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18 July 2023
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
First, we would like to draw attention to an Item of Immediate Interest and offer some recognition as the National Maritime Historical Society Seminar Series is hosting Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution with best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin this Thursday at the Hendrick Hudson Free Library in Montrose, New York at 7 pm—come early for refreshments! If you cannot join us in the Hudson Valley, you can tune in to this program via the link provided below. Of note, Rebels at Sea was awarded the Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award for 2023, is a finalist for the New England Society Book Award, and has also been selected as a “Must-Read” book by the Massachusetts Book Awards for 2023. Congratulations to Mr. Dolin!
Speaking of books, the shelves have been restocked with new titles coming from Texas A&M, Potomac Books, Casemate, Frontline, Naval Institute Press and others. The updated list is here. As always, send your requests to david.winkler@usnwc.edu. For this week’s reviews we thank Dr. Diana Ahmad and Dr. Charles Kolb for their thoughtful critiques.
By coincidence we offer two features on the same topic: escort carriers! We are delighted to report that last week the Naval History and Heritage Command affirmed the discovery of the escort carrier Ommaney Bay (CVE 79) off the Philippines, the victim of a Japanese kamikaze attack. This discovery will be discussed during a forthcoming symposium on escort carriers to be held in Washington on Friday, 25 August. A recent Naval Order of the US news release announcing the specifics of the symposium and how to register is our second feature. We encourage you to pass this announcement along.
While we are talking of registration, you can now sign up for the McMullen Naval History Symposium to be held on 21–22 September at the US Naval Academy—admission is FREE!
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 | |
19 July 2023 - National Museum of the US Navy Brown Bag Brief: “The Second Vinson Expansion Act of 1938.”
Featuring Dr. Shawn Woodford
Noon-1 pm (EDT) (via Facebook)
20 July 2023 - Sea History Seminar Series: Rebels at Sea with Eric Jay Dolin
7 pm (Live or via Facebook)
20 July 2023 - Continental Commandery Maritime History Virtual Lecture Series
CAPT Michael Lilly, USN, Ret., will discuss the discovery of Hawaii.
7 pm (EDT) (YouTube)
21 July 2023 - USS Midway End of Korean War Commemoration featuring the movie Devotion
(Event SOLD OUT)
28 July 2023 - USS Constitution Museum Movie Night Master and Commander
7 – 10:30 pm (EDT) (in person)
28 July 2023 - Mariners’ Museum USS Monitor Legacy Program “USS Galena: USN’s First Seagoing Ironclad.”
With John V. Quarstein
Noon – 1 pm (EDT) (in person – virtual)
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Wreck site identified as World War Two carrier USS Ommaney Bay (CVE 79) | |
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Abigayle Lutz | |
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While operating in the Sulu Sea, Ommaney Bay was hit and eventually sunk by a
twin-engine Japanese suicide plane on 4 Jan. 1945.
NHHC’s Underwater Archaeology Branch used a combination of survey information provided
by the Sea Scan Survey team and video footage provided by the DPT Scuba dive team to confirm the identity of Ommaney Bay. This information correlated with location data for the wreck site provided to NHHC in 2019 by Vulcan, LLC (formerly Vulcan, Inc.).
“Ommaney Bay is the final resting place of American Sailors who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country,” said NHHC Director Samuel J. Cox, US Navy rear admiral (retired). “It is with sincere gratitude that I thank the Sea Scan Survey team; Mick Stefurak, Neil “Snake” Krumbeck and Joe Brothers for confirming the location of this wreck site. We would also like to thank the team of Australian divers from DPT Scuba; David Tipping, Chris McCran, Aimee McCran, Samir Alhafith, Heeman Lee and John Wooden for their deep diving expertise and assistance identifying the Ommaney Bay. This discovery allows the families of those lost some amount of closure and gives us all another chance to remember and honor their service to our nation.”
Read full article>>
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Escort Carrier Reunion Group to Host Last Reunion Convention and Announces A Day-Long History Symposium Open to Those Interested in Naval Carriers and Aviation
WASHINGTON, DC – The Naval Order of the United States (NOUS) National Capital Commandery welcomes the Escort Carrier Sailors and Airmen Association (ESCAA) to the nation’s capital for a planned final reunion convention. Escort Carriers, often dubbed “Jeep Carriers,” came into existence during World War II, serving with both the US Navy and the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic to deter German U-Boat attacks on cross-Atlantic convoys. They provided the backbone to what became known as Hunter-Killer groups. One such group, centered around the escort carrier Guadalcanal, would capture the German submarine U-505 on 4 June 1944.
Escort carriers also served in the Pacific. During the Battle for Leyte Gulf, the Gambier Bay was sunk by enemy gunfire, and a kamikaze claimed St. Lo. Escort carriers went on to serve with the US Navy in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts and with other navies. Given their significant contribution to naval history, the NOUS National Capital Commandery invites those interested in this unique aspect of naval aviation history to attend a one-day history symposium scheduled for Friday, 25 August, at the Crystal City Doubletree Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.
Read full article>>
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Naval Order of the US Maritime Heritage Lecture Series – Dr. John D. Sherwood, Naval History and Heritage Command
A Global Force for Good: Sea Services Humanitarian Operations in the Twenty-First Century
John Sherwood discussed his forthcoming book, which examines three of the most significant Navy humanitarian and disaster relief operations in recent history: Operation Unified Assistance (the response to the 2004 Indonesian earthquake and tsunami); Hurricane Katrina (2005); and Operation Tomodachi (the response to 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan). Where appropriate, he also will discuss the role of the Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and other Armed Forces in these operations. Based on documents held by the Naval History and Heritage Command and oral histories conducted by reservists and the author, the book argues these humanitarian operations represent some of the Navy’s biggest wins in recent history. They have had a greater strategic impact in the world than many of the Navy’s recent combat operations. Nothing underscores American commitment to helping a foreign partner or a disaster affected US region more visibly than a super carrier, a big deck amphibious warship, or a hospital ship—our most valuable strategic assets and symbols of American global power—showing up on the horizon to lend a helping hand during a country or a region’s darkest hours.
