Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 25, 2011 A sail training ship built for the Indian Navy was launched at the port city of Vasco da Gama on India’s western coast. This ship was commissioned into the Indian Navy just a little over a year later by K.N. Sushil, a vice admiral of the Indian Navy and the flag officer... Continue Reading →
August 4, 1999 In the Netherlands, a vessel built to serve as a training ship for the Brazilian Navy was christened and launched. Cisne Branco, which means “White Swan” in Brazil’s official language of Portuguese, is a full-rigged tall ship (a large sailing vessel) that was constructed by the Dutch company Damen Shipyards Group. This... Continue Reading →
May 26, 1932 In Denmark, a royal yacht was officially commissioned as an auxiliary ship of the Royal Danish Navy. His Danish Majesty’s Yacht (HDMY) Dannebrog (A540), which was named after the national flag of Denmark, had been built at the Naval Shipyard in Copenhagen. She was launched by Queen Alexandrine (1879-1952), who reigned as... Continue Reading →
September 28, 1970 More than four decades after her debut, the steam-powered Australian tugboat named Forceful was officially retired from service. This seagoing vessel had been constructed by the shipbuilding company Alexander Stephen & Sons Limited and launched in Scotland in 1925. Forceful subsequently sailed from the River Clyde in Scotland to her assigned homeport... Continue Reading →
January 29, 1943 Just over a year after the United States entered World War II on the side of the Allies, one of the many ships built for service in that global conflict was commissioned into the U.S. Navy. This new vessel was an LST (formally classified as a Landing Ship, Tank). The ship had... Continue Reading →
February 13, 1959 President Carlos P. Garcia of the Republic of the Philippines issued an executive order designating a new yacht as the flagship (lead ship) of the Philippine Navy. This designation took place not long after the vessel had undergone a two-day series of sea trials. The sea trials were conducted under Philippine Navy... Continue Reading →
January 14, 1995 An icebreaker that had been in service with the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) for more than a quarter-century officially became part of the Chilean Navy’s fleet. This vessel was constructed by Canadian Vickers Limited at its shipyard in Montreal and acquired by the CCG in 1969. The vessel’s original name was CCGS... Continue Reading →
José M. Cabanillas, whose longtime U.S. Navy career included service in two wars, was born in 1901 in the city of Mayagüez in western Puerto Rico. In 1920, he received an appointment to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. After graduating in 1924, Cabanillas was commissioned an ensign in the Navy. Over the next several years,... Continue Reading →
September 16, 1861 A new lighthouse went into service on a huge rock located in False Bay (a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean) and near Simon’s Town in the present-day Western Cape province of the Republic of South Africa. (At the time of the lighthouse’s debut, this region was part of the British... Continue Reading →
July 17, 2006 The Chilean Navy formally placed into service a ship that had been belonged to the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) for more than two decades. As an RNLN vessel, this ship was launched in 1984 and commissioned a couple of years. The vessel was named HNLMS (Her Netherlands Majesty’s Ship) Witte de With... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 