Operations

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 …

By Dave Werner, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs On Saturday, January 26th the Navy will commission its newest Zumwalt-class destroyer, the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001), at 10:00 a.m. at Naval Air Station North Island.  A little further West in the Pacific, organizers are commemorating the 75th anniversary of the January 1944 …

By André B. Sobocinski, Historian, BUMED In the early morning of March 19, 1969, a Marine combat base at Phu Loc 6 near An Hoa, Vietnam, became the scene of a surprise enemy attack. As the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) infiltrated the camp’s barbed wire perimeter, a 24-year old corpsman …

By Alex Hays, Communication and Outreach Division “Sailors Do Heroic Work in Aiding Victims,” declared the front page of The Boston Daily Globe on Jan. 16, 1919. On the previous day, these U.S. Navy Sailors witnessed and played a key role in the recovery efforts of one of America’s most …

By Dave Werner, U.S. Pacific Public Affairs The Pacific Ocean is bristling with naval activity. Navies and Sailors are operating with narrowed focus and renewed sense of purpose. They are following in the long wake of those who have gone before them. The dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47), …

By Lt. Josh Waters, Navy Department Board of Decorations and Medals World War I saw technological advances that changed the face of warfare. Prominent among these was the use of submarines, or U-boats.  Although they had been in use since the mid-1800’s, submarines only became effective weapons during WWI and …

By: Curtis Utz, Nicholas Roland and Guy Nasuti, Historians, Naval History and Heritage Command Editor’s note: Learning from History is an initiative CNO Richardson has asked the Naval History and Heritage Command to shepherd. Each month, our historians will dissect a seminal moment in Navy’s past and present today’s Fleet …

By U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Stuart R. Lockhart (Ret.) Naval History and Heritage Command writer Carsten Fries’s recent narrative of the support lent by the British carrier HMS Victorious to the U.S. Pacific Fleet in the first half of 1943 brings to mind a comparison of naval aviation experiences …

Editor’s note: This is Part Two of  “USS Robin: When the CNO Needed a Royal Navy Carrier.” Read Part One here. Victorious departed Norfolk on Feb. 3 en route to the Panama Canal—and assigned the U.S. Navy two-syllable call sign “Robin.” Intensive flight operations utilizing U.S. Navy procedures, both with Martlet …

By Dave Werner, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs Few ships can claim a history like that of USS Helena (CL 50). Her distinguished and storied World War II service began at Pearl Harbor and ended in a heroic and determined rescue seemingly too dramatic to be true. In between, she …