A Brief History On September 24, 1960, the naval world entered a new phase in history when the nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN- 65) was first launched.  The first aircraft carrier with nuclear power, the Big E sported 8 nuclear reactors heating steam in 4 turbine engines, putting out an astounding 280,000 horsepower. Digging Deeper The Enterprise had speed as all carriers must to facilitate aircraft launching and quickly getting to where they are needed, but the most remarkable feature of those mighty atomic engines was the fact that the ship could travel non-stop for 20 to 25…

A Brief History On September 23, 1338, the English ship, Christofer (variously spelled Christopher or Christophe) went into battle at Arnemuiden armed with three cannon and one hand gun.  This battle would be the first known time in history when a ship saw combat using artillery.  This battle was also significant as the first naval battle of the Hundred Years War. Digging Deeper The English had only 5 ships  (“great carracks”) for the battle, but having cannon was a decided advantage.  The French brought a large fleet of 48 galleys, and the overwhelming numbers proved decisive.  Despite a furious battle, the…

A Brief History In previous articles we discussed the myth that police in America are somehow gunning down innocent black males for no apparent reason.  In Tulsa, Oklahoma on September 16, an unarmed black man, 40 year old Terrence Crutcher, was shot and killed by a white female police officer.  Crutcher would not obey police orders to stop and get on the ground, but instead walked with his hands up to his car, despite being told not to approach the car.  When he got to the car, his hands came down and it is unclear if he tried to reach…

A Brief History On September 22, 1979, a huge, unidentified double flash of light was seen by a US reconnaissance satellite near the Prince Edward Islands near Antarctica.  Known as the “Vela Incident” because of the satellite’s name, Vela Hotel, not much is publicly known about the incident, as the US government has kept much of the information secret. Digging Deeper The origin of the mysterious flash has been speculated to be a nuclear test kept secret from the rest of the world, perhaps by Israel and or South Africa, possibly a joint venture by those two nations.  Other explanations…

A Brief History On September 21, 1942, the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress made its first flight.  This sleek bomber would become the highest technology piston engine powered bomber of all time, as well as the mightiest bomber of World War II.  On top of that, it would also become the first nuclear bomber in history. Digging Deeper Needing a longer range bomber than the B-17 and B-24 “heavy” bombers already in service, especially in case Britain fell to the Nazi’s, American engineers feverishly worked on a new design that could fly farther and carry heavier loads than existing bombers.  The…