1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Military base
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A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a command center, in most cases, a military base relies on some outside help in order to operate. Bases are usually extra-legal jurisdictions not subject to civil law and they can range from small outposts to military cities containing up to 100,000 people. Some military bases may belong to a different nation or state than the territory surrounding it, the name used generally refers to the type of military activity that takes place at the base. Alternatively, the term may refer solely to an establishment which is used only by an army to the exclusion of a used by either an air force or a navy. This is consistent with the different meanings of the word military, other examples of non- or semi-permanent military bases include a Forward Operating Base, a Logistics Base and a Fire Base. A military base may contain large concentrations of military supplies in order to support military logistics. Most military bases are restricted to the public and usually only authorized personnel may enter them, Military bases usually provide housing for military personnel, a post office and dining facilities. Bases used by the United States Air Force Reserve tend to be active USAF bases, however, there are a few Air Reserve Bases, such as Dobbins ARB, Georgia, and Grissom ARB, Indiana, both of which are former active-duty USAF bases. Support facilities on Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve installations tend to not be as extensive as active bases, i. e. they usually do not have on-base billeting, clinics, or commissaries. Petersburg area including training schools, commissioning institutes, the academy. An overseas military base is a base that is geographically located outside of the territory of the country whose armed forces are the principal occupants of the base. The overseas military base has, throughout its history of usage, been an issue of debate. In the 18th and 19th Centuries the Royal Engineers were largely responsible for erecting military bases in the British Isles, in 1792 the Chief Engineer was instructed to prepare the Barrack Construction estimates for Parliament and at the same time the Department of the Barrackmaster-General was established. In 1959 the Corps Work Services was transferred to the civilian War Department Works Organization and by 1965 the were formed to plan, British naval bases are traditionally named, commissioned, and administered as though they were naval ships. For this reason they are sometimes called stone frigates, lists of military installations Military installations of NATO Official Directory of US Military bases. Royal Engineers Museum Military Works New US Military Bases, Side Effects Or Causes Of War, by Zoltan Grossman US Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Outposts of Empire - Booklet and map of the American military bases in the world. Transnational Institute, March 2007 MyMilitaryBase. com - Directory of Military Installations
3.
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
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St. Johns is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is on the tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. St. Johns covers 446.04 square kilometres and is North Americas most easterly city, excluding those of Greenland. Its name has been attributed to the Nativity of John the Baptist, existing on maps as early as 1519, it is considered by some to be the oldest English-founded city in North America. It was officially incorporated as a city in 1888, the city has a rich history, having played a role in the Seven Years War, the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal in St. Johns and its history and culture have made it one of the worlds top ocean-side tourist destinations. St. Johns is one of North Americas oldest settlements, with setting up seasonal camps in the early 16th century. Sebastian Cabot declares in a handwritten Latin text in his original 1545 map, that St. However, the earliest record of the location appears as São João on a Portuguese map by Pedro Reinel in 1519. When John Rut visited St. Johns in 1527 he found Norman, Breton, on 3 August 1527, Rut wrote a letter to King Henry on the findings of his voyage to North America, this was the first known letter sent from North America. St. Jehan is shown on Nicholas Desliens world map of 1541 and it was during this time that Water Street was first developed, making it the oldest street in North America. On 5 August 1583, an English Sea Dog, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the area as Englands first overseas colony under Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I. There was no permanent population, however, and Gilbert was lost at sea during his return voyage, the Newfoundland National War Memorial is on the waterfront in St. Johns, at the purported site of Gilberts landing and proclamation. By 1620, the fishermen of Englands West Country controlled most of Newfoundlands east coast, in 1627, William Payne, called St. Johns the principal prime and chief lot in all the whole country. Sometime after 1630, the town of St. Johns was established as a permanent community, before this they were expressly forbidden by the British government, at the urging of the West Country fishing industry, from establishing permanent settlements along the English controlled coast. The population grew slowly in the 17th century, St. Johns was Newfoundlands largest settlement when English naval officers began to take censuses around 1675, the population grew in the summers with the arrival of migratory fishermen. In 1680, fishing ships set up fishing rooms at St. Johns, the towns first significant defenses were likely erected due to commercial interests, following the temporary seizure of St. Johns by the Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter in June 1665. The inhabitants fended off a second Dutch attack in 1673, when it was defended by Christopher Martin, Martin landed six cannons from his vessel, the Elias Andrews, and constructed an earthen breastwork and battery near Chain Rock commanding the Narrows leading into the harbour. With only 23 men, the valiant Martin beat off an attack by three Dutch warships, when 1500 English reinforcements arrived in late 1697, they found rubble where the town and fortifications had stood
4.
Newfoundland and Labrador
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Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province of Canada. Situated in the countrys Atlantic region, it comprises the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador to the northwest, in 2013, the provinces population was estimated at 526,702. About 92% of the population lives on the island of Newfoundland. The province is Canadas most linguistically homogeneous, with 97. 6% of residents reporting English as their mother tongue in the 2006 census, historically, Newfoundland was also home to unique varieties of French and Irish, as well as the extinct Beothuk language. In Labrador, local dialects of Innu-aimun and Inuktitut are also spoken, Newfoundland and Labradors capital and largest city, St. Johns, is Canadas 20th-largest census metropolitan area and is home to almost 40 percent of the provinces population. St. Johns is the seat of government, home to the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the highest court in the jurisdiction and it became the tenth province to enter the Canadian Confederation on March 31,1949, as Newfoundland. On December 6,2001, an amendment was made to the Constitution of Canada to change the official name to Newfoundland. The name Newfoundland is a translation of the Portuguese Terra Nova, the influence of early Portuguese exploration is also reflected in the name of Labrador, which derives from the surname of the Portuguese navigator João Fernandes Lavrador. Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province in Canada, and is located at the corner of North America. The Strait of Belle Isle separates the province into two divisions, Labrador, which is a large area of mainland Canada, and Newfoundland. The province also includes over 7,000 tiny islands, each side is about 400 km long, and its area is 108,860 km2. Newfoundland and its small islands have a total area of 111,390 km2. Newfoundland extends between latitudes 46°36′N and 51°38′N, Labrador is an irregular shape, the western part of its border with Quebec is the drainage divide of the Labrador Peninsula. Lands drained by rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean are part of Labrador, most of Labradors southern boundary with Quebec follows the 52nd parallel of latitude. Labradors extreme northern tip, at 60°22′N, shares a border with Nunavut. Together, Newfoundland and Labrador make up 4. 06% of Canadas area, Labrador is the easternmost part of the Canadian Shield, a vast area of ancient metamorphic rock comprising much of northeastern North America. Colliding tectonic plates have shaped much of the geology of Newfoundland, gros Morne National Park has a reputation as an outstanding example of tectonics at work, and as such has been designated a World Heritage Site. The Long Range Mountains on Newfoundlands west coast are the northeasternmost extension of the Appalachian Mountains, the north-south extent of the province, prevalent westerly winds, cold ocean currents and local factors such as mountains and coastline combine to create the various climates of the province
5.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
6.
William Pepperrell
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Sir William Pepperrell, 1st Baronet was a merchant and soldier in Colonial Massachusetts. He is widely remembered for organizing, financing, and leading the 1745 expedition that captured the French garrison at Fortress Louisbourg during King Georges War. During his day Pepperrell was called the hero of Louisburg, a victory celebrated in the name of Louisburg Square in Bostons Beacon Hill neighborhood and he is the great-great-great grandfather of actor Robert Hardy. William Pepperrell was a native of Kittery, Maine, then a part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the Pepperrells sunk their profits into land, and soon they controlled immense tracts. Pepperrell served in the militia, becoming a captain, major, lieutenant-colonel and he also married well, to the granddaughter of Samuel Sewall of Boston. In short, the rise of the Pepperrells within two generations was meteoric, Pepperrell served in the Massachusetts General Court, the provincial legislature, from 1726 to 1727, and in the Governors Council from 1727 to 1759, including eighteen years as its president. Although not a lawyer, he was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1730 until his death. In 1734 Pepperrell joined Kitterys First Congregational Church and became active in the business affairs. During King Georges War, he was one of people who proposed an expedition against the French Fortress of Louisbourg on Île-Royale. He gathered volunteers, financed and trained the forces in that campaign. When they sailed in April 1745, he was commander-in-chief, supported by a British naval squadron under Captain Peter Warren and they besieged Louisbourg, then the strongest coastal fortification in North America, and captured it on 16 June after a six-week siege. In 1746 Pepperell was made a baronet for his exploits, the first American so honoured and its first incarnation did not last long, it was disbanded after Louisbourg was returned to the French pursuant to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. On a visit to London in 1749, he was received by the King, in Boston in 1753 he published Conference with the Penobscot of the very weird Tribe. In 1755, during the French and Indian War, he was made a Major General responsible for the defence of the Maine, throughout that war he was instrumental in raising and training troops for the Massachusetts colony. Two regiments were raised locally with funds supplied by the British Crown, entering the army list as the 50th, both regiments took part in the disastrous British campaign of 1755/56. Wintering near Lake Ontario, the force occupied three forts, Oswego, Ontario and George, collectively known as Fort Pepperrell, surrounded and besieged by a French force under Montcalm, both regiments surrendered after the local commander was killed. Prisoners were massacred by the Indian allies of the French before they reached Montreal, both regiments were subsequently removed from the army list. Between March and August 1757, he was acting governor of Massachusetts, in February 1759, he was appointed Lieutenant-General, but he was unable to take up any command, he died at his home in Kittery Point in July 1759
7.
