|
2 April 2024
Today marks the 243rd anniversary of the frigate Alliance capturing two British privateers. Huzzah for the Continental Navy! Speaking of huzzahs, last week we gave a shout-out to the
battleship New Jersey being dry-docked at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for some
needed hull-preservation work and additional maintenance. Apparently the BB-62 folks appreciated the mention, and now for the National Maritime Awards Dinner, coming up in 16 days at the National Press Club, one of the live auction items will be an under-hull tour of this 48,000+ ton warship. Details below!
We offer up one more Huzzah to Cdr. Dr. Christian Jentzsch of the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the German Armed Forces and Dr. Sebastian Bruns of the Institute for Security Policy, Kiel University, for pulling off the second of two workshops examining “NATO’s Maritime Strategies and Naval Operations since 1985.” Dr. John Sherwood of the Naval History and Heritage Command observed of the 13–14 March event held in Laboe, Germany, that it was “the best conference I have ever participated in during my 30 years as a naval historian.” Participant Tom Duffy offers his summary below.
For book reviews this week we thank Dr. Regan and Dr. Satterfield for their comments on two new interpretations on two campaigns in the Pacific War. We still have a number of titles to our book-for-review opportunity list. Check it out!
Tuesday Tidings is compiled by Dr. David F. Winkler and Jessie Henderson as a benefit for members of the National Maritime Historical Society and friends of naval history.
As always, comments are welcome at nmhs@seahistory.org.
| ITEMS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST | |
5 April 2024 - Mariners’ Museum With John V. Quarstein
To discuss “The Civil War’s First POW”
Noon–1 PM (EDT) (In person/Virtual)
Mariners’ Museum, VA
11 April 2024 - Book Talk With Scot Christenson
To discuss his book: Dogs in The Navy
Noon–1 PM (EDT) (In person)
Navy Museum, DC
12 April 2024 - Mariners’ Museum With John V. Quarstein
To discuss “The Ship that Tried to Save the Union – USS Pawnee”
Noon–1 PM (EDT) (In person/Virtual)
Mariners’ Museum, VA
18 April 2024 - National Maritime Awards Dinner
6:00-9:30 PM (EDT) (In person) National Press Club, DC
24 April 2024 - Warrior Women: Fighting to Serve – Serving to Fight
(Registration Deadline 9 April)
2:00–3:15 PM. (In person)
Jack C. Taylor Center, USNI, Annapolis
| |
|
The Battleship New Jersey dry dock guided tour for up to 10 people
Weekend Date in April or May with Curator Ryan Szimanski
| |
|
The National Maritime Awards Dinner will feature a live auction and one of the prizes will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Curator Ryan Szimanski will provide up to 10 guests with a rare and exciting guided Dry Dock Tour of the massive Iowa-class battleship New Jersey! Guests will walk around the exterior hull and have the chance to witness the ship out of the water, observe the ongoing restoration work, and learn about the history and significance of the vessel. This exclusive experience offers a fascinating insight into the maintenance of such a historic and iconic ship, making it a must-see for military history enthusiasts and anyone with an interest in naval heritage.
Tour is set for Sunday, 19 May at 10:00 AM; if this date is not convenient, Ryan Szimanski will try to work with you on an alternate date. Tours are only available Saturday & Sunday, April & May.
To place your bid on this auction item call 914-737-7878 ext 557.
Please Note: This tour is not handicapped accessible and climbing stairs is required to get into and out of the worksite. This is an active, outdoor worksite. Please dress accordingly, including steel-toed shoes and sturdy pants. If you don’t have steel-toed shoes, the Battleship New Jersey will provide a steel-toe shoe slip-on for your tour. Includes a commemorative branded hard hat and eye protection. This tour takes place on site at the Philadelphia Navy Yard - 5195 South 19th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19112.
