|
Dear Naval Historical Foundation Family,
Welcome back to Thursday Tidings.
As a consequence of the rapid growth of Soviet maritime power during the 1960s, hazardous incidents at sea and in the air became a regular part of the Cold War. Free to patrol the skies and surface of the high seas under international law, U.S. and Soviet naval and air forces made daily direct contact during the Cold War. Often confrontational and occasionally violent, air-to-air contacts alone killed more than one hundred Soviet and American aviators during the Truman and Eisenhower years.
Eventually, both Washington and Moscow came to recognize the importance of an agreement limiting this perilous set of interactions, resulting in the Incidents at Sea Agreement (IncSea) that was signed in May 1972. The set of rules and procedures agreed upon helped to calm tensions in subsequent crises and provides ample lessons for placing reasonable limits on other tense maritime rivalries. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the historic agreement.
Our Director of Programs, Dr. David Winkler, has written and lectured extensively on this subject. As such, he has graciously agreed to write the feature for this week's Thursday Tidings. If you haven't already, please read his fantastic book, Incidents at Sea: American Confrontation and Cooperation with Russia and China, 1945-2016. A link to purchase is included in the Featured Content section.
This week, Capt. C. Herbert Gilliland Jr. USN (Ret.) reviews The Nugget, a novel of World War II by P.T. Deutermann. We have once again included some helpful links on the U.S. Navy's role in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
As always, fair winds and following seas shipmates. This email is best viewed as a webpage for your reading convenience and best quality.
{View as Webpage}
| |
|
Our Next Second Saturday:
2022 NHF Annual Meeting and the Cdr. David T. Leighton Lecture
The Indispensibles: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and rowed Washington Across the Delaware
11 June 2022 | 11 am
National Museum of the United States Navy
| |
Our next Second Saturday will coincide with our annual meeting and the Cdr. David T. Leighton Lecture, featuring Patrick K. O’Donnell, who will discuss his book The Indispensibles: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and rowed Washington Across the Delaware, highlighting the critical role mariners played as America struggled for its independence.
The 11 June presentation will include prominent naval historians of the American Revolution to offer critique and commentary. More updates and a registration link will be provided in a future Thursday Tidings.
| |
|
Battle of Midway Commemoration Dinner
Friday 3 June 2022 | 6:00 pm - 10:30 pm
Army Navy Country Club | Arlington, VA
| | |
|
|
After a two-year hiatus, the Battle of Midway Commemoration Dinner is returning to the DC area. This year marks the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway. On June 4th, 1942, a vastly outnumbered and outgunned U.S. Fleet defeated the finest of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the waters off a small Pacific Atoll named Midway. Their daring combination of intelligence, tactics, courage and sacrifice forever changed the course of World War II and world history.
The Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Mike Gilday, USN, is the guest speaker for the evening.
Midway Dinner Website | Dinner Info | Registration
| |
|
In Case You Missed It --
Second Saturday:
Getting Our Ships Back in the Game: The Story of Shipyard and Ship Repair Excellence From World War II to Today
| |
Dr. Craig Symonds offers an excellent overview of the shipyard workers who hurriedly scrambled to put USS Yorktown (CV-5) back online for the Battle of Midway. Today's panelists are CAPT Richard Hepburn, USN (Ret.), and RADM Bill Cobb, USN (Ret.). | |
|
Watch the Replay --
40th Anniversary of the Naval War in the South Atlantic (The Fight for the Falklands/Malvinas)
The American Perspective
| |
|
The NHF thanks members and friends who joined us for our first live event in over two years as we looked back 40 years at Falklands War from the American perspective held on 3 May 2022 at the National Museum of the United States Navy.
You can watch the event in its entirety on the NHF YouTube page. The event featured Dr. Peter D. Haynes, Captain USN (Ret.), Naval History and Heritage Command; Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, and former DoD officials Norman Polmar and Dov Zakheim. Sebastian Bruns with the Political Science Department of the U.S. Naval Academy moderated the event.
| |
|
New Oral History Available:
ADM George E.R. Kinnear II, USN (Ret.)
| | |
|
|
Admiral George E.R. Kinnear II, USN (Ret.) was a highly decorated naval aviator who flew more than 100 combat missions in Korea and Vietnam flying every combat aircraft the Navy had during his career, making over 1,000 carrier landings.
