#Naval!Commander!John

[thecountofs]

My Time In ONI [Webcomic]

Second Generation Spartans,

John 117, Vittoria 088 and Dani 109

[51kas81]

Mark Harmon & John Finn in NCIS S9.E8 Engaged part I (2011)

[famousdeaths]

Admiral Sir John Hawkins was an English naval commander, naval administrator, privateer and slave trader.

Link: John Hawkins (naval commander)

[boogiewoogieweeb]

#YES EDWARD #see this to me feels like a glimpse of who he used to be #of the edward little that was deemed fitting for a prestigious naval expedition as first lieutenant #this is edward little when he's not being relentless ground down by an alcoholic captain and distrust and lack of respect #and the tightrope of covering for said alcoholic captain while not appearing to be insubordinate #when he's *actually* in a position of command #look i know they don't listen to him #but it's at a point when survival overcomes any thoughts of naval hierarchy or loyalty or anything except pure will to survive at any cost #it just makes me sad #as edward little always does #to think who he used to be #and who he became after being slowly but relentlessly eroded - @muchtodoonterror

THE TERROR ▸ 1.10 we are gone

[ltwilliammowett]

Old naval slang

A small collection of terms from the 18th - early 20th century that were and probably still are known among sailors.

Admiralty Ham - Royal Navy canned fish Batten your hatch - shut up Beachcomber - a good-for-nothing Cape Horn Fever - feigned illness Cheeseparer - a cheat Claw off - to avoid an embarrassing question or argument Cockbilled - drunk Cumshaw - small craft - Chinese version of scrimshaw Dead Marine - empty liquor bottle Donkey's Breakfast - mattress filled with straw Dunnage - personal equipment of a sailor Flying Fish sailor - sailor stationed in Asian waters Galley yarn - rumour, story Hog yoke- sextant Holy Joe - ship's chaplain Irish hurricane- dead calm Irish pennant - frayed line or piece of clothing Jamaican discipline - unruly behaviour Knock galley west - to knock a person out Leatherneck - a marine Limey - a British sailor Liverpool pennant - a piece of string used to replace a lost button Loaded to the guards - drunk Old Man - captain of the ship One and only - the sailor's best girl On the beach - ashore without a berth Pale Ale - drinking water Quarterdeck voice - the voice of authority Railroad Pants - uniform trousers with braid on the outer leg seam Railway tracks - badge of a first lieutenant Round bottomed chest - sea bag Schooner on the rocks - roast beef and roast potatoes Show a leg - rise and shine Sling it over - pass it to me Slip his cable - die Sundowner - unreasonable tough officer Swallow the anchor - retire Sweat the glass - shake the hour glass to make the time on watch pass quickly - strictly forbidden ! Tops'l buster - strong gale Trim the dish - balance the ship so that it sails on an even keel Turnpike sailor - beggar ashore, a landlubber claiming to be an old sailor in distress Water bewitched - weak tea White rat - sailor who curries favor with the officers

Sailors' Language, by W. Clark Russell, 1883 Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases. Edward Fraser and John Gibbons, 1925 Sea Slang, by Frank C. Bowen, 1929 Royal Navalese, by Commander John Irving, 1946 Sea Slang of the 20th century, by Wilfried Granville, 1949 The Sailor's Word Book, by Admiral W.H. Smyth, 1967

[edelfan]

“I hate you! I don't ever wanna see your face again!”

Over 1 year later…

“Pete, I know you just got back, but that's no excuse to leave your mess all over the house.”

Having just come home from work, Ice had to bypass Mav’s jacket and horrendous cowboy boots in the middle of the hallway, an empty beer bottle and crumbs of chips leading him to the other man lounging on the couch.

“But you still love me.”

Mav was tiredly smiling up at him, making Ice shake his head fondly.

“Sometimes I wonder why. Even Bradley wasn't-”

Groaning frustratingly, Ice pulled his ringing cell phone out of his pocket, frowning at the unknown number on the display.

“Ignore it…”

“You know I can't… Kazansky, hello?”

“Hello, my name is Gracie Bushman. I’m a nurse at St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation and Care Center in Maryland. Am I speaking to Rear Admiral Thomas Kazansky?”

“Speaking. How may I help you, ma’am?”

“I was referred to you because I’m looking for someone called ‘Mav’ or ‘Maverick’? Also someone possibly nicknamed ‘Ice’?”

“Maverick, Commander Pete Mitchell, is my… wingman from my active days as a naval aviator. That's his callsign, mine was Iceman. But why-?”

