Naval History Blog

Lieutenant Leroy Fadem recently revisited sites in the Pacific where he saw action in the Navy during the tumultuous years of the War in the Pacific over 70 years ago. This is a journal of that recent trip as kept by his son, Steven Fadem, who accompanied Lt. Fadem on that journey of rediscovery. I awoke in the dark, the victim of a telemarketing call at 4:47am from, ironically, an alleged veteran’s association in the States. I could not fall back asleep and so decided watch the dawn’s blue-gray fingers creep across the horizon. As the sky lightened I saw… Read the rest of this entry »

  The USS Carpenter (DD-825) reunion will take place in San Antonio, TX from May 16th through May 20, 2019. Jimmie Kennedy is the point of contact for additional information. Please email him at [email protected] or call 714-776-4019 for information.

The 34th annual reunion of the USS Bon Homme Richard Shipmates Association will be held 11-14 Sept 2019 at the Red Lion Hotel in Harrisburg, PA. For additional information please go to www.ussbhrshipmates.org or contact Jim Kosinski. Email: [email protected] or phone: 805-650-9134

Norbert George Moser was born in Pierceton, Indiana, to the immigrant German merchant Gabriel Moser and Illinois native Anna Miller on 18 September 1885. Shortly after completing high school in 1904, Norbert enlisted in the U.S. Navy and became an electrician’s mate, working with the new wireless radio technologies. He served in such varied assignments as the USS Virginia (Battleship No. 13) stationed out of Hampton Roads in 1910 and, when he married Julia Hall in 1914, he was serving in the same capacity at the Chelsea Naval Hospital. It appears that Moser had grander designs than working the wireless set. At the expiration of his… Read the rest of this entry »

  The 43rd Annual Reunion of the USS Houston (CL-81) will be held September 11th – 15th, 2019, at the Hilton Garden Inn Louisville Airport at 2735 Crittenden Drive, Louisville, KY 40209. Activities will include a riverboat ride as well as a tour of Churchill Downs. Family members of shipmates are welcome to attend. Contact John Benge (organizer) by email at [email protected] or by phone at 606-877-5151.      

I sent my father’s cousin Dale Barck a postcard during a port call to Hong Kong in 1997, he replied sending me letters filled with sea stories from his days in the Navy, including the fateful events of his deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34) in 1966. Following the rescue of the August Moon’s crew in September, the adventure continued. Just before 0730 on 26 October 1966, the USS Oriskany was back on Yankee Station. Three overnight launches were cancelled due to poor weather. Dale wrote, “It was my turn to take the early launch. I was turned… Read the rest of this entry »

We are very familiar with the names of famous naval leaders and heroes of World War I. But there are hundreds of other individuals whose efforts contributed to achieving victory in 1918. The story of a few starts in Philadelphia and the individuals who worked for the Fourth Naval District and the U.S. Shipping Board. Their stories are presented here as an example of those efforts. Sara Elizabeth Carles was born in Philadelphia on the first day of January, 1894. Her brother, Arthur Beecher Carles Jr., was 12 years older. Nothing indicated at the time that the siblings would, in… Read the rest of this entry »

On 6 April 1917, the USS Olympia (C-6) was in transit, sailing from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands to Hampton Roads, Virginia. A gale was blowing from the southwest and the ship had to be secured for heavy weather. It was also the day Congress declared war against Germany. For the next nineteen months, USS Olympia sailors assisted with U.S. war efforts by participating in convoy patrols in the North Atlantic. The day that the Armistice was signed the ship was in Murmansk, Russia and a portion of her crew had spent the previous few months on land fighting the Bolsheviks.1… Read the rest of this entry »