He rose from enlisted ranks to command "Fighter Town U.S.A.," Carrier Group Two, was the Chief of Legislative Affairs for the Secretary of the Navy, and served as the U.S. Military Representative to NATO. He was a high-school dropout, but went on to earn Bachelor's and Master's degrees from George Washington University and, subsequently, a Master's and a PhD from Stanford University. He ended his professional career as President of the University of New Hampshire.
| |
|
We Are Not Hearing About Any Fiftieth Anniversary IncSea Celebrations – and Why That May Not be a Bad Thing
By David F. Winkler, Ph.D. Staff Historian
| |
|
Ten years ago, delegations from the U.S. and Russian Federations met at the Naval Observatory to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Incidents at Sea Agreement (IncSea) on May 25, 1972, as part of the Nixon- Brezhnev Summit held in Moscow. After a historical overview provided by this author and reflections provided by the former Secretary of the Navy – John W. Warner – who negotiated the accord representing the United States, shot glasses were filled and gulps of vodka marked a festive occasion.
Now with the fiftieth anniversary falling on the first anniversary of the passing of Warner, with a ground war raging in Ukraine, don’t expect any recharging of shot glasses.
Over the half-century since rules were implemented to tamp down aggressive behaviors between the two fleets on and over the high seas, relations between the Soviet Union/Russia and the United States have had their ebbs and peaks. As commentators have noted, this is not the first time that the continental land power has invaded a neighboring state as illustrated by the movement of Soviet armored columns into Afghanistan in December 1979.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE
| |
|
Incidents at Sea: American Confrontation and Cooperation with Russia and China, 1945-2016
By David F. Winkler
Naval Institute Press, 2017
| | |
|
|
Drawing on extensive State Department files, declassified Navy policy papers, interviews with both former top officials and individuals who were involved in incidents, David F. Winkler examines the evolution of the U.S.-Soviet naval relationship during the Cold War, focusing in particular on the 1972 Incidents at Sea Agreement (IncSea). In this volume, an updated edition of his classic Cold War at Sea, Winkler brings the story up to the present, detailing occasional U.S.-Russia naval force interactions, including the April 2016 Russian aircraft “buzzings” of the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic. He also details China’s efforts to militarize the South China Sea, claim sovereignty over waters within their exclusive economic zone, and the U.S. Navy’s continuing efforts to counter these challenges to freedom of navigation.
"The book is an interesting and engrossing account of both the Cold War at sea and the diplomatic endeavors carried out during this period to stabilize and neutralize areas of conflict. The book should appeal to both those interested in the U.S. Navy during the Cold War and diplomatic maneuvering during the same period." —The Journal of America's Military Past
NHF Review of Book
Purchase
| |
Rear Adm. Shawn Duane, left, head of the U.S. delegation, shakes hands with his Russian counterpart after signing the Prevention of Incidents On and Over the Waters Outside the Limits of the Territorial Sea (IncSea) agreement in Moscow, May 25, 2021. The annual event is a professional discussion reviewing the implementation of the agreement and reaffirming an enduring commitment to risk reduction dialogue. The consultations address air-to-air intercepts of each other’s aircraft in international airspace, and interactions between our nations’ ships that occurred in international waters over the past year. (U.S. Navy photo) | |
NHF Historian Dr. David Winkler (at the podium) addresses the U.S. and Russian Navy delegations during concluding ceremonies of the 40th Annual Incidents at Sea Agreement Review that was held at the Naval Observatory. U.S. Navy Photo | |
|
Truth Began With a Lie
By David F. Winkler
(Originally Published to NHF Website, 1 May 2016)
The April 2016 Russian SU-27 barrel roll of USAF RC-135 aircraft and earlier buzzings of a USN Destroyer are rare hiccups in 44-year IncSea accord.
The Incidents at Sea Agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union had only been signed a year earlier in Moscow by Secretary of the Navy John W. Warner and Admiral of the Fleet Sergei Gorshkov on behalf of their respective presidents. One of the provisions called for an annual review meeting to be hosted by each nation on a rotating basis.
