When Was the Last Time, the U.S. Navy Sank an Enemy Vessel?

3/4/26 Reuters:

GALLE, Sri Lanka/WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on ​Wednesday, dramatically widening Washington's pursuit of the Iranian navy.

Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister ​said at least 80 people were killed in the attack on the ⁠frigate IRIS Dena, which was heading back to Iranfrom an eastern Indian port.

I am sorry for the sailors aboard. I have no idea if they were conscripts or not. Unfortunately, Iran has been at war with us since 1979 and we are finally dealing with it.

According to Sec. Hegseth, this is the first submarine sinking since 1945.

The EQ1 Is Back to Its Original Rider

The 3" f/4.5 reflector i made some years ago.

Now when I go to start parties I can aim one at the Moon and one at objects that benefit from more magnification. 

Progress on Waiting Periods

 Ortega v. Grisham, 148 F. 4th 1134 (10 Cir. 2025):

New Mexico enacted a law in 2024 that imposes a categorical seven-day "cooling-off" period for nearly all consumer purchases of a firearm. No matter how urgent the need, or how much physical danger a prospective buyer might be in, buyers must wait seven days before New Mexico deems them safe to carry arms. Even buyers with previous firearms background checks or security clearances are not eligible for waivers from the prohibition. In short, the law requires no individualized reason to conclude that a prospective consumer is a danger to himself or the community, nor can anyone be excused from the waiting period because of personal danger.

Asserting their rights under the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, Samuel Ortega and Rebecca Scott sued the State of New Mexico to enjoin the Waiting Period Act, N.M. Stat. § 30-7-7.3. The district court declined to preliminarily enjoin the law. It found that a seven-day wait did not infringe on Second Amendment rights since the right to acquire a firearm does not impede the right to keep or bear a firearm, and, in any event, the Second Amendment tolerates cooling-off periods.

We disagree, and REVERSE and REMAND. Cooling-off periods infringe on the Second Amendment by preventing the lawful acquisition of firearms. Cooling-off periods do not fit into any historically grounded exceptions to the right to keep and bear arms, and burden conduct within the Second Amendment's scope. In this preliminary posture, we conclude that New Mexico's Waiting Period Act is likely an unconstitutional burden on the Second Amendment rights of its citizens. We also conclude the other preliminary injunction factors are met and that Plaintiffs are entitled to an injunction.

Yes, waiting period laws are modern. My knowledge confirmed in this decision is that California imposed the first waiting period law in 1923 to give police time to do a background check. If New Mexico wanted a waiting period to do that, then completion of the FBI's background check should be enough time.  But really, what drives this is a belief that guns are icky and any barrier we put in the way, makes us righteous and pure. The alternative is admitting that there are people who are evil and need to be confined.

That Vixen I Wanted

Vixen lost its American distributor. This surprised me not at all. Vixen cannot compete on price with PRC-made mounts. I considered buying from a Japanese retailer. With the exchange rate, it woukd have been several hundred dollars cheaper than last retail price here. But the warranty would be useless in North America.  A $1000 paperweight would be useless.

Explore Scientific sells a very clever goto mount that is very light and costs $300. I am sure it is PRC made. My past encounters with Explore Scientific products have been very positive  

U.S. v. Hemani (2026)

I am listening to the oral arguments.  The Solictor-General's argument opens with a distinction between drug addict and occasional user of marijuana. 

She also pointed to vagrancy and involuntary commitment laws as an excuse for such laws. Justice Sotomayor then asked the S-G about the others punished by vagrancy laws, using the language about jugglers, nightwalkers that appears in the postbellum Black Codes.

When Justice Sotomayor is poking holes in your argument, I think we have a chance at a good result even though Hemani was a bad guy with ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Finally! Clear Night in the 40s!

I rolled Big Bertha out. I finally showed M42 to Rhonda. It is a pretty awesome sight with this much aperture.  For the first time, I used the 18mm 2" University Optics Orthoscopic that came with Big Bertha. You do not realize how constricted a view you get from a 1.25" eyepiece until do this.

Jupiter had plenty of cloud bands and the 2" eyepiece showed all four Galilean satellites along with enough magnification to see multiple cloud bands. 

I do wish that I did not to climb a ladder to get to the eyepiece. 

The 4"x 2" Aluminum Rectangular Tube Arrived

I should have considered this in advance " my mill vise is 3.8" wide at maximum opening. If i had a 4"+ long endmill I could just put the 4" side vertical and side mill it from the roughly 0.8" slice to 0.62". Endmills that long are expensive! (I should have ordered 3.5" x 2". This would have fit better to the ring anyway.)

This is not a Kurt vise or a Kurt clone so the jaws are not reversible.

Trying to use hold downs to lock the workpiece to the mill table did not work. You need something under the workpiece to sacrifice when the endmill reaches the bottom. I foolishly tried to use Delrin for this. Aluminum on Delrin is very slippery and you cannot tighten these hold downs down enough to hold them.

Supergrok suggested gluing the workpiece on something that will fit in the vise. I found a 3" piece of aluminum and Gorilla Glued the workpiece to it. Tomorrow it should be solid enough to try and mill it.

The Gorilla Glue was not strong enough. So I went back to my first approach face milling off the excess. Perhaps because the attempt at side milling evened up the surface enough, it seems to be cutting better