1.
Pearl Harbor
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Pearl Harbor is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base and it is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U. S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet, the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7,1941, was the immediate cause of the United States entry into World War II. Pearl Harbor was originally a shallow embayment called Wai Momi or Puʻuloa by the Hawaiians. Puʻuloa was regarded as the home of the goddess, Kaʻahupahau. Making due allowance for legendary amplification, the estuary already had an outlet for its waters where the present gap is, during the early 19th century, Pearl Harbor was not used for large ships due to its shallow entrance. The interest of United States in the Hawaiian Islands grew as a result of its whaling, shipping and trading activity in the Pacific. As early as 1820, an Agent of the United States for Commerce and these commercial ties to the American continent were accompanied by the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. American missionaries and their families became a part of the Hawaiian political body. Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, many American warships visited Honolulu, in most cases, the commanding officers carried letters from the U. S. Government giving advice on governmental affairs and of the relations of the island nation with foreign powers. In 1841, the newspaper Polynesian, printed in Honolulu, advocated that the U. S. establish a base in Hawaii for protection of American citizens engaged in the whaling industry. The British Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Crichton Wyllie, remarked in 1840 that and my opinion is that the tide of events rushes on to annexation to the United States. In 1865, the North Pacific Squadron was formed to embrace the western coast, lackawanna in the following year was assigned to cruise among the islands, a locality of great and increasing interest and importance. This vessel surveyed the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands toward Japan, as a result, the United States claimed Midway Island. The Secretary of the Navy was able to write in his report of 1868. This increased activity caused the permanent assignment of at least one warship to Hawaiian waters and it also praised Midway Island as possessing a harbor surpassing Honolulus. In the following year, Congress approved an appropriation of $50,000 on March 1,1869, after 1868, when the Commander of the Pacific Fleet visited the islands to look after American interests, naval officers played an important role in internal affairs. They served as arbitrators in disputes, negotiators of trade agreements and defenders of law
2.
Landing Craft Mechanized
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The landing craft mechanized also landing craft mechanical is a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allied amphibious assaults. There was no design of LCM used, unlike the landing craft, vehicle, personnel or landing craft assault landing craft made by the US. There were several different designs built by the UK and US, the British motor landing craft was conceived and tested in the 1920s and was used from 1924 in exercises. It was the first purpose built landing craft. It was the progenitor of all subsequent LCM designs, the landing craft, mechanised Mark I was an early British model. It was able to be slung under the davits of a liner or on a cargo ship boom with the result that it was limited to a 16-ton tank, the LCM Mark I was used during the Allied landings in Norway, and at Dieppe and some 600 were built. Displacement,35 tonnes Length,13.6 m Width,4.27 m Draught,1.22 m Machinery, approximately 150 were built by American Car & Foundry and Higgins Industries. A Higgins LCM-3 is on display at the Battleship Cove maritime museum in Fall River, outwardly, the LCM was almost completely identical to a late model LCM - the difference lay inside the pontoon. Here special bilge pumps and special ballast tanks allowed the LCM to alter trim to increase stability when partially loaded, British model of LCM An LCM extended by 6 feet amidships. Many were later adapted as armoured troop carriers for the Mobile Riverine Force in the Vietnam War, power plant,2 Detroit 6-71 diesel engines,348 hp sustained, twin shaft, or 2 Detroit 8V-71 diesel engines,460 hp sustained, twin shaft Length,56
3.
