Naval History
Night Light Carrier Air Group
TBM-1D radar version, flown by LT. cdr. JD Melvin, commanding officer of VT-51 abroad San Jacinto in 1944. USS Independence CVL-22 – TBM-1D Avenger of VT(N)-41 September 6 1944. Seven Grumman TBM-3D Avenger bombers of night torpedo squadron VT(N)-90 flying in formation in January 1945. The squadron was part of Night Air Group 90 on the carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6).…
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Commodore Hamelin’s cruise
Jacques FĂ©lix Emmanuel Hamelin Commodore Jacques Hamelin had not had an especially fruitful cruise in the Venus so far, but he was about to make life more difficult for the squadron than ever. On 10 November a trio of Indiamen, 185 days out of Portsmouth bound for Calcutta, were midway…
“The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan Depends on This One Battle” Part I
IJN Junyo IJN Shokaku Movement of opposing forces, 16—17 June 1944. Movement of opposing forces, 18 June 1944. On the morning of 11 June Admiral Ozawa received the first reports of TF 58’s strikes on the Marianas. At first he thought these raids were nothing more than diversionary attacks meant…
“The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan Depends on This One Battle” Part II
In the meantime, after Admiral Mitscher told TF 58 that it appeared the Japanese were coming their way, Gus Widhelm had been having a hard time getting takers for his $1,000 wager that the Japanese would be heading out for a carrier duel. Far to the west of Saipan, Ozawa’s…
“The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan Depends on This One Battle” Part III
In the meantime, both sides were busily preparing for an action which appeared likely the next day. With the Cavalla’s report in hand, Admiral Lockwood shifted the four submarines of his Pentathalon Group (then scouting northwest of Saipan) one hundred miles south. He told them, “Indications at this end that…
NAVAL POWER – THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR Part I
The half century after the Persian Wars saw a change in the balance of power and political alignments in the Greek world. Athens emerged from the war as the strongest naval power in the Aegean and in the course of the following decades forged an empire with tributary territory in…
NAVAL POWER – THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR Part II
The Rules of Naval Warfare – Peloponnesian War There were eight important rules under which the naval war would be conducted. First, there were two vital theaters of war: Ionia, meaning both the mainland coast and the islands, and the Hellespont. Ionia was important because so many Athenian subjects were…