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2013 Submarine History Seminar: Seawolf and the Maritime Strategy

Policy, Strategy, Technology, Tactics, Acquisition: the interrelationship of these five distinct but related spheres of interest and the activities associated with each is not always apparent, even to those in high level positions in the various spheres. An examination of the 1981-1986 Maritime Strategy and the coincident design and construction of USS Seawolf offers an

Albany Christening and Launching

NHF Chairman ADM DeMars Donates Collection of Submarine and Aircraft Carrier Christening Photo Albums to Navy

  Naval Historical Foundation Chairman Admiral Bruce DeMars, USN (Ret) recently made a generous donation to the Navy’s photo collection. Admiral DeMars, a submariner, finished up his forty-four years in the Navy with eight years as the Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion. Amongst the many items in his personal collection were a series of photo albums

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NHF Photo Services Impacted by Navy’s Historical Archives Sequestration Closure

As a result of the ongoing government sequestration process, the Naval History and Heritage Command, located at the Washington Navy Yard, announced the closure of their Archives to public researchers. A statement on the Command’s website reads: Until further notice, the NHHC Archives are closed to researchers, and are limited in responding to official reference

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Spilling the Secret – Captain Morton T. Seligman, U.S. Navy (Retired), U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1919

By Captain Lawrence B. Brennan, U.S. Navy (Retired) (Editor’s Note: a version of this article first appeared in the January 2013 issue of the Universal Ship Cancellation Society Log. Article is copyrighted by the author, all rights reserved.) “The game may not be worth the candle.” Special Prosecutor William D. Mitchell, former Attorney General of

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BOOK REVIEW – British Light Cruisers 1939-45

By Angus Konstam, illus. by Paul Wright, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK. (2012). Reviewed by Richard P. Hallion, Ph.D. Generally speaking, light cruisers have not received as much attention from historians and novelists as have other vessels, though they have figured in two of the great novels of naval warfare—C. S. Forester’s The Ship, and Alistair

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BOOK REVIEW – The Rice Paddy Navy: U.S. Sailors Undercover in China

By Linda Kush, Osprey Publishing, (2012) Reviewed by David Kronenfeld The Rice Paddy Navy relates the unique story of the Sino-American Cooperation Organization (SACO), an intelligence and special operations unit of the US Navy in China during World War II. Author Linda Kush has expended significant research in the writing of her first book length

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BOOK REVIEW – USN Destroyer VS IJN Destroyer: The Pacific 1943

By Mark E. Stille, with contributors, Osprey Publishing, Long Island City, NY (2012) Reviewed by Michael F. Solecki The naval frigates known as “destroyers” first came into their own in the Pacific Theater of World War II. These ships evolved out of the 1890s from the need to counter smaller torpedo boats used to attack

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BOOK REVIEW – A Seabee’s Story: Tinian and Okinawa, B-29s and the Air War Against Japan

By Lt. Col. George A. Larson (USAF Ret.), Merriam Press, (2012). Reviewed by Jan Churchill The author says this book “is based, 50 per cent, on my father George W. Larson’s World War II service with the 135th United States Naval Construction Battalion or Seabees.” It combines personal biography, first-hand accounts, military assessment, documents and

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BOOK REVIEW – Lloyd’s Register: 250 Years of Service

By Nigel Watson, Lloyd’s Register, 2010 Reviewed by Mark Lardas In 1760, the Register Society was formed in Lloyd’s Coffee House. That organization is today’s Lloyd’s Register, one of the world’s most influential classification societies.  To celebrate 250 years of existence, Lloyd’s Registry published an official history of the organization, Lloyd’s Register: 250 Years of

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BOOK REVIEW – Captured: The Forgotten Men of Guam

By Roger Mansell, Edited by Linda Goetz Holmes, Naval Institute Press, 2012. Reviewed by Nathan Albright A labor of love for Roger Mansell that extended ten years, edited after his death by historian Linda Goetz (known for her writings on the POW experience in the Pacific War), this book stands as a harrowing tale of

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BOOK REVIEW – Building for War: The Epic Saga of the Civilian Contractors and Marines of Wake Island in World War II

By Bonita Gilbert, Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia (2012). Reviewed by Richard P. Hallion, Ph.D. Wake Island is justly remembered in the military history of the United States for the heroic stand made by its few defenders against the might of the Japanese empire. But while the exploits of the Navy and Marine personnel assigned to that

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BOOK REVIEW – The Captain Who Burned His Ships: Captain Thomas Tingey, USN, 1750-1829

By Gordon S. Brown Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, (2011). Reviewed by John Grady Thomas Tingey was not a giant among the officers of the early American Navy, but his career as a midshipman in the Royal Navy sailing to Newfoundland and the Caribbean with few prospects of promotion, as a merchantman during and after the

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BOOK REVIEW – The Battle of Midway

By Craig L. Symonds, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York (2011). Reviewed by Rear Admiral William J. Holland Jr. U.S. Navy (Retired) Though titled after the single battle, the book’s narrative begins at the planning of the attack on Pearl Harbor, covers the activities and planning of both sides leading to the decisions to

USS Guardian (MCM 5) and the Navy’s Post-World War II Minesweepers

  By Captain George Stewart, USN (Retired) On 17 January, 2013, the USS Guardian (MCM 5) ran aground on Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines. The ship had gotten underway after a port call at Subic Bay. An investigation by US Naval authorities came to the conclusion that it was not practical to salvage the ship

Norman’s Corner: Analyzing Exercise Okean

By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In the spring of 1970 I was working at my desk when the phone rang. I was an employee of the