To All,
Good Friday Morning August 23. I hope that you all have a great weekend. We will be in the low 80s for the next few days with clear skies. Got lots of outside work to catch up on and inside also. Got more work to do on the Chicken cage to keep the night visitors out of the new section. The Boss has the list.
Warm Regards,
skip
HAGD
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For all you former F-8 Crusader drivers I hope to see many of you at the Bali Hai here in San Diego on27 September just a few weeks away.
LACB33 Registration Open!
Registration for the 33rd Last Annual Crusader Ball is still open. We will convene Friday, September 27, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. in the South Pacific Room of the Bali Hai, 2230 Shelter Island Dr, San Diego.
The reunion begins with a welcome aboard social hour. There will be an open bar for beer and wine. Spirits will be available on a pay-as-you-go basis. This will give us all time to greet friends we haven't seen for awhile and catch up on how things are going.
The buffet luncheon begins at noon. It will include choices of two salads, two side dishes, and two entrées, plus wine service during the meal.
After the meal we'll have a brief Crusader Association business session, to include collecting your inputs concerning LACB34. More information will be promulgated later.
Then, there's more time to socialize in the South Pacific Room until 3:00 p.m.
Bali Hai is a great venue with beautiful views of the harbor and the San Diego skyline. It's a perfect place to enjoy the beauty of the city and relax with friends.
Register now now and start making your plans to gather in beautiful San Diego. Registrations must be received by September 16 so we can provide a final head count to the restaurant. Should your situation change, we will honor a full refund provided your request is received prior to September 16.
I hope to see you in sunny San Diego on September 27.
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Thanks to Rich
Skip, I have set up a perpetual scholarship fund in the name of Pete Pettigrew.
We need to raise $60,000 in order to make it an annual $3,000 grant.
Donors can log onto the Tailhook Education Foundation from the Tailhook web page and make
a tax deductible contribution by clicking this link https://www.tailhook.net/donate-now
or simply write a check but they need to specify it is on behalf of Pete Pettigrew
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD) work really well for those who need to take RMD's.
Your contact list would be the perfect way to get the word out.
Rich DiPietro
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 83 H-Grams
Today in Naval and Marine Corps History
1819 Commodore Oliver H. Perry, the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie, dies on board the schooner, USS Nonsuch, in Trinidad of a fever contracted during his successful efforts to suppress piracy while maintaining the friendship of Latin American governments. It was his 34th birthday.
1862 A boat crew from USS Essex, commanded by Capt. William D. Porter, is fired on by Confederate guerillas at Bayou Sara, La. In return, USS Essex shells the town.
1864 During the Civil War, Rear Adm. David G. Farraguts squadron capture Fort Morgan at Mobile Bay, Ala., winning control of Mobile Bay. The fort withstands naval bombardment for more than two weeks.
1890 USS Baltimore (Cruiser #3) departs New York Harbor to return the remains of inventor John Ericsson to his native Sweden. For the US Navy, Ericssons most notable designs are for USS Princeton and USS Monitor. In honor of Ericsson, three U.S. Navy ships have been named in his honor: the torpedo boat Ericsson (Torpedo Boat # 2), 1897-1912; and the destroyers Ericsson (DD 56), 1915-1934; and Ericsson (DD 440), 1941-1970.
1942 During Operation Europe, USS Tuscaloosa (CA 37), escorted by destroyers Rodman (DD 456) and Emmons (DD 457) and British destroyer HMS Onslaught, arrives at Murmansk, Russia, and disembark men and unloads equipment from two RAF Bomber Command squadrons that were transferred to North Russia.
1944 USS Haddo (SS 255) torpedoes Japanese destroyer Asakaze as the enemy warship is escorting tanker, Niyo Maru, 20 miles southwest of Cape Bolinao, Luzon, Philippine Islands. Asakaze later sinks near Dasol Bay after attempts at salvage fail. Also on this date, USS Tang (SS 306) attacks a Japanese convoy off Honshu, sinking cargo ship, Tsukushi Maru off Hamamatsu.
1963 The first satellite communications ship, USNS Kingsport (T AG 164) connects President John F. Kennedy with Nigerian Prime Minister Balewa who is on board for the first satellite (Syncom II) relayed telephone conversation between heads of state, in Lagos, Nigeria.
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Today in World History
August 23
1244 Turks expel the crusaders under Frederick II from Jerusalem.
1305 Scottish patriot William Wallace is hanged, drawn, beheaded, and quartered in London.
1541 Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec on his third voyage to North America.
1775 King George III of England refuses the American colonies' offer of peace and declares them in open rebellion.
1821 After 11 years of war, Spain grants Mexican independence as a constitutional monarchy.
1863 Union batteries cease their first bombardment of Fort Sumter, leaving it a mass of rubble but still unconquered by the Northern besiegers.
1900 Booker T. Washington forms the National Negro Business League in Boston, Massachusetts.
1902 Fanny Farmer, among the first to emphasize the relationship of diet to health, opens her School of Cookery in Boston.
1914 The Emperor of Japan declares war on Germany.
1942 German forces begin an assault on the major Soviet industrial city of Stalingrad.
1944 German SS engineers begin placing explosive charges around the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
1950 Up to 77,000 members of the U.S. Army Organized Reserve Corps are called involuntarily to active duty to fight the Korean War.
