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
23 APRIL 1924 THE RUM WAR On 16 January 1920, the 18th Amendment enacting Prohibition became the law of the land. But the US Coast Guard, tasked with seaborne anti-smuggling duties, found herself unprepared. She could muster only 30 sea-going cutters Read More