Countdown to Kickoff

[kingofnerf]

MLB #44 Paul Vogel celebrates with fellow defenders #45 James Seawright (left) and #85 Carl Hill following a crucial turnover during the 1984 Clemson game.  The caption in the article link mentions a TD, but this instead looks like #20 Bryant Gilliard's pick of Clemson QB Mike Eppley's pass to Terrence Flagler for no return during that game.  

CLEMSON WAS RIDING a four-game winning streak over its in-state rival coming into the 1984 game. While the Tigers had been strong from 1981-83 and feasted on inferior Gamecock squads, the 1980 team pulled off a surprise to upset South Carolina and Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers.

Danny Ford, in his second full season at Clemson, had his team dressed in all orange for the first time. When the Tigers ran down the hill clad from head to toe in the school’s signature color, the crowd went berserk and an inspired Clemson team beat No. 14 South Carolina, 27-6.

That victory gave Clemson a winning season, and the momentum carried over the following year with an undefeated record and national championship that was punctuated by a win over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

Three years removed from its best season, Clemson came into the South Carolina game in 1984 with a 7-3 record. Knowing this would be the last game of the year, the Tigers dressed in all orange and hoped it would lead to a second Gamecocks loss. Clemson was 10-0 when wearing the orange pants.

THE SECOND HALF belonged to the Gamecocks. South Carolina sacked Clemson quarterback Mike Eppley for a safety in the third quarter, and Hagler connected on a 41-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to cut Clemson’s lead to 21-15.

South Carolina’s offense had been explosive for much of the season, with quarterback Mike Hold often engineering a big play when he came in the game for Mitchell. But so far Clemson’s defense, led by Aiken native and All-American William “Refrigerator” Perry, had kept the Gamecocks in check.

The Gamecocks got the ball back on their own 16 with just over three minutes left. Now it was do or die time.

After a near interception, Hold found Chris Wade for a 36-yard reception to push into Clemson territory. Two first-down runs moved the ball to Clemson’s 11.

Hold rushed two more times and, thanks to a face-mask penalty, South Carolina had first and goal at the 1. Hold crossed the goal line on a sneak to the right side to tie the game at 21 with 54 seconds left.

Hagler had not missed an extra point attempt all season, and now he faced the most important one of his career. He hooked it to the left, and it looked like the two teams were destined for a tie.

But a penalty had been called - Clemson had 12 men on the field - and Hagler would get another chance. This time it was true, and South Carolina led 22-21.

“That was the season where we got all the breaks a team could get,” longtime announcer Bob Fulton said. “It was just unbelievable.”

Clemson had one more chance, but turned the ball over on downs. The game ended with Hold taking a knee, then offering the football to Perry. He did not take it.

https://www.augustachronicle.com/article/20141127/SPORTS/311279921

A standout running back at Eastside High, Vogel was named all-region and all-state in 1979. He started at tailback for three years for an Eagles squad that won the state championship in 1978. Vogel redshirted in 1980 and saw action in 1981 as a reserve linebacker. He started some in 1982, ranking tenth on the team in tackles. A knee injury sidelined Vogel for part of the ’83 season but he still saw significant time while backing up senior Mike Durrah. Vogel took over as the starting middle linebacker for the 1984 season and would go on to lead the team in tackles while earning second team All-South Independent honors. He made some of the biggest defensive plays of that season – against Georgia he recovered a fumble by UGA QB Todd Williams on first and goal at the USC 2 with around two minutes to go in the first half; stopping that scoring drive was critical in an eventual 17-10 USC win. He recovered a Pittsburgh fumble at the Panther five to set up USC’s first touchdown in a 45-21 Gamecock victory. Vogel’s best game however would be at South Bend, as he made 24 tackles in a 36-32 win over Notre Dame. He also picked off a Steve Beurlein pass and stuffed Allen Pinkett for no gain on a fourth down in the final quarter. Vogel went on to spend time in the NFL with Tampa Bay (1985-87) and Houston (1987). He currently lives in Florida.

http://gamecockarchives.com/plyrbio_2015.php?rm_id=vogelpa01

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/acc/university-of-miami/article4538713.html

 

[kingofnerf]

USS Keweenaw, CVE-44.