About the Speaker: John Darrell Sherwood is a historian at the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC). He holds a Ph.D. in history from The George Washington University, and has authored seven books on military and naval history. His book, War in the Shallows: US Navy Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam, 1965-1968 (2015), won the North American Society of Oceanic History’s John Lyman award. His forthcoming work, A Global Force for Good: Sea Services Humanitarian Operations in the Twenty-First Century (September 2023), examines recent sea services disaster relief operations. During the 2019-2020 academic year, he was selected as a Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs fellow and spent time at Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK) and the Hellenic National Defense College in Athens. Sherwood serves as a co-host for the Preble Hall Podcast hosted by the US Naval Academy Museum. His current writing projects focus on NATO maritime operations and also naval leadership.
See more information here>>
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The Boxer Rebellion: Bluejackets and Marines in China, 1900–1901
By Emily Abdow, Naval History and Heritage Command, (2023).
See: The Boxer Rebellion: Bluejackets and Marines in China, 1900–1901 (navy.mil)
Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, PhD
...The Boxer Rebellion, Abdow states, was the “American military’s first taste of coalition warfare” (p. 97). As a result, did the United States anticipate going into conflict with others during this time, or was the action simply an opportunity for the nation to expand its power outside of North America and a few islands in the Pacific, especially considering the results of the Spanish-American War? Considering the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, what impact did that have on the Americans fighting the Chinese? What views did the American sailors and officers possess regarding the Chinese whether they were Boxers or Imperial troops? Did the cheap labor argument or smoking-opium habit of a few of the Chinese influence the American military’s actions in the Boxer Rebellion? Ultimately, fifty-nine sailors, marines, and soldiers earned the Medal of Honor in the conflict, and the China Relief Expedition Medal was bestowed on the Navy and Marine Corps personnel who served in China.
The book provided a wonderful overview of the conflict. The photographs and maps are an excellent addition to the monograph. Abdow’s publication would be a good place for people interested in the Boxer Rebellion to begin their studies as it would give the reader a basic understanding of the military side of the conflict, not just the diplomatic one.
Read full review>>
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The Norwegian Merchant Fleet in the Second World War
By Major Gen. Kenneth L. Privratsky, US Army (Ret.), Pen and Sword Maritime, (2023).
Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, PhD
...Chapter 10 concerns the legacy of Nortraship centering on issues such as damages resulting from the German wartime occupation of Norway, the trials (and some executions) of Nazi collaborators, Norwegian prisoners of war, pensions, and pay adjustments. There was no concern about PTSD during World War II. Activists and writers kept the merchant seamen, called “war sailors,” in the public eye, and further added the names of “foreigners” (non-Norwegians) and two women (wives of ship captains who perished with their husbands) to memorials in Norway. There is much rhetoric and praise associated with victories, perhaps the comment of British politician and 1959 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Philip Noel-Baker tells part of the story: “The first great defeat for Hitler was the Battle of Britain. It was a turning point in history. If we had not had the Norwegian fleet of tankers on our side, we should not have had the aviation spirit to put our Hawker Hurricanes and our Spitfires into the sky. Without the Norwegian merchant fleet, Britain and the Allies would have lost the war.”
Kenneth Privratsky has researched a well-researched and detailed account of Norway’s crucial role in aiding the Allies in the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. As noted, it is the first detailed account in English and independent of several works published in Norwegian (none translated into English from Norwegian) recounting this important, less known story of the Norwegian merchant fleet’s logistical role during and after the war. The book is a popular yet scholarly account with appropriate endnotes and splendid black-and-white photographs, and it gives the reader some idea of the “business of war” with its political and economic intrigues and the importance of King Haakon’s courage to create Nortraship and maintain control of this incredibly valuable asset when Germany and Britain strove to disassemble the fleet for their own purposes. As we know, military conflicts are only part of the histories of wars, economics and fortitude also have roles, too—Privratsky’s book is a prime example—logistics are as important as strategy and tactics.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
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USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) underway off Hawaii with lifts lowered, July 1944. Note additional width of after lift, enabling non-folding aircraft as the older F4F Wildcats to be brought up from and taken down to the hangar deck. She was camouflaged in Measure 33, Design 15A (USN photo.)
See more photos here>>
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Wreck site identified as World War Two carrier USS Ommaney Bay (CVE 79) Reel | |
NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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25–26 August: Fairwell ECSAA Reunion, Arlington, VA
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
22 September 2023 at 1800: Dudley Knox Award ceremony and dinner, US Naval Institute’s Jack C. Taylor Conference Center in Annapolis, Maryland
9 October: US Naval Institute 150th Celebration
17–22 October 2023: Naval Order of the United States Congress, San Diego
25 October 2023: US Naval Institute Conference – Critical Thinking – Our Greatest Weapon to Winning Tomorrow’s War
| 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: 193: Admiral Mike Mullen, Part 12: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff>>
Click here for all Preble Hall Podcasts >>
| DRACHINIFEL YOUTUBE CHANNEL | |
Welcome to Navy History Matters, 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>>
| 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 >>
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