“We thought they would be taller” The Americans Arrive in Northern Ireland, January 1942

I don’t normally write much about the War in Europe on my blog since it doesn’t fit well with my core interests. But a story from the newspapers of January 28, 1942, caught my eye. The story was about the arrival of the US Army in Belfast Northern Ireland. Debbie and I travelled to Northern […]

No One is Laughing Now Mr. Holland

April is submarine month in the United States and April 11, 1900 is traditionally celebrated as the day the submarine force was started with the purchase of the Holland Submarine. This year, I have spent a lot of time researching through the national archives for stories from 1900 or at least from the early part […]

Dueling Denizens and the Daring Escape

The most fearsome weapon at sea during the First World War was the submarine. Even when the danger came from another submarine. By May of 1918, the German submarines were beginning to be neutralized by the varying forms of technology employed by the Allies. Wireless radio detection, sound listening devices, primitive us of airplanes and […]

Fenian Ram: The Green Submarine

Any submariner worth his salt has heard of a good Irishman named John Phillip Holland and his submarine design changed the way wars would be fought at sea forever. On March 17, 1898, St. Patrick’s Day, Irish-born engineer John Philip Holland demonstrated a submarine he designed, the Holland VI, for the U.S. Navy Department, off […]