On this day in US Naval history, the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65), the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, is commissioned.

One of the greatest revolutions in the history of naval warfare, she was then and still is the longest (1,123′) and fastest carrier ever.  Driven by eight nuclear reactors (the later Nimitz-class have just two, albeit big ones), she is the eighth American warship named Enterprise, the longest-lived name in the U.S. Navy.  The very first, a British gun-sloop named “George”, was captured on 18 May 1775 in Quebec by forces led by Colonel Benedict Arnold.   She was re-named E nterprise and armed for use on Lake Champlain.

The current “Big E”, has known many firsts in her 40+ year career:

1962 – assisted with the U.S.’s first manned orbital space flight, flown by LTCOL John Glenn, USMC.

1962 – while the world held its breath, she was the centerpiece of the naval operation to quarantine Cuba during the “Cuban Missile Crisis”.

1964 – the first nuclear-powered task force (with cruisers Bainbridge and Long Beach) made a historic 30,000-mile voyage around the world un-refueled  (see photo).

1965 – the first nuclear-powered ship to engage in combat (Vietnam).

1974 – the first carrier to deploy with the new F-14 TomCat fighter.

1986 – the first nuclear-powered carrier to transit the Suez Canal.

1998 – the centerpiece of Operation DESERT FOX, tasked to set back Iraq’s WMD war-fighting capabilities.

2001 – participated in the first retaliatory strikes against terrorist training camps in Afghanistan as part of America’s war on terrorism.

For more, please see:

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=heroships&bcpid=1612766185&bclid=1659879417&bctid=1664466187

http://www.enterprise.navy.mil/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajhg61x_6Po

On this day in US Naval history, the 2^nd Marine Division assaulted the Japanese-held island of Betio, Tarawa Atoll, in what would be one of the first in a long line of massive, bloody amphibious assaults during WWII in the Pacific. Code named Operation GALVANIC, and reminiscent of the old War Plan ORANGE, the assault on Tarawa was the beginning of the central drive in the Pacific, and was designed to capture a Japanese airfield on the island.

Unfortunately for the Marines, the initial assault was beset by several catastrophic blunders. The naval bombardment that was meant to soften the Japanese defenses – furious but largely ineffective – was lifted twenty minutes early. Also, the amphibious assault took place during an abnormally low tide, grounding many of the landing craft as much as 800 yards from the shore, and leaving the Marines to wade in under heavy fire. Moreover a final heavy airstrike was abruptly canceled when it was feared that the strike would hit too close to the advancing Marines.   

After three days of bloody fighting, the Marines took the island, but not without a cost. 990 Marines were killed during the battle, and another 2,296 wounded. Of the nearly 5,000 strong Japanese garrison, only seventeen were taken prisoner, along with 129 Korean laborers.

The lessons learned at Tarawa would be incorporated into plans for later amphibious assaults such as Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

Four Marines received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their part in the invasion of Tarawa Atoll. They were:

     COL David Monroe Shoup

     1^st LT Alexander Bonnyman Jr

     1^st LT William Deane Hawkins

     SSGT William James Bordelon

Of these four Marines, only COL Shoup survived the battle.

 For more, please see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSEGPnj8Pa8 

http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/

http://www.usstarawavets.org/Operation%20Galvanic.htm

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/tarawa.htm

Eric Hammel and John E. Lane, Bloody Tarawa: The 2d Marine Division, November 20-23, 1943, 2006.

On this day in US history, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the greatest speeches given by any American president, the Gettysburg Address. President Lincoln delivered the address at the dedication of the Civil War cemetary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, just months after the historic battle was fought. During the three days of battle (July 1-3, 1863), fought on the 86th anniversary of American independence, both sides suffered a combined total of nearly 51,000 casualties.

Contrary to Lincoln’s assertion that “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,” the Gettysburg Address remains one of the most exemplary and important speeches in American history, and is worth reading again.

This is dedicated to all those who have given ”the last full measure of devotion.”

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated can long endure.  We are met on a great battlefield of that war.  We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live.  It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

 But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we cannot hallow – this ground.  The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.  The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.  It is for the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.  It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

For more, please see:

http://www.nps.gov/getc/index.htm

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/

On this day in US Naval history, the Continental Navy ship Andrew Doria received the first foreign salute to an American flag (the Grand Union flag, representing the newly independent colonies). The salute was presented by the commander of Fort Oranje, a Dutch fort located in St. Eustatius, in the South Atlantic. The Andrew Doria, under the command of Captain Isaiah Robinson, had been sent to St. Eustatius to procure arms and military supplies for the war against Great Britain, and carried with her a copy of the Declaration of Independence. The Andrew Doria, having completed her mission, returned to fight several more battles against the Royal Navy, taking several British ships prize.

 Just over a year later, the Andrew Doria was operating in the Delaware River as part of a force charged with defending Philadelphia from Vice Admiral Lord Richard Howe, who entered the river in September, 1777. On November 21, 1777, as the British pressed closer and closer, CPT Robinson ordered the Andrew Doria to be burned to prevent capture.

While France is certainly the most famous example of foreign support for the nascent United States during the American Revolution, the Dutch also provided a great deal of matériel for the American war effort. There are sources that suggest as much as half of the Continental Army’s supplies were imported from the Dutch at St. Eustatius.  

There is currently a project to recover the remains of the original Andrew Doria in the Delaware River.

 For more, please see:

 http://www.andrewdoria.com/

 http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a8/andrew_doria-i.htm

 Barbara Tuchman, The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution. 1988