Naval History Magazine - June 2023, Volume 37, Number 3

On Our Scope

June 2023

Our cover story this issue looks at what was unfolding in the South Pacific 80 years ago during this actionful chapter of Halsey’s career.

Naval History News

June 2023

Vietnam Veterans Honor a Lost ‘Legend’; Wreck of World War II Sub Identified as Albacore

In Contact

June 2023

Readers respond to stories from recent issues of Naval History.

Battle between HMS Frolic and the USS Wasp is depicted in this early 19th-century painting by Thomas Birch.

Two Navies, Three Names

By J. M. Caiella

June 2023

Wasp is among the oldest and most revered names of U.S. Navy ships.

The Electronic Skyraiders

By Norman Polmar

June 2023

One of the most versatile and durable naval aircraft was the Douglas AD/A-1 Skyraider.

The Great Northern War and the Rise of Russian Sea Power

By Eric Mills

June 2023

Europe has produced its share of mighty empires down through the ages, one that probably doesn’t spring first to mind is Sweden.

‘Detect, Control, Engage’: The Aegis Concept

By Christina C. Adams and Captain Andrew Thomson, U.S. Navy

June 2023

The history of Aegis development is a history of concepts as much as process.

U.S. Marine Corps Major “Pappy” Boyington

The Bull in the South Pacific

By Barrett Tillman

June 2023

South Pacific Command needed a fighter, and the hard-driving William F. Halsey Jr. proved to be the right admiral for the job.

Japanese sailors of a naval guard unit storm ashore

The Japanese Plan to Seize Midway

By Tim Gellel

June 2023

Prior to the epochal naval battle, Japan had formulated a detailed scheme to land troops and take the atoll by force. Would it have worked?

Escorts of Fast Convoy HX-233 launch a depth-charge attack

From Crisis to Victory in the North Atlantic

By Ed Offley

June 2023

The spring of 1943 witnessed a dramatic escalation in U-boat attacks on Allied shipping—but the tide soon turned on the wolf packs.

A Yank Flat-Top For Malta

By Arthur Nicholson

June 2023

During the relentless bombardment of a crucial piece of Mediterranean real estate, the USS Wasp (CV-7) rallied to the aid of the island’s hard-pressed British defenders.

Commodore George Dewey’s Asiatic Squadron steamed into the Bay of Manila

Dawn at Manila

By David A. Smith

June 2023

Commodore George Dewey and the future of the Philippines

3 August 1804: Commodore Preble’s squadron bombards Tripoli Harbor

Preble’s War

By Thomas Sheppard

June 2023

The nations of Europe had long capitulated to the extortionist demands of the Barbary States. That didn’t sit well with Commodore Edward Preble.

Return the Prinz Eugen Bell

By Commander Jim Moses, U.S. Navy (Retired)

June 2023

The Prinz Eugen was the largest German warship surrendered to the Allies at the end of World War II.

Book Reviews

June 2023

Experts review Mao's Army Goes to Sea, When the Shooting Stopped, and other new and noteworthy books.

Jonathan Haraden: The Tyrannicide and Pickering

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)

June 2023

Jonathan Haraden, was no stranger to trade or combat.

SecNav’s Icy Junket

By Captain Herbert E. Hetu, U.S. Navy (Retired)

June 2023

The following is an edited excerpt from Herbert Hetu’s Naval Institute oral history interview with Paul Stillwell on 20 June 1986.

Pieces of the Past

June 2023

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

A Bloody Encounter in the North Atlantic

By Ed Offley

June 2023

When U-boats attacked Convoy HX-228 in March 1943, an unusually fierce fight broke out that would claim a U.S. Liberty ship, a British destroyer, and two U-boats.

A Legacy of Naval Book Publishing

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)

June 2023

Since 1898, the U.S. Naval Institute’s book division has been producing works of lasting importance both to the Navy and to all who love naval history.

So You Want to Interview a Kamikaze

By Fred Schultz

April 2023

"The reason for my being here is to fill the void in my own memory, not to condemn or judge the past at a national level."

Reflections of a Battleship Sailor

By Dick Ramsey with Ed Offley

June 2023

From the Battle of the Atlantic to the Normandy Invasion to the Battle of Okinawa, the USS Nevada experienced in full the “two-ocean war.”

The First Book Ever Published by the Naval Institute

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)

June 2023

A gunboat’s Spanish-American War experiences led to the launching of a publishing program that has stood the test of time.

John Rodgers: Midwife to the Ironclad

By Lieutenant Commander Andrew Roscoe, U.S. Navy Reserve

June 2023

Ultimately, no other officer did as much for the Navy to push it into this new and untired technology and to make it the success that led to victory at ...