The U.S. Navy History Podcast

In March 1776, a fleet of eight converted merchantmen — crewed by men who'd never fought together, commanded by a 60-year-old merchant captain, and carrying a Marine Corps that was three months old — sailed a thousand miles from Delaware to the Bahamas on a mission that wasn't even in their official orders. What they found was a British stockpile of gunpowder and cannon guarded by a govern...

On November 6th, 1943, off Cape Bougaroun on the Algerian coast, German bombers used the Henschel Hs 293 — the world's first operational guided anti-ship missile — to sink the American destroyer USS Beatty and the transport Santa Elena, killing seventeen men in Convoy KMF 25A. It was one of the opening chapters of guided-weapon warfare, and a warning largely unheeded: twenty days later, the sa...

On February 20, 1942, the Action off Bougainville pitted the carrier USS Lexington against seventeen Japanese bombers from Rabaul in one of the early Pacific War's most lopsided air battles. We trace the full chain of events: Vice Admiral Wilson Brown's aborted raid on Rabaul, the morning interception of Japanese scout planes, and the four-minute dogfight in which Lt. Edward "Butch&qu...

In this solo personal essay, Dale argues that American submarines — not the aircraft carriers — won the Pacific War against Japan. It's one sailor, one opinion: the carriers won the headlines at Midway, but the boats did the killing, sinking over half of Japan's fleet and strangling the oil that the Yamato and the whole empire ran on. From the Shinano to Archerfish to Nimitz himself. Come...

Why Nuremberg Refused to Sentence Dönitz for Submarine Warfare — And What Fleet Admiral Nimitz's Sworn Testimony Reveals About America's Pacific War? In this solo personal essay, Dale argues that the United States' unrestricted submarine campaign against Japan in World War Two was legally and morally identical to the German U-boat campaign for which Karl Dönitz was prosecuted at Nuremb...

On the night of August 1st, 1943, fifteen American PT boats entered Blackett Strait with thirty torpedoes and a solid intelligence picture. By morning, they had hit nothing, lost one boat, and left eleven men in the water. This is the story of that boat — and everything that happened before and after. Dale and Christophe trace the full arc of PT-109: from her keel laid in Bayonne, New Jersey in Ma...

In the pre-dawn darkness of March 6, 1943, two veteran Japanese destroyers turned east into Kula Gulf after a routine supply run. They never knew what was waiting. Rear Admiral "Tip" Merrill had spent months building a doctrine around one radical premise: trust the radar completely. Four minutes after contact, he proved it worked — thirteen minutes later, 174 Japanese sailors were dead a...

In this episode, Dale and Christophe cover one of the most decisive — and most overlooked — air-sea battles of the entire Pacific War: the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, March 2–4, 1943. In three days, Allied air power destroyed an entire sixteen-ship Japanese convoy carrying nearly 7,000 troops of the 51st Infantry Division bound for Lae, New Guinea. All eight transports were sunk. Four of eight des...

In this episode, Dale and Christophe cover one of the most misunderstood naval engagements of the Pacific War — the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, fought October 25–27, 1942. On paper, Japan won. A US fleet carrier sunk, another put out of action, the Japanese holding the water and the air. And yet, Japan never won another carrier battle for the rest of the war. How does that happen? Dale walks...

In this episode, Dale and Christophe cover the Battle of Midway — one of the most consequential naval engagements in American history and the decisive turning point of the Pacific War. From the catastrophic losses of the first six months following Pearl Harbor, to the codebreakers working in a windowless basement in Hawaii, to the torpedo bomber crews who flew into certain death and made victory p...

The episode recounts the January 23–24, 1942 night raid at Balikpapan in the Dutch East Indies, seven weeks after Pearl Harbor, when Commander Paul Talbot led four aging Clemson-class destroyers (USS John D. Ford, Pope, Parrott, and Paul Jones) through the Makassar Strait toward burning Dutch-demolished oil facilities to attack a Japanese invasion convoy anchored off the coast. With no air cover,...

In this episode, Dale and Christophe break down the U.S. Navy's role in Operation Epic Fury — the massive American military campaign launched against Iran on February 28, 2026. From the decades of tension that set the stage, to the opening Tomahawk salvo, the systematic destruction of the Iranian Navy, and the debut of revolutionary new drone technology, this episode covers the full naval pict...

