 The U.S. Naval War College is a Navy's home of thought. Established in 1884, NWC has become the center of Naval seapower both strategically and intellectually. The following issues in national security lecture is specifically designed to offer scholarly lectures to all participants. We hope you enjoy this upcoming discussion and future. Well, good afternoon. I'm Professor John Jackson and it's my pleasure to serve as coordinator for the Issues in National Security lecture series and as your emcee for today's event. For anyone just joining us, I want to reiterate that this series is designed to share a portion of the Naval War College's academic experience with the spouses and significant others of our student body and with the entire Naval War College extended family to include members of the Naval War College Foundation, international sponsors, civilian employees and colleagues throughout Naval Station Newport and around the world. We will be offering 14 additional lectures between now and May of 2021, spaced about two weeks apart. October 13th is the date of the establishment of the U.S. Navy. So today's lecture will focus on how history is used at the Naval War College. Before the lecture, however, we will share several video messages that demonstrate that we don't need to be face to face to commemorate this important birthday. Let's now look at how we celebrate a birthday COVID style. October 13th, 1775, marks the establishment of our U.S. Navy. Over 250 years ago, our Continental Congress hotly debated for 11 days over its establishment and when the dust settled, they voted to fit out two sailing vessels. Our founding leaders directed us well, but it has really been our sailors on whom the foundation of the world's greatest Navy was built, who have been the ones that stood the watch and who have been the shield for our Republic. And it has been their presence, forward deployed 24 seven, 365 days a year that has safeguarded our maritime approaches and ensured our economic prosperity. This year, we celebrate victory at sea. Victory at sea was seen 20 years ago when the USS Cole was attacked. We remember those 17 sailors lost and honor their shipmates who heroically saved lives and saved their ship. Those sailors left us a legacy of what war fighters must do in the face of adversity, persevere, fight, and win. In addition to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and those who heroically fought for their shipmates and ship, many more sailors have set an example of what unwavering commitment to excellence looks like. Diverse views and perspectives are an enabler for our sailors to achieve victory at sea. Sailors who can do the right thing carry out the right actions and be able to inspire their shipmates to do the same. Sailors who strengthen our trust and improve our performance throughout all we do. Collectively, we must continuously work to ensure that all members of our joint community can count on the respect and support of coworkers and supervisors and have an equal chance to be recognized and succeed in our workplace. I'd like to give a very special thank you to our personnel who coordinated a series of events to include bell ringing, cake cutting, historical presentations, videos, and PT events. Thank you for keeping this tradition alive, fun, and for finding so many ways to remind us of our Navy heritage. Happy birthday, United States Navy. And now another of our great traditions, the bell ringing ceremony. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the U.S. Naval War Colleges Celebration of the 245th birthday of the United States Navy. Our national anthem will now be performed by Navy Band Northeast. These birthday celebrations encompasses the traditions of honor, courage, and commitment. The value of being second to none, and the sailors who are the very foundation upon which we've built the world's greatest Navy. As directed from the bell ringing ceremony, the bell will strike nine times at 0900 local to commemorate the 245th birthday of the United States Navy. Eight bells used to signal the end of the watch represents the end of the current birthday year. As we celebrate our Navy's 245th birthday, our history and heritage forms our identity, telling us who we are and what we stand for. Our core values of honor, courage, and commitment have been passed down from our founders who charged the Navy with the solemn duty to serve as the shield of our Republic. The first real test our Navy faced was during the war of 1812. This war began at sea when United States ships were ordered to heave, too, upon the high seas and U.S. citizens were forcefully taken or impressed into the crews of other nationships. The great battles that followed proved the fighting metal of our sailors and the cutting edge of our ship designs. These battles established both free trade and free navigation as critical national interests of our country, interests that endured to this day. The warrior characteristics of cutting and boldness exhibited in 1812 inspire our sailors of today's Navy as they continue to serve around the world. The war of 1812 served as a critical turning point for our Navy. On this 245th birthday of our Navy, we have the honor to serve in the greatest maritime fighting force the world has ever seen, but we do so with humility, continuing to build upon the framework of those fighting sailors forged before us. History teaches us that with great power comes great responsibility. From the great captains and crews who fought single ship actions in 1812, to the commerce raiders of the Civil War. From the convoys of World War I, to the major fleet actions at Coral Sea and Midway. From the blockade of Cuba in October of 1962, to the rivering operations on the Tigris and Euphrates. Our Navy has boldly and proudly put our shoulder to a wheel. We have championed peace and we continue to shield the Republic. Here is to 245 years of proud naval heritage and many more. The single bell traditionally used to signal the start of a new watch represents the start of a new year, our 246th. We will now turn it back over to the president of