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WELCOME TO THE LST SAILORS TALK DECK.
Founded by our own Old Sea Dog

Subject: LST 158 Author: Paul Sullenberger [Edit] Date Posted: 05/10/09 11:24:08 This is one of at least 3 different views of the LST 158 at Licata Sicily on 11 July 1943, that appeared in "Victory At Sea." This colorized version also was in the History Channel Series "Hero Ships." She got hit amidships by a German dive Bomber. My father Sam Sullenberger and his younger brother Ray Sullenberger were both aboard, Ray in a forward gun mount and Dad in a stern mount. (Both survived) Dad didn't talk a lot about this one, but he did say that he was the last enlisted man off the ship, and the Captain followed him off. They were picked up by one of the ship's LCVP's crewed by Verdell Jacobson from Utah, and Tommy Brown from N. Carolina. (That's probably them in this view) [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Great Stuff Paul ! -- OSD, 05/10/09 17:32:01

Subject: LST 158 Author: Paul Sullenberger [Edit] Date Posted: 05/10/09 12:13:25 Another view of the 158 off Sicily. This is a frame capture from "Victory At Sea" and was also used in the History Channel "Hero Ships" series. In fact, when the narrator was describing how the LST 313 was hit off Gela on 10 July, they were showing footage of the 158 off Licata on 11 July. If you look closely off the port stern you can see an LCVP, possibly the same one as in the other photo. If you visit www.utahtribute.com, you can read Verdell Jacobson's account of this. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: LST 512 Author: Paul Sullenberger [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 9/09 13:15:49 Testing my first post to this site. This was the 3rd LST my father served on in WWII. Wearing Pacific Camo, she is outfitted for a tour of the Great Lakes and Inland Waterways on a War Bond Tour in 1945. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: LST 512 -- SeaBat, 05/ 9/09 13:57:51 Thanks Paul -- OSD, 05/ 9/09 16:07:19 Re: Thanks Paul -- Paul Sullenberger, 05/10/09 10:52:31

Subject: LST 125 Author: Paul Sullenberger [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 9/09 13:29:42 I have a copy of "Landing Craft in Action in WWII" in a PDF format that a friend downloaded for me. This one and the picture of the LST 512 were among the photos in the book. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: LST 125 -- SeaBat, 05/ 9/09 13:55:07

Subject: D-Day Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 7/09 17:31:51 http://wiesel.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/4307-bilder/kueste.jpg .............................................................................................................. An image of D-Day that I have not seen before. OSD [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: D-Day -- SeaBat, 05/ 9/09 07:47:45

Subject: Manila LSTs Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 7/09 17:38:58 http://home.modemss.brisnet.org.au/~dunn/usnavy/lst-168-02.jpg ............................................................................................................................ "These LST's were among the first to drop ramps at Manila" with the capital city of the Philippines free from Japanese, the harbour bustled with activity. . ."; October/November 1944?; Photo No. 4334; photographer unknown. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Manila LSTs -- SeaBat, 05/ 9/09 04:12:19

Subject: Some fun photos from the recent 325 cruise... Author: SeaBat [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 9/09 02:28:30 Ever climb one of these? Breakfast of Champions! Who is the Sailor with the Non-Reg blankie???? Two bits on the pier... A traffic light??? If you need this, then you KNOW you're loaded!!!! Even pirates need to nap... (Right, Flt Tech?) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: "You Been a good old Wagon" , Dave Van Ronk Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 8/09 08:45:04 Sometimes I feel like a good ole wagon that done broke down, so here is Dave Van Ronk singing it. Great stuff, Dave is gone now but his music remains with us. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: LST photo Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 7/09 17:25:38 http://kiwisinarmour.hobbyvista.com/images/valcs-2s.jpg ................................................................................................................. Major Rutherford (on the left) directing Lieutenant Cox's Valentine Mark III CS ashore at the Tangalan Plantation on Nissan Island on February 15th 1944 with one of the Squadron's ammunition trailers on its engine deck. Though not visible from this perspective the tank is also towing a US 90-mm AA gun. (Alexander Turnbull Library) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Noumea LST Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 7/09 17:16:57 http://nanumea.net/Photos%20page/LST%20from%202003%20roll%2015%20no%20142%20-%20narrow%20and%20feathered%20with%20xara.jpg ....................................................................................... World War II LST on Nanumea's western reef - Photo by Keith, January 2004 (this hulk is gradually going back to the sea) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Rabaul LST Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 3/09 18:26:24 http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Rabaul/img/USA-P-Rabaul-p59.jpg [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Rabaul LST -- SeaBat, 05/ 4/09 10:13:30 unknown -- OSD, 05/ 7/09 17:00:32

Subject: The Old Sea Dog + Pirate Treasure Author: The Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 6/09 16:08:07 http://fao-coins.info/portrait/1806.jpg __________________________________ What you are looking at is an 1806 Spanish Real (ree-al), also known as a "Piece of Eight", as it could be cut into eight pieces to use as smaller coins. This one is Silver and not very valuable. The Gold ones are worth up to 500.00 depending on rarity, Silver worth about 40.00. Sometimes they have crude holes in them, which usually means they were nailed to a ships mast as a reward to a lucky sailor who spotted a whale or an enemy ship first. You are saying to yourself, So ?. Well today my son gave me a necklace with one of these coins on it. They were a common coin in colonial America since we minted very little coinage of our own. So now The Old Sea Dog is ready for "Talk like a pirate day" which is coming up. "ARR ME HARTIES, TIS A FAIR WIND BLOWING TO STARBOARD". " YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM". What do you think ? The Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: "The Ramp" Amphibious news Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 3/09 18:36:34 http://ebsr.net/RampNG.jpg .................................................................... New Guinea Campaign Issue of the RAMP Following is a transcript of the special issue of the RAMP, publication of the 3rd Engineer Special Brigade, issued Saturday February 17,1945. N.E.I. Edited and published by Head- quarters , 3rd Engineer Special Brigade, APO 920. Distributed Tusday, Thursday and Saturday. Editor-------T/5 Max M. Moses Ass't Editor-Pfc Armand Kovitz Art----------Sgt Alex B. Cook -------------T/Sgt Earl Hoshall -------------T/4 John Whisler Humor--------Pfc Robert Svatos Advisor------Capt. L. S. McCaslin Specially Passed By GHQ This issue MAY be mailed home. MILNE BAY TO SANSAPOR THE STORY OF THE THIRD ENGINEER SPECIAL BRIGADE IN NEW GUINEA With over a year's training behind them, the bulk of the Third Engineer Special Brigade embarked from San Francisco for overseas duty in November and December 1943. They were well skilled in the art of amphibious warfare and New Guinea beckoned as a proving ground. The early period in New Guinea was one of organization and careful preparation for the tasks to come. The 563d Boat Maintenance Bn had preceeded the remainder of the Brigade overseas and was busy turning out the all important LCM's at an assembly line in Milne Bay. With the supply of LCM's being built up, the Brigade waited impatiently at Milne Bay and Goodenough Island for it's first mission. The opportunity to prove themselves came in January of 1944 when the 533rd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment left for Cape Cretin, near Finschhafen, New Guinea. Finschhafen at that time was still being subjected to enemy air raids and unloading facilities for cargo ships were in the early stages of development. In spite of these difficulties the regiment handled the task of unloading Liberty ships with the care and speed of veterans. During a one month period they emptied 35 Liberty ships of their cargo, setting a SWPA tonnage record with 2110 tons unloaded in one day and daily average of 1550 tons. In February the remainder of the Brigade followed the 533rd to Finschhafen. The Amphibians began to train with the 32nd Division at Scarlet Beach in preparation for future operations. In addition a shuttle service by boat units was begun to more distant points along the coast of New Guinea and New Britain. Under this system, dubbed "milk runs" by the Amphibs, a total of 144,580 ton-miles of cargo was transported in the first month alone and in five months this figure climbed to 2,147,593 ton-miles. The time for the Brigade to get its baptism of fire was rapidly approaching. The first unit to leave the shelter of Finsch Harbor was again the 533rd which on the 23rd of February moved to Saidor to stage for their first operation [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: "The Ramp" Amphibious news -- SeaBat, 05/ 4/09 10:10:58 Milk Run -- OSD, 05/ 4/09 10:56:46

Subject: Signal Corps Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 3/09 18:41:47 http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9031/isignalcorpspic4jr6.jpg ..................................................................................................................... [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Day 957 of WWII in the Pacific (video) Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 2/09 17:32:26 A very good film about Day 957 in the Pacific. .................................... A bit long but great ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: The Planet Mercury Close Up ! Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 05/ 1/09 15:26:25 http://blog.redshift.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/061008-messenger.jpg .............................................................................................. Even though this image of the planet Mercury was taken October 6, 2008, it is still an amazing image. That we can reach out to the distant planets in our solar system shows how far we have come from the ancient peoples looking upward at the stars and planets, and wondering what they were like. Today we have the images, truly amazing. The Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: From The Seas To The Stars -- The Old Sea Dog, 05/ 1/09 15:33:55

