Jonn was a longtime friend of the blog, and a heck of a milblogger. Well, we all end the Land Nav course of life someday, and for Jonn, that day was yesterday. He had a heart attack and passed away at the hospital. All men die, not all men truly live. Jonn did though, Lord knows Jonn did.
By 1944, the US had been at war for over two years. But the final 18 months of the war would see ever increasing numbers of casualties, as the number of divisions committed to combat rose.
180712-F-ID393-278 (July 12, 2018) PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY BARKING SANDS, Hawaii — U.S. Army and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) members launch missiles from Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands at the decommissioned ex-USS Racine (LST-1191), positioned at sea, during a sinking exercise as part of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise. This marks the first time the U.S. Army and JGSDF have participated in a sinking exercise during RIMPAC. Twenty-five nations, 46 ships, five submarines, and about 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 27 to Aug. 2 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security of the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2018 is the 26th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Air Force video by Airman 1st Class Nathan Barbour/Released)
In the early 1980s, even as the Aegis missile system was being introduced with the Ticonderoga class guided missile cruisers, the US Navy looked to improve its air defense capability. It would be years before all the Ticos would reach the fleet, and even longer before the Burke class DDGs reached the fleet in numbers.
The existing fleet of 57 guided missile cruisers and destroyers were still using their original missile control systems, which, let us recall were first designed in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Accordingly, the Navy began the New Threat Ugprade program to replace the radars, missile guidance systems, and even the missiles themselves in use in the fleet.
It was a spectacularly successful program, well run, with great results. The NTU ships were in some areas more capable than the Aegis ships they would serve alongside.
There was just one problem. Right as large numbers of ships began receiving NTU, the Soviet Union collapsed, and with it, the threat NTU was intended to address. Many ships had their upgrades cancelled, and even those that were upgraded were decommissioned within just a few years.
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