The Return of the Mayflower, by Bernard F. Dribble, courtesy of the United States Naval Academy Museum. This image, depicting fishermen cheering the American Eighth Destroyer Division as it steamed into Queenstown on 4 May 1917, graced the cover of the late William N. Still's Crisis at Sea: The United States Navy in European Waters in World War I. NPS Photo. | |
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Tuesday Tidings Naval History Newsletter
Honoring Our Navy History & Supporting the Naval Heritage Community
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17 January 2023
Welcome back to Members and Friends of the National Maritime Historical Society,
Just prior to last week's inaugural Tuesday Tidings e-letter, we learned of the passing of one of our most esteemed colleagues in the naval/maritime heritage community, Dr. William N. Still Jr. Still obtained his PhD from the University of Alabama; his early writings focused on Confederate Navy history, as his dissertation focused on the construction and fitting out of ironclad vessels-of-war within the Confederacy. Subsequently, his focus shifted to the late 19th/early 20th century as he authored a trilogy of narratives covering the history of the United States Navy in Europe from the post-Civil War era–American Sea Power in the Old World: The United States Navy in European and Near Eastern Waters, 1865-1917; Crisis at Sea: The United States Navy in European Waters in World War I; and finally, Victory Without Peace: The United States Navy in European Waters, 1919-1924, with Crisis at Sea earning a coveted North American Society for Oceanic History John Lyman Book Award. As significant as his writings was his mentorship of individuals during his tenure at East Carolina University and the University of Hawaii. Through these former students, Bill Still’s legacy will be carried on for decades to come. In this edition of Tuesday Tidings, former Director of the Naval Historical Center (now Naval History and Heritage Command) Dr. William S. Dudley offers a poignant tribute to Dr. Still.
Also in this edition, we share two book reviews from the recent pages of Sea History showcasing significant works that reframe our view of early American naval history. Both B.J. Armstrong’s Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy and Thomas Sheppard’s Commanding Petty Despots: The American Navy in the New Republic offer concepts that are germane today!
Finally, last week we received an outpouring of interest in the books we have available for review. If you see a narrative that you would like to review for an upcoming issue, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Dr. David Winkler. We received much positive feedback from our first e-letter and welcome your comments at nmhs@seahistory.org.
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Upcoming Events & Items of Immediate Interest | |
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Bill Still: An Appreciation
by William S. Dudley, Ph.D.
As one who has known Dr. Bill Still for half a lifetime, I have much regret in his passing before we might have had one more road trip, one more laugh together, and one more gin and tonic on the backyard deck. We met in Washington at the Naval Historical Center (NHC) in the early 1980s when he arrived to do some research in the Operational Archives and to say hello to Dr. Morgan, the Senior Historian of the Navy, who was my boss at the time. Bill and I struck it off well immediately since we both were historians who had served in the Navy within the same decade, 1953-1963. He was teaching at East Carolina University (ECU), and I had taught at Southern Methodist University (SMU) before coming to Washington. From then on, we had a conversation that never ended, about subjects of mutual interest, whether it was the Civil War, the American Revolution, or the War of 1812 and the current state of the Navy. At that time, too, we both showed up at annual conferences of the North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) which he called “Nasa” and I called “Nay-so,” a difference in dialects. Later the US Naval Academy Symposia offered more opportunities to meet up between sessions and at the always grand receptions.
The road trips became numerous as we traveled to these conferences, sometimes in the ECU travel-all van with students, stopping at Sackets Harbor on the way to Kingston, Ontario, or in New York, stopping for a sumptuous luncheon at the New York Yacht Club at which none of us were members, and always someone else, not Bill, did the driving. I got elected to drive leaving New York and heading for Mystic Seaport, a perilous trek threading through NY traffic on the East River Drive to the Triboro Bridge and then on to Connecticut for the conference. Other trips followed, Point Clear, Lake George, Honolulu, St. Michaels, Bath, Savannah, and others. During these trips, when he stayed with us, my wife Donna always looked forward to seeing Bill and got used to his curmudgeonly ways when he was up on his high horse, referring to some difficult person or situation. Her humor brought him back to the present. She also knew that Bill’s favorite dessert was Pecan Pie (pronounced “Pah”).
Click to Read Full Article >>
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News From the Greater Maritime History World | |
Tall Ship Providence Announces Partnership with Huntington Ingalls Industries
In late September the Tall Ship Providence Foundation announced its partnership with the country's largest shipbuilding company, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII). The shipbuilder has committed $1 million for the foundation's 4th Grade Education Program, with the goal of educating all fourth graders in Virginia about the history of the Revolutionary War sloop Providence, and her role–and that of other ships like her–in the American Revolution. Inspired by the first warship authorized by the Continental Navy, the replica sloop Providence was built in Newport, Rhode Island, and completed in 1976. She was commissioned by John Fitzhugh Millar and designed by naval architect Charles Wittholz, following the general examples of Rhode Island sloops of the period. Unlike many replicas of historic wooden sailing ships, fiberglass was chosen for the hull material to extend the vessel's longevity. She was originally intended to be part of a fleet of vessels associated with the Newport waterfront, but in the mid-1990s she was given to the city of Providence as a sailing ambassador.
Read more in Sea History 181, page 50 >>
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2023 National Maritime Awards Dinner
Save the date! The National Maritime Historical Society is thrilled to announce the honorees for the 2023 National Maritime Awards Dinner on 9 May 2023 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC: USS Constitution Museum, Congressman Joseph D. Courtney, and Oyster Recovery Partnership.