1952 The Arab League security pact linking seven Arab States in a military, political and economic alliance goes into effect.
1954 The first flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft takes place.
1958 The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins: the People's Liberation Army bombards the island of Quemoy during Chinese Civil War.
1961 Belgium sends troops to Rwanda-Urundi during bloody Tutsi-Hutu conflict.
1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from the moon.
1975 Pathet Lao communists occupy Vientiane, Laos.
1977 Bryan Allen, piloting the Gossamer Condor, wins the Kremer prize for the first human-powered aircraft to fly a one-mile, figure-eight course.
1979 The Iranian army opens an offensive against the Kurds.
1990 Armenia declares independence from the USSR.
1990 East and West Germany announce they will unite on Oct 3.
1996 Osama bin Laden issues a message entitled "A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places."
2011 Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi is overthrown after National Transitional Council forces take control of the Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
2011 A 5.8 earthquake centered at Mineral, Virginia, damages the Washington Monument, forcing the landmark to close for repairs.
This day in World History August 22
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OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for the week beginning Monday, 19 August 2024 and ending Sunday, 25 August 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post of 19 August 1969..
As more than half-a-million young Americans departed the scene of the historic 1969 Woodstock Music Festival in Bethel, N.Y. to resume their protests of the Vietnam war in their respective hometowns in America, nearly 250 caskets containing the remains of the brave young men who had perished on the battlefields of Southeast Asia during the week of Woodstock were arriving home from the war. Alas, the war had more than three years and twenty thousand American KIAs to go. Remember?
(Please note the eye-watering ongoing revamp of the RTR website by Webmaster/Author Dan Heller, who has inherited the site from originators RADM Bear Taylor, USN, Retired, and Angie Morse, "Mighty Thunder")…
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and can read what happened each day to the aircraft and its crew. .Micro is the one also that goes into the archives and finds these inputs and sends them to me for incorporation in the List. It is a lot of work and our thanks goes out to him for his effort.
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "for 23 August
23-Aug: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1906
Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
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Thanks to History Facts
Ferdinand Magellan wasn't the first person to circumnavigate the globe.
F ive hundred years ago, no one suspected the 16th-century vessel the Nao Victoria would become the stuff of legend. In 1519, a Portuguese consul called the Spanish carrack "very old and patched up" and unfit to even "sail … to the Canaries." Nevertheless, the Nao Victoria was chosen for a five-ship expedition, crewed by 270 men, that would come to be known as one of the most significant journeys in the history of human exploration.
The captain of this unprecedented adventure was Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães, anglicized Ferdinand Magellan. On September 20, 1519, he set sail aboard the flagship Trinidad from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in southern Spain, with an intended destination of the present-day Maluku Islands. Three years and tens of thousands of miles later, the "very old and patched up" Nao Victoria was the journey's sole surviving ship — and Magellan wasn't on board.
Magellan had died in a skirmish in the Philippines in 1521. It was Juan Sebastián Elcano, another mariner on the expedition, who brought the Nao Victoria back to its home port, but Elcano wasn't the first person to circumnavigate the globe either. Historians believe that honor belongs to an enslaved person named Enrique, whom Magellan seized during the Portuguese conquest of Malacca (in present-day Malaysia) in 1511.
Enrique served as an interpreter during the historic journey for eight years after his capture, but he abandoned the mission after Magellan's death. As luck would have it, Enrique was only a little over 1,500 miles from his native land of Malacca. If Enrique found his way home before September 6, 1522 (when the 18 men aboard the Nao Victoria made it home to Spain), he'd officially be the first person to ever circumnavigate the globe — but we'll likely never know for sure.
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Thanks to History Facts
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
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Thanks to Admiral Cox and NHHC
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
The third carrier battle of World War II, which took place in open waters northeast of the Solomon Islands on 24 August, was a victory for the U.S. Navy by a very narrow margin. As at the Battle of Midway, the Japanese had overall numerical superiority, but in terms of the decisive weapon of the battle, dive bombers, the U.S. had superiority of 68 to 54. And, as at the Battle of Midway, but for some lucky breaks, the Japanese could have turned the battle into a disaster for the U.S. However, the Japanese also caught a huge break when just before the battle, the U.S. commander, Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, detached the carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) and her escorts to refuel, causing them (and 60 carrier aircraft) to miss the battle entirely. Unlike at the Battle of Midway, for a variety of reasons, U.S. naval intelligence was unable to provide as precise an advance notice of the timing of Japanese intentions, or the locations of the Japanese carriers, which contributed to Fletcher's decision to release the Wasp at a critical point (although intelligence was clearly reported that the biggest Japanese operation since Midway was imminent.) As a result, two U.S. carriers, the flagship USS Saratoga (CV-3) and USS Enterprise (CV-6) , with 154 carrier aircraft, faced off against two Japanese fleet carriers, Shokaku and Zuikaku (veterans of Pearl Harbor and Coral Sea, but which missed Midway) and the light carrier Ryujo, with about 180 (171 operational) carrier aircraft, all under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, who was still in command of the Japanese carrier force despite the debacle at the Battle of Midway.
