24 NOVEMBER 1992 US DEPARTS THE PHILIPPINES The presence of American military bases in the Philippines was a consequence of our acquisition of that archipelago in 1898 after the Spanish-American war. When independence was granted to the Republic of the Philippines Read More
TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY 24 OCTOBER-14 NOVEMBER 1995 THE LAST CRUISE OF DIXON At 1600 on the sunny Tuesday afternoon of 24 October 1995 the L.Y. Spear-class submarine tender USS DIXON (AS-37) cast off from middle pier at SubBase Point Read More
27 OCTOBER 1948 THE BERLIN AIRLIFT After the surrender of the Axis, the major Allied powers occupied Germany’s territory under a divided arrangement. Then shortly, France, England, the US, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg began working to rebuild the tattered German 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
11 AUGUST 1958 OPENING THE ARCTIC The 1950s saw the United States embroiled in a “Cold War” to halt the spread of Soviet Communism. Indeed, by the late 50s the Soviets, once thought to be technologically backward, appeared to have a Read More
7 APRIL 1954 THE DOMINO THEORY In March 1938, (then) LCOL Dwight D. Eisenhower watched Hitler convince the Austrians to join an Anschluss (alliance) with Nazi Germany. Seven months later Hitler annexed the Sudetenland (eastern Czechoslovakia). The whole of Czechoslovakia fell Read More
15 JUNE 1959 NAS SIGONELLA After World War II, Americans found it impossible to return to the isolation from European events we had enjoyed since our Revolution. The vast Atlantic and Pacific Oceans no longer presented obstacles to an attacker, and Read More
7 APRIL 1966 LOST H-BOMB Considering the pace of Cold War activities in the 1960s, accidents were bound to happen. Such was the case on 17 January 1966 when an Air Force B-52 collided with a KC-135 tanker during an aerial Read More
7 MARCH 1960 NAVY ICEBREAKERS The 1950s was a decade of scientific endeavor in such far reaching environments as outer space, the deep ocean, and Antarctica. With respect to the latter, the US Navy cooperated with the International Geophysical Year 1955 Read More