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5 September 2023
We hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend, the “unofficial end of summer.”
This week following Labor Day is notable in that tomorrow marks the 105th anniversary of the US Naval Rail Battery going into action in France; the Washington Navy Yard hosts the last remaining mounted 14-inch gun. Thursday marks the date when, in 1776, David Bushnell’s submarine Turtle attempted to sink the British warship Eagle. Friday is the centennial of the Point Honda disaster, which led to the destruction of seven destroyers. Saturday is the anniversary of the first time, in 1942, of a bombing of the continental US courtesy of a seaplane from a Japanese submarine—not exactly the same as “30 Seconds Over Tokyo.” Next Sunday and Monday are the anniversaries of the War of 1812 American naval victories on Lake Erie (1813) and Lake Champlain (1814), respectively.
Meanwhile, at the US Naval Academy, the Class of ’27 has been brought aboard and the rest of the Brigade has returned to oversee the indoctrination of this latest class of plebes. In addition, the USNA history department and the US Naval Institute are making final preparations to welcome naval historians and others with passion for naval history to Annapolis for the USNA-hosted McMullen Naval History Symposium, to be held on 21–22 September, and the USNI-hosted Commodore Dudley W. Knox Dinner, to be held on Friday at the close of the symposium. The McMullen program concrete is hardening, and the final program can be found here. Registration is still open; nearly 400 have signed up so far!
For our feature story, we are sharing the Naval Institute announcement about the latest Knox honorees. The recognition program, established in 2013 by the Naval Historical Foundation, honors a lifetime of achievement in the naval history profession with strong consideration given to the quality and quantity of scholarship, individual leadership in naval heritage supporting institutions, and service as a mentor and role model to encourage others to take interest in the subject. Previous individuals who have been honored include the late Dr. William N. Still, the late Dr. Phillip K. Lundeberg, Dr. James D. Bradford, Dr. Craig T. Symonds, Dr, John B. Hattendorf, Dr. William S. Dudley, the late Dr. Harold Langley, Mr. Christerpher McKee, the late Dr. Dean Allard, Dr. Edward J. Marolda, Lt. Cdr. Thomas Cutler, Dr. Jon Sumida, Cdr. Paul Stillwell, Mr. Norman Polmar, Cdr. Ty Martin, Capt. Peter Swartz, Dr. Michael J. Crawford, Dr. Kathleen Broome Williams, Dr. Robert M. Browning Jr., Dr. Thomas C. Hone, Dr. Norman Friedman, and Dr. Donald F. Bittner. We hope to see you in Annapolis at both events!
Congratulations is also due to Dr. John Sherwood, who just published A Global Force for Good: Sea Services Humanitarian Operations in the Twenty-First Century (Washington, DC: Naval History and Heritage Command, 2023). This new study can be downloaded here: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/publications/publication-508-pdf/global_force_for_good_508.pdf.
Naval History Book Reviews is offering Dr. Winkler’s take on the Naval Institute’s recently published Fighting in the Dark: Naval Combat at Night, 1904–1944. As noted last week, our stockpile of books available for review has dwindled, thanks to all of you who have asked for books and currently are turning pages. If you have recently published a naval history-related memoir or history—let us know! Current available titles to review are listed here. 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 | |
6–10 September 2023 – ASMA 4th National Marine Art Conference
Albany, New York
(in person)
8 September 2023 - Deserting USS Monitor
Monitor Legacy Program with John V. Quarstein
Noon–1 PM. (EDT) (In Person - Virtual)
17 September 2023 - SS John W. Brown Living History Cruise
8:00 am–4:00 PM (EDT) (in person)
18–21 September 2023 - Historic Naval Ship Association Conference USS Slater
21–22 September 2023 - McMullen Naval History Symposium, Annapolis, MD
Click here to Register>>
22 September 2023 - Naval Institute Knox Award Dinner, Annapolis, MD
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Fowler, Hornfischer to be Honored
By Tom Cutler
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This year’s Knox Award Committee—headed by Dr. David Rosenberg and consisting of previous award winners Dr. Craig Symonds, Dr. Edward Marolda, retired Navy Captain Peter Swartz, and retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Thomas Cutler—has selected Dr. William M. Fowler Jr., Emeritus Professor of History at Northeastern University, to receive the Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award for 2023.
Dr. Fowler joined the history department at Northeastern University in 1971, following completion of his PhD at the University of Notre Dame and taught at Northeastern until 1998, when he resigned as the history department chair to become the director of the Massachusetts Historical Society. In 2006, he returned to Northeastern University as a distinguished professor of history, retiring in 2017. His area of expertise is New England maritime history. Other areas of interest include the history of the French and Indian War, the Seven Years War, and the struggle for North America.
