing and bombing attacks were the A-20’s specialty.

Technical Details

By 1944, the G-model A-20 was being used in the Pacific for low-level attacks against Japanese shipping. Under these conditions the bombardier and his vaunted Norden bomb sight were superfluous. As a result, these Havocs had their noses fared over and the bombardier position replaced with half a dozen Browning .50-caliber machineguns. The typical attack profile involved approaching a target at wavetop level and then skipping bombs into the sides of Japanese ships all the while sleeting the decks with massed machinegun fire. The Havoc was remarkably effective in this role.

The trim and narrow cockpit of the A-20 Havoc was laid out like that of a fighter plane. Unlike other American twin-engine bombers, the A-20 was designed to be flown single-pilot.

Without the bombardier, the typical crew of the Havoc was just the single pilot and a top turret gunner. With the assistance of their crew chief, 1LT Knarr and SSG Reichley made their mount ready for the day’s mission. Everything about the plane was armed, fueled, and in order.

The Mission

This remarkable series of photos was shot during a low-level bombing mission over the island of Kokas in Western New Guinea in 1944.

The approach to the target was unremarkable. The weather was perfect, and visibility was unrestricted. The limitless blue of the South Seas skies formed a placid backdrop to the unfettered carnage that was soon to come.

CPT Jack Klein was flight lead. 2LT Melvin Kapson was piloting the second ship. 1LT Knarr’s Havoc, tail number 43-9432, was third. The Havocs delivered their bombs just as they had been trained to do, raining death and destruction down on the Japanese barges and crews held at anchor in the harbor. However, by the time the attack planes turned on their egress the Japanese defenders had found their wits. Before they had a chance to close their bomb bay doors, the Japanese antiaircraft guns were clawing up toward them.

These low-level, counter-shipping missions were incredibly dangerous.

The formation was tight by design. Flying close meant concentrating firepower and shock effect. This also got the attacking aircraft in and out quickly, minimizing their exposure to ground fire. However, it still wasn’t fast enough.

Tragedy

One burst of antiaircraft fire connected with 1LT Knarr’s starboard engine. Both big radials were firewalled during the attack. 1LT Knarr was coaxing every bit of power out of the plants and every scrap of speed out of the plane. Suddenly the number 2 engine sputtered and died streaming oil. The big 11-foot, 3-inch propeller briefly windmilled.

In such close quarters and at such low altitude, there was just no time. 1LT Knarr was unable to get the prop feathered before the big plane began to roll. The ten-ton medium bomber snapped to the right, its wingtip contacting the smooth azure waters of the bay. In a literal instant, what had previously been a state-of-the-art attack plane manned by a pair of American aircrewmen was transformed into 20,000 pounds of debris. And just like that, 1LT Knarr and SSG Reichley were dead, literally pulverized in the impact.

Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words

CPT Klein had been taking photos of the mission. His camera was remarkably advanced for the time and was capable of sequential frames. As luck would have it, his images captured the final seconds of 1LT Knarr’s airplane. The sequence became one of the most compelling of the war.

Advances in technology during WW2 allowed more of the action and drama to be recorded than was the case during previous conflicts.

52,173 Americans died in aerial combat in WW2. Many fighter pilots like my friend’s high school classmate perished alone in the rarefied upper atmosphere. Others died as part of a crew with their friends by their sides to the last. The vast majority perished in anonymity, their sacrifice memorialized by nothing more than a heartfelt letter to loved ones from heartbroken friends or overwrought commanders. However, 1LT Knarr and SSG Reichley had their final moments immortalized. Even some eight decades later, those haunting images move me to my core.

Categories
Being a Stranger in a very Strange Land Cops Interesting stuff You have to be kidding, right!?!

Call them OPCs, not Flock Cameras These spy cams are Outdoor Prison Cameras by Matt Bracken

I’m trying to rename these infernal devices which, for now, have the pleasant name of Flock cameras, like a happy flock of birds flying above you in the blue sky. In reality, they are Outdoor Prison Cameras, or OPCs, for controlling the population in the open-air prison they are turning America into.

