It’s still Flu Season, be careful out there!
Precautions against Influenza, 02/03/1920
On January 23, 1920 a message was sent to all units in the First Naval District announcing that the war in which the Central European powers and the United States were involved would now be known as the World War.
Circular Letter No. 20-20: The European War Shall be Designated as the World War, 01/23/1920
Army and Navy Battle for the First Time
On November 29, 1890 the first Army-Navy football game was played at West Point. The United States Naval Academy defeated the United States Military Academy 24-0. (And by 1899 they were already talking smack.)
Photograph of some of the action on the field during the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, attended by the President and Mrs. Truman. 12/02/1950
In the 1950 game in this photo Navy upset undefeated Army by a score of 14-2.
United States Navy Memorial Dedication
Dedicated 25 years ago today, our neighbor, the United States Navy Memorial, opened on October 13, 1987.
An elevated view of the dedication ceremonies for the US Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue at Eighth Street, 10/13/1987
(If you’ve been to Washington lately, you’ll notice that the neighborhood around the National Archives looks quite a bit different now.)
Armed with an M14 rifle, a US Navy Sea-Air-Land (SEAL) team member hides in the foliage at the edge of a river while providing cover for fellow team members during a tactical warfare training. He is using a flotation device to minimize his swimming movements, 09/01/1987
On July 24, 1915, the top-heavy passenger ship SS Eastland rolled over while docked in Chicago. 844 passengers and crew were killed in the incident. Later the US Navy bought the salvaged ship. It was restored and modified to make it a gunboat and renamed the USS Wilmette.
Photograph of The Eastland (upside down) on Chicago River, Chicago., ca. 07/24/1915
See the Chicago History Museum’s tumblr for an amazing and sobering series of photos from the Eastland disaster.
70th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway, June 4-6, 1942
Navy fighters during the attack on the Japanese fleet off Midway, June 4-6, 1942. In the center of the picture, a burning Japanese fleet is visible.
Although the caption of this photo states these are fighters, they are likely U.S. Navy Douglas SBD-3 “Dauntless” dive bombers, which accounted for the loss of many of the Japanese ships during this critical battle.
The USS Ticonderoga carries a deck full of aircraft on May 11, 1964. The Ticonderoga was built during World War II and modified over the years to carry newer aircraft. The “Big T” saw action off the coast of Vietnam and provided air support during the Gulf of Tonkin incident three months later.
“Lieutenant Commander Dorothy Ryan checks the medical chart of Marine Corporal Roy Hadaway of Calera, Alabama aboard the hospital ship USS Repose off South Vietnam. Miss Ryan, from Bronx, New York, is one of 29 nurses aboard the hospital ship selected from 500 volunteers of the Navy Nurse Corps.” 04/22/1966
Recruits with their mattresses tied to them to serve as life preservers. Photo taken at Newport Naval Training Station, Rhode Island, 04/1917
Taken on March 3, 1943, this photo shows African American boxers at the Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Illinois.
“Negro boxing champions at Great Lakes, IL.”, 03/03/1943
Taken on February 10, 1944, this is one of a collection of photographs of salvage operations at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard taken by the shipyard during the period following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
NASPH #120337- 10 Feb 1944. USS Utah- Salvage; Aerial view from offshore showing ship in about 90 degree position during righting operations, 02/10/1944
More photos of salvage operations at Pearl Harbor »
WAVES Making History!
Lt.(jg.) Harriet Ida Pickens and Ens. Frances Wills, first Negro Waves to be commissioned. They were members of the final graduating class at Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School (WR) Northampton, MA.”, 12/21/1944
Four years before Pearl Harbor, the United States and Japan were involved in an incident that could have led to war between the two nations. On December 12, 1937, the American navy gunboat Panay was bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft. A flat-bottomed craft built in Shanghai specifically for river duty, USS Panay served as part of the U.S. Navy’s Yangtze Patrol in the Asiatic Fleet, which was responsible for patrolling the Yangtze River to protect American lives and property.
