I found out that there were lots of German restaurants, cafes, shops, etc.  Turns out Fredericksburg was a waypoint for German immigrants heading west thru Texas, and they named the town for Frederick the Great.

Yes, the submarine is still there (and in a rather nice display).  I
think it's good to have some artifacts in locations like Fredericksburg;
there are a lot of folks in the central US that will never make it to
HI, but Frederickburg is doable.

They also just opened a new gallery in the last few months.

Regards,

Andy

johnamartini@... wrote:
>
> Does the Nimitz museum still have the two-man Japanese miniature
> submarine from the Pearl Harbor attack? I know it was there some years
> back. Really should be at Pearl Harbor.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: vexillarii@...
> To: CoastDefense@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Saturday, January 2, 2010 7:12:25 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: Re: [CoastDefense] 14" BB gun tubes in Pennsylvania
>
>
>
> When we did the Galveston conference, I did my whirlwind tour of
> Texas, which included getting all the way out to Fredericksburg,
> Texas.  I knew that there was a museum there, but I didn't know the
> full scope of it. It was really good -- particularly the outdoor part
> down the street from the main museum. They have quite a few Japanese
> tanks/guns, and they are setting
>
>
>
> In a message dated 01-Jan-10 22:01:40 Eastern Standard Time,
> johnhenry@... writes:
>
>     An excellent museum the National Museum of the Pacific War in
>     Fredericksburg Texas, a couple hours from San Antonio. I had the
>     chance to visit a few years ago when I was doing some training at
>     a client in San Antonio. Getting to the museum takes you through
>     some beautiful country and I was also able to see the LBJ museum
>     and homestead.
>
>     Well worth taking the time if you are ever in the area.
>
>     For those wondering why a Naval museum in the middle of Texas,
>     Nimitz was from Fredericksburg.
>
>     More info at http://www.nimitz-museum.org/
>
>     <http://www.nimitz-museum.org/>
>
>     Best,
>
>     John R Henry CPP
>
>

 

For those who wander in the area of State College, PA  (more or less smack in the middle of the state), there is the Pennsylvania Military Museum, which has acquired two of the 14" gun barrels from BB 38 that were found at Dahlgren.

 

Nope. I know exactly where this is because I worked the investigation on it. Think about it...where else do you shot artillery in PR?
V/R,
Shawn

 
-----Original Message-----
From: CoastDefense@yahoogroups.com [ mailto:CoastDefense@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of John R Henry
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 11:32 AM
To: CoastDefense@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [CoastDefense] 2009 in Review: History buff's cannonball hits neighbor's home

 

At 09:11 AM 12/31/2009, you wrote:

  
In 1998 we had a 105mm projectile ricochet off a rock at a range in Puerto Rico and slam into a city.  After a check of the ranges, none of the big ranges were within safety tolerance...to include the Artillery Range. We closed them.

Where was this? I live in PR, close enough to the range in Vieques that the explosions used to rattle the dishes in my cupboards.

I don't remember ever hearing of this.

Are you sure you are not confusing this with the accidental bombing of the range observation post which killed a civilian guard?

Best,

John R Henry CPP

"All progress is made by a lazy person looking for an easier way." - Lazarus Long

Cell 787-550-9650
www.changeover.com www.effectivetroubleshooting.com


Best,

John R Henry CPP

"All progress is made by a lazy person looking for an easier way." - Lazarus Long

Cell 787-550-9650 www.changeover.com

  
In 1998 we had a 105mm projectile ricochet off a rock at a range in Puerto Rico and slam into a city.  After a check of the ranges, none of the big ranges were within safety tolerance...to include the Artillery Range. We closed them.

2009 News in Review: 

HISTORY BUFF'S CANNONBALL HITS NEIGHBOR'S HOME

Pa. man faces charges,
including reckless endangerment,
but no one hurt
 
Video and news story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32690154#storyContinued  Sept. 4, 2009: A history buff who recreates weapons from the early days of the United States, fires a small cannon, whose cannonball then ricochets, smashing into a neighbor's house several hundred yards away. WPXI's Jodine Costanzo reports.

