Naval History Blog

The Second Nicaragua intervention of 1927-1932 marks a unique and very interesting chapter in Marine Corps history. Marines were dispatched to the Central American republic to support democracy by supervising a contentious presidential election and building an apolitical internal security force, the Guardia Nacional, that could take over from the Marines and police their own country. However, U.S. Marines soon found themselves deep in the jungles, manning lonely posts and on the trail chasing elusive rebels that refused to honor a political process they saw as being tampered with by meddlesome foreigners. Many innovations were developed and countless lessons were… Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. national security relations with Mexico stretch back to the 1840s and the presidency of James K. Polk, when the United States wanted to expand the country’s size. Polk was explicit about his policy goals, one of which was the annexation of California,[1] and he viewed his election as a mandate to annex that territory, as well as others if the opportunity arose. That opportunity materialized when Mexico tried to retake Texas[2]. Polk, without hesitation, convinced Congress to declare war on Mexico. President Polk accomplished more than what his constituents expected. Today, the United States shares an open border with… Read the rest of this entry »

Benito Mussolini: 1922-1943 Quote: “Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, and an infinite scorn in our hearts.” Joseph Stalin: 1925-1953 Quote: “It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”   Adolf Hitler: 1933-1945 Quote: “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” Mao Zedong: 1949-1976 Quote: “Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.” Francois Duvalier: 1957-1971 Quote: “God… Read the rest of this entry »

On 7 August 1942 the Allied forces began their first major counter-offensive against the Japanese at Guadalcanal. Since Pearl Harbor the U.S. had spent most their time recovering from the attack and re-building the badly damaged Pacific fleet. One high-poin, however, were the highly successful attacks known as “Doolittle’s Raids.” This “lull” in activity ended with the invasion of Guadalcanal. Code-named “Operation Watchtower,” Marines conducted a surprise raid of their primary target, the airfield, and quickly established a presence that allowed troops to arrive on the island. The initial invasion was such a surprise that the first Marines encountered little resistance…. Read the rest of this entry »

Demologos, later renamed Fulton after its creator Robert Fulton, was the first steam-powered vessel in the U.S. Navy in 1815. The unique floating battery almost did not receive that distinction. Only a matter of months earlier, Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough almost brought a steam-powered warship to the most decisive battle of the War of 1812. The United States and Great Britain had been at war since June 1812, and Napoleon’s defeat in April 1814 brought thousands of experienced soldiers to Canada. The war of 1812 began as a sideshow to the British government, but now had their military’s undivided attention…. Read the rest of this entry »

On this day 73 years ago, the world changed. Never before had a country used nuclear weapons. The decision was not an easy, but it ultimately would save American lives. In a post from 2010, a silent film was uploaded to the USNI YouTube channel about the atomic bombs. Part 1 of the film includes the loading of “Little Boy” onto the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay and the early morning activities on Tinian prior to takeoff. Part 2 contains footage of the Enola Gay landing after completing its mission over Hiroshima. It then shows the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, receiving the Distinguished… Read the rest of this entry »

In honor of Coast Guard Day, please enjoy the following! In the 29 June 2018 issue of Stars and Stripes, there was an article about the six-member North Pacific Coast Guard Forum (Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, Canada, and the United States). While the theme of the article was the effort to search the northern Pacific for illegal and unregulated fishing boats, the focus was on the U.S. Coast Guard and its deployment of a C-130 aircraft from Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, to Misawa Air Base in Japan. The effort of the C-130 was to enforce the “Law of the… Read the rest of this entry »

  On 3 August 1942, Mildred McAfee (later Mildred McAfee Horton) was commissioned as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves, making her the first female line officer in the U.S. Navy. Future Captain McAfee was the president of Wellesley College when she was recruited to become the first director of the newly established WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). In this excerpt, Captain McAfee discusses how she became involved with the WAVES and her early introduction to rank.     To read more about the Naval Institute Oral History Program, go to https://www.usni.org/heritage/oral-history-catalog.