USS DOLPHIN vs. Echo

                                                21 AUGUST 1858                                           USS DOLPHIN vs. ECHO Despite human slavery being a way of life in the antebellum American south, official US policy forbade trafficking in slaves as early as 1807.  On 3 March 1819 Congress granted President James Monroe the Read More

The BALTIMORE Incident (cont.)

                        16 NOVEMBER 1798                  THE BALTIMORE INCIDENT (cont.) As CAPT Isaac Philips approached Cuban waters a squadron of warships flying Spanish colors was sighted on the horizon.  They shifted to British colors and bore down on USS BALTIMORE, 20, and the nine Read More

The BALTIMORE Incident

                        16 NOVEMBER 1798                      THE BALTIMORE INCIDENT For five months the US Navy had been patrolling, President John Adams having ordered the protection of American shipping from French privateers during a brush with that nation known today as the “Quasi-War.”  October found Read More

“ABCD” Cruisers

                                                  12 APRIL 1884                                               “ABCD” CRUISERS By the end of the Civil War such advances as iron plate armor, steam propulsion, and large bore, rifled shell guns had poised our Navy on the cusp of technology.  But sadly, in the following decades Read More