28 NOVEMBER 1775 THE CAPTURE OF NANCY As GEN George Washington watched Boston from the Dorchester Heights during the Fall of 1775, he noted how easily the British kept their forces supplied by sea. While Washington’s army scrounged for food, uniforms, Read More
10 NOVEMBER 1822 USS SHARK VS. Caroline Officially, the US government banned American participation in the African slave trade in 1808, although enforcement was not attempted until our Navy began patrolling off West Africa in 1820. Two years later those patrols Read More
28 JULY 1861 CONFEDERATE PRIVATEER PETREL When South Carolina seceded from the Union on 20 December 1860, the State’s officials seized Federal property including the US Revenue Cutter Service schooner WILLIAM AIKEN, 2, who had operated out of Charleston since 1855. Read More
28-29 JUNE 1861 ST. NICHOLAS HIGHJACKING At 1600 on Friday, June 28th, the civilian steam packet St. Nicholas left Baltimore on her regular run to three stops in the District of Columbia. She carried her usual fare of freight as well Read More
25 JUNE 1859 “BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER” During the first half of the 19th century several Western nations, particularly England and France, opened trade with China. Several, including the United States, maintained naval forces in the region to protect Read More
31 MAY 2002 FIRST NAVY JACK In the days of sail, ships at sea identified themselves by flying their national flag, called an “ensign,” a term carried over from European heraldry. To be most visible, it was flown from the tallest Read More
29 APRIL 1816 SHIPS-OF-THE-LINE Until the 16th century, navies, like land forces, relied mostly on hand-to-hand fighting to defeat an enemy. Tactics required warships to ram or grapple each other, then send across assault troops to attack the enemy’s crew. Fighting Read More
20 APRIL 1779 CONFLICT OF INTEREST Enlisting sailors into wartime service in the earliest days of our Navy was quite a task. Navy life was hard and risky, rewards were few, punishments were harsh and frequent, time away from home was Read More
12 APRIL 1884 “ABCD” CRUISERS By the end of the Civil War such advances as iron plate armor, steam propulsion, and large bore, rifled shell guns had poised our Navy on the cusp of technology. But sadly, in the following decades Read More
6 APRIL 1917 FIRST US SHOT OF WWI The US stood by in the summer of 1914 when Serbia, Austro-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France, and Britain were plunged into WWI. For nearly the next three years we held ourselves neutral, and as Read More