On Waiting

Had an interview - for my school and my position - last week. Was told i'd be told by today. Not Yet.

And the waiting now sucks. I'd had the interview on a Wednesday, and was told the folowing friday - yesterday - the news would be out. So, since the 'deadline' has passed, I amnow worried. I knew i wouldn't be 'gifted' the job, but I figured I'd have a good shot. I suppose i shouldn't be oo worried - maybe Monday word released - but this job is kinda a bit more imortant to me than any other job - so I sit and stew. I will also amidt that Ire ally haven't been pursuing other jobs in the system or subarbs. I know I should have been folowwing it up - but, eggs in one basket sorta thing.

There are 6 total candidates - me being one - and I caught site of one of them when I was preparing for my interview. Seemed I was a better candidate - but maybe not as I only saw a bit of him.. And then there are the other four up for the job.

The interview was tepid. It was w/ the principal and the other librarian. I raced to finish a little portfolio of my work - not relly a standalone portflio, but one that accentuated my 'selling of myself' to the principal. Despite the amount of preperation and work going into the interview - it lasted maybe 12m and wasn't really a comprehnsive go-over. I didn't get a chance to show my portfolio except for one part. i wasn't able to talk about being a total member of the library staff for the last three years. I wasn't able to talk about the soccer program (I'm head coach of the girls program - this is a good good thing). I was only briefy able to go over my love of the school 'just a little bit'.

What was went over?

The question of Questions, which i really do not have a satidfactory answer:

Principal: "So, Hilts, I see you left this school and you left this school when you were a classroom teacher- why?"

I confessed " Well, Mr. Principal .... I was a lot younger and did a lot of growing since then. My gifts - which are considerable - were not best highlighted as a classroom teacher. I hav been a librarian here for the past three years - and there has been all good positivs in thse last three years. "

And it's true. Im ideal for the job. Talking to Vito after the interview, we went over my recent resume. Vito is an administrator who - guess what - hires people for academic posts. His deal was that in the last seven yars I have had a good work record - mainly - and my checked past hopefully will not sink me.

Yet i wait - and the last two days I have specfically waited for the post to arrive and see f thre is a letter from my school - a slim, slender, or sleek envelope inwhich a rejection letter is addressed to me.

Here's hoping I get a call and not letter. But its time now ....

My New Obsession

Usually its the Letterman or SNL or Grey Whistle Test or whatever that blows the mind whith the kickass live version of song fuckin' brilliant song that one just cana get too used to - and here he delivers on letterman. But the second version? the unplugged one en el medio es bonito- the harmonies.....

　
　

The Loss

The Loss

in todays dcs

Stalingrad

In the midst of all the Jutland stuff , my other revelation of interest when I was 18 - the Russian Front - just added a battle star to my tunic. Finally - i've been wanting since I was 18 - I fin shed The Road to Stalingrad last nite. Finally. It's pretty god - but reminded me of reading books on English soil conditions in the 16th century sometime a grad school away. DENSE SHIT. But also - accomplished. Unfortunately, i'm still stuck in the world of some of my great accomplishments being finishing this book or another.

Went out to eat w/ GF last nite. Pretty good. Miss her since we rarely see each other these days - I stop by her library 2-3x a week, we lunch on Thursday afternoons, and ....... So, it was good to see her. She had to work on Saturday morning, so I decided to protect myself from Mitty- yeah, that fucking bad I've become lately - by finishing the last 20p and drinking up a bit. Did keep me out of trouble - a near runthing these days.

I was @ Lanigans - and it was loud, crowded, drunk, beautiful, and young. Lanigans can be a fucking ghost town some nites - but bot this nite Fun - but whatw as really fun was reading about the last little bits on the Stalingard operation. We all know how it turned out - despite our American D Day, Pearl Harbour, Iwo Jima - the Englanders tobruk and the Battle of Britian - there really was no battle like Stalingrad. Two events - the destruction of 6th Army @ Stalingrad and the burning of Hamburg - both in 1943 - were the events where the Germans were like "OH - SHIT - OH - SHIT!!!" Not only did it cost the Germans a quarter of a million men, it also was the fist major battle where the Germans were just throttled.

And Erikson knows it. This book was written from the Russian view. Erickson was a specialist in eastern languages and his major works comes out of his knowledge of the works not usually rad by western readers- and his extensive interviews w/ those involved. For years (I know, imrepeating fom lastweek) all we got was the Western perspective of the war -allw ritten during the Cold War and really hating the russians. So, we got decades of written shit where Western writers LOVED th fucking Nazis - because the Germans were now our allies and the Russians were supposed to be our enemies. So - the Germans were great, they almost won the war - and the Russians were sheep who only won because they would let their massed troops get gunned down in every battle in pursuit of victory. And pay no mind to the fact that NINE OUT OF EVERY TEN Nazis were killed by the Russians.

