Before I get started, don’t forget to get your day old dose of “Sunday Ship History,” this week with the theme of songs, when you finish the post here.

LCDR James “Jimmy” Thach, USN – CO VF-3, c. 1942

He retired as as Admiral after a long and honorable career in the service of our nation, but he made his name by pioneering air tactics, specifically, the “Thach Weave” in response to the capabilities of the Japanese Zero fighter to better the chances of the F4F Wildcat. From Wikipedia:

[…]
Working at night with matchsticks on the table, he eventually came up with what he called “Beam Defense Position”, but what soon became known as the “Thach Weave”. It was executed either by two fighter aircraft side-by-side or (as illustrated) by two pairs of fighters flying together. When an enemy aircraft chose one fighter as his target (the “bait” fighter; his wingman being the “hook”), the two wingmen turned in towards each other. After crossing paths, and once their separation was great enough, they would then repeat the exercise, again turning in towards each other, bringing the enemy plane into the hook’s sights. A correctly-executed Thach Weave (assuming the bait was taken and followed) left little chance of escape to even the most maneuverable opponent.
[…]

As CO of VF-3, flying from USS YORKTOWN (CV-5), at the Battle of Midway, he had his pilots successfully use this tactic against the Japanese, playing a part in the surprise success over the approaching forces. He was aided by ENS “Butch” O’Hare, later to win the Medal of Honor, in the development and execution of this ground breaking tactic. Later, the Marine pilots of the “Cactus Air Force” flying from Guadalcanal with cannibalized F4F Wildcats as their main fighter, employed this tactic as well.

After the Battle of Midway. LCDR Thach was placed where his keen mind could really be multiplied: Training new Naval Aviators. Unlike the enemy (Germans and Japanese), who kept their best pilots on the front lines, the US adopted a policy of rotating experienced combat pilots back to the school houses to pass along their lessons learned written in blood to give new pilots an instant advantage upon arrival in theater.

Later, CDR Thach was assigned to ADM John McCain Sr’s (Sen John McCain’s Grandfather) Staff and was present for the Japanese Surrender at Tokyo Bay.

Proving his skills for better better warfighting tactics, he was recognized by Time Magazine in 1958 for his work with an experimental anti-submarine warfare (ASW) unit aboard USS VALLEY FORGE (CVS-45). Later, he presided over the development of the A-7 Corsair II for the Navy (the USAF also bought this airframe).

ADM Thach retired in 1967, and passed away in 1981.

USS THACH (FFG-43) and SH-60B SeahawkUSS THACH was commissioned 3/17/1984, and is a “Flight III” version of the USS O.H. PERRY Class Guided Missile Frigates. She was initially outfitted with the full compliment of ASW equipment that was retrofitted aboard the Flight I and II ships of the class.USS THACH has been an active participant in the the Operation Iraqi Freedom Campaigns.In honor of this great tactician, the USS THACH (FFG-43) was named for him.

I’m not, by habit, a novel reader, but I was given a copy of “Under Enemy Colors” for review. It turned out to an engaging read, full of well written dialogs, and vivid descriptions of the action and the environment. Highly recommended for those looking for a good read about late 18th – early 19th century life and combat at sea aboard a British Navy Frigate.

Join the life of Charles Hayden, the First Lieutenant aboard HMS Themis, under the command of Captain Josiah Hart, who seems to hold his station in life due to his wife’s connections to the Admiralty, rather than by competence, yet he is somehow graced with a good reputation. Seen through the eyes of the Mr Hayden, the cast of characters are widely varied in their dispositions, but are painted in realistic manners, to fit well into the crew, disgruntled by the tyrannical reign of a captain who seem to avoid real conflict at any turn.

The book begins with the 1st Lt arriving at his new posting an finding the Captain gone and the ship not in adequate condition, where upon he sets himself to work to prepare the ship for the assigned mission to cruise French coast and harass shipping and ascertain the strength of their adversaries. Sailing into the Atlantic towards Brest, the story picks up speed, building rapidly on the characters developed during the tense days of refitting the ship. I wasn’t disappointed by the pace, and the twists and turns the author took me on, just when I thought I saw the course of the story.

I will admit I know little of the terminology of the sails and rigging of a multi-masted sailing vessel, but I suspect it is entirely accurate in the terminology and procedures used to tell the tale.

