Aug. 2, 2014

PT 59: The PT Boat You Didn't Know About

It may have looked like a speedboat, but beware anything that might threaten its mission. Loaded with two twin .50 cal. M2 Browning machine guns, two 40 mm guns (fore and aft) and four single .30 and .50 cal. machine guns, the water craft had the power to destroy any obstacle that got in its way. That was the power of PT-59.A former Motor Boat

July 31, 2014

#PeopleMatter: On the Surface, Conspicuous Gallantry and Intrepidity were the Hallmarks of a WWII Submariner

Eight submariners have received the Medal of Honor, but only one earned his during combat on the surface rather than under the water.On July 31, 1944, Cmdr. Lawson P. "Red" Ramage was commanding officer of the new Balao-class USS Parche(SS 384). A 1931 Naval Academy graduate and a 13-year veteran of the Navy, Ramage spent his early career on

July 26, 2014

#PeopleMatter: Truman Ends Segregation in Armed Forces

It didn't have the branding power of the Emancipation Proclamation that was issued 86 years prior, but President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order 9981 would give the military services the guidance they needed to fully integrate their service members for years to come. At just a little more than 400 words, Executive Order 9981, when it was issued

July 23, 2014

#PeopleMatter: Remembering the Honor, Courage and Commitment of Lt. John W. Finn

 Like the man for whom the ship is named, USS John Finn (DDG 113) will be built to fight, durable and ready to go the moment her crew brings her to life. That is when the 63rd Arleigh Burke-class destroyer joins the fleet in 2016. So we'll talk instead about the ship's namesake on the occasion of his birthday, July 23, 1909.John William Finn was

July 17, 2014

#PeopleMatter - Navy Pilot comes up Aces during the Korean War

There are the rare times when the number five is luckier than a seven. Not at a Las Vegas casino, perhaps, but definitely so for a naval aviator nicknamed "Lucky Pierre," the U.S. Navy's only ace of the Korean War.Guy Pierre Bordelon Jr., a native of Ruston, La., was a pre-law student at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute and then later enrolled at

July 12, 2014

U.S. Navy Catapult Anniversary Highlights Strides in Carrier Aviation

On this day in 1916, the first catapult designed for shipboard use successfully completed calibration launching a Curtiss AB-3 from the deck of the armored cruiser North Carolina making the ship the first to be equipped to carry aircraft. Since then, U.S. Navy aircraft carrier launching technology has evolved, from hydraulics to steam-powered

July 10, 2014

#PlatformsMatter: Adding a ZERO to Navy Know-How Equals Victory

Some called it the finest fighter in the world, quick, agile with fluid maneuverability. The biggest problem was it wasn't an American fighter. The Mitsubishi A6M2 carrier fighter ZERO had long dominated the skies at the beginning of World War II, earning a 12-1 kill ratio against slower, heavier Allied planes. But American ingenuity and a chance

July 7, 2014

Thomas Edison's Role in Birth of Navy's Department of Invention and Development

It was 99 years ago today when Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels sat down to type a four page letter to Thomas A. Edison, asking him to chair a consulting board for Navy inventions. Daniels had just read an interview in the New York Times where Edison had proposed "The government should maintain a great research laboratory.... In this could be

June 20, 2014

NHHC Announces Spanish-American War Documentary Project

Members of the Navy Court of Inquiry examining Ensign Wilfrid V. Powelson, on board the U.S. Light House Tender Mangrove, in Havana Harbor, Cuba, circa March 1898. Those seated around the table include (from left to right): Capt. French E. Chadwick, Capt. William T. Sampson, Lt. Cmdr. William P. Potter, Ensign W.V. Powelson, Lt. Cmdr. Adolph Marix.

June 19, 2014

Beautiful and Dangerous, CSS Alabama Ruled the Sea

Capt. Raphael Semmes, CSS Alabama's commanding officer, stands by his ship's 110-pounder rifled gun during her visit to Capetown in August 1863. His executive officer, 1st Lt. John M. Kell, is in the background, standing by the ship's wheel. Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen C. Farenholt, USN(MC), 1931. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.Few