Highlights from Naval History
HO3S-1 Bureau Number 122715 is pictured on board the USS Philippine Sea about five months before it was lost during a daring attempted rescue of Marine Captain James Wilkins.

Hero’s Helicopter

By Hill Goodspeed
June 2026
Captain James Wilkins had been part of a flight of four F4U Corsairs on an armed reconnaissance mission when his airplane was hit by antiaircraft fire.
Prior to becoming President, Franklin D. Roosevelt did a turn as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913 to 1920. Although he is less remembered for this role, it prepared him to be a wartime President.

FDR’s Naval Apprenticeship

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2026
Roosevelt’s affinity for ships and all things naval goes back to his youth, but his time as Assistant Secretary (1913–20) likely had much to do with his apparent bias.
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