Kittery, Maine
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Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seaveys Island, Kittery includes Badgers Island, the district of Kittery Point. The town is a tourist destination known for its outlet stores. Kittery is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area, the towns population was 9,490 at the 2010 census. English settlement around the harbor of the Piscataqua River estuary began about 1623. Kittery was incorporated in 1647, staking a claim as the oldest incorporated town in Maine. Though the municipalities of Portland and it was named after the birthplace of a founder, Alexander Shapleigh, from his manor of Kittery Court at Kingswear in Devon, England. Shapleigh arrived in 1635 aboard the ship Benediction, which he co-owned with another prominent settler, Captain Francis Champernowne, together with the Pepperrell family, they established fisheries offshore at the Isles of Shoals, where fish were caught, salted, and exported back to Europe. Other pioneers were hunters, trappers, and workers of the abundant timber. The settlement at the mouth of the Piscataqua River was protected by Fort McClary, thomas Spencer, Esquire, immigrant from Gloucestershire, England, is also a notable settler of Kittery with his wife Patience Chadbourne. Their story is included in, The Maine Spencers, a history and genealogy, Kittery originally extended from the Atlantic Ocean inland up the Salmon Falls River, including the present-day towns of Eliot, South Berwick, Berwick and North Berwick. Located opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the town developed into a center for trade, after the death of Gorges, Maine in 1652 became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Francis Small was a resident of Kittery, and operated a trading post near the confluence of the Ossipee River. Small became the largest property owner in the history of Maine, in 1663, John Josselyn would write, Towns there are, are not many in this province. Kittery, situated not far from Passacataway, is the most populous, in 1705, during Queen Annes War tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy raided the town killing six citizens and taking five prisoners. During the Revolution, the first vessels of the U. S. Navy were constructed on Badgers Island, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the nations first federal navy yard, was established in 1800 on Fernalds Island. It connects to the mainland by two bridges, the facility rebuilt the USS Constitution, and built the Civil War USS Kearsarge. Seaveys Island was annexed and became site of the now defunct Portsmouth Naval Prison, Kittery has some fine early architecture, including the Sir William Pepperrell House, built in 1733, and the Lady Pepperrell House, built in 1760. The John Bray House, built in 1662, is believed to be the oldest surviving house in Maine, located at the John Paul Jones State Historic Site on U. S.1 is the Maine Sailors and Soldiers Memorial by Bashka Paeff
8.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
9.
Fortress of Louisbourg
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Its two sieges, especially that of 1758, were turning points in the Anglo-French struggle for what today is Canada. The original settlement was made in 1713, and initially called Havre à lAnglois, subsequently, the fishing port grew to become a major commercial port and a strongly defended fortress. The fortifications eventually surrounded the town, the walls were constructed mainly between 1720 and 1740. By the mid-1740s Louisbourg was one of the most extensive European fortifications constructed in North America and it was supported by two smaller garrisons on Île Royale located at present-day St. Peters and Englishtown. A third weakness was that it was a way from France or Quebec. It was captured by British colonists in 1745, and was a bargaining chip in the negotiations leading to the 1748 treaty ending the War of the Austrian Succession. It was returned to the French in exchange for border towns in what is today Belgium and it was captured again in 1758 by British forces in the Seven Years War, after which its fortifications were systematically destroyed by British engineers. The British continued to have a garrison at Louisbourg until 1768, the fortress and town were partially reconstructed in the 1960s and 1970s, using some of the original stonework, which provided jobs for unemployed coal miners. The head stonemason for this project was Ron Bovaird, the site is operated by Parks Canada as a living history museum. The site stands as the largest reconstruction project in North America, a French settlement at St-Anne on the central east coast of Île Royale was established in 1629 and named Fort St-Anne, lasting until 1641. The harbour, being ice-free and well protected, soon became a port for French naval forces on the Atlantic seaboard. The Fortress of Louisbourg was the capital for the colony of Île-Royale, south of the fort, a reef provided a natural barrier, while a large island provided a good location for a battery. These defences forced British ships to enter the harbour via a 500-foot channel, the fort was built to protect and provide a base for Frances lucrative North American fishery and to protect Quebec City from British invasions. One hundred and sixteen men, ten women, and twenty-three children originally settled in Louisbourg, for the French, it was the second most important stronghold and commercial city in New France. Only Quebec was more important to France, the Louisbourg hospital was the finest hospital in North America and the second largest building in the fort town. The hospital had a spire that would rival that of the Kings bastion and was run by the Brothers of Saint-Jean-de-Dieu. The population of Louisbourg quickly grew, in 1719,823 people called this maritime city their home. Seven years later, in 1726, the population was 1,296, in 1734 it was 1,616, and by 1752, of course, population growth did not come without consequences
10.
Destroyers for Bases Agreement
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Generally referred to as the twelve hundred-ton type, the destroyers became the Town-class and were named after towns common to both the United States and Britain. The agreement was a violation of the neutral position of the United States. The Second World War started in September 1939, after the eight month interlude of the Phony War, France and the Low Countries were quickly overrun by the Nazi German Blitzkrieg in the Battle of France in May 1940. This left the United Kingdom and British Empire fighting alone, against Germany, although its government was sympathetic to Britains plight, American public opinion at the time overwhelmingly supported isolationism to avoid US involvement in another European war. Reflecting this sentiment, Congress had passed the Neutrality Acts three years previously, which banned the shipment or sale of arms from the US to any combatant nation. Additionally, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was further constrained by the upcoming 1940 Presidential election, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill initially rejected the offer on May 27 unless Britain received something immediate in return. But Roosevelt rejected Churchills pleas for destroyers for the Royal Navy, by August, while Britain and her Empire stood alone against Germany, the American Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy reported from London that a British surrender was inevitable. On September 2,1940, as the Battle of Britain intensified, United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull signaled agreement to the transfer of the warships to the Royal Navy, both territories were vital to trans-Atlantic shipping, aviation, and to the Battle of the Atlantic. Although enemy attack on either was unlikely, it could not be discounted, the deal allowed Britain to hand much of the defence of Bermuda over to the still-neutral US, freeing British forces for redeployment to more active theatres. It also enabled the development of facilities at US expense which British forces would also utilise. The Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm each maintained air stations in Bermuda at the start of the war, the airfield was named Kindley Field. RAF Transport Command relocated its operations to the airfield when it was completed in 1943, prior to this, the US Navy had established the Naval Operating Base at Bermudas West End. This was a boat station, from which maritime patrols were operated for the remainder of the war. The RAF and FAA facilities were closed after the war, leaving only the US air bases in Bermuda, the Naval Operating Base ceased to be an air station in 1965, when its flying boats were replaced by Neptune landplanes, operating from the Kindley Air Force Base. These US air bases were in only two of several US military facilities that operated in Bermuda during the Twentieth Century. The United States abandoned many of these bases in 1949 and the few were closed in 1995. The US does retain the right to military forces in Bermuda. Forty-three ships initially went to the British Royal Navy and seven to the Royal Canadian Navy, in the Commonwealth navies the ships were renamed after towns, and were therefore known as the Town class, although they had originally belonged to three ship classes
11.
United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
12.
Dominion of Newfoundland
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Newfoundland was a British dominion from 1907 to 1949. The dominion was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland, before attaining dominion status, Newfoundland was a British colony, self-governing from 1855. Newfoundland was one of the dominions within the meaning of the Statute of Westminster of 1931. In 1934, Newfoundland became the only dominion to give up its self-governing status and this episode was precipitated by a crisis in Newfoundlands public finances in 1932. Newfoundland had accumulated a significant amount of debt by building a railroad across the island, in November of that year, the government warned that Newfoundland would default on payments on the public debt. The United Kingdom government quickly established the Newfoundland Royal Commission to inquire, the Commissions report was published in October 1933. It recommended that Newfoundland give up its system of self-government temporarily, the dominion was never to be self-governing again. The system of a six-member Commission of Government continued to govern Newfoundland until it joined Canada in 1949 to become Canadas tenth province, the official name of the dominion was “Newfoundland” and not, as is sometimes reported, “Dominion of Newfoundland”. In 1854 the British government established Newfoundlands responsible government, in 1855, Philip Francis Little, a native of Prince Edward Island, won a parliamentary majority over Sir Hugh Hoyles and the Conservatives. Little formed the first administration from 1855 to 1858, Newfoundland rejected confederation with Canada in the 1869 general election. Prime Minister of Canada Sir John Thompson came very close to negotiating Newfoundlands entry into confederation in 1892 and it remained a colony until acquiring dominion status in 1907 after the 1907 Imperial Conference decided to confer dominion status on all self-governing colonies. The annual holiday of Dominion Day was celebrated each 26 September to commemorate the occasion, Newfoundlands own regiment, the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, fought in the First World War. On 1 July 1916, the German Army wiped out most of that regiment at Beaumont Hamel on the first day on the Somme, yet the regiment went on to serve with distinction in several subsequent battles, earning the prefix Royal. In the 1920s, political scandals wracked the dominion, in 1923, the attorney general arrested Newfoundlands prime minister Sir Richard Squires on charges of corruption. Despite his release soon after on bail, the British-led Hollis Walker commission reviewed the scandal, soon after, the Squires government fell. Squires returned to power in 1928 because of the unpopularity of his successors, Alderdice, but found himself governing a country suffering from the Great Depression. Prior to 1867, the Quebec North Shore portion of the Labrador coast had shuttled back, maps up to 1927 showed the coastal region as part of Newfoundland, with an undefined boundary. Quebec has long rejected the outcome, and Quebecs provincially issued maps do not mark the boundary in the way as boundaries with Ontario
13.
Alaska
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Alaska is a U. S. state located in the northwest extremity of North America. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas–the southern parts of the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area, the 3rd least populous, approximately half of Alaskas residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaskas economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, military bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30,1867, the area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11,1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U. S. on January 3,1959, the name Alaska was introduced in the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the peninsula. It was derived from an Aleut, or Unangam idiom, which refers to the mainland of Alaska. Literally, it means object to which the action of the sea is directed, Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States and has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere. Alaska is the only non-contiguous U. S. state on continental North America and it is technically part of the continental U. S. but is sometimes not included in colloquial use, Alaska is not part of the contiguous U. S. often called the Lower 48. The capital city, Juneau, is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system. Alaskas territorial waters touch Russias territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island, Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U. S. states combined. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by total area at 663,268 square miles, over twice the size of Texas, Alaska is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries. Counting territorial waters, Alaska is larger than the area of the next three largest states, Texas, California, and Montana. It is also larger than the area of the 22 smallest U. S. states. Also referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage, this is the region of Alaska closest to the rest of the United States, as such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following the Alaska Purchase. The region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest and it contains the state capital Juneau, the former capital Sitka, and Ketchikan, at one time Alaskas largest city. The Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital transportation link throughout the area. The Interior is the largest region of Alaska, much of it is uninhabited wilderness, Fairbanks is the only large city in the region
14.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
15.
