USS WOODBURY and the Pastry War

                                             29 NOVEMBER 1838                            USS WOODBURY AND THE PASTRY WAR The Mexican Federalist War of 1835-41 pitted the aristocratic Centralist Mexican rulers against the federalist peasantry of the provinces.  Foreign businessmen in Mexico who suffered collateral damages from Centralist Mexican Army operations Read More

HMS DEVONSHIRE vs. ATLANTIS

                                             22 NOVEMBER 1941                                    HMS DEVONSHIRE vs. ATLANTIS One of the Royal Navy’s early successes in WWII was the effort against German surface raiders.  Indeed, KMS ATLANTIS had accumulated some impressive statistics by November 1941.  Converted from the former freighter SS Goldenfels, Read More

Action at the Pearl River Forts

                                           15-22 NOVEMBER 1856                              ACTION AT THE PEARL RIVER FORTS By the mid-19th century, most western nations had established commercial enterprises in China.  China was, at the time, internally fractionated and militarily weak, and England, in particular, exploited this situation to compel Read More

The French Problem and Operation “Torch” (cont.)

                                            8-16 NOVEMBER 1942             THE FRENCH PROBLEM AND OPERATION “TORCH” (cont.) The landing of 84,000 American troops in French North Africa brought the full rage of Vichy President Marshal Philippe Pétain against President Franklin Roosevelt.  “It is with stupor and sadness that Read More

The French Problem and Operation “Torch”

                                              8 NOVEMBER 1942                   THE FRENCH PROBLEM AND OPERATION “TORCH” After the fall of France to the wehrmacht in June of 1940, der Fuhrer was content to allow France to be divided.  A German puppet government centered in the city of Vichy Read More

Airplane on a Submarine

                                            100th ANNIVERSARY                                               5 NOVEMBER 1923                                     AIRPLANE ON A SUBMARINE Several 20th century navies experimented with the deployment of aircraft from a submarine, but the Japanese are perhaps the best remembered.  They successfully operated combat aircraft from their I-class submarines–famously launching Read More