War at Sea

Learn about ww2 naval warfare with these old magazine article. Find information concerning WW II at sea

The Navy Training Film that Won A Naval Engagement (Coronet Magazine, 1959)

This three page reminiscence provides an example of the persuasive power of film and it tells the tale of an important event at a small industrial building in Hollywood, California, that housed the Navy Film Services Depot between 1942 and 1945.

Taking the Offensive was the name given to this small, low budget training film that was produced on that dusty sun-bleached street and it didn’t appear to be anything terribly special to the NCOs who produced it at the time – but they learned later that their film provided a badly needed shot in the arm to the then untested officers and men of one particular heavy cruiser that was destined to tangle with three Japanese ships the next day.


Click here to read about the Battle of the Coral Sea

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‘I Rode A German Raider” (Collier’s Magazine, 1944)

Frank Vicovari, veteran ambulance driver, was en route to North Africa on a neutral passenger ship called Zam Zam. He was traveling with numerous other men who would serve under his command; there were 21 top of the line ambulances in the hold that would be put to use by Free French forces when they landed. Zam Zam also carried some 200 American missionaries off to spread the good news south of the equator. This article is Vicovari’s account of his life onboard a Nazi raiding vessel after it sank Zam Zam in the South Atlantic. He eloquently describes how efficiently the crew fired upon other non-combatant vessels and, on one occasion, machine-gunned lifeboats.

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Taking the War to Japan’s Doorstep (Yank Magazine, 1945)

The last flight was coming home. The planes circled through the thick mist toward the stern of the Essex-class carrier. One by one they hit the deck: Hellcats, Corsairs and EBMs, with names like ‘Hydraulic Bess’, ‘Miss Fortune’, ‘Sweater Girl’ and ‘Kansas City Kitty’…When the air-crewmen came back from their low low-level raids, the thing they talked about most was the lack of Jap opposition.


Click here to read an interview with a Kamikaze pilot.

Taking the War to Japan’s Doorstep (Yank Magazine, 1945) Read More »

Gaudalcanal to Bougainville and the Progress of the U.S. Navy (Dept. of the Navy, 1947)

With the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, United States and Japanese carrier strength became nearly equal. At the same time the news that the Japanese advance was creeping down the Solomons and commencing the construction of an airfield on Guadalcanal made it advisable to undertake a limited offensive in the South Pacific.


Read about the Battle of Leyte Gulf…

Gaudalcanal to Bougainville and the Progress of the U.S. Navy (Dept. of the Navy, 1947) Read More »

Gaudalcanal to Bougainville and the Progress of the U.S. Navy (Dept. of the Navy, 1947)

With the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, United States and Japanese carrier strength became nearly equal. At the same time the news that the Japanese advance was creeping down the Solomons and commencing the construction of an airfield on Guadalcanal made it advisable to undertake a limited offensive in the South Pacific.


Read about the Battle of Leyte Gulf…

Gaudalcanal to Bougainville and the Progress of the U.S. Navy (Dept. of the Navy, 1947) Read More »

The North Atlantic Heats Up (Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

April 1917 was Britain’s blackest month in the [First] World War… March 1941 seemed in many ways another grim month like April, 1917, perhaps even worse. Once more Britain faced peril on the sea – a danger which struck home deeper than any defeat of their armies on foreign soil… Not only German U-boats but German battle cruisers have crossed to the American side of the Atlantic and have already sunk some of our independently routed ships not sailing in convoy. They have sunk ships as far west as the 42nd meridian of longitude.

The North Atlantic Heats Up (Newsweek Magazine, 1941) Read More »

‘Burial at Sea” (Coronet Magazine, 1945)

This is a short anecdote that recalled a slice of life on board a USN troop ship as it ferried men from one bloody atoll to the next. The two speaking parts in this drama were both officers who butted heads regularly until they understood that what united them was the welfare of the
dying young men returning from the beaches who had given their last full measure.


To read articles about W.W. II submarines, Click here.

‘Burial at Sea” (Coronet Magazine, 1945) Read More »