“I think you need to come to Maryland as soon as possible.”

~~~

“Thank you for coming so fast.”

Mav and Ice had taken the first flight to Washington, their minds still reeling with what they had heard, now following Gracie through the hallways of the rehab center.

“No problem at all. So, this patient…”

“He had been admitted to hospital as a John Doe after being involved in a car accident. There had been nothing on him to identify him. He had suffered severed head injuries, leaving him in a coma and a vegetative state for several weeks before he was transferred here. He’s been with us for over three months when he slowly started showing signs of awareness. A few weeks ago he started to mumble words, but they didn't make any sense to us at first. But he seemed persistent, so I started researching…”

“And that's how you found us.”

Pete’s voice was barely audible when they finally stopped in front of a door.

“Yeah. Now, before going in, you need to know that he sustained severe scarring in the accident as well. It might take him a while to focus on you. Whatever happens, try not to stress him too much.”

Mav and Ice could only nod as Gracie knocked on the door.

“Hey, honey, you got some visitors today…”

The young man in the bed didn't look up at first. He was pale and thin, red scars all over his face, but there was no doubt…

“Oh my God, Bradley…”

They couldn't hold themselves back anymore. Soon enough Mav was almost crawling onto the bed, wrapping Bradley into his arms as Ice grabbed his boney hands and didn't let go.

“Oh baby goose…”

Very slowly Bradley’s eyes started to take them in and suddenly a loud sob ripped through him. Floods of tears were running down his cheeks.

“Da… Pop…”

There was no single dry eye in the room at this moment.

“Yeah, baby, we’re here… we’re here.”

[pinturas-sgm-aviacion]

1942 04 Spitifires over Malta - Robert Taylor

Between the summer of 1940 and the end of 1942, Malta became one of the most bombed places on earth. The Royal Air Force's desperate fight to retain control of the diminutive Mediterranean island is one of the epic stories of World War Two.Crucial to the Allies in their battle with the Axis forces in North Africa, Malta's naval dockyards and airfields provided the only base from which ships and aircraft could attack the convoys supplying Rommel's desert forces. The German High Command, fully aware of its importance, made every effort to bomb the island out of existence. By April 1942 the RAF was down to just six serviceable Spitfires and Hurricanes, Allied convoys were being decimated unopposed, and Malta was in danger of starvation. Two and a half years of relentless bombing had blitzed the dockyards out of operation, prompting Axis Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Kesselring to tell Hitler that Malta was neutralized.But the Field Marshal failed to take into account the heroism of a tiny force of RAF fighter pilots, the British Merchant Navy, the decisive role played by the British aircraft carriers Eagle and Furious, the American carrier Wasp, and the iron will of the people of Malta.In the spring of 1942, when Spitfires flown from the decks of carriers HMS Eagle and USS Wasp, arrived at the island's battered airstrips, the battle took a new turn. At last, though still heavily outnumbered, the volunteer pilots from Britain, Australia, America, Canada, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth countries were able to put up a meaningful defense. Never again would the Axis raids be met only with token resistance and gradually the Spitfires began to dominate the sky above the beleaguered island. They had arrived in the nick of time.Robert Taylor's magnificent tribute to the gallant pilots who fought against such overwhelming odds, and the people of Malta, depicts Australian John Bisley of 126 Squadron dog-fighting with an Me109 from JG-53 during one of the intense aerial air battles over Valetta in April 1942. NOTE: The Maltese people had withstood the siege with such resolve, King George VI, by way of recognition, awarded the island of Malta the George Cross - the highest decoration for civilian gallantry. Such was the sacrifice made by the people of this tiny island.

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

"I've not seen someone move as fluid in a set of MJOLNIR. I know it's meant to be a second skin for us, but bloody hell..." - Spartan Kyle Garrick, on fellow FT141 member Jade Le Jardin

S-IV Jade Le Jardin, currently attached to Fireteam 141, is a former ONI field intelligence officer from Section One.

She was originally considered as a candidate for the Spartan III program, having been orphaned in an attack in the outer colonies. She spent a couple of years in the system before being adopted by loving parents who were serving in the UNSC. Her family's own career inspired her decision to enlist herself upon reaching the required age, where she quickly achieved high scores throughout basic training.

Her talents and high scores caught the attention of the Office of Naval Intelligence, where she was recruited into Section One and responsible for conducting deep reconnaissance against Covenant forces.

Towards the end of the Human Covenant War and following the rise of the Created, Jade was selected to receive augmentations and training through the Spartan IV program, quickly being seconded to Spartan Fireteam One-Four-One under the command of Fireteam Leader John Price.

-x-x-x-

This is just me indulging in some crossover brainrot with some friend's OCs. This is part of a project in which I'm creating MJOLNIR armour suites for different MW characters, and Jade's was the 'experimental' piece.

Consider this a belated Christmas present, heh...

AAAAAAAAAAH!!

LOOK AT THAT. It's so awesome!! AND THE LORE TOO! You perfectly depicted her (/≧▽≦)/(/≧▽≦)/

Man it's really high time for me to play Halo. Got a new PC recently so I can play actual games with high graphics now HAH!

Thank you so much for this Pix!! 💗💗

[greatworldwar2]

• USS Intrepid

USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed "the Fighting I", while her frequent bad luck and time spent in dry dock for repairs—she was torpedoed once and hit in separate attacks by four Japanese kamikaze aircraft—earned her the nicknames "Decrepit" and "the Dry I".

