Free Republic

THEY WERE THE Navy’s last chance. It was 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, June 4, 1942. Forty-seven U. S. Navy dive bombers had found what they were looking for. Far below, four Japanese aircraft carriers were launching the first planes of a massive strike that could decide the Battle of Midway. So far, two days of American air and submarine attacks had failed to damage a single ship of the peerless Japanese Aircraft Carrier Striking Force. The priceless intelligence advantage the U.S. had gained through years of backbreaking effort by Navy codebreakers was about to be squandered. The heroic sacrifice...

I knew the day might come. The news still hurt. The daughter of an amazing war hero called the other night to say her father was dying. An overnight email a day later told me that Norman "Dusty" Kleiss, 100 years old, hero of the Battle of Midway, had died Friday. He was the last surviving dive-bomber from the sea battle that turned the tide of World War II. In discussing Dusty with his daughter, we agreed it was as if the pilot was determined to reach the age of 100 before his health faded. Several weeks ago, there was...

Bristling with cutting-edge technology and carrying an awesome array of weaponry, the Royal Navy’s new destroyer HMS Dauntless is said to be one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful warships. But the £1 billion ($1.61 billion) vessel was left helpless and stranded—when a £10 ($16) fuse apparently blew. Dauntless was left without power and plunged into darkness. According to one source on board, the ship was ‘drifting for several minutes’ before the fault was corrected. No official cause for the problem has been given, but Navy insiders suggested that the fuse blew because a complicated water-cooling system had not been...

WASHINGTON -- Shortly after the GOP sweep of Congress last year, newly minted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, of Sugar Land, hosted a bipartisan dinner for the often-feuding Texas delegation.   After talking about what could be accomplished by working together, DeLay opened the floor to questions.   Immediately, he was challenged on rumors that he planned to force congressional redistricting through the Texas Legislature to wipe out the seats of several Democrats present. DeLay didn't flinch. Why try to hide it? The only unity DeLay was after required swift elimination of as many Democratic officeholders as possible.   "I'm the majority leader,...