PHG Blog

Welcome back PHG fans, today we're headed to Bar Point, Australia, roughly an hour north of Sydney, New South Wales. There's a famous wreck here, HMAS Parramatta. The ship saw extensive service during the First World War, particularly the capture of German New Guinea and New Britain in 1914. Later in the war, the ship served in the the China and Philippine Seas, where she became the first Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ship to sink a submarine. Parramatta also served in the Medi

Hello PHG readers, today we're headed to Miyako-Jima, Japan. This small island group is one of two in the Sakishima Islands, which lay situated to the west of the Ryukyu Islands, between Okinawa and Taiwan. The five principal islands of this group are Miyako (the largest), Irabu, Tarama, Minna, and Ikema. The main island group is surrounded by reefs, shoals, and sandbars, as you can see on google maps. There's been several prominent shipwrecks as a result of these reefs being

Hello PHG fans! While building the pages for the Republic of Korea, I noticed this interesting area of Gyeongju City, a densely packed historic district that includes museums, castle ruins, and other monuments. This is part of the old capital of Silla, one of three kingdoms of ancient Korea. There's been a lot written on this topic, such as this magazine article, and this scientific study. Nestled within the Gyeongju historic sites is this National Museum, focused on the poli

Greetings PHG fans, in case you missed it, last year I presented an analysis of the Battle of Leyte Gulf for WW2TV, speficially from the perspective of Admiral Kurita Takeo. This is my favorite story of the Second World War, and Kurita is my favorite Japanese admiral to talk about. If you're a fan of the Battle of Leyte Gulf (join the club) or want to talk about some of the conclusions I reached in this talk, let me know in the comments! A drawing showing the approaches of th

South Pacific Memorial Peace Park - Yigo Village, Guam The South Pacific Memorial Peace Park in Yigo, Guam was established in June 1970 on the site of the former Mataguac Hill Command Post by the South Pacific War Memorial Association. Here, the last Japanese organized resistance on Guam ended on August 10, 1944; at the site you can find a small remembrance chapel, a peace memorial, and several monuments and markers that commemorate both the people who took part in the battle

Greetings PHG family, it seems crazy but my last time in Korea was 2018, when I made port on Jeju Island while attached to USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76). Prior to 2018, I'd visited Korea almost every year, sometimes twice a year, as part of a port call or aircraft detachment. Most of my experience has been in Busan, a busy port city on the southeastern corner of the country. My last time visiting there was ten years ago this October, and I'm really itching to get back. One place

The first Imperial Japanese Navy submarines were purchased from Electric Boat in the United States in1904. These five ships were assembled in the U.S. under the supervision of Arthur Busch to the specifications laid out by John Holland; these two men had previously built the very first commissioned submarine in the USN, USS Holland (SS-1). The five ships were partially dismantled and shipped to Japan in kit form, where they were assembled by Busch at the Yokosuka Naval Arsena

Greetings PHG fans, in order to bring some attention to the immense amount of help that the residents of Saipan and CNMI will need to clean up after Super Typhoon Sinlaku last week, we're re-posting this blog entry from February 2025. I urge all who can to donate to the American Red Cross who is helping residents to recover from this terrible storm. Thank you! Although Sinlaku may have caused catastrophic damage to Saipan ad her historic sites, a trip to the island is neverth

Hello PHG fans! As we're now in the second year of Pacific History Guide, I'm digging into the analytics behind the page, to gauge which areas are doing well and which need some help. Although many pages are under single-digits in views, one sticks out to me in particular: Hawai'i .Because of this low turnout, and also because I hold my own experience in Hawai'i in such high regard, I'd like to write about it today. Although I've only been to Hawai'i once, and only to one isl

Greetings PHG fans! Today, 4 April is the 142nd anniversary of the birth of Takano Isoroku, who, as commander of the Imperial Japan's Combined Fleet under the name Yamamoto Isoroku, oversaw the Navy's entry into the wider Pacific War. The last known photograph of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, on Rabaul 18 April 1943 Yamamoto is one of the more famous Japanese figures of the Second World War and probably the most recognizable among Imperial Japan's many Admirals. Perhaps best know