> Don't forget that in an airplane fuselage you have this giant
> aluminum can under pressure.
     Welllllll.  8)>>
     The pressure is few PSI, cabin pressure is maintained a
     bit below 'sea level' and the outside pressure does not
     drop that much at altitude.  Call it 7 psi differential.

> The skin of that can is very thin and does not require much to
> blow a hole in it. That hole, even if the explosion does not
> cause other structural failure, will cause rapid release of the
> energy stored in the pressurized can. That can cause a
> structural failure, especially given where the bomber was sitting.
     Perhaps.  Yes, the Comet airliners failed catastrophically.
     'we' know a bit more about high altitude design now.  One may
     ponder, as an instance, the 'poptop' airliner, over Hawaii,
     perhaps a decade back.  (gross failure of skin/structure, some
     'square feet' of cabin blew out.  Not at 35,000 ft....)
     There have been other instances of in flight noncatastrophic
     failure...

     (I'm told, have not verified, that 'early' 747's had an
      OPENABLE top port, in the cockpit area, to allow
      undistorted use of sextant, mid ocean, for nav checks.
      (this was pre satnav/gps/yaddah.))

> Even without additional structural failure, the sudden decompression
> can likely cause control problems. At 35,000 feet, perhaps the pilot
> can recover. Coming in on final, perhaps not.
      On final, at Detroit, is a tad under 35,000 ft.  Granted
      each case is individual, one may ponder the Poptop over
      Hawaii, etc.

      best
       dwp

http://www.washingtontimes.com/culture/military-history/

French and Indian War sites

Greg Pierce

Washington is surrounded by Civil War battlefields, but what history buffs
hereabouts may not realize is that we also live within easy reach of many sites
from the French and Indian War.

Some folks may shrug their shoulders at that fact, but the French and Indian War
is not only a fascinating conflict in its own right, it remains what historian
Fred Anderson calls "the most important event to occur in 18th century North
America," paving the way for the American Revolution.

During the last week in October, I journeyed across Western Maryland and into
Pennsylvania, following British Gen. Edward Braddock's path through the
wilderness in the summer of 1755. Braddock and his army of Colonists and British
regulars would come to grief near what is now Pittsburgh. Today's tourist will
discover a historical adventure that includes a half-dozen or more French and
Indian War forts, traces of Braddock's Road, remains of the Chesapeake & Ohio
Canal and the old National Road, Braddock's grave, and a few surprises along the
way.

I was joined by Kevin Cullen, a journalist and friend from Lafayette, Ind. To
get in the spirit of walking up and down mountains, as Braddock's force of about
2,300 men (and some women) was required to do, we hiked the Appalachian Trail in
Maryland, which follows South Mountain from the Pennsylvania line to Harpers
Ferry, W.Va.

From there we jumped into my Volkswagen Jetta and headed for U.S. 40, once known
as the National Road. What follows is a description of what we saw. You might
want to try it yourself.

Along the way

Clearspring, Md., about12 miles west of Hagerstown, is an old town in which you
can still see the flowing water that gave the place its name. A historical
marker directs visitors south toward Fort Frederick, a massive stone structure
built in 1756 to protect frontier settlers from Indian attacks after Braddock's
defeat.

The fort has been rebuilt, but much of the original stone remains. At the
visitors center, a short slide show explains its origins and later history.

On the drive to the fort, we were delighted to make a short detour to Four
Locks, an unusual and scenic section of the C&O Canal. You go through a tunnel
to get there.

Sideling Hill, 33 miles west of Hagerstown and six miles west of Hancock, was
one of the most challenging obstacles for early travelers on the National Road.
Over the years, many wagons went over the side, along with their teams and
sometimes their drivers.

A new route over Sideling Hill opened in 1985 as part of Interstate 68. The top
of the mountain (why it's called a hill baffles me) was blasted away to make
room for the highway, leaving an astonishing 850-foot view into the interior of
the Earth.

