Having served during World War II as Marine Corps liaison officer to the Selective Service Headquarters in Iowa and Nebraska and later as Training Officer attached to the National Headquarters where he assisted in the preparation of correspondence courses and training materials for the instruction of Reservists earmarked for mobilization assignment to Selective Service, Major Rankin is now Chief of the Manpower Section of the Iowa State Headquarters of Selective Service. He is also the author of several military affairs articles published in the The National Guardsman and other magazines.

Articles by Robert H. Rankin

The Navy's Secret Weapon Circa 1918

by Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Rankin, U. S. Marine Corps
June 1967
In these days of rapidly advancing military technology, with guided missiles and space travel claiming what may be a disproportionate share of the headlines, we are so often apt to ...
ZMC-2

The Navy's Tin Bubble

by Colonel Robert H. Rankin, U. S. Marine Corps
August 1965
Throughout the years a number of novel aircraft have been developed. These craft for the most part provide an interesting, if not always significant, footnote to aviation history. One was ...

USS Alarm: An Experiment

by Colonel Robert H. Rankin, U. S. Marine Corps
June 1965
She was named the Alarm and it was hoped that she would be as fearsome as her name implied. Described variously as a “torpedo boat,” a “torpedo ram,” and an ...

The Story of Coast Guard Aviation

By Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Rankin, USMC, and Norman N. Rubin
June 1959
It all began some 43 years ago, back in 1915. Since that time Coast Guard aviation, although never great in numbers of personnel or equipment and constantly battling against odds ...

USS Katahdin—Last of the Rams

By Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Rankin, USMC
October 1958
The ram, as a naval weapon, first used on the galleys in ancient Greek and Roman days, reappeared several times during ensuing years. In fact the ram, in one form ...

DN-1, The U. S. Navy's First Dirigible

By Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Rankin, U.S. Marine Corps
October 1957
Authoritative Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft for 1917 dismissed the U. S. Navy’s first dirigible with the terse observation that it was of small size; that it was of no ...

A History of Selective Service

By Major Robert H. Rankin, U. S. Marine Corps Reserve*
October 1951
Notwithstanding the fact history shows that any nation of consequence has built its independence and prosperity, as well as insured its security, on the principle of compulsory military service, the ...