Naval Training Center - Rudder Yearbook (Orlando, FL)

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The Little beavers - Destroyer Squadron 23 - November 1943 During this period the Atlantic Fleet was rapidly breaking the back of the German Navy by sweeping from the sea the greatest submarine menace ever to threaten this nation. Our convoys were supplying the Allied armies in Europe and our ships were conducting landings in Sici- ly, Italy, and finally Normandy. The greatest two ocean Navy in the world had played a large part in bringing victory to America and her al- lies. Under the illustrious leadership of such men as King, Nimitz, Hal- sey, Mitcher, McCain, Spruance, Lockwood, and Fletcher, over three million other officers and men served. And this war, like all wars, led to the development of new devices, techniques, and weapons conceived by American genius and perfected by men of vision. While industry was being welded into a mighty supply force, our Seabees, underwater demolition teams, amphibious sailors, marines, and supporting army divisions were being welded into a team that spelled victory at sea. But the victory warranted little relaxation of the vigil, as world ten- sion continued in what became known as the cold warf' Hostilities in Korea demanded a retum to war posture by the Navy, and a reaffirma- tion of the American sailor's dedication. Crises such as at Lebanon, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic proved anew the need for readiness by the Fleet. And the war in Vietnam added new pages to the Navy's book of courageous exploits. The planning, the sacrifice, the devotion to duty of generations past and present constitute the heritage on which we continue to build and improve our Navy. We are bound to the past only by the good founda- tion and traditions of valor our forebears in the naval service have hand- ed down to us. We are linked to the future by our responsibility to deliv- er to it the best we have received and the best we can produce.

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our East Coast ports, the nation built, in three short years, the most powerful naval force in the history of the world. The indomitable spirit of our carrier dive bomber and torpedo plane pilots tumed the tide of the war in the Pacific in the Battle of Midway, june 4, 1942. From that day on, naval power drove the japanese imperi- al forces into their home waters. Powerful amphibious forces, protected by carrier air power and submarines, swept the japanese armies off the Pacific islands. Our fast carrier task forces dealt destruction to the japa- nese fleets. Possibly the greatest air battle in naval annals was the Marianas Turkey Shoot in june 1944, in which carrier pilots of Admi- ral Marc Mitcher's Task Force 58, along with anti-aircraft fire, account- ed for most of the 346 japanese planes destroyed. The exploits of our silent service , the men who fought under the sea in our submarines, were nothing short of spectacular. Ranging throughout the Pacific and into the very harbors of japan itself our fighting submarines sank 214 japanese naval vessels 677,626 tons? and 11778 merchant vessels 15,053,491 tonsl, a momunment to the greatest submarine force in history. MMM ls m ww USS Constitution vs. HMS Java - 29 December 1812

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