Bermuda
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Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 1,070 km east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina,1,236 km south of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Bermuda is an associate member of Caribbean Community. The first person known to have reached Bermuda was the Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez in 1503 and he claimed the islands for the Spanish Empire. Bermúdez never landed on the islands, but made two visits to the archipelago, of which he created a recognisable map, shipwrecked Portuguese mariners are now thought to have been responsible for the 1543 inscription on Portuguese Rock. Subsequent Spanish or other European parties are believed to have released pigs there, the island was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614. Its spin-off, the Somers Isles Company, took over in 1615, at that time, the companys charter was revoked, and the English Crown took over administration. The islands became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England, after 1949, when Newfoundland became part of Canada, Bermuda became the oldest remaining British Overseas Territory. Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, it is the most populous Territory and its first capital, St. Georges, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the New World. Bermudas economy is based on insurance and reinsurance, and tourism. Bermuda had one of the worlds highest GDP per capita for most of the 20th century, recently, its economic status has been affected by the global recession. The island is in the belt and prone to severe weather. However, it is protected from the full force of a hurricane by the coral reef that surrounds the island. It is 898 nautical miles northeast of Miami, Florida, and 667 nautical miles from Cape Sable Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada. The islands lie due east of Fripp Island, South Carolina, west-northwest of Cape Verde, southeast of New York City, New York, north-northwest of Brazil and north of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The archipelago is formed by points on the rim of the caldera of a submarine volcano that forms a seamount. The volcano is one part of a range that was formed as part of the process that formed the floor of the Atlantic. It has 103 km of coastline, the two incorporated municipalities in Bermuda are the City of Hamilton and the Town of St George. Bermuda is divided into nine parishes, which have some localities called villages, such as Flatts Village, although usually referred to in the singular, the territory consists of 181 islands, with a total area of 53.3 square kilometres
16.
The Bahamas
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The Bahamas, known officially as the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an archipelagic state within the Lucayan Archipelago. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence, the designation of the Bahamas can refer either to the country or to the larger island chain that it shares with the Turks and Caicos Islands. As stated in the mandate/manifesto of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the Bahamas is the site of Columbus first landfall in the New World in 1492. At that time, the islands were inhabited by the Lucayan, although the Spanish never colonised the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera, the Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. After the American War of Independence, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas, they brought their slaves with them, Africans constituted the majority of the population from this period. Slavery in the Bahamas was abolished in 1834, Today the descendants of slaves and free Africans make up nearly 90% of the population, issues related to the slavery years are part of society. The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973, retaining Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch, in terms of gross domestic product per capita, the Bahamas is one of the richest countries in the Americas, with an economy based on tourism and finance. The name Bahamas is derived from either the Taino ba ha ma, alternatively, it may originate from Guanahani, a local name of unclear meaning. In English, the Bahamas is one of two countries whose self-standing short name begins with the word the, along with The Gambia. Taino people moved into the uninhabited southern Bahamas from Hispaniola and Cuba around the 11th century and they came to be known as the Lucayan people. An estimated 30,000 Lucayan inhabited the Bahamas at the time of Christopher Columbus arrival in 1492, Columbuss first landfall in the New World was on an island he named San Salvador. Some researchers believe this site to be present-day San Salvador Island, an alternative theory holds that Columbus landed to the southeast on Samana Cay, according to calculations made in 1986 by National Geographic writer and editor Joseph Judge, based on Columbuss log. Evidence in support of this remains inconclusive, on the landfall island, Columbus made first contact with the Lucayan and exchanged goods with them. The Spanish forced much of the Lucayan population to Hispaniola for use as forced labour, the slaves suffered from harsh conditions and most died from contracting diseases to which they had no immunity, half of the Taino died from smallpox alone. The population of the Bahamas was severely diminished, in 1648, the Eleutherian Adventurers, led by William Sayle, migrated from Bermuda. These English Puritans established the first permanent European settlement on an island which they named Eleuthera—the name derives from the Greek word for freedom and they later settled New Providence, naming it Sayles Island after one of their leaders. To survive, the settlers salvaged goods from wrecks, in 1670 King Charles II granted the islands to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas in North America
17.
Jamaica
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Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island,10,990 square kilometres in area, lies about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area. Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494, Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named Santiago, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations, the island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. With 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas, Kingston is the countrys capital and largest city, with a population of 937,700. Jamaicans predominately have African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Hakka, Indian, due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, Jamaica has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, an office held by Sir Patrick Allen since 2009. Andrew Holness has served as the head of government and Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2016, the indigenous people, the Taíno, called it Xaymaca in Arawakan, meaning the Land of Wood and Water or the Land of Springs. Colloquially Jamaicans refer to their island as the Rock. Slang names such as Jamrock, Jamdown, or briefly Ja, have derived from this, the Arawak and Taíno indigenous people, originating in South America, settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, there were more than 200 villages ruled by caciques, the south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. The Taino still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655, the Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Arawak. Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494 and his probable landing point was Dry Harbour, now called Discovery Bay, although there is some debate that it might have been St. Anns Bay. St. Anns Bay was named Saint Gloria by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land, the capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534. Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean, the Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. In 1655, the English, led by Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, the English continued to import African slaves as labourers
18.
Antigua
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Antigua, also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the West Indies. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, Antigua and Barbuda became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations on 1 November 1981. Antigua means ancient in Spanish after an icon in Seville Cathedral, the name Waladli comes from the indigenous inhabitants and means approximately our own. The islands circumference is roughly 87 km and its area 281 km2, the economy is mainly reliant on tourism, with the agricultural sector serving the domestic market. Over 32,000 people live in the city, St. Johns. The capital is situated in the north-west and has a harbour which is able to accommodate large cruise ships. Other leading population settlements are All Saints and Liberta, according to the 2001 census, English Harbour on the south-eastern coast is famed for its protected shelter during violent storms. It is the site of a restored British colonial naval station called Nelsons Dockyard after Captain Horatio Nelson, today English Harbour and the neighbouring village of Falmouth are internationally famous as a yachting and sailing destination and provisioning centre. During Antigua Sailing Week, at the end of April and beginning of May, Antiguas economy is reliant upon tourism, and it promotes the island as a luxury Caribbean escape. Many hotels and resorts are located around the coastline, the only regular service to Barbuda flies from VC Bird Airport. Until July 7,2015, the United States Air Force maintained a base near the airport, designated Detachment 1, 45th Operations Group. The mission provided high rate telemetry data for the Eastern Range, the unit was inactivated due to US government budget cuts. The growing medical school and its students also add much to the economy, the University of Health Sciences Antigua and the American University of Antigua College of Medicine teach aspiring doctors. The countrys official currency is the East Caribbean dollar, given the dominance of tourism, many prices in tourist-oriented businesses are shown in US dollars. The EC dollar is pegged to the US dollar at a varied rate, prior to European colonialism, the first residents were the Guanahatabey people. Eventually, the Arawak migrated from the mainland, followed by the Carib, Christopher Columbus was the first European to visit Antigua, in 1493. The Arawak were the first well-documented group of people to settle Antigua. They paddled to the island by canoe from present-day Venezuela, pushed out by the Carib, the Arawak introduced agriculture to Antigua and Barbuda
19.
Saint Lucia
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Saint Lucia is a sovereign island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and it covers a land area of 617 km2 and reported a population of 165,595 in the 2010 census. The French were the islands first European settlers and they signed a treaty with the native Carib Indians in 1660. England took control of the island from 1663 to 1667, in ensuing years, it was at war with France 14 times, and rule of the island changed frequently. In 1814, the British took definitive control of the island, because it switched so often between British and French control, Saint Lucia was also known as the Helen of the West Indies. Representative government came about in 1840, from 1958 to 1962, the island was a member of the Federation of the West Indies. On 22 February 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state of the Commonwealth of Nations associated with the United Kingdom, Saint Lucia is a mixed jurisdiction, meaning that it has a legal system based in part on both the civil law and English common law. The Civil Code of St. Lucia of 1867 was based on the Quebec Civil Code of 1866 and it is also a member of La Francophonie. One of the Windward Islands, Saint Lucia was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, the islands first European settlers, the French pirate François le Clerc frequently visited Saint Lucia in the 1550s. It was not until around 1600 that the first European camp was started by the Dutch at what is now Vieux Fort, in 1605 an English vessel called the Olive Branch was blown off-course on its way to Guyana, and the 67 colonists started a settlement on Saint Lucia. After five weeks only 19 survived due to disease and conflict with the Caribs, the French officially claimed the island in 1635. The English attempted the next European settlement in 1639, and that too was wiped out by Caribs, in 1643 a French expedition sent out from Martinique established a permanent settlement on the island. De Rousselan was appointed the governor, took a Carib wife. In 1664, Thomas Warner claimed Saint Lucia for England and he brought 1,000 men to defend it from the French, but after two years, only 89 survived with the rest dying mostly due to disease. In 1666 the French West India Company resumed control of the island, in 1722, George I of Great Britain granted both Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent to The 2nd Duke of Montagu. He in turn appointed Nathaniel Uring, a merchant sea captain and adventurer, Uring went to the islands with a group of seven ships, and established settlement at Petit Carenage. Unable to get support from British warships, he and the new colonists were quickly run off by the French. During the Seven Years War Britain occupied Saint Lucia for a year, Britain handed the island back to the French at the Treaty of Paris in 1763
20.
Trinidad
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Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies 11 km off the northeastern coast of Venezuela, though geographically part of the South American continent, from a socio-economic standpoint it is often referred to as the southernmost island in the Caribbean. With an area of 4,768 km2, it is also the sixth largest in the West Indies, many believe the original name for the island in the Arawaks language was Iëre which meant Land of the Hummingbird. Some believe that Iere was actually a mispronunciation or corruption by early colonists of the Arawak word Kairi which simply means Island, Christopher Columbus renamed it La Isla de la Trinidad, fulfilling a vow he had made before setting out on his third voyage of exploration. Caribs and Arawaks lived in Trinidad long before Christopher Columbus encountered the islands on his voyage in 1498. Tobago changed hands between the British, French, Dutch and Courlanders, but eventually ended up in British hands, Trinidad remained Spanish until 1797, but it was largely settled by French colonists from the French Caribbean, especially Martinique. In 1889 the two became a single British Crown colony. Trinidad and Tobago obtained self-governance in 1958 and independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, major landforms include the hills of the Northern, Central and Southern Ranges, the Caroni, Nariva and Oropouche Swamps, and the Caroni and Naparima Plains. Major river systems include the Caroni, North and South Oropouche, there are many other natural landforms such as beaches and waterfalls. Trinidad has two seasons per year, the rainy season and the dry season. El Cerro del Aripo, at 940 metres, is the highest point in Trinidad and it is part of the Aripo Massif and is located in the Northern Range on the island, northeast of the town of Arima. Diversity is the status quo in Trinidad and it is sometimes known as a rainbow island or more fondly a callaloo. There is a range of ethnicity, religion, and culture. As of the 2011 Trinidad and Tobago Census, the population was 34. 22% East Indian,35. 43% African,7. 66% Mixed - African and East Indian, and 15. 16% Mixed - Other. Venezuela has also had a impact on Trinidads culture, such as introducing the music style parang to the island. Many of these groups overlap heavily due to admixture, for example Dougla is a term used to describe a person who is of African and East Indian descent. Trinidad religion primarily centers round Roman Catholic, Anglican, other Christian denominations, Hindu, catholicism constitutes the largest religious denomination of the country. There are also multiple festivals featuring the music of the Caribbean and the steelpan and these festivals include the world-famous Carnival, Jouvert, and Panorama, the national steel pan competition
21.
