October 3, 1936: a naval legend is born: On a bright October Saturday in 1936, a sleek steel hull, 800 feet in length, towering over the assembled dignitaries and onlookers, slipped the ways of Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. The autumn air ringing with the words from Shakespeare’s Othello – "May she also…
When all else fails – and your butt is on the line with a major PR catastrophe looming, it is best to man-up, square your shoulders and do your duty as organizational lead by assuming responsibility before The Big Guy…unless you are the head of Russia’s ROSKOSMOS space agency. Then you can hint darkly about…
… well sort of. This is just too rich on soooo many levels. Where to start…hmmm, more flags than we have hulls? And since we are approaching the season when “You Know Who” is making up his lists of naughty and nice clients, here is a warning for the naughty ones: Won’t be switches and…
Pausing for a moment to acknowledge this signatory event in VAW history before returning to the discussion on the Maritime Strategy later today… -SJS 1967: VAW-11 (West coast) and VAW-12 (East coast) constitute the two largest squadrons in the Navy with some 200 officers and 800 enlisted each. Each squadrom supports 4 plane E-1B Tracer…
By 1965, the US participation in Vietnam was reaching a juncture where it could choose to disengage (and thus concede the loss of South Vietnam to the Communist juggernaut – which then would then sweep across the rest of the SE Asia landscape). It could “stay the course,” with a limited ground role using advisers…
Initial planning is underway for a reunion of all Steeljaws next year, most likely in the Norfolk area. Open to anyone who was a part of the Figthin’ Bitin’ Steeljaws from 1967-1996 (and I think we’ll even welcome SteelBats as well — and if you have to ask, you weren’t one 😉 ). More info…
