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
1 APRIL 1944 VADM FUKUDOME AND PLAN “Z” After diverting to Cebu to escape the path of a violent storm, VADM Shigeru Fukudome’s “Emily” seaplane still found itself in dire straits. On the approach to Cebu’s harbor this dark night the Read More
31 MARCH-1 APRIL 1944 THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADMIRAL KOGA With the death of ADM Isoruku Yamamoto on 18 April 1943 command of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet passed to ADM Mineichi Koga. In February 1944 Koga was forced by American air Read More
20 MARCH 1945 LAST TRANSMISSION FROM KETE The fleet submarine KETE (SS-369) was launched 9 April 1944, one of the prolific Balao-class submarines that proved so successful in WWII. Like most, she was named for a fish, in this case a Read More
19 FEBRUARY 1945 THE FIGHTING FIELD MUSICIAN Darrell Samuel Cole could see the war clouds on the horizon in the Fall of 1941. Wanting to be ready to fight himself, on 25 August 1941 he enlisted in the United States Marine 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
30 DECEMBER 1944 USS PORCUPINE AND THE IX-TANKERS The Allied island-hopping drive across the Pacific in WWII created logistical problems for our Navy. Not the least was the need to fuel our massive naval and air fleets. Rather than build fixed Read More
2 DECEMBER 1943 THE LOSS OF CAPELIN LCDR Elliott E. “Steam” Marshall reported to the Portsmouth Navy Yard in the Spring 1943 as ordered. He had delivered his old command, USS CUTTLEFISH (SS-171), to New London at the end of 1942 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