the U.S. Naval War College, rear Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, for our cake cutting ceremony. Cake cutting ceremonies have become an important part and one of my favorite parts of our Navy culture. By tradition, the first piece of cake is presented to the oldest sailor present, signifying the honor and respect accorded to experience and seniority. Our oldest sailor present is Captain John Jackson, United States Navy retired, who first joined the Navy in 1969. He was commissioned in June of 1971 and continued on active duty until 1998. He has served at the Naval War College since 1996. He was born in February of 1949. Symbolically, the eldest sailor present passes a piece of cake to the youngest sailor present. Just as for years, our experienced sailors have nurtured and led young sailors who will fill our ranks and renew our Navy. The youngest sailor present this afternoon is BM2 Allen Clemson. He was born November 1995 and enlisted in the Navy on 10 March, 2015. It is customary at Navy birthday celebrations worldwide to cut a traditional cake in celebration of the birth of our Navy. The birthday cake is traditionally cut with a sword as a reminder that we are a band of warriors committed to carrying arms so that our nation may live in peace. That cake looks delicious and I wish you were all here to enjoy it and celebrate with me 245 years of U.S. Naval power. Now please direct your attention to our U.S. Navy leaders for a few reflective thoughts. To our sailors, civilians, and proud Navy families, happy 245th birthday. Through your service and excellence, each of you forges the next link in our chain, extending from the days of our Navy's birth during the American Revolution to many challenges we face around the world today. 75 years ago, our Navy achieved a great and unprecedented victory at sea in the Pacific. The conflict that began right here at Pearl Harbor was secured in victory through the determination and skill of every sailor who stepped forward to defend our nation in its hour of need. It took all hands to achieve such a hard fought victory that was never fully assured. Those who went before us took to the sea, the skies and the depths of the oceans in order to preserve our nation for us and succeeding generations. They served through adversity, far from home with some never returning. Their lasting memorial is the world they created, the world that you now stand to protect and your service to our nation. I am honored to stand with you in that mission. Thank you for all that you and your families do for our Navy and our country. And on behalf of the American people, bravo Zulu to each of you. Happy birthday, Navy. Shipmates, C&O Gilday here with my wife Linda. This year, we're celebrating the Navy's 245th birthday virtually around the world together. Although this year's birthday celebration may be a bit different than in years past, we can all be so proud of two and a half centuries of tradition and the men and women who continue to build our Navy's legacy along with honoring those family members and loved ones who stand beside them each and every day. Today, sailor stand on watch from the Western Atlantic to the South China Sea and from the high North to the South Pacific. Your Navy enables prosperity, 247, 365 at home and abroad by helping keep the maritime commons open and free. And I promise you that our allies and our partners as well as our fellow Americans all sleep better because you are out there. Our birthday is an important occasion because we celebrate our rich past, toaster shipmates accomplishments today and also look forward to our Navy's very bright future ahead. The Navy needs you to be the best that you can be, to serve others, to be courageous, and to never forget that America has a great Navy. Happy 245th birthday, Navy family. See you in the fleet shipmates. Well, I don't know where they found that old guy to cut the cake, but he managed to do it without injuring anybody, so that's a positive thing. That great video package is the culmination of a great deal of work by a creative team of faculty and staff and the skillful editing by our talented public affairs folks. So I just commend them for that great work that they did. And I encourage all of you to stay connected after the formal lecture to see how the college celebrated its 136th birthday several weeks ago. Okay, let's proceed to the main event. This afternoon, we're pleased to welcome Dr. David Conan, the Kitteridge Scholar for War Studies and Maritime History here at the Naval War College. He holds a BA degree from the University of Iowa, master's degrees from Old Dominion University in the Naval War College, and a PhD from King's College in London. For many years, he proudly wore navy blue and gold as a naval officer, retiring as a commander. He is the author of several highly regarded books and we all anxiously await his upcoming book about Admiral Ernest J. King to be published next year by the US Naval Institute. As a reminder, during the formal presentation, please submit any questions you may have using the Zoom chat function. Dr. Conan, over to you, sir. Thank you so much, John, and happy Navy birthday. I went ahead and wore my happy Navy birthday jacket for the presentation today. And with all that, I'll go ahead and get started. Sharing the screen. So I wanna start off by just saying that history is part of the tradition of the Naval War College and the Naval War College happens to be located in one of the most historic areas in the continental United States, right here in Newport, Rhode Island on the Great Narragansett Bay. And what you see on my title slide is actually what we believe to really be the first Navy jack that was flown by the United States Navy, or I'm sorry, the Continental Navy. Usually you see a snake on that, but in fact, the snake flag is a concoction from the 19th century. So this is actually the flag that was flying on most of your Navy ships during the Revolutionary War. And that's kind of important when we think about how history is remembered on birthdays and things like that. So a couple of