So - the importance of Stalingard - Erickson treats it so highly that the planning and carryingout of the offensive takes up a lot of space and importance in the bok. Fact is, oly the first half of th battle is even INTHIS BOOK. SInce this book is titled The Road to Stalingrad, it stops the moment the Russian pincers close around the kessel. The next book - which I immed. picked up when I finished the 1st volume - walked out of Lanigans w/ my newpour on my desk ...er, table- threw the just cmpleted volume ontot he front seat and picked up the new volume. Have only read the frst few pages, but it's good.

And that thrilling rush to finish the book. It took a long time to finally get the hang of reading it - so dense - but again the end was a race. It was all concerned about that operation and the planning of it and the readying of it and all that ... pages after pages - and when it all comes down - meaning when the artillery finally fires on the preadvance bombardment - Exciting.

Funny too - @ NIU, when my assignments were to read book after book and have meetings w/ teachers to discuss "what's it all about??", I developed the habit of penning in notes, underlines, numbers etc etc etc- anything to annotate the important stuff. I generally just underline these days, and all the way through Road to Stalingrad there are penned in underlines. However, when the artillery finally went off, i wrote in "finally" next to that section.

Here, however, is my favourite section of the book. It is the exact moment of genesis of the whole idea of a Stalingrad counteroffensive. The backdrop is that the Germans, in the second year of the German Russian war, had a giant offensive in the South. The Germans entered the city of Stalingrad and for several months the city was a most horrendous scene of destruction. This was the period of the war when the Germans could still mass troops, so both sides kept throwing troops into the city. @ the beginning, it just looked bad for the Russians - the Germans had pushed and separated the Russians defending the city - and the Russians were desperate for some solution. So - the big guys meet:

What, then, does the Stalingrad Front need to break through the German 'corridor' and link up with the South- Eastern Front, Stalin asked. Zhukov replied: at least one fully reinforced field army, a tank corps, three tank brigades, and no less than 400 howitzers, plus nothing short of one fully concentrated air army. Vasilevskii agreed with this estimate. Stalin at this point picked up his own map with the location of the Stavaka reserves displayed on it and studied it at lenght. Moving away from the table, Zhukov and Vasilevskii talked quietly between themselves in a corner, saying in effect that another solution would have to be found. Raising his head suddenly, Stalin asked: 'and what does "another" solution mean?' General Zhukov was apparently taken aback tat Stalin had such sharp ears. Stalin continued : 'Go over to the General Staff and think over very carefully indeed what must be done in the Stalingrad area. Think about which troops and which areas they can be drawn from to reinforce the Stalingrad group, but at the same time don't forget the Caucasus Front. We will meet here at 9 o'clock tomorrow evening.' (p. 389 of John Ericksons The Road to Stalingrad.)

Finally, a fight. One of the teachers @ my school. He's a good friend, but he's also The Know it ALL. BCD laughes about one of his buddies - nice guy, too - but his sthicht is all conversations hav to be about Bob Dylan or Ikera Kurasawa and his films. If these two topics are not being discussed - he'll make sure the conversation will make its way around to it. So, my teacher buddy - hes got a similar deal. It's really hard to have any sorta conversation bcause he instantly changes it to something else - and then start to say "See, yr wrong!! Yr wrong" and every time, its NOTHING from what I said. I mean every time, I find myself not being able to carry on w/ a second sentance because he has to change the subjet and ..........

So, lunchenette @ Gilmart, when Iwas trying to talk about this book, of course I couldn't get the second sentance out per usual, and I just told him my deal:

"

Let me speak on my subject - you can get the next minute, but please give me one minute. Shit - you can have the NEXT FIVE MINUTES - just please let me have one uninterrupted minute. And Barbarossa( the book he was presently reading?) Yes, a good book - it was the first book I ever rad on the subjectand started me on this road - but its FIFTYS OLD NOW, AND SHOULDN'T YOU READ SOMETHING WRITTEN IN THE LAST HALF CENTURY - especially since to me all of that during the Cold War written stuff is kinda tainted against the Russians?"

I felt bad. But at least I was able to get my opinion out for once.

people -all - over - the - world

Will be in the Far west subarbs in the AM - boy finally gotta get is haircut for an interview tuesday @ the one and only job (besides anything to do w/ the White Sox, Black Hawks etc...)I really want on Tuesday. So yes, the day I have been waiting for for many years - a job that Im really good @ and that makes me rock, is close. Very close. And I have no idea if I'll get it.

And mind you, for the last three years i have actually been working as a Librarian @the school already for three years. Im well liked by the staff and students and known full well they profit from my presence. I run the girls soccer program and will be w/ the boys in the fall - if all goes right.

BUT - who knows. There is one person who holds my fate - the principal. I will amidt to eddiecurrying favour - trying to- w/ him by being 'seen'. Damn sure he saw me @ Prom, and damn sure he heard me say that "This year a lot more teachers showed up than the last three". But I really hope that the effort and results froom me these past few years will pay off. I have worked hard for the kids - and I guess me as well.

