Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/January 2016/Articles


 * SMS Kaiser Barbarossa (Parsecboy) : The latest in Parsecboy's series on German battleships to successfully transit FAC, this article details the design and service history of a pre-dreadnought that entered service in 1901. Her pre-war career was punctuated by two lengthy stays in dry-dock, including a two-year modernisation overhaul. Despite being mobilised for war and assigned to the North and Baltic Seas, Kaiser Barbarossa did not see combat in World War I and was eventually withdrawn from active service in early 1915 due to crew shortages. She was used as a torpedo target for several months, and served as a prison ship for the remainder of the conflict. At the conclusion of hostilities, the ship was decommissioned and sold for scrap metal, being broken up in 1919–20.


 * Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier (Sturmvogel66) : The second article about a warship to receive the bronze star this month, this is about a class of two Japanese aircraft carriers. They were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late inter-war years, and saw service in the Pacific during World War II. Both ships were lost over the course of the fighting, being sunk in mid-to-late 1944 after taking part in various actions including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Guadalcanal Campaign. The air groups assigned to the ships were credited with sinking two US fleet carriers, and a British light carrier.


 * Battle of Kalavrye (Constantine) : Fought in 1078, the Battle of Kalavrye pitted the Byzantine imperial forces of Alexios Komnenos against the rebellious governor of Dyrrhachium, Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder. The two armies clashed at Kalavrye on the Halmyros river. Komnenos, whose army was considerably smaller and far less experienced, tried to ambush Bryennios's army. The ambush failed, and the wings of his own imperial army were driven back by the rebels, although Alexios managed to break through with a small force and succeeded in regrouping his scattered men. Despite having seemingly won the battle, Bryennios' army fell into disorder after their Pecheneg allies turned on them and attacked the rebel camp. Reinforced by Turkish mercenaries, Alexios lured Bryennios' troops into another ambush through a feigned retreat. The rebel army broke, and Bryennios himself was captured. It is one of the few Byzantine battles described in detail, and hence a valuable source for studying the tactics of the Byzantine army of the late 11th century.


 * Gregor MacGregor (Cliftonian) : A fascinating article on a complex character described in the article's lead as a Scottish soldier, adventurer and confidence trickster. MacGregor served as an officer in the British Army, fighting in the Peninsular War. He later joined the republican side in the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1812, quickly becoming a general fighting against the Spanish on behalf of both Venezuela and its neighbour New Granada—his successes included a difficult month-long fighting retreat through northern Venezuela in 1816. Later, he attempted to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory he claimed to rule. Hundreds invested their savings in supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched jungle; over half of them died. MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history.


 * William Sterling Parsons (Hawkeye7) : One of two articles Hawkeye helped shepherd through FAC last month, this one looks at an American naval officer who worked as an ordnance expert on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He is best known for being the weaponeer on the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. A 1922 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Parsons served on a variety of warships including several battleships. Undertaking a course in ordnance, and then later ballistics, Parsons worked to develop the proximity fuze in the early 1940s, before becoming involved in the Manhattan Project. After the work, Parsons continued to be involved in the US atomic weapons development program, and eventually reached the rank of rear admiral and serving as deputy commander of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project.


 * Oppenheimer security hearing (Hawkeye7 and Figureofnine) : A collaborative effort, this article touches on some of the politics that went on in the background of the US atomic weapons development program in the early Cold War period. In 1954, the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) launched a hearing that explored the background, actions and associations of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American scientist who had headed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II, playing a key part in the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. The hearing led to Oppenheimer's security clearance being revoked and the end of his formal relationship with the US government. It also generated considerable controversy regarding whether the treatment of Oppenheimer was fair, or whether it was an expression of anti-communist McCarthyism.




 * Peresvet-class battleship (Sturmvogel 66) : One of two articles Sturmvogel successfully took through A-class review last month, the Peresvet-class comprised three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy around the end of the 19th century. They were designed to support armoured cruisers in commerce raids if war broke out with the British, but ultimately were not used in their intended role. Instead, they fought against the Japanese in 1904–05. All three ships were sunk during the war, although two were salvaged and placed into service by the Japanese after the war. One was sold back to the Russians in 1916 and sank again after hitting mines in the Mediterranean; the other participated in the Battle of Tsingtao in 1914, before being scrapped around 1923.


