Browsing: Military

A Brief History Between 415 and 413 BCE a battle for Syracuse on the Island of Sicily was fought between the forces of Athens and the forces of Sparta.  Athens and Sparta had been engaged in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) for control of Greece and its environs in the Mediterranean.  This battle proved so debilitating to Athens that the war with Sparta was as good as lost, although Athens managed to hold on for a remarkable 10 more years. Digging Deeper Athens was the dominant city state of Northern Greece, while Sparta was the reigning heavyweight champ of Southern…

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A Brief History On January 8, 1935, Elvis Aron Presley, the King of Rock and Roll was born in Mississippi.  Major Dan once spent 3 weeks in Mississippi, and was born on January 7.  Elvis had dark hair,  Dan likewise.  Both liked jelly donuts and peanut butter, not to mention cheeseburgers.  Alas, both estimable gentlemen were slightly overweight, but not as young men. Digging Deeper Elvis was born to a Christian family, the good Major was born into a Christian family.  The King was heterosexual, and most people think Major Dan is, too.  Long sideburns were once a trademark of both…

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A Brief History On January 7, 1960, the United States first successfully test launched the Polaris Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) from their launching facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida.  The Polaris would be the first missile deployed in the world that could be launched from a submerged submarine and carry a nuclear warhead, changing the game of nuclear brinkmanship forever. Digging Deeper In July of 1960 the first successful launch of a Polaris missile from a submerged USS Washington missile submarine led to the arming of 41 US submarines with 16 Polaris missiles each, with each missile carrying a single…

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A Brief History On December 29, 1860, the first British oceangoing ironclad warship, the HMS Warrior, was launched, but she was not the first such ship in World History. Digging Deeper Contrary to popular misconception that the US Navy USS Monitor and the Confederate States Navy CS Virginia (rebuilt from the Union wooden ship, USS Merrimac) were the first ironclad warships, iron armored floating batteries had already seen combat during the Crimean War, and the French ship, the Gloire, in service since 1859 was the world’s first ocean going warship.  In fact, the Monitor and Virginia were actually designed for…

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A Brief History On December 27, 1922, the Imperial Japanese Navy commissioned the first aircraft carrier in the world that was designed and built as an aircraft carrier, the Hōshō. Digging Deeper Prior to the Hōshō, some ships such as the USS Langley CV-1 were converted (in 1920) to aircraft carriers from other warships or merchant ships.  The Royal Navy (British) Ark Royal is probably the first of what we would recognize as a more or less modern carrier, commissioned as a carrier in 1914 after being converted from a freighter that was in the process of being built in…

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