This issue of Naval History commemorates the 65th anniversary of one of the U.S. Navy's most pivotal battles—Midway—with articles by a pair of historians, a naval aviation legend, and the service's senior active-duty officer: Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Mullen. The genesis of the CNO's article dates back about eight months to when his public affairs officer, Commander John Kirby, visited the Naval Institute. Given the significance of the battle to the history of the Navy, I asked if Admiral Mullen would be interested in writing a short piece about the meaning of Midway. Appropriately, his article "Why Midway Matters" links the past to the present while focusing on the Sailors who won that great battle.
