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Painting, Oil on Canvas; By Frank Muller; C. 1910; On 18 July 1812 the frigate Constitution mistakenly fell in with a powerful British squadron off New Jersey. For two days Captain Isaac Hull masterfully used every method at his disposal to outsail the enemy. In this scene, sailors in the ship’s boats tow the frigate away from her pursuers. This painting is displayed at the National Museum of the United States Navy. Constitution is but one of the numerous sailing ships that remain in existence that foster an appreciation of our naval/maritime heritage. Next week, Tall Ships America holds its 50th annual meeting.
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Tuesday Tidings Naval History Newsletter
Honoring Our Navy History & Supporting the Naval Heritage Community
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31 January 2023
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends of naval history,
In this issue, our lead item of immediate interest and feature article is next week’s 50th Annual Conference of Tall Ships America to be held in Newport, Rhode Island. The mission of Tall Ships America is to encourage character building through sail training, promote sail training to the North American public, and support education under sail. In addition to the conference registration information, we offer a history of this organization that annually exposes tens of thousands of Americans to their maritime heritage through port visits and multi-ship sailing events. Happy Birthday, Tall Ships America!
Speaking of tall ships, a book on HMS Victory is reviewed by John Satterfield. In addition, we feature Richard Dick’s critique of the harrowing story of merchant mariners battling Nazi submarine and air assaults while convoying materials to Murmansk.
In News from the Fleet, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced the naming of a future Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to honor Captain Thomas G. Kelley, who earned a Medal of Honor for his actions as a Riverine Squadron commander in South Vietnam in June 1969.
While he was leading a column of eight river assault craft boats to retrieve an Army infantry company, one of his boats became disabled. When enemy forces chose to attack the vulnerable craft, Kelley placed his boat in the line of fire. A rocket-propelled grenade severely wounded Kelley, who was still able to complete the mission. Despite losing sight in one eye, Kelley fought off a medical discharge to complete a distinguished career in the Navy.
Kudos to retired Lt. Col. Peter F. Owen, USMC (Ret.), for taking top honors in the 2022 Chief of Naval Operations Naval History Essay Contest (Professional Historian category). A link to his award-winning article, published in Naval History, is below.
Tuesday Tidings is compiled by Dr. David F. Winkler and Jessie Henderson. As always, comments are welcome at nmhs@seahistory.org.
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Items of Immediate Interest | |
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Join Tall Ships America at its 50th Annual Conference for hands-on workshops, fresh ideas, and tools to help your organization!
Tall Ships America will be hosting its 50th Annual Conference 7–9 February 2023, in Newport, Rhode Island—the very city where the organization was born. TSA invites you to join other professionals within the sail training community to connect with each other to celebrate 50 years of Adventure and Education Under Sail®.
Register here >>
See the conference agenda >>
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Naval Order of the United States History Night Program 8 February 2023 at 8 PM EST
The Naval Order of the United States monthly History Night program for February features Dr. Anna Gibson Holloway of the Naval History and Heritage Command presenting “More Tons—Less Huns”: The Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation. Dr. Holloway, who is the Fleet History Team Lead within the Histories Branch of the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) in Washington, DC, offers a fascinating tale of shipbuilding in Alexandria, Virginia to meet the projected needs of the Great War.
Click here for more information and to view the program >>
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In Case You Missed It! Naval Order of the United States History Night 11 January 2023 Program with Trent Hone Available to Watch Online Now
The Naval Order of the United States monthly History Night program for January, featuring Trent Hone discussing his book Mastering the Art of Command: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Victory in the Pacific can now be viewed online.
Watch the recorded program >>
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Happy 50th Tall Ships America!
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of TSA, we’d like to share their history, as told on that organization’s website:
In the summer of 1972, Barclay Warburton III of Newport, Rhode Island, two of his children, and several friends sailed his brigantine Black Pearl across the Atlantic to participate in a tall ships race from Cowes on the south coast of England to Malmö in Sweden. This race was organized by what was then known as the International Sail Training Association. Warburton was so inspired by the enthusiasm and spirit he saw in that international gathering of tall ships and young people that he set out to bring the same kind of spirit to the United States. Through his efforts, the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) was founded in 1973 and became the first national association to formally affiliate with what is now known as Sail Training International.
ASTA’s efforts in its first decade were primarily focused on organizing tall ships races using the European model. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s ASTA began its efforts broadly aimed at promoting sail training and supporting education under sail in North America. At the beginning of the 21st century, ASTA (now known as Tall Ships America) evolved into an organizer of tall ships races, an industry association for the growing numbers of vessels involved in providing opportunities for people of all ages to take part in deep water sailing experiences, and a public charity which makes sail training more available and affordable for young people.
Sail training began as a practical and effective way of training young men for careers in the navy or merchant marine. In the years since World War II, it has drawn inspiration from the Outward Bound movement and a growing interest in the environment and maritime history. Different from learning to sail, sail training offers unique paths to adventure, personal growth, and
education through the experience of sailing a tall ship. Each year more ships and programs are launched as schools, municipalities, museums, foundations, corporations, and individuals discover the almost limitless ways in which the sea and sailing ships can enrich the human experience.
