The U.S. Naval Institute Annual Meeting was held on 16 April at the Navy Memorial and Naval Heritage Center in Washington, D.C., with Members and guests filling the auditorium to overflow.
In his welcoming remarks, Chair of the Board Admiral James G. Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Retired), commented on international developments and crises in various world hot spots. It is a time, he said, of great demand on our Sea Services, and a time when the role of the Naval Institute is more important than ever. He then turned to the results of this year’s Naval Institute elections and welcomed the new members of the Board of Directors and the Editorial Board.
Following this, Members received my brief CEO’s report on the positive State of the Institute. Our award-winning authors were recognized. There were two outstanding presentations by our featured speakers, followed by a splendid Member reception.
Election Results
The following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors:
• General John R. Allen, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
• Rear Admiral Daniel R. Bowler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
• Vice Admiral Sally Brice-O’Hara, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
• Vice Admiral Nancy E. Brown, U.S. Navy (Retired)
• Vice Admiral Dirk J. Debbink, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)
• Lieutenant General Chip Gregson, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
• Captain Karl M. Hasslinger, U.S. Navy (Retired)
• Admiral Timothy J. Keating, U.S. Navy (Retired)
• General Jim Mattis, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
• Captain David M. McFarland, U.S. Navy
• Admiral Richard W. Mies, U.S. Navy (Retired)
• Mr. John Morton III
• Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard (Retired) Vince Patton
• Admiral James G. Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Retired)
• Captain Gordan Van Hook, U.S. Navy (Retired)
The following candidates were elected to the Editorial Board:
• Lieutenant Commander Benjamin F. Armstrong, U.S. Navy
• Major Warren C. Cook Jr., U.S. Marine Corps
• Colonel Douglas G. Douds, U.S. Marine Corps
• Commander Stephen S. Erb, U.S. Navy
• Petty Officer CTR1 (SW) Lucien Gauthier III, U.S. Navy
• Lieutenant Commander Rachael A. Gosnell, U.S. Navy
• Command Master Chief Kevin D. Isherwood, U.S. Coast Guard
• Lieutenant Commander Andre Lester, U.S. Navy
• Sergeant Major David L. Maddux Jr., U.S. Marine Corps
Award Winners
Proceedings Authors of the Year
• First Prize: Captain James C. Howe, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired) and Lieutenant Jim Dolbow, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, “Reinvent the Fifth Armed Service, Quickly,” August 2013 Proceedings
• Second Prize: Captain Dale Rielage, U.S. Navy, “Parsing the Chinese Challenge,” September 2013 Proceedings
• Third Prize: Rear Admiral Robert O. Wray Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired), “The Utility of a Three-Tiered Navy,” June 2013 Proceedings
Naval History Author of the Year
• Colonel David Curtis Skaggs, U.S. Army (Retired), “More Important Than Perry’s Victory,” October 2013 Naval History
Naval Institute Press Authors of the Year
• Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille, Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed
We were highly honored to have Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, U.S. Navy, and naval historian Dr. Craig Symonds as the Annual Meeting’s featured speakers.
Dr. Symonds, retired Professor and Chairman Emeritus of the History Department, U.S. Naval Academy, led with a superb summary of the Navy’s role in the Civil War, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the Union blockade, Confederate attacks on the Union’s seaborne commerce, and the war on the Western rivers.
Dr. Symonds’ remarks also highlighted the application in the Civil War of what is today called joint and combined-arms warfare. He said that while the Civil War was primarily a land war, the Navy affected the war dramatically, changing its trajectory and shortening its length.
Admiral Greenert praised the Naval Institute as an indispensable forum and Proceedings as a great enabler with a rich diversity of thought. Referring to his own recent articles, he said, “I use Proceedings to a great extent to generate ideas.” He looked back on the historic contributions of greats such as Luce, Mahan, Nimitz, Sims, and Theodore Roosevelt to the pages of Proceedings, and noted that this continues with articles such as “The Navy’s Newest Warfighting Imperative” by Vice Admirals Michael Rogers and Kendall Card, which discusses cyber warfare.
The CNO turned to the importance of innovation in today’s Navy and the remarkable “out of the box” thinking by the junior officers participating in the Rapid Innovation Cell, where thinking turns into action. He also stressed the importance of greater interdependence among the U.S. Services in the current era, each with their unique missions and capabilities, all figuring out how to fit in better as a joint force. Members are invited to view the presentations online at www.youtube/navalinstitute.
This month marks an important milestone, as we announce the rollout of Proceedings in digital form in two formats: PDF and HTML. The PDF format allows Members to see the articles as they originally appeared—advertisements and all. The HTML format provides a fully word-searchable document that applies the excellent search capability we built into our redesigned website. This fulfills a critically important objective of our strategic plan and was made possible through a generous gift by Captain Roger Ekman, U.S. Navy (Retired).
We will feature a decade each month, with an introduction by a prominent Member or author. This month, we are honored to introduce the decade of the 1870s by former CNO Admiral Tom Hayward, U.S. Navy (Retired).