"In August 1806, startling news arrived at the Court of St. James. Five months before, a Royal Navy squadron had sailed to invade Spain's South American Viceroyality of La Plata. The new Whig government of Lord Grenville had not approved the expedition, but it could do little except wait for more tidings. Then, on September 13, the frigate HMS Narcissus anchored at Plymouth with word that Buenos Aires, La Plata's capital, had fallen! Even better, Narcissus bore more than a million silver Spanish pesos in captured treasure."

--The Battles of Buenos Aires

06/12/09

I have published twenty-two articles in seven different publications, including seven co-authored with the noted Italian naval historian, Enrico Cernuschi and two in collaboration with Erminio Bagnasco and Enrico Cernuschi.

 O’Hara, Vincent P.

---. Attack and Sink. World War II. March 2004, 44-48.  Complete article  An Italian torpedo boat caught in the crisis and uncertainty of the armistice of September 1943 engages German naval units fleeing Bastia, Corsica after a failed coup de main against the Italian garrison.

---. Defiant Until the End: German Navy in the Channel Islands. World War II. May 2005, 42-48.  The surprising naval campaign fought far behind the front lines around the Channel Islands from August 1944 until the war's last day.

---. The Battles of Buenos Aires. MHQ 17(4). Summer 2005, 42-51. In 1806 a British admiral decided to seize Buenos Aires, the capital of the Spanish viceroyalty of La Plata.

---. A Most Remarkable Effort: The Battle of Balikpapan. Pacific War. 2(2) 2005, 3-7. The U.S. Navy's first surface engagement of World War II against the Japanese was a victory. It would be the last one for a long time.

---. USS Midway. Warship 2005. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2005. 185-188. A pictorial of the San Diego Aircraft Museum based on the USS Midway.

---. The Royal Navy’s Revenge. World War II. May 2006, 50-56.  The last surface engagement of the Pacific War was fought in the Indian Ocean by the Royal Navy against the Japanese. This article recounts the activities of the Royal Navy's 24th Destroyer Flotilla in the Indian Ocean climaxing with their victory over Haguro.

---.Ironclad Huáscar's Mastery in the Guano War. MHQ 19(1). Autumn 2006, 84-93.  The War of the Pacific was one of the first strategic naval wars of the industrial age, and one of the first to be dominated by the ironclad warship. It became an important proving ground for a whole range of new or recent technologies like revolving turrets self-propelled torpedoes, machine guns, armor plate, and large-caliber guns.

---. La battaglia delle isole Komandorski.  STORIA Militare (158). November 2006, 38-48. Translated by Piera Marconi.  This article recounts the Battle of the Komandorski Islands fought in 27 March 1943 between elements of the Japanese 5th Fleet and a U.S. Navy Task Force 16.6 led by Rear Admiral Charles H. McMorris. At sea to intercept an enemy convoy, McMorris was instead surprised by a force twice his size and, while suffering a tactical defeat, he snatched a strategic victory.

---.Author's Perspective. World War II Quarterly (4)1. May 2007. 56-59. A discussion of the rationale behind The U.S. Navy Against the Axis.  Complete article

---. Mystery Battle off Imperia, 1 October 1944. World War II Quarterly (4)2. August 2007. 24-33. A little documented destroyer action off the Italian Rivera coast .

---. Destroyers off Sidon: The Marine Nationale against the Royal Navy. The Tin Can Sailor (32)1. January-February-March 2008. 1-3.

---.  The Action off Calabria and the Myth of Moral Ascendancy. Warship 2008. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2008. 26-39. A detailed treatment of the action which argues that the battle did not establish moral ascendancy as Admiral Cunningham claimed (long after the battle was over).

---. The Unintended Revolution. MHQ 21(2) Winter 2009 62-71. The first Mexican war of liberation, 1810-1821, focusing on Hidalgo's initial campaigns.

O’Hara, Vincent P. and Enrico Cernuschi.

---. Unknown Victory. World War II. March 2006, 36-41. In 1943 the Italian and British navies fought many sharp actions on the infamous "Route of Death" the convoy lane between Tunisia and Sicily. On 16 April 1943 the Italians defeated a British attack against a small convoy in a night engagement.

---. The World's Worst Warships: Round Three. Warship 2006. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2006. 158-163. A rationalization of the Italian Condotteri cruisers.

Cernuschi, Enrico and Vincent O’Hara.

---. A Century Long Dream: Single Purpose Engine Submarines of the Italian Navy. Warship 2004. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2004. 76-91. The Italian navy's century long quest to build a "true" submarine.

---. The Star-Crossed Split: the Troubled Story of an Unlucky Flagship. Warship 2005. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2005. 97-110. The interesting story of the Yugoslavian destroyer Split, which served in four navies before ever completing construction.

---. The Breakout Fleet: the Oceanic Programs of the Italian Navy. Warship 2006. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2006. 86-101. The tormented development of the secret naval programs, ships and strategic doctrine the Regia Marina conceived during the 1930s to confront British power East of Suez.

---. Italy and the Pacific War. World War II Quarterly. Vol. 3 No. 1, 2006. 14-19. Italy's largely unknown involvement in the Pacific War.  Complete article

---. The Search for a Flattop: The Italian Navy and the Aircraft Carrier, 1907-2007. Warship 2007. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2007. 61-80.

Erminio Bagnasco, Enrico Cernuschi, and Vincent O’Hara.

---. Italian Fast Coastal Forces: Development, Doctrine and Campaigns, 1914-1986: Part One: from the Beginning to 1934. Warship 2008. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2008. 85-98.

---. Italian Fast Coastal Forces: Development, Doctrine and Campaigns, 1914-1986: Part Two: World War II to the End. Warship 2009. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2009.