The “Family Jewels”

Read the other 703 pages here.

Read the other 703 pages here.
At Marne, the industrial warfare hinted at barely half a century earlier came to fruition. On a sunny, December morning, the rules of naval warfare were inexorably altered and four years later was answered in the light of a terrible, new weapon, one that its creator was prompted to utter “I am become death, the…
Intrepid (ɪnˈtrÉ›pɪd) —adj: fearless; daring; bold Most folks today, when asked about the USS Intrepid, will point to the Essex-class carrier (CVS-11) bearing the name and serving as a museum ship in New York City. While having a long and distinguished career (known as the “Fighting I” to those who sailed in her), that Intrepid…
Project CADILLAC (Part I) Ed note: Everything has a beginning and that beginning is usually quite humble compared to present conditions. Consider, a small spring at the headwaters of the Madison River in Montana is the source of the mighty Missouri River which itself empties into ol’ man river — the Mississippi, all of which…
So…what do you get when you combine one errant F6F drone, some USAF F-89 Scorpions and a populated center in Southern California? Mayhem. Or The Battle of Palmdale (1956):
Reveille came early at 0400 for the A-7B pilots of a light attack squadron deployed aboard an attack carrier. Briefing was scheduled at 0445 with the first launch at 0600. Two of the four scheduled Corsair II’s completed the launch and, after the mission was completed, returned for an IFR recovery. The two pilots separated…
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…