Illustrator McClelland Barclay's sketch of Lieutenant Commander Samuel Eliot Morison

On Our Scope

February 2020
Highlights from the February 2020 issue of Naval History, plus recollections of the Iwo Jima Memorial and recalling Lieutenant Commander Samuel E. Morison's China Clipper flight with illustrator McClelland Barclay.
An F4U Corsair drops napalm during battle for Peleliu's Umurbrogol Mountain

In Contact

February 2020
Readers recall tales of Peleliu, bemoan that today's submarines don't carry the names of WWII's famous subs, and point out John Glenn's many accomplishments.
Operation Crossroads’ Task Unit 1.2.6

Organizing for the Fight

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
February 2020
The U.S. Navy’s operational forces are divided into numbered fleets that are organized into geographic areas of responsibility.
Found: the remains of the Japanese carriers Akagi and Kaga (inset).

Naval History News

February 2020
The late Paul Allen's underwater discovery team locates wrecks of the Akagi and Kaga and likely remains of the USS Johnston; wreckage of the long-lost submarine Grayback is found; Naval ...
During World War II, Samuel Morison's closest brush with death came when a kamikaze targeted the battleship Tennessee (right).

Sam Morison's War

By David Sears
February 2020
How a 54-year-old Harvard professor transformed into Lieutenant Commander Samuel Eliot Morison, USNR, and became the American naval Thucydides of World War II.
In 1919, USS Albany sailors parade through Vladivostok, Siberia.

A Death in Vladivostok

By Bryan Joseph Fischer
February 2020
Amid escalating friction between the United States and Japan, the murder of a U.S. Navy officer in Japanese-occupied Siberia came at a most inopportune time.
William “Bill” McCoy

‘The Real McCoy’

By Captain Daniel A. Laliberte, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
February 2020
William “Bill” McCoy, often credited with founding rum row, was one of the most well-known and hotly pursued rumrunners. He eluded custody for several years.
Soldier-mariners ferry Washington's troops across the Delaware River.

Leading on Land and Water

By Louis Arthur Norton
February 2020
Salty New England mariners-turned-heroes of the Revolution, Silas Talbot and John Glover would prove crucial to General Washington when it came to transporting the troops.