Dear Naval Historical Foundation Family,

Welcome back to Thursday Tidings.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of various nationalities and ancestry—Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Southeast Asian, Asian Indian, and Polynesian—have a rich legacy of service and sacrifice in the United States Navy dating back to the 19th century. 

Congress approved a joint Congressional Resolution (Public Law 95-419, 95th Congress) on 5 October 1978 authorizing and requesting the President to proclaim the 7-day period beginning on 4 May 1979 as “Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.” The week coincides with two dates: 7 May 1869, the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States, and 10 May 1869, the “Golden Spike Day,” the day that the transcontinental railroad was completed. Congress extended the week to a month with their joint Congressional Resolution (Public Law 102-42, 102nd Congress) on 14 May 1991. Public Law 102-450 permanently designated May of each year as Asian/Pacific Heritage Month and authorized and requested that the President issue annually a proclamation asking Americans to observe the month.

As such, the theme for Thursday Tidings in the last week in May is the celebration and commemoration of the myriad contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to the United States Navy. Since the years before the American Civil War, these countless men and women have served and exemplified the creed of the U.S Navy: honor, courage, and commitment. 

This week, Capt. Richard Dick reviews Conquering the Ocean: The Roman Invasion of Britain. 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.

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 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. 

This will be in-person for those who can attend as well as virtual. Please indicate how you plan to attend in the form below.  

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. Midway veteran YNC Bill Norberg (USS Enterprise) is slated to attend this year. 

Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, Admiral James F. Caldwell, Jr., USN, is the guest speaker for the evening.

Midway Dinner Website | Dinner Info | Registration

Watch Our Latest Video --

 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.).

New Oral History Available:

CAPT Jerry Wages, USN (Ret.)

Then-LCDR Wages served as the XO of USS Cochrane (DDG 21) during the Vietnam War. 

Captain Wages is one of those rare naval officers, whose participation in the Vietnam War seems to have been much more a matter of destiny rather than either a career enhancement move or an assignment detouring him from a career in the surface navy. 

Growing up in the Louisiana bayou environs, he naturally developed a comfort level for southern wetlands life comprised of hot and extremely humid climatic conditions. As a youth he became both an early swimmer and a boat owning member of the local Sea Scouts. He loved and learned to respect the characteristics of the inland estuaries.

Early in his naval career, Captain Wages served as XO of a minesweeper, which aroused his interest in shallow water and scuba diving. He took several diving courses and was thus prepared later on when serving as the chief engineer of a guided missile destroyer and was tasked by the ship’s CO with the responsibility of a hull inspection. He did not hesitate to make the dive himself in order to ensure the accuracy of the results. 

In 1963, as a junior lieutenant commander, Capt Wages had a shore duty assignment in the Bureau of Personnel in the Junior Officer Assignment Section. He learned about the paucity of experience and lack of preparedness of junior officers needed for service for the gradually expanding war in Vietnam. In 1966 he volunteered to travel to the Republic of Vietnam to survey the requirements for billet assignments. After five weeks touring the different corps areas, he submitted an informative report to the department. His next assignment was Naval War College for the Command Staff Course. His research and thesis subject there was riverine warfare. He was subsequently assigned the important job of XO aboard the USS Cochrane (DDG 21), ported in Pearl Harbor. While performing a WESTPAC cruise, often off the shores of North Vietnam, he was selected early for commander. 

In early 1969, the newly assigned Commander Naval Forces Vietnam, Vice Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, stopped at Pearl Harbor for his Vietnam briefings. The admiral was challenged with his new job in many ways, which included his feeling that Vietnam had been “a dumping ground for weak naval officers at the commander and captain levels.” He also felt that he had inherited a staff for which “the level of competence hovered around zero” (ibid). Further complicating his task was the conundrum that the cognoscenti at the Bureau of Personnel had been recommending that career officers avoid Vietnam since the Navy’s interest stopped at the high water mark. One of the mid-sixties BUPERS commanders was quoted with “All we’re sending over there is a bunch of mustangs and LDOs and second-stringers” 

Feel the Need for Speed? Check These Out Before You See Top Gun: Maverick

2021 NHF Annual Leighton Lecture: Captain Dan Pedersen and Top Gun

The Top Gun Program's founder, Captain Dan Pedersen discusses the origins of the Naval Weapons Fighter School. In the following Q&A, we are joined by Top Gun graduates, Vice Adm. Walter E. “Ted” (Slapshot) Carter, USN (Ret.), and Vice Adm. Thomas (Killer) Kilcline, USN (Ret.).

Top Gun student, then-Lieutenant Slapshot Carter on working with Tom Cruise on the first Top Gun movie, along with the Navy pilots, air crew, and public affairs advisors who also supported the movie., with special thanks to our NHF board member, then-Secretary of the Navy, John F. Lehman.

Asian Americans in the U.S. Military with an Emphasis on the U.S. Navy

By Dr. Regina Akers, NHHC Historian 

RADM Gordon Paiʻea Chung-Hoon, USN (Ret.), the first Asian American flag officer. 

