|
14 February 2023
Happy Valentine's Day to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
Tomorrow marks a significant anniversary—the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor 125 years ago—that would eventually lead to an American declaration of war with Spain. Much scholarship has been written on this tragedy and two reports are offered in our main feature. There will be a wreath-laying tomorrow at 11 AM EST at Arlington Cemetery at the Maine Memorial and you are invited to attend!
The Western Naval History Association Symposium begins this coming Friday and extends through Saturday on the aircraft carrier Midway. You may register and attend virtually! Kudos to Sam Tangredi and Vincent P. O’Hara for bringing together 17 of America’s and Great Britain’s top naval history practitioners and an interesting mix of paper presentations, war gaming demonstrations, and workshops on naval history promotion.
Tuesday Tidings is compiled by Dr. David F. Winkler and Jessie Henderson. As always, comments are welcome at nmhs@seahistory.org.
| THIS WEEK'S FEATURED IMAGE | |
Wreck of USS Maine (February 15, 1898)
Oil on canvas, 30.5 inches x 51 inches, by A. Melero (19th century). Signed and dated by the artist, 1898. Original painting in the US Naval Academy Museum collection.
| ITEMS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST | |
Western Naval History Association Symposium
17–18 February 2023
USS Midway Museum, San Diego, CA
Last chance to register >>
To view the program click here >>
| |
The Destruction of the Maine: Two Contrasting Opinions
While the 1898 destruction of USS Maine in itself may not have been the cause of the war between the United States and Spain, it certainly contributed to a downturn in relations that had been frayed due to Spain’s colonial possession of Cuba and American sympathies with those on the island who sought independence. The Naval Court of Inquiry convened in the wake of the tragedy determined the detonation of an external explosive device to be the cause of the sinking. No conclusion was made on who might have set off the external device but there were many in the American press and government who were willing to pass judgment. With anti-colonial violence increasing on the Caribbean island, on April 19, Congress passed a resolution demanding Spanish withdrawal from Cuba. Two days later Spain broke off diplomatic relations and the US Navy implemented a blockade on Cuban ports. On April 23 Spain declared war on the United States and Congress responded on the 25th declaring a state of war. Some seven decades following the tragedy, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the father of America’s nuclear navy, launched his own inquiry. His report concluded that a coal dust explosion was the likely cause of the tragedy.
Report of the Naval Court of Inquiry upon the Destruction of the United States Battleship Maine in Havana Harbor, February 15, 1899 >>
| |
NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
|
French Naval Aviation, by Henri-Pierre Grolleau. Key Books (2022)
Reviewed by Jeff Schultz
Henri-Pierre Grolleau’s French Naval Aviation is a one-stop, concise reference guide to the varied French air assets, not only carrier-borne but also operated from land bases, covering both Metropolitan France and the overseas French territories. It features a wealth of both exterior, interior and equipment-oriented photos. It will appeal not only to Francophiles and aircraft modelers but also to aviation and modern naval enthusiasts.
Read the full review >>
| |
|
The Royal Navy in Action: Art from Dreadnought to Vengeance, by John Fairley. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword Maritime, (2022)
Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.).
The Royal Navy in Action has a number of strengths: the author has chosen a wide variety of naval subjects and artists, the book’s size is large enough to do considerable justice to the art, and the stories of the artists add much to the narrative. However, the historical commentary that tells the Navy’s story leaves much to be desired. It tends to be patchy and also includes a number of irritating, if minor, factual errors (e.g., Franklin D. Roosevelt was not the US secretary of the navy in World War I— he was the assistant secretary); the German High Seas Fleet did, in fact, venture into the North Sea in force after Jutland; most British battleships at Jutland did not have 15-inch main batteries). All told, however, it would be difficult to find a better artistic collection on the Royal Navy during one of the most critical periods in its history.
Read the full review >>
| |
NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
NAVAL HISTORICAL ANNIVERSARIES OF NOTE | |
|
On February 15, 1898, one of America’s first battleships, USS Maine, exploded and sank while on an officially friendly trip to Cuba. The explosion killed 260 of the men on board. The official investigation into the explosion found that the ship was destroyed by a mine. Despite the fact that the investigation did not directly blame the Spanish, many Americans felt that Spain was responsible. This eventually led to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April of that year.
