On Our Scope

By Richard G. Latture, Editor-in-Chief
August 2006
This issue of Naval History commemorates the 60th anniversary of an event that signaled the U.S. Navy's entry into the nuclear age: Operation Crossroads, the twin atomic bomb tests at ...
NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER

Piddly Poom to Spectacular Boom

By Rear Admiral Odale D. Waters Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2006
Skipper of a destroyer participating in the Crossroads tests at Bikini Atoll, then-Commander Waters was underwhelmed by the first atomic blast but awed by the second.
Prados

Waging War with Cardboard Navies

By John Prados
August 2006
Wargames have long been used as Navy training tools. But outside Naval War College classrooms board wargames are also a popular way to explore military history by figuratively putting oneself ...

Curiosity at the Crossroads

By Vice Admiral Jerry Miller, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2006
The atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll 60 years ago—the first of which, code-named Test Able, artist Grant Powers captured in dramatic sequence—gave ominous clues concerning what the Manhattan Project ...
ASTOR

Atomic Fish

By Norman Polmar
August 2006
The history of the nuclear-tipped torpedo is almost as mysterious as any of the black projects of the submarine service, but the details that have surfaced are fascinating and, in ...

In Contact

August 2006
“Destroyers at Tokyo Bay” (See D. W. McComb, pp. 32-36, February; C. Paty, p.7, April 2006 Naval History) Lieutenant Commander David K. Sturges, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired) This fascinating piece ...

Naval History News

August 2006
Conference Examines River Warfare and John Paul Jones Lessons learned from various riverine warfare scenarios throughout history, plus a showdown on America’s first and foremost naval hero, highlighted the U.S ...

Historic Fleets

By A.D. Baker III
August 2006
By the mid-1950s, the U.S. Navy had worldwide Cold War operational requirements, but its surface fleet suffered from a lack of endurance. The Navy’s leadership had become convinced of the ...

The Tale of the Vigi

By Norman Polmar Author, The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet
August 2006
The “Vigi” was the world’s most advanced carrier-based attack aircraft of its era—and it never dropped a bomb in anger. Still, the North American A3J Vigilante played an important role ...

Book Reviews

Reviewed by Paul V. Walsh, William M. Fowler Jr., Captain Timothy J. Lockhart, U.S. Navy Reserve & Commander Don Walsh, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2006
Lone Star Navy: Texas, the Fight for the Gulf of Mexico, and the Shaping of the American West Jonathan W. Jordan. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, Inc., 2006. 380 pp. Bib ...