Joseph Williams

Joseph Williams is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE

Articles by Joseph Williams:

A Sailor’s Life in Lord Nelson’s Navy

The overwhelming danger to British seamen was not enemy action (this accounts for only 6.3% of those who perished at sea), but rather disease and…

About The Philadelphia Experiment: The Navy’s Biggest Hoax

When the USS Eldridge did reappear, the Navy found men fused to the ship’s bulkheads. Some were sick, others had gone insane, and some had…

The Fighting Temeraire: The 98-Gun Heroine of Trafalgar

The ship was named the Temeraire from the French téméraire which means bold, reckless, or rash. The actions of the ship’s crew might indeed have…

The Changing of the Guard Has a Centuries-Old History

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Written by Joseph Williams and Clare Fitzgerald. Millions flock to Buckingham Palace each year to witness the famous Changing of the Guard. The majority are…

Momsen Lung: How Swede Momsen’s Diving Lung Changed Submarine Rescues

In the early 20th century, when a submarine sank, there was little hope to rescue any crew trapped aboard. This was underlined when in December…

Morris “Moe” Berg: The WWII Spy with a .243 Career Batting Average

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor,Berg was interested in using his language skills to help the war effort. He had, after all, studied Latin, Greek,…

The Crazy Dangers of Submarines Under Ice: To the North Pole & Back

The first impression was being in an infinite desert of ice…. There was nothing but a flat patchwork maze of ice floes in every direction.…

The Wretched Fate of The USS Thresher

One of the submarine vets aboard Skylark would state, “We heard sounds that are familiar to me,the sound of a ship breaking up—like a compartment…

Wrecked Sub 102 Feet Down & Men Were Still Alive, He Volunteered To Dive To Save Them

Divers faced grave dangers of fouling in wrecks, having their suits blown up by excess air or torn by wreckage. The submarine USS S-4 (SS-109) lay stricken…

Prostitution, The Black Market & 6000 Trucks – The Red Ball Express

Over 40,000 truck tires were worn out and trucks constantly tipped over due to supplies being overloaded and stacked much too high. The Germans were…