Operations

By Sam Cox (Rear Adm. USN, Ret.), Director, Naval History and Heritage Command Why should the U.S. Navy and the American people remember the Indianapolis (CA 35); a ship that sank in the last days of World War II? Why remember one of the worst defeats and a tragic moment …

By Christopher B. Havern Sr., Historian, Naval History and Heritage Command History and Archives Division-Emergent Response “Wisdom comes alone through suffering.” ― Aeschylus On August 7, 1942, Allied amphibious forces landed units of the First Marine Division and surprised the Imperial Japanese forces occupying the islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in …

By Marcus Thompson, Naval History & Heritage Command Intern (Dartmouth College) During the Allied invasion of Salerno in September of 1943, “Operation Avalanche,” the U.S. Navy set a new standard for naval gunfire support (NGFS) only eclipsed by the Okinawa and Iwo Jima campaigns. NGFS, although initially shunned by Army …

  By Marcus Thompson, Naval History & Heritage Command Intern (Dartmouth College) Minesweeping operations are an often overlooked chapter of Operation Avalanche, the 1943 invasion of Salerno. Minefields in the Gulf of Salerno were first detected by HMS Shakespeare (P221), a British beacon submarine active in the area since August …

By Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division The arrival of the first convoy carrying the Soldiers and Marines of the American Expeditionary Force at Saint-Nazaire, France on June 26, 1917 surprised the world and uplifted the allies. Today, after two world wars and a century of witnessing operations …

  By Rear Admiral Paul Becker, USN (Ret) June 4 marks the anniversary of the Battle of Midway, the greatest naval battle in American history and the turning point of World War II in the Pacific. At Midway, a larger Japanese fleet was surprised and defeated by smaller, less combat-experienced …

By Adm. Scott Swift, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet When I take a look at the arc of history in the Pacific, in particular the history of the Pacific Fleet, one of the things I find most compelling is the immense shift that took place at the Battle of Midway. For …

  By Dr. Frank A. Blazich, Jr.,  Curator of Modern Military History, National Museum of American History For Ensign George H. Gay, Jr. of Waco, Texas, the morning of June 4, 1942 began with groggy trepidation. With knowledge of a large Japanese invasion fleet moving towards Midway Island outnumbering the assembled …

By LT Liza Dougherty, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group Two, Public Affairs Officer The letter landed on my desk after I’d been at Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron (VQ) TWO maybe three months, with the suggestion to “see what you can do with this.” A new NFO, I had been given the …

By John Desselle Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, Ask What You Can Do For Your Country” (JFK) Decorated Navy veteran and 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy “JFK” was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May …