21 OCTOBER 1805 THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR It was the fifth year of Napoleon Bonaparte’s fifteen-year empire-building reign in France. Having already conquered Belgium, the Low Countries, Spain, and much of Italy, Napoleon’s next target was England. He planned a cross-channel Read More
16-18 OCTOBER 1775 THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH Royal Navy North American theater commander, VADM Samuel Graves, took a hardline against the rebellious activities of Patriots in New England’s coastal towns. He ordered Royal Navy LT Henry Mowat in HMS CANCEAUX, 6, Read More
12 OCTOBER 2000 USS COLE BOMBING On January 3rd, 2000, the destroyer THE SULLIVANS (DDG-68) moored in the port of Aden, Yemen, for refueling. While her crew worked, unseen Al-Queda operatives pushed a small boat loaded with explosives into the harbor. But Read More
6-16 OCTOBER 1859 SECOND FIJIAN EXPEDITION American traders plying the Pacific in the 19th century occasionally ran afoul of angry natives. Such was the case in the summer of 1859 with two sailors from a US merchant freighter. They were captured Read More
TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY 25 SEPTEMBER 1899 THE CAPTURE OF URDANETA The autumn of 1898 saw the end of the Spanish-American war and the ceding of the Philippine Islands from Spain to the United States. Militant Filipinos who had been Read More
20 SEPTEMBER 1975 – 21 SEPTEMBER 2005 THE “SPRU-CANS” By the 1960s our aging fleet of WWII Allen M. Sumner and Gearing-class destroyers was increasingly inadequate against the growing threat of Soviet submarines. A more capable platform for convoy escort and Read More
14 SEPTEMBER 1861 THE FIRING OF JUDAH Had other theaters of the early Civil War not been in the limelight, the tension at Pensacola might have been keener. The Confederates held the Pensacola Navy Yard and Forts Barrancas and McRee guarding Read More
9 SEPTEMBER 1965 STOCKDALE SHOOT-DOWN The cockpit clock in his A-4 Skyhawk read 1210 as he pushed over toward a line of railroad cars at 400 knots. Bad weather over Vinh, North Vietnam, had forced a diversion to this familiar secondary Read More
3 SEPTEMBER 1804 BOMBSHIP INTREPID One of the first missions assigned to our fledgling Navy around the turn of the 19th century was the protection of US merchant shipping from the piracy of the southern Mediterranean Barbary States of Tripoli, Algeria, Read More