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2 May 2023
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
Yesterday marked the 125th anniversary of Commodore George Dewey’s entry into Manila Bay in command of an American Asiatic Squadron that would wreak havoc on a defending Spanish flotilla. This is also Battle of the Coral Sea Commemoration Week, as Thursday marks the 81st anniversary of this first naval battle where opposing fleets never came within sight of each other.
Of course, Coral Sea was the set-up battle leading to Midway. Though the aircraft carrier Lexington was lost at Coral Sea, the damaged Yorktown was quickly repaired at Pearl Harbor, as discussed in Craig Symonds’s introduction to last May’s Naval Historical Foundation Second Saturday presentation (See: Second Saturday: Getting Our Ships Back in the Game - YouTube) and would play a pivotal role at Midway. The American victory at Midway is now celebrated within the US Navy as the British celebrate Trafalgar. The announcement of Navy Under Secretary Raven as this year’s Washington Dinner speaker is our feature story.
Thank you John Satterfield for your review of Bounty: HM Armed Vessel 1787. Please check our updated list of books available for review and as always send your requests to david.winkler@usnwc.edu.
Finally, we offer for this week’s “In Case You Missed It” the most recent Navy League Sea Power Historical Perspective of an aircraft carrier conducting flight operations in the nation’s capital a century ago!
Tuesday Tidings is compiled by Dr. David F. Winkler and Jessie Henderson. As always, comments are welcome at nmhs@seahistory.org.
| ITEMS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST | |
4 May 2023: Movie at the Memorial (non-streaming event)
Crimson Tide
7:30 – 9:30 PM EDT
Navy Memorial, Washington, DC
Events — United States Navy Memorial
6 May 2023: Exhibit Opening: Norfolk in Time (non-streaming event)
Noon
Nauticus, Norfolk, VA
Norfolk In Time Opening - Nauticus & The Battleship Wisconsin
9 May 2023: National Maritime Awards Dinner (non-streaming event)
6 – 9:30 PM EDT
National Press Club, Washington, DC
www.seahistory.org
10 May 2023 - Curator Talk: “Goats on Boats”: Pets in Naval History (Non-streaming)
Noon – 1 PM EDT
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, (Room 401E), Washington, DC
Curator Talk with Gordon Calhoun: “Goats on Boats”: Pets in Naval History (navy.mil)
11 May: Movie at the Memorial (non-streaming event)
Top Gun
7:30 – 9:30 PM EDT
Navy Memorial, Washington, DC
Events — United States Navy Memorial
11-13 May 2023: Camp Legacy Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home
10 AM – 6 PM each day (EDT)
CampLegacyFlyer.pdf (vva.org)
12 May 2023: Father Neptune: US Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (Streaming Live)
Noon – 1 PM EDT
The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, VA
Father Neptune: US Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles - The Mariners’ Museum and Park (marinersmuseum.org)
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Under Secretary of the Navy the Honorable Erik Raven is Announced as Battle of Midway Dinner Speaker | |
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2023 marks the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Midway. On 4 June 1942, a vastly outnumbered and outgunned US 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.
In 1999, then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay L. Johnson announced that, beginning with the 2000 observance, 4 June would become as significant as 13 October—the Navy’s birthday. “Twice a year, we will pause as a Navy to reflect upon our proud heritage and to build in all hands a renewed awareness of our tradition and history,” Johnson said.
Victory at the Battle of Midway has been celebrated on the battle’s anniversary with a formal dinner at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia. This event is sponsored by a consortium of nonprofit Navy and Marine Corps-related associations and foundations, listed on the Event Sponsors tab.
For additional Midway Commemoration information, the Naval History and Heritage Command hosts an extensive section about the history of the battle and resources to support a commemoration event. See: Battle of Midway (navy.mil)
Battle of Midway Commemoration Dinner - 4 June 2023 (airtable.com)
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Cutler to Publish New Naval History Column! | |
Former Naval Historical Foundation chairman Admiral BruceDeMars bestowing Dudley Knox Lifetime Achievement Honors on Tom Cutler in 2015. | |
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Tuesday Tidings is pleased to share the news of a new US Naval Institute column to be titled The Historian’s Quill: Reflections From the Desk of the US Naval Institute Historian, which will be produced by the prolific and award-winning author Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, US Navy (Retired).
Tom Cutler has wielded both the sword and the quill in the decades since (at the age of 17) he enlisted in the Navy and later became a member of the Naval Institute. He is well known in the naval profession through his service, his teaching, and his many articles, books, and presentations.
Tom’s column will include articles and images of interest to those who indulge in naval history, whether professionally or as buffs. In this year celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Naval Institute, Tom will also illuminate the unique and important history of the Naval Institute itself.
