Coast Guard, Recent 40 years

Mariel Boatlift

                                       15 APRIL-31 OCTOBER 1980                                               MARIEL BOATLIFT The Cuban economy took a nosedive in the 1970s.  Housing shortages and joblessness fueled popular dissent, yet Fidel Castro’s harsh restrictions on emigration appeared to condemn Cubans to a life of struggle.  Faced with possible Read More

Marines, Recent 40 years

Glenn’s Shuttle Mission

                                  29 OCTOBER-9 NOVEMBER 1998                                       GLENN’S SHUTTLE MISSION At 19 minutes after 1400 this afternoon, Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center roared to life with the lift-off of the space shuttle Discovery (OV-103).  COL Curtis L. Brown, Jr., commanded Mission Read More

Cruisers, Destroyers, Recent 40 years

Operation “Infinite Reach”

                                                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

Cruisers, Destroyers, Recent 40 years, Southwest Asia

Baghdad Missile Attack

                                                   26 JUNE 1993                                      BAGHDAD MISSILE ATTACK The decade following Operation “Desert Storm” was marked by Iraqi frustration over continuing United Nations sanctions and Coalition policing.  Then seemingly to rub salt in Iraq’s wounds, on 14 April 1993 a specially chartered Kuwait Read More

Cold War, Cruisers, Recent 40 years, Surface Navy

NECPA

                                               15 JANUARY 1961                                                         NECPA The demands of WWII by August 1942 led Congress to authorize eight heavy cruisers of the Oregon City-class.  But the long construction timetable for heavy warships prevented any from being launched prior to the end of the Read More

Civil War, Recent 40 years

The Purge

                                             28 DECEMBER 2020                                                     THE PURGE In the first decades of the 21st century, a series of untoward events involving minority citizens led to the assertion that racism is systemic in American society.  With the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Read More

Recent 40 years

Rescue at Sea

                                                30 AUGUST 1993                                                 RESCUE AT SEA Just after midnight 31 August 1993 a chopper from NAS North Island set down on Naval Medical Center San Diego’s pad to offload a patient, Eugene P. Scheller.  Mr. Scheller, the Chief Engineer on the Read More

Recent 40 years

Hijacking of TWA 847

                                                     14-30 JUNE 1985                                          HIJACKING OF TWA 847 At 1000 on Friday June 14th, TWA Flight 847 began rolling down the runway at Athens, Greece.  The Boeing 727 was bound for Rome on a flight that had originated in Cairo and Read More

Humanitarian, Recent 40 years

Operation “Noble Obelisk”

                                             30 MAY-3 JUNE 1997                                    OPERATION “NOBLE OBELISK” The Clinton administration’s National Security Strategy emphasized “selective engagement” in world affairs where US interests were at stake.  And by the mid-1990s, US armed forces had executed a dizzying succession of peacekeeping, non-combatant evacuations Read More