Greetings PHG fans! This week we are celebrating one year since the launch of Pacific History Guide. On March 30, 2025, after two and a half months of building and editing, I published the website for the first time online. We started off small; I didn't have a large online following and so we kicked off with social media posts on the newly created PHG Facebook and Bluesk y accounts. Sharing with family and friends helped spread the word, and we were off to the races, movin

Hello PHG fans, today we're headed back to Japan, and on a special occasion as well. It happens that this week we marked 158 years since the first Japanese fleet review took place near Mount Tempo in Osaka . The Meiji Emperor, in whose name the Meiji Restoration took place and Boshin War was fought, was on hand to witness six Japanese ships and one french vessel sail together on 26 March 1868. This was the first of 18 fleet reviews, the last of which was in 1940 in Yokohama.

Hello PHG fans! Today we're headed back to the Philippines, and taking a look at a memorial for the USS Stingray (SS-186). This monument is located not far from the northernmost point on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. On 27 August 1944, Stingray made a secret drop near here of 15 Filipino guerrillas (trained in Brisbane by the Allies) and six tons of supplies. Small deliveries such as this one helped soften the beachhead in Luzon as the plans to retake the Phil

On this day in 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean roughly 80 miles east of Miyagi, Japan. The earthquake, the strongest in recorded Japanese history, set off a series of tsunamis that killed 18,000 throughout the northeast coast of the country. Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures had all but a hundred or so of the casualties. The tsunami that struck Fukushima knocked the power out in the Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which led to a partial meltdow

Hello friends, this week I've got a bonus blog post, somewhat different than the normal topics we usually cover. Inspiration hit and I had to get it out. I hope you enjoy it! This week, my squadron had the pleasure of hosting Rita J. King for a talk on color mindset, and her project Power Pairs . As part of her presentation, Rita facilitated a thought exercise in which we looked at different sides of a historical event. She chose the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, in

Enomoto Takeaki 榎本 武揚 is one of the founding fathers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and a pivotal figure in the history of Japan. Enomoto was born in Edo, near what is now Taito-ku, Tokyo, in 1836. Among the many in Japan motivated by the arrival of Perry's Black Ships in 1854, he began learning Dutch, and studied at the Tokugawa Shogunate's Naval Training Center in Nagasaki as well as the Tsukiji Warship Training Center in Edo. At the age of 26 he was sent to the Netherland

Hello PHG fans, this week we're taking a trip to Australia to look at this lovely memorial just across from the Royal Botanical Garden on the south side of Sydney Harbor. My first and only visit to Sydney was in 2007, when I made port there aboard USS Kitty Hawk. Seeing the harbor bridge and opera house in person was a moment I'll never forget, and I cannot wait to get back to this beautiful, vibrant city again. Australia sent over 416,000 men to fight in the First World War

Greetings PHG fans, this week we're marking the anniversary of Operation Hailstone, the Allied attack on Truk Lagoon in the Second World War. From 17-18 February 1944, the US Navy's Task Force 58 engaged Imperial Japanese Army and Navy units and destroyed most of the infrastructure, ships, and weapons located there. A Japanese freighter in Truk Atoll is hit by a Mark XIII torpedo dropped from a Grumman TBF Avenger of Torpedo Squadron 17 (VT-17) from the aircraft carrier USS B

Hello readers of Pacific History Guide! Today we're going to take a brief look at a historic site in the center of Singapore - the grounds of the Ford Motor Company factory. It was here, on 15 February 1942, that the British General Sir Arthur Percival surrendered Singapore to the Japanese under General Yamashita Tomoyuki. The capture of Malaya, the fall of Singapore and Hong Kong, and the subsequent defeat of ABDA all came to define Japanese superiority in Southeast Asia du

Greetings PHG readers, today we're visiting the Japanese Friendship Bell here on Shelter Island in San Diego . This 6 foot tall, 4,600 pound bell was gifted to the city from the citizens of Yokohama in 1958, marking the centennial of that port's opening. The bell was tolled for the first time on 10 December 1960, with civic leaders from both San Diego and Yokohama on hand to witness it. The Japanese Friendship Bell, with "The Girl in Red Shoes" statue to the left, and floweri