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5 March 2024
This Saturday marks the 162nd anniversary of the first battle between ironclad warships at Hampton Roads. Fittingly, the Mariners’ Museum, which hosts Monitor’s turret and other artifacts, has a number of commemorative activities. See “Items of Immediate Interest.”
In this edition we promote three upcoming author talks and offer a new call for papers announcement from the Canadian Nautical Research Society and a dissertation prize announcement from the International Maritime History Association.
This week’s Naval History Book Reviews offers Master Chief David Mattingly’s thoughts on the Naval Institute Press book The Brown Water War at 50 and Capt. Richard Dick’s praise of Frogman Stories. Some new books have arrived for review and the book list for those interested in writing reviews has been updated.
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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 | |
Baylor University hosts David Smith to Speak on Dewey on March 13 | |
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Senior Lecturer in History David A. Smith will discuss his recent Naval Institute Press publication, “A New Force at Sea: George Dewey and the Rise of the American Navy,” in Moody Memorial Library on the campus of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Smith will be interviewed by fellow Baylor historian Ronald Angelo Johnson. This event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by audience Q&A, a reception with light refreshments, and a book signing. For those who are unable to attend in person, the session is available via Zoom webinar (registration required). For more information visit provost.web.baylor.edu/rma.
“Admiral George Dewey is one of the most significant figures in military history, but one who hardly anyone knows about today,” notes Smith. “He won a lop-sided victory on the far side of the world to open the Spanish-American War, which eventually led the US into imperialism. He established in the public mind the prominence of a modern Navy, becoming the nation’s first huge celebrity of the pop-culture era, and later helped transform the Navy’s entire process of strategic decision-making and planning. I enjoyed researching and writing the book and am excited to share it as part of the Readers Meet the Author Series.”
The conversation will be held on the first floor of Moody Memorial Library in the Schumacher Flex Commons and is free and open to the public.
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National Maritime Historical Society to Host David Winkler on the Navy’s First Aircraft Carrier on 21 March | |
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Dr. David F. Winkler will talk about his recently published America’s First Aircraft Carrier: USS Langley and the Dawn of US Naval Aviation, profiling some of the key figures in the Langley story, including Henry Mustin, John Towers, Joseph Mason Reeves, Kenneth Whiting, and Rufus Zogbaum, to name a few. When considering the dominant role aircraft carriers continue to play in American power projection overseas, it is quite remarkable that a ship’s biography had yet to be written until the publication last month of this book from the Naval Institute Press. The technologies employed today to launch and trap aircraft can all be traced to the growing pains of early “flying deck ops” onboard Langley. Don’t be surprised with some cross-over with Winkler’s other recent book, Witness to Neptune’s Inferno: The Pacific War Diary of Lieutenant Commander Lloyd M. Mustin.
Click Here to Register
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New-York Historical Society to Host Eric Dolin on the founding of the US Navy on March 26 | |
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Event Details:
The story of the founding of the US Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that were critical to victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels, mostly refitted merchant ships, that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war. The men who owned the ships, as well as their captains and crew, would divide the profits of a successful cruise, although some Americans viewed them as cynical opportunists whose only aim was loot. Best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin explores the historical distinction between pirates and privateers, showing that the latter were as patriotic as their fellow Americans, and that they greatly contributed to the war’s success.
Eric Jay Dolin has written numerous works in maritime history, including Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates and Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. Greg Young (moderator) is an author and host of the popular history podcast The Bowery Boys: New York City History.
Privateers, Pirates, and the American Revolution | New-York Historical Society (nyhistory.org)
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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The Brown Water War at 50: A Retrospective on the Coastal and Riverine Conflict in Vietnam. By Thomas J. Cutler and Edward J. Marolda, ed. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, (2023).
Reviewed by ISCM (AW) David A. Mattingly, USN (Ret)
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...In addition to fighting in Vietnam, the Navy and Marine Corps were responsible for advising and assisting the Vietnamese Navy, creating the Vietnamese Marine Corps, and advising the Vietnamese Army. Marine Corps historian Charles D. Melson, in his chapter “Vietnam Marines Afloat and Ashore,” tells the well-documented story of Marine Capt. John Ripley and the Dong Ha Bridge, where he was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions as an advisor. George Veith, who has written extensively on the Vietnam War, contributes an excellent chapter, “The Vietnam Navy and Marine Corps,” describing how the Vietnam Marine Corps grew from a few companies to a division that the Vietnamese Army considered an elite force. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Navy was often saddled with outdated equipment and ships that required extensive maintenance to keep them in the fight.
The book provides firsthand accounts or well-researched and documented chapters on the US Navy’s time in Vietnam. Each author can stand by their experiences or research on the war. Each chapter is well written with endnotes documenting the study and often accompanied by personal or official Navy photographs. I highly recommend The Brown Water Navy at 50 to anyone interested in US Navy history or the history of the Vietnam War.
Read full review>>
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Frogman Stories By Rick Kaiser; Havertown, PA: Casemate (2023).
Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.)
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...A more serious highlight is Kaiser’s experience as a sniper team leader in SEAL Team SIX. He is disarmingly honest about his own strengths and weaknesses that led him toward sniper training and is quite frank about his lack of interest in long range shooting records. He points out that SEALs fight primarily at night and even the best night vision equipment will not permit the certain identification of targets at greater than 150–200 yards.
