A Brief History On February 15, 1898, at 9:40 p.m., the US Navy had one of its darkest and yet most memorable days when the armored cruiser USS Maine ACR-1 blew up and sank while docked in Havana Harbor, Cuba. Digging Deeper Sent to Cuba to protect American interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, the Maine blew up and sank quickly, having experienced over 5 tons of gunpowder exploding in the forward part of the ship. The giant explosion and quick sinking cost 266 of the 374 man crew their lives. The Navy and the US in general was…
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A Brief History On February 14, 2005, a trio of former PayPal employees gave the world a great Valentine’s Day gift when they launched YouTube, the foremost video sharing website on the internet. Less than 2 years later they sold the site to Google for $1.65 billion! Digging Deeper Originally a way for individuals to share videos on the net, the site now hosts video posted by large corporations as well as individuals, including BBC, Vevo, Hulu and CBS, et al. Currently the second most popular website on the internet (Google is #1), you can find self-made videos by individuals…
A Brief History On February 11, 1939, a prototype Lockheed P-38 Lighting twin engine fighter plane flew from California to New York in a then record 7 hours and 2 minutes. This new US fighter plane was the fastest fighter in the world at this time, the first fighter to exceed 400 mph in level flight. So what was wrong with it? Digging Deeper Normally our articles about military aircraft extol the virtues of the subject plane, but here we digress to look at the shortcomings and criticisms of this venerable aircraft, one of the creations of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson,…
A Brief History On February 3, 1995, Space Shuttle mission STS-63 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral Florida for space with a woman pilot for the first time. Digging Deeper Eileen Collins, born in Elmira, New York in 1956, graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and economics from Syracuse University in 1979 and went on to earn a Master of Science degree in operations research from Stanford University in 1986 and a Master of Arts degree in space systems management from Webster University in 1989. A career in the Air Force was in this…
A Brief History On January 30, 1959, the Danish ocean liner, MS Hans Hedtoft, was on the return leg of its maiden voyage when it struck an iceberg off the coast of Greenland and sunk, the only trace of the ship ever being found was a single lifebelt that washed ashore. Digging Deeper In an eerie coincidence, like the RMS Titanic of 1912, the Hans Hedtoft was considered extremely safe, with a double hull, armored bow for ice breaking, and 7 watertight compartments. Designed for service on the Denmark-Greenland run, she was built for hard duty in dangerous seas. She…