At 2247 hours on 24 April 1980, a U.S.A.F. MC130 Combat Talon aircraft callsign Talon 1 touched down in the flat desert 200 miles from the Iranian capital of Teheran. U.S. Army Rangers dismounted and secured the landing area, code-named Desert One, for follow-on Air Force cargo planes and Navy helicopters. 93 Delta Force operators and 13 Special Forces soldiers from Detachment A of the Berlin Brigade as well as a dozen Rangers and sundry support troops stood poised to attempt one of the most daring special operations missions in history. The objective was to free 52 American hostages held by Iranian extremists.
U.S. Marines with the 3rd Marine Division train with the M72 LAW at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan. Image: Cpl. Donovan Massieperez/U.S.M.C.
The Rangers secured a nearby highway and stopped traffic as it was encountered. This included a civilian bus containing 43 passengers who were detained on the ground onboard one of the EC130 cargo planes. Minutes after the bus was secured, a fuel tanker ignored the Rangers’ orders to stop and attempted to run through their roadblock. It was later determined that the tanker was smuggling illicit gasoline. In desperation, one of the Rangers unlimbered a shoulder-fired M72 Light Antitank Weapon (LAW).
A U.S. Marine with the 1st Marine Division is on patrol with his unit south of the DMZ in Vietnam. On his back is a M72 LAW anti-tank rocket. Image: NARA
Sighting the disposable rocket launcher in the dark using its luminescent sight, the Ranger center-punched the heavily-laden truck. Like a milk jug hit with a high-powered rifle round, the truck and its contents erupted in a brilliant fireball that was visible for miles around. A passenger in the truck died in the attack, though the driver escaped in a follow-on pickup. From that point, everything seemed to fall apart.
The M72 Light Antitank Weapon has been in service with U.S. forces since before the Vietnam War. It is a lightweight and effective man-portable tank-killing tool.
Prior planning had determined that the mission required a minimum of six operational RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters to be successful. With only five mission-capable aircraft remaining, the decision was made to abort. In the subsequent chaos, a helicopter taxied into an Air Force cargo plane and exploded. Eight American troops died in the inferno, and another four were injured. The mission was a humiliating failure. However, the lessons learned at Desert One helped transform American Special Operations Forces into the most respected and capable on the planet.
Light Anti-Tank Weapon
But what about that LAW launcher? Work on the M72 LAW, or Light Antitank Weapon, first began at Redstone Arsenal in 1959. The mission was to design a more effective and more portable replacement for both the M31 HEAT antitank rifle grenade and the bulky and heavy M20A1 Super Bazooka. American needed an anti-armor weapon to counter the rapidly advancing tank technology developed by the Soviets.
A soldier with the 25th Infantry Division aims an M72 light anti-tank weapon during Exercise OPPORTUNE JOURNEY in October 1986. Image: Spc. Michael D. Evans/U.S. Army
A design team that included Frank Spinale, Charles Weeks, and Chris Choate developed one of the most enduring weapons in the American arsenal.
The M72 consists of a disposable launcher that fires an unguided 66mm solid-fuel rocket. The basic concept is essentially an arithmetic mean between the American bazooka and the German WWII-vintage Panzerfaust.
S.Sgt. Glen Chaunley demonstrates the proper method for firing an M72 light anti-tank weapon during a training exercise. Image: Airman 1st Class Reedy/U.S.A.F
The light anti-armor weapon saw a great deal of use in the Vietnam War and has been improved multiple times over the years. The latest M72A7 weighs 7.9 pounds and has a maximum effective range of 220 meters. The point-initiated, base-detonated round travels at 480 feet per second. A mechanical setback feature prevents the warhead from detonating unless it has been fired.
A Marine moves through the town of Grenville during Operation URGENT FURY. He is armed with an M16A1 rifle and is carrying an M72 anti-tank rocket launcher. Image: PH2 D. Wujcik/NARA
The LAW consists of a single consumable round of ammunition carried within a pair of nested telescoping tubes. The internal tube is aluminum, while the outside sort is fiberglass. When collapsed, the LAW is waterproof and 25” long. Once extended and ready to fire, the M72 is 35” long. The weapon’s minimum arming range is ten meters. The front sight is graduated in 25-meter increments, and the rear peep sight automatically adjusts itself for ambient temperature.
