Some Interesting Military Data

[Timerover51]

The following quote comes from Volume 10, First Series, of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, page 10, dated May 10, 1864. It is a report on the loss of the U.S.S. Commodore Jones in the James River of Virginia, at that time in rebellion against the Federal Government of the United States.

Sir: Immediately after the U. S. S. Commodore Jones was destroyed by the explosion of the torpedo at Jones’ Point on the 6th instant, a party of marines and sailors from the Mackinaw landed at the point and discovered three galvanic batteries sunk in pits in the ground, to which wires were attached to one or more torpedoes which were not exploded and were still lying in the channel.

The body of the man who had been shot by the coxswain of one of the boats employed in dragging was found lying near the first galvanic battery, shot through the head. In the third battery were captured 2 men who were ready to explode another torpedo should any of our vessels pass over it. The names of these men are P. W. Smith, who represents himself as an acting master in the Confederate Submarine Battery Service, under the command of Lieutenant Hunter Davidson, of the boat torpedo, and Jeffries Johnson, a private in the same service. From Smith I learned that there were many more torpedoes in the river, but he would not communicate their location or any facts connected with them. Johnson stated that he was forced into the rebel army as a conscript, and procured his exchange into the service as it would keep him near his home, which was at Deep Bottom, opposite Jones’ Point.

At first he was not communicative and evaded, on the grounds of ignorance, the questions put to him, but being placed in the forward gunboat employed in dragging for torpedoes and given to understand that he would share the fate of the boat, he signified his willingness to tell all he knew about them. He stated that the torpedo which was exploded was put down last fall; that it contained 2,000 pounds of powder; that there are several more near a place called McGuire’s, above Aiken’s Landing, and others at Osborne’s; that there may be others of which he knows nothing; that these are all of which he has any knowledge; that he has heard there were many in the river above Osborne’s. He states that there are several kinds, but that the smallest ot those exploded by means of a galvanic battery contains about 400 pounds of powder. The small ones are floating, and are exploded by contact or a line from shore. (Emphasis Added)

I think that the action taken with regards to the prisoner might be considered a "war crime" now, but times were a bit different back then, especially after 3 years of civil war. General Sherman and several other officers in the Union Army took a similar view with respect to land mines, marching a line of prisoners ahead of his columns. It was amazing how fast the planted mines disappeared prior to the prisoners reaching them.

 

[Condottiere]

The Secret History of Fighter Aircraft Engine Development in WW2

The development of piston-aero engines were the dominant mechanism in determining fighter aircraft performance from 1939-1945.
This lecture focuses on key technical and organizational differences between the German and British efforts which had key impacts on both the airframe aerodynamic design and engine characteristics of both aircraft. The speaker presents a guided tour through the key difficulties experienced by German and British aviation engineers - using access to unique archival material, including the personal papers of Professor Willy Messerschmitt, and Ernest Hives, Technical Director at Rolls-Royce.

Speaker: Calum Douglas BEng MSc: Powertrain Design Engineer, Historian

Calum Douglas worked in Germany for Toyota Motorsport GmbH applying Formula One engine technology to advanced technology demonstrator engines for Toyota Japan road cars division. Returning from Germany, he worked for Jaguar Land-Rover and Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains and now runs an engine design consultancy. He began investigating piston engine development in wartime archival records and has spent the last five years researching and writing about it alongside working. He has been invited to speak worldwide to present his engine development historical research, from Scuderia-Ferrari Formula One in Italy, Rolls-Royce, the Royal Aeronautical Society, Renault-Sport and Mercedes AMG Formula-One engine and chassis technical centers. He will publish two books this year, including a translation of the unpublished memoirs of Professor Dr-Ing Karl Kollmann, Chief designer of Daimler-Benz Aero Engines: through the American Society of Mechanical Engines. The book is a collaboration with American gas turbine expert Dr S. Can Gülen, and is entitled "Centrifugal Compressors for Turbo/Superchargers -Theory and Practice: Guidance from the Past – for Modern Engineers and Students". The second is a technical history of piston aero engine development from 1928to 1946, entitled "The Secret Horsepower Race" and is available to pre-order from Mortons Publishing and Amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImEpk1s-Vk0&ab_channel=InstitutionofMechanicalEngineers-IMechE


TLDR: Merlin, Mosquito.