The keel for Intrepid was laid down on December 1st, 1941 in Shipway 10 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entrance into World War II. She was launched on April 26th, 1943, the fifth Essex-class aircraft carrier to be launched. She was sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral John H. Hoover. In August 1943, she was commissioned with Captain Thomas L. Sprague in command before heading to the Caribbean for shakedown and training. She thereafter returned to Norfolk, before departing once more on December 3rd, bound for San Francisco. She proceeded on to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving there on 10 January, where she began preparations to join the rest of the Pacific Fleet for offensive operations against the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Intrepid joined the Fast Carrier Task Force, then Task Force 58 (TF 58), for the next operation in the island-hopping campaign across the Central Pacific: the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. On January 16th, 1944, Intrepid, her sister ship Essex, and the light carrier Cabot left Pearl Harbor to conduct a raid on islands in the Kwajalein Atoll from January 29th to February 2nd. The three carriers' air group destroyed all 83 Japanese aircraft stationed on Roi-Namur in the first two days of the strikes, before Marines went ashore on neighboring islands on January 31st, in the Battle of Kwajalein. That morning, aircraft from Intrepid attacked Japanese beach defenses on Ennuebing Island until ten minutes before the first Marines landed. The Marines quickly took the island and used it as a fire base to support the follow-on attack on Roi. After the fighting in the Kwajalein Atoll finished, on February 3rd, Intrepid and the rest of TF 58 proceeded to launch Operation Hailstone, a major raid on the main Japanese naval base in the Central Pacific, Truk Lagoon. From the 17th to 19th of February, the carriers pounded Japanese forces in the lagoon, sinking two destroyers and some 200,000 GRT (gross register tonnage) of merchant ships.

The strikes demonstrated the vulnerability of Truk, which convinced the Japanese to avoid using it in the future. Intrepid did not emerge from the operation unscathed, however; on the night of 17th–18th of February, a Rikko type Torpedo Bomber from the 755th Kōkūtai (Genzan Air Group) flying from Tainan attacked and torpedoed the carrier near her stern. The torpedo struck 15 ft (5 m) below the waterline, jamming the ship's rudder to port and flooding several compartments. Sprague was able to counteract the jammed rudder for two days by running the port side screw at high speed while idling the starboard screw, until high winds overpowered the improvised steering. The crew then jury-rigged a sail out of scrap canvas and hatch covers, which allowed the ship to return to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on February 24th. Temporary repairs were effected there, after which Intrepid steamed on March 16th, escorted by the destroyer USS Remey, to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco for permanent repairs, arriving there six days later. The work was completed by June, and Intrepid began two months of training around Pearl Harbor. Starting in early September, Intrepid joined operations in the western Caroline Islands; the Fast Carrier Task Force was now part of the Third Fleet under Admiral William Halsey Jr., and had been renamed Task Force 38. On September 6th and 7th, she conducted air strikes on Japanese artillery batteries and airfields on the island of Peleliu, in preparation for the invasion of Peleliu. On the 9th and 10th of September, she and the rest of the fleet moved on to attack airfields on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, followed by further strikes on bases in the Visayan Sea between the 12th and 14th of September. On September 17th, Intrepid returned to Pelelieu to provide air support to the Marines that had landed on the island two days before.

Intrepid and the other carriers then returned to the Philippines to prepare for the Philippines campaign. At this time, Intrepid was assigned to Task Group 38.2. In addition to targets in the Philippines themselves, the carriers also struck Japanese airfields on the islands of Formosa and Okinawa to degrade Japanese air power in the region. On October 20th, at the start of the Battle of Leyte, Intrepid launched strikes to support Allied forces as they went ashore on the island of Leyte. By this time Halsey had reduced the carriers of TG 38.2, commanded by Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan aboard Intrepid, to just Intrepid, Cabot, and the light carrier Independence. Between the 23rd and 26th of October, the Japanese Navy launched a major operation to disrupt the Allied landings in the Philippines, resulting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the morning of October 24th, a reconnaissance aircraft from Intrepid spotted Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's flagship, Yamato. Two hours later, Intrepid and Cabot launched a strike on Kurita's Center Force, initiating the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea; this included eight Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers from Intrepid. One 500-pound (230 kg) bomb struck the roof of Turret No. 1, failing to penetrate. Two minutes later, the battleship Musashi was struck starboard amidships by a torpedo from a Grumman TBF Avenger, also from Intrepid. The Japanese shot down two Avengers. Another eight Helldivers from Intrepid attacked Musashi again at around noon, scoring two more hits, with two Helldivers shot down. Further strikes from Essex and Lexington inflicted several more bomb and torpedo hits, 37 aircraft from Intrepid, the fleet carrier Franklin, and Cabot attacked Musashi, hitting her with 13 bombs and 11 torpedoes for the loss of three Avengers and three Helldivers. In addition to the loss of Musashi, many of Kurita's other ships, including battleships Yamato, Nagato and Haruna, and heavy cruiser Myōkō were damaged in the attacks, forcing him to break off the operation temporarily. After Kurita's force began to withdraw, Halsey ordered TF 38 to steam north to intercept the aircraft carriers of the Northern Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa. Bogan correctly perceived that Ozawa's force was intended to lure TF 38 away from the landing area to allow Kurita to attack it, but Halsey overruled him and several other Task Group commanders who voiced similar concerns. Early on October 25th, aircraft from Intrepid and the other carriers launched a strike on the Japanese carriers. Aircraft from Intrepid scored hits on the carrier Zuihō and possibly the carrier Zuikaku. Further strikes throughout the morning resulted in the sinking of four Japanese aircraft carriers and a destroyer in the Battle off Cape Engaño. Halsey's preoccupation with the Northern Force allowed Kurita the respite he needed to turn his force back to the east, push through the San Bernardino Strait, where it engaged the light forces of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts that were directly covering the landing force in the Battle off Samar. Kurita nevertheless failed to break through the American formation, and ultimately broke off the attack.

