24 SEPTEMBER-24 OCTOBER 1944 LAST CRUISE OF TANG The Balao-class WWII submarine USS TANG (SS-306) had amassed an enviable 18 ship sinkings totaling 120,476 tons, including a tender and two military transports, on her first four patrols. On 24 September 1944, Read More
25 SEPTEMBER 1919 RADM WILLIAM S. BENSON, USN In the years before WWI, the Secretary of the Navy took a more hands-on approach to day-to-day Navy activities. He was assisted by the Chiefs of the eight Bureaus in matters such as Read More
18-23 SEPTEMBER 1863 “TERROR OF THE CHESAPEAKE” John Yates Beall was born New Year’s Day, 1839, on a farm in Walnut Grove, Virginia (now West Virginia). His dreams of studying law seemed to come true when he was admitted to the University of Read More
12 SEPTEMBER 1857 SS CENTRAL AMERICA (cont.) The first waves to crash over the steamer sent panic into the passengers and shipped more water through the portholes. Herndon ordered sail unfurled to hold the ship head-up, but the vicious winds mercilessly shredded the Read More
12 SEPTEMBER 1857 SS CENTRAL AMERICA The US Mail Steamship Line was a government underwritten packet steamer company running the US Mail as well as passengers and cargo between New York and New Orleans in the mid-1800s. After the Mexican War a similar Read More
6 SEPTEMBER 1776 FIRST SUBMARINE The world’s first operational submarine was the brainchild of physician and inventor David Bushnell while a student at Yale College in 1771. During the 1775 British blockade of Boston, he and his brother Ezra gave the idea physical Read More