Read the full history here>>
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SECNAV Names DDG-140 for MoH Recipient Captain Thomas G. Kelley | |
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US Navy Press Release
The future USS Thomas G. Kelley will honor retired Captain Thomas G. Kelley, a Medal of Honor recipient. The name selection follows the tradition of naming destroyers after US naval leaders and heroes.
In 2020, former Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer announced his intention to name a ship after Kelley but had yet to dedicate the name to an assigned hull number. Today, Del Toro assigns the name to DDG-140, which was appropriated in the fiscal year 2023 budget.
“It is with great admiration and great pride that I am announcing the naming of the DDG-140 after Captain (retired) Thomas Gunning Kelley. May we all, especially the future men and women assigned to this ship, always be inspired by Kelley’s brilliant leadership, bold initiative, and resolute determination.”
Carlos Del Toro, SECNAV
Kelley was born in 1939 and grew up in Boston. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1960 and was commissioned in the Navy. His early assignments as a Surface Warfare Officer included time aboard USS Pandemus (ARL-18), USS Davis (DD-937), and USS Stickell (DD-888). Kelley then volunteered to serve in Vietnam as a lieutenant commanding River Assault Division 152. On June 15, 1969, Kelley led river assault craft boats when they fell under attack. Kelley, while severely wounded, continued to protect and lead his men to safety.
Read the full press release here>>
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Naval History Book Reviews | |
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Victory: 100-Gun First Rate 1765, by Kerry Jang
Seaforth Publishing, UK (2022)
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Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA
... Equally useful are Jang’s descriptions of Victory’s changing appearance throughout and well after her active service. The ship underwent many repairs in dockyard as well as at sea, much of it not well documented, if at all. Battle damage at Trafalgar was extreme and led to months of rehabilitation. Restoration in the early 20th century was extensive but based on incomplete research. In fact, much remains to be learned about Victory during its time as Nelson’s flagship from the spring of 1803 until his death at Trafalgar in October 1805. A prominent, but by no means unique, outcome of this research is Victory’s paint scheme. From the early 20th century until 2015, the ship’s hull was painted with alternating yellow and black stripes, with gunports painted black—the “Nelson checkerboard.” Today, the stripes are now much paler, with a pinkish hue, and dark gray, all based on meticulous archaeological analysis. Changes are likely to be ongoing.
HMS Victory is still worth seeing. In permanent drydock, with fiberglass cannons on gun decks to reduce stress on fragile timbers, the ship remains iconic and thrilling, a trigger for the imagination that makes the Age of Sail immediate and awe-inspiring.
Read the full review>>
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Churchill’s Arctic Convoys, by William Smith
Pen and Sword Maritime, Philadelphia (2022)
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Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.)
... Smith’s book highlights his strengths as a researcher of both sides of the Arctic battles and across naval surface and underwater, air, and merchant categories. His book is essentially a detailed, well-written log of the actions in the campaign with some useful observations on the battle as a whole.
What the book lacks is an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of the
convoys as a means of supplying the Soviet Union during the stages of the war. For example, the convoys were initially the only means of supplying British war materiel to Stalin, since neither the North Pacific nor the Persian Gulf routes were available or initially even accessible. To what degree were the other routes effective in accomplishing the same mission as the war went on? David Wragg’s Sacrifice for Stalin (2005) goes part way toward addressing this question, as does B. B. Schofield’s older The Russian Convoys (1964). The U.S. Army in World War II volume The Persian Gulf and Aid to Russia discusses the Persian Gulf route in some detail. Despite what is not in Smith’s book, what is there is admirably researched, well-illustrated, comprehensive, and engagingly written.
Read the full review >>
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Naval History Books Available for Review | |
Naval Historical Anniversaries of Note | |
Recognition in the Naval Heritage Community | |
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CNO History Essay Contest 1st Prize Winner Published (Professional Historian Category) in Naval History
Lt. Col. Peter F. Owen, USMC (Ret.), earned top honors for the Chief of Naval Operations 2022 annual naval history essay contest for the professional historian category. Owen’s submission, titled “The Marine Corps’ Air War Over the Pacific,” published in the US Naval Institute’s
Naval History, refutes the commonly held perception that Marine Corps aviation focused on close air support for their fellow Leathernecks on the ground. Owen, a member of the adjunct faculty at Marine Corps University, analyzed squadron records and combat reports to conclude that the Marines spent much more air time over the Pacific providing support for the fleet against Japanese air and surface threats. Owen’s submission provided another case study on the adaptability of the Marine Corps to challenging circumstances.
It is anticipated that the deadline for 2023 submissions will be 31 May. Tuesday Tidings will publish the NAVADMIN message announcing the 2023 contest shortly after its release. The contest, sponsored by General Dynamics, also has a Rising Historian category that will be highlighted in next week’s edition.
