9 SEPTEMBER 1942 OREGON FIREBOMBING “All is ready, Sir,” reported Warrant Flying Officer Nubuo Fujita to his skipper, CDR Meiji Tagami, of the submarine I-25. “Very well. Good luck, Fujita.” With that Fujita and his flight observer Petty Officer Shoji Okuda Read More
7 JUNE 1981 ATTACK ON OSIRAQ Amos Yadlin dropped the nose of his heavily loaded F-16 straight down the “chute” out of the setting sun at 480 knots. The 30-foot arching dome of Saddam Hussein’s nearly completed nuclear reactor Osiraq (a Read More
17 MAY 2025 BROOKLYN BRIDGE COLLISION ARM CUAUHTÉMOC (BE-01) is the Mexican Navy’s three-masted sail training ship. She remembers the last Aztec emperor during the 1520-21 Spanish conquest and associated smallpox epidemic. Launched in September 1982, she is one of four sisters, Read More
6-7 APRIL 1945 YAMATO’S DESPERATION SORTIE A second offshore phase of operation “Ten-Go” involved the Imperial Navy. Its warships were to sally forth and blast what remained of the Allied invasion fleet after the April 6th kikusui raid. But by this Read More
9 FEBRUARY 1945 OPERATION “CAESAR” On 5 December 1944 the Type IX long-range U-boat U-864 departed Kiel, northern Germany, for Penang, Indochina (modern Malaysia). The Japanese coveted German jet aircraft technology and U-864’s mission was to transport Messerschmitt “Swallow” jet engine Read More
12-19 NOVEMBER 1814 McGOWAN’S RAID The British and American naval fleets on Lake Ontario contested that region throughout the War of 1812. In fact, the British began the 1814 fighting season by chasing American Commodore CAPT Isaac Chauncey’s squadron from its Read More
31 OCTOBER-28 NOVEMBER 1873 VIRGINIUS AFFAIR Historically our Navy has been tasked with the protection of American citizens overseas, as witnessed by a nearly explosive brush with Spain in 1873. Cuban rebels were well into their 40-year struggle for independence from Read More
21 OCTOBER 1805 THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR (cont.) Watching the British advance, Villeneuve ordered his fleet into a traditional line-ahead (historians suspect a lack-luster execution was made in spite of Villeneuve’s suspicion that Nelson might break his line). The vacillating Villeneuve Read More
21 OCTOBER 1805 THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR It was the fifth year of Napoleon Bonaparte’s fifteen-year empire-building reign in France. Having already conquered Belgium, the Low Countries, Spain, and much of Italy, Napoleon’s next target was England. He planned a cross-channel Read More
16-18 OCTOBER 1775 THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH Royal Navy North American theater commander, VADM Samuel Graves, took a hardline against the rebellious activities of Patriots in New England’s coastal towns. He ordered Royal Navy LT Henry Mowat in HMS CANCEAUX, 6, Read More