Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 23, 1942 Nearly six weeks after the United States’ entry into World War II on the side of the Allies, a vessel constructed for the U.S. Navy by Ingalls Shipbuilding was launched. This Friday afternoon event took place at the company’s shipyard in the city of Pascagoula in Jackson County, Mississippi. The new ship... Continue Reading →
January 14, 1926 MV Carnarvon Castle, an ocean liner of the Union-Castle Line, was launched at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Northern Ireland’s capital city of Belfast. This vessel was named for a medieval fortress in northwestern Wales. Carnarvon Castle dates back to the 11th century, with its current stone structure completed in 1283.... Continue Reading →
December 30, 1899 With a new century fast approaching, the Great Lakes sidewheeler steamboat Tashmoo was launched at 11:30 a.m. at the Wyandotte Yards in the Detroit area. This passenger ship, which was built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company for the White Star Line, had already achieved a large measure of fame at the time of... Continue Reading →
September 19, 2009 A state-of-the-art coastal mapping vessel built for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was launched into the East Pascagoula River at the shipyard of VT Halter Marine, Inc., in the vicinity of Moss Point, Mississippi. This vessel was formally commissioned as NOAAS Ferdinand R. Hassler (S 250) on June 8, 2012.... Continue Reading →
September 13, 2005 National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) began construction on USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3), a U.S. Navy underway replenishment (UNREP) vessel. (This type of vessel is used to transport fuel, munitions, and various other supplies to ships out at sea.) The building of the Alan Shepard took place at NASSCO’s shipyard in San... Continue Reading →
September 12, 1911 More than three decades after achieving worldwide fame as a winner of the America’s Cup, the schooner-yacht Madeleine underwent her final journey when she was towed to the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Florida’s west-central coast to be dismantled and sunk there. During the previous year, the Madeleine had been used... Continue Reading →
August 28, 1945 Just a few days before World War II ended with the formal surrender of Japan to the Allies, the U.S. Navy tanker USS Chukawan (AO-100) was launched at the Bethlehem Steel Company’s shipyard in Sparrows Point (an industrial area in the vicinity of Baltimore). As part of those festivities, this vessel --... Continue Reading →
August 22, 1978 Appledore II, a privately owned two-masted wooden schooner, was launched from the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This vessel -- with an overall length of 86 feet (26 meters) -- is larger than her sister ships Appledore I, III, IV, and V. All of these ships were constructed for Herbert and Doris... Continue Reading →
July 12, 1860 At about three o’clock on a Thursday afternoon, a pilot boat named Fannie was launched at the junction of Bushwick Creek and the East River in the Greenpoint neighborhood of the city of Brooklyn (now one of New York City’s five boroughs). This type of vessel operates in the vicinity of a... Continue Reading →
March 7, 1925 After more than a quarter-century of service in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the U.S. Navy tugboat USS Iroquois (AT-46) was decommissioned. This steam tugboat was the second Navy vessel named after a confederacy of Native Americans and First Nations peoples originally based in the northeastern part of North America. The... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 