Rocky Mountain Navy Association
News The Rocky Mountain Navy Association (RMNA) is a not-for-profit, organization to promote the United States Navy and the Naval Reserve in the local community. Specific out reach efforts have been extended to civic organizations, educational institutions, and the business community. RMNA also provides mission support to the local recruiting command and offers a wide variety of professional development assistance programs to the naval reserve community. Newsletter Contact: James Garrett, CAPT, USNR (Ret.), garrettj3745@yahoo.com This is an interactive newsletter so Click on underlined inks or photos for websites for more information or zoom the page.
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Vol. 3 Issue 6
June 2018
Reminding you of next monthly RMNA Luncheon at the American Legion Post, 5400 East Yale, Denver (southeast corner of I-25 and Yale), on Wednesday, July 11th, gathering around 11:30 a.m.
See You There! This newsletter is posted online to our website at (www.navrescolorado.org) and Facebook page at (https://www.facebook.com/RockyMountainNavyAssociation/) After being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces packed in more than 200 cases, on June 17, 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor. The statue was designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi who modeled it after his own mother. Bartholdi was assisted by the famed engineer Gustave Eiffel. Intended to commemorate the American Revolution and a century of friendship between the U.S. and France, the statue was planned to be finished by 1876, the 100th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, fundraising efforts for the pedestal, including auctions, a lottery, and boxing matches, took longer than anticipated in both Europe and the United States. A full ten years after the intended installation date, the statue was officially dedicated on October 28, 1886, by President Cleveland, who shared his thoughts with onlookers, “We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.” In 1903, a plaque inscribed with a sonnet titled “The New Colossus” by poet Emma Lazarus was placed on an interior wall of the pedestal. The now-famous poem includes the visionary phrase, “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Although it is now one of New York City’s most well-known and visited tourist attractions, Bedloe Island (the original name of Liberty Island) lies in the New Jersey side of the Bay, making Lady Liberty a Jersey Girl! 1
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A rancher in Oregon helps to capture a bicycle thief by lassoing him, Steve Hartman reports. Go through a man's closet or dresser and you're likely to find items that are more about comfort and function than fashion.
We all remember Festus Haggen on the long -running CBS western television series Gunsmoke. Born in Lamar in Prowers County in southeastern Colorado, Curtis lived his first ten years on a ranch on Muddy Creek in eastern Bent County. In 1926, the family moved Las Animas, the county seat of Bent County, so that his father, Dan Sullivan Gates, could run for sheriff. The campaign was successful, and Gates served from 1927 to 1931 as Bent County sheriff. The family lived below the jail, since the jail was the whole second floor and his mother, Nellie Sneed Gates, cooked for the prisoners. The jail is located for historical preservation purposes on the grounds of the Bent County Courthouse in Las Animas. Curtis was the quarterback of his Bent County High School football team and played clarinet in the school band. He graduated in 1935. During World War II, Curtis served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945. He attended Colorado College to study medicine, but left after a short time to pursue his musical career.
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How the Humble Potato Cannon Served the Allies in World War Two Before it became a T-shirt tossing sensation, the potato launcher was born to fight Nazis. A top secret skunkworks by the British Admiralty in 1940, the Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development—nicknamed the "Wheezers and Dodgers"—designed novel armaments for very specialized situations. Successful projects, like the ship-borne anti-submarine mortar called the Squid, would go on to be used by navies for decades. While others, like "The Great Panjandrum," were hilariously impractical.
Check Out This Exhaustively Detailed Manual for the A-10 Warthog Haynes has expanded their popular line of technical manuals to include military favorites. The company has partnered with technically minded military historians, veterans, and specialists to create the Owners Workshop Manual series of books. The books cover a wide range of military vehicles, including the M1 Abrams main battle tank, A-10 Warthog close air support aircraft, and more.
