VEHICLES, AIRCRAFT & SHIPS

On this date, coordinated terrorist attacks struck the United States homeland in a way not seen before.

On November 14th, 1965, helicopters of the United States Army’s 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) began landing infantry battalions near the Chu Pong Massif in the Ia Drang Valley of South Vietnam.

On November 16th, 1776, British and Hessian forces assaulted Fort Washington, the last major Continental stronghold on Manhattan Island.

In the central Pacific, a small Marine garrison and civilian contractors turned Wake Island into a symbol of resistance in the opening days of the Pacific War.

The short but far-reaching Spanish-American War formally ended on December 10th, 1898, when representatives of Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris.

Only one day after the Port Royal victory, another Union action at sea nearly widened the war in a dangerous direction.

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.

The central German Atlantic submarine family, developed through successive variants and represented in the pilot by the surviving U-995.

A story of reach and persistence told through the pilots who rode the thin air and the targets they photographed far below.

A surviving Type VIIC/41 submarine with German wartime service, a second career as the Norwegian Kaura, and preservation at Laboe.

In the wake of the September 11th attacks, defense planners reexamined how the United States organized its military commands to protect the homeland.

A story of reach, survivability, and adaptation told through the pilots, crews, and troops who lived and fought under the Huey’s rotors.

By December 15th, 1862, the Army of the Potomac was pulling back across the Rappahannock River after the bloody defeat at Fredericksburg.

In the aftermath of global war, American leaders restructured their armed forces to meet emerging strategic realities.

Fifty-five years later to the day, on December 7th, 1917, the United States again made a momentous move, this time with a declaration of war against Austria-Hungary.

The day after Japanese aircraft and submarines attacked Pearl Harbor and other Pacific outposts, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed Congress in a joint session that would be remembered for its “day of infamy” language.

On this date, the Continental Congress resolved that the “United Colonies” would henceforth be known as the “United States of America.” It was a decision made in the middle of a war whose outcome was far from certain, but it gave the rebellion a clearer political…

Not every turning point comes with smoke and cannon fire.

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.

A boiler explosion aboard the gunboat Bennington on July 21, 1905 turned routine naval service into a mass-casualty emergency. Rescue, medical care, investigation and public mourning followed.

Just days after Fort George fell, another drama played out at sea off the American coast. On June 1st, 1813, the American frigate USS Chesapeake sailed from Boston to challenge the British blockading ship HMS Shannon. In a furious, close-range engagement that lasted only minutes, British gunnery and boarding tactics shattered the Chesapeake’s crew, leaving Captain James Lawrence mortally wounded.

Early in the War of 1812, the United States Navy frigate Constitution intercepted the British frigate Guerriere in the Atlantic and accepted battle. In a sharp engagement marked by heavy gunnery and aggressive maneuvering, Constitution’s solid hull shrugged off many British round shot, giving rise to the famous nickname “Old Ironsides.” American broadsides dismasted Guerriere and left her so badly damaged that she had to be burned after the crew was removed.

Lead ship of the Iowa class, with service in World War II, Korea, and the renewed battleship program of the 1980s.

Off the French port of Cherbourg, two warships met in a duel that captured worldwide attention and helped decide a quieter but crucial front in the Civil War. The Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama had spent years attacking Union merchant shipping across the globe, forcing the United States to divert warships to hunt her and driving up insurance rates.