1-2 NOVEMBER 1944 USS BORIE vs. U-405 (cont.) With the two combatants stuck fast and grinding together in the 20-foot swell, the tenor of the battle shifted to that more common in the age of sail. Sailors from each side began Read More
1-2 NOVEMBER 1944 USS BORIE vs. U-405 One of the most effective defenses against German U-boats of WWII was the escort carrier hunter-killer group. These teamed destroyers with small deck aircraft carriers, whose F4F Wildcats and sundry other aircraft could Read More
26 January 2019 Zumwalt-Class Destroyers The Gulf War of 1990-91 saw the last deployment of our vaunted WWII-era battleships—in naval gunfire support for ground operations ashore. By then, the cost of maintaining our battleship fleet had become prohibitive. Yet Congress was keen Read More
18-20 DECEMBER 1944 MONAGHAN vs. THE TEMPEST The Pacific war was a long one for USS MONAGHAN (DD-354). She was the ready destroyer at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941 and was just getting underway to investigate a 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
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
16 JUNE 1944 “NERO” OF GUAM On 21 July 1944 the USMC landed on the Marianas island of Guam–the second island in that archipelago to be retaken from the enemy. Guam was defended by 19,000 Japanese under LGEN Takeshi Takashima, but Read More
13-17 MAY 1944 PERSISTENCE… At 1400 on 13 May 1944, CDR George C. Wright of DESRON 21 was ordered to take USS GLEAVES (DD-423), NIELDS (DD-616) and MACOMB (DD-458) out of Oran, Algeria, to search for a submarine that had torpedoed Read More
26 MARCH 1945 USS HALLIGAN The bloody and bitter fight for Iwo Jima had barely begun to quiet before the next target on the relentless march toward Japan was determined–Okinawa. Here the Marines expected yet another tenacious fight to the death Read More
20 AUGUST 1998 OPERATION “INFINITE REACH” Osama bin Laden had already earned the respect of senior Islamic extremists for his efforts, both financial and personal, supporting the mujakideem against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Bin Laden became further incensed during Operations Read More