From Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication
Outreach Division
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Naval History and Heritage Command
(NHHC) announced May 12 that it awarded research and writing grants to three
people to support their work which furthers the understanding and application
of current U.S. Navy strategy with historical context.
"The applicants for all three of the 2014-2015
incentive programs for research and writing on U.S. naval history represented a
highly competitive field," said Michael Crawford, PhD., NHHC's senior
historian.
The Rear Admiral John D. Hayes Pre-doctoral Fellowship in
U.S. Navy History for 2014-2015 was awarded to Arthur "Scott" Mobley,
doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for a study of how
American naval officers drew on progressive ideology to reorder their profession
and forge new strategic solutions, while contesting alternative cultures in the
Navy. In his study, titled "Progressives in Navy Blue: Maritime Strategy
and Cultural Metamorphosis in the U.S. Navy, 1870-1915," Mobley argues
that eventually the strategists' concepts came to dominate the Navy's culture,
and concludes that professionalization drove the naval officer corps to
strategic thought.
The Rear Adm. John D. Hayes Pre-doctoral Fellowship in U.S.
Navy History, was named in honor of Hayes (1902 - 1991), who served as a naval
officer from 1924-1954, for his enthusiastic encouragement of naval scholars
and his own significant contributions to the field.
Crawford was impressed with the fellowship's international
appeal and applicant's diverse choice of topics.
"Although the grants are restricted to U.S. citizens,
of the seven applicants for the dissertation fellowship, four are enrolled in
doctoral programs in universities abroad, in Singapore and the United
Kingdom," Crawford explained. "The dissertation topics range from
antebellum naval policy to national strategy in the twenty-first century and
included riverine warfare in the Civil War, aviation during World War I, and
the Navy in the Cold War."
According to Crawford, two strong candidates applied for The
Vice Admiral Edwin B. Hooper Research Grant, which, for 2014-2015, was awarded
to John T. Kuehn, Ph.D., a William A. Stofft Professor at the U.S. Army Command
and General Staff College, for research to complete a book-length study
entitled "America's First General Staff: A Short History of the Rise and
Fall of the General Board of the Navy, 1900-1950." Dr. Kuehn's work on the
General Board will highlight a Navy organization that was instrumental in
creating the modern Navy.
The Vice Adm. Edwin B. Hooper Research Grant is named in
honor of a former Director of Naval History (1909-1984), who served as both
active duty and limited duty officer from 1931-1976, for his great
contributions to U. S. naval history.
The Samuel Eliot Morison Supplemental Scholarship was
awarded to Cmdr. Robert E. Poling III, USN, an instructor in the Department of
Strategy at the U.S. Air Force Air War College and masters/doctoral candidate
in Defence Studies Research at King's College, London. Poling plans to research
and write on the integration of the U.S. Navy and Army Air Forces in the
Solomon Islands Campaign of WWII. By studying combat operations, Poling looks
to investigate what factors fostered cooperation and how service parochialism
hindered it. The supplemental scholarship is named after Rear Adm. Samuel Eliot
Morison (1887-1976), USNR, who served as an officer in the U.S. Navy reserve
from 1942-1946. Morison was an eminent naval and maritime historian and winner
of the Pulitzer Prize.
Crawford saw a commonality with the some of the applicants'
submissions for the supplemental scholarship.
"Two of the four naval officers competing for the
Morison supplemental scholarship are investigating crises and conflicts in the
Middle East in the late twentieth century and one a twenty-first-century
subject," Crawford said.
More than anything Crawford is pleased with the interest in
naval history.
"The capable scholars currently pursuing topics in U.S.
naval history provide evidence of the existence of a small but solid cadre
keeping the field of U.S. naval history healthy," Crawford said. "The
quality of this year's crop of proposals bodes well for advancing our
understanding of the Navy's history."
For more information on the academic opportunities NHHC
offers visit http://www.history.navy.mil/prizes/prizes.htm .
The Naval History and Heritage Command, located at the
Washington Navy Yard, is responsible for the preservation, analysis, and
dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage. It provides the knowledge
foundation for the Navy by maintaining historically relevant resources and
products that reflect the Navy's unique and enduring contributions through our
nation's history, and supports the Fleet by assisting with and delivering
professional research, analysis, and interpretive services. NHHC is composed of
many activities including the Navy Department Library, the Navy Operational
Archives, the Navy art and artifact collections, underwater archeology, Navy
histories, nine museums, USS Constitution repair facility and the historic ship
Nautilus.
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