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The Wheezers and Dodgers invented a gun called the Holman Projector, the world's first true potato launcher. The Holman was a smooth bore, muzzle-loading gun connected by pipes to the ship's steam boiler instead of relying on gunpowder, which was always in short supply during the early days of World War II. Must read the rest of the story….
The worst submarine disaster in U.S. Navy history happened on the morning of April 10, 1963, when the nuclear-powered USS Thresher (SSN 593) was lost with 129 crew members and civilian employees on board. A Naval Court of Inquiry (NCOI) convened to investigate the disaster concluded the probable cause of the Thresher's loss was "major flooding" -- a finding that has since been challenged by naval and submarine experts. After more than a half-century, all but 18 pages of testimony from key witnesses remains closed to the public. Retired Navy Capt. Jim Bryant, who served on board three Thresher-class subs and commanded the USS Guardfish (SSN 612), recently authored a new analysis of the submarine disaster, highlighting discrepancies between the NCOI's findings and evidence available for its investigation at the time. He raises concerns about the court's accuracy in recording the last understandable message sent by the sub, at about 9:12 a.m., pieced together from the testimony of several witnesses: "Experiencing minor difficulties. Have positive up angle. Am attempting to blow. Will keep you informed." In his analysis, Bryant said, "Thresher's difficulties were anything but minor by the time Skylark received that message." The USS Skylark (ASR 20) was the submarine rescue ship that accompanied the Thresher for its sea trials about 200 miles off the Massachusetts coast. Bryant's paper,... ..faults the Navy for not being forthcoming enough regarding the historic disaster. Read the rest of the story here...
For more information, see "Thresher Disaster: New Analysis" by Capt. Jim Bryant, USN (ret.), a research paper currently under review for publication by the Naval Engineers Journal. A 3,000-word article based on this paper is tentatively scheduled for publication in U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings magazine. -- The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com.
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55 Years After Thresher Disaster, Navy Still Keeps Secrets on Sub Loss
Summary of Major Events Since Fatal USS Fitzgerald Collision By: US Naval Institute Staff June 17, 2018 6:22 PM • Updated: June 20, 2018 2:53 PM Last year’s fatal collisions of guided-missile destroyers USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) began a chain of investigations, accountability actions and reform efforts. The following is a summary of the major events that have occurred since the early morning June 17, 2018, incident between Fitzgerald and the merchant ship ACX Crystal.
May 2018 marked the 75th anniversary of a crucial turning point in World War II’s Battle of the Atlantic. German U-boat attacks had been devastating against U.S. and allied merchant shipping from the very beginning of the war, with heavy loss of life and vital cargos. In the first four months of 1942, more than 130 merchant ships grossing more than 800,000 tons had been lost in the Eastern Sea Frontier and the Bermuda Area. In March 1943 alone, 49 ships grossing 295,970 tons went down. While the situation was desperate, the U.S. Navy, with its allies, persevered. The antisubmarine 10th Fleet was formed. New convoys steaming more evasive routes were escorted with surface warships firing new, forward-thrown ASW weapons. U.S. and allied warplanes flying from shore, sea, and the new escort carriers redoubled the attack. Allied codebreakers were tracking the U-boats and providing operational warnings. “On May 24,” as Samuel Eliot Morison wrote in The Atlantic Battle Won, published by The Naval Institute Press in 2011, Admiral “Doenitz recalled most of his U-boats from the North Atlantic, in preparation for strengthening their antiaircraft armament, in the hope that the development of new and faster submarines, of an acoustic torpedo, and of a jamming device against microwave radar, would neutralize the hard-won Allied superiority.” Morison expanded in his companion volume The Battle of the Atlantic, “the Navy was anything but complacent about the submarine situation in April 1943. But it had earned the right to be proud. The Navy and Merchant Marine had ‘kept ‘em sailing,’ and delivered indispensable supplies to the United Kingdom and Russia, enabling England and the Soviet Union to implement the valor of their armed forces and the determination of their people. The Navy had escorted some two million American troops to Europe and Africa together with the immense mass of materiel and supplies needed in modern warfare, without losing a single loaded troopship.” 5
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The Chinese Navy's Development During 8 Years Of Obama's Sequestration of the US Navy By Capt Joseph R. John, June 4, 2018: Op Ed # 390
China’s plan is to expand its fleet to 351 ships, while the US Navy’s goal is to expand its fleet to 355 ships; Pentagon planners should not be planning parity with China, they should take a page out of President Reagan’s playbook, and develop a larger and more advanced US Navy than China’s Navy. In addition to the Navy’s ship long range building program, it should modernize and recommission a certain number of ships in its reserve fleet. Read entire article here….. Copyright by Capt Joseph R. John. All Rights Reserved. The material can only posted on another Web site or distributed on the Internet by giving full credit to the author. It may not be published, broadcast, or rewritten without the permission from the author.