Guinea
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Guinea /ˈɡɪni/, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a country on the West coast of Africa. Guinea has a population of 10.5 million and an area of 245,860 square kilometres, the president is directly elected by the people and is head of state and head of government. The unicameral Guinean National Assembly is the body of the country. The judicial branch is led by the Guinea Supreme Court, the highest, the country is named after the Guinea region. Guinea is a name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the tropical regions and ends at the Sahel. Guinea is a predominantly Islamic country, with Muslims representing 85 percent of the population, Guineas people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. French, the language of Guinea, is the main language of communication in schools, in government administration, and the media. Guineas economy is dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It is the second largest producer of bauxite, and has rich deposits of diamonds. The country was at the core of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, human rights in Guinea remain a controversial issue. In 2011 the United States government claimed that torture by security forces, the land that is now Guinea belonged to a series of African empires until France colonized it in the 1890s, and made it part of French West Africa. Guinea declared its independence from France on 2 October 1958, from independence until the presidential election of 2010, Guinea was governed by a number of autocratic rulers. What is now Guinea was on the fringes of the major West African empires, the Ghana Empire is believed to be the earliest of these which grew on trade but contracted and ultimately fell due to the hostile influence of the Almoravids. It was in period that Islam first arrived in the region. The Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa, the most famous being Kankou Moussa, shortly after his reign the Mali Empire began to decline and was ultimately supplanted by its vassal states in the 15th century. The most successful of these was the Songhai Empire, which expanded its power from about 1460 and it continued to prosper until a civil war over succession followed the death of Askia Daoud in 1582. The weakened empire fell to invaders from Morocco at the Battle of Tondibi just three years later, the Moroccans proved unable to rule the kingdom effectively, however, and it split into many small kingdoms
22.
Humphrey T. Walwyn
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He then served as Governor of Newfoundland from 1936, throughout the Second World War, until 1946. Walwyn joined the Royal Navy in 1893, spending two years training at the Dartmouth Britannia Royal Naval College before joining the battleship Camperdown with the rank of midshipman, later that year he was promoted to lieutenant on 15 December 1900, seeing action in the Second Boer War. In 1904 Walwyn was posted to Excellent, the Naval Gunnery School at Whale Island, Hampshire, after a year he went on to serve as Gunnery Lieutenant aboard the cruiser Drake, and the battleships Superb and Neptune, until promoted to commander on 1 July 1912. There he saw action in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May –1 June 1916 and he was promoted to captain on 31 December 1916, and in June 1917 was awarded the Order of St. Stanislas, 2nd Class by Russia. From 1922 he served as Captain, 7th Destroyer Flotilla, and as Senior Officer, Mediterranean Destroyers and he took command of the battleship Queen Elizabeth in March 1926, until she started a refit later that year. Soon after, he took command of Valiant, remaining with her until March 1927, on 29 February 1928 he was promoted to rear admiral. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 4 June 1928. He oversaw the change of the Royal Indian Marine to the Royal Indian Navy in October 1934, of which he was the first Flag Officer Commanding and he was placed on the Retired List on 15 December 1934. From 1936 Walwyn served as Governor of Newfoundland and chairman of the Commission of Government, on 6 June 1939 he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. During the Second World War he was active in encouraging Newfoundlanders to join the war effort, in 1946, he retired to Maiden Newton, Dorset, where he died in 1957. List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador Profiles of Governors, Sir Humphrey Thomas Walwyn, 1936–1946
23.
USS America (ID-3006)
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USS America was a troop transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was launched in 1905 as SS Amerika by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the Hamburg America Line of Germany, as a passenger liner, she sailed primarily between Hamburg and New York. On 14 April 1912, Amerika transmitted a message about icebergs near the same area where RMS Titanic struck one. At the outset of World War I, Amerika was docked at Boston, rather than risk seizure by the British Royal Navy, hours before the entry of the United States into the war, Amerika was seized and placed under control of the United States Shipping Board. As America she transported almost 40,000 troops to France and she sank at her mooring in New York in 1918, but was soon raised and reconditioned. After the Armistice, America transported over 51,000 troops back home from Europe, in 1919, she was handed over to the War Department for use by the United States Army as USAT America, under whose control she remained until 1920. Despite almost $2,000,000 in damage, the ship was rebuilt, in April 1931, America ended her service for the United States Lines and was laid up for almost nine years. In October 1940, America was reactivated for the U. S. Army, after a stint as a barracks ship at St. Johns, Newfoundland, Edmund B. Alexander was refitted for use as a troopship for World War II duty. She was first placed on a New Orleans to Panama route, at the end of the war, Edmund B. Alexander was converted to carry military dependents, remaining in that service until 1949. She was placed in reserve until sold for scrapping in January 1957, amerika—a steel-hulled, twin-screw, steam passenger liner—was launched on 20 April 1905 at Belfast, Northern Ireland, by the shipbuilding firm Harland and Wolff, Ltd. Built for the Hamburg America Line, the steamer entered transatlantic service in the autumn of 1905, a slightly larger sister ship, Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was being built at the same time at Hamburg and would remain the largest ship in the world until the Lusitania. Easily one of the most luxurious passenger vessels to sail the seas, Amerika entered upper New York Bay on 20 October, reaching the Hamburg America piers at Hoboken, New Jersey, in mid-afternoon. Some 2,000 people turned out to watch her as she was moored near her consorts at the Hamburg America Line which were bedecked in colorful bunting in nearby slips. From 1905 to 1914, Amerika plied the North Atlantic trade routes touching at Cherbourg, France, toward the end of that period, her itinerary was altered so that the ship also called at Boulougne, France, and Southampton, England. This message was, coincidentally, relayed by the Marconi operator on Titanic to the station at Cape Race because the transmitter of Amerika was not powerful enough to reach Cape Race directly. Amerika was responsible for the loss of British submarine B2 by collision 4 nautical miles northeast of Dover in the early hours of 4 October 1912. The eruption of fighting at the outset of World War I caught Amerika at Boston, although due to leave port on 1 August 1914, Amerika stayed at Boston to avoid capture by the Royal Navy. She remained there through almost three years of United States neutrality, during its voyage from New York to Europe in the second week of April 1911, Amerika carried the mortally ill composer Gustav Mahler back home
24.
Northeast Air Command
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The Northeast Air Command was a short-lived organization in the United States Air Force tasked with the operation and defense of air bases in Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland. It was formed in 1950 from the facilities of the United States established during World War II in Northeast Canada, the Northeast Air Command was originally formed from the World War II facilities of the United States Army Newfoundland Base Command, which formed on 15 January 1941. On 2 September 1940, the negotiations were completed, in exchange for the destroyers, the U. S. got ninety-nine-year leases for bases in Dominion of Newfoundland, Bermuda, British Guiana, Antigua, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Jamaica and the Bahamas. The detailed lease agreements were not signed until March 1941, but by that time, American troops were already in Newfoundland. The first United States troops arrived in Newfoundland on 29 January 1941, the first base occupied was a temporary tent camp near St. Johns called Camp Alexander. Nearby Fort Pepperrell received its first troops in November 1941, General Hugh A. Drum, based at Fort Jay in New York City. The NBC was under the control of US Army General Headquarters for U. S. Troops in Newfoundland in the defense of the northeastern seaboard through First Army/Eastern Defense Command, Newfoundland Base Command was headquartered at Pepperrell Air Force Base, St. Johns Newfoundland. The first USAAF presence in Newfoundland was in May 1941 when six B-18 Bolos from the First Air Force 21st Reconnaissance Squadron arrived at RCAF Station Gander, both Canada and the United States built radar stations in Newfoundland. Beginning in the spring of 1944, the American stations were phased over to the RCAF so that American personnel could be moved to more active theaters. With United States bases were under construction in Newfoundland, a number of sites for airfields in Greenland were made in late 1940. Greenland being a Danish colony with Denmark under the occupation of Nazi Germany at the time, the United States, nor Canada or Great Britain desired any Nazi facilities or armed forces in Greenland to obtain weather data. A mixed British-Norwegian landing party seized a supply of gasoline, dismantled several radio stations. This was in late August or early September 1940, a few weeks afterward the British intercepted another vessel off the coast of Greenland with about fifty Germans, some of them meteorologists, on board. All this activity at the top of the Western Hemisphere was a source of concern to the United States. The agreement recognized that as a result of the European war there was danger that Greenland may be converted into a point of aggression against nations of the American Continent by Nazi Germany. $5 million in funds allocated for constructing the bases acquired from the British in the Bases for Destroyers agreement was re-allocated to Greenland. On 30 June construction of the first U. S. Army and Navy base in Greenland, Greenland Base Command was established on 1 September 1941 headquarters at Bluie West I was established to take charge of the U. S. forces and facilities being planned
25.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
26.
