Naval History - April 1997 - Sad Day in the Cold War
April: "Burn Philadelphia"; The battle of the Somme with British sailors and marines fighting with the Fifth Army on the Western Front; Aaron Burr's August 1807 trial.
HIS TORY
UNITED STATES NAVAL INSTITUTE March / April 1997 Volume 11 • Number 2
16 Burn Philadelphia
By Major Philip Wasielewski, U.S. Marine Corps
In what has been called one of the boldest strokes in U.S. naval history, Captain Edward Preble determined to burn the 36-gun frigate rather than allow her to remain in the hands of Tripoli's Pasha.
22 Constellation Goes Dry
By Frank D. Roylance
A private foundation in Baltimore has launched the first leg of a restoration effort intended to save and preserve one of the oldest U.S. naval vessels afloat. She'll be high and dry for at least two years.
26 A Brave Band of Britons
By Charles A. Steele
Sailors and marines of the Royal Naval Division were as deeply mired in the trenches of Ancre in 1916 as the soldiers of the British Fifth Army.
31 The Commodore Goes to Court
By Suzanne B. Geissler
Commodore Thomas Truxtun was shocked that Aaron Burr had been arrested for treason and that he himself had been implicated in a conspiracy. But honor and integrity helped clear both names.
37 A Sad Day in the Cold War
By Commander Robert C. M. Ottensmeyer, U.S. Navy (Retired)
A routine intelligence-gathering mission—for the Cold War era, at least—in 1952 turned sour near Cyprus. The hero of the day was the commander, who reentered the sinking aircraft to ensure all his crew had escaped.
41 Early Vietnam: Unwinnable?
By Kenneth J. Hagan
An expert corps of scholars, historians, and operators debated the hows and whys of the Vietnam War last spring at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation's stately Cantigny First Division Museum in Illinois.
48 'No Men Like Him'
By Jordan Vause
A chronicler of German U-boat exploits in World War II illuminates one of the most intriguing of the U-boat commanders and author of the command manual, "Problems of Leadership," Wolfgang Lath.
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Departments
4 Looking Back 51 Book Reviews 59 Reunions
6 In Contact 54 Naval History News 61 Historic Fleets
15 Navy Yarns 57 Salty Talk 62 Museum Report
Cover
Tom Freeman's painting, "Decatur's Triumph," depicts Stephen Decatur's Intrepid as she comes alongside the burning Philadelphia at Tripoli. For the story, see page 16.
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