Subject: WWII in the Gilberts (Gilbert Islands) Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/30/09 17:42:08 http://www.arkmilitaryheritage.com/_private/images/wwii/DISC_12/77.09.2584.jpg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Thermitic Explosive Material in 9/11 dust ? Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/30/09 17:22:39 Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A back-scattered electron (BSE) image featured in the newly published paper. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Formally published in a peer-reviewed Chemical Physics journal, today: “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe” by Niels H. Harrit, Jeffrey Farrer, Steven E. Jones, Kevin R. Ryan, Frank M. Legge, Daniel Farnsworth, Gregg Roberts, James R. Gourley and Bradley R. Larsen The paper ends with this sentence: “Based on these observations, we conclude that the red layer of the red/gray chips we have discovered in the WTC dust is active, unreacted thermitic material, incorporating nanotechnology, and is a highly energetic pyrotechnic or explosive material.” In short, the paper explodes the official story that “no evidence” exists for explosive/pyrotechnic materials in the WTC buildings. What is high-tech explosive/pyrotechnic material in large quantities doing in the WTC dust? Who made tons of this stuff and why? Why have government investigators refused to look for explosive residues in the WTC aftermath? These are central questions raised by this scientific study. The peer-review on this paper was grueling, with pages of comments by referees. The tough questions the reviewers raised led to months of further experiments. These studies added much to the paper, including observation and photographs of iron-aluminum rich spheres produced as the material is ignited in a Differential Scanning Calorimeter (see Figures 20, 25 and 26). The nine authors undertook an in-depth study of unusual red-gray chips found in the dust generated during the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. The article states: “The iron oxide and aluminum are intimately mixed in the red material. When ignited in a DSC device the chips exhibit large but narrow exotherms occurring at approximately 430 ˚C, far below the normal ignition temperature for conventional thermite. Numerous iron-rich spheres are clearly observed in the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The red portion of these chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material and highly energetic.” The images and data plots deserve careful attention. Some observations about the production of this paper: 1. First author is Professor Niels Harrit of Copenhagen University in Denmark, an Associate Professor of Chemistry. He is an expert in nano-chemistry; current research activities and his photo can be found here: http://cmm.nbi.ku.dk/ Molecular Structures on Short and Ultra Short Timescales A Centre under the Danish National Research Foundation The Centre for Molecular Movies was inaugurated 29th November 2005, at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. The Centre is made possible through a five year grant from the Danish National Research Foundation (see e.g. www.dg.dk). We aim to obtain real time “pictures” of how atoms are moving while processes are taking place in molecules and solid materials, using ultrashort pulses of laser light and X-rays. The goal is to understand and in turn influence, at the atomic level, the structural transformations associated with such processes. The Centre combines expertise form Risø National Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, and the Technical University of Denmark in structural investigation of matter by synchrotron X-ray based techniques, femtosecond laser spectroscopy, theoretical insight in femtosecond processes, and the ability to tailor materials, and design sample systems for optimal experimental conditions.” We understand that the Dean of Prof. Harrit’s college, Niels O Andersen, appears as the first name on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Bentham Science journal where the paper was published. 2. Second author is Dr. Jeffrey Farrer of BYU. http://www.physics.byu.edu/images/people/farrer.jpg 3. Dr. Farrer is featured in an article on page 11 of the BYU Frontiers magazine, Spring 2005: “Dr. Jeffrey Farrer, lab director for TEM” (TEM stands for Transmission Electron Microscopy). The article notes: “The electron microscopes in the TEM lab combine to give BYU capabilities that are virtually unique… rivaling anything built worldwide.” The article is entitled: “Rare and Powerful Microscopes Unlock Nano Secrets,” which is certainly true as regards the discoveries of the present paper. 4. Kudos to BYU for permitting Drs. Farrer and Jones and physics student Daniel Farnsworth to do the research described in the paper and for conducting internal reviews of the paper. Dr. Farrer was formerly first author on this paper. But after internal review of the paper, BYU administrators evidently disallowed him from being first author on ANY paper related to 9/11 research (this appears to be their perogative, but perhaps they will explain). Nevertheless, the paper was approved for publication with Dr. Farrer’s name and affiliation listed and we congratulate BYU for this. We stand by Dr. Farrer and congratulate his careful scientific research represented in this paper. 5. Perhaps now there will finally be a review of the SCIENCE explored by Profs. Harrit and Jones and by Drs. Farrer and Legge and their colleagues, as repeatedly requested by these scientists. We challenge ANY university or established laboratory group to perform such a review. This paper will be a good place to start, along with two other peer-reviewed papers in established journals involving several of the same authors: [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: LST 742 at Wonson Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/30/09 17:02:03 I am trying something new by adding the address link, a test http://www.crosswordese.com/Images/lst.jpg [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: click on the blue link to go to location -- OSD, 04/30/09 17:04:57

Subject: LST 354 Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/28/09 18:00:25 This picture is from a japanese site, so I have no data on where or when, but it's a great picture. Two LSTs side by side. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: LST 354 -- WVaRay, 04/29/09 13:14:17 Re: LST 354 -- WVaRay, 04/29/09 13:19:21 Information -- OSD, 04/29/09 18:30:38 click on the highlighted link -- OSD, 04/29/09 18:36:07

Subject: LST 463 Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/28/09 18:14:33 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: CDC and The Swine Flu outbreak Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/27/09 18:13:07 The Swine Flu Outbreak -------------------------- CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center to coordinate the agency's response to this emerging health threat and yesterday the Secretary of the Department Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, declared a public health emergency in the United States. This will allow funds to be released to support the public health response. CDC's goals during this public health emergency are to reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to assist health care providers, public health officials and the public in addressing the challenges posed by this newly identified influenza virus. To this end, CDC has issued a number of interim guidance documents in the past 24 hours. In addition, CDC's Division of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is releasing one-quarter of its antiviral drugs, personal protective equipment, and respiratory protection devices to help states respond to the outbreak. Laboratory testing has found the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. This is a rapidly evolving situation and CDC will provide updated guidance and new information as it becomes available. There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy. * Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. * Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective. * Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way. Try to avoid close contact with sick people. * Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people. * If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: CDC and The Swine Flu outbreak -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/28/09 07:57:59 Is it real ? or a diversion ? -- OSD, 04/28/09 17:36:11

Subject: LST 325 Work Week Author: SeaBat [Edit] Date Posted: 04/25/09 02:22:35 I just returned home from a week at the LST... wanted to share some photos with you all! They moved everything away and off of the port side bulkhead on the tank deck... Scraped... and painted... Cleaned and checked the fire hoses... What a difference two days make! Ad Mumford and Fred Pallas working on the oil purifier... I'm probably going to get this wrong (correct me.. those of you who know).. but this is a blanket.. a filter that takes out 'chunks' that might occur in the oil... Here you can see what the old ones look like! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: LST 325 Work Week -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/27/09 01:46:59 Re: LST 325 Work Week -- SeaBat, 04/27/09 13:27:32 Re: LST 325 Work Week -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/28/09 02:38:04

Subject: Airforce and F-16 Over New York Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/27/09 18:40:13 This image shot with a cell phone shows the backup presidential 747 flying low over New York Harbor, followed by the F-16, during the government photo-op. The mayor called the flyover "insensitive." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This image shot with a cell phone shows the backup presidential 747 flying low over New York Harbor, followed by the F-16, during the government photo-op. The mayor called the flyover "insensitive." Plane photo-op sparks panic, outcry, apology By Ula Ilnytzky and Sara Kugler Associated Press NEW YORK - A Boeing 747 and an F-16 supersonic fighter jet zoomed past the Lower Manhattan skyline in a flash just as the workday was beginning yesterday. Within minutes, startled financial workers streamed out of their offices, fearing a nightmarish replay of Sept. 11. For a half-hour, the two planes circled the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline near the World Trade Center site. Offices evacuated. Dispatchers were inundated with calls. But the flyover was nothing but a photo op, apparently one of a series of flights to get pictures of the airliner - an Air Force One backup plane - in front of national landmarks. It was carried out by the Defense Department with little warning, infuriating New York officials and putting the White House on the defensive. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he had not known about it and called it "insensitive" to fly so near the site of the 2001 terror attacks. Louis Caldera, director of the White House military office, took the blame, saying he had approved the mission last week. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption," he said. "I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused." President Obama was furious when told of the flight, a White House official said on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Federal officials would not say why the public and area building-security managers had not been notified, nor address why someone thought the flyover was a wise move. An administration official said the purpose of the flyover was to update file photos of the president's plane near the Statue of Liberty. The official, who requested anonymity, said Caldera's office told the Federal Aviation Administration that it periodically updates file photos of Air Force One near national landmarks. The photo op was combined with a training exercise to save money, said another administration official who also spoke on condition of anonymity. The FAA notified the New York Police Department of the flyover. It had a classified footnote saying that information on it "shall not be released to the public or the media." NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said that typically a flight like this would be publicized to avoid causing a panic, but that police were under orders not to. The FAA alerted an official in the mayor's office, but he didn't tell Bloomberg. That official, Marc Mugnos, did not immediately respond to questions on why he had not told the mayor. Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said Mugnos had been reprimanded. -------------------------------------------------- A Photo op or what ? [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Telesonic Equipment Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/21/09 09:18:01 WWII Telesonic Receiver ............................................ When placed near enemy phone lines this unit would pick up the messages from the phone lines. A very neat machine ! \ OSD [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Telesonic Equipment -- SeaBat, 04/25/09 01:35:08 Telesonic Equipment details -- OSD, 04/27/09 17:03:32

Subject: lady in kansas Author: linda [Edit] Date Posted: 04/23/09 05:21:06 told she could not display her flag outside her rental. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Homeowner Associations -- OSD, 04/23/09 13:00:34 Re: Homeowner Associations -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/24/09 02:28:34 Re: Homeowner Associations -- SeaBat, 04/25/09 01:28:16 Re: Homeowner Associations -- linda, 04/25/09 05:35:48 Flags -- SeaBat, 04/26/09 00:40:09 Re: Flags -- thanks, 04/27/09 12:38:13