Donated by: Ryan Szimanski & the Battleship New Jersey
| |
|
NMHS Chair Capt. Jim Noone, USN (Ret.), reflects on New Jersey
I have fond memories of the New Jersey. In 1969 I was an E-5 Navy Journalist assigned to a Seabee battalion, MCB 58. Every battalion had one JO as the PAO. Early that year we deployed to Chi Lai, on the coast about 25 miles south of Danang. We had a significant amount of rockets coming into our camp from the mountains inland. After we were there a few months we got the word that the New Jersey had been recommissioned, was positioned off our coast, and would be firing into the mountains to support Marines, Seabees, and Army forces in our large camp. When the New Jersey started firing, we could actually hear the rounds from the 16-inch guns whistling over our camp. We didn't know how much damage it did but it certainly felt good. The outgoing from the ship silenced the income from the mountains!
| |
Second of two workshops held on NATO maritime strategies and operations | |
Photo: Anne Runhaar, ISPK | |
|
In Laboe, Germany, on 13–14 March, the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of
the German Armed Forces (ZMSBw), represented by Commander Dr. Christian Jentzsch and
the Institute for Security Policy, Kiel University (ISPK), represented by Dr. Sebastian Bruns,
held the second of two workshops examining “NATO’s Maritime Strategies and Naval
Operations since 1985.” The workshops are an interdisciplinary—political science/military
history—approach identifying maritime trends and watershed events on the naval side of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The first workshop, focused on maritime strategy, was held
in Wilhelmshaven in November 2023.
This second two-day workshop, focused on NATO’s naval operations since 1985, was held
adjacent to the Laboe Naval Memorial, a monument originally dedicated to German sailors lost
in WWI and rededicated in 1954 as a memorial to all those lost at sea. The memorial also hosts
U-995, one of the last surviving WWII Uboats, which was featured in the making of the 1981
movie Das Boot. https://deutscher-marinebund.de/
| |
Photo: Anne Runhaar, ISPK | |
|
After an “Einlaufbier” hosted by the German Navy League the evening of 12 March, the workshop launched on March 13 with a presentation on “Reflections of Intimidation and Maritime Strategy” presented by Dr. Geoffrey Till OBE FKC, Emeritus Professor of Maritime Studies in the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London and former Knox Chair for Naval History and Strategy at the Naval War College. German Marine Association naval historian Dr. Jann-Markus Witt then led the group through a detailed tour of the Laboe Naval Memorial.
Read full article>>
| |
NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
|
INTO THE MIST: Vol. 1: The Aleutian Campaign, June- August 1942 By Michal A. Piegzik, Asia @ War #49. Warwick, GB: Helion and Co. (2022).
Reviewed by Stephen D. Regan, Ed.D.
| |
|
This book, desperately needing Volume 2 to be complete, gives such specificity as to pilots, crew, planes involved in the day-to-day operations in the region. Obviously, the Japanese thoroughly believed that they could kill two birds with one stone. They assumed that the US carriers were in Hawaii and would come out to fight when Midway was under attack. They further thought that USS Yorktown was sunk at Coral Sea; therefore, they would have overwhelming superiority. Meanwhile, they could also destroy the somewhat limited US encampments in the Aleutians, and occupy key locations such as Kiska, Attu, and Adak from where they could control all the Northern Pacific. They were convinced in their strategy enough to release the carrier Ryujo to provide air cover for the Aleutian landings.
The book is an absolute necessity in studying the Aleutians during the war; however, it needs Volume 2 to help understanding. The book, unfortunately, is an unwieldy 8x12 inches. Piegzik uses Japanese terms without defining them, adds Japanese symbols and words that add little to the book since it is published in English, and lacks maps that would provide some orientation. Despite its drawbacks, understanding Japan’s plans and thoughts challenges some heretofore beliefs that have been so often published that many historians have accepted them as fact.
