proposed 1980 update of WWII destroyers

I debated on this topic as perhaps it is too bland for general reading, but perhaps readers will be interested not only in WWII military technology but how decisions about it was made in later decades.

(The launching of USS Dyess (DD-880) during WWII. A third of a century later, USS Dyess would be one of the Gearing class candidate ships for the study below.)

There were many proposals to upgrade WWII warships. For every success like the GUPPY submarines, many more proposals never saw daylight. They were too expensive, or mechanically impossible, or just dumb ideas to begin with. Today they survive only as poorly-documented sketches.

(The July 1980 report which spelled the end for WWII destroyers in the US Navy.)

However this proposal: to upgrade WWII Gearing class destroyers for service deep into the 1980s, was a reasonable idea to explore, mechanically feasible, and thoroughly documented in the unclassified realm. As it was never done, it is forgotten today. So hopefully it will be of some interest.

(The decommissioned USS William C. Lawe (DD-763) on the right, which in 1983 had been the very last WWII destroyer in the US Navy.)

WWII weapons in Panama

Many Americans of a certain age consider Panama only as the bisected nation on either side of the now-defunct Panama Canal Zone, while a younger generation only recalls it as one of the USA’s “regime change” operations.

Panama, the independent nation, once had its own small army which used WWII arms long after WWII.

(Panamanian soldier with WWII M1 pot helmet and M1 Garand rifle, in tear gas mask during a 1968 coup.) (photo via Bettmann images)

(Within this mountain of Panamanian weapons captured during 1989, is a WWII M1 carbine and M1928 Thompson submachine gun.)

(WWII American M1 pot helmet of the Panama Defense Force’s (PDF) military police captured in 1989. During the 1980s the PDF had reconditioned some of these old helmets with new suspensions, even as kevlar helmets entered the army.)

eight years of wwiiafterwwii / London trip 2023

I am not good at remembering dates (I forgot last year’s altogether), so let this be the official unofficial eighth anniversary of wwiiafterwwii. I thank everybody for the shared knowledge and comments over the years.

Recently I crossed the Atlantic to attend a sports event in Great Britain. I aimed to just relax and have fun and in no way was it a serious history-hunting trip. None the less, I did see some things which may be relevant to the overall theme of WWII kit in the postwar world.

(London’s Docklands area burning during the Blitz.)

(Roughly the same area in August 2023, with the white ensign aboard HMS Belfast.)

WWII Benewah class in the Vietnam War

Normally a barracks ship would probably be thought of as one of the most boring things in any fleet, but four Benewah class barracks ships of WWII were successfully retasked as riverine combatants during the Vietnam War.

(Launching of the barracks ship USS Benewah (APB-35) during WWII.)

(USS Benewah with a UH-1 Iroquois and riverine warfare craft off the Vietnamese coast in 1969.)

WWII submachine guns at “Gun City, PRC” 1950 – 1956

Bei’an in northern China was for many years “Gun City, PRC”; churning out huge numbers of cloned WWII-era firearms before switching to China’s clone of the AK-47.

(American soldiers examine a captured Type 50, the Chinese clone of the WWII Soviet PPSh-41, during the Korean War.) (US National Archives photo)

(This monument in modern Bei’an honors the 9,006,116 guns made at Factory #626.) (photo via Xinhua news agency)

USS Salish WWII to the Falklands

During the 1982 Falklands War, Argentina’s ARA Alférez Sobral, formerly the WWII US Navy’s USS Salish (ATA-187), made a remarkable voyage of determined sailors surviving at sea.

(USS Salish (ATA-187) in US Navy service.)

(The heavily-damaged ARA Alférez Sobral, the former USS Salish, returning to Argentina in May 1982 after taking multiple British missile hits.)

Japan’s lost monuments

When I began wwiiafterwwii in 2015 this was one of the first things I wished to write on, simply because it interested me. After some thought I decided that it strayed too far from the concept of WWII weapons still in use after 1945.

During 2021 I again wanted to do something on this topic. At that time, there was debate here in the United States as to Civil War monuments. I didn’t wish to see the things conflated so I abandoned it again.

Now in 2023 the topic still interests me. For readers who prefer technical military information, I will return to that focus going forward, this is just a one-off. For other readers, perhaps it will be of value.

This is certainly not every monument Japan built before September 1945, just a representative ten.

(Left: The Japanese monument in Hong Kong lies beyond HMS Swiftsure at the end of WWII. Right: The demolished monument’s stone retaining walls underneath modern housing in Hong Kong.)

(Soviet sailors show the colors in Port Arthur after WWII. The Ryojun Loyalty Tower in the background is the only Japanese monument described below still standing in 2023.)

happy Independence Day 2023 / SSK submarines

For readers in the USA, I wish all a happy Independence Day, our nation’s 247th year.

In the US Navy, a warship launched or commissioned on the 4th of July is a special honor. Below is the WWII Gato class submarine USS Angler (SS-240) being launched by Electric Boat Company at Groton, CT on 4 July 1943.

USS Angler survived WWII and during 1952, was selected for conversion into SSK configuration to become USS Angler (SSK-240).

the T-34 in Somalia

Somalia faces many problems now in the 2020s, most of them directly or indirectly caused by a disastrous defeat in a now-largely forgotten war against Ethiopia during the 1970s. The USSR’s main tank of WWII, the T-34, fought in this war.

(Somali T-34 tanks on parade in Mogadishu prior to the Ogaden War.)

(An abandoned T-34 in Somalia today.)

last voyage of ENS el-Qaher 1970

Combat sinkings of warships destroyer-sized or larger after WWII were not many, even fewer in the later Cold War period, and as such are usually well-known and documented.

Egypt’s WWII-vintage destroyer ENS el-Qaher is by contrast, barely studied and almost completely forgotten today.

(ENS el-Qaher, formerly the British HMS Myngs of WWII.)

(Israeli air force F-4 Phantom IIs.)

(The wreck of ENS el-Qaher.)