Naval History Blog

On September 7, the NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB), Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Naval Oceanographic Office, Office of Naval Research, and U.S. Naval Academy along with partners from Ocean Technology Foundation began the 2010 search and survey for Bonhomme Richard. The investigation will take place September 7 through September 21.

A SAAB Double Eagle MKII ROV being launched off the deck of CMT Cassiopée during the May 2010 search for Bonhomme Richard. Photo courtesy of Alexis Catsambis.

On September 23, 1779, Bonhomme Richard,  the flagship of the Continental Navy and commanded by Captain John Paul Jones, participated in one of the fiercest battles of the Revolutionary War against HMS Serapis off the coast of Flamborough Head, England. Although Jones emerged victorious from the battle, Bonhomme Richard was badly damaged and, after drifting for thirty-six hours, sank into the North Sea. If found, the final resting place of Bonhomme Richard could shed new light on US maritime history and would increase public awareness and appreciation for America’s maritime patrimony.

Photo of the USNS Henson, which will serve as the search vessel for the 2010 Bonhomme Richard survey. Photo courtesy of msc.navy.mil.

The survey area was determined using a computer program, developed by the U.S. Naval Academy, which integrates the weather and tidal data, crew actions and the vessel’s last known positions to establish where it might have gone down. The Bonhomme Richard Project teams will use an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with side scan and multibeam sonar, and a separate high-quality side scan sonar that will be towed behind the search vessel to create an image of the sea floor. NHHC will also be joined by a French Navy minehunter equipped with a robotic underwater video camera and teams of divers to further examine any targets warranting closer investigation. Dr. Robert Neyland, Head of UAB, will act as chief archaeologist and lead the investigation in authenticating and identifying any remains of the ship and its artifacts.

 Stay tuned for more updates as the search for Bonhomme Richard continues!

Navy Chaplains have a long and distinguished history of administering to the spiritual needs of Marines. One such man was Father Vincent R. Capodanno. After his ordination in June 1957, Father Capodanno served from 1958-1965 as a Maryknoll Missionary for the Catholic Foreign Mission Society in the Far East. As the conflict in Vietnam escalated in early 1965, Father Capodanno felt the call to enter Naval Service. He subsequently accepted an appointment on 28 December 1965 as a Lieutenant, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Naval Reserve, and received indoctrination at the Naval Chaplains School in Newport Rhode Island.

In April 1966, Lieutenant Capodanno deployed to the Republic of Vietnam, and was assigned as a Chaplain with the First Marine Division. Battle hardened Marines soon came to seek out and appreciate the consolation and understanding they found in the tall, soft-spoken “Grunt Padre.” Lieutenant Capodanno always seemed to be on the go, and most of the time he was to be found with Marines in the field. While serving as Chaplain for the 3d Battalion, 5th Marines on 4 September 1967 in Quang Tri Province, he heard reports that 2d Platoon, Company M, was in danger of being overrun by a strong enemy force. Lieutenant Capodanno immediately requested to leave his secure station and attend to the Marines. In the words of the citation that would accompany his posthumously awarded Medal of Honor, Father Capodanno “ran to the beleaguered platoon through an open area raked with fire…and despite painful, multiple wounds to his arms and legs, refused all medical aid, and continued to move about the battlefield and provide encouragement by voice and example to the Marines.” Seeing a wounded Corpsman directly in the line of fire of an enemy machine gun, he rushed forward to the man’s aid, but was struck down by a burst of machine-gun fire. By his heroic conduct and inspiring example, Chaplain Capodanno upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service, and gallantly gave his life in the cause of freedom.

Today, Lieutenant Capodanno is recognized as having been one of the Navy’s most dedicated Chaplains. There are monuments in his honor, and both a Chapel at Camp Pendleton California and a U.S. Navy fast-frigate bears his name. The devoted service of Lieutenant Capodanno during the Vietnam War to “his” Marines, his “chosen flock,” remains a shining example of one man’s willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for his country.

Today is the 85^th anniversary of the day in 1925 when the first intended flight from California to Hawaii stopped being a flight and became a sea voyage.  CDR John Rodgers and a crew of four left San Pedro on 31 August but developed fuel problems and landed their PN-9 seaplane on the water.  While Navy ships searched for the plane, Rodgers and his crew rigged a sail from the aircraft’s wing fabric and sailed for nine days to within fifteen miles of Kauai before being met by the submarine R-4, which towed the airplane into port.  CDR Rodgers was killed the next year in a plane crash.