Read review>>
| |
|
The Luzon Campaign 1945: MacArthur Returns By Nathan N. Prefer, Casemate Publishers, Havertown, PA, (2024)
Reviewed by Dr. John R. Satterfield
| |
|
General Krueger, at 64 when the campaign began, born in Prussia, and who began Army service as a private in the Spanish-American War, was a cautious commander. He constantly had to worry about Japanese flanking attacks and securing his lines of communication since he believed his forces were inadequate to the task. MacArthur had specifically requested his service and respected him. However, he constantly pushed Krueger to move faster and even considered relieving him, although he had designated Krueger to lead the first invasion of Japan. MacArthur also diverted Eichelberger’s Eighth Army to the invasion of the southern Philippines, not a strategic necessity. Characteristically, neither Army commander earned recognition and praise from MacArthur during or after the war. He thought the Philippines was his show. As he said once ashore at Leyte, “People of the Philippines: I have returned.” The emphasis fell on “I.”
Overall, a reader will profit from Prefer’s book. It crams a lot of information into three hundred pages. One shortcoming is the volume’s maps. They are halftones taken from the series produced by the Center for Military History, and their reduced size makes them hard to read. Some of the writing is a bit formulaic, but the author conveys the unalloyed terror of the endless campaign against a relentless enemy over which American initiative and individual guts nevertheless prevailed.
Read full review>>
| |
NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
|
USNI Eric Mills podcast with Dr. Randy Goguen – On her book From Yeomanettes to Fighter Jets
Listen here>>
| |
|
Kings Maritime History Seminars
25 April 2024 – Ship of State? Regionalism and Cold War soft power aboard La France
Claire O’Mahony, University of Oxford
9 May 2024 – The Ordered Sea: Naval diplomacy in the Mediterranean, 1815–1911
Erik de Lange, King’s College London
23 May 2024 – The Post-Napoleonic Employment of Former Warships in the British Southern
Whale Fishery, 1815–1845
Julie Papworth and Roger Dence, King’s College London
Seminars for 2023–24 will continue as hybrid events, which means that they may be attended in person or online (with the exception of the entirely online event on the 21st of March). As always, attendance is free and open to all. To take part, you must register by visiting the KCL School of Security Studies Events page. Those of you attending online will receive instructions shortly before the event, by email, about how to join. Otherwise, we will meet in person, as usual, in the Dockrill Room, K6.07, at King’s College London. Papers will begin at 17:15 GMT. The King’s Maritime History Seminar is hosted by the Laughton Naval Unit and the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. It is organized by the British Commission for Maritime History in association with the Society for Nautical Research. For further information contact Dr. Alan James, War Studies, KCL, WC2R 2LS.
| |
|
International Maritime History Association - Frank Broeze Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis in Maritime History
Professor Frank Broeze was one of the leading maritime historians of his generation. In his honor, the International Maritime History Association has instituted the Frank Broeze Prize to be awarded to the author of a doctoral thesis which, in the opinion of the panel, makes the most outstanding contribution to the study of maritime history.
As befitting Frank’s visionary approach to the field, maritime history encompasses all aspects of the historical interaction of human societies and the sea. The panel of judges will therefore consider works that focus on the maritime dimensions of economic, social, cultural, political, technological and environmental history.
The Frank Broeze Prize carries with it a cash award of €500 and reimbursement of the registration fee at the Ninth International Congress of Maritime History in Busan, South Korea, August 2024.
To be considered for this prestigious award, those who have completed a doctoral thesis between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2023 are invited to submit a copy of their thesis for consideration. If the thesis is written in a language other than English, the entrant should provide a summary of their work (minimum 10,000 words) in English.
The judges will apply the following criteria in deciding the winner of the prize:
• Contribution to knowledge and understanding of the maritime past;
• Originality of approach, source material and/or findings;
• Depth and coherence of argument;
• Choice and application of methodology;
• Presentational and stylistic quality.
Eligible candidates should submit their entries, including a letter of support from their supervisor, via e-mail attachment to Prof. Ingo Heidbrink (iheidbri@odu.edu) president of the IMHA, no later than 15 May 2024. The prize will be awarded at the Congress in Busan.
| |
|
2024 CNO Naval History Essay Contest
The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) announces the 2024 CNO Naval History Essay Contest and calls for the submission of papers no later than 30 April 2024. The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) is the lead for the contest, and the US Naval Institute (which has been sponsoring essay contests since 1878) is supporting.
