With Millennials (the ultimate consumers of information) coming of age, members of Generation X assuming command positions—military and civilian—and Boomers readily adapting to the online world, on 2 May the Naval Institute created a new channel for its historic publication Proceedings, under the title Proceedings Today.
Proceedings and Proceedings Today will serve as the Institute’s flagship and focal points for commentary and opinion. USNI News, meanwhile, will continue to function as the Institute focal point for high-standard journalism. Creating the ability to comment in Proceedings Today about things happening right now, and adding video and more images will give the Naval Institute greater impact and reach in fulfillment of our Strategic Plan’s objective to establish “an online persona for Proceedings—in addition to the current, in-print publication—to extend our reach, respond to the increasing hunger for fresh content, and provide a venue that cannot be packed into the usual monthly issue.”
Every month our Editorial Board peer-reviews articles and essays submitted for publication in Proceedings magazine. In recent years, submissions have increased, and the Editorial Board reviews a great deal of publishable material . . . but there are not enough pages in the print edition of the magazine to accommodate all the great content. Proceedings Today allows us to maintain constant contact with the readership and meet the expectations of younger participants in our discussions. To this end, Proceedings Today is the online offshoot of the print publication in the space where our current and desired audiences are already active.
Proceedings Today will deliver more quality content throughout any given month. It will rely on material gleaned from unsolicited submissions, essay contests, and a stable of regular columnists. The new venue will use surveys, slide shows, video, and other trending mechanisms to highlight the Institute’s mission and bring appropriate entertainment to our readers. Proceedings Today was launched with a feature by Admiral James Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Retired): “New Cold War at Sea Is Brewing.”
There will of course be challenges to overcome. The online environment demands a different battle rhythm for the Proceedings team. As we learn and develop Proceedings Today, our aim is to expand the traditional Proceedings into the online arena, thus continuing under one united umbrella. We expect website upgrades to be complete in early 2018, during which time we will be working on our online presence while retaining our longtime, well-established print model. Proceedings remains fully committed to delivering excellence in the monthly print edition.
Fred H. Rainbow
Editor-in-ChiefLife Member
Where We Were
June 1917 Proceedings—In “The Launching of the USS Monongahela,” Captain David A. Hall, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired), opens with the Union Navy’s sloop of war being thrown high ashore by a 30-foot tidal wave in the Danish West Indies on 18 November 1867, and then documents the intensive months-long salvage operations that followed. “February 16: The constructor’s gang commenced building a platform for the four ways. Planted the northern group of anchors for the 6-inch purchase, a 5,705-pound anchor with 60 fathoms. . . . May 12: A salute of 21-guns was fired from the fort in celebration of the floating of the Monongahela.”
June 1967 Proceedings—“On the morning of 17 January 1966, an Air Force B-52 bomber collided with a KC-135 tanker aircraft while refueling over the southeast coast of Spain. The two planes exploded and the wreckage fell in a fiery fury. . . .” So, in his article “Contact 261,” Captain Lewis B. Melson, U.S. Navy, tracks the tragedy, the quick recovery of three nuclear weapons, the Navy’s intensive months-long search for the missing fourth weapon using deep submergence vehicles, the discovery of the bomb in its parachute at a depth of 2,800 feet, and its retrieval.
June 1992 Proceedings—On 17 May 1987, an Iraqi jet fired two Exocet missiles at the USS Stark (FFG-31) operating in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War, killing 37 sailors, wounding 21, and nearly sinking the frigate. In “Let’s Avoid Another Stark,” Senior Chief Donald G. Freeman, U.S. Navy, a fire controlman with 18 years’ service, analyzes the ship’s failure to defend herself. “The truth is that the training establishment had poorly equipped those officers and enlisted men. Some actions taken by the combat information center (CIC) watchstanders could have resulted from only two things: negligence or abysmally ineffective training.”
A. Denis Clift
Golden Life Member