John J. Domagalski, a native of Chicago, is the author of Lost at Guadalcanal: The Final Battles of the Astoria and Chicago as Described by Survivors in Official Reports (McFarland, 2010) and Sunk in Kula Gulf: The Final Voyage of the USS Helena and the Incredible Story of Her Survivors (Potomac Books, 2012). His articles have appeared in World War II History and World War II Quarterly magazines.
Norman Friedman is a leading authority on warships who writes a monthly column, “World Naval Developments,” that appears in Naval History’s sister publication, Proceedings. His numerous books include U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History, Revised Edition (2003); Unmanned Combat Air Systems: A New Kind of Carrier Aviation (2010); and Naval Weapons of World War One (2011), all published by the Naval Institute Press.
Captain George Galdorisi, U.S. Navy (Retired), is a naval aviator whose career included four command tours and five years as a carrier strike-group chief of staff. He has written eight books, including The New York Times best-seller Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor (Berkley Books, 2012), the novelization of the film starring U.S. Navy SEALs. He is currently the director of the Corporate Strategy Group at the Navy’s C4ISR Center of Excellence.
Frederick C. Leiner, a lawyer and historian of the early U.S. Navy, lives in Baltimore and is a frequent contributor to Naval History. His books include Millions for Defense: The Subscription Warships of 1798 (Naval Institute Press, 1999) and The End of Barbary Terror: America’s 1815 War against the Pirates of North Africa (Oxford University Press, 2006).
Robert J. Mrazek is a former member of the U.S. Congress and author. His published works include A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight (Little, Brown and Company, 2008), which was a Washington Post Best Book of 2009 (American History), and Stonewall’s Gold (St. Martin’s Press, 1998), which won the Michael Shaara Prize for best Civil War novel in 1999.
Lieutenant Colonel Jay A. Stout, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), flew 37 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm. Following his retirement from the Marines in 2001, he flew F/A-18s for the Kuwait Air Force before returning to San Diego, where he works as a senior analyst/manager for Northrop Grumman. Colonel Stout has written eight books, including most recently The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe (Stackpole Books, 2010).
Commander Stephen W. Surko, U.S. Navy (Retired), who grew up listening to his grandfather’s tales of life at sea, is a 1982 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. In his 22-year Navy career he served on board the USS Elliot (DD-967) and later as an engineering duty officer in various surface-ship maintenance and research-and-development assignments.
Lawrence Verria is the Social Studies Department chair at North Kingstown High School and Rhode Island’s 2000 Teacher of the Year. He is the recipient of the Susan B. Wilson Civic Education Merit Award and Rhode Island College’s Evelyn Walsh Prize for excellence in history studies.