The Challenge
The CNO invites entrants to submit essays that apply lessons from throughout naval history to solving today's Navy challenges. Entrants should consider that today’s era is marked by:
a. Determined and increasingly aggressive efforts by China and Russia to coordinate their respective instruments of power (e.g., economic, political, and military) to compete for commercial, geostrategic, political, and military advantage and access.
b. Chinese and Russian expansion across the spectrum of military operations (competition, crisis, and contingency) and domains (sea, air, land, space, cyberspace, and electromagnetic spectrum).
c. The rise of China as an economic and maritime power and the importance of the maritime domain as well as the need for the US to integrate Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard operations and multi-domain operational concepts and capabilities.
d. The increased importance of navies, sea control, and allies and partners in a globalized world where 90 percent of world trade (by volume) and information travels via the seas or undersea cables.
e. The proliferation of advanced weaponry and the erosion of key US technological advantages that make it difficult for the US to project power to manage crises, deter aggression, and reassure allies and partners.
f. Fundamental strategic and technological shifts and advances that promise to change the character and conduct of naval warfare and challenge the Navy’s ability to adapt conceptually and materially.
The contest seeks submissions from professional historians, midshipmen and cadets, and rising historians. Guidelines for each group below.
2024 CNO Naval History Essay Contest - Professional Historian | US Naval Institute (usni.org)
2024 CNO Naval History Essay Contest - Midshipmen and Cadets | US Naval Institute (usni.org)
2024 CNO Naval History Essay Contest - Rising Historian | US Naval Institute (usni.org)
| |
The Australian Naval Institute Commodore Sam Bateman Book Prize | |
|
Inaugurated in 2021, the Commodore Sam Bateman Book Prize is awarded annually by the ANI to recognise excellence in books making a major contribution to the study and understanding of naval and maritime matters. The Prize is sponsored by the National Shipbuilding College.
The Prize is named after Commodore Sam Bateman AM RAN (1938–2020), a former ANI Councillor and strategic thinker in recognition of his efforts to raise greater awareness of naval and/or maritime matters and progressing the understanding and value of navies in society.
Award of the Prize
The winner of the ANI Commodore Sam Bateman Book Prize is announced on the second Wednesday of each December. It is awarded in a ceremony in Canberra in March the following the year where the author will be asked to deliver the Commodore Sam Bateman Book Prize Lecture.
Entries are now being received for the 2024 Sam Bateman Book Prize
Entries are to be in the English language and will:
- Raise the understanding of naval and/or maritime affairs,
- Have been published from 2 November 2023 to 1 November 2024 and received between 1 April and 1 November 2024, and
- Be of high literary quality and style
Books can be nominated for consideration by either ANI book reviewers or publishers.
For further information or to submit a book first email books@navalinstitute.com.au for dispatch details.
| |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
|
18–21 April 2024: Society For Military History Annual Conference Arlington, VA
24–25 April 2024: Council of American Maritime Museums, Constitution Museum, Boston, MA
8 May 2024: US Naval Institute Annual Meeting, Jack C. Taylor Center, Annapolis, MD
18 May 2024: Naval Dockyards Society 28th Annual Conference
From Yards to Hards: Preparing Allied naval forces for the 1944 Normandy Landings
The D-Day Story, Portsmouth - Partner and Venue: Clarence Esplanade, Southsea, Portsmouth PO5 3NT
23–26 May 2024: 75th Annual Conference of the Company of Military Historians, Augusta, ME
3–5 June 2024: Warships Resting in Peace, Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Finland
20–23 June 2024: Joint NASOH/CNRS Conference, St. Catharines, Ontario
16–19 September 2024: Historic Naval Ship Association (HNSA) Symposium, USS Midway, San Diego
24–28 September 2025: 12th Maritime Heritage Conference, Buffalo, NY
| 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: 225: Dr. Sarah Kirchberger PLA Navy Part I>>
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 >>
| 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 >>
| | | | |
