March 1923 Proceedings—In “Decommissioning Destroyers at Philadelphia,” Lieutenant P. V. H. Weems wrote, “For sufficient reasons the Navy Department sent out an order on February 18, 1922, to proceed with the decommissioning of 137 destroyers, leaving a total of 123 boats in full commission. Of the destroyers to be laid up, 90 were to remain at Philadelphia. On March 20, the first boats left Charleston preparatory to laying up at Philadelphia. . . . As many torpedoes and stores as possible had been transferred to the active boats at Charleston.”
March 1973 Proceedings—In “The Military Critic,” Lieutenant Colonel Philip M. Flammer, U.S. Air Force, wrote, “The French authorities thought Colonel Charles de Gaulle disloyal during the 1930s because he spoke out against the ‘Maginot Line Mentality,’ and the fallacy behind the doctrine of defense. In the final analysis they and not the Colonel paved the way for one of the most disastrous defeats in modern history. . . . The climate in the military, even under a robust political democracy, is traditionally very unhealthy for a true critic, although at present, the U.S. Navy, under Admiral Elmo Zumwalt seems less corrupted than the Army and the Air Force.”
March 1998 Proceedings—In “A View from the Gender Fault Line,” Navy Commander Gerard D. Roncolato and Lieutenant Commander Stephen F. Davis Jr. wrote, “Over the past two and a half years, the crew of the new destroyer The Sullivans (DDG-68) has been participating in what has been called both a ‘great social experiment’ and ‘the end of the Navy as we know it.’ From our viewpoint, the integration of women in combatants is neither—it ain’t easy, but it is inevitable. It is the right thing to do, and it can work.”
A. Denis Clift
Golden Life Member