So - a trip west to Aldo's (SOME people actually go by their real name here) to get it chopped - I'll look like im sixteen again. Except being productive, like all my frenz.

The Nite brings a battle tip to the way south subarbs - Joliet. St. Rita in the State championship game. They been in state a lot these past four years - but this is there first final appearance. Rain will abate, I know. Long drive, but not too bad. Probably will take Mayo - nice to get him out of his lonesome existnce. Will bring him to Pignick in Julliet as well - be ready y'all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsOL_nYTmA4

Ah, the Catholic League. Rita is one of those schools where people have a lotta Love for. A girl once told me that her husband went to Rita, but he wasn't one of those guys whose whole existance revolves around that he went to Rita. I'm not that bad - after all there is college, and I DO HAVE A DEGREE FROM NORTHEASTERN ILLIONOIS UNIVERSITY, Y'AL!! But I do love the school. Shit, many years later, and i'm still going to the games.

Anyway, here's the song of the day. Blame PhillyDug-Out for getting me in this mood - he was posting tonnes of disco shit and it clicked me on. So - for Phillydug-out - it's timeto get down.

Warspite.1

Tired of the Jutland stuff, I know. Yesterday ordered Rules of the Game from Borders online - took a long time to order it because I was searching out libraries and etc to find it - but since I asked my sisters not to give me cash but to give me Borders cards so that - when I need a book and my natural cheapness prevents me from buying it - these ease the pain.

Oh - and here is Warspite. Warspite's helm jammed @ Jutland, and did two complete lazy circles betwixt the two battle lines. Shell magnet. After the battle, the oral history of the guys below decks when they came upon deck they were thunderstruck @ the damage done. Warspite had the heaviset armour aroubnd its vitals - but non vital parts had lessor armour. This resulted in the ship - the engaged throughout the battle - have it's lessor armoured parts deeply damage - some parts were just blow overboard. Yet as a fighting ship, it almost lasted the whole show. No, not sink - just there came a time when its speed was so reduced that it had to limp out of there because it couldn't keep up w/ the rest of the fleet.

Above are nice drawings of Warspite - one is colour coded to show the damage, the other is closeups of the damage. Just imagine the german shells hitting and damaguing and whining off the armour and ...... ok, that's my job.

Final Four

Haven't been to a Rita baseball game ... well, since I haunt high school campuses i've seen them play by chance a few times. But dose boys are in the Final Four in baseball, and maybe just maybe I should take that ride to joliet and watch the game. Funny - baseball amongst all the spring sports tends to finish last - Im sure a few of the senior Mustangs have greaduated a few weeks ago - just like my nephew was representing his school after he had graduated.

So, odds are I'm going. Gf won't go - since her complete embargo of all Fire, USA, White Sox, Cubs, BlackHawks, Bulls, high school sports, Trivia, or anything to do with either me or my frenz- I know she won't be there.

It'll be like the late 1990's again - me, @ a baseballl game, by myself. Hmm - 1999? Hopefully the Rita kids can play.

Why?

The Times They are a-catching up

I checked - it'd been a full decade plus since I'd read a last Jutland book - but, after my several of posts on the battle - the discovery of a new book that seems what I need to read - and referring to an unread book that' I'd had for several years - well, it was a good weekend, Jutlandbookwise.

It was this review - unearthed while trolling for images of German battlecruisers - that really boiled me to bother about - yes, yet another tome on the fucking subject. Seems the last decade has actually unearthed @ least four works of varying degrees of importance on the subject. I've three under my belt. And then there is that fourth - The Rules of the Game.

I've written on this last week, but I really ran dry the Jutland material in the mid 1980's. It's when I discovered it in my life, and even though that rigorous scouring of all available and non available sources that I wa staught in Grad school wasn't in my house @ the time - but I was so rabid on the subject I bled the undergrad world dry of Jutland material back then.

So - the world moves on, fleet actions slip under thousand plane raids in my personal importance, and a decade has passed. But I was academic enough to realise that from 86-96 or so several things of importance came out. In 1986 - why didn't I read it then? - was when John Campbell's Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting came out. This was the book that is basically a dry recitation of the battle damage inflicted during the battle. There are mini chapters -2 to 3 pages - which narrate the battle - and then 30 pages detailing the shells and the damage done. From this book I delelo[ed a fascination with the reflective abillities of heavy armour - and also discovered that this book is a fucking drag and a chore to read. Seriously - "this shell richocheted off of this deck and then hit ... " Oi. However, it had to be read.