One of the foundational strengths of the Naval Institute is that it is an open forum. In that light, Tom hopes that this new venture also will serve as a catalyst to dialogue, and that readers will feel free to comment on these postings and thereby enhance their benefit.
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USNI SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR KNOX AWARD | |
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The US Naval Institute is seeking nominations for the Commodore Dudley Knox Medal for Lifetime Achievement. Originally established by the Naval Historical Foundation in 2013, the Knox Award recognizes contributions in scholarship, mentorship, leadership, and/or significant participation in organizations or institutions that promote naval/maritime, and/or military history.
Nominations should include the reason for the nomination and a summary of the achievements of the nominee. Submit your nominations to navalhistorian@usni.org by 15 July 2023. The awardee will be recognized and presented with the Knox Medal at the Naval Institute’s Jack C. Taylor Conference Center on September 21, 2023, following the McMullen Naval History Symposium.
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After a successful attack on the Japanese Fleet, a Dauntless dive bomber returns to the fleet defending Midway Island. Painting, Oil on Canvas; by Sam Massette; C. 2000. | |
Flight Ops in Washington, DC — A Century Ago! | |
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By David F. Winkler
In his book Selling Sea Power: Public Relations and the US Navy, 1917–1941, Ryan Wadle lamented that, following World War I, the Navy’s culture inhibited its leaders from publicly advocating for a strong navy to defend the nation and interests abroad. The Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22, which led to the scrapping of battleships under construction and other tonnage restrictions, should have served as a wake-up call. Yet the Navy maintained its public reputation as “the Silent Service.” Instead, Navy leadership looked for others to champion sea power. This past 27 October marked the centennial of Navy Day. Long credited as a Navy League of the United States initiative, Navy Day fell on the birthday of the recently deceased President Theodore Roosevelt—a staunch supporter of sea power. In Selling Sea Power, Wadle exposed the behind-the-scene role of the Office of Naval Intelligence to coordinate with the Navy League to create a day of national sea power celebration.
The Navy’s First Aircraft Carrier
One naval leader who broke the silent-service mold was Rear Admiral William Moffett. Recently selected to head the new Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), Moffett found his new fiefdom was being challenged by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, who argued for a consolidation of Army and Navy air components into a new service along the lines of what had been accomplished in Britain with the establishment of the Royal Air Force towards the end of World War I. In his advocacy for a separate service, Mitchell was a publicity-generating machine and exploited the aerial bombings of decommissioned German and American battleships off the Virginia capes to argue his case before Congress.
Read full article>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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Bounty: HM Armed Vessel 1787. By Kerry Jang. Seaforth Publishing, U.K., (2023)
Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA
...Bounty long ago entered the pantheon of great maritime lore. No fewer than five movies, three of them star-studded successes (1935, 1962 and 1984) are familiar to the public. They are all fabulized, and only the most recent focuses, rightly in my view, on Bligh and his leadership instead of the mutinous Christian. Byproducts of the 1962 and 1984 movies were reconstructions of Bounty, both larger than the original to accommodate film crews. The older ship spent years in Florida, where this writer visited her many times. An active vessel, she sailed around the globe only to sink in a hurricane off the North Carolina coast in 2012. The more recent reconstruction is now a tourist stop in Hong Kong.
Bligh successfully repeated the breadfruit mission from 1791 to 1793, but slaves refused to eat it. Britain abolished the slave trade in, 1807, although not slavery until 1833, by passage of the Slavery Abolition Act. Pitcairn and a few nearby islands remain the only British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. Fewer than fifty people, many surnamed Christian, remain on the island today.
Read full review>>
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NOTE FOR AUTHORS OF VIETNAM NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS: The Capital Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States has been provided a tent on the National Mall for the forthcoming Vietnam Veterans welcome home event to be held in the nation’s capital from 11 to 13 May. To provide historical context for the thousands of veterans expected to attend, the Naval Order seeks authors of sea service Vietnam-themed books to be on hand to autograph books and talk history with those who served in SE Asia. If you are interested in participating, contact Dave Winkler at david.winkler@usnwc.edu. | |
NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
Battle of Manila Bay, 1 May 1898 | |
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Commodore George Dewey achieved a crushing naval victory over the Spanish fleet in the waters west of the city of Manila in the Philippines on 1 May 1898 during the Spanish-American War (21 April to 13 August 1898). Although the operation had long been a part of the US Navy's strategic plans in the event of a conflict with Spain, no one, even at the start of the war could foresee the impact Dewey's success would have on the future of the United States.