Freedom-loving Americans are beginning to fight back. Twitter X link to below:

This American seen below was hassled by the police for merely blocking a Flock spy camera. Remember, these OPCs are privately owned spy cams. Twitter video link:

@LongTimeHistory Twitter link:

Police pull over to arrest Florida man—for blocking Flock camera on public sidewalk.

He sat holding a 12-foot pool skimmer with sign taped on top.

Today all camera saw was sign:
“Down With Flock Cameras.”

A witness offered to help:
“What’s your name? I’ll come bail you out!”

Carl Gunn, age 77, told a local reporter that 2 police cruisers had already stopped by to interrogate him for at least 15 minutes.

“I have a constitutional right to my privacy,” he said.

“I’m a law-abiding citizen, and I don’t need anyone sticking their nose in my business… And if they do, I’m going to chop it off.”

Flock cameras create an interconnected network that logs the movements of nearly every vehicle—without warrants.

Enabling broad surveillance that can be shared across agencies and used far beyond solving specific crimes.

Incident occurred in the Coquina Key neighborhood of St. Pete, Florida.

He doesn’t have an account on this platform—so posting first full length and credited video here to help raise awareness.

We have all seen videos of Flock OPCs being cut down by patriots, and we applaud them and cheer them on. We never voted to live in open air prisons, where our every move is recorded and shared between a network of 100,000 spy cameras, all driven by artificial intelligence to seek out potential “criminals.”

Obviously, the potential for abuse is unlimited, beyond psychologically beating us into a condition of “learned helplessness,” where we give up on the very idea of privacy and personal freedom.

I can’t vouch for the message on the image below, but it certainly seems plausible, given that the Israelis mailed out thousands of exploding pagers, and have an explicit policy of assassinating anyone who stands in their way, from the elderly supreme leader of Iran (and his family and neighbors) to, possibly, even Charlie Kirk. And if the Mossad can hack the traffic cameras in Tehran, any bad actors, government or private, can do the same for any range of bad-intentioned reasons with the Flock OPC system.

Here is a 13-minute YouTube podcast by Western Rifle Shooters on the Flock OPCs.

I know that you’re already aware of the universal spy camera system being installed across America. My goal with this Substack is for patriots to stop calling them by the gentle and melodic name of Flock cameras, and call them what they are: Outdoor Prison Cameras, or OPCs. We never voted for this, these OPCs are a permanent 24/7 invasion of our privacy. They are un-American tools of tyranny, and patriots will resist them at every turn, by any means necessary.

Bracken—Out.

Categories
Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad Interesting stuff Leadership of the highest kind The Green Machine This great Nation & Its People War You have to be kidding, right!?!

Custer’s 7th: Tom Custer Part I: FIRST EVER Two Time MOH Recipient

Categories
Interesting stuff Paint me surprised by this

Some Red Hot Gospel there!

Categories
COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad I am so grateful!! If I was in Charge Interesting stuff Leadership of the highest kind Manly Stuff One Hell of a Good Fight Paint me surprised by this Real men Soldiering Stand & Deliver This great Nation & Its People War

Major James Capers Jr. USMC, holder of the M.O.H Ret.

He led a reconnaissance team during a mission near Phú Lộc, Vietnam, in 1967. During the engagement, Capers sustained multiple wounds while directing his men and coordinating their evacuation under intense enemy fire. His actions were instrumental in saving the lives of every member of his team.

____________________________________________________________

Pity it took so long to get it to him! (Almost 60 years!!) But that’s the problem with the Blue Max. In that sometimes you get it ASAP & other times it’s almost too late. I say that it’s just pure BS and a few officers need a blow torch pointed at them. Grumpy

Categories
Interesting stuff

Amen!

https://youtu.be/lS3sXeuZLBQ

Categories
All About Guns Allies Interesting stuff

FN’s New ARKA: Revamping the SCAR for Military Tenders

Categories
All About Guns Interesting stuff War

From https://mydailykona.blogspot.com/ An Ode to Battleships Past and Future..

I shamelessly clipped this from Tom Kratman and farcebook a couple days ago. I thought it was a pretty good post.  I have blogged a bit about “Battleships” in the past on my blog.

