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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 01/19/2003 12:01:05 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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As is usual in modern war, the first objective of the allied force in Saudi Arabia was to gain air superiority. Air superiority gives a military force the ability to indiscriminately attack enemy targets, disrupt enemy lines of supply, to conduct reconaisance, and, of course denies the enemy the ability to do all of these things himself.  The magnitude and the power of the air attack was a shock to all concerned. The initial attack swept away much of Iraq's ability to defend against further air assaults. Radar installations were attacked by helicopters, F-117's were sent to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to destroy command and control centers, air bases and hangars were bombed. U.S. Navy bombers and Tomahawk missiles wreaked havoc on all aspects of Iraqi air defense. The air campaign was conducted not just by the United States, but the Saudi, British, French, Italian, as well as various Arab Air Forces. The Allied air campaign was thorough and devastating. Realizing that traditional anti-air defense was futile the Iraqis took to psychological methods that included using human hostages as shields for prime targets. They placed their aircraft near ancient historic sites and holy places, knowing the allies would be reticent to attack where there might be significant "collateral damage". In an effort to demonstrate their own air offensive capability, on 24 January the Iraqis attempted to mount a strike against the major Saudi oil refinery in Abqaiq. Two Mirage F-1 fighters laden with incendiary bombs and two MiG-23's (along as fighter cover) took off from bases in Iraq. They were spotted by US AWACs, and two Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s were sent to intercept. When the Saudis appeared the Iraqi MiGs turned tail, but the Mirages pressed on. Captain Iyad Al-Shamrani, one of the Saudi pilots maneuvered his jet behind the Mirages and shot down both aircraft. After this episode, the Iraqis made no more air efforts of their own, only sending most of their jets to Iran in hopes that they might someday get their air force back. (Iran never returned the jets.)  With Iraqi air defense effectively neutralized, the Allied Air Forces proceeded to pound the Iraqi divisions arrayed in Kuwait and Southern Iraq. Utilizing fuel bombs, cluster bombs, armor piercing guided bombs, missiles and various other ordinance, Allied forces degraded Iraqi ability to fight on the ground. Attacks by B-52 bombers were noted to be especially terrible; entire regiments, brigades and divisions were effectively crushed in a few minute air raid by these powerful though dated bombers. By late February the Coalition forces were ready to kick off the ground campaign...
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LOL! I knew someone would say something. Glad you enjoy the Foxhole, thanks for the compliment.
I couldn't find the exact picture I was looking for. Do you guys remember the "Iraqi" who surrendered to our guys who was from Chicago? I think he was there visiting relatives when the spit hit the fan. He was pressed into service and couldn't turn himself in fast enough!
p.s. I don't know how long this pic will stay up!
Today's classic warship, USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601)
George Washington class ballistic missile nuclear submarine
Displacement. 5959 (surf.), 6709 (subm.)
Lenght. 381.6'
Beam. 33'
Draft. 29'
Speed. 16k (surf.), 22k (subm.)
Test depth. 700'
Complement. 12 officers - 100 enlisted men (each in 2 crews)
Armament. 16 missile tubes, 6-21" tt.
Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601) was laid down 25 August 1958 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va.; launched 18 December 1959; sponsored by Mrs. Hanson E. Ely II; and commissioned 16 September 1960, Comdr. Reuben F. Woodal (Blue Crew) and Comdr. Joseph Williams, Jr. (Gold Crew) in command.
The third nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine to join the fleet, and the first nuclear-powered ship built in the South, Robert E. Lee operated in and out of Newport News until 2 December 1960, when she got underway for the Narragansett Bay Operating Area for torpedo firing tests. Following the successful firing of five torpedoes on 6 December Robert E. Lee sailed for Cane Kennedy, arriving on the 12th. The submarine then loaded Polaris test missiles and 10 days later conducted her first missile launch. The Polaris ran "hot and true."
In January 1961, she conducted additional simulated missile launches and on the 15th departed for the Bermuda Operating Area. There, joined by Torsk (SS 423) on the 25th, she engaged in antisubmarine training. Returning to Norfolk on 30 January, Robert E. Lee entered the Newport News drydock on 3 February for a month of yardwork. She departed Newport News on 17 March, loaded torpedoes at Yorktown on the 25th, and got underway for Cape Kennedy, arriving 9 April.
