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4 February 2025
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
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Dr. Tangredi welcoming attendees to the WNHA Conference. WNHA put together one of the better programs in recent memory. Photo courtesy Dave Winkler. | |
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Congratulations to Sam Tangredi and the board of the Western Naval History Association (WNHA) for hosting an outstanding conference on board USS Midway this past weekend in
San Diego. Further details below—Bravo Zulu! Speaking of conferences, we have four calls for papers for upcoming conferences in this edition, with three deadlines set for Mid-February.
For this week’s Naval History Book Review, Peter H. Hames takes us deep with his review of Ready to Dive! Check out the updated list!
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Tuesday Tidings is compiled by Dr. David F. Winkler and Jessie Henderson as a benefit for members of the National Maritime Historical Society and friends of naval history.
As always, comments and naval history news items are welcome at nmhs@seahistory.org.
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ITEMS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST | |
Wednesday, 5 February – USS Constitution Museum Sailing through History livestream
USS Constitution and the Barbary Wars Proving Ground: The US Navy’s First Fight Against Piracy
With Carl Herzog
12:30–1 PM (EST)
Thursday, 6 February – NMHS Zoom Seminar
The Future of Maine’s Lighthouses
With Ford Reiche
7:00 PM (EST)
Wednesday, 12 February – Naval Order Heritage Night
Navy Museums and National Navy Museum Update
With Dr. James C. Rentfrow, Director of Navy Museums
8 pm (EST) (Zoom)
Saturday, 15 February – National World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA
Fighting for the Right to Fight: African-American Experiences in WWII Symposium
Friday, 21 February – USS Monitor Legacy Program, Mariners Museum, Newport News, VA
City-Class Ironclads: The Pook Turtles
With John V. Quarstein
Noon–1 PM (EST) (In Person/virtual)
31 January–28 February – USS Constitution Museum, Boston, MA
Masters of Miniature Model Show: Navy 250
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USS Midway, site of 7th WNHA Conference. Photo courtesy Dave Winkler. | |
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Again, kudos to Sam Tangredi and the Western Naval History Association (WNHA) for another successful naval history conference this past weekend on board the aircraft carrier Midway in San Diego. What makes WNHA unique and fun is that the group taps presenters from a variety of naval history interests and sets up differing presentation formats. For example, this past weekend’s program included a deep-sea diving presentation on recent dives off Samar, workshops on collecting naval postal covers and using primary sources, a pysician’s look at medical developments that occurred at the naval hospital at Mare Island, a roundtable on the fate of Scorpion, and a podcast titled “Puzzling Questions and Unauthorized Answers from about the World War II Pacific War.”
With topics touching on maritime logistics in WWII, radar effectiveness in night battles, naval gunfire support in Vietnam, and post-World War II basing in the Pacific, the program lived up to its “Expanding Naval History” theme. Some presentations were provocative, such as Dr. Carl Rahm Phillips’s research indicating that San Diego Bay Explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrilla was Spanish-born—much to the consternation of the local Portuguese community, and Dr. Richard Frank’s assertion that submarines may have killed more Japanese soldiers than Marines. Author Ed Offley asserted that Scorpion was hit by Soviet torpedoes and that the Navy was aware of the tragedy earlier than previously believed (producing a witness to back the latter claim), and was challenged during a roundtable discussion with retired Navy Capt. Jim Bryant, who argued that only an implosion—an impossible outcome in a torpedo strike—could create the debris field that remains on the floor of the Atlantic. Capt. Bill Toti concurred with Bryant and postulated a new theory about the 1968 tragedy. Needless to say, the Phillips, Frank, Offley presentations generated vigorous question and answer sessions engaging the attendees in the packed meeting space and the online participants.
As with any naval history conclave, much of the productive activities occurred over the breaks or during lunch, where business cards and ideas are traded. As attendees kibitzed following the final podcast session, there seemed to be a consensus that WNHA had put together one of the better programs. The bar has been set high for next year! For more about the WNHA visit: Home | Western Naval History Association
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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Ready to Dive: Five Decades of Adventure in the Abyss By Curt Newport, West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. (2024)
Reviewed by Peter H. Hames
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Curt Newport spent his career in the subsea field and treats his readers to a fascinating account of his projects in the undersea world. Throughout his school years, he became interested in the underwater world by watching Sea Hunt on television. Instead of taking scuba lessons, he started designing his own diving gear at the age of thirteen. While his diving gear almost killed him, he was also designing submersible vehicles. His first job in the commercial diving business was in 1974 constructing 600- and 1,500-foot-capable diving systems. That job gave him a good understanding of engineering and fabrication techniques that would become valuable when he worked in the underwater vehicle field.
