Naval Training Center - Rudder Yearbook (Orlando, FL)

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18 The War between the States developed courageous tighting men in both the Union and Confederate Navies. David Dixon Porter became tamous on the Mississippi River. Captain Raphael Semmes in the com- merce raider css ALABAMA captured sixty-nine Union ships before he was destroyed oft Cherbourg, France, by Winslow in the USS KEARSARGE. Perhaps the outstanding Civil War naval hero was David Glasgow Farragut CiDamn the torpedoes, tull speed aheadm, whose tleets entorced the blockade of the Confederacy. One generation 01 fighting men breeds its successors. Dewey and Sampson, our naval leaders in the Spanleh-American War, were torerunnere ot the naval leaders at our next war. Wilson, Simme, Hart, Taussig, and many others next guided our Navy in the deteat ot the German U-boat menace and convoyed our armies safely to France In the war with Germany during 1917 and 1918. Between the World Wars the Navy devoted its meager resources 01 manpower, ships, and funds to research and development in aviation and submarine warfare. Stricken at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines In 1941 and practically blockaded by German submarines operating off our East Coast ports, the nation built, in three short years, the most powertul naval force in the history of the world. The indomitable spirit of our carrier dive bomber and torpedo plane pilots turned the tide of the war in the Pacltlc in the Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942. From that day on, naval power drove the Japanese imperial torces into their home waters. Powertul amphibious forces, protected by carrier air power and submarines, swept the Japanese armies oh the Pacific islands. Our test carrier task torces dealt destruction to the Japanese fleets. Possibly the greatest air battle In naval annals was the 1iMarianas Turkey Shoot in June 1944, in which carrier pilots oi Admiral Marc Mitcheris Task Force 58, along with anti- aircraft tire, accounted for most of the 346 Japanese planes destroyed. Battle at Lake Champlain-11 Sept 1814 w Battle of New Orleans-24 Sept 1862

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UNITED STATES NAVAL HERITAGE From the days of wooden sailing ships with black-powder guns to todayts nuclear powered combatants armed with missiles and jet eir- craft; the heritage of our modern Navy has been established by courageous and dedicated seafaring men. Their individual maritime achievements are woven into a brilliant tapestry of collective ac- complishments which have made the United States Navy the vital in- strument of national defense that it is today. To John Paul Jones went the honor of first hoisting the Stars and Stripes over an American man-of-wer, the USS RANGER, and of first receiving a national salute in Quiberon Bay on February 14, 1778, from France. In command of BONHOMME RICHARD he defeated and cap- tured the British man-of-war SERAPIS off Flemborough Head, giving our Navy its famous retort to an invitation to surrender I have not yet begun to fighti' With such inspiration thousands of American sellers have followed in his wake, making individual courage the collective spirit of our Navy. Commodore Edward Preble likewise filled his officers and men with es- prit and fighting courage. Some of Preble'e boys became the great leaders of the War of 1812, Stephen Decatur, James Lawrence, and Thomas MacDonough. Perry swept the British sea power off Lake Erie. Hull and Bainbridge in CONSTITUTION, along with Decatur in UNITED STATES, established American naval power on the high seas during the first year of the War of 1812. As our nation grew in stature in the world family, so dld our naval officers grow in stature as diplomats. Typical of their exploits were Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perryts negotiations with the Emperor of Japan in 1853-54. Bon Homme Richard vs Serapis-23 Sept 1779

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USS onstltutlon vs ' ' 8V8- ' 'Oc1-1 The exploits 01 our nsilent service , the men who fought under the sea in our submarines, were nothing short oi spectacular. Ranging throughout the Pacific and into the very harbors of Japan itself our lighting submarines sank 214 Japanese naval vessels $77,626 tonst end 1178 merchant vessels 5,053,491 tonst, a monument to the greatest submarine torce in history. During this period the Atlantic Fleet was rapidly breaking the back 01 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 landing: in Sicily, Italy, and finally Normandy. The greatest 11two ocean Navy in the world had played a large part in bringing vlctory to America and her allies. Under the illustrious leadershlp 01 such men as Klng, Nlmitz, Halsey, Mitcher, McCain, Spruance, Lockwood, and Fletcher, over three million other otticers 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 mlghty supply force, our Seabees, underwater demolition teams, amphibious sailors, marines, and supporting army divisions were being welded into a team that spelled victory at see. But the victory warranted little relaxation of the vigil, as world ten- sion continued in what became known as the cold war? Hostllltles In Korea demanded a return to war posture by the Navy, and a reattlrma- tion 01 the American sailor's dedication. Crises such as at Lebanon, Cube, and the Dominican Republic proved anew the need for readiness 19