Men of the 6th Marine Division's D Company come ashore at Okinawa, 1 April 1945.

On Our Scope

June 2025
Eighty years ago this spring, the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific war was unleashed, as the “Typhoon of Steel” descended mercilessly onto heavily fortified Okinawa.
Stars and Stripes, on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport, shows its wing-folding capability.

Non-Navy Hero

By J. M. Caiella
June 2025
The Fairchild FC series of aircraft was a highly successful design for a light, single-engine, high-wing utility monoplane intended for a somewhat unusual mission.
May 1941: Unterhehmen Merkur—Operation Mercury, the German invasion of Crete—commences as Luftwaffe aircraft launch their assault on the strategically vital island, perched between the Axis-controlled Aegean and the Allied-controlled eastern Mediterranean.

Force C from Crete

By Peter Kentz
June 2025
As Axis aircraft relentlessly rained hell from above, the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet held on doggedly to thwart the German seaborne invasion of Crete in May 1941.
19 October 1987: The Iranian oil platform Rostam is ablaze after being shelled by four U.S. Navy destroyers in response to an Iranian missile attack on a reflagged Kuwaiti super tanker.

The Tanker War

By Second Lieutenant Quentin Zimmer, U.S. Marine Corps
June 2025
The impact of mines—and mine countermeasures—in the 1980s Persian Gulf showdown offers potent lessons for today’s Marine Corps.
On 7 May 1915, the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania, traveling from New York to Liverpool, was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland.

Gone Too Soon

By Chester Nimitz Lay
June 2025
Just two years after the marriage of Chester Nimitz and Catherine Freeman, Nimitz’s brother-in-law would meet a heroic end during the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania.
Captain William Sterling “Deak” Parsons on Tinian in 1945. Although he was hoping for a seagoing command, his technical prowess got him drafted into the Manhattan Project, which kept him ashore for the duration of the war.

Deak and the Little Boy

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2025
With World War II in its fourth year, Navy Captain William Parsons had wanted—indeed expected—to be commanding ships at sea at this point in his career.
Historical artifacts

Pieces of the Past

June 2025
As any salt worth his salt knows, one’s first time crossing the equator is a time-honored nautical rite of passage—for Navy sailors and merchant seamen alike.
Skyhawk

Voices from Vietnam 

By Barrett Tillman
June 2025
The experiences of naval aviators who served in the Southeast Asian conflict underscore how ‘the Vietnam legacy—written in blood, skill, and commitment—still lives on.’