Historical

Traveling with the CNO — The return home

By Lance Bacon on March 24, 2010 Historical, leadership, Maritime operations, Navy, Officers

Scoop Deck blogger Lance M. Bacon took a day trip with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead this week. This is the play-by-play report. 1915 Dinner time. CS1 Russell Allison served up a field green salad with citrus vinaigrette that opened the festivities, followed by spinach and feta stuffed chicken breast with white wine cream sauce. Wild rice and sautéed green beans accompanied, and culminated with cheesecake that could make your tongue smack your forehead. I’m beginning to think we should host a cook-off among this squadron’s culinary specialists. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific, (right) and…

A solution for stolen valor

By Lance Bacon on March 17, 2010 Historical, Navy, Personnel, SEALs

It seems fake SEALs, POWs and medal recipients are spreading like a virus. The latest is Steven Douglas Burton, who showed up at his 20-year high school reunion as a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel – and sporting a Navy Cross. You can read about it here. Navy Times certainly has covered its share of fakers in recent months:

A chance to meet the legends

By Lance Bacon on March 11, 2010 Aviation, Historical, Morale, Navy

If you are in Manhattan this weekend, the hot spot will be the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which will host the welcome home event for the “Legends of Aerospace Tour.” The tour has brought famous aviators and astronauts to visit military stationed in Europe and Southeast Asia. Participants include Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, the first and last astronauts to walk the moon, Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, SR-71 Chief Test Pilot Bob Gilliland and the last Air Force Pilot Ace Steve Ritchie. The team most recently visited the carrier Eisenhower in the Arabian Gulf on Wednesday, where…

Happy Birthday, Seabees!

By Lance Bacon on March 5, 2010 Historical, Navy, NECC, Seabees

Today we celebrate the 68th birthday of the “Can-Do” construction battalions. Happy birthyday to all the brave men and women who have been a part of this honorable heritage. Did you know: The earliest Seabees were recruited from the civilian construction trades. Because of the emphasis on experience and skill rather than on physical standards, the average age of WW II Seabees was 37. More than 325,00 men served with the Seabees in WW II on six continents and more than 300 islands. Between 1949 and 1953, Naval Construction Battalions were organized into two types of units: Amphibious Construction Battalions and…

Naval Expeditionary Forces Symposium underway

By Lance Bacon on March 2, 2010 Historical, leadership, Maritime operations, Personnel, Pirates, Seabees

True to the nature of the sailors and officers who comprise the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, the fourth annual Naval Expeditionary Forces Symposium and Expo opened Tuesday morning in Virginia Beach with the announcement that two key speakers would be absent. They had been called away to meet emerging tasks – but two replacements were prepped and ready before attendees ever knew there was an issue. Discussions were somewhat bitter sweet. While speakers noted how current operations in the war zone and humanitarian missions such as the one in Haiti have validated the need for NECC, there remained an undercurrent…

Lest we forget …

By Lance Bacon on December 31, 2009 Blogs, Historical, Navy, nuclear weapons, ordnance, Submarines

Thanks to Joel “Bubblehead” Kennedy, who reminds us of the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of USS George Washington (SSBN 598), the first ballistic missile submarine. What must it have been like to be there July 20 1960, when the skipper sent a burner 1,100 miles downrange, then sent President Eisenhower the message: POLARIS — FROM OUT OF THE DEEP TO TARGET. PERFECT. I think Bubblehead says it best: Service in SSBNs might not be as glamorous and exciting as being on an attack boat, but the bottom line is that our strategic capability is the cornerstone of our national…

August is Snipe Month

By Mark Faram on August 14, 2009 Historical, Navy, Personnel, Ratings, Ships, The deckplates

If you are a Navy snipe, then August is your month. That’s because on Aug. 31, 1842, the first enlisted engineering ratings — fireman and coal heaver — were created. Steam technology was in its early days at sea when the Navy built it’s second steam ship, the Fulton II, in 1837. And sailors would be needed to operate and maintain the boilers. To man these new ships, Congress passed a law on on Aug. 31, 1842, establishing the two ratings. Those already skilled in steam and machinery skills would be enlisted as firemen. Those with no skills could join…

What lurks beneath?

By Gidget Fuentes on July 21, 2009 Aviation, Carriers, Diving, Historical

Local fishermen in search of some record large-mouth bass in a San Diego-area lake last winter found something else on their electronic fish finder: A World War II carrier bomber. A cursory look determined the airplane is a Curtiss SBC2 Helldiver, a daring dive-bomber that apparently had made an emergency landing into Lower Otay Reservoir, southeast of San Diego, during a bombing test run on May 28, 1945, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The Navy had bought more than 7,000 of the Helldiver, which joined with the better-known Douglas SBD Dauntless on bombing runs during the Pacific theater campaigns in the…

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