Civil War

The Plot to Capture MONITOR

                                                  11 APRIL 1862                                  THE PLOT TO CAPTURE MONITOR The historic battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862 between CSS VIRGINIA (the ex-USS MERRIMACK) and USS MONITOR ended in a draw.  Plate iron had proven its value.  In fact, MONITOR had Read More

Destroyers, WWII Pacific

Three Near Misses

                                                  6-7 APRIL 1945                                             THREE NEAR MISSES Joining the fight off Okinawa was USS WESSON (DE-184).  Destroyer escorts were a product of WWII, designed specifically for escorting ships against submarine attack.  Some DEs were powered by oil-burning steam turbines, but WESSON bore Read More

Naval Aviation, WWII Pacific

VADM Fukudome and Plan “Z”

                                                   1 APRIL 1944                                  VADM FUKUDOME AND PLAN “Z” After diverting to Cebu to escape the path of a violent storm, VADM Shigeru Fukudome’s “Emily” seaplane still found itself in dire straits.  On the approach to Cebu’s harbor this dark night the Read More

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

Age of Sail, Civil War

The First Forty-Niners

                                              28 FEBRUARY 1849                                        THE FIRST FORTY-NINERS In the frosty chill of the morning of 24 January 1848, a millwright named James T. Marshall walked the length of a newly dug millrace off the American River in the foothills of California’s Sierra Read More