GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
959 tons
153 feet
35 feet 6 inches beam
Complement: 260 officers and men
Armament:
Twenty-eight 12-pdr. guns
Six 6-pdr. guns
She was launched 8 November 1778 at Chatham (Norwich), Connecticut, and towed to New London to be prepared for sea.
--Brock-Perry
From Wikipedia.
I came across this name while doing research for something else and the name just sort of jumped out at me for some reason. Exactly why would the U.S. Navy name a warship after the hated Confederates? Well, as it turns out, there was a story.
The definition of confederacy is a league or alliance. Turns out, that was what the Americans had going during the American Revolution.
The Confederacy was a 36-gun sailing frigate on the Continental Navy during the American Revolution. The British Royal Navy captured her in Match 1781 and took her into their service as the HMS Confederate for a half year before breaking her up in 1782.
Betcha Never Heard of This Ship. --Cooter
Operations by Vietnam resumed October 21 October and continued until December 1972, when the ship was recalled to homeport at Norfolk. During 1973 and 1974 the ship undertook training cruises and visited many ports around the world before being recalled for decommissioning.
While there was some interest in retaining her for her "big gun" capability in the fleet, a survey to determine further service indicated the ship was beyond economical refitting.
The Newport News was decommissioned on 27 June 1975 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 July 1978.
She spent her later years as part of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Mothball Fleet and was sold for scrap in New Orleans, Louisiana, , on 25 February1993.
The museum ship USS Quincy, in Quincy, Massachusetts, contains her bell and other items.
In the Hampton Roads Naval Museum's The Ten-Thousand Day War at Sea: The US Navy in Vietnam, 1970-1975 section, a large model of the USS Newport News.
--Cooter
At 1 a.m. on 1 October 1972, while in action in the Demilitarized Zone, the Newport News sustained an in-bore explosion in her center 8-inch gun of number two turret. A defective auxiliary detonating fuze caused the projectile to blow up almost immediately upon firing.
A total of twenty sailors were killed and another 36 suffered serious injuries from toxic gas inhalation. The barrel proper was blown forward from the gun. After making its way to Subic Bay in the Philippines, the ship was out of commission for several weeks as its damaged gun was removed and its port plated over.
The explosion had caused extensive damage to the center gun mount. It was proposed to replace the damaged mount with one from sister ships Des Moines (CA-134) or Salem (CA-139), both of which had been decommissioned, but this was rejected as being too expensive.
As a result, the damage was not repaired and the turret was simply closed off for the remainder of the ship's career.
--Cooter
THIRD DEPLOYMENT TO VIETNAM
In May 1972, the ship returned for her third and final combat tour in Vietnam. Along with guided missile cruisers USS Oklahoma City (CL-91) (CLG-5) and USS Providence (CL-82) (CLG-6) , as well as several screening destroyers, the Newport News took part in a high-speed night bombardment of Haiphong Harbor known as Operation Custom Tailor.
This was the largest cruiser/destroyer fleet in the Pacific since World War II. Military targets within four miles of Haiphong were hit and there was a lot of opposition. During the attack, the destroyer USS Hanson (DD-832) (DDR-832) entered the harbor to attack enemy shore batteries and other ships were able to mine the harbor entrance.
Then, in June 1972, the ship was in with Operation Linebacker which involved 64 aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and supply ships of the U.S. 7th Fleet which was called the biggest American armada since World War II. This was the Nixon administration's air and naval campaign to prevent North Vietnam supplies from getting to South Vietnam.
--Cooter
Subsequent to the end of Operation Sea Dragon and for the remaining months of the deployment, the Newport News participated in Naval Gunfire Support operations near the DMZ. This was in support of of the Third Marine Division on the coastal area. The ship fired around the clock for periods sometimes lasting for weeks.
During this deployment, the ship expended 59,241 rounds of high-explosive ammunition, while conducting 239 observed and 602 unobserved missions. She came under fire of enemy coastal defense batteries on seventeen separate occasions, hit by shrapnel but never suffered a direct hit.
The Newport News departed Subic Bay on 21 April and arrived at her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 May 1968, via the Panama Canal.
Following an extensive overhaul to prepare for future combat , the ship departed Norfolk 21 November 19 68 for her second deployment to Vietnam.
Combat operations during this tour during this tour commenced on December 1, 1968, focused on providing naval gunfire support to the 7th and 9th ARVN (South Vietnamese Army) on Vinh Binh Province and the DMZ.
She returned to Norfolk in early July 1969.
--Cooter
The USS Newport News then spent fifty days patrolling off the coast of North Vietnam as part of Operation Sea Dragon, the Navy's effort to destroy waterborne logistics craft, military supply routes and installations in North Vietnam.
