U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE
Proceedings/Naval Review: Covert operations—most recently, those conducted in Central America and the Middle East—have long been a source of fascination and speculation among writers who range from true historians to the crafters of overheated spy stories. The rule of thumb seems to be that those who know the most about what really is going on (or has gone on) tend to say the least about it. Conversely, the spiciest stories that are packed with the most detail are most likely to be furthest from the truth.
In the February issue of Proceedings, author Steve Edwards lifts up at least one comer of a security blanket that has been firmly in place for almost 30 years in discussing “The CIA, SEALs, and Nungs” and their Alpha-34 operations in North Vietnam. The Nungs—fierce nomadic tribesmen of Chinese origin—were trained by U.S. SEALs and assisted by Norwegian “Jaeger” mercenaries recruited by the CIA. They shot up shore installations and North Vietnamese naval supply craft, ferried agents northward, and carried out assassinations and other unfriendly acts that may have led to the Tonkin Gulf incident in 1964 and the eventual full-scale entry of U.S. forces into the intensifying Vietnam War. “Nasty” may have been the name of their class of Norwegian-built patrol boats, but such a description had a far wider application in the case of the Nungs. Don’t miss this intriguing account of war in the shadows.
Naval Institute Press: Very little has been written about women in war by women who have served, so NIP is especially pleased to have the opportunity to publish Station Hospital Saigon: A Navy Nurse in Vietnam, 1963-1964 by Bobbi Hovis, now a retired lieutenant commander. Hovis was sent to Saigon in 1963 to set up the first U.S. military hospital, and her book offers a colorful and personal account of her experiences.
As the first book written by a Navy nurse who served in the Vietnam War, Station Hospital Saigon promises to be an interesting contribution to the war literature. For those who were there, long- forgotten memories will be brought into sharp focus. Not only does Lieutenant Commander Hovis share her frank and humorous reminiscences, she also projects the “can-do” professional expertise of that group of dedicated and heroic men and women.
In 1963 Hovis and four other nurses were charged with the monumental task of converting a dilapidated apartment building into a hospital in just four days. They operated in a city of chaos where the extraordinary became the ordinary as the war escalated. In Station Hospital Saigon she gives a rare inside view of Vietnam in the early years of conflict. Her description of their efforts to care for the first American casualties under primitive conditions is inspiring.
Hovis’s gripping firsthand account of the 1963 Diem coup, seen from her balcony, gives the reader a sense of the turmoil and uncertainty experienced by the beleaguered medical staff. Her recollections of activities that helped alleviate the intensity of her hospital duty—holidays in Cambodia, tennis and tea parties with the Westmorelands and Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge—highlight the contrasts of her experience and allow the reader to become part of the small circle of U.S. personnel then in Vietnam. More than 60 photographs will illustrate the text.
Drafted in 1964 while her memories were fresh, and recently revised for publication, this book will be available in May.
Oral History: On 12 September 1991, Rear Admiral Edward A. Ruckner died at age 81. A member of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 1932, Admiral Ruckner was a gunnery and ordnance officer for most of his Navy career. He served in the Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance during World War II, and his sea duty thereafter included command of the USS Mississippi (BB-41) during guided-missile tests in 1955 and command of Atlantic Fleet cruisers and destroyers from 1965 to 1967. At that point, he became Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Research and Development), during which time he was chairman of the NATO naval armaments group. Admiral Ruckner’s memoirs are in the U.S. Naval Institute’s collection.
Oral History Director Paul Stillwell interviewed several prominent retired Navy personnel in 1991: Vietnam-era prisoner of war and U.S. Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence; Arleigh Burke aide and Vietnam War amphibious commander Vice Admiral Thomas R. Weschler; long-time naval aviator and OP-05 Vice Admiral Robert F. Dunn; former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Carlisle A. H. Trost; Rear Admiral Harold J. Bemsen, Commander Middle East Force during the Iran-Iraq War; and Admiral Bernard Forbes, carrier group commander. Sixth Fleet chief of staff, and Deputy Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet.
