Twenty years ago, the staff of Proceedings was pulling double duty—putting out the monthly journal as well as working on the premier issue of Naval History. Ever since its own first issue in 1874, Proceedings has published history articles, and by the mid-1980s it had accumulated a considerable story bank of accepted but as-yet-unpublished manuscripts. The new magazine was aimed at quenching the thirst of readers who craved more Sea Service history, as well as easing the article backlog.
And that inaugural issue of Naval History—the only one published in 1987—was a keeper. Measuring in at a hefty 96 pages, it featured articles by renowned military historian John Keegan ("Why Are Britain's Great Naval Historians Americans?"); Edward Marolda, the current senior historian at the Naval Historical Center ("The War in Vietnam's Shallows"); and naval historian and educator Spencer C. Tucker ("Shot to Shrapnel — and Back").
Launching a magazine is always a risky venture, but the first issue was a huge success. Instrumental were 14,000 Naval History plank owners—Naval Institute members who'd signed up to receive the magazine, sight unseen. And readers, such as yourself, are the reason the magazine continues to thrive. All along its 20-year journey, you have helped sustain Naval History (as well as the Naval Institute) and shape the magazine by providing direction and encouragement and by sharing your research, writing, and recollections of the Sea Services. We look forward to your continued support as we enter our third decade.
Appropriately, this issue's cover story, "Sailors of the Battleship Navy," is by Naval History's founding editor, Paul Stillwell. To say Paul is a Navy "people person" is an understatement. Blessed with a warm personality and easy-going manner, he's interviewed countless Sailors while gathering oral histories for the Naval Institute. Paul is also a battleship Sailor himself. He served in the New Jersey (BB-62) and has written numerous books about the behemoths.
A New Jersey sister ship is the setting for another article in this issue. In "Rising Above Bias," author Alan P. Dean recollects what Navy life was like for him as a black ensign on board the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) in the early 1950s. In addition to discrimination, he also found acceptance and understanding—on both his fellow officers' part and his own. This inspiring, eloquently written tale unexpectedly arrived at our office just in time for publication in our February issue in commemoration of Black History Month.
Another of this issue's unsolicited articles, "Unraveling the Fate of Three POWs," came all the way from China. The heretofore little-known story of two Marines' and a Sailor's escape from a Japanese prison camp near Mukden, Manchuria (present-day Shenyang, China) and recapture has been shrouded in mystery. Author Yang Jing traveled to a remote village in Inner Mongolia to solve the puzzle.
Yang has been studying the Mukden camp for almost 13 years and has assisted many American former prisoners by sharing information he's gathered, acting as a guide to visiting veterans, and at least once tracking down the whereabouts of an old Chinese friend for an ex-POW. More important, through interviews and publication of his book Mukden Nirvana—the first work published in China about the camp—Yang has raised awareness in that country about the prison and the sacrifices made in the name of freedom by the American and British prisoners held there.
—Richard G. Latture, Editor-in-Chief