During this period of time, she conducted 156 strikes against 325 North Vietnamese coastal defense sites. According to observers, the ship sank 17 waterborne logistics craft, damaged another 14 and destroyed several enemy bunkers and radar sites, bridges, barges, trucks and roads.
(Waterborne logistics craft are ships that deliver supplies to military units and sites, in case you're wondering like me.)
On 19 December 1967, the ship exchanged fire with 20-28 separate shore batteries, simultaneously, off the coast of North Vietnam. During this engagement, over 300 enemy rounds bracketed the Newport News, but she suffered no direct hits.
This encounter caused forward observers to nickname the Newport News "The Gray Ghost from the East Coast." She kept that moniker throughout three deployments to Vietnam.
--Cooter
From 1950 to 1961, the ship had annual deployments to the Mediterranean as well as training cruises in the Caribbean and western Atlantic. She served as the flagship of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 with the USS Leary as destroyer escort.
The two ships stopped the Soviet ship Labinsk and ordered her away from Cuban waters and assisted in counting Soviet missiles as they were being dismantled and removed from Cuba.
When the Dominican Republic Crisis of 1965 developed, she was the flagship of the task force and in 1967 the Newport News shifted to a six-month deployment to Southeast Asia arriving off Vietnam 9 October where she fired her 8-inch guns in anger for the first time at positions in North Vietnam as part of Operation Sea Dragon.
--Cooter
From Wikipedia.
The USS Newport News was the third and last shop of the Des Moines-class of heavy cruisers in the U.S. Navy. She was also the first fully air-conditioned ship and the last all-gun heavy cruiser in the Navy.
It was laid down 1 November 1945, launched 6 March 1948 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia. Commissioned 29 January 1949. She was named after the Virginia City of Newport New.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
LENGTH: 700 feet
BEAM: 76 feet 6 inches
DRAFT: 22 feet
COMPLEMENT: 1,799 officers and enlisted
ARMAMENT:
Three triple 8-inch gun turrets (9)
Six twin 5-inch guns (12)
Twelve twin 3-inch guns (24)
Twelve single Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
Packed a Punch. --Cooter
Steve Alemar has his own harrowing Vietnam War story to share.
On October 1, 1972, he was an 18-year-old sailor aboard the USS Newport News off the coast of Vietnam. About 1 a.m., the 21,000-ton heavy cruiser was firing at enemy targets when an eight-inch shell in the center gun of Turret 2 prematurely exploded, killing 20 and injuring 36 aboard the ship.
The cruiser became a horror show of fire, thick, green smoke, and burning flesh. "I don't remember how long I was in there," a sailor recalled decades later about the scene at Turret 2, "but I'm guessing 15-20 minutes and then I was relieved." I [spent] 34 years in the fire department and I don't recall ever being as scared."
"We were young that night," another remembered years later, "but we aged fast."
Alemar, who was above Turret 2 when the disaster occurred, suffered a crushed ankle and from smoke inhalation. The battered Newport News -- "The Gray Ghost of the East Coast" -- finally made it back to its Norfolk, Virginia, base on Christmas Eve.
The memory of that awful day still cuts deeply into Alemar. "Those things never go away," he says.
--Cooter
I came across this ship while reading the December 2021 issue of the Civil War Times, Not exactly where you'd expect to find a Korean War and Vietnam warship.
From the December 2021 Civil War Times Rambling with John Banks "No man left behind"
He went to Shepherdstown, West Virginia, to walk the battlefield there and met Steve Alemar who is not only a parking enforcement officer, but also president of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association.
John Banks has a blog called John Banks Civil War Blog and he goes to lots of places and relives fairly unknown parts of the war. Regardless of your interest in history, if you want to read and go along with someone really living history, this is your guy. Well worth a trip to his site.
I wrote about his trip to meet Lt. Lemuel Crocker from the battle who Banks describes as a "Civil War Bad Ass" in my Saw the Elephant: Civil War blog earlier this month.
Anyway, John Banks, also found quite a story with Steve Alemar, whose mom was a secretary for FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and dad was employed by the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA. Alemar himself was a former postal worker and also served as a park ranger for two years at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C..
He is also a veteran of the Vietnam War himself. I will write about his experience on the USS Newport News next.
So, when John Banks went from the Civil War to the Vietnam War, he did some RoadTrippin' Through History, which I do a lot. I start with a story and see how far I can take it.
--Cooter
16. During Clark and Rusty's father-son scene in which the two share a beer, the beer can is actually empty and the two have to pretend to take swigs from it. Although Rusty takes a really, really big swig.