NAVY HISTORY
By Carolyn M. Stallings, Naval Historical Center
The 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic will be the focus of the 1992 annual meeting of the North American Society for Oceanic History on 23-25 April. The conference will be hosted at the Washington Navy Yard by the Naval Historical Center (NHC). Papers and sessions will deal with the U.S. Merchant Marine and Coast Guard, as well as operations of the U.S. Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Navy, and the German U-boat campaign. For more information on the conference, write to Dr. William S. Dudley, Senior Historian, NHC, Building 57, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. 20374-0571.
A new exhibit, “Reginald Marsh: Watercolors from the U.S. Navy and Army Art Collections,” is on display at the Navy Art Gallery through 23 February. It brings together little-known works of this influential 20th-century artist, who in 1943 painted scenes of port and ship repair operations at Recife, Brazil, for Life magazine. He was later hired by Abbott Pharmaceuticals to paint scenes of naval amphibious training at Little Creek, Virginia. During the war, these paintings were published in support of the war effort. The Abbott paintings were given to the Navy soon after the war; the Life series was donated to the Army Art Collection in the 1980s. The Navy Art Gallery, Building 67 of the Washington Navy Yard, is open Wednesday through Friday, 9:00 to 4:00, and weekends and holidays from 10:00 to 4:00. Call (202) 433-3815 for more information on gallery events.
“Portraits of Steel: The Art of Arthur Beaumont (1890-1978),” an exhibit at the Navy Museum (Building 76 of the Washington Navy Yard), will be on display through March. Beaumont was the foremost painter of U.S. warships from the 1930s to the 1960s. He served as a naval officer and artist in 1933 and 1934, and painted naval subjects for a Los Angeles newspaper from the 1940s on. His paintings depict the U.S. Fleet, World War II scenes, and Arctic naval stations. Call the Navy Museum at (202) 433-2651 for information on museum events.
The Naval Undersea Museum in Key- port, Washington (operated by the Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station), dedicated its preview center in September 1991. The display center gives visitors a taste of all aspects of the Navy’s tactical, engineering, and scientific use of the undersea environment that will be depicted in the new museum upon its completion. The preview center is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 to 4:00; admission is free. Funds for the new facility were raised by the Naval Undersea Museum Foundation, headed by Vice Admiral Eli T. Reich, U.S. Navy (Retired).
Several new books were recently published by the NHC;
The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Volume I (A), edited by James L. Mooney, is a completely revised and greatly expanded edition that includes histories of U.S. Navy ships beginning with the letter A. It spans the years from the Revolutionary War-era Andrew Doria to the new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. It includes a foreword by Admiral Burke, who also wrote the foreword for the original 1959 edition (GPO Stock No. 008-046-00126-0, $29.00). It is for sale by the Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402-9325; (202) 783-3238. The Iron Guns of Willard Park, by John C. Reilly, Jr., examines the history and use of early ordnance and provides a descriptive catalog of the Navy’s collection of iron guns at the Washington Navy Yard. It is available on request from the NHC’s Ships’ History Branch, Building 57, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC 20374-0571.
A Bibliography of the United States Navy and the Conflict in Southeast Asia, 1950-1975, compiled by Edward J. Marolda and Captain James Lesher, U.S. Naval Reserve, is a guide to books and articles on the Navy’s overall role in the conflict, and presents special subject areas. It is available from the NHC’s Contemporary History Branch.
The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Volume 11 (1813), edited by William S. Dudley, uses U.S. and British accounts, official documents, and private papers to examine the second year of the war. It includes engagements such as Hornet-Peacock and Chesapeake- Shannon, the cruises of the Essex and President, and fleet actions on lakes Ontario and Erie (GPO Stock No. 008-046- 00140-5).
On Course to Desert Storm: The United States Navy and the Persian Gulf, by Michael A. Palmer, examines the historical roots of U.S. commercial and strategic interests in the Middle East and our dependence on oil. It examines the precedents for U.S. intervention in the region, including our undeclared war with Iran in 1987-1988 as a result of the reflagging and protection of foreign vessels during the Iran-Iraq War (GPO Stock No. 008-046-00146-4).