On October 27th, TG 38.2 returned to operations over Luzon; these included a raid on Manila on the 29th. That day, a kamikaze suicide aircraft hit Intrepid on one of her port side gun positions; ten men were killed and another six were wounded, but damage was minimal. A Japanese air raid on November 25th, struck the fleet shortly after noon. Two kamikazes crashed into Intrepid, killing sixty-nine men and causing a serious fire. The ship remained on station, however, and the fires were extinguished within two hours. She was detached for repairs the following day, and reached San Francisco by December. In the middle of February 1945, back in fighting trim, the carrier steamed for Ulithi, arriving by March. She set off westward for strikes on Japan on March 14th, and four days later launched strikes against airfields on Kyūshū. That morning a twin-engined Japanese G4M "Betty" kamikaze broke through a curtain of defensive fire, turned toward Intrepid, and exploded 50 ft (15 m) off Intrepid's forward boat crane. A shower of flaming gasoline and aircraft parts started fires on the hangar deck, but damage control teams quickly put them out. Intrepid's aircraft joined attacks on remnants of the Japanese fleet anchored at Kure damaging 18 enemy naval vessels, including battleship Yamato and carrier Amagi. The carriers turned to Okinawa as L-Day, the start of the most ambitious amphibious assault of the Pacific war, approached. The invasion began on the 1st of April. Intrepid aircraft flew support missions against targets on Okinawa and made neutralizing raids against Japanese airfields in range of the island. On April 16th, during an air raid, a Japanese aircraft dived into Intrepid's flight deck; the engine and part of the fuselage penetrated the deck, killing eight men and wounding 21. In less than an hour the flaming gasoline had been extinguished; three hours after the crash, aircraft were again landing on the carrier. On April 17th, Intrepid retired homeward via Ulithi. She made a stop at Pearl Harbor on 11 May, arriving at San Francisco for repairs on May 19th. On June 29th, the carrier left San Francisco. On August 6th, her aircraft launched strikes against Japanese on bypassed Wake Island. Intrepid arrived at Eniwetok on the next day. On August 15th, when the Japanese surrendered, she received word to "cease offensive operations." Intrepid got under way on August 21st to support the occupation of Japan.

In February 1946, Intrepid moved to San Francisco Bay. The carrier was reduced in status to "commission in reserve" in August, and she was decommissioned on March 22nd, 1947. After her decommissioning, Intrepid became part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. On February 9th, 1952, she was recommissioned. Intrepid later severed as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. She was the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. She was decommissioned for the second time in 1974, she was put into service as a museum ship in 1982 as the foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Complex in New York City. Intrepid earned five battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation during World War II, and a further three battle stars for Vietnam service.

[todaysdocument]

Letter from Major James Wilkins to the Secretary of the Navy Regarding the Recommendation and Sample Citation for the Navy Cross

Record Group 24: Records of the Bureau of Naval PersonnelSeries: Official Military Personnel FilesFile Unit: Official Military Personnel File for John K. Koelsch

[orange tab on right side] TAB 2 ORIGINAL RECON.

MARINE TRANSPORT SQUADRON 353

MARINE AIRCRAFT GROUP 45

3D MARINE AIRCRAFT WING, AIRCRAFT, FMF, ATLANTIC

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION, MIAMI, FLORIDA

20 December 1954

From: Major James V. WILKINS 021898 USMCR

To: The Secretary of the Navy

Via: Commandant of the Marine Corps

Subj: Award of the Navy Cross (Posthumously) case of Lieutenant (junior grade) John K. KOELSCH, USNR, (Deceased) and commendation for

Ref: (a) Marine Corps Manual Para 20005

(b) Marine Corps Manual Para 20051

Encl: (1) Sample Citation, case of subject award

(2) Statement of LT Jehu L. Blades, USN, 453499/1310

1. In accordance with references (a) and (b) it is hereby recommended that Lieutenant (junior grade) John K. KOELSCH, U. S. Naval Rreserve, (Deceased) be awarded the Navy Cross (Posthumously) for extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy as set forth in the following paragraphs cited in enclosure (1) and substantiated by enclosure (2).

2. In the late afternoon of 3 July 1951 Lieutenant KOELSCH volunteered to fly a helicopter from an [strikethrough] LSR [/strikethrough] [handwritten] LST 799 [/handwritten] based in WONSAN Harbor to an area deep in enemy territory and there to attempt the rescue of a downed Marine Aviator. Faced with a nearly solid overcast which covered the tops of the surrounding mountains, approaching darkness and hostile enemy fire, he left his fighter escort above the cloud layer and descended in his unarmed, exposed aircraft into a valley where the downed pilot’s chute was located. Completely alone below the overcast and faced with rapidly increasing enemy fire from both small arms and automatic weapons he dauntlessly proceeded down the enemy MSR to the downed pilot’s reported position. He discovered the pilot’s parachute on the inside slope of a small valley which opened directly on the inside slope of a small valley which opened directly on the MSR from the East. Entering this valley, he searched the area around the parachute unsuccessfully and returned to the road. Enemy fire, which was concentrated on the West side of the MSR and completely covered the inner slopes of the bowl, increased in intensity, but Lieutenant KOELSCH, with no regard for his own safety and in the face of approaching darkness, returned once again

[stamp] Finished File [complete document and transcript at link]

[mab1905]

Me reading this fucking play *in goodsir’s voice*:

It just keeps getting worse and worse…

Worse and worse

According to this play:

- Franklin drinks and swears (but sometimes yells at his men for swearing?)

- Fitzjames’ name is actually Holloway and he thinks science and animals are stupid and he wants to shoot any living thing that isn’t a white man that comes within fifty feet of him

- British people don’t know what seals are

- Franklin is a scientist and holds God and science in the same reverence

- Naval Captains wear full regalia at all times, epaulettes, everything, even when out on the ice in the middle of the night

- Fitzjames Holloway would be introduced as “Officer” and not “Commander”

- Fitzjames Holloway has never met an Inuit person and hates them and thinks they are all terrible and bad and evil. He is like actually so racist. Franklin on the other hand, he thinks they’re great and wants to have tea with them and he immediately tells Holloway how racist he is being when Holloway is racist.

- sprinkling in real historical words like “Fury” and “Parry” and “John Ross” makes this a well researched piece, obviously

- they put British flagstaffs into ice that is only a few feet thick and then immediately sail away from them, for fun ig

- Franklin was alive when they abandoned ship, and walked out with everyone

- They abandon ship close enough to Beechy for the same polar bears to see them

- Franklin goes on a crazed murderous rampage out of nowhere, for fun ig. Immediately afterwards he’s like “oh golly! I’m so sorry lads I don’t know what came over me!” And they’re all like “no worries bro”

- the term “rectal situation”

-the British dialogue is like this: They’re either talking in completely modern phrases or pulling works like “balderdash” out of nowhere

- they are on land and starving, but they are also still regularly going back to the ship, but they have also already written the victory point note, but they are still in walking distance of victory point, but Franklin and Crozier have already split up into different walking parties, but they have no maps, but still make the decision to go to Great Fish River, but they make that decision once they’ve already left, oh also they are Navigating by looking directly into the sun

