A unique Soviet Sub Hunter, the Bartini-Beriev VVA-14

I heard about this strange airplane that the Soviets had, I wonder if this airplane would have been used in the fictional book by Tom Clancy called "Red Storm Rising" to chase the American submarines in "Operation Doolittle" from the book.

 

 

Bartini-Beriev was part of the Cold War arms race, the opposing states supported the implementation of incredible and ambitious design ideas. Combating threats from the depths of the sea to prevent nuclear missile strikes became one of the priorities facing the Soviet Navy.
In the 1970s, a unique amphibian aircraft Bartini-Beriev VVA-14 was created for the defense of the borders of the Soviet Union. It was created for vertical takeoff and landing, but had the ability to take off and land both on water and like an ordinary aircraft.
Its main task was to detect American submarines in case of their approach to the borders of the USSR.

Bartini Beriev VVA-14 is named in honor of its creator Robert Bartini, the famous Italian-born designer in the Soviet Union, nicknamed the Red Baron.
He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War, until he was captured by the Russians and sent to a prisoner of war camp in June 1916. Bartini was passionately fond of aviation all his life.
Following his release in 1920, Bartini relocated to Italy, where he studied aerospace engineering at the Milan Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1922. He also trained as a pilot.

Bartini-Beriev in it’s hey day.

After Benito Mussolini came to power, Bartini emigrated from now-Fascist Italy to the USSR and was appointed as an aviation engineer for the Soviet military. After the move, he managed to unleash his potential by developing a number of interesting and innovative designs that became known throughout the world.
Bartini was forced to know all the “joys” of Stalin’s time. He was charged with spying for Mussolini, and subsequently declared the “enemy of the people”. The Cold War was alive and well.

Bartini was placed a Gulag and continued to develop aviation equipment there for the Soviet Union in the Experimental Design Bureau program. While in prison, he and Andrey Tupolev designed the Tupolev Tu-2 bomber aircraft.

Bartini-Beriev and really needs to be undercover

After eight years of imprisonment, Bartini was released and continued his aviation activities in the USSR. The aircraft designer developed the “Theory of intercontinental transport on Earth,” according to which the optimal vehicle is an amphibious vehicle, combining the advantages of ships, helicopters and airplanes.

In 1962, Bartini presented the first such project. The MVA-62 was an amphibian aircraft with the possibility of vertical take-off and landing on almost any surface. The MVA-62 could fly like a plane and could move like an ekranoplan (wingship).

The single-copy project MVA-62 showed itself well on trial and served as the basis for the creation of the VVA-14 amphibian. It was assumed that the new aircraft would perform the tasks of detecting enemy multipurpose and missile submarines, as well as perform search and rescue operations.

Bartini-Beriev rotting away.

In 1972, the first test copy was developed under the name VVA-14M1. Soon, on September 4, 1972, the amphibian made its first flight. Watching from the ground for an unusual aircraft, which impressed with its dimensions, the designers gave it the unofficial name “Zmey Gorynych” (A Slavic dragon).
During the first flight, a number of shortcomings were revealed, which Bartini began to correct. In 1974, changes were made to the design, along with the installation of inflatable pontoons, which were later replaced by rigid pontoons. In addition, there was a problem with the installation of a lifting engine for vertical takeoff.
The crew of the VVA-14 consisted of three people. The power plant included two cruising and 12 lift turbofan engines due to which the aircraft developed a maximum speed of 472 miles per hour (760 km/h).
The flight range reached 1,522 miles (2,450 km), and the service ceiling was 26,250–32,800 feet (8,000–10,000 m). The armament consisted of two aircraft torpedoes, eight aircraft mines, or 16 aircraft bombs.
The aircraft designer was waiting for the engines for vertical take-off, but the work on the creation of a lifting engine was never completed.
For this reason, it was decided to supplement the VVA-14 with the function of an ekranoplan, that is, using on-screen flight mode, but having the ability to fly at high altitudes like an airplane.
On December 6, 1974 Bartini Beriev died in Moscow, at the age of 77. He is buried in Moscow at Vvedenskoye Cemetery.

