shep854

USS Laffey DD-459, showed Taffy 3 how to do it on the night of 13 Nov: "At the height of the violent battle, the battleship Hiei came through the darkness and both ships headed at full speed for the same spot.[2] They missed colliding by 20 feet (10 m).[3][4][5] Laffey unleashed her torpedoes and, using all her firepower, raked the battleship's bridge,[2] wounding Admiral Abe, and killing his chief of staff.[3][6] Admiral Abe was thereafter limited in his ability to direct his ships for the rest of the battle.[7] With a battleship on her stern, a second on her port beam, and two destroyers on her port bow, Laffey fought the Japanese ships with the three remaining main battery guns in a no-quarter duel at point-blank range." She was torpedoed and sank shortly after Wiki, USS Laffey (DD-459)

USS Samuel B. Roberts, sunk off Samar discovered 22,000 feet down https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61925862

What are the units used for the C-130 weights? Somehow I doubt they are tons--pounds??

Yep

Yep, and with varying degrees of precision.

Dragunov, since it’s a purpose-built DMR. The M14 needs tinkering and tuning.

The Stars impressed me as solid pistols. I kind of regret not getting one. FWIW, I think of the Wondernine era as starting in the ‘70s, when the first examples were released.

Ian’s custom job:

Try publishing this story as a novel...I'll wait--but not for long. 😛

A ball turret video from this channel popped up on YouTube. The three-part series on the ball turret is extremely informative (how B-17 crew relieve themselves in flight) and a bit chilling, considering the position itself. The other videos appear to be as informative. WWII US Bombers - YouTube Pt 1 of the ball turret series:

Yep. The AF didn't want the C-27 in any form, so they conned the Army by first asking to join the program 'to save costs', then taking over the program...'to cut expenses'--THEN they dropped the blade.

Very interesting! Cool music, too... 😛

Ian gives it the treatment:

Well, it's different...sort of.

The Cong used whatever they could pick up or scavenge.

It sounds like they tried to get real in this exercise, rather than running a set-piece scenario.

Short, interesting ammo comparison.

The early XM16s employed by Special Forces were considered especially deadly and feared by the VC. With the 1/14 twist, 55gr bullets upset easily on impact, causing fearsome wounds. Later, after changes in powder and the 1/12 rifling, hasty issue and poor training, the XM16E1 rifle started having its problems.

With those prices? Way before…

I’ve also seen it stated that the sound moderator on the XM177 gave it a more AK-like report…

Speaking of GPS shells…

I have heard that some chose to carry AKs out of distrust of the ARs, but IIRC it wasn't official policy. There was also simply the 'cool' factor.

A quick and dirty comparison of BAR and Bren:

Interesting. I thought the Israelis simply detailed soldiers for the jobs.