Read more on the U.S. Naval Institute website >>
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Additional Featured Content | |
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Technology to the Rescue off Vietnam
by John L. Morris
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The Vietnam War had just ended for USS Preble (DLG-15) and several other destroyer/destroyer escort types on the “gun line” just off the coast of Vietnam. I was the CIC (Combat Information Center) Watch Officer when, a few days after the “Cease Fire” (0800, 27 January 1973) we received the longest tactical maneuvering voice command I’d ever received, over the secure voice circuit from the Task Group Commander. Luckily, we had a tape recorder handy and turned it on near the start, or I don’t think we’d have gotten it all. We broke out the tactical publications to interpret the maneuvering instructions. The message ordered all ships in the group to fall into formation, “line abreast” and head southeast for about 40 miles. Once at the new location, we were each ordered to occupy adjacent, long, narrow zones perpendicular to the coastline. We were to “darken ship” (no lights topside at all, including navigation lights.). We were then to sail
toward the coastline, reverse course, and sail away from it, remaining within the specified zone boundaries.
Each leg took about an hour as I recall. The weather was bad, with wind, rain, and seas heavy enough to keep us a bit queasy, but at least the waves were either from ahead or astern, so we weren’t rolling too violently. After a couple of days of this boring routine, I relieved as Officer-of-the Deck for the midwatch (midnight to 0400) which I was sure would be boring. I could only see a couple hundred yards, sailing blind at 15 knots not far from other blind, darkened ships. But we each had our own zones, right? I checked the bridge radar repeater frequently for any nearby shipping and saw none, nor did we have any reports of visual contacts from the lookouts or CIC.
About 0200 (2 AM) CIC reported a surface contact dead-ahead, but they couldn’t tell the range (distance) because it was a visual contact, not on radar, but well within the radar’s range. I wasn’t sure whether to believe that or not, how could it not be visible on radar, since CIC said it looked like a warship? My radar repeater was dark, nothing showing but some yellow dots close to the ship, which was “sea return.” I asked CIC about their source of the info; they replied “The FLIR.” We were the first ship in the Navy to be equipped with Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) on an experimental basis. The FLIR equipment and optics, in a box about the size of a steamer trunk, were mounted on the right side of the Mark 68-gun director. The device had been made by Texas Instruments Inc., and as a unique item, required constant attention. A “Tech Rep” from the company named Casey rode the ship for the entire 6-month deployment. I had a FLIR monitor TV screen on the bridge but it was turned off to avoid degrading our night vision.
When CIC reported the nearby ship, I turned the FLIR monitor on. There appeared a very clear and frightening image of the bow-on aspect of an FF-1052 class ship (Fast Frigate) filling nearly the whole screen. The distinctive T-shaped mac (combined mast and stack) in particular was bright white on the screen (the hotter things were, the whiter they were on FLIR) and there was no question that it was uncomfortably close, and the distance was decreasing rapidly. I gave an order to the helmsman: “Right full rudder” to reverse course, and increased speed to the maximum available from the two boilers online at the time. I think we had gotten within about 1/2 mile of a collision, or about one minute at the current closing speed of 30 knots. We were of course able to mentally compute such things using tools of our trade such as the “three-minute rule.”
Unaided visibility that night, with heavy overcast and rain was no more than 200 yards. The great mystery to me was why we hadn’t seen anything on the bridge radar repeater of our normally-very-reliable SPS-10 surface-search radar. This radar worked fine as long as it was re-tuned at least daily. But everyone was dog-tired from months of combat operations and I think the radar-tuning procedures had fallen behind. I can’t recall any particular stir caused aboard the ship by this afterward, and if fault was to be found it would have probably been with the electronics technicians who were assigned to maintain the radar, but nothing happened. USS Preble had dodged another bullet! But in fact, we’d been dodging artillery projectiles on the “gun line” just days before that. But we hadn’t dodged them all, sustaining significant damage topside, but miraculously, only one lookout was slightly wounded. This will be covered in a future article.
See more at the USS Preble (DLG-15) Archive >>
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Naval History Calls For Papers | |
Upcoming Naval History-Related Gatherings | |
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7–9 February 2023: Tall Ships America 50th Annual Conference, 25 America’s Cup Ave. Newport, RI
17–18 February 2023: Western Naval History Association Symposium, USS Midway Museum, San Diego, CA
23–26 March 2023: Society for Military History, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, San Diego, CA
14–16 April 2023: National Maritime Historical Society 60th Annual Meeting, The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, VA
9 May 2023: National Maritime Awards Dinner, National Press Club, Washington, DC
17–20 May 2023: North American Society for Oceanic History Conference, Maritime Museum of San Diego, CA
21–22 September 2023: McMullen Naval History Symposium, US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
September 2023: Historic Naval Ship Association
October 2023: Naval Order of the United States Congress, San Diego
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Preble Hall Naval History Podcast | |
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The United States Naval Academy Museum's naval history podcast from Preble Hall features historians, practitioners, military personnel, and other experts on a variety of naval history topics from ancient history to more current events.
EP172: 29 January 2023 >> Dr. Toshi Yoshihara discusses his latest book, Mao's Army Goes to Sea: The Island Campaigns and the Founding of China's Navy.
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Naval History & Heritage Command H-Grams | |
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. | |
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With the 250th anniversary of the US Navy on the horizon, NMHS seeks your support as we plan to honor those who have provided for our maritime security.
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