Running the M72 LAW
To deploy the LAW for firing, the operator pulls out the safety pin and pivots the backplate clear. This allows the front cap to fall off of the launcher. You then grasp the launcher front and rear from the top and extend it vigorously. The inner tube telescopes and will lock in place. The front and rear sights are spring-loaded and pop up of their own accord. Now rotate the weapon onto the firing shoulder, taking care to ensure that the backblast area is clear. The backblast is considered dangerous to bystanders out to about 40 meters.
The LAW rocket has a wicked backblast. You really don’t want to shoot this thing in confined spaces or enclosed area.
With the weapon pointed downrange, you then pull the firing mechanism forward using the weak hand. The LAW is now armed and ready to fire. Sight the weapon appropriately, support the front with the weak hand, and squeeze downward from the top against the rubber-coated trigger bar to fire the rocket. Once fired, the launcher is considered disposable. No one is reloading these with a fresh anti-tank rocket.
If the launcher needs to be returned to its stowed condition prior to being armed you can press down on the rubber-coated takedown button on the top to release the two tubes. As you telescope the tubes back into themselves, fold the front and rear sights down into the stowed position. Replacing the end caps is fairly self-explanatory.
Staying Power
All military weapons evolve, and Uncle Sam launched a program to replace the LAW back in the 1980s. The end result was the Swedish AT4. The transition was supposed to start in 1983, but the old LAW just won’t die.
Spc. Alex Raske (left) and Pfc. Phillip Nelson get familiar with the M136 AT4 anti-tank weapon. While more effective against tanks, it is also heavier than the M72. Image: Staff Sgt. Mike Pryor/U.S. Army
The AT4 weighs between 15 and 18 pounds depending upon the variant and is 40” long. That means an operator can carry two LAWs for the same size and weight burden of a single AT4. As a result, the LAW remains in service even today.
A Marine fires an M72 light anti-tank weapon during training at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Aug. 13, 2020. Image: Sgt. Luke Kuennen/U.S.M.C.
The LAW and AT4 were both designed with the antitank role in mind. However, the tactical demands of the Global War on Terror involved relatively few antitank engagements. Dismounted forces actually needed an easily-portable weapon that could handily punch through walls, destroy cars, trucks and similar unarmored vehicles, or obliterate an enemy fighting position without hampering a soldier’s capacity to move quickly on the battlefield.
Lance Cpl. Jude Wheeler fires at targets during a high-explosive weapons range on Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan in June of 2020. Image: Cpl. Donovan Massieperez/U.S.M.C.
While the M72 isn’t likely to take out a main battle tank, it can still be used effectively against lightly armored vehicles or as an anti-structure weapon. When faced with an, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” scenario, the LAW clung to life. It’s hard to beat the munition for high explosive rocket that a soldier or Marine can easily carry.
The LAW remains in production in Norway, Turkey, and the U.S.. Unit cost runs between $750 and $2,200 depending upon the particulars. Despite being nearly 65 years old, the M72 shows no sign of being replaced anytime soon. Sometimes LAWs just don’t need to be changed.
Few military platforms were as “game-changing” as the Royal Navy’s HMS Dreadnought. Whereas tanks, airplanes and even small arms saw evolutionary improvements, this one battleship was truly revolutionary in design. The commissioning of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906 could also be seen as the climax of an era of changes that began with the launch of HMS Warrior more than four decades earlier.
So significant were the advancements with this one ship that it rendered nearly all existing battleships obsolete and vulnerable.
The photo shows the HMS Dreadnought underway on the high seas. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
HMS Dreadnought was the first battleship to feature a main armament of a single caliber. It was also the first capital ship to be powered by steam turbines instead of old triple-expansion engines, which greatly increased her speed. Her appearance ushered in a naval arms race that would reach global proportions.
The choice of name is also noteworthy, as “dread nought” meant “fear nothing.” The first Dreadnought was an English 40-gun ship built in 1553, the first of nine warships to bear the name. Yet it could be argued that HMS Dreadnought was built in response to fears within the Royal Navy, namely that it would be unable to maintain its superiority over rivals.
In that respect, HMS Dreadnought may have been a desperate attempt for the Royal Navy to cling to its dominance, which in less than 40 years would be lost forever. Moreover, the warship put too much emphasis on the large gun battleships, even as great innovation was already on the horizon.
Dawn of the Iron Navy
The “Age of Sail” has long been described as a period of wooden ships and iron men. That changed when the French Navy built La Gloire, the first armored ship-of-the-line and the “mother” of all armored warships that followed.