Subject: Flags (for Linda) Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/25/09 17:11:48 The Navy Flag The MIA/POW Flag [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Flags (for Linda) -- thanks, 04/27/09 12:34:49

Subject: They Were Expendable Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/25/09 17:16:33 Some of the bravest Navy Men in WWII. The PT Boat crews. They faced the enemy up close !. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Old Sea Dog Stuff Author: The Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 04/18/09 06:57:49 I did a search for "Old Sea Dog" and this is some of the better things I found ................................................................................ Enough of that. Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Old Sea Dog Stuff -- SeaBat, 04/25/09 01:38:11

Subject: George Orwell's World is Coming ! Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/22/09 03:23:19 Senate Proposal Could Put Heavy Restrictions on Internet Freedoms ----------------------------------------------------------- A proposed bill that would give the president widespread power to shut down the Internet in the event of a cyberattack could have sweeping implications on civil liberties. By James Osborne --------------------------- The days of an open, largely unregulated Internet may soon come to an end. A bill making its way through Congress proposes to give the U.S. government authority over all networks considered part of the nation's critical infrastructure. Under the proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009, the president would have the authority to shut down Internet traffic to protect national security. The government also would have access to digital data from a vast array of industries including banking, telecommunications and energy. A second bill, meanwhile, would create a national cybersecurity adviser -- commonly referred to as the cybersecurity czar -- within the White House to coordinate strategy with a wide range of federal agencies involved. The need for greater cybersecurity is obvious: -- Canadian researchers recently discovered that computers in 103 countries, including those in facilities such as embassies and news media offices, were infected with software designed to steal network data. -- A Seattle security analyst warned last month that the advancement of digital communication within the electrical grid, as promoted under President Obama's stimulus plan, would leave the nation's electrical supply dangerously vulnerable to hackers. -- And on Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that computer spies had broken into the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project and had breached the Air Force's air-traffic-control system. Nonetheless, the proposal to give the U.S. government the authority to regulate the Internet is sounding alarms among critics who say it's another case of big government getting bigger and more intrusive. Silicon Valley executives are calling the bill vague and overly intrusive, and they are rebelling at the thought of increased and costly government regulations amid the global economic crisis. Others are concerned about the potential erosion of civil liberties. "I'm scared of it," said Lee Tien, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based group. "It's really broad, and there are plenty of laws right now designed to prevent the government getting access to that kind of data. It's the same stuff we've been fighting on the warrantless wiretapping." Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va, who introduced the bill earlier this month with bipartisan support, is casting the legislation as critical to protecting everything from our water and electricity to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records. "I know the threats we face." Rockefeller said in a prepared statement when the legislation was introduced. "Our enemies are real. They are sophisticated, they are determined and they will not rest." The bill would allow the government to create a detailed set of standards for cybersecurity, as well as take over the process of certifying IT technicians. But many in the technology sector say the government is simply ill-equipped to get involved at the technical level, said Franck Journoud, a policy analyst with the Business Software Alliance. "Simply put, who has the expertise?" he said. "It's the industry, not the government. We have a responsibility to increase and improve security. That responsibility cannot be captured in a government standard." A spokeswoman from Rockefeller's office said neither he nor the two senators who co-sponsored the bill, Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., will answer questions on cybersecurity until a later date. Obama, meanwhile, is considering his own strategy on cybersecurity. On Friday, the White House completed a lengthy review of the nation's computer networks and their vulnerability to attack. An announcement is expected as early as this week. "I kind of view [the Rockefeller bill] as an opening shot," said Tien. "The concept is cybersecurity. There's this 60-day review underway, and some people wanted to get in there and make their mark on the White House policy development." IT leaders hope the president will consider their argument that their business is not only incredibly complex and static, but that it also spreads over the entire globe. If the United States was to set its own standard for cybersecurity, they say, it would create a host of logistical challenges for technology companies, virtually all of which operate internationally. "Any standards have to be set at an international level and be industry led," said Dale Curtis, a spokesman for the Business Software Alliance. "This industry moves so fast, and government just doesn't move that fast." [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: George Orwell's World is Coming ! -- Buddy LST1126 (:-(), 04/25/09 01:27:39

Subject: WWII OSS Agents Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/21/09 09:06:49 Julia Child Among Spies Revealed in Newly Released Federal Documents - Why is there a microphone in that baked chicken, Julia ? Thursday, August 14, 2008 ..................................................... WASHINGTON — Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world. They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt. The secret comes out Thursday — all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives. They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops. Among the more than 35,000 OSS personnel files are applications, commendations and handwritten notes identifying young recruits who, like Child, Goldberg and Berg, earned greater acclaim in other fields — Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and special assistant to President Kennedy; Sterling Hayden, a film and television actor whose work included a role in "The Godfather"; and Thomas Braden, an author whose "Eight Is Enough" book inspired the 1970s television series. Other notables identified in the files include John Hemingway, son of author Ernest Hemingway; Quentin and Kermit Roosevelt, sons of President Theodore Roosevelt, and Miles Copeland, father of Stewart Copeland, drummer for the band The Police. The release of the OSS personnel files uncloaks one of the last secrets from the short-lived wartime intelligence agency, which for the most part later was folded into the CIA after President Truman disbanded it in 1945. "I think it's terrific," said Elizabeth McIntosh, 93, a former OSS agent now living in Woodbridge, Va. "They've finally, after all these years, they've gotten the names out. All of these people had been told never to mention they were with the OSS." The CIA had resisted releasing OSS records for decades. But former CIA Director William Casey, himself an OSS veteran, cleared the way for transfer of millions of OSS documents to the National Archives when he took over the agency in 1981. The personnel files are the latest to be made public. Information about OSS involvement was so guarded that relatives often couldn't confirm a family member's work with the group. Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North Africa, said he kept quiet for more than 50 years, only recently telling his wife of 62 years about his OSS activity. "I was told to keep my mouth shut," said Mess, now 93 and living in Falls Church, Va. The files will offer new information even for those most familiar with the agency. Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society created by former OSS agents and their relatives, said the nearly 24,000 employees included in the archives far exceeds previous estimates of 13,000. The newly released documents will clarify these and other issues, said William Cunliffe, an archivist who has worked extensively with the OSS records at the National Archives. "We're saying the OSS was a lot bigger than they were saying," Cunliffe said. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Minox Pocket Spy Camera Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/21/09 08:48:40 Minox Spy Camera, used 16 MM film, one frame at a time ............................................................................................... I had one of these years ago, not sure where it went Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Predator Base in Pakistan Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/18/09 15:10:10 18 February 2009. A sends: Snap from 2006 of Predators on the strip. Big hangar was not built yet. ........................................................................................ [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: LST 745 Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/18/09 07:03:54 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: FBI PROBE OF VETERANS ! Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/17/09 16:13:53 BUDDY: THIS SHOULD INTEREST YOU, I KNOW IT DOES ME .................................................... Veterans a Focus of FBI Extremist Probe ............................................................................... By CAM SIMPSON and GARY FIELDS WASHINGTON -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this year launched a nationwide operation targeting white supremacists and "militia/sovereign-citizen extremist groups," including a focus on veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to memos sent from bureau headquarters to field offices. The initiative, dubbed Operation Vigilant Eagle, was outlined in February, two months before a memo giving a similar warning was issued on April 7 by the Department of Homeland Security. Disclosure of the DHS memo this week has sparked controversy among some conservatives and veterans groups. Appearing on television talk shows Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the assessment, but apologized to veterans who saw it as an accusation. "This is an assessment of things just to be wary of, not to infringe on constitutional rights, certainly not to malign our veterans," she said on NBC's Today Show. The documents outlining Operation Vigilant Eagle cite a surge in activity by such groups. The memos say the FBI's focus on veterans began as far back as December, during the final weeks of the Bush administration, when the bureau's domestic counterterrorism division formed a special joint working group with the Defense Department. [Janet Napolitano] Associated Press Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, pictured this month in Mexico, defended the assessment Thursday but apologized to veterans. A Feb. 23 draft memo from FBI domestic counterterrorism leaders, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, cited an "increase in recruitment, threatening communications and weapons procurement by white supremacy extremist and militia/sovereign-citizen extremist groups." The FBI said in the memo that its conclusion about a surge in such activities was based on confidential sources, undercover operations, reporting from other law-enforcement agencies and publicly available information. The memo said the main goal of the multipronged operation was to get a better handle on "the scope of this emerging threat." The operation also seeks to identify gaps in intelligence efforts surrounding these groups and their leaders. The aim of the FBI's effort with the Defense Department, which was rolled into the Vigilant Eagle program, is to "share information regarding Iraqi and Afghanistan war veterans whose involvement in white supremacy and/or militia sovereign citizen extremist groups poses a domestic terrorism threat," according to the Feb. 23 FBI memo. Michael Ward, FBI deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said in an interview Thursday that the portion of the operation focusing on the military related only to veterans who draw the attention of Defense Department officials for joining white-supremacist or other extremist groups. "We're not doing an investigation into the military, we're not looking at former military members," he said. "It would have to be something they were concerned about, or someone they're concerned is involved" with extremist groups. Mr. Ward said that the FBI's general counsel reviewed the operation before it began, "to make sure any tripwires we set do not violate any civil liberties." Some Republican lawmakers, talk-show hosts and veterans groups complained this week after the internal DHS assessment cited the potential for the same extremists groups to target returning combat veterans for recruitment. The Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, also echoed the concerns. The separate DHS assessment, leaked this week after being sent to law-enforcement agencies, said the "willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today." Veterans could draw special attention, the report said, because of their advanced training. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, said Wednesday he was offended that veterans were characterized as potential domestic terrorists. Amy Kudwa, a DHS spokeswoman, said Thursday the report was issued before an objection about one part of the document raised by the agency's civil-rights division was resolved. She called it a "breakdown of an internal process" that would be fixed. The FBI documents show the bureau was working with investigators inside the nation's uniformed services "in an effort to identify those current or former soldiers who pose a domestic terrorism threat." The other agencies working with the FBI are the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Division, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. ................................................ THE 1984 THOUGHT POLICE HAVE BECOME A REALITY IN OUR TIME ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: FBI PROBE OF VETERANS ! -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/18/09 01:11:24

