Kellogg-Briand Pact

                                                27 AUGUST 1928                                         KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT World War I left a scar on the psyche of the Western hemisphere.  Northern France was left a moonscape of stripped forests, ghost villages, and farmland rendered permanently useless by unexploded ordnance.  The 117,000 American fighting Read More

Not Above Making a Buck!

                                                22 AUGUST 1863                                    NOT ABOVE MAKING A BUCK! Blockade running during our Civil War was a profitable enterprise for those who were successful.  The running of war materials brought a handsome price, but even higher profit margins accompanied “luxury” items, such Read More

Cruise of CSS TALLAHASSEE

                                              6-23 AUGUST 1864                                      CRUISE OF CSS TALLAHASSEE One of the more successful efforts of the Confederacy during the Civil War was their campaign against Union commercial shipping.  CSS TALLAHASSEE was one such raider, a sleek and fast cruiser built in England Read More

Opening the Arctic

                                                11 AUGUST 1958                                            OPENING THE ARCTIC The 1950s saw the United States embroiled in a “Cold War” to halt the spread of Soviet Communism.  Indeed, by the late 50s the Soviets, once thought to be technologically backward, appeared to have a Read More

CDR Tunis Craven, Hero of Mobile Bay

                                                 5 AUGUST 1864                        CDR TUNIS CRAVEN, HERO OF MOBILE BAY To a boy from Portsmouth, NH, the life of the sea seemed natural, thus, when Tunis Augustus MacDonough Craven was appointed a Midshipman on 2 February 1829, no one was surprised.  Read More

Last Call from GRUNION

                                                   30 JULY 1942                                       LAST CALL FROM GRUNION On 30 June 1942, LCDR Mannert L. Abele conned the new Gato-class submarine USS GRUNION (SS-216) out of Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol.  WWII was seven months old, and the first glimmers Read More

LIONs, CUBs, and NAS Cubi Point

                                                   25 JULY 1956                                LIONS, CUBS, AND NAS CUBI POINT WWII’s clouds were gathering in the late 1930s, and it was increasingly recognized that existing naval bases along our Atlantic and Pacific seaboards would be inadequate to fully support operations thousands of Read More

SAN DIEGO Lost

                                                   19 JULY 1918                                                SAN DIEGO LOST Almost as our ten Pennsylvania and Tennessee-class armored cruisers entered service at the turn of the 20th century they were rendered obsolete by advances in technology and dreadnaught design.  By the entry of the US Read More

USS ASP vs. Overwhelming Odds

                                                   14 JULY 1813                                USS ASP vs. OVERWHELMING ODDS In February of 1813 our nation was struggling once again against the naval superpower of the day, Britain, and fears of a British incursion into the Chesapeake were real.  Our Navy was no Read More

“This Can’t Be Good”

                                                   10 JULY 1975                                           “THIS CAN’T BE GOOD” “This can’t be good,” Chief Paul DeLange thought to himself as he stood on the deck of the attack submarine USS FINBACK (SSN-670) early this morning overseeing the aft line handlers.  Disco music blared Read More