17. In Hughes' original script, Clark snaps after arriving at Walley World and finding it closed and they drive to Roy Walley's home and kidnap him and hold him and top executives hostage. This did not play out well with test audiences so it was changed to where they hijack the park with hapless security guard Lasky, John Candy as hostage and go on the rides. (This is the first time I remember seeing John Candy.)
18. Establishing shots of Walley World were created using matte paintings.
19. The Walley World parking lot scene was filmed at Santa Anita race track in Arcadia, California. It was more than 100 degrees during shooting. Hall remembers actually trying to beat Chevy Chase in their race.
20. The scenes inside the park were shot at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The cast had to ride the roller coasters so many times that the looks of nausea and fear on their faces was real.
--Cooter
11. Jane Krakowski made her big screen debut in 'Vacation' at age 14 as Eddie's daughter, Cousin Vicki. She was also in "30 Rock."
12. Imogene Coca, who played Aunt Edna was hesitant about taking the role because she didn't think she could be mean enough.
13. Chevy Chase and James Keach, who plays the Highway Patrol officer, improvised much of the scene in which Clark accidentally killed Aunt Edna's dog Dinky by forgetting to untie his leash from the rear bumper. The two are noticeably trying to stifle laughter during the scene.
14. Stunt coordinator Dick Ziker made a bet against other crew members that he would be able to jump the Family Truckster over 50 feet during the desert crash. He won the bet.
** Lindsay Buckingham's "Holiday Road," which serves as the movie's theme song, rose to #82 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart thanks to the popularity of the movie.
--CooterPoorDoggie
From the May 29, 2015, Today by Matt Murray.
Earlier this month, I wrote about the Family Truckster car from the movie 'Vacation' being at the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois. This is one of my favorite movies.
Here are 20 more things about the movie:
1. Anthony Michael Hall, who played Rusty Griswold, was going through puberty during the shooting and grew three inches during the shooting..
2. The film was written by John Hughes (who went on to write other 80s classics like "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles" and was based on his story "Vacation '58."
3. Shooting for the movie required a real-life road trip for the cast and crew and the film was shot in more than 15 locations across four states.
4. "Vacation" is the only R-rated movie in the series. There was some semi-nudity, plus the scene supposedly from East St. Louis, which director Harold Ramis called the most politically incorrect sequence he ever shot.
5. There were five Wagon Queen Family Trucksters made and used in the production of the film allowing each to be altered in certain ways for the wear and tear of the drive.
--Cooter
Go to the site for more information.
5. TWELVE LUCKY GRAPES
A Spanish tradition. Eat a grape right at the stroke of midnight, one for each stroke of the clock.
6. LENTILS
Italian.
7. PICKLED HERRING
Scandinavian, German and Polish. This is without a doubt my favorite thing to do around this time of the year. I stock up. Love that herring!!!!!
8. PORK AND SAUERKRAUT
Pennsylvania and Ohio.
9. NEW YEAR'S PRETZEL
Germany.
Pass the Herrings. Eating My Way to Luck. --Cooter
History December 29, 2021.
Wanna get lucky in the new year. Here's some stuff you can eat in between all the weight loss and tax commercials.
1. HOPPIN' JOHN
A Southern thing. Mix of black-eyed peas, rice and pork. All I remember growing up in North Carolina was eating lots and lots of black-eyed peas.
2. KING CAKE
And, I thought it only had to do with Mardi Gras. But, be careful eating this because there probably is a plastic baby Jesus in there somewhere.
3. TAMALES
A Mexican thing, but sooooooo gooooood.
4. SOBA NOODLES
A Japanese thing.
--CootPeas
JANUARY 1, 1776
British thwart Montgomery and Arnold's assault on Quebec, Canada. (I have written about the first two Montgomery warships in this blog and my War o 1812 blog.)
JANUARY 3, 1777
Battle of Princeton, New Jersey
JANUARY 5, 1776
New Hampshire becomes the first colony to declare full independence.
JANUARY 6, 1777
The Continental Army enters second winter encampment of the war at Morristown, New Jersey.
JANUARY 17, 1781
Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina
JANUARY 19, 1776
Thomas Paine published "Common Sense."
--Cooter
This title comes from their having the original Corvette from the movie "Animal House" with Bluto Blutarsky and the Clark Griswold Family Truckster from the movie "Vacation." Two of my all-time favorite movies.
The "Animal House" Corvette was the one that Eroc "Otter" Stratton owned.
The road to procuring the "Animal House" Corvette was a winding one according to Brian Grams of the Volo Auto Museum, First they had to deal with the Mercurial Mr. Smith who owned it. He wanted a six-figure payment for his Corvette and it had to be in cash -- specifically in $100 bills.
And, that was with the fact that the car's keys had been misplaced and that it hadn't run since the 1980s.
