Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 22, 1945 A cargo ship named after the capital of Louisiana was launched at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore. SS Baton Rouge Victory was one of the vessels known as Victory ships. A large number of these ships were built during World War II to help transport cargo for the United States in its global... Continue Reading →
August 7, 1943 With World War II being waged across the globe, the U.S. Navy ship USS Chattanooga (PF-65) was launched at the shipyard of the Leathem B. Smith Shipbuilding Company in the city of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. This ship was named after one of Tennessee’s largest cities, and the christening duties at the vessel’s... Continue Reading →
July 18, 1964 USNS Thomas G. Thompson (T-AGOR-9), a U.S. Navy oceanographic research vessel, was launched at 10:50 a.m. into Menominee River at the Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in the city of Marinette, Wisconsin. (The prefix USNS stands for “United States Naval Ship” and is used to identify non-commissioned vessels that belong to the Navy.)... Continue Reading →
July 5, 1917 The U.S. Navy acquired a wooden-hulled screw steam yacht named the Admiral from Gordon Dexter (186-1937), president of the Connecticut-based Submarine Signal Company. This acquisition took place three months after the United States’ entry in World War I on the side of the Allied Powers and at a time when the Navy... Continue Reading →
In 1977, Alma M. Grocki became the first woman from Hawaii to enter the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA). She was also part of this service academy’s second class of women. Grocki, who had been born in Honolulu as Alma Lau, recalled nearly four decades later what led her to pursue a naval career. “I decided... Continue Reading →
April 17, 1896 James Rich Steers, who achieved widespread fame for his shipbuilding achievements, died at his home in New York City from what the New York Time characterized as “an attack of acute indigestion.” He was 88. Steers was born on October 15, 1808, in Plymouth, England. His father Henry Steers worked for the... Continue Reading →
August 4, 1902 The Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which crosses beneath the River Thames in East London, England, made its debut. This tunnel, connecting the district of Greenwich in the south with the Isle of Dogs to the north, was designed by civil engineer Sir Alexander Binnie (1839-1917). The Greenwich Foot Tunnel replaced a costly and too... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 