V. E. Tarrant's Jutland: The German Perspective: A New View of the Great Battle. 31 May 1916 was released in 1995 - I got it in that bookstore near the Alimedia Theatre in Oakland - one Cali weekd I saw the book there, and then returning to the Bay Area a few months later (I was always like that - rememebr Vito and Rocky??) I returned and bought it. This book was important because it allowed non German readers to read a lot of revelent shit that hadn't been translated yet. or ever. And guess what- boring as hell. I used to have a bias against German translated into English. But then again, when I developed that idea, it was when I was in my Marx period. W/ Marx, it was so dense - and I just HAD to understand - so I would read and reread and re reread shitloads of MArx - and then read companion books to explain it all to me so I could understand. Again - I had to read it (and it's of course really kool these days to be able to engage in discussions of Paris Manuscpipts 1844, On the Jewish Question, An Introduction to the Critique of Political Phiolsophy, etc etc etc and to actually be able to discuss them - well, if the texts are in front of me ... except for On the Jewish Question - a great title). But THIS BOOK - shite, it was a drag to read - like Marx. Again, the thickness of German was blamed - like Marx - but these days I dunno. I barely remember the book.

And it's funny. This lastw eek I got both dowen fromthe shelves - and they both looked greedily readable. Like Iw ant to marry each book. But I know I domnot want to marry either of those books. There's someone new.

And it's Andrew Gordon's The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command from 1996. From the reviews, it's important and will teach me new things- or will al least slice my attention to things I've never pondered before (IS my hope). It's supposed tobe reading candy - canna put it doen once you sortie w/ it. And, it's something I'm pursuing- no chicago public Library has it, cheap online bookstore diddna have it - but I am getting it.

So cheap am I that it's hard to buy new things. So cheap. Esppecially since as I age and become less of a collector - I relaise that I do not have to own every book i read (Something about a library @ my house and ... I dunno). But to combat this cheapness, i told my sisters to give me Borders cards for xmas-bday whatever. I have $40 worth, and finally I am going to use them. I have to order it online, and it'll take 4-8 weeks to get off backorder - but order it I am. About $25 paperback w/ shipping included after a 25% discount online coupon is used. So I'm getting it.

So, 1986, 1995, and 1996. Oh, last book - the candy i read over the weekend - Is Jutland: Death in the Grey Wastes (2003). I'd gotten this book cheap a few years ago 2d lhand - and Immedialtely shelved it. When I started to write on Jutland last week, I got it down to look, feel, smell, touch it - and before long, iwas devouring it. The weekend. Compulsive. Ittaught me new things. It fired me for more reading on Jutland. And - it's a simple oral history. No chapters on why Jellicoe was right, or Beatty was right, or whatever - just the sailors (And,f rom time to time, Jellicoe and Scheer etc) telling their story. The book is outstanding.

So - a fire again on warships from world war one. Whn I should be concentrating on all the news tuff on Russia.

well, where ever the wind .... and now, the wiond blows over the North Sea. And no - I do not know anyhting obout Distant Victory, the 2006 book on jutland ... yet.

Saw "Apocalypto" last nite. HAd to worry - sick Mother has low rate of 'violence allowance' and was cursing me and my future spawn because of the movie - but not only was it good, it wasn't actually that violent. Sure, a heart ripped out or what- but not too bad.

Good to go see.

Titanic

Only today did it all fall apart. Finals were last week, and only the really geeky kids are coming in this week - and come they did until earlier today, when the year finally broke. Suddenly, kids could walk the halls. Teachers said "yeah whatever' to kids who said "Can I stay in that class this period since no one is here?". In years past, @ schools described as ghetto, the halls would be clear a week ago. This school is really nice, so kids came - of course, until today.

But again, today was the day - finally - that, in the "Titanic"* sense, things fell apart. So today has been an endless progression of walking through empty halls, having 2-3 kids in each class - shoot, it's 9th, and I want to take a walk to see the desolation....

The song that is going through my head is that old The Sound Of Philadelphia song "It's time to get down."

The good/bad news this summer is that I will NOT be a summer school teacher teaching english - although I willbe working. I'm gonna get maybe 12h/wk having fun - a summer intro program for new freshmen. There will be four soccer coaches on staff, so a real big deal for us is to try and get the good kids before anyone else does. Ergo, four of us out of maybe 15 teachers in the summer program. I will amidt that although I wanted to do the english thing this summer ....

pero tambien.

Used to be when Iw as a regular old classroom teacher i'd put up a sign on the door and tell the one kid whow as gonna show up to go to whatever room I was hanging out w/ my teacher frenz @.

**********************************************************

*=In the movie - a fave of mine yes - one of the two bad guys, when the ship is sinking, tells the other that 'things are beginning to fall apart' on the ship and they better be prepared to leave. Stuck w/ me.

Fleet Action is Imminant

the Time nor the Place

End of the year, Friday and not a kid nor a teacher in the place - well - and me rocking tunes out. "Browneyed Handsome Man" by Chuck Berry comes on, and me walking does a bit of air guitar on at the riff and suddenly realise - shit, I'm air-guitarring Keith!! -

Our influences, noticed by others ...

