Friday, October 28, 2016

USS Texas. The only surviving dreadnought in the world.

USS Texas. The only surviving dreadnought in the world. San Jacinto Battlefield State Park, Texas.

Keeping with our theme of the 1910s, we're reposting our Holscher's Hub post of photographs of the USS Texas, which was commissioned in 1914 and went right to a mission of the coast of Mexico at the time.

These are photographs of the USS Texas. The date stamp, fwiw, is in error. These were taken in  October, 2016.

The  Texas is the last Dreadnought on earth.  One pre dreadnought battleship exists, a Japanese example, and several post dreadnought battleships. But these ships, which formed the backbone of every major fleet in the world in the early 20th Century, are down to this example.  She was launched in 1912 and commissioned on 1914. A major ship in her day, while she served all the way through World War Two, and provided support to amphibious landings in Europe and the Pacific, she was
already somewhat antiquated at the time of her commissioning.  Super dreadnoughts, like the Arizona, were already being launched prior to her commissioning.  Still, she was a ship of many firsts, including being the first US ship to mount anti aircraft guns.
 












































 San Jacinto Monument as viewed from the USS Texas.








































































Thursday, October 27, 2016

Battle of Segale

The Battle of Segale took place in Ethiopia on this day in 1916.  Negus Mikael of Wollo marched on Addis Ababa in support of his son, the Emperor Designate Iyasu V.  His forces were defeated by  Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis which secured the throne for Empress Zewditu.

 Empress Zewditu of Ethiopia, Empress from 1916 to 1930.  The defeated Iyasu V outlived her but never returned to power.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

A Mid Week At Work Blog Mirror: Kit Up; Trails Found: Training SOF to Operate on Horseback

Trails Found: Training SOF to Operate on Horseback.

Standards of Dress: The high school graduation

 High school students, Pennsylvania, 1942.

I originally started this thread at the time of my son's high school graduation.  Like a lot of threads around here that get sort of started, it marinated a long time and I'm only know just getting back around to it.

Indeed, as an aside, I'll note that some marinate so long they spoil, and are discarded.  I usually have about 100 draft posts, some up to two years old, that are lingering around.  I shouldn't do that, as the older they get, the less likely it is that they'll ever be finished.

Anyhow, what I started to note here is that during the recent high school graduation I was surprised by how dressed down the crowed was, and I don't mean the students.  They were generally better dressed than many of the adults.  There are truly no standard in dress anymore.

Outdoor graduation, 1941.

Even as late as the 1960s a crowd of adults here turned out for a high school graduation would have been well dressed. . . nice dressed for the women, and suits and ties for the men.  Not any longer. T-shirts adorned a lot of the adults.

I'm not much better, I'll note. I think I wore a polo shirt in the school colors.

This probably isn't good, in all sorts of ways. For one thing, it  pre loads an assumption in the minds of the young.  Things here aren't the same as they are everywhere.  Indeed, I was recently in Houston in a business hotel and the men lining up for the early breakfast each day were definitely dressed.  Maybe our standards locally have declined more than they have elsewhere, which means when our kids end up in that environment, which seems to be the direction society is engineered to send them, there will be a bit of a learning curve.

Crowd of parents and well wishers at a segregated high school, Georgia, 1941.

Out of curiosity, if you've been to an event like this recently, how were people dressed?