Subject: Bad landing by helo on carrier Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/17/09 09:14:06 And you thought you had bad days ! WARNING: SOME BAD LANGUAGE [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Liberty Belle pic. Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/17/09 08:55:31 ................................ The "G" model had the twin 50's "Stinger" added to the tail to fight off German fighters. Double Thumbs Up !! [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: B-17-G Liberty Belle Author: The Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 04/17/09 08:49:43 The B-17-G Liberty Belle will be flying out of Mather Field this weekend and I will be treated to the sight of that beautiful plane flying over my house through monday. It's always a treat, and a bit of a memory jog. It makes me think "have I gone back in time to the 1940's". [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Capt. Phillips Flying Home Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/16/09 18:10:26 Rescued US Sea Captain Finally Flying Home US official: Rescued captain expected home Friday By PAULINE JELINEK – 13 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official says a homecoming is planned Friday for the rescued American captain of a ship pirated off the Somali coast. The USS Bainbridge warship, which rescued Maersk Alabama captain Richard Phillips, arrived Thursday at the Kenyan port of Mombasa. U.S. officials, agreeing to speak only on grounds of anonymity on logistical and travel matters, said that Phillips has left the Bainbridge and is expected to arrive home on Friday on a chartered airplane. Phillips' crew flew into Andrews Air Force base outside of Washington, D.C., early Thursday. Phillips originally was to fly with them. But he was delayed when the Bainbridge diverted to help another pirated ship. Officials say Phillips now is planning to go directly to his home state of Vermont. George Bacigalupo, general manager of Atlantic Aviation, which handles corporate and private aircraft flying into Burlington International Airport, said that a plane carrying Phillips was expected to arrive there late Friday afternoon. It wasn't immediately known where the flight would originate. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Summary of DHS Memo Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/15/09 17:33:35 Please read this document, paragraph 2 in particular .......................... Homeland Security Warns of Rise in Right-Wing Extremism The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report entitled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”, dated April 7, 2009, which I have read, is apparently an unclassified summary of a larger classified report. 1. The summary contains few proper names, has no footnotes of any significance, lists very few sources, and is drafted with a prejudice against anyone who criticizes the role of the federal government in our lives today. It lumps together in its definition of “rightwing extremism” hate groups, anti-government groups, and single issue groups “such as opposition to abortion or immigration.” My guess is that the sentiments revealed in the report I read are the tip of an iceberg that the DHS would prefer to keep submerged until it needs to reveal it. This iceberg is the heavy-hand of government; a government with large and awful eyes, in whose heart there is no love for freedom, and on whose face there is no smile. 2. The document itself cautions the reader that the document is “not to be released to the public, the media, or other personnel who do not have a valid need-to-know without prior approval” of the DHS. The document refers to itself as one of a series of intelligence assessments intended to “deter, prevent, preempt, or respond to terrorist attacks against the United States.” 3. The thrust of this report is that in the present environment of economic instability, returning military veterans, those who fear of the loss of Second Amendment-protected rights, those threatened by an African-American president, and those who fear “Jewish ‘financial elites’” could all be a fertile breeding ground for groups whose power and ideas the government hates and fears. The document is essentially a warning for DHS and FBI officials to be on the look-out for rootless persons looking for the comfort of groups as they may be a danger to American security. 4. The summary (unclassified) document is terrifying. One can only imagine what is contained in the classified version. This document runs directly counter to numerous U.S. Supreme decisions prohibiting the government from engaging in any activities that could serve to chill the exercise of expressive liberties. Liberties are chilled, in constitutional parlance, when people are afraid to express themselves for fear of government omnipresence, monitoring, or reprisals. The document also informs the reader that Big Brother is watching both public and private behavior. 5. The whole purpose of the First Amendment is to guarantee open, broad, robust debate on the policies and personnel of the government. The First Amendment presumes that individuals — NOT THE GOVERNMENT — are free to choose what they believe and espouse, what they read and say, and with whom they associate in public and in private. The writers of this abominable report are particularly concerned with the expression of opinions that might be used to fuel ideas that challenge federal authority or favor state and local government over the federal government. Unfortunately, legislation passed during the past eight years gives the DHS and the FBI the tools to monitor everything from a telephone conversation to the keystrokes used on a personal computer without a warrant issued by a federal judge. 6. My guess is that the sentiments revealed in the report I read are the tip of an iceberg that the DHS would prefer to keep submerged until it needs to reveal it. This iceberg is the heavy-hand of government; a government with large and awful eyes, in whose heart there is no love for freedom, and on whose face there is no smile. ....................................... What has happened to our government ?? OSD [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Summary of DHS Memo -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/16/09 00:26:23

Subject: Homeland Security My Ass ( read on ) Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/15/09 16:41:02 US govt faces veteran anger at extremism report ................................................................................................. Comment: The idiots at Homeland Security and the Federal Govt. needs to pull their collective heads out of their asses ! ........................................................................................... The US Homeland Security Department, under fire for saying US forces returning from the Iraq and Afghan wars were potential right-wing extremist recruits, said Wednesday it honors US veterans. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to douse anger among conservatives and veterans groups like the American Legion over a report from her department warning of a rising threat of right-wing extremism. "We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not -- nor will we ever -- monitor ideology or political beliefs," Napolitano said in a statement amid charges that the department had done just that. American Legion chief David Rehbein on Tuesday blasted the report as "incomplete, and, I fear, politically-biased" and took special aim at its warning that returning veterans having difficulties reintegrating society could be recruited by right-wing groups for possible terrorist attacks. In a letter to Napolitano, Rehbein underlined the document's mention of Oklahoma City bombing author Timothy McVeigh's US Army background and called it "as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam." "The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation's uniform during wartime," said Rehbein, who group comprises some 2.6 million members. Napolitano said she accepted Rehbein's request for a meeting and stressed: "I will tell him face-to-face that we honor veterans at DHS and employ thousands across the department, up to and including the deputy secretary." The report said that fears of possible new restrictions on firearms, as well as troubled veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, "could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks." Rehbein said the accusation, levelled in an April 7 document designed for local law enforcement officials, was "without any statistical evidence." ...................................... Janet Nopolitano needs to be fired ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE ! -- OSD, 04/15/09 16:45:38

