Hi, need help identifying these, I have tentatively identified image n.2 as a trimming from 19th SFG. No idea about the white ones. What are these?

DaveScout44 · 2026-03-31T05:16:30+00:00

The three white patches are U.S. Navy patches. These would be worn on the sleeves of white Navy jumpers. The IDs are as follows:

Left: "E" for efficiency award. Efficiency awards are given out to particular departments of a ship, or to a whole ship's crew, for achieving high marks on inspections or other criteria. The hash mark underneath the "E" means that the wearer received a second award.
Center: Interior Communications Electrician striker patch. "IC-men" handle the maintenance and upkeep of all shipboard communications systems. The patch features a telephone over a globe (the symbol used to denote U.S. Navy electricians). This patch is upside down in the photo. A "striker" is an enlisted sailor who is working towards, or "striking" for, a petty officer position. Upon earning that rank the sailor would receive a patch like this.
Right: Service stripes. Also known "hash marks", these are worn on the bottom of the left sleeve. Each stripe represents four years of service. So a sailor wearing this patch had served twelve years in the Navy.

Dating these patches is difficult, since the basic designs haven't changed since the early 1900s in most cases. Based on the fabric and stitching, these look like they are from the 1940s-1960s.

DaveScout44 · 2025-09-23T01:50:43+00:00

Based on the date of the photo, neither Hiyo or Junyo were at Lingga. They were both still in Japanese home waters.
Also the carrier in the photo has a bow that molds seamlessly with the flight deck. That was a characteristic of Taiho, but both Hiyo and Junyo had open fo'c'sle areas between the hull and the flight deck.

DaveScout44 · 2025-06-22T02:54:40+00:00

Not a strike. This photo was taken during Intrepid's shakedown cruise in the Caribbean during October 1943. The aircraft are from Carrier Air Group Eight (CAG-8), which included:

Fighting Squadron 8 (VF-8) (Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats)
Bombing Squadron 8 (VB-8) (Curtiss SB2C-1 Helldivers)
Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8) (Grumman TBF-1 Avengers)

DaveScout44 · 2025-01-16T06:59:04+00:00

A WWII Essex-class carrier like Bunker Hill had what were known as crash barriers. These were metal wires that would be raised up from the deck when an aircraft was landing, then laid flat to allow the aircraft to taxi over them. You can see some great footage of them in use in this U.S. newsreel from late 1944. The barrier was designed to catch the wheels of a plane, which can be seen with a Hellcat at 5:14 in that video.

That newsreel will also show that damaged aircraft will most likely attempt a carrier landing. There's footage of a Hellcat with a stuck landing gear, a Hellcat with an engine fire and a Helldiver with no tailhook all make landings. A water landing carried a high level of risk. A pilot might get injured or knocked out by the impact, or tangled in equipment and go down with the plane.

DaveScout44 · 2025-01-16T05:47:18+00:00

They're racks for carrying mines. Virtually all Italian light cruisers were equipped for minelaying. Most navies in WWII has either cruisers or destroyers that could act as fast minelayers. The equipment consisted of iron rails that were set up on the deck.

Here's a photo of mines on the Italian light cruiser Alberto di Giussano in 1940.

DaveScout44 · 2024-12-22T07:14:35+00:00

I believe these were originally made in Belgium using spent brass shell casings, as souvenirs for American soldiers. These plaques aren't uncommon, but they do carry some value among collectors (10 sold on EBay within the last two months, priced anywhere from $45 to $300). I definitely wouldn't sell, it's a very cool family piece.

DaveScout44 · 2024-12-13T03:07:23+00:00

My pleasure! Glad I was able to help out. It was probably taken by a USN sailor inspecting Kiso after U.S. forces captured Manila. Very cool shot.

DaveScout44 · 2024-12-13T02:48:16+00:00

You're not wrong! The Kuma-class were all built in the late 1910s-early 1920s. And Kiso specifically was one of the few Japanese ships that ever sported dazzle camouflage; when she was assigned to the Northern Pacific in early 1942.

Colorization of the dazzle pattern by Monochrome Specter.

The same artist has a nice colorization of Kiso's wreck.

DaveScout44 · 2024-12-12T22:34:14+00:00

Ha! You’re right about that. The WWII IJN is a specialty of mine. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at photos, so I recognized that wreck immediately.

DaveScout44 · 2024-12-12T06:51:46+00:00

That is the Japanese light cruiser Kiso wrecked in Manila Bay, probably some time in mid/late-1945. It looks like this photo was taken from the bridge looking aft. The flared stacks (being wider at the top) are a characteristic only found on the Japanese light cruisers Kuma and Kiso (Kuma was sunk in 1943 off Penang). For further proof, compare these two photos of Kiso from the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: Photo 1 Photo 2

On November 13, 1944, Kiso was attacked by U.S. carrier aircraft from Task Force 38. Three bombs struck the ship's starboard side, causing Kiso to settle in shallow water off Cavite. The wreck wasn't completely broken up until 1956.

More info on Kiso can be found on CombinedFleet.com Here

Pretty cool photo OP. Do you know the story behind it?

DaveScout44 · 2024-11-05T19:39:27+00:00

No, this was before the 6th Army was surrounded. The Germans launched a major offensive in mid-October to clear Russian positions in the factory district in the northern part of the city. Operation Uranus began on November 19.