- regular insubordination and nothing is said about it

- “We will be alert and listen to the animals and spirits” - Sir John Franklin, apparently

- Holloway just carries a clipboard everywhere to take notes on whatever the fuck Franklin is saying and then make random comments about wanting to shoot something

- Crozier is mentioned in name only about four times in this 100 page act, Terror is mentioned maybe twice

-what is even going on

I feel like I just read someone’s random fever dream they had after listening to the song “Northwest Passage”

[whencyclopedia]

Dunkirk Evacuation

The Dunkirk Evacuation of 26 May to 4 June 1940, known as Operation Dynamo, was the attempt to save the British Expeditionary Force in France from total defeat by an advancing German army. Nearly 1,000 naval and civilian craft of all kinds, aided by calm weather and RAF air support, managed to evacuate around 340,000 British, French, and Allied soldiers.

The evacuation led to soured Franco-Anglo relations as the French considered Dunkirk a betrayal, but the alternative was very likely the capture of the entire British Expeditionary Force on the Continent. France surrendered shortly after Dunkirk, but the withdrawal allowed Britain and its empire to harbour its resources and fight on alone in what would become an ever-expanding theatre of war.

Germany's Blitzkrieg

At the outbreak of the Second World War when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, France was relying almost entirely on a single defensive line to protect itself against invasion. These defences were the Maginot Line, a series of mightily impressive concrete structures, bunkers, and underground tunnels which ran along France's eastern frontiers. Manned by 400,000 soldiers, the defence system was named after the French minister of war André Maginot. The French imagined a German attack was most likely to come in two places: the Metz and Lauter regions. As it turned out, Germany attacked France through the Ardennes and Sedan on the Belgian border, circumventing most of the Maginot Line and overrunning the inadequate French defences around the River Meuse, inadequate because the French had considered the terrain in this forested area unsuitable for tanks. Later in the campaign, the Maginot Line was breached near Colmar and Saarbrücken.

To bolster the defences of France, Britain had sent across the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) under the command of General John Vereker (better known by his later title Lord Gort, 1886-1946). Around 150,000 men, mostly infantry, had arrived in September 1939 to strengthen the Franco-Belgian border. The BEF included the British Advanced Air Striking Force of 12 RAF squadrons. The aircraft were mostly Hawker Hurricane fighters and a few light bombers, all given much to the regret of RAF commanders who would have preferred to have kept these planes for home defence. The superior Supermarine Spitfire fighters were kept safely in Britain until the very last stages of the battle in France. The BEF had no armoured divisions and so was very much a defensive force, rather than an offensive one. More infantry divisions arrived up to April 1940, so the BEF grew to almost 400,000 men, but 150,000 of these had little or no military training. As General Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) noted, the BEF was "totally unfit to fight a first class war on the Continent" (Dear, 130). In this respect, both Britain and France were very much stuck in the defensive-thinking mode that had won them the First World War (1914-18). Their enemy was exactly the opposite and had planned meticulously for what it called Fall Gelb (Operation Yellow), the German offensive in the west.

Totally unprepared for a war of movement, the defensive-thinking French were overwhelmed in the middle weeks of May 1940 by the German Blitzkrieg ("lightning war") tactics of fast-moving tanks supported by specialist bombers and smartly followed by the infantry. German forces swept through the three neutral countries of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. The 9th Army punched through the Ardennes and raced in a giant curve through northeast France to reach the coast around Boulogne. The BEF and the northern French armies (7th and 1st) were cut off from the rest of the French forces to the south. Germany had achieved what it called the 'Sickle Slice' (Sichelschnitt). By 24 May, the French and British troops were isolated and with their backs to the English Channel, occupying territory from Dunkirk to Lille. Although there were sporadic counterpunches by the defenders, Gort had already concluded that the French army had collapsed as an operational force. Gort considered an attack on the Germans to the south, which he was ordered to make, would have achieved very little except the annihilation of his army. The BEF must be saved, and so he withdrew to the north.

Continue reading...

[scotianostra]

On July 6th 1747 Scottish naval figure, John Paul Jones, was born.

Might as well start the day off with a biggie, John Paul was a massive figure in the 18th century and persistant pain in the arse to the British, it's rather a long post, but I hope you learn how this guy was hailed as a hero or villain by many, read on ...................

Born in Kirkbean, where his father was the head gardener of the Arbigland Estate. John was born as “John Paul” but would add Jones later in his life. He was born the fourth child of seven and one of only five of such made it to adulthood. John Paul Jones isremembered in history as a naval hero to some and a pirate to others.

John had an education, being sent to Kirkbean School. However, he spent much of his time off at the nearby port of Carsethorn. Whenever he could he ran down to the port where he would talk to sailors and clamber all over the ships; it was clear that the sea was calling John.

At the age of just thirteen he signed on and began an apprenticeship for John Younger, a Scottish merchant shipper. His first voyage as a ship’s boy took him to the Americas, sailing to Barbados and then to Virginia where he stayed with his older brother William who had emigrated there and strived as a tailor.

After returning to the to Britain, John Paul had found that John Younger’s business was failing, and he was released from his apprenticeship. Now seventeen, he entered the slave trade. Within two years he transferred as first mate to the ship Two Friends of Kingston, Jamaica in 1766. The ship was only fifty feet long and after several voyages to and from Africa, John quit the slave trade in disgust calling it an “abominable trade” and booked passage back to Scotland. During the voyage, both the captain and first mate died of fever; John Paul was the only man on the ship qualified to bring the ship, named John, home safely. The owners of the ship were so pleased that they appointed him master and supercargo of the ship, the latter being an officer on a merchant ship in charge of the commercial concerns of the voyage.

