Naval History and Heritage Command

On Our Scope

December 2016
As the first attack wave of Japanese bombers and fighters passed over northern Oahu, Commander Mitsuo Fuchida faced a critical decision. Should he fire one signal flare, indicating his aircraft ...
Courtesy of Paul Stillwell

Whataman!

By Carl LaVO
December 2016
As the story goes, there was a booze-addled challenge to a football game between two submarine crews taking R&R between war patrols outside the Gooneyville Lodge on Midway Island in ...

Book Reviews

December 2016
Revolution on the Hudson: New York City and the Hudson River Valley in the War of American IndependenceGeorge C. Daughan. New York: W. W. Norton, 2016. 432 pp. Intro. Illus ...
U.S. Navy (Danny Ewing Jr.)

Historic Aircraft - A Trainer Par Excellence

By Norman Polmar, Author, Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet
December 2016
Tens of thousands of U.S. and foreign pilots received instruction on the T-2 Buckeye, an outstanding Navy training aircraft. But the T-2—originally designated T2J—was not the Navy’s jet trainer that ...
Naval History and Heritage Command

As I Recall - Eyewitness to Infamy

By James Leamon Forbis
December 2016
James Leamon Forbis enlisted in the Navy in 1939. When war came on 7 December 1941, he was on the front line of history, serving as a coxswain on board ...
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

Forgotten Pioneers

By Lieutenant Andrea N. Goldstein, U.S. Navy Reserve
December 2016
First Prize, 2016 Naval History Essay Contest: The Women Who Made it Possible General George Washington’s Continental Army. Her name was Deborah Sampson, and she had disguised herself as a ...
©1996, Tom W. Freeman, courtesy of SM&S Naval Prints, Inc.

Not Just for Show

By Hill Goodspeed
December 2016
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the formation of the Blue Angels. Annually since 1946, a select number of naval aviators have thrilled air-show audiences with high-flying formations and ...

Contributors

December 2016
Lieutenant Andrea N. Goldstein, U.S. Navy Reserve, served on active duty from 2009 to 2016. She holds a BA in history from the University of Chicago, is a 2016 Pat ...
Naval History and Heritage Command

Commander Fuchida's Decision

By Commander Alan D. Zimm, U.S. Navy (Retired)
December 2016
Commander Mitsuo Fuchida sat in the center seat of his Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 carrier attack bomber watching aircraft race off the Akagi’s bow into the predawn mist. The weather ...
U.S. Naval Institute

Naval History News

December 2016
Women in Military Honored at Athena ConferenceIn 1976 women were admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy for the first time and began to be integrated into the Brigade of Midshipmen ...
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

In Contact

December 2016
Fulfilling the CommitmentTheodore KuhlmeierRegarding Paul Stillwell’s October “Looking Back” column, “From Annapolis to the Pros” (p. 62), when young men or women enter any of the military academies ...
Courtesy of Edward K. Poole

Pieces of the Past

December 2016
Now here’s a naval artifact you actually can drink tea and eat crumpets on—not that we would recommend that. This lace-trimmed, sateen table cover (a “table round,” to be specific) ...