The mention of Damn Yankees likely is a reference to the popular Broadway musical of the same name, which made its debut in 1955.
Carrier pigeons have been used to deliver wartime communications for centuries.
The ship Tweety sees is a representation of the CSS Virginia (formerly the USA Merrimack). It famously engaged the USS Monitor at the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1962. Both vessels were early ironclads, the forerunner of the modern naval battleship.