15 MAY 1812 PRELUDE TO THE WAR OF 1812 At the turn of the 19th century the territory that is now Florida was Spanish. This fact was of no reassurance to the administration of President James Madison in 1811. Spain was Read More
10 MAY 1972 CUNNINGHAM vs. “COL TOMB” The title of “ace” has never been officially recognized by the US military. It originated in the French air force of WWI for whom it was a formal honor conferred on pilots downing five Read More
5 MAY 1942 NAVAJO CODE TALKERS On the night of 26 October 1918 two WWI companies of the Army’s 142nd Infantry became trapped near Chufilly, France. To affect their withdrawal in the face of German radio code breaking prowess, the Army 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
23 APRIL 1924 THE RUM WAR On 16 January 1920, the 18th Amendment enacting Prohibition became the law of the land. But the US Coast Guard, tasked with seaborne anti-smuggling duties, found herself unprepared. She could muster only 30 sea-going cutters 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
16 APRIL 1856 THE END OF PRIVATEERING Against the powerful and threatening Spanish Navy of the 1580s, Queen Elizabeth I of England commissioned civilian sea captains to arm their vessels and raid Spanish shipping. Such notables as Francis Drake, John Hawkyns, 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
31 MARCH 2004 GOODBYE TO ROOSEY While serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the 1920s, Franklin Roosevelt asked for the establishment of a naval base on eastern Puerto Rico. He even suggested it be named after his cousin, former Read More