Naval historians representing the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, and Australia met at the NHC in September 1991 to share information on their historical programs and to discuss documentation of international participation in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
NHC staff also represented the United States at several international symposia during the past year. Dr. Dean Allard, Director of Naval History, attended the annual meeting of the International Commission on Military History held in Zurich, Switzerland. Navy Librarian Stanley Kalkus was in Moscow for the International Federation of Library Associations conference. And, Dr. William S. Dudley, Senior Historian, attended an international symposium on Iberian-U.S. naval and maritime history sponsored by the Instituto de Estudios Historico-Maritimos del Peru.
News About the U.S. Navy Memorial
The U.S. Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington, D.C., dedicated a 22-panel bronze relief sculpture wall on the memorial’s southern perimeter on 12 October 1991. These sculpted panels commemorate events in U.S. naval history and recognize specific communities within the Navy.
On that same autumn weekend a visitors center adjacent to the Navy Memorial was dedicated. Designed as an educational and heritage-awareness facility, the center contains a ship’s store, interactive video displays, a sculpture that depicts a Navy family’s homecoming, and a Navy Memorial log that lists nearly 200,000 Navy veterans who helped pay for the memorial. A U.S. Presidents Room and a wide-screen motion picture theater were completed by year’s end.
The visitors center is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 to 6:00, Sunday from 12:00 to 5:00. It is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, between 7th and 9th Streets. Take the Washington Metro yellow line to the Archives/Navy Memorial Station exit.
Naval Historical Center Fellowship, Grant, and Internship Opportunities, 1992-1993
The Naval Historical Center offers research support for established scholars, doctoral candidates, and undergraduate history majors.
Established Scholars: The center will make two research grants, named in honor of Vice Admiral Edwin B. Hooper, of up to $2,500 each to individuals undertaking research and writing in the field of U.S. naval history. Applicants should have either a Ph.D., or equivalent credentials, and they must be U.S. citizens. The deadline for submitting applications is 29 February 1992.
Doctoral Candidates: The center will award the Rear Admiral John D. Hayes fellowship of $8,000 to a pre-doctoral candidate who is undertaking research and writing on a dissertation in the field of U.S. naval history. Applicants must be U.S. citizens enrolled in an accredited graduate school who will have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. except the dissertation by 30 June 1992. The deadline for applications is 29 February 1992.
History Majors: The center welcomes internship applications from undergraduate history majors who wish to spend up to four weeks engaged in applied history projects in the Washington Navy Yard. Limited funds are available to support living expenses. Historical research, archival, and curatorial assignments are available. Applications should be filed two months before the desired beginning date of the internship.
Application forms for the three opportunities listed above may be obtained by writing: Senior Historian, Naval Historical Center, Building 57, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. 20374-0571.
MARINE CORPS HISTORY
By Ann A. Ferrante, Marine Corps Historical Center
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of World War II, the History and Museums Division is preparing a series of monographs and exhibits that will be published and displayed during the next four years. The 32 monograph topics will include such battles as Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Marshall Islands, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, as well as different aspects of the Corps from 1941 to 1945, including Marine Raiders, Marines in the OSS, Marines on aircraft carriers, black Marines, women Marines, and more.
All of these popular histories will contain considerable new material obtained since the publication of the official five- volume work. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. Additionally, they will include pertinent information from the Corps’ oral history, personal papers, and combat art collections, as well as photographs and personal reminiscences from former and retired Marines.
The Marine Corps Museum will also display 30 exhibits that will feature various battles corresponding with anniversary events. Special exhibits will be mounted on Defense Battalions, Sea- Going Marines, Marine Raiders, and Parachute Marines, among others. These new commemoration exhibits will reveal unseen treasures from reserve collections.
The Marine Corps Historical Foundation awarded two graduate-level fellowship awards for 1991. Mr. Robert A. Buzzanco, a doctoral candidate at Ohio State University, is researching U.S. military policy and politics during the Vietnam War. Mr. Brian D. Hage, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, is writing a master’s thesis on the 1958 Lebanon intervention.
Eight research grants were given to assist recipients in conducting Marine Corps-related historical research. Dr. Craig M. Cameron continues to work on his dissertation relating to the 1st Marine Division in World War II; Mr. Jean S. Cartier is working on a photographic record of World War I Marine battle sites in France; Captain David A. Dawson is researching Project 100,000 and the Marine Corps; Ms. Lisa A. Rich is compiling a register of the Brigadier General Samuel Griffith papers; Mr. Jeffrey T. Ryan is researching the Marine Corps in the Civil War; Mr. David M. Sullivan is working on an illustrated history of Marines in the Civil War; Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Sullivan is writing on Dwight Eisenhower and the Marine Corps; and Dr. Phyllis A. Zimmerman is conducting research on Evans Carlson in Nicaragua.