The book is not a dry accounting of  sailing an battles, but there are supporting threads of internal politics of the Royal Navy, alliances between men aboard ship, and the tugging of political strings to get things done, for good and for bad.

It appears, in the end of this book, there is certainly room for the story to continue in a serial manner, and I look forward to the next novel in the series.

If you want to get a sense of the mood and situation in the Pentagon on the morning of 9/11/2001, then don’t miss the Reflections of SteelJaw Scribe, who was in the building and is taking a few days to recount the experience…

Part I is here

Check back at his site the next few days for the continuation of this inside view of the attack suffered that historical day through the eyes of a Navy Captain.

Some of the pitfalls of John Edwards mandated universal health care have been discussed in DJ’s post yesterday. DJ does point out this plan has been tried in England, and it’s a disaster…

I suggest the overall discussions on this topic of forced probing by doctors, or it’s off to the Gulag with you! hasn’t hit on one of the most critical points…following the money. My “angle?” John Edwards is a lawyer, Hillary Clinton is a lawyer. So are about every other person in the top level of elected government. A “healthy” (pun intended, why, yes!) sum of money is made by the legal profession in suing people. They also do not collect a portion of the money awarded in judgments, either. Bill Bennett’s brother, when hosting Morning in America one day, when asked how much he charged an hour commented that it was a lot, but you should see the ratio of collected to uncollected fees.

Puzzle piece #2: Lawyers, when given a case, do what? They chase the “deep pockets.”

Puzzle piece #3: The Federal Government self-insures. We don’t pay Lloyd’s of London to protect against risk…we hope we’ll find the money “somewhere” when we need to pay off a successful award against faulty/negligent/criminal behavior by those employed by the Government.

See where I’m going? I hope so.

If all doctors and medical professionals become civil servants, you won’t be able to sue them, just as you cannot sue a Government official, who was acting in the capacity of a Government employee now. If the wrong mangled limb is amputated in the operating room after an accident, sue the Government. If you are given a prescription that causes you to have an allergic reaction, one noted in your medical history, sue the Government. If your baby is delivered wrong, sue the Government.

Unlike doctors, who can give all their assets, exhaust all their medical malpractice insurance, and still come up wanting in the money they owe you, the Government has the deepest pockets of all of us, and…it’s not like they will take off to Hong Kong if they don’t feel like paying. There will always be a physical address, and a civil servant you can harass until you get your claim paid, with the added benefit of being able to call your Congress critter to ask them to sick their staffers on the unlucky civil servant, overworked and underpaid, to make sure you get front of the line privileged treatment…

Oh, just forget that not only will we pay for each other’s health care, we will pay for every and all claims against the “universal Health Care” system, regardless of how unfounded and/or frivolous they may be. Sort of a bigger version of when you take your car into the shop with a mangled fender “Are you paying for it, or is this an insurance claim?” philosophy, except it will be the millions of smaller wallets that will suffer…after all, who could deny a compassionate response from the Government, when one of it’s citizens has been wronged?

Think about it. Lawyers will love it…sue crazy America will love it. Judges will be even more overworked, along with the entire court system…and all of that will be a very, very big boost to the legal profession. WhatI ask you not to think about is how the cost, astronomical as it will become, will be buried deep within the Federal Budget’s pages…a mere “drop in the bucket” we will be told, of the over all trillions we need to run the country…so open your checkbook, IRS will be coming to you soon.

Better take up the local diploma mill’s offer to get your degree in paralegal services now!

Next idea: Universal Legal Service. Yeah, like we’d have a snowball’s chance of getting that passed into law by a bunch of lawyers…

There we were at NAVSCOLDIVSALV…praying we one day would be worthy of the title “Diving Officer.”

It was cold, it was wet, the MKV gear was not for the faint of heart, yet, in our (mostly) youthful exuberance, seemed to be worrying about the next meal.

Those days on the Diving Stations on the barge moored in the Anacostia River were long, beginning about 0600, ending about 1630, with a set of calisthenics on each end, and diving once, maybe twice each work days wearing a spun copper hat, and the rest of the grab to round out 198 lbs…no typo there…oh, and did I mention the Potomac had frozen over? The “playground” we were using refsed to, due to the copious amounts of entrained matter…today we would call it grossly polluted….

