#history

The Project 253 was a very successful minesweeper. It and its derivatives saw operational success, relatively low loss rates, and served for nearly 60 years in a military capacity across 8 different navies. While obscure, it nonetheless played its role, even if a small one, in the course of naval military history. Even today, these vessels continue to live on in civilian service.

The Saab 39 Gripen, often called the JAS 39 Gripen, is a highly capable multirole fighter aircraft renowned for its exceptional maneuverability, advanced avionics, and cost-efficient operation. Since its first flight in 1988 and subsequent introduction into service in 1996, Gripen has become the cornerstone of the Swedish Air Force and has since been adopted by several other nations around the world.

The Swedish King Tiger is a unique vehicle in its history and for the Swedish tank tree. It is almost the only heavy tank in the entire tree (KV-1 being the other), and it retains all the strengths of the German tank: strong hull, powerful gun, and good maneuverability. But now its vulnerable turret ring along with overall weak turret protection can be disappointing. Read more about the Kungstiger in this article.

The MS-24, after having been built in 1942, was assigned to the units of the 2nd Squadron, destined to participate in operations in the area of the Sicilian Channel. She was deployed to Sicily on 28 April 1943, leaving Marsala with her twin MS-34, and went to rescue the crew of the torpedo boat RN Climene, torpedoed by an enemy submarine off Marettimo, managing to save 40 sailors.

Launched on June 18, 1942, CRDA at Monfacone, built and commissioned on June 24, 1942, was assigned to the 2°Squadriglia, transferred to bases in the Sicilian Channel in late July 1942, in the same month specifically on the 12th and 13th participated in operations against the British convoy bound for Malta during the Battle of Mid-August, on the night of August 13, 1943,

Japan purchased the Tiger E (Chassis No. 250455) under the advice of General Hiroshi Ōshima, the Japanese ambassador in Berlin. General Ōshima had visited the Eastern Front, where he saw the formidable Tiger tank. In May 1943, Japan made an offer to acquire either the blueprints or an actual model of the tank. The plan was to ship the tank to Japan by submarine, intending to strengthen Japanese tank forces and serve as valuable research material. However, the transfer was never completed due to the increasing dominance of Allied naval forces. As a result, the Tiger I was loaned "back" to the Germans and subsequently used in the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion in Belgium.

As they entered the Cold War, American attack aircraft consisted of lofting propeller aircraft that could carry enormous payloads to strike critical targets or support the troops on the ground. As such, when searching for the successor for the AD Skyraider attack aircraft, one could be surprised to see that such a small aircraft like the A-4 was chosen to continue the legacy. However, its tiny stature proved ideal for the confined aircraft carrier spaces of the US Navy and US Marine Corps and helped perform many strike missions into areas like North Vietnam.

The RN Folaga (C 16) was delivered to the Regia Marina Italiana and commissioned on 16 February 1943, assigned to the Squadriglia Corvette, she underwent intense training at La Spezia in the spring, and after the training was over, she was repositioned at La Maddalena under the 7° Gruppo Anti-Sommergibile (7°Gruppo A.S.). Before the Italian armistice, she carried out 11 convoy escorts, fire actions against enemy aircraft, and 44 searches of enemy aircraft and enemy underwater units in the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea.

The characteristics and capabilities of the TBD-1 Devastator are quite remarkable: like any other American bomber, it is well armed compared to its competitors: it can carry a large number of bombs of different calibers, has a defensive turret with good aiming angles and a large caliber Browning M2 machine gun. All this makes the plane not just an ordinary "bomb hauler", but an almost universal "predator" capable of destroying enemy targets on land, sea and in the air. However, its flight characteristics are not so good. You can read more about the TBD-1 in this article.

The Albatross-class consisted of 10 ships built by Italy to give to some NATO nations using American funds to increase the defence capabilities of these nations under the Mutual Defence Assistance Program, eventually, the albatross class corvettes were built, all equipped at the beginning with two 76mm SMP3 placed both front and rear, a twin 40mm Breda-Bofors tower at the rear in the centre of the ship and a hedgehog launcher to attack submarines, later the various nations would change the existing armament to something else.