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
By Midshipman Maya Weiss, United States Naval Academy There’s a proverb that proclaims, “Like father, like son.” For Edward Latimer Beach, Sr. and Edward Latimer “Ned” Beach, Jr., no truer words have been spoken. For them, naval service was a multigenerational calling. And while the two generations served at different times in naval history, and
By MIDN 4/C Alex Hooker, United States Naval Academy Regarding the possibility of a naval school to train future officers, one salty critic is quoted as saying, “You could no more educate sailors in a shore college than you can teach ducks to swim in a garret.” Considering the long line of brave, consequential officers
78 years ago this week, the Battle of the Coral Sea raged between the Imperial Japanese Navy and forces of the Australian and United States Navies. The battle resulted in a strategic victory for the Allies, despite their high casualties and loss of vessels. Commander William Ault was one such casualty during the battle. William
Below is an edited excerpt of an interview with Dr. Robert Ballard conducted by NOAA. You may find the original interview here: oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/oceanage/05ballard/transcript.html NOAA Interview with Dr. Robert Ballard Dr. Ballard: My mission in life, in fact if you look at my job description, it’s to explore; and since I am a geologist, that means the
By: Kyle Nappi For years, blockbuster movies have illuminated the feats of the warring sailors from World War II’s European Theater of Operations: The Enemy Below (1957), Das Boot (1981), and U-571 (2000) to name a few. This year –pending COVID-19 – Tom Hanks will unveil Greyhound, a war epic set during the Battle of
By NHF Staff Historian Dr. Dave Winkler Sea Power, October 2016 On April 10, 1922, at hearings of the Senate Subcommittee of Naval Affairs, Sen. David I. Walsh of Massachusetts asked Lt. Willis B. Haviland, a pilot who had been assigned to a recently commissioned ship, “What is the Langley?” Haviland responded, “She is a poor excuse for
By NHF Staff Historian Dr. Dave Winkler Sea Power, October 2017 As plans proceeded to convert the collier Jupiter to become the Navy’s first aircraft carrier Langley at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, the carrier’s prospective flight officer, Lt. Cdr. Godfrey deC. Chevalier noted an oversight in the plans. Interviewed in 1970, Alfred “Mel” Pride recalled “Chevalier told me that I
First published in Sea Power – October 2009 By NHF Staff Historian Dr. Dave Winkler [Editors note: Rear Admiral John Mustin, Vice Commander, Fleet Forces Command, great grandson of Captain Henry Mustin (featured below) is currently overseeing the USN Comfort as it assists medical operations to battle the novel Coronavirus pandemic in New York City.]
By Rear Admiral Robert Wray, USN (Ret.) With the recent response to the Coronavirus/COVID19 and the recent deployments of Navy Medical personnel and the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy to New York City and San Francisco, the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF) asked me to recall the response of the USNS COMFORT to the Haiti earthquake
This article is a reprint from Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always: More than a Century of Service by Citizen-Sailors By NHF Historian Dr. Dave Winkler Navy nurse Josie Brown reflected on the horrible ordeal that she and her colleagues had to confront in 1918: The morgues were packed almost to the ceiling with bodies stacked
Fifteen years ago today (March 5, 2005), the USS Nitze (DDG-94) was commissioned. An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Nitze has deployed many times in her service history, and was involved in a confrontation with Iranian vessels in August of 2016. She was named for former Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze – Nitze served in this capacity under President Lyndon Johnson from 1963 to 1967,
By John Brady, President, Board of Directors, Flagship Olympia Foundation The USS Olympia, the former Navy cruiser who brought World War I Unknown Soldier home from Europe, is celebrating her 125th birthday this year. To mark the momentous milestone, we’re sharing stories about her crew. These men include the African American cabin stewards and mess attendants who