Read more about the sinking of the USS Maine>>
Read more about the Spanish-American War>>
| |
NAVAL NEWS FROM MARITIME WORLD | |
The NMHS Zoom Seminar Series Presents Adventures of an Eclipse Chaser
with Meteorologist Joe Rao on Saturday, 25 February 2023 at 11 AM ET
Join the National Maritime Historical Society on Saturday, 25 February at 11 AM EST for the NMHS Zoom Seminar Series featuring meteorologist, science editor and Hayden Planetarium associate Joe Rao as he presents Adventures of an Eclipse Chaser.
To witness a total eclipse of the Sun is a privilege that comes to a few—many live and die without ever beholding one. Once seen, however, it is a phenomenon never to be forgotten. The incredible panoply of phenomena that occur when the Sun becomes completely covered by the Moon—the radiance of the pearly corona of the Sun which can be seen at no other time; the scarlet tongues of hydrogen gas rising from the surface of the Moon darkened to heights of many thousands of miles; the unaccustomed presence of the brighter stars and planets in the daytime; the darkness of twilight and sudden fall of temperature—all remain indelibly planted in our memory for a lifetime. Expeditions and tours have been sent halfway around the world to observe total eclipses. On 8 April 2024, those who live in the Northeastern United States will have one delivered to their doors.
You won't want to miss this exciting seminar with Joe Rao, who was the chief meteorologist and science editor at News 12 Westchester, and who over the last 50 years has chased 13 eclipses around the globe by land, sea, and air. A fabulous storyteller, he will detail the interesting, funny, and poignant occurrences that he has experienced in his efforts to briefly bask in the shadow of the Moon.
Register for the Zoom Seminar >>
$10 Seminar Guest Donation >>
| |
RECOGNITION IN THE NAVAL HERITAGE COMMUNITY | |
|
2022 CNO History Essay Contest 2nd Prize Winner Published (Rising Historian Category) in Proceedings
Congratulations to Major Dustin Nicholson, US Marine Corps for winning second prize in the “Rising Historian” category for his submission titled “Make It a Home Game: Lessons for Littoral Campaigns.” He argues: “The winning side is the one that best integrates the home team, joint sea power, and trusted scouting,” and cites the US Navy’s campaign in the Solomon
Islands in World War II and the British effort to retake the Falklands as templates for a potential struggle in the Western Pacific against China. His article was featured in the February 2023 issue of the US Naval Institute Proceedings.
Major Nicholson graduated with highest distinction from the Naval War College in June 2022 and was recognized as the honor graduate of the Maritime Advanced Warfighting School in September 2022. He now serves as a plans officer for 3d Marine Logistics Group in Okinawa, Japan.
Click here to read the submission on the Naval Institute website >>
| |
ADDITIONAL FEATURED CONTENT | |
|
Recollections of Navy Shipboard Navigation Pre-GPS
by John L. Morris
This is a summary of how I used traditional navigation skills learned at the US Naval Academy during two of my post-graduation shipboard assignments. I liked my navigation classes, all based on the textbook Dutton’s Navigation and Piloting. It was easy, I thought, and I was motivated by my desire to keep my ship safe at all times. We learned celestial navigation (determining the ship’s exact position via celestial observations) as well as piloting (determining the ship’s location via observation of objects on land). I was only assigned to one ship as the “official” navigator, but watchstanding duties as Officer of the Deck and CIC Watch Officer often required navigation skills.
My first ship, USS Preble (DLG-15), provided naval gunfire against North Vietnamese targets. We had to sail slowly (2 knots) along the coast only two miles offshore, and remain in an ellipse only a few miles long. This ensured we were always in a good position to engage targets near the coast, but also kept us within range of many enemy guns. An enemy anti-aircraft gun only a few miles from our position was firing bursts of shells with bright tracers at US Army “spotter planes” one night. The tracers ignited when they were far enough from the gun to prevent our determining the precise location of the gun position.
The ship had recently received “starlight scopes” or light amplification telescopes, also called “Night Observation Devices.” Four-hour watches at night were, for me, battles to stay awake in the warm tropical air and boredom, so I tried to stay slightly busy doing something else while remaining alert “driving the ship.” I’d look at the shoreline through the NOD’s. I was looking in the direction of the enemy anti-aircraft gun after another burst of tracers went up. I saw a tiny dot of light that stayed on for about ten seconds. It appeared after each burst. Then I realized this was a dim flashlight beam, probably red, that the gun crew needed to reload the gun or set the sights, such a dim light that the AA gun’s crew had no idea we could see it.