From 1977 to 2020, he had over 100 assignments from, pilot/ROV tech. through to project manager. Ten of his projects are detailed in the book including the 1986 recovery of the Challenger spacecraft and the remains of its astronauts, the 1996 salvage of TWA Flight 800, the 2001 discovery and photographing of the deepest wooden shipwreck, the 2010 salvage of Air France Flight 447, and locating the sunken SS El Faro RO/RO vessel in 2015.
In 1985, Air India Flight 182 had departed from Montreal, Canada, enroute to London, England, with 329 passengers and crew when it disappeared from radar over the Atlantic Ocean. Working for Eastport Industries, Newport was a senior ROV Tech using a SCARAB II ROV. Their job was to locate, identify, and recover wreckage from the crashed Boeing 747 jetliner in 6,200 feet of water to help Air India determine why it crashed. They were able to find the aircraft and recover the flight data recorder and enough of the wreckage to determine that an explosive device had been the cause of the disaster.
In 1999, Newport was able to find and recover Liberty Bell-7, even though NASA, the US Navy, the Smithsonian Institution, former astronauts, and most of his peers in the undersea industry said it would never be found. First, he had to find the capsule, which was in 16,043 feet of water in the Atlantic Ocean about 320 miles from Cape Canaveral. He was project manager for Liberty Bell-7 Inc., which was funded by the Discovery Channel and operated by Oceaneering International. In addition, the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center had agreed to restore the spacecraft if it could be found and raised from the abyss.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
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January 7: The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War
In this episode, Bill Toti speaks at the Brevard Veterans Memorial about his involvement in the exoneration of Captain Charles B. McVay III, USN. McVay had been court-martialed in December 1945 following the sinking of USS Indianapolis (CA-35) the previous August. He was exonerated by act of Congress in May 2001.
Listen here>>
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Navigating the Past: Histories of the US Navy and Marine Corps, 1775–2025 Conference | |
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Call for Proposals
9–11 October 2025 | Philadelphia and Camden
Proposal deadline: 15 February 2025
The US Navy and the Marine Corps were founded in Philadelphia in 1775 and will mark their 250th anniversary in the city of their birth in October 2025 (see www.homecoming250.org). To coincide with the anniversary, this conference will bring together scholars from the whole sweep of US history to discuss the Navy and Marine Corps in their various contexts. While these branches of America’s military forces have primarily served to project national power on and across the seas, their importance to our understanding of the nation’s past goes far beyond naval yards, sailors, or fleets. We welcome proposals from scholars researching any topic related to the US Navy and Marine Corps over their long history.
The inaugural day of this conference will be held at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania, and focus on the era spanning from 1775 to 1850. The second session, including papers concerned with 1850 to the present, will take place at Rutgers University-Camden and on the storied battleship New Jersey (BB-62). An opening reception will be held at the Library Company of Philadelphia on the evening of 9 October.
We invite proposals for papers and roundtables on the following themes:
- Maritime strategy, tactics, logistics, and diplomacy
- Chronologically and thematically comparative analyses of US maritime power
- Leadership and education within the Navy and Marine Corps
- Explorations of the social, medical, and environmental histories of these branches, including with respect to race and gender
- The Navy Department and the US economy
- Science, technology, and maritime power
- The histories of the Navy and Marine Corps in Philadelphia and Camden
Prospective presenters are invited to submit abstracts of 300 words that outline the research question and anticipated contributions to the conference. Submissions should be uploaded here by 15 February 2025. Accepted presenters will be asked to prepare a paper of no more than 9,000 words, which will be pre-circulated to participants, as well as a ten-minute PowerPoint surveying the main contributions of these papers. Roundtable submissions will not require papers or PowerPoints.
This conference will be chaired by Emma Hart, Director of the McNeil Center, and Katherine Epstein, Associate Professor of History at Rutgers-Camden.
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2025 Call for Papers
Continental Connections: Inland Waters and the Shaping of Maritime North America
The North American Society for Oceanic History invites you to join us at the Grand Hotel in Natchez, Mississippi, for our 2025 conference from 15–17 May.
For thousands of years, a vast complex of inland waters shaped the lives and cultures of indigenous North Americans. These same waters allowed European states to establish and maintain outposts of empire thousands of miles from the Atlantic Ocean. During the early decades of the nineteenth century, inland waters made it possible for millions of Euro-Americans to move west and establish the cities and farms that became the foundations of North America’s modern agricultural and industrial economies.
