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February 1919—During his 48 years of naval service, Rear Admiral Bradley Allen Fiske has acquired a towering international reputation both as an inventor who knows what electricity does, but not what it is, and as an author who knows what a Navy is, but is incessantly redefining what it does. 01’ Brad, moreover, is president of the Naval Institute.
Fiske’s electrifying paper, “The United States Naval Institute,” calls for a truce between two warring factions: “In the early days of the Naval Institute, it was ridiculed by a large class of naval officers, who called themselves ‘practical’ .... They failed to see that the very ships which they sailed so boldly, could not have carried them over the seas if ‘theorists’ had not theoretically ascertained the laws of buoyancy and propulsion, and applied those laws to the making of engines, sails and ships.”
Fiske challenges all officers to close ranks and write for the Naval Institute, but not to be too stuffy about it. What Proceedings needs, he says, are “. . . those exciting and funny experiences which naval officers have in a greater degree than do any other men in the world.”
But (NRA please note) one “exciting experience” for naval officers ends this month with the announcement that it will no longer be legal to shoot wildfowl with machine guns from airplanes.
February 1939—Those who think “Salamis” is the plural of a spicy sausage of beef and pork will be surprised to learn it is also the site of a naval battle, fought in 480 B.C., that forever altered the course of Western civilization. Prize essay aspirant David J. Edwards tells how the Greeks under wily Themistocles made mincemeat of Persian King Xerxes’s vastly superior fleet in the narrow waters off the island of Salamis (on which huddled the civilian population of abandoned Athens). This triumph of a flowering democracy over a despotic monarchy was the ancient world’s message: an army of lions led by a sheep is no match for an army of sheep led by a lion.
An uninspired title, “The Loss of the Ticonderoga,” masks an inspiring article by Lieutenant Colby Rucker about a converted German merchant ship operated by the U. S. Naval Transport Service. The Ticonderoga was sunk by the U-152 after she was abandoned by her escort cruiser, the USS Galveston (C-17), in the last great naval battle of World War I. So enraged was the U-152's captain with the handful of surviving crew members, many of whom were of German birth or extraction—“What do you mean by fighting . . . against your country?”—that he allowed only two U. S. Navy officers to remain on board his boat as prisoners, and set adrift the rest of the Ticonderoga' s 124-man crew and 115 passengers, most of whom perished.
February 1959—So long as free men remain free they will speak with awe of the Royal Navy's universally and justly famous evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk in June 1940. British warships, merchant ships, fishing craft, and pleasure boats have been given more than the lion’s share of credit for the rescue of the 215,000-man British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and 123,000 French soldiers. Yet, the Royal Navy’s white ensign was not the only Allied flag to flutter off those blood-red beaches.
Jacques Mordal renders a belated salute to the French effort in “The French Navy at Dunkirk.” French ships and men evacuated almost 50,000 men—and 40,000 Frenchmen lost their own freedom by fighting, with no hope of victory, to screen the evacuation of their comrades.
To what end this Gallic gallantry? Field Marshals-to-be Bernard Montgomery and Harold Alexander were rescued at Dunkirk. Germany was robbed of a great part of her victory in the West—the destruction of the BEF. The invasion of England may have been thwarted. Beyond all that, however, Mordal gives us a quote that free men can savor. When the chief of the French Armies, General Maxime Weygand, and Admiral Jean Abrial, commander- in-chief of the French Naval Forces of the North, met at Dunkirk, Weygand told Abrial: “I am counting on you to save everything that can be saved— and particularly our honor.” Clay Barrow
Institute who have supported us throughout the year. The festivities begin with an awards banquet held on Thursday evening, 13 April, and continue through a late afternoon cocktail reception on Friday, 14 April.
During the day on Friday, Naval Institute Press authors will tell the stories behind their newly published books, a pane of distinguished military and civilian experts will address the topic “Future Naval Forces: A Look Into the Crysta Ball,” and we will hold our annual business meeting. During the business meeting, Admiral C. A. H. Trost, U. S. Navy. Chief of Naval Operations and President of the Naval Institute, will deliver his annual address to the members of the Institute.
We will mail invitations to our members in California, but all Naval Institute members are welcome to join us. For more information, please call Nancy Hauswald, Seminar Manager, at (301) 268-6110.
New Naval Institute Press Books
Ship modelers and battleship fans will enthusiastically endorse our latest publication, Iowa Class Battleships: Their Design, Weapons, and Equipment by Robert F. Sumrall. Unquestionably the most comprehensive study of these famous U. S. battleships ever produced, this handsome, fact-filled book leads the reader into the very heart of all four ships of the class—the Iowa (BB-61), New Jersey (BB-62), Missouri (BB-63), and Wisconsin (BB-64). The author is eminently qualified to chart each ship’s remarkable career from inception to the present day. Curator of ship models at the Naval Academy Museum since 1970, Mr. Sumrall has extensive knowledge of naval architecture and marine engineering from earlier employment at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. He also has more than 35 years service with the U. S. Navy and Naval Reserve as a chief hull technician. His most recent tour of duty was on board the Iowa in 1986. The book’s large format beautifully displays some 250 photographs, 30 of which are in color, plus 25 detailed line drawings. This outstanding book is a welcome addition to our collection of warship reference works.
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