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December 1917—A Proceedings Professional Note reported Russian Admiral Alexander Koltschek’s belief that the recent political shift in St. Petersburg was “only another transitory event.” The Diplomatic Notes recounted those events—of Nikolai Lenine [sic] (“quiet, reserved, and studious”) and Leon Trotsky grabbing power. Just three years later, Koltschek died before a Bolshevik firing squad for his attempt to end that “transitory event.”
Lieutenant S. F. Bryant wrote of the “Goeben and Breslau,” World War I German capital ships that escaped the British, sailed to Turkey, and sealed the Dardanelles against the Russians. Bryant said that this illustrated the value of maintaining naval officers in other maritime nations who knew their hosts’ politics, languages, and military conditions—as the Germans had done in Turkey.
Photos showed the UC-5, a captured German mine-laying submarine, and her mining apparatus in New York’s Central Park. She was the centerpiece of a Liberty Loan display and was renamed “U-Buy-A-Bond” by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.
A Professional Note described a French trench mortar that lobbed its charges with compressed air rather than explosives. Designed in the 1880s, this “pneumatic cannon” was inaccurate, but nevertheless was fitted between the two torpedo tubes of the USS Holland (SS-1) making her the first ‘‘missile-launching’ ’ submersible.
December 1937—“Sea power” was the key concept in Commander Roland E. Krause’s essay “War and Peace.” He explained that “where policy and armed force are not in harmony, trouble is to be expected. Historically, this has been a great weakness of the United States.”
A Professional Note on the “Soviet U-boat Fleet” told that “Soviet Russia secretly has built the world’s largest submarine fleet and now has more than 150 submarines.”
A pictorial commemorated Navy Captain Paul J. Dashiell, who died in 1937. He had coached the Naval Academy’s football teams at the turn of the century and was credited with developing the forward pass.
The only U. S. flotilla of “ships of the desert” was described in “Lieutenant David Dixon Porter and His Camels.” Commander Malcolm W.
Cagle told how Porter brought two shiploads of camels (75 animals) from the Levant for Lieutenant Edward F. Beale to use to explore the Southwest.
December 1957—Norman Polmar noted the end of an era in a Comment and Discussion contribution. “The removal from active duty of these battleships [the Wisconsin (BB-64) and the Iowa (BB-61)]” he said, “Marks the end of . . . conventional naval warfare.” This was the first contribution to Proceedings by the author of “The U. S. Navy” and “The Soviet Navy” columns, the editor of many Institute books, and well-known naval analyst.
Women in war was the focus of a pictorial on World War I yeomenettes.
In this issue, Lieutenant Neil Golightly asserts that women have “No Right to Fight.”
Proceedings published a photo of the first graduating class from the Naval Command Course of the U. S. Naval War College—the senior naval representatives of 23 nations. This prestigious program has grown, and today the majority of attendees become heads of their respective navies.
After World War II, Proceedings encouraged former enemies to tell of their combat experiences. Former Japanese Navy Captain Toshikazu Ohmae wrote of “The Battle of Savo Island.” He said: “[Japanese] night battle practice and night lookout training had paid off” in sinking three U. S. cruisers whose “backdrop was brightened by flames of burning ships, reflected from clouds.” Ohmae was assisted by Roger Pineau, a State Department official, who also assisted Masatake Okumiya on his 1953 article about the USS Panay (PR-5), which is excerpted in this issue.
Lawrence Carroll Allin, Maritime Historian
me1”'
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New Naval Institute Press Selections
Specially priced Naval Institute ^ editions of two books just release ^ other publishers are now availab Naval Institute members: qq
- Maverick Marine, General SMe0j D. Butler and the Contradiction ^ American Military History by uy Schmidt—This is the first biogra^f. written about the colorful but c°n*r°is of sial Marine hero who won two Met*1 ^ Honor. Based on Butler’s private PaP.ce and a wealth of other primary-s° .ve materials, the book presents an obje portrait of this legendary figure, but g Marine officer in the first three de^.^j of this century and as a civilian emb
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of realism and immediacy not rll other histories of Canada’s World campaigns, this book offers a corT1Pe.,, jt account of the Royal Canadian Na^0p- war. It also traces the country’s de1^ ment from an agrarian nation into dustrial power with a powerful nav;
Proceedings / Deceflib®