Tuesday Tidings is published by the National Maritime Historical Society with support from the US Naval Institute. Interested in joining USNI? Click on the USNI logo to become a member! | | | |
3 June 2025
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
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Today marks the 83rd anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Midway. Huzzah to all who will be participating in ceremonies and dinners around the country. In this edition we also note the release of a new stamp from the US Postal Service to celebrate the Navy’s 250th birthday and and we announce the winner of the Naval Order of the United States Prize at the US Naval Academy!
For this week’s Naval History Book Review, we thank Dr. John Satterfield for his review of a book covering the work of a renown ship British modeler.
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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.
| | Stamp Announcement 25-18: US Navy 250th Stamp | | This US Navy emblem is featured on the new stamp celebrating the Navy's 250th Birthday. | | |
On 16 May 2025, in Washington, DC, the United States Postal Service® will issue the US Navy 250th stamp (Forever® priced at the First-Class Mail® rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 486800). This stamp will go on sale nationwide 16 May and must not be sold or canceled before the first-day-of-issue.
This stamp celebrates the 250th anniversary of the US Navy. First established as the American colonies fought for independence, the Navy is now at the forefront of cutting-edge technology that safeguards the maritime interests of the United States to ensure economic prosperity and the freedom of the seas. Featuring the emblem of the US Navy against a white background, the stamp was designed by art director Antonio Alcalá.
| | Midshipman Ramos Wins NOUS Prize! | | From left to right: Dr. Samara Firebaugh, US Naval Academy academic dean and provost; Col Eric Reid, USMC, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences; Midshipman First Class Colin Ramos; Capt. Paul Crissy, USCG (Ret). Photo courtesy Captain Crissy. | | |
During a recent Prizes and Awards Ceremony for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences during the United States Naval Academy’s 2025 Commencement Week, Midn. 1/c Colin Ramos received the Naval Order of the United States Prize for his paper titled “Theodore Roosevelt’s Modernization and Expansion of the United States Military." Midshipman Ramos’s senior honors thesis analyzed Roosevelt’s pivotal presidency and leadership in military development, modernization and growth, foreign policy, and political and military decisions impacting power projection, deterrence and the United States’ global status. Ramos concluded that Theodore Roosevelt was the boldest and most ambitious president in the United States’ history.
Retired Coast Guard Capt. Paul Crissy represented the Naval Order at this annual event. Of the numerous prizes that are presented, the Naval Order prize is prestigious due to longevity. It began in 1934 in the Political Science Department as a multiple-choice quiz on national and world current events. It has evolved to recognize the best capstone paper encompassing naval history or future warfighting concepts.
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Recollections of Commander John Ford, USNR
Adapted from Commander John Ford, USNR, interview in box 10 of World War II Interviews, Archives, Naval History and Heritage Command.
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Recollections of Commander John Ford, USNR, Oscar-winning Hollywood producer and chief of the Field Photographic Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), concerning his experiences making combat motion pictures under battle conditions. His film of the Battle of Midway subsequently became a popular movie feature.
This is Commander John Ford, USNR. I am in command of the field photographic branch of the Office of Strategic Services. This is a photographic branch among other things. Most of the people in our outfit—officers and men are from Hollywood. They are writers, directors, some actors, but mostly technicians, electricians, cutters, sound cutters, negative cutters, positive cutters, carpenters, and that sort of thing.
About 1932 my old friend Admiral Frank Scofield, who at that time, had the flag in the fleet and Captain Herbert Aloysius Jones, “Baldy” Jones, as he is known to the Navy, got me to return to the Naval Reserve and to organize a photographic [movie-making] section. He thought at that time that in the future, the future emergency, it would be of value; so I came back and organized this outfit. I was called into active service in August, 1941, and started planning. Before Pearl Harbor we had gone to Iceland, and made a complete [film] study there, a complete [film] study in Panama. After Pearl Harbor I was asked by the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of War to go to Honolulu and give a factual photographic [film] account of the action there. So I left with a crew about January 4, 1942 and arrived there about 12 days later, and got to work.
We found Pearl Harbor at that time in a state of readiness. Everybody had learned their lesson from Pearl Harbor. The Army and the Navy, all in good shape, everything taken care of, patrols going out regularly, everybody in high spirit, was courageous, [in a] spirit of hope, [that] I have ever seen. I was particularly interested in our new blue jacket [US Navy enlisted men]. He was a man of unlimited education, background, he had evidently left a good trade. He was a fighting man. In a few months I was to see what a good fighting man he was.
The first task force I went on, I was called by Admiral [Chester W.] Nimitz [USN] on the phone, I knew him quite well, [and] he said, “Throw a bag together and come out here and see me.’ So I left immediately and went out to Pearl Harbor, [and] saw him. He told me to report to Admiral Bagley. I left there immediately and went down to the Harbor, got into the speedboat and caught a destroyer that was leaving. Got on board while it was in motion, while she was underway. Hadn't the slightest idea what I was doing, where I was going. I found out when I got on board that the destination was Midway.
