28 FEBRUARY 1945 PhM1c JOHN HARLAN WILLIS By D-Day + 9 on Iwo Jima, intense fighting was raging in several acres of low hills and gullies that would come to be known as the “meat grinder” just west of the central Read More
25-28 FEBRUARY 1814 ESCAPE OF ENTERPRISE Part of our Navy’s upsizing for the War of 1812 was the strengthening of several schooners then in service. Extra guns and extra crewmen were added, but at the cost of making the spritely schooners Read More
17-18 FEBRUARY 1944 OPERATION “HAILSTORM” Truk (now Chuuk) along with Yap, Pohnpei, and Korsae, comprise the Federated States of Micronesia in the South Pacific. An encircling reef forms Chuuk’s outer perimeter, creating a large, sheltered lagoon 40 miles in diameter that Read More
13 FEBRUARY 1917 SOMEONE HAD TO BE FIRST The seaplane was essential to our Navy and Marine Corps in the earliest days of military aviation. With the aircraft carrier years away from reality, planes operating from ships at sea needed to Read More
9 FEBRUARY 1945 OPERATION “CAESAR” On 5 December 1944 the Type IX long-range U-boat U-864 departed Kiel, northern Germany, for Penang, Indochina (modern Malaysia). The Japanese coveted German jet aircraft technology and U-864’s mission was to transport Messerschmitt “Swallow” jet engine Read More
4-5 FEBRUARY 1864 USS SASSACUS vs. NUTFIELD Blockade running was a complicated pursuit even for the most skilled of seamen. European goods were shipped to staging points in Bermuda, the Bahamas, or the Caribbean. Here, smaller, sleek, fast ships would load Read More