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First of her Breed Headed to the Fight
Here we see, 80 years ago today, the class-leading fleet carrier USS Essex (CV-9) docked at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, on 8 August 1943. National Archives 80-G-K-551 And another photo from the same day...
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119,000-ton unofficial carrier four-pack
So the recent biannual Talisman Saber 2023 exercise had a supercarrier in attendance, at least partially: the forward-deployed (to Japan) Nimitz-class USS Ronald Reagan and her strike group. However,...
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125 Years Ago: The Spanish American War Halts
Spain declared war on the United States on 23 April 1898– after a pretty intolerable ultimatum from Washington that included a call for 125,000 volunteers and orders for a naval blockade of Cuba– and...
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That’s a wrap after 36 years: USS Mobile Bay Decommissions
Only the seventh Tico completed– and the second Flight II Mark 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) Variant– USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) was commissioned at the Alabama State Docks in Mobile in 1987, ready to...
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The ‘Fighting I’ at 80
The 4th U.S. Navy warship to carry the name USS Intrepid was a fleet carrier (CV-11) of the short-hulled Essex class rushed into service in World War II. Only the third Essex completed, she...
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Dragoon Jeep Carriers IN COLOR!
Check out this beautiful original Kodachrome. Official caption: “Southern France Invasion, August 1944. USS Kasaan Bay (CVE-69) seen through signal flags of USS Tulagi (CVE-72), on ‘D-Day’ off...
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So long, R/P FLIP
As easily explained by the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, “FLIP, the FLoating Instrument Platform, is not a ship, but a 355-foot-long research platform that can be...
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Sunshine Beach Crusing
How about these eye-catchers. Also, that’s a tough curve to keep a formation like that, with the Rhino holding back toward stall speed while the Texan is pushing those RPMs to lead. Official caption:...
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Good news for Burkes old and new, while a (barely) five-year-old LCS is...
First the bad. The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11) was decommissioned in Mayport on Monday. Built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, Sioux City was...
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Boresighting a Browning, and looking Cool While you Do it
80 years ago today. Official caption: “Aviation Free Gunnery Unit, Barber’s Point, Hawaii. Shown: Bore Sighting Stand, August 18, 1943.” Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the...
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Swung by Ingalls on Sunday…
Visited my old Pascagoula stomping grounds at “The Point,” which juts out into the Pascagoula River towards Singing River Island (the old NAVSTA Pascagoula) and is framed by the WWII-era Ingalls East...
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The Great Submarine Mess Decks Utensil Heist
180202-N-ND254-0451 BANGOR, Wash. (February 2, 2018) The Gold Crew of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Alabama (SSBN 731) returns home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor following a routine...
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Warship Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023: The Last Violet
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Death of a U-boat, Williams vs Maus
Some 80 years ago this week, in the North Atlantic west of the Canary Islands, the German Type IXC/40 U-boat, U-185 (Kptlt. August Maus), with 31 waterlogged survivors of the lost U-604 aboard, met...
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USS High Point hits her lowest point
NHHC L45-125.04.01 A few years ago, we covered the story of the experimental 115-foot “hydrofoil sub chaser” USS High Point (PCH-1) being up for sale in poor condition in Astoria, Oregon. Built by...
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LTJG Bob Barker, Corsair Jock
The late Robert William “Bob” Barker, who was the brightest part of staying home sick as a kid, also did his bit as part of the Greatest Generation. Bob enlisted in the Navy Reserve Aviation Cadet...
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Batfish evicted?
The Balao-class submarine USS Batfish (SS/AGSS-310), is a famed “sub-buster,” credited with sinking no less than three Imperial Japanese Navy submarines– RO 55, RO 112, and RO 113— in only four days...
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Warship Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023: Weaving the Falls
Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own,...
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Vigilante at 65
31 August 1958 saw the first flight, with North American Aviation test pilot Richard Wenzel at the stick, of the No.1 prototype North American XA3J-1, eventually to be known as the A-5 Vigilante. The...
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Faking it with MTBRon 13
The campaign to evict the Japanese from the Aleutians saw one of the most motley assemblages of troops and vessels ever put together. This was because everything even remotely “top shelf” was needed...
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