Missile

Merrill the Missileer

1934 Naval Academy graduate, future-Captain Grayson Merrill relates his experience as deputy and then head of the Special Design Branch of the Bureau of Aeronautics.

A. Denis Clift
January 2022
Herbert Riley

‘Where Are Your Eagles?"

Excerpts from Vice Admiral Herbert D. Riley’s oral history recall his early days as an aviator.

A. Denis Clift
December 2021
Tanks

Marines Are Here to Stay

The Marine Corps is America’s national force in readiness. Readiness, more even than quality, is the attribute Americans have come to expect of their Marine Corps.

November 2021
Rear Admiral Charles Loughlin

The Hardest Working Naval Officer

In these oral history excerpts, Rear Admiral Charles E. Loughlin recalls his life in the engineering department during that first battleship tour.

By A. Denis Clift
October 2021
aircraft carriers

Blowing Holes in Windshields

In 1964, then–Rear Admiral Strean took command of Carrier Division 2 on board the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65), with additional duties as Commander, Task Force One.

A. Denis Clift
September 2021
Chimpanzee

Splashdown!

NASA safety specialist Dennis Chamberland explained the initial requirements for space exploration in these edited excerpts of his January 1989 Proceedings article, “Splashdown!”

A. Denis Clift
August 2021
submarine

Salting the Tail of a Soviet Sub

As commander of Destroyer Squadron 2 in the Mediterranean, then-Captain Odale D. “Muddy” Waters recalls attempting to hold down a Soviet submarine caught spying on a replenishment formation.

A. Denis Clift
July 2021
Ship

‘I am a Survivor’

An anonymous letter to the Bureau of Naval Personnel, dated 16 March 1944 and excerpted here, was included in Vice Admiral Felix Johnson’s 1976 Naval Institute oral history.

By A. Denis Clift
May 2021