By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) Soon after I went to work for Navy Times in late 1959, the editor-in-chief, John Slinkman, came over to my desk and
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the 27th a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here. Mr. Polmar is now traveling abroad and the series will resume this summer.) On an afternoon in late 1975 I received a telephone
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the 25th in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) During the summer of 1965, when I was assistant editor of the Naval Institute Proceedings, a young man came into my Annapolis
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the 24th in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) The U.S. nuclear attack submarine Thresher sank during sea trials off the New England coast on 10 April 1963, with the loss
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the 23nd in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) I knew Don Engen for a very brief period. Still, he had a significant influence on me. Vice Admiral Engen dropped out
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the nineteenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) I knew an astronaut. We were friends for a few years. We were not close, but we were on a first-name basis.
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the seventeenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In July 1983 a friend asked my wife, Beverly, and me to attend a bar-b-q at his home. Among the few others
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the sixteenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In high school I began writing my first book—a history of the world’s aircraft carriers. In 1964, I wrote to the
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the fifteenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) During my professional career I have consulted to three foreign navies—Australian, Chinese, and Israeli—as well as to several foreign commercial firms.
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the fourteenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) About the time that he was named Secretary of the Navy in February 1981, John F. Lehman met with two of
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the thirteenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) John Lehman had an almost revolutionary impact on the Navy. He walked into the Pentagon in 1981 knowing what he wanted
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the twelfth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In 1991 the U.S. Naval Institute published my book Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies 1718—1990, written in collaboration with
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the eleventh in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Edward Teller, the “father” of the hydrogen bomb. Teller believed strongly that the United
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the tenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In the early 1960s, while researching my book Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the ninth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) One of the most interesting, intelligent, and professional persons whom I have had the privilege of knowing was Captain Donald Macintyre,
