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25 April 2023
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
This Thursday and Friday mark a pair of significant firsts in US naval history. On 27 April 1972, Capt. Alene B. Duerk, Nurse Corps, US Navy, learned she had been selected to become the Navy’s first female flag officer.
Nearly a year earlier, on 18 April 1971, Capt. Samuel L. Gravely returned to his cruiser Jouett to the sound of Six Bells—the traditional protocol for announcing the arrival of a rear admiral. A short discussion of Gravely’s reaction can be found in this short Naval Historical Foundation YouTube clip, eloquently narrated by historians Paul Stillwell and Regina Akers. Biographical profiles of both Duerk and Gravely are provided below. Of personal note, before he retired at the rank of Vice Admiral in 1980, Gravely came to Penn State to commission graduating seniors into the US Navy, including one of the editors of this e-letter!
For our Tuesday Tidings feature we offer additional context on the recent discovery of Defender, a submarine recently located within Long Island Sound. Enjoy!
Speaking of submarines, thank you Charles Kolb for providing this week’s review of a new book on the capture of U-505. Three more titles came in this past week. Please check the list out and, as always, send your requests to david.winkler@usnwc.edu.
Finally, we offer for this week’s “In Case You Missed It” a December 2019 Sea History Today article on Nautical Terminology in common usage.
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 | |
27 April: Movie at the Memorial (non-streaming event)
Flight of the Intruder
7:30–9:30 PM EDT
Navy Memorial, Washington, DC
Events — United States Navy Memorial
28 April: Rear Admiral John B. Dahlgren (in person and streaming event)
Noon–1 PM EDT
Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, VA
https://www.marinersmuseum.org/event/uss-monitor-legacy-program-rear-admiral-john-a-b-dahlgren/
29 April: Walking Tour of the Washington Navy Yard (non-streaming event)
10:30 AM–Noon EDT
Walking Tour of the Washington Navy Yard
30 April: The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) Hospital (non-streaming event)
3 PM PDT
Events (mihpf.org)
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Submarine Found Off Old Saybrook Has a Unique Legacy | |
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Nine days ago on 16 April, a dive team led by commercial diver Richard Simon of Coventry, Connecticut, discovered the final resting spot of the submarine Defender on the bottom of Long Island Sound. The discovery of this 1907 vintage experimental undersea craft during the birthday month of the US submarine force sheds a spotlight on early American submarine development that was documented over 30 years ago in Gary E. Weir’s Building American Submarines 1914–1940 (Naval Historical Center, 1991). Weir’s opening chapter detailed the Navy initiating a design competition in 1888 for an operational submersible. Inventor John P. Holland responded with the Plunger—a 149-ton submarine that was propelled by steam on the surface and electricity while submerged. The craft failed to meet the desired performance specifications. In response to another Navy design request, inventor Simon Lake produced the Argonaut Junior in 1894. A follow-on craft, the 36-foot-long Argonaut I, made a transit from Norfolk to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. With lessons learned from that voyage, Lake rebuilt and lengthened his Argonaut II to sixty feet.
In contrast to Holland, who had been born in Ireland in 1840 and emigrated to the United States in 1873, Lake was a newcomer. Born in 1866 in Pleasantville, New Jersey, Lake, he worked in the family foundry and was educated to become a mechanical engineer. Unfortunately for him, though his submarine was the first to operate on the open ocean, it was Holland who landed the first Navy submarine contract with his Holland VI model, which was purchased for $160,000 on April 11, 1900.
Lake was not to be deterred. When his follow-on Protector, built in 1901, did not get picked up by the Navy, he disassembled the boat and sold it to Russia as the Osetr. Whereas the US Navy forged a relationship with the Groton-based Electric Boat Company that built the Holland-designed submersibles, Lake worked with designers in Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary on their submarine programs.
Read the full article>>
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RECOGNITION
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NAVAL HISTORICAL ANNIVERSARIES OF NOTE
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Rear Admiral Alene B. Duerk, NC, USN | |
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Alene Bertha Duerk was born in Defiance, Ohio, on 29 March 1920. She had nursing training at Toledo (Ohio) Hospital School of Nursing, from which she received her diploma in 1941. On 23 January 1943, she was appointed ensign in the Nurse Corps of the US Naval Reserve. Transferring from the Naval Reserve to the US Navy in December 1953, she advanced progressively in rank and was promoted to captain in 1967. Her selection for the rank of rear admiral was approved by the president on 26 April 1972. She is the first woman to be selected for flag rank, to which she was advanced on 1 June 1972.
After receiving her commission in 1943, she was assigned in March of that year as a ward nurse at the Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Virginia. In January 1944 she transferred, in a similar capacity, to the Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland, and in May 1945 joined USS Benevolence (AH-13). That vessel, anchored off Eniwetok, received the sick and wounded brought back from Third Fleet operations against Japan and later joined the Third Fleet for its last strikes against the enemy. After the cessation of hostilities, the hospital ship anchored at the Yokosuka Naval Base to assist in the processing of liberated Allied prisoners of war. Benevolence returned to the United States with wounded servicemen late in 1945. Assigned in January 1946 to the Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, Illinois, Alene Duerk continued duty there until June of that year, when she was released from active naval service.