One day, while on momentary break for lunch, one of our hopeful number surveyed his tuna sandwich with some (but not enough) suspicion, as it had resided since just before 0600 that morning, in the locker room, which, was well heated with steam. Anyhow, Cloe decided he was hungry (the days were tough on us growing boys), so he hammered the sandwich, not giving it much thought for the environmental “issues.”

He had been tending all morning, and had yet to make his one dive…and later he did. The dives by then lasted about an hour, less if you had lots of manual dexterity and a capable mind for visualization, since no light penetrated the pollutionsilt.

“Topside, Red Diver. I think I’m gonna be sick!” came the message from 30 some feet bleow about 20 minutes into his dive.

“Red Diver, Topside. You better not puke in your helmet.”

The hand signals from the instructors let us know to heave around smartly on his umbilical and comm line, so as to get him to the ladder very soon. We got him up and on the bench, disaster, of the most smelly kind, was averted, but not before we all got a good laugh out of it and the rights to bring the subject up regularly…which we did…

Moral of the “sea story:” You know, don’t leave you mayonnaise laden sandwich sit out in the heat, even if it is cloder than the inside of your refrigerator outside.

Welches ist jene?
“I dunno, but it was something FAST!” – Bill Cosby

Something about having to back off the throttle at 230 mph due to road conditions…and that was…ummm…56% power…

If Lex can’t manage to find his chestnuts and get a non-military jet flying job, despite several offers, maybe he can consider one of these as a 2D substitute. Then, for the ValOUR-IT 2007 fund raising drive, he could take a lucky high bidder out for a spin in the desert near his house…How ’bout it, Lex? Feeling charitable?

And who would say NASA isn’t useful for something?

H/T: Wired Magazine – Sep 07 Edition

Before you begin: Don’t forget Eagle1’s Sunday Ship History!

Today, a man I figured may have had more prominence in US Navy History than I have been exposed to: Captain Isaac Hull.

Captain Hull, I find was present at many more significant battles in our early history as a Nation than just as the Captain of the USS CONSTITUTION during the famous battle against the HMS Guerrière’s on August 19th, 1812. Born in Derby, CT on March 9, 1773, he was the son of a mariner and regularly accompanied his father to sea for local and longer distance sailings to the West Indies. HIs father died while he was young , and he was adopted by his uncle, William Hull, a veteran of many battles of the Revolutionary War.Beginning his own life at sea as a merchant sailor, Issac Hull had commanded several merchants ships during the 1790s, losing some to the French.

Earning a commission in the young Navy in 1798 as a Lieutenant, he served the US Navy for many years to come.His first assignment was aboard the USS CONSTITUTION. As a result, he would have seen action in the Western Atlantic during the Quasi-Wars with France.

In 1805, Isaac Hull was the captain of the USS ARGUS in the Squadron commanded by Commodore James Barron, stationed in the Mediterranean during the Barbary Wars. Here we see Lt. Issac Hull becoming part of the legendary beginnings of the US Marine Corps. The ARGUS was tasked to deliver William Eaton, an secret agent for the US, along with 8 Marines and supplies to Egypt, in a mission that would begin the US’ first land war on foreign soil. One of the Marines embarked on ARGUS was Lt Presley O’Bannon. On April 27th, 1805, after Mr. Eaton had raised an Arab and Christian Army to help get Hamet Karamali back into power in Tripoli (now Libya) and marched west to the outskirts of Derna, the USS ARGUS, accompanied by USS NAUTILUS (Lt O.H. Perry commanding) and USS HORNET, with now Master Commander Hull in command, provided naval gunfire support, while Eaton, O’Bannon and their army stormed the city from landward.

Certainly, Master Commandant Isaac Hull played a significant role in making the history we know of the Barbary Wars, as well as his later exploits as Captain of the USS CONSTITUTION. In the early days of the War of 1812, sailing from Annapolis in July after re-coppering the bottom of CONSTITUTION, Capt Hull almost lost the ship to a far superior force of an entire British Squadron, comprised of 4 frigates and a 64 gun battleship. The story of the escape from enemy forces is told in “Six Frigates” by Ian Toll, in great detail. Not having the wind to retreat, the crew put the boats in the water and used kedge anchors and the ship’s capstans to pull the ship away from the British. For three days, the becalmed warships fought for any slight advantage, yet remained out of effective gunfire range of one another. The crew of the CONSTITUTION did not rest the entire time, being needed to row, man guns, or the capstan bars to save themselves and their ship.

