Salvatore R. Mercogliano is an associate professor of History at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina and teaches courses in World Maritime History and Maritime Security. He is also an adjunct professor with the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and offers a graduate level course in Maritime Industry Policy. A former merchant mariner, he sailed and worked ashore for the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. His book, Fourth Arm of Defense: Sealift and Maritime Logistics in the Vietnam War, available through the Naval History and Heritage Command.
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. (gCaptain) The cyberattack upon the Colonial Pipeline on Friday, May 7, 2021 has resulted in the shutdown of a major conduit that provides 45 percent of...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – The recent announcement by the Canadian government to suspend all cruise ship visits until February 2022 due to COVID-19 will have a detrimental impact...
by Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. (gCaptain) This Veteran’s Day we remember the thousands of Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen who gave their lives in defense of the United States...
Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – June 5, 2020 marks the centennial of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly referred to as the Jones Act. Earlier this year, I wrote...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – In his autobiography, The Second World War, Winston Churchill said of the Battle of the Atlantic, “The only thing that ever really frightened me...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – In the annals of maritime history and popular culture, the Mutiny on the Bounty holds a lofty place and remains relevant even today. The events that...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – National Maritime Day (May 22) came a month earlier than usual with the announcement by the Maritime Administration and TOTE Services, LLC, that Philly Shipyard,...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – On Friday, March 13, 2020, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) announced that their ocean-going cruise lines would be, “voluntarily and temporarily suspending cruise...
Update March 13, 2020 – President Trump today signed into law the “Merchant Mariners of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2020,” a bill to award the Congressional...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. On July 7, 1895, the barque Arago arrived in San Francisco with four of its crewmembers in irons. The deckhands had jumped ship while in...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – On January 22, 2020, the Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Defense released a declassified and redacted report, entitled, Audit of Surge Sealift Readiness...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – In September, gCaptain reported on Turbo Activation 19-Plus, US Transportation Command’s largest peacetime exercise of the 61-ship surge sealift fleet. Initial assessments, gathered from...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – On Monday, September 16, 2019, the United States Transportation Command ordered the no-notice activation of 28 out of the 61 ships held in the reserve...
By Sal Mercogliano, Ph.D. – In a week punctuated by a drone missile strike on two oil production plants in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, the United States Transportation Command on Monday...
Editor’s Note: The Royal Navy has announced that RFA Mounts Bay has now completed its 10-day humanitarian mission to the hurricane-hit Bahamas after distributing all of her stores, which included 3,000...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano – As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of mankind’s first steps upon the lunar surface, many have focused their attention to the heavens, but a key...
Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – In June 1898, an American fleet arrived off the coast of Daiquiri, Cuba. On board the ships, 16,000 men of the U.S. Army V Corps waited...
By Sal R. Mercogliano – The June 13, 2019 attacks on MV Front Altair and MV Kokuka Courageous, following the assault on four tankers at the anchorage of Fujairah on...
May 22 is National Maritime Day in the United States. Initiated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933, it commemorates the sailing of the American steamship Savannah across the Atlantic...
By Salvatore R. Mercogliano, Ph.D. – Maritime news hubs and trade associations are abuzz with rumors that the Trump Administration is considering a waiver of the nearly 100-year-old Merchant Marine Act of...
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