Both sides attempted to incorporate lessons learned from the Battle of Midway, the key one being to strike first. Both sides had concluded that any strike now was better than a perfectly coordinated strike later. On the U.S. side, this manifested itself in multiple instances of two-aircraft formations on scouting missions immediately boldly attacking entire Japanese task groups as soon as they sighted the Japanese. On the Japanese side, having seen the slaughter of American torpedo bombers at Midway, the Japanese concluded that their own torpedo bombers were just as vulnerable, and held them back with the intent that dive bombers would work over American carriers first, resulting in the Japanese torpedo bombers never getting into the action, which no doubt saved U.S. carriers.
When the incredibly chaotic Battle of the Eastern Solomons was over (poor U.S. radio circuit discipline resulted in numerous missed contact reports and intercepts), the Japanese light carrier Ryujo had been sunk, with the loss of all but one of her 35 aircraft. A single torpedo from the reconstituted Torpedo Squadron Eight (which had lost 15 of 15 TBD Devastators and 5 of 6 TBF Avengers at Midway) dealt the mortal blow to the Ryujo. Unlike at Coral Sea, the Japanese fleet carrier Shokaku (now Nagumo's flagship) suffered only minor damage (Shokaku was equipped with Japan's first carrier search radar, which was surprisingly effective). The Japanese also lost the destroyer Mutsuki, the troop transport Kinryu Maru, and significant damage to the light cruiser Jintsu and seaplane tender Chitose. Most importantly, the Japanese lost 75 aircraft (64 carrier aircraft) and, unlike Midway, most of their crews were not recovered. Including aircrew, about 300 Japanese died.
On the American side, the carrier USS Enterprise was damaged by three bomb hits, with heavy casualties (75 killed,) but was able to proceed under her own power (once steering was restored) to Pearl Harbor for repairs. The U.S. lost 25 aircraft (23 carrier aircraft plus one PBY Catalina and one B-17 bomber that crash-landed). Most of the carrier aircraft aircrew were recovered, several after many weeks of odyssey on remote islands (9 carrier aircrew men were lost) and total U.S. deaths reached 90.
The result of the battle was that the big Japanese push to reinforce Guadalcanal fizzled, and the large Japanese force withdrew after yet another failed attempt to draw U.S. Navy forces into a night surface battle. The victory was temporary, however, as the Japanese found other means (the "Tokyo Express") to get significantly more troops onto Guadalcanal. The rapidly increasing numbers of 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns on U.S. ships had significant effect; although the new gun lacked the range to knock down Japanese dive bombers and torpedo bombers before weapons' release, they were very effective in ensuring many of those attacking aircraft would never be able to make another attack. (For additional detail on the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, please see below
3. "Torpedo Junction"
On 15 September 1942, the Japanese submarine I-19, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Takaichi Kinashi, fired arguably the most effective spread of torpedoes in history. With six torpedoes, I-19 hit the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) with at least two, possibly three torpedoes, which ultimately sank her with a loss of 173 of her crew, one newspaper correspondent, and 45 aircraft. One torpedo passed under the destroyer USS Lansdowne (DD-486) before travelling several miles with two other torpedoes into the screen of the USS Hornet (CV-8). One torpedo passed under the destroyer USS Mustin (DD-413) before blowing a 32-by-1-foot hole in the new fast battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55). Although still able to make 25 knots, her forward magazines were flooded as a precaution, and the North Carolina was put out of action for two months for repairs. The destroyer USS O'Brien (DD-415) evaded one torpedo astern, but was hit in the bow by another. After temporary repairs, her crew sailed the O'Brien 2,800 miles before she broke apart and sank on 19 October near Samoa while en route Pearl Harbor for additional repair. The two carriers were providing cover for transports carrying the 7th Marine Regiment en route to reinforce the Marines on Guadalcanal when attacked by I-19.
The loss of Wasp left the U.S. with two fleet carriers (Hornet, which had just missed being torpedoed on 6 September, and USS Enterprise [CV-6], damaged at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons) against Japan's two remaining fleet carriers (Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea and Eastern Solomons veterans Shokaku and Zuikaku), and several medium and light carriers. The other U.S. fleet carrier, USS Saratoga (CV-3) had been torpedoed by I-26 on 31 August southeast of Guadalcanal. Although Saratoga's casualties were minimal (12 wounded, including Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, who suffered a laceration on the forehead), the carrier was put out of action for several months at a critical point in the Pacific War. Both I-26 and I-19 successfully evaded depth-charge counter-attacks, and I-26 would later sink the anti-aircraft cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52), on 13 November, with the loss of almost her entire crew (687 of 697 were lost) including all five Sullivan brothers. Although Admiral Fletcher's decision to move his carriers away from the immediate vicinity of Guadalcanal on 9 August after the landings on 7 August was heavily criticized at the time and by historians since, his concern that keeping the carriers in the same area for too long made them vulnerable to air or submarine attack actually proved well-founded.