A view of the torpedo nets on HMS Dreadnought. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
The arrival of La Gloire in 1859 caused great consternation within the Royal Navy, and just a year later, construction began on HMS Warrior, which proved superior to the French vessel in nearly every respect. HMS Warrior was the first seagoing iron-hulled armored warship, with all her main guns, engines, and boilers housed within her iron hull.
La Gloire and Warrior ignited a race to develop better guns and armor, one that would last until air power made the battleship obsolete in the Second World War. But HMS Warrior also marked the Royal Navy’s effort to maintain a qualitative edge over its rivals. Although the British sought to maintain the most significant naval force, as France and Russia attempted to close the gap, the Royal Navy sought the best warships, crewed by the best sailors.
In both counts, the British succeeded. The rigorous training and merit-based system gave it a qualitative edge over many rivals, notably Imperial Russia, which relied on conscripts. The Royal Navy had superior officer training, emphasized the need for gunnery skills, and was composed of a true professional force.
It could be stated that the late 19th century saw the era of “iron ships and iron men,” with the steel navy entering the picture. The decisive result of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 also proved the concept of the capital ship, or at least did not cause anyone to question its capabilities.
Two-Power Standard
During the last two decades of the 19th century, the Royal Navy maintained nearly unrivaled naval supremacy. Still, unprecedented ideas and innovations emerged so quickly that a new vessel could be rendered obsolete even before it was launched. This problem wasn’t limited to the Royal Navy, but as the largest force, it operated more obsolete ships than most others.
British sailors tend to the torpedo nets on the HMS Dreadnought. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
This problem was arguably the result of London’s “Two-Power Standard,” which called for the Royal Navy to be equal in number to any two foreign navies. As rivals built more ships, the Royal Navy needed to build twice as many.
Construction outpaced technological development, and it was clear that this couldn’t continue forever.
In 1889, the Two-Power Standard was modified by the Naval Defense Act, which called for the Royal Navy to be capable of matching the world’s second- and third-largest navies. That resulted in a new era of shipbuilding, and in the 1890’s, around 42 battleships (later to be described as “pre-dreadnoughts”) were built.
Development of HMS Dreadnought
London had good reason to fear threats from France and Russia, yet it was the buildup of the Imperial German Navy in the late 19th century that sent shockwaves through the Royal Navy. Under the leadership of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, Germany began a major naval expansion. For the British, it wasn’t just about the number of ships, but also their quality and capability. The New Naval warfare doctrine focused on high speed and long-range firepower.
HMS Dreadnought was a game-changing warship, but it arguably hurt more than helped the Royal Navy. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
In 1904, Admiral Sir John Fisher was appointed First Sea Lord. “Jackie” Fisher, as he was known throughout the UK’s senior service, was considered a rarity in the Royal Navy of the day — and arguably in most militaries of the era. He was a senior officer who had a firm grasp of scientific and technological principles. Instead of clinging to the old ways, as so many senior leaders did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Fisher was one who saw the need for innovation.
At 58 years of age, Fisher had seen the development of several battleships. Within weeks of his appointment, he convened a committee to design a battleship that could be armed with the most significant possible number of 305 mm (12-inch) guns, the caliber that the Admiralty saw as necessary for battleships. In addition to being well-armed, the committee called for a speed of 24 knots, as fast as cruisers.
Such a concept would later lead to the development of “battlecruisers,” but it also led to the construction of a new warship, a “super battleship.” Construction began in October 1905, when HMS Dreadnought was laid down at the Portsmouth Dockyard, in great secrecy and in record time. She was launched and ready for initial sea trials just a year and a day later.
This was accomplished by more than just sheer determination.
At the start of the 20th century, the Admiralty headquarters and the Royal Navy were large and complex organizations with numerous departments and specialized offices, each pursuing a distinct line of development. Fisher brought them in line, with a singular focus on HMS Dreadnought.
The Pros and Cons
Just two months after being launched, on December 2, 1906, HMS Dreadnought was commissioned. Displacing 16,710 tonnes (18,420 tons) and 161 meters (527 feet) in length, she was among the largest warships in the world, although some cruisers, like the Imperial Russian Navy’s Rurick, were longer.
The launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 made all previous battleships largely obsolete. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
No other warship was as powerful. HMS Dreadnought was armed with ten 12-inch guns in five turrets. The use of guns of a uniform caliber made it much easier to adjust the fall of shot in action, as all of the shells had the same ballistic characteristics, so that they would fall simultaneously in a cluster around the point of aim. Other warships with a mix of calibers resulted in shells with different flight times, arriving sporadically.
