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16 May 2023
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
In addition to the NMHS National Maritime Awards Dinner in Washington, DC, four other naval history noteworthy events occurred on the Eastern Seaboard last week.
A “hip, hip, hooray!” goes to the Naval War College Foundation for underwriting the major naval history gathering at the Naval War College titled “The League of Peace and a Free Sea: Future History and Naval Strategy into the 21st Century and Beyond.” Organized by Dr. David Kohnen of the Naval War College’s Hattendorf Center, the conference marked the third in a series of international gatherings, with previous events hosted by Kings College in Great Britain and the Australian Naval Institute in Australia that looked at the continuing influence of the noted British naval historian and strategist Sir Julian Corbett on the centennial of his passing. While a copy of the program lends an appreciation of some of the material covered, a more detailed synopsis and publication of several of the presentations will be forthcoming. Again, the Naval War College Foundation is to be commended for its investment in this worthwhile endeavor. See the program here.
Three cheers also go to the US Naval Institute for hosting its 150th Annual Meeting in Annapolis last Wednesday. At that gathering William Prom earned recognition as the Naval History author of the year for two feature articles, the first examining the role shipbuilders Noah and Adam Brown played on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812 to contribute to American naval success, and the second looking on how steam technology proved to be a game-changer as American naval ships on the West Africa slave patrol in the late 1850s increased the number of interceptions on vessels engaged in the slave trade. Prom, a 2009 graduate of the US Naval Academy who served in the Marine Corps, has additional articles in the pipeline. As for the US Naval Author of the Year, that prestigious award went to Porter Halyburton for his book Reflections on Captivity: A Tapestry of Stories of a Vietnam War POW. Halyburton, who retired as a Navy commander in 1984 and served as a professor of strategy at the Naval War College until 2006, spent seven years in captivity in North Vietnam from 1965 until 1973. Marking the US Naval Institute’s 150th birthday, Dr. Craig L. Symonds covered a century and a half of sea service history and the Naval Institute’s role in addressing contemporary issues over that period in the pages of Proceedings. A panel of three prolific Proceedings authors featuring Lt. Craig Allen, USCG; Lt. Andrea Howard, USN; and Capt. L. J. Winnefeld, USMC, shared their views on the importance of the open forum provided by the Naval Institute and encouraged their peers to join the dialog. To view these presentations see: 05.10.23 US Naval Institute’s 150th Annual Meeting - YouTube.
Finally, we had two ship commissionings on successive Saturdays. In New York on Saturday, 6 May, the Navy commissioned USS Cooperstown, honoring Baseball Hall of Famers who served their nation in the military. Then at Key West a week later, the Navy placed USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee into service. These commissionings will be the subject of our featured article. The relationship between baseball and the Navy was highlighted last year in a Second Saturday webinar produced by the Naval Historical Foundation featuring Paul Stillwell and Matt Eng, Second Saturday: Batter Up! - YouTube. With last Saturday being the 115th birthday of the Navy Nurse Corps, one can think of no bigger way to commemorate the day by bringing into the service a destroyer named for one of the “Sacred 20” first Navy Corps Nurses. The Canadian-born Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee went on to lead the Nurse Corps during World War I.
Because of conflicts caused by last week’s events, the Naval Order of the United States Naval Heritage Night will be held tomorrow evening featuring Dr. Evan Wilson of the Naval War College Hattendorf Center. Wilson, a presenter at last week’s Corbett forum, will preview his forthcoming book A Horrible Peace, detailing the traumatic effects of the Napoleonic Wars post-Waterloo on the soldiers and sailors who fought on the various campaigns. See the link below!
Best wishes to the North American Society for Oceanic History for a successful conference in San Diego later this week. Tuesday Tidings looks forward to announcing the winners of the coveted John Lyman Book Awards next week!
For this week’s “In Case You Missed It” article we offer Tom Cutler’s first Historian’s Quill piece, which celebrates 125 years of book publishing by the Naval Institute Press. Enjoy!
Thank You, Master Chief Tom Nank and Captain Richard Dick, for your book reviews covering the diverse topics of chief petty officers and the German perspective at Jutland. Appreciate their observations below!
Please check our updated list of books available for review and as always send your requests to david.winkler@usnwc.edu.
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 | |
16 May 2023 - Battle of Hue Exhibit Opening
Pritzker Military Museum and Library, Chicago, Il.
