Blog - 19FortyFive

USS South Dakota Colorized Photo Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

Seaman First Class Calvin Graham Was 12 Years Old Aboard the 45,233-Ton Battleship USS South Dakota at the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 14-15 November 1942. Japanese Shellfire Killed 40 of Her Crew That Night.

USS South Dakota: Nine 16-inch/45 Mark 6 rifles in three triple turrets, twenty 5-inch/38s, and by 1945 some 76 Bofors 40mm and 67 Oerlikon...

Christian D. OrrSeptember 13, 2026

Battleships and heavy cruisers steam in column off Kamaishi, at the time they bombarded the iron works there, as seen from USS South Dakota (BB-57). USS Indiana (BB-58) is the nearest ship, followed by USS Massachusetts (BB-59). Cruisers Chicago (CA-136) and Quincy (CA-71) bring up the rear. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Aerospace & Defense

The 45,233-Ton US Navy Battleship USS Indiana Carried 9 16-Inch Guns and 143 Anti-Aircraft Barrels, and Earned 9 Battle Stars From Marcus Island to Tokyo Bay. 2 of Her 3 Sister Ships Are Floating Museums Today. Indiana Was Stricken on 1 June 1962 and Broken Up the Following Year.

USS Indiana: Nine 16-inch/45 Mark 6 rifles in three triple turrets, twenty 5-inch/38s, and then the real wartime armament: 76 Bofors 40mm and 67...

Christian D. OrrSeptember 13, 2026

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor assigned to the 525th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Wing, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, takes off at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Aug. 9, 2021. Approximately 800 Airmen and 35 aircraft participated in Pacific Air Forces’ Dynamic Force Employment operation in Guam and Tinian. The operation focused on projecting forces into the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s area of responsibility in support of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, calling on the military to be a more lethal, adaptive and resilient force. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Richard P. Ebensberger)

Aerospace & Defense

A Boeing KC-46 Pegasus Boom Jammed in the Receptacle of an F-22 Raptor 100 Miles Off Virginia on July 8, 2025, Struck the Tanker After the Aircraft Separated, and Broke Off Into the Atlantic. The Air Force Put the Damage at $9,980,000.

On May 12 the Air Force and Boeing announced a readiness plan with an unusual first item: five early-production KC-46s that were not due...

Jack BuckbySeptember 13, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Came Back From Every Mission 3 to 4 Inches Longer Than It Took Off. At Mach 3.2 the Titanium Skin Ran Around 620 Degrees Fahrenheit, So Lockheed Built the Panels Loose on Purpose and the Fuel Tanks Leaked on the Ramp Until Heat Swelled the Joints Shut.

For the SR-71 Blackbird, Corning spent years and millions developing solid quartz windows because ordinary glass would have distorted. The wing skin was deliberately...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 13, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The German WWII Panzer VIII Maus Tannk Was Specified at 100 Tonnes, Redrawn at 120, and Came Out Near 190. Hitler Ordered 5 Before the Design Was Finished and Wanted 10 a Month. Germany Completed 2 Prototypes, and Neither Ever Fought.

The Maus Tank: Frontal hull armor ran 220mm, the sides 190mm — thinned deliberately to save weight. The turret front was 240mm, the gun...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 13, 2026

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Putin’s Next Target May Be NATO Itself

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Why the Witkoff-Kushner Mission Failed: Washington Still Misreads the Stakes in Ukraine

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Germany Is Becoming Ukraine’s Most Important Ally in Europe — and Poland Is Paying the Price

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

NATO’s Answer to the Pentagon’s Europe Review Already Exists: The Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative

Aerospace & Defense

Aerospace & Defense

The Navy Built Only 1 Submarine With 2 Nuclear Reactors. USS Triton Circled the Globe Underwater in 1960 and Was Decommissioned After Less Than a Decade, Then Scrapped

Aerospace & Defense

1 North Korean Gun Hit 55,000-Ton Navy Iowa-Class Battleship USS Wisconsin in 1952. She Answered With All Nine 16-Inch Guns, and the Ships Beside Her Signaled 2 Words: ‘Temper, Temper’