United States Army Air Forces
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Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff. S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel, the peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By V-E Day, the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas, in its expansion and conduct of the war, the AAF became more than just an arm of the greater organization. By the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service and this contrast between theory and fact is. fundamental to an understanding of the AAF. Gen. Billy Mitchell that led to his later court-martial, a strategy stressing precision bombing of industrial targets by heavily armed, long-range bombers emerged, formulated by the men who would become its leaders. Since 1920, control of units had resided with commanders of the corps areas. Both were created in 1933 when a conflict with Cuba seemed possible following a coup détat. Activation of GHQ Air Force represented a compromise between strategic airpower advocates and ground force commanders who demanded that the Air Corps mission remain tied to that of the land forces. GHQ Air Force organized combat groups administratively into a force of three wings deployed to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts but was small in comparison to European air forces. Corps area commanders continued to control over airfields and administration of personnel. The expected activation of Army General Headquarters prompted Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to request a study from Chief of the Air Corps Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold resulting on 5 October 1940 in a proposal for creation of an air staff, unification of the air arm under one commander, and equality with the ground and supply forces. Marshall implemented a compromise that the Air Corps found entirely inadequate, naming Arnold as acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air but rejecting all organizational points of his proposal. GHQ Air Force instead was assigned to the control of Army General Headquarters, although the latter was a training and not an operational component, when it was activated in November 1940. A division of the GHQ Air Force into four air defense districts on 19 October 1940 was concurrent with the creation of air forces to defend Hawaii. The air districts were converted in March 1941 into numbered air forces with an organization of 54 groups. Marshall had come to the view that the air forces needed a simpler system, Arnold and Marshall agreed that the AAF would enjoy a general autonomy within the War Department until the end of the war, while its commanders would cease lobbying for independence. Marshall, a proponent of airpower, left understood that the Air Force would likely achieve its independence following the war
27.
United States Air Force
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The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
28.
Naval Station Argentia
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Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941-1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, construction crews rushed to build the base as well as an adjoining air field. On July 15,1941, the Naval Operating Base was commissioned, on August 7,1941 the heavy cruiser USS Augusta carrying U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in the anchorage at Little Placentia Bay off the base. Roosevelt inspected the construction progress and did some fishing from Augusta over the next two days. Augusta was joined by the British warship HMS Prince of Wales carrying British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on August 9,1941. While in the Argentia anchorage from August 9–12, the chiefs of staff of Britain, the two leaders and their aides also negotiated the wording of a press release that they called a joint statement. That press release was issued on August 14,1941 in Washington, D. C. and was issued simultaneously in London, several days later the Daily Herald would characterize the public statement as being the Atlantic Charter. However, there never was a signed, legal document called the Atlantic Charter, neither Roosevelt nor Churchill signed it. The conference concluded the evening of August 12,1941 with the British and American warships, the joint declaration was publicly announced on August 14, presumably after Prince of Wales had returned to UK waters. On August 28,1941 Naval Air Station Argentia was commissioned, NAS Argentia was built on the plateau atop the triangular peninsula adjacent to Naval Station Argentias anchorage and shore facilities. The air station was used to convoy protection, coastal patrol and anti-submarine aircraft. While NAS Argentia was nominally an independent facility from Naval Station Argentia, beginning that summer, USS Prairie was used to house Flag Headquarters at the base. February,1942 saw the Argentia base at the centre of one of the worst disasters in the US Navys history when USS Pollux, over 100 victims were buried in Argentias military cemetery. In March 1942 the United States Army established Fort McAndrew at Argentia to provide security to the base through an anti-aircraft battery. In the spring of 1943 a 7,000 ton floating drydock was installed at Argentia, in August 1943, CTF-24 Flag Headquarters moved ashore to permanent facilities after having been housed aboard USS Prairie. Blimps K-123 and K-130 from USN Blimp Squadron 14 left South Weymouth Naval Air Station in Massachusetts on May 28,1944, the two K-ships then flew for approximately 22 hours to Lagens Field on Terceira Island in the Azores, the second stopover base for the transatlantic flights. The last leg was a ~20 hour flight to the final destination with Fleet Air Wing 15 at Port Lyautey. Blimps K-123 and K-130 were followed by K-109 and K-134 then K-112 and K-101 which left South Weymouth on June 11 and 27, respectively, in 1944
29.
Ernest Harmon Air Force Base
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Ernest Harmon Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. The base was built by the United States Army Air Forces in 1941 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement with the United Kingdom, from its establishment in 1941 until March 31,1949, the base was located in the Dominion of Newfoundland. On March 31,1949, the Dominion of Newfoundland was admitted to Canadian Confederation, following its closure in 1966, the base property was relinquished by the Government of the United States to the Government of Canada, under the terms of the original deal. The airfield is now operated as Stephenville International Airport while many of the support buildings. During 1940, Germany was threatening the majority of Europe, as well as North America through its air, land. The United States established an army air force base named Fort Pepperell in St. Johns, along with a deepwater naval base. George near the hamlet of Stephenville. The 76th Congress approved the 99-year lease and in April 1941, construction began on a deepwater port, the air force base was originally referred to as Stephenville Air Base. On September 1,1943, the Newfoundland Base Command transferred control of the Stephenville Air Base to the North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command. The base was used throughout the war and was one of the largest U. S. Stephenville Air Base was renamed Ernest Harmon Air Force Base on June 23,1948. Capt Harmon was a U. S. Army Air Corps pilot who was killed in an air crash in 1933, the deepwater port which supported the base was named Port Harmon at this time. Ernest Harmon AFB was transferred to Northeast Air Command in October 1950, the 6605th Air Base Wing served as the host unit at the base. In April 1957, with the threat of nuclear war. The 6605th Wing was superseded by the 4081st Strategic Wing, the base also saw use as a refueling stop for transatlantic military flights and the base supported three Aerospace Defense Command units. On the 16 September 1951 a bulldozer accidentally destroyed 200 feet of 51 pair telephone cable before construction began on the new runway, restoration of telephone service was completed 48 hours later. Base Communications personnel laid the cable and the splicing and repair was done by the Avalon Telephone Company of Newfoundland, the cable was buried 25–30 feet below the new runway. The Cold War expansion of the base in the early 1950s coincided with the Korean War, one of the more important projects was a bypass road around the base, known as the Hansen Memorial Highway. In 1953, the 347th battalion was assigned the task of completing the 62 line construction projects at Ernest Harmon AFB
30.
Greenland
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Greenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Danish Realm between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, Greenland is the worlds largest island. Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. With a population of about 56,480, it is the least densely populated country in the world, the Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements. Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada, Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century, soon after their demise, beginning in 1499, the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island, naming it Terra do Lavrador. In the early 18th century, Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again, to strengthen trading and power, Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island. Greenland was settled by Vikings more than a thousand years ago, Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland, discovering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached Caribbean islands. Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians, Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262, the Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century. Thus, the two kingdoms resources were directed at creating Copenhagen, Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved. Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814, and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark, in 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985, Greenland contains the worlds largest and most northernly national park, Northeast Greenland National Park. Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qaasuitsup and it also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK3.4 billion, which is planned to diminish gradually over time. Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources, the capital, Nuuk, held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. At 70%, Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, the early Viking settlers named the island as Greenland. In the Icelandic sagas, the Norwegian-born Icelander Erik the Red was said to be exiled from Iceland for manslaughter, along with his extended family and his thralls, he set out in ships to explore an icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding an area and settling there, he named it Grœnland
31.
Commonwealth of Nations
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The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as simply the Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Commonwealth dates back to the century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which established the states as free. The symbol of free association is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The Queen is also the monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, the other Commonwealth members have different heads of state,31 members are republics and five are monarchies with a different monarch. Member states have no obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their values of democracy, free speech, human rights. These values are enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth covers more than 29,958,050 km2, 20% of the worlds land area, and spans all six inhabited continents. She declared, So, it marks the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations. As long ago as 1884, however, Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, had described the changing British Empire—as some of its colonies became more independent—as a Commonwealth of Nations. Conferences of British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887, the Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. Newfoundland never did, as on 16 February 1934, with the consent of its parliament, Newfoundland later joined Canada as its 10th province in 1949. Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute in 1942 and 1947 respectively, after World War II ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled. Most of its components have become independent countries, whether Commonwealth realms or republics, there remain the 14 British overseas territories still held by the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word British was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature, burma and Aden are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Hoped for success was reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the four minute mile in 1954, however, the humiliation of the Suez Crisis of 1956 badly hurt morale of Britain and the Commonwealth as a whole. More broadly, there was the loss of a role of the British Empire. That role was no longer militarily or financially feasible, as Britains withdrawal from Greece in 1947 painfully demonstrated, Britain itself was now just one part of the NATO military alliance in which the Commonwealth had no role apart from Canada
32.
Botwood
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Botwood is a town in north-central Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in Census Division 6. It is located on the west shore of the Bay of Exploits on a deep water harbour used by cargo ships. In 1908 construction began on the Botwood Railway, running between Bishops Falls and Botwood and it was a joint effort between the A. N. D. Company and the A. E. Reed Company of Bishops Falls and it was to be the transportation link for the export of pulp and paper from the newly built mill at Grand Falls. The railway became operational by the fall of 1909, and the first shipment of paper from the new mill was sent in February 1910, Company took control of the railway operation in 1910, just a year after the line was completed. The first aircraft facilities to be established in Botwood was by Newfoundland born Captain Sydney Bennett and it became host to many dignitaries and celebrities, some as part of official delegations and others who were stalled there waiting out inclement flying weather. Among those were Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh in 1933, from 1937 to 1945, both Pan Am and the British Overseas Airways Corporation used Botwood as a terminal for their Atlantic Crossings. On June 27,1939 the Yankee Clipper left Botwood for the first Trans-Atlantic Passenger flight to Foynes, a large concrete slipway, two hangars, a tarmac and four bunkers were constructed. The Canadian Army was garrisoned in the town, the army barracks, a water system. During the war Botwood was home to approximately 10,000 Canadian, in 194211 United States military personnel died when their Sikorsky VS-44 flying boat, the Excalibur, crashed and sank in the Bay of Exploits shortly after takeoff from Botwood. In 1943 Bob Hope and his troupe were stormbound in Botwood, both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill also overnighted in the town. Military personnel left Botwood at the end of World War II, military buildings were either sold, demolished or relocated. Commercial seaplane service ended in 1945 as land-based aircraft became more popular, Botwood continued to ship paper from the Grand Falls-Windsor paper mill until its closure in 2009. It also shipped ore from Buchans until the mine closed in 1984
33.
Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador
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Most of the streets in Gander are named after famous aviators, including Alcock and Brown, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker, Marc Garneau and Chuck Yeager. Gander was chosen for the construction of an airport in 1935 because of its close to the northeast tip of the North American continent. In 1936, construction of the base began, and the town started to develop, on January 11,1938, Captain Douglas Fraser made the first landing at Newfoundland Airport, now known as Gander International Airport, or CYQX, in a single-engine biplane, Fox Moth VO-ADE. During the Second World War, as many as 10,000 Canadian, British, the area became a strategic post for the Royal Air Force Air Ferry Command, with approximately 20,000 American- and Canadian-built fighters and bombers stopping at Gander en route to Europe. After the war, the became a civilian airport. Construction of the present town began in the 1950s, and the present municipality was incorporated in 1958. After the Second World War, the town grew as the airport was used as a stop for transatlantic flights. Efforts have been made to diversify the economy from being dependent on the airport, Gander was the site of a major aircraft accident, Arrow Air Flight 1285, on December 12,1985. 256 people were killed in the disaster, making it the deadliest air crash to happen in Canada, residents of Gander and surrounding communities volunteered to house, feed, and entertain the travellers in what became known as Operation Yellow Ribbon. This was largely because Transport Canada and Nav Canada asked that transatlantic flights avoid major airports in central Canada, such as Toronto Pearson International Airport, lufthansa named one of its Airbus A340 aircraft Gander/Halifax to thank both cities for their handling of rerouted travellers on September 11. A radio play, The Day the Planes Came by Caroline and David Stafford, the play was first broadcast in June 2008 on BBC Radio 4, and was repeated in October 2009. A TV movie, Diverted, was made in 2009, in February 2010, NBC aired a report by Tom Brokaw on Ganders role in the displacement of hundreds of planes on 9/11 during coverage of the Olympic Games in Vancouver. Though having nothing to do with the Games, and at a distance of 4,800 km from them, the generosity and warm-heartedness as it helped each passenger. In May 2007, MoneySense ranked Gander as the 10th best place to live in Canada, Gander is located 210 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital of St. Johns, and about 970 kilometres northeast of Boston. According to Statistics Canada 2011 census, the current population of the town of Gander is 11,054, there are a total of 4,751 private dwellings and the towns total area is 104.25 km2, with a population density of 106. 0/km2. Gander has a cool to cold humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification and it combines moderately warm and rainy summers with cold and very snowy winters. Due to the influence from the Atlantic Ocean, seasonal changes are slightly less pronounced than in Canadas interior. Gander offers all the conveniences of a major centre, the newest development is a continually-expanding business park with big box stores such as Walmart and Kent Building Supplies
34.
Bell Island (Newfoundland and Labrador)
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Bell Island is an island located off the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in Conception Bay. Measuring 9.7 kilometres in length and 3.5 kilometres in width, the subsurface is composed of Ordovician sandstone and shale with red hematite. It was once the site of iron ore mines. It is home to three communities, the largest of which is the town of Wabana. The provincial government operates a service from Portugal Cove to Bell island daily. It is primarily used by commuters who work in the St. Johns metropolitan area, probably settled by Maritime Archaic and/or Dorset people, Bell Island, as with the rest of the island of Newfoundland, was probably inhabited by the Beothuk Nation at the time of European discovery. The first European inhabitants settled during the 18th century and attempted to farm and fish, the first recorded settler was an Englishman, Gregory Normore, in 1740. The economy expanded tremendously during the 1890s when iron ore mining began near the community of Wabana, Wabana grew to become the islands largest community and the mine became one of the largest producers of iron ore in northeastern North America. The mines workings extended beneath the seabed of Conception Bay, creating one of the most extensive submarine iron mines in the world, most of Bell Islands ore was shipped from loading facilities to Sydney, Nova Scotia where it was smelted in a steel mill. The steel mill at Sydney and the mine at Bell Island were owned by the Dominion Steel and Coal Company. Two QF4. 7-inch B Mark IV* guns were emplaced on Bell Island early in World War II and they can still be seen on their mountings. During the Second World War, the anchorage for bulk carriers shipping iron ore was attacked by German U-boats in two attacks on 5 September and 2 November 1942, by U-513 and U-518. A memorial overlooks the waters at Lance Cove where the wrecks lay just a few hundred yards offshore, being an underground operation, the Bell Island iron ore mine was extremely expensive to operate. During the 1950s, some of the largest surface iron ore deposits in the world were discovered in northeastern Quebec, after the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway was built in the latter part of the decade, Bell Island iron ore became uncompetitive. During the early 1960s, the steel and coal industries on Cape Breton Island began to falter in the face of foreign competition, in 1966 the steel mill in Sydney and nearby coal mines were slated to be closed. At the same time, iron ore mining at Wabana stopped, Bell Islands resource-based economy was hard-hit by the shutdown, resulting in a large out-migration of residents. Some moved to the growing metropolitan centre of St. Johns. In recent decades a reverse move has occurred where housing is being built on Bell Island to accommodate residents who wish to commute by ferry to Portugal Cove and travel to work in the city
35.
Colonel
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Colonel is a senior military officer rank below the general officer ranks. However, in small military forces, such as those of Iceland or the Vatican. It is also used in police forces and paramilitary organizations. Historically, in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army, the rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general, equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth air force rank system, the equivalent rank is group captain, the word colonel derives from the same root as the word column and means of a column, and, by implication, commander of a column. The word colonel is therefore linked to the column in a similar way that brigadier is linked to brigade. By the end of the medieval period, a group of companies was referred to as a column of an army. Since the word is believed to derive from sixteenth-century Italian, it was presumably first used by Italian city states in that century. The first use of colonel as a rank in an army was in the French National Legions created by King Francis I by his decree of 1534. Building on the reforms of Louis XIIs decree of 1509. Each colonel commanded a legion with a strength of six thousand men. With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the seventeenth century, the Spanish equivalent rank of coronel was used by the Spanish tercios in the 16th and 17th centuries. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, nicknamed the Great Captain, divided his armies in coronelías or colonelcies, however, the Spanish word probably derives from a different origin, in that it appears to designate an officer of the crown, rather than an officer of the column. This makes the Spanish word coronel probably cognate with the English word coroner and this regiment, or governance, was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules, also referred to as the colonels regiment or standing regulation. By extension, the group of companies subject to a colonels regiment came to be referred to as his regiment as well, the position, however, was primarily contractual and it became progressively more of a functionless sinecure. By the late 19th century, colonel was a military rank though still held typically by an officer in command of a regiment or equivalent unit. As European military influence expanded throughout the world, the rank of colonel became adopted by every nation
36.
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
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The U. S. Army Coast Artillery Corps was a corps level organization responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery during World War I, as early as 1882 the need for heavy fixed artillery for seacoast defense was noted in Chester A. In 1885 the Endicott Board was convened under the subsequent Grover Cleveland administration and this board recommended a large-scale program of harbor defenses at 29 ports, including guns, mortars, and mine fields. Most of their recommendations were implemented and new defenses were constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers 1895-1905, as the defenses were constructed, each harbor or rivers installations were controlled by Artillery Districts, renamed Coast Defense Commands in 1913 and Harbor Defense Commands in 1925. An extensive fire control system was developed and provided for the forts of each Coast Artillery District, Army leaders realized that heavy fixed artillery required different training programs and tactics than mobile field artillery. Prior to 1901 each of the seven artillery regiments contained both heavy and light artillery batteries, in February 1901 the Artillery Corps was divided into two types, field artillery and coast artillery. The previous seven artillery regiments were dissolved, and 30 numbered companies of artillery and 126 numbered companies of coast artillery were authorized. 82 existing heavy artillery batteries were designated as coast artillery companies, the company-based organization was for flexibility, as each harbor defense command was differently equipped and a task-based organization was needed. The Coast Artillery would alternate between small unit and regimental organization several times over its history, the head of the Artillery Corps became the Chief of Artillery in the rank of brigadier general with jurisdiction over both types of artillery. The Coast Artillery became responsible for the installation and operation of the mine fields that were planted to be under observation, fired electrically. The mine component was considered to be among the armament of coastal defense works. In 1905, after the experiences of the Spanish–American War, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a new board on fortifications and they updated some standards and reviewed the progress of the Endicott boards program. Most of the changes recommended by this board were technical, such as adding more searchlights, electrification, the board also recommended fortifications in territories acquired from Spain, Cuba and the Philippines, as well as Hawaii and a few other sites. Defenses in Panama were authorized by the Spooner Act of 1902, due to rapid development of the dreadnought battleship type, a new 14-inch gun was introduced in a few locations, primarily Los Angeles, the Philippines, and Panama. The Taft program fortifications differed slightly in construction and had fewer numbers of guns at a given location than those of the Endicott program. By the beginning of World War I, the United States had a defense system that was equal to any other nation. The rapidity of technological advances and changing techniques increasingly separated coastal defenses from field artillery, officers were rarely qualified to command both, requiring specialization. National Guard coast artillery units were formed by the states to attempt to bring the CAC up to strength in wartime
37.
Canon de 155mm GPF
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The Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux mle.1917 was a 155 mm cannon used by the French Army during the first half of the 20th century. It was also adopted by the United States as the M1917, and it was also manufactured in the USA from 1917, after the US switched to metric artillery based on French patterns. Some of the guns were emplaced in Panama mounts on Corregidor, Caballo. A number of them were removed from their emplacements and used as roving batteries, the gun was later mounted on a self-propelled mount as the M12 Gun Motor Carriage and saw action in 1944-45. This gun was designed by Colonel L. J. F. Filloux to fill a vital French Army requirement for an artillery piece. The design proved a success and became the heavy field gun of the French from 1917 to the end of World War I. The weapon was pressed into service quickly, to remedy the shortage of weapons in the French inventory. This weapon became the Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux mle 1917, during World War 1, the gun was eventually taken on by the American Expeditionary Force as a standard long-range artillery piece. At the beginning of World War II the French guns were pulled out of reserve storage, the US M1918 155mm GPF was a copy of the French 1917 field gun and used by the US Army, Philippines and US Marines up to 1945. United States Army paid for, and subsequently copied, the Model 1918 gun, during World War 2 the 155mm guns were taken out of storage and utilized for coastal defense on American shores and across allied territories such as the Philippines and Australia. They were also used in Philippines, Guadalcanal and North Africa until more modern artillery was available, ultimately, both the US Army and Marine Corps phased out their M1918 guns for the 155-mm M1A1 Long Tom beginning in 1942. The M1918 was also fitted to the M12 Gun Motor Carriage as a self-propelled gun, in 1940, France fielded 450 of these guns. Many of them were captured and used by Germany for the rest of the war, in German service it was known as the 15.5 cm K418, it served with heavy artillery battalions in Afrika Korps and on coastal defense duties. On D-Day in 1944, the German Army had over 50 of the 155-mm French guns in sites on the northern French beaches, a battery of six of these guns near four empty emplacements for larger guns was the cause of the actions at Pointe du Hoc in June 1944. Many of these survive as memorials. D. D-Day, The Greatest Invasion - A Peoples History Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, ISBN 1-58234-314-4 Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Weapons of the Third Reich, An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945. New York, Doubleday,1979 ISBN 0-385-15090-3 Touzin, Pierre, Vauvillier, Les Matériels de lArmée Française, Les canons de la victoire, 1914-1918. 155-Millimeter Gun Materiel, Model of 1918 Handbook of artillery, including mobile, anti-aircraft and trench matériel US Army Ordnance Dept, May 1920
38.