This year NASOH is recognizing the complicated historical legacy of North America’s inland waters by meeting at Natchez, Mississippi. Located on the Mississippi River at the western terminus of the Natchez Trace, an overland trail connecting the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers, Natchez was a natural point of exchange and location of important Indigenous ceremonial mounts. The French, recognizing the area’s importance, built Fort Rosalie in 1716. The present city is named after the Natchez Indians, and its subsequent culture and history are the products of Indigenous, French, English, Spanish, African, and American influences. A natural stopping place and base for keelboats and flatboats, and later steamboats, Natchez became the first capital of the Mississippi Territory and the second-largest slave trading market in the United States. Celebrated for its surviving antebellum architecture and southern heritage, Natchez is also a testament to the enduring and pervasive influences of maritime connections and inland waters in North America.
Session and individual paper proposals are encouraged. Sessions should have no more than 4 papers.
Proposals should include: A) title; B) 150-200 word abstract; C) a 150 word (maximum) biographical statement; D) contact information, including phone number, address, affiliation, and email. This information should be submitted as a single Word document (not pdf), single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font.
Please note that conference registration is required for papers.
PowerPoint presentations are encouraged, and projectors will be provided. Please note that requests for specific audio-visual equipment, special outlets, or accommodation for disabilities should be included in the proposal.
The deadline for proposal submission is 15 February 2025. Please submit proposal packets electronically to NASOHconference25@gmail.com.
For general questions, please contact Dr. Amy Mitchell-Cook, amitchellcook@uwf.edu.
Additional information regarding accommodations and registration will be available on NASOH’s website, https://nasoh.org/.
Student Travel Grants
Students may apply for a Chad Smith Travel Grant to assist in travel to present a paper at the conference. Additionally, each year NASOH bestows the Clark G. Reynolds Student Paper Award to the author of the best graduate student paper delivered at the conference. Please see the awards section of the NASOH website for details. Students wishing to be considered for either award must indicate so as part of their paper proposal. For more information about these grants, please go to: https://nasoh.org/student-awards.
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McMullen Naval History Symposium: 18–19 September, 2025
The year 2025 marks many significant milestones for the United States and its navy. Of special note is the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the founding of the Continental Navy. Many other significant naval events celebrate lesser milestones this year as well, including the end of the First Barbary War and the War of 1812, the end of World War II, and the founding of the US Naval Academy. The History Department of the United States Naval Academy invites proposals for papers to be presented at the 2025 McMullen Naval History Symposium on these and any other topics related to the naval and maritime history of the United States or the world. While we encourage in-person attendance and participation, the 2025 McMullen will be equipped for very limited virtual participation for participants from outside the United States. Proposals should include a one-page curriculum vitae and an abstract of no more than 250 words that summarizes the research and its contribution to historical knowledge. Panel proposals that include three presenters and a chair are highly encouraged, and should include all relevant material on the presenters, as well as a one-page CV for the chair. The chair will function as a moderator for the panel; there will be no separate comment, apart from audience Q&A. When submitting proposals, either individual or panel, please put all materials into a single file.
Email proposals to navalhistorysymposium@gmail.com by midnight, 14 February 2025.
The program committee anticipates announcing a draft program by the end of April 2025. Online registration for the conference will begin in the spring of 2025. A small number of modest travel stipends are available to graduate students and recent PhDs who do not hold a tenure-track position or full-time employment. Support for these grants comes from the generosity of the McMullen Sea Power Fund established in honor of Dr. John McMullen, USNA Class of 1940. Please indicate your desire to apply for a travel stipend with your proposal. The committee will publish a volume of proceedings in the New Interpretations of Naval History Series, containing the best papers presented, at a future date. Further information on the 2025 McMullen Naval History Symposium, including hotel registration, will be available online at www.usna.edu/History/Symposium in early 2025. Specific inquiries may be directed to the director, Captain Stan Fisher, or deputy director, Dr. Abby Mullen, at the email address listed above.
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Maritime Communities Celebrating Milestones
SAVE THE DATES!
24–27 September 2025 • Buffalo, NY
We are delighted to be holding the 12th Maritime Heritage Conference in Buffalo in September 2025.
The conference brings together organizations and participants that engage in all aspects of maritime heritage. This includes maritime museums, historic lighthouses, tall ships for sail training and youth, small craft, marine art, sailing, naval and maritime scholars, advocacy, and more. It is also a gathering of the leadership of the maritime heritage community. Buffalo will host the first Maritime Heritage Conference to be held in the Great Lakes region.