 

[Timerover51]

The following quote is taken from Horace Porter's book, Campaigning with Grant. Porter served as an aide-de-camp to Grant from the end of April of 1864 to the end of the war. This occurred on the occasion of President Lincoln's first visit to Grant following the initial attack on Petersburg, Virginia.

After a while General Grant said "Mr. President, let us ride on and see the colored troops, who behaved so handsomely in Smith's attack on the works in front of Petersburg last week." " Oh, yes," replied Mr. Lincoln ; " I want to take a look at those boys. I read with the greatest delight the account given in Mr. Dana's despatch to the Secretary of War of how gallantly they behaved. He said they took six out of the sixteen guns captured that day. I was opposed on nearly every side when I first favored the raising of colored regiments; but they have proved their efficiency, and I am glad they have kept pace with the white troops in the recent assaults. When we wanted every able-bodied man who could be spared to go to the front, and my opposers kept objecting to the negroes, I used to tell them that at such times it was just as well to be a little color-blind. . . . .

The camp of the colored troops of the Eighteenth Corps was soon reached, and a scene now occurred which defies description. They beheld for the first time the liberator of their race—the man who by a stroke of his pen had struck the shackles from the limbs of their fellow-bondmen and proclaimed liberty to the enslaved. Always impressionable, the enthusiasm of the blacks now knew no limits. They cheered, laughed, cried, sang hymns of praise, and shouted in their negro dialect, " God bress Massa Linkum ! " " De Lord save Fader Abraham!" "De day ob jubilee am come, shuah."

They crowded about him and fondled Ms horse; some of them kissed his hands, while others ran off crying in triumph to their comrades that they had touched his
clothes. The President rode with bared head; the tears had started to his eyes, and his voice was so broken by emotion that he could scarcely articulate the words of thanks and congratulation which he tried to speak to the humble and devoted men through whose ranks he rode. The scene was affecting in the extreme, and no one could have witnessed it unmoved.

 

[Timerover51]

An interesting view of reporters from an official dispatch from the officer in temporary command of the Yazoo River Flotilla to Admiral David D. Porter, Commander of the Mississippi Squadron while he was operating off of the Red River of Texas in May of 1863, during General Grant's operations against Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Report of Lieutenant-Commander Breese, V. S. Navy, regarding
general matters.
Black Hawk, May 6, 1863. (The "Black Hawk" was normally the flagship of Admiral Porter, but he transferred his flag to the ironclad "Benton" to better conduct the operations against Confederate installations on the Red River.)
. . . . . . . .
I am happy to say that three newspaper reporters went down in the army tug, and were either killed or taken prisoners. They won't think it such good fun now.
K. R. Breese,
Lieutenant-Commander.
[Acting Rear-Admiral D. D. Porter.]

The Army tug referred to was blown up while attempting to pass the batteries of Vicksburg. Admiral Porter did not exactly like reporters.

Edit Note: I forgot to give the cite. The quote comes from:
OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE NAVIES IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, SERIES 1—VOLUME 24. NAVAL FORCES ON THE WESTERN WATERS, From January 1 to May 17, 1863, page 655

 

[Timerover51]

Another quote from the same source as the previous post. This is not something you expect to see in the log of a combat ship during wartime. It does show that the U. S. Civil War was not exactly the typical conflict.

Abstract log of the U. S. S. Tyler, Lieutenant-Commander James M.
Prichett, commanding, January 1 to May 16, 1863.