Kennel District

Somesongs

just remind you of a broken heart,

way back then,

yet they're such good songs.

Then there is

"When u were mine"

by Prince.

This song just reminds me of dansing.

Context, the dang king, huh?

Finally in the gunnery service! / Glory be to the University

Ive lived a long life so far. When I was young, did I ever think I'd kiss a girl - or have, you know, several different Loves through the different layers Ive lived? See the Sox win the World Series? Be not a PhD but instead an MS /MA and teaching in a high school instead of having grad seminars on .... farming in 17th century England? Or - ready - smell and look like Dad (Ugg those nose and ear hairs I have)?

Nah.

And if someone ever told me I'd become obsessed - if only for 6m or so - with the strategic bombing offensives of World War One (I mean really - those rickety giant biplane bombers or Zeppelins?- gahh!!) I woulda ... well, I disbelieve y.

What I grew up with naval history style was the Pacific War in WW2 - and that's about all. Midway, Coral Sea, The various naval battles off of Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, Wake Island, the Philippines ... less known were the Battle of Java Sea or the Sinking of Force Z and etc -

And never would I have believed that the naval war from 1914-1918 would become one of my major touchstones in my life. Really. You should see my FB posts - almost all revolve around my imaginary naval side, where Hilts still serves on ships shelling coastal towns - or on the ships that chased these raiders.

But that freshman year of university I discovered heaven - the University Library. The branches around where I grew up - the smallish one on 61st and Kedzie, and the two storefront ones on 55th and Mozart and 63d and Pulaski only had so many books - and there was no such thing as 'inter library loan' back then for em. In HS i would take trips downtown to one of the bigger libraries - but @ that time the books were bweing switched and held for the upcoming Harold Washington main library in the Loop.

So when me little freshie first wandered all aloft over these unending vats of wonderbooks in the Loyola collection - I was thundersmashed. College, man - opens up to everything - or at least opens us up for the possibility of whatever thing it is. For me? Women, of course. Scholarship. New frenz. A regular hanger out on the North side. Women. Music. Philosophy. Women. Women. and etc...

And the Loyola Lib opened up me to all sorts of different warfare for the first time ever - and, like the spheres above, I took it all in and and just ran as if I was Walter Payton - stiff arm, jump over the line, pull up for a touchdown pass, etc etc etc...

The two main interests of that first freshman year - just that year, not what followed - were the Russian Front and the Naval War 1914-1918. Now's not the time for Russia - though I'm waiting to finsih Erickson still. But the months of massive farming of the stacks, extracting interesting new worlds for me to live in. The slite book - not very interesting in itself, but it was the trigger - that kicked it off was Hough's Dreadnought: a History of the Modern Battleship. Less than 200p candy, I became obsessed. Knowledge begat hunger for more, and I went to the top rite away - Arthur J. Marders 3000p in five volumes history of the Royal Navy from 1906 to 1919. It took forevr to read - young me ate books belligerently back then -but 3000p when I was reading 65 other books @ the smae time was ok.

Expansion. it all went from there. Books on Dogger Bank. Books on battlecruiser design. Books on British naval actions in the Pacific. From zero to 1916 in so many seconds. This is an occurrence that happens to us all - no nod and wink to the reader from Hilts on just how kool Hilts is because HE likes battlecruisers and you do not - but then it became the obsession. Everything became naval. Bruces song "Glory Days"? The refrain became the much more kooler "Jel- li - Coe", a nod to the Admiral of the Grand Fleet John Jellicoe. We went Joh Denver as well - "Star shells/ on my port bow/ makes me happy/ star shells/ on my port bow/ always made me sad."

And the Lansing Five. One of our major areanas of devience for years was in roofing roofs laden with bursting bulges of water ballolons ready to lay a pattern on whoever was our target that nite. For example, the bestus of all targets was when our St. Rita HS had danses - because the kids, wanting to extend the nite after the danse had ended, presented them selves to us - waiting and waiting and waiting, hidden up 70 feet on the roof of the buildings they had to walk by - in long straggling groups, each group seperated by a block or two. What we would do - of course - was hammer them with a double salvo of ballons exactly when they were in our sites.

But the thing was was that all our terms were naval terms from WW1. Boys were classified "Dreadnaughts". Girls were labeled "Battlecruisers". The term salvo also is naval culled. We'd have a ballon in each hand - rite when the kids would cross the killing zone, we'd salvo one ballon from each of us in a very high arc, and then instantly switch the other ballon iinto our throwing hand and toss in faster and in a lower arc. The idea was that all 8 or 10 or 12 ballons would fall @ once - and , of course, what we wanted was a "straddle" .