years ago, the Chief of Naval Operations directed that the United States Navy study its history in order to learn the lessons, hard fought lessons that were learned in past wars. And he made a point to point out that the Naval War College was at the cutting edge of that narrative in terms of learning from history. He even quoted Alfred Thayer Mahan, two-time Naval War College president. But the key point that he made in his strategy from 2016 at least was understand the lessons of history so as not to relearn them. And it's for those reasons that the Naval War College sort of resurrected an idea by organizing a center called the, we call it the Hattendorf Historical Center. And the purpose of the Hattendorf Historical Center is to actually do original documentary research on topics that are of interest to the United States Navy of the 21st century. The center is named after none other than Lieutenant John Hattendorf who came to the Naval War College during the Vietnam War era and served at the college as the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History for many, many years. He's now an emeritus professor at the college and remains a very influential historian on the college, but more importantly worldwide, which is why we decided to go ahead and christen the new Hattendorf Historical Center after a product of the institution itself. John is also somebody who went on to earn his PhD at Oxford because Stansfield Turner sponsored that during the quote, unquote, Turner Revolution in the 70s. And John has become so accomplished in the world that he does have a PhD above a PhD from Oxford University known as a D. Lit. So these are the types of scholars that have come to the Naval War College and really have made a mark. So based upon John's example more recently, we built the Hattendorf Center off of a model that actually existed a century ago at the Naval War College. Upon returning from the First World War, it was William S. Sims during his second tenure as a president of the Naval War College who said, we're going to organize all of our historical assets on the college and we're going to draw from those assets to learn lessons based upon our experiences in past wars, not just the American Revolution, not just the Civil War and not just the First World War. We're going to study global maritime history for the purposes of informing future American Naval strategy. And Sims based his whole organization on a model that he saw in London that Sir Julian Corbett was running in the Imperial War staff. So when he came home from the First World War, he directed his chief of staff for strategy, Captain Dudley Knox, who had run his planning section in London during the First World War to organize the historical section by harnessing the documents, the three dimensional artifacts, some of the artwork that was around campus and organized the historical section for the purposes of informing the future curriculum. Now this is a century ago after the First World War. So Dudley Knox recognized that this was going to be a big job. So they recruited the intelligence officer who had served in London with Sims and Knox, Tracy Barrett Kittridge, to help organize the historical section. And it was with Kittridge and Knox that they actually infused history into the curriculum of the Naval War College in a very visceral way. So they were studying the history through books and writing theses and that sort of thing. But they were then wargaming on the floors of Loose Hall. And you see a picture of that activity happening roughly 1920 timeframe in Loose Hall, not in Pringle Hall, but Loose Hall. And a century later, we went ahead and replicated the techniques in Mahan Hall. So when you go to campus, there's a lot of history just existing on the campus itself that is reminiscent of the past, but also helps us understand what's in the present context. When we look at these wargames, what they're really trying to do is understand the decision-making process, the role of logistics, the role of intelligence. And by playing those games out on the gaming floors of the Naval War College, they were able to glean practical lessons from history for application in future naval operations. Our collection is one of the most significant historical collections in the United States. And when the museum does reopen, we have one of my favorite artifacts is the sword from Lieutenant Alfred Thayer Mahan, which is prominently on display in the museum, which is also the original building of the Naval War College. Our documentary collections are also expansive. So when we wanna do historical research on why people made decisions the way they did at the time in past battles, let's say, for example, Jutland, we have the ability to go into our collection and actually look at some of the original source material and then examine why people made the decisions that they made maybe over a century ago so that we can apply those lessons to future tactics, techniques, and procedures in a very strategic way. The thesis from Ernest J. King is probably one of our best products of the institution in the sense that what King wrote about was the integration of strategy in the formulation of national policy. So when you look at a theme like that, he wrote it in 1932, it was actually submitted in 33. When you look at a theme like that, that's a theme that is directly applicable to the questions that the U.S. Navy is dealing with to this day in the 21st century and beyond. As part of our ongoing efforts to mobilize the historical resources of the Naval War College, we've actually developed a very close partnership with the Lawton Naval History Unit at King's College, London, which is a war studies department activity. Andrew Lambert, the Lawton Professor, has loomed very large in influencing contemporary concepts of naval strategy by using history, by using the past to inform contemporary perspectives on future debates, because the future is yet to be written. Okay, so since it's the Navy's birthday, I'm going to go ahead and talk about why it's the Navy's birthday. And let me just say, it's a birthday that