Submarines

SS-192 (cont.)

                                                 23-25 MAY 1939                                                     SS-192 (cont.) It had been 26 hours since SQUALUS (SS-192) slipped below the waves off New Hampshire’s coast, only to be partially flooded and sink 240 feet below.  The McCann Rescue Chamber had arrived lashed to the fantail Read More

Submarines

SS-192

                                                   23 MAY 1939                                                          SS-192 A commissioning ceremony occupied the docks at New Hampshire’s Portsmouth Navy Yard on 1 March 1939.  Our latest Sargo-class submarine, SQUALUS (SS-192), was entering service.  Her dock trials went well, except for a problem with closure of Read More

Civil War

Escape of Planter

                                                 12-13 MAY 1862                                             ESCAPE OF PLANTER Robert Smalls was a 23-year-old slave who was contracted by his owner to Charleston, SC, tradesmen in exchange for the pay he earned.  The Spring of 1862 found Smalls in the employ of C.J. Relyea, Read More

Land Ops, Marines, WWII Pacific

Fall of Corregidor

                                                    6 MAY 1942                                           FALL OF CORREGIDOR The Japanese invasion of the Philippines began within hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Landing in the Lingayen Gulf, they swept southward across the island of Luzon toward Manila, Subic Bay, and the Bataan Read More

Amphibious Ships, Cold War, War of 1812

Last Cruise of LPH-11

                                        1 FEBRUARY-2 MAY 1997                                          LAST CRUISE OF LPH-11 On the sunny Friday morning of 2 May 1997 the amphibious assault ship NEW ORLEANS (LPH-11) nudged toward Pier 6 at Naval Station San Diego.  A seasoned 28-year veteran, she was returning from Read More

Civil War, Ironclads

CSS NEUSE

                                                  27 APRIL 1864                                                      CSS NEUSE Union forces gained control of North Carolina’s shoreline south of the Virginia border during the first year of the Civil War.  By late 1862, Union troops were garrisoned at New Bern on the Neuse River, Washington Read More

Auxiliaries, Civil War

CSS WEBB’s Run for the Sea

                                                23-24 APRIL 1865                                     CSS WEBB’S RUN FOR THE SEA The 206-foot sidewheel steamboat William H. Webb started her career as a coastal steamer in New York in 1856.  She fell into Confederate hands in 1861 and was converted to a ram Read More

Auxiliaries, Coast Guard, WWII Atlantic

USCGC SPENCER vs. U-175

                                                  17 APRIL 1943                                         USCGC SPENCER vs. U-175 Ocean Escort Unit A-3, a multi-national collection of the US Coast Guard cutters SPENCER (WPG-36) and DUANE (WPG-33) along with the British corvette HMS DIANTHUS, the Canadian corvettes CHILLIWACK, ROSTHERN, TRILLIUM and DAUPHIN, and Read More

Battleships

MISSOURI Turret Fire

                                                  13 APRIL 1904                                          MISSOURI TURRET FIRE The first years of the 20th century were heady times.  The Wright brothers had achieved the first heavier-than-air flight only months before this date.  Theodore Roosevelt was President, and from a naval perspective, our nation Read More