Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 28, 1858 A corvette (small warship) built for the British Royal Navy (RN) was launched at Sheerness Dockyard, which was located at the mouth of the River Medway in southeastern England. The afternoon ceremony for HMS (Her Majesty’s Ship) Clio was described in effusive terms by the London-based Standard. This newspaper reported, “The launch of... Continue Reading →
July 16, 1938 Operations began for an airport in the town and borough of Luton in England. (Luton, which originated as a Saxon settlement in the sixth century, is approximately 32 miles [50 kilometers] northwest of London.) Luton Airport was officially opened on that Saturday by Sir Kingsley Wood (1881-1943), who had become the British... Continue Reading →
March 26, 1914 The U.S. Navy submarine USS K-6 (SS-37) was launched at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company yards in Quincy, Massachusetts. This vessel was one of the Navy’s eight K-class submarines. All of these submarines were designed by the Connecticut-based company Electric Boat (present-day General Dynamics Electric Boat). K-6 was one of the three... Continue Reading →
February 9, 1954 A dock landing ship built for the U.S. Navy was launched along the coast of Pascagoula, Mississippi. (A dock landing ship is an amphibious vessel that serves as both a means of transport and a launchpad for helicopters as well as seagoing watercraft such as boats and barges.) This new military vessel... Continue Reading →
May 12, 1917 Nearly a month-and-a-half after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, a private motorboat named Althea was commissioned into the U.S. Navy under the command of Ensign E.L. Anderson of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. This vessel had been acquired from James H. Moore. Althea... Continue Reading →
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 →
Transportation History 