Mr. Prom graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2009 with a B.S. in history with honors and a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 and in the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit as an artillery officer in 2013. He left the Marine Corps in 2014 as a captain and now lives with his wife and children in The Midlands, Texas.

Articles by William J. Prom

McCool (left) and Commander Rick Hubbard

Indomitable Spirit

By William J. Prom
February 2023
From his glory days as a star runner at the U.S. Naval Academy to his ultimate fate in the space shuttle Columbia, a tribute to Willie McCool.
ships

The Brothers Brown

By William J. Prom
February 2022
From Lake Erie to Lake Champlain, behind the scenes of U.S. naval glory in the War of 1812 there stood a pair of immensely talented and remarkably prolific shipbuilding siblings.
Shipwright John Hackett ran the construction of the USS Congress for the first two years, before being ordered to cease work. He would be called back to finish her later—but not until after he completed the frigate Crescent, a gift for the Dey of Algiers.

The Seventh Frigate

By William J. Prom
August 2020
All lovers of American naval lore know of the first six frigates of the nascent U.S. Navy—but what about the seventh? Meet the Crescent.
Frigate United States

The Heroic James Barron

By William Prom
April 2024
Barron would take Decatur’s life in 1820, but first he saved him and others of the pantheon of early American naval heroes.