Pull Together Summer 2019

Volume 58, No. 3

SUMMER 2019 Report

Pull Together

N e w s l e t t er of t h e N ava l Hi s t or i c a l F o un d at i on

Saluting Our 2019 Knox Medal Recipients!

Inside:

D-Day Remembrance and 5-Star Mess Night Recap SAVE THE DATES

September 20 - Knox Medal Banquet October 25 - Leyte Gulf Symposium

CELEBRATING

America’s Victories

FAdm. Nimitz signed the Instrument of Surrender onboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, formally ending World War II.

CACI has sailed with the U.S. Navy for more than 55 years, through victories large and small. Today, we continue to support the maritime and sea services worldwide as part of our support for national security priorities throughout the federal government.

CACI salutes the Navy’s significant achievements, admirable character, and the values of honor, courage, and commitment exemplified by America’s Sailors throughout history.

Dr. J. Phillip London

Captain, USN (Ret.); Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, CACI International Inc USNA `59 www.jphilliplondon.com

All royalties from the sale of this book benefit disabled veterans.

Ideas That Inspire. Technologies That Matter.

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Table of Contents 4

Chairman’s Message

5

From the Executive Director’s Desk

6 8 9

By Adm. William J. Fallon, USN (Ret.)

By Rear Adm. Edward “Sonny” Masso, USN (Ret.)

The Director’s Cut: Battle of the Philippine Sea

By Rear Adm. Samuel J. Cox, USN (Ret.)

Annual Meeting and D-Day Remembrance Recap

By Dr. David F. Winkler

Knox Dinner Medal Presentation/ NHF Awards Program Medal Recipient Profiles: - Cdr. Ty Martin, USN (Ret.) - Mr. Norman Polmar - Dr. David Skaggs

USNA Voices of Maritime History Contest:

- Capt. Ned Beach USNA History Award - Vice Admiral Robert F. Dunn NROTC Essay Contest Winners - Capt. Ken Coskey National History Day Awards - NHF Teachers of Distinction Awards

15 From the Deckplate:

- Leyte Gulf Symposium - Notable passings - Remembering Neil Armstrong

16 Society of Sponsors and NHF 18 Mess Night 2019 Recap 19 Gibbs & Cox 20 The Loss of the USS Commodore Jones

By Christopher M. Lehman

22 Providence Arrives at Alexandria COVER PHOTO: One of several toasts at the annual NHF Five-Star Mess Night held at the National Museum of the United States Navy.

NHF Staff Photo

The Naval Historical Foundation

preserves and honors the legacy of those who came before us while inspiring the generations who will follow. We focus on

educating and creating global public interest about the importance of our rich naval history and linking it to today’s challenges and opportunities in the maritime domain. www.navyhistory.org

Pull Together • Summer 2019

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Chairman’s Message ★★ ★ ★

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hope you had an enjoyable summer. Your Naval Historical Foundation kicked off the season with our annual meeting capped by our Leighton lecturer Dr. Brooke Blades’ excellent pictorial presentation about naval activities in connection with the D-Day landings. Earlier in the meeting I had the opportunity to update the membership on NHF efforts to highlight the decline of the commercial nuclear industry, so important to the Navy. Such has been the interest in the topic that I was asked to testify before a Congressional hearing regarding the critical importance of the close historical relationship between the Navy and the U.S. commercial nuclear power industry. This hearing was a well-publicized success in raising congressional and public awareness of this key contemporary Navy issue and is a superb example of how history can be relevant in supporting the needs of the fleet.

With September upon us, it’s back-to-school time, with a significant fall semester gathering for those with a passion for naval history. This September 19 and 20, the U.S. Naval Academy will again host the McMullen Naval History Symposium. On that Friday evening, at the conclusion of this biannual conference, we invite you to attend the NHF closing banquet, at which we will honor our Commodore Dudley Knox award recipients, recognizing lifetime work in the naval history profession. Congratulations to Tyrone Martin, Norman Polmar, and David Skaggs on their selection for this prestigious award. I look forward to presenting each with our Commodore Dudley W. Knox Medal during the banquet program.

Also coincident with the start of the fall semester, checks will be arriving at several NROTC units that participated in this year’s Vice Admiral Robert F. Dunn essay contest. A “huzzah” is in order for Midshipman John Cesarz of the University of San Diego for his winning submission.

Earlier this summer, we presented two $1,000 Captain Ken Coskey prizes at the annual National History Day program, held at the University of Maryland. The team of Ben Kvale and Ella Ratliffe of 4

Naval Historical Foundation

Edison Middle School in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Mr. Armaan Needles of Mililani High School in Hawaii were the awardees. In this edition of Pull Together, we discuss the NHF “Teachers of Distinction” initiative through which we salute teachers who have promoted student interest in naval history.

Speaking of “back to school,” at the McMullen Symposium and the Knox banquet, we will be seeing our long-time staff historian, Dave Winkler, in his new position with the faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy History Department, where he now sits in the Class of 1957 Chair in Naval Heritage. We wish him success at Annapolis and then in his follow-on gig as the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

As he’s staying in the area, I’m pleased to report that he will remain a resource for members for consultation on naval history matters.

At the Naval Academy, Dr. Winkler will be teaching incoming plebes a course on U.S. naval history, and one of the topics he will cover is this year’s 75th anniversary of Leyte Gulf, the largest battle in naval history. The NHF ran a well-received symposium for the 60th anniversary of the battle, and we intend to build upon that event with another symposium in October. We are inviting an impressive slate of presenters to include past Knox Medal recipients Tom Cutler and Paul Stillwell as well as an up-and-coming naval historian, Trent Hone. Mark October 25 on your calendars and look for additional details.

By now you will have discerned in this missive a theme of NHF encouraging, promoting, and publishing quality naval history scholarship, an important activity worthy of your support. Our staff, led by our new Executive Director Sonny Masso, will be seeking your financial assistance to underwrite these and coming NHF events. Please be generous with your support. As always, we welcome your thoughts and suggestions about ways we can improve our stewardship of naval heritage.

Adm. William J. Fallon, USN (Ret.), Chairman

From the New Executive Director’s Desk

By Rear Adm. Edward “Sonny” Masso, USN (Ret.)

I

t has been a great spring and treasures from our impressive store. summer to be affiliated with the Sean Bland, Director of Membership Services, joins Naval Historical Foundation. us from Yale University where he earned a degree in Our NHF membership continues history in 2018. While he is studying to become a Presbyto grow, and we hosted three major terian minister and Navy chaplain, he serves us faithfully events at the National Museum of each day by focusing our membership programs toward the United States Navy on Saturday, the initiatives that interest our membership the most. He June 8. We opened the day with voraciously studies trends in relevancy and creation of value our board of directors meeting, and works diligently with our board and his coworkers to followed by our annual meeting, raise the bar for our membership. and culminating in our 2nd Annual Lt. Cdr. Jacqueline Natter USN (Ret.) serves as our Five Star Mess Night commemorating the 75th anniverstrategic planner and event coordinator and has brought sary of D-Day. All events were well attended, and we were our Historic Navy Yard office up to new standards of supported generously by CACI, Deloitte, Sales Force, excellence and efficiency. We are very lucky to have her ADDX Corporation, Lockheed Martin, and the Indepenpart-time, and her contributions are stellar. She has speardence Fund. NHF was particularly grateful to the leaderheaded the modernization of our office space, which is a ship of the National Naval Officers big work in progress. She brings her Association and for the attendance of vast experience in naval aviation and so many of their members at our Mess as a Flag Aide.