Well, Grams got his car, regardless. Plus there were some extras that sweetened the deal. That included the movie's transportation coordinators signed copy of the original film script that came with the car as well as the October 24,1977, dated Universal City Studios receipt for four weeks of rental, along with a copy of the $400 check written to Mr. Smith for that rental. (What, not four $100 bills?)
Plus, Grams said the car has great value both in the fact that it is a verified piece of movie history and as a solid 1959 model Corvette featuring a dual quad high-performance engine and original paint.
"Corvette people are purists," he said. "They love original paint, even if it does have a few battle scars."
"Was It Over When the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor?" --RoadDog
The Corvette was featured in the 1978 breakout movie for John Belushi, "Animal House" and was featured in posters of it. (And, it sure reminded me of my dear old frat rat days with the Delta Sigs at NIU.)
That Corvette spent decades in a pole barn near Eugene, Oregon, where the movie was filmed. The previous owner, before Brian Grams, director of the Volo Auto Museum, said that its previous owner, Paul Smith, bought it in 1975 as a gift for his wife. But, neither one of them liked the car much, so, it sat, accumulating only about 200 miles on the odometer, most of those coming during the filming of the movie in 1977.
Paul Smith is an old-time drag racer and car guy. He used to scout cars for film projects, and he offered his Vette when the producers of "Animal House" were looking.
--Cootimal
From the December 1, 2021, Hi-Liter (Northwest Chicago suburbs) "Treat your family this year to a 'Christmas Vacation' they won't forget at Volo Museum."
It's Bluto Blutarsky meet Clark Griswold at the Volo Museum right now and a tip of Santa's cap to two of the best movies ever made in my opinion.
They have the 1959 Corvette from "Animal House" and the Family Truckster from "Vacation." Plus, there is a photo op you can get with Cousin Eddie's "Christmas Vacation" RV in the backdrop background.
"Animal House" is my all-time favorite movie (essentially it was my old fraternity up until the parade and I am sure we would have had toga parties if we'd thought about it. We'd have been just the guys to do it, you know.)
Plus, "Christmas Vacation" is my second favorite Christmas movie. But. I have to admit I thought the Wagon Queen Family Truckster had been pretty-well destroyed by Clark's trip into the desert. And, "Vacation" is in my Top Five favorite movies especially since Liz and I are bigtime old road folks.
--Cooter
After commissioning, the McCall was attached to the Torpedo Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, and operated along the Atlantic coast, primarily out of Newport, Rhode Island and the Chesapeake Bay area. Each winter found her in Cuban waters for maneuvers.
In 1916, the McCall made Neutrality Patrols off New York and along the New England coast. On 14 June 1917, following overhaul in Philadelphia, she steamed to New York to escort a troop convoy to Europe.
The McCall continued escort duties in the western Atlantic until January 1918 when she sailed for Queenstown, Ireland. Arriving there on 22 February, she provided escort and rescue services until 16 December.
Upon return to the United States in January 1918, she resumed east coast operations until decommissioned in Philadelphia on 12 December 1919 and placed in the reserve fleet.
She was transferred to the United States Coast Guard on 7 June 1924 and commissioned into service 17 June 1925 after a lengthy overhaul. Stationed at New London, Connecticut, she was part of the Rum Patrol.
The Coast Guard decommissioned her 12 August 1930. She was returned to the Navy on 18 October and was scrapped and sold on 2 May 1934, in accordance with the London Naval Treaty.
--Cooter
From Wikipedia.
Was a Paulding-class destroyer during World War I and later in the U.S. Coast Guard as (CG-14). She was the first ship named for Edward McCall of War of 1812 fame. She was laid down on 8 June 1909 by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey, and launched 4 June 1910. Commissioned 23 January 1911.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Length: 293 feet 10 inches
Beam: 27 feet
Draft: 8 feet 4 inches
Speed: 29.5 knots
Complement: 4 officers, 78 enlisted
Armament:
Five 3-inch guns
Six 18-inch torpedo tubes
--Cooter
I kind of missed the 6000th post, but just noticed that milestone in this blog. I figure it must have been posted at some point in August of 2021.
Anyway you look at it, 6000+ posts is a lot. I have to find a life, but I enjoy doing these blogs.
This blog has had 742,165 "Looks."
The very first post was on December 14, 2007, so this year marks the 16th year of it. It grew our of my Down Da Road I Go blog when I noticed I was doing so much history in it. Later I spun the Saw the Elephant blog off of this one when I was getting so many Civil War posts.
It's good to have this blog, because it covers all things not of te Civil War, music, War of 1812, World War II and road trips.
Oh, Well. --Cooter
