Chairman’s Message

As this edition goes to press, we are appalled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a return to a Cold War-like confrontation between NATO and a Putin-led Russia. We are also saddened by the loss of former CNO Admiral Tom Hayward, a man who played a key role in the formulation and implementation of the Maritime Strategy which helped end the Cold War with the USSR. Admiral Hayward was a stalwart supporter of NHF. We mourn his loss but are thankful for his many decades of service and leadership to the Navy and the nation.

Welcome to 2022, the centennial year of the Washington Naval Arms Conference and the commissioning of the Navy’s first aircraft carrier USS Langley. As you will note in the Plan of the Year, these two historical milestones are just a few that we will commemorate this year. Motivated by the pandemic, we self-taught ourselves to conduct online webinars, which we have titled “Second Saturdays,” offering a remarkable mixture of subject matter. Among those sharing their personal naval experiences have been former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark, current Royal Navy Fleet Commander Jeremy Kyd, and former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens. Some of our noted naval historian participants have included Dr. John Hattendorf, Dr. Andrew Lambert, Dr. Michael Crawford, and Dr. David Rosenberg. Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command Rear Adm. Sam Cox, former head of the Office of Naval Intelligence and a historical scholar in his own right, has made welcome contributions to many of our programs, as have several of the historians on his staff. We intend to continue producing online programming and posting to YouTube. It is a gift that keeps giving as our online audience continues to grow.

That said, we look forward to meeting again in person. We have a dinner scheduled in Annapolis on 29 March to salute the midshipman winners of the Voices of Maritime History Competition for the USNA Superintendent’s Annual Leadership and Vision Award. In early May, in

the Navy Museum, we hope to be able to host a seminar to review events that occurred 40 years ago in the Falklands. We also hope to return to that venue a month later for our annual meeting, announcement of Knox Medal recipients, and the Leighton Lecture. In late August, we will honor those Knox Medal recipients with a luncheon. Then in October, we are looking forward to capping the year with a Mess Night gala to celebrate a century of naval carrier aviation. Another edition of the International Journal of Naval History is now available online. We are delighted that the Naval Historical Foundation has facilitated the publication of this scholarly journal for the past two decades. A Bravo Zulu to Dr. Charles Chadbourn of the Naval War College and his distinguished editorial board. Speaking of scholarship, this edition of Pull Together debuts work of two of the Naval History and Heritage Command recent historian additions, Jeremiah D. Foster and Guy J. Nasuti. On the subject of naval aviation, we welcome back our staff historian Dave Winkler, who spent 2020 and 2021 with the Remembering Admiral Smithsonian Air and Space Museum as their Thomas B. Hayward: 21st Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History. A Chief of Naval Operations sample of his research is provided herein as he wrote a treatise on the Navy’s first aircraft carrier, USS Langley (CV 1). We are pleased that Dave will also be honored by the National Maritime Historical Society at an April event at the National Press Club. We also welcome back Matt Eng, who will be retaking the digital content reins from Tyler Robinson, who is departing after a year of outstanding work in making our Thursday Tiding e-letter an informative publication. Thanks and smooth sailing, Tyler. We very much appreciate your financial support this past year. With expectations of finally seeing Covid-19 in the rearview mirror, I hope to soon have opportunities to share my thanks in person. Warm regards, Adm. William J. Fallon, USN (Ret.)