Civil War, Gunboats

Battle of Elizabeth City (cont. from 8 FEB)

                                           10-11 FEBRUARY 1862                       BATTLE OF ELIZABETH CITY (cont. from 8 FEB) Union forces from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron had driven a Confederate “mosquito fleet” from Roanoke Island, and at 1430 on the afternoon of February 9th, CDR Stephen C. Rowan Read More

Civil War, Gunboats, Land Ops

Capture of Roanoke Island

                                             7-8 FEBRUARY 1862                                   CAPTURE OF ROANOKE ISLAND Fortress Monroe, situated at the entrance to Hampton Roads, was one of three forts south of the Mason-Dixon Line that remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War.  Confederate lines of communication were thus Read More

Age of Sail, Quasi-War with France

“My Post is Here!”

                                               2 FEBRUARY 1800                                              “MY POST IS HERE!” We remember 1787 as the year our founding fathers finalized our Constitution and sent it to the States for ratification.  Elsewhere that same year, a son was born to a prominent New Yorker, James Read More

Carriers, Naval Aviation

Fleet Problem IX

                                            23-27 JANUARY 1929                                              FLEET PROBLEM IX Between the World Wars, US military planners began to imagine the Pacific as a direction from which a future enemy might emerge.  They listed Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Alaska, and the Panama Canal as potential Read More

Gunboats, Surface Navy, WWII Pacific

PT-31 (cont. from 19 Jan)

                                            19-20 JANUARY 1942                                                           PT-31 Matters had run afoul for LT Edward G. DeLong and the 12-man crew of PT-31 soon after splitting company with PT-34.  The fuel strainers of his wing engines clogged, and the center engine failed shortly with an Read More

Gunboats, Surface Navy, WWII Pacific

Action in Subic Bay

                                            18–19 JANUARY 1942                                           ACTION IN SUBIC BAY The first five weeks of our involvement in World War II found US forces battling a Japanese onslaught in the Philippines.  On Luzon we were pushed farther and farther down the Bataan Peninsula, cut Read More

Cold War, Cruisers, Recent 40 years, Surface Navy

NECPA

                                               15 JANUARY 1961                                                         NECPA The demands of WWII by August 1942 led Congress to authorize eight heavy cruisers of the Oregon City-class.  But the long construction timetable for heavy warships prevented any from being launched prior to the end of the Read More

Auxiliaries, Civil War

Trouble at Lockwood Folly Inlet

                                               11 JANUARY 1863                            TROUBLE AT LOCKWOOD FOLLY INLET Lockwood Folly Inlet is a two-mile-wide break in the North Carolina coast south of Cape Fear.  It provides access to the Intercoastal Waterway and the Lockwood Folly River.  Its sand bars shift, making Read More

Carriers, Surface Navy, WWII Pacific

USS OMMANEY BAY

                                                4 JANUARY 1945                                               USS OMMANEY BAY The twin-engine Japanese medium bomber, converted into a flying bomb herself, dove toward USS OMMANEY BAY (CVE-79).  To the American crew it was a complete surprise!  Screened by the numerous small Philippine islands nearby, Ommaney’s Read More

Civil War, Recent 40 years

The Purge

                                             28 DECEMBER 2020                                                     THE PURGE In the first decades of the 21st century, a series of untoward events involving minority citizens led to the assertion that racism is systemic in American society.  With the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Read More