Picture of the day

[HuskyDude]

USS Nebraska (BB-14) in 1918 featuring an experimental camouflage pattern.

Regardless of whether or not it's effective in a modern context, I would love to see a return of "Dazzle Cam."

 

[I Dont Care About You]

Sionics Silent Sniper Carbine

A much modified M1 Carbine rebarreled from .30-caliber carbine to 9mm Parabellum, and using a 13-round Browning Hi-Power magazine with a bolt action and a 4x Tasco scope

Chiappa M1-9 Carbine

9mm
Blowback
Beretta magazine

 

[HuskyDude]

FCK Man !!!
That thing is "Ugly as Sin"


Luv it!
Might need a little Vzor sight on it.

 

[ipscgraz]

16-inch gun projectiles aboard Battleship New Jersey 1953.

 

[CV32]

The Soviet Project 1135 Burevestnik (NATO Krivak I) class anti-submarine warfare frigate Storozhevoy.

On 9 November 1975, fifty years ago, the ship's political officer, Valery Sablin, deeply unhappy with careerism, corruption and hypocrisy in the Soviet leadership, led a mutiny aboard the ship.

The incident inspired Tom Clancy's novel The Hunt for Red October.

 

[XRCD011]

View attachment 1035214

A Dutch, post war, version of a Airstream trailer.

 

[grelmar]

A Dutch, post war, version of a Airstream trailer.

Of course it would be Dutch, they repurpose everything and never throw anything away. If only I'd known what I was getting into when I married one. Every now and then I have to quietly haul away a couple of trunk loads of folded down boxes, throw a hundred or so cleaned, folded, and neatly stored empty breadbags, etc. etc., just to keep the piles within reason.

If she catches me while I'm at it, it's a night on the couch. "I was SAVING that!" For what, exactly? Some kind of weird post-apocalyptic currency thing?

 

[grelmar]

"The famous Dutch bicycle regiment at attention, ready to speed toward the German frontier should danger from the Nazis threaten Queen Wilhelmina's kingdom. The low countries now fear a blitzkrieg like the one that has just been visited upon Norway and Denmark."

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2024/04/photos-bicycles-world-war-ii/678086/#img07

Brave buggers. The Dutch had 2 regiments of Bicycle Infantry - "Regiment Wielrijders" - at the start of the war. Might seem anachronistic, even at the time, but partly thanks to their mobility they were able to chase off some fallschirmjäger from Dordrecht during the initial invasion. And if you're familiar with the the sturdiness of the omafiets (we have several in the garage, they appear to be self replicating - see previous post about Dutch wives never throwing anything away), it would not shock me if some of those bikes are still roaming around Amsterdam.

 

[XRCD011]

^ Bicycles at war, while the German wehrmacht and government used lots of horses in the Second World War, they also used lots of truppenfahrrads........................like 4.5 million of them.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Military cycling has a long and useful history. Great way to move guys significant distances while sparing them walking or burning gas. Reasonably quiet, too, and you don't have to feed and water a bike.

Still no picnic - the bike's heavy, the kit's heavy, there are no gears, you're wearing multiple woolen layers, flats are common, and you'd come to hate hills like you hate International Bolshevism, or Hitlerite Swine, or Decadent English crowding in on your Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere...

Want one? The Swiss divested themselves of their Model 1905 bikes a few years back. Many still on the market. Great heavy graceless tractors they are, but hell for sturdy... https://velosolo.co.uk/swiss-army.html

 

[I Dont Care About You]

What's old is new again. The Russians are using motorcycles to move around the drone soaked battlefield.

 

[grelmar]

What's old is new again. The Russians are using motorcycles to move around the drone soaked battlefield.

Not just motorcycles, but the old school calorie powered cycles as well:



Not sure if "issued" or "acquired" - but the fact they took the time to give them a rattle-can camo job is indicative of expecting to be able to use them for more than a day or two.

In elementary and Jr. High you could hardly get me off my cruiser, later BMX, later 10 speed. They offered mobility and freedom that exceeded anything I could do on foot. Of course eventually I turned 16 and immediately bough a dangerously unreliable used Dodge Omni, and have hardly sat on a bike in the nearly 4 decades since.