The inscription on his monument the inscription “In the land of the Soviets, he kept his oath to devote all life that the red planes flew faster than the black (ones)”.
After Bartini’s death, his project, already much slower, continued to evolve for two years. In the waters of the Taganrog Bay, tests of the airplane were performed in the mode of an ekranoplan.
A total of  107 flights were made by VVA-14, spending a total of 103 hours in the air. In 1976, the further development of the project  was stopped.
Everything superfluous was removed from the aircraft, and in 1987, the prototype was sent to the Soviet Central Air Force Museum, where it remains to this day. Currently, the grandiose project of the genius Italian aircraft designer is a sad spectacle.
In 2013, a group of enthusiasts emerged with the goal of restoring the VVA-14, but to no avail.

Gone to the Range

I wanted to go to the range last week and shoot the Henry and one of my revolvers, I took my son with me and we went to the High speed range near my house AM-CHAR and I was told that since I am not a police/first responder/retired military I can't shoot there, I guess my being a veteran didn't matter.  It really irritated me. especially since they let me shoot there in the past, so the refusal kinda smarted, Oh well.

High Speed Range located in my Hometown

  Nothing like pissing away 3/4 of your market.  They are a private business and they can serve who they want...

 Macks Place of Employment below...

Macks place of employment

     Well anyway my son wanted to visit Mack at his place of employment.  I like visiting Mack, besides being a good friend, he is a character and a half.

   Well after harassing Mack for a few minutes...well because I am that kind of guy we got our lane assignments after filling the required paperwork..

  I laid out the rifles and pistols...

The Garand, the Shield, the Henry .357( yes the brass is good, that is a trick of the light) the Enfield 303 and my "console gun" the S&W SIGMA. and gun socks laying all over the place.

   I also laid out some ammo....That is the last of my Blazer....Good Riddance...Not as bad as Tula but ok to plink with, I wouldn't bet the farm on it..if you know what I mean..
We started shooting the Henry....The Henry is .357/38, but let me tell you...it don't like .38 Special, the case length.

  We Started with the Henry but like I said, it don't like .38 Special, but that is all I brought, but luckily Mack came to the rescue with a "found" box of .357 Fiocci that was half full.  The Henry ran through the .357 flawlessly....Thanks Mack, and I am so glad that I had sent the Henry back to the factory to be repaired  several months ago. 
  I then set up the Garand, I brought 1 box of Monarch 150 grain 30-06 ammo for the Garand..

I only had one box, so I fired up one clip and my son fired up the other clip.  This is the first time he fired the Garand,  The rifle fired flawlessly also, I still am tickled that my Garand works well, especially after the misadventures of my first Garand, you can follow the link for my adventures with the rifle type.

    I then brought  up the 303 Enfield, It is one of my old rifles that I bought back in the mid 90's for $80 from an outfit called "Roses" a store in Griffin.   My son commented about the strange sight that the Enfield had, but the rifle is noted for accuracy and if Tommy could raise hell with the Hun in WWI with it, and mess with "Jerry" and the "bloody Nips" in WWII, the rifle is not a slouch.  I have blogged in the past about the Enfield including mine.
    We then brought up the Pistols...I immediately removed the "Go to the Mattresses "ammo so it wouldn't get fired by "accident". 

Like I said, I laid out the ammo to shoot the Sigma and the Shield, both are .40 S&W

We started shooting the pistols..

    and shooting the pistols, I brought quite a bit of .40 S&W to shoot.  And of course Blazer performed as expected.....

  Bad primers and failures to feed or cycle...happened with the blazer ammo several times...the Remington fired good, no hangups, hic-cups or funny stuff.

    It was a good time and of course I am appreciative of Mack and his place of employment for giving us a nice shooting experience in a laid back atmosphere.

    On a different note,   I won a prize at work last week, it was "AMT" day on Thursday at my place of employment.  "AMT" day celebrates the birthday of Charles Taylor, the mechanic that worked on the Wright Flyer for the Wright Brothers.  Well at my employer, they go big with vendors, food and other things.  I didn't attend this year because I spent all day Wednesday doing "Honor Guard" stuff and  did want to spend another "Off day" at work.

    Well anyway I won a prize..

Stinger HL Headlight...Very nice :) and totally unexpected.

When a WW II drone embarrassed the USAF

I remembered reading a book called "The Skunk Works" and the F117 fighter and the phrase Kelly Johnson or Ben Rich used when it came to the United States Air Force fascination with missiles.   he commented..."If the missiles did as advertised, they would be called "hittles" not Missles".  This prompted the development of the Stealth fighter.
     The United States Military had this fascination with Missiles hoping to find the single thing that would shoot down the enemy plane and make it easier than dog fighting.  Unfortunately it took Vietnam before they really started dog fighting and not super reliance on technology.