Now at the age of twenty-one, John Paul Jones had become a captain. He adopted the manner of a young gentleman who was always neatly dressed and had an eye for the ladies but it's said he came with a violent temper. While captaining the John he was accused by the ships carpenter of excessive flogging. The carpenter was examined, and his complaint was dismissed. While returning the Scotland, that same carpenter died of Yellow Fever and John Paul was arrested and charged with murder. Evidence and a declaration from the master of the Barcelona Packet was sufficient to acquit John. The story will dog his entire life.

In the years prior to the American Revolution, John Paul took command of the Betsy in the fall of 1772. Trading back and forth between England and the West Indies, he accumulated a considerable sum. The flourishment all came to a halt when in 1773 John killed the ringleader of a mutiny with his sword aboard his ship in a dispute over wages. The man was a local of the West Indies, feeling was against John and to evade trial, he fled to Virginia. Here, he changed his named to John Paul Jones.

While in Virginia, Jones’ sympathies were with the colonists and the rebel cause. When Congress formed the Continental Navy, Jones rushed to Philadelphia to offer his services and was commissioned as first lieutenant in December 1775. At the time the Continental Navy consisted of a handful of ships; Jones was lieutenant of the Alfred and then later captain of the Providence. His exploits took him to the West Indies, where he distinguished himself against the British ship Glasgow. In 1776 he switched commands between Alfred and Providence as he operated in the Atlantic Ocean. He captured eight "prizes", sunk and burnt another eight, and towed to port several prizes to end the year.

In June 1777, Jones was appointed to the newly built Ranger. Sailing to the British Isles, he took several prizes before arriving in Brest, France in May 1778 where he was hailed as a hero. Operating out of Brest, Jones led a cruise to the Irish Sea capturing or destroying small vessels. This cruise made Jones a feared household name in Britain.

Returning to Brest once again, Jones was given command of the Duc de Duras, which he had converted to a warship. He renamed her the Bonhomme Richard in honor of Benjamin Franklin. In August 1779 he set sail for Britain again with a squadron of seven ships, raiding commerce around Scotland and Ireland for the better part of the month.

On September 23rd, Jones engaged a merchant fleet which consisted of the HMS Serapis and Countess of Scarborough. Jones was outgunned by the Serapis but thanks to his brilliant maneuvering, he lashed the Bonhomme Richard on to the enemy ship where a battle ensued for three and a half hours. When the enemy captain asked Jones if he would like to surrender, he promptly replied “I have not yet begun to fight!” Jones and his crew were victorious, but Bonhomme Richard began to sink. Jones transferred his remaining crew to the surrendered Serapis and Scarborough and sailed for the Netherlands.

Later he received a gold sword and the Order of Military Merit from Louis XVI. In 1787 Congress passed a vote of thanks for his honor of the American Fleet and they gave him a gold medal. When returned to America in 1781, Jones spent the remaining years of the war advising on the establishment of the navy and the training of naval officers. Jones is often referred to as the Father of the American navy.

After the Americans had won their independence, Jones offered his services to the Russian Empress Catherine II and was granted the rank of rear admiral, serving there for about two years. In May 1790 he returned to Paris where he spent the rest of his life in failing health. He wrote letters to his two estranged sisters in Scotland and to the French Minister of Marine to pay salaries to the men of Bonhomme Richard. On July 18th, 1792, Jones died at the age of 45 in his apartment in Paris.

For near on a century, John Paul Jones' body laid in an unmarked grave for foreign Protestants. In the late 1800s, with a great American naval expansion encouraged by Teddy Roosevelt, intensive research was made to find his body, which it was in 1905. Jones’ body was brought back on USS Brooklyn, and as the ship sailed into Chesapeake Bay seven battleships met them and fired off salutes. In 1913, his body was finally laid to rest at the chapel crypt of Annapolis Naval Academy, in a magnificent marble sarcophagus modeled after the tomb of Napoleon, his tomb is a major tourist attraction in the Maryland capital.

[lonestarbattleship]

USS KRAKEN (SS-370) being launched at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co, Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She was sponsored by Mrs. John Z. Anderson (wife of Congressmen Anderson of California).

She had a cool name and insignia.

Date: April 30, 1944.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 72319, NH 65248-KN

[burningvelvet]

Let me tell you about John “Foul-Weather Jack” Byron, Captain James Cook, a doctor named James Lind, and also a different doctor named James Lind, and how they all knew each other, helped to cure scurvy, and inadvertently helped to inspire Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) -- a long-winded history ramble

John Byron next to a first edition copy of Frankenstein.

John joined the Royal Navy at 14 and by the ripe old age of 17 had proved himself by surviving a deadly shipwreck off the coast of Chile. The voyage was part of George Anson's famous circumnavigation of the globe done to seize Spanish ships. Only 188 men of the original 1,854 crew members survived; several, including Byron, were taken as prisoners by the Spanish. Recollections of the voyage were sensationalized and it was depicted in stories like William Cowper’s poem The Castaway. John Byron published his own successful memoir, The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron (1768).

The novel's full title deserves attention for it's 18th century pre-Byronic melodrama: "The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron (Commodore in a Late Expedition Around the World) Containing an Account of the Great Distresses suffered by Himself and his Companions on the Coast of Patagonia from the Year 1740, till their Arrival in England, 1746. With a Description of St. Jago de Chili, and the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants. Also a Relation of the Loss of the Wager Man of War, one of Admiral Anson's Squadron." I can only imagine that had his grandson Lord Byron's memoirs been published instead of burned, their title would have borrowed from his grandfather's by including something similar to "Containing an Account of the Great Distresses suffered by Himself . . ." but I digress.

I do not digress. The beginning of his preface opens with this gem (I've swapped the 18th-century "long s" for a regular one):

"But here I must say, I have been dubious of the partiality of my friends; and, as I think, justly fearful lest the world in general, who may perhaps find compassion and indulgence for a protracted tale of distress, may not give the same allowance to a luxurious imagination triumphing in a change of fortune, and sudden transition from the most dismal to the gayest scenes in the universe, and thereby indulging an egotism equally offensive to the envious and censorious."

