USN Carrier Evolution III: Langley, Lex and Sara Third article in a series by Scot MacDonald. Reprinted with permission: Naval Aviation News, May 1962, pp 16 – 21. “One day, when someone suggested that shovelling coal was becoming unpopular, we proceeded to angle for the colliers Jupiter and Jason. Although some conservative seniors frowned on […]
USN Carrier Evolution IV: Purpose-built ships Fourth article in a series by Scot MacDonald. Reprinted with permission: Naval Aviation News, June 1962, pp 22- 27. “Such remarks as I may have to make as to the nature and extent of the air force required by the Navy will be based upon the assumption that […]
USN Carrier Evolution V: War Games 1 By Scot MacDonald. Fifth article in a series. Reprinted with permission: Naval Aviation News August 1962 pp. 28-33. One of those whose untiring efforts helped shape the evolution of the “all big gun battleship,” ADML William S. Sims, did not immediately endorse Naval Aviation—especially ships carrying naval aircraft—upon […]
USN Carrier Evolution VI: The last of the Fleet Problems Sixth article in a series by Scot MacDonald. Reprinted with permission: Naval Aviation News, September 1962, pp 34-38. “The culmination of the year’s operations arrives when the carriers with their squadrons participate in the annual cruise of the Fleets. On these cruises, the year’s efforts […]
Hobart in Vietnam: Follow-up letters by Ian Callaway and David Holthouse Part 2 of 2. Read Part 1 here Ian Callaway (left) is at the Naval Gunfire Support (NGS) plotting desk in HMAS Hobart. The Raytheon AIM-7 Sparrow (right) is a semi-active air-to-air missile that homes at up to Mach 4 on a target illuminated […]
HMAS Boonaroo by Pat Burnett The short and unusual history of HMAS Boonaroo constitutes an historical first in the story of the RAN. It was the first occasion on which the Navy commissioned and operated a merchant vessel in peacetime because of an industrial dispute. In February 1967, during the escalation of the Vietnam War […]
USN Carrier Evolution VII: Early Japanese carriers Seventh article in a series by Scot MacDonald. Reprinted with permission: Naval Aviation News, October 1962 pp. 39-42. “In the last analysis, the success or failure of our entire strategy in the Pacific will be determined by whether or not we succeed in destroying the U.S. Fleet, more […]
Liberty Ships Disaster loomed. The RAF had blunted Reichsmarshal Hermann Göring’s blitz, but by September 1941 VADM Karl Dönitz’s Type VII U-Boats were regularly decimating Atlantic convoys. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the German submarine offensive was maintaining its horrifying 1940 record and even increasing the rate at which it sank the merchant ships […]
Titanic followup letters Cutaway sketch of Titanic. Note the “smoke” from number four funnel. Tom Fisher writes of the Last Log of the Titanic: book review (Newsletter 54 September 2003): The stated fuel consumption of 650 tons of coal an hour must be in error. Southhampton to New York is some 3000 miles. At 22.5 […]
HMS Rattler by John Ellis The development of the steam engine for locomotion was a challenge taken up by engineers in the late 18th century. Richard Trevithick demonstrated his steam carriage at Cambourne in Cornwall in 1801 and three years later his locomotive, on an existing tramway in Wales, hauled ten tons of iron ore […]