has had a tradition for a long period of time, but it all kind of starts with the American Revolution. And here we have Horatio Nelson, and this is a quote, I cannot abide these American traders. It's interesting because Horatio Nelson looms very large in the history of the Naval War College in the sense that they studied Nelson's example and his decision-making process in the early curriculum of the Naval War College. Specifically, Alfred Therreméhan looked at the Trafalgar Campaign as a main focus of his book, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. So Nelson does loom very large in the history of the United States Navy, in the sense that he looked at the Americans as treasonous Yankees who needed to be suppressed for the benefit of Britannia, of course. And we all know that Nelson goes on to do great things in other battles. He does the Battle of Copenhagen, the Nile, and of course Trafalgar. But he was operating in American waters during the early phases of American rebellion. Right here in the Narragansett Bay in the period following the French and Indian War, known in Europe, of course, as the Seven Years War. Right here in the Narragansett Bay there were a number of incidents where the Yankees didn't want to pay their taxes to the crown because wars are expensive and the king wanted to pay for that war that they needed to fight in order to defend the American colonies against the foreign aggressors, the French and the Indians who were threatening the interests of the colonies. And of course, that's very expensive. But the Americans didn't want to pay those taxes. So John Hancock up in Boston said, you know, I'm just not going to pay it. And there were a couple of incidents involving British flagged merchant ships and naval ships that were moored at Goat Island right in the center of the Narragansett Bay. Right, the Naval War College overlooks. And that's also later on where the torpedo station exists. But the HMS St. John and the HMS War were both burned by Yankee colonists who went on board and basically sank the ships in protest to the British quote-unquote occupation, even though we were a colony. Of course, this gets us to the precursors to the Boston massacre. And famously, the British regiment came to suppress a mob that was throwing snowballs at the British garrison in Boston. And of course, there were probably rocks and the snowballs and that sort of thing. And at some point, somebody said fire and the Boston massacre unfolded 1770. And John Adams actually defended the British soldiers who were involved with that. And it's all happening right in this area of the United States. And we can't forget John Adams' brother, Samuel, who famously did the Gaspi adventure where a vessel coming up the Narragansett Bay sailing past Newport and heading up towards Providence was intercepted by a group of sons of Liberty who were affiliated with Samuel Adams and they went on board the Gaspi and burned the ship. So rebellion is developing here in these waters around the Naval War College today. And these are the very early beginnings of the US Navy. So it's poor old Scotsman, Lieutenant Duttingdon who is taken on board the Gaspi by the sons of Liberty. And we can see some pretty prominent Rhode Island names. John Brown, Abraham Whipple, Eesa Hopkins' brother John are involved with all of this. And every year to this day, we celebrate the Gaspi days here in Rhode Island in June or so. So this gets you to the incident up in Boston, the Boston Tea Party, where the sons of Liberty go aboard a vessel laden with tea and they throw the tea into the water in protest to the British crown. And of course, the British don't really take well to that and they come to America with additional forces to suppress the Yankee rebels. Among others, Nathaniel Green of Warwick is raising Rhode Island regiment. And of course, our friend Benedict Arnold from Up the Road in Norwich is raising a regiment in the area as well in 1775. Now he is all, Benedict Arnold is also the grandson of a Rhode Island state governor of the same name. So there are interesting Rhode Island connections to the early beginnings of the US Navy, so to speak. Now, Abraham Whipple is probably one of the more important figures in the organization of what became the Continental Navy. And he's from Providence, Rhode Island. And we can't forget Issa Hopkins, who's from right up the road in situate. So the American Revolution is coming together right here in Rhode Island. And it's in these waters that the early Seniors of the US Navy are really sort of established, at least from a public memory and tradition standpoint. And they're operating these privateers going out and intercepting British flagged vessels and taking the cargo and exploiting the opportunity to make money. This is also a situation where by running a state Navy, you also need to re-equip the state Navy. And so Abraham Whipple and Issa Hopkins and Rhode Island assembly went to the governor of Rhode Island, Nicholas Cook, and asked for more money. And of course he didn't have it. They were actually printing their own money for the purposes of having an economy in a period of burgeoning revolution against the crown. And so what Nicholas Cook did is he went to the Continental Congress and requested money from the Continental Congress. The colonial assembly passed a resolution here in Rhode Island on the 26th of August, 1775, in which they said that they required a certain amount of money in order to support the Rhode Island state Navy. And the Continental Congress said, well, we've got all these other navies around that we have to finance. And the Great British Navy is sitting right off the coast. And so rather than fund individual state navies, the Continental Congress went ahead in October of 1773, 1775, established a Continental Navy. And here you see the Marine Committee gathering to discuss how much it was all going to cost. So this is the birth of the Continental Navy, 13 October, 1775. The U.S. Navy comes along a little bit later. And it's all about the development of sea power from a colonial perspective, not for