A month later, Captain Hull would show his skill as a warship skipper, soundly beating Captain Dacares of the HMS Guerrière’s, one of the ship’s that had hounded CONSTITUTION in July.

Captain Hull went from the CONSTITUTION to command the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, ME, where the construction of the USS WASHINGTON, the US Navy’s first 74 gun battle ship was begun. This, it seems, was a task fit for someone with courage and constitution for battle. from the website SeacoastNH:

When Hull arrived at the new federal yard he discovered a miniscule facility with only a few buildings, not a single guard or defensive cannon and just 18 men.

Isaac Hull was unshaken. He had done the impossible before. A year before, pursued near New Jersey by five ships from the world’s finest navy, Hull gave the British fleet the slip. Then with the American fleet outnumbered 100 ships to one, he pitted the USS CONSTITUTION dead against HMS GURRIERE outside Boston in August 1812. When the smoke cleared, the American ship had won the battle, puncturing the Royal Navy’s claim to invincibility. It was largely a morale victory, but just the boost a politically divided young country needed. His surviving ship became known as “Old Ironsides”.

Still the War of 1812 raged on. Before it was over the British would torch the new nation’s capital city of Washington. Even as Washington burned, Hull was building the USS WASHINGTON, the name eventually assigned to his 74-gun project. Despite the crude shipbuilding conditions there, Hull’s initial assessment of Portsmouth Harbor vibrated with enthusiasm. He highly approved of the government’s chosen site on 58-acre Fernald’s Island on the Maine side of the swiftly flowing Piscataqua River. Sheltered, yet close to the sea in a deepwater port, Portsmouth Yard was more convenient, he wrote, “than any Yard belonging to the United States.”

But building WASHINGTON quickly became a political land battle rivaling anything Hull had experienced at sea.
[…]

More incredible details on the effort to get the WASHINGTON built are there…read them!

Hull later was shortly on the Board of Navy Commissioners, then commanded the Boston Navy Yard, before taking the Pacific Squadron, operating in the Pacific Ocean. Following that seagoing command, he ran the Washington Navy Yard, and finally was assigned as the Mediterranean Squadron Commander. Two years after his retirement in 1841, he died on Feb 13th, 1843.

I began this post saying I wondered why this man has not been had a more prominent place in daily naval history. During my years of service, I knew of the USS HULL (DD-945), mostly because she was the test platform for the Mk 71 8″ Gun. Based on the information I have come across in the last few days, between reading “Six Frigates,” seeing a History Channel show on the Tripolean War, and finding other websites about Isaac Hull, it certainly appears he was one of the most experienced ship commanders of all the many names of the early American Naval heros, but he also managed to grasp a difficult problem of building large ships and get the job done well, despite disputes, enemy blockades and infighting.

While five Navy vessels have been named for him, none of them were “Class” ships (those who were the first of a type of ship, and therefore the others in the class would be all associated with the first on, such as the SPRUANCE Class destroyers):

• USS COMMODORE HULL – sidewheeled steam gunboat – 1862-1865
• USS HULL (DD-7) – 1902-1919. DD-7 spent most of her years in the Pacific Squadron, but moved to Norfolk, VA in 1918 and made anti-submarine patrols off the East Coast.
• USS HULL (DD-330) – CLEMSON Class DD – 1921-1930
• USS HULL (DD-350) – FARRAGUT Class DD – 1934 -1944. This ship was stationed at Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec, 1941 and fired her AA batteries, despite being moored to t Destroyer Tender for repairs, at the Japanese aircraft. She sailed to escort USS ENTERPRISE (CV-2) back into Pearl Harbor. She participated in the Guadalcanal landings, screening cruisers. In April 43, she was part of the force supporting the amphibious assault on Kiska, providing gunfire support to the landing force. Other combat actions included Wake Island, the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, Truk and the famous “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot” and the invasion of Guam (July 21st, 1944). This HULL was lost in one of the most tragic accidents in our Navy’s history, the loss of ships during the typhoon in the pacific that struck ADM Halsey’s battle force on 18 December, 1944. In a related post regarding the uparmoring of HMMVEES, I blogged about similar issues of the FARRAGUT Class DDs in early WWII, that contributed significantly to the loss of life in this maritime disaster. The book, “Typhoon: The Other Enemy” by C. Raymond Calhoun (who was the CO of a FARRAGUT Class DD that did survive the storm, tells an incredible story, worth reading for any seagoing professional.

