Each article in Naval History is a team effort, with the players being the author and the magazine's editors and designers. Of course, there's sometimes an exception, and this issue includes a big one: Takekuni Ikeda's "The Imperial Navy's Final Sortie." In addition to the author and the magazine's staff, numerous people in Japan and the United States helped out with it.
Dr. Ikeda's article is a riveting account of the Japanese Navy's forlorn attempt to alter the Battle of Okinawa by sending the battleship Yamato and nine other warships on a kamikaze mission to the island. A 1943 graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, the author was a lieutenant (junior grade) in one of the ships, the light cruiser Yahagi. But there's an article within the article. Dr. Ikeda interspersed his recollections of the mission with a moving account of an April 2006 memorial cruise taken by survivors of the operation and family members of sailors who died during it.
Aside from the author, the key player on the Last Sortie team was Toshihiro Imamura, a U.S. Naval Institute member since 1988. He first contacted me in February 2006, providing information about the memorial cruise and offering to serve as an intermediary with Dr. Ikeda, who isn't conversant in English. Since then, Mr. Imamura tirelessly forwarded instructions to and from the author, helped translate the article, and rounded up illustrations.
Others in Japan who lent a hand include Vice Admiral Naotoshi Sakonjo, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) (Ret.), who helped supervise and fact check the story, and Lieutenant Commander Keizo Kitagawa, JMSDF, U.S. Naval Academy class of 1993, who helped translate and proofread it. In the United States, Navy Lieutenant Commander Erik Patton also helped with proofreading. Paul Stillwell pitched in with the editing, and historian John Lundstrom pointed out where I could find details of the final U.S. attacks against the Yamato and Yahagi. I hope you, as well as the Final Sortie team, are pleased with the end product.
Last spring, Naval History featured the Navy's East Coast home—Norfolk and Hampton Roads—in our historical travel section. It seems natural to devote the autumn section to the service's main West Coast base: San Diego. Bruce Linder's article "Intertwined Heritage" describes the close historic relationship between the Navy and San Diego and explores the city's nautical sites, one of which is the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum. Norman Polmar's related article, "Improving the Breed," examines the trailblazing USS Midway (CV-41) and her sister carriers.
In addition to Norman, two other longtime contributors have articles in this issue. Rear Admiral Joseph Callo, USNR (Ret.), describes the early years of the Continental Navy in "A Proof of Madness?" and Eugene Canfield examines Samuel F. Du Pont's great Civil War victory at Port Royal in "Birth of a Blockade."
On a final note, A. D. Baker III began writing the "Historic Fleets" column back in 1993. All things, however, come to an end, and Mr. Baker has decided it's time to move on. His insights into an intrinsic aspect of Navy history—ships—will be sorely missed, but "Historic Ships" will continue, under new authorship.
Editor-in-Chief