HMS Patroller was an escort carrier in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Laid down in 1942 at the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding company, she was originally named USS Keweenaw (CVE-44). USS Keweenaw (previously AVG-44 then later ACV-44) was an escort carrier laid down under Maritime Commission contract by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding of Tacoma, Washington, 27 November 1942; launched 6 May 1943; sponsored by Mrs. R. G. Risley; assigned to the United Kingdom 10 June 1943; reclassified CVE-44 on 15 July 1943; and transferred to the United Kingdom under lend-lease 22 October 1943.

During the remainder of war, she served the Royal Navy as HMS Patroller and operated in the Atlantic on convoy escort and patrol duty, with brief stints as a transport carrier for both the Army and Navy. Arriving Norfolk, Virginia, 9 December 1946, she was returned to the United States Navy the same day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Patroller_(D07)

 

[kingofnerf]

USS Vincennes, CA-44.

USS Vincennes (CA-44) was a United States Navy New Orleans-class cruiser, sunk at the Battle of Savo Island in 1942. She was the second ship to bear the name.

 

[kingofnerf]

USS Cummings, DD-44.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cummings_(DD-44)

 

[kingofnerf]

USS William V. Pratt, DDG-44.

USS William V. Pratt (DLG-13/DDG-44) was a Farragut-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy. She was commissioned in 1961 as DLG-13 and reclassified as a guided missile destroyer, designation DDG-44, in 1975. She was named to honor Admiral William Veazie Pratt, a President of the Naval War College and a Chief of Naval Operations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_William_V._Pratt

 

[kingofnerf]

Submarine USS S-44.

3rd patrol, July 1942

S-44 departed Brisbane on 24 July. Cloudy weather with squalls set in. On 31 July, she commenced patrolling the Rabaul-Tulagi shipping lanes. The next day, she sighted a convoy off Cape St. George, but heavy swells hindered depth control and speed, and prevented her from attacking. From Cape St. George, S-44 moved up the east coast of New Ireland to North Cape and Kavieng, where she waited.

On 7 August, the American offensive opened with landing of the 1st Marine Division on the beaches of the Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. On 9 August, off Savo Island, Cruiser Division 6 of the Imperial Japanese Navy had inflicted one of the worst defeats of the war on American and Australian surface ships.

The next morning, the victorious enemy cruisers neared Kavieng, bound for home.  At 07:50, S-44 sighted the formation of four heavy cruisers at less than 900 yards (800 m). At 08:06, she fired four Mark 10 torpedoes at the rear ship, only 700 yards (600 m) away. By 08:08, three torpedoes had exploded and the heavy cruiser Kako was sinking. S-44 had claimed the largest Japanese man-of-war in the Pacific War to date.

Three days later, S-44 was again fighting heavy swells. Her damaged bow planes required three hours to rig out, where they were left. On 23 August, she moored at Brisbane. With one ship sunk on each patrol so far, she set a record no other S-boat would match.

Fifth patrol, September 1943

She arrived at Dutch Harbor on 16 September. On 26 September, she departed Attu on her last war patrol. One day out, while en route to her operating area in the northern Kuril Islands, she was spotted and attacked by a Japanese patrol plane. Suffering no damage, she continued west. On the night of 7 October, she made radar contact with what she thought was a "small merchantman" and closed for a surface attack. Several hundred yards from the target, her deck gun fired and was answered by a salvo. The "small merchantman" in fact was the Shimushu-class escort Ishigaki. An emergency dive was ordered, but the submarine failed to submerge.  She then took several hits in the control room, below the waterline in the after battery room, and elsewhere.

Reluctantly, S-44 was ordered abandoned. A pillow case was raised from the forward battery room hatch as a flag of surrender, but the Japanese shelling continued. Only two men escaped the sinking vessel. They were taken first to Paramushiro, then to the Naval Interrogation Camp at Ōfuna. The two men spent the last year of World War II working in the Ashio copper mines and survived to be repatriated by the Allies at the end of the war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_S-44_(SS-155)

 

[Swayin]

USS Cummings, DD-44.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cummings_(DD-44)

You destroyers are getting older and older! Camp must be approaching!

 

[kingofnerf]

USS Ira Jeffrey, APD-44.  Formerly DE-63.

USS Ira Jeffery (DE-63/APD-44), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Ensign Ira Weil Jeffery (1918-1941) who was killed in action during the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands while serving aboard the battleship California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ira_Jeffery_(DE-63)

 

[kingofnerf]

You destroyers are getting older and older! Camp must be approaching!

