THE KGW-1 “LOON”

German technology of WWII was envied by the Allies.  In the final months of the war, captured German systems began making their way to the US.  One such innovation was the V-1 “buzz bomb,” a pulse-jet powered, winged, unmanned cruise missile that Hitler had launched as a terror weapon against London.  The V-1 was gyro-stabilized to straight and level flight, and “aimed” by orienting its steam catapult launch ramp on a direct compass bearing to the intended target.  It was fueled with 17 minutes of kerosene, enough to reach London from launch sites near Pas-de-Calaise in occupied France.  Its fuel would exhaust over London, allowing the 1900# warhead to fall by its own weight.  Flying at 400 mph and with a range of 160 miles, the V-1s presented a difficult defensive dilemma.  However, one-in-four V-1s failed due to guidance error or manufacturing oversight.  And in July 1944, only a month after V-1 attacks began, the US Army recovered such a “dud” that had crashed without exploding.

By November 1944 the Army Air Corps had reverse engineered, manufactured, and test flown a V-1 knock-off at Elgin Air Base in Florida.  Designated the JB-2 (“jet bomb”), the Army’s missile mimicked the V-1 in all aspects but two:  A radio-controlled guidance system replaced the gyroscope, allowing a remote controller to steer and dive the missile.  And, since pulse-jet engines will not engage until the missile reached a speed of 200 mph, solid rocket boosters were attached to the fuselage for jet-assisted take-off, replacing the catapult employed by the Germans.  The JB-2 could also be deployed from the belly of a B-17 or Navy PB4Y “Privateer” in a fashion similar to that developed by Hitler’s engineers.  Republic Corporation was contracted to build the airframes, while Ford Motor Company built the PJ-31-F-1 pulse-jet engines.  As WWII entered its final stages, it was envisioned that up to 75,000 JB-2s would augment Operation “Downfall,” the planned invasion of mainland Japan.

Our Navy had an interest as well.  On 17 November 1944 the Bureau of Aeronautics announced testing had begun on the JB-2 for deployment from escort aircraft carriers against surface targets.  Victory in the war came before the missile could be deployed.  The Navy’s modifications to the guidance system then resulted in a new designation, the KGW-1 “Loon” missile.  On this date, a Loon was launched from the deck of the surfaced submarine USS CUSK (SS-348) off Point Magu (after the lengthy process of assembling a launch ramp and mounting a missile thereupon).  This first-ever launch of a guided missile from a submarine married the sub’s stealth with missile technology, opening the door for our modern SSBNs.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  19 FEB 23

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare).  United States Naval Aviation 1910-1980.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, pp. 138, 163, 167.

Parsch, Andreas.  “LVT-N-2.”  Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles.  AT:  http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app1/ltv-n-2.html, retrieved 14 August 2013.

Phan, Phloyd.  “JB-2 Loon:  Reverse Engineering and America’s First Practical Cruise Missile.”  AT: http://everything2.com/title/jb-2+loon, retrieved 14 August 2013.

“Republic/Ford JB-2 Loon (V-1 Buzz Bomb).”  National Museum of the US Air Force factsheet.  AT: http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/ factsheet/factsheet.asp?id=510, retrieved 14 August 2013.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  In the immediate post-war years, our Navy had several concurrent missile development programs, the Bat, Bumblebee, Dove, Gargoyle, Glomb, Gorgon, Kingfisher, Little Joe and Lark, but on 12 March 1946 the Chief of Naval Operations directed that most of these be scrapped and the resources re-allocated to the Loon.  The Loon program continued until March 1950 when it was replaced by the RGM-6 Regulus missile (also launched from a ramp assembled on the deck of a submarine).

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                        3 NOVEMBER 1962

                   FIRST ALL-MISSILE CRUISER

With the WWII Pacific battle for the Marshalls winding down and the fight to retake the Marianas just beginning, our Navy laid the keel for the second Oregon City-class heavy cruiser, CA-123, at Bethlehem Steel’s shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.  Her construction outlasted WWII, however, and she was not commissioned until June 1946 as USS ALBANY, our fourth warship remembering the New York State capital.  ALBANY joined the Atlantic Fleet, serving multiple tours in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet.

By the 1950s, our Navy was well into trials with a variety of guided missiles, an effective surface-to-air alternative to AAA and flak guns.  The early Terrier guided missile had given way to the improved Tartar medium range, and the Talos long range weapon systems.  In an age when nuclear arms dominated both strategic and tactical thinking, these, and the concurrently developed ASROC anti-submarine missile, could all deploy nuclear warheads.  By the end of that decade the latter two of the “3-Ts” were ready to be deployed operationally.  On 28 May 1958, the WWII era light cruiser GALVESTON (CL-93) became the first to have Talos missile launchers added to her existing weaponry.  Several more existing cruisers were also modified to carry the Mach 2.8 system capable of reaching 24,000 feet at a range of 50 miles.  Then a month later, on 30 June 1958, ALBANY was officially decommissioned and entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for a radical conversion.  Her main battery of nine 8″ guns was removed, and in their place Mk-12 Talos launchers were mounted on the stem and stern.  Two Mk-11 Tartar missile launchers were added amidships and an ASROC rocket-powered missile launcher was mounted.  Only two of the cruiser’s 5″ guns were left in place as were her six torpedo tubes.  At that moment the first warship to undergo complete conversion to guided missile weaponry, ALBANY was re-commissioned this day at CG-10.  For the next five years she cruised the Mediterranean and North Atlantic, visiting numerous ports in an impressive show of American naval might.

Following a second modernization in the late 1960s, ALBANY cruised again in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.  She served for four years as the 6th Fleet flagship at Gaeta, Italy, in the 1970s.  By then our Navy had deployed a fleet of guided missile cruisers, and missile technology was being applied to destroyers as well.  Having replaced guns in the anti-aircraft mission, guided missiles continue to be a critical segment of our naval defense in the 21^st century.

ALBANY cruised for the last time in 1980, after which she was retired to the James River ghost (reserve) fleet.  She rested for another decade, until being scrapped 12 August 1990.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  10 NOV 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cooney, David M.  A Chronology of the U.S. Navy:  1775-1965.  New York, NY: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1965, p. 458.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 1 “A”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1991, p. 131.

“USS Albany (CG-10)” Overnight website.  AT: http://www.navysite.de/cg/cg10.htm, retrieved 9 December 2016.

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