Now my wife, on the other hand, will stoop to driving a car only when absolutely necessary. As much as it's "not my thing" I do understand the utility of it. We live on the outskirts of downtown, and her office is on the outskirts of downtown almost perfectly bisecting it. In rush hour, it's far quicker for her to bike than it is to drive.

Me, I'm not in that much of a hurry. I'd rather be warm and dry.

 

[Dosing]

 

[purple]

View attachment 1035214

I stayed in an RV park next to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson where all the old aircraft are stored. I thought a C-130 fuselage might make a great hunting camp.

 

[purple]

View attachment 1040466


Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2024/04/photos-bicycles-world-war-ii/678086/#img07

Brave buggers. The Dutch had 2 regiments of Bicycle Infantry - "Regiment Wielrijders" - at the start of the war. Might seem anachronistic, even at the time, but partly thanks to their mobility they were able to chase off some fallschirmjäger from Dordrecht during the initial invasion. And if you're familiar with the the sturdiness of the omafiets (we have several in the garage, they appear to be self replicating - see previous post about Dutch wives never throwing anything away), it would not shock me if some of those bikes are still roaming around Amsterdam.

In 1995 the Dutch sent a contingent of bicycle soldiers to Canada to commemorate the liberation of Holland. As I recall they were bandsmen as well.
My biggest fear in Amsterdam was getting run over by a 300 lb Dutchie on a bike.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

The Sherman BARV - Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle.

This from Wikipedia:

The original BARV was a Sherman M4A2 tank which had been waterproofed and had the turret replaced by a tall armoured superstructure. Around 60 were deployed on the invasion beaches during the Battle of Normandy. Able to operate in nine-foot (2.7-metre) deep water, the BARV was used to remove vehicles that had become broken-down or swamped in the surf and were blocking access to the beaches. They were also used to re-float small landing craft that had become stuck on the beach. Unusually for a tank, the crew included a diver whose job was to attach towing chains to stuck vehicles.

The vehicles were developed and operated by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The Sherman M4A2 model was chosen as a basis for the BARV as it was thought that the Sherman's welded hull would be easier to waterproof than other tanks. Unlike other Sherman models, the M4A2 was powered by a diesel engine because it was believed the tank would be less affected by the sudden temperature changes caused by the regular plunges into cold water. A few Sherman BARVs continued to be used until 1963, when they were replaced by a vehicle based on the Centurion tank.

That'd be handy around the farm.

 

[dan belisle]

Military cycling has a long and useful history. Great way to move guys significant distances while sparing them walking or burning gas. Reasonably quiet, too, and you don't have to feed and water a bike.

Still no picnic - the bike's heavy, the kit's heavy, there are no gears, you're wearing multiple woolen layers, flats are common, and you'd come to hate hills like you hate International Bolshevism, or Hitlerite Swine, or Decadent English crowding in on your Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere...

Want one? The Swiss divested themselves of their Model 1905 bikes a few years back. Many still on the market. Great heavy graceless tractors they are, but hell for sturdy... https://velosolo.co.uk/swiss-army.html

My step brother had one of those Swiss bikes. Thing weighed nearly as much as my first motorcycle. What a beast. - dan

 

[*lawrence]

My step brother had one of those Swiss bikes. Thing weighed nearly as much as my first motorcycle. What a beast. - dan

Additionally every horse in Switzerland was registered with the military in case of war needs (this was as of the 1970's).

 

[Dosing]

 

[grelmar]

In 1995 the Dutch sent a contingent of bicycle soldiers to Canada to commemorate the liberation of Holland. As I recall they were bandsmen as well.
My biggest fear in Amsterdam was getting run over by a 300 lb Dutchie on a bike.

I've been to Amsterdam (among other places in Holland) visiting my wife's extended family. Your fears were not unfounded. There's something terrifying about a 6' blond Viking warrior queen weaving through pedestrians and traffic on an omafiet and a distinctly Dutch determination to never arrive to an appointment late.

p.s. Still have that P38 you sold me. Thanks to Fancy Socks, looks like I'll be getting buried with it, as I won't even be able to pass it down to my kid.

Pics:


Complete ISU-152, all parts in place. In full working order and running when parked in 1986.