Rear Admiral Taussig and the Warning Before Pearl Harbor

Rear Admiral Taussig and the Warning Before Pearl Harbor An obscure article in the Southern Jewish Weekly put forward an interesting idea in the form of an article published on January 30, 1942. In some ways, this is part three of a series about Taussig. But it casts the story in a different light and […]

Holiday Routine – U.S.S. Vestal Daily Employment Schedule for Sunday, 7 December 1941

Holiday Routine – U.S.S. Vestal Daily Employment Schedule for Sunday, 7 December 1941 The document I discovered during my research on Cassin Young was yellowed and tattered with age. Some sailor had the presence of mind to keep a copy of it in his personal possession as a reminder of the day that would live […]

In Plain Sight…

Eighty years ago, the United States was still at relative peace. In Europe, Britain was hanging on for life while France and most of the other occupied nations were adjusting to life under the heel of the Nazi warlords. In the Far East, Japan was beginning to feel the pressure of the sanctions imposed by […]

An Outsider in Paradise – A Pocket Guide to Hawaii (1940’s)

This information comes from the Navy Heritage Center. During the Second World War, Hawaii was the crossroads for the Pacific. Men, material, ships and planes on their way to the battles in the South Pacific and eventually Japan travelled through Hawaii in many cases. Not much changed over the many decades following the war since […]

In the Waters of Pearl – Building the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base 1918-1945

I spent a number of years in my youth living and sailing out of Pearl Harbor. The last time we were there was in 2003 and the changes even then were astonishing. Many of the old buildings were still there but a modern bridge attached Ford Island to the mainland. The Chapel at Sub […]

The Day after Pearl Harbor

The day after Pearl Harbor was still a chaotic day for most in the Hawaiian Islands. Rumors of an invading Japanese force were widespread and panic was probably just below the surface. The brilliant and gleaming fleet was awash in black residue and blood. Shipwrights and common sailors frantically were trying to rescue men […]

USS George Washington SSBN 598

You never forget your first… When I requested a submarine for my first assignment after sub school , I wanted to be on a Diesel Boat first, a fast attack second, and a Boomer third preferably a 640 class. I vaguely remember an old salt at a bar in Groton talking about how beautiful Key […]

Need a lift?

August 8 1974 was the day when one of the most interesting events of the Cold War came to a dramatic point. On that day, the Glomar Explorer completed a journey and a mission that had been so well cloaked in secrecy, it is doubtful that we even know today all that transpired during the […]