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June 2012 I Volume 26 I Number 3
U.S. Naval Institute I www.usni.org
Our 25th Year!
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16
Building on a 200-Year Legacy
18
The War’s Pervasive Naval Dimensions
24
Contesting the Four Oceans
32
The Constitution’s Great Escape
36
America’s Frigate Triumphs
46
Mitscher and the Mystery of Midway
54
That Other Air Service Centennial
58
Voyage to Tsushima
DEPARTMENTS 4
On Our Scope
6
Looking Back
8
In Contact
10 Naval History News
By Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, U.S. Navy Two centuries ago, an upstart fleet took the fight to the world’s greatest navy—the lessons, and legacy, of that formative conflict live on to this day.
By Charles E. Brodine Jr. From casus belli to the arenas of battle, the War of 1812 was imbued with matters of ships and the sea.
By Kevin D. McCranie The Royal Navy’s superior numbers and firepower eventually told, but not before the Americans unexpectedly gave cause for concern.
By Louis Arthur Norton Sometimes the most dramatic chase scenes unfold in slow motion; only ingenuity and sweat-equity, not full sails, saved the Constitution in July 1812.
12 Historic Aircraft 14 Historic Fleets 68 Book Reviews
72
72 Museum Report
COVER: Oh, the shortcomings of slow communications. The U.S. frigate Constitution caps off her storied War of 1812 career with the capture of HMS Levant on 20 February 1815 (Old Ironsides also nabbed another British prize, HMS Cyane, in the same engagement). But the peace treaty between England and the United States had been ratified by the U.S. Senate four days earlier. (Patrick O’Brien, www.patrickobrienstudio.com)
By Margherita M. Desy with Charles E. Brodine Jr. In a trio of celebrated sea fights, American ships and sailors proved their mettle in the opening months of the War of 1812.
By Craig L. Symonds What did the Hornet’s CO know—and what did he hide—about the legendary “flight to nowhere”?
By Colonel Glen Butler, U.S. Marine Corps 2011 was naval aviation’s year, but 2012 is the time for the Marine Corps to look back on a proud century of airborne Leathernecks.
By Captain Shannon R. Butler, U.S. Navy (Retired) For the Russian squadron, it was a disastrous defeat— one preceded by a hellish journey around the globe.
Naval History magazine (ISSN 1042-1920) is published bimonthly by the U.S. Naval Institute, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402. To order subscriptions, memberships, books, or selected photographs: 800-233-8764, 410-268-6110; fax 410-571-1703. Subscriptions: Naval Institute members $20 one year; Non-member subscription $30 one year. Editorial offices: U.S. Naval Academy, Beach Hall, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402-5034; 410-268-6110; fax 410-295-1049. Periodicals postage paid at Annapolis, MD, and at additional mailing offices. Copyright 2012 U.S. Naval Institute. Copyright is not claimed for editorial material in the public domain. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Naval History, Naval Institute Circulation, 291 Wood Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402. Submissions (please supply contact numbers and return address): Editor-in-Chief, Naval History, U.S. Naval Institute, 291 Wood Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402-5034 (include IBM-compatible diskette);
[email protected]; fax 410-295-1049. The U.S. Naval Institute is a private, self-supporting, not-for-profit professional society, which publishes Proceedings and Naval History magazines and professional books in order to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to national defense. The Naval Institute is not an agency of the U.S. government; the opinions expressed in these pages are the personal views of the authors.
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N AVA L H I S T O R Y
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JUNE 2012
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Contributors
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Charles E. Brodine Jr. is a historian with the Naval History and Heritage Command and associate editor of the Command’s series The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. He is also a coauthor of Interpreting Old Ironsides: An Illustrated Guide to the USS Constitution (Naval Historical Center, 2007) and Against All Odds: U.S. Sailors in the War of 1812 (Naval Historical Center, 2004).
Colonel Glen Butler, U.S. Marine Corps, holds a master’s degree in military studies from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. A naval aviator, he commanded the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and served two tours in Iraq with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169.
Captain Shannon R. Butler retired after 27 years on active duty in the U.S. Navy and completed her Ph.D. in history at the University of Arizona in 2008. She is the author of several articles and book chapters dealing with Soviet-American relations during the Cold War, and is currently working on an essay concerning the Port Chicago explosion of July 1944 and its effects on desegregation in the U.S. Navy.
Margherita M. Desy is the historian for the Naval History and Heritage Command Detachment Boston, working with the USS Constitution. She has published in the Nautical Research Journal and was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of American Maritime Literature of the Sea and Great Lakes. She currently teaches at Tufts University for the museum studies program in the Graduate and Professional Studies Department.
Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert became the 30th Chief of Naval Operations in September 2011. The 1975 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy spent more than a quarter-century in the submarine service, then commanded the 7th Fleet and later, U.S. Fleet Forces Command. He is the 1992 winner of the Vice Admiral Stockdale Award for inspirational leadership.
Kevin D. McCranie is a professor of strategy and policy at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He is the author of Utmost Gallantry: The U.S. and Royal Navies at Sea in the War of 1812 (Naval Institute Press, 2011) and Admiral Lord Keith and the Naval War Against Napoleon (University Press of Florida, 2006).
Louis Arthur Norton, University of Connecticut professor emeritus, has published extensively on maritime history. His books include Joshua Barney: Hero of the Revolutionary War and 1812 (Naval Institute Press, 2000) and Captains Contentious: The Dysfunctional Sons of the Brine (University of South Carolina Press, 2009). Two of his articles earned the Gerald E. Morris Prize for maritime historiography and appeared in The Log of Mystic Seaport.
Craig L. Symonds is professor emeritus of history at the U.S. Naval Academy and is the author or editor of 25 books on naval and Civil War history, including Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History (Oxford University Press, 2005), winner of the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize; and most recently, The Battle of Midway (Oxford University Press, 2011).
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On Our Scope
O
U.S. NAVAL I NSTIT U T E NAVAL HISTORY 291 Wood Rd. Annapolis, MD 21402-5034 5FM r'BY
OQBQFSBOEPOXBUFSJUXBTBMPQTJEFEGJHIUZFBSTBHPUIF6OJUFE 4UBUFTPEEXBSTIJQTWFSTVT(SFBU#SJUBJOTNPSFUIBO#VUEVSJOH UIF8BSPG UIF64/BWZNBOBHFEUPEPNPSFUIBOIPMEJUTPXO against the mighty Royal Navy. In fact, the conflict became a defining NPNFOU JO UIF TFB TFSWJDFT IJTUPSZ )PX UIBU DBNF BCPVU FTQFDJBMMZ PO the high seas, is the focus of this issue’s War of 1812 bicentennial package of articles. )JTUPSJBOT XSJUFST BOE MFBEFST IBWF MPOH TPVHIU UP BWPJE SFQFBUJOH IJTUPSZT NJTtakes by applying lessons learned to present-day circumstances. Beginning in the early 1880s—near the end of the Navy’s dark ages—a small group of navalists turned their BUUFOUJPOUPUIF8BSPG JOQBSUUPBSHVFGPSBTUSPOHFSTFBTFSWJDF-FBEJOHUIFXBZ XBTZFBSPME5IFPEPSF3PPTFWFMU XIPTFHSPVOECSFBLJOHThe Naval War of 1812XBT first published in 1882. “At present people are beginning to realize that it is folly for the great Englishspeaking Republic to rely for defence upon a navy composed partly of antiquated hulks, BOE QBSUMZ PG OFX WFTTFMT SBUIFS NPSF XPSUIMFTT than the old,” Roosevelt XSPUF JO UIF CPPLT QSFGBDF i*U JT XPSUI XIJMF UP TUVEZ XJUI TPNF DBSF UIBU period of our history durJOH XIJDI PVS OBWZ TUPPE at the highest pitch of its fame.” Although present circumstances are vastly different from those of 1882, important lessons still NAVY ART COLLECTION, NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND can be gleaned from the The frigates Constitution and HMS Java exchange broadsides /BWZT FYQFSJFODF JO UIF during their 29 December 1812 duel. War of 1812, according to rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert. The CNO’s article, “Building on a 200-Year Legacy,” leads PGG PVS DPWFSBHF CZ UBLJOH B CSPBE MPPL BU JNQPSUBOU FWFOUT EVSJOH UIF OBWBM XBS