The USS Olympia (left) leads the U.S. Asiatic Squadron as it destroys the Spanish fleet off Cavite.

Theodore Roosevelt

Battle of Manila Bay

By A.B. Feuer

The United States Navy investigation into the February 15, 1898, sinking of the battleship Maine was a difficult undertaking. Read more

Under Van Deman, the Military Intelligence Section had wide powers of intelligence collection and investigation.

Theodore Roosevelt

Famous Military Spies: Ralph Van Deman

By Peter Kross

In the long history of American military intelligence, the names that come to mind most often are those of Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold, Herbert Yardley, and William Donovan. Read more

Three crews were lost during tests of the Horace L. Hunley, shown in a painting by Conrad Wise Chapman.

Theodore Roosevelt

Evolution of the Submarine

By John Protasio

The concept of a ship that could submerge beneath the water and then resurface dates back as far as the late 1400s, when Italian Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci claimed to have found a method for a ship to remain submerged for a protracted period of time. Read more

Theodore Roosevelt

1st Infantry Division Museum

By Steve Hawkins

One of America’s finest military museums, the 1st Division Museum near Chicago, presents the history of America’s oldest division––from its inception in World War I, through World War II, the Cold War, the jungles of Vietnam, and Desert Storm. Read more

Theodore Roosevelt

Japanese Internment: Behind the Barbed Wire in America

By Richard Higgins

“We were stunned when we entered the camp,” Yoshio “Yosh” Nakamura said, remembering the day when he and his family, from El Monte, California, were herded through the main gate at the Gila River Relocation Center—a Japanese American internment camp 30 miles southeast of Phoenix, Arizona—carrying only suitcases into which their worldly possessions had been crammed. Read more

Theodore Roosevelt

Japan’s Road to War

By Eric Hammel

Japan’s road to World War II was a long one. Throughout the late 19th century, the island nation broke out of its feudal past on a path to modernity with a ruthlessness and singlemindedness that would have scared Western nations had they been paying attention. Read more

Theodore Roosevelt

U.S. Marines on Nicaragua

By Al Hemingway

Since the 19th century, Nicaragua has been of key strategic interest to the U.S. government. Revolution regularly rocked the Central American country. Read more

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt, the Monroe Doctrine & the U.S. Navy

By. Roy Morris, Jr.

Never was Theodore Roosevelt’s famous dictum, “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” used to greater effect than in the high-stakes standoff between the American president and prickly, pugnacious Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany over the debt crisis in Venezuela in December 1902. Read more

The General Wilson had Originally Selected to Lead America in World War I Was Not Pershing, Nor Any Ordinary Officer. It Was General Frederick Funston.

Theodore Roosevelt

General Frederick Funston

by Shippen Swift

Looking at a 1917 newspaper photo of Frederick Funston, barely 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing just a biscuit over a hundred pounds, today’s reader would wonder whatever made U.S. Read more

On a Secret Mission of Great Importance to the War Effort, Andrew Rowan Carried a Message to Cuban General Calixto Garcia...

Theodore Roosevelt

Andrew Rowan’s Message To Calixto Garcia

by Thomas P. McKenna

One of the most interesting characters arising out of the Spanish-American War was Lt. Andrew Summers Rowan, who was selected by President William McKinley to carry a secret message to the Cuban general Calixto Garcia. Read more

A pioneer in the field of military aviation, the Department of the Navy was instrumental in advancing military aeronautics into its modern form.

Theodore Roosevelt

The Birth of U.S. Military Aviation

by Brad Reynolds

On March 25, 1898, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt recommended that two officers “of scientific attainment and practical ability” be appointed to investigate the Samuel P. Read more