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
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
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
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
6-7 APRIL 1945 YAMATO’S DESPERATION SORTIE A second offshore phase of operation “Ten-Go” involved the Imperial Navy. Its warships were to sally forth and blast what remained of the Allied invasion fleet after the April 6th kikusui raid. But by this Read More
6-7 APRIL 1945 “FLOATING CHRYSANTHEMUMS” The Japanese plan for defense of Okinawa was known by the language characters “Ten-Go.” While defenders on land waged a battle of attrition, Japanese air and naval forces would engage the American invasion fleet. But the Read More
11 MARCH-25 MAY 1885 COLOMBIAN INTERVENTION As Prestan’s fires left 8,000 homeless in Colon, the rebellious Azipuru was stirring again on the Pacific side. Having initially been chased into the hills, Azipuru regained Panama City when Colombian troops crossed the isthmus Read More
16-31 MARCH 1885 PRESTAN’S UPRISING In the nineteenth century Panama was a province of Colombia. And in 1885, the Colombian populace became divided over the election of a conservative, Rafael Nunez, to the Presidency in Bogota. Localized political insurrections broke out, Read More
24 MARCH 1865 CSS STONEWALL In the early years of the Civil War Confederate agents engaged British shipbuilding firms in laying warships for the Confederacy. One such warship, Stonewall, was designed to be an able challenger to Union blockaders. In her Read More