The large echo on the U.S. Naval Institute’s scope recently has been the inaugural CNO Naval History Essay Contest. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John M. Richardson—in conjunction with the Naval Institute, Naval History and Heritage Command, Naval War College, and U.S. Naval Academy—challenged professional and rising historians to write on a historical naval topic, relating it to establishing and maintaining maritime supremacy in the present-day environment.
The response was overwhelming; 292 submissions deluged the Institute, which oversaw the General Dynamics–sponsored contest’s blind judging. Thanks to all who took the time to think, write, and enter the competition. Each essay was read by two editors/content experts, and the eight best submissions in the professional historian and 12 best in the rising historian categories were selected. We then sent each group to a panel of leading naval historians and representatives of the partner organizations, which made the final selections. All was accomplished in five weeks.
First prize ($5,000) in the professional historian category goes to Navy Lieutenant Commander Joel Holwitt for his outstanding essay, “Recapturing the Interwar Navy’s Strategic Magic,” which appears in this issue. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 2003, Holwitt entered Ohio State University that September intending to earn a master’s degree in history. But he ended up earning a Ph.D. in just over two years! “I achieved all the required coursework and defended my dissertation five days before I started Naval Nuclear Power School,” he said. A Life Member of the Naval Institute, Holwitt now serves as executive officer of the USS North Dakota (SSN-784).
Trent Hone earned second prize ($2,500) in the professional category for his essay “High Velocity Learning at Guadalcanal,” and Ryan Wadle captured third prize ($1,500) for “Sea Power Goes Viral: Lessons from Interwar Era Naval Publicity.” By coincidence (again, the contest was judged in the blind), each of the winners has authored or coauthored an article that’s appeared in Naval History. In fact, Wadle’s contribution is in this issue: “First Rate Ideas: The Hidden History of Navy Day.” The winning rising historian essay will be published in the September Proceedings.
Elsewhere in this issue, Alan Rems tackles the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the continuing fight over Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.’s controversial role in this pivotal engagement.
During World War II, the Japanese government tightly controlled news of the conflict. But the ink hardly was dry on the Instrument of Surrender when a series of articles revealing an uncensored account of the Pacific war began appearing in the Tokyo newspaper Asahi Shimbun. The final installment covered Leyte Gulf.
In describing the Japanese battle plan, the anonymous author explains that while two attack forces were to converge on Leyte Gulf, a third force “was to attract the U.S. Task Force east of Luzon and create a diversion. . . . it was a kind of decoy bird sacrificed to make a trap.” As Rems describes in “Flawed Victory at Sea,” this part of the plan worked to near perfection. The bird drew the attention of Admiral Halsey and his U.S. Third Fleet, resulting in the Seventh Fleet’s “Taffy 3” escort carriers finding themselves in the trap.
Often the historiographical struggle over how a momentous battle and its commanders are remembered is nearly as fascinating as the original event. Rems’ follow-up article, “Seven Decades of Debate,” reveals that such is the case with the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Until his death, “Bull” Halsey fought back against critics of his role at Leyte nearly as ferociously as he had battled the Japanese in the Pacific.
Richard G. Latture
Editor-in-Chief