A Brief History On May 2, 1964, before even the Gulf of Tonkin Incident that heralded major US involvement in the Vietnam War, a Viet Cong or North Vietnamese frogman placed an explosive charge against the hull of the USS Card (USNS Card at the time of sinking), blowing a hole in the ship and sinking 48 feet as she lay berthed at the dock at Saigon. Digging Deeper The USS Card started life in 1942 as ACV-11 (Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier) after being laid down as a cargo ship. Just under 10,000 tons and just under 500 feet long, the…
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A Brief History On April 28, 1944, an Allied training mission in preparation for the upcoming D-Day invasion of France went from bad to worse, resulting in a bizarre exercise defeat that was kept secret (kind of) from the public for years. (Typical government modus operandi!) Digging Deeper Exercise Tiger as the operation was called began on April 22, 1944 with drills moving men and equipment preparing to embark on invasion shipping. On April 26 the embarkation was complete and the “invasion” fleet of 9 LST landing ships escorted by 2 destroyers, 3 torpedo boats and 4 gunboats sailed for the…
A Brief History On April 27, 1805, the United States Marine Corps conducted one of their first famous missions, one immortalized in the Marines’ Hymn, by taking the Tripolitan city of Derna and raising the American flag, the first time the Flag of the United States was raised on foreign soil. Digging Deeper The First Barbary War, also known as The Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitanian War, was fought by the United States against the North African states of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, collectively known as “The Barbary States,” the last three on the list being associate with…
A Brief History On April 27, 33 BC, Roman politician Lucius Marcius Philippus, a step-brother to the future emperor Augustus (r. 27 BC–AD 14), celebrated a triumph for his victories while serving as governor in one of the provinces of Hispania. The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the service of the state or, originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. Digging Deeper Philippus ascended Rome’s ladder of political and…
A Brief History On April 25, 404 B.C., during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.), Lysander’s Spartan armies defeated the Athenians and the war finally ended. Digging Deeper The Peloponnesian War was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. The war dragged on for nearly three decades and expanded beyond Greece to as far away as Sicily with neither side apparently able to win a decisive, war-ending battle, at least until the skillful Spartan general Lysander (died 395 B.C.) entered the fray. Unlike some of his predecessors, the new Spartan general, Lysander,…