The Marine Corps Historical Center welcomes serious researchers and scholars to use its reference and research facilities. For a pamphlet that describes available facilities and resources, write to the History and Museums Division, Marine Corps Historical Center, Building 58, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. 20374-0580.
COAST GUARD HISTORY
By Dr. Bob Browning
The Coast Guard Historian’s Office has hired two new employees to implement the National Artifact/Museum Program. Ms. Gail Fuller is the new curator of Coast Guard collections. Previously curator at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park for six years, she also worked at the Wilton Heritage Museum, the Fairfield Historical Society Museum, and the New Jersey Historical Society. The Coast Guard’s registrar position has been filled by Mr. Donald Canney, who comes to the Coast Guard from the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation, where he served as historian. He is the author of several Coast Guard publications and the book The Old Steam Navy: Volume 1: Frigates, Sloops, and Gunboats, 1815-1885 (Naval Institute Press, 1990). Together, the curator and registrar will be responsible for the cataloging and care of all Coast Guard artifacts, nationwide.
The Historian’s Office is in the process of transferring approximately 16,000 historical engineering drawings of lighthouses and search and rescue stations—along with various mechanical and structural components of these buildings—to the Cartographic Branch of the National Archives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Amphibious craft line drawings are now available upon request. They feature the Duane as an amphibious force flagship, the troop transport Joseph T. Dick- man, the LST-785, and a sheet of smaller amphibious craft. To obtain these and other materials from the Coast Guard, write: Commandant (G-CP/H), 2100 2nd Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20593.
HISTORIC NAVAL SHIPS ASSOCIATION
By James W. Cheevers
“Preserving Naval History through Exhibits and the Written Word” was the theme of the association’s annual meeting, hosted by the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum (home to the York- town [CV-IO], Laffey [DD-724], Clamagore [SS-343], Comanche [PG-76], Ingham [PG-35], and the nuclear-powered merchant ship Savannah). Distinguished naval historian, teacher, and author, Dr. Clark Reynolds, and the Naval Institute’s own Colonel John G. Miller, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), led off the sessions. Delegates representing 37 historic naval ships in the United States and Canada came to Charleston, South Carolina, to learn about naval writing and publishing and creating exhibits aboard historic ships.
To defray the enormous expense required to maintain the historic fleet into the next century, HINAS continues to pursue federal authorization—already acquired for historic merchant vessels—to use proceeds from the scrapping of obsolete ships. Under the terms of HR4009, a ship has been selected from the National Defense Reserve Fleet in the James River for sale, with approximately $200,000 going to the preservation of the World War II Liberty ship Jeremiah O’Brien at San Francisco.
The Tin Can Sailors Association is helping fund heating, air conditioning, and plumbing repairs to the Kidd (DD-661), Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Kidd continues to develop her Fletcher-class museum. Since no more Fletcher-class ships serve in the reserve fleet anywhere, authentic parts to restore World War II ships are harder to find every day. Last fall representatives from the Kidd traveled to Philadelphia to remove needed items from the cruiser Newport News (CA-148) before she went to scrap.
The Cabot (CVL-28), the Independence-class carrier acquired from Spain in 1989 as a museum ship, is now under the jurisdiction of the city of Kenner, Louisiana, which is renovating the vessel for exhibit. The Coral Sea (CV-43) has been assigned to the Puerto Rico Educational and Scientific Foundation for a sea-air-space museum berthed in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
The Intrepid (CVS-11) Sea-Air-Space Museum, New York City, has taken possession of lightship LV-84AVAL-509, built in 1907. Known as “Big Red,” the lightship’s last duty was off the Brunswick and St. John’s rivers before serving as a training vessel at Piney Point, Maryland, 1968-1987. It joins a growing historic fleet in the Hudson River that began with the aircraft carrier Intrepid in 1982 and now also features the Growler (SSG-577) and the Hull-class destroyer Edson (DD-946).