the purposes of having a separate navy away from the empire, but primarily to get a better negotiating position with the British. And it's the Continental Navy that really sets the precedent for what would later become the United States Navy. And you can see that there's various uniforms that are approved as part of the acts of 13 October, 1775. And then of course the U.S., the Continental Navy goes through various phases and there's different flags that they ended up using as well. The one in the middle actually is the one that is most widely recognized as being associated with a brigand coming from a slave ship called the Betsy. His name was John Paul. And there was an uprising on board the vessel and John Paul ended up murdering somebody on that vessel. And that was coincident with the establishment of the Continental Navy. And so when the Continental Navy was looking for new recruits with seagoing experience, John Paul turned out to be a pretty good select for service in the Continental Navy. He was of course an outlaw because he had been involved with the death of a fellow sailor on board a ship. And so he took on the name John Paul Jones and he became an officer, a lieutenant in this new Continental Navy and was involved with raising the first flag on board an American warship, the Alfred. And of course the Continental Congress was trying to save money by consolidating all of the different state navies informing the Continental Navy, but they're bringing as many sailors as they could possibly can from wherever they can get them. And John Paul Jones of course is most famously remembered as the quote unquote of the United States Navy. And here we see a copy of his commission signed by John Hancock. Again, his real name is John Paul and he's actually Scottish. So when he does come to the United States, I'm sorry, the Continental, the colonial from the empire, the colonies and volunteers for the Continental Navy, he takes on this other name, John Paul Jones. And it's round about this time, 4th of July, 1776 that the United States, I'm sorry, the Continental Congress decided to go ahead and declare independence completely from the empire. And this is the birth of course of our United States eventually with the end of the American Revolution. John Paul Jones goes on to France and actually becomes very famous as a pirate. He's marauding in British waters, taking the fight to the enemy quote unquote, the British. And in 14 February, 1778, he's sailing an American built ship called the Ranger into Ciberan Bay in France. And that's when the first foreign Navy rendered the first salute to an American warship. In 1778, the skipper was John Paul Jones. And again, in British terms, John Paul Jones is nothing more than a Scottish born pirate, a brigand who needs to be apprehended and of course arrested for his piracy on the high seas. His image of course is complicated in the sense that from a British perspective, of course he's a pirate, but from an American perspective, he has a different sort of image that is created. He's a gentleman, he's a lieutenant in Thomas Jefferson's house at Monticello. He has four statues, one of them is a bust rendered by Houdan of John Paul Jones. And so in the United States, John Paul Jones becomes this sort of figure who represents heroism on the high seas. And it's the stories of John Paul Jones, a battle of flamboyant head where in the battle, he's on board a ship called the Bonhomme Richard, which is an old East Indian and not very serviceable. And he gets into a battle with a ship, the Serapis. And at the time, the Bonhomme Richard was really not fit to go against the Serapis. Serapis ended up defeating Bonhomme Richard. The ship was sinking from under the feet of John Paul Jones. And famously, he supposedly said, I have not yet begun to fight when the British skipper asked him if he wanted to surrender. Now in truth, what he really said was probably charge. And he ended up charging onto the Serapis and they took the Serapis. And that was the birth of a lot of mythology surrounding John Paul Jones when he took the Serapis. So John Paul Jones goes on to become this sort of symbol of American Yankee naval will, if anything. It's not much of a sea power. The United States is really a colonial power that has seagoing connections with the British Empire, but it's not really a sea power in any way. In fact, it's really just a colony. Once the United States is created from the treaty established between the British Empire and the United States, it's hard going. But John Paul Jones, of course, has this sort of image as an American hero. There's no money to keep a Navy, unfortunately. And so the Continental Congress did dissolve the US Navy in John Paul Jones, even though he's a hero and he's hanging around with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. There's no money for a Navy. And so he ends up out of a job and ultimately ends up going to the Imperial Russian Navy where he becomes an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy. Eventually he ends up back in Paris, 1794, where he dies. Now, even though the Continental Navy was dissolved and that Navy that we talked about being established in October of 1775 and we're celebrating today with the Navy's birthday, even though that Navy was actually dissolved at the end of the American Revolution, the Revenue Cutter Service continued. It was established in August of 1790. And of course, the reason why the Revenue Cutter Service was so important was for the Continental, the development of trade along the American coast and the protection of that trade. So where does this October 1775 date come from for the US Navy? Well, it really originates with the Barbary pirates in the Corsairs over in Africa. American flag ships were being boarded by the Barbary pirates and sailors were being taken off those ships. And so as a result of all of that, the Corsairs taking American goods and personnel. In the United States Congress, there was a lot of debate about the importance of having a Navy because those Corsairs were interdicting American trade. So because of that, it