 

 

 

In Starship Troopers Heinlein listed as one of the branches possibly open to Rico, “Combat Ecology.” I’ve always thought that referred not to saving the interstellar snail darter, but the relationship between weapons systems and tactics that advance some groups and depress or eliminate the use of others.
Hence, this very thoughtful peace from Quora on, though the author didn’t phrase it that way, the combat ecology of the battleship:
Could a modern navy build a new class of battleships, or would such vessels be obsolete?
Eric Husher, former Senior Balkan Intelligence Analyst (1992-1996)
Answered Feb 12 · Upvoted by Olan Prentice, Veteran at United States Navy
The short answer is ‘no,’ as I will explain.
I think one of the more pernicious myths is that ‘the battleship was made obsolete by the aircraft carrier and has no function today.’
You see this in book after book, but a closer examination of the facts indicates otherwise.
It is important to understand a few things about battleships before talking about ‘obsolescence’ or aircraft carriers, and the FIRST thing to know is that battleships are the direct descendants of the ‘line of battle’ of Nelson’s time.
In other words, they were NEVER intended to operate alone, or as ‘a pair,’ but as a SQUADRON of no fewer than four, and preferably more, with the squadron being considered the minimum necessary to conduct all maneuvering evolutions. Squadrons would be combined to produce fleets, and it was the squadron that was used as the minimum tactical unit for battleships. This ‘understanding’ held true until WW2, when events forced navies to use battleships otherwise, and with invariably poor results.
The next thing to know is that battleships were not just intended to deliver powerful blows (like modern warships), but to RECEIVE and WITHSTAND powerful blows as well (unlike modern warships), and thus, could not just ‘stand in the line,’ but STAY in the line regardless of multiple hits.
It was this dual function that produced the international naval armaments race prior to WW1, as newer and stronger forms of armor and design were developed, and at the same time, newer and more powerful naval guns were successively produced to defeat that armor.
Such ships produced from the 1880’s until the end of the ‘battleship era’ at the conclusion of WW2, were rapidly made obsolete by these rapid advances, such that a battleship might only have a useful life of less than ten years before being superceded by a much more powerful version, and of course, this was a VERY expensive proposition.
As well, the logistics tail necessary to produce a battleship, its armor, engines and weaponry was likewise very expensive and quite specialized in nature and with little application outside the production of more battleships.
Consider the equipment necessary to found, forge, and roll out enormous plates of armor steel as much as 16″ thick, and you get some idea what I am talking about.
This ‘process’ and ‘race’ by nations to create the ‘ultimate’ battlefleet found its ultimate expression just before WW1 with the invention and production of the ‘dreadnoughts;’ heavily plated with armor belts up to 14″ thick, oil-fired turbine engines to produce a minimum speed of 20 knots, and an ‘all-big gun’ armament of eight or more guns firing 11″ to 15″ diameter shells as much as 20 KM to hit their targets.
These dreadnought battleships, and their dreadnought battlecruiser escorts proved their worth and lived up to their reputations in WW1, but because they WERE so expensive to produce, and any losses would represent such a loss of national treasure, there was a fair bit of concern as to how boldly they might be used.
The Germans in particular (because they were outnumbered by the British navy), were loath to ‘commit’ their fleet in anything other than an opportunity whereby they might outnumber the British by trying to isolate a squadron or two of British ships that they might then destroy with their own numbers.
The British attempted numerous times to achieve the same effect, but at the end of the day, there were really only three significant clashes between the behemoths, at the Falklands, Dogger Bank, and of course, Jutland.
The ‘performance’ of the battleships in the clashes can be considered not just by the amount of hits achieved, and damage inflicted, but by the number of times these ships were hit and did NOT simply explode or immediately sink, but in fact ‘stayed in the line’ and returned home in some cases wounded, but alive.
The German battlescruisers were each hit by as many as 28 heavy shells of 12″, 13.5″ and 15″ shells, yet CONTINUED to fight and return damage of their own (three British battlecruisers were sunk that day, in return for the loss of but one German battlecruiser).
Such was the concern over the capabilities and expense of these ships, that after the war, long thought was given to the need to restrict the building of further battleships, and the reduction in the number of existing battleships both as a means of ‘improving the chances for a lasting peace,’ but more importantly, to protect the nations from bankruptcy.
