National Archives

On Our Scope

April 2016
On 20 September 1945, two-and-a-half weeks after he’d hosted the formal Japanese surrender on board his flagship, Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. headed for home. Among the many respects paid ...

Contributors

April 2016
Alan Fraser Houston, MD, a graduate of Amherst College, served from 1969 to 1972 as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Navy. His articles have appeared in California History ...
National Archives

In Contact

April 2016
Not Official German PolicyEdward Von der PortenAlan Rems’ December article “Götterdämmerung: German Admirals on Trial” (pp. 38–45) is a well-balanced view of a still-debated event in ...
Courtesy of the author

The Instrumental Oerlikon

By Thomas Wildenberg
April 2016
One of the most widely used naval weapons of World War II, the 20-mm Oerlikon antiaircraft cannon was installed aboard virtually every U.S. Navy warship—from lowly PT boats to massive ...
Crystal Cruises

Naval History News

April 2016
A Luxury Liner Once More?The famed ocean liner SS United States could avoid the scrap yard with the announcement in February that a luxury cruise-ship line plans to renovate the ...
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

'Dear Admiral Halsey'

By John Wukovits
April 2016
Captivated by outspoken ‘Bull’ Halsey’s ability to back his tough talk with bold action, average Americans deluged the admiral with letters during World War II.
National Archives

Halsey and Spruance: A Study in Contrasts

By E. B. Potter
April 2016
The character and personality of the admiral and of the general have always been of professional as well as popular interest. They are of professional interest because character and personality ...
National Archives

Out of the Jaws of Victory

By Alan Rems
April 2016
When Thomas Heggen penned his 1946 novel Mister Roberts, he peopled his fictional World War II vessel with the types of characters he knew in the service. Particularly memorable ...
Courtesy of George Steven Fears

A Sailor's Story Revisited

By Eric Mills
April 2016
He has had a career that essentially spans the history of comic books—starting out in his teens in the late 1930s during the medium’s developmental phase, through the mid-century decades ...
Naval History and Heritage Command

The Many Faces of Lady Sterling

By Alan Fraser Houston
April 2016
When the British-owned and newly built side-wheel steamer Lady Sterling proceeded down the River Thames on 12 August 1864, her ultimate destination was the Confederate port of Wilmington, North Carolina ...

Book Reviews

April 2016
Hunters and Killers Volume 1: Anti-Submarine Warfare from 1776 to 1943Norman Polmar and Edward Whitman. Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2015. 224 pp. Photos. Illus. Notes. Index. $44.95.Reviewed ...
Library of Congress

Pieces of the Past

April 2016
One of history’s greatest love stories involved one of naval history’s greatest icons—we refer, of course, to the legendary romance between Horatio Nelson and Emma, Lady Hamilton. It was the ...