was actually on the 27th of March, 1794 that the Navy Act was passed in Congress in order to meet the threat of the Barbary pirates. And so George Washington said, well, okay, we'll build a United States Navy. And he signed that into law on the 1st of April, 1794. It says 1994, I don't know why. But it's 1794, 1st of April that six frigates for the United States Navy would be constructed in order to meet the threat of the Barbary pirates. Now, this is a world that is still ruled by Britannia. Those six frigates are fast, they deliver a punch and they're built relatively quickly. But those six frigates have a checkered history. Only three actually end up surviving for any period of time, the Constitution being the most famous of that number, six frigates. And it's during the War of 1812 that you actually are defeated by British sea power. When the United States found itself facing the Royal Navy in the War of 1812, basically what ends up happening is the Royal Navy establishes a pretty firm blockade along the American coast. And as a result of that, the United States was really constrained in the War of 1812 and ultimately is defeated at sea. And there's really very few options other than to negotiate a treaty. It wasn't really a surrender as much as it was everybody got tired of fighting. And so in 1814, the United States entered a treaty with Britain, but one of the six frigates that were constructed under George Washington's presidency, HMS president or USS president was actually captured in the War of 1812, unfortunately. And the HMS president was established as a warship of the Royal Navy in 1815. So it's almost a British way of saying, sorry, you lost that war. And the British were so nice that they went ahead and renovated our White House for us as well during the War of 1812. So a victory of sorts, but I'm not sure who actually won per se. Now it's those heroic battles of the War of 1812 that does inspire a lot of mythology about American naval prowess on the high seas. And it's Oliver Wendell Holmes who writes a famous poem in the 1830s about the famous warship Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution. And at the time the Constitution was pretty much run down and Holmes was so upset at seeing the hulk of the Constitution that he was moved to write this poem. And that ended up inspiring a lot of Americans to donate money to save the Constitution, the hulk of the Constitution. So it's this sort of mix of mythology, history, interesting personalities that inspires a lot of Americans to start thinking about their role in the world, which is basically ruled by British sea power. And of course the Constitution is still with us today as a symbolic reminder of these early times in American sea power, but it is a British world. And the British had been running global economic affairs for a long period of time, ever since the marriage of Catherine of Braganza to Charles II. And by the mid 19th century, the British Empire is essentially unmatched by any other shower. So it's this idea of sea power that is really kind of coming out of the British tradition more so than the United States. So when we're thinking about American sea power, it is the British model that is the inspiration for a lot of American naval thinkers. So the American Civil War of the 1860s is really kind of a turning point in American thinking about global maritime power. And it's coming out of that Civil War. Emery Upton, for example, of the US Army recognizes that the transcontinental railroad is going to be established over in Europe. Germany was established through a series of very short and decisive wars. And so he went to Europe and studied the German models. He also went to other parts of the world and studied other military models of organization. And he came home and he bumped into a guy named Stephen B. Luce. And Emery Upton and Stephen B. Luce had a conversation about Upton's travels to Europe. And one of the things that Upton talked about was this German idea of a war college, a Creeks Academy. And he said, it's a very handy sort of thing to have because you can go to the Creeks Academy and study war for the purposes of waging war more efficiently and more decisively. Stephen B. Luce said that that was a very interesting idea. And of course, that sort of inspired Stephen Luce to start thinking about how education could be mobilized as a means to improve efficiency within the ranks of the United States Navy. And it's after the Civil War that the United States Navy is starting to build vessels made with steel armor and steel armor. Coal fired, it's still limited by sale capability. And of course, the guns onboard these ships are they're playing with rifle gunnery which gives you greater accuracy. But very few people had a good idea of how to use all of these technologies in unison and Stephen B. Luce said we need to start training sailors to specialize in individual trades that are germane to seagoing operations. And this is actually the fleet of transition as they call it the squadron of evolution in 1889. And these vessels are sort of the prototypes for what was to come later on with the Great White Fleet. Stephen B. Luce looked at the enlisted ratings as being crucial to running those warships of increasingly advanced technologies. And it's Stephen B. Luce who really presses for the establishment of a chief's mess later on on the 1st of April, coincident with the establishment of the United States Navy in 1794. The 1st of April, 1893 is the birthday for the chief's mess. So the interesting connection there in terms of Navy birthdays is April Fool's Day is the birthday that most naval personnel understood before the 13th of October was established later on as the Navy birthday. Stephen B. Luce is all about educating sailors to be able to operate these machines of great complexity and new technologies always being introduced. And Stephen B. Luce is leading the charge in the education of American practitioners both enlisted and of course officer as well. He's corresponding with Professor John Knox Lawton of King's College London. And John Knox Lawton