International Journal of Naval History

Editorial

Dr. Robert Browning, for the Editors

Every year our world seems to get smaller and more accessible, if not less complex.  Faster transportation, overnight mail, and instant digital communication have made this more than just an illusion.  As an awesome geographic feature, the world ocean once inspired a foreboding that, at times, overwhelmed both people and ambition.  Today our still amazing marine environment seems more familiar, falls within the enlarged scope of  human perspective, and has become an important economic and political asset.  As international concern for our world and the marine environment grows, more people are realizing through maritime history the importance and depth of the relationship between humanity and the the sea. 

Naval history, of course, was born on the sea and is just one facet of the broad subject of maritime history.  Yet, during the past fifty years, naval history as a discipline has radically changed, as has our impression of the world.  Naval scholarship has become more comprehensive.  We have expanded beyond the “great leader” and “shot and shell” approach to our discipline.  As historians we have broadened our vistas and now examine diverse themes such as logistics, economics, technology, social and cultural topics and comparative studies. 

The International Journal of Naval History will act as a global scholarly forum, seeking to engage all within the field of naval history without regard to specialty, geography, or chronology.  We are committed to producing a high-quality, traditional scholarly journal that is immediately accessible to an international audience.  We expect this journal to become a home-base for naval history writ large and an invaluable tool for scholars, students, and enthusiasts alike.  Our goal is to make this publication a permanent fixture in the naval history community.

Welcome to this site and your journal.  We encourage everyone to get involved because it belongs to all of us.  Please browse the guidelines and if you would like to submit an article or become a peer reviewer, please let us know.   Advice and comments are always welcome.  We want to make this forum a more useful tool for our profession.  Almost anything is possible since our web-based journal is not restricted by size.  We hope the International Journal of Naval History will bring our community closer together and in effect close the distance between us thereby making the world seem even smaller.

Our first issue is a direct result of the tragic events of  11 September 2001.  The far-reaching effects of that day did not leave even our small profession untouched.  When the attacks took place an international group of naval historians was poised to meet at the U.S. Naval Academy for its biannual symposium scheduled to begin the following day.  The cancellation of the meeting deprived many of us the opportunity to share our colleagues’ knowledge, current research, and camaraderie.  The editors of the International Journal of Naval History decided to salvage this lost opportunity and have devoted this issue of the journal to the papers and the commentaries of the symposium.  We are fortunate to be able to share with you about forty percent of the symposium’s papers and hope that you will enjoy the diversity of topics. 

The creation and publication of this issue has certainly been a learning experience for all those involved.  We would especially like to thank Mark Frank of Sunrise Designs for his guidance in creating the web site.  In addition, Ms Sandra Doyle of the Naval Historical Center was essential in our efforts.  Without her generous assistance with formatting, composition, and layout, our first issue would not have met its deadline. We would also like to thank our generous patron, the Naval Historical Foundation for the funding that has made this journal possible. Our particular thanks go to Vice Admiral Robert Dunn, USN (Ret.), the chairman of the Foundation, its executive director Captain Todd Creekman, USN (Ret.), and its historian Commander (Dr.) David Winkler, USNR.. We also want to applaud the generous and able naval historical scholars who agreed to serve on the Board of Editors.

Now that our field of endeavor has a journal to call home, let the exchange of ideas begin!