The WWII Thread
- Thread starter HudsonFalcon
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USS West Virginia, commissioned in 1923. After sinking at Pearl Harbor, she was rebuilt and outfitted with the latest technology. She went on to lead the last engagement ever between battleships. Using her superior radar fire control, she landed shots in her first salvo on the Japanese battleship Yamashiro (which she sank in that fight). It's believed that first shot is the longest ship-to-ship gun night hit ever made, at approximately 22,800 yd with her 16-inch main battery. Her final fate was unbefitting of such a storied ship (don't get me started on Enterprise).
Best part of my grandma was that she was racist against other Asians. Was told it was a cultural thing back when she was growing up.
Anytime we would go to a Japanese/sushi restuarant the first thing she would say to the Asian hostess or waitress was, "you no Japanese, you Korean/Chinese/other asian" in disgust.
Don't know how she knew the damn difference, but she would know right away who was a Jap and who wasn't.
She did love America. Sort of found it interesting that one country can "nuke" another country twice and then their governments & citizens got along pretty quickly.
I'll need to read that one.
Went to the range the other day. Brought some contemporary rifles and shotguns along with one of two M1 carbines I had picked up. I sighted the M1 last.
Of all of them, the M1 was my favorite, by far. My buddy was zoomed in on the target (50, then 100 yards) and kept yelling bullseye. Gun has near zero muzzle or throat erosion and was using Creedmoor ammo from CMP. I had gone through it and changed all the springs, firing pin, extractor, etc with USGI parts. Lubricated properly, action was smooth as butter. Esssentially a new gun. If it matters, this one was built by Standard Products and my other one is an Inland, both from late 1944.
I have a couple Garands and I would not have wanted to drag them all over Europe if I could have gotten by with a Carbine instead. In the heat of battle I may have preferred the power of a 30-06 but even at that you are limited to an 8 round en bloc clip versus a 15 or 30 round mag in the Carbine. Anyway, I can see why values of the smaller rifle are as high as they are. It is a wonderful piece of lightweight machinery and surprisingly accurate at reasonable distances. I could own 10 of them and still want more. WWII brought about some amazing things that impress to this very day.
Of all of them, the M1 was my favorite, by far. My buddy was zoomed in on the target (50, then 100 yards) and kept yelling bullseye. Gun has near zero muzzle or throat erosion and was using Creedmoor ammo from CMP. I had gone through it and changed all the springs, firing pin, extractor, etc with USGI parts. Lubricated properly, action was smooth as butter. Esssentially a new gun. If it matters, this one was built by Standard Products and my other one is an Inland, both from late 1944.
I have a couple Garands and I would not have wanted to drag them all over Europe if I could have gotten by with a Carbine instead. In the heat of battle I may have preferred the power of a 30-06 but even at that you are limited to an 8 round en bloc clip versus a 15 or 30 round mag in the Carbine. Anyway, I can see why values of the smaller rifle are as high as they are. It is a wonderful piece of lightweight machinery and surprisingly accurate at reasonable distances. I could own 10 of them and still want more. WWII brought about some amazing things that impress to this very day.
Just bought the digital version today. Thanks for the recommendation.
Out of all the things, infantry weapons that was made by the USA. I would of tried my darndest to get a Johnson light MG M1944, they was built on a limited basis and seen combat in Italy 44 and then Iwo Jima and Okinawa, fired one that was made in June of 1945 as one of the last batch to be made and seen combat with clean up operations on Okinawa with a Marine Raider company. Now if no Johnson then a M-3 Greasegun that SMG with it's slow 375 rounds a minute makes training on one a lot easier over the M-1 Thompson.
Never cared for the Garand due to the enblock clip feeding system, you had a choice if you wanted to top off. First was empty the mag by firing and then reload, or take the bolt, **** it back then to fiddle around and eject the partial and then reload with a fresh 8 round enblock.
I just watched "Market Garden" episode of Band of Brothers and it is kind of funny to see the 101st suiting up to jump out of a plane with M1s. I wonder how many of them were maimed by their own rifles during the jump?
I would love to get my hands on a BAR.
My great uncle carried the BAR… the Marines didn’t get it until later in pacific war…
Love this meme
101st should have had folding stock versions. I have one of those stocks (illegal to install in NY so its wall art until that infringement is eradicated) and it greatly reduces OAL. I believe they were issued jump bags too that should have further protected them. My understanding us that many soldiers tossed the bags. I will say, the folding stock pivot mechanism is fragile and installed is a hair "wobbly." Not the best for accuracy, I would have preferred a full length, regular stock.
The M1941 would have been a good choice, it was lighter and also chambered in 30-06, though it was not as rugged as the Garand… served the Marines well.
And you can break it in 2 pieces and so avoid the whole how best to carry it if you was of the scuba or air dropped troop types.
Yeah way too many sold for scrap for a $1. Would think some of the memorable ones could be a museum somewhere.
I owned the best battle rifle ever made FN-49 and it had WWII history as Saive and his design team left Belgium and the FN company when NAZI Germany came a knocking and busted down the front door or soon after the Germans took over. They grabbed a few blueprints and first went to France where Saive and the senior team members jumped over the channel and started to work on a final prototype called the SLEM, Self Loading Experimental for the UK but nothing came about it as the British and Commonwealth was totally happy with the SMLE and No 4 bolt actions at the time.
So after the war they once again went to FN and so built and finished the FN-49 rifle for Belgium in 30-06, this one was one of 6500 made for the small nation of Luxembourg in 1952-56, and was imported before the 1968 gun control act put a stop to all ex military weapons being imported into the US hence why there is no import markings over the 1986 and after types. The top is my Eddystone Model 1917 that has a WW II replacement barrel from Johnson Automatic which they used 2 lands and grooves the High Standards replacement barrels had 4 lands and grooves.
Many were saved. WV would have been nice to keep as an example of the US Standard type battleship. It had a great story and was essentially a new ship after being rebuilt following Pearl Harbor. I think PH would have been a great place to keep her as a museum, in the same spot MO now sits. Guarding over AZ.
Enterprise was the most decorated ship in US Naval History. She certainly should have been preserved.
It's a shame JFK or Kitty Hawk were not saved, as we will likely never get a super carrier museum ship now. They were the last conventionally powered ones, and it's too expensive to make a nuke boat safe for pubic display.
They both should have been saved, had a buddy that served on the shitty kitty.
There was a real push to save JFK. Word is that they still had some classified systems that are fairly integrated into the ship (and still in use on other ships in the fleet) that the Navy did not want open to the public. My guess would be parts of the launch and retrieval systems.
Big E should have definitely been saved.
Didn’t Bull even show one of the green troops at the beginning of the episode how to stow his rifle so it wouldn’t break his jaw?
That book you recommended is good. About halfway through it.
Another good book i read awhile ago was “Killing the Rising Sun” by Bill O’Reilly. Not a fan of him but the book was good.
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