is over at King's College teaching the Royal Navy how to think strategically. He's educating British naval officers to thinking global terms from a maritime approach. It's not just a military type of thing from John Knox Lawton's point of view. It's about economy and it's about sea power and naval strategy does not require a war in order to execute naval strategy. And these are ideas that John Knox Lawton is sharing with Stephen B. Luce. So there's a lot going on in Stephen B. Luce's head in the late 1870s into 1880s. He's got the influence of Emory Upton. He's got the influence of technology. He's got efforts to educate enlisted sailors already happening in the Narragansett Bay Area. And he's getting this correspondence from John Knox Lawton to up his game in terms of strategic education. And this is why Stephen B. Luce acquired a vacated building on Coasters Harbor Island, which was earlier used as a place for those who could not pay their taxes. The building was empty, so Stephen B. Luce got a very good deal on purchasing the building. And that is where he ended up establishing the Naval War College as early as 1884. There was a lot of discussion about what the War College was going to be all about, but one of the key factors in the early curriculum of the Naval War College as envisioned by Stephen B. Luce is history. His writing is outstanding, and most millennials, this is known as millennial encryption, the way in the 21st century context. The handwriting style is difficult to read, but one of the key things that he mentions in his orders to establish the Naval War College is the study of military science, but also of naval history as a key theme in the curriculum of the Naval War College. So not only is technology and education intertwined with the discussion of military science, but also history and sea power are ideas that are starting to bubble up. Stephen B. Luce hired a historian to actually help develop that curriculum, and James Shouly actually carried a naval rank. There was a rank known as Professor US Navy. He actually appeared in the books, the Naval Register, in the rank of Professor. And James Shouly helped Stephen B. Luce develop his early curriculum for history at the Naval War College, and Shouly's influence is pretty profound. He goes on to help develop policy at the Navy Department as well. History is an important part of that. To get a little additional help, he also recruited a number of other naval officers to the task. Most famously, the guy in the middle is Alfred Thayer Mahan, who's the son of Dennis Hart Mahan, who taught at West Point military science and history before the Civil War. And so Mahan is sort of coming out of that a family of educators who grew up at West Point, and then during the Civil War served in the United States navies. So when Stephen B. Luce wanted to get additional assistance to deliver this historical curriculum, he recruited Mahan. Samson is also part of this. He's the one with the great beard there. Among other things that they're doing in the early curriculum is studying those past battles. They're looking at the American Revolution, trying to see lessons from the American Revolution. How did the Continental Navy actually succeed? How did Nelson win that battle of Trafalgar? And of course, the American Civil War, more recently from their point of view, was providing a lot of lessons learned for application and future conflicts. Here we see Mahan from his famous book, The Influence of Seapower Upon History, talking about the importance of history. Conditions and weapons may change, but to cope with one or the other successfully, one must study history. He talks about the vague feeling of contempt among naval officers who do not recognize the value of history because they think that technology is just going to overtake the lessons that exist just beneath the surface of naval history. Mahan is saying, no, you have to study the past in order to understand how to use that technology most effectively and efficiently in future wars. He goes on to write a number of books about technology from sail to steam, talks about the transitions from sail to new technology in coal, steam-fired warships. He talks about strategic issues like the problem of Asia. This is probably one of the more interesting books that Mahan wrote. The problem of Asia is actually talking about the opportunities that exist in the Asian continent for the United States. He's also looking at the challenges in getting access to Asia because the other European empires had already been well established. And so the United States has sort of, Johnny come lately to the question of seapower. You have the transcontinental railroad established shortly after the Civil War. You have American merchant shipping that gives you the capability of getting to Asia but getting into those ports and getting into those markets is very difficult. And that's what Mahan is writing about in the problem of Asia. He also talks about the future from the standpoint of coal becoming increasingly outdated. Now, you've made this transition from sail to steam using coal, but Mahan is already anticipating as early as 1903, the future transition to oil. And it's Mahan right here at the Naval War College thinking about the future who coins this phrase in an article, the Persian Gulf and international relations. He coins the phrase quote, the Middle East if I may adopt a term which I have not seen. So in those days, you have the British Near East and the British Far East. Mahan creates this idea of the Middle East and of course, we're all familiar with that region in the contemporary context. But the term itself, Middle East comes arguably from here in Newport, Rhode Island or at least Alfred there Mahan. So when we look outward to this oily world that we have as a future of 100 years ago or so, the United States Navy is still in this phase of transition from coal to oil when Mahan is anticipating that transition in his writings. So he's looking at history as the foundation for anticipating the future. And that's really the key, the applied methodology that Mahan