Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On September 1, 1985, after 73 years sleeping on the deep dark ocean floor, the wreck of the fabled ocean liner, RMS Titanic, was discovered by a joint American-French salvage team led by Robert Ballard, sponsored by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.  The mighty ship had sunk on its maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg 375 miles South of Newfoundland on April 15, 1912 with the loss of more than 1500 passengers and crew, including the ship’s captain.  Not equipped with sufficient lifeboats for all on board, only about a third (705) of the 2224 people…

A Brief History On August 31, 1943, the Buckley Class destroyer, USS Harmon (DE-678) was commissioned, the first American Navy ship named after an African-American person.  The Harmon got its name from the heroic Leonard Roy Harmon, a Mess Attendant aboard the USS San Francisco in 1942. Digging Deeper Back in World War II there were limited specialties available to African-American sailors in the segregated armed forces of the United States, and for the most part African-American sailors were limited to service type positions.  Of course, on board a warship sailors have to have emergency duties assigned for combat, and…

A Brief History On August 29, 1949, nuclear scientists in the Soviet Union (USSR) successfully tested their first atomic bomb, an implosion type device they called “First Lightning.”   Although the Soviet atom bomb program had started during World War II, the United States in coordination with scientists from Canada and the United Kingdom was the first nuclear power, testing the first atom bombs and dropping 2 of them on Japan in 1945. Digging Deeper The implosion type device is the type used in the Nagasaki bomb called “Fat Man.”  Greatly simplified, it consists of a hollow sphere of Plutonium surrounded…

A Brief History We previously told you about the AC-130 Spectre, the highest evolution of the cargo plane converted to gunship, in use from Viet Nam through today.  Here we look at ground attack aircraft throughout history and list what may be 10 of the greatest examples of that type of airplane.  The order listed is roughly our idea of “best,” although that is quite subjective and open for debate.  Please feel free to make the case for your favorite ground attack plane and the order you would list these fearsome aircraft. (Honorable mention to the Hawker Siddley, later McDonnel-Douglas, AV-8…

A Brief History On August 16, 1942, while on routine anti-submarine patrol, the 2 man crew of US Navy Blimp L-8 disappeared without a trace.  The unmanned blimp drifted about aimlessly until crash landing in Daly City, California.  No trace of the crew or reason for their disappearance has ever been found. Digging Deeper (Note: An unrelated disaster, the 1964 Republican National Convention was held in the modern city limits of Daly City, although History usually refers to the convention as being held in San Francisco.  Barry Goldwater was nominated for President, and went on to lose by a record…