H-Gram 010, Attachment 3
Samuel J. Cox, Director NHHC
September 2017
Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's decision on 9 August 1942 to relocate his three carriers—USS Saratoga (CV-3), USS Enterprise (CV-6) , and USS Wasp (CV-7), newly arrived from the Atlantic—from the vicinity of Guadalcanal (thus depriving Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner's transports and the Marines ashore on Guadalcanal of air cover) remains one of the most controversial decisions of the war in the Pacific, and the subject of endless arguments ever since. Fletcher's decision, however, was consistent with U.S. carrier doctrine developed in the pre-war years, which viewed aircraft carriers as a "hit-and-run" force, capitalizing on the speed and mobility of the ships. Exercises in which carriers remained tied to a fixed location in range of "enemy" land-based aircraft usually ended very badly for the aircraft carrier. Fletcher was deeply concerned about the threat from Japanese land-based aircraft and submarines (and counterattack by Japanese carriers) if he remained too closely tied to Guadalcanal for too long. Having already had two carriers sunk from under him, Lexington (CV-2) at Coral Sea and Yorktown (CV-5) at Midway, Fletcher had a healthy respect for Japanese capability. Fletcher reasoned that Japanese bombers alone would not be able to dislodge the Marines from Guadalcanal, but if his carriers were lost, the battle for Guadalcanal would be lost as well.
The Allied landing on Guadalcanal on 7 August had caught the Japanese by surprise, so there were no Japanese submarines in the area, although numerous false alarms convinced U.S. Navy commanders that there were. Japanese bombers from Rabaul at the northern end of the Solomons reacted within a matter of hours, and flew to the area of Guadalcanal. Their top priority was the U.S. carriers that the Japanese had figured out had to be in the area, and only after failing to find the carriers in two raids on 7 August and another on 8 August did the bombers go for the transports off Guadalcanal (suffering heavy losses as the U.S. ships had warning the bombers were on the way). The 16 Japanese Betty torpedo bombers and 15 Zero fighters that sank the already damaged U.S. destroyer USS Jarvis (DD-393) with all 233 hands on 9 August (see H-Gram 009) were actually looking for the carriers. (In H-009, I forgot to mention that Jarvis shot down two of the bombers and damaged four more in her final fight.) Although the air threat was real, many have criticized Fletcher (including Rear Admiral Turner at the time, and CNO King, too, for being overly cautious). Although the Japanese land-based twin-engine Nell and Betty bombers could reach the U.S. carriers at extreme range, their fighter escort Zeros could only go as far as Guadalcanal itself—barely. With a narrow threat sector and no fighter escort, the Japanese bombers should have been quite vulnerable to U.S. carrier fighters with the advantage of radar warning. However, U.S. carrier fighter losses against Japanese fighters over Guadalcanal in the first two days had been significant and were of great concern to Fletcher. Although Japanese land-based bombers in the Solomons never did find or attack U.S. carriers, the Japanese quickly rectified their initial lack of submarines in the area.
By the end of August 1942, nine Japanese submarines were patrolling the area south and southeast of Guadalcanal. Like the bombers, the primary targets of the Japanese submarines were the U.S. carriers. With the Enterprise out of action for repairs after the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, Fletcher still had three carriers with the arrival of the USS Hornet (CV-8) in the area. Although Fletcher had pulled his carriers out of the land-based air-threat, he was still operating near continuously in waters that quickly became infested with Japanese submarines, and on 31 August, his luck ran out, and his flagship, Saratoga (Captain Dewitt C. Ramsey, commanding—a future VCNO/CINCPACFLT) was hit by a torpedo for the second time in the war.
The Japanese submarine I-26 (Commander Minoru Yokota, commanding) fired six torpedoes at the Saratoga. One torpedo hit, wounding 12, including Fletcher, who suffered a cut on the forehead. Initial damage was not severe, but Saratoga (and her lost sister, Lexington) had a unique turbo-electric power plant, and cascading power outages caused the ship at points to go dead in the water and it had to be towed. Saratoga would survive, but would be out of action for months. After I-26 fired her torpedoes, she actually scraped hulls with the destroyer USS Macdonough (DD-351), but Macdonough's depth charges were set too deep, and I-26 escaped. (I-26 also sank the first U.S. merchant ship of the war, just off California on 7 December 1941, and would later sink the light cruiser USS Juneau [CL-52] with the loss of almost all hands. I-26 attacked and barely missed the U.S. escort carrier USS Petrof Bay [CVE-80] off Leyte on the night of 25–26 October 1944 and was sunk by either USS Coolbaugh [DE-217] or USS Richard M. Rowell [DE-403].) Fletcher returned to Pearl Harbor with the Saratoga, but never held another combat command, as both Admiral King and Admiral Nimitz had lost patience with him. (King had wanted to relieve Fletcher after the Battle of Coral Sea, but Nimitz stuck with him, at least until September.)
Throughout the first two weeks of September 1942, the remaining two undamaged U.S. carriers, Wasp and Hornet, frequently operated southeast of Guadalcanal, providing cover to U.S. resupply efforts and to ferry aircraft reinforcements to Guadalcanal to replace high aircraft losses at Henderson Field. Submarine sightings were frequent, and on 6 September, both the Hornet and the new battleship North Carolina (BB-55) narrowly missed being hit by Japanese torpedoes. On 15 September, while providing air cover to transports carrying the 7th Marine Regiment to reinforce Guadalcanal, the U.S. luck ran out. Although U.S. carrier fighters shot down a Japanese Mavis long-range floatplane in the early morning, the Japanese were able to determine the carriers' location.