Doctor Fowler is the author of many books dealing with American history, including: Under Two Flags: The Navy in the Civil War; Silas Talbot: Captain of the Old Ironsides; Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America, 1754–1763; Samuel Adams: Radical Puritan; Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783–1815; and his most recent book, published in 2017, Steam Titans: Cunard, Collins, and the Epic Battle for Commerce on the North Atlantic. He is also co-author of America and the Sea and William Ellery: A Rhode Island Politico and Lord of Admiralty.
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On the recommendation of the Award committee, the Naval Institute is pleased to also recognize James D. Hornfischer with an additional, special, posthumous Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award.
Although a highly successful literary agent, Jim will be most remembered for his writing. Complementing his monumental The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, Jim’s Ship of Ghosts, Neptune’s Inferno, and The Fleet at Flood Tide spanned the Pacific War, from the dark days when the US Navy was reeling from the Japanese onslaught, through the vicious naval combat in the Guadalcanal campaign, to the ultimate victory in the greatest naval war in history. Jim captured the drama, the sacrifice, and the heroism of that titanic existential struggle in a way that was riveting and rang true to those “who have gone down to the sea in ships.”
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Although he never served in the Navy, Jim immersed himself in the history of the Pacific War, poring over the books in his school library and building ship models at a very young age, soaking up all he could find on paper and on screens, becoming a professional researcher whose ability to mine archives was matched by his skills as an interviewer who could draw out and replicate personal recollections, giving his writing authenticity and a human pulse.
Read full article>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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Fighting in the Dark: Naval Combat at Night, 1904–1944 by Vincent P. O’Hara and Trent Hone, Eds., Annapolis, Naval Institute Press (2023)
Reviewed by David F. Winkler, PhD
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Fighting in the Dark represents a natural progression from Learning War as well as Innovating Victory as the editors have broadened the study of naval combat at night to cover four decades of the first half of the twentieth century to include the navies of Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and Canada in addition to those of the United States and Japan. Stephen McLaughlin draws on his expertise as a historian of the Russian/Soviet Navy to analyze night fighting during the Russo-Japanese War. His chapter titled “Stumbling in the Dark” not only summarizes the failings of both navies after sunset but explains the impact of the dark on decision making, communications, weapons employment, tactical formations, and enemy detection — topics also addressed by subsequent chapter authors. McLaughlin credits much of the Japanese’s ultimate success to superior training and equipment as well as to younger commanders who fought aggressively.
O’Hara and Hone’s approach comparing the night fighting developments of multiple navies is a template worth replicating. Building on the discussion by Goldrick, Parshall, and Hone of the interwar fleet maneuvers/problems conducted by the British, Japanese, and Americans, a synthetic work going into greater detail about how the major navies prepared for war during the interwar period would be a worthy project. Whoever takes it on will certainly want to have Fighting in the Dark close by.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
US Naval Railway Batteries
By Lieut. Commander L. B. Bye, US Navy
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US naval railway battery firing from Thierville into Longuyon. Photo: US Naval Institute Photo Archive | |
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When the history of the Great War is written, the various activities of the United States Navy in co-operating with the Allies and in contributing in various ways to the offensive measures that finally caused the downfall of the enemy will be disclosed. The Navy’s work in transporting troops, the operations of the destroyer flotilla, the convoy system, the activities of the naval bombing squadrons, the success of the North Sea mine barrage, and the many other naval operations conducted at a distance of 3,000 miles through Vice Admiral William S. Sims, commander, United States naval forces operating in European waters, will emphasize the fact that the United States Navy was a big factor in overcoming the submarine menace and causing the ignominious surrender of the demoralized German fleet. This article will describe the Navy’s contribution ashore in the great battles during the closing days of the war with Germany.
The Navy actually had engaged on the Western Front from 6 September 1918, until the signing of the armistice, five 14-inch 50-caliber guns on railway mounts that were designed and built under the direction of the Navy Bureau of Ordnance, transported to France, erected and put in operation at a time when the necessity for such long-range weapons was vital. The story of this accomplishment is believed to be of interest to all readers of the Naval Institute Proceedings.
From the beginning of the European War, the range of artillery both on land and at sea attracted a great deal of attention. Mounts and guns of increasing range were continually being produced by both the Allies and the Germans. At the time the United States entered the conflict, this competition of long-range guns was at its greatest height, with the advantage on land decidedly in favor of the Germans.
