USS Pittsburgh – An Honored Name for Ships that Have Defended their Nation

The Pittsburgh Name has an Honored Place in Naval History The City of Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania is geographically located far from the open oceans. Despite the busy Three Rivers that offer pathways for shipping and recreation, no ocean going US Navy ships can easily navigate their way to the Point where the three rivers […]

The Stirling Letter and How it Helped to Change the Navy

I am reading about the early American efforts to build submarines. There is a lot of great reference material out there that talks about how we entered the submarine race. In the beginning, there was a gap between the creative forces that invented the early technology and the reality of how to make the submarine […]

A super submarine! (well at least it was supposed to be in 1921)

You can be forgiven if you claim to be a submarine expert but have never heard the name Oswald Flamm before today. To be honest, neither had I before I ran into this interesting thread of information that gives a glimpse into his story. Oswald Flamm, Born July 30, 1861; Deceased June 12, 1935, was […]

Greetings from the bunker

You may have noticed that I have not been posting much for the past few weeks. Sorry for that. It has been a challenging time for many of us as the country makes its transition to a new government. I guess time will tell how well that goes. On the plus side for us, we […]

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Shipbuilding – January 3 1941

In January 1941, it was becoming obvious that the weapon that created so much trouble in the First World War was once again raising its ugly Spector: The German U-boat. In 1939, 165 ships were sunk and by December 1940, 563 more would join them at the bottom of the ocean. Britain was heavily dependent […]

January 1941 – A surprise attack on Pearl? Who could imagine such a thing?

711.94/1935: Telegram The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State Tokyo, January 27, 1941 — 6 p. m. [Received January 27 — 6: 38 a. m.] 125. My Peruvian colleague told a member of my staff that he had heard from many sources including a Japanese source that the Japanese military forces planned, in the event of trouble with the United States, to […]

Low Cost Submarines

By 1939, the state of the US Navy’s readiness was in question. The treaties of the past twenty years and the economic conditions had stunted the growth of the force that was realizing the threat of a two ocean war. The war in Europe had not reached its peak yet but the shadows of the […]

The Tanaka Memorial – Real or Imagined? Part 2

Part Two: Admiral Taussig. Yes, Senator. Shall I proceed with my statement? The Chairman. Proceed. Admiral Taussig. In spite of our desires to remain aloof from international problems, we cannot do so. The world has shrunk too much. Can we look on a development in the Far East such as out lined above with detached interest, as a matter of no immediate concern to us as […]

Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead… But Captain we are out of toilet paper… ALL STOP!!!

It’s amazing to me that the smartest planners in the world did not see the need for toilet paper as they planned for the defense of the free world. Okay, that might be a bit exaggerated, but the need to supply the ships and airplanes that would end up fighting totalitarianism was not evident in […]

The Circle Plans – Japan’s method to achieve Hakkō ichiu

Steel One year before December 7, 1941, the Japanese steel industry was coming to the realization that the enormous appetite from their military buildup was impossible to achieve. In the 1930’s, the United States was alarmed by the increase of Japan’s militant activity in Manchuria and elsewhere. After years of dormancy, the United States Navy […]