At 1445 on 15 September, the Japanese submarine I-19 (Lieutenant Commander Takaichi Kinashi, commanding) fired six Type 95 torpedoes (smaller submarine-launched version of the Type 93 "Long Lance" oxygen torpedo) at the Wasp from 1,000 yards. At least two, possibly three, torpedoes, hit the Wasp while the other three travelled several miles into Hornet's screen. Wasp had just launched eight Wildcat fighters and 18 SDB Dauntless dive bombers (for ASW CAP). Unlike Yorktown (CV-5) at the Battle of Midway and Enterprise (CV-6) at Eastern Solomons, both of which had warning of inbound attack and had time to execute lessons from Coral Sea (such as draining fuel from aviation fuel lines and replacing with inert gas), Wasp was caught at an extremely vulnerable point while conducting flight operations. The result was similar to what happened to the Japanese carriers at Midway: a raging inferno with numerous secondary explosions, which killed many of the damage control team members. Captain Forrest P. Sherman (a future CNO) tried valiantly to save his ship (and would be awarded a Navy Cross and Purple Heart for his efforts), maneuvering her so that smoke and flame would be blown clear and save as much of his crew as he could. However, it was not long before it became clear that the situation was hopeless.
At 1500, a massive explosion tore through the Wasp. The embarked task force commander, Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, had his clothes set on fire, but was otherwise unhurt. The explosion was so extreme that Rear Admiral Norman Scott, embarked on heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38), assumed that Noyes had to be dead and assumed command of the task force (a correct decision anyway since Noyes had no capability to command from the crippled Wasp). By 1520, Captain Sherman was forced to order abandon ship. Of Wasp's crew of 2,247, 173 were killed and over 300 wounded. Still, the burning and abandoned carrier refused to sink, and had to be scuttled by three torpedoes from the destroyer USS Landsdowne (DD-486,) finally succumbing around 2100. All but one of Wasp's airborne aircraft were recovered by the Hornet, but 45 planes went down with the ship. Japanese submarine I-15 observed Wasp sink, providing one of the few accurate Japanese battle-damage assessments of the war.
Meanwhile, the three torpedoes that went into Hornet's screen caused damage as well. The North Carolina was hit and damaged by a torpedo that hit forward, killing five, and causing the forward magazines to be flooded as a precaution. Despite a very large hole, the North Carolina demonstrated the toughness of the new U.S. battleship designs, and with superb damage control very quickly resumed making 25 knots. She nevertheless had to be withdrawn back to Pearl Harbor for two months of repair, which left only one new battleship (USS Washington—BB-56) in the South Pacific.
The destroyer USS O'Brien (DD-415) (Commander Thomas Burrowes, commanding) was hit in the bow by a torpedo, far enough forward that no crewmen were killed. Nevertheless, that damage was severe enough that the ship had to be withdrawn for repair. O'Brien had been specially modified with additional anti-aircraft weapons, and her later absence (along with North Carolina) would be a factor in the loss of Hornet at the Battle of Santa Cruz in late October. O'Brien was able to transit at 15 knots to Espiritu Santo for temporary repairs. Although certified as being capable of making the transit back to Pearl Harbor, the O'Brien began to break apart after her crew had sailed her for 2,800 miles, and she sank on 19 October. All of her crew were rescued.
Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes (who had relieved Fletcher as carrier task force commander) was heavily criticized as a result of the loss of Wasp (which left Hornet as the one operational U.S. carrier in the Pacific until Enterprise could complete repairs). Noyes was accused of having operated his carriers for too long in the same place, thereby facilitating the submarine attack. Later analysis, however, showed that Noyes had varied his location over a 300-nautical-mile area of operations, but there were just too many Japanese submarines and, as Fletcher had feared, keeping the carriers tied down near Guadalcanal put them at great risk. And like Fletcher, Noyes would not hold operational command again. (And, as an aside, when Nimitz chose Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance to command the Enterprise/Hornet task force at Midway on the recommendation of bedridden Vice Admiral Halsey, it was in the place of the next senior aviator, Noyes.)
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This Day in U S Military History
23 August
1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St. James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.
1784 – Eastern Tennessee settlers declared their area an independent state and named it Franklin; a year later the Continental Congress rejected it.
1819 – Oliver Hazard Perry, naval hero, died on his 34th birthday.
1820 – The Revenue Cutter Louisiana captured four pirate vessels.
1861 – Allen Pinkerton, head of the new secret service agency of the Federal government, places Confederate spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow under house arrest in Washington, D.C. Greenhow was a wealthy widow living in Washington at the outbreak of the war. She was well connected in the capital and was especially close with Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson. The Maryland native was openly committed to the Southern cause, and she soon formed a substantial spy network. Greenhow's operation quickly paid dividends for the Confederacy. One of her operatives provided key information to Confederate General Pierre G. T. Beauregard concerning the deployment of Union General Irwin McDowell's troops before the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Beauregard later testified that this dispatch, along with further information provided by Greenhow herself, was instrumental in Beauregard's decision to request additional troops. The move led to a decisive victory by the Rebels. It did not take the Federals long to track down the leaks in Washington. Pinkerton placed Greenhow under house arrest, and he soon confined other suspected women in her home. However, Greenhow was undeterred. She was allowed visitors, including Senator Wilson, and was able to continue funneling information to the Confederates. Frustrated, Pinkerton finally confined Greenhow and her daughter to the Old Capitol Prison for five months in early 1862. In June 1862, she and her daughter, "Little Rose," were released and exiled to the South. Greenhow traveled to England and France to drum up support for the Southern cause, and she penned her memoirs while abroad. She returned to the Confederacy in September 1864, but a Yankee war vessel ran her ship aground in North Carolina. Weighted down by a substantial amount of gold, Greenhow's lifeboat overturned and she drowned.
