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News
from the U.S. Naval Historical Center,
Washington D.C.Colloquium
on Contemporary History
The
Naval Historical Center Web site (www.history.navy.mil/whatsnew)
recently posted the proceedings of a conference series entitled
Colloquium on Contemporary History. The half-day gatherings sponsored by
the Center were held between 1989 and 1998. The conferences routinely
brought together former members of the U.S. Armed Forces who had
participated in the wars, crises, and other activities of the Cold War
era and preeminent scholars studying the period. Admiral James L.
Holloway III, Marine Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, the late Army
Colonel Harry G. Summers, and other influential figures of modern
American history shared insights with renowned scholars D. Clayton
James, Thomas Hone, Raymond L. Garthoff, Lawrence S. Kaplan, David A.
Rosenberg, and professional historians from the services historical
offices. The individual conferences were entitled as follows: A Time of Change: National Strategy in the Early Postwar Era; Caribbean Tempest: The Dominican Republic Intervention of 1965; A New Equation: Chinese Intervention into the Korean War; Command and Control of Air Operations in the Vietnam War; Gearing up for Victory: American Military and Industrial Mobilization in World War II; Stalin’s Cold War Military Machine: A New Evaluation; A New Look at the Cuban Missile Crisis; Inter-Allied Naval Relations and the Birth of NATO; “More Bang for the Buck:” U.S. Nuclear Strategy and Missile Development, 1945-1965; Conflict and Cooperation: The U.S. and Soviet Navies in the Cold War; Tet: The Turning Point in Vietnam. Eller
Prize Article The
Director of Naval History awarded the Rear Admiral Ernest M. Eller Naval
History Prize for the best article published in 2002 to William H.
Bartsch. His article, “Operation Dovetail: Bungled Guadalcanal
Rehearsal, July 1942,” appeared in the April 2002 issue of the Journal
of Military History. The author’s well-researched and written
narrative focuses on a four-day rehearsal on Koro Island in the Fijis
that preceded the Guadalcanal landing. The author convincingly argues
that the rehearsal, although important to an understanding of later
events on Guadalcanal, has been overlooked by historians. Bartsch concludes that the experience of Operation Dovetail
and later Solomons actions helped the naval services hone the amphibious
warfare skills that served them well in the war. Receiving Honorable Mention in the competition was Edmund Morris, a Pulitizer Prize- winning author, for his article, “ ‘A Matter of Extreme Urgency’: Theodore Roosevelt, Wilhelm II, and the Venezuela Crisis of 1902.” This piece, which appeared in the Spring 2002 issue of the Naval War College Review, presents a new interpretation of Roosevelt’s diplomatic skills and his employment of the Fleet, his “big stick,” during the 1902 confrontation with Germany over a crisis in Venezuela. Morris argues convincingly that Roosevelt clearly communicated to Kaiser Wilhelm II that the United States was prepared for war over the issue, but did so in a way that enabled the German leader to retreat without loss of face.
Naval
History Seminar Program for 2003-2004
Where:
Each of the seminars will be held in The United States Navy Museum,
Bldg. 76, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC.
For additional information on the program contact the Senior
Historian, Naval Historical Center, Dr. Edward J. Marolda, at (202)
433-3940 or Edward.Marolda@navy.mil
Lecture:
“Unearthing an American Defeat: The Naval Historical Center’s
Investigation of Submerged Archaeological Sites Associated with the
Penobscot Expedition of 1779”
by James W. Hunter III. During 2000 and 2001, the Naval Historical
Center’s Underwater Archaeology Branch assessed two submerged
colonial-era sites in the Penobscot River of Maine. The Phinney and
Shoreline sites hold the remnants of the ill-fated American fleet
involved in the Revolutionary War Penobscot Expedition. Both sites
reveal much about the arming and outfitting of American naval vessels
during the conflict and offer a tangible connection to one of the
worst defeats in U.S. history. When: 12:00-1:00 on on Tuesday 20 January 2004 Lecture: “Robert Smalls: The First Black Civil War Hero” by Kitt Haley Alexander. In May of 1862, 14 slaves led by a daring 23-year-old harbor pilot, Robert Smalls, commandeered a Confederate transport loaded with munitions, sailed the vessel past unsuspecting rebel troops guarding the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, and turned the captured war material over to a Union blockading squadron. After Smalls displayed bravery under fire, the Army appointed him to command of an Army vessel. Following the war, he served as a major general in the South Carolina militia and five terms as a U.S. congressman. Ms. Alexander will discuss the life and accomplishments of this American hero. When: 12:00-1:00 on Tuesday 17 February 2004 _______________________________________________________________ Lecture:
“1948-2003: Changing Laws and Policies Governing the Roles of
Military Women” by Captain Lory Manning, USN (Ret).
In 1948, Congress passed the Women’s Armed Services
Integration Act, thereby allowing women who were not in the Nurse
Corps to serve in the regular, peacetime force.
Since that time, there have been four or five key changes in
law and policy that have opened more and more military roles to women.
Today, women serve in every military unit and occupation except
infantry, armor, some artillery, special forces, and submarines.
Captain Manning will talk about how—and why—the roles of
military women have evolved over the past 55 years.
When: 12:00-1:00 on Tuesday 16 March 2004 _________________________________________________________________ Lecture: “Adak: The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586” by Andy Jampoler. The speaker, a retired Navy captain who commanded a patrol squadron in the 1970s and a naval air station in the 1980s, will talk about the flight of Alfa Foxtrot 586 in October 1978. Particular aspects will be the mission of this and other P-3 Orions over the frigid Bering Sea, the ditching of the aircraft into the North Pacific, and the crew’s heroic struggle to survive in rafts on thirty foot seas. Ten of the fifteen men aboard were rescued by a Soviet fishing trawler, diverted to the site by Moscow after an urgent overnight appeal from Washington. The discussion will be based on Jampoler’s recent book, Adak, the Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586 (NIP 2003), which the Wall Street Journal described as “an adventure story to rival the best you’ve ever read.” When: 12:00-1:00 on Tuesday 20 April 2004 _________________________________________________________________ Lecture:
“Mixed Bag: Combat Search and Rescue in Operation Desert Storm” by
Darrel Whitcomb, a retired airline captain and Air Force Reserve
colonel. He has written extensively on combat search and rescue. His
book, The Rescue of BAT 21, detailed the dramatic recovery of
an Air Force aircrewman in the Vietnam War. The forthcoming
presentation, based on Whitcomb’s recently completed manuscript of
the same name, will focus on the 1991 Persian Gulf War and look at the
successes and failures of our efforts to rescue downed airmen. When:
12:00-1:00 on Tuesday 18 May
2004 ________________________________________________________________ Lecture:
“Slade Cutter: The U.S. Navy’s Magnificent Warrior”
by Carl LaVO, news editor of the Bucks County Courier Times
newspaper in Levittown, Pennsylvania. LaVO is the author of Back
from the Deep: The Strange Story of the Sister Submarines Squalus and
Sculpin. For his latest book, Slade Cutter: Submarine Warrior,
he had exclusive access to Captain Cutter, recipient of four Navy
Crosses for his combat patrols in World War II as the commander of the
USS Seahorse in the Pacific. Slade was an All-American tackle
on the Naval Academy football team in the 1930s and almost
single-handedly beat Army to end the 13-year losing streak of the
midshipmen. He was also the undefeated collegiate heavy weight boxing
champion who turned down a fortune for becoming a professional boxer
in order to remain in the Navy. When: 12:00-1:00 on Tuesday 15 June 2004
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