The winning essays of the Arleigh Burke Essay Contest, sponsored by a grant from Northrop Grumman, are published in this issue. This longest-running of the Naval Institute’s essay contest, launched in 1879 as the General Prize Essay Contest, has had many distinguished winners—including Cdr. A. T. Mahan (1879), Lt. Charles Belknap (1880), Lt. E. L. Beach (1903), RAdm. Stephen B. Luce (1905), Cdr. Bradley Fiske (1907), Lt. Ernest J. King (1909), LCdr. J. K. Taussig (1916), Capt. Dudley Knox (1929), Samuel S. Stratton (1952), Cdr. J. C. Wylie (1953), Capt. James A. Winnefeld (1971), LCdr. Phil A. Dur (1974), Capt. Wayne Hughes Jr. (1981), LCdr. James Stavridis (1984), Capt. Linton Brooks (1987), Ronald O’Rourke (1988), Cdr. James Winnefeld (1994), Lt. David Adams (1997), Lt. Tom Williams (2000), Cdr. Sheila A. Scarborough (2001), Lt. Kenneth Harbaugh (2001), and Cdr. Kevin S. J. Eyer (2003).
