What the Navy Learned from Guadalcanal November 13, 2018 By: Curtis Utz, Nicholas Roland and Guy Nasuti, Historians, Naval History and Heritage Command The naval battles off Guadalcanal in 1942 were part of the first major U.S. amphibious offensive in the Pacific. Although the U.S. Navy’s performance in the campaign was mixed, the fighting at Guadalcanal
Writing in 1939 for Proceedings, Chaplain Truman Riddle, wrote of the Navy’s policies on families: “Several years ago, the Commander in Chief, U. S. Fleet, called together a large group of officers to consider the problem of enlisted men’s families. Prior to this, Commander Battle Force had surprised not only the Navy, but the press, by
By Meredith Hindley Article below originally published in 2013 by the National Endowment for the Humanities: www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/roosevelt-the-revisionist Just after two o’clock in the afternoon on September 10, 1813, Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry was one of the few men still standing—or even alive—on the USS Lawrence. British cannon balls and grapeshot lobbed across the murky
The Naval Historical Foundation (NHF) congratulates NHF Board of Directors Member, the Honorable Dr. John F. Lehman, on the announcement that an Arleigh Burke-class Flight III destroyer is to be named in his honor. This special recognition for our 65th Secretary of the Navy was announced on our Navy’s 245th Birthday by Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite. This
www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-r/ramirez-de-arellano-marion.html Marion Frederic Ramirez de Arellano was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 5 August 1913, son of Professor Rafael W. de Arellano and Professor Lucille Kemmerer Ramirez de Arellano of the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras. He attended that university for two years prior to his entrance to the US Naval
Above: Delbert D. Black, an Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided-missile destroyer, named for the service’s first Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) was commissioned on September 26, 2020. Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite observed: “Commissioning a ship after the first Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy is an honor without equal. The
Guest Post by Captain Todd Creekman, USN (Ret.) Admiral James L. Holloway III, USN (Ret.), commanding officer of USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) and 20th Chief of Naval Operations, served for 28 years in retirement as president and later chairman of the board for the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF). Admiral Holloway left his mark on NHF through his selfless service
Article by Naval History and Heritage Command: www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/s/sinking-of-the-bismarck/the-cruise-of-the-bismarck.html At noon on May 19, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck lay in Kiel Bay, about to set out on her first and last war cruise. Admiral Gunther Lutjens, who had been decorated with the Knight Insignia of the Iron Cross for his part in the Norwegian campaign, addressed the
Why in this age of constant technological, economic, social, and political change should navies actively concern themselves with the naval past? Herein I will try to answer this question, one often asked by skeptics anxious to insert into the developing courses of professional military education (PME) material that seems so much more relevant to the
Text below from article “Burton Island” by Naval History and Heritage Command – original article may be viewed at: www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/burton-island-i.html In late 1946, the Navy desperately needed the services of the not-yet-commissioned icebreaker Burton Island (AG-88)for the First Antarctic Developments Project. The largest expedition to the Antarctic continent to date, also known as Operation Highjump, sought to explore and
Richard Evelyn Byrd was born on 25 October 1888 in Winchester, Virginia. He was appointed from that same state to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and graduated in 1912. He was temporarily assigned to USS South Carolina and subsequently served on board USS Kentucky, USS Wyoming, USS Missouri, and the armored cruiser Washington.
By Kyle Nappi Sporting a brown jacket and a light checkered dress shirt, the bespectacled grey-haired gentleman shuffled several books and photos while seated in his electric wheelchair. Then sixteen years old, I approached the fellow Buckeye State resident who, at ninety-one years of age, spoke rather succinctly but with the trademark gruff of a
By Kyle Nappi At first glance, “kamikaze veteran” will undoubtedly read as an oxymoron to most Americans. Best parodied in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, producer/actor Larry David muses how one can be a kamikaze pilot and yet still be alive. My own introduction to this concept is traceable to a handful of biographical
By Rear Admiral John W. Bitoff, USN (Ret.) I was deployed aboard the USS Spiegel Grove (LSD 32) the flagship of Amphibious Group 4 during Operation SOLANT AMITY II, April 18 – September 19, 1961, a South Atlantic Amity cruise to Africa and the Indian Ocean. The cruise was initiated by the newly elected President John F.
New Naval Historical Foundation History Program: We are excited to announce a new historical program – “Naval History Author Chats” by NHF Staff Historian Dr. Dave Winkler. This week we are sharing our inaugural author chat with Captain Kevin Miller, USN (Ret.), author of The Silver Waterfall: A Novel of the Battle of Midway, which is being