BOEUIFOFYBNJOJOHUIFFOEVSJOHMFTTPOTUPCFMFBSOFEGSPNUIFN"DDPSEJOHUP"ENJSBM (SFFOFSU UISFFLFZMFTTPOTMJOLUPEBZT/BWZXJUIJUTFYQFSJFODFUXPDFOUVSJFTBHP Charles Brodine, a historian at the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), GPMMPXT CZ FYBNJOJOH JO i5IF 8BST 1FSWBTJWF /BWBM %JNFOTJPOTu UIF XJEFSBOHJOH FGGFDUTPGUIFDPOGMJDUTOBWBMBOENBSJUJNFGBDUPST'SPNUIF64$BOBEJBOCPSEFSUP /FX0SMFBOT UIPTFGBDUPSTTIBQFEUIFDPOGMJDU #SPEJOFBTTFSUT 0VSDPWFSBHFOFYUGPDVTFTPOUIFXBSBUTFB CFHJOOJOHXJUI,FWJO.D$SBOJFT BSUJDMF i$POUFTUJOH UIF 'PVS 0DFBOTu 5IF BVUIPS PG Utmost Gallantry: The U.S. and Royal Navies at Sea in the War of 1812 /BWBM*OTUJUVUF1SFTT
.D$SBOJFFYQMBJOT IPX UIF QMVDLZ 64 /BWZ FBSOFE TUJSSJOH FBSMZ WJDUPSJFT JO UIF XBS CVU XBT HSBEVBMMZ XPSOEPXOCZUIF3PZBM/BWZ 5IFNPTUXJEFMZDFMFCSBUFEPGUIPTFWJDUPSJFTDBNFJOUISFFFBSMZGSJHBUFEVFMTUXP fought by the Constitution and one by the United States. But before the former ship could earn her nickname “Old Ironsides,” she had to elude a British squadron in July 1812, XIJDIJTUIFTVCKFDUPGOBWBMIJTUPSJBO-PVJT"SUIVS/PSUPOTBSUJDMF i5IFConstitution’s (SFBU&TDBQFu"OEJOi"NFSJDBT'SJHBUF5SJVNQIT u.BSHIFSJUB%FTZ IJTUPSJBOBUUIF /))$T%FUBDINFOU#PTUPOXPSLJOHXJUIUIF644Constitution, and Charles Brodine EFTDSJCFUIFUISFFEVFMTUIBUFOTVFEPWFSUIFOFYUGJWFNPOUIT 4NBMMFS 64 XBSTIJQT BMTP HBJOFE GBNF JO UIF XBS *O IJT i)JTUPSJD 'MFFUTu EFQBSUNFOU /))$IJTUPSJBO3PCFSU$SFTTNBOXSBQTVQPVS8BSPGQBDLBHFCZFYBNJOing one such vessel, the sloop Hornet BOE IFS 'FCSVBSZ WJDUPSZ PWFS UIF #SJUJTI CSJHPGXBSPeacock. Richard G. Latture Editor-in-Chief
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Richard G. Latture
[email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITORS Robin Bisland
[email protected] Eric Mills
[email protected] Anne Collier Rehill
[email protected] Donald Ross
[email protected] EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PROCEEDINGS Paul Merzlak
[email protected] EDITORIAL PROJECT COORDINATOR Liese Doherty
[email protected] DIRECTOR OF DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Kelly Erlinger
[email protected] SENIOR DESIGNER Jen Mabe
[email protected] PHOTO EDITOR Amy Voight
[email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Robert J. Cressman, Norman Polmar, 'SFE4DIVMU[ 1BVM4UJMMXFMM PUBLISHER William Miller XNJMMFS!VTOJPSH ADVERTISING SALES Director—William K. Hughes XNLIVHIFT!DPNDBTUOFU Manager—David Sheehan
[email protected] Advertising Assistant—Michelle Mullen
[email protected] CEO VADM Peter H. Daly, USN (Ret.)
[email protected] EDITORIAL BOARD $IBJSNBO$"15%PVHMBT.'FBST 64$( COL+PIO+"CCBUJFMMP 64"' CDR Stephen D. Barnett, USN LCDR Claude G. Berube, USNR SGTMAJ David K. Devaney, USMC COL Robert W. Lanham, USMC BMCM Kevin P. Leask, USCG MAJ Marcus J. Mainz, USMC -53PCFSU1.D'BMM 64/ $"15%BWJE..D'BSMBOE 64/ -5$+PIO".PXDIBO*** 64" CDR Jeffrey W. Novak, USCG CDR John P. Patch, USN (Ret.)
Printed in the USA
U N I T E D S TAT E S N AVA L I N S T I T U T E
N ava l I n s t i t u t e P r e s s Commemorates the Bicentennial of the War of 1812
UTMOST GALLANTRY
4HE 53 AND 2OYAL .AVIES AT 3EA IN THE 7AR OF "Y +EVIN $ -C#RANIE “Kevin McCranie takes the refreshing high road to history in this absorbing page turner that makes the War of 1812 exude the immediacy of having happened yesterday….This effort is definitely one of the better new books to examine a war of far more significance than history usually accorded it.” — Sea Classics
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