Subject: Some WWII facts ... Author: OSd [Edit] Date Posted: 04/14/09 19:05:19 ASPIDISTRA The codename given to the powerful 500 KW transmitter which was purchased from America for use in broadcasting propaganda on the German controlled wave-lengths. It cost Britain £111,801, 4 shillings and 10 pence to buy the apparatus from the RCA factory in Camden, New Jersey. Another sum of £16,000 was spent to prepare the site and erect the masts near Crowborough in Essex. The transmitter first became operational on November 8, 1942. SORRY NO REQUESTS American disc jockeys were banned from playing listeners requests in 1942. The War Department explained that enemy agents might use the format as codes to pass military information on to their superiors. 1,000 PLANE BOMBER RAIDS On the night of May 30/31, 1942, the Royal Air Force launched its first 1,000 plane bomber raid of the war. The original target was to be Hamburg but bad weather over Germany caused a cancellation. Three days later the cathedral city of Cologne was attacked by a force of 1,046 bombers that took off from 52 airfields in England (Operation Millennium). A total of 1,455 tons of bombs was dropped by the 898 planes which actually attacked the city. Two-thirds of this tonnage being incendiaries. Forty-one British planes were lost and twelve badly damaged, never to fly again. Amazingly only two collision took place resulting in the loss of four bombers. In the blazing city 486 people had died and 5,027 injured, 18,432 buildings of all kinds were destroyed or badly damaged resulting in 59,100 citizens being made homeless. Next day, RAF Mosquito fighter/bombers flew over the still burning city on their first operational mission to photograph the damage. Around 300 acres of the city's centre had been destroyed in this, the 105th air raid on Germany's fourth largest city. The second 1,000 plane bomber raid was conducted against the city of Essen in the Ruhr on June 1-2, 1942. This was not as successful as the raid on Cologne. It was on Essen that the first 8,000 pound 'Blockbuster' bomb was dropped from a Hanley Page Halifax bomber of 76 Squadron. (A total of 6,176 Halifax bombers were built during the war). The third 1,000 bomber raid was against the city of Bremen on June 12, 1942. There were no more 1,000 bomber raids after Bremen, the aircraft were urgently needed to fight the U-boat war in the Atlantic. OPERATION 'MINCEMEAT' (April, 1943) One of the war's great deception schemes, launched to convince the German High Command that the Allied landings would take place on Sardinia and not on Sicily, the obvious choice. The body of an unknown man who had died recently was dressed in the uniform of a major of the Royal Marines and given the name of Major William Martin. A briefcase was attached to the body containing highly confidential documents that foretold future Allied war plans in the Mediterranean. Major Martin's body was transported from Loch Ewe in Scotland by the submarine HMS Serap to a point just off the coast of Spain and there committed to the sea. It eventually washed ashore and into the hands of German intelligence agents. Within days the contents of the briefcase was being analysed in Berlin. Winston Churchill, then in the United States, received the coded message 'Mincemeat swallowed whole'. The body of 'Major Martin' lies buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery Of Solitude at Huelua, Spain. Official files on 'Operation Mincemeat' are not searchable until 2043 but in November 1995, some of the top secret files were released to reveal for the first time in 52 years, the true identity of 'Major Martin'. He was a Glyndwr Michael, born February 4, 1909, in Aberbargoed, a small mining village in Wales. A vagrant alcoholic, he had committed suicide by taking rat poison containing phosphorus when sleeping rough in a disused London warehouse and died from chemically induced pneumonia. The real Major Martin, whose name and identity was used for the deception, moved to the USA after the war and settled in Virginia. He died there on December 10, 1988, his ashes scattered over the Gulf Stream so that eventually they would arrive at his country of birth, Scotland. FAMOUS RUHR RAID (May 16, 1943) On this day in 1943, nineteen Lancaster's of RAF Squadron 617, bombed the Mohne, Eder, and Sorpe dams in the Ruhr. The main attack on Mohne was led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, his aircraft carrying the new 'bouncing bomb' invented by Dr Barnes Wallis. The breach in the wall caused flooding which drowned around 1,200 people, including 700 Russian prisoners of war whose camp was washed away in the flood. At the Eder Dam, 68 people were drowned. Eight aircraft crashed or were shot down. Seventy seven crew members died, fifty six survived. Thirty three decorations were awarded including the Victoria Cross to Guy Gibson. (Sir Barnes Wallis died in 1979, aged 92) THE BIGGEST USAF LOSS The single biggest loss to the US 8th Air Force was when 291 B17s and B24s raided the German ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt, fifty miles northwest of Nuremberg on October 14, 1943. This was the second raid by US Flying Fortresses on the five factories producing ball bearings. The first was on August 17 involving 229 bombers. In the first attack the Americans lost 36 bombers, in the second attack a total of 60 planes were shot down or crashed on returning to base. A total of 599 airmen were killed and 40 wounded in the largest and most sustained air battles of the European war. The bomber crews claimed to have shot down 288 German aircraft. The actual figure, obtained after the war, was ... 27. In Schweinfurt, 276 civilians were killed. In all, Schweinfurt suffered sixteen air raids, the Americans by day and the British by night. AIR TRAGEDY An old B24 Liberator bomber, stripped of all equipment and fitted with a radio control system to be operated from a 'mother' plane after the B24 crew had baled out, blew up in mid-air during a trial flight in preparation for 'Operation Aphrodite' the code name for the bombing of the flying bomb sites on the Continent. An electrical malfunction triggered the explosion killing the pilot and co-pilot. The pilot was Lieutenant Joseph Kennedy, the older brother of John F Kennedy the future President of the USA. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Some WWII facts ... -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/14/09 23:49:18

Subject: Goalkeeper CIWS Radar controlled gun Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/12/09 16:51:02 Go Ahead fire that missle at our ship, we can shoot it down. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Navy Seals Sniper Rifle 50 cal. Barrett Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/12/09 16:33:58 Looks like the bad guys never saw it coming ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: NAVY SEALS, GETTING THE JOB DONE ! Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/12/09 16:07:24 NAVY SEAL SNIPERS TAKE OUT PIRATES .................................................................................... NAIROBI, Kenya — Navy Seal snipers on the fantail of a destroyer cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain on Easter Sunday. The surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas ended a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world's most powerful military. It was a stunning conclusion to an Indian Ocean odyssey that began when 53-year-old freighter Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage Wednesday by pirates who tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. The Vermont native was held on a tiny lifeboat that began drifting precariously toward Somalia's anarchic, gun-plagued shores. The operation, personally approved by President Barack Obama, quashed fears the saga could drag on for months and marked a victory for the U.S., which for days seemed powerless to resolve the crisis despite massing helicopter-equipped warships at the scene. Negotiations with the three pirates were growing heated, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said. One of them pointed an AK-47 at the back of Phillips, who was tied up and in "imminent danger" of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Gortney said. Navy snipers took aim at the pirates' heads and shoulders, he said. The lifeboat was about 25-30 yards away and was being towed by the Bainbridge at the time, he said. The pirates had agreed to the tow to move the powerless lifeboat out of rough water. A fourth pirate surrendered after boarding the Bainbridge earlier in the day and could face life in a U.S. prison. He had been seeking medical attention for a wound to his hand and was negotiating with U.S. officials on conditions for Phillips' release, military officials said. The rescue was a dramatic blow to the pirates who have preyed on international shipping and hold more than a dozen ships with about 230 foreign sailors. But it is unlikely to do much to quell the region's growing pirate threat, which has transformed one of the world's busiest shipping lanes into one of its most dangerous. It also risked provoking retaliatory attacks. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Our Navy At Work Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/12/09 08:18:46 USS Boxer ............................................................................................... Captain Richard Phillips Rescued by Naval Action ................................................................................................. MOMBASA, Kenya — U.S. forces freed an American ship captain and killed three of his captors Sunday in a daring rescue that ended a five-day standoff between the world's most powerful navy and Somali pirates in a lifeboat far off the Horn of Africa. Capt. Richard Phillips was in "imminent danger" of being killed before a Navy commander made a split second decision to shoot the pirates in an operation authorized by President Barack Obama, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said. He said the pirates were armed with AK-47s and small-caliber pistols and were pointing the rifles at the captain when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge gave the order to open fire. Gortney, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the White House had given "very clear guidance and authority" to take action if Phillips' life was in danger. Phillips' crew, who said they had escaped after he offered himself as a hostage, erupted in cheers aboard their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya. Some waved an American flag and fired flares in celebration. Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was not hurt in several minutes of gunfire and the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said he was resting comfortably on a U.S. warship after receiving a medical exam. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Our Navy At Work -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/12/09 11:39:10

Subject: Somali Pirates Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/11/09 19:07:55 U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. and UH-1Y crew chief Bryan E. Campbell (R), from Melbourne, Arkansas, with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 163 (Reinforced) of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepares an M2.50 caliber machine gun during flight operations in support of counter-piracy surveillance operations in the Gulf of Aden April 6, 2009. Somali pirates holding an American hostage on a drifting lifeboat hauled him back when he jumped overboard to escape and vowed April 9, 2009 to fight any attack by U.S. naval forces stalking them at sea. Sgt. Anthony Petro (L), from Des Moines, Iowa, Battalion Landing Team 1/1, 13th MEU, accompanied the crew during their operations. Picture taken April 6. REUTERS/Robert C. Medina /U.S. Navy photo/Handout [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: The Marines Are There ! -- OSD, 04/11/09 19:13:09 Re: The Marines Are There ! -- SeaBat, 04/12/09 06:24:43 A Joint Operation ! -- OSD, 04/12/09 08:10:27

Subject: more recent Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/10/09 15:58:41 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Pirate situation video Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/10/09 15:54:29 not the most recent, but interesting [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: WWII Veteran Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/10/09 15:20:20 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: USS Bainbridge on the way ! Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/ 8/09 10:19:31 File: A Maersk cargo ship like the one hijacked off Somalia carrying 20 Americans. ................................................................................... Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Wednesday for world action to "end the scourge of piracy" as U.S. warships raced to confront pirates who hijacked a U.S.-flagged ship off the coast of Somalia. American crew members aboard the hijacked ship were able to regain control of the vessel Wednesday, but the ship's captain still is being held hostage on a smaller boat. "We are deeply concerned and we are following it very closely," Clinton said. "Specifically, we are now focused on this particular act of piracy and the seizure of a ship that carries 21 American citizens. More generally, we think the world must come together to end the scourge of piracy," she said. U.S. Navy officials told FOX News on Wednesday afternoon that its closest ship was 300 miles away, which would place it 15 hours from the vessel, known as the Maersk Alabama. A defense official said the ship's captain is being held captive on board a lifeboat belonging to the ship. Four pirates are in the lifeboat and according to the official there is no clear evidence that a pirate remains captive with the U.S. crew. "We are able to confirm that the crew of the Maersk Alabama is now in control of the ship," said Kevin Speers, a spokesman for Maersk Lines Limited. "The armed hijackers who boarded this ship earlier today have departed, however they are currently holding one member of the ship's crew as a hostage. The other members of the crew are safe and no injuries have been reported." Speaking on the ship's satellite phone, one of the 20 crew members said they had been taken hostage but managed to seize one pirate and then successfully negotiate their own release. "All the crew members are trained in security detail in how to deal with piracy," Maersk CEO John Reinhart told reporters. "As merchant vessels we do not carry arms. We have ways to push back, but we do not carry arms." John Harris, CEO of HollowPoint Security Services, which specializes in maritime security, said that the crew's overtaking the pirates could help prevent future hijackings, especially since the military can't protect the entire high seas. "Any time you can get intel from them, they can give you any kind of significant information, they more than likely will not, but anything we can get will always help us in the future," Harris told FOX News. "Naval vessels ... can't be everywhere at one time, just like law enforcement," he said, noting that the U.S. Navy has been protecting the most vulnerable shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean. "If you saturate an area long enough in the shipping lanes, if you saturate it with war ships long enough, they venture out. In this case that's what they did. They want 350 miles out of the coast where no Naval vessels were present," he said. .......................................... Time to get some U. S. Marines on the job !, They know how to handle lawless pirates ! Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: USS Bainbridge on the way ! -- linda, 04/ 9/09 06:05:17 Re: USS Bainbridge on the way ! -- Buddy LST 1126 (:-(), 04/10/09 01:42:54 Re: USS Bainbridge on the way ! -- SeaBat, 04/10/09 06:01:56

