5-9 OCTOBER 1846 CYANE AT GUYAMAS On this afternoon of the Mexican War, CDR Samuel F. Du Pont brought the 20-gun sloop USS Cyane into the seaside harbor of Guyamas on the Sonoran mainland of western Mexico. His and other US Read More
18-23 SEPTEMBER 1863 “TERROR OF THE CHESAPEAKE” John Yates Beall was born New Year’s Day, 1839, on a farm in Walnut Grove, Virginia (now West Virginia). His dreams of studying law seemed to come true when he was admitted to the University of Read More
18-20 MAY 1863 THE YAZOO CITY SHIPYARD After the failure of the Yazoo Pass expedition before Confederate Fort Pemberton in March 1863, MGEN Ulysses Grant adopted a new strategy against Vicksburg, the last and most menacing Rebel city preventing Union control Read More
29-30 APRIL 1945 STAFFORD vs. MANCHEN Convoy KN-382 coursed its way slowly north from Key West to New York, this night reaching a position 98 miles east of Cape Henry. The long war looked to be winding down, at least in Read More
13 MARCH 1865 SKIRMISH AT FORT LOWRY We are familiar with inspiring stories of epic battles and heroic sailors, but the day-to-day operations of Civil War gunboats were often less dramatic. The Potomac Flotilla, tasked with protecting Washington, DC, and the Read More
10-11 FEBRUARY 1862 BATTLE OF ELIZABETH CITY (cont. from 8 FEB) Union forces from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron had driven a Confederate “mosquito fleet” from Roanoke Island, and at 1430 on the afternoon of February 9th, CDR Stephen C. Rowan Read More
7-8 FEBRUARY 1862 CAPTURE OF ROANOKE ISLAND Fortress Monroe, situated at the entrance to Hampton Roads, was one of three forts south of the Mason-Dixon Line that remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War. Confederate lines of communication were thus Read More
19-20 JANUARY 1942 PT-31 Matters had run afoul for LT Edward G. DeLong and the 12-man crew of PT-31 soon after splitting company with PT-34. The fuel strainers of his wing engines clogged, and the center engine failed shortly with an Read More
18–19 JANUARY 1942 ACTION IN SUBIC BAY The first five weeks of our involvement in World War II found US forces battling a Japanese onslaught in the Philippines. On Luzon we were pushed farther and farther down the Bataan Peninsula, cut Read More
3 DECEMBER 1941 ISABEL’S SECRET SORTIE The 245-foot USS ISABEL (PY-10) was left over from WWI, built in 1917 to be the personal yacht of millionaire John North Willys (of Willys jeep fame). She had been requisitioned on the ways by Read More