The first such review was set to be held in Washington beginning on May 14, 1973. Selected to head the American delegation Vice Admiral J.P. “Blackie” Weinel understood that the first review would set a foundation for building trust with his Soviet counterparts. Meeting with members of his delegation Weinel exclaimed:
“No posturing, no bragging, and no looking down our noses at the Russians. Take no interest whatsoever in any kinds of secrets. Don’t even act like you’re trying to find anything out, because we are not on any intelligence missions. I don’t give a damn if they were building seventeen aircraft carriers. That’s not what we are here for. Establish give and take with your counterparts. Don’t make it one way. Be able to listen as much as you talk. Admit to yourselves that the Russians could be right and have a better mousetrap than we have. Always focus on the bottom line, which is we both see the foolishness of the games of chicken and we need to knock it off. And finally: Be absolutely, completely honest with them!”
READ THE FULL ARTICLE
| |
|
A surveillance photo shows the Russian naval destroyer Udaloy making what the U.S. Navy describes as an unsafe maneuver against the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville in the Philippine Sea, June 7, 2019.
| |
|
Recent Incidences Involving IncSea and Russian Harassment at Sea
A Compilation of Links
(Note: This is not a complete list of events, but a sampling in recent years)
| |
|
April 2014: Russian Fighter Buzzed USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) in Black Sea
June 2015: USS Ross Buzzed By Russian Jets
April 2016: Russian Fighters Buzz USS Donald Cook Again
June 2016: USS Gravely (DDG 107) passed in front of the Russian frigate Yaroslav Mudry (FF 727) in the Eastern Mediterranean
June 2019: Russian Destroyer Admiral Vinogradov and USS Chancellorsville almost collide in the Philippine Sea
November 2020: Admiral Vinogradov and USS John S. McCain Encounter in the Sea of Japan
February 2021: USS Donald Cook Buzzed a Third Time in Black Sea
| |
|
Shouldering Incident Reminiscent of Sea of Japan Bumpings
By David F. Winkler
(Originally Published to NHF Website, 30 June 2016)
| |
|
USS Walker (DD-517) colliding with the Soviet Kotlin-class destroyer Besslednyi in the Sea of Japan, 10 May 1967. NPC #1166379. (Image Courtesy NAVSOURCE/DCC(SS/SW) David Johnston, USN)
| |
|
On June 17, 2016,, the destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107) passed in front of the Russian frigate Yaroslav Mudry (FF 727) in the Eastern Mediterranean. Video from the Russian frigate shown on Russian Television (RT) captured the aggressive maneuvering of the American missile destroyer which an RT newswire claimed “neglected Rule 13 [International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS)], which stipulates that an overtaking vessel must keep out of the way of the vessel being overtaken.” Missing from the footage was the nearby aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) which Gravely was escorting. A U.S. official informed USNI News that the Russian frigate had been attempting to close in on the American aircraft carrier which was stationed in the region to conduct flight operations against ISIS. Six days later, it was reported that the same frigate approached within 150 yards of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) while that carrier was conducting flight operations in the eastern Mediterranean. That the Gravely shouldered off the Russian frigate on the 17th was reminiscent of similar confrontations at sea a half century ago.
In the summer of 1966, the destroyer USS Walker had departed Vietnamese waters to participate in a joint U.S.-Japanese antisubmarine exercise in the Sea of Japan. On July 24, 1966, the Besslednyi (DD 022) a Soviet Navy Kotlin-class destroyer joined up with the allied task force and assumed a tailing role. Walker kept an eye on the Besslednyi, with orders to screen away the snooping Russian visitor should she try to charge towards the center of the allied ship formation. A Lt. (jg) on board the Walker later recalled that during this transit, the Soviet warship was not really persistent in her attempts to break into the formation. As with this most recent Gravely-Yaroslav Mudry encounter, American screening efforts were effective enough to draw a formal Soviet protest issued on August 10, 1966.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE
| |
|
The Nugget
By P.T. Deutermann
| |
|
Reviewed by Capt. C. Herbert Gilliland Jr., USN (Ret.)
The Nugget is one more of Deutermann’s popular World War II novels. Loyal readers will like this one, and readers new to this author will as well. Very much at home in the historical context, Deutermann is also a seasoned writer of thrillers, so his fact and fiction harmonize engagingly. Oddly, this reviewer received Nugget only a month ago, though it was published in 2019. The good news is that if you like this one, two more have since come out.
Continue Reading the Full Review Here
| | |
|
|
If you are interested in historical novels, please consider reviewing Dead Man Launch, by John Gobbell.