January 24—2:55 p. m. came to anchor 100 yards above the flagship in the Yazoo River. 7 p. m. Mrs. Harris and Captain Sutherland came on board. 8:15 p. m. Captain Sutherland and Mrs. J. R. Harris were united in marriage by the Reverend Mr. Snow in presence of Acting Rear-Admiral D. D. Porter and commanding officers
of the fleet.

Captain Sutherland was a commander of one of the rams in the Mississippi Squadron.

 

[Condottiere]

Personnel mover; maximum capacity, fire team.

 

[Timerover51]

The following report of a U.S. Navy court-martial of Captain James Armstrong, commander of the Naval Station at Pensacola, Florida in the Spring of 1861, comes from Volume 4, Series 1, of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, pages 54-55. Previous pages give the results of the court of inquiry into the actions of Captain Armstrong previous to his surrender of the navy yard. It does give an interesting picture of how a court of inquiry is conducted. I suspect that Captain Armstrong greatly regretted asking for one, although one might have been convened regardless.

Upon these charges and specifications the "finding" of the court is in the following terms:

The court, having maturely considered the whole case, with the evidence and the
defense aforesaid, find as follows:
1. That the first specification of the first charge against the said Captain James
Armstrong is proved, except as to the words in said specification " adequate to a defense of said yard."
2. That the second specification of the first charge against the said Captain James Armstrong is proved.
3. That the third specification of the first charge is proved, except that the accused did remove or send to Fort Pickens thirty men (a part of his command), thirty muskets, and some ammunition and a barge load of provisions.

And the court thereupon further find that the said Captain James Armstrong is guilty of the first charge of neglect of duty.

And the court doth further find that the first specification of the second charge against the accused is proved, except that thirty men (a part of his command) were sent by the said Captain James Armstrong to cooperate in the defense of Fort Pickens.
And they further find —
2. That the second specification of the second charge is proved.
And thereupon the court find the said Captain James Armstrong to be guilty of the second charge of disobedience of orders and conduct unbecoming an officer.

And the sentence of the court is —

That the said Captain James Armstrong be suspended from duty for the term of five years, with loss of pay for the first half of said term, and he reprimanded by the honorable Secretary of the Navy in general orders.

I have approved the sentence, and Captain James Armstrong will accordingly be suspended from duty for the term of five years from this date, with loss of pay for the first half of the said term.

The Secretary of the Navy at the time of the court-martial was Gideon Welles. Fort Pickens, held by the U.S. Army throughout the war, was at the entrance to Pensacola Bay, and could be readily reinforced and supplied by sea. The Confederates abandoned Pensacola following the capture of New Orleans and it became an extremely value base for the U.S. Navy in the blockade of the Gulf Coast.

The verdict against Captain Armstrong removed him from any further service in the Navy during the Civil War, assuming that he would have been trusted with a command.

 

[whartung]

It does give an interesting picture of how a court of inquiry is conducted. I suspect that Captain Armstrong greatly regretted asking for one, although one might have been convened regardless.

I guess maybe this was discussed higher up and I missed it, but this doesn't really say what this is about. Neglect of duty, disobeying an order.

What were the circumstances here?

 

[Timerover51]

I guess maybe this was discussed higher up and I missed it, but this doesn't really say what this is about. Neglect of duty, disobeying an order.

What were the circumstances here?

My apologies. He was courtmartialed for surrendering the Pensacola Navy Yard to agents from the State of Florida in January of 1861 when it was demanded of him, without doing anything to protect or dispose of U.S. government property. His major problem was the U.S. Army unit stationed to protect the base, a total of less than 50 men, did precisely what Major Anderson did at Charleston and move to a fort that was protecting the harbor, Fort Pickens. Unlike Fort Sumter, Fort Pickens could be supplied readily from the Gulf of Mexico, and was held for the Union throughout the war. He failed to send the small Marine detachment to assist the Army, as he stated that he would, and also took on steps to move or destroy the 22,000 pounds of black powder stored at the base. The Army unit moved their black powder, without any real assistance from the Navy, and destroyed what they did not take. There was sufficient warning of the takeover that the Army unit took the steps that they could to protect government property, while Captain Armstrong to no steps to protect the Navy property. He allowed to soon-to-be Confederates to intimidate him quite badly.