1863 – A ruthless band of guerillas attacks the town of Lawrence, Kansas, killing every man and boy in sight. Led by William Quantrill and William "Bloody Bill" Anderson, the guerillas were said to have carried out the brutal attack on behalf of the Confederacy. Included in their group was Jesse James' brother Frank and Cole Younger, who would also play a large role in the James gang later on. Bloody Bill Anderson got his name for his love of shooting unarmed and defenseless people. Reportedly, he carried as many as eight handguns, in addition to a saber and a hatchet. His horse was also outfitted with several rifles and backup pistols. Although he claimed to have political motives for his terrorism, Anderson more likely used the Civil War as an opportunity to kill without repercussion. Jesse James, only 17 at the time, teamed up with Bloody Bill after he split from Quantrill's band of killers. On September 24, 1864, their small splinter group terrorized and destroyed most of the town of Centralia, Missouri. They also ambushed a small troop of Union soldiers whose train happened to stop at Centralia. Twenty-five Northern soldiers were stripped and lined up while Anderson and Arch Clement proceeded to shoot each of them down in cold blood, sparing only the sergeant. A month later, Anderson paid for his crimes: He was caught by a full contingent of Union army troops in Missouri and killed in the ensuing battle. Jesse James was never brought to justice by the North for his war crimes and went on to become the 19th century's most infamous criminal.
1863 – Confederate boat expedition under Lieutenant Wood, CSN, captured U.S.S. Reliance, Acting Ensign Henry Walter, and U.S.S Satellite, Acting Master Robinson, off Windmill Point, on the Rappahannock River. Wood had departed Richmond 11 days before with some 80 Confederates and 4 boats placed on wheels. These were launched on the 16th, 2 miles from the mouth of the Piankatank River and rowed into the bay. Concealing themselves by day and venturing forth by night, the Confederates sought for a week to find Union ships in an exposed position. Shortly after 1 o'clock in the morning, 23 August, Reliance and Satellite were found at anchor "so close to each other," Wood reported, "that it was necessary to board both at the same time." The two ships were quickly captured and taken up the Rappahannock to Urbanna. A "daring and brilliantly executed" plan, the capture of the two steamers shocked the North. Only a limited supply of coal on board the prizes and poor weather prevented Wood from following up his initial advantage more extensively.
1864 – Having doggedly withstood naval bombardment for more than two weeks, and invested by Union soldiers ashore, Brigadier General Page surrendered Fort Morgan, the last Confederate bastion at Mobile Bay. "My guns and powder had all been destroyed, my means of defense gone, the citadel, nearly the entire quartermaster stores, and a portion of the commissariat burned by the enemy's shells," he reported. "It was evident the fort could hold out but a few hours longer under a renewed bombardment. The only question was: Hold it for this time, gain the eclat, and sustain the loss of life from the falling of the walls, or save life and capitulate?"
1864 – Acting Master's Mate Woodman made his second dangerous reconnaissance up the Roanoke River, North Carolina, to gather intelligence on C.S.S. Albemarle and the defenses of Plymouth. Woodman reported: "At 10 a.m. I arrived on the Roanoke River, opposite Plymouth. The ram Albemarle was lying alongside of the wharf at Plymouth, protected with timbers, extending com-pletely around her . . . ." Woodman, who would make yet another reconnaissance mission, gained much vital information upon which Lieutenant Cushing planned the expedition which ended Albemarle's career.
1864 – The Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field is adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva. The agreement, advocated by Swiss humanitarian Jean-Henri Dunant, called for nonpartisan care to the sick and wounded in times of war and provided for the neutrality of medical personnel. It also proposed the use of an international emblem to mark medical personnel and supplies. In honor of Dunant's nationality, a red cross on a white background–the Swiss flag in reverse–was chosen. In 1901, Dunant was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize. In 1881, American humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons founded the American National Red Cross, an organization designed to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross.
1942 – The 1st US flights landed on Guadalcanal.
1942 – In an attempt to cover the ferrying of supplies to their forces at Guadalcanal, both the Japanese and the American send major warships.
1943 – American destroyers bombard Finschafen in support of air operations against Wewak.
1944 – US 1st Army (part of US 12th Army Group) also drives forward to the Seine. The US 19th Corps captures Evreux. French forces are employed as the spearhead of the US 5th Corps advance toward Paris. On the Atlantic coast, elements of the US 3rd Army link up with French resistance members near Bordeaux.
1944 – Elements of the French 2nd Corps (part of US 7th Army) reach the outskirts of Marseilles and Toulon.