The nuclear-powered submarine conducted "special operations" out of Cape Kennedy during May and June, and in late June sailed for Holy Loch, Scotland, where she joined Submarine Squadron 14 on 10 July. She conducted practice torpedo firing during the first week of August and departed Holy Loch 9 August on her first deterrent patrol.
During the next 2 years Robert E. Lee completed nine more deterrent patrols. On 10 September 1963, the submarine entered the floating drydock Los Alamos (AFDB-7) and on 4 October resumed her normal patrol schedule. Continuing to operate out of Holy Loch into 1964, the ballistic missile submarine got underway on 27 November for her 16th patrol which terminated on 28 January 1965 at Mare Island, Calif.
On 22 February, Robert E. Lee entered the Mare Island Division of the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard for her first overhaul. Major items of work included refueling the reactor, reengineering of many ship systems to provide greater safety and reliability, modernization of the navigation system, and modification to the weapons system to give the submarine the capability of launching the improved MK 3 Polaris missile.
Emerging from overhaul after nearly a year and a half of work, Robert E. Lee got underway for sea trials on 12 July 1966. Sound trials and weapons system accuracy trials were conducted during the latter half of July, and on 5 August she entered San Diego harbor for a 5-day visit. Underway for the east coast on 10 August, Robert E. Lee transited the Panama Canal 20 August and arrived at Charleston, S.C., on 4 September.
During the remainder of September and the first week of October, the fleet ballistic submarine conducted shakedown operations off Cape Kennedy, Fla. On 10 October, with the Under Secretary of the Navy on board as an observer, Robert E. Lee successfully fired a nontactical Polaris A-3 missile. She returned to Charleston to commence a predeployment upkeep period at the Cooper River Site. On 4 December, she sailed from Charleston on her 17th deterrent patrol, which terminated at Holy Loch on 30 January 1967.
By 4 October, Robert E. Lee had completed three more patrols. Then drydocked in Los Alamos for minor repairs and hull surveillance, she resumed her patrol schedule on 1 November; completed her 21st patrol before entering drydock on 22 November for 2 weeks of repairs. She departed Holy Loch on 26 December for another patrol.
Robert E. Lee remained attached to Submarine Squadron 14 throughout 1969 and 70. Continuing to operate out of Holy Loch, she completed her 33d deterrent patrol by 1 January 1971.
Robert E. Lee was drydocked for her second overhaul 27 January 1971 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She did not leave the drydock until 11 December and, afterward remained berthed at Puget Sound for the remainder of 1971. For the first seven months of 1972, Robert E. Lee was engaged in post-overhaul trials and exercises on the west coast. In midAugust she transited the Panama Canal and arrived in Charleston, S.C., 14 September. She continued normal operations, this time on the east coast, throughout 1972 and for the first seven months of 1973. Transiting the Panama Canal early in August, she arrived in San Diego on the 17th and then moved on to Pearl Harbor, arriving 5 September. After a month in Hawaii, she sailed for Apra, Guam. On October 15 she Successfully launched five A3T missiles in a Follow-On Operational Test (FOT).
From 1976 - 1978 the Robert E. Lee underwent her third refueling at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, CA. In the fall of 1978 the Robert E. Lee through the Panama Canal to Florida for DASO. Then the boat proceeded back through the Canal (while in the locks, the crew held a BBQ on the missile deck while waving at passengers on the Pacific Princess a.k.a. the "Love Boat").
Robert E. Lee proceeded to Bangor, WA and spent a month there while loading missiles, then proceeded to her home port in Hawaii, arriving in March 1979. From 1979 - 1981 she made deterrent patrols out of Guam. On October 1 ROBERT E. LEE completed her 55th patrol, which was also the US Navy’s last Polaris patrol. In January 1982 The Robert E. Lee left Pearl Harbor and headed for the explosive handling wharf at Bangor. On Febuary 28 Her A-3 missiles were off loaded and officially ended the US Navy's Polaris program.