Beginning in 1894 the Naval War College (and later special boards convened by the Secretary of the Navy) examined the possibility of war with Spain over trouble in Cuba. An attack by the US Asiatic Squadron against the Spanish forces in the Philippines first became a part of the Navy’s plans in 1896. The objective of the offensive operation was not to conquer all or part of the Spanish colony, but to tie down or divert enemy ships and give the United States a stronger bargaining position at the peace settlement. Nevertheless, the consequences of Dewey’s triumph were much different.
Assistant Secretary Roosevelt telegraphed Commodore George Dewey on 25 February ordering him to concentrate the ships of the Asiatic Station at Hong Kong. In the event of war, he was to take his squadron and destroy the Spanish ships in Philippine waters. Dewey’s command at Hong Kong consisted of the protected cruisers Olympia, Boston, and Raleigh, and the gunboats Concord and Petrel. The Revenue Cutter McCulloch joined the force on 17 April, and the protected cruiser Baltimore arrived on 22 April. Dewey also prepared for future operations in a region without friendly bases by purchasing the British steamers Nanshan and Zafiro to carry coal and supplies for his squadron.
Read full article>>
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The Battle of Coral Sea: A Retrospective | |
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At the beginning of May, 1942, the Japanese Empire was wrapping up the triumphant initial campaigns which had initiated its war in the Pacific. Practically the entire western Pacific basin was now under Japanese control.
The British had been crushed in Hong Kong, Malaya, and Borneo, ending with the humiliating surrender of Singapore in February. The vital port of Rabaul, at the tip of New Britain, had been lost in February as well, giving the Japanese a crucial base near the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. During March, the Dutch had been overwhelmed in Sumatra and Java, with their vital oilfields falling into Japanese hands.
By May, British resistance in Burma had collapsed, and their forces were in the final stages of a humiliating rout back to the Indian frontier. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Bataan had fallen in April—the largest surrender in American history—sending 75,000 Filipino and American troops into Japanese captivity. The tiny, besieged bastion of Corregidor had lasted just a month longer, falling on 6 May.
Read full article>>
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USS Yorktown (CV-5) was commissioned at Naval Operating Base Norfolk, Virginia, on 30 September 1937, with Captain Ernest D. McWhorter in command. After shakedown training that took the aircraft carrier to the Virgin Islands, Haiti, Guantanamo Bay, and Cristobal in the Panama Canal Zone, she returned to Norfolk for subsequent repairs in the fall of 1938. After operating along the eastern seaboard into early 1939, Yorktown participated in her first war game, Fleet Problem XX, which called for one fleet to control the sea lanes in the Caribbean against the incursion of a foreign European power while maintaining sufficient naval strength to protect vital American interests in the Pacific. The maneuvers were conducted with her sister ship, USS Enterprise (CV-6), and witnessed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The fleet problem revealed—with convoy escort, antisubmarine defense, and various attack measures against surface ships and shore installations—that if war came to American shores, aircraft carriers could make significant contributions to the war effort.
After steaming to the Pacific in late April 1939, she operated out of San Diego, California, into 1940. Yorktown participated in another fleet problem (Fleet Problem XXI) that would ultimately characterize future warfare in the Pacific. The two-part exercise was devoted to screening and scouting, convoy protection, and the seizure of advanced bases. It also pointed out the need to coordinate Army and Navy defense plans for the Hawaiian Islands. Yorktown operated in Pacific waters until April 1941, when the success of German U-boats preying upon British shipping in the Atlantic required a shift of American naval strength. Therefore, the Navy transferred a substantial force from the Pacific including Yorktown, a battleship division, and accompanying cruisers and destroyers, to reinforce the Atlantic Fleet. From that time until the United States officially entered World War II, Yorktown conducted multiple patrols in the Atlantic to enforce American neutrality.
Read full article>>
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NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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9 May 2023: National Maritime Awards Dinner, National Press Club, Washington, DC
10 May 2023: 150th Annual Meeting of the US Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD
17–20 May 2023: North American Society for Oceanic History Conference, Maritime Museum of San Diego, CA
18–21 September 2023: Historic Naval Ship Association Conference aboard USS Slater
21 September 2023: Navy Memorial Lone Sailor Award Dinner, National Building Museum, Washington, DC
21–22 September 2023: McMullen Naval History Symposium, US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
17–22 October 2023: Naval Order of the United States Congress, San Diego
| Click here to watch Dr. Michael A. Verney’s presentation of his book: A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic. | PREBLE HALL NAVAL HISTORY PODCAST | |
A naval history podcast from Preble Hall – the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. Preble Hall will interview 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: 186: The Coastal Studies & Society Journal>>
Click here for all Preble Hall Podcasts >>
| NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COMMAND H-GRAMS | |
H-Gram 078: 20 March 2023 >> The Revolt of the Admirals, Ship Renaming
| DRACHINIFEL YOUTUBE CHANNEL | 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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