Naval Historical Foundation Blog | Naval Historical Foundation

Marion Frederic Ramirez de Arellano 5 August: 1913 – 15 May 1980

October 8, 2020Sean BlandThursday Tidings1 Comment

www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-r/ramirez-de-arellano-marion.html Marion Frederic Ramirez de Arellano was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 5 August 1913, son of Professor Rafael W. de Arellano and Professor Lucille Kemmerer Ramirez de Arellano of the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras. He attended that university for two years prior to his entrance to the US Naval

Stanley Johnston’s Blunder: The Reporter Who Spilled the Secret Behind the U.S. Navy’s Victory at Midway

October 8, 2020Sean BlandBook Reviewsbattle of midway, Code Breaking, Elliott Carlson, Stanley Johnson, War Reporting, World War II

Reviewed by Paul W. Murphey, Ph.D., CDR, CHC, USN (Ret). Elliott Carlson has written an exceptionally fine book. It is well worth reading more than once. The only caveat I have is the title: Stanley Johnston’s Blunder. The book is not so much about a reporter’s miscalculation, as about the extraordinary life and times of

Delbert D. Black More Than Just a Gunner’s Mate – By Jim Leuci, MCPO, USN (Ret.)

October 1, 2020Sean BlandFeatured, Thursday TidingsDelbert D. Black, Jim Leuci, MCPON1 Comment

Above: Delbert D. Black, an Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided-missile destroyer, named for the service’s first Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) was commissioned on September 26, 2020. Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite observed: “Commissioning a ship after the first Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy is an honor without equal. The

Admiral Rickover, Admiral Holloway, and the Dawn of Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carriers.

September 24, 2020Sean BlandFeatured, Thursday TidingsAdmiral James L. Holloway III, Admiral Rickover, CVAN-65, uss enterprise

Guest Post by Captain Todd Creekman, USN (Ret.) Admiral James L. Holloway III, USN (Ret.), commanding officer of USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) and 20th Chief of Naval Operations, served for 28 years in retirement as president and later chairman of the board for the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF). Admiral Holloway left his mark on NHF through his selfless service

The Admiral’s Chef: Recipes from a Navy Wife’s World Travels

September 24, 2020Sean BlandBook Reviews, BooksMarcia Steidle, Rebecca Sorell

Reviewed by LCDR Rebecca Sorell, USN (Ret.) A cookbook is not a typical book to be reviewed for the Naval Historical Foundation, so I was intrigued to see it on the list of available books to review, especially since it had a tie to the U.S. Navy, being written by a Navy wife, Marcia Steidle.

1545: Who Sank the Mary Rose?

September 22, 2020Sean BlandBook Reviews, Booksage of sail, British Royal Navy, carrack, Henry VIII, John Satterfield, Mary Rose, Peter Marsden, Tudor England

Reviewed by Dr. John. R. Satterfield. In the early evening on July 19, 1545, as she turned away from a French fleet gathered in the Solent, the narrow channel between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland harbors of Portsmouth and Southampton, the Mary Rose, one of Henry VIII‘s largest and most powerful warships,

The Cruise of the Bismarck

September 17, 2020Sean BlandThursday Tidings

Article by Naval History and Heritage Command: www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/s/sinking-of-the-bismarck/the-cruise-of-the-bismarck.html At noon on May 19, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck lay in Kiel Bay, about to set out on her first and last war cruise. Admiral Gunther Lutjens, who had been decorated with the Knight Insignia of the Iron Cross for his part in the Norwegian campaign, addressed the

Battleship Bismarck: A Design and Operational History

September 17, 2020Sean BlandBook Reviews, BooksBattle of Denmark Strait, battle of the atlantic, Battleship Bismarck, german navy, James Cameron, North Sea, Robert Ballard, Robert Dulin, William Garzke, William Jurens3 Comments

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. The battleship Bismarck is one of the most-written about World War II Nazi German capital ships (Admiral Graf Spee and Tirpitz are close seconds). Eliminating USNS City of Bismarck (JHSV-9), often cited as Bismarck (and named after Bismarck, North Dakota, USA) and other specious references in WorldCat, there are

Herman Wouk and the Caine Mutiny: The Book and Movie, and Naval History — Second Saturday Webinar

September 15, 2020Tyler RobinsonEvent, Second Saturdaydavid kennedy, david rosenberg, Herman Wouk, kevin miller, Second Saturday Webinar, The Caine Mutiny

The Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Age: Senior Service 1800 – 1815

September 10, 2020Sean BlandBook Reviews, Booksage of sail, Mark Jessop, Napoleonic Era

Reviewed by Dr. John R. Satterfield. Maritime historians divide their discipline into eras, and the Age of Sail is undoubtedly studied most widely. Sailing ships dominated trade and naval warfare for about three centuries, from the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the last large engagement involving rowed galleys to the Battle of Hampton Roads in

Sighted Sub, Sank Same: The United States Navy’s Air Campaign against the U-Boat

September 8, 2020Sean BlandBook Reviews, BooksAlan Carey, Brian Hayes

Reviewed by LT Brian Hayes, USNR This book tells the story of World War II U.S. naval aviation operations against the German U-Boat arm. It’s an interesting and important story, but other books tell it better. Aircraft were essential to the Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. Unlike modern submarines, early U-Boats operated

Hattendorf Prize Lecture (2018): History, Truth Decay, and the Naval Profession by Geoffrey Till, Ph.D

September 3, 2020Sean BlandThursday Tidings

Why in this age of constant technological, economic, social, and political change should navies actively concern themselves with the naval past? Herein I will try to answer this question, one often asked by skeptics anxious to insert into the developing courses of professional military education (PME) material that seems so much more relevant to the

British Submarines in Two World Wars

September 3, 2020Sean BlandBook Reviews, Booksbattle of the atlantic, British Royal Navy, British Submarines, Charles C. Kolb, London Naval Treaty, norman friedman

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. Defense expert Norman Friedman is one of America’s most prominent naval analysts, and the author of more than thirty books covering a range of naval subjects, especially American and British vessels (battleships, cruisers, destroyers and frigates, and submarines) from the Victorian era through two World Wars, and the Cold War,

Rules of Engagement

September 1, 2020Sean BlandBook Reviews, Bookscoding, cyber warfare, Military Fiction, US Cyber Command

Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad Anyone who has ever worked with a computer, has watched NCIS, or wondered what the flashing blips are on their laptop will enjoy this book. Written by two Annapolis graduates, Rules of Engagement looks at the possibility of an enemy of the United States breaking the military computer codes of

Admiral Richard H. Cruzen and Operation Highjump

August 27, 2020Sean BlandThursday Tidings

Text below from article “Burton Island” by Naval History and Heritage Command – original article may be viewed at: www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/burton-island-i.html In late 1946, the Navy desperately needed the services of the not-yet-commissioned icebreaker Burton Island (AG-88)for the First Antarctic Developments Project. The largest expedition to the Antarctic continent to date, also known as Operation Highjump, sought to explore and

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