Instead of relying on voice pipes to transmit commands to the gun turrets, HMS Dreadnought was also fitted with electronic instruments for transmitting range and other data.
In addition to being well armed, HMS Dreadnought featured redistributed armor to protect its guns, engines and magazines, while an innovative bulkhead structure in the interior made flood control easier, which increased her survivability.
The ship eliminated the longitudinal passageways between compartments below the main deck level, as connected compartments had been found to result in structural weakness. Flooding in one compartment could spill into the next, and if enough compartments were breached, the ship’s bow would submerge.
Accommodations for the crew were vastly different from those on previous warships and arguably more efficient. Sailing ships like this battleship were controlled from the aft part of the ship, and officers were customarily housed aft. HMS Dreadnought reversed the arrangement, placing officers’ quarters in the forward part of the ship and enlisted men aft, placing them closer to their action stations. These innovations made for a more efficient and capable capital ship.
However, HMS Dreadnought was not without some flaws.
The battleship had poor secondary armament, which consisted of small 12-pounder guns that were easily outranged by destroyers. That left the ship vulnerable to torpedo attacks. It was among the design flaws later corrected with the Bellerophon-class battleships built for the Royal Navy.
The steam turbine engines were another bold, even cutting-edge innovation that enabled greater speed than other contemporary battleships. Still, the technology was far from fully mature and less reliable than the reciprocating steam engines. That resulted in HMS Dreadnought breaking down at high speeds.
Despite her capabilities, HMS Dreadnought never took part in a significant battle. Its only major engagement was ramming and sinking the German submarine U-29 on March 18, 1915. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
The ship’s tripod mast, which carried the forward fire control platform, was situated immediately behind the forward funnel. That meant that the platform became very hot and filled with smoke when the ship was traveling at speed, making it virtually useless.
Likewise, the placement of the aforementioned armor was initially seen as revolutionary, but it proved less robust than later designs.
The Dreadnought Era Begins
With the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought, all previous concepts of battleship designs were swept away, and it also launched a new era of naval strategy and development. Every existing battleship was retroactively designated a “pre-dreadnought, and the battleships built immediately after are now known as “dreadnoughts.”
Shown here is the previous HMS Dreadnought ironclad entering port. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
The British had achieved their primary goal. It had the most powerful warship in the world, but only briefly.
The arrival of HMS Dreadnought ignited a naval arms race — and while at her commissioning the Royal Navy possessed a lead of 25 first-class battleships over the fleets of foreign navies, when this super battleship arrived on the scene it meant that the Royal Navy possessed a lead of just one ship in the newest class. Instead of providing a technological advantage, it essentially leveled the playing field for navies worldwide.
The Royal Navy had a head start, but soon, nations big and small were building more powerful warships. Even worse, it didn’t take long for HMS Dreadnought to be eclipsed by so-called “Super-Dreadnoughts.” By 1910, Brazil had more powerful ships in its navy than HMS Dreadnought.
Still, by the time the First World War broke out in August 1914, the UK had “won” the naval arms race. It came at a terrible cost, however.
It changed the balance of power in Europe as the Anglo-German naval race heightened tensions between the two great powers, ending any chance of an alliance or partnership. It pushed the British to form a partnership with the French and, in turn, with Russia, helping set up the alliances that led to the First World War.
HMS Dreadnought and World War I
One irony is that the arms race and great power competition played absolutely no role when the two sides finally met in battle on the high seas. Germany never really closed the gap and had just 17 Dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers to the Royal Navy’s 29 Dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers. The two navies only met in one major, yet far from decisive, engagement at the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916.
The HMS Dreadnought tied up in port. Despite all its promise, the ship played no major role in World War I. Image: Naval History and Heritage Command
HMS Dreadnought was not even among the warships to take part in the most significant naval engagement of the conflict. She was being refitted at the time, after which she was assigned to coastal defense duties in the English Channel.
The famed warship had already seen the only action of her entire career when she rammed and sank the German U-boat U-29 in 1915. HMS Dreadnought never fired her guns in anger against a surface target. Although she rejoined the Grand Fleet in 1918, she was reduced to reserve status in 1919 and sold for scrap two years later.
No other battleship was named Dreadnought, and despite the name being so crucial in Royal Navy history, no warship with that name saw service in World War II.
The legacy of HMS Dreadnought lived on, however, with S101, the Royal Navy’s first nuclear-powered submarine, which was launched in 1960 and decommissioned in 1980. The UK’s future nuclear deterrent submarine force will also be the Dreadnought class, with the lead boat being laid down on March 20, 2025, at BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness, England, facility.