Night.

Sam Hall, Director of Events What I am most proud of in my Planning, is the vicar, guru, and first four months as your executive leader of all matters pertaining to director is the quality of staff that events that occur within the NHF we have assembled. Veterans like Dr. domain, as well as those activities that Dave Winkler keep us grounded in occur when our facilities are rented or tradition and corporate knowledge. used for private events. He has taken What I am most proud of He will spread himself a little thinner our processes and streamlined them in my first four months as this coming year by joining the to better serve you, our members, your executive director is History Department faculty at the and can claim credit for facilitating United States Naval Academy, but he a painless entry of our guests to the the quality of staff that will bring his infectious enthusiasm Navy Yard. we have assembled. for naval history to the brigade of Tatiana Puschnigg, intern and midshipmen like no other.

Web designer, joined us this summer Our staff has grown to include the between her George Mason Univerfollowing: sity school years and hit the deck running in bringing our Gunnery Sergeant Harold Bryant is the chief admin navyhistory.org website to the next level of excellence. Her officer, office manager, and budget and financial manageunique skills and imagination have magnificently raised the ment lead for our front-office operations. He brings a long bar in our website quality and usefulness to our members. and distinguished career working in USMC and DoD When she returns to school, we will miss her immensely front offices and major industry, sharing his experiences but wish her every success for her future. and knowledge with our team.

That’s our team. They exist to support you and the Naval John Royal, Director of our Ship Store, brings History and Heritage Command with cheerfulness, profesexperience and leadership to all our store and online sionalism, top-notch customer service, and speedy delivery shopping needs. His cheerful and professional demeanor of services for our members. I warmly thank all our members are especially appreciated by our Honor Flight customers for your support of our Foundation. Please consider inviting and other veterans’ groups. You can find him at any of your friends, shipmates, and protégés to join. our events selling NHF memberships, books, and other The journey continues!

Naval Historical Foundation

Pull Together • Summer 2019

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The Director’s Cut: Battle of the Philippine Sea

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ust after 0900 on June 19, 1944, in an action that typified the extreme bravery and utter futility of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Warrant Officer Sakio Komatsu deliberately crashed his Jill torpedo-bomber into a torpedo heading for his ship, the aircraft carrier Taiho. Although Komatsu’s courageous sacrifice destroyed the inbound torpedo, five others fired from submarine Albacore (SS 218) continued toward Taiho, the largest and newest carrier in the Japanese Navy and flagship of Vice Adm. Jisaburo Ozawa’s First Mobile Fleet. Four missed, but despite the failure of Albacore’s target data computer, one torpedo hit Taiho, setting in motion a four-hour saga of struggle by her crew to save their ship, even as she continued to operate, ultimately resulting in a massive explosion that doomed her despite yet another hour of valiant damage control.

In the time it took for Taiho to die, the carrier Shokaku fought and lost her battle to live after being torpedoed

by Cavalla (SS 244). The battle-scarred veteran of Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Eastern Solomons, and Santa Cruz took more than 1,200 of her loyal crew to the bottom.

Meanwhile, just as Pacific Fleet Intelligence Officer Edwin Layton predicted, the Japanese force of nine aircraft carriers with 440 embarked aircraft had sortied to give battle for the first time in almost two years, their hand forced by the arrival of 127,000 U.S. Marines and Army and 535 6

Naval Historical Foundation

Japanese carrier: Taiho ships off Saipan. A successful sunk

by USS Albacore.

U.S. landing on Saipan would Japan’s answer to the put the Imperial Palace in Tokyo ESSEX class. The Taiho in range of the new U.S. B-29 was the first and last long-range bomber. As a result, of her class. Displacing the Japanese launched Operation almost 30,000 tons A-Go, intended to be the “decisive she approximated the American Essex class battle” to determine the fate of the carriers in everything empire, which it did, but not as except longevity. At the the Japanese intended. The land Battle of the Philippine battle of Saipan would be a taste Sea, Mitscher’s carrier of things to come, as the Japanese planes were unable to fought practically to the last man reach Taiho, but the (and thousands of Japanese civilAlbacore dispatched her ians committed suicide). The U.S. with a single torpedo on June 19, 1944.

Marines and Army suffered 3,400 dead and missing—the deadliest campaign of the Pacific offensive, to that date.

As the two Japanese carriers struggled to stay afloat, their aircraft were already airborne heading for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, covering the landings at Saipan. In four raids from the nine carriers, 326 Japanese carrier aircraft threw themselves at the 15 carriers (seven fleet and eight Continued on next page

NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE

By Rear Adm. Samuel J. Cox, USN (Ret.), Director, Naval History and Heritage Command

Director’s Cut: Battle of the Philippine Sea Continued from page 6

light carriers) and seven fast battleships of Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher’s Task Force 58, running into a buzzsaw of 450 Hellcat fighters. With the aid of early tactical warning from radio intelligence detachments and radar-directed intercepts controlled by Fighter Direction Officers in new Combat Information Centers, the overwhelming numbers of technologically superior Hellcats, flown by much better trained pilots, cut the Japanese formations to ribbons. About 224 of the 326 inbound strikers (the largest Japanese carrier raid of the war since Pearl Harbor) fell to the guns of fighter aces like David McCampbell and Alex Vraciu.

The great majority of the Lieutenant Junior Grade Alexander Vraciu, USNR; fighting squadron 16 “Ace”, holds up six Japanese pilots were hastily and fingers to signify his “kills” during the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”, on 19 June 1944. Taken inadequately trained rookies, on the flight deck of the USS Lexington (CV-16). Note: Grumman in background and sailor poor replacements for the A.L. Poquet at right. extraordinarily capable and irreplaceable pilots of Japanese damaged. By the end of that day, although Ozawa still naval aviation lost in the battles earlier in the war. The had six carriers, he had only 35 operational aircraft. The relative ease with which the Japanese planes, especially the epic “flight beyond darkness” of the U.S. carrier aircraft bombers, were shot down earned the action the moniker culminated in Vice Admiral Mitscher’s bold action to risk “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” his carriers and “turn on the lights,” which saved many However, also in a portent of things to come, despite aviators. Although 86 planes ditched or crashed, the great staggering losses, the Japanese aircraft that survived the majority of aircrews were rescued. fighter gauntlet kept coming. The inexperienced pilots The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a catastrophic expended themselves in futile attacks against the heavily defeat for the Japanese, with the loss of three fleet carriers, armed and armored U.S. battleship force; for their sacrifice about 476 aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground, they achieved a few dents. Though a handful of aircraft and about 3,000 dead, in exchange for 42 U.S. Navy made it through to the U.S. carriers, the aim of their aircraft lost in combat (about 123 total from all causes) and bombs did not match their courage, and damage was light.