1944 – The last Japanese resistance on the island of Numfoor is overcome and most of the American force is redeployed.
1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster; A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.
1945 – A US B-24 crashed into a school in Freckelton, England, and 76 were killed.
1945 – General MacArthur orders the release of some 5000 Filipinos interned for security reasons.
1950 – Up to 77,000 members of the U.S. Army Organized Reserve Corps were called involuntarily to active duty to fight the Korean War.
1951 – The Navy recommissioned the battleship USS Iowa under the command of Captain William R. Smedberg, III.
1954 – First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship (AC-130), for airborne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refueling, maritime patrol, and aerial firefighting. It is now the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. Over 40 models and variants of the Hercules serve with more than 60 nations. The C-130 entered service with U.S., followed by Australia and others. During its years of service, the Hercules family has participated in numerous military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations. The family has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history. In 2007, the C-130 became the fifth aircraft—after the English Electric Canberra, Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Tupolev Tu-95, and Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, all designs with various forms of aviation gas turbine powerplants—to mark 50 years of continuous use with its original primary customer, in this case, the United States Air Force. The C-130 is one of the only military aircraft to remain in continuous production for over 50 years with its original customer, as the updated C-130J Super Hercules.
1958 – In Taiwan Straits Crisis, Units of 7th Fleet move into Taiwan area to support Taiwan against Chinese Communists. This massive concentration of the Pacific Fleet in Quemoy-Matsu area prevents invasion of islands by China. Marines from Okinawa prepare to reinforce Chinese Nationalists at Taiwan.
1963 – The first satellite communications ship, USNS Kingsport (T-AG-164) in Lagos, Nigeria, connected President John F. Kennedy with Nigerian Prime Minister Balewa who was aboard for the first satellite (Syncom II) relayed telephone conversation between heads of state.
1966 – The American cargo ship Baton Rouge Victory strikes a mine laid by the Viet Cong in the Long Tao River, 22 miles south of Saigon. The half-submerged ship blocked the route from the South Vietnamese capital to the sea. Seven crewmen were killed.
1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
1968 – Communist forces launch rocket and mortar attacks on numerous cities, provincial capitals, and military installations. The heaviest shelling was on the U.S. airfield at Da Nang, the cities of Hue and Quang Tri. North Vietnamese forces numbering between 1200 and 1500 troops attacked the U.S. Special Forces camp at Duc Lap, 130 miles northeast of Saigon near the Cambodian border. The camp fell but was retaken by an allied relief column led by U.S. Special Forces on August 25. A reported 643 North Vietnamese troops were killed in the battle.
1979 – The keel of the first of the new 270-foot class medium endurance cutters, the CGC Bear, was laid.
1991 – In the wake of a failed coup by hard-liners in the Soviet Union, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin acted to strip the Communist Party of its power and take control of the army and the KGB.
1993 – The Galileo spacecraft discovers a moon, later named Dactyl, around 243 Ida, the first known asteroid moon.
1994 – A new Coast Guard record for people rescued was set on 23 August 1994 when 3,253 Cubans were rescued from dangerously overloaded craft during Operation Able Vigil.
1996 – Osama bin Laden issues message entitled 'A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.'
1999 – US and British warplanes attacked targets in northern Iraq after being fired upon by an Iraqi military radar station.
1999 – It was reported that the US was training a 950-man Colombian army counter narcotics battalion to regain control of guerrilla controlled territory.
2000 – Boeing made the first successful launch of its Delta III rocket.
2001 – Brian Regan (38), retired US Air Force master sergeant and cryptanalyst, was arrested by the FBI at Dulles Int'l. Airport on charges of spying. In 2002 Regan was accused of trying to spy for Iraq, Libya and China.
2002 – U.S. warplanes bombed an air defense site in northern Iraq after being targeted by an Iraqi missile guidance radar system.
2002 – The United States imposed symbolic sanctions on a North Korean company and the North Korean government for exporting medium or long-range missile components.
2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan civil war.
Medal of Honor for this date
BREYER, CHARLES
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company I, 90th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Rappahannock Station, Va., 23 August 1862. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth:——. Date of issue: 8 July 1896. Citation: Voluntarily, and at great personal risk, picked up an unexploded shell and threw it away, thus doubtless saving the life of a comrade whose arm had been taken off by the same shell.
WHITE, J. HENRY
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 90th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Rappanhannock Station, Va., 23 August 1862. Entered service at:——. Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Date of issue: 5 May 1900. Citation: At the imminent risk of his life, crawled to a nearby spring within the enemy's range and exposed to constant fire filled a large number of canteens, and returned in safety to the relief of his comrades who were suffering from want of water.
CAWETZKA, CHARLES
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 30th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: Near Sariaya, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 23 August 1900. Entered service at: Wayne, Mich. Birth: Detroit, Mich. Date of issue: 14 March 1902. Citation: Single-handed, he defended a disabled comrade against a greatly superior force of the enemy.
