3 OCTOBER 1944 THE LOSS OF SHELTON (DE-407) On this day, Task Unit 77.4.3, affectionately known as “Taffy 3,” centered around the escort carriers FANSHAW BAY (CVE-70) and MIDWAY (CVE-63), was operating north of Morotai. The island had been taken quietly Read More
8 SEPTEMBER 1923 DEVIL’S ELBOW DISASTER On the map of California one will notice a prominence north of Santa Barbara at which the coast takes a sharp turn to head nearly east/west for 80 miles. This prominence, bounded by Point Arguello Read More
9 AUGUST 1942 USS JARVIS The morning of August 7th, 1942, saw the US Marines make their first landings on Japanese held Guadalcanal in the Solomon Island chain. The enemy counter attacked with airstrikes, the second coming around noon on the Read More
8-10 JUNE 1944 THE FIGHT TO SAVE GLENNON USS GLENNON (DD-620), JEFFERS (DD-621), and BUTLER (DD-636) spent June 7th close inshore against “Utah” beach, the former expending 430 five-inch rounds against enemy pillboxes and machine gun nests from which American Read More
6 JUNE 1944 CORRY CONTROVERSY The morning of 18 December 1941 dawned at the Charleston Navy Yard with palpable anticipation. Our citizenry was united against the Pearl Harbor attack only 11 days earlier, and this morning our Navy was set to Read More
17 MAY 1987 ATTACK ON USS STARK On 22 September 1980, years of animosity between Iran and Iraq erupted into a shooting war. Early in that conflict Iranian jets destroyed Iraq’s only Persian Gulf oil terminal, greatly hindering the flow of Read More
6-7 APRIL 1945 THREE NEAR MISSES Joining the fight off Okinawa was USS WESSON (DE-184). Destroyer escorts were a product of WWII, designed specifically for escorting ships against submarine attack. Some DEs were powered by oil-burning steam turbines, but WESSON bore Read More
24 JANUARY 1942 MAKASSAR STRAIT ACTION With the wreckage of the American fleet awash in Pearl Harbor, the Navy’s western Pacific squadron, known then as the Asiatic Fleet, found itself isolated. For the first four months of the war this fleet Read More
15-18 OCTOBER 1942 USS MEREDITH, DD-434 (cont.) In ten minutes, all to be seen of MEREDITH was floating debris, life rafts, and the black heads of sailors bobbing in a thick mat of oil. VIREO (AT-144) escaped the attack almost unscathed, Read More
15-18 OCTOBER 1942 USS MEREDITH, DD-434 The Gleaves-class destroyer USS MEREDITH (DD-434) was no stranger to the young War. After a brief stint in the Atlantic, MEREDITH transferred to the Pacific, where in April 1942 she screened HORNET (CV-8) on the Read More