The United States military does not like to talk about the Battle of Palmdale. It is undoubtedly one of the most embarrassing American military defeats in history – and it happened right over U.S. soil.
Although not a single soul was lost, over 1,000 acres of American land was destroyed, the military was left embarrassed, and several Americans nearly perished in their own homes and vehicles.
All of this from a single enemy who could not even shoot back. This formidable foe was never defeated, or even damaged, by the American military.

Who was this foe, and why did the United States military so thoroughly fail to defeat it?

The Cold War arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union requires little introduction: the two superpowers of the world constantly wanted to ensure they had a military advantage over the other in the case of conflict.
One element of this race was the development of guided air-to-air missiles in the 1950s.

437th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Northrop F-89D-70-NO Scorpion 53-2679 1956. Stationed at Oxnard AFB, California. At Nellis AFB, California.

The United States seemingly won this race, with the Air Force and Navy introducing missiles on their fighters in 1956, a year before the Soviets. However, these missiles needed extensive testing and were severely flawed.
By 1956, in the late stages of testing, live fire tests became necessary. These were conducted against remote-controlled planes (“drones”), including the Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat.
Although the Hellcats were well-regarded during World War 2, they were obsolete by 1956, and this made them great practice targets.
On August 16, 1956, one of the Hellcat drones was launched from Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California. It was painted bright red to make it an easier target for the Navy which was to take it down with their new air-to-air missiles.

                                                                            F6F Hellcat

However, the drone had other plans. The Hellcat broke from its course early in the mission. Instead of heading over the ocean, it took a turn towards Los Angeles and continued to climb in altitude.
For some reason, the drone was no longer responding to its controls. In response, the Air Force scrambled two fighters to take it down using unguided air-to-air rockets.
The relative strength of forces seemed firmly in the Air Force’s favor. The Air Force selected two Northrop F-89 Scorpions from nearby Oxnard Air Base for the task. The Scorpions were early jet-powered fighters – more than a match for a propeller plane.
Between them, the Scorpions had 208 rockets. On the other side stood an unarmed, unmanned, bright red, outdated drone.

U.S. Air Force Northrop F-89D-45-NO Scorpion interceptors of the 59th Fighter-Interceptor Squadrons, Goose Bay AB, Labrador (Canada), in the 1950s. 52-1959 in the foreground, now in storage at Edwards AFB, California

Although the Scorpions’ rockets were not guided, they made use of a brand new computerized fire control system.
The Air Force obviously did not want to shoot down the drone over a populated area, so they waited for it to pass over Los Angeles. It continued to turn until it approached the sparsely populated Antelope Valley, at which point the Scorpions engaged.
Or at least they tried to. It turned out that the new fire control system was not all it was cracked up to be, and the rockets failed even to fire. However, the fighters were able to revert to a manual control mode not using the computerized system.
Unfortunately, the planes’ gun sights had been removed due to their supposed obsoleteness after the computerized system was added. In addition, the rockets in question, the MK 4 “Mighty Mouse,” were notoriously inaccurate.

Mighty Mouse Missile at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Virginia USA

When the drone continued turning, back towards Los Angeles, the pilots knew they needed to act quickly. With 208 rockets, the odds still seemed in their favor. They each launched a volley of 42 rockets, several of which connected.
However, the rockets only glanced against the drone’s fuselage, failing to detonate.
With 124 remaining rockets, the fighters made another pass, and each launched 32 rockets. This time none even made contact.
With only 60 rockets remaining, the pilots decided to recalibrate their intervalometer, hoping to increase the effectiveness of their rockets. This would be their last chance to take down the drone as they were running out of fuel as well as ammunition.

F-89D firing Mighty Mouse Rockets

The pilots made one final pass, each launching their remaining 30 rockets as the drone approached the city of Palmdale. The last of the Scorpions’ 208 rockets again failed to make contact… at least, with the drone.
As the pilots returned to base, it became clear that their rockets had made contact, just not with the drone. Although the Mk. 4 rockets, if they missed their target, were supposed to disarm as their speed decreased, something went wrong with this system.

