Naval Aviation, WWII Pacific

The Disappearance of Admiral Koga

                                         31 MARCH-1 APRIL 1944                          THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADMIRAL KOGA With the death of ADM Isoruku Yamamoto on 18 April 1943 command of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet passed to ADM Mineichi Koga.  In February 1944 Koga was forced by American air Read More

Naval Aviation, Recent 40 years

Operation “Prairie Fire”

                                              23-27 MARCH 1986                                       OPERATION “PRAIRIE FIRE” After Muslim strongman COL Muammar al-Kadhafi overthrew the monarchy in Libya in 1969, he began agitating against two perceived enemies, the US and Israel.  He defiantly and arbitrarily extended his territorial claims to include all Read More

Submarines, WWII Pacific

Last Transmission from KETE

                                                 20 MARCH 1945                                 LAST TRANSMISSION FROM KETE The fleet submarine KETE (SS-369) was launched 9 April 1944, one of the prolific Balao-class submarines that proved so successful in WWII.  Like most, she was named for a fish, in this case a Read More

Auxiliaries, Civil War, Surface Navy

USS NINA

                                                 15 MARCH 1910                                                       USS NINÀ The expansion of our fleet during the Civil War necessitated a supporting infrastructure that included a variety of yard craft.  In the latter years of that war, our Navy contracted for the construction of nine iron Read More

Cold War

Key West Conference

                                                 11 MARCH 1948                                         KEY WEST CONFERENCE The years following the end of WWII were tumultuous for the US military.  The atomic bomb that ended that war fundamentally changed strategic thinking.  Why bother with conventional forces when the answer to world conflict Read More

Age of Sail, Anti-Piracy, Gunboats

Death of LT Cocke

                                                  6 MARCH 1823                                            DEATH OF LT COCKE Piracy was rampant in the Caribbean of the early 19th century.  Independence movements in several Spanish New World colonies created the problem, as these new nations often sanctioned privateering against their former Spanish overlords.  Read More