Naval History - February 2025, Volume 39, Number 1

On Our Scope

February 2025

In the titanic and protracted fight for Iwo Jima that unfolded 80 years ago, both doggedly determined adversaries knew how high the stakes were.

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro speaks to audience members during a ceremony for the new National Museum of the United States Navy in Washington, D.C.

Site for National Navy Museum Formally Announced

February 2025

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro formally announced the site for the new National Museum of the United States Navy during an October ceremony at the location.

2024 CNO Naval History Essay Contest Winners Honored

February 2025

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti was on hand to mark the occasion as the winners of the 2024 CNO Naval History Essay Contest were announced in an awards ...

Historian Wood Named 2024 Knox Award Honoree

February 2025

Virginia Steele Wood has been named the recipient of the 2024 Commodore Dudley W. Knox Award.

The wreck of the USS Edsall, which fought to the bitter end before being sunk in 1942, has been located in the Indian Ocean.

Another Legendary Lost Ship Found

February 2025

The Royal Australian Navy announced in November that it had located the wreck of the USS Edsall (DD-219 in the Indian Ocean about 200 miles east of Christmas Island.

During its evacuation of the Dachens, the Seventh Fleet transited more than 25,000 Chinese Nationalists—along with weapons, ammo, and combat gear—to Formosa under the protection of 70 warships, including seven aircraft carriers.

In Contact

February 2025

Readers respond to recent articles from Naval History.

Nearly a year after its famed rescue of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, The Bug was still in service despite its “arduous two-year war career.” Although it qualified for the fictitious “Plane Hall of Fame,” the aircraft was not fortunate enough to be preserved.

Lucky Bug

By J. M. Caiella

February 2025

The Chance Vought OS2U Kingfisher was designed as a scouting aircraft.

The schooner Experiment under attack by 11 armed pirate boats in the Caribbean on New Year’s Day 1800, in the Bight of Léogâne off modern-day Haiti.

The Most Successful Ship You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

By Captain B. J. Armstrong, U.S. Navy

February 2025

Benjamin Stoddert was desperate for ships. To solve the problem, he began a pattern that would stretch across the 19th century.

The British flagship HMS Victory rakes the stern of the Salvador del Mundo with a withering broadside during the 1797 Battle of Cape St. Vincent.

The Great Valentine’s Day Victory

By Eric Mills

February 2025

The discovery of the wreck of the USS Stewart brings a long-sought denouement to a destroyer’s story unique in the annals of the Pacific war.

Antiaircraft guns firing on board the USS Wasp (CV-18) in December 1944. The USS Yorktown (CV-10) is in the background. Note the Mk 14 gyroscopic reflector sights visible on top of the guns.

Inside the Mk 14 Gyroscopic Gunsight

February 2025

In the first decades of the 20th century, the emerging technology of naval aviation was seen as a revolution in naval warfare.

Against the backdrop of a wall of smoke from a massive naval barrage, amphibious tractors ferry U.S. Marines to Iwo Jima landing beaches on D-Day, 19 February 1945. Devastating naval gunfire, air bombardments, and artillery fire were key elements of the victory at Iwo.

A Victory of Cooperation

By Chris K. Hemler

February 2025

The hard-fought victory at Iwo Jima came courtesy of the indomitable grit of Marine infantrymen backed by an unstoppable land-sea-air “symphony of destructive firepower.”

A group photograph of Fighting Squadron 18 in Hawaii, May 1944.

‘A Deadly Proving Ground’

By Mike Fink

February 2025

In this exclusive book preview, the men of the USS Intrepid’s Fighting Squadron 18, “Harris’ Hellcats,” take to the skies for the epic air battle over Formosa—the largest air-sea clash ...

President Jimmy Carter (left) and Admiral Hyman G. Rickover had first crossed paths when a young Carter had joined the ranks of the nuclear Navy in the 1950s. When Carter became President in 1977, the old acquaintances reconnected, to their mutual benefit.

The Carter-Rickover Relationship

By Glenn Robins

February 2025

James “Jimmy” Carter was a young Navy lieutenant when he first met the iconic Hyman G. Rickover; as U.S. President, Carter would further strengthen his bond with the father of ...

The ship that served under two flags: A pre–World War II view of the USS Stewart.

‘The Ghost Ship of the Pacific’

By James P. Delgado

February 2025

The inside story of the undersea quest to locate the USS Stewart—a legendary Clemson-class destroyer with a most unusual history.

The Battle of Angamos during the War of the Pacific.

From Angamos to Tsushima to Jutland

By Lieutenant Commander Christopher Booth, U.S. Coast Guard

February 2025

The 19th-century War of the Pacific, the Russo-Japanese War, and World War I offer resonant sea power lessons for today’s challenges.

The globe-trotting Alexander Macomb Mason, seen here during his Egyptian service, circa 1875–80.

Forgotten American Innovator

By Andrew Rhodes

February 2025

From the Confederate coast to South America to Egypt, the adventurous Alexander Macomb Mason carried his mine-warfare expertise far and wide during the 1800s.