What's a straddle? here, from someone who wrote about it lovingly wheneverwaybackwhat?:

Gunnery:
There is the age old naval gunnery practice of "over/under". Thinking of warfare especially in the Dreadnought era - lets say, 1900 -1945 (before effective gunnery radar, that is), ships in a surface action would have to hit a moving target from several miles away. This wasn't just a moving target; it was a cutting, speeding, turning, maneuvering target -albeit one that can take a bit to turn, but moving none the less. And the ship that is trying to hit it - itself is wildely speeding and maneuvering to avoid being hit from the other side.

The firing system back then consisted of zeroing in on the other ship bit by bit until they 'found the range'. This meant that guys w/ super Zeiss binoculars and 20/20 vision, way up in the crows nest @ the beginning of the battle, wouls find the approximate range of the target. They would compute the range and speed of the target with atmospheric conditions and the movement of ewinf\d and their own ship and 50 million other variables into a primitive computer (In ww2- not sure in ww1). The computer spat out a target area, and then half of the ships main battery would fire.

Wait 40-60 seconds. Then observe the shell splashes. Almost always - wait, always - there were corrections to be made. If the shells fell short, the binocaulared men would be able to spot that and ask for -say =400 yards more ranger. If long, take off 400 yards. Fire again and wait.

Then, finally, something called a straddle was achieved - range was found and the target was either hit or water columns from the exploding shells would rise up to either side of the target. The range had been found. It was now that the firing ship "Opened fire/ fire @ will" until range was lost. then; repeat.

So, in reality we would just wait for the kids to cross in front of us - we really didn't need to 'find the range' - but the idea of hitting them with a double salvo borrows itself enough from Jutland to justify ... well, I'll write about what I want.

Jutland was one of the deep expressions of study I pursued in university. But Jutland went only so far. Readings on Coronel and Falklands. Then studying th epredreadnaught era - Marder wrote two kick ass books on that period. Then tracing the Dreadnaughts into World War 2 and beyond. I'm actually a pacifist - though my interests are most weaponly - but always interested is I in the last few dreadnaughts in commision - in our time, even - the WW2 Iowa class battleships that fought in Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, and Iraq.

And then the great change. Jutland eventually had to share me with warfare of the NApoloenic era - Admiral Fischer's (the great proponent of dreadnaughts over predreadnaughts) career had to be digested, and HIS OBSESSIOON with Hortaio Nelson begat mine. From musing on Jellicoe's great decision on deploying to either port or starboard deleved into the understanding of the vast differences 100 years wrought in naval warfare - think of the immense amount of time betwixt the convergence of the English fleet witht he French and Spanish @ Trafalgar juxtaposed w/ the mad dash of the English and German fleets @ Jutland. You know, Collinwood on the deck munching on an apple with the enemy spread out before them.

Again, bit deal. We all go through phases. The was the role of infantry in 2002. Linear warfare (think American Revolution and Civil War and Napoleon) in the years folowwing 1994. Strategic bombing when - 1999?? All cycles. And Jutland would rise again. There was Campbells An analysis of the fighting at Jutland or somehting like that, which was a book dedicated to catalouging each and every hit on a British ship - so, the book consists of deeply boring item after item such as

"...the shell hit admidships 27 yeards to the stern of the fourth 5 inch secondary gun onnthe post side. It penetrated the armour to the depth of 7 inches before the shell richocted into a holding box filled with rags. This caught fire @ 1517h, to which the firefighters took 20m to put out..." Rreally, shit like that.(this was totally madeup, but it's a taste).

However, Jutland lives with me still. When I accidently discoved that instead of signing into DCS blog to leave a comment I'd actually invented Securityout!, the first post ever for Hilts that came to mind was ... those shells richocheting off inches of armour.

glory be

Oh, and glory be to the internet. MY mind boggles @ all of these fotos that I NEVER KNEW existed of Jutland. Invincible exploding? Very famous shot. Queen Mary exploding? Again. But the current coverstar of Securityout!? I know it's murder, but could there be a more geougous nap that this ever? Fuck Processed, Baywatch, and Liz Bustamente*. This is the good shit.

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*=in truth, I have a lot of Love and deep Thanksgiving for all three of them.

hey there fuck face

So, um Facebook.

Pretty fun, so far. It's been a bit, but i do like Lotsa aspects about it. Finding out all those lucious 7th and 6th graders from way back when - when they grow - are all sluts!! Sluts - isn't this great?? I shoulda known - well, you know, I'm an adult, so ... And, there is the exampple of BCD and the HOT way back Grabbag - maybe the greatest story of BCD career (who am I kidding - whatabout those two who pulled u next to his merceds coupe on 66th and maplewood 3-4 years ago - or the back seat of the car when he was visiting LFP @ univrsity?) which was when he was ... reintroduced to Grabbag in a planning mission for our 8th grade reunion and she came out with th swinging stories of her and he exhusband in Cali - the best part of it was that BCD told me he wished she would have talked about the swingdays because what was going on just wasn't enough.... .And, obviously, Jesus smiles on this. Well, my Jesus does. And more. Billy Boy - my first good cracker from undergrad - he's there. A PRE LANSING FIVE roofing partner - Dwayne Monster - cracker's there.