Tet and the Battle of Hue | Exhibits | Pritzker Military Museum & Library | Chicago
17 May 2023 - Naval Order Heritage Night (Zoom)
Evan Wilson A Horrible Peace
8 PM EDT
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81241470593?pwd=bEVtR1I4RFZNZ3BmWDBtR1dMWG15QT09
18 May 2023 - Movie at the Memorial (non-streaming event)
Run Silent Run Deep
7:30–9:30 PM EDT
Navy Memorial, Washington, DC
Events — United States Navy Memorial
19 May 2023 - Captains of USS Monitor (Streaming Live)
Noon–1PM EDT
Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, VA
Captains of USS Monitor - The Mariners’ Museum and Park (marinersmuseum.org)
20 May 2023 - History of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard with Dennis Kelly (In Person)
11:30–12:30 (PDT)
Benicia Museum, Benicia, CA
Events (mihpf.org)
23 May 2023 - US Saudi Relationship and Israel’s Move to CentCom – VADM Mark Fox, USN (Ret.)
6 PM (CDT)
Pritzker Military Museum and Library, Chicago, Il.
Programs and Events | Pritzker Military Museum & Library | Chicago
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Two Commissionings Pay Tribute to History! | |
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NEW YORK – The US Navy commissioned its newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, USS Cooperstown (LCS 23) on May 6, 2023, in New York City, New York.
Cooperstown is the first naval ship named after Cooperstown, New York, and honors the 70 Hall of Famers who served the United States during wartime in a range of conflicts spanning the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
“I am pleased to be here in my hometown of New York City to commission the Navy’s newest littoral combat ship, USS Cooperstown,” said Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro. “LCS 23 honors the baseball greats, who in service of our nation, sacrificed their baseball careers for us. I have full confidence that the officers and crew of this great ship will continue to honor their legacy.”
Read full article>>
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KEY WEST - The Navy commissioned its newest Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), on Saturday, May 13, in Key West, Florida.
Rear Admiral Cynthia Kuehner, Commander, Naval Medical Forces Support Command and Director of the US Navy Nurse Corps, delivered the commissioning ceremony’s principal address. Remarks were also provided by the Honorable Donald Norcross, US Representative, New Jersey’s 1st District and member of the House Armed Services Committee; the Honorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy; Admiral Mike Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations; the Honorable Teri Johnston, mayor of Key West; and Ms. Kari Wilkinson, president of Huntington Ingalls Industries-Ingalls Shipbuilding division.
The ship’s sponsors, Ms. Louisa Dixon, Ms. Virginia Munford, and Ms. R. Pickett Wilson, were also in attendance.
Read full article>>
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OTHER NEWS FROM THE FLEET | |
SECNAV Renames United States Naval Academy Superintendent’s Quarters after Admiral Farragut. | |
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During the 2023 US Naval Academy (USNA) Alumni Leadership Forum, Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Carlos Del Toro announced April 29 that the formerly named Buchanan House, the official quarters of the Naval Academy’s superintendent, has been renamed Farragut House.
This renaming honors Union Navy admiral David Glasgow Farragut, a Civil War hero who became the first American naval officer to be appointed to the rank of rear admiral in 1862, and vice admiral (a rank created for him by President Abraham Lincoln) in 1864. By Congressional Act, he was commissioned admiral in 1866, the first officer of the US Navy to hold that rank. The son of a Spanish immigrant, Farragut was also the first Hispanic American naval officer to hold these ranks. The decision arrived after a congressionally mandated Naming Commission, chaired by retired Navy Adm. Michelle Howard, outlined several military assets across all branches of service that required renaming due to Confederacy ties. In September 2022, Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd accepted all recommendations from the Naming Commission and gave each service until the end of 2023 to rename their assets. The Navy has already renamed one building at the Naval Academy and two ships, USS Robert Smalls (CG 62) and USNS Marie Tharp (T-AGS 66). Additionally, street names across Department of the Navy installations will be renamed by the end of FY23.
Farragut was born in 1801 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was appointed midshipman at 9 years old and saw his first sea service aboard frigate Essex in 1811. He also served with the Independence in the Mediterranean and the “Mosquito Fleet” in the West Indies. During the Civil War, he declared his allegiance to the Union and led the Union fleet at Mobile Bay. It was during the Battle of Mobile Bay, where he captured ironclad ram CSS Tennessee and gunboat CSS Selma, that he proclaimed his famous words, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” He remained on active duty for the remainder of his life and died in 1870 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.
Completed in 1909 at a cost of $77,500, the 15,000-square-foot, 34-room home, designed by American architect Ernest Flagg, is rumored to be the second most visited official federal government residence in the country, behind only the White House—nearly 10,000 guests are hosted annually. The Beaux-Arts architectural structure was simply called “The Superintendent’s Quarters” until 1976, when it was named Buchanan House after the Naval Academy’s first superintendent, then Cmdr. Franklin Buchanan. Buchanan went on to resign his commission and join the Confederate States Navy and, while subsequently commanding CSS Tennessee, lost the infamous Battle of Mobile Bay to Farragut’s Union fleet.
