Aug. 3, 2016

Nautical Terms and Naval Expressions - Uniform Edition

Sailors have terms and expressions for just about anything, so it comes as no surprise that there's a whole set of nautical terms and naval expressions that are related to parts of their uniforms. Here are a few you may or may not have heard of before: Bluejacket The term bluejacket is widely used today to refer to an enlisted Sailor below the rank

Aug. 1, 2016

Gaining New Appreciation for the Crew of USS Indianapolis

A torpedo ripping into the guts of a ship. Sailors scrambling, boilers exploding. The once-proud cruiser slipping beneath an uncaring ocean. And then an agonizing four day drift across the Pacific, with only a merciless sun, dehydration and sharks for company . . . These were the horrors that the surviving Sailors and Marines of USS Indianapolis

Aug. 1, 2016

Navy Lessons Learned from Sinking of Indianapolis

The sinking of USS Indianapolis (CA-35) provides many lessons to the contemporary United States Navy, officers and enlisted alike. It shows, perhaps above all else, that the worst can happen at any moment, even under sound and responsible leadership. The bravery showed by the Sailors and Marines through their ordeal stands as an example to their

July 29, 2016

Honoring Harvey C. Barnum, Jr, Medal of Honor Recipient

 Harvey C. "Barney" Barnum, Jr, is a retired United States Marine Corps officer who received the Medal of Honor for valor during the Vietnam War. After graduation from high school, he entered college and joined the Marine Corps? Platoon Leaders Class program. Upon graduation, he was commissioned a Marine Reserve second lieutenant. In October 1968,

July 29, 2016

Looking Beyond the Sharks: The Legacy of USS Indianapolis

With President Franklin D. Roosevelt on board, USS Indianapolis acts as the reviewing platform as a formation of eighteen TG-1/2 (or T4M-1) torpedo planes pass overhead, during the fleet review off New York City, 31 May 1934. The President is standing immediately in front of Indianapolis' second eight-inch gun turret. The ship at right, in the

July 29, 2016

The First WAVES

On July 30, 1942 President Roosevelt signed into law the establishment of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). Establishing the WAVES was a lengthy effort. Inter-war changes in the Naval Reserve legislation specifically limited service to men, so new legislation was essential. The next few months saw the commissioning of

July 29, 2016

Where was the USS Indianapolis When Sunk? Deck Logs of Tank Landing Ship Provide Key Details

Thomas Helm, a scholar and onetime crewman of USS Indianapolis (CA-35), described the loss of the ship in his 1963 Ordeal by Sea as follows: "Midnight [on 30 July 1945] a moderately heaving sea and clouds covering a half moon now nearly three hours old. The Indianapolis, with her 9,950 ton displacement spread over 610 feet, sliced her way westward

July 25, 2016

National Museum of the American Sailor

On July 3, 1911, the very first recruit arrived at Naval Training Station Great Lakes to report to the newly opened boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. Joseph Wallace Gregg was a slender seventeen-year old from Terre Haute, Indiana. He later recalled, "I was a little shy, homesick and didn't cut too much of a figure in my new Navy uniform,"

July 18, 2016

The Naval War College Museum

Tradition has it that on a late October's day in 1884, U.S. Navy Commodore Stephen B. Luce came ashore at Coasters Harbor Island - a site designated earlier that month by the Secretary of the Navy to be a place for a new kind of college in Newport, Rhode Island. Once ashore, Luce proceeded to a large stone building, the former Newport Asylum for

July 15, 2016

South Dakota's Naval History

When you think of South Dakota, you may not immediately think of the U.S. Navy. But, did you know at least 9 ships have been named after the state, its cities, places, and people? Here are a couple:USS South Dakota (BB 57) USS South Dakota, lead ship of a class of 35,000-ton battleships, was built at Camden, New Jersey. She was commissioned in