Dale and Christophe discuss the February 1942 Battle of Badung ("Bong/Barong") Strait in the Netherlands East Indies, framing it within Japan’s rapid early-Pacific-War offensives after Pearl Harbor and the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, and Japan’s drive to seize oil and strategic airfields. They explain ABDA Command under Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman as a multinatio...

Dale and Christophe discuss the First Barbary War and the 1803 loss of the 44-gun frigate USS Philadelphia, commanded by Captain William Bainbridge, after it struck an uncharted reef while pursuing a Tripolitan corsair into Tripoli Harbor and was captured with more than 300 sailors taken prisoner. With the captured ship refloated and positioned under Tripoli’s harbor defenses, 25-year-old Lt. Step...

Dale and Christophe discuss the February 1942 German U-boat attack on Aruba and why the island’s Lago Oil and Transport Company refinery was a critical Allied fuel source, processing Venezuelan crude into high-octane aviation gasoline. They explain Operation Neuland, Germany’s coordinated Caribbean submarine offensive aimed at sinking tankers and crippling oil production, and detail U-156 (command...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, Dale and Christophe examine the critical Battle of the Atlantic. They discuss its impact on World War II's outcome, highlighting how control over the Atlantic Ocean was essential for the Allies. The episode covers the significant strategies employed by both the Allies and the Germans, including the use of U-boats and the development of anti-subma...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, Dale and Christophe discuss the Second Barbary War, highlighting America's bold confrontation with the Barbary States in 1815. The United States, under Commodore Stephen Decanter, refused to continue paying tributes and instead launched a decisive naval campaign against Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. This act of defiance ended centuries of European...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, hosts Dale and Christophe delve into the dramatic and pivotal American Carrier raids of 1942 during the early years of World War II. They explore how these daring raids by US Navy carriers, while not always resulting in immediate victories, shifted the momentum of the Pacific War. The discussion covers the strategic and psychological impacts on both...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, hosts Dale and Christoph delve into the dramatic and storied history of the USS Hornet CV-8. They recount the ship's significant contributions to World War II, including the famous Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Midway, and its ultimate sacrifice at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. The discovery of the Hornet's wreck in 2019 by the resear...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, hosts Dale and Christophe delve into the resurgence of the battleship debate with the proposed Trump class battleship, announced in December 2025. The discussion covers the historical context of battleships in US naval history, the practical and symbolic implications of the Trump class proposal, and the wider strategic, political, and industrial chal...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, hosts Dale and Christophe delve into the often-overlooked naval bombardments of Japan during the summer of 1945. As Allied forces gained overwhelming dominance in the Pacific, the US Navy, supported by British units, conducted a series of calculated naval strikes against Japan's industrial infrastructure. These bombardments aimed to destroy key i...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, Dale and Christophe delve into the captivating story of the raid on Algiers harbor by Italian frogmen and manned torpedoes on December 11th, 1942. This clandestine operation, carried out by Italy's elite Decima MAS unit, targeted allied shipping during World War II. The hosts detail the planning, execution, and aftermath of the raid, highlighting...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, Dale and Christophe commemorate Pearl Harbor Day, focusing on the personal, lesser-told stories from December 7, 1941. They explore the human experiences of sailors, marines, nurses, airmen, and civilians during the attack, offering insights into the emotional and psychological impact of the event. The script also delves into the harrowing efforts of...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, hosts Dale and Christophe recount a lesser-known but dramatic encounter during the Battle of the Atlantic. On June 6th, 1942, the American tanker SS Stanvac Calcutta faced the German surface raider Steir. Despite being heavily outgunned, the American crew displayed remarkable bravery, defying the enemy until their ship was ultimately sunk. The narrat...

In this episode of the US Navy History Podcast, Dale and Christoph delve into the gripping story of the USS Atik, an American Q-ship during World War II. On the night of March 27, 1942, the Atik was engaged in a deceptive mission to lure German U-boats near the Virginia coast. This episode explores the encounter between the Atik and the German submarine U-123, commanded by Captain Lieutenant Reinh...