Which brings to mind Francis Cohen's criticism of Lord Byron's Don Juan: “Lord B. should have been grave & gay by turns; grave in one page & gay in the next; grave in one line, & gay in the next. And not grave & gay in the same page, or in the same stanza, or in the same line… we are never drenched & scorched at the same instant whilst standing in one spot" (letter to John Murray, 16 July, 1819). And (not the most entertaining part, but to keep things brief) part of Byron's retort: "I will answer [Cohen] who objects to the quick succession of fun and gravity — as if in that case the gravity did not (in intention at least) heighten the fun. His metaphor is that ‘we are never scorched and drenched at the same time!' Blessings on his experience!" (letter to John Murray, 12 August, 1819).

John went on to be considered one of the greatest naval commanders of his era, commanding several ships as captain during the Seven Years’ War and beating the French as leader in the Battle of Restigouche. He later set the record for fastest global circumnavigation at the time while commodore, became a notable explorer, became a commander at multiple Royal Navy stations, and was appointed Governor of Newfoundland in Canada for three years. According to Wikipedia, “his actions nearly caused a war between Great Britain and Spain.”

It seems like he basically just did whatever the hell he wanted. We can see that the apple really doesn't fall too far from the tree. Everyone in the Byron family was kind of crazy. See: psychologist Kay Jamison's Touched By Fire, a novel on the mental illness of famous writers, half of which is focused on Lord Byron (as it should be) and includes an extensive psychological analysis of his whole family tree, which in a short summary brings me back to my previous point: everyone in the Byron family was kind of crazy.

John's health declined after sustaining storm-induced injuries and an unsuccessful attack against the French at the Battle of Grenada. He died at 62 with six living children. His grandson, the poet Lord Byron, borrowed inspiration from John's life and the shipwreck descriptions in his memoir while he was writing the shipwreck sequence in his magnum opus Don Juan.

In an epistle to his half-sister (Epistle to Augusta) Byron mentions their grandfather thus:

"A strange doom is thy father's son's, and past / Recalling, as it lies beyond redress; / Revers'd for him our grandsire's fate of yore— / He had no rest at sea, nor I on shore. / If my inheritance of storms hath been / In other elements, and on the rocks / Of perils, overlook'd or unforeseen, / I have sustain'd my share of worldly shocks, / The fault was mine; nor do I seek to screen / My errors with defensive paradox; / I have been cunning in mine overthrow, / The careful pilot of my proper woe."

On to the Scottish doctor James Lind! He's important because he developed the theory that citrus fruits treated scurvy, and in attempting to prove so he conducted the world's first ever official clinical trial. In his tests, he used the survivors from this famous shipwreck. This likely included Byron himself, being one of the few survivors and having reported the healing effects of citrus in restoring men who were on the verge of death. Needless to say, the discoveries and implications of Lind's clinical trial had an unprecedented impact on the fields of nutrition and medicine, and all of history, particularly in the Caribbean. In 1753 he published his Treatise on Scurvy.

Lind's theories on scurvy influenced the famous Captain James Cook, who implemented these ideas and proved their efficiency by how few men he lost to scurvy compared with every other Captain at the time. When Cook circumnavigated the world on his first voyage, no one died of scurvy. This didn't help with malaria and dysentery, which nearly wiped out his whole crew at one point on a journey to Indonesia. Aside from Anson's shipwreck, Cook's voyages were the other major instance of what I would call "social experiments at sea, or, fuck around and find out: scurvy edition" which led to the development of scurvy research.

As an aside, there is a famous town in Australia named Byron Bay. That town was named by Captain Cook in 1770 as a tribute to John Byron. Cook was sailing around on the HMS Endeavour doing even crazier colonial shit, and he likewise died as the result of his sea travels. He was killed in a scuffle on Hawaiʻi Island which transpired after he had casually tried to kidnap King Kalaniʻōpuʻu-a-Kaiamamao in broad daylight, planning to ransom him out of revenge for the theft of one of his boats, although Cook himself had stolen their sacred wood first after they had been so nice to him. This is what I've gathered from reading a bit about the confusing affair, but the main point is that Cook got what was coming to him. The Journals of Captain Cook were published to major success, contributing to the history of English travel narratives. But Cook is a pretty well-known historical figure so I can't go into his chaotic life any more than this, lest I be writing forever.

Lord Byron in an Albanian oufit he bought while traveling for 2 years, & Captain Cook thinking about navigation. The backgrounds make them look part of the same painting, no?

Back to the Linds: interestingly enough, the scurvy-studying physician James Lind had a younger cousin who was also a physician named James Lind, as well as a scientist/philosopher/teacher. While teaching at Eton, this Lind became a tutor and mentor of a young Percy Bysshe Shelley, and had such an impact on him that Shelley refers to Lind in several of his works. Shelley especially enjoyed Lind’s experiments regarding galvanism - the study of bringing things to life with electricity. It is widely believed by scholars that Shelley’s conversations and rememberances about Lind at Lord Byron's Villa Diodati were some of the primary inspiration for Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein (1818).

For further reading on Shelley's Lind: The real Doctor Frankenstein? by Christopher Goulding via Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Lind's Wikipedia page has a section devoted to Frankenstein.

Percy Shelley described his Lind:

". . . exactly what an old man ought to be. Free, calm-spirited, full of benevolence, and even of youthful ardor: his eye seemed to burn with supernatural spirit beneath his brow, shaded by his venerable white locks, he was tall, vigorous, and healthy in his body; tempered, as it had ever been, by his amiable mind. I owe to that man far, ah! far more than I owe to my father: he loved me, and I shall never forget our long talks, where he breathed the spirit of the kindest tolerance and the purest wisdom . . ."

A tie-in to vampire literature: Lind is also thought to be an influence on Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), which was influenced by (Lord Byron’s doctor) John Polidori’s novel The Vampyre, the first ever vampire novel, which was inspired by Lord Byron’s short vampire story Augustus Darvell, which was written at the same time as Frankenstein during their infamous ghost story competition at Villa Diodati. Augustus Darvell was inspired by Byron's travels through Eastern Europe, and was likely in part inspired by (another famous Romantic poet) Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s gothic poem Christabel, which Byron terrified Percy Shelley with after reading it aloud at the Villa Diodati, and which Byron loved so much that he helped Coleridge publish it through his own publisher. Christabel began in 1797 but wasn't published until 1816 for this reason.