                                                      Grumman F6F-5K drone

The vast majority, possibly as many as 193, of the rockets detonated. These rockets caused several major fires and nearly caused several fatalities. Although the area around the battle was sparsely populated, the destruction was widespread.
The first fire was around Castaic and destroyed 150 acres. Another rocket fell near Placerita Canyon, where it set a number of oil sumps on fire. That fire nearly reached the Bermite Powder explosives plant, but fortunately was contained around 300 feet away.
At Soledad Canyon, an additional 350 acres went up in smoke, and several smaller fires added to the destruction. All-in-all, over 1,000 acres were destroyed by the fire.

F-89D loaded with rockets. 114th Fighter Interceptor Group, headquartered at Sioux Falls, in 1958.

A number of the rockets hit houses, nearly causing several fatalities. One piece of shrapnel flew through a woman’s window, bounced off her roof, and eventually smashed into a kitchen cabinet, where it came to rest.
Another house was hit with several fragments, which sliced through the garage and living-room, nearly hitting the woman who lived there.
Another rocket detonated right in front of a man and his mother who were driving along the road, destroying the front of the vehicle. Miraculously, neither was seriously injured.
Finally, a rocket scored a direct hit on another truck, totally destroying it. Fortunately, its occupants had just gotten out.

Scorpion in Fresno California July 1957, with front of rocket pods exposed

The drone itself caused only minor damage when it finally ran out of fuel and crashed. Although within sight of the Palmdale Airport, it crashed near an unpaved road, destroying several power lines in the process.
Its remains were eventually recovered in 1997, although it largely disintegrated upon impact.
One thousand acres of land was consumed by fires that took two days and 500 firefighters to extinguish.
Although there were no fatalities, the incident was certainly embarrassing for the U.S. military. Not only had they accidentally inflicted significant damage on American soil and failed to shoot down their target but also many of the brand-new technologies they had developed had proven faulty.

The fact that the remote controls for the Hellcat stopped working in the first place was unfortunate, but the Scorpions’ computer failure was another concern altogether. All of this technology, created to keep ahead in the Cold War arms race, had utterly failed.

However, the United States government learned from these failures. Fire control systems continued to advance, guided air-to-air missile technology became more practicable, and eventually, fail-safes were added to unmanned vehicles.
It would be nearly impossible for another “Battle of Palmdale” to happen today, as modern drones are equipped with fail-safes that will either return them to base if they are not destroyed quickly or cause them to self-destruct at a high altitude.

Memorial Day 2019

This post is scheduled for Sunday afternoon on the Scheduler thingie.  I will not have a Monday Music like I normally do.  To me it would be inappropriate because it is Memorial Day.

    I'm going to explain "Memorial day" compared to the other holidays that involve the Military.

      Armed Forces Day honors those that are serving now.
      Veterans Day honors those of us that are no longer serving but still around to thank us for our    service.
   Memorial Day honors those of us that died in service to our country or those of us that have died since.
     To me Memorial day is a somber Holiday,  It gets worse the older I get because I attribute it to "survivors guilt".  We miss our comrades that will never grow old and one day we will join them.  Like I said, I attribute this to "survivors guilt" or basically why me and not them, why do I grow older and they don't.  What made me special that I lived and they didn't.  This goes through my mind and I just leave it to the guy upstairs because I figure that he still has plans for me. 
     I do what is called "Honor Guard" missions with my employer, where we greet all remains coming off the airplane with a flag line and a prayer.  I am honored to do that.  We had 4 of those missions last Wednesday and it made for a long day in the heat.  I didn't mind the heat because of what we were doing. 
     I don't begrudge the people using the Memorial Day as an excuse for a vacation or the "Start of Summer".  At least they say the words "Memorial Day" in their conversations.  

There is a phrase I saw in the Movie "Gardens of Stone" that came out in 1987, and we started using it because it resonated with us. Here is  the trailer of the movie "Gardens of Stone".  I really like the movie partly it ties in with my Dads experiences because he was a member of the "Old Guard", although for him it was 1963-1964 for him.  He had told me that the things that the "Old Guard" did was accurately portrayed.

I hoist a glass of whatever beverage I drink on Memorial Day and say "Here's to us ...and those like us.....Damm few of us left."   I honor my friends that got killed during war and my friends that died after war from accidents, disease or suicide.

Helmet Art from Vietnam

I have blogged before about Helmets and "Lucky Talismans" and helmets in general.  I remembered when I first got my helmet at my first dury station in Germany I immediately stuck my "LPS" bottle in the band around the helmet like I remembered seeing all the GI's doing during Vietnam.

