The USS V-4 underway before she was renamed "Argonaut" in 1930. One of three US V-boats mounting six inch guns.
The USS Argonaut (formerly V-4, renamed 1930) was a unique minelaying submarine laid down in 1925 and commissioned in April, 1928. Built to the largest permissible size under the Washington Treaty, she carried two 6" guns, four bow-mounted 21" torpedo tubes and could carry 60 mines.
#NavalHistory
Set aside for a minute the stupidity of starting this whole war (we'll come back to it)
This strike on a school shows why war is serious business for serious people.
🧵
www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/m...
A monochrome ‘spot the mistake’ scene featuring a postman cycling along a lane besides a half timbered thatched cottage
An observation test for your inner 8-year-old.
Can you spot 12 deliberate mistakes?
From Treasure magazine, 1965
Official answers coming soon
(Even if you don’t reply, could you please ‘like’ or share this one?)
Ships sunk by submarines since World War Two, thread
1.
4th Dec 1971, Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor sunk India frigate INS Khukri with a torpedo
To say Jerrie Cobb led a life is an understatement.
When @maryhaverstick.bsky.social started working on a film project with Jerrie, the rabbit hole got deeper and darker.
Check out our chat with Mary about her incredible book, A Woman I Know.
youtu.be/pYHrbpVq6BE
#avgheek #booksky #histbookchat
This week’s feature follows the daring escape of a Blenheim pilot and his crew through enemy lines and the Belgian medical system during May 1940. Chaos, bravery, tragedy and death.
#Ww2 #history
jerijerod14.substack.com/p/shot-down-...
#OTD in 1944, the 8th Air Force flew Mission 250 to the heart of Berlin for the first time.
One of the pilots was Dick Bushong of the 390th BG, and a couple of years ago, I asked him about the mission. I'm pleased to say that Dick is still with us and is approaching 103!
youtu.be/FXgytMQ0oSI
🚨 It's the 30th June 1944, so where to begin?! In this week's News of the War, the pages are full of reasons fror @andyaitch.bsky.social to get stuck in, and @merrynwalters.uk to chip in occasionally with, well, WW2 scoops, really.
EPSOM. OVERLORD. BAGRATION. UNCLE ROGER.
linktr.ee/NewsOfTheWar
It's March 5th, and you know it!
05.03.2026 14:37 — 👍 57 🔁 22 💬 5 📌 4
It's been 73 years since the Vozhd died in a pool of his own urine.
Check out our video here for a rundown of those events and the power struggle that followed.
In the meantime, I'm off to represent the entire Red Army at the buffet.
youtu.be/Jh5WjJ0LBlQ
The crew of Ten Horsepower became the most decorated in the Eighth Air Force. In addition to Medals of Honor being awarded to Mathies and Truemper, there were also 7 Purple Hearts. Joe Rex, who stayed at his radio despite his injuries, received the Silver Star, while Carl Moore received a DSC.
🧵9/9
A third approach was made, this time apparently intending to force land near the airfield. The B-17 crashed heavily, cartwheeled and broke up, killing Mathies and Truemper instantly. Remarkably, Nelson was discovered still alive in the wreckage, though he died soon afterwards.
🧵8/9
‘Valor at Polebrook’, by David Poole. This colour artwork depicts two B-17s in olive drab camouflage with grey undersides, both low over fields against a cloudy sky. The nearest aircraft, slightly lower than the one behind, has its wheels down. 📷 thisdayinaviation.com
In the meantime, another B-17 had taken off to help in any way possible, but was unable to talk directly to Ten Horsepower, instead relaying messages via the tower. A second attempted landing now also failed, but Truemper and Mathies refused a direct order to head out to sea and bale out.
🧵7/9
At this point, the airfield tower told the crew to bale out. Five did so, three breaking limbs in heavy landings. Truemper and Mathies, however, remained aboard. Though unsure if Nelson was even still alive, they refused to abandon him if there was a chance he could be saved.
🧵6/9
Overhead line drawing of Polebrook airfield in 1944, showing three main runways crossing each other to form a triangle in the centre, with numerous dispersal bays to the south and hangars to the north. 📷 American Air Museum UPL 41601
Surviving another fighter attack, which injured radio operator Joe Rex and caused further damage, Truemper eventually handed over control to Mathies to check the B-17’s position. Working together, the crew brought Ten Horsepower back to Polebrook, where a first landing attempt by Mathies failed
🧵5/9
Ball gunner Carl Moore, fighting increasing G-Forces, managed to reach the cockpit and push Bartley and Nelson away from the controls before heaving Ten Horsepower out of its dive. Truemper, as the only remaining officer on board, now moved into the copilots seat and set course for England.
🧵4/9
Bombardier Joseph Martin, hearing the explosions behind him and feeling the B-17 falling into a dive, entered the cockpit to find a scene of carnage. Not unreasonably, he concluded the aircraft was doomed and jettisoned the bombs and rang the bail out bell before jumping himself, becoming a POW
🧵3/9
Crew of ‘Ten Horsepower’ in front of a different B-17. Front row, left to right: 1/LT Clarence R. Nelson, aircraft commander; Flight Officer Ronald Bartley, co-pilot; 2/LT Walter E. Truemper, navigator; 2/LT Joseph Martin, bombardier. Back row, left to right: SSGT Archibald Mathies, flight engineer and top turret gunner; SGT Joseph Rex, radio operator/gunner; SGT Carl Moore, waist gunner; SGT Russell Robinson, ball turret gunner; SGT Thomas Sowell, waist gunner; SGT Magnus Hagbo, tail gunner. The photograph shows ten men in uniform trousers and leather flying jackets in front of a B-17 4-engined bomber. The four officers are taking a knee in the front rank, with the enlisted men standing behind. 📷 American Air Museum FRE 12605
Though Luftwaffe fighter opposition was initially light, it soon intensified. Around 20 minutes from the Initial Point, Ten Horsepower was caught by a frontal attack which sent 20mm shells into the cockpit. Copilot Ronald Bartley was decapitated, with pilot Clarence Nelson left unconscious.
