This Day in History: The Unlucky "Willie Dee"
On this day in 1943, a U.S. Navy destroyer accidentally torpedoes the battleship USS Iowa, then ferrying Franklin D. Roosevelt across the...
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tara
- Oct 23
- 3 min
This Day in History: The failed British attack on Fort Mifflin
On this day in 1777, the British try to drive Americans away from Fort Mifflin. They failed. Americans held their own against six British...
tara
- Oct 13
- 3 min
This Day in History: Happy Birthday, U.S. Navy!
On this day in 1775, the Continental Congress passes a resolution establishing a naval force to help George Washington’s army. The...
tara
- Aug 4
- 3 min
This Day in History: USS Nautilus
On this day in 1958, USS Nautilus travels under ice in the Arctic Sea. She’d just become the first to travel, submerged, under the North...
tara
- Jul 18
- 3 min
This Day in History: American naval hero John Paul Jones
On this day in 1792, American naval hero John Paul Jones dies in Paris. He has been called one of the founders of the American Navy. Of...
tara
- May 19
- 4 min
This Day in History: Operation Drumbeat
On this day in 1942, a German U-boat torpedoes an American freighter in the Gulf of Mexico. Heredia was then just 40 miles from New...
tara
- May 16
- 3 min
This Day in History: Benedict Arnold & the first USS Enterprise
On this day in 1775, Benedict Arnold sets his sights on Fort St. John’s, near the Canadian border. He would soon launch an attack on the...
tara
- May 9
- 2 min
This Day in History: U.S. Coast Guard sinks a German submarine
On this day in 1942, a United States Coast Guard cutter sinks a German submarine just off the coast of North Carolina. Dozens of Germans...
tara
- Apr 13
- 3 min
This Day in History: SS Gulfamerica targeted
On this day in 1942, SS Gulfamerica slowly sinks off the coast of Florida. She’d just been torpedoed by a German U-boat. She sank slowly...
tara
- Feb 17
- 3 min
This Day in History: USS Philadelphia destroyed
On this day in 1804, Navy legend Stephen Decatur escapes from a harbor in Tripoli. Mere hours earlier, he’d led a mission to set a...
tara
- Dec 6, 2022
- 3 min
This Day in History: USS Jacob Jones torpedoed
On this day in 1917, the destroyer USS Jacob Jones is torpedoed as she travels near the Isles of Scilly. Jacob Jones would be the first...
tara
- Nov 30, 2022
- 3 min
This Day in History: USS Archerfish's big hit
On this day in 1944, the submarine USS Archerfish lingers near wreckage of the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano. The American crew soon...
tara
- Sep 2, 2022
- 2 min
This Day in History: The first ships in “Washington’s Navy”
On this day in 1775, George Washington directs Nicolson Broughton to take command of the first ship in Washington’s Navy. The war had...
tara
- Aug 29, 2022
- 3 min
This Day in History: USS Memphis is wrecked by a massive tidal wave
On this day in 1916, a U.S. Navy armored cruiser is wrecked by a massive tidal wave. USS Memphis was effectively destroyed and dozens of...
tara
- Aug 3, 2022
- 3 min
This Day in History: Survivors of USS Indianapolis rescued
On this day in 1945, the last survivors of the USS Indianapolis are pulled from the Pacific Ocean. They’d been there since a Japanese...
tara
- Jun 30, 2022
- 3 min
This Day in History: Captain Silas Talbot
On this day in 1813, a former captain of the Continental Navy passes away. Silas Talbot also served in the United States Navy as the...
tara
- Jun 23, 2022
- 3 min
This Day in History: A tragic end for one of America’s early war heroes
On this day in 1807, USS Chesapeake limps back into Hampton Roads. Just one day earlier, she’d been involved in a disastrous...
tara
- Jun 22, 2022
- 3 min
This Day in History: The Chesapeake–Leopard affair
On this day in 1807, a British Royal Navy officer boards an American ship, looking for deserters. The humiliating affair ended when the...
tara
- May 6, 2022
- 3 min
This Day in History: German U-boats near Rhode Island
On this day in 1945, Americans destroy a German submarine near Point Judith, Rhode Island. That submarine, U-853, had torpedoed an...
tara
- Apr 5, 2022
- 2 min
This Day in History: HMS Bolton captured
On this day in 1776, a fledgling Continental Navy captures HMS Bolton. She was the second British ship to be captured in only two days....
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