USCGC Woodbine (WLB-289)
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USCGC Woodbine was a United States Coast Guard buoy tender. Woodbine was assigned to Norfolk, Virginia for general aids-to-navigation duties, on 20 September 1943, she was transferred to San Juan, Puerto Rico for aids-to-navigation and law enforcement duties, inspecting vessels suspected of drug trafficking. On 15 January 1944, she sailed from Puerto Rico to Portsmouth Navy Yard for refitting, then sailed to San Francisco, where she was stationed from 7 March 1944. At the end of the war Woodbine returned to the United States, and from 19 September 1947, was stationed in Grand Haven, Michigan, on 19 April 1965 she was slightly damaged in a collision with MV Meteor while ice-breaking off Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was a seaman aboard the Woodbine when we had the collision. It was a Sunday afternoon around 3, from 18 to 20 August 1965, she was involved in recovering debris from United Airlines Flight 389 which had crashed into Lake Michigan. Also in 1965 her designation was changed from WAGL to WLB, on 6 January 1971, she was deployed to search for the crew of an Air Force B-52 bomber that crashed in upper Lake Michigan, near Charlevoix. In the early 1980s, she was sold to an owner at the cost of $150,000. Sometime Prior to 1992 Woodbine was modified and used as a mobile fish-processing vessel in Alaska for the Woodbine Alaska Fishing Company, the buoy deck was enclosed and used as a processing floor with 4 large freezers. On the stern a galley was built and the deck aft of the wheelhouse was inclosed to shelter the cardboard used to pack frozen fish in. The forward deck was outfitted with multiple holding tanks for fish waiting to be processed, towards her end as a processor another shelter was added to the buoy deck. To off set for all the building upwards 30,000 lbs of cement had to be poured in to the lower hold, the design of the processing operation was very simple and had none of the labor saving equipment the other companies used. It was a very labor-intensive at times, unloading the holds of frozen fish had to be done by hand. We ran an all male crew because of close quarters and hard labor conditions, I last stood on her decks in 1995. I quite the company and the M/V Woodbine left of another season,8 years ago I found the M/V Woodbine tied to the docks in Astoria, Oregon. They decided to not complete the trip and pulled in to Astoria, where the M/V Woodbine would sit for her remaining years until she was sold for scrap around 2012
4.
Landing Ship, Tank
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This provided amphibious assaults to almost any beach. The bow of the LST had a door that would open with a ramp for unloading the vehicles. The LST had a flat keel that allowed the ship to be beached. The twin propellers and rudders had protection from grounding, the LSTs served across the globe during World War II including, Pacific War and European theatre. The first tank landing ships were built to British requirements by converting existing ships, then the British, over 1,000 LSTs were laid down in the United States during World War II for use by the Allies. Eighty more were built in the United Kingdom and Canada, as an interim measure, three 4, 000- to 4, 800-GRT tankers, built to pass over the restrictive bars of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, were selected for conversion because of their shallow draft. Bow doors and ramps were added to ships, which became the first tank landing ships, LST, HMS Misoa, Tasajera. They later proved their worth during the invasion of Algeria in 1942, the first purpose-built LST design was HMS Boxer. It was a design from ideas penned by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In order that it could carry 13 Churchill infantry tanks,27 other vehicles and nearly 200 men at a speed of 18 knots, as a result, each of the three ordered in March 1941 had a very long ramp stowed behind the bow doors. The three ships were converted to Fighter Direction Ships for the invasion of Normandy, the U. S. were to build seven LST but in light of the problems with the design and progress with the LCT Mark II the plans were canceled. Construction of the LCTs took until 1943 and the first US LCT was launched before them, at their first meeting at the Atlantic conference in Argentia, Newfoundland, in August 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill confirmed the Admiraltys views. During this meeting, it was decided that the Bureau of Ships would design these vessels, as with the standing agreement, these ships would be built by the US so British shipyards could concentrate on building vessels for the Royal Navy. The specifications called for vessels capable of crossing the Atlantic, calling a vessel 300 ft long a craft was considered a misnomer and the type was re-christened Landing Ship, Tank, or LST. The LST design incorporated elements of the first British LCTs from their designer, Sir Rowland Baker, one of the elements provided for sufficient buoyancy in the ships sidewalls so that they would float the ship even when the tank deck was flooded. The LST gave up the speed of HMS Boxer, at only 10 knots, within a few days, John C. Niedermair of the Bureau of Ships sketched out an awkward looking ship that proved to be the design for the more than 1,000 LST that were built during World War II. An anchor and mechanical winch system also aided in the ability to pull itself off the beach
5.
