Oct. 23, 2024

Maurice Brodsky: An “Average Enlisted Man” at the Battle off Samar

Eighty years ago, a handful of American destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers faced off against a superior Japanese force of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers at the Battle off Samar (25 October 1944). Task Unit 77.4.3 “Taffy 3’s” small combatants, commanded by Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, famously attacked Vice Admiral Takeo

Aug. 2, 2024

U.S Navy WAVES on Top Secret Duty in America’s Heartland

In 1943, the U.S. Navy began sending groups of WAVES by train from Washington, DC, to Dayton, Ohio, to work on a top secret project.Due to the highly secretive nature of their assignment, the WAVES were not told where they were going or what they would be doing, only that they were headed “west.” Some thought they were going to California and were

Feb. 23, 2024

Operation FLINTLOCK: Invasion of the Marshall Islands, January-February 1944 Part 2

The first week of February marked the 80th Anniversary of Operation FLINTLOCK, the U.S. invasion of the Marshall Islands during WWII. This operation, the largest amphibious assault of the war to that date, was the first major central Pacific expedition and directly contributed to the Allied defeat of Imperial Japan the Pacific. To honor those who

Feb. 20, 2024

Operation FLINTLOCK: Invasion of the Marshall Islands, January-February 1944

The first week of February 2024 marked the 80th Anniversary of Operation FLINTLOCK, the U.S. invasion of the Marshall Islands during WWII. This operation, the largest amphibious assault of the war to date, was the first major central Pacific operation of the Pacific War. The successful landings in the Marshalls, both at Roi-Namur and Kwajalein,

Jan. 26, 2023

"Reduced to Starvation”: The Japanese Evacuation of Guadalcanal, January-February 1943

Over the course of the Solomon Islands campaigns, which began in August 1942 with landings on Guadalcanal, Allied forces slowly established air and maritime superiority over the region. While both the Allies and the Japanese operated at the end of long, tenuous supply lines—the closest major Japanese base was at Rabaul and the closest Allied base

Dec. 12, 2022

Admiral Chester Nimitz Takes Command in the Aftermath of Pearl Harbor

On the morning of 16 December 1941, nine days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Rear Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was working at his desk in the U.S. Navy’s Bureau of Navigation when he was summoned to the office of Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. Exhausted from working more than a week with little sleep, Nimitz trudged over to Knox’s

Nov. 28, 2022

Daisy Chains and Torpedoes at Tassafaronga, 30 November 1942

Fatigue, dehydration, and starvation plagued thousands of Imperial Japanese ground troops scattered across Guadalcanal in November 1942. Recent attempts to resupply these forces via “the Tokyo Express”—the employment of Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) destroyers to deliver supplies and equipment from Rabaul to Guadalcanal—were unsuccessful as American

Nov. 2, 2022

Radio over Radar: Night Fighting Chaos at Guadalcanal (12-13 November 1942)

The tropical evening sun fell beyond the horizon in the southern Solomon Islands, showering the area in brilliant hues of salmon and auburn. In this distance, cracks of lightning peeled across the sky as charcoal clouds billowed into the area. Early that evening, 12 November 1942, Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan received a report indicating that

Sept. 3, 2021

Seaman First Class Freddie Falgout: First Military Casualty of World War II

On the evening of August 20, 1937, on the eve of his 21st birthday, Seaman First Class Freddie Falgout was searching for a seat for movie night on the well deck of USS Augusta (CL-31). Augusta had arrived off Shanghai a week earlier, on August 14, 1937, and was moored on the Huangpu River. A humanitarian crisis was underway as hostilities between Chinese and Japanese military forces had resulted in the death of hundreds of civilians, including four Americans, and the ship and her crew were evacuating American citizens and refugees from Shanghai. 

Dec. 24, 2020

Passing of Vice Adm. Douglas C. Plate, U.S. Navy (Retired)

It is with deep regret I inform you of the passing of Vice Admiral Douglas C. Plate, U.S. Navy (Retired) on December 21, 2020 at age 100. Below is what I wrote on the occasion of his 100th Birthday last July.It is with great pleasure I inform you that Vice Adm. Douglas Caulfied Plate, U.S. Navy (Retired) is about to celebrate his 100th Birthday on