On 10 May 1775 a force commanded by Ethan Allan and Benedict Arnold crossed Lake Champlain and captured the British fort at Ticonderoga, New York. Five U.S. Navy warships have since been named in honor of this victory, including the most recent, the Aegis guided missile cruiser USS Ticonderoga (CG 47). This low angle starboard bow view of Ticonderoga was taken while she was underway during sea trials. US Navy photo DN-SC-84-00165.
BOOK REVIEW – The Privateering Stroke: Salem’s Privateers in the War of 1812
By Michael Rutstein, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Salem, MA (2012).
Reviewed by James C. Bradford, Ph.D.
Despite its important role in American defense policy from the Revolution through the War of 1812, privateering has never been the subject of a comprehensive study. This accounts, in part, for the fact that privateering, i.e., the system of licensing privately-owned vessels and individuals to capture enemy shipping, remains so poorly understood. Popular histories and the general public, more often than not, conflate privateering and its practitioners with piracy and/or commerce raiding by national navies. Historians of the War of 1812 have long understood that economic considerations, as much as military and naval defeats, led British leaders to seek peace in 1815. The 500 privateers licensed by the U.S. government contributed significantly to that pressure by capturing an average of 33 vessels per month worth a wartime total value of $40 million. These losses drove the price of British imports upward and pushed insurance rates to unprecedented levels.
On 1 May 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, commanded by Commodore George Dewey, crushed Spanish naval forces at the Battle of Manila Bay. This halftone reproduction of an artwork by J.D. Gleason, circa 1898, depicts the action as seen from alongside the forward 8” gun turret of USS Olympia. NHHC image NH 1269.
On 29 April 1814, during the War of 1812, United States Sloop-of-War Peacock captured the British Brig Epervier off Florida.This oil on canvas by Tomiro depicts the battle. NHHC image NH 83139-KN.
On 24 April 1778, during the American Revolution, Continental Navy sloop-of-war Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones, captured British HMS Drake, off Carrickfergus, Ireland. This painting is by Arthur N. Disney, Sr. NHHC image NH 48548-KN.
BOOK REVIEW – Refighting the Pacific War: An Alternative History of World War II
Edited by Jim Bresnahan, Naval Institute Press, 2011.
Reviewed by Rear Admiral Ed Keats, USN (Ret)
Counter factional histories have been popular with chimerical writers over many years. I can recall from high school days being fascinated with a book based on the author’s imagination of an early ending to the Civil War right after the Battle of Bull Run in 1861. According to him, a peace agreement was signed removing the objection of the Union to the Confederated States declaring their independence from the United States. The author described how the resurgent South later took over the northern portion of Mexico and soon annexed Cuba.
71st Battle of Midway Commemoration Dinner
Tuesday 4 June 2013
Army Navy Country Club, Arlington, VA
Guest Speaker: The Honorable Robert O. Work, Former Undersecretary of the Navy
On 16 April 1863, during the American Civil War, Union gunboats under the command of Admiral David Dixon Porter passed a blockade of Confederate batteries at Vicksburg. This colored lithograph published by Currier & Ives, New York, 1863, depicts the fighting. NHHC image NH 76557-KN.
On 7 April 1945 the world’s largest battleship, Yamato, steaming for Okinawa on the one-way suicidal “Ten-Go” Operation, was sunk by American carrier aircraft while still some 200 miles north of Okinawa.
On 28 March1814, British frigates HMS Cherub (at left) and Phoebe (at right) captured the U.S. Frigate Essex (center) off Valparaiso, Chile. Before the capture, Essex, under the command of Captain David Porter, had captured 24 British prizes during the War of 1812 while marauding the Pacific Ocean. This image of the battle is from the Beverley Robinson collection at the United States Naval Academy.