Vice Adm. Sean Buck is the 41st superintendent to live in the house.
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A Legacy of Naval Book Publishing | |
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By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, US Navy (Retired)
Nearly 150 years ago, 15 iconoclasts gathered in a lecture hall at the US Naval Academy to commiserate over the demoralizing state of the Navy in the post–Civil War era. They ultimately wound up founding the US Naval Institute, an organization that would prove to be unique, enduring, and extremely important to the naval services and the nation.
Among the many ramifications of that momentous meeting was the eventual creation of the Naval Institute Press (NIP), a relatively small-scale book publisher that has had a gratifyingly disproportionate impact, publishing countless quality tomes in many genres that edify, entertain, and, most significantly, contribute to the open forum that is at the very core of the Institute’s existence.
In 1898, the Naval Institute’s Board of Control made the decision that is today celebrated as the official beginning of the Naval Institute Press, but its beginnings can be traced to an earlier date. In 1880, one entire issue of Proceedings featured a lengthy piece entitled “The Autobiography of Commodore Charles Morris, USN.” While this was not a book in the traditional sense, it might as well have been. Weighing in at 108 pages, it forfeited the claims normally associated with a magazine article.
The post–Civil War Navy Department had been forced to operate on a very lean budget, so lean that it could not afford to publish the books it needed. By using the pages of Proceedings in this unorthodox manner, the Naval Institute was able to fulfill a part of its implied charter of helping the Navy accomplish its missions by providing sorely needed “books.” More followed, and it became apparent that there was a real need for a book-publishing arm of the Naval Institute.
The first book not produced as a hermaphrodite version of Proceedings appeared in 1899 as Log of the US Gunboat Gloucester and was advertised as “the Official Report of the Principal Events of her Cruise during the Late War with Spain, including the destruction of the Spanish Destroyers, the Rescue of Admiral Cervera, and her famous capture of Guanica.” The price for this inaugural hardcover book was $1.50.
Read full article>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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A Tradition of Change: CPO Initiations to CPO 365 and Back By Master Chief James Leuci, USN (Ret.); Self-published (2021).
Reviewed by Master Chief Petty Officer Tom Nank, USN (Ret.)
...Leuci tells this story very well. A 42-year active and Reserve navy veteran and retired master chief petty officer, Leuci has contributed to All Hands magazine, The Naval Reservist magazine, and the Chief Petty Officer 365 Development Guide. He has written about the Navy Memorial and the history of the Naval Reserves, and produced a study on female sailors on sea duty. A Tradition of Change is an update to a 2015 paper he wrote for the Naval History and Heritage Command. In his book, Leuci draws from first-hand interviews with chief petty officers from World War II to the present day, many of whom provided their own personal photographs as illustrations. Official navy publications, messages and other documents are also quoted. Leuci also details the origins of CPO Clubs, charge books, the CPO Creed, the CPO Academy and CPO 365. The influence of each MCPON on the CPO initiation process. beginning with Delbert Black in 1967 and up through the present day, is well documented.
Leuci’s book has no bibliography but the text is thoroughly footnoted. The book is lavishly illustrated with color photographs on nearly every page, and each photo source is properly credited.
A Tradition of Change is an excellent history book about sailors. It’s a must-read for every command senior or master chief. It should be on the bookshelf of every CPO Mess in the Navy and should be studied and shared with new selectees every initiation season.
For a link to Master Chief Leuci discussing the book on a Naval Historical Foundation Second Saturday program visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFwABVmujH8.
Read full review>>
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Skagerrak: The Battle of Jutland Through German Eyes By Gary Staff; Pen and Sword, (2022).
Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.)
...Staff covers the battle in detail and provides many track charts to illustrate the progress of the fighting, although the publishing format sometimes makes the charts difficult to read. He analyzes the combat between both the battle lines and the covering forces. In doing so, he often provides interesting counterpoints to the Anglocentric perspectives of most of the English language histories of the battle.
However, there can occasionally be too much of a good thing. The author keeps up a drumbeat of criticism of the Royal Navy (and Jellicoe in particular) and a chorus of praise for the High Sea Fleet. To be fair, most modern historians agree with Staff’s assessments of Royal Navy weaknesses (poor signaling, over centralization of control and lack of initiative, defective shells, weaknesses in protection in the battlecruisers, poor night fighting capabilities, etc.). However, Staff struggles to insist that the German fleet continued to “hold the ring” in the North Sea against the Grand Fleet. While the High Sea Fleet did sortie after Jutland, its only real successes were in the Baltic against the Russian Navy. It seems a bridge too far to assert that the Germans’ performance at Jutland “broke the spell of Trafalgar.” Similarly, his contention that Jutland set up the British government’s willingness to concede parity in capital ships to the United States at the Washington Naval Conference in 1922 seems unsupportable. Politics and economics had much more to do with the Washington Naval Treaty than Jutland did.