The goal of these various treaties and negotiations was to produce national fleets that were much smaller than those of the Great War and prior, with the leading nations restricted to no more than two or three battleship squadrons, depending on the nation involved (the US got three squadrons, as did the Brits, but the Japanese were only allowed two, the French and Italians one each, and the Germans NONE).
By the middle of the 1930’s, many of these battleships were becoming quite elderly, and replacements were designed on much more modern principles, with serious thought given to the threat of air-power. It is concurrent with this period that the first fleet aircraft carriers became fully operational.
Because of the reduced size of the battleship fleets available, some nations, particularly the Japanese considered that the only way to achieve the kind parity necessary to fight on an equal footing was through increasing the size, firepower and armor of any new ships built.
This was the origin of the ‘Yamato’ class super-battleships. Other countries like the US and Britain were similarly concerned, but with more modest ideas, such as the American ‘North Carolina’ class, and the British ‘Rodney’ class.
Other nations were concerned with the rise of such threats as the German ‘pocket battleships’ of the ‘Graf Spee’ class (which in reality were not much more than rather slow heavy cruisers), producing a couple new battlecruisers of the ‘Dunkerque’ class, but generally speaking, none of these materially increased the sizes of the fleets concerned, and with the restrictions on battleship production, all navies turned to the ‘Heavy Cruiser’ as their means for fleet expansion, and just as was the case prior to WW1, produced yet another ‘arms race’ to produce the most capable heavy cruisers possible within the treaty tonnage regulations.
The result of all of this was two-fold; the remaining battleships were now even MORE precious than they were during WW1, and many of the ‘tasks’ previously assigned to battleship or battlecruiser squadrons were now assigned to the heavy cruisers, and all the while the aircraft carriers became more capable and more dangerous, with the actual ‘threat’ being brought home by the British at Taranto, and the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.
NOTE: At this early point in WW2, battleships were now being deployed in pairs, not squadrons, both because of the lack of available battleships, and the concurrent loss of
OPPOSING battle squadrons. This was the case for the Bismarck’s first and final cruise, opposed by a battleship and a battlecruiser (Hood), the latter of which was sunk by the German guns, but the Bismarck after escaping further attacks by the British battleship, was tracked down first crippled by aircraft torpedoes, and then finished off by a combined squadron of battleships, heavy cruisers and destroyers. Bismarck was ALONE.
The Italians had a number of sorties with their battleships, invariably in pairs, and they accomplished little when faced by a similar number of British battleships and cruisers accompanied by aircraft carriers, and it was this that became the key to the future, the combined ‘task force.’
In the Pacific, the severe blow against the US battleship fleet by the Japanese as well as the British loss of a battleship and battlecruiser (again, operating ALONE and without air support) meant that there were essentially too many areas to cover to allow for the kind of ‘squadron operations’ for which the battleships were designed, and instead, the fast battleships were deployed singly, or in pairs as escorts for carrier task forces, and the heavy cruisers took up the tasks that once would have been assigned to battleships.
As such the battleships were not really intended to provide ‘surface support,’ though of course that would be readily available in the event of a surface attack, but instead to use their formidable air defenses to cover the carrier from air attack, and in this role, the American battleships eventually ruled supreme.
On the Japanese side, while they would often provide a ‘Kongo’ class battleship to escort carrier groups, the Japanese never assembled the kind of ‘task forces’ made so effective by the Americans. Part of the reason for this was the Japanese did NOT want to expose their battleships to situations where they might be lost individually, but preferring to keep them ‘in reserve’ for what they hoped would be a climactic ‘final battle’ in which they WOULD be used in squadrons against a weakened American fleet.
But here comes the interesting and notable part. When the Japanese finally DID deploy their battleships in squadrons (Leyte Gulf to the battle of Samar), they were duly attacked by swarms of American aircraft, HUNDREDS of American aircraft, equipped with 500 and 1000 lb bombs and torpedoes too.
