Naval Training Center - Rudder Yearbook (Orlando, FL)

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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

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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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20 by the Fleet. And the war in Vietnam added new pages to the Navy: book of courageous exploits. The planning, the sacri we, the devotion to duty of generations past and present constitute the heritage on which we contlnue to bulld The Little Beaverstt-Destroyer Squadron 23-November 1943 and improve our Navy. We are bound to the past only by the good loun- dation and traditions of valor our torebears in the naval service have handed down to us. We are linked to the future by our responsibility to deliver to it the best we have received and the best we can produce.