To help celebrate 125 years as the sea services "premier forum for thoughtful dialogue, " the Naval Institute asked some of its members and readers to answer the question: What does the Naval Institute mean to you as a person and/or to the military profession? Throughout the anniversary year, we will publish some of these testimonials that we have been delighted to receive.
Admiral Archie Clemins, U.S. Navy
It is my distinct pleasure to recognize the 125th anniversary of the Naval Institute, a quality organization that has played such an important role in the professional development of so many officers and sailors in our Navy.
I was first introduced to the Naval Institute as a young midshipman studying at the University of Illinois, where issues of Proceedings were read with great enthusiasm by myself and my fellow future officers. As a junior officer serving on board submarines, I continued to read Proceedings to broaden my knowledge of other communities and about emerging trends within the Navy. Today, as the Pacific Fleet Commander-in-Chief, Proceedings continues to head my "must read" list. It is a valuable source of diverse opinion that challenges those of us in senior leadership positions to continually think anew and to strive to make our Navy even better.
The Naval Institute's contribution to professional development in the Navy goes well beyond its fine magazine. The Naval Institute sponsors key forums that bring some of the best minds in our Navy together and publishes some of the most important books for our profession-many of which end up on the Chief of Naval Operations' required reading list.
Congratulations on 125 outstanding years. May the next 125 be even better!
Commander in Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet, since November 1996, Admiral Clemins is a leader in information technology innovation. He commanded USS Pogy (SSN-647) before his promotion to flag rank.
Commander James Goldrick, Royal Australian Navy
I first read the Naval Institute Proceedings as an eight-year-old, when my father brought home a run of issues from the late '50s and early '60s. He had found them in his office in the Navy Department in Canberra. I still have those magazines, torn and dog-eared as they are. The photographs I enjoyed-the monthly "Pictorial" was a highlight for a young warship enthusiast and would-be naval historian. The articles, some of which I understood, many of which I did not, I admired and read time and time again. A few of the half-comprehended titles, such as "CAPROS not Convoy, Counterattack and Destroy," remain fixed in my mind to this day. I loved "A Page from the Old Navy," and I pored over "Professional Notes" and "Comment and Discussion." All of this gave me a window on the United States Navy at the start of the missile age which has proved the foundation of much of my professional dealing with the U.S. Navy over the last 20 years. I have been a fan of the Proceedings and of the Naval Institute ever since.
The Proceedings remains to me as good as ever. Its range of topics, the quality of its writing and of its editing, its masterful use of photography and graphics are second only to its fundamental and abiding strength: the Naval Institute's encouragement of and devotion to free speech and open discussion.
Commander Goldrick is the commanding officer of HMAS Sydney (FFG-03) and author of The King's Ships Were at Sea (Naval Institute Press, 1984) and No Easy Answers (Lancer, 1997).