But it's alos given me a base to be obnoxious to many people who would't read the securityout! So, I find myself reposting kool videos - parceled out not to overwhelm - and, taking a page again from BCD, telling a certain crowd that are planning a reunion in October that I can "deliver" certain people to the reunoin.

And there are so many other shiny pretty things on it...... very shiny things.....

On FB I'm safe. I've always coded shit on Securityout! because I wanted to run for office and become the modern day Christ and deliver America and the World for the people by becoming the first Green president (still lik'n Obama, all you people??). Stupid, d'accord. They'd never let me. But FB i'm kinda chill, just enjoying it.

And here- Dead Boys are all are serios about an October reunion in Chicago. There are five other Sisters out there besides me - the cali and Kent. ons will be out, but the other three- Crankface, Rocky, and Jackson - I will be on.

Wouldn't it be fun to see those fucks again?

Now - back to FB and those sluts whose last memories I have are of in Catholic school uniforms ...

The Run to the North and The Run to the South

Messy scrambly and all that, but many battles - just like the human mind likes'm - can be cut up into easier to understand parts that make up the whole. The attack on the Pratzen Heights after Napoleon dummy retreated from there. Burnsides Bridge. Picketts charge. Hell, even Spiers taking control during the attack on Foy. Parts of the whole.

Likewise, Jutland has been parted several times over. Intial contact. The Night Action. Windy Corner. The Fleet Action. But generally speaking the most well named part of the battle - for me - is The Run to the North and The Run to the South. Both of these named parts were running battles generally centered around the German and British battlecruiser fleets. Since I've been on a "World War One German Battlecruiser" kick for the past few weeks - Seydiltz, Hindenburg, Von Der Tann, Derefflinger, etc etc etc have been the cover stars adorning Securityout! these days - I figgered I'd carry on w/ some writing on them. And of all the worlds actions involving battlecruisers, maybe only the Battle of the Denmarck Strait is more famous than these two parts of Jutland - certainly more famous than Dogger Bank or the sinking of the Repulse or the ... .whatever ... .

Ah - but backdrop better rite now - to what I really want to write about - what's a battle cruiser??

Nonexistent till about 1906, the very idea of a 'battlecruiser' really has to be discussed juxtaposed a discussion of 'battleships' - but because a discussion of Jacky Fischer and 'main battery all the same type' and all that is not what I'm feeling rite now, I'llw rite it in a few terse paragraphs: Generally speaking, there was a naval revolution in 1906. It involved the British navy producing a revolutionary new type of 'battleship': the Dreadnought. A single ship called Dreadnought was launched 'round this time, and it instantly made obsolete all that came before. The guns were concentrated around a single type - instead of many types. The armour was rationalised and centralised. New engines were made making the ship faster. In all, this new type of 'battleship' shocked the worlds navy into a new arms race - instantly Germany and England raced to create their new navies, France, Italy and Austria-Hungry had their race, Japan joined in, the USA,- even Brazil, Argentina, and Chile had their mini arms race.

But only the Germans and English sponsored their own 'battle cruiser' race. Dreadnoughts were 'battleships' in the traditional sense of the world - these were ships with the bigggest guns and the heaviest armour of any ships in the world. They were meant to meet the enemies battleships and trade gunfire until one side or the others ships sank. The British were able to build somewhere around 12 or so, and the Germans finished about 9. But during the war, as ships were damaged or in repair, these numbers were never constant. @ Jutland, I'm pretty sure there were 10 English and 7 German battle cruisers involved total. AT Jutland, the British main fleet had 28 dreadnaughts to the german 16 (plus 6 of the older obsolete 'pre dreadnaught' type of battleship)

But battlecruisers were a little different. They were giant ships that verily resembled battleships. Big ships, big guns. However, the main difference was in the speed and protection - the battlecruisers were faster because the armour wasn't quite as extensive. This was because their role was different. Battleships were to stay and trade shells with the enemy heavy ships- the armour was thought to be tuff enough so they could stay in line and be hit by shells but stay battleworthy. Battlecruisers were different - they were felt to be roboust enough to trade shells w/ enemy heavy units for a bit, but mainly just long enough to establish contact with the enemy - for scouting purposes - and draw their own navies dreadnaughts to smash the enemies fleet.

The battlecruisers were involved in a lot of fights in World War 1. Well, not a lot, but Jutland didn't exhaust battle honours for these ships. There was - for the English battlecruisers- the Battle of the Falklands in 1915. Dogger Bank. Plus, there were several of what were known as 'tip and run' raids - The Germans, in an attempt to draw out part of the British fleet and sink some of it started to sortie the fast battlecruiser squadrons to shell English coastal towns. The idea was that the fast German ships would shell the town, and the British would send their battlecruisers to counter them. What the germans hoped out of this was that maybe they could lure the British ships to the German main fleet hidden over the horizon - and this sink that part of the enemy fleet.