 

[whartung]

Ah, thank you.

 

[Timerover51]

When someone in the media or government mentions the Berlin Airlift, the following is what they are talking about. There are two movies which can be downloaded or watched online from archive.org. There is a USAF fact sheet covering the operation, along with two books on the subject.

The black and white movie, Operation Vittles.
https://archive.org/details/OperationVittles

The color movie, BERLIN AIRLIFT 1948 IN COLOR AMERICAN AIRLINES AIRLIFT TO BERLIN
https://archive.org/details/40284airlifttoberlinvwr

USAF Fact Sheet: 1949-The Berlin Airlift
https://www.afhistory.af.mil/FAQs/Fact-Sheets/Article/458961/the-berlin-airlift/

Book: To Save A City
https://archive.org/details/ToSaveACityBerlinAirlift

US Air Force Europe report:
https://archive.org/details/Berlinairlift00Unit

As one of the book titles says, the airlift was not to evacuate a city, but to save it, to bring sufficient supplies by air to keep the population of 2.5 million supplied when the Soviets cut off the land supply lines.

Edit Note: One more book, Report on the Airlift - Berlin Mission
https://media.defense.gov/2012/Jun/27/2001330007/-1/-1/0/Report on the Airlift.pdf

 

[Timerover51]

The following is one of the more famous poems to come from World War One. Alan Seeger met his rendezvous on July 4, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, while serving with the French Foreign Legion.

I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath—
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.

God knows 'twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear…
But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.

 

[Dragoner]

Suicide In The Trenches​

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

-Siegfried Sassoon

 

[whartung]

Thanks for sharing that TR.

 

[casquilho]

Suicide In The Trenches​

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

-Siegfried Sassoon

I feel odd clicking "liked" when the poem is very sad. But I am glad you shared it with us. Very hard and serious, but is worth reading and thinking about.

 

[Dragoner]

I feel odd clicking "liked" when the poem is very sad. But I am glad you shared it with us. Very hard and serious, but is worth reading and thinking about.

Yes, you are right, it does feel strange often enough clicking "Like" on some posts. The late 19th, and early 20th century are when some of the best poetry is written. I have poetry section on my discord, though much of it is not in English.

 

[Timerover51]

The following comes from the book, Combat Support in Korea, published by the U.S. Army Center for 'Military History, and can be found online for free download. As aU.S. Government publication, it is copyright-free.

The C ration is the most acceptable ration we have in use in Korea. Everyone likes it. The relative acceptance ratings of the meat items are: (1) beans and frankfurters; (2) beans with pork; (3) meat and beans; (4) ham and lima beans; (5) spaghetti and meat; (6) hamburgers with gravy; (7) pork sausage patties with gravy; (8) meat and noodles; (9) chicken and vegetables; (10) beef stew; (11) corned-beef hash.

As I like corned beef hash, the fact that is last in acceptance surprised me, but the officer making the report does qualify that by stating that the Far East had on oversupply of beef stew and corn beef hash at the beginning of the war, resulting in continuous issues of the items. That result in severe monotony of diet and consequent dislike. There is an extended discussion in the book regarding rations, and their development during the Korean War.

 

[Condottiere]

I suspect a certain amount of foraging is maintained.

 

[whartung]

As I like corned beef hash,

I do to. The funny thing is, that I like the canned stuff from the grocery store. We have a couple of restaurants that make their own, and some of it is not too bad, but the awful, fat laden, salt gorged, dog food consistency stuff from the can, fried up a little bit crisp, is good times.

I was at one restaurant and order the hash and the waitress said: "Have you ever had our corned beef hash?" "No" "They you'll want to order something else."

I took her at her word and picked something else.

 

[Condottiere]

I hope the Vargr can read English.