First Submarine Rescue

                                     100th ANNIVERSARY                                                28 OCTOBER 1923                                       FIRST SUBMARINE RESCUE When the four O-class US Navy submarines O-3 (SS-135), O-5 (SS-137), O-6 (SS-138) and O-8 (SS-140) were vectored to the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal for a routine transit on the Read More

Quarantine of Cuba

                                 24 OCTOBER-21 NOVEMBER 1962                                          QUARANTINE OF CUBA On the 14th of October, 1962, a high-flying Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane photographed what appeared to be a missile base under construction at San Cristobal, Cuba.  Shortly it was learned that Soviet Il-28 Read More

John Brown’s Raid

                                            16-18 OCTOBER 1859                                             JOHN BROWN’S RAID From the 1830s, the American public became increasingly polarized over the issue of slavery.  Violence erupted for the first time in Alton, Illinois, in November 1837, when an angry mob raided the home of Elijah Read More

USS SHENANDOAH Commissioning

                                            100th ANNIVERSARY                                                10 OCTOBER 1923                                USS SHENANDOAH COMMISSIONING The need to see beyond the horizon prompted militarists of the American Civil War to experiment with manned observation balloons.  From these humble beginnings military lighter-than-air (LTA) technology approached its zenith in Read More

The Tragedy of SEAWOLF

                                                3 OCTOBER 1944                                       THE TRAGEDY OF SEAWOLF The Sargo-class fleet submarine SEAWOLF (SS-197) was a veteran of the Pacific war by this date, having served nearly continuously since the Pearl Harbor raid.  The 71,608 tons of enemy shipping she had sent Read More

The Loss of SHELTON (DE-407)

                                                3 OCTOBER 1944                                   THE LOSS OF SHELTON (DE-407) On this day, Task Unit 77.4.3, affectionately known as “Taffy 3,” centered around the escort carriers FANSHAW BAY (CVE-70) and MIDWAY (CVE-63), was operating north of Morotai.  The island had been taken quietly Read More