Naval History Blog

The first true seaplanes, built by the Glenn Curtis company in 1911, started a revolution in aircraft performance. With their clean, sleek lines, and lack of landing gear weight, seaplanes held many of the early speed and range records. Additionally, the ability to land on water was a good insurance policy given the unreliable engines of the day. Two of the three aircraft the Navy first purchased in 1911 were floatplanes, and the third was later converted to one. In 1912, the Navy began experiments associated with seaplane performance, and by 1914 a project was underway to build a long-endurance… Read the rest of this entry »

It was 75 years ago today, that the USS Trigger (SS-237)  torpedoed and sank the Japanese destroyer Okikaze. The following is a description of the event taken from the Trigger’s third war patrol report:

In this selection, Captain Kerr speaks about the impact Admiral Zumwalt’s Z-grams had among his crew. Kerr was an aide to Admiral Zumwalt as Commander U.S. Naval Forces Vietnam and commanding officer of the USS Hawkins (DD-873), a unit of the “Mod Squad”–a Zumwalt concept to give more junior officers greater responsibility. Kerr gave two interviews in September and November 1982. The transcript contains 164 pages. Captain Howard J. Kerr Jr.’s interview is one of five contained in the first of a series of volumes containing interviews with officers who served closely with Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. These interviews were conducted… Read the rest of this entry »