However, all things considered, Skagerrak is a worthwhile and affordable addition to anyone’s naval history library.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
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Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee was born in Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada, on 18 May 1874. After immigrating to the United States, she completed her nursing training at New York Postgraduate Hospital in 1899 and later received further training at Fordham Hospital. On 1 October 1908, she became one the first twenty nurses in the newly-formed Navy Nurse Corps (commonly referred to as the Sacred Twenty). She became the second superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps in 1911.
For her service during World War I, Higbee became the first living woman to receive the Navy Cross. She retired from the Navy Nurse Corps on 30 November 1922. Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee died in Winter Park, Florida, on 10 January 1941. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to her husband, Lieutenant Colonel John Henley Higbee, USMC.
Read full article>>
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Joe DiMaggio - Armed Forces | |
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Joe DiMaggio traded a $43,750 Yankees salary for a payment of $50 each month when he chose to enlist in the army on February 17th, 1943. It was reported that Joe requested he receive no special treatment, yet he spent most of his time in the Army playing baseball, as did many other big league stars.
The purpose of Joe and other big leaguers playing on the military teams was to keep the regular troops entertained, as well as keep public morale high. World War I had put an end to the baseball season in 1918, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed it was important for the country to keep baseball going in World War II.
In Roosevelt’s now famous “Green Light Letter,” he encouraged baseball and its owners to continue playing during World War II:
I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before.
Because of this push from Roosevelt, Joe and others continued to play and bring entertainment to a nation, solidifying the sport as America’s favorite pastime—even during hard times.
Read full article>>
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Famous Veteran: Ted Williams
“I was no hero. There were maybe seventy-five pilots in our two squadrons and 99 percent of them did a better job than I did.”
Baseball fans know him as The Kid, Teddy Ballgame, Splendid Splinter, and The Thumper, but when he was born in San Diego to Samuel Williams and May Venzor, he was named Teddy Samuel Williams. Williams grew up in Southern California and was taught how to throw a baseball by his uncle when he was eight years old. Williams began receiving offers from the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals when he was still in high school, but his mother signed him up for the San Diego Padres since she believed he was too young to leave home.
At nineteen years old, Williams was taken on by the Boston Red Sox. Then-manager Eddie Collins said, “It wasn't hard to find Ted Williams. He stood out like a brown cow in a field of white cows.” It didn't take long for Williams to become a sensation, coming in second for MVP in his first year. He continued to play with great success until 1942, when he enlisted after the United States had entered World War II.
Williams opted out of playing baseball in the Navy to sign up as an aviator. After two years of earning high marks during training, he obtained a commission in the Marine Corps. He served until 1946 in the Reserve Aviation Unit. While he spent time as an instructor at Bronson Field, he was instructed to fail a third of each wave of cadets. Opposed to this practice, Williams said, “If I think a kid is going to make a competent flyer, I won’t wash him.”
Read full article>>
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The USNA Museum and Rogers Ship Model Collection
By John L. Morris
In 2022 I was fortunate to be in a group of members of The Company of Military Historians on a tour of the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, MD, guided by the museum’s curator, Mr. Grant Walker, by special arrangement. Mr. Walker is one of the world’s leading experts on antique ship models, and has authored at least three books on the Rogers ship model collection. The collection, one of the two largest such collections on earth, was received from the Rogers estate via bequest in 1938. Most of the extremely-detailed wooden models are “dockyard models” and some are “Navy board models” but my knowledge of these classifications is insufficient to offer explanations. There are also many very detailed “prisoner of war” models made of carved animal bone. Colonel Henry Huddleston Rogers (1879–1935) was a prominent American industrialist who acquired the models from private individuals and antique dealers in the US, UK, and Europe from about 1918–1935. The model collection occupies most of the 2nd floor of the museum. The ground floor features exhibits and artifacts from the intertwined histories of the US Navy and the US Naval Academy. Photos by author.
See photos here>>
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NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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17–20 May 2023: North American Society for Oceanic History Conference, Maritime Museum of San Diego, CA
4 June 2023: Battle of Midway Commemoration Dinner, Arlington, VA
23–24 June: North Carolina Naval History in the Age of Sail and Steam Symposium, Kinston, NC (See here for more details)
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: 189: Prisoners of the Bashaw: Frederick Leiner>>
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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