It was this wish to catch a part of the English fleet's battlecruisers away from their main support of dreadnaughts that lead to the The Run to the North and The Run to the South. The German plan almost worked. And, funnily enough, the British plans for their battlecruiser fleet worked as well - besides , of course, three of the ships exploding.

The Run to the South was the name given to the meeting engagement between the enemies battlecruiser squadrons. Both sides met that day because lookouts in both navies went to investigate a smudge of smoke on the horizon. The smoke belonged to a little steamer, but as both sides investigated the smoke - they spotted each other.

Well - maybe they didn't spot each others main fleet - but they spotted enough of it to realise something huge was up this day. The British battlecruisers - separated from their main fleet by many miles - spotted the German battle cruisers and gave chase south. And it was here that both nations battlecruisers basically fulfilled the eact mission that they were designed for. For tyhe Germans, they were luring a small part of the enemies fleet towards their own main fleet - waiting to annihilate it. And the British battlecruisers were scouting out the enemies main fleet so that they could bring their own fleet into action and overwhelm the enemies main fleet.

And man what punishment the British took on the Run to the South,. Because of the sun and atmospheric conditions, the Germans were able to really lay upon the British. from 3.48pm to 4.54. Despite having a six to five superiority in battlecruisers @ this point, the Germans almost took out the Lion, and then exploded the Indefatigable and the Queen Mary. Despite now being outnumbered 5-4, the British had a little help from a fast squadron of Dreadnaughts (four of them in hailing distance) that kept them from being overwhelmed.

And then - main German fleet sighted. The German battlecruisers had done exactly as they were designed - here the British hjad a small part of their overall force many miles away from their main support - and it was in tatters. But now it was the British turn to shine. They had done their duty- they had battled through the enemies scfreening and scouting forces and now could turn 180 degrees and lure the Germans back to be overwhelmed by the British main fleet. Plus - the sun and atmosphere were now in the British favour - and it dtarted to tell. This was now the Run to the North portion of the battle - basicsally, the British were now hightailing it out of there drawing the Germans North.

This has always been a huge bit of interest for me. When the main fleets collided, the Germans twice doing the whole "Battleturnawaytogether" maneuver - once with the assistance of what was called "The Death Ride of the Battlecruiser", windy corner and all that is as interesting. But something about giant ships manuevering in line, racing though the North Sea, exchanging shells clanging off 10-15 inches of armour, while NINE MILES AWAY FROM EACH OTHER - deeply fascinating.

And that's reallty all I got - I didn't intend for more here. More follows with a discussion of me and Jutland...

the Look

my imbeds no longer work, so deal wit it dis way=

but fuck all, what a total fucking kicklook this ensamble rocks

...

very impressive.

The Battle of Jutland

It was on this day that the Battle of Jutland ended - from early afternoon of 31 Mai, 1916 to sometime in the early AM of 1 June.This is the HMS Indefatigable sinking after the "cordite flash" accident struck this ship. The exact same mishap also sank fellow battlecruisers Queen Mary and Invincible.

What happened was that each of these ships was struck on their heavily armoured main gun turrets. Ususally that just meant the loss of those guns - a major deal, but not a ship destroyer. However, what the British didn't realise - and the Germans discovered @ the earlier, smaller Battle of Dogger Bank the year before- was that when turrets are hit and their armour pierced, that 'flash' of fire has to be contained withing the turret. I think it was the German battlecruiser Seydiltz was almost lost @ this 1915 battle - but, the Gernmans learned the lesson.

The lesson?? What gunlaying then meant was mating a shell with bags of powder rammed into the - what do I call it?? -- the bolt of the gun (This meant the back end of the barrel - the opposite of where the shells come out from). However, turrets were cramped places w/ no storage space - so all shells and bags of powder had to be brought up from the 'magazines' - or storage spaces for all that gunpowder - in a small dumbwaiter type elevator.

However, the gunpowder bags would leak gunpowder - from the turret all the way down into the magazines in the 'bowels' of the ship. So - when the turrets were hit and flamed up evrything in that confinded space, the flame (flash, really) spread out reached all the way down the elevators following that powder trail into the magazines - where, well, everything stored there went up.

Here is HMS Invincible @ that explosive moment - shocking to see:

The ships were broken in half, as you can see. The North Sea is pretty shallow, although eventually the halves of Invincible settled and were later salvaged, I think.

The trick that the Germans did was that after the near loss of Seyditlz (again, I think it was Seydiltz) was to put irontite doors all through the turret and elevator system so that the flame- or flash - could reach all the way down to the aagazines. One could accept the loss of a turret - but not a ship.

The other Battlecruiser lost by the British was Queen Mary, seen here:

it'll be alright/it'll be ok

someone - me, hopefully - will strike me clean away

and yes, bless-ed-be to gallo