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14 May 2024
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
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With the graduation of the US Naval Academy Class of ’24 coming up next week, this edition has an Annapolis focus with the publication of papers presented at the 2016 and 2017 McMullen Naval History Symposiums and some recognition recently given by the US Naval Institute at its 151st Annual Meeting held last Wednesday at the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center. A salute to new USNI CEO and president Rear Adm. Ray Spicer, USN (Ret.), and his team for hosting an impressive event, closing with an address from the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, Gen. Eric M. Smith. During his talk, Smith spoke of the naming of a new amphibious ship to be the USS Helmand Province. That event is covered below.
This week for our Naval History Book Review we offer Capt. Richard Dick’s take on Susan D. Aberle’s Slide Trail: USS Grunion on Eternal Patrol at Kiska. We still have several great titles available for review. Please check the list! Speaking of books, with the upcoming 82nd anniversary of the Battle of Midway, we offer a Huzzah to the Naval Institute Press for packaging its offerings on the subject for sale! See the promo below!
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 are welcome at nmhs@seahistory.org.
| ITEMS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST | |
18 May 2024 - Naval Dockyards Society 28th Annual Conference
From Yards to Hards: Preparing Allied naval forces for the 1944 Normandy Landings
The D-Day Story, Portsmouth - Partner and Venue: Clarence Esplanade, Southsea, Portsmouth PO5 3NT
18 May 2024 – Tour of Patuxent River NAS Museum
With Naval Order of the US, Capital Commandery POC Peter Pennington kernow01@att.net
11 AM–Lunch
18 May 2024 – Virtual Book Talk: When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship
With John Geoghegan and Curator Gordon Calhoun
Noon–1 PM (EDT) Navy Museum, Washington, DC (Virtual via Facebook)
18 May 2024 – History Talk: “A History Closely Interwoven”: The Washington Navy Yard and Washington, DC
With Michael Galloway
1–2 PM (EDT) (In person) Southwest Neighborhood Library, Washington, DC
19 May 2024 – The History of Moffett Field
With Capt. Tom Spink, USN (Ret.)
3–4 PM PDT (in person) Mare Island Historical Foundation, CA
20 May 2024 – Early Bird Registration Deadline The Battle of Midway Dinner, Washington, DC
22 May 2024 – Virtual Talk: Harvey Milk and National Maritime Day
With Stuart Milk
Noon–1 PM (EDT) Navy Museum, Washington, DC (Virtual via Facebook)
23 May 2024 – Kings Maritime History Series – The Post-Napoleonic Employment of Former Warships in the British Southern Whale Fishery, 1815–1845
With Julie Papworth and Roger Dence, King’s College
5:15 PM (GMT)
25 May 2024 – Opening of the Pritzker Military Archive Center, Kenosha, WI
11 AM–3 PM (CDT)
20–22 June 2024 – North American Society for Oceanographic History/Canadian Nautical Research Society conference
St. Catharines, Ontario
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New Interpretations of Naval History and John Hattendorf’s Reflections on Naval History are Available Online
Tuesday Tidings has just received from the Naval War College Press two editions of New Interpretations of Naval History: Selected Papers from the Twentieth (And Twenty-First) McMullen Naval History Symposium Held at the US Naval Academy 14–15 September 2017 (And 19–20 September 2019) with Brian VanDeMark editing the 20th edition and Benjamin “BJ” Armstrong editing the 21st edition and Reflections on Naval History which consist of collected essays from John B. Hattendorf, the Ernest J. King Professor Emeritus of Maritime History at the Naval War College. Rather than challenge an individual to critique each publication comprising over a dozen substantial contributions, we invite readers to scroll through the three publications, and if there is an essay worthy of commentary, please share a short synopsis of that article and any additional insights. Congratulations to Dr. VanDeMark and Captain (Dr.) Armstrong for pushing these fine symposium presentations over the finish line, where they will gain greater exposure, and to Dr. Hattendorf for compiling such an impressive body of work.
