Today’s post is by Sarah Rigdon, an Archives Technician in the Research Room in the National Archives at St. Louis, MO. Like so many National Archives staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, I began searching for telework projects and creative ways to connect others with the records available to me in our Catalog, particularly in the … Continue reading SNACing with the PEPs: Discovering Henry Reuterdahl and his Compelling Artistic Relationship with the U. S. Navy
Today’s post is by Nathanial Patch, Reference Archivist at the National Archives in College Park, MD and Subject Matter Expert for Navy Records. Section I: Enemy at the Outskirts On February 27, 1966, the Panamanian cargo ship, SS Lorinda, was sailing up the Long Tau River heading towards Saigon. The Long Tau is the deep … Continue reading Operation JACK STAY: US Marines in the Forest of Assassins
Today’s post is by George Fuller, Archival Reference Technician at the National Archives at St. Louis. A year ago, as National Archives staff were sent home at the beginning of the pandemic we were all in need of remote work and when transcription possibilities arose for alternative work my first thought was, “busy work.” At … Continue reading Tales of the Revenue Cutter Service and True Crime from The Collector of Customs at Boston
Today’s post is by Nathanial Patch, Reference Archivist and Subject Matter Expert for Navy Records at the National Archives in College Park, MD. January 1943, while on her fourth war patrol, the USS Growler (SS 215) from Brisbane, Australia, had been patrolling the sea lanes to Rabaul on the western end of New Ireland, she … Continue reading Prepare for Collision! The Ramming of the USS Growler and a Japanese Gunboat
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. Background The discovery of the mineral wealth of Alaska led immediately to a large development of the coastwise trade along the northwestern seaboard of the United States, and particularly in Puget Sound. Navigators were then, as now, … Continue reading Assignment: Neah Bay, Washington, 1909; The United States Revenue-Cutter Service and the USRC Snohomish
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. This is the second of two blog posts about John Barry Ryan, Capt. Washington I. Chambers, USN, Eugene B. Ely, and the USS Birmingham, November 14, 1910. While arrangements were being made for the flight off the … Continue reading The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910, Part II
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. This is the first of two blog posts about John Barry Ryan, Capt. Washington I. Chambers, USN, Eugene B. Ely, and the USS Birmingham, November 14, 1910. At the beginning of 1909 the number of airplanes in … Continue reading The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910, Part I
Today’s post is by Joseph P. Keefe, Archives Specialist at the National Archives at Boston. The USS Braine was a twenty-one-ton Fletcher class destroyer which had been built and launched at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine in March of 1943. Following her participation in General Douglas MacArthur’s campaign to retake the Philippines, the … Continue reading The Kamikaze Attack on the USS Braine, May 27, 1945
Today’s post is by Joseph P. Keefe, Archives Specialist at the National Archives at Boston. When the American Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, the newly formed Confederate States of America had no ships to speak of in its navy. In the months leading up to the war, the Confederate government sought the … Continue reading The United States vs the Ship Bat: A Civil War Prize Case
By Andrew Begley, Archives Specialist at the National Archives at Boston When the First Congress passed “An Act for the establishment and support of Lighthouses, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers” on August 7, 1789, there were only twelve lighthouses illuminating the shores of the newly formed nation. By 1842, that number had grown to 250. … Continue reading Winslow Lewis and the Expansion of Early Federal Lighthouses