109 pilots, aircrew, and ship’s crew, an even more lopsided Late on the next day, the pilots and aircrews of Task victory than the Battle of Midway. That didn’t stop the Force 58 would prove their courage to be as great as the recriminations on the U.S. side regarding Vice Adm. Japanese, as 226 planes launched on an extreme-range Raymond Spruance’s (Commander Fifth Fleet) controtwilight strike at the remaining Japanese force, knowing versial decision to keep the carriers of Task Force 58 on a that many would not have the fuel to make it a round short tether to ensure the protection of the all-important trip and those that did would have to recover at night, landings on Saipan, rather than unleashing the carriers to for which almost none of them had trained. One more roam in search of the enemy.

Japanese carrier would be sunk (the Hiyo) and four Pull Together • Summer 2019

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A

Annual Meeting and D-Day Remembrance Recap

dmiral Fallon convened the 94th annual meeting of the Naval Historical Foundation on Saturday, June 8, 2019, at 1217 in the main space of the Navy Museum under the Fighting Top following a BBQ lunch provided at the largesse of Board Member Dr. J. P. “Jack” London. Following the approval of the minutes for 2017, Adm. Fallon noted this had been a significant year in NHF’s transition and welcomed the new executive director, RADM Sonny Masso. The members learned of the NHF’s three thrusts: (1) be relevant to the Navy; (2) revitalize the membership; and (3) foster development opportunities. The members in attendance voted to approve two new board members: Vice Adm. Frank Pandolfe and Rear Adm. Vincent L. Griffith.

Vice Admiral Pandolfe graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1980 and later earned a doctorate in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1987. A Surface Warfare Officer, Pandolfe supported combat operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan and eventually would serve as the Director of Strategic Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff.

Rear Adm. Vincent L. Griffith graduated from Berry College in 1981 and earned a Navy commission a year later through Officer Candidate School as a Supply Corps officer. Serving on submarines and carriers at sea, Griffith had numerous tours ashore, closing out his career as the director of Defense Logistics Agency Logistics Operations. In addition to voting to elect two new board members, the membership voted to retain the Hon. Steven Honigman, Rear Adm. Larry Marsh, and Capt. Maurice Gauthier on the board.

Capt. Jim Noone provided the membership report, pointing to the increase in membership thanks to the new digital membership category, and he discussed the Teacher of Distinction program as well as student memberships gleaned through the USNA Superintendent’s Vision of Leadership essay contest. Membership at the time of the meeting was 952. Rear Admiral Marsh gave the finance committee and audit reports. The audit findings were “Unmodified.” Dr. Winkler updated the membership on the list of events over the past year, deferring to Adm. Fallon on the nuclear energy/national security events of October 2018 and March 2019. He discussed the two receptions for retired flag officers and the new undersecretary held in the museum last September as well as the joint symposium entitled “In Country: The War in Vietnam – 1968” held at the Marine Corps Museum in November.

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Naval Historical Foundation

Dr. Rosenberg announced the 2019 Knox Medal recipients as Cdr. Ty Martin, Mr. Norman Polmar, and Dr. David Skaggs.

The chair asked for old business and new business and, there being none, adjourned the meeting at 1255.

Dr. Winkler introduced Maj. Jim Leighton, USAF, who discussed his grandfather’s love for history, and then Dr. Brooke Blades, who gave a talk on photography at Normandy for the annual Leighton lecture.

Dr. Brooke Blades

Dr. Blades, who earned his doctorate in anthropology from New York University, has undertaken archaeological and historical research relating to World War II focused on events and sites in France, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. His interest in Normandy expanded beyond initial examinations of the landscape of Omaha Beach, culminating in The Americans on D-Day and in Normandy, published by Pen and Sword Ltd. in 2019. With the annual meeting being held two days after the 75th anniversary of the invasion into northern France, Blades shared with the attending membership dozens of images that he had uncovered from the various services as well as news organizations that were embarked with the invading fleet. Mostly black and white, the photography illustrated the cost in human life as well as the courage and sacrifices made by the soldiers, Sailors, and Coast Guardsmen who assaulted the beaches at Normandy that day. Blades’ well-delivered presentation was well received and set the bar even higher for next year’s annual gathering.

2019 Knox Medal Presentations Congratulations Cdr. Tyrone Martin, Mr. Norman Polmar, and Dr. David Skaggs

I

n 2013 the Naval Historical Foundation initiated the Commodore Dudley W. Knox Medal presentation to acknowledge a lifetime body of work that embraces scholarship, leadership, and mentoring in the field of naval history.

The inaugural presentation during the 2013 Naval Academy McMullen Naval History Symposium honored Dr. Philip Lundeberg, Dr. James Bradford, and Dr. William Still. At the 2014 National Maritime Symposium held in Norfolk, Dr. John Hattendorf, Dr. Craig Symonds, Dr. William Dudley, and Dr. Harold Langley received the medals. Returning to Annapolis in 2015, the NHF recognized Dr. Dean Allard, Dr. Kenneth Hagen, and Lt. Cdr. Thomas Cutler. In 2016, Mr. Christopher McKee was

honored during the North American Society for Oceanic History conference in Portland, Maine. In 2017, the NHF again returned to Annapolis to award the medal to Dr. Jon Sumida, Dr. Edward Marolda, and Cdr. Paul Stillwell.

At the 93rd annual meeting of the NHF held June 8 at the Washington Navy Yard, the foundation announced that Cdr. Tyrone G. Martin, Mr. Norman Polmar, and Dr. David C. Skaggs would be presented with the prestigious Knox Medal at an awards banquet at the conclusion of the forthcoming McMullen Naval History Symposium to be held at the U.S. Naval Academy on 19–20 September. Details on purchasing tickets for the banquet are posted on the Naval Historical Foundation’s www.navyhistory.org website.

Medal Recipient Profiles Tyrone G. Martin

Commander Martin served 26 years as a Navy Surface Warfare Officer, having been commissioned from the University of Rochester NROTC in 1952 with a BA in English. He served in both Korea and Vietnam, mostly in destroyers, commanding two of these warships.

In 1974 he received orders to USS Constitution. “When I was unexpectedly ordered to command Constitution, which was then undergoing a multi-million-dollar ‘restoration,’ I was appalled to discover that it was being done in total ignorance of a two-decades-old Congressional directive that the Navy restore her, insofar as possible, to her original appearance.”

He embarked to rectify that situation. By 1976 he would recommend to CNO Admiral Holloway that the War of 1812 serve as the historical baseline to interpret the ship and that restoration work needed to be ongoing. Holloway responded with a “Make it so.” Martin then initiated approximately two dozen restoration projects to bring the ship to its 1812 configuration, including opening the bowhead area, restoring the brig, lowering the forecastle and quarterdeck, relocating the ship’s bell, and replacing gun batteries. Period uniforms were fabricated for all hands.

After retiring, he wrote the book A Most Fortunate Ship, which received several awards and has been reprinted and revised. Utilizing his research, he has published numerous articles on the ship and this period for several journals and has contributed chapters in other publications.