You'll be seeing the paddle-wheeled steamers before you know it..  LOL

 

[Swayin]

USS California, BB-44, sunk and resting on the bottom in Pearl Harbor. She was relfoated, refitted and rebuilt, and three years later would "cap the T" on the Japanese battlefleet at the Battle of Surigao Strait.

 

[kingofnerf]

Since learning in recent years that the old battleships of the type that were at Pearl Harbor were too slow and fuel-hungry to be deployed in the South Pacific with the fast carrier battle groups during the early years of the war, it makes you wonder if the Japanese would have been better off not attacking Pearl or just mainly focusing on the oil tanks instead.

One of the chief criticisms the Japanese had of Nagumo was his refusal to take the oil tank farms out at Pearl with a third raid.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

44th Division

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/44th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)

 

[gamecock88]

 

[gamecock88]

 

[Blitzkrieg]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43rd_Infantry_Division_(United_States)

43rd Division

 

[Swayin]

Since learning in recent years that the old battleships of the type that were at Pearl Harbor were too slow and fuel-hungry to be deployed in the South Pacific with the fast carrier battle groups during the early years of the war, it makes you wonder if the Japanese would have been better off not attacking Pearl or just mainly focusing on the oil tanks instead.

One of the chief criticisms the Japanese had of Nagumo was his refusal to take the oil tank farms out at Pearl with a third raid.

I have seen estimates that said the deletion of the oil storage facilities at Pearl would have set our entire war effort in the Pacific back a calendar year; the California, for example, was refloated and back in San Fran in 9 months or so? So yes, huge omission.

 

[Swayin]

USS Tennessee, BB-43 at Pearl Harbor; next to her is the sunken West Virginia. Was warped out of her berth on Dec. 17 for basic repairs at Pearl, then made her own steam and headed to Seattle for repairs along with the Maryland and Pennsylvania, where over the course of the next year she was repaired, refitted, and completely modernized (see bottom photo). She went on to be a key contributor throughout the Central and South Pacific campaign, including history's last battleship-to battleship battle at Surigao Strait, where she joined with fellow Pearl survivors the California, West Virginia, California and Pennsylvania to sink the IJN Kirishima.

 

[Swayin]

Republic P-43 Lancer, precursor to the P-47 Thunderbolt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_P-43_Lancer#/media/File:Republic_P-43_Lancer.jpg

 

[kingofnerf]

Sikorsky S-43 seaplane.  Known as the Baby Clipper.  Military classification was JRS-1.

Operational history

The S-43 was used primarily by Pan American World Airways for flights to Cuba and within Latin America. Inter-Island Airways of Hawaii (Inter-Island changed its name to Hawaiian Airlines in 1941) was the launch customer for the S-43. Inter-Island operated four S-43's to ferry Pan Am Clipper passengers and local residents from Honolulu throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Inter-Island sold its only twin-tail version to KLM.  One aircraft was purchased by Norwegian airline Det Norske Luftfartselskap. Panair do Brasil operated seven aircraft. Five S-43s were used between 1937 and 1945 by the French company Aéromaritime on a colonial airway between Dakar (Senegal) and Pointe-Noire (Congo). Reeve Aleutian Airways owned two S-43s during the 1950s, one operational (N53294 purchased 1948 and trade for G-21 in 1957) and one for spares (fuselage at Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum). Another S-43 was operated in Alaska with an unknown operator, wrecked at Chignik, AK, 1950s.

Five aircraft were acquired by the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1937 under the designation OA-8 and were used for transport of freight and passengers. 17 aircraft were procured by the U.S. Navy between 1937 and 1939 as the JRS-1, two of which served the U.S. Marine Corps. One JRS survived in service at the end of 1941.

The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia has now put a Sikorsky JRS-1 on display. This aircraft was on duty at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It holds numerous exhibits, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Enola Gay, and the Gemini 7 space capsule.

The 760,000-square-foot (71,000 m2; 17-acre; 7.1 ha) facility was made possible by a $65 million donation in October 1999 to the Smithsonian Institution by Steven F. Udvar-Házy, an immigrant from Hungary and co-founder of the International Lease Finance Corporation, an aircraft leasing corporation.  The main NASM building, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., had always contained more artifacts than could be displayed, and most of the collection had been stored, unavailable to visitors, at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Silver Hill, Maryland. A substantial addition to the center encompassing restoration, conservation and collection-storage facilities was completed in 2010. Restoration facilities and museum archives were moved from the museum's Garber facility to the new sections of the Udvar-Hazy Center.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_F._Udvar-Hazy_Center

Okay, I have been to the Air & Space Museum a long time ago, but never knew this other place existed until now. 

