5 DECEMBER 1940 VANISHING COLLIERS The steam engine revolutionized naval architecture by freeing sea travel from slavery to the wind. But steam engines require a source of heat to make steam, and for decades around the turn of the 20th century Read More
NOVEMBER 1966 THE “APACHE” The cruelty experienced by American servicemen at the hands of the North Vietnamese confounds verbal description. Such was the case in “Indian Territory” in the northwest corner of South Vietnam in 1966, nicknamed for its rampant Viet Read More
22 NOVEMBER 1941 HMS DEVONSHIRE vs. ATLANTIS One of the Royal Navy’s early successes in WWII was the effort against German surface raiders. Indeed, KMS ATLANTIS had accumulated some impressive statistics by November 1941. Converted from the freighter SS Goldenfels, she Read More
27 OCTOBER-14 NOVEMBER 1824 FOXARDO AFFAIR (cont.) So often in history, the similar actions of separate individuals are interpreted quite differently in light of the background circumstances. In 1818, GEN Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida with US forces, capturing a Spanish Read More
27 OCTOBER-14 NOVEMBER 1824 FOXARDO AFFAIR With a splash, the anchor of USS BEAGLE hit the water of Foxardo harbor (modern Fajardo), Spanish Puerto Rico. The 3-gun US Navy schooner and her commander, LT Charles T. Platt, were in search of Read More
11 NOVEMBER 1940 GERMAN RAIDER ATLANTIS Recognizing at the outset of WWII that the Kriegsmarine had not the strength to match the Royal Navy’s warfleet, Hilter’s maritime strategy concentrated on guerre de course, interrupting the flow of merchant ships carrying the Read More
5 NOVEMBER 1940 MV SAN DEMETRIO The Eagle Oil and Shipping Company operated in England from 1912-59 moving petroleum products between Mexico, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. Each of their tankers was given the Spanish name of a Christian saint. Read More
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
25 OCTOBER 1862 MEDILL’S WILD-WEST CHASE Acting RADM David Dixon Porter decried enemy guerrilla actions along the Mississippi during the Civil War. From Mississippi Squadron headquarters in Cairo, Illinois, he wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that commercial river traffic Read More
20 OCTOBER 1924 DREXLER AND CHOLISTER OF TRENTON The light cruiser USS TRENTON (CL-11) was commissioned in April of 1924, one of the last of ten Omaha-class vessels authorized during WWI. The principal difference between light and heavy cruisers of that Read More