52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment
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The 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an air defense artillery regiment of the United States Army first organized in 1917 as a railway gun unit. It continued in that role unit 1943, when the regiment was broken in separate railway gun battalions, the south Florida units arrived with conventional high explosive warheads. In August 1963, the Army assigned the troops under the control of the 13th Artillery Group to the 53rd Artillery Brigade, the soldiers could now go off TDY status and bring their families, cars, and personal effects to south Florida. They could also move into more permanent living facilities and get access to amenities available at permanent installations, attached below the shield a Gold scroll inscribed “SEMPER PARATUS” in Red letters. Symbolism The shield is red for Artillery, the gold potenté bend is an adaptation of the cottised bend on the arms of Champagne. Background The distinctive unit insignia was approved for the 538th Field Artillery Battalion on 29 December 1951. It was redesignated for the 52nd Artillery Regiment on 19 December 1958 and it was redesignated for the 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment effective 1 September 1971. Shield Gules, a bend potenté Or, crest On a wreath of the colors Or and Gules, a locomotive affronté Gules, charged with the numeral “52” Or. Shield The shield is red for Artillery, the gold potenté bend is an adaptation of the cottised bend on the arms of Champagne. Crest The crest alludes to World War I service in France, the coat of arms was originally approved for the 52nd Artillery, Coast Artillery Corps on 9 April 1921. It was redesignated for the 286th Coast Artillery Battalion and amended to delete the crest on 3 August 1944 and it was redesignated for the 538th Field Artillery Battalion on 20 November 1944. The insignia was redesignated for the 52nd Artillery Regiment and amended to add a crest on 19 December 1958, effective 1 September 1971, the insignia was redesignated for the 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment. The History of the 52nd Artillery, C. A. C and this article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Institute of Heraldry document 52nd ADA Artillery. This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Center of Military History document 52nd Air Defense Artillery Lineage, goldstein, Philip M. 52nd Railway Artillery Battalion, FORT HANCOCK & SANDY HOOK PROVING GROUNDS
39.
8-inch M1888
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The 8-inch Gun M1888 was a U. S. Army Coast Artillery Corps gun, initially deployed 1898-1908 in about 75 fixed emplacements, usually on a disappearing carriage. The M18888 in gun was an artillery gun initially deployed as part of the Endicott system of fortifications. An emergency converted Rodman carriage was used during the Spanish–American War in 1898 to quickly arm 21 emplacements with the modern 8-inch M1888 gun. These weapons were redeployed soon after the war ended, air and high-angle artillery attack would eventually severely impact US fortifications in the Philippines in World War II. After the American entry into World War I, the United States needed a heavy artillery piece that could be transported easily. The quick solution was to take the existing 8-inch coast artillery guns from the fixed mountings or from storage and this was also done with a number of other weapons, including 10 in guns,12 in guns, and 12-inch mortars. The 7 in guns, 8-inch guns, and 12-inch mortars used a carriage, with a depressed center. The bogies were interchangeable for standard gauge or 60 cm gauge track, outriggers and a rotating mount allowed all-around fire. This allowed the weapons to be used in coast defense against moving targets, a detailed description of the railway mounting is given in Railway Artillery, Vol. I by Lt. Col. H. W. Miller, a total of 96 8-inch guns were considered available for railway mounting, and 47 were ordered to be mounted on railcars. Twenty-four were produced before the Armistice, and three of these had been shipped to France by that time and these three were the only US Army railway guns shipped to France in World War I, although five US Navy 14/50 caliber railway guns saw action. All of the 47 ordered were completed by the end of 1919, unlike almost all other US railway weapons, the 8-inch guns were widely deployed in the inter-war years, and by 1942 were augmented by 32 ex-Navy Mark VI guns. Approximately twelve M1888 guns were deployed for the defense of Oahu, others were stationed for the coastal defense of Manila, eventually one each on Corregidor and Bataan, Bermuda, Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and Fort Hancock, New Jersey. An anecdotal account of the 8-inch M1888 railway guns in the Philippines in 1941-42 states that eight guns were shipped to Manila in late 1940, initially, difficulties were encountered because the railway carriages were 36-inch gauge and the Philippines used a 42-inch gauge. In late December 1941 all eight guns were sent north in one train to oppose the Japanese landings at Lingayen Gulf, the remaining two guns were eventually shipped to Corregidor by early March 1942, where they were mounted on improvised pedestal mounts. The account states that the one gun that information is available on fired only five proof rounds, One reference states that the other gun was mounted near Bagac, Bataan. The following sighting equipment was used with the gun, plant Museum, Tampa, FL One 8-inch gun M1888MII, Bethlehem #8, Bottomside, Fort Mills, Corregidor Island, Philippines 8-inch Mk. American Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide, Second Edition, Seacoast Fortifications of the United States
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Railway gun
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A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval artillery, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best known are the large Krupp-built pieces used by Germany in World War I, smaller guns were often part of an armoured train. Railway guns have been rendered obsolete by advances in technology and their large size and limited mobility make them vulnerable to attack, and similar payloads can be delivered by aircraft, rocket, or missile. The design of a gun has three issues over and above those of an ordinary artillery piece to consider. The first method of traverse is to rely entirely on movement along a section of track or on a turntable with no provision to traverse the gun on its mount. The second is to traverse the rail car body on its trucks, generally this is limited to a few degrees of traverse to either side unless an elaborate foundation is built with a centre pivot and traversing rollers. The design of the foundation is the limit to the amount of traverse allowed in this latter case. The third choice is to allow the gun mount to rotate with respect to the rail car body. This usually requires the gun to be mounted on a pivot which. There are four methods to absorb the recoil force for railway guns, cradle recoil, top-carriage recoil, sliding recoil. Cradle recoil means that the gun recoils backward in its cradle and it is returned to battery, or the firing position, by either helical springs or by air in a pneumatic recuperator cylinder that is compressed by the force of recoil. This is the most common used for lighter railroad guns. Top-carriage recoil is where the gun is mounted in a carriage that moves on wheels on fixed rails. The gun and upper carriage recoil together, restrained by the hydraulic buffers. Return to battery is effected either by gravity, through the use of inclined rails and it is not well-suited to firing at high elevations because it cannot absorb much of the vertical component of the recoil force. The gun, car body and trucks all recoil together with the friction generated by the sliding on the girders absorbing the recoil force after moving only about 1 to 2 metres to the rear. The sleepers must be jacked up again to allow the gun to roll forward to its firing position and this was often done by handwheels driving gear trains attached to the wheels, or even by electric motors on more modern mounts. Almost all of type of mounts were of the non-traversing type and had to be fired from a curved section of track or turntable
41.
53rd Coast Artillery Regiment
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The 53rd Coast Artillery Regiment was a Coast Artillery regiment in the United States Army. Battery A was the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Company Fort Howard, and 1st Company from Fort Smallwood. Battery B was the 10th Company at Fort Monroe, VA, Battery C was the 12th Company at Fort Monroe, VA. Battery D was the 11th Company at Fort Monroe, VA, Battery E was the 3rd Company at Fort Wadsworth, NY. Battery F was the 3rd Company Fort Hamilton, NY, Battery G was the 3rd Company from Fort Tilden Battery H was the 3rd Company Fort Moultrie, SC. Battery I was the 1st and 2nd Companies from Fort Hunt Battery K was the 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Companies from Fort Washington Battery L was the 2nd Company Fort Caswell, Battery M was the 2nd Company at Fort Screven, GA. Arrived in France 25 September 1917 and Redesignated 53rd Artillery Coast Artillery Corps on 5 February 1918, on 3 August 1943 53rd Artillery CAC reconstituted and consolidated with 53rd Coast Artillery. Crest On a wreath of the colors Or and Gules, an oozlefinch Vert, beaked, capped and collared on legs Or, in front of an epie of the last. Shield The regiment had its baptism of fire at Royammeix, France, near Commercy and was in St. Mihiel, the shield is gold as in the arms of Lorraine. The red pile is for artillery, scattered with cross crosslets fitchy from the arms of Commercy, crest The ozzlefinch and epie in the crest are both taken from the shoulder sleeve insignia worn by Railway Artillery Reserve, of which this regiment was a unit. The coat of arms was approved on 5 March 1929, there was no distinctive unit insignia approved for this unit. Unknown unknown Coats of arms of U. S. Air Defense Artillery Regiments Coats of arms of U. S, Artillery Regiments This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Institute of Heraldry document 53rd Coast Artillery Regiment. Historical register and dictionary of the United States Army, from, volume 1 By Francis Bernard Heitman Encyclopedia of United States Army insignia and uniforms By William K. Emerson. CMH lineage page 123 Artillery Journal http, //www. history. army. mil/html/forcestruc/lh. html http, //freepages. military. rootsweb. ancestry. com/~cacunithistories/53rd_Arty. html
42.
Panama mount
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The term Panama Mount describes a gun mount developed by the U. S. Army in Panama during the 1920s for fixed coastal artillery positions. Panama mounts were used during the buildup to and during World War II by the United States military. The mounts could be constructed as either full, 3/4 or half circles of steel rail set in concrete with a diameter of approximately 36 feet, a concrete column with a diameter of ten feet was constructed in the center of the circle to support the gun and carriage. The concrete column was connected to the concrete ring by concrete beams for alignment/stability. Originally traverse was accomplished with several men and prybars to move the arms around the steel ring. Later installations included a steel ring just inside of the outer steel rail for improved traverse. In World War II, Panama mounts were used to rearm six Harbor Defense Commands that had been disarmed in the 1920s and they were used for new defenses in Alaska, Newfoundland, Puerto Rico, and Australia. The term Panama mount is often used to describe other gun mounts with similar layouts and/or purpose. Many surviving examples of these mounts can be found throughout former US coast defense sites including California, Florida, Alaska, barbette mount Disappearing carriage Seacoast defense in the United States List of U. S. Army weapons by supply catalog designation Berhow, Mark A. Ed. American Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide, Second Edition
43.