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Ed Offley Earns USNI Naval History Author of the Year Honors
A Huzzah for Ed Offley, who authored nine articles for Naval History over the past two years. A career military journalist for four decades, he previously wrote two books about the Battle of the Atlantic: Turning the Tide: How a Small Band of Allied Sailors Defeated the U-boats and Won the Battle of the Atlantic (Basic Books, 2011), and The Burning Shore: How Hitler’s U-boats Brought World War II to America (Basic Books, 2014). Though most of his features have been commemorative to mark the 80th anniversary of World War II milestones, his October 2023 “Fortunate Victory” and his “The Phone Call Home: A Grenada Legend” focused on the 40th anniversary of Operation Urgent Fury—the seizure of Grenada—and detailed all of the operational issues that contributed to the Goldwater-Nichols legislation passed in 1986 to facilitate joint operations between the services. Not content to bask in this recognition, Offley offers “The Invasion Fleet that Liberated Europe” in next month’s Naval History. See: Naval History Magazine | U.S. Naval Institute (usni.org)
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Naval History editor Eric Mills presenting Ed Offley with his Author of the Year Medal. | |
A Huzzah to the Naval Institute Press for packaging a special sale to commemorate the upcoming 82nd anniversary of the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway! Click on the picture to below to see the list of books. | |
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Future America-class Amphibious Assault Ship to be named USS Helmand Province
02 May 2024
On May 2nd, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced that a future America-class amphibious assault ship will be named USS Helmand Province (LHA 10) during the final day of the Modern Day Marine 2024 gathering at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.
The future USS Helmand Province will commemorate the multiple US Marine Corps operations that took place in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The name selection follows the tradition of naming amphibious assault ships after US Marine Corps battles, early US sailing ships, or legacy names of earlier carriers from World War II. Secretary Del Toro named LHA 9, the future USS Fallujah, in 2022.
Initiating the first US ground offensive of OEF on 19 Oct. 2001, helicopters launched from USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) lifted Task Force Sword (FT-11) to Objective Rhino, a remote airstrip in Helmand Province. Following the airstrip’s seizure, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) arrived on Nov. 25, 2001 to establish Camp Rhino. It was one of the longest ship-to-shore amphibious operations in history. Elements of the 26th MEU (Special Operations Command) subsequently reinforced the 15th MEU on 4 Dec. 2001. Afterward, Marine presence in Helmand remained constant, though minimal. On 29 April 2008, the 24th MEU stormed Taliban-held Garmser, then staged into southern Helmand on 1 June 2008. With allied support, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade launched Operation Strike of the Sword on 2 July 2009. The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines later conducted operation Sangin Moshtrarak Naweed in May 2012. This was one of OEF’s largest air assault operations. By 2013, with relative regional stability secured, Marines trained Afghan forces to maintain security in advance of the late 2014 drawdown.
“For Marines, Helmand Province is a place of bittersweet memories,” said the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Eric M. Smith. “An entire generation of Marines wrote another chapter in the storied history of our Corps there, as warriors, but also as peacebuilders. Their legacy is defined by the spirit they embodied and the lives they touched. I look forward to the day when the USS Helmand Province will steam forward and carry Marines on their way to write new chapters—in peace, and if called, in war.”
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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Slide Trail: USS Grunion on Eternal Patrol at Kiska By Susan D. Abele; Self-published, Newton, MA; (2020)
Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret).
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...Susan Abele describes in extraordinary and touching detail the struggles of the families left behind to deal with the ship’s loss. She also highlights the remarkable efforts of Kay Abele to keep in touch with and support all the families of Grunion’s officers and crew.
Some 60 years later, inspired by Robert Ballard’s discovery of the wreck of RMS Titanic and by contacts with descendants of Imperial Japanese Navy personnel who had served in the Aleutians, Mannert Abele’s sons decided to finance and participate in an expedition to find Grunion. The book describes in considerable detail the two expeditions that eventually located and photographed the wreck in August 2007. It also includes very useful appendices, including an excellent description of life on a Gato-class submarine in the early days of the Pacific war and a very well-done explanation of the multiple problems with the Mark 14 torpedo in the first half of World War II. Susan Abele’s book is a well written, well-illustrated, and moving tribute to a valiant submarine and crew.
Read review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
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Preble Hall Podcast: Anselm van der Peet on the Netherlands Navy
Dr. Anselm van der Peet of the Netherlands Institute for Military History discusses the history of the Royal Netherlands Navy from the end of World War II to the present with John Sherwood.
Listen here>>
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UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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23–26 May 2024: 75th Annual Conference of the Company of Military Historians, Augusta, ME
3 June 2024: Battle of Midway Dinner, Washington, DC
6 June 2024: 80th Anniversary of D-Day at Museum Dedicated to D-Day Veteran Yogi Berra, Yogi Berra Learning Center and Museum, Little Falls, NJ
20–22 June 2024: Joint NASOH/CNRS Conference, St. Catharines, Ontario
16–19 September 2024: Historic Naval Ship Association (HNSA) Symposium, USS Midway, San Diego
24–28 September 2025: 12th Maritime Heritage Conference, Buffalo, NY
| 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: 230: Anselm van der Peet on the Netherlands Navy>>
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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