Read full article here>>
| | NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | | |
The Life and Ship Models of Norman Ough. By Alistair Roach, Seaforth Publishers, Barnsley, UK (Paperback Edition 2024)
Reviewed by John R. Satterfield
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Only a few people build ship models, mostly not very well. But many are fascinated even when they see a model that is barely adequate, and expertly rendered representations are rightly considered works of art. Ship models have been found in the tombs of pharaohs from 2000 BCE and may have existed before even then. Expert modelers have produced miniature versions of historic ships exhibited in many of the world’s most distinguished museums.
Among these treasures are the Class of 1951 Gallery of Ships in the Museum of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the remarkable display of 359 1/48-scale wooden models of August and Winnifred Crabtree in the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia, and the Ship Model Gallery in the Noble Maritime Collection on Staten Island, New York. The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, UK contains the world’s largest collection, with an overwhelming 5,000 models, covering the history of shipbuilding. Professional model makers produced many of these superb displays, and many are available commercially, with stratospheric prices based on scale, detail and materials used.
The Royal Navy’s Admiralty ordered its building yards to produce scale models of ships under construction mostly during the age of sail. Many of these models, made precisely like the full-size ships, contain completely detailed interiors that went unseen for centuries until fiber-optic cameras enabled viewers to see inside them. Admiralty model production dropped as powered warships replaced sails, and in the twentieth century, model kits for amateurs appeared in a variety of formats and materials, evolving into the plastic types so common today.
A few gifted modelers continued to work in the Admiralty tradition, however, as steam, oil, and steel replaced wood and wind. One of these was Norman Ough.
Allistair Roach, who holds an MPhil in the history of ship models, wrote about Ough, incorporating a short biography, selected articles Ough published in the English magazine Model Maker, his remarkable engineering drawings of ships, ordnance and details, and many photos of his ships. The book, first published a decade ago, has been reissued in paperback.
Read full review>>
| | NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | | |
Mark Stille, CDR, USN (Ret)
Midway
Naval Order Heritage Night: 14 May 2025
Watch here>>
| | Call for Papers: International Journal of Naval History | | |
Call for Papers: Trafalgar Chronicle
Publication Date: Fall 2026
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THEME: Navies in the Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848
For the 2026 edition of the Trafalgar Chronicle, New Series 10, the editors seek carefully researched, scholarly articles on Navies in the Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848. We invite essays about naval contributions, roles, and issues in the context of revolutionary political, social, economic, and technological change during the last decades of the Age of Sail.
Additional Topics: We also seek general interest articles with unique perspectives on the maritime and naval history of the Georgian era: biographical portraits, battles at sea, maritime economics, exploration of foreign shores, foreign relations, politics, etc.
Proposal Submission Guidelines: Please submit a proposal/abstract of about 500 words and a paragraph about your background (a biographical sketch) by 1 September 2025. Applicants will be notified of acceptance status by 1 October 2025. Submit all proposals and inquiries to tc.editor@1805Club.org. Detailed author guidelines are available upon request.
Article Guidelines: Articles should range between 3,000 to 5,000 words long in MSWORD (unprotected) following the New Oxford Style Manual. Please include three to six high-resolution illustrations, each in a separate file (jpeg, pdf, or tiff) with a list of captions in a separate file. Articles are due 1 February 2026. They will be edited and, in some cases, submitted to peer review. Articles will be returned to authors for any revisions by 1 April 2026. Revisions are due by 1 May 2026. Publication will be Fall/Autumn 2026. Seaforth Publishing is our publisher.
While we do not pay contributors, each will receive a copy of the Trafalgar Chronicle upon publication. Non-1805 Club members will also receive a free one-year membership. Authors retain copyright to their articles.
Our Contributors: We welcome articles from 1805 Club members and anyone with an interest in the history of the Georgian era sailing navies. Our articles have come from writers of varied backgrounds: historians, journalists, university students, military personnel, preservationists, novelists and enthusiasts of the period. Contact tc.editor@1805Club.org for additional information.
The Trafalgar Chronicle is the scholarly flagship publication of The 1805 Club, a charity registered in England and Wales (number 1202272) with an international membership of scholars and enthusiasts of the Georgian maritime era. The 1805 Club takes its name from the iconic Battle of Trafalgar that gave Nelson his place in history and confirmed the role of the Royal Navy in asserting Britain’s sea power.
| | 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: 248 - Marc Leepson - Unlikely War Hero>>
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NAVY HISTORY MATTERS
Welcome to Navy History Matters, the 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>>
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