In 1997 he was the U.S. Naval Institute Naval History author of the year.

He has served as session chairs and presented at multiple McMullen Naval History Symposiums and at several conferences that focused on the War of 1812. He was selected five times as the Samuel E. Morison Lecturer at the USS Constitution Museum and has spoken at numerous service club gatherings, Navy League functions, social clubs, and historical organizations throughout the Northeast. He taught naval history at both Blue Ridge and Isothermal Community Colleges.

Martin impressed the Knox selection committee with his broadening expertise on the age of sail. In 1986, he began digitizing his accumulated research materials and in 1989 responded to written inquiries in a format titled “The Captain’s Clerk.” His database has expanded to include documentation of the ship’s 15,000 known crewmembers.

In 1998, “The Captain’s Clerk” became a website (http:// captainsclerk.info), and in 2010 it was selected for inclusion in the permanent electronic archive of the Library of Congress.

In addition, Martin has served as a technical consultant and advisor to a number of parties. He contributed Continued on next page

Pull Together • Summer 2019

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2019 Knox Medal Presentations Continued from page 9

to the Constitution Museum’s award-winning K–12 programming. He served as an on-screen expert for the History Channel’s Great Ships series of the 1990s.

He has supported the research of historians David F. Long, Spencer Tucker, and Virginia Steele Wood. He has consulted with such artists as John Batchelor, Tom Freeman, Ken Grant, Richard Schlecht, and Mort Kunstler.

Martin worked to get Constitution named as the U.S. ship of state. In addition to his support for all things Constitution, he has been an active member of the NHF and reviewer for Naval History Book Reviews.

Norman Polmar

A major figure in the writing of American naval history for more than six decades, Norman Polmar started as a journalist covering naval affairs for the Washington Daily News followed by a number of years as a correspondent for Navy Times. Moving on to the U.S. Naval Institute as an editor of Proceedings, he also wrote for the Navy League’s Sea Power and Britain’s Navy and published his first books, Atomic Submarines and Death of the Thresher, in 1963 and 1964, respectively.

Turning his attention to naval aviation, in 1969 Polmar published Aircraft Carriers: A Graphic History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events, and three decades later he held the Admiral DeWitt C. Ramsey Chair at the National Air and Space Museum to rewrite his earlier work into a two-volume set.

It was Polmar’s subsequent prolific rate of production and ability to team with and mentor numerous coauthors such as Peter Mersky, Ken Sayers, and Floyd Kennedy that truly convinced the selection committee that he was “Knox-worthy.” In 1982, writing in partnership with the late Thomas B. Allen, Polmar published with Simon and Schuster what is probably his most well-known and influential book, Rickover: Controversy and Genius. A quarter century later, Polmar and Allen published a shorter Rickover: Father of the Nuclear Navy.

In the 1990s, Polmar continued to edit Ships and Aircraft of the US Fleet and the Guide to the Soviet Navy as 10

Naval Historical Foundation

well as write a monthly Naval Institute Proceedings column while accelerating his book credits to include Codename DOWNFALL, The Secret Plan to Invade Japan and Why Truman Dropped the Bomb, written with Thomas Allen; Chronology of the Cold War at Sea 1945-1991, written with Eric Wertheim, Andrew Bahjat, and Bruce Watson; DEFCON TWO: Standing on the Brink of Nuclear War During the Cuban Missile, written with the late John D. Gresham; The U.S. Nuclear Arsenal: A History of Weapons and Delivery Systems Since 1945, written with Robert S. Norris; and Ship Killer: A History of The American Torpedo, written with Thomas Wildenberg.

Four recent books stand out as truly unique contributions. Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, written with K. J. Moore. The book Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129, written in collaboration with documentary film producer Michael White, was so significant that the Naval Institute recognized Polmar as its Author of the Year in 2011.

Polmar’s two-volume study, Hunters and Killers: Antisubmarine Warfare to and Since 1943, written with long-time Navy civilian sonar expert Edward Whitman, has also become the most complete and authoritative history on this subject. Finally, in 2019, Polmar published Admiral Gorshkov: The Man Who Challenged the U.S. Navy, with former DNI RADM Thomas A. Brooks, USN (Ret.), and veteran senior ONI Soviet and Russian naval analyst George E. Fedoroff.

A long-time member of the NHF, Polmar reflected on unique individuals he had met in his “Norman’s Corner” blog, one of the most widely read series of blogposts in the organization’s history.

David Curtis Skaggs

Individuals who are not in academic life often ask Midwest-based naval historians: “Why do you write maritime history when you are so far from the oceans?”

The answer is, of course, that historians go where the jobs are. In David Skaggs’ case he is notable for turning Continued on next page

2019 Knox Medal Presentations Continued from page 10

his Midwestern academic home at Bowling Green State University in Ohio to brilliant advantage by focusing on the War of 1812 era on the lakes frontier with Canada. He brought to his writing the experience and insights he gained as a serving officer in the United States Army.

The NHF selection committee came away most impressed with Skaggs’ vita, which spoke eloquently to his record of scholarship and teaching. Notable publications include his coediting with William Jeffrey Welsh War on the Great Lakes: Essays Commemorating the 175th Anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie (1991). Thereafter Skaggs continued to deepen his knowledge and insights into the battle as he worked toward his masterful narrative and analysis coauthored with Gerard T. Altoff, A Signal Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812-1813 (1997). David Skaggs then moved east (intellectually) to Lake Champlain and his biography Thomas Macdonough: Master of Command in the Early U.S. Navy (2003).

In this he interpreted Macdonough’s career in the light of present-day theories of military leadership and command. Returning westward in his studies, Skaggs next produced Oliver Hazard Perry: Honor, Courage, and Patriotism in the Early U.S. Navy (2006).

All three of these books are characterized by eminent readability and impeccable scholarship.

Professor Skaggs has mentored students interested in pursuing military or naval history. He had a close working relationship with Gerard T. Altoff, chief park ranger and historian for the National Park Service at the Lake Erie islands associated with Perry’s 1813 victory over the British squadron. Dr. Skaggs served on the nominating committee for the Society for Military History, 1986 to 1989, including a year as chair, and regularly attended and presented at conferences. Now a professor emeritus at Bowling Green State University, he currently resides in Michigan.

SAVE THE DATE:

SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2019 Knox Medal Awards Banquet will be held at the conclusion of the forthcoming McMullen Naval History Symposium at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Tickets and more information is available at www.navyhistory.org

HONORING THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY VICTORY June 4 and 5, 1942

American torpedo bombers helped deliver the withering firepower that sunk four Japanese carriers: Kaga, Soryu, Akagi, and Hiryu during the battle.

CACI has sailed with the U.S. Navy on seas both calm and stormy for more than 55 years.

Today, our work for the maritime and sea services goes on worldwide as part of our support for national security priorities throughout the federal government.

CACI salutes the Navy’s significant achievements, exemplary character, and the values of honor, courage, and commitment exemplified by America’s Sailors.

Dr. J. Phillip London

Captain, USN (Ret.); Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, CACI International Inc USNA `59

All royalties from the sale of this book benefit disabled veterans.