 My squad leader told me "You can't do that crap any more".  So I had to take it out.  Oh well...

The Vietnam War tested the United States in new and horrid ways. Unprepared for guerilla tactics, dense jungles, and unwilling to interpret their foes’ actions as anything other than the working of Moscow’s efforts to expand Communism, the nation spent years in a conflict with no seeming end in sight.

1st Lieutenant Thomas K. Holland, Troop D, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, Vietnam.
Date between 1966 and 1971

Conscripted troops were constantly cycled through the war to prepare a generation for World War III, while politicians and commanders continually failed to understand the lessons learned in America’s previous guerilla campaigns.

For the troops on the ground, Vietnam was a humid hell filled with enemies and a people barely considered human. Part of any soldier’s equipment at the time included a helmet, called a steel pot by the troops and officially known as the M-1 helmet.

U.S. soldiers in 1972 wearing M1 helmets

The soldiers of Vietnam, being products of a time when the nation’s youth struggled to assert their individuality, started doodling on their helmets to express themselves.

Such antics were not new, as handfuls of soldiers did something similar during World War II. During Vietnam their work grew more prominent and noticeable. It also garnered more attention as outrage against the conflict, both among the troops and at home, increased.

LT James F. Gregory, Platoon leader takes his men into a northern village, Company B, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Inf., 101st Airborne. Division, Vietnam.

Such artwork drew media attention as early as June 18, 1965. Appearing in an Associated Press article by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Horst Faas, the photo caption noted Larry Wayne Chaffin of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, sporting a simple line across the bridge of his helmet: “WAR IS HELL.”

Vietnam Helmet “Born to Breed”.

 

Simple calendars were a popular doodle, with soldiers jotting down the months of their tour and then crossing them off as time passed and they managed to live another thirty days. Such “short-timer” calendars were common among conscripts as they waited out their tours of duty.

Sergeant Gerald Laird firing a machine gun, Company A, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, Vietnam.

The media, latching on to the potential anti-war messages of such art, made sure to showcase it as the conflict continued. 

 

 

One photograph from 1966 showed John Wayne signing a soldier’s helmet. Many photos recorded phrases and remarks written on soldier’s helmets, ranging from mottos such as “In God We Trust” to satirical musings like “Born to Kill Die.”

Vietnam….A Sky Trooper from the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) keeps track of the time he has left on his ‘short time’ helmet, while participating in Operation Pershing, near Bong Son.

Not all such writings made it to the news. Years later on a web forum, one veteran told the story of his art:
“My personal helmet ‘graffiti’ was the moniker ‘Teenage Killer.’ As a recruit in Marine boot camp, we were repeatedly told a story of Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly telling someone she had found Marines to be “over-sexed, under-paid, teenage killers.”

SSGT Russell C. Fordham, D Trp., 1st Sqdn., 9th Cav., Vietnam.

“One night, outside Da Nang, after imbibing a bottle of ‘Panther piss’, the phrase popped into my head and was promptly Magic-Markered onto the side of my ‘piss-pot’.

Vietnam Aircavalry soldier ,with stars and stripes 

 

“It was greeted with mixed reviews by the higher-ups and I was ‘asked’ to make myself scarce when photographers were in the area. Sometime later, I was ordered to remove the ‘offensive’ phrase from my helmet cover. This was accompanied by a new helmet cover.

Troopers on patrol in Vietnam; radioing for communication.

“I ignored the order, and the new cover, and was given an Article 15. With a grin, the 1st Sgt replaced my ‘salty’ with a new greenie.”

From what I can tell, this happened after Vietnam because the mural is based on the movie "Apocalypse Now" was made in 1979.  I thought it was pretty cool art work.

Whether considered graffiti, artwork, or simply bored doodlings of young men forced to be soldiers in a land far from home, a soldier’s helmet was as much his life as his rifle.

Whether their writings veered toward the crude, satirical, devout, or rambling, such works allowed them to express themselves as they fought a conflict for motivations more than likely lost on a bunch of overgrown kids stuck in the jungle.

The turkey that found its way by helicopter to the 9th Infantry Division was destined for the nearby Bear Cat base camp. It was one of 57,000 sent in to provide as many as possible of the half-million Americans in Vietnam with the traditional holiday feast. Note Radio in Helmet band.

