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20 June 2023
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
Last week we saluted Battle of Midway veteran Chief Petty Officer Bill Norberg, who attended the Battle of Midway Dinner on 4 June in Arlington, Virginia. There he received a framed copy of the Presidential Unit Citation that he helped earn for his ship as a crewmember of USS Enterprise (CV 6) throughout World War II. Early this past Saturday, the centenarian sailor quietly passed away. Upon learning of Norberg’s death, the commander of the National Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States, John H. Shanahan Jr., reflected:
Chief Norberg honored his Navy family by his presence at the Midway Dinner this year, and it was a treat to be with him. We will all remember him for his heroic service, especially on Enterprise during the battle, his continuing dedication to the Navy, and his warm friendship with all of us.
Fair winds and following seas, Chief.
Perhaps we can take some solace in knowing one of Chief Norberg’s final memories was the standing ovation he received at the Army-Navy Country Club on the 81st anniversary of the epic mid-Pacific battle. It was well-deserved. Our condolences to the Norberg family.
Last week we also reported on progress made on the construction of the National Museum of the United States Coast Guard. Subsequently, Naval Order of the United States hosted Director of Navy Museums Dr. James C. Rentfrow to discuss the Navy’s efforts to build its new flagship national museum. Whereas the Coast Guard aims to have a ribbon cutting for its new facility in 2025, Rentfrow professed optimism that a groundbreaking will occur that year on the Navy’s 250th birthday on October 13. To view the 40-minute presentation, see: View this Naval Order History Presentation Zoom Meeting! To take a look at the PowerPoint slides, click here: Slide Deck from the Presentation.
For this week’s feature we are pleased to share the USNA announcement that registration is now open for the McMullen Naval History Symposium scheduled for 21–22 September. We hope to see you there!
For this week’s Naval History Book Review, we offer a review from the International Journal of Naval History. With the forthcoming Escort Carrier Sailors and Airmen Association conference coming in late August, the Benjamin Hruska book on Block Island-class escort carriers is timely. Please check our updated list of books available for review and as always send your requests to david.winkler@usnwc.edu. As he is on travel through the Fourth of July, he will respond afterwards.
As this Sunday is the 73rd Anniversary of the North Korean invasion of South Korea to initiate the Korean War, for this week’s “In Case You Missed It” article we offer a June 2010 Sea Power Historical Perspective recap of the critical first month of that conflict.
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 | |
21 June 2023 - National Museum of the US Navy: Virtual Talk: “Harvey Milk, a Tribute” with Stuart Milk, the nephew of slain gay activist and former naval officer Harvey Milk and USNS Harvey Milk’s new commanding officer, Captain James White, USN
Noon – 1 PM (EDT)
Virtual Talk: Harvey Milk, a Tribute (navy.mil)
23 June 2023 - USS Monitor Legacy Program – Lt. John Mercer Brooke Lecture (in person/streaming)
Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, VA
Noon – 1 PM (EDT)
Lt. John Mercer Brooke - The Mariners’ Museum and Park (marinersmuseum.org)
23–24 June 2023 - North Carolina Naval History in the Age of Sail and Steam Symposium, Kinston, NC
http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ejrm97la20e1afd1&llr=uwbt9qfbb
24 June 2023 - Walking Tour of Washington Navy Yard
10:30 – 11:30 AM
Walking Tour of the Washington Navy Yard
29 June 2023 - Naval Order of the US Continental Commandery Maritime History Virtual Lecture Series – Sarah C. M. Paine, William S. Sims University Professor of History and Grand Strategy, Strategy & Policy Department, US Naval War “The End of the Cold War.”
7 PM (EDT)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdrjymLPI-s.
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Welcome to the home of US Naval Academy’s McMullen Naval History Symposium. The history department at Annapolis hosts this world-renowned event biennially to highlight the latest research on naval and maritime history from academics and practitioners all over the globe. The 2023 McMullen Symposium will be held in Annapolis, Maryland, on 21–22 September 2023. Held since 1973, the symposium has been described as the “largest regular meeting of naval historians in the world” and as the US Navy’s “single most important interaction with an academic historical audience.”
