The Gunboat Navy

                        28 FEBRUARY 1803                         THE GUNBOAT NAVY “We are sacrificing everything to navigation and a Navy,” was candidate Thomas Jefferson’s slogan in the presidential election campaign of 1799-1800.  Jefferson was an agrarian Southerner, distrustful of New England merchants and skeptical of our Read More

Vung Ro Incident

                               TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY                         16 FEBRUARY 1965                         VUNG RO INCIDENT In 1965, the US was becoming more heavily involved in Vietnam with each passing day.  Though war had not been declared and we were officially only “advising” the South Vietnamese, Read More

GREENEVILLE Collision

                        9 FEBRUARY 2001                      GREENEVILLE COLLISION At 0800 local time this day, USS GREENEVILLE (SSN-772) departed Pearl Harbor carrying 14 corporate CEOs, a civilian sportswriter, and his wife for a submarine demonstration cruise as part of the Navy’s Distinguished Visitor Embarkation program.  Read More

WATER WITCH Incident

                               1 FEBRUARY 1855                              WATER WITCH INCIDENT Our Navy launched a series of geographical explorations in the 19th century, focusing in part on South and Central America.  Here, the US had both strategic interests, in terms of the Monroe Doctrine prohibiting European Read More

Reconnaissance-in-Force

                       26-29 JANUARY 1862                     RECONNAISSANCE-IN-FORCE By January 1862, Union MGEN Thomas W. Sherman was ready to attempt to close the Savannah River, isolating the city of Savannah lying 15 miles upstream.  But the mouth of that river was guarded by masonry Fort Read More