Naval History Magazine - December 2023, Volume 37, Number 6

Marines on the beach at Tarawa Atoll's Betio Island duck for cover as their dive-bombers roar in overhead to blast Japanese positions, November 1943.

On Our Scope

December 2023

The U.S. victory at Tarawa came at a shocking cost, indeed—as many Marine casualties in just 76 hellish hours as in six months of the Guadalcanal campaign.

Authors Fowler, Hornfischer Named 2023 Knox Medal Honorees

December 2023

Authors William M. Fowler Jr. and James D. Hornfischer were named the recipients of the 2023 Commodore Dudley W. Knox Medal.

The latest in-depth survey of the Midway wrecks yielded this vivid image of a large casemate gun on the Japanese carrier Kaga.

Research Vessel Completes First Detailed Views of Iconic Midway Shipwrecks

December 2023

This is the first time since the vessel went down in 1942 that anyone has seen the Akagi, which was initially located during a mapping survey in 2019.

High school junior Claire Flynn, an avid participant in National History Day since she was in the sixth grade, poses with her Coskey Naval History Prize alongside Chip Wallen, Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Naval Institute, which now sponsors the prize.

Coskey Naval Prize Winners Feted at National History Day

December 2023

The prize was originally sponsored by the Naval Historical Foundation to honor and promote education in American naval history.

In Contact

December 2023

Readers respond to stories from recent issues of Naval History.

The Hoga battles fires on the battleship Nevada (BB-36) while lashed to the big ship’s bow. She still bears a dent in her hull, allegedly as a result of this event.

The Littlest Hero

By J. M. Caiella

December 2023

Up the Arkansas River is the home of a U.S. Navy icon, one of only two surviving ships from the 7 December 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

A P-59 at rest. Note the tricycle landing gear common on Bell-produced piston-engine fighters—the P-39 Airacobra and P-63 Kingcobra, both of which were in combat in World War II.

The First U.S. Jet

By Norman Polmar

December 2023

The first U.S. jet-propelled aircraft was the Bell P-59 Airacomet.

8 December 1914: The Scharnhorst sinks with all hands after having staved off the inevitable for hours against a superior British force in the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

Action in the South Atlantic

By Eric Mills

December 2023

They were the pride of the Imperial German Navy’s elite East Asia Squadron

A long 12-pounder cannon on board the replica French frigate l’Hermione. Note the wheels that make traversing the barrel difficult.

Carronades: The Smashers

By Philip K. Allan

December 2023

Carronades were highly effective in the right circumstances, but their downsides were sometimes overlooked.

Pilots and gunners of Bombing Squadron 16 (VB-16) climb out of their Douglas SBD-5 bombers onto the flight deck of the USS Lexington after returning from the Tarawa-Makin raid, 18 September 1943.

Fast-Carrier Attack Against Tarawa

By Peter McQuarrie

December 2023

With amphibious operations pending in the Gilberts, the Pacific Fleet’s Task Force 15, augmented by Army B-24s, launched a two-day air attack on target no. 1: Tarawa Atoll.

Forced to wade ashore by a tide too low for the landing craft, Marines take to the water to storm the beach at Tarawa’s Betio Island. Half of them will not survive the deadly, exposed crossing to make it to land.

Blood and Coral

By Charles D. Melson

December 2023

It was the toughest amphibious landing yet for U.S. Marines in the Pacific, but the struggle for Tarawa’s Betio Island would yield “hard-bought lessons” that would facilitate the path to ...

October 1983: The U.S. Marine Corps’ Battalion Landing Team headquarters at the Beirut International Airport has been reduced to a rockpile after a gargantuan explosion triggered by a suicide-crashed 19-ton truck laden with high explosives. It is the deadliest day for the Corps since World War II.

Beirut: A Remembrance

By Lieutenant Commander Alan Ables, U.S. Navy (Retired)

December 2023

Early on a Sunday morning in October 1983, a suicide bomber in a truck delivered to the Marine Corps its largest single-day death toll since Iwo Jima. A look back ...

During the 26 December 1943 Battle of North Cape, the Scharnhorst, guns blazing, attempts to outrun Royal Navy pursuers, as depicted by artist Sub Lieutenant Joseph Reindler, Royal Navy.

When the Scharnhorst Took the Bait

By Ian Sebire

December 2023

On the day after Christmas in 1943, the elusive German battle cruiser’s legendary luck finally ran out at the Battle of North Cape.

The battleship Novorossiysk listing badly after she was rocked by an explosion in the early morning hours of 29 October 1955. The loss of the ship changed the way the Soviet Navy would be organized.

The Explosion that Built the Soviet Navy

By Mark Carlson

December 2023

The Novorossiysk disaster ended the age of the Russian battleship and ushered in the USSR’s nuclear-powered submarine era.

The Roman Empire’s invasion of Britain required organization and planning on a grand scale; it marked the beginning of four and a half decades of conquest, as Rome extended its reach ever farther inland and established the province of Britannia.

The Roman Amphibious Invasion of Britain

By Steven Iacono

December 2023

The Romans were masters of warfare, but they also were equally masters of large-scale logistics—as demonstrated by their massive assault on Brittania’s shores in 43 AD.

Book Reviews

December 2023

Experts review Duel in the Deep, Leyte Gulf, and other new and noteworthy books.

HMS Vampire is permanently moored at, and is a part of, the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Her Majesty’s Australian Ship Vampire: ‘The Bat’

By William Twaddell

December 2023

The Australian National Maritime Museum opened in 1991 and is operated by the federal government. Located in Darling Harbour, it houses seven galleries, each dedicated to one topic, such as ...

Bulkeley, commander of PT Squadron Three, shown on the bridge of a PT boat during the Battle of the Philippines.

John D. Bulkeley: ‘You Engage, You Fight, You Win’

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)

December 2023

For some, the heroic moment that earns them the Medal of Honor serves as the defining moment of their lives. But for others, such as John Bulkeley, it is only ...

Pieces of the Past

December 2023

There is “Old Ironsides,” the venerable frigate USS Constitution, and then there is Old Ironsides—the big-budget, big-screen extravaganza that wowed the crowds during Hollywood’s silent-movie era.

‘One of Those Days That We’ll Absolutely Never Forget’

By Captain Herbert E. Hetu, U.S. Navy (Retired) and Admiral James M. Loy, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)

December 2023

On 16 November 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited the test ship USS Observation Island to watch the USS Andrew Jackson conduct a submerged firing of a Polaris A-2 missile ...

When the Navy Flew to the Moon

By Jason Schreck

December 2023

Apollo 12 featured the only all Navy crew of the Apollo program.

U.S. Navy's All-Time Top Fighter Ace

By Taira Payne

December 2023

Captain McCampbell describes flying above some 40 enemy planes in an F6F Hellcat

The YAG-37 Project

By Eric Pearson

December 2023

The YAG-37 project was one of many innovative roles that Liberty ships played in assisting the Navy in developing different forms of seaborne propulsion and minesweeping capabilities.

“An Almost Perfect Surface Action”

By Coltin Chao

December 2023

Eighty years ago, Captain Arleigh Burke led Destroyer Squadron 23 to a resounding victory at the Battle of Cape St. George, signaling the finale of the hard-fought Solomon Islands campaign.