On March 1 ROBERT E. LEE was redesignated SSN-601, then operated operated out of Pearl Harbor as an attack submarine with a consolidated crew for the next year (the crew nicknamed these operations as "slow attack"). During the summer of 1982, she deployed to San Diego to conduct Midshipmen operations and other exercises, then returned to Pearl Harbor.
In Feburary 1983 She entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to defuel the reactor and remove her missile section. On November 30 of that year, the USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN/SSN-601) and the USS Thomas A. Edison (SSBN/SSN-610) were was decommissioned in joint ceremony held aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63).
On September 30 1991 she was disposed of at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The USS Robert E. Lee's reactor now lies buried in a trench at the Hanford Site, which occupies 560 square miles of south central Washington desert on a plateau about seven miles from the Columbia River.
Robert E. Lee was born on 19 January 1807. Happy Birthday General!
By all accounts, we are even more prepared today.
An additional item of interest is mentioned in this Drudge-linked item today.
America's Ultra-Secret Weapon
Mark Thompson, TIME
Posted Sunday, January 19, 2003; 10:31 a.m. EST
Every war has its wonder weapon. In Afghanistan, it was the Predator, the unmanned drone that would loiter, invisibly, over the battlefield before unleashing a Hellfire missile on an unsuspecting target. The Gulf War marked the debut of precision-guided munitions, and in Vietnam helicopters came of age. World War II gave us the horror of nuclear weapons, and World War I introduced the tank. If there's a second Gulf War, get ready to meet the high-power microwave. HPMs are man-made lightning bolts crammed into cruise missiles. They could be key weapons for targeting Saddam Hussein's stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons. HPMs fry the sophisticated computers and electronic gear necessary to produce, protect, store and deliver such agents. The powerful electromagnetic pulses can travel into deeply buried bunkers through ventilation shafts, plumbing and antennas. But unlike conventional explosives, they won't spew deadly agents into the air, where they could poison Iraqi civilians or advancing U.S. troops.
The HPM is a top-secret program, and the Pentagon wants to keep it that way. Senior military officials have dropped hints about a new, classified weapon for Iraq but won't provide details. Still, information about HPMs, first successfully tested in 1999, has trickled out. "High-power microwave technology is ready for the transition to active weapons in the U.S. military," Air Force Colonel Eileen Walling wrote in a rare, unclassified report on the program three years ago. "There are signs that microwave weapons will represent a revolutionary concept for warfare, principally because microwaves are designed to incapacitate equipment rather than humans."
HPMs can unleash in a flash as much electrical power—2 billion watts or more—as the Hoover Dam generates in 24 hours. Capacitors aboard the missile discharge an energy pulse—moving at the speed of light and impervious to bad weather—in front of the missile as it nears its target. That pulse can destroy any electronics within 1,000 ft. of the flash by short-circuiting internal electrical connections, thereby wrecking memory chips, ruining computer motherboards and generally screwing up electronic components not built to withstand such powerful surges. It's similar to what can happen to your computer or TV when lightning strikes nearby and a tidal wave of electricity rides in through the wiring.
Most of this "e-bomb" development is taking place at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M. The Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland has been studying how to deliver varying but predictable electrical pulses to inflict increasing levels of harm: to deny, degrade, damage or destroy, to use the Pentagon's parlance. HPM engineers call it "dial-a-hurt." But that hurt can cause unintended problems: beyond taking out a tyrant's silicon chips, HPMs could destroy nearby heart pacemakers and other life-critical electrical systems in hospitals or aboard aircraft (that's why the U.S. military is putting them only on long-range cruise missiles). The U.S. used a more primitive form of these weapons—known as soft bombs—against Yugoslavia and in the first Gulf War, when cruise missiles showered miles of thin carbon fibers over electrical facilities, creating massive short circuits that shut down electrical power.
Although the Pentagon prefers not to use experimental weapons on the battlefield, "the world intervenes from time to time," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says. "And you reach in there and take something out that is still in a developmental stage, and you might use it."
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