National Archives

On Our Scope

By Richard G. Latture Editor-in-Chief
August 2017
The first U.S. Marine fighter pilots to arrive at Guadalcanal’s Henderson Field 75 years ago faced hard facts. For one, the Japanese flew the aerial equivalent of a hot rod—the ...
U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PHOTO ARCHIVE

"A Brilliant Accomplishment by the Japanese"

By Vice Admiral Lloyd M. Mustin, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
Vice Admiral Lloyd Mustin was born to a Navy career, being the son of pioneering naval aviator Captain Henry Mustin. Lloyd Mustin was serving as assistant gunnery officer on board ...

In Contact

August 2017
Fletcher Grades Spruance Captain Howard C. Cohen, JAGC, USNR (Ret.) In “Grading Midway’s Commanders” (June, pp. 14–19), Jonathan Parshall undertook an assessment of the leadership of the six most important ...

Talking Between Ships

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
The U.S. Navy’s use of shipboard radiotelephone (RT)—also known as “voice radio”—for tactical communications began in 1916, when the first RT message was sent from ship to ship. During World ...
National Archives

What's Out There?

By Norman Polmar
August 2017
When U.S. aircraft carriers are at sea, on their flight decks—or flying nearby—are Grumman E-2 Hawkeye airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. Radar-equipped planes have been flying from U.S. carriers in ...
www.navsource.org

Voyage to War

By David C. Isby
August 2017
Six months before the Pearl Harbor attack, the destroyer USS Mayo set out to battle U-boats and hazardous weather in an undeclared war being waged in the North Atlantic.
Kelly Oaks

The Cactus Air Force's Humble Home

By Colonel Richard Camp, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
August 2017
Henderson Field was located in a cleared area near the north coast of Guadalcanal, just east of the Lunga River and west of the Ilu River, nicknamed “Alligator Creek.” When ...
Naval History and Heritage Command

From Kiel to Kwajalein

By J. M. Caiella
August 2017
Included among the most unusual ships ever to serve with the U.S. Navy was perhaps its most unwanted—the German World War II heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen (IX-300). By the end ...
COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

Denmark's New Maritime Museum

By Andrew C. A. Jampoler
August 2017
Denmark’s Museet for Søfart, the Maritime Museum of Denmark, sits in the shadow of historic Kronborg Castle—the home of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, in Shakespeare’s brilliant tragedy—and is a must-see ...

Book Reviews

August 2017
As Good As Dead: The Daring Escape of American POWs from a Japanese Death CampStephen L. Moore. New York: Caliber, 2016. 358 pp. Plates. Maps. Appendices. Biblio. Endnotes. Index. $27 ...
National Archives

Pieces of the Past

Eric Mills
August 2017
It is an interesting irony of World War I that U.S. troops who showed up in mass numbers to defeat the Germans were transported in German ships. (See “A Sailor’s ...