United States Maritime Commission
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It also formed the United States Maritime Service for the training of seagoing ships officers to man the new fleet. The purpose of the Maritime Commission was multifold as described in the Merchant Marine Acts Declaration of Policy. S, Merchant Marine prior to the Act. Another function given to the Commission involved the formation of the U. S. Maritime Service for the training of seagoing ships officers to man the new fleet, the actual licensing of officers and seamen still resided with the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation. President Roosevelt nominated Joseph P. Kennedy first head of the Commission, Kennedy held that position until February 1938 when he left to become US Ambassador to Great Britain. The other four members of the Commission in the years before the beginning of World War II were a mix of retired officers and men from disciplines of law. The man most notable in the group Land brought to the Commission was Commander Howard L. Vickery, USN, as a symbol of the rebirth of the U. S. Upon the U. S. entry into World War II, America was requisitioned by the U. S. Navy and became USS West Point. Most of the C2s and C3s were converted to Navy auxiliaries, notably attack cargo ships, attack transports, the Commission also was tasked with the construction of many hundred military type vessels such as Landing Ship, Tank s and Tacoma-class frigates and large troop transports. By the end of the war, U. S. shipyards working under Maritime Commission contracts had built a total of 5,777 oceangoing merchant, in early 1942 both the training and licensing was transferred to the U. S. S. With the end of World War II, both the Emergency and Long Range shipbuilding programs were terminated as there were far too many merchant vessels now for the Nations peacetime needs. In 1946, the Merchant Ship Sales Act was passed to sell off a portion of the ships previously built during the war to commercial buyers. Although not sold outright to nations that were enemies during the war, for the next 25 years, in ports all around the world one could find dozens of ships which had been built during the war but which now were used in peace. Ships not disposed of through the Ship Sales Act were placed one of eight National Defense Reserve Fleet sites maintained on the Atlantic, Pacific. On several occasions in the postwar years ships in the fleets were activated for both military and humanitarian aid missions. The last major mobilization of the NDRF came during the Vietnam War, since then, a smaller fleet of ships called the Ready Reserve Force has been mobilized to support both humanitarian and military missions. The Maritime Commission was abolished on 24 May 1950, and its functions were divided between the U. S. S. Merchant Marine Academy which had built and opened during World War II. 1936, Merchant Marine Act abolishes Shipping Board and establishes Maritime Commission,1937, Joseph P. S. merchant shipping has been held by many agencies since 1917
6.
Richmond, California
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Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7,1905, under the McLaughlin Administration, Richmond was the largest city in the United States served by a Green Party mayor. As of the 2010 U. S. Census, the population is at 103,710. The largest, Richmond, Virginia, is the namesake of the California city, the Ohlone Indians were the first inhabitants of the Richmond area, settling an estimated 5,000 years ago. The name Richmond appears to predate actual incorporation by more than fifty years, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad had its terminus at Richmond. The first post office opened in 1900, Richmond was founded and incorporated in 1905, carved out of Rancho San Pablo, from which the nearby town of San Pablo inherited its name. Until the enactment of prohibition in 1919, the city had the largest winery in the world, in the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan was active in the city. In 1930 the Ford Motor Company opened a plant called Richmond Assembly Plant which moved to Milpitas in the 1960s. The old Ford plant has been a National Historic Place since 1988, the city was a small town at that time, until the onset of World War II which brought on a rush of migrants and a boom in the industrial sector. Standard Oil set up here in 1901, including a what is now the Chevron Richmond Refinery and tank farm. There is a pier into San Francisco Bay south of Point Molate for oil tankers, the western terminus of the Santa Fe Railroad was established in Richmond with ferry connections at Ferry Point in the Brickyard Cove area of Point Richmond to San Francisco. Many of these lived in specially constructed houses scattered throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Richmond, Berkeley. A specially built rail line, the Shipyard Railway, transported workers to the shipyards, kaisers Richmond shipyards built 747 Victory and Liberty ships for the war effort, more than any other site in the U. S. The city broke many records and even built one Liberty ship in a five days. On average the yards could build a ship in thirty days, the medical system established for the shipyard workers at the Richmond Field Hospital eventually became todays Kaiser Permanente HMO. It remained in operation until 1993 when it was replaced by the modern Richmond Medical Center hospital, Point Richmond was originally the commercial hub of the city, but a new downtown arose in the center of the city. It was populated by many department stores such as Kress, J. C. Penney, Sears, Macys, during the war the population increased dramatically and peaked at around 120,000 by the end of the war. Once the war ended the workers were no longer needed
7.