After 22 years in special warfare, Master Chief Kaiser retired from active duty, only to return for another 12 years after 9/11. He winds up the book with some of his experience in overseeing the National Navy UDT-SEAL museums. He makes clear that he is an outspoken opponent of political correctness, even when that stance has proven costly to himself and to the museums. Frogman Stories is often funny, always unvarnished, and definitely worth reading.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
The Battle of Hampton Roads
At mid-day on 8 March 1862, CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack, and persistently mis-identified by that name or as “Merrimac”) steamed down the Elizabeth River from Norfolk and entered Hampton Roads. It was the newly converted ironclad’s trial trip, a short voyage that would deeply influence naval opinion at home and abroad.
Anchored on the opposite side of Hampton Roads were five major Union warships: the frigate Congress and large sloop of war Cumberland off Newport News, and the frigates St. Lawrence, Minnesota and Roanoke a few miles to the east, off Fortress Monroe. All were powerful conventional wooden men o’war. Minnesota and Roanoke, of the same type as the pre-war Merrimack, had auxiliary steam propulsion, but the other three were propelled by sails alone, and thus were at the mercy of wind conditions and the availability of tugs. As Virginia crossed the Roads, looking (as one witness described her) “like the roof of a very big barn belching forth smoke as from a chimney on fire,” the Union ships called their crews to quarters and prepared for action. Turning west, the Confederate ironclad shrugged off steady fire from ships and shore batteries as she steamed past the Congress. Firing her heavy cannon into both ships, she pushed her ram into Cumberland’s starboard side. The stricken ship began to sink, though her gun crews kept up a heavy fire as she went down. In the words of one of Cumberland’s enemies, “No ship was ever fought more gallantly.”
Virginia backed clear, tearing off most of her iron ram, and slowly turned toward the Congress, which had gone aground while trying to get underway. Confederate gunners put several raking shells into the frigate’s hull, and maintained a relentless fire as they came alongside. After an hour's battle, in which Congress’s crew suffered heavy casualties, she raised the white flag of surrender. As the Confederates began to take off her crew, several men on both sides were hit by gunfire from ashore, among them the Virginia’s commanding officer, Captain Franklin Buchanan, who ordered Congress set afire with hot shot. She blazed into the night, exploding as the fire reached her powder magazines about two hours after midnight.
Read full article>>
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Preble Hall: Admiral Sir Ian Forbes
Dr. John Sherwood’s interview with Admiral Sir Ian Forbes on his experiences in the Falklands War.
Listen here>>
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NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
Canadian Nautical Research Society Call for Papers 2023 | |
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Shaped by the Sea: The Maritime World as Transformative for Work, Culture, Ideas, Networks
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, 17–18 August 2023
Historians have long emphasized the significance of the maritime as a transportation vector between global regions, between metropole and colony, and between networks of commodity extraction and production sites. The 2023 meeting of the Canadian Nautical Research Society seeks papers with a focus on the maritime world as transformative, shaping the objects, ideas, and people who travelled by sea. Maritime workers, vessels, and the ports that connected ship to shore left indelible impressions upon the people and objects that passed through their midst, reshaping ideas on land but also impacting the maritime world itself.
The 2023 CNRS Conference will take place in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, on 17–18 August. A vibrant port and a region of significant maritime transformation as a military station, fishery, and a gateway to the North Atlantic and Arctic, Newfoundland and Labrador continues to be shaped by the proximity of its peoples to the sea.
The Conference will be a hybrid meeting, hosted in-person at the site of one of the British Empire’s largest archives of working men’s documents, Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Maritime History Archive. The MHA’s collection includes the bulk of Britain’s crew agreements created between 1863 and 1972, as well as important collections of maritime documents and photographs from Newfoundland and Labrador.
Proposals on other maritime topics from all time periods are also welcome. We invite interdisciplinary and inter-professional proposals from speakers who will contribute to the diversity of our discussions and community. Presenters must be members of the CNRS/Scrn by the time of the conference. Memberships are available at rates starting at $30 CAD, $25 CAD for students and early career researchers. Please visit https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/membership/index_e.html.
New scholars are encouraged to apply for the Gerry Panting Award for New Scholars to assist with expenses associated with travelling to the 2023 CNRS Conference in St. John’s, NL. Details for this award are available at: https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/books_and_awards/panting_e.html.
Submissions should be sent to Dr. Meaghan Walker, conference moderator, at mwalker@mun.ca, and should include the presenter’s name, institutional or professional affiliation (optional), title of the presentation, an abstract of 250 words or less, and a biographical note of 100 words or less. The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2023.
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CONTEST SUBMISSION DEADLINE | |
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Kings Maritime History Seminars
7 March 2024 – Interplay of Empires: The quest for influence in the nineteenth-century Mediterranean
Cemal Atabaş, Marmara University, Istanbul
21 March 2024 – The Coal Black Sea: Winston Churchill and the biggest naval catastrophe of the First World War
Stuart Heaver, journalist and author
Note: This session will be delivered entirely online.
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.
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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.
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UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
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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
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
September (TBD): Historic Naval Ship Association (HNSA) Symposium
24–28 September 2025: 12th Maritime Heritage Conference, Buffalo, NY
| PREBLE HALL NAVAL HISTORY PODCAST | |
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| 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.
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| 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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