Read full article>>
Read more about Rear Admiral Alene B. Duerk, NC, USN>>
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Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely Jr., USN | |
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Vice Admiral Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. began his illustrious career as a seaman apprentice at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois in 1942. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Gravely would go on to be the US Navy’s first African-American commander, captain, rear admiral, and vice admiral. He was commissioned in 1944 and served during World War II onboard USS PC-1264. After the war, Gravely had a brief stint in the civilian world before he was recalled to active duty in 1949. He would remain on active duty until his retirement in 1980. During the Korean War, he served onboard USS Iowa (BB-61), and later in the 1950s served on USS Toledo (CA-133) and USS Seminole (AKA-104).
In the 1960s, Gravely served as executive officer and acting commander of USS Theodore E. Chandler (DD-717), commanded USS Falgout (DER-324), helped integration efforts at the Naval War College, served in the Defense Communications Agency, commanded USS Taussig (DD-746), and served as coordinator of the Navy’s satellite communications program.
Read full article>>
Read more about Vice Admiral Samuel Lee Gravely Jr., USN>>
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USNI SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR KNOX AWARD | |
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The US Naval Institute is seeking nominations for the Commodore Dudley Knox Medal for Lifetime Achievement. Originally established by the Naval Historical Foundation in 2013, the Knox Award recognizes contributions in scholarship, mentorship, leadership, and/or significant participation in organizations or institutions that promote naval/maritime, and/or military history.
Nominations should include the reason for the nomination and a summary of the achievements of the nominee. Submit your nominations to navalhistorian@usni.org by 15 July 2023. The awardee will be recognized and presented with the Knox Medal at the Naval Institute’s Jack C. Taylor Conference Center on September 21, 2023, following the McMullen Naval History Symposium.
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Captain Daniel V. Gallery, commanding officer of USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60), on the bridge of his prize, U-505, prior to the boat being taken in tow by his escort carrier. Note the submarine’s emblem (scallop shell) and the large US flag flying over the German naval ensign (80-G-49176). | |
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December 19, 2019 — Have you ever been called into an all-hands meeting at work, or been shanghaied into helping a friend move? Or maybe you cautioned a friend to give someone a wide berth because that person was in a bad mood, or avoided saying something to a friend lest it take the wind out of her sails? Nautical words seem to be all around us.
The English language has always been like a snowball, picking up material and adding to itself as it rolls along, so it’s no wonder that our everyday speech is peppered with words and phrases originating in the maritime world. Many of the phrases we use today come from the Royal Navy. Consider the practice of giving sailors their allotment of grog—named for Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, nicknamed “Old Grog” after the grogram* cloaks he favored. The vice admiral made the unpopular decision in 1740 of ordering that rum rations be mixed with water before being handed out to the crew. The rum-and-water cocktail, mixed sometimes with sugar and lime for taste, was called “grog” after Vernon. Indulging in too much grog would make one “groggy”—weak and unsteady. Another holdover from the Royal Navy is the loose cannon; just as a literal loose cannon aboard ship, broken free from its restraints, is likely to roll about and cause harm or injury, so a figurative loose cannon is likely to behave unpredictably and cause trouble.
There are a whole lot more phrases that have spread from sailor’s speech in general; if one course of action didn’t produce the results you want, you might “try a different tack.” One might keep a “slush fund” for miscellaneous small expenses, just as a ship’s cook could muster a few coins by selling the slushy fat removed from the bottom of the barrels used to store salted meat—one of the less appetizing nautical images, to be sure. And who among us doesn’t want to “learn the ropes” from someone with experience who knows exactly what’s what? How many words and phrases can you think of with a nautical connection?
Read full article>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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A World War Two Secret: Glenn P. Larson and the U-505. Beverly Larson Christensen, Hellgate Press, (2022)
Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, PhD.
...Captain Gallery was unaware that the Allies had already cracked the German codes and the capture of a U-boat could endanger that secret, his goal was to capture the vessel’s codes and coding equipment to read U-boat message traffic. The plan nearly caused the exposure of the Bletchley Park codebreaking secrets. Hence, he received a blistering dressing-down from Admiral Ernest J. King, Chief of Naval Operations, who pointed out that unless U-505’s capture could be kept an absolute secret, the Germans would change their codes and reconfigure the cipher wheels in the Enigma machine. Gallery apparently managed to impress his crews with the vital importance of maintaining silence.
This volume presents a participant observer’s view of an important event late in World War II documented by his daughter, and includes family genealogies and historical context. This is a well-written, engaging work that characterized the anti-submarine patrols of USS Guadalcanal in the South Atlantic. It is a nice tribute to the Larson family.
Read full review>>
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NOTE FOR AUTHORS OF VIETNAM NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS: The Capital Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States has been provided a tent on the National Mall for the forthcoming Vietnam Veterans welcome home event to be held in the nation’s capital from 11 to 13 May. To provide historical context for the thousands of veterans expected to attend, the Naval Order seeks authors of sea service Vietnam-themed books to be on hand to autograph books and talk history with those who served in SE Asia. If you are interested in participating, contact Dave Winkler at david.winkler@usnwc.edu. | |
NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
ADDITIONAL FEATURED CONTENT | |
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Mare Island Naval Shipyard Silent Tour
By John L. Morris
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NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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9 May 2023: National Maritime Awards Dinner, National Press Club, Washington, DC
10 May 2023: 150th Annual Meeting of the US Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD
17–20 May 2023: North American Society for Oceanic History Conference, Maritime Museum of San Diego, CA
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: 184: Larrie Ferreiro - Churchill's American Arsenal>>
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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