U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PHOTO ARCHIVE

Improving the Breed

By Norman Polmar
October 2007
Coming into service in the wake of World War II, the enormous, innovative Midway-class aircraft carriers proved to be durable trailblazers during the Cold War and beyond.
On 7 April 1945, U.S. carrier planes swarm over the explosion-engulfed Yamato and Yahagi (background) in artist John Hamilton's depiction of the Japanese warships' final battle.

The Imperial Navy's Final Sortie

By Takekuni Ikeda
October 2007
The April 1945 one-way mission of the battleship Yamato, cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers had virtually no chance of success. A survivor of the operation offers his perspective ...
NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER

The 'Butchers of Kapsan'

By Christopher Pontrelli
October 2007
In a Korean War pinpoint strike, 16 Navy pilots dumped more than 44,000 pounds of explosives on a compound where North Korean and Chinese leaders were meeting.
COURTESY OF TAKEKUNI IKEDA

On Our Scope

By Richard G. Latture, Editor-in-Chief
October 2007
Each article in Naval History is a team effort, with the players being the author and the magazine's editors and designers. Of course, there's sometimes an exception, and this issue ...
Naval Historical Center

Prelude to Kamikaze

By Christopher Edwards
October 2007
At the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the destroyer USS Smith kept fighting after receiving a blow her mid-1930s designers never imagined.

Birth of a Blockade

By Eugene B. Canfield
October 2007
An expedition to Port Royal, South Carolina, early in the Civil War was a brilliant tactical success for its commander, Samuel F. Du Pont, and his subordinates. For political reasons ...

A Proof of Madness?

By Rear Admiral Joseph F. Callo, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired)
October 2007
The brashness of youth was the hallmark of the first days of the Continental Navy, but the sea service quickly gained maturity as its commanders and men learned from their ...