March 13, 2019

A Future CNO's Trial by Fire

In 1930, Lt. Forrest P. Sherman authored an article for U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, one of many the prolific writer submitted to the journal during the interwar years. The title was "Some Aspects of Carrier and Cruiser Design," and in it Sherman outlined the various classes of aircraft carrier required in the fleet of the future, and provided

Feb. 25, 2019

A Century of Service with the U.S. Navy Photo Archive

January 2019 marked the 100-year anniversary of the creation of the U.S. Navy's Photo Archive, currently held at the Naval History and Heritage Command at the Washington Navy Yard. The Navy's collection of historical records predates the National Archives (established in 1934) and originally began in the Office of Naval Records and Library

Feb. 25, 2019

Lt. "Rose Bowl" Miller Graduates from Gridiron Glory to WWII Legend

The USS Strong  (DD 467), a WWII destroyer sunk by a Japanese torpedo in July 1943 in the Battle for Kula Gulf, has been located on the Pacific seafloor by the Research Vessel Petrel.The wreck serves as a watery grave for at least 46 U.S. Navy Sailors. Its discovery has rekindled a uniquely American story of remarkable resiliency, grit,

Feb. 22, 2019

Strong Crew, and Rescue, Set Sailor Standards for Initiative and Toughness

On February 21st, 2019, NAVADMIN 039/19 directed the Navy to return to the union jack beginning Tuesday June 4, 2019. That is, of course, the anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Some 77 years later, the Navy and the nation are again in a Great Power Competition, specifically with China and Russia. The return to the union jack is a nod to the very

Feb. 22, 2019

Remembering the U.S. Navy's Iranian Evacuation of 1979

Forty years ago this week, as American citizens and other foreign nationals were scrambling to flee Iran following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, four U.S. Navy ships were off the coast in international waters preparing for an evacuation operation. I was on one of those ships, the San Diego-based guided missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 31). We

Feb. 20, 2019

Osmond Kelly Ingram

Osmond Kelly Ingram was born in Oneonta, Alabama, a small town north of Birmingham, on Aug. 4, 1887. His father, Robert, and his mother, Naomi, were both born in Tennessee but moved to south to Alabama with their growing family. Robert Ingram was a local preacher at a Methodist and Episcopal church, as well as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Growing

Feb. 20, 2019

Wasp Sailor Survives Sinking

Don Cruse of El Paso joined the Navy in July 1938, at the age of 17, wanting to see more of the world than the vast landscape of Texas, eventually experiencing the Navy life in the crew of a destroyer, sleeping in a hammock, and using one bucket of water a day to wash both his working uniform and himself. He recalled being mesmerized at the time by

Feb. 15, 2019

Lessons in Leadership: Stephen Decatur

Editor's note: "Why We Do What We Do" is an initiative CNO Richardson asked the Naval History and Heritage Command to help share with the fleet. Each month, our historians will dissect a seminal moment in our Navy's past and then highlight the lessons we learned. The purpose, is to ground today's Sailors in their history and heritage by explaining

Feb. 13, 2019

The End of Hornet - Part 3

As a 19-year-old seaman who had been in the Navy for about a year and a half, Richard Nowatzki's ship USS Hornet (CV 8) was mortally wounded in the intense World War II Battle of Santa Cruz Islands.In this first-hand account, from his book Memoirs of a Navy Major, Nowatzki shares his experiences in the extraordinarily brutal and dangerous

Feb. 13, 2019

The End of Hornet - Part 2

As a 19-year-old seaman who had been in the Navy for about a year and a half, Richard Nowatzki's ship USS Hornet (CV 8) was mortally wounded in the intense World War II Battle of Santa Cruz Islands.In this first-hand account, from his book Memoirs of a Navy Major, Nowatzki shares his experiences in the extraordinarily brutal and dangerous