JPhillipLondon.com

Ideas That Inspire.

Technologies That Matter.

A Fortune World’s Most Admired Company

www.caci.com ©CACI 2019 · A428_1906

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NHF to Recognize Other Awardees at Dinner Voices of Maritime History Contestants to Attend!

By Captain James A. Noone, USN (Ret.)

T

he NHF is pleased to extend an invitation to midshipmen currently attending the U.S. Naval Academy who participated in this past spring’s second Voices of Maritime History Competition to the Superintendent’s Annual Leadership and Vision Award Dinner. Those midshipmen will include the winner, now Midn.

2/c Anthony Perry, runner-up Midn. 1/c Anthony Iannacone, and Midshipmen Polly Finch, Erich Eden, Chandalar Pensley, and Joe Bevilacqua.

Initiated in 2017 thanks to the generous support of board member Dr. J. Philip London, the award was designed to encourage midshipmen to use history as a tool to promote new naval perspectives, narratives, tactics, investments, and the adaptation of innovative technologies and capabilities.

Last May former NHF Executive Director Capt. Todd Creekman traveled to the U.S. Naval Academy to honor Midn. 1/c Hannah J. Hirzel from Fullerton, Calif. The award, initiated two decades ago to honor former long-time NHF board member and noted author Capt. “Ned” Beach, recognizes an individual selected from the faculty of the USNA History Department who has consistently demonstrated abilities to succeed academically in the field of history.

Ensign Hirzel now intends to pursue a career in the surface navy with an initial assignment to the destroyer Howard (DDG 83). Afterward she will be attending nuclear power school to learn how to operate reactors in aircraft carriers. The award, underwritten by a generous donation by Mrs. Ingrid Beach, consists of a plaque and a copy of Captain Beach’s acclaimed Run Silent, Run Deep in recognition of Beach’s long-term relationship with the U.S. Naval Institute. In the above photo, Hirzel and Creekman on the right are joined by Hirzel’s friends and family who traveled to Annapolis to see her graduation and commissioning.

Vice Admiral Dunn Essay Contest Awardees Announced!

T

he Vice Admiral Robert F. Dunn Prizes recognize and reward midshipmen who show future promise as naval officers and encourage all midshipmen to value their history and heritage as part of their ethos. The prizes are named for Vice Admiral Robert F. Dunn, USN, who retired in 2012 following 14 years of service as president of the NHF. With former duties that included the Chief of Naval Reserve and the DCNO for Naval Aviation, VADM Dunn has a reputation in the Navy’s intellectual community as a thoughtful writer 12

Naval Historical Foundation

for publications such as the Naval Institute Proceedings. The essays are typically written by NROTC 4th class midshipmen for their Introduction to Sea Power course, and units are encouraged to submit “the best of the best.” In addition, units are encouraged to submit names of midshipmen who are doing well academically to receive Vice Admiral Dunn recognition certificates and digital memberships to the foundation. Congratulations to the grand prize winner ($500), Midn.

John Cesarz of the University of San Diego, for his essay titled “The

Evaluation of the Six Cornerstones of Fleet Combat.” Regional winners included Midn. Jack Swords of Holy Cross, Midn. Vaughn Allen of Iowa State, and Midn. Mason Hussong of the University of Kansas. Regional runner-up awards went to Midn.

Aiden Perry of the University of San Diego, Midn. Kyle Daly of San Diego State University, Midn.

Morgan La Sala of Notre Dame, and Midn. Jonathan Halter of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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National History Coskey Prize Winners and the Teachers of Distinction Recognition

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or two decades the NHF has sponsored prizes at the National History Day (NHD) competition held at the University of Maryland. Each year more than 600,000 middle and high school students from all states, the District of Columbia, and territories— including international students from Asia and Central America—participate in NHD. There are five project categories: papers, exhibits, documentaries, websites, and performances.

Each year NHD has a broad theme for the competition. The theme for the 2019 contest was “Triumph and Tragedy in History.”

Competition began at individual schools with the top middle and high school winners in each of the five categories advancing to regional, state, and national competitions. Some 3,000 students and several hundred teachers participated in the national competition this past June 9–13.

After the results of the judging, the NHF is pleased to announce Ben Kvale and Ella Ratliffe of Edison Middle School in Sioux Falls, S.D., collaborated on a winning website project entitled, “The Art of Confusion: The Triumph of Dazzle Camouflage after Tragedy.” Also, Armaan Needles of Mililani High School in Hawaii was honored for a performance, “Hawaii’s Workers Assist US Triumph after Tragic Pearl Harbor Bombing.” The prizes are named after the late Captain Ken Coskey, a Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war who served as NHF executive director. Captain Coskey established the first NHF prizes in Naval History

with NHD in 1999. At present, a $1,000 prize is awarded for each winning project.

Recognizing that these students and other prize contenders lean on the assistance and expertise of their teachers for success, last year the NHF began recognizing outstanding history teachers who steered students to projects having naval history themes.

Continuing a program initiated in 2018, NHF honored 11 “Teachers of Distinction” whose students developed award-winning projects with a naval or maritime theme.

Two of the awards went to the teachers whose students received the NHF’s annual Coskey Prizes.

The other nine Teacher of Distinction awards were given to middle and high school teachers whose students submitted naval-related projects that were ranked first, second, or third in their categories in the national competition. Demonstrating widespread interest in maritime and naval history, recipients came from nine different states, stretching from South Dakota to Texas and Maine to California.

The Teacher of Distinction awards consist of a $200 honorarium, an NHF certificate of achievement, one-year membership in NHF, and access to NHF Navy-related historical research assistance.

Coskey Prize Teachers

The Teachers of Distinction for the NHF’s two Coskey Prizes for Naval History were Erica Bell, a teacher at Edison Middle School in Sioux Falls, S.D., who supervised Ben Kvale’s and Ella Ratliffe’s winning website project, and Amy Boehning, who teaches at Mililani High School in Mililani High School in Hawaii, oversaw Armaan Needles’ performance project.

The Coskey Prizes were presented to winning students and teachers at the June 13 NHD awards ceremony in College Park by Captain Coskey’s wife, Rosemary Coskey. Representing NHF at the presentations was Capt.

Charles C. Chadbourn, an NHF member who helped establish the Teacher of Distinction awards and is a nationally recognized judge in the competition.

In accepting her award, Boehning wrote, “I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the honor to be recognized as a Teacher of Distinction by the Naval Historical Foundation. It was also a great honor for my student, Armaan Needles, to receive the Ken Coskey Naval History Prize.

As a National History Day teacher of 23 years I understand how special it is to be chosen to receive a special prize at the national contest and Continued on next page

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NHF to Recognize Other Awardees at Dinner Continued from page 12

am thankful for your organization’s support of such a prize.”

National Finalists

Following are the nine Teachers of Distinction and their schools, along with the names of the students and their projects that were ranked in the top three nationwide in their categories:

• Al Plummer, teacher at Northshore Junior High School in Bothell, Wash.

Student Andrew Da’s paper, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima: A Triumph Arising from Tragedy,” earned 2nd place.