 Helmets were something personal for each solder, and especially in Vietnam the Helmet art became famous.

The Battle of Actium and the fall of the Roman Republic

I remembered being mesmerized by the Movie "Cleopatra", the sheer pageantry was really unmatched.  Back then Movie houses made elaborate sets rather then CGI and it really seemed "More real" than the later movies.    This scene from the movie "Cleopatra" showed what I am referring to..

I will be showing more clips from the movie "Cleopatra" throughout this blog post.
The battle of Actium, which took place off of the west coast of Greece on September 2, 31 BC, is widely regarded as the decisive moment at which the Roman Republic fell and the Roman Empire rose in its place following the assassination of Julius Caesar.

The Assassination of Julius Caesar

Octavian, the adopted son and great-nephew of Caesar, faced off against the combined forces of Egypt, led by Cleopatra and Mark Antony who had been a close friend of the late Caesar.
Antony had once been second in command to the emperor. When he discovered a plot against his friend, he was unable to warn Caesar in time and had no choice but to flee Rome. He returned after the coup to try and preserve his friend’s legacy from posthumous attacks by the very men who had conspired to end his life.

A baroque painting of the battle of Actium by Laureys Castro, 1672.National Maritime Museum, UK

Upon learning that Caesar had bequeathed the throne to Octavian, however, Antony contested the younger man’s inheritance. What followed was a decade of ill-fated military campaigns designed to unseat the rightful heir of the deceased dictator.
The forces of Antony and Octavian first clashed the year after Caesar’s passing. Although Antony was soundly beaten, Octavian nevertheless included him and another rival in a power-sharing agreement that divided the Roman empire among them.

Antony and Cleopatra (1883) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema depicting Antony’s meeting with Cleopatra in 41 BC.

In the years that followed, Antony was busy. He defeated the assassins who had dispatched Caesar and later struck up a romance with Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, who had also been Caesar’s lover.

Neroccio De’ Landi and Workshop, The Battle of Actium (circa 1475–1480)

Despite unease among the Romans about Antony and Cleopatra provocatively flaunting their children as royal heirs, the triumvirate ruled steadily for a decade before a series of events led Antony and Octavian to war once again.

A Roman bust of the consul and triumvir Mark Antony, Vatican Museums

Owing to a failed rebellion some time earlier, Antony had been forced to marry Octavian’s sister. When he divorced her in 32 BC, Octavian declared war on Cleopatra – a wise political move which allowed him to cast his war as one fought against foreigners, rather than his fellow Romans.

A year later, having driven Antony’s forces from the Greek mainland, Octavian’s fleet of 500 ships and 70,000 infantry faced off against Antony and Cleopatra’s combined 400 ships and 80,000 infantry.

Battle of Actium

At first, the battle was uncertain, but upon Cleopatra’s unexpected retreat, Octavian captured much of the opposing fleet and pursued his enemy through the gates of Alexandria.

 Battle of Actium(Cleopatra 1963)

Naval historians have studied the battle extensively, curious about the effect that Octavian’s smaller ships might have played in ensuring their decisive victory over the comparatively larger ships which made up Antony and Cleopatra’s fleet.
Now, a recent archaeological discovery has helped to shed light on exactly how much of an advantage this gave the Roman commander.

Battle of Actium

Upon the excavation of Octavian’s monument to the Roman victory (built alongside an entire city devoted to Rome’s success), it was discovered that Octavian took a large number of trophies from the enemy fleet.
The assertion of historians that the larger, less maneuverable fleet was at a significant disadvantage gained some credibility with the discovery that Octavian took as trophies 35 bronze rams from the captured fleet of 350 ships.

The Battle of Actium from a set of The Story of Antony and Cleopatra

The underwater battering rams, designed to break down harbor defenses, were considerably larger than any that had been previously found.

Peeter Sion – Defeat of Marc Antony and Cleopatra at Actium

Although only remnants of the rams themselves were discovered in the excavated ruin (it is assumed that later generations or invading forces stole them and melted them down for bronze), the size of the niches they were placed in led historians to estimate that Antony and Cleopatra sailed in ships as large as 40 meters long.

The ending was that Anthony fled to join with Cleopatra with Octavian in hot pursuit.

 Anthony took his own life  via sword rather than be paraded through Rome in chains...
  Cleopatra took her own life via adder rather than be paraded through Rome as a trophy