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1 August 2023
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
Today marks the founding of the Office of Naval Research in 1946. Happy 77th Birthday, ONR! The ONR birthdate kicks off a week of notable milestones. Tomorrow marks the 80th anniversary of the loss of PT-109, skippered by Lt. John F. Kennedy; Thursday marks the day in 1958 that Nautilus reached the North Pole, and on Friday we say Semper Paratus to celebrate the establishment in 1790 of the US Revenue Cutter Service—the antecedent to the US Coast Guard!
In the latest edition of the NHHC History Matters, Brent Hunt covers other notable anniversaries such as the Tonkin Gulf Incident of 1964 and the loss of Indianapolis. The loss of Indianapolis is also covered by Rear Admiral Cox in H-Gram 079 which also covers Kamikazes, Atomic Bombs, and a Little on the Korean War.
As noted last week, the shelves have been restocked with new titles coming from Texas A&M, Potomac Books, Casemate, Frontline, Naval Institute Press and others. We have responded to a number of review requests and books should be arriving shortly.
Thank you Ed Calouro for your superb review of Rod MacDonald’s Pearl Harbor’s Revenge. There are still a number of good titles available for others to review 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 | |
Ten Cutters - Sea Power - July 2018 | |
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The nation’s first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, faced the challenge of managing and clearing the financial burden inherited by the new republic thanks to expenditures needed to sustain the war for independence. Tariffs collected on imported goods would help to reduce the national debt. Federal customs houses had become fixtures on the waterfront from Massachusetts to Georgia. Because smuggling had long been a component of North American commerce, Hamilton recognized the need for a fleet of seagoing vessels to ensure enforcement of tariff collections. Noting that the British had a system of cutters to enforce that nation’s revenue collections, Hamilton approached Congress in 1789 for funds to build his own fleet. On 4 August 1790, a date now celebrated as the birth of the US Coast Guard, Hamilton won Congress’s authorization to build 10 cutters.
This marked the first federal shipbuilding and acquisition program for the young federal government, predating the Naval Act of 1794 that authorized the Navy’s six frigates. However, unlike Constitution, Constellation, President, United States, Congress, and Chesapeake, little has been written on these smaller vessels, primarily because records associated with their construction and operation were lost in a fire in 1833.
However, the 10-cutter building program is worth noting because of precedent-setting practices of contracting with private yards, which meant the ships were built at different locations—specifically, Scammel at Portsmouth (New Hampshire), Massachusetts at Newburyport (Massachusetts), Argus at New London, Vigilant at New York, General Greene at Philadelphia, Active at Baltimore, Virginia at Norfolk, Diligence at Washington (North Carolina), South Carolina at Charleston, and Eagle at Savannah. Of the original 13 states, only Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Delaware failed to secure contracts.
Read full article>>
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Pearl Harbor’s Revenge: How the Devastated US Battleships Returned to War.
By Rod MacDonald. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Frontline Books, 2003.
Reviewed by Ed Calouro
...For anyone wishing to learn more about the six battleships which returned to service after the attack at Pearl Harbor, Rod MacDonald’s Pearl Harbor’s Revenge: How the Devastated US Battleships Returned to War is an excellent source. It is informative and detailed, with some interesting and little-known anecdotes as well. The endnotes and select bibliography are drawn from relevant primary and appropriate secondary sources. The writing is clear and easy to follow. There are several maps and many pictures to assist the reader.
There is some redundancy, such as: “The hoists descended down…” (p. 82), “The US PT torpedo boats…” (pp. 149 + 150), “The CVE escort carriers…,” and “kamikaze suicide planes” (pp. 157–158). There are a few other errors, which are quibbles in what is otherwise a fine single source for the general public, the battleship buff, and the academic researcher. Readers can now consult one book, instead of having to locate and read at least six additional volumes. MacDonald has provided a real service to those who would like to know more about the American battleships which survived the Pearl Harbor attack. They went on to inflict a terrible revenge because of the incomplete Japanese victory on 7 December 1941.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
John F. Kennedy and PT 109
Lieutenant John F. Kennedy’s encounter with a Japanese destroyer on the night of 1 August 1943 may be the most famous small-craft engagement in naval history, and it was an unmitigated disaster.
At a later date, when asked to explain how he had come to be a hero, Kennedy replied laconically,“It was involuntary. They sank my boat.”
An Ambush Goes Awry
In Blackett Strait, south of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands, the starless, moonless night of 1 August 1943, was profoundly dark. Inky blackness like this could have a disorienting effect, even on experienced sailors.
PT-109 stood at her station, one of fifteen PT boats (“Patrol Torpedo” boats) that had set out to engage, damage, and maybe even turn back the well-known “Tokyo Express.” US forces gave that name to the Japanese navy’s more-or-less regular supply convoy to soldiers fighting the advance of US forces in the islands farther south.
When the patrol actually did come in contact with the Tokyo Express—three Japanese destroyers acting as transports with a fourth serving as escort—the encounter did not go well. Thirty torpedoes were fired without damaging the Japanese ships. No US vessels suffered hits or casualties. Boats that had used up their complement of torpedoes were ordered home. The few that still had torpedoes remained in the strait for another try.
Read full article>>
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Nautilus Submarine Travels Under North Pole | |
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On 3 August 1958, the US nuclear submarine Nautilus accomplishes the first undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole. The world’s first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus dived at Point Barrow, Alaska, and traveled nearly 1,000 miles under the Arctic ice cap to reach the top of the world. It then steamed on to Iceland, pioneering a new and shorter route from the Pacific to the Atlantic and Europe.
USS Nautilus was constructed under the direction of US Navy Captain Hyman G. Rickover, a brilliant Russian-born engineer who joined the US atomic program in 1946. In 1947, he was put in charge of the Navy’s nuclear-propulsion program and began work on an atomic submarine. Regarded as a fanatic by his detractors, Rickover succeeded in developing and delivering the world’s first nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule. In 1952, the Nautilus’ keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman, and on January 21, 1954, first lady Mamie Eisenhower broke a bottle of champagne across its bow as it was launched into the Thames River at Groton, Connecticut. Commissioned on 30 September 1954, it first ran under nuclear power on the morning of 17 January 1955.
Read full article>>
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US Revenue Cutter Corwin. Departure for Alaska.
See here>>
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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
| 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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