Sadly, a unique geological museum at the top of Sideling Hill was closed
permanently in August, a victim of state budget cuts. Thankfully, the parking
area with its restrooms and snack machines remains open. A fenced pathway leads
into the cut, and placards interpret what you see.

Ironically, the synclines (U-shaped folds in the rock) visible in the mountain
face on each side of the road reveal that this high landmark was once a low spot
between mountains since eroded away.

Rich history

Cumberland used to be the second-largest city in Maryland, but the population
fell from 50,000 to about 20,000 as railroads and new highways cut down traffic
on the National Road. Today the town emphasizes its rich history. Historical
markers are seemingly everywhere.

The National Road began here, in 1811. The C&O Canal ended here, in 1850. The
town got its name from Fort Cumberland, named after the Duke of Cumberland, a
son of King George II. The duke planned Braddock's campaign. When the French and
Indian War began, this was the westernmost outpost of the British Colonies.

The wooden fort was the jumping-off point for Braddock and his troops, the last
supply post before setting off for Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio. Fort
Cumberland, which sat on a hill at the confluence of Wills Creek and the Potomac
River, is long gone, replaced by a church and City Hall, but a series of
historical markers makes it easy to imagine what it must have been like in 1755.

One placard mentions that hostile Indians sometimes shot down at the fort from
not-so-distant hills. Another says that authorities attempted to humiliate some
captured Indians by dressing them in petticoats and sending them back into the
woods. This was letting them off easy — the Indians often burned their prisoners
alive.

A small cabin that George Washington used as a headquarters is nearby. A stop at
the downtown visitors center is recommended. It includes a C&O Canal museum, a
bookshop and informational brochures. Helpful attendants gave us a map and
directed us to the fort site.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown. Numerous motels can be found in nearby La
Vale, at the top of Wills Mountain, a few miles west of Cumberland on U.S. 40.

The highway, going west, climbs through the Narrows, a mountain pass that
Braddock used.

The Alleghenies

Braddock's men, who started off from Alexandria, Va., passing through
Winchester, thought they had seen a lot of wilderness before arriving at Fort
Cumberland, but now they would climb up onto the Allegheny Plateau, part of the
Appalachian Plateau that stretches from New York to Alabama.

Millions of years of stream erosion have formed a series of rugged mountains,
known as the Alleghenies, that sorely tested Braddock's army and its long wagon
train. Army road builders went out each morning to clear a path, a precursor to
U.S. 40.

The Casselman River Bridge, just off U.S. 40 east of Grantsville, Md., was once
the longest single-span stone arch bridge in the world, built as part of the
National Road in 1813 and used until 1933. Braddock's army forded the river at
this spot.

From the little state park that contains the stone bridge one can see another
bridge carrying U.S. 40 over the stream and, farther to the south, a third
bridge, for I-68. This demonstrates how, over time, the route has changed.
Braddock's road crisscrosses U.S. 40, which often varies somewhat from the
original National Road and is now largely supplanted by the interstate.
Historical markers for Braddock's various camps as well as traces of his road
can be seen along U.S. 40 in this stretch and beyond.

At the foot of the stone bridge stands the Spruce Forest Artisan Village.
Historic buildings were moved to the site from various locations in Western
Maryland and restored.

Jumonville Glen

Entering Pennsylvania, travelers soon come to Fort Necessity National
Battlefield, where George Washington suffered a humiliating defeat in 1754, the
year before Braddock's expedition.

The park visitors center includes a museum focusing not only on the battle at
Fort Necessity, but also the National Road. A short walk out the back door and
you come to what seems an impossibly small fort — circular palisades surrounding
what amounts to little more than a shack. This is a reconstruction, of course,
but one based on archaeological discoveries.

To understand what happened at Fort Necessity, you have to know what happened
not long before at Jumonville Glen, now a National Park Service site a few miles
up the road from the fort.

Washington had led 40 Virginians into what is now Pennsylvania, hoping to drive
the French from the forks of the Ohio. Alerted by friendly Indians, Washington
staged a surprise attack at dawn on May 28 against a small French force camping
near the top of Chestnut Ridge. Ten of the French were killed, one was wounded,
and 21 were captured.

