by Mark LoProto | Aug 23, 2019 | Attack of Pearl Harbor, Destroyers, World War II
On January 2, 1918, the keel of a future Wickes-class destroyer was laid down at the Union Iron Works shipyards in San Francisco. She was one of 111 of that class of destroyers built between 1917 and 1919, at the tail end of World War I and the year after it ended. On...
by Mark LoProto | Mar 7, 2019 | Attack of Pearl Harbor, Destroyers, History, Pacific Theater, World War II
USS Schley (DD-103) was laid down on October 29, 1917. The new Wickes-class destroyer was equipped like other destroyers of the time: with an arsenal that would make her a formidable presence on the high seas. USS Schley was commissioned into service on September 20,...
by Mark LoProto | Mar 4, 2019 | Allied Forces, History, Japanese Forces, Pacific Theater, World War II
From the moment the United States decimated the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway, every decision was crucial. The war had reached a turning point and one wrong move could put victory back in reach for Japan. Even in the summer of 1944, as the war entered...
by Mark LoProto | Dec 24, 2018 | Attack of Pearl Harbor, Ships, World War II
USS Widgeon (AM-22/ASR-1) was laid down in October of 1917 and commissioned into service on July 27, 1918, just four months before the end of World War I. The new minesweeper was thrust into the First World War almost immediately after commissioning. Widgeon served in...
by Mark LoProto | Dec 18, 2018 | After The Attack, Allied Forces, Axis Leaders, History, World War II
On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, launching the Second World War in Europe. Across the Atlantic, the United States showed no appetite for getting involved in the European conflict. For two years, the United States maintained its policy of non-intervention,...
by Mark LoProto | Nov 13, 2018 | After The Attack, Allied Forces, History, Japanese Forces, Pacific Theater, World War II
Today, you don’t hear much about the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. They’re a popular tourist destination, but otherwise they aren’t at the top of most people’s minds. During the early 1940s, though, the situation was very different. The Solomon...