*CAREY, ALVIN P.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, 38th Infantry, 2-t Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Plougastel, Brittany, France, 23 August 1944. Entered service at: Laughlinstown, Pa. Born: 16 August 1916, Lycippus, Pa. G.O. No.: 37, 11 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, on 23 August 1944. S/Sgt. Carey, leader of a machinegun section, was advancing with his company in the attack on the strongly held enemy hill 154, near Plougastel, Brittany, France. The advance was held up when the attacking units were pinned down by intense enemy machinegun fire from a pillbox 200 yards up the hill. From his position covering the right flank, S/Sgt. Carey displaced his guns to an advanced position and then, upon his own initiative, armed himself with as many hand grenades as he could carry and without regard for his personal safety started alone up the hill toward the pillbox. Crawling forward under its withering fire, he proceeded 150 yards when he met a German rifleman whom he killed with his carbine. Continuing his steady forward movement until he reached grenade-throwing distance, he hurled his grenades at the pillbox opening in the face of intense enemy fire which wounded him mortally. Undaunted, he gathered his strength and continued his grenade attack until one entered and exploded within the pillbox, killing the occupants and putting their guns out of action. Inspired by S/Sgt. Carey's heroic act, the riflemen quickly occupied the position and overpowered the remaining enemy resistance in the vicinity.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for 23 August, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
23 August
1909: Glenn H. Curtiss set a 43.38 MPH FAI speed record in a Curtiss Airplane at Rheims, France. (9)
1917: The lst Reserve Aero Squadron, the only squadron of its kind, sailed from New York. Arriving in France on 3 September, it then moved to Issoudun 14 days later. On l October, the Army redesignated the 1st as the 26th Aero Squadron.
1937: MACKAY TROPHY. Capt George V. Holloman completed the first wholly automatic landing--without help from a human pilot or from the ground-at Wright Field. Capt Carl J. Crane, the inventor, and Mr. Raymond K. Stout, as engineer, worked on the project. For this effort, Holloman and Crane received DFCs and the Mackay Trophy. (4) (24)
1948: The 31 FW at Turner AFB received TAC's first F-84 aircraft. McDonnell's XF-85 Goblin parasite fighter first flew at Muroc Field. It was designed to be carried inside a B-36 to provide fighter support over a target; however, it never actually flew in one. All test flights were carried out on a B-50. (8: Aug 90)
1950: KOREAN WAR. The 19 BG flew the first Razon mission. With the exception of one bomb that hit a railroad bridge near Pyongyang, the World War II-era radio control equipment failed to guide the bombs to the target. (28) General Douglas MacArthur decided to invade Inchon on 15 September. (28)
1951: The X-1D rocket research plane caught fire on its first flight. Its B-50 carrier plane had to jettison the X-1 to destruction over Edwards AFB. (3)
1954: Lockheed pilots Stanley Beltz and Roy Wimmer flew the Hercules YC-130 transport on its first flight from Lockheed's plant in Burbank to Edwards AFB. (3) (20) (22)
1956: The Army's H-21 helicopter made the first transcontinental nonstop flight by flying 2,6l0 miles from San Diego to Washington DC in 31 hours 40 minutes. (21) (24)
1957: First Douglas C-133 delivered to Dover AFB. (12) North American Aviation received a contract for the Hound Dog missile. (6)
1961: Ranger I, test version of the spacecraft that would later attempt an unmanned crash landing on the moon, launched into orbit.
1962: The first successful Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, then known as Program 35, satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Scout X-2 rocket. The DMSP system, still in operation today, provides metrological, oceanographic, and solar weather support to the Department of Defense.
1977: Bryan Allen made the first sustained, maneuverable, man-powered flight by pedaling his Gossamer Condor aircraft at Shafter, Calif. He made the aircraft with an aluminum frame with stainless steel bracing and covered it with mylar plastic. (21)
1978: The USAF asked Boeing Aerospace and General Dynamics to build 12 ALCMs each for a competitive contract. (12)
1985: From a modified Minuteman launch facility at Vandenberg AFB, AFSC conducted America's first land-based "cold launch" from an underground silo. The "cold launch" technique ejected a Peacekeeper missile by gas pressure, and its propellant ignited after becoming airborne. This method greatly reduced the damage to a silo from a launch. This successful launch was the ninth in the Peacekeeper's testing program. (16) (21)
1986: All B-52Gs completed their cruise missile integration modifications. (16)
1990: The 89 MAW received the first of two VC-25A, a modified 747-200B, Presidential aircraft at Andrews AFB. It replaced the VC-137C used as Air Force One. (16) (26) Secretary of Defense Richard B. Cheney gave the Air Force the authority to call up reservists for active duty in the Gulf crisis. The Air Force eventually called up more than 20,000 Air Force reservists. (26)
1994: Operation DENY FLIGHT. AMC-gained ANG refueling units operating from airfields at Istres, France, and Pisa, Italy, began participating in the operation to maintain a no-fly zone over Bosnia. (18)
2001: Developmental flight testing and evaluation of the F-16 Block 40T7 Avionics Upgrade started at Edwards AFB. (3)
2003: An RQ-1 Predator launched a Finder mini-UAV from its wing and then, for the first time, the AFFTC controlled the Finder using a Ku satellite communications link to complete the Combat Chemical Assessment System's Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program. The AFFTC used line-of-sight control only in all previous testing. (3)
2004: The 43 AW at Pope AFB and other military organizations with C-130s flew special sorties to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first C-130 Hercules flight. (22)
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