In the early part of November, 1917, a report was received from Lieut. Commander G. L. Schuyler, US Navy, giving information concerning the maximum range of German guns, mounted near Ostend, which were firing into Dunkirk. These guns were known as the “Leugenboom” guns, and it was ascertained by the British that they were capable of a range of as much as 50,300 yards, or slightly over 28½ statute miles. None of the British guns in this sector could equal this range, and it was evident that the Germans were making great strides in modifying their naval guns so that they could be used on land for long-range bombardments.
Read full article>>
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Dr. Karl Zingheim, PhD - “Left Standard Rudder:” The Centennial of the Honda Point Disaster
On a moonless and foggy September night a century ago, fourteen destroyers charged through mounting seas off the rocky central California coast, bound for home in San Diego. In this era before radar, and when radio navigation was still a dark art, piloting ships in those conditions required a practiced eye, intuition, and luck. Onward the ships ploughed into a head sea, their column stretching for miles. Their voyage plan required a left turn into the Santa Barbara Channel and threading through the Los Angeles shipping traffic, all at twenty knots sustained speed!
With the last visual fix off the coast now several hours old, the destroyers were navigating by stop watch now, and just three hours before midnight, the lead ship made the scheduled turn on time. Each ship behind sought the knuckle turbulence in the water where the preceding ship had turned, and in a matter of minutes, a maelstrom din of alarms, whistles, and frantic orders rent the night as one ship after the other discovered the tiger trap of Pedernales Point. In just a quarter hour, seven ships were pinioned and ripped by the rocks of the California coast. The remainder of the formation vaguely discerned the hazard in time to avert disaster, though two of them still sustained damage in their escape. For the men on the wrecks, the night became a savage struggle for survival as the unrelenting sea threw them about and silenced their ships. Heroic efforts to stay alive on the jagged rocks and cliffsides, as well as improvised rescues from rail workers and ranchers ashore, defined the human response to this tragedy. By daybreak, the seven crews were succored ashore, except for twenty-three men lost on a capsized destroyer. All of the hulks were beyond salvage. To this day, questions linger over this catastrophe. Why the excessive speed under poor conditions and along a treacherous route? Why weren’t definitive measures taken to establish a navigational fix before the fateful turn? Why did the following ships assume the leader knew exactly where they were? Why did half the formation crash into the rocks before the other ships were warned off? These questions and more will be addressed during August’s special presentation.
About the speaker: Karl Zingheim serves as the Staff Historian for the USS Midway Museum. A 1986 graduate of the US Naval Academy, he served in the amphibious forces in the Navy, where he qualified as a Surface Warfare Officer, and taught at the Naval Amphibious School in Coronado. Later, he attained his Master of Arts Degree in military history at Norwich University. An early advocate for the establishment of a naval museum in San Diego, Professor Zingheim has served with the USS Midway Museum since its inception. He is a faculty member as well with the Museum’s Midway Institute and teaches at San Diego State University’s Center for War and Society.
See here>>
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SHIPWRECK SURVIVORS SOUGHT! | |
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A Request from Across the Pond!
Dear Nautical Researchers,
I’m Dan Jamieson and I’m just starting a PhD at Plymouth University gathering oral histories of shipwreck survivors. The aim is to interview a diverse group of about twenty, from a range of different seafaring backgrounds—naval, merchant, cruise ships and liners, lifeboat, search and rescue, fishing, yachting, right down to cross-Atlantic rowers and migrants making crossings in small boats. The intention is to begin a collection of first-hand accounts that will grow over time, that will reveal the experience of shipwreck from a broad range of vividly personal perspectives.
The research will preserve survivors’ stories for the historical record and help raise awareness and understanding of their experiences. This seems important at a time when familiarity with life at sea is diminishing along with the number of people who work and travel there, also at a time when empathy for seafarers in distress is not uniformly engaged.
Yet as a maritime nation, seafaring remains a huge part of our history and shipping is a growing industry that brings us ever more of our worldly needs. My task now is to find people with these experiences who are ready to tell their story.
If you have been on a vessel sinking at sea or if you know someone who has who might be prepared to talk, I’d be extremely grateful to hear from you. The interviews will be one-to-one, face-to-face if possible, otherwise by Zoom, semi-structured, and 60–90 minutes long.
When the time comes, I’ll approach prospective interviewees with a preliminary call or meeting to introduce myself and explain what I’m up to. I will also send an information sheet with a more detailed run-down of the project and ask them to sign a consent form.
The interviews will be sensitively and carefully conducted, subject to oral history best practices and according to a plan approved by Plymouth University’s ethics committee.
If you want to know more about the project or me, please feel welcome to get in touch at daniel.jamieson@plymouth.ac.uk.
Best wishes and hope to speak soon,
Dan Jamieson
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NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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>>
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| NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND H-GRAMS | 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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