But only ONE of the Japanese battleships (‘Musashi’) was STOPPED by the aircraft, and only after receiving 19 torpedoes, and 17 heavy bomb hits over three continuous hours of air strikes before she was sunk!
ANY of these kind of hits would have stopped, or even sunk most modern warships, and in the MEANTIME, the REST of the Japanese battleships and cruisers proceeded to their destination and point of attack.
Yes, these ships were eventually driven off by hundreds more American planes, but no more battleships were lost in this quadrant, and they RETURNED to Japan for further use.
Further South, a PAIR of Japanese battleships accompanied by heavy cruisers managed to escape the attentions of the American aircraft and proceeded down Surigao Straight by night, with the idea of attacking the American landing force from the rear.
Unfortunately, they were met by… TWO SQUADRONS of American battleships, in a classic ‘line of battle,’ and after a number of broadside salvoes, BOTH Japanese battleships were SUNK, the cruisers were damaged and several destroyers likewise sunk. ‘See the difference?’
In a different scenario, that also involved waves of carrier aircraft flying against battleships, the example of the ‘Marianas Turkey shoot’ otherwise known as the ‘Battle of the Philippine Sea’ provides yet another example of the relative inability of aircraft against battleships.
In this case, the American fleet was steaming North for the preliminaries of the invasion of the Philippines, and this brought the last big effort by the Japanese carrier forces to bear. However, while their primary targets were the big American carriers, in order to GET to them, they had to fly over an American battleship squadron and cruiser/destroyer task force in a ‘ring’ formation that stretched over tens of miles.
As the waves of Japanese attack planes flew over, they were MOWN down by battleship anti-aircraft fire using ‘proximity fuses,’ and hundreds of Japanese planes were shot down before they ever arrived in the vicinity of the American carriers.
Once again, battleships operating as a squadron at sea are a devastating force to contend with.
So what HAPPENED at the end of WW2? Why were no new battleships built, if they were such powerful warships? TWO things happened; the first being the atomic bomb, which was used in several tests against anchored fleets to see ‘what would happen,’ and the results were pretty devastating, even though many of the battleships so employed actually SURVIVED the tests.
The second was the fact that, other than the United States and the UK, no one else HAD any battleships to speak of, let alone ‘squadrons.’ Britain finished ONE new battleship after the war (Vanguard), and the French had one, and finished another (Richelieu and Jean Bart), but their industries were largely destroyed by the war, and Britain’s economy was destroyed by the war, all heavy industry in Europe was destroyed by the war, and the Soviet Union was likewise devastated.
At the same time, the US at this point now had 12 modern fast battleships, and a bunch of old ones (soon to be decommissioned), and an untouched industrial base and economy too. In other words, there was NO ONE ‘available’ to provide any naval competition, and with the Brits rapidly decommissioning and scrapping its battleships, soon to be followed by France, there was simply no CHALLENGE to the mighty American battlefleet.
But battleships are expensive to maintain, and expensive to man, and as we already had an unrivalled fleet of aircraft carriers, there seemed to be no further USE for the battleships, and one by one they were put into mothballs, scrapped, or turned into ‘memorials.’ At the same time, the steel industries, now no longer needed to produce battleships, quickly scrapped the heavy and expensive equipment needed to build them, and by the mid-1960’s there was no longer the CAPABILITY to ‘build battleships,’ even if we wanted to.
It is for this reason the last and most modern class of American battleship, the ‘New Jersey’ class, have REMAINED in operational condition, and in fact, they have been dragged out of mothballs and recommissioned several times since WW2, including Korea, Vietnam, and their last deployment was for the First Gulf War.
That is not an ‘indication’ that battleships or the battleship concept is any way ‘obsolete,’ because regardless of whether a weapon delivery system consists of a heavy shell, or a bomb, torpedo or even missile, the fact STILL remains that these are ALL designed to deliver a large explosive against a warship, even if the delivery ‘method’ is different.
In EVERY case, the battleship REMAINS ‘standing in the line’ if hit by ANY such, not just once or twice, but again and again, and that can NEVER be considered ‘obsolete.’
ANd here is the information from “Wiki” about the proposed “Trump Class Battleships“
Personally to me the Jury is out on that class of ship, as much as I would like to see one.
Categories
All About Guns California Interesting stuff You have to be kidding, right!?!