🧵2/9
Walter Truemper in his full uniform for a portrait photograph, cap at a rakish angle. 📷 cmohs.org
Archibald Mathies posing for a portrait photograph. Uniformed but hatless, he has wavy blonde hair. 📷 cmohs.org
20th February 1944: Medal of Honor actions of navigator 2nd Lt Walter Truemper (R) and engineer/gunner Archibald Mathies (L). On board B-17G ‘Ten Horsepower’ of the 97th BG, they had left Polebrook at 9:40am, following a delay. The target that day was industrial facilities near Leipzig.
🧵1/9
Sweet mother of god, what is this fuckery?
05.03.2026 11:47 — 👍 45 🔁 11 💬 21 📌 0As someone who shares a home with cats, I can tell you now that there’s no way in hell they’d be ‘chilling’ in these ‘magic pants’. The result would either be a tangle of shredded mesh or severe lacerations to the buttocks.
05.03.2026 11:51 — 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
East Anglian Daily Times headline “Ipswich: The tree that looks like Postman Pat”, 5TH MARCH 2014. A photo of a tree with scars where limbs have been cut, which somewhat resemble eyes and a nose, but in no way bear any resemblance to the cartoon postal worker. A caption says, inaccurately: “Quite un-nerving. A face in a tree trunk at Christchurch Park in Ipswich.”
Happy 12th anniversary of the day all the people of East Anglia did rise up and speak with one voice and say unto their phones “Fuck off does it”
05.03.2026 07:29 — 👍 203 🔁 31 💬 10 📌 8
Maternal - British Army during SWW (Burma) then worked on newspapers - ended up as a photographer for the Daily Mail.
Paternal - on the pits as a winding engine driver.
Reinier Noorns, 'The Naval Battle near Livorno, 14 March 1653' (c. 1653-64), Rijksmuseum: SK-A-294 (14 March 1653 is the Gregorian calendar date: in Britain, still using the Julian calendar, the battle is dated to 4 March 1653). Description: a painting of a large number of sailing vessels engaged in a battle, with many firing broadsides and wreckage and men visible in the water around them. In the background land can be seen, with green hills and a distant town on the left.
4 Mar 1653 (O.S.) // 40-gun 3rd-rate English Navy ship Leopard was captured by the Dutch at the Battle of Leghorn after battling first two, then three, enemy ships for six hours. She suffered 70 dead and 54 wounded before, heavily damaged, she surrendered to the Dutch squadron. [1/2] #NavalHistory
04.03.2026 18:37 — 👍 16 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
Willem van Dienst, 'The Battle of Leghorn' (c1653). National Maritime Museum, Greenwich: public domain image via Wikimedia Commons. Description: a naval battle with many sailing ships engaging each other with gunfire, and a town and hills visible on the land behind. In the foreground one ship, involved in close-quarter action with another, has exploded and is sinking amid fire and smoke.
4 Mar 1653 (O.S.) // 40-gun ship Bonaventure exploded at the Battle of Leghorn after a shot from Dutch flagship De Zeven Provincien ignited her magazine. There were only five survivors from 180 on board. Image: Willem van Dienst 'The Battle of Leghorn' c1653, Wikimedia Commons. #NavalHistory
04.03.2026 18:38 — 👍 21 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
'Loss of the Blanche, March 4th 1807', aquatint by Thomas Sutherland after Thomas Whitcombe, 1807. British Museum: museum no. 1871,1111.645. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
4 Mar 1807 // 38-gun frigate HMS Blanche (ex Spanish Amfitrite, captured 1804) went off course and was wrecked on rocks off Ushant with 45 men lost. Her compasses were deflected by ironwork in her hull. ('Loss of the Blanche' 1807 print: British Museum CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) #RoyalNavy
04.03.2026 18:42 — 👍 28 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 0
Sloop HMAS Yarra. Image: Australian War Memorial: 016263. Description: a side view of a small warship painted in a camouflage pattern, her bows to the left. She is at anchor with land visible behind her.
4 Mar 1942 // At sunrise, sloop HMAS Yarra, escorting southwards from Java a convoy of three vessels which had earlier escaped from Singapore, sighted a squadron of three Japanese cruisers and four destroyers. The Yarra ordered the convoy to scatter and deployed a smokescreen. [1/3]
04.03.2026 18:45 — 👍 35 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0
Ep 67 is out today. German historian Thomas Rost takes us through bomb disposal in wartime Hamburg, including the use of prisoners & concentration camp inmates for this horrific work. A fascinating but disturbing story.
www.buzzsprout.com/2327200/epis...
Terry Scott, a middle-aged man in a very 1970s jacket, gestures at a gap over a river, with a rueful expression on his face
Did you know, 52 years ago tonight, Terry Scott drove off the end of the Tees Transporter Bridge? 🧵
04.03.2026 10:03 — 👍 125 🔁 53 💬 12 📌 11
Risky buisiness:
youtu.be/o-kHn2rR8SQ