Essay adapted with an April 2017 update from a 2013 piece by NHHC historian Dr. Regina Akers. Discusses the rich legacy of service and sacrifice of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Highlights the accomplishments of individual Sailors from 1915 Medal of Honor recipient Telesforo Trinidad to veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Asian American and Pacific Islanders: Telesforo de la Cruze Trinidad

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum

(YouTube, 4 May 2021)

Asian American and Pacific Islanders: Gordon Pai‘ea Chung-Hoon

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum

(YouTube, 11 May 2021)

Susan Ahn Cuddy: Asian American Trailblazer

By Sung Kim

(Originally Published to Los Angeles Public Library, 6 May 2020)

The first Asian American woman lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, the first Asian American woman flight instructor to train the US Naval pilots, and the first woman Gunnery Officer in all US Armed Forces was Susan Ahn Cuddy. She lived a pioneering life of service and dedication to the Asian American community and the United States.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Asian Americans in the U.S. Navy

A Compilation of Links

• Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (DVIDS)
• Asian American and Pacific Islanders in World War II (National WWII Museum)
• PACOM Visits Cold War Gallery for Aircraft Dedication (NHF, 1 September 2016)
• PACOM Visits Cold War Gallery (NHF, 14 March 2014)

Conquering the Ocean: The Roman Invasion of Britain

By Richard Hingley

Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.)

Like any work of history, Conquering the Ocean will not serve all its possible readers equally well. Naval history buffs and naval historians will find little in Hingley’s book, aside from useful brief discussions of the Roman Navy’s role in the conquest. Similarly, the author provides only enough information on Roman armies (organization, weapons, tactics, etc.) for the reader to follow the narrative. On the other hand, the author has studied and written about Hadrian’s Wall extensively and he effectively incorporates many of his findings into this book. He also provides in-depth discussions of the impetus for the initial invasion and subsequent expansion, as well as attempts by several of the British tribes to resist or revolt, including Boudica’s initially successful uprising in 60 A.D. Additionally, Hingley explores how Rome took advantage of the disunity among the small kingdoms in Britain to facilitate Roman expansion. 

Continue Reading the Full Review Here

If you are interested in shipbuilding, please consider reviewing To Provide and Maintain a Navy: 1775-1945, by Captain Richard L. Wright.

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.

• U.S. May Boost Ukraine's Defense With Harpoon Missiles (Naval News)
• China-US Relations: As World Watches Ukraine, Navy Missions in the Pacific Quietly Raise tension (South China Morning Post)
• Pentagon Denies Ukrainian Claims of' 'Plan to Destroy' Russia's Black Sea Fleet (US News) 
• Ukrainian Official Says US Devising Plan to Destroy Russia's Black Sea Fleet (NY Post)
• Mullen Says US Should Consider the Possibility of Russia Using a Nuclear Weapon (The Hill)

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. 

Unusual Navy Gunpowder Measure, Dated 1850

By John L. Morris

This unusual US Navy cannon powder measure is in a private collection. It weighs over 10 lbs. It is about 10 inches tall and 12 inches in extreme width and is dated 1850. The inside diameter is 7 inches. It was inspected by John A. Dahlgren (Bio here).  This is the only two-handled US Navy brass gunpowder measure known to the author. Two handles were probably found inconvenient or unnecessary as the author has seen an 1857-dated Navy powder measure made to hold 12.5 pounds of black powder, but has a single handle. The powder measure was used to scoop black gunpowder from a copper “powder tank” so the measure was overflowing when brought level. A special copper “powder knife” was then drawn across the top edge of the measure, making a flat surface on the loose gunpowder (More here). The measured charge was then dumped into a cloth cartridge bag with which the gun was loaded.

This charge measure was made for filling cloth cartridge bags for use in the Navy's 64-pounder "round shot" guns ("round shot gun" as opposed to "shell gun"). The Navy 64-pounder was a relatively heavy gun (about 12,000 lbs. for the barrel alone). The initial order for 12 of these guns was placed with West Point (NY) foundry in 1849. These guns were intended for pivot-mounting only. Their nominal length (not including cascabel) was 130 inches; bore diameter is 8 inches.

After a design change in the exterior of the breech and chamber profile, four more were ordered from West Point Foundry in 1856. Only one US Navy "64-pounder round-shot gun of 106 CWT" survives, in a park in Waukesha, WI. It is registry number 1, dated 1849, inspector Andrew A. Harwood, weight 106-0-18 (in hundredweight system*) foundry no. 303. It served aboard USS Saranac and was appropriated by the Confederates at Norfolk in 1861 (Photo).

*Weight of this gun barrel is (106 x 112) + (0 x 28) + (18) = 11,890 lbs.

NHHC Lunchtime Lecture: Social Change in the Modern Navy

(NHHC/YouTube)

2022 SECNAV AAPI Message

(U.S. Navy/YouTube)

AAPI in the USN

(U.S. Navy/YouTube)

This Day in Naval History - 26 May

(Produced by NHHC)