.44 Mag Fishing — Elmer Style! By Jeff “Tank” Hoover

Cover of Gene Brown’s fine book!

Elmer Keith’s shooting exploits were legendary. While most students of Keith are true believers of his sixgun prowess, some consider him to be full of bull $hit. How could a man be so beloved, be the impetus of the Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 rifle, the .338 Winchester Magnum, as well as the .44 and .41 Magnum cartridges, to name a few, and still be considered full of horse hooey by some?

Elmer and Mike Garner, Gene Brown’s buddy.

Then there’s the debatable 600-yard mule deer shot — with a 6.5-inch .44 Mag, killing five jackrabbits with one shot at 100 yards, while on a full run, and finally, shooting flying fish, while in mid arc near Catalina Island, with his 4-inch .44 Magnum! I’ve discussed the two previous incidents in earlier articles; here, I’ll discuss the flying fish incident. I don’t see what the big deal is. If Elmer says he did it, it happened!

Elmer and Tommy Bish at the Great Western Gun Show!

This story starts with two young Elmer Keith fans who met Keith at the Kalispell Outlaw Inn, where the Montana Weapons Collectors held their annual late winter gun show. A discussion about the show continued back in Keith’s room. Firing up a cigar and tipping back his famous Stetson, the topic shifted to gun shows in general. Which shows were the best and which ones weren’t worth your time?

The Great Western Gun Show came up, and his young fans enthusiastically described the show in detail. Keith asked his new young friends, “If you’re going down to the show this year, I’d like to tag along.” The starstruck fans were gobsmacked between the eyes! They couldn’t believe their good fortune — a road trip with Elmer Keith — all the way from Salmon, Idaho, where Elmer lived, to Los Angeles, California!

Wax figure of Elmer at his “office” at the Elmer Keith museum in Boise, Id., at the Cabela’s.
Photo by Jeff “Tank” Hoover.

The Show

Anyone’s who’s ever attended this huge and colorful three-day event will testify this is not your standard, generic “guns on the table” kind of show. This is the kind of show that can only happen in Southern California. In addition to the several thousand guns and accompanying items, the entertainment value is both shocking and interesting.

It’s a mix of a large motion-picture set where the movie is a cowboy-and-Indian war, and a military and western museum, with living figures.

Coming at you and around you from all sides are men and women in full regalia, ranging from uniforms simulating the American Revolution, Civil War, with both North and South sides represented, Spanish American War, with soldiers sporting 30/40 Krag rifles, World War I Doughboys carrying Lee Enfield’s and Webleys and the many other different persuasions of World War II in an authentic array.

Some of Elmer’s trophies at the office reproduction at Cabela’s.

Picking Elmer Up

One of the young fans describes what it was like to visit Keith’s home in Salmon, Idaho, to pick him up. “It began with a touching front porch scene at the home of Elmer and his wife.

There, our traveling companion was saying goodbye to Lorraine. Romance writers would have deemed it a tender and touching scene. There stood the grizzled, hard, seen it all old cowboy in sharp, formal western attire. In front of him was a loving wife who repeatedly adjusted the suit lapels. This between a lot of not unwarm kissing, hugging and gazing into each other’s eyes.”

“Gently, she advised him to be careful. Take care of yourself. It looked as if we were dealing with a pair of love-struck teenagers and not an old married couple that been teamed up for some 56 years.”

“These two lovebirds, as we drove away, waved until they could no longer see each other. Mike was smiling broadly as we went east down the hill into Salmon. From there, the road would take us onto Highway 93, which headed through Southern Idaho.”

Not long into the drive south in his 1975 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, the subject of long-range and trick shooting came up. The fan recalls Elmer’s words, “We were fishing off the coast of California over around Catalina Island sometime in the late 1950s,” he recalled as if it was a week ago.

“There was a boatload of us, and some of the boys ribbed me about just what a man could do with a .44 Magnum pistol if he put his mind to it. I had gotten off a few rounds at sharks, which didn’t make much of an impression on this lot.”

