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Not all early June anniversaries involve declared wars. On June 8th, 1967, during the Six-Day War in the Middle East, the United States signals intelligence ship USS Liberty was operating in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean. In the confusion of fast-moving ground and air fighting ashore, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats mistook the ship for a hostile vessel and attacked, inflicting severe damage an
At the dawn of a new century, American forces operating far from home faced a different kind of threat.
Nearly nine months after the opening invasion of Iraq, United States forces were still hunting for Saddam Hussein, whose regime had collapsed but whose presence loomed over the growing insurgency.
At Groton, Connecticut, the United States Navy stepped into a new era when USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, was commissioned on September 30th, 1954.
Even before a formal declaration of war against Germany, the United States Navy was escorting convoys in the North Atlantic, confronting the realities of submarine warfare.
Off the coast of Vietnam, the supercarrier USS Forrestal was preparing to launch another round of strikes when disaster struck. A malfunction caused a rocket on a parked fighter to fire across the crowded flight deck, smashing into another jet loaded with fuel and bombs. The resulting fires, explosions, and shrapnel tore through aircraft, equipment, and the sailors struggling to fight the blaze.
In the closing years of the Vietnam War, the nuclear–powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise operated as a key platform for strikes into Southeast Asia. On January 14th, 1969, during flight operations near Hawaii, a rocket accidentally detonated on the flight deck, triggering a chain of explosions among fueled and armed aircraft.
As the naval war closed in on Japan, United States fast carrier task forces struck airfields, shipyards, and industrial targets across the home islands. On March 19th, 1945, the carrier USS Franklin was operating relatively close to the enemy coast, her flight deck crowded with fueled and armed aircraft being readied for another strike. A lone Japanese dive bomber slipped through the defenses and dropped bombs that p
On the night of February 17th, 1864, off Charleston, South Carolina, the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley moved slowly toward the Union sloop of war USS Housatonic. The Hunley was a dangerous experiment: a hand-cranked, cigar-shaped boat with a spar torpedo mounted on its bow. Its crew had already died in earlier test accidents, but on this sortie the submarine reached its target, detonated its explosive charge, an
On this day representatives of Imperial Japan signed an instrument of surrender on the deck of the battleship Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay and surrounded by Allied warships.
At the shipyards in Groton, Connecticut, the United States Navy launched a vessel that would fundamentally change undersea warfare. On January 21st, 1954, USS Nautilus slid into the water as the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine. Unlike conventionally powered boats that had to surface or snorkel regularly for air and fuel, Nautilus could remain submerged for long periods, travel at higher sustained
Off the New England coast, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher was conducting deep-diving tests when something went catastrophically wrong. Communications suggested trouble with systems and attempts to surface as the boat descended beyond its safe limits. Moments later, contact was lost, and later analysis pointed to flooding and a reactor shutdown that left the submarine unable to recover.
As the Pacific war neared its end, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis completed a secret mission: delivering components of the first atomic bomb to a base on Tinian. After departing without a dedicated escort, the ship steamed west toward the Philippines. Shortly after midnight on July 30th, a Japanese submarine fired torpedoes that tore into the cruiser’s side. The ship sank in minutes, and around a thousand sailors
In the early hours of October 31st, 1941, the Clemson-class destroyer USS Reuben James was escorting a convoy near Iceland when a German submarine fired a spread of torpedoes into the formation.
The technological face of United States naval power carried its own risks, even in peacetime. On May 23rd, 1939, the submarine USS Squalus submerged for a test dive off the New Hampshire coast and suffered a catastrophic failure in one of its main air and water systems. Seawater flooded aft compartments, sending the boat to the bottom in cold, dark water with part of the crew trapped inside.
Early American submarines were experimental craft, operating at the edge of the technology of their day. On March 25th, 1915, the USS F-4, a small submarine of the F-class, sank during a routine dive near Honolulu, taking her crew with her to the bottom in relatively deep water. Investigators concluded that corrosion and battery problems contributed to hull failure, allowing seawater to flood the boat.
Not all significant dates in military history involve combat with a foreign enemy. On April 19th, 1989, a devastating explosion ripped through the Number Two sixteen-inch gun turret aboard the battleship USS Iowa during a gunnery exercise in the Atlantic. The blast killed dozens of sailors inside the turret and surrounding spaces, shocking both the fleet and the public.
USS Arizona served in the U.S. battle fleet for twenty-five years before her destruction at Pearl Harbor. Her wreck and memorial now connect an individual ship, its crew, and the national memory of 7 December 1941.