On completion, the next HMS Dreadnought will be the largest submarine ever built in the UK and operated by the Royal Navy. It promises to be an innovative and more advanced class of ballistic missile submarines, but it won’t be as game-changing for the Royal Navy as the battleship HMS Dreadnought.
Many Americans will pause today to honor the men and women who have given their lives in the United States armed forces. What most probably don’t know is that this holiday originated in the South after the War for Southern Independence. It was originally called “Decoration Day.”
Don’t tell the social justice warriors.
The monuments that these modern day Leninists believe represent “white supremacy” were a byproduct of a movement that began one year after the conclusion of hostilities to remember the over two hundred thousand men who died defending the Southern fight for independence.
It took decades to collect enough pennies to build the monuments that are now being toppled in hours.
Not even the Yankees who faced cannon and rifle fire from these Confederate soldiers were so bold to deny Southerners their memorials. Some, in fact, joined hands at dedication ceremonies across the South. If anyone should have hated Confederate soldiers, it was these men. But they didn’t.
Thousands of Union soldiers saluted their Confederate counterparts as they surrendered at Appomattox and wept with them when these Southern patriots gave up their flags. Not one Union soldier burned a Confederate flag or dragged it through the mud when the War was over. The immediate aftermath was magnanimous on both sides.
Reconstruction created tension, but in subsequent decades as the South sought to be once again an integral part of the Union, and as the vigor of youth gave way to the reflection of old age, these grey headed veterans saluted both sides and honored their dead.
If anyone wants to understand why these monuments were erected, simply read the inscriptions. Not one is dedicated to “white supremacy,” but all honor the Confederate soldier and many the Southern women who supported the cause.
Several are dedicated to the “Principles of 1776” and the “Sovereignty of the States,” the same cause Southerners wrote about as they headed off to war in 1861. This is no “Lost Cause” revisionism. That comes from those who disingenuously write that the War began as a moral crusade to end slavery.
The women who held the first “Decoration Day” in Columbus, Georgia in 1866 did so to honor the dozens of Confederate soldiers buried in Linwood Cemetery. This was soon replicated across the South. The Grand Army of the Republic copied the event in 1868, causing another Southern innovation to be coopted by Yankee do-gooders.
American soon honored Confederate dead as part of “Memorial Day” events, including those like President William McKinley who wore the blue.
Southerners eventually decided to hold separate “memorial day” remembrances in April as part of “Confederate Memorial Day.” They wanted as a people to reflect on the cost of war.
Their newly gained poverty was a daily reminder, but these wives, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, cousins, aunts, uncles, sons, and daughters of fallen heroes still burned with the flame of defiance. They put down their swords but did not concede that their men were “traitors.”
By the 1870s no one north of the Mason Dixon called them that anymore. They were as American as Lincoln. It was not unfashionable well into the late twentieth century–even for the Left–to honor Confederate soldiers as valiant and courageous men. That list includes every American president from Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton.
Taking down monuments or removing Confederate flags would have been as un-American as rooting for the Soviet Union to win the Cold War.
But as Bernie Sanders demonstrated in 2016, being a Soviet stooge makes you a rock star in modern America. Perhaps that is why adopting the Soviet playbook is so easy for both the uneducated and university indoctrinated masses. Confederate memorials represent a roadblock in their crusade to eliminate Western Civilization and rewrite American history.
When all of the Confederate monuments are gone or “contextualized,” where will the Leninists turn next?
If the cultural Marxists want to divest themselves of “Confederate” imagery, then “Memorial Day” would eventually have to go, too.
After all, long after the War for Southern Independence, the Confederate Battle Flag showed up on battle fields from Europe to Asia to the Middle East.
It would be the only “fair” and “equal” thing to do.
Brion McClanahan
Brion McClanahan is the author or co-author of six books, How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America (Regnery History, 2017), 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America and Four Who Tried to Save Her (Regnery History, 2016), The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, (Regnery, 2009), The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution (Regnery History, 2012), Forgotten Conservatives in American History (Pelican, 2012), and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Real American Heroes, (Regnery, 2012). He received a B.A. in History from Salisbury University in 1997 and an M.A. in History from the University of South Carolina in 1999. He finished his Ph.D. in History at the University of South Carolina in 2006, and had the privilege of being Clyde Wilson’s last doctoral student. He lives in Alabama with his wife and three daughters.
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