A Special Report: What Really Sank the Maine?

Edited by Thomas B. Allen
April 1998
Was it coal-dust combustion or was it a mine? A new study commissioned by National Geographic magazine—excerpted here for the first time—advances conclusions that could help explain the explosion that ...

When the Century Was Young

By Paul Stillwell
April 1998
Eighty-six years ago, the century was young and still relatively innocent—before World Wars, toxic waste dumps, and television commercials. At the end of March 1912 my father was born. Simultaneously ...

In Contact

April 1998
“It Made a Man Out of Me” (See E. Borgnine, pp. 18-22, January/February 1998 Naval History) Martin K. Williams I enjoyed reading the interview with Ernest Borgnine, however it ...

Book Reviews

Reviewed by Dr. Michael J. Crawford & Mark R. Peattie
April 1998
Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century Ivan Musicant. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1998. 750 pp. Bib. Ind. Maps. Notes. Photos. $37.50 ...

The Tigercat—Too Late to Star

By Norman Polmar, Editor, Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet
April 1998
The U.S. Navy evaluated two twin-engine piston fighters for carrier use—the F5F Skyrocket and the F7F Tigercat, both produced by Grumman. Neither plane regularly operated from aircraft carriers, although the ...

Historic Fleets

By A. D. Baker III, Editor, Combat Fleets of the World
April 1998
Eighteen Forrest Sherman (DD-931)-class destroyers were completed from 1955 to 1959 as the U.S. Navy’s first post-World War II general-purpose destroyers. Six remained essentially in their original gunship configuration throughout ...

Naval History News

April 1998
Bush Named Honorary Chairman of Missouri Memorial Association The USS Missouri Memorial Association has announced that George Bush, 41st President of the United States and a decorated Navy pilot in ...

Salty Talk

By Commander Tyrone Martin, U.S. Navy (Retired)
April 1998
Toward the end of the first millennium A.D., Viking raiders struck terror in much of the western world, their long dragon boats appearing not only on the shores adjacent to ...

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum

By Donald A. Wambold, Jr.
April 1998
The Lake Champlain historical corridor was the wilderness route through the mountains to Canada in colonial times. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum represents the maritime heritage of this area. The ...

Navy Yarns

By Captain Roy C. Smith III, U.S. Navy (Retired)
April 1998
Early in my 1959-1961 tour as U.S. Naval Liaison Officer, Gibraltar, Admiral George Anderson (USNA ’27) stopped by in the Sixth Fleet flagship. The British Flag Officer, Gibraltar, threw a ...