The 12th Maritime Heritage Conference (MHC) will bring together nautical heritage organizations and individuals for an information-packed conference encompassing a broad array of topics on the banks of Lake Erie at historic Buffalo, New York. Following in the wake of the World Canal Conference, which concludes with a bicentennial celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal, the 12th MHC will use that historic milestone to open a three-day program that invites attendees to consider other historic nautical milestones worthy of broader public attention.
The MHC has earned a reputation for its high take-away value, networking opportunities, and camaraderie. The conference steering committee invites you to become involved as a presenter; both session and individual proposals are encouraged. Don’t miss this opportunity to gather with individuals from all segments of the maritime community.
Call for Papers & Session Proposals
Papers and session topics include, but are not limited to:
• Inland Water Commerce and Seaport Operations (Erie Canal bicentennial!)
• Maritime and Naval History (2025 marks USN/USMC 250th Birthday)
• Maritime Art, Literature, and Music
• Education and Preservation
• Underwater Archaeology
• Trade and Communications
• Maritime Libraries, Archives, and Museums
• Marine Science and Ocean Conservation
• Historic Vessel Restoration
• Maritime Heritage Grant Program
• Maritime Landscapes
• National Marine Sanctuaries
• Small Craft
• Shipbuilding
• Marine Protected Areas
Focus sessions include, but are not limited to:
• Non-Profit administration
• Event Management
• Fundraising
• Media and Publications
• Media and Social Media
Submissions
Individual paper and session proposals should include a 250–400 word abstract and a one-paragraph biography about each presenter.
Please e-mail proposals and other queries to Dr. David Winkler at: MHC@seahistory.org
Deadline for proposals for papers and sessions is 31 May 2025.
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Society for Nautical Research Winter Lecture Series 2024–25
The Society for Nautical Research is delighted to announce the schedule for the forthcoming winter lecture series. These online talks will highlight new and ongoing research being undertaken by members of the society and its affiliations. The series aims to promote research into economic, social, political, military and environmental aspects of nautical history, drawing on British, European and international experience.
The 12-part lecture series will be held fortnightly on Wednesday evenings at 6:30PM (UK) between October 2024 to March 2025. Lectures will only be available online (via Zoom) and will be FREE to paying members of the SNR.
Not yet a member?
Sign up now from as little as £22.50 a year. Get access to exclusive events and talks, quarterly editions of the Mariner’s Mirror, and discounts at affiliated museums and gift shops! https://snr.org.uk/become-a-member/
Dates for your calendar:
12th February 2025: Dr. Matthew Heaslip (University of Portsmouth), (full title TBC)
26th February 2025: Dr. Michael Roberts (University of Bangor), Archaeological exploration of historical shipwrecks in the Irish Sea (full title TBC)
12th March 2025: Dr. Jo Stanley (independent scholar), “Diversity at Sea: How sharing historical research can make a difference to the present and future of the maritime industry and public understanding”
19th March 2025: Dr. Cathryn Pearce (University of Portsmouth), “‘Bandied about for a place of refuge’: Extreme Weather, Coastal Shipping, and the Loss of Lord Nelson, 1840”
How to attend the lectures?
Zoom details will be circulated prior to each of the lectures but details can also be found in the “events” section of the members area of the SNR website (Click Here).
For any questions or queries please contact the convener (daisy.turnbull@myport.ac.uk).
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UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
PREBLE HALL NAVAL HISTORY PODCAST | |
A naval history podcast from Preble Hall – the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. Preble Hall interviews historians, practitioners, military personnel, and other experts on a variety of naval history topics from ancient history to more current events.
Click here for the latest episode: 245 - Brian Dickinson: Calm in the Chaos>>
Click here for all Preble Hall Podcasts >>
| DRACHINIFEL YOUTUBE CHANNEL | |
Welcome to Navy History Matters, Naval History and Heritage Command’s biweekly compilation of articles, commentaries, and blogs related to history and heritage. Every other week, they gather the top-interest items from a variety of media and social media sources that link to related content at NHHC’s website, your authoritative source for Navy history.
Click here for most recent article>>
| INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NAVAL HISTORY | |
The International Journal of Naval History (IJNH) provides a preeminent forum for works of naval history, researched and written to demonstrable academic standards, with the goal of stimulating and promoting research into naval history and fostering communication among naval historians at an international level. IJNH welcomes any scholarly historical analysis, focused on any period or geographic region, that explores naval power in its national or cultural context. The journal is independent of any institution and operates under the direction of an international editorial board that represents various genres of naval history.
Click here to read the February 2023 edition and archived issues on the IJNH website >>
| SUPPORTING US NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE | |
With the 250th anniversary of the US Navy on the horizon, NMHS seeks your support as we plan to honor those who have provided for our maritime security.
Click here to donate today >>
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