USAR Combat Divisions, 1962 (Twilight 1964)

[hell-fish]

I'm still tinkering with this project as I find the time. I'm not done with the US Military guide yet, but I jumped the gun and started working on a Soviet and Warsaw Pact guide.





And some more American stuff:

[lordroel]

Love the drawings of the tanks hell-fish , any pictures of 1962 Berlin brigade tanks (French,British and Americans).

[hell-fish]

Originally Posted by lordroel

Love the drawings of the tanks hell-fish , any pictures of 1962 Berlin brigade tanks (French,British and Americans).

I didn't actually make those... I am using them (currently without permission - the plan is to ask for permission once I've completed enough to show off) from http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/

Here's a British Comet from 1960 in the Berlin Brigade.

And a Chieftain.

[Ewan]

Originally Posted by hell-fish

And a Chieftain.

The Chieftain is from the early 80s

[hell-fish]

Originally Posted by Ewan

The Chieftain is from the early 80s

Yeah. Still pretty.

[Ewan]

Originally Posted by lordroel

Love the drawings of the tanks hell-fish , any pictures of 1962 Berlin brigade tanks (French,British and Americans).

British Centurion, American M48 and French AMX13 in Berlin October 1962.

[lordroel]

Originally Posted by Ewan

British Centurion, American M48 and French AMX13 in Berlin October 1962.

French tanks looks tiny compared to the British and French, did they not have anything heavier in West Berlin.

[hell-fish]

Originally Posted by lordroel

French tanks looks tiny compared to the British and French, did they not have anything heavier in West Berlin.

AMX-30 didn't come out till '65. Before then I think they only had M47s and a few oddballs with AMX-50s hanging around. They were busy with Algeria and Africa for a lot of this time period, and didn't have a lot of money.

[lordroel]

Originally Posted by hell-fish

AMX-30 didn't come out till '65. Before then I think they only had M47s and a few oddballs with AMX-50s hanging around. They were busy with Algeria and Africa for a lot of this time period, and didn't have a lot of money.

Do we know where this photo was taken, was it inside West Berlin.

[Ewan]

Originally Posted by lordroel

Do we know where this photo was taken, was it inside West Berlin.

According to The Tank Museum caption it was.

[mcchordsage]

Originally Posted by Ewan

British Centurion, American M48 and French AMX13 in Berlin October 1962.

French Army in West Germany during the border crisis was the 1st Division, 3rd Division, and 13th Mechanized Brigade. The French government had also moved the 7th Light Armored Division and 11th Light Infantry Division to Europe and made them available to SAUCER as reserve units.

Front line units in Germany were pretty badly under strength on armor. According to a US Army report they had 43 AMX-SS-11s (AMX-13 with a rack of four SS-11 AT missiles officially called the AMX-13 T75 (Char Lance SS-11)), 50% of their TO&E, and only 45% of their table APCs (AMX-VTT and -VCI). The 1st Division was heavy armor and had some of the early AMX-30s plus M47s, plus plenty of AMX-13s to go around.

[mcchordsage]

Moved over to Navy materials. If anyone's interested in diesel subs in WWIII, got some good info on the GUPPY and Fleet Snorkel programs, seaplane refueling sub projects, and Naval Reserve Training Subs.

[Matt Wiser]

Would love to see the Navy in this one...especially if the two nuclear-powered surface ships are still going: namely USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) and USS Long Beach (CGN-9) Enterprise's air wing would have flown strikes into Cuba in support of the invasion, for starters.

[mcchordsage]

At least in my timeline, the naval and ground troops of the Cuban invasion force were pretty much whipped out as an effective fighting force. Survivors have straggled back to south Florida but the Enterprise is an unsailable wreck. The Navy enclave at Key West has been using her reactor to power their facility. Independence is damaged but repairable, there's just no facilities to do it. Essex was sunk. Long Beach and Bainbridge are still around. Long Beach spent most of the war in the North Atlantic but is in Norfolk now. Bainbridge transited to the Pacific. They both serve as couriers/HQs for US Naval forces.

Other notes:
Indonesia had begun taking delivery of 12 Whiskey-class submarines in 1962, as well as two Russian sub tenders. Some sources state 1967, but most state that the sub tenders were turned over in the summer of 1962 with the submarines beginning delivery in January. One tender was a slightly older Project 233K and the other a newer Don-class (with some more actual pictures of the latter in service). Contemporary photos (possibly) show as many as eight subs may have been delivered by year end 1962.

The US Navy had assigned various diesel submarines, mostly unmodified Gato and Balao-class boats, to naval installations across the country as training facilities for the Naval Reserve. By the end of the decade most were permanently rendered unable to dive, in 1962 they were almost all ready for conversion to operational boats. Batteries were sometimes removed, or they were locked out of being able to dive. Here's a list I've compiled of stations and subs in 1962:

• USS Batfish (AGSS-310), Naval Station Algiers, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Billfish (SS-286), South Boston Annex, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Bowfin (SS-287), Seattle, WA, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Cabrilla (SS-288), Houston, TX, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Cabezon (SS-334), Tacoma Reserve Center on Hylebos Waterway, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Cero (SS-225), Detroit Naval Armory, unmodified Gato-class
• USS Cobia (SS-245), Milwaukee Naval Reserve Center, unmodified Gato-class
• USS Cod (SS-224), Cleveland, OH, unmodified Gato-class
• USS Dentuda (SS-385), Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Drum (SS-228), Washington Navy Yard, unmodified Gato-class
• USS Guavina (AOSS-362), Fort McHenry, MD, Gato-class modified as a seaplane fuel tanker
• USS Hake (SS-256) Philadelphia Navy Yard, unmodified Gato-class
• USS Lionfish (SS-298), Marine Corps Reserve Pier, Providence, RI, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Loggerhead (SS-374), Portland, OR, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Manta (AGSS-299), Submarine Base New London, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Parche (SS-384), Alameda, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Roncodor (SS-301), Long Beach Naval Station, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Sea Dog (SS-401), Derby Wharf, Salem, MA, unmodified Balao-class
• USS Sealion (APSS-315), Portsmouth Navy Yard, Balao-class modified into UDT/Marine transport
• USS Silversides (SS-236), Chicago Naval Armory, unmodified Salmon-class
• USS Trepang (AGSS-412), Mare Island Navy Yard, unmodified Balao-class

Some of the units assigned to Reserve Submarines:

• Reserve Submarine Division 3-23, Brooklyn Navy Yard
• Reserve Submarine Division 3-55, Brooklyn Navy Yard
• Reserve Submarine Division 4-37, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
• Reserve Submarine Division 4-92, Cleveland, OH
• Reserve Submarine Division 5-7, Fort McHenry, MD
• Reserve Submarine Division 8-94, Dickson Gun Plant, Houston, TX
• Reserve Submarine Division 8-95, Dickson Gun Plant, Houston, TX
• Reserve Submarine Division 9-227, Milwaukee Naval Reserve Center
• Reserve Submarine Division 12-9, Alameda Reserve Training Center

[Ewan]

Originally Posted by hell-fish

I'm still tinkering with this project as I find the time. I'm not done with the US Military guide yet, but I jumped the gun and started working on a Soviet and Warsaw Pact guide.

They look excellent, keep up the good work 😊