Brought to You by the Members of the U.S. Naval Institute
The following is a remembrance of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Marine 1st Lt. Jack Lummus. The piece appeared in Naval History in 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima with the original title, “To Love a Lost Hero.” Before the war, Lummus had played in the National Football League for the New York Giants and had played college ball at Baylor. Read More
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) leads a formation of ships from Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12 during a maneuvering exercise on Sept. 23, 2014. US Navy Photo
Just four days ahead of the 73rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy announced its intention to award Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (HII). approximately $4 billion to construct the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) super carrier, the second vessel of the new Gerald R. Ford-class of carriers. The cost has raised eyebrows, as the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) experienced cost overruns of 22 percent. Read More
USS Fort Worth (LCS-3), bottom, the guided missile destroyer USS Sampson (DDG-102) in the Java Sea on Jan. 14, 2015. US Navy Photo
Less than a month after U.S. Navy leaders announced modified versions of both variants of the Littoral Combat Ship would be the Navy’s pick for its for a more lethal and survivable small surface combatant, one of the chief LCS critics said the upgrades would do little to improve the survivability of the class. Read More
Promotional painting for the 1970 movie Tora! Tora! Tora! by artist Robert McCall via Airport Journals
The Imperial Japanese Navy’s attack on U.S. military installations on the Hawaiian island of Oahu on Dec. 7, 1941 has produced several dramatic depictions on film and television. The following is a brief list of movies and television series about or set around the attack on Pearl Harbor. Read More
U.S. Navy enlisted personnel—unlike those in the other services—wear their jobs on their sleeves. A Marine machine-gunner wears similar collar rank as the rest of his fire team; unless you ask him, or see his military occupation in his file, one could never know his job specifics just by looking at his uniform.
Not so in the Navy. Read More
Sailors assigned to the submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) lower a wreath into the water as naval officers from Australia, Indonesia and the United States observe during a ceremony in honor of the crews of the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA 30) and the Royal Australian Navy light cruiser HMAS Perth (D29) on Oct. 14, 2014. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command has finalized its report on the wreck of USS Houston (CA-30) — a cruiser sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy in an early World War II battle off the coast of Indonesia. Read More
Ben Bradlee. Photo via BBC
Ben Bradlee, the former executive editor of The Washington Post, died on Tuesday. He was 93. Bradley was best known for leading the Post during the paper’s investigation into the break in at the Watergate Hotel by members of the Nixon administration and the subsequent political fallout. Bradlee also served as a naval officer in the Pacific during World War II and detailed his experience in his 1995 memoir, A Good Life.
The following is an interview Bradlee conducted with Naval History magazine in the December 1995 issue originally titled, “That’s What Editors Do.” Read More
Articfacts from USS Houston recovered by a recreational diver. Naval HIstory and Heritage Command Photo
The U.S. Navy’s recognition of a 72-year-old war grave began when an Australian scuba diver plucked a bent trumpet from 120 feet below the Sea of Java. Read More
USS Houston (CA-30) in 1934. US Navy Photo
The following is a July 25, 2014 report from the Naval History and Heritage Command on the June expedition to the wreck of USS Houston (CA-30). Read More
USS Houston (CA-30) in 1934. US Navy Photo
The following is a first person account of the 1942 Battles of Java and Sunda Strait. The work was published in the February 1949 issue of Proceedings as, “The Galloping Ghost.” The text is presented unaltered and includes language some could find offensive.
On the night of February 28, 1942, the U.S.S. Houston, Admiral Tommy Hart’s former Asiatic flagship, vanished without a trace somewhere off the Northwest coast of Java. The mystery of the Houston remained complete until the war ended and small groups of survivors were discovered in Japs prisoner of war camps, scattered from the island of Java through the Malay Peninsula, the jungles of Burma and Thailand, and northward to the Islands of Japan. Read More