Guidelines for getting involved in the NHF Book Review program can be found here,
and a list of titles available for review can be found here.
| |
|
History in the Making: The U.S. Navy and the Ukrainian Crisis -- Select Links and Topics of Interest
| |
|
We are currently witnessing history in the making with the situation involving the Russian invasion of Ukraine beginning last week. How does the U.S. Navy fit in? How are strategists, theorists, and journalists gauging the role of the U.S. Navy in any impending conflict? Here are several articles of note that seek to answer these questions as the situation progresses. Article opinions reflect those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any stance by the Naval Historical Foundation.
| |
|
Appeal For Assistance
Captain John Hebert Dent Memorial Fund
By Fred M. Apgar
| | |
|
Gravesite at Bethel Cemetery in Jacksonboro, SC | |
|
We recently received an email from an individual asking for assistance in sprucing up the neglected gravesite of Captain John Hebert Dent, a naval officer that served during the Quasi-War, First Barbary War, and the War of 1812. He was the acting captain of USS Constitution during the attacks on Tripoli in 1804. Captain Dent is buried in a neglected plot in Jacksonboro, South Carolina, in Bethel Cemetery. His goal is to raise funds to better serve the memory of Captain Dent and his service to the United States.
He writes: "Since your organization’s mission is to promote the rich history and heritage of the United States Navy, I thought you would like to join us in honoring Captain Dent. He was one of the Navy’s outstanding and respected officers, one who contributed so much to the legacy of the fledgling United States Navy and our emerging nation. I invite the Naval Historical Foundation to join us in honoring the memory of Captain John Hebert Dent."
You can read the full text of the appeal HERE.
| |
|
Free Maritime Day Celebration with SS John W. Brown
22 May 2022 | Pier 13 | Canton, MD
| |
|
Come and enjoy a FREE Maritime Day celebration that includes Steam. Walk the decks of the SS John W. Brown, see our engine, museum exhibits, speaker presentations, and much more under the BIG tent on Pier 13 in Canton.
For more info, CLICK HERE.
| |
|
14-Inch Navy Railway Gun, WWI
By John L. Morris
| |
Painting, Oil on canvas, 15 x 21”, signed “L.A. Shafer” 1866-1940 (private collection, Oyster Bay NY.) | Navy 14-inch Railway Gun at NSWC Dahlgren, VA, ca. 1976, in “War Paint” for bicentennial (Courtesy of US Navy) | |
|
The waterfront at the Washington Navy Yard is dominated by the Navy 14-inch railway gun, the sole survivor of five manufactured in the US and used against the Germans in France during WW1. After returning to the US, this gun was kept and used at the Naval Proving Ground (later known as NSWC) at Dahlgren, King George County, VA, on the Potomac River. In the mid-1980’s, the director of the Navy Museum, Oscar Fitzgerald, decided the huge 250-ton gun should be on public display near the museum. After a few years of frustration he managed to get VADM Joseph Metcalf, a gun enthusiast, interested in the project, and the pieces of a moving project began falling into place with blinding speed. Funds were moved, a rigging contract was awarded to a firm in Richmond, VA, a reinforced concrete rail platform was built, and moving began. The author was Oscar’s contact at NAVSEA, but aside from providing occasional advice and photographing the landing and re-assembly of the gun, he claims no credit. Much credit for the successful relocation is shared by Dr. Oscar Fitzgerald and the late VADM Joseph Metcalf.
NHHC Webpage on the Gun
Online Book: US Navy Railway Batteries in France
Oscar P. Fitzgerald Bio
VADM Joseph Metcalf III Bio
| |
Valor in the Atlantic 2022: Return to USS Monitor Will Stream Live | Will you come explore with us? You are all invited to join an exciting journey returning to the resting place of the USS Monitor, America's first national marine sanctuary, as we celebrate the upcoming 50th Anniversary of the National Marine Sanctuary System. | | | |
|
USS Donald Cook Encounters Russian Aircraft, 2016 -- Part I
(YouTube)
| |
USS Donald Cook Encounters Russian Aircraft, 2016 -- Part II
(YouTube)
| |
USS Donald Cook Buzzed in 2021
(USNI/YouTube)
| |
This Day in Naval History - 12 May | | | |
If you would like to recommend online content to be passed on to our Naval Historical Foundation Members in an upcoming edition of Thursday Tidings, please email Matt Eng, at: [email protected]
| |
Did you know that the Naval Historical Foundation participates in the Combined Federal Campaign? Our CFC number is: 11010
| | | | | |
