The inactivation this Saturday 1 December of USS Enterprise (CVN 65) at Naval Station Norfolk will mark the latest chapter of a close relationship between the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF) and one of the Navy’s most historically significant vessels. In fact that NHF-“Big-E” relationship turns out to be pretty personal. For example, long-time NHF archivist
Dear Members and Friends of the Foundation, In addition to welcoming Admiral John Mitchell, Rear Admiral, USN (Ret.) as our new President this year, as Executive Director of the Foundation, I have had the pleasure over the past thirteen years of seeing the NHF develop into a strong nonprofit organization that supports a full range
Now is the time to start planning for the Historic Naval Ships Association 2013 Annual Conference, which will be held in Camden, NJ/Philadelphia 18-21 September. The Battleship New Jersey and Independence Seaport Museum will be co-hosting. Those with good ideas for topics or those would like to present a paper, please contact Toby Oothoudt at
The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) Archives is preparing for a recently awarded major construction project to fix its records’ storage environment in building 108 at the Washington Navy Yard. In addition, it is engaging in a parallel project to reduce a large processing backlog. Both are necessary to protect the collections they hold and
A unique museum ship located in Texas is looking for help. Gunners Mates or strikers are needed to work on the 3” 50’s and 40mm guns on the historic World War II destroyer escort ex-USS Stewart (DE 238) located in Galveston. GM’s unique skills are needed to repair these guns to the point that
Edited by G H Bennett Ph.D, Plymouth University Press, England, (2012) Reviewed by David Kronenfeld Hunting Tirpitz is a new work in a series of books recently released by the University of Plymouth Press. The series is entitled Britannia Naval Histories of World War II and comprises declassified government documents describing various naval operations during
By G. H. Bennett (editor), Britannia Naval Histories of World War II, University of Plymouth Press, Plymouth, UK (2012). Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. This volume is one of the first in a new series of books on Royal Navy engagements with the Axis Powers during World War II. Battle Summaries from the archives
By Vincent P. O’Hara. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2011). Reviewed by Simone C. De Santiago Ramos Much has been written about the German warships Bismarck, Graf Spee, and Scharnhorst and their mêlées while overlooking the lesser known battles during World War II. Vincent O’Hara, an independent scholar tries with his text The German Fleet
By James Pritchard, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal & Kingston, (2011) Reviewed by Phillip G. Pattee, Ph.D. Prize winning scholar James Pritchard, professor emeritus of history, Queens University, has published his third book. His previous works, Anatomy of a Naval Disaster: The 1746 French Expedition to North America, and Louis XV’s Navy, 1748-1762, both deal with
By Ian W. Toll, W.W. Norton Company, New York, London, (2011). Reviewed by Rear Adm. Richard Gentz, USN (Ret.) Do not expect an objective review to follow! I was an immediate fan of Ian Toll when I found his first book Six Frigates in a gift shop on the Newport, Rhode Island waterfront. The continued
By Marcus Faulkner, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. (2012). Reviewed by Mitchell Yockelson, Ph.D. The War At Sea: A Naval Atlas, 1939-1945, is a mammoth undertaking. Within its 275 pages author Marcus Faulkner covers most of the naval engagements of the Second World War, as well as amphibious landings, convoys, sieges, skirmishes and sinking’s with
Float Planes & Flying Boats: The U.S. Coast Guard and Early Naval Aviation By Captain Robert B. Workman, Jr., USCG (Ret.), Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2012). China Clipper – The Age of the Great Flying Boats By Robert Gandt, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2010).
By Richard Freeman, Self-Published, Great Britain, (2012) Reviewed by Nathan Albright Richard Freeman is a historian of several (mostly self-published) books, including The Great Edwardian Naval Feud, Britain’s Greatest Naval Battle, and A Close Run Thing: the Navy and the Falklands War. It is clear that much of the research for this book flowed out
By Brian Lavery, Naval Institute Press, (2012) Reviewed by Capt. Winn Price, USNR (Ret.) The book jacket informs us that Brian Lavery is a Curator Emeritus of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. Able Seamen is the second in a series of three studies of enlisted life or ‘the lower deck’ in the Royal
By David Fitz-Enz, Taylor Trade Publishing, New York, (2012). Reviewed by Thomas Sheppard While the literature on the War of 1812 is extensive – and growing rapidly amid bicentennial celebrations – David Fitz-Enz laments that few have the time or inclination to wade through most of the books published on the conflict, leading to widespread
