Browsing: Military

A Brief History On May 12, 1975, the Cambodian Navy seized the US freighter, SS Mayaguez from international waters.  The ensuing battle between the US and Khmer Rouge Cambodian forces is considered the last battle of the Viet Nam War. Digging Deeper The Mayaguez, a container ship, was on its way to Thailand when it was stopped by a Cambodian patrol boat. The Cambodians had fired across the bow of the Mayaguez, causing the ship to slow down, and when an RPG rocket was then fired toward the ship the Mayaguez stopped and sent out an SOS. The Mayaguez was…

A Brief History On May 12, 1968, the Australian Army in Viet Nam fought probably their largest engagement of the war (for the Australians), underlining the fact that not only the United States was involved in the effort to keep South Viet Nam independent. Digging Deeper The Battle of Coral-Balmoral as it was known was fought between about 3000 Australian troops (2 regiments plus a couple squadrons of armor), including some armed with Centurion tanks, and over 4000 North Vietnamese Army regulars and Viet Cong guerillas (2 regiments of regulars).  Australian forces included smaller numbers of New Zealanders, another often…

A Brief History On May 11, 1862, Confederate sailors sunk their own ship, the CSS Virginia, in the James River outside of Norfolk, Virginia to avoid capture by Union troops.  Ships have been intentionally sunk by their own crews for a variety of reasons, usually to avoid capture by the enemy, sometimes after battle damage and sometimes while the ships were perfectly sound. At times, even whole fleets were scuttled.  German U-boats would be scuttled when forced to the surface and unable to continue the fight to avoid capture of sensitive encoding equipment, let alone the boats themselves, a common…

A Brief History On May 11, 1862, the CSA ironclad, CSS Virginia, was scuttled in the James River to avoid capture by Union forces. The Virginia had formerly been the USS Merrimac and had fought the USS Monitor in the first battle of ironclad armored ships.  Over its long and illustrious history, the US Navy has lost a variety of vessels, and here we list some of the most famous of those losses. Digging Deeper 10. Bonhomme Richard, 1779. Starting life as a French merchant ship named Duc de Duras built in 1765, she was given to the fledgling US Navy to fight the…

A Brief History On May 10, 1941, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, third in command of Nazi Germany to Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring, some of history’s most evil people, parachuted into Scotland in an attempt to get Britain to make peace with Germany. Digging Deeper Nazi Number 3 was a far cry from the mythical Aryan “superman” that the Nazi propaganda machine depicted, but then again, so were the other top party members.  (We wonder why the German people did not notice that their leadership was less than the so called “Nordic” ideal espoused by the Nazi party.) Although Hess…