Richard Burgess

Uriah Levy One does not expect a naval officer who has been court-martialed six times to go on to command the Mediterranean Fleet and retire as a commodore. But Uriah ...

Tip MerrillIn the U.S. Naval Academy's Naval Warfare course, midshipmen are taught the principle of "commander's intent." It is defined as the means by which a commander conveys his or ...

Leo Young—Radio PioneerAs a young man growing up in the early part of the 20th century, Leo Young had an interest in the new technology of radio. At 14, he ...

The Edge During the great typhoon that hit Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet on 18-19 December 1944, three destroyers and more than 800 men were lost. One young man was nearly ...

Commander Holloway H. FrostIn early 1935, a curious phrase appeared in print. It said, "the U.S. Naval Institute has been deFrosted." These odd words (both in meaning and spelling) were ...

In the early 1990s, a 70-year-old retired admiral stood before a large contingent of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy and challenged them to an unlikely competition. He asked who ...

Swede VejtasaAt the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, Stanley W. "Swede" Vejtasa was one of several American dive bomber pilots who scored 12 direct hits on the ...

HomefrontWhile still a young girl, Doris Biorseth left South Dakota in the summer of 1941 and headed west, settling in Washington, where, for a time, she worked in a boarding ...

Amazing Grace As a young girl Grace Brewster Murray had an unusually inquisitive mind. One day, when she was seven years old, she disassembled an alarm clock to see how ...

History Repeats ItselfIn the lobby of the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Institute is an odd-looking apparatus that resembles the control wheel of an airplane. A trained eye might be ...

John Henry BalchWorld War I appropriately enough conjures up images of soldiers in trenches, gas attacks, relentless shelling, and machine gun slaughters. One does not usually picture an American ...

Fire and SwordOn 24 October 1776, the Continental Congress issued secret orders to Lambert Wickes, captain of Reprisal, a ship-rigged vessel of 18 six-pound carriage guns and a crew of ...