On Our Scope

February 2016
Twenty-five years. It’s hard to believe Operation Desert Storm was so long ago. Perhaps that’s because the United States seemingly has been at war in that part of the world ...
National Archives

In Contact

February 2016
A Man Without EmpathyTido H. HoltcampAlan Rems’ discussion of Admiral Karl Dönitz at Nuremberg (December, “Götterdämmerung: German Admirals on Trial,” pp. 38–45) took me back to ...
National WWII Museum

Naval History News

February 2016
National WWII Museum Set to Unveil ‘Road to Tokyo’The National WWII Museum in New Orleans opens its newest permanent exhibit, “Road to Tokyo: Pacific Theater Galleries,” on 12 December.“Road to ...
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

Historic Aircraft - The Last Biplane

By Norman Polmar, Author, Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet
February 2016
The Curtiss SBC Helldiver holds two places in naval aviation history: First, it initially flew as a monoplane but was produced as a biplane, and, second, it was the last ...
USMC History Division

Marines' Desert Victory

By Otto Kreisher
February 2016
U.S. Marine Major General James M. “Mike” Myatt suddenly had a problem. The 1st Marine Division commander had just received word from his superior, Lieutenant General Walter E. Boomer, that ...
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

Naval Weapon of Choice

By Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen
February 2016
Twenty-five years ago—early on the morning of 17 January 1991—a booster rocket launched a cruise missile from the USS San Jacinto (CG-56) operating in the Red Sea. The weapon’s tail ...
www.patrickobrienstudio.com

Pirate, Privateer, or Man-of-War?

By Lieutenant Commander Dwight S. Hughes, U.S. Navy (Retired)
February 2016
They rowed quietly across the placid waters of dark Melbourne Harbor until a huge black hull, towering masts, and tracery of rigging loomed above, blotting out shore lights. Behind their ...
Courtesy of Cecil Ray Johnston

Perilous Ordeal Off Leyte

By Joe Johnston
February 2016
When the USS Reid (DD-369) sank during a kamikaze attack while escorting a resupply convoy, she took half her crew with her. For many of the men on board the ...
National Archives

A Black Hero's Courage Under Fire

By Michael D. Hull
February 2016
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war against Japan on 8 December 1941, a humble sailor from Texas had already become America’s first black hero of the 1939–45 global conflict ...

Book Reviews

February 2016
Privateering: Patriots & Profits in the War of 1812Faye M. Kert. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. 147 pp. Append. Notes. Index. Illus. $55.Reviewed by Frederick C. LeinerPrivateering ...

Pieces of the Past

February 2016
Exploration—for the furtherance of science, for national bragging rights, to fill in the remaining blank spaces on the map—was something the 19th-century U.S. Navy could proudly count among its undertakings ...

Contributors

February 2016
Thomas B. Allen is well known for his writing on the subjects of espionage and military history. His books include Tories: Fighting for the King in America’s First Civil War ...