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

Civil War, Surface Navy

Blockade Running

                                             21 DECEMBER 1863                                            BLOCKADE RUNNING The effect of Lincoln’s naval blockade of the Confederacy was starting to tell by the end of 1861, as cotton and tobacco began piling up on southern wharves.  Unable to move their major exports, the agrarian Read More

Cold War, Espionage

John Walker Spy Ring (cont.)

                                       DECEMBER 1967-MAY 1985                                    JOHN WALKER SPY RING (cont.) The Soviets were indeed interested in what RMC John Walker had brought!  After waiting in a Soviet embassy anteroom while the authenticity of his KL-47 keylist was verified, an official returned to Walker Read More

Cold War, Espionage

John Walker Spy Ring

                                       DECEMBER 1967-MAY 1985                                         JOHN WALKER SPY RING By the late 1960s, US Navy top-secret operations were routinely shadowed by Russian “trawlers” bristling with antennae.  B-52 airstrikes against North Vietnam seemed to be anticipated by the enemy, even when diverted to secondary Read More

Land Ops, Revolutionary War

The Battle of Great Bridge

                                              9 DECEMBER 1775                                   THE BATTLE OF GREAT BRIDGE Modern sailors stationed in the Norfolk area may be familiar with Battlefield Boulevard and Great Bridge, whose story follows. GEN George Washington worried that the British might become lodged in Norfolk, Virginia.  Then Read More

Gunboats, Surface Navy, WWII Pacific

ISABEL’s Secret Sortie

                                              3 DECEMBER 1941                                         ISABEL’S SECRET SORTIE The 245-foot USS ISABEL (PY-10) was left over from WWI, built in 1917 to be the personal yacht of millionaire John North Willys (of Willys jeep fame).  She had been requisitioned on the ways by Read More