25 OCTOBER 1944 DIVINE WIND Sometime after 1000 this morning five Japanese planes of LT Yukio Seki’s Shikishima special group took off from Malabacat, Luzon, and headed at wavetop level to the American ships off Samar. There, by 1050, RADM Clifton Read More
6-7 APRIL 1945 “FLOATING CHRYSANTHEMUMS” The Japanese plan for defense of Okinawa was known by the language characters “Ten-Go.” While defenders on land waged a battle of attrition, Japanese air and naval forces would engage the American invasion fleet. But the Read More
7 JANUARY 1945 THEODORE EDSON CHANDLER Theodore Edson Chandler was born at Annapolis on 26 December 1894 into a distinguished Navy family. His father, the future RADM Lloyd H. Chandler, attended the Naval Academy at the time. Young Chandler followed in Read More
12 APRIL 1945 USS MANNERT L. ABELE (DD-733) WWII generated a boom in warship construction such that the 23 April 1944 launch of the 42nd Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer from the Bath Iron Works in Maine hardly attracted unusual attention. She Read More
4 JANUARY 1945 USS OMMANEY BAY The twin-engine Japanese medium bomber, converted into a flying bomb herself, dove toward USS OMMANEY BAY (CVE-79). To the American crew it was a complete surprise! Screened by the numerous small Philippine islands nearby, Ommaney’s 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
21 FEBRUARY 1945 TWO CARRIERS IN HARM’S WAY As the third day of the battle for Iwo Jima began, the ships of Task Force 58 kept up their shore bombardment and their efforts against Japanese sea and air defenses. Indeed, on Read More
6 JANUARY 1945 CDR GEORGE F. DAVIS Since October 1944, the Allied assault on the 7000 islands of the Philippines had been steadily progressing. Leyte, Samar, and several more of the Visayans had fallen, though the main island of Luzon remained Read More