Subject: Coleman Pocket Stove for WWII Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/ 7/09 18:16:45 The company doesn’t just make goods for gentleman campers like myself. Throughout WWII, GIs carried a special “Pocket Stove” that was specifically designed and manufactured by Coleman. From the company’s history: “During WWII, its Wichita plants cranked out projectiles for the Navy and parts for B-17 and B-29 bombers. But their most valuable contribution to the war effort was the development of the GI Pocket Stove. The specifications seemed impossible. “The stove had to be lightweight, no larger than a quart thermos, burn any kind of fuel, and operate in weather from -60º to 125º F. Fewer than 60 days after work commenced, Coleman demonstrated a working prototype. And in November 1942, 5,000 of Coleman’s little stoves went into battle when U.S. forces invaded North Africa. The stoves burned for two hours on a cup of fuel from a jeep or plane. They were carried across every battlefield in Europe and the Pacific. They showed up in tents, foxholes and bombers.” Those specs do seem impossible, but Coleman got it done and the stove remains today as one of my favorite pieces of WWII equipment. ........................................................... One of the best camping stoves ever made. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Coleman Pocket Stove for WWII -- SeaBat, 04/ 9/09 03:48:35

Subject: WWII Navy Radio Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/ 7/09 16:19:51 ................................................................................... A classic WWII Collins Communications Receiver (sure would like to have one for my radio collection) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: WWII Manual Calculator Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 04/ 7/09 16:03:07 Rare World War II Ship's Distance and Time Maneuvering Calculator ........................................................... I am not sure but I think this may have been used on subs to calculate torpedo runs. Correct me if you know what this is. Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: very interesting ! Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/ 7/09 08:56:01 An electric two-seat prototype vehicle developed by General Motors and Segway is shown in Manhattan on April 6, 2009, in New York City. The makers promise to move people around cities more quickly, safely, quietly and cleanly, and at a lower total cost. ................................................................................ Looks interesting, could be worth a try [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Okinawa from Satellite Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 04/ 6/09 08:21:31 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Great Heading Picture, Loading an "Ashcan" Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 04/ 6/09 04:20:23 Seabat: Great Heading picture, they are loading an "Ashcan" depthcharge to be fired off the stern of the ship, usually a DD (Destroyer). The Ashcan will be launched about 100 feet astern or the side of the ship. The depth it explodes is set on the ashcan and "Launch depth charges". Hedgehogs (smaller charges) can also be fired in a pattern of 3, stern, port and starboard, to sink an enemy sub. I saw this first hand on the USS LAWS DD-558, and it was something to see. Better than any hollywood movie [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: North Korea ? Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 04/ 1/09 05:14:52 N. Korea 'Will Mercilessly Shoot Down' U.S. Spy Planes .......................................................................................................... Wednesday, April 01, 2009 (north korean launch site) SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea accused the United States of spying on the site of an impending rocket launch and threatened Wednesday to shoot down any U.S. planes that intrude into its airspace. North Korea says it will send a communications satellite into orbit on a multistage rocket between April 4 and 8. The U.S., South Korea and Japan think the reclusive country is using the launch to test long-range missile technology, and they warn Pyongyang would face sanctions under a U.N. Security Council resolution banning the country from ballistic activity. Pyongyang's state radio accused U.S. RC-135 surveillance aircraft of spying on the launch site on its northeast coast, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is in charge of monitoring the North. "If the brigandish U.S. imperialists dare to infiltrate spy planes into our airspace to interfere with our peaceful satellite launch preparations, our revolutionary armed forces will mercilessly shoot them down," the ministry quoted the radio as saying. (A satellite image taken over North Korea provides a breakdown of the missile facilities.) ......................................................................................................................... Check and Checkmate, Next move ?? Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: North Korea ? -- SeaBat, 04/ 4/09 13:21:42

Subject: Third World Dummies Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 03/31/09 07:02:09 Taliban Chief Vows 'Amazing' Attack on Washington 'Soon' ....................................................................................................... DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on the White House that would "amaze" the world. Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday's attack on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore was retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border. "Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details. Mehsud has never been directly linked to any attacks outside Pakistan, but attacks blamed on his network of fighters have widened in scope and ambition in recent years. The threat comes days after President Barack Obama warned that Al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States from secret havens in Pakistan. .............................................................................................................................................. All I can say is " Bring it on, you sneaky little bastard, and you will bring attacks on you that will never stop". Predator UMV's can come from any direction, at any time. You better have a real deep hole to tuck your ass into. The Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Third World Dummies -- Buddy LST 1126, 04/ 1/09 02:03:01

Subject: LST OF THE DAY, LST 824, USS HENRY COUNTY Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 03/30/09 18:15:44 LST OF THE DAY ........................... USS Henry County (LST-824) International Radio Call Sign November - Hotel - kilo - Romeo NHKR ................................................. # LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship: Laid down, 29 September 1944, at Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Co., Evansville, IN. # Launched, 8 November 1944 # Commissioned USS LST-824, 30 November 1944, LT. Jesse D. Jones in command # During WWII USS LST-824 was assigned to Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaign: Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Campaign and Dates Okinawa Gunto operation Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 17 to 22 April 1945 # Decommissioned, 15 May 1946 at Portland OR. # Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Columbia River Group # Named USS Henry County (LST-824), 1 July 1955 # Recommissioned, 5 September 1959, LT. R. L. Dodd in command. # During the Vietnam War USS Henry County (LST-824) participated in: Vietnam Defense 10-September to 10 November 1965 Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II 16 to 31 July 1966 Vietnamese Counteroffensive 25 to 26 February 1966 15 March to 21 April 1966 12 to 16 and 20 to 30 June 1966 Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase III 13 to 14 November 1967 30 December 1967 to 20 January 1968 # Decommissioned, date unknown # Struck from the Naval Register, 11 April 1975 # Final Disposition, transferred to Malaysia, 1 October 1976, renamed KD Sri Banggi (A-1501), fate unknown # USS Henry County earned one battle star for World War II service and four campaign stars for Vietnam War service [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: What happens to my image links ? -- OSD, 03/31/09 06:51:17 Re: What happens to my image links ? -- SeaBat, 03/31/09 09:17:02

Subject: The Soggy Bottom Boys ! Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/26/09 11:24:57 Hot Damm, It's The Soggy Bottom Boys ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: The Soggy Bottom Boys ! -- SeaBat, 03/27/09 12:29:57 Correct Seabat -- OSD, 03/27/09 17:59:00 Re: Correct Seabat -- SeaBat, 03/28/09 00:37:58 Mountain -- OSD, 03/29/09 17:12:32 Re: Mountain -- SeaBat, 03/30/09 10:38:53 What a treasure ! -- OSD, 03/31/09 06:49:09

Subject: The World gets warmer Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/30/09 06:59:01 The U.S. deployed two missile-interceptor ships from South Korea on Monday, days ahead of a North Korean rocket launch seen by many as a test of its longest-range missile. The two U.S. destroyers were on a mission believed to monitor the North's rocket launch. The ships are equipped with Aegis radar, a system that enables the vessels to locate, track and shoot down missiles. U.S. military spokesman Kim Yong-kyu said the ships would depart from the South Korean port of Busan, but declined to give details. South Korea and Japan also dispatched missile destroyers to monitor the launch. In addition to the long-range rocket, North Korea is preparing to launch a short- or medium-range missile, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday. The Sankei newspaper, citing several unnamed Japanese government sources, said the North is preparing to test-launch another missile from Wonsan, about 155 miles south of Musudan-ni. It said U.S., South Korean and Japanese intelligence analyses said the missile could be short or medium range. The report said the North may conduct another missile test if the U.N. Security Council approves sanctions against it or if it cannot wrest concessions from the United States. Japan's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the Sankei report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and National Intelligence Service — its main spy agency — said they couldn't immediately confirm the report. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Color film of Tarawa ( very graphic ) Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/25/09 19:10:09 Warning: This film shows the reality of the battle for Tarawa. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Best Movie Ever ! Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/25/09 18:47:06 I have seen it dozens of times and it never gets old ! Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: LST on the Dock Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/23/09 09:07:09 Every time I see this picture I wonder what the Captain had to say to the Squadron Commander ?. Something like "Dock, What Dock ?" Thats one strong dock ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: LST on the Dock -- SeaBat, 03/23/09 12:59:51 What happened -- OSD, 03/23/09 16:43:20

Subject: AA-12 Automatic Shotgun (WOW) Author: OLD SEA DOG [Edit] Date Posted: 03/19/09 15:21:41 You gotta see this one ! , This sure ain't your dads 12 guage !, 300 rounds per minute, Hot Damm ! Seabat: Can I have one ?,Please [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: AA-12 Automatic Shotgun (WOW) -- SeaBat, 03/21/09 01:11:51 Not a problem, Seabat -- OSD, 03/21/09 12:54:21 Re: Not a problem, Seabat -- SeaBat, 03/23/09 13:03:46

Subject: High Speed Transport ( LST for 21st. century) Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/19/09 16:11:56 A Well designed ship HSV-X1 ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: High Speed Transport ( LST for 21st. century) -- SeaBat, 03/21/09 01:15:09