The handheld version of the NOD, the “TVS2,” had a bracket underneath that by chance precisely aligned with the sights on the true-bearing gyro repeaters on the bridge wings. I took and recorded the true bearing of this dim light every few minutes, about five times, then plotted each “line of position” on the chart, along our “track.” I advanced the first four lines by distance traveled, up to the last line, and extended all the lines onto the shore. Where they intersected was the exact location of the AA gun. This general technique is known as a “running fix” but I had reversed it to find a point on shore vice our ship’s location, which we knew.
I then had a conversation with the CIC Watch Officer, who either was, or was represented by, a very large operations specialist first class nicknamed “The Dancing Bear.” I showed him my plotted enemy position and how we could, with the task group commander’s permission, conduct a fire mission and destroy the AA gun position with our 5”/54 rapid-fire gun. With a quizzical look, he responded “no, absolutely not, we weren’t taught that!” and walked back to CIC. Of course he wasn’t taught that, I just invented it, I thought. I could have roused senior officers and possibly convinced them it was worth doing, but everyone was dog-tired and a self-initiated mission against a target that wasn’t a threat to our ship would most likely not be supported.
My next duty was as XO/navigator in USS Moctobi (ATF-105), a Fleet Tug. There, on a deployment to the Western Pacific and various missions beginning in our home port, Pearl Harbor, whenever we were at sea I’d take celestial observations when both stars and horizon were visible. I’d then “reduce” the sextant altitude readings using various specialized publications such as the Nautical Almanac. I only used stars. I could have “shot” planets also but their reduction calculations involved additional corrections with names like “semidiameter” and in my mind, that created more chances for error, so I remained a star advocate.
I soon trained a sharp Operations Specialist 3rd class in how to reduce the sights and gave him one of those early pocket calculators to speed up the work. This calculator was state-of-the-art for 1973 but required entries to be made using “reverse Polish notation,” somewhat analogous to inverted word order in English. He did very accurate work and our celestial fixes always had four or five “lines of position” intersecting so our open-ocean position was known within a mile or less. In actually taking the star sights, you would look up the azimuth and altitude of each star you wanted to use in advance so it was easy to find when you got out to the bridge wing. Once you identified it looking through the sextant’s telescope, you’d move the main lever to “bring it down to the horizon” and swing the star’s mirrored image back and forth, making an arc that just touched the horizon, saying “mark” to the quartermaster with the clipboard at the instant the images touched. He’d take the exact time from his stopwatch, that he’d started at an even minute on the gimbaled, precise chronometer in the “chart house” behind the bridge. I’d read the exact altitude from the sextant’s arc and “micrometer drum” and he’d record it opposite the time and star’s name. So after all stars were “shot,” the clipboard contained the exact altitude of each star and the exact time it was at that altitude.
Piloting was how we determined position while in sight of land with a nautical chart of the coastline, and was usually almost child’s play. We’d take radar ranges to charted features of land and draw arcs with our compass, our position being where the arcs intersected. Alternatively, we’d take true bearings to charted objects and the plotted lines crossed at our position. There’s a lot more to how we used the position info, prepared for deployments by collecting the “portfolio” of charts for a given part of the world, plotted our “track” etc., that’s beyond the scope of this article. Future articles will probably describe some of the interesting, unusual missions we completed in Moctobi.
Before I close, I should describe an interesting, formerly-classified mission we executed many times. The early US spy satellites sent their images back to earth in “air mailed” metal “buckets.” These were ejected by satellites and retrieved in mid-air by USAF C-130 aircraft trailing wire snares. We were sent to positions off Oahu in order to pick up any floating canisters missed by the C-130’s. We never had to retrieve any of those, but we stood ready on station as ordered, playing our small part in the big picture of national reconnaissance.
Here’s a short video >> on the USAF's role in catching the “buckets” in the air >>
See a marine sextant diagram >>
See photos of USS Moctobi (ATF-105) >>
| |
NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
|
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
14–16 April 2023: National Maritime Historical Society 60th Annual Meeting, The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, VA
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 Ships Association Conference
17-22 October 2023: Naval Order of the United States Congress, San Diego
| 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: 174: The 70th Secretary of the Navy, John Dalton, USNA '64 >>
Click here for all Preble Hall Podcasts >>
| NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COMMAND H-GRAMS | |
H-Gram 076: 20 December 2022 >> There Are No Headstones at Sea: The Search for Wasp and Hornet (Reprise)
| 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 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 >>
| | | | |
