Offshore where sea and skyline blend In rain, the daylight dies; The sullen, shouldering swells attend Night and our sacrifice — The Destroyers, by Rudyard Kipling In 1988 I was invited to give a lecture on AIDS and surgery in the city of Örebro, Sweden. I knew that my grandfather, Chief Petty Officer 1st…
Category: Military Naval History
Military Defense News: Another Naval Traitor Crawls Out of the Woodwork
First it was Lt. Commander Edward Lin now this guy…it appears the US Navy has too many leaky ships. I have found traitors are just like drug smugglers, for every one you catch there are most likely five or more still operating. -SF U.S. Navy Captain Select Sentenced to Over Six Years in Prison for…
Military History: Six Astounding 18th Century Rules of War
“Yes, the objective of any general is to defeat the enemy, but that doesn’t mean you should be a boor about it.” Editor’s Introduction THE GENEVA CONVENTION is in the news of late, thanks to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. The bombastic billionaire-turned-politician has been taking aim at international lawsgoverning the use of military force, characterizing…
World War I History: Gallipoli
With the war along the Western Front at a standstill in early 1915, allied leaders were looking for ways to break the stalemate. Many were worried that the deadlock might be permanent. Lord Kitchener, the British secretary of state for war, reluctantly conceded that operations needed to be established elsewhere. Breaking the Stalemate That “elsewhere,”…
Military Naval History: The Samoan Showdown: How Germany and the U.S. Almost Came to Blows Decades Before WWI
“For several months, the two opposing fleets would face off in a tense game of brinksmanship. The standoff became known as the Samoan Crisis.” GERMANY WAS A LATE BLOOMER among Europe’s imperial powers. After attaining nation-state status in 1870, Otto von Bismarck’s newly unified Germany made up for its recent arrival on the world stage by…
Espionage Files: Naval Espionage in an A2AD Age
U.S. Navy Lt. Edward Lin, a native of Taiwan, speaks about his path to US citizenship at a naturalization ceremony in Honolulu, Hawaii, in this US Navy handout photo taken December 3, 2008. Lin, a US Navy officer with access to sensitive US intelligence, faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly…
Brush-Up On Your History: Eight Classic American Propaganda Campaigns
Many groups have historically used propaganda to generate support for various campaigns — America is no exception. Even as far back as the Revolutionary War, the U.S. government, military, and private groups have used varying forms of propaganda to drum up support for certain political causes. Some of these methods — including posters, comics, and…
Profiles in Courage: USMC Wildcat Ace Downs 7 Japanese Bombers on his First Combat Patrol During WWII
During WWII, Marine 1st Lt. James E. Swett attacked 15 enemy bombers, destroying 7, on his first combat patrol. On April 7, 1943, Medal of Honor recipient and Marine fighter ace James E. Swett shot down 7 Japanese bombers, taking out four all on his own after he became separated from his wingmen. He was…
Military Defense News: A Tour of the USS Zumwalt, America’s First Stealth Ship
A reporter for Defense News is the first to spend time on the USS Zumwalt as it conducted builders trials off the coast of Maine. The 610 foot long, 16,000 ton stealth destroyer, the first of her class, is undergoing extra testing before delivery to the U.S. Navy. The Zumwalt‘s iconic slab-sided profile, in which no…
Military News: After 95 Years, the USS Conestoga Has Been Found
The USS Conestoga left the Navy yard at Mare Island, Calif., on Good Friday, 1921, bound for Pearl Harbor, with a complement of 56 sailors. It cleared the Golden Gate at 3:25 p.m. and steamed into the Gulf of the Farallones in heavy seas. The Conestoga was a rugged oceangoing tug that had once hauled coal…