• Pam Brown teaches at All Saints Catholic School in Moore, Okla.

Student Sydney Brown’s individual documentary project, “By Chance: The Story of the First Code Talkers,” was ranked 2nd.

• Alfred Meadows, Wilbur Cross High School, New Haven, Conn. Student Margo Pedersen won 1st place for her paper, “Malaga Island: How the State of Maine Devastated a Resilient Island Community in the Name of the Greater Good.”

• Michael Lee, Winchester High School, Winchester, Mass. Student Maggie Eid won 2nd place in the individual website category with her project, “The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: The Tragedy that Struck Alaska.”

• Blair Hennessy, Lincoln High School, Portland, Ore; Elizabeth Thornewood, Sunset High School,

Beaverton, Ore. Students Kyler Wang of Lincoln High School and Alan Zhou of Sunset High School collaborated on a group documentary that won 1st place. The project was titled “Echo of Falling Water: The Inundation of Celilo Falls.”

• Jon Blasko, Nimitz High School, Humble, Texas. Students John Castaneda, Isaac Veloz, Nicolas Gonzales, and Soraida Sosa collaborated on a group website project entitled “Tragedy in a Texas Town: The Texas City Disaster of 1947.” The project won 3rd prize.

• R. Rodrigo Garcia, Veterans Memorial Early College High School, Brownsville, Texas. Students Joel Santivanez, Andrea Urbina, Mathew Montiel, Monserrat Sandoval-Malherbe, and Alden Anzaldua collaborated on a group performance project, “The Triumphs and Tragedies of Operation Iceberg,” which won 3rd place. Operation Iceberg was the code name for the World War II Battle of Okinawa.

• Cherie Redelings, Francis Parker School, Bonita, Calif. High school

students Emily Park, Maya Chu, Amanda Wasserman, Sonali Chu, and Victoria Comunale collaborated on a group exhibit, “The Panama Canal: A Triumph Entrenched in Tragedy.” The project won 2nd place in its category.

Illustrating the impact of NHD in our nation’s schools, teacher Rodrigo Garcia of Brownsville, Texas, said of his award, “I thank you for all that this organization is granting me and my students. NHD has been a passion I have shared with over 20 years of students ranging from 6th to 12th grades throughout my career.

Never had my efforts been recognized at a level beyond my own community until this distinction. Proud to be an educator and advocate of NHD.” NHD has already announced the theme for its 2020 competition: “Breaking Barriers in History.”

According to NHD, the theme is chosen for its broad application to world, national, or state history and its relevance to ancient history or the more recent past.

From left, NHF Teacher of Distinction Amy Boehning, Mililani High School, Mililani, Hawaii, and her student, Armaan Needles, Senior Division Coskey Prize winner, along with Rosemary Coskey and Charles Chadbourn. Armaan’s prize-winning individual performance was entitled “Hawaii’s Workers Assist US Triumph after Tragic Pearl Harbor Bombing.”

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News from the

DECKPLATE

Visit Us at McMullen!

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s at past Naval History Conferences, the NHF intends to have a table at U.S. Naval Academy on September 19-20 for its biannual McMullen History Symposium. “This year’s symposium offers the largest number of presentations ever given at McMullen,” stated Cdr. B.J. Armstrong of the USNA History Department. In addition to organizing two days of concurrent panels, Armstrong arranged for a blockbuster panel on Thursday evening titles: CNO Leadership: King, Burke, Zumwalt, and their Legacies to be chaired y NHF Board Member Vice Adm. Frank Pandolfe, USN (Ret.), PhD featuing presentations on Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King by Dr. David Kohnen, US Naval War College; Admiral Arleigh Burke’s Legacy, by Dr. David Rosenberg, Institute for Defense Analysis; and Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. by forner Navy Chief Historian Dr. Edward Marolda. Former CNO Adm. Jonathan Greenert will offer commentary for attendees. Registration is free! To register and learn more about the over 100 presentations visit https://www.usna.edu/History/Symposium. Of course, immediately following the final session on Friday, do join us at the Annapolis Hilton Doubletree Hotel to recognize our Knox Medal recipients.

Notable Passings

NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND; NHF STAFF

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pparently, birthday greetings in Pull Together is the kiss of death, as our 104th-birthday wishes to Herman Wouk in the last edition fell 10 days short when the author of The Caine Mutiny passed away on May 17. We thank numerous members and Mr. Wouk’s publicist for bringing this to our attention.

Another notable passing occurred on July 9, 2019, with the death of H. Ross Perot. A 1951 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Perot earned the friendship and respect of former NHF president and chair Adm. James L. Holloway III for his advocacy of the families of POWs during the Vietnam War. In subsequent years Perot welcomed members of the NHF staff to Plano, Texas, and contributed to support NHF efforts.

75th Anniversary Battle of Leyte Gulf Symposium Join us at Decatur House near the White House on Friday morning, October 25 – 75 years to the day after action off Samar immortalized in James Hornfischer’s Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors – for a symposium that will explore all aspects of what would become the largest naval battle in history and the final at-sea dual between battleships. Participants to include Tom Cutler, Paul Stillwell, Trent Hone, Dave Winkler, and David Rosenberg.

For more details and to register, visit: www.navyhistory.org.

One Small Step . . .

With the recent anniversary of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, we salute Neil Armstrong, who visited the Cold War Gallery in 2011 to install a model of a F9F Panther that he had flown in the Korean War.

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The Society of Sponsors and NHF

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bove are two pictures taken on July 3, 2019, at the Lassen (DDG 82) change of command in Mayport, Fla. During the ceremony, Dr. Barbara Pilling, who recently completed her term on the NHF board of directors, presented a gift of membership to the Command Master Chief Ty Jiles (above) and the outgoing commanding officer, Benjamin R. Ventresca, and incoming commanding officer, Judson D. Mallory. As one of Lassen’s cosponsors, along with Linda B. Lassen, wife of Clyde E. Lassen, the Vietnam-era helicopter pilot who had earned a Medal of Honor for his daring rescue of two downed pilots on June 19, 1968, Pilling has stayed engaged with the destroyer that was commissioned on April 21, 2001.

The photos above are illustrative of two narratives. First, the women who are members of the Society of Sponsors do far more than simply bust bottles of champagne on steel hulls during ship christenings. The second storyline is the long-standing partnership between the Society of Sponsors and the Naval Historical Foundation.

Of the two organizations, the Society of Sponsors holds seniority. It was founded in 1908 by Mrs. (Annie) Keith Frazier Somerville, who had sponsored the cruiser Tennessee, and Mrs. Mary Campbell Underwood, who had performed the same duties The President’s Cup 16

Naval Historical Foundation

for the cruiser Birmingham. By 1908, the idea of selecting a woman to serve as an important component of the life of a ship had become a well-established naval tradition. Besides participating in the christening ceremony, sponsors are usually also involved with keel-laying, commissioning, and decommissioning ceremonies. More significant, as illustrated by Dr. Pilling, they stay engaged with the ship over that ship’s life, participating in change-ofcommand ceremonies and providing support for the command in a variety of ways.

