illustrations

Pieces of the Past

These Dilbert cartoons, published by the U.S. Navy Training Division, offer a crash course (pun intended) in all the things a flier simply should not do.

March 2024
Codenamed Project Sock, the 1,810-foot long floating airfield proved the culminating achievement for the ambitious and bizarre Project Habbakuk and one of the more bizarre military engineering experiments of World War II.

Pieces of the Past

Today’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the Gerald R. Ford class have a length of approximately 1,100 feet—the longest of any warship ever constructed and fielded by the U.S. Navy.

February 2024
Old Ironsides

Pieces of the Past

There is “Old Ironsides,” the venerable frigate USS Constitution, and then there is Old Ironsides—the big-budget, big-screen extravaganza that wowed the crowds during Hollywood’s silent-movie era.

December 2023
model ships

Pieces of the Past

World War I ushered in the submarine as one of the deadliest new elements of warfare.

August 2023
POTP Hero MJ23

Pieces of the Past

Few things provide a more pristine snapshot of a particular decade or era than its ephemera.

May 2023
calendar

Pieces of the Past

There are naval artists, and then there are Navy artists—painters who ply their talents in an official capacity while in uniform.

April 2023
potp jf23 hero

Pieces of the Past

Throughout history, naval leaders have been honored on coins and commemorative medallions intended for collectors. A few have even risen to rule their nations.

January 2023
Japanese submarine

Pieces of the Past

The National Museum of American History has several artifacts from the Imperial Japanese Navy’s 7 December 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

November 2022
Sculpin

Pieces of the Past

When Lieutenant (junior grade) Corwin Mendenhall Jr. received word that he had been promoted to lieutenant, he was a long way from a Navy uniform shop.

September 2022
stamps hero

Pieces of the Past

Soviet postal authorities and their Russian Federation successors have honored numerous historic and modern warships.

August 2022