The French commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville, was among
the wounded. Jumonville protested to Washington that he was on a peaceful
diplomatic mission, and he presented papers written in French.

Legend has it that while Washington looked for a translator, the leader of the
Indians approached the prostrate Frenchman and said in French, "Thou art not yet
dead, my father."He then crushed Jumonville's skull with a hatchet.

The ravine where this firefight — and murder — took place probably looks much as
it did in 1754. A paved path takes hikers in a circle through the woods and
below a rock ledge where the French were attacked. Traces of Braddock's Road and
an army camp site can be found along Jumonville Road at the top of the ridge.

Braddock's grave

Washington and his men fell back a few miles to Great Meadows to await
reinforcements. There he immediately began construction of Fort Necessity.
Meanwhile, one Frenchman had escaped, running all the way back to Fort Duquesne
in his bare feet to tell of the evil that had befallen Jumonville.

On July 3, a force of about 600 French and 100 Indians moved into the woods
surrounding Fort Necessity, led by Jumonville's brother, Louis Coulon de
Villiers. Reinforcements now gave Washington 293 men and officers, most of whom
took cover in entrenchments outside the fort.

Washington never stood a chance. The fort's site had been poorly chosen, and the
enemy poured in a galling fire from the woods. To make matters worse, heavy
rains flooded the trenches and disabled the Colonists' firearms.

Washington surrendered that night. The next day, July 4, he and his men were
allowed to withdraw with the honors of war.

A mile or so up the road from Fort Necessity is one of the most melancholy
monuments in North America. Here Braddock is buried beneath a 12-foot-high
granite monument on a knoll next to U.S. 40.

Braddock and 1,300 of his men were just eight miles from Fort Duquesne when, on
July 9, 1755, a force of about 200 French and 650 Indians slipped around his
flanks in the forest above the Monongahela River and inflicted one of the most
one-sided slaughters known to history. Approximately 900 of Braddock's men —
about two-thirds of his force — were killed or wounded, many by "friendly fire."

Braddock, wounded through the arm and lungs, died four days later. Washington
had him buried in the middle of the road to keep Indians from finding the body
and desecrating it. In 1804, while repairing this section of Braddock Road, a
work crew discovered the skeleton, and it was moved to the present location.
Today you can see the old road trace, and a marker shows the spot where the body
was found.

This is a resort area, near Ohiopyle State Park, and it has numerous lodging
choices.

Fort Ligonier

About 35 miles north and east of Fort Necessity is the small town of Ligonier,
Pa., where, in 1758, Gen. John Forbes built Fort Ligonier as the jumping-off
point for his attack on Fort Duquesne. In November of that year, Forbes
(accompanied by Washington) succeeded where Braddock had failed, as the French
blew up their fort and retreated before Forbes' army. Forbes ordered the
construction of a new fort at the forks — what is now Pittsburgh.

Fort Ligonier has been reconstructed in a magnificent way and has a first-rate
museum and perhaps the best bookstore anywhere for those interested in the
French and Indian War. A Ramada Inn is next door to the fort on U.S. 30.

U.S. 30, the Lincoln Highway, follows the road built by Forbes in 1758. To the
east, in Bedford, a blockhouse contains a museum with information about Fort
Bedford. (It was closed for the season when we passed through.) Farther east is
the reconstructed Fort Loudon.

Two other Pennsylvania sites, though not part of my trip, would be well worth a
visit: Point State Park in Pittsburgh, at the forks of the Ohio, and Bushy Run
Battlefield, where the British repulsed an Indian attack in 1763.

One surprise: U.S. 30 took us near the place where United Flight 93 crashed
after passengers challenged the terrorist hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001. We paid
our respects there and were reminded that history is not restricted to the
distant past.