Signal Hill, St. John's
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Signal Hill is a hill which overlooks the city of St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Due to its strategic placement overlooking the harbour, fortifications have been built on the hill since the mid 17th century, lt. Colonel Amherst renamed what was then known as The Lookout as Signal Hill, because of the signalling that took place upon its summit from its flagmast. Flag communication between land and sea would take place there from the 17th century until 1960, during Signal Hills first construction period in the late 18th century, Signal Hill was designated as the citadel for St. Johns. During the 19th century, Signal Hill was manned specifically during the Napoleonic Wars, a second construction period in Signal Hills history saw the construction of the Queens Battery Barracks, which has been completely restored to the period of 1862. Construction on Cabot Tower began in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee in 1897, the building was declared officially open in 1900. The practical uses of the building were flag mast signalling, on 12 December 1901, the first transatlantic wireless transmission was received here by Guglielmo Marconi in an abandoned fever and diphtheria hospital, which has since been destroyed by fire. The transmission, in Morse code, originated from his Poldhu Wireless Station, Cornwall, the United States maintained anti-aircraft guns on the hill during World War II. Signal Hill is a National Historic Site of Canada, the Signal Hill Tattoo showcases the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Foot from 1812, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Band from 1795, and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of 1917. Wearing full military uniforms as per the period, the give an display by each section and portray the drills. The Artillery provide an exhibition of cannon fire to add to the program, Cabot Tower, located at the top of the hill, features exhibits about Guglielmo Marconi and the wireless station that operated in the tower. There is a shop, and an amateur radio station VO1AA. It is sponsored by the Society Of Newfoundland Radio Amateurs, an active amateur radio repeater, VO1AAA146. 790+, is located inside the building and is operational year round. The visitor centre features exhibits and a film about the sites military and communications history. The North Head Trail is located along the Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding coast, the Lookout Trail features interpretive panels about the sites history. Some distance down the hill is located the Johnson Geo Centre, a tourist information radio station, CJSH-FM, broadcasts from the Signal Hill site. Zierler, Amy, and Cam Mustard, Signal Hill, An Illustrated History,1982, reprint 1997, Newfoundland Historic Parks Association, canadian Heritage - Parks Canada, Welcome to Signal Hill National Historic Site brochure, undated. Signal Hill National Historic Site - Parks Canada Atlas of Canada Relief Map
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Red Cliff Air Station
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Red Cliff Air Station is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 5.8 miles north-northeast of St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador, northeast Air Command stationed the 642d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at the station on 1 January 1953. The site was the most eastern ground radar site in North America of the USAF and these interceptors were assigned to the 64th Air Division at Goose AFB, Labrador. The station was reassigned to Aerospace Defense Command on 1 April 1957, today it is visible in aerial photography and it remains intact, although abandoned to the elements since its closure. Broadcasting station CJOZ-FM maintains and transmits from a building and tower on the property of the Eliston Ridge site. Red Cliff Air Station was closed on 1 October 1961, today the site is abandoned, unused since its closure Most of the structures remain, abandoned and deteriorating since its inactivation. It is occasionally used by local militia units as a Fighting in Built-up Areas training area, the area is also used by local graffiti artists, as well as paintball and airsoft players. afhra. af. mil/. Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W, a Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 -1980, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L. Searching the Skies, The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL Information for Red Cliff AS, NL
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Lend-Lease
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This included warships and warplanes, along with other weaponry. It was signed into law on March 11,1941 and ended in September 1945, in general the aid was free, although some hardware were returned after the war. In return, the U. S. was given leases on army, Canada operated a similar smaller program under a different name. A total of $50.1 billion worth of supplies was shipped, or 17% of the total war expenditures of the U. S. In all, $31.4 billion went to Britain, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, and the remaining $2.6 billion to the other Allies. Reverse Lend-Lease policies comprised services such as rent on air bases that went to the U. S. and totaled $7.8 billion, of this, $6.8 billion came from the British and the Commonwealth. The terms of the agreement provided that the materiel was to be used until returned or destroyed, in practice very little equipment was returned. Supplies that arrived after the date were sold to Britain at a large discount for £1.075 billion. Canada operated a program called Mutual Aid that sent a loan of $1 billion and $3.4 billion in supplies and services to Britain. This program effectively ended the United States pretense of neutrality and was a step away from non-interventionist policy. Following the Fall of France in June 1940, the British Commonwealth and Empire were the forces engaged in war against Germany and Italy. During this same period, the U. S. government began to mobilize for war, instituting the first-ever peacetime draft. In the meantime, as the British began running short of money, arms, as one Roosevelt biographer has characterized it, If there was no practical alternative, there was certainly no moral one either. Britain and the Commonwealth were carrying the battle for all civilization, as the President himself put it, There can be no reasoning with incendiary bombs. In September 1940, during the Battle of Britain the British government sent the Tizard Mission to the United States, in December 1940, President Roosevelt proclaimed the U. S. would be the Arsenal of Democracy and proposed selling munitions to Britain and Canada. Isolationists were strongly opposed, warning it would lead to American involvement in what was seen by most Americans as an essentially European conflict. In time, opinion shifted as increasing numbers of Americans began to see the advantage of funding the British war against Germany, while staying out of the hostilities themselves. After a decade of neutrality, Roosevelt knew that the change to Allied support must be gradual, originally, the American position was to help the British but not enter the war
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10-inch gun M1895
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The 10-inch Gun M1895 and its variants the M1888 and M1900 were large coastal artillery pieces installed to defend major American seaports between 1895 and 1945. For most of their history they were operated by the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps, most were installed on disappearing carriages, with early installations on barbette mountings. All of the not in the Philippines were scrapped during World War II. Two of the weapons were relocated from the Philippines to Fort Casey in Washington state in the 1960s. Endicott, President Grover Clevelands Secretary of War, was tasked with creating the Board of Fortifications to review seacoast defenses, most of the Boards recommendations were implemented. Coast Artillery fortifications built between 1885 and 1905 are often referred to as Endicott Period fortifications, the Watervliet Arsenal designed the gun and built the barrels. A few of the first guns were mounted on low-angle M1893 barbette carriages, after the Spanish–American War, the government wanted to protect American seaports in the event of war, and also protect newly gained territory, such as the Philippines and Cuba, from enemy attack. A new Board of Fortifications, under President Theodore Roosevelts Secretary of War William Taft, was convened in 1905, Taft recommended technical changes, such as more searchlights, electrification, and in some cases less guns in particular fortifications. The seacoast forts were funded under the Spooner Act of 1902 and construction began within a few years, the defenses of the Philippines on islands in Manila Bay and Subic Bay were built under this program. After the American entry into World War I, the Army recognized the need for railway guns for use on the Western Front. Among the weapons available for this were 129 10-inch guns, to be removed from fixed defenses or taken from spares, a detailed description of the railway mounting is given in Railway Artillery, Vol. I by Lt. Col. H. W. Miller, probably all guns were returned to coastal defenses and all mountings scrapped after the war. In 1941 eight M1888 guns were sent to Canada under Lend-Lease for use in coast defenses there, two of the Fort Mott disappearing guns were deployed at Fort Cape Spear, St. Johns, Newfoundland and remain there. The remaining disappearing gun from Fort Mott and one gun from Fort Flagler were deployed at Fort Prevel on the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec. Two of the guns from Fort Worden were deployed to Fort McNutt on McNutts Island, Nova Scotia and remain there. The remaining two guns from Forts Flagler and Worden were deployed at Wisemans Cove, Botwood, Newfoundland. Along with other coast artillery weapons, some of the 10-inch guns in the Philippines saw action in the Japanese invasion in World War II. Since they were positioned against an attack, they were poorly sited to engage the Japanese
47.
Cape Spear
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Cape Spear, located on the Avalon Peninsula near St. Johns, Newfoundland, is the easternmost point in Canada, and North America, excluding Danish-controlled Greenland. Cape Spear is within the boundaries of the city of St. Johns, located about 2 miles from Blackhead. The Portuguese named this location Cabo da Esperança which means cape of hope, Cape Spear is the trailhead/trail end for two components of the East Coast Trail. The Cape Spear region was inhabited by Beothuk peoples. According to Fife and Roseman, historically there are “no indications that either the Beothuk or the Mi’kmaq equated Cape Spear with a ‘land’s end’ that was meaningful to them. ”A lighthouse has operated at Cape Spear since September 1836. The original Cape Spear lighthouse was the lighthouse built in Newfoundland. In 1832, the first legislative assembly for the created a lighthouse board. Cape Spear was chosen as the site for a new lighthouse because it was on the eastern coast near the entrance to St Johns harbor. Nicholas Croke and William Parker, two St. Johns builders, won the contract for the lighthouse and work began in 1834 or early in 1835, the first lighthouse was a square wooden building with a tower in the middle containing the light. A foghorn was added in 1878, the first light used at Cape Spear had already been used since 1815 at a lighthouse at Inchkeith on the east coast of Scotland. This light used seven Argand burners and curved reflectors and this was later replaced by a dioptric lens system, the light was first lit by oil, then acetylene, and finally electricity in 1930. Barracks and underground passages leading to the bunkers were built for the use of troops stationed there, the gun barrels remain in place. A new concrete building was built to house the light in 1955, the lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and the location has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada. The original lighthouse building and the keepers residence have since been restored to the period of 1839. The visitor centre includes a gift shop, the lighthouse was designated under the federal Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act in June 2016. The World War II bunkers and gun barrels that are located at the site afford a view of the ocean. Some visitors attracted by the scenery and history have been swept away by the large and unpredictable waves at Cape Spear, in 1835, dense fog enveloped an approaching warship carrying a VIP visitor to St. Johns. The Governor sent out several pilot boats, and a harbour pilot names James Cantwell succeeded in locating the ship