Subject: Vets, Keep a close watch on Washington ! Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 03/19/09 07:46:40 The very fact that this plan was considered bothers me. It looked like " Shaft the Veterans, send the money to AIG and the banks !. ......................................... Insurance Change for Veterans Is Scrapped By ROBERT PEAR Published: March 18, 2009 WASHINGTON — Under withering criticism from veterans and Congress, President Obama on Wednesday abandoned a proposal that would have required veterans to use their private health insurance to pay for the treatment of combat-related injuries. David K. Rehbein, national commander of the American Legion, said the president had indicated at a meeting on Monday that he “intended to move forward” with the proposal, which could have saved the government more than $500 million a year. But on Wednesday, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Mr. Obama had scrapped the idea. “The president has instructed that its consideration be dropped,” Mr. Gibbs said. The press secretary said Mr. Obama had heeded the concerns of veterans’ organizations that feared the proposal could make it more difficult for some of their members to obtain care. In a recent letter to the president, the American Legion and 10 other veterans organizations denounced the proposal as “a total abrogation of our government’s moral and legal responsibility” to treat service-connected injuries and illnesses. Lawmakers of both parties said the proposal would have made it more difficult for some veterans to get affordable private health insurance for themselves and their families. “Pushing combat injuries onto personal insurance plans could make service to our nation a pre-existing condition,” which could be used to justify the denial of private coverage, said Representative Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri. Mr. Obama has repeatedly called health insurance for all Americans one of his priorities. Veterans groups thanked the president on Wednesday. Jay Agg, a spokesman for Amvets, said: “We are very pleased the administration dropped this proposal. It flew in the face of the government’s covenant to care for all service-connected needs of our veterans.” Glen M. Gardner Jr., national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said Mr. Obama had told veterans on Monday that he would listen to their concerns. “The president kept to his word and made the right decision,” Mr. Gardner said. Senior members of Congress had threatened to kill the proposal if Mr. Obama pushed it. The chairmen of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs, Senator Daniel K. Akaka, Democrat of Hawaii, and Representative Bob Filner, Democrat of California, had publicly opposed the proposal. “Our budget cannot be balanced on the backs of our nation’s combat-wounded heroes,” Mr. Filner said. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, announced the president’s decision Wednesday afternoon at a meeting with veterans groups. Leaders of the organizations had pressed their concerns a few hours earlier in a meeting at the White House with Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff. Eric Shinseki, the secretary of veterans affairs, said Mr. Obama was requesting $113 billion for the department in 2010, an increase of 16 percent over this year’s amount. The budget includes money to treat 419,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, up 15 percent from this year and 61 percent from 2008. Having dropped the idea of billing private insurers for the treatment of service-connected conditions, administration officials have told veterans groups that they want to find another way to save a similar amount of money. One way is to collect payments from private insurers who are already responsible for some care provided to veterans for needs unrelated to their military service. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Bob Ballards map of Iron Bottom Sound Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/18/09 16:19:14 The artist's rendering at the left depicts the bottom of “Iron Bottom Sound” as seen by the explorer Robert Ballard as he returned to the area in 1993. The illustration shows the approximate positions of the ships found. * 1-Kirishima * 2-Quincy * 3-Ayanami * 4-DeHaven * 5-Yudachi * 6-Laffey * 7-Canberra * 8-Northampton * 9-Cushing * 10-Barton * 11-Monsse [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Solomon Islands Map Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/18/09 15:40:05 To help get a perspective of the area. Iron Bottom Sound is the under water site of much of the Japanese Navy and some of our ships too. Our Bombers caught them at anchor and sank lots of ships. Estimates say there are about 80 ships on the bottom of Iron Bottom Sound. OSD [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: More info. -- OSD, 03/18/09 15:57:46 Correction -- OSD, 03/18/09 16:15:32

Subject: Restoring faith in humanity... Author: SeaBat [Edit] Date Posted: 03/15/09 05:42:47 http://www.military.com/news/article/vets-find-safety-net-online.html?ESRC=navy-a.nl [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Abe Lincoln's Pocket Watch Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/13/09 11:15:57 SECRET MESSAGE FOUND IN PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S POCKET WATCH WASHINGTON — For nearly 150 years, a story has circulated about a hidden Civil War message engraved inside Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch. On Tuesday, museum curators confirmed it was true. A watchmaker used tiny tools to carefully pry open the antique watch at the National Museum of American History, and a descendant of the engraver read aloud the message from a metal plate underneath the watch face. "Jonathan Dillon April 13 - 1861," part of the inscription reads, "Fort Sumpter (sic) was attacked by the rebels on the above date." Another part reads, "Thank God we have a government." The words were etched in tiny cursive handwriting and filled the the space between tiny screws and gears that jutted through the metal plate. A magnifying glass was required to read them. Jonathan Dillon, then a watchmaker on Pennsylvania Avenue, had Lincoln's watch in his hands when he heard the first shots of the Civil War had been fired in South Carolina. The Irish immigrant later recalled being the only Union sympathizer working at the shop in a divided Washington. Dillon's story was passed down among his family and friends, eventually reaching a New York Times reporter. In a 1906 article in the paper, an 84-year-old Dillon said no one, including Lincoln, ever saw the inscription as far as he knew. Dillon had a fuzzy recollection of what he had engraved. He told the newspaper he had written: "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a president who at least will try."For years the story went unconfirmed. The watchmaker's great-great grandson, Doug Stiles, first heard the tale of the engraving from his great uncle decades ago. He said the story had reached extended family as far away as Ireland. A few months ago, he used Google to find the New York Times story, and last month he passed the information along to Smithsonian curators, who knew nothing about the engraving. On Tuesday, watchmaker George Thomas, who volunteers at the museum, spent several minutes carefully opening the watch as an audience of reporters and museum workers watched on a video monitor. "The moment of truth has come. Is there or is there not an inscription?" Thomas said, teasing the audience, which gasped when he confirmed it was there. He called Stiles up to read his ancestor's words, drawing smiles and a few sighs of relief. "Like Pearl Harbor or 9/11, this was the reaction he had (to the Civil War,)" Stiles said of the inscription. Later, Stiles said he felt closer to the 16th president. "My gosh, that was Lincoln's watch," he said, "and my ancestor put graffiti on it!" Lincoln's family kept the watch until it was donated to the museum in 1958. It was Lincoln's everyday pocket watch, one of the president's only valuable possessions he brought with him to the White House from Springfield, Ill., said Harry Rubenstein, curator of the museum's politics and reform division. "I think it just captures a bit of history that can transform you to another time and place," he said. "It captures the excitement, the hope of a watchmaker in Washington."The watch will go back on display at the museum by Wednesday as part of the exhibit, "Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life." It will have a new label to tell Dillon's story and a photo of the inscription. .............................................. 150 year old message, amazing ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Abe Lincoln's Pocket Watch -- linda, 03/15/09 04:08:05

Subject: Code Talkers Funeral Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/13/09 15:54:22 I had trouble seeing my monitor through this video. You should have a hankie at the ready !. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Code Talkers Funeral -- SeaBat, 03/15/09 02:02:19

Subject: LCVP restoration Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/13/09 15:30:01 Having completed the LCVP restoration project, the Museum formally hands the vessel over to its owner, the First Division Museum at Cantigny during the LCVP Hand-Over Ceremony. Open to the public. ........................................................................................... It looks very pretty in wood grain but a real Navy LCVP needs to be painted Navy grey and have some ships numbers on it. As in this classic photo. Type: 36' Higgins (wood) Capacity: 39 persons Length: 35 feet, 9 inches Beam: 10 feet, 6 inches Draft: 3 feet, 5 inches Displacement: 26,600 pounds [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Code Talkers Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/13/09 10:29:54 THE NAVAHO CODE TALKERS Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu, Iwo Jima: the Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units, transmitting messages by telephone and radio in their native language -- a code that the Japanese never broke. The idea to use Navajo for secure communications came from Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos and one of the few non-Navajos who spoke their language fluently. Johnston, reared on the Navajo reservation, was a World War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand all attempts to decipher it. He also knew that Native American languages--notably Choctaw--had been used in World War I to encode messages. Johnston believed Navajo answered the military requirement for an undecipherable code because Navajo is an unwritten language of extreme complexity. Its syntax and tonal qualities, not to mention dialects, make it unintelligible to anyone without extensive exposure and training. It has no alphabet or symbols, and is spoken only on the Navajo lands of the American Southwest. One estimate indicates that less than 30 non-Navajos, none of them Japanese, could understand the language at the outbreak of World War II. Early in 1942, Johnston met with Major General Clayton B. Vogel, the commanding general of Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, and his staff to convince them of the Navajo language's value as code. Johnston staged tests under simulated combat conditions, demonstrating that Navajos could encode, transmit, and decode a three-line English message in 20 seconds. Machines of the time required 30 minutes to perform the same job. Convinced, Vogel recommended to the Commandant of the Marine Corps that the Marines recruit 200 Navajos. In May 1942, the first 29 Navajo recruits attended boot camp. Then, at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, this first group created the Navajo code. They developed a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. The dictionary and all code words had to be memorized during training. Once a Navajo code talker completed his training, he was sent to a Marine unit deployed in the Pacific theater. The code talkers' primary job was to talk, transmitting information on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital battlefield communications over telephones and radios. They also acted as messengers, and performed general Marine duties. Praise for their skill, speed and accuracy accrued throughout the war. At Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, declared, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima." Connor had six Navajo code talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle. Those six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error. The Japanese, who were skilled code breakers, remained baffled by the Navajo language. The Japanese chief of intelligence, Lieutenant General Seizo Arisue, said that while they were able to decipher the codes used by the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps, they never cracked the code used by the Marines. The Navajo code talkers even stymied a Navajo soldier taken prisoner at Bataan. (About 20 Navajos served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines.) The Navajo soldier, forced to listen to the jumbled words of talker transmissions, said to a code talker after the war, "I never figured out what you guys who got me into all that trouble were saying." In 1942, there were about 50,000 Navajo tribe members. As of 1945, about 540 Navajos served as Marines. From 375 to 420 of those trained as code talkers; the rest served in other capacities. Navajo remained potentially valuable as code even after the war. For that reason, the code talkers, whose skill and courage saved both American lives and military engagements, only recently earned recognition from the Government and the public. A code talker was also a fully trained U. S. Marine. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: "Brother can you spare a dime",Al Jolson Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/10/09 07:08:58 Whats old is new again, a song for our times.. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: "Brother can you spare a dime",Al Jolson -- SeaBat, 03/11/09 15:17:49