“One of them remarked that I probably figured I could knock down a flying fish on the wing if I felt like it.”

“Well,” I said back, “I could probably do that.”

“Whaat?! Excuse me. Drop a flying fish with a pistol?”

More trophies.

Doubt & Disappointment

The young fan stated, “From somewhere deep down in my innermost reaches, a pause button came on. I glanced in the rearview mirror where friend Mike had the same, “What is this (expletive deleted) nonsense,” doubting expression that I did. “Well, maybe a little too much Wild Turkey for our old buddy today? Elmer looked straight ahead, out over the desert landscape passing by, missing our suspicious countenances and the terrible ensuing let down we both felt.”

“He continued with this absurdity that might have fooled the newly disembarked pickle boat crowd.

“Well,” he slowly drawled, “I unleashed the Smith and Wesson, leaned back against something, I don’t exactly remember what, put the pistol between my knees and took a few shots out over the water to sort of get the range and feel of it.

“He seemed to be lost in thought for a few seconds and then continued, “The first one I dropped was out about 50 yards. Got him right in the arc. The next two were right around 60 yards. I could have gotten more, but figured the point had been made.

It was difficult shooting, but I did do it.” “Also,” he added, “I don’t like to take fish or game unless I use it for food.” A heavy silence enveloped the car’s interior portion. A silence so heavy and dead, I reckoned we could be had on a murder one rap. Things got awfully quiet for a while. Could it be that the skeptics were right? The rest of us believers had been hustled?”

“Again, glancing into the rearview mirror, I saw Mike slowly shaking his head in a frown of disbelief. A touch of doubt on our part tainted stories that ensued during the rest of the journey. Well, how else would you feel after hearing some comic book yarn like that? A great, knowledgeable old guy maybe, but it was time to just chalk up his shooting stories as clever works of fiction.

“Admittedly, there still were some intriguing accounts, especially the one about his British Columbia experience that got him placed on a 1928 cover of the American Rifleman magazine (more about that later), the African lion hunts and loads of talk on ultimate rifles, shotguns and handguns.”

Elmer’s Outstanding American Handgunner Trophy and bronze sculpture of him in the museum.

The Show

The fan goes on to describe how they were treated like royalty as they were escorted through the fairgrounds to the main building by a pair of L.A. County Sheriffs, a security guard and a California Highway Patrolman, once they realized who their VIP passenger was. As they walked through the large east entrance door (after being assigned a special parking spot by security) people recognized Elmer by his big cowboy hat, waving and yelling his name.

Elmer was as human as the rest of us. He loved this kind of attention from fellow gun buffs. The waves and smiles from admirers were heartily returned.

Credible Conclusion

While they were being escorted to the Petersen table, somebody far off in the milling crowd could be heard yelling rather loudly, “Elmer!” “Hey, Elmer.” “Elmer, over here.”

Turning, they saw a man in a western hat and cowboy clothes coming hurriedly in their direction. Right off, they recognized Tommy Bish, a well-known writer on firearms and do-it-yourself gunsmithing.

There was a round of handshaking and backslapping between Keith and Bish. “How ya’ been?” “Whadda’ ya’ been doing? “Long time, no see!” Grinning broadly, Tommy addressed Elmer.

“Elmer, it is really good to see you. You know what happened? Just last night, a bunch of us were talking. I told them about how you took down those flying fish off Catalina Island with that pistol a few years back.” Elmer nodded yes, as both young fans were now smiling after Bish substantiated Elmer’s account of shooting flying fish!

We learned later that Bish had not seen or spoken with Elmer for several years. There was no way in the world a man of his or Elmer’s caliber would have cooked up some phony story about Elmer and the ocean shooting action.

By the Book

Most of my information and quotes come from Gene Brown’s book, Elmer Keith, The Other Side of a Western Legend available here. Brown discusses the trials and tribulations of collecting all of Keith’s books, before the advent of the internet, visiting Keith over the years and how he would even visit him in the nursing home after his stroke. For any true Keith fan, a warmly written, wonderful book giving you a peek into the life of the dean of all gun writers.