50 Years Ago: A Productive Labor Day Weekend
Dr. Bradford Parkinson (USNA 1957) is a well-respective professor at Colorado State University and Stanford University, as well as the holder of multiple former president and CEO positions in the...
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Mardet White-Glove
80 Years Ago Today. Aboard the Iowa-class fast super dreadnought USS New Jersey (BB-62). Official caption: “Looking over a Marine’s pack, during an inspection, 5 September 1943. Officers include...
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Warship Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023: Of Mustaches, Stars, and Condemned Cannons
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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Plastering Charleston, 160 years ago
Reportedly the oldest naval combat photos that can be definitively dated. Taken from Fort Sumter by George Cook on 8 September 1863, it shows the 18-gunned steam-powered wooden-hulled broadside...
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Slo-mo Cruiser Slaughter Continues
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers have passed an important threshold in their story: as of this month, they have hit nearly 50 percent strength in numbers with only 15 still active (soon...
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Warship Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023: Mud Hen Regulus Pitcher
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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The Rockets Red Glare…
On the morning of 14 September 1814, it became obvious to Admiral of the Blue, Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane, Commander-in-Chief, North American Station, that the failed 25-hour bombardment of Fort...
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Of the Tugs Navajo
The name “Navajo,” referencing the Diné people, has been used by the U.S. Navy six times, five of these for hard-working and unsung tugs who, going beyond the title, typically served as rescue and...
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Strange Happenings with the LCS program
And in more oddball installments from the world of the U.S. Navy’s troubled Littoral Combat Ship fiasco, I bring you a trio of recent bullet points. Bye Bye, Milwaukee The fifth ship to carry the...
View ArticleA Haunting Look at the USS Yorktown and IJN Akagi
E/V Nautilus, in a 27-day expedition funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, in conjunction with a whole alphabet soup of other agencies and institutes (U.S....
View ArticleBy my calculations, gentlemen, there should still be a pint of strawberries...
Herman Wouk’s Pultizer-prize-winning novel and subsequent two-act play, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, is one of the best of either ever set on a U.S. Navy destroyer. If it had a remarkably true ring...
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And the Navy List Keeps Shrinking by the minute…
As covered in past posts, the Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruisers are not long for us, with Cold Warriors USS Lake Champlain (CG-57) and USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) already decommissioned in the past...
View ArticleA Somber Visit to Kaga
In a continuation of the footage coming out of the recent 27-day expedition by E/V Nautilus over the seabed of the Midway battlefield, the lost Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga was visited and...
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The More Things Change, Huey Boxer Edition
Some 59 years ago this month: Benson E.L. Timmons III, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, arrives aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LPH-4) in September 1964. Note the beautiful early UH-1E in...
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Warship Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023: Of Shorts & Hard Charging Jeep Carriers
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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Pollywogs on watch
75 Years ago today: Pith helmet-clad junior officer Pollywogs stand watch atop 6″/47 cal gun turret Number Two of the Fargo-class light cruiser USS Huntington (CL-107), during the Crossing the Line...
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Again with the LCS shuffle…
In addition to the rapidly falling numbers of cruisers (without replacement) and SSN-688s (with some replacement, albeit not 1:1) the Navy keeps pulling the LCS shuffle. Just two weeks ago, we brought...
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Go loud, boys
80 years ago today: Testing 40 mm anti-aircraft guns onboard PCU USS Manila Bay (CVE 61) off the Pacific Northwest between Vancouver and Astoria, 3 October 1943. Note the jackets and overcoats of the...
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Geissele Wins $29 Million SOCOM Sniper Rifle Contract
Pennsylvania’s Geissele Automatics last week picked up a fat contract from the U.S. Special Operations Command. The 10-year award has a maximum ceiling of $29,263,029 for what SOCOM describes as “a...
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Old School LST…Maybe Cool Again?
Check out this short (1 minute) moto reel of a Greek Jason-class tank landing ship HS Samos (L174) hitting the beach during exercise “Parmenion-23” on the Island of Chios and disgorging a series of...
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