Interesting Krag Picture

[kragluver]

I ran across these photos this evening. There are several pic's showing sailors with Krag's. Here's one example. Note the stated date is 1917-1918.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...000/i04455.jpg

Try searching the same website with the keyword "krag":

Naval History and Heritage Command : Search

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[jon_norstog]

Kragluver, list:

This is a good example of several things. Wehn I was in the Coast Guard, on high-endurance cutters, I was amazed at all the old stuff, weapons included, that was stowed away on them. A lot of it was off the books. We had '03 Springfields and a mess of M-1s, plus 1911 Colts galore and a few old revolvers. My first two ships were WWII vintage and had been accumulating stuff since then. Plus there may have been wholesale transfers of materiel, since the two had ben acquired from USN to replace older vessels. Who knows **when** the last Krag saw service shipboard? Also, who knows what the gunners mates might have done to those rifles on those long days out?
"Look busy, the Chief's coming"

The other thing you see there is a shore party. In cases where the Marines were unavailable, a Cptain would form a shore party, usually with the deck apes, but in a pinch the snipes would go as well. The gunners mates would issue wpons and ammo. During the Banana Wars, ships would tie up and land shore parties to occupy seaport docks and terminals, pretty much on a permanent basis, with port and starboard or 3-section duty for the shore parties. I had a great uncle who was in that one..... He never mentioned what kind of rifle he carried. He said when the men got bored they would fire a shot into the jungle, which came right up to the docks. And then ducki. They would be rewarded by a shower of knives and machetes. which they would gather up and sell to their shipmates.

That is a pretty squared away shore party, BTW. Uncle Joe indicated they wore dark clothes on patrol. Definitely not whites.
jn

[daveboy]

After enlarging the photo, it appears to me that the rifles are '03s. I noticed the humped handguard and apparent lack of box magazine on the rifle held by the sailor directly in front of the officer. The front sights look strange on these rifles. Looking at the front sight of the rifle held by the sailor in the far left of photo, it appears that the front sight protectors are installed. Hard to tell much because you lose detail when enlarging, but pretty sure they are '03s.

Nice photo anyway. Thanks for sharing.

daveboy

[browningautorifle]

I agree with Daveboy, they're 1903 Springfields.

[jon_norstog]

I agree with Daveboy, they're 1903 Springfields.

Youse guys are right, as I saw when I got on a full-size computer instead of this little netbook I carry when I'm on the road.

But, one of them sure looked like it had a lunchbox on the side. And I'll stand by what I said about how "stuff" used to pile up on shipboard.

jn

In those days it was the cruisers and BBs that had Marine detachments aboard - one more reason that the cruiser was *the* weapon of choice for showing the flag and keeping order in small countries in which we had an interest. Escort vessels didn't have room for marines so their shore parties were mainly made up of seamen, with a BM or GM in charge. In the old days, they had to row the ship's launch themselves, then jump out and form up on shore. We still did some of those drills when I was in USCG boot camp, 44 years ago.

jn

[Mohawk]

2nd Sailor from the Guy with the haversack looks to be holding a Krag. Check out the magazine on the side of the rifle....

[daveboy]

Mohawk could be right. Hard to tell if that is the box magazine of a Krag or just shadows playing tricks. However, it does appear to be a different type rifle than the sailor to his immediate left which I'm pretty sure is carrying an '03.

daveboy

[browningautorifle]

That's the sun shining on the sling.

[kragluver]

Concur - the original picture I posted contains '03s. The one guy in the front row to the right seemed to have a Krag, but all the front sights are definitely '03 front sights. Must just be the reflections as stated above.

Here are some Krag pics from the same website though:

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...000/i01539.jpg

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...001/p02954.jpg

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...000/i06100.jpg

[browningautorifle]

Now THOSE are Krags...