 * 2/9th Battalion (Australia) (AustralianRupert) : Part of a series of articles that the nominator has been working on about units of the Australian Army, this one looks at the 2/9th Battalion. The 2/9th was a Second Australian Imperial Force infantry battalion, raised mainly from volunteers from Queensland for service during the Second World War. Part of the 18th Brigade, the 2/9th was variously assigned to three of the four 2nd AIF infantry divisions throughout the war, but mainly fought as part of the 7th Division. Its soldiers were among a small number of Australians who served in the United Kingdom, then later fought in North Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific before the unit was disbanded at the end of the war.


 * Jacob L. Devers (Hawkeye7) : A departure from Hawkeye's series on the Manhatten Project, this article is about the second-most senior US general in Europe in World War II. In Hawkeye's words, Devers remained poorly known for decades. Hopefully, though, this article will go some way to helping rectify this. A graduate of the US Military Academy, Devers was commissioned in 1909 but did not see combat during World War I, going on to command at various levels and instruct at West Point. During World War II, he commanded the 9th Infantry Division and then became chief of the Armored Force. Other appointments included commander of the European Theater of Operations, US Army; commander of the North African Theater of Operations, US Army; and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater. He commanded the Army Ground Forces after the war. In retirement he was a rancher, as well as a technical advisor, lobbyist, and managing director.




 * Majestic-class battleship (Parsecboy) : The parent of nine other articles, all of which have reached GA status, this represents a significant body of work on a class of battleships built for the Royal Navy in the mid-to-late 1890s. Part of a plan to strengthen the Royal Navy against its two traditional rivals, France and Russia, the ships introduced significant improvements over earlier British battleships, including armoured gun shields (later known as "turrets"). All but one saw out a natural life, serving primarily in the Channel Fleet, though several took rotations in the Mediterranean Fleet, and Victorious served on the China Station in 1900–02. By World War I, the Majestics were no longer frontline ships although they were used to protect the crossing of the British Expeditionary Force and various points on the British coast in 1914. Several were disarmed in 1915. The disarmed battleships were used as troop ships during the Dardanelles Campaign, while  Prince George and Majestic were used to bombard enemy positions before Majestic was torpedoed by a German U-boat. The surviving ships were employed in secondary roles from 1915 onwards and were sold for scrap in 1920–22. Only one, Prince George, was lost, wrecked off Camperduin.


 * Hrabri-class submarine (Peacemaker67) : The parent to two articles on the individual submarines themselves – both of which have graced A-class Review successfully in 2015 – this looks at a class of British-designed submarines that served the various incarnations of the Yugoslav Navy between the late 1920s and into the mid-1950s. Based on the British L-class submarines designed during World War I, the two Hrabri-class submarines were complemented by two smaller French-made Osvetnik-class submarines to make up the pre-war Yugoslav submarine force. Their careers were fairly uneventful: Hrabri was captured by Italian forces in April 1941 and subsequently scrapped, while Nebojša evaded capture and served with British submarine forces in the Mediterranean as an anti-submarine warfare training boat until the end of the war. She then served in the Yugoslav Navy as Tara in a training role until 1954, when she was stricken.




 * Japanese aircraft carrier Jun'yō (Sturmvogel 66) : The second of Sturm's A-class December fare, this looks at a World War II-era Japanese carrier. Having begun life as the passenger liner Kashiwara Maru, the ship was pressed into naval service in February 1941 while still under construction. Renamed Jun'yō and converted for naval air operations, she participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, and in several battles during the Guadalcanal Campaign later in the year. Her aircraft were then used from land bases during several battles in the New Guinea and Solomon Islands campaigns. In November 1943, Jun'yō was torpedoed. Repaired, the vessel was later damaged by several bombs during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in mid-1944. Although quickly returned to service, due to a lack of aircraft she was used as a transport in late 1944 and was torpedoed in December. She was then effectively hulked for the rest of the war, and was broken up in 1946–47.


 * Coast Guard Squadron One (Cuprum17) : The first article that Cuprum has taken to A-class review, this looks at a subject close to his heart. Coast Guard Squadron One was deployed to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, the first time since World War II that Coast Guard personnel had been employed in combat in large numbers. They were tasked with interdicting the movement of arms and supplies from the South China Sea into South Vietnam by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese junk and trawler operators. The squadron also provided naval gunfire support to friendly units operating along the South Vietnamese coastline, assisted the U.S. Navy, and provided training to South Vietnamese crews. We hope to see more of Cuprum's articles at A-class Review in the future!