The submarine USS Stingray (SS 186) landed fifteen Philippine personnel and six tons of supplies on the island of Luzon on 27 August 1944. This operation was in support of guerilla operations in advance of the U.S. landings in the Philippines. This mission was one of dozens of “special transport” missions carried out by submarines to land, support, or evacuate people ashore on Japanese-held islands throughout the war.

A historical marker near the landing site was dedicated in 2007. Two Stingray sailors and one Blackfin (SS 322) sailor—all in their eighties—attended the ceremony at which the marker was dedicated not only to the Stingray landing, but to all the submarine landings in the Philippines. One Stingray sailor, Basil Wentworth, said that he had been told after the mission that the landing party had been killed soon after arriving, and he did not find out until the year 2000 that the landing had been successful.

This landing mission occurred on the twelfth of Stingray’s sixteen war patrols. Stingray was at Manila on 7 December 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and began her first war patrol immediately. After a wartime record that included numerous special missions and four confirmed sinkings of Japanese merchant vessels, Stingray was decommissioned in late 1945 and sold for scrapping two years later.

SCORPION Project barge transported back down the Patuxent after the completion of the field work.

 On August 12, the NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB), and its partners MD SHA and MHT, successfully completed the first phase of their three-year archaeological investigation of the Patuxent shipwreck believed to be the War of 1812 U.S. block sloop SCORPION.  Firstly, a big thank you to our on-site visitors who made the trip out to Upper Marlboro, MD.  It was great to see you and we really appreciate your support!  We were also glad to welcome members of the press on site to inform them about the SCORPION project, our partnerships and the NHHC and were pleased to see the story covered in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and The Capital (Annapolis). 

Underwater archaeologists preparing to dive on the wreck.

 During the first part of the two-week project, UAB’s team of underwater archaeologists, in cooperation with MD SHA and MHT, measured the site and extent of the wreck beneath the sediment via a process called “hydroprobing.”  Based on the data from the hydroprobe, the team was then able to determine which parts of the wreck most warranted investigation.  Archaeologists then removed the overburden (overlying sediment) from specific parts of the wreck using dredge systems; the sediment pulled from the wreck was suctioned up the dredge onto the barges where it was screened by capable staff.  Some artifacts were also recovered and brought back to the UAB Conservation and Archaeology Lab for stabilization, treatment and documentation.  

Again, the UA team is very grateful to MD SHA and MHT as well as URS and SUPSALV. With their help and cooperation, significant progress was made during Phase 1 and we look forward to working with them again on the next phase of the SCORPION project in summer 2011. We’re always glad to talk about the SCORPION project and answer any questions, so feel free to stop by our offices or send us an email (NHHCUnderwaterArchaeology@navy.mil) and stay tuned for more posts!

In June 1944, Allied forces launched an offensive to capture the Marianas Islands from the Japanese. Invasion forces stormed the islands of Saipan, Guam and Tinian in succession, supported by ships and aircraft of the United States Navy.

Offshore, the Battle of the Philippine Sea proved a decisive victory for the Allies. This United States Marine Corps “Official Operations Report,” produced during the war, provides a detailed examination of each phase of the campaign. Using maps and animations, the three films outline landing assignments, naval gunfire support, and air support for each phase of the campaign.

 The story of the battle on each island is brought to life with extensive combat footage of land, sea, and air operations.

These films, with a running time of nearly two and a half hours, stand as an excellent history of a crucial phase in the Pacific island-hopping campaign.

Read the rest of this entry »

On 19 August 1966, SEAL Team One suffered its first combat fatality in Vietnam. While on a reconnaissance mission, a patrol had discovered a series of bunkers and weapons positions along the Dinh Ba River, thirteen miles south-east of Nha Be. They were extracted and reinserted further up river to pinpoint two reported camouflaged sampans that had been spotted by a helicopter. Fresh tracks were discovered, and the sampans were then sighted five hundred meters from the SEAL’s position.

Radarman Second Class Billy W. Machen, a 28 year old sailor from Dallas, Texas, was acting as point man. Coming to a clearing in the jungle growth, RD2 Machen halted the unit and moved ahead into the opening to reconnoiter. As he paused and searched the surrounding area, he suddenly spotted several Viet Cong (VC) guerillas. Rather than retreating and seeking cover, Machen initiated fire and attacked the enemy unit, forcing them to trigger their ambush prematurely. The resulting hail of fire from both banks of the river alerted his fellow SEALs to the danger and allowed them to take cover, return fire, and engage to suppress the VC attack. Machen, however, was killed in the initial fusillade.

For sacrificing his own life for those of his shipmates, he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third highest medal for valor. More recently, the SEALs named its Desert Warfare Training Facility in California, Camp Billy Machen.