Fly non-stop into Dulles on a Friday, grab a local hotel room, wander around this place without having to deal with DC traffic, then jet home Sunday.

I now have a new item for my bucket list.

Go Cocks!!

 

[kingofnerf]

USS Cassin, DD-43.

The first USS Cassin (DD-43) was the lead ship of Cassin-class destroyers in the United States Navy during World War I. She was later transferred to the United States Coast Guard, where she was designated CG-1. She was named for Stephen Cassin.

World War I

Operations along the east coast on Neutrality patrol and drills and surveillance patrol in the Caribbean were Cassin's employment until April 1917, when she was immediately prepared for overseas deployment. She arrived at Queenstown, Ireland on 17 May, and began operations which called for her to rendezvous with American troop convoys at sea and escort them to ports in England and France. On 15 October, she sighted the German submarine U-61 about 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km) south of Mine Head Lighthouse, Monagoush, County Waterford, Ireland, and pursued her. At 13:30, Cassin was struck on her port stern by a torpedo.

According to the report issued by the Secretary of the Navy, the torpedo would have missed the Cassin entirely, except it breached the surface of the water on two occasions and turned to the left each time. The torpedo struck above the water line, and ignited several depth charges.

Gunner's Mate First Class Osmond Ingram was killed. When he saw the approaching torpedo, he ran to where the depth charges were and began throwing them overboard. He was killed in the explosion. For his actions, he received a posthumous Medal of Honor. Nine other men received minor wounds, but miraculously, though there were more than 20 men sleeping in compartments that were completely destroyed by the torpedo, no one else was killed. In fact, Fireman First Class F. W. Kruse is reported to have wandered out of his living compartment while completely unconscious after having had 84 in (2,100 mm) of frame blown away immediately adjacent to his bunk.  One other casualty is attributed to the action, in that Dr. Dudley Walton Queen was seized with cerebrospinal meningitis caused by exposure to the elements, and died four days later on 19 October.

Cassin, her rudder blown off and stern extensively damaged, began to circle. This did not prevent her, however, from firing four rounds at the submarine when she spotted its conning tower at 1430. The submarine, thus discouraged from further attack, submerged and was not contacted again. Through the night, Cassin was guarded by the American destroyer Porter and the British sloop HMS Jessamine and HMS Tamarisk, a disguised sloop under Captain Ronald Niel Stuart. In the morning, HMS Snowdrop took Cassin in tow for Queenstown. After repairs there and at Newport, England, Cassin returned to escort duty on 2 July 1918.

Cassin lost her name on 1 November 1933 to a new destroyer, DD-372.

The second Cassin was in drydock with Downes and Pennsylvania at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941. During the attack, a low order detonation by a 250 Kg. bomb on Downes ruptured her fuel tanks, causing uncontrollable fires on board both Downes and Cassin. Cassin slipped from her keel blocks and rested against Downes. Both ships were considered lost, and Cassin was decommissioned as of 7 December 1941. Both ship's hulls were damaged beyond repair but machinery and equipment were salvaged and sent to Mare Island Navy Yard where entirely new ships were built around the salvaged material and given the wrecked ship's names and hull numbers.

The second Cassin (right) resting against Downes ahead of the battleship Pennsylvania in the drydock at Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the attack.

The ship's bell is mounted outside the Harrison County Courthouse, in Cynthiana, Kentucky. An accompanying stone marker recognizes both the first and second USS Cassin and is dedicated to those killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cassin_(DD-43)

Stephen Cassin (16 February 1783 – 29 August 1857) was an officer in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.

Early life and military career

Born in Philadelphia, the son of naval officer John Cassin, Cassin entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in 1800. He was promoted to lieutenant, having distinguished himself in the war with Tripoli during the Second Barbary War on the USS Peacock.  He also served in the West Indies Squadron against piracy.

War of 1812 and Congressional Gold Medal

In the War of 1812, he was promoted to the rank of post-captain and commanded the USS Ticonderoga in the Battle of Lake Champlain and was awarded a gold medal by the United States Congress in commemoration of the victory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Cassin