On November 18, 2025 Rear Admiral Paul W. Dillingham, Jr. passed away. His biography follows:
Continue reading “RIP Rear Admiral Paul W. Dillingham, Jr., 34th Commander the Lead Naval Cryptologists”
Featured image: “The Spooks” of the USS Fox (DLG–33/CG-33) – Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone, PIRAZ, Gulf of Tonkin, 1971. Special thanks to Bill Scholz for allowing his picture to be used on this post.
During the Vietnam War and other major conflicts, the U.S. Navy operated a select group of ships known as PIRAZ stations, short for Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone. These vessels, often referred to by their radio callsign “Red Crown,” formed the backbone of radar coverage and command coordination for friendly aircraft in designated combat zones.
Continue reading “The Navy’s “Red Crown”: Guardians of the Skies – The Role of PIRAZ Stations”
Most Marines had never seen combat when Peter Ortiz joined the Corps in June 1942. However, he had already survived five years in the French Foreign Legion and fought in Africa, faced the Nazis in France, spent 15 months as a prisoner of war, and escaped occupied Europe to get back into the fight.
Continue reading “The U.S. Marine Who Forced Nazi Officers to Toast FDR at Gunpoint — and Became the Most Decorated OSS Operative”
Chief Tanner is the first active duty Navy woman to be selected for Chief “I” Brancher Chief Tanner was born in China Lake, California, the daughter of a U.S. Navy Senior Chief Corpsman. She joined the Navy in 1974 and attended basic training in Orlando, Florida. From there she went to Dental Tech “A” school in San Diego, California. After serving as a Dental Technician at Balboa, Groton, and Pearl Harbor, Chief Tanner was transferred to Pensacola, Florida.
Continue reading “First CTI Female Selected to Chief Petty Officer, 1987”
William Frederick Halsey, Jr.
30 October 1882 – 16 August 1959
The Battle of Mogadishu, fought on October 3–4, 1993, remains one of the most intense and heroic engagements involving U.S. forces since the Vietnam War. The battle took place in Mogadishu, Somalia, during Operation Gothic Serpent, a mission launched by U.S. and United Nations forces to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid and stabilize the region during a time of famine and civil unrest.
Continue reading “Remembering The Battle of Mogadishu, Also known as “Black Hawk Down””
Station HYPO 