At 02:38 AM 12/28/2009, you wrote:

>Even though the video (or titles added later?)  fibs on
>quantity/effect, its basic message is correct,  that
>*  a small (but not quite THAT small) and probably easily concealed
>quantity of modern high explosive could with (bad) luck do just
>enough damage to a critical structural element to precipitate catastrophe;
>*  that either reliability of detonation  or material stability is
>problematic in high explosive formulations,

Don't forget that in an airplane fuselage you have this giant
aluminum can under pressure. The skin of that can is very thin and
does not require much to blow a hole in it. That hole, even if the
explosion does not cause other structural failure, will cause rapid
release of the energy stored in the pressurized can. That can cause a
structural failure, especially given where the bomber was sitting.

Even without additional structural failure, the sudden decompression
can likely cause control problems. At 35,000 feet, perhaps the pilot
can recover. Coming in on final, perhaps not.

That small amount of explosive may not "blow up" an airliner but in
the proper place at the proper time it can cause a crash.

Best,

John R Henry CPP

"All progress is made by a lazy person looking for an easier way." -
Lazarus Long

Cell 787-550-9650
www.changeover.com   www.effectivetroubleshooting.com


Best,

John R Henry CPP

"All progress is made by a lazy person looking for an easier way." -
Lazarus Long

Cell 787-550-9650 www.changeover.com

----- Original Message -----

From: Elliot Deutsch

To: CoastDefense@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 7:45 AM

Subject: Re: [CoastDefense] Off Topic - One Drop Explosive Can Blow Up Airliner

 

Friends,

 

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, as we did with friends and family, and will also see a healthy and happy new year.

 

While I agree with your comments - and had a few personal doubts - about what appear to be discrepancies in that video, even though I was terrible in chemistry at school, I don't underestimate the wonders of chemistry.  Years ago, on construction projects and later in a research laboratory, I had brief contacts with some conventional commercial and military explosives.   Then at least 20 years ago, out of curiosity,  I borrowed a copy of the BLASTERS HANDBOOK from one of our contractor customers.  This new volume was both larger and thicker than my 50-some-year-old edition and from just a brief scan, I could see that "everything had changed".  For example, I guess with safety in mind [from dangers of shock sensitivity, fumes and skin contact and more] dynamite has just about passed out of common use and had few manufacturers.  Many of the new explosives [names since forgotten] are no longer "cap sensitive" and require special detonators and boosters.  I believe that the book also contained information on binary explosives that were "mixed on site" from two relatively harmless components.  From scientific TV shows we can see that radio-frequency-sensitive, electrically-activated blasting caps appear to have been replaced by what appears to be explosive-gas-filled plastic tubing initiated by a little hand-held device that fires a shotgun primer.   I wouldn't have a clue to how that works even though I have used generator-type blasting machines and was once "afforded the honor" of pressing the buttons on a capacitor-discharge blasting machine connected to almost 500 loaded bore holes.   So, it appears to be a whole new game thanks to the wonders of science.    

 

Who does not have acetone as a "cleaner" or "plastic cement" in his shop and peroxide in his medicine chest? And who would have ever thought of combining the two to make an explosive?  I believe I recall hearing in TV news that some of those pre-9/11 terrorists who were targeting sites in New York were making their own explosive by boiling [the piss out of, ha ha] urine to concentrate it and then adding nitric acid.  We should not be surprised at what a desperate, willing-to-die terrorist can/will do with the help of a sharp chemist.  

 

Elliot    

----- Original Message -----

From: Bill Ricker

To: CoastDefense@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 1:38 AM

Subject: Re: [CoastDefense] Off Topic - One Drop Explosive Can Blow Up Airliner

 

Jack, Thanks for the update. 

Even though the video (or titles added later?)  fibs on quantity/effect, its basic message is correct,  that
*  a small (but not quite THAT small) and probably easily concealed quantity of modern high explosive could with (bad) luck do just enough damage to a critical structural element to precipitate catastrophe;
*  that either reliability of detonation  or material stability is problematic in high explosive formulations,

Hence the usual chaining of fuse, detonator, charge, booster in a military munition such as our Coast Artillery used and Field Artillery still use, optimizing each part for its role. This is more engineering than cottage industry can handle, and their shortcuts lead to blowing up safe-houses in London and failures to detonate for the shoe-bomber and latest underwear-bomber. We can be thankful these dudes* did not have access to actual military supplies.