Director: CDR Benjamin “BJ” Armstrong, USN, PhD
Deputy Director: CDR Ryan Mewett, USN, PhD
Email: navalhistorysymposium@gmail.com
2023 Tentative Agenda
Thursday, 21 September 2023
Opening Plenary 0800
Morning Sessions - 0900
Naval History Luncheon - 1130
Afternoon Sessions - 1300
USNA Museum Reception - 1715
McMullen Seapower Address - 1900
Friday, 22 September 2023
Morning Sessions - 0800
Lunch Break - 1200
Afternoon Sessions - 1300
Symposium Complete - 1700
Read full article>>
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Two dissertations with naval-personnel-related content have been successfully defended. Tuesday Tidings congratulates Amber DeVries, who recently earned her doctorate at Syracuse University for her dissertation Building a Navy: Masculinity, Recruitment, and Life at Sea in the United States Navy, 1775–1900, and Bethany Mowry who earned her PhD at the University of Oklahoma for her work titled Relative Distances: Sailors and Women on the Philadelphia Waterfront, 1770–1830. DeVries was advised by Mark Schmeller and Mowry was supervised by Jennifer Davis. | |
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The Critical Month - Sea Power - July 2010
By David F. Winkler
On the weekend of June 24, 1950, Robert A. Schelling commanded the destroyer Lyman K. Swenson during an amphibious exercise near Tokyo Bay. He recalled: “On Sunday afternoon, we got a message to return to port and fuel, then proceed at best speed to Sasebo. Why? Well, about that time, we heard about this 38th parallel thing.”
Lyman K. Swenson and the destroyer Collett sped to Sasebo, refueled, and then deployed to the East Coast of Korea.
The two destroyers were among the first allied warships to respond to the North Korean invasion of South Korea. Overwhelmed by the North Korean blitzkrieg that utilized T-34 tanks, allied ground forces traded space for time. As American and South Korean soldiers retreated down the peninsula toward the southern port of Pusan, naval forces disrupted the North Korean juggernaut with harassing gunfire and naval airstrikes and funneled critical supplies and reinforcements to the troops defending the Pusan perimeter.
On the evening of June 29, the light cruiser Juneau fired the first of tens of thousands of shells that would be aimed at North Korean and then Chinese forces during the three-year conflict. Three days later Juneau, in company with the Royal Navy’s Jamaica and Black Swan, engaged four North Korean torpedo boats and two gunboats. Only one North Korean combatant would survive.
Schelling remembered: “We [Lyman K. Swenson and Collett] both came around back to the East Coast of Korea where somehow I joined up with the British light cruiser, Jamaica. The Jamaica was shooting at the cliff road along the coast, and she told me to fall in astern. I did a little shooting too, but her 6-inch guns were more effective than my 5-inch [guns].”
On July 3, the American aircraft carrier Valley Forge and her British counterpart Triumph began two days of strikes that focused on military installations around Pyongyang, destroying many North Korean aircraft on the ground as well as two Yak-9 fighters in the air.
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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Valor and Courage: The Story of the USS Block Island Escort Carriers in World War II. By Benjamin Hruska, Tuscaloosa: University Alabama Press, (2021)
Review by Lt Col. Nicholas Smith, USAF
“For the 957 sailors on board, the two German torpedoes with 660 pounds of explosives slamming Block Island caught them in a range of activities including showering, cooking meals, and doing laundry…..immediately heading for the bridge (Captain) Hughes witnessed visible damage, ‘en route I noticed the port side of the flight deck curled back about ten feet and forward part of the flight deck covered with oily water…’ a group of sailors soon gathered on the bow around a wounded sailor who was serving as lookout when the torpedo struck. Besides being badly injured, his legs were trapped in the mangled catwalk as a result of the explosion.” This excerpt from Valor and Courage provides a perfect example of how Benjamin Hruska blends life on board the Block Island with the reality of the dangers the crew faced at sea during World War II. In this case, when a German U-boat off the coast of North Africa torpedoed them on May 29, 1944, making her the only American carrier sunk in the Atlantic theater.