Aerospace & Defense

Soviet Nuclear Submarine K-278 Komsomolets Had an Escape Capsule That Separated as She Sank. Only 1 Man Inside Survived the Ascent, and 42 Sailors Died in the Norwegian Sea in 1989

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine Handed Russia 8 Tu-160 White Swan Bombers in a 1999 Deal Over Energy Debts. Each Can Carry 12 Long-Range Cruise Missiles, the Kind of Weapon Now Driving Russia’s Air War on Ukraine

Trillions

Trillions - 19FortyFive

‘Effectively Closed’: The Strait of Hormuz Oil and Gas Crisis Is Going from Bad to Even Worse

Trillions - 19FortyFive

21 Years Ago, Apple Founder Steve Jobs Advice on Time and ‘Living Someone Else’s Life’ Is the Truth Serum That Still Shapes Our World

Trillions - 19FortyFive

“Money Never Made a Man Happy Yet, Nor Will It. The More a Man Has, the More He Wants.” Benjamin Franklin Was the 8th of 17 Children, Got 2 Years of Schooling Because His Family Could Not Afford More, and His Face Is on the $100 Bill.

Trillions - 19FortyFive

Iran’s Economy Is Buckling. That Is Not the Same as Iran Being Ready to Sign a Deal

The Embassy

The Embassy

Saudi Arabia’s Worst-Case Iran Scenario Hasn’t Even Begun

The Embassy

The Case for Economic Pressure Over Nuclear Diplomacy With Iran

The Embassy

9/11’s Forgotten Lesson

The Embassy

Russia and NATO’s Gray Zone Actions Could Spark a War No One Wants

Hermit Kingdom

Hermit Kingdom

The Case for Another Donald Trump-North Korea Summit

Hermit Kingdom

Donald Trump Needs to Bring Concessions if He Wants a Deal with North Korea

Hermit Kingdom

What the Iran War Proved About America’s Nuclear Weapons Threat to North Korea

Hermit Kingdom

The North Korea Deal Donald Trump Should Actually Want

Aerospace & Defense

Seaman First Class Calvin Graham Was 12 Years Old Aboard the 45,233-Ton Battleship USS South Dakota at the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 14-15 November 1942. Japanese Shellfire Killed 40 of Her Crew That Night.

Aerospace & Defense

The 45,233-Ton US Navy Battleship USS Indiana Carried 9 16-Inch Guns and 143 Anti-Aircraft Barrels, and Earned 9 Battle Stars From Marcus Island to Tokyo Bay. 2 of Her 3 Sister Ships Are Floating Museums Today. Indiana Was Stricken on 1 June 1962 and Broken Up the Following Year.

Aerospace & Defense

A Boeing KC-46 Pegasus Boom Jammed in the Receptacle of an F-22 Raptor 100 Miles Off Virginia on July 8, 2025, Struck the Tanker After the Aircraft Separated, and Broke Off Into the Atlantic. The Air Force Put the Damage at $9,980,000.

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Came Back From Every Mission 3 to 4 Inches Longer Than It Took Off. At Mach 3.2 the Titanium Skin Ran Around 620 Degrees Fahrenheit, So Lockheed Built the Panels Loose on Purpose and the Fuel Tanks Leaked on the Ramp Until Heat Swelled the Joints Shut.

Aerospace & Defense

The German WWII Panzer VIII Maus Tannk Was Specified at 100 Tonnes, Redrawn at 120, and Came Out Near 190. Hitler Ordered 5 Before the Design Was Finished and Wanted 10 a Month. Germany Completed 2 Prototypes, and Neither Ever Fought.

Trending

Aerospace & Defense

‘She Broke Free’: The CIA Used a Cover Story to Recover a Chunk of a Russian Ballistic Submarine Armed with Nuclear Warheads But Part of the Sub Slid Back Below the Waves

Aerospace & Defense

82 Years Later, General George Patton’s Best US Army Line Is Still the Greatest Military Quote in Armed Forces History

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force SR-71 Blackbird Burned Through 8,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel On the Way to Hitting Mach 3 and over 80,000 Feet of Altitude

Aerospace & Defense

23 Years Later, General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis and His Line on the Marines Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s New ‘Diesel’ Lada-Class Submarine Summed Up in 4 Words