International Code of Signals
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The International Code of Signals is an international system of signals and codes for use by vessels to communicate important messages regarding safety of navigation and related matters. Signals can be sent by flaghoist, signal lamp, flag semaphore, radiotelegraphy, the International Code is the most recent evolution of a wide variety of maritime flag signalling systems. It has done this by first establishing an alphabet, along with a spoken form of each letter. Combinations of these characters are assigned as codes for various standardized messages. One simply raises the Kilo flag, or sends the Morse Code equivalent by flashing light, one of the elegant aspects of the ICS is that all of the standardized messages come in nine languages. It is immaterial if the sender and receiver are using different languages, the code also covers procedural aspects, how naval ships indicate that they are using the ICS, use in radiotelephony, and various other matters. Prior to 1969, the code was more extensive, covering a wider range of messages. Since 1969, it has reduced to focus on navigation and safety. Signals can be sorted into three groups, Single-letter signals which are very urgent, important, or common, two-letter signals for other messages, sometimes followed with a numerical complement which supplements or modifies the message. Three-letter signals beginning with M, these are the Medical Signal Codes, in some cases, additional characters are added to indicate quantities, bearing, course, distance, date, time, latitude, or longitude. There is also provision for spelling words and for indicating use of other codes, several of the more common single-letter signals are shown at the right. Two-letter signals cover a broad gamut of situations, the reader is urged to download a copy of the Code from the link below. Repeated characters can be a problem in flaghoist, to avoid having to carry multiple sets of signal flags, the Code uses three substitute flags. These repeat the flag at the indicated position, for instance, to signal MAA the Mike, Alfa, and 2nd substitute flags would be flown, the substitute indicating a repeat of the second character. The Medical Signal Code is a means of providing assistance when medical personnel are not present, even where there are no language problems, the Medical Signal Code is useful in providing a standard method of case description and treatment. There is also a standard list of medicaments, keyed to a standard ships medicine chest carried by all merchant ships, the Medical signals all begin with the letter M followed by two more letters, and sometimes with additional numerals or letters. The International Code of Signals was preceded by a variety of signals and private signals, most notably Marryats Code. What is now the International Code of Signals was drafted in 1855 by the British Board of Trade and it came in two parts, the first containing universal and international signals, and the second British signals only
8.
Service star
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The service star may also be referred to as a campaign star or battle star depending on which award is authorized the star and the manner in which the device is used for the award. Service stars, Campaign stars, and Battle stars are worn with one point of the star pointing up on the ribbon of a medal. A silver star is worn instead of five bronze stars, a service star is sometimes mistaken for a Bronze Star or Silver Star. The service star is similar to the gold and silver 5⁄16 Inch Stars which may be authorized to be worn on specific individual decorations of certain services to denote additional decorations. Service stars are authorized for the following United States expeditionary medals, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medal, Service stars are also authorized for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal effective February 9,2015 retroactive to September,11,2001. Each star represents a deployment in support of an approved GWOT operation, only one GWOT-EM is awarded for each operation. The five GWOT-EM approved operations by inclusive dates are, Enduring Freedom,11,2001 - TBD Iraqi Freedom, Mar.19,2003 - Aug.31, 2010Nomad Shadow, Nov.05,2007 - TBD New Dawn, Sep. 01,2010 - Dec.31,2011 Inherent Resolve, the bronze service star is also authorized for certain unit awards such as the Presidential Unit Citation to denote a second and subsequent award. The service ribbon itself indicates the first award, with a service star being added to indicate the second. If ever applicable, a service star is worn instead of five bronze stars. As a result, at least one star will be worn on the ribbon. However, though authorized for wear, no battle stars have been approved for wear, only a combatant commander can initiate a request for a battle star. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the approving authority, only one award of the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and one award of the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal may be authorized for any individual. The specific manner of wear and symbolism of the stars varied from medal to medal, for example, an American Campaign Medal with a bronze service star indicated the service member had participated in an antisubmarine campaign. On other medals, bronze service stars were used on the service ribbon for those recipients of medals in possession of authorized campaign claps for those medals. Similarly, during the Vietnam War and afterwards, the Battle Effectiveness Award took the place of receiving battle stars for superior battle efficiency in place of combat operations. Awards and decorations of the United States military United States military award devices 5/16 inch star Oak leaf cluster United States award regulations for World War II
2 × battle stars
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the 