*(Dudes: in the old west sense of incompetent wanna-be, all hat no cattle.)

Conclusion should be one can not totally screen out all carry-on danger even if we boarded nude; they may confiscate some large percent of nearly harmless swiss army tools in the screening line but some number get through every day and are later found by lucky travelers who forgot which bag it was in. A known screening is exploitable. Relying on content screening will fail catastrophically eventually. Thus we must screen more competently by identity match with Intelligence and behavioral cues (eg, lack of baggage)  which should have caught this dude.

Which we move a step closer to as we phase in identity matches in airline data in next few weeks and months.

Thus timing of this last attack may not be just the obvious Xmas symbolism (important enough as that is as part of the terrifying) but also double opportunistic -- a time of  stress on system due to high passenger load *and* HQ, agency, and seniority getting time off, but also just before the ID match rules get tighter on Jan 1 on many airlines.

Someone forgot to tell the underwear bomber that blowing your nuts off is not good plan. Rumor has it a eunuch may not be admitted to their special paradise for martyrs. Unless he's the eunuch guarding someone else's virgins, which sounds more like Tantulus's hell of see-but-no-touch than a paradise.

By the time the burn ward is through with him, they won't need any approved 'enhanced' techniques, they just withhold narcotics on his next debriding or dressing change. For what the airports and airlines will now do to us all, uselessly, I hope he has a sadistic nurse ...

--
Bill
n1vux@... bill.n1vux@gmail.com

----- Original Message -----

From: Bill Ricker

To: CoastDefense@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 1:38 AM

Subject: Re: [CoastDefense] Off Topic - One Drop Explosive Can Blow Up Airliner

 

Jack, Thanks for the update. 

Even though the video (or titles added later?)  fibs on quantity/effect, its basic message is correct,  that
*  a small (but not quite THAT small) and probably easily concealed quantity of modern high explosive could with (bad) luck do just enough damage to a critical structural element to precipitate catastrophe;
*  that either reliability of detonation  or material stability is problematic in high explosive formulations,

Hence the usual chaining of fuse, detonator, charge, booster in a military munition such as our Coast Artillery used and Field Artillery still use, optimizing each part for its role. This is more engineering than cottage industry can handle, and their shortcuts lead to blowing up safe-houses in London and failures to detonate for the shoe-bomber and latest underwear-bomber. We can be thankful these dudes* did not have access to actual military supplies.

*(Dudes: in the old west sense of incompetent wanna-be, all hat no cattle.)

Conclusion should be one can not totally screen out all carry-on danger even if we boarded nude; they may confiscate some large percent of nearly harmless swiss army tools in the screening line but some number get through every day and are later found by lucky travelers who forgot which bag it was in. A known screening is exploitable. Relying on content screening will fail catastrophically eventually. Thus we must screen more competently by identity match with Intelligence and behavioral cues (eg, lack of baggage)  which should have caught this dude.

Which we move a step closer to as we phase in identity matches in airline data in next few weeks and months.

Thus timing of this last attack may not be just the obvious Xmas symbolism (important enough as that is as part of the terrifying) but also double opportunistic -- a time of  stress on system due to high passenger load *and* HQ, agency, and seniority getting time off, but also just before the ID match rules get tighter on Jan 1 on many airlines.

Someone forgot to tell the underwear bomber that blowing your nuts off is not good plan. Rumor has it a eunuch may not be admitted to their special paradise for martyrs. Unless he's the eunuch guarding someone else's virgins, which sounds more like Tantulus's hell of see-but-no-touch than a paradise.

By the time the burn ward is through with him, they won't need any approved 'enhanced' techniques, they just withhold narcotics on his next debriding or dressing change. For what the airports and airlines will now do to us all, uselessly, I hope he has a sadistic nurse ...

--
Bill
n1vux@... bill.n1vux@gmail.com