With the founding of the NHF in 1926, it was only a matter of time before the two organizations formed a strategic partnership, given the Foundation’s interest in the history of ships and the Society’s role in providing an element in ships’ history. In recent years the Foundation has hosted the Society’s website through its hosting services.

The Society’s “President’s Cup” is home-ported in the Navy Museum, an indication of the teamwork between the Society of Sponsors and the NHF. As illustrated by Dr. Pilling providing NHF memberships to the leadership of her sponsored ship, the two organizations work together to promote our many mutual interests in support of Navy history. To learn more about the society, visit http:// societyofsponsorsofusn.org.

Looking for a Unique Venue for Your Next Special Event?

The National Museum of the United States Navy and Cold War Gallery are available for rent! There are corporate, non-profit, and military rates.

Book Your Event Today!

For information and museum rental rates, contact the Manager of Special Events at (202) 930-5245 or by email at eventrental@navyhistory.org

**Special Offer for NHF Members** Extended for a limited time: Book your event by December 31, 2018 and receive 20% off rental fee

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Royal Navy Naval Attaché to the United States, Commo.

Andrew Betton, (left seated with Admiral Fallon) was the guest speaker for the NHF’s second annual 5 Star Mess Night held at the Navy Museum on the evening of June 8th – two days after the 75th anniversary of the allied landing at D-Day. Betton provided an eloquent overview of the Royal Navy’s contributions to the landing, reminding his American friends that some 80 percent of the cross-channel shipping and combat forces held allegiance to the crown.

The evening of festivities included longstanding traditions as the “parading of the beef ” which the Mess President (Admiral Fallon) sampled and after a long contemplative chew – declared fit for human consumption! The highlight of the evening was a set performed

by Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (Right) – a guitarist who has performed with bands such as Steeley Dan and the Doobie Brothers.

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NHF STAFF

D-Day and the Liberation of Europe, Remembered/Celebrated at Mess Night

Gibbs & Cox Turns 90

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n June 29, the Naval Historical Foundation welcomed the employees of Gibbs & Cox for a Saturday evening celebratory event at the National Museum of the United States Navy. For Gibbs & Cox Chief Executive/President Chris Deegan, the venue seemed to be a perfect fit: “We could not think of a more appropriate place to host our 90th anniversary than a museum that features models—many that we built—of the dozens of classes of warships that we have been proud to design for the U.S. Navy.”

Gibbs & Cox came into existence a mere three years after the founding of the Naval Historical Foundation in New York City when noted yacht designer Daniel H. Cox joined with brothers Frederic and William Gibbs in 1929. Benefiting from President Roosevelt’s initiatives to modernize the fleet during the Depression, the ship-designing firm began a legacy of designing every class of destroyers placed into commission until the present, except for the Spruance and Zumwalt classes. During the nine decades of the company’s existence, more than 6,000 naval and commercial vessels have been built using Gibbs & Cox designs. Current ships that owe their size and shape to the company’s skilled craftsmen include the Arleigh Burke class destroyers, the littoral combat ship Freedomclass, and the new Coast Guard offshore patrol cutter. Not surprisingly, Gibbs & Cox reached its zenith during the 1940s in support of the wartime maritime needs of a vastly expanded Navy and Coast Guard.

Some 5,400 ships came off the shipways as the company issued some 10,000 blueprints a day to construct destroyers, destroyer escorts, light cruisers, landing ships and amphibious assault vessels, minesweepers, icebreakers, tankers, and tenders.

Featured in the above photo is a cake modeled after the company’s signature ship, the S.S. United States.

Completed in 1952, the passenger liner was designed to be capable of rapid conversion to serve as a troop transport. United States established the transatlantic speed record on her maiden voyage, averaging 35.6 knots in her crossing. The ship remained in operation until 1969. She is currently berthed in Philadelphia, but discussions continue regarding repurposing the vessel for a second career.

Presently, there are approximately 180 ships in service or under construction/contract worldwide based on Gibbs & Cox designs. This number includes nearly 70% of the current U.S. Navy’s surface combatant fleet. Given the company’s continuing work with industry and government clients to identify and advance current and future ship designs, we fully anticipate an even grander celebration at the Navy Museum for the Gibbs & Cox centennial.

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Those Damn Torpedoes: The Loss of the USS Commodore Jones in the Assault on Richmond

By Christopher M. Lehman

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n the mid-19th century, rivers and coastal waterways were the principal means of communication and commerce in the United States, and it was on these “nautical highways” of the South that the outcome of the Civil War was decided. Some of the fiercest of all naval combat during the war occurred in the bays and along the narrow riverways of the Confederacy.

Though there is very little coverage of the naval portion of the war in high school textbooks beyond the battle between Monitor and Virginia and Adm. David G. Farragut’s battle of Mobile Bay, many interesting stories about the coastal fleet of Union Navy gunboats can be found if one digs into the files of the National Archives.

USS Commodore Jones

One of these stories concerns Commodore Jones, a 300-ton ferry boat purchased by the Navy in 1863 and outfitted for war, heavily armed with four 9-inch smoothbore guns, one 50-pounder rifled gun, two 30-pound rifled guns, and four 24-pound smooth bore cannons. Some 150 feet in length, a 30-foot beam, and a draft of 9 to 12 feet, the double-ended shallow draft side-wheeler with its walking beam steam engines was well-suited to operations on the bays and rivers.

Purchased in New York and converted to a gunboat at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Commodore Jones was commissioned on May 1, 1863, with J. G. Mitchell in command.

For the next year, she served in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, mainly in the lower Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound, interdicting Confederate shipping and taking part in armed expeditions up rivers in southern Virginia. At one point, the ship was assigned to venture out into the open ocean and join the search for the CSS Tacony, a Confederate raider that captured 15 vessels between June 12 and June 24, 1863, taking them and their cargoes as prizes for the Confederacy.

In April 1864, as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant began his Wilderness Campaign to the north of Richmond, Gen. Benjamin Butler readied his brigades to attack Richmond from the south via an area on the James River known as Bermuda Hundred. To support Butler’s operations, the Navy 20

Naval Historical Foundation

needed to steam up the James River to take out Confederate shore batteries. Commodore Jones would take part in this expedition.

To confront the Union flotilla, by 1864 the Confederacy had developed some highly effective defenses including land-based forts with rifled cannons and a new technology that came to be known as torpedoes: underwater mines designed to sink or block the advance of naval vessels.

The Commodore Jones Is Destroyed

The various Union gunboat commanders understood from intelligence sources that the James River had been sown with underwater mines—both contact floating mines and 2,000-pound bottom mines connected by hidden wire to Confederate Torpedo Service lookouts hidden on the shore. Their assignment was to detonate the mine as the enemy warship floated over by touching a wire to a galvanic battery.

To counter the threat, Union flotilla placed small boats out ahead with Sailors armed with grappling hooks drag for the mines and deployed Marines up both sides of the river to scout for torpedo stations, including hidden wires and galvanic batteries.