USS Cyclops – The Deadliest Unsolved Mystery in the Navy Thursday, June 14, 2018 12:01 AM
By Hannah Hirzel
One hundred years later, the mystery of the USS Cyclops, the greatest non-combat loss of life the Navy ever experienced, remains unsolved. What happened to it? Where did it go? The USS Cyclops was built in Philadelphia; it was 54o feet long and 65 feet wide. The ship was a Proteus class collier and could carry 12,500 tons of coal while making 15 knots with its twin screws. When the United States declared war on Germany and its allies in April 1917, support ships like the USS Cyclops fell under the command of the Navy. The administrative change greatly affected… Read Blog entry…….
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The below listed Op Ed, by Admiral James A. Lyons, Jr. USNA ’52. USN (Ret), discusses how the US Navy could counter China’s blue water navy, and oppose China’s plan to control the South China Sea. Over the last 10 years, China has developed a technically advanced blue water Navy whose goal is to be able to defeat the US Navy with conventional weapons; its rapid technology advances and ship building programs have been fueled by China’s theft of advanced weapons systems and ship designs from US corporations and the US Navy. China’s long range goal is to become the dominate global naval power in the next decade.
HB18-1060 Is your state still fully taxing retirement pay? MOAA National serves in an advisory capacity for state-specific issues such as income tax exemption. Please contact your local MOAA council as state legislation must originate at the state level. Military retirees in Colorado scored a big victory last month when Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a law extending income-tax deductions for those under the age of 55. The bill, which is designed to encourage veterans to stay in Colorado after leaving the military, allows retired servicemembers who aren't yet 55 to claim deductions in staggered amounts over four years. Before this move, Colorado had been one of 10 states without any state income tax deductions for military retirees. Colorado's bill works on a four-year phase-in, allowing individuals under 55 to claim deductions. Those tax deductions will be made in an amount equal to an individual's military retirement benefit not to exceed $4,500 in the first year, $7,500 in the second year, $10,000 in the third year and $15,000 in the fourth year. The bill requires renewal in the fifth year. Information courtesy of Gail Beaton’s website.
State Rep. Jessie Danielson, one of the bill's sponsors, said the bill will benefit thousands of veterans across Colorado. “This tax break for military retirees honor veterans' service and goes a long way towards making Colorado the most veteran-friendly state in the country,” she said. Amanda Dolasinski is MOAA's staff writer. She can be reached at amandad@moaa.org. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMOAA. Read entire MOAA article here…..
Sweeping veterans health care bill becomes a law Mackenzie Wolf In a ceremony June 6, President Trump signed the John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act, also called the VA MISSION Act, into law. The comprehensive legislation impacts how veterans receive their health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, along with Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, were instrumental in working with The American Legion and other veterans service organizations to get the legislation passed. Read more on American Legion 7
http://www.militaryconnection.com/blog/11414/military-memories-wanted-library-congress/
https://www.americanmedical-id.com/va
https://www.govvacationrewards.com/en/activate/?
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