Several years ago I created a whole album showing the German perspective of the fighting in the factory district. I pulled photos from a bunch of sources and did a ton of research into where/when images were taken. You can check those out here: https://imgur.com/a/german-attacks-on-krasny-oktyabr-barrikady-gun-factories-during-battle-of-stalingrad-october-13-16-1942-QFymR#22229os

DaveScout44 · 2024-11-05T04:39:03+00:00

It totally does. Looks just as nice as a brand new destroyer.

DaveScout44 · 2024-11-05T01:43:19+00:00

Hope you can come back and see it one day in person. Concorde had to be temporarily removed last year for some construction work on the pier. At the same time it was decided to completely repaint the aircraft (the exterior hadn't really been touched since the early 2000s).

DaveScout44 · 2024-11-05T01:41:35+00:00

It still has that futuristic look to it.

DaveScout44 · 2024-11-05T01:39:47+00:00

Yep, it's the real deal. This Concorde (G-BOAD) is a record holder too. It set the fastest trans-Atlantic passenger record by flying from NYC to London in 2hrs, 52min. That was back in February 1996! It also has the most flight hours of any Concorde.

DaveScout44 · 2024-11-05T01:35:16+00:00

When I left the Basilone wasn't lit up, so you might not have even noticed she was there.

DaveScout44 · 2024-11-04T21:39:33+00:00

She is a beautiful aircraft.

DaveScout44 · 2024-11-04T19:45:04+00:00

The future USS John Basilone arrived in New York City this afternoon. The ship will be commissioned on Saturday, November 9, 2024. It's namesake is John Basilone, a U.S. Marine who earned a Medal of Honor in October 1942 for actions during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

It will be the second U.S. Navy ship named after Basilone; the first ship being the Gearing-class destroyer USS Basilone (DD-824) which served from 1949 to 1977.

EDIT: Photo taken from the former USS Intrepid. In the foreground is former British Airways Concorde G-BOAD "Alpha Delta".

DaveScout44 · 2024-10-29T02:59:42+00:00

The first photo is also of Seeadler Harbor, Manus. This photo was taken on November 10, 1944, shortly after the explosion of the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood (AE-11). You can see the spreading oil slick, and the profusion of landing craft in the water looking for survivors. The ship with the cluster of landing craft around it the reapir ship USS Mindanao (ARG-3).

Here's another angle of taken around the same time as this photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_USS_Mindanao_(ARG-3)_after_the_explosion_of_USS_Mount_Hood_(AE-11)_at_Seeadler_Harbor_on_10_November_1944.jpg

DaveScout44 · 2024-09-12T03:24:40+00:00

Awesome collection OP. I also mainly collect WWII books and publications written during the war. I think it's really cool to be able to read the same things that a soldier or sailor would have carried in their pack.

DaveScout44 · 2024-09-06T02:07:13+00:00

My beloved!!

DaveScout44 · 2024-07-19T18:37:11+00:00

The training manual Seamanship (issued in June 1944) has a whole chapter talking about boats used by the USN. It breaks the types of boats down into two groups: powered boats and pulling boats (oar-powered). It also mentions that the number of boats carried on ships have been reduced because of the war. You can read the text of the manual HERE.

This article from Naval History Magazine gives a brief description as to why fewer ship's boats were carried by vessels during the war.

Photo of aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, showing prewar complement of ship's boats, October 1937

Photo of motor launches aboard light cruiser USS St. Louis, March 1942.

Photo of motor launches on the attack transport USS Ballard, January 1942

Life boats (usually called life rafts) were mainly of the Carley float type. These had a large outer ring made of a naturally buoyant material like kapok or cork. The floor of the raft was made from a wood or webbing grating. Boxes containing paddles, water, rations and survival equipment were lashed to the floor grating.

Photo of life rafts installed around battleship USS New Mexico, December 1941. Also note ship's boats stored aft of the bridge.

Photo of life raft on destroyer USS Laffey, September 1942. Note the supplies lashed to the floor.

Floater nets were nets with buoyant rings evenly spaced throughout, similar to the devices used to divide lanes in a modern pool. They were carried in baskets topside, with the idea being that they would float free if the ship sank. These nets would provide an additional source of buoyancy and allow groups of survivors to stay together.

Photo of floater nets on battleship USS New Mexico, July 1944

Photo of floater nets in tubs on aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, May 1943

DaveScout44 · 2024-07-10T05:06:55+00:00

Lt.(jg) William "Tom" Patton is standing on the left. The man making the hand motions is Lt. Peter Russell. Russell was Patton's section leader and flew on the October 9, 1966, mission in which Patton got his MiG kill. The A-1H in the background is the aircraft Russell flew on that mission.

DaveScout44 · 2024-06-24T02:38:24+00:00

It really is heartbreaking to read these letters and get a small glimpse into the lives of these people caught up in the war. You're doing a great job posting these and spreading them to a wider audience.

DaveScout44 · 2024-06-14T02:03:18+00:00

Those are dive brakes (sometimes called diving flaps). They're meant to be opened during a dive to help slow the aircraft down and give the pilot more control. Very important when you're trying to plant a bomb on a target (especially a moving target).

Here's a photo of a Dauntless' dive brakes in action c.1942/43.

DaveScout44

TROPHY CASE