From Futility Closet, we have:
Commandant Louis Joseph Lahure has a singular distinction in military history he defeated a navy on horseback.
Occupying Holland in January 1795, the French continental army learned that the mighty Dutch navy had been frozen into the ice around Texel Island. So Lahure and 128 men simply rode up to it and demanded surrender. No shots were fired.
I don’t know Bruce Fleming. My time attending USNA predates his time teaching. He has a guest column in The Capital about diversity at the Naval Academy that is disturbing, yet all too believable.
Admiral Gary Roughead, the Chief of Naval Operations, has stated that “diversity is the number one priority” at USNA. Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler, the Superintendent, agrees with him. When I attended, the mission of the academy was to produce professional officers for the Naval Services. Given that, according to the column, admission standards are lowered for minorities, it appears to me that the number one priority is in opposition to the mission.
I keep hoping that I can find a short science-fiction story I read many years ago. The story was written, at least in part, as though it were part of a history book, and described a military loss by the United States to a Latin-American country (I long ago forgot which). The applicable portion of the story brought to mind by Mr. Fleming’s column goes something like this:
General Mendoza said to his staff, “My generals, win me this war!”
This book does not have room for all the instructions given to the American military by the National Organization for Women, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, the …
The point has been made many times over the years – the military has a function. Using it as a platform for social engineering detracts from its ability to fulfill its function.
More here.
It’s the day to remember those whose lives were lost while serving our country. I don’t really have anything new to say, so I’ll just link to an earlier post on the topic.
Update: Worth looking at.
John W. January, a Union soldier imprisoned at Andersonville, GA, and Florence, SC, who amputated his own gangrenous feet because no surgeon was available.
“A collision at sea can ruin your day.”
It can also ruin several careers. One of the “related content” articles says:
Possible. Not necessarily likely. Both submarines are identified as SSBNs – ballistic missile launch platforms, rather than attack submarines. This means that, rather than actively “pinging” with their sonars and listening for echos, they were listening passively to what their sonar arrays were picking up.
Sound travels long distances and in funny ways in the ocean, and it’s not necessarily a very quiet environment. The article mentions rough seas – there was probably a lot of wave noise as background. Living things make a wide variety of sounds – for years, there was an unidentified noise that sonarmen referred to as “the A-train.” I believe it was eventually attributed to Minke whales, but I could be misremembering. The path sound takes in the ocean is dependent on water temperature, salinity, and pressure, and can curve in such a way that you could be travelling parallel to another vessel that is relatively close and never hear it. You could also hear it and think it’s in a different direction compared to where it really is.
There are also blind spots in a submarine’s sonar array. For one thing, you can’t hear behind you, both because the sonar array doesn’t usually have any elements pointing directly aft, and because any that point aft would mostly pick up your own propulsion sounds. Periodically, a submarine will “clear baffles” by putting a wiggle into its track, changing course for a minute or two so that the sonar will be able to “see” behind it, then coming back to its original course.
The description of the results of the collision leads me to believe that the French sub ran into the side of the British sub. I saw nothing to indicate what angle the collision occurred at. First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathan Band said that it was a low-speed collision, so it was probably just bad luck. It could have been worse – much worse.
Returning from patrol, there comes a point when you no longer have to hide your presence, and are allowed to make more speed. There is a tendency to request “going-home turns” from the engine room. Had that been the case, with the French submarine coming up in the other sub’s baffles, the collision could have been much worse. I’m glad it wasn’t.
UPDATE: Blackfive and Neptunus Lex have also reported on this story. The comments at Blackfive are more amusing, but the ones at Neptunus Lex are more informative.
Formerly known as Armistice Day, currently known in the US as Veteran’s Day, and known elsewhere as Remembrance Day, it’s a day to remember and honor all those who have served. If you see a veteran, thank him or her. It’s the right thing to do.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
(Posted slightly early because I don’t have reliable internet access at the moment.)
… and all of the other Marines. I was “George” at the Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Dunoon, Scotland – 1976, if memory serves. Not surprisingly, I was “George” in my submarine’s wardroom, as well.
For over 221 years our Corps has done two things for this great Nation. We make Marines, and we win battles. [Gen. Charles C. Krulak, USMC (CMC); 5 May 1997]
I knew (very slightly) Gen. Krulak when he was a Captain. He was one of the Company Officers at the Naval Academy when I attended. Not my Company Officer, but we had, let us say, occasional … dealings. Mostly when he was OOD and I had the watch. I’m pretty certain he wouldn’t remember me.
Via The Line Is Here, we have photos of President Bush’s appearance as the graduation speaker at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
I wanted to go to the Air Force Academy when I was in high school. My father was career Air Force (enlisted), and I had the idea that I wanted to be a pilot. As things worked out, I went to Annapolis and eventually served on a submarine, but I got to stay in the dorm one weekend when I was part of the contingent that attended an away Navy-Air Force football game. That’s a somewhat-amusing story I haven’t thought of in years; maybe I’ll tell it sometime.
Graduation from a service academy is a pretty exciting occasion. Apart from throwing the hats in the air, which is common to all of the academies, I don’t know what traditions USAFA has concerning graduation. Navy has a number of them, one of them being to give a dollar to the first person who salutes you after you’re commissioned. I still remember Gary Bennett standing up in the middle of the seating area of the field and saluting John Theeuwen. John had selected the Marines as his service option, and the Marines were commissioned first during the ceremony.
Be that as it may, the Daily Mail staff reporter who wrote the article considers it to be “bizarre” behavior on the part of President Bush, but I think it’s great. These young people are celebrating a major accomplishment in their lives, and they’ll have the memories of the president “letting down his hair” and joining in their celebration for the rest of their lives. I’m certain GWB got a kick out of it, too.
The speaker at my graduation was Nelson Rockefeller, who was vice president at the time. I have no distinct memory of anything he said or did at graduation, although I do recall one of my classmates doing a back somersault off the front of the podium. My main memory of “Rocky” himself involve the stories about his death. What is it about New York politicians, anyway?
… if any of them ever wander in here. Found at The Last of the Few (probably NSFW overall, depending on where you work, although this link should be ok).