Hruska’s Valor and Courage: The Story of the USS Block Island Escort Carriers in World War II tells the story of both Bogue class escort carriers (CVE-21 and CVE-106). These carriers incorporated “a hull designed for commercial use into floating airfield(s) fashioned for warfare.” 2 CVE-21 was sunk in the Atlantic and CVE-106 would be renamed after it, and would go on to serve in the Pacific theater until the end of the war (setting sail a mere 12 days after her namesake sank). By examining both ships, Hruska provides a unique lens concerning carrier operations in two theaters during the war, the different leadership styles of the crews’ two captains, and insight into naval adoption of aviation tactics aboard an escort carrier. Through the eyes of the crewmembers, the reader experiences hunter killer missions in the Atlantic for German U-boats, transportation of German POWs, the terror of waiting to be rescued from the water after having their carrier sunk, potential kamikaze attacks, and supporting the invasion of Okinawa.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
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Following the North Korean Offensive on June 25, 1950, the United States and the United Nations decided to defend South Korea. US Navy forces were commanded by Vice Admiral Arthur D. Struble’s Seventh Fleet and Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy’s Naval Forces, Japan. Carrying out the first naval gunfire support operations on June 28 were USS Juneau (CLAA-19) and USS De Haven (DD-727) as they bombed targets near Sanchock. USS Valley Forge (CV-45), along with Royal Navy light carrier Triumph, carried out the first airstrikes on 3–4 July. During this time, US and Royal Navy ships evacuated refugees and transported US Army forces from Japan to Korea.
The first US troops to enter combat in July were the US Army’s 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions. Initially, the troops landed at Pohang, as Pusan was very busy with incoming shipping. The landings were peaceful. Despite those landings and a push forward, the units were eventually overwhelmed as the North Koreans pushed south. With the retreat to the seaport of Pusan, the defenders reached a critical point. Despite what seemed to be overwhelming odds, the forces held on until the First Provisional Marine Brigade arrived in August. The brave US Marines took back some of the enemy advances and served to protect the Pusan Perimeter until the landings at Inchon the following month.
See more here>>
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Korean War: President Truman Reports - June 1950 | |
ADDITIONAL FEATURED CONTENT | |
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Followup to My Recent Article
By John L. Morris
Recently this newsletter contained my article on naval gun histories, here.
It was long enough so I saved this part for later. For years after I did the bulk of the research on the 1750 Spanish mortar named El Gavilan, one part of the timeline had always eluded me. I wanted to know exactly when and where the Navy acquired the pair of mortars, what exactly were the circumstances, was it in a battle between ships and a mortar battery or what? Here’s the story, at least as much of it as I could find.
http://military-historians.org/cgi-bin/member/forum.pl?md=read;id=8229
I failed to mention my theory on the deep grooves inside the barrel of El Gavilan. These ugly grooves are caused by gas erosion from much firing. As far as I could tell, that mortar was never fired while it was at Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine. However it was almost certainly loaned to Bernardo Galvez, along with other weapons, to besiege the British fortifications at Pensacola. There it would have fired as often as it could be reloaded. An explosive shell, attributed to a Spanish howitzer, exploded the enemy powder magazine and won the battle for Galvez. However the shell could also have been fired by El Gavilan and the truth obscured by the smoke of battle; who knows?
I didn’t include any photos of the larger, older mortar, El Icaro. Here are my admittedly bad photos. This mortar was acquired from the scrap dealer by a Kensington, MD, antique gun dealer I met much later, when he told me how he had traded it to the National Park Service for a Civil War-era bronze US 6-pounder field gun.
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NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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 >>
| NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COMMAND H-GRAMS | |
H-Gram 078: 20 March 2023 >> The Revolt of the Admirals, Ship Renaming
| 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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