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Naval History Book Reviews | |
Commanding Petty Despots: The American Navy in the New Republic by Thomas Sheppard (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2022) | | |
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Reviewed by Frederick C. Leiner
Sheppard provides an important gloss on the early republic's navy. He builds a strong case that over time, "ideas of professional honor gave way to a more modern sensibility that expected men of honor to put the national or institutional good ahead of their own quest for status." Along the way, Commanding Petty Despots provides vignettes that demonstrate the role of honor, as well as the ways that secretaries of the navy tried to assert control over their zealous officers. Well conceived, well researched, and well written, Commanding Petty Despots is a fine addition to the history of the sailing Navy.
Read the Full Review in Sea History 180, page 60 >>
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Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy by Benjamin Armstrong (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2019) | | |
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Reviewed by Luke Carpenter
...Small Boats and Daring Men is not, however, a mere manual. Armstrong establishes guerre de razzia as a visible and legitimate third form of naval strategy alongside guerre de course and guerre d'escadre, and it demands the attention of naval theorists and historians. Along with a small yet criminally overlooked body of work by James C. Bradford and Vice Admiral P.H. Colomb, Small Boats and Daring Men provides a foundation for future research into guerre de razzia, and Armstrong can lay claim to the mantle of naval theorist and strategist alongside his already formidable reputation as a naval historian. This book is simultaneously a well-written, action-packed, and highly entertaining work of naval history, an important scholarly contribution to the understanding of US naval operations during the Age of Sail, and a pioneering work of naval theory and strategy, one with insights to offer the theorist, historian, naval leader, and interested layman alike.
Read the Full Review in Sea History 180, page 62 >>
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Naval History Books Available for Review | |
Naval Historical Anniversaries of Note | |
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160 Years Ago on 14 January 1863 U.S. Navy General Order No. 4 Announced President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to Navy Sailors
NAVY DEPARTMENT
January 14, 1863.
The following Proclamation of the President is published for the information and government of the officers and others of the Naval Service.
GIDEON WELLES,
Secretary of the Navy.
_________________
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free; and the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of any such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
Read More >>
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Naval History News from the Fleet | |
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11 January Washington Post Article by Michael E. Ruane Provides Update on New Navy Museum
Preparations are underway for the Navy's new $450 million flagship museum to replace its current 60-year-old facility located in the former Breech Mechanism Shop of the old Naval Gun Factory on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Plans were announced two years ago to build the new museum on a 6-acre plot adjacent to the Navy Yard.
The Navy has reported that the land has been secured, pending environmental review, and that several architecture firms have been selected to develop ideas, concepts, and renderings that will be unveiled this spring. The Navy hopes to break ground in the fall of 2025, in time for the Navy's 250th birthday on 13 October.
Read the Full Article by Michael Ruane in The Washington Post >>
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Recognition in the Naval Heritage Community | | |
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The Surface Navy Association (SNA) recognized two naval historians at its 35th National Symposium held last week. The late James D. Hornfischer was recognized with the SNA Special Recognition Award, that organization’s highest honor acknowledging Hornfischer’s ongoing relationship with SNA dating back 15 years. The citation noted: “His willingness to speak at our chapter events with talks on his books such as The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailor, Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, Service, A Navy Seal at War, as well as The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific will long be remembered by our membership.” Confronted with a terminal illness, Hornfischer persevered to complete Who Can Hold the Sea: The U.S. Navy in the Cold War 1945-1960 prior to his passing in June 2021, a book that covers the transformation of the Navy as the Soviet Union rose to become the predominant adversary.
The SNA also presented Jonathan Parshall with its Literary Award (First Place) for his essay “What was Nimitz Thinking?” published in the Spring 2022 Naval War College Review. Parshall previously achieved acclaim when he joined with Anthony Tully to publish Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. He is the co-author of the forthcoming Fighting in the Dark: Naval Combat at Night, 1904-1944.
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Additional Featured Content | |
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Cartridge Case Fired by USS Olympia at Battle of Manila Bay
By John L. Morris
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This brass cartridge case is engraved: "Fired from the USS OLYMPIA at the Battle of Manila Bay, May 1, 1898."
The case was made in 1894, and is marked “Manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Co., New Haven, Conn. USA”. It was typically used by rapid-fire guns made by the French ordnance manufacturing firm Hotchkiss & Cie. This ammunition is designated “57 x 306” (bore diameter and case length in millimeters.) A number of the 6-pounder rapid-fire guns were present in the secondary battery of USS Olympia. The case was purchased by a Prince William County, VA collector at a suburban DC gun show.
USS Olympia>>
6-pounder Hotchkiss guns >>
Battle of Manila Bay >>
See also Olympia, Icon of the American Navy, by John Brady in Sea History 179, pg. 20 >>
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Naval History Calls For Papers | |
Upcoming Naval History-Related Gatherings | |
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17-18 February 2023: Western Naval History Association Symposium, USS Midway Museum, San Diego, CA
23-26 March 2023: Society for Military History, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, San Diego, CA
9 May 2023: National Maritime Awards Dinner, National Press Club, Washington, DC
17-20 May 2023: North American Society for Oceanic History Conference, Maritime Museum of San Diego, CA
21-22 September 2023: McMullen Naval History Symposium, US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
September 2023: Historic Naval Ship Association
October 2023: Naval Order of the United States Congress, San Diego
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Preble Hall Naval History Podcast | |
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The United States Naval Academy Museum's naval history podcast from Preble Hall features historians, practitioners, military personnel, and other experts on a variety of naval history topics from ancient history to more current events.
EP170: 15 January 2023 >> Admiral Mike Mullen, Part V - The late 1990's. Naval History & Heritage Command historians John Sherwood and Tyler Pitrof continue their series with retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen, USNA Class of '68. In this episode they discuss the late 1990s.
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Naval History & Heritage Command H-Grams | |
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. | |
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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.
DONATE TODAY >>
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