• USS HULL (DD-945) – 1958-1983. This HULL made six deployments to Vietnam, conducting gunfire support, search and rescue, and carrier escort duties. In 1974 and 1975, she was the test platform for the 8″/55cal gun mount, originally envisioned for the SPRUANCE Class Destroyers main battery. While I only heard sea stories of the testing as a junior officer, it seemed the MK68 Gunfire control system was not well suited for the task, thereby degrading the accuracy of the firings. Rumor had it that the Chief Gunner’s mate would apply some “Kentucy Windage” to the firing equation and became a pretty good shot, but the fact that the electronics weren’t up to the task ruled out his personal corrections. Additionally, the forecastle structure had it’s limitations, since the ship hadn’t been designed for such weights on the gun roller path. Once more, rumor had it accuracy suffered. Net result: The program was canceled and the SPRUANCEs went to sea with 5″ guns, which, ironically, were also designed to be light weight, in order to be installed aboard the PF-109/FFG-7 class frigates as the main gun.

To wrap up, it seems odd that we have never elevated Isaac Hull to greater visibility, given his earned reputation as a superior sailor, captain, leader and shipbuilder. I think it is a disgrace that a single DDG-51 could not have been found to honor his history, yet we can manage to name them after living admirals, who’s greatest contribution to the Navy was to manage to get AEGIS installed on many ships. It used to be you had to be dead to have a ship named for you. In the past decades, that trend has obviously changed. At least we will soon see the USS JASON DUNHAM at sea.

‘Nuff Said…(got you thinking, didn’t it?)

Tracked back to: SteelJaw Scribe who joins the land of “OTB”!

Maybe we’ll have to begin paying farmers not to grow peanuts anymore, for fear a small segment of society will demand complete access to all venues, public or private, free from any responsibility to avoid situations that may, in fact be life threatening…

From a local franchise door…no kidding!How soon do we stop driving on roads because it’s too difficult for parents to pay attention, lean out the window and yell “GET OUT OF THE STREET BEFORE YOU GET HIT BY A CAR!” when little Johnny strays off the grass and onto the asphalt? When you see the signs in your neighborhood “No Motorized Vehicles Allowed – Children Might Be on Roadway” you’ll know we’re renounced all personal responsibility…

I know…everyone is busy (except you retired folk), but today, like the rest of the week will be busy getting orders back for Labor Day to the customers.

I’ll point you elsewhere to feed your need to read:

If you’re not already a fan of the weekly series of “Flight Deck Friday” and you love aviation history, SteelJaw Scribe takes an every 7 day journey down this path in a Naval way. This week, the Navy’s first jet!

CDR Salamander, that mysterious active duty officer provides glimpses of exceptional devotions to duty in naval history in his long running “Fullbore Friday” series, most times the subject being on the US, sometimes engaging stories of navies of other nations. This week: USS Harry Lee (AP-17/APA-10). So what’s an auxiliary got to do with showing some guts? Click here and find out.

I’m off to work, all the while considering how the Navy is turning into a sea going Air Force with such grand adventures as this (damn touchy feely types!) and, how the body count rises, yet we can’t seem to deploy weapons that might cut it down…oh, yeah, on both sides of the equation, for fear of a bad report on CNN to the world, full of ridiculous assertions as discussed here (damn lawyers!).

Now all we need is more “lifer” (and I do mean that in a derogatory way) Congresscritters to pretend they are the President, safely behind the fact they are not the one who has to not only make incredibly complex decisions, but will be the one to shoulder forever, even beyond the grave, the responsibility for such judgment to make the news day complete. Those after the psychologists who tell us what went wrong at VT by not treating our adult offspring like they have no brains and are to be herded about like cattle from now on because of one incident and how the rest of the world needs to know what they are thinking at all times.

Ever notice how there is lots of stress at military schools (show in news, movies and TV shows regularly) and no records (that I know of) mass murder by someone who couldn’t take taking the classes and because people made them feel picked on? Solution: Expand high school and college military schools to grow some adults for the future…and that will be tomorrow’s topic.