Conflicts & Operations

Super Lynx

EU NAVFOR Helicopters Attack Somali Pirates Ashore EU Naval Force destroys pirate equipment on Somali coastline

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Just about everyone agrees the solution to the scourge of Somali pirates has been ashore in Somalia, not at sea.  But there was little enthusiasm about entering the pirates’ lair.  …

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Hermes Sinking off Ceylon

Nagumo’s Indian Ocean Raid Operation C sank British shipping but failed to seize Ceylon and possibly change the course of the war

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“The most dangerous moment of the war, and the one which caused me the greatest alarm, was when the Japanese fleet was heading for Ceylon and the naval base there. …

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Lexington CV-2 burns, Coral Sea

A Cocker Spaniel’s Battle of the Coral Sea A World War II 70th anniversary web article

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“Well, Ted. Let’s get the men off.” —Rear Adm. Aubrey “Jake” Fitch to Capt. Frederick C. “Ted” Sherman

The USS Lexington (CV 2) was the U.S. Navy’s second aircraft carrier, …

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Chinese aircraft carrier Varyag

2011-12 World Naval Developments Eastern Promises

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Surely the most spectacular naval development of 2011 was the advent of the first Chinese aircraft carrier, the former Soviet Varyag. Rumors have it renamed Shi Lang, after the Chinese …

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Burning of the USS Philadelphia

Lt. Stephen Decatur, Jr. Burns the Philadelphia A legendary Navy hero led what might be considered one of the service's first special operations

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“[T]he most bold and daring act of the Age.”

—Adm. Lord Horatio Nelson

            The Barbary Coast of North Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, was home to pirates who had …

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Union Powder Monkey

The Civil War on the Water: The Union Blockade l Photos U.S. Civil War 150th Anniversary

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When President Abraham Lincoln declared a blockade of Confederate ports on April 19, 1861, the U.S. Navy consisted of 42 commissioned ships. Even more dire was the fact that only …

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Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the channel

The Kriegsmarine’s ‘Channel Dash’ British blunders allow the German capital ships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen to escape Brest via the English Channel

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“The British are now throwing their mothball Navy at us.”

—Vice Adm. Otto Ciliax, commenting about the attack on his ships by obsolete Swordfish torpedo bombers

In February 1942 British, …

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USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor

The Last Pearl Harbor Hero: Former Shipfitter Syl Puccio Awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal

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On Feb. 20, 2012, more than seventy years after the event, a Pearl Harbor veteran will be decorated for his heroism during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Syl Puccio, 91, …

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Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Ernest J. King, and Raymond Spruance aboard the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis in 1944. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo

Admirals Ernest J. King and Chester W. Nimitz The S.O.B. and the quiet man

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In the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, President Franklin Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox decided that not only did they have to relieve Adm. Husband Kimmel …

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Lt. j.g. Thomas Hudner's Medal of Honor Ceremony

Wingman to the End: Lt. j.g. Thomas Hudner, Ensign Jesse L. Brown, and the Medal of Honor Corsair pilot attempted rescue in Korea

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Tom Hudner had no idea how things were going to unfold on Dec. 4, 1950. As a carrier-based Navy pilot flying an F4U-4 Corsair of squadron VF-32 “Swordsmen” from the …

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