Subject: ghost ships of iron bottom sound Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/ 9/09 20:01:50 Great Stuff ! [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Tarakan 1945 Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/ 2/09 19:05:54 [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Tarakan 1945 -- Buddy LST 1126, 03/ 7/09 23:38:31 NOT an LST - an LSM -- WVaRay, 03/ 8/09 13:29:13

Subject: Video: LSTs in the Pacific Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/ 5/09 17:20:55 [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Video: LSTs in the Pacific -- SeaBat, 03/ 6/09 12:45:45

Subject: Dive to the Yamato, Japans Super battleship Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/ 5/09 17:36:27 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: From Motion Models Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/ 5/09 16:15:48 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Morotai 1945 Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/ 2/09 19:12:38 Seabat: Top picture, Can you see the LST bridge in the far right near the middle ?. See anything ?. Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Morotai 1945 -- SeaBat, 03/ 3/09 08:40:57 Thought it could be the 125 bridge -- OSD, 03/ 3/09 17:20:31 Re: Thought it could be the 125 bridge -- SeaBat, 03/ 4/09 12:39:07

Subject: My latest treasure find Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 02/28/09 15:30:54 I recently found at a garage sale for $ 10.00, a radio that I always wanted to add to my collection ( I'm up to about 50 now ) , a 1967 Realistic DX-160 Communications Receiver, in like new conditon. I have several Short Wave Radios but when I hooked up the 160 to my roof antenna it came to life. Almost everywhere on the bands there are stations, and the Band Spread Knob is like a fine tuning. This radio puts my other World Band Radios to shame, and several of them were much more expensive. When new it was $ 160.00 hence the model number DX-160. So keep looking at garage sales, there are treasures to be had out there. The Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: My latest treasure find -- SeaBat, 03/ 2/09 13:02:04 If it works, don't replace it -- OSD, 03/ 2/09 17:37:42

Subject: Soundies (remember them ?) Author: Old Sea Dog [Edit] Date Posted: 02/28/09 16:59:44 Soundies were music films of current bands and singers that were played on a machine that looked like a jukebox with a small movie screen. The selection was great and we all thought "Wow, This is really the future". Well they did'nt last long but examples of the music films are still around. Here is one of my favorites.The Modernaires - Jukebox Saturday Night (Soundie) [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: picture of Soundie Machine -- OSD, 02/28/09 17:02:49 Re: picture of Soundie Machine -- linda, 03/ 1/09 07:30:49 Re: picture of Soundie Machine -- SeaBat, 03/ 2/09 12:50:57 Could be -- OSD, 03/ 2/09 17:27:55

Subject: Willie Sutton Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 03/ 1/09 17:38:19 When the famous bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he supposedly replied, “That’s where the money is.” [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Maybe it's time to shut it down Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 02/27/09 13:12:23 Perhaps this forum has served it's useful purpose and now it should just go away. OSD [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Maybe it's time to shut it down -- SeaBat, 02/27/09 13:54:59 Re: Maybe it's time to shut it down -- linda, 02/28/09 07:31:08 OK, I Hear You ! -- Old Sea Dog, 02/28/09 15:08:31 Re: OK, I Hear You ! -- linda, 03/ 1/09 07:27:06

Subject: Der Furhers Face Author: OSD [Edit] Date Posted: 02/28/09 16:04:05 The Spike Jones Classic that was banned in WWII. This is the full length version. Love it, it always makes me laugh. Old Sea Dog [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Memorial website Author: Buddy LST1126 [Edit] Date Posted: 02/16/09 08:13:18 Censorship in action on the 325 website. Post something not liked by the comrad moderator and you're blocked and the message removed. That is not their only problem either. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: Memorial website -- SeaBat, 02/16/09 13:41:40 Re: Memorial website -- WVaRay, 02/19/09 03:48:55 Re: Memorial website -- Buddy LST 1126, 02/20/09 05:20:07

Subject: LST-448 Author: Gina K. Frakes [Edit] Date Posted: 08/27/07 11:00:18 I am looking for any information regarding the LST-448. If there are any photos or any survivors that I can contact, my husband's grandfather survived the bombing on 01 OCT 1943. Please send email to me with reference to LST448 Thank You [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: LST-448 -- Buddy LST 1126, 08/28/07 04:13:55 Re: LST-448 -- Vinny Ackermann, 10/13/07 11:14:22 Re: LST-448 -- Gina K. Frakes (To Vinny Ackermann), 11/22/07 03:06:43 Re: LST-448 -- Gina Dolieslager (LST 448), 12/27/07 14:39:01 Re: LST-448 -- Vince Ackermann, 04/ 7/08 09:58:27 Re: LST-448 -- Frank P, 04/18/08 18:20:50 Re: LST-448 -- Oma Davis, 09/18/08 14:39:41 Re: LST-448 -- John R, 01/17/09 10:20:09

Subject: US House Resolution (LST's) Author: Buddy LST 1126 [Edit] Date Posted: 07/ 9/08 02:17:32 I received this request from both the US LST Association and the US LST Ship Memorial. They are asking we contact our state representatives and ask that they support this resolution. If you would like a copy of the proposed Resolution H. RES 1316, email me at Buddy@LST1126.com and I will forward a copy. To all interested parties of LST's (Landing Ship Tanks) I would like to inform you that Mr. Peter Leasca has approached his Congressman James McGovern from Mass. to promote a Resolution H.Res 1316 to recognize all LST Sailors for all their work and service to our country. I would appreciate it if you would call or write your Congressman or one of the Armed Service committee and ask them to support and vote for the Resolution H.Res 1316. It is very important Mr. Mc Govern was the Congressman that introduced the original bill to return the LST 325 to the States in 2000. Congressman Hall of Texas was the first one to bring it to the floor, The Resolution will be published in the Scuttlebutt for everyone to read and keep. We hope it can be completed by September, so please contact them as soon as possible. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] Replies: Re: US House Resolution (LST's) -- linda, 01/16/09 06:17:03

Subject: Carolinas State LST Chapter Author: Buddy LST 1126 (:-)) [Edit] Date Posted: 01/14/09 07:26:34 I was in Target this morning and noticed a man wearing a Navy ball cap. I stopped him and had a short conversation with him about his service. He served on two LSTs as a Corpsman. He beached at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. One of his ships was a converted LST to a hospital ship. I mentioned he didn't have to go ashore to view the many casualties and he commented "That's right, they brought them to us. They found out at Iwo Jima that they were sorely understaffed with doctors and corpsmen and got more onboard before Okinawa. I had to ask him to join our Carolinas State Chapter, and it appears he just might in time to go to the Beach Bash in May. We still have room for more, and you don't have to be from the Carolinas to join. Email me for additional information on membership and the Beach Bash XIV. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Carolinas State LST Chapter Author: Buddy LST 1126 [Edit] Date Posted: 11/27/08 02:54:40 The Carolinas State LST Chapter has finalized the 2009 Beach Bash XIV. We invite any veteran or active duty member to become a member and attend this well planned event and fun filled event. The annual gathering will be in Myrtle Beach, SC in the Springmaid Resorts complex. Although there are planned events and outings, there will be plenty of time for attendees to visit shopping centers and one or more of the 100 Golf courses in the area. The weather is generally in the mid to upper 60's and a most pleasant change from most areas further inland or north. This year we will attend two nice restaurants and see an Alabama Theater Show. A hospitality room at the complex will be available for Sea Stories and just mingling. We have members from all eras and many different states. You don't have to be from the Carolinas to be a member. If you're interested and need additional information send me an email at the above address. Additional information is on the LST 1126 website. Membership is only $15.00 per year of $25.00 for two years which includes a periodic Scuttlebutt Newsletter. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: LST 1126 Website (Korean War) Author: Buddy LST 1126 [Edit] Date Posted: 09/25/08 05:27:35 Any comments on the Korean War material posted on the LST 1126 Website ( http://www.LST1126.com ) concerning the Psychological Warfare using Loudspeakers Speakers and Leaflets. Did any of you know of this or recall it being done while you were there? It was at times a dangerous mission. The death toll records indicate many participants were lost in action. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

Subject: Website additions (LST 1126) Author: Buddy LST1126. [Edit] Date Posted: 09/21/08 02:24:43 I finally found time to publish some additional photos on the Snohomish County LST 1126 website http://www.LST1126.com . They are located in the Section 1960 - 1962 Wespac Adventure at the bottom right of the first page. These were sent to me as 35mm slides and I scanned them using the slide adapter on my scanner. First time I've used it and it seems to work good. Some of the photos taken below decks were enhanced with my Paperport and Office Picture Manager. Anyone who has 35mm LST 1126 photos can share them with shipmates by sending them to me. I will scan and return them promptly and place them on the website. I've not lost a single photo that was sent to me and thats a bunch. I use priority mail, a little more costly, but exceptionally safe and fast. Any question or for my address, check the website or email me at Buddy@LST1126.com . [ Post a Reply to This Message ]