To continue on vampires: Byron's enemy, the famous poet Robert Southey (who Byron roasted in Don Juan, among other works, and basically cancelled him as a result) also wrote a poem called Thalaba the Destroyer (1801) which is sometimes considered to be the first true depiction of a vampire in English literature. He also wrote it while traveling. Shelley (and Keats) both loved this poem, and so it also *could have* inspired some of the conversation at the Villa Diodati if Shelley had related the vampire theme to Christabel or Darvell. Southey is also the first English writer to write on Haitian zombi folklore, which would later become the zombie of modern horror. Southey was also reportedly in love with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the mother of Mary Shelley and philosopher who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), one of the most influential proto-feminist texts.

I relate these connections to demonstrate how small the literary world was at the time; so small that all the writers pretty much knew each other. In 1801, the English population was about 11 million, and in 1899 had grown to around 37 million due to industrialization (source: Black, Joseph, et al. "British Literature: A Historical Overview." The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Broadview Press, vol. B, 2010, p. 70).

That's nearly the current population of London alone, but around 75% of that 11 million English population in 1801 was rural, whereas at the end of the century the national population was about 75% urban (source: same as prior), again due to industrialization. London in the early 19c was much less populated than today, and the amount of people who were educated or even merely literate was also much smaller than today. So really, it makes sense that all of the artists/writers/scientists/aristocrats knew each other. But it's still insane to see examples of how small the world really is and always has been.

The front-facing portrait is of Scurvy Lind, the shadow portrait is of Galvanism Lind.

The Shelleys: the King and Queen of Romanticism.

Southey, Coleridge, Polidori, Stoker: some early Kings of Vampirism (as represented in popular British literature).

[ltwilliammowett]

Memorial Brooch to Rear Admiral McKerlie, Died 12th Septr 1848. Aged 74 years, 1848

Rear Admiral John McKerlie (1774-1848) entered the Royal Navy as a volunteer in April 1794 having been at sea in the Atlantic and Baltic merchant service from a young age. Rated Able Seaman, he was sent from the receiving ship Royal William to join the elite frigate force based at Falmouth that cruised the Channel countering the activities of French commerce raiders. McKerlie was assigned to the frigate Arethusa (38) commanded by one of the most successful frigate captains of the day, Captain Sir Edward Pellew. 

In early 1795 McKerlie followed Pellew into the 44-gun heavy frigate Indefatigable with the rate of Quarter-Gunner. Owing to a sound Scottish education and his knowledge of the sea McKerlie was soon acting as Indefatigable’s schoolmaster instructing the other eighteen ‘young gentleman’ of the gunroom in the specifics of their profession, having himself been appointed a midshipman.  Throughout 1795 and 1796 he participated in the capture of the numerous French prizes which brought further fame and glory to Sir Edward Pellew. It was however early the next year that Indefatigable fought what is generally regarded as one of the boldest frigate actions of the French Revolutionary War.

On the dark and stormy night of 13 January 1797 the French 74 Droits de l’Homme was sighted off the Brittany coast. Pellew, recognizing that he was heavily outclassed, saw that the waves prevented his opponent from opening the lower gun ports and that the severe weather had caused the loss of the enemy’s topmasts. Seizing the initiative, Indefatigable closed followed by the frigate Amazon and raked the French ship of the line at every opportunity. The enemy replied with 4,000 canon balls over the next few hours until finally driven in to Audierne Bay irreparably damaged by British gunfire and the unabated gale. The sight of distant breakers however threatened the destruction of all three ships. Indefatigable, though with masts damaged and with four feet of water in her hold, alone just had time to alter course and escape.

For Pellew the action was a triumph, Lord Spencer at the Admiralty acknowledging that for two frigates to destroy a ship of the line was ‘an exploit which has not I believe ever before graced our naval Annals’. For McKerlie the action was a trauma, costing him his right arm and a severe wound to the thigh. McKerlie's sacrifice was deeply felt Sir Edward Pellew whom he followed to his subsequent command, the mutinous ship of the line Impetueux. While serving aboard the Impetueux, McKerlie participated in numerous boat actions during the Quiberon expedition in 1800, and was present during the planning of a proposed attack on Belleisle. Marshall’s Royal Naval Biography relates how McKerlie ‘…not having heard how he was to be employed, went up to Sir Edward, interrupted him in a conversation with Major-General Maitland, and asking what part he was to act in the event of a debarkation taking place? The answer was “McKerlie you have lost one hand already, and if you loose the other you will not have anything to wipe your backside with; you will remain on board with the first lieutenant and fight the ship as she is to engage an 8-gun battery.”’

The loss of an arm did little to impede McKerlie’s career. He was regarded as a talented surveyor and draftsman, working at onetime with the celebrated civil engineer Thomas Telford. He was also considered a first class shot. He received his lieutenant’s commission in 1804 and served in H.M.S. Spartiate at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. He was present in the capture of Flushing and the Walcheren expedition, and commanded a squadron of ships stationed off Heligoland; oversaw the defence and retreat from Cuxhaven; and was responsible for destroying enemy shipping on the Braak. 

Unable to get a command after 1813, McKerlie returned to his native Galloway where he married, Harriet, daughter of James Stewart of Cairnsmuir, had one daughter, Lillias (1821-1915), to either or both of whom the present brooch no doubt belonged. In a post service career McKerlie served as a local magistrate and operated commercial vessels from the port of Garlieston. After almost twenty years ashore, he made an unlikely returned to the Royal Navy as captain of the experimental frigate Vernon between 1834 and 1837. He was awarded a Pension for Wounds on 8 May 1816.

Despite the ever growing kudos that was accorded to Trafalgar veterans in the early  Victorian age, it is perhaps with greater pride that Admiral McKerlie recalled his service under Pellew (or Lord Exmouth, as he became); and in 1847 was one of only eight surviving veterans who had lived long enough to apply for the Naval General Service Medal with a clasp for the Droits de L’Homme engagement.  The following year, in 1848, he died at Corvisel House, Newton Stewart, at the age of seventy-three.