On the morning of May 6, having been warned by local ”contrabands” (escaped slaves and free Blacks who were happy to help Union forces) that there were torpedoes at an area called Deep Bottom, the flotilla composed of the

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Commodore Jones, Mackinaw, and Commodore Morris proceeded with utmost caution. As they approached Deep Bottom, Commodore Jones was in the fore following the small boats dragging for torpedoes while Morris and Mackinaw held back.

In his memoir published in 1898, the chief electrician of the Confederate Torpedo Service, R.O. Crowley, described what then happened: A squadron of smaller boats, heavily armed, went in advance of the fleet, dragging the river for wires and torpedoes. Their grapnels, however, passed over and over our wires, without producing any damage, our lookout, from his concealed station in the pit, noting all the movements of the men in the boats, and hearing every word of command. After a while the Federal commander, apparently satisfied that there were no torpedoes there, ordered the Commodore Jones, a doubleender gunboat carrying eight guns and manned by a force of two hundred men, to move up to Deep Bottom, make a landing, and report. This was done, the gunboat passing over our torpedoes; but our man in the pit kept cool, and did not explode them, because, as he afterward said, he wanted to destroy the ironclad, recently captured by the Federals from us near Savannah, Georgia.

The Commodore Jones steamed up to the wharf at Deep Bottom, and found our quarters deserted. This looked suspicious, and the order was then given for her to fall back. Our man now concluded that the entire fleet would retire, and he determined to destroy the Commodore Jones. As she retreated, she passed immediately over one of the two torpedoes planted there. All at once a terrific explosion shattered her into fragments, some of the pieces going a hundred feet in the air. Men were thrown overboard and drowned, about forty being instantly killed. The whole Federal fleet then retreated some distance below.

The explosion actually caused the loss of half the crew, approximately 70 men. The complete and instantaneous

Destruction of the destruction of the ship caused United States Gun-boat the rest of the flotilla to halt its ‘Commodore Jones’ on advance and withdraw. the James Engraving The destruction of the published in Harper’s Commodore Jones proved a signifWeekly, 28 May 1864, icant but temporary victory for page 348, depicting USS the Confederate Torpedo Service. Commodore Jones In the words of R.O. Crowley in being blown up by a very powerful Confederate his memoir, the immediate result electrically detonated of the destruction of the Commomine (torpedo) on 6 May dore Jones was “… the safety of 1864, while she was Richmond from a second peril.” operating on the James He also wrote that due to the loss River, Virginia. of the Commodore Jones and the withdrawal of the flotilla, General Butler, “. . . finding his army completely uncovered on the right wing, was unable to accomplish anything by land, and retired to Bermuda Hundred.”

General Grant later wrote that with General Butler’s forces unable to advance up the James, his forces were “… as completely shut off from further operations directly against Richmond as if it had been in a bottle strongly corked.”

The Rest of the Story

The story of the Commodore Jones involves an interesting twist of fate for me and my brother, a former Secretary of the Navy. We are descendants of one of the survivors of the destruction of that not-so-famous warship.

In early 1981, my brother, the newly appointed Secretary of the Navy, received a courtesy call from the Director of Naval History, Rear Admiral John Kane, who wanted to let the Secretary know that if he had any need for serious historical research, the Navy had some crack Continued on next page

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USS Commodore Jones Continued from page 21

historians at the ready.

Our family had a long-standing mystery in terms of its family history: Family lore included a story of our great-grandfather having served in the Union Navy during the Civil War. My great aunt even told of seeing the uniform of our ancestor as a young child, but the family, having written to the War Department in the 1920s, were informed that no records were found.

When told of this, the Admiral Kane vowed to look into the matter, and a few weeks later returned with the good news that records had been found and that our

great-grandfather had indeed been aboard the Commodore Jones and was one of the survivors of the disaster.

Thanks to our federal government’s excellent recordkeeping, one can find a treasure trove of stories about the naval exploits of the Civil War in a compendium titled Civil War: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies (https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/ military/civil-war-navies-records.html), and if you want to get the rest of the story on the Commodore Jones, you can find it in Series 1, Volume 10 entitled Operations: North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, May 6-October 27, 1864.

Providence Arrives at Alexandria The Tall Ship Providence sailed through

DANIEL HOROWITZ

the open arms of the Woodrow Wilson bridge in Alexandria, Virginia, shortly after midnight on July 2nd, 2019. Providence will be a permanent attraction on the Alexandria waterfront, serving as a museum ship about the Continental Navy and hosting themed cruises on weekends. The ship is expected to open to the public in September. Visit tallshipprovidence.org for more information.

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Naval Historical Foundation at the Washington Navy Yard P.O. Box 15304 Washington, DC 20003

The Naval Historical Foundation Preserves and Honors the Legacy of Those Who Came Before Us, and Educates and Inspires the Generations Who Will Follow Membership in NHF is open to all who are interested in the history and heritage of the U.S. Navy.

Membership dues: Student (Free): High School, or USNA/ ROTC, Midn./Cadets. Must use @.edu email to register.

Digital [e-] Membership ($25): One year 5% discount on Navy Museum Store & on-line purchases.

Teacher ($35): Benefits for One year 5% discount on Navy Museum Store & on-line purchases.

Individual ($50): Benefits for 1 year include 10% discount on Navy Museum Store purchases.

Weekly History Matters email featuring book reviews Subscription to NHF publication: Pull Together.

Family ($75): Individual benefits for 2 adults & children Supporter ($250): Individual 1-year benefits plus: Invitations to private symposium & seminars.

15 % discounts on Navy photograph & art collection reproductions & Navy Museum Store & on-line purchases.

Life ($1,000): Supporter Membership benefits plus: Invitations to private NHF & Navy Museum events.

20% discount on Navy Museum Store & on-line purchases.

Pull Together is published by the Naval Historical Foundation.

EDITORIAL BOARD Chairman: Adm. William J. “Fox” Fallon, USN (Ret.) President: Rear Adm. A. N. “Bud” Langston, III, USN (Ret.) Executive Director: Rear Adm. Edward “Sonny” Masso, USN (Ret.) Historian / Editor: Dr. David Winkler Designer: Marlece Lusk Copy Editor: Catherine S. Malo

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Naval Historical Foundation

Member Contact Information __________________________________________________________ Name (& Call Sign)

_________________________________________________________________ Title (Rate/Rank) _________________________________________________________________ Address (Duty Station) _________________________________________________________________ City _________________________________________________________________ State ZIP _________________________________________________________________ Phone _________________________________________________________________ Email NHF is funded by the amazing gratitude of our members and donors!

Membership & Donation checks can be mailed to:

Naval Historical Foundation, P.O. Box 15304, Washington DC, 20003 If you desire to become a member or donate via credit card, visit us on-line at www.navyhistory.org.

The Naval Historical Foundation is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. incorporated in Washington D.C. with a mission to preserve & promote naval history.

Address submissions and correspondence to Executive Editor, Pull Together, c/o NHF, P.O. Box 15304, Washington, DC 20003. Phone: (202) 678-4333.

E-mail: info@navyhistory.org. Subscription is a benefit of membership in the Naval Historical Foundation. Advertisement inquiries for future issues and digital content are welcomed. Opinions expressed in Pull Together are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Naval Historical Foundation. © 2019