brings to the table. And this methodology is also a method that Theodore Roosevelt embraced in looking at the global mission of the United States. He starts to recognize the corollary to what was known as the Monroe Doctrine where he says that the United States has interests in places like Asia, but also in Europe. And the corollary to the Monroe Doctrine is we're going to build a Navy that is capable of operating in the global commons on par with other navies of the world. He even talks about the War of 1812 in very sort of optimistic terms. Of course, the British point of view is that the British won the War of 1812. Teddy Roosevelt takes the other approach and says that the United States actually won. But he writes a great history of the War of 1812, but for what purpose? The purpose was for him to demonstrate the importance of building a future Navy second to none. So it's history that's wrapped up in all of this great sort of story of American sea power. And Mahan is obviously looking to Britain for the example. In his famous work, most famous work, the influence of sea power upon histories, he's looking primarily at Nelson as an example to replicate the American model of sea power. And Teddy Roosevelt agrees, Nelson's a good model to sort of rally support among the Americans, but who would be the American Nelson? Teddy Roosevelt is asking American naval practitioners for an equivalent to a Nelson. And eventually, Teddy Roosevelt settled on that Scotsman I was mentioning earlier, John Paul, otherwise known as John Paul Jones. And of course, I mentioned earlier that he died in 1794 in Paris. And so they didn't know where he was exactly. And Teddy Roosevelt said, well, go get him. And they ended up going to find a corpse in Paris. And they took a bust that was rendered of John Paul Jones in his life. There's the bust rendered by Houdon. And you can see that they found somebody roughly of the same size. And Teddy Roosevelt there speaking over the corpse, which is in the coffin in April of 1906 on the grounds of the Naval Academy. And there's John Paul Jones. They basically dug up a body in Paris and they compared that body to the Houdon boss in Paris and they said, that's him. So when we go to the Naval Academy today, the person on the right hand side of the slide is actually the one in the crypt at the Naval Academy. And they were able to identify him by comparing him with the Houdon boss. And there's the crypt, of course, completed in 1914 at the United States Naval Academy. So you can see the history is wrapped around the whole concept of American sea power in multiple different ways. Some of it is true. A lot of it is mythology. The truth of the history is actually more interesting in many respects. John Paul Jones looms very large in the mythology of the United States Navy, but he also does provide practical lessons for those of us who are trying to understand the idea of sea power. Another statue that exists of him, of course in Washington DC is right down by the mall. And you can go see it to this day, but it was dedicated by George Dewey, interestingly enough, back in October of 1912. And this is right on the cutting edge. That transition from coal to oil is happening coincident with the resurrection of John Paul Jones. The Panama Canal is completed in 1914. And that is a strategic development on the global stage. So with the United States Navy transitioning from coal to oil, with the establishment of the Panama Canal by 1914, the US Navy is developing significant advantages in relations to other navies of the world on the cutting edge of technology during the First World War era. So these dates, April and October, which one is the birthday of the US Navy? April 1st, technically speaking, is the day that George Washington signed the US Navy into existence. But October of 1775 is when the Continental Navy, a totally different Navy altogether, was established by the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress. So how is it that the 13th of October is the United States Navy's birthday? To get to that answer, we have to sort of go back to First World War I era when, sorry, First World War era, when William Sims returns from service in Europe as the first real combined commander running US naval operations in European waters. He's the first American to have command of foreign warships. And he, based upon that experience, came back to the Naval War College in 1919 for a second tenure as president of Naval War College. Here you can see the rise of Sims. He leaves from the Naval War College in April of 1917 technically as a two-star appointed in March of 1917. He actually achieves the rank of four-star Admiral by December of 1918. So that's a pretty rapid rise. But he takes the motion of two stars to come back to the Naval War College because he believes that history is important. He also believes that the Naval War College is an important place to mobilize the lessons of history. The experience of the First World War is also important in the sense that the Americans adopt British visions of sea power, not only from the concept of looking at the stage as a maritime stage, but also in the fashion. You can see during the First World War, the transition from the high-collared jackets to the classic double breasted jacket, which is coincident with the transition of American sea power from being more of a continental focus to a global focus, which is actually happening in the period after the First World War. There you see the First Sea Lord, Beatty, on the left-hand side, the British and Ernest King on the other, a five-star Admiral, striking the same pose. And of course, he knew Beatty when he served in the First World War. And so it's interesting that King actually mimics the British approach when posing for cameras as well. It's also British thinking that influences the establishment of the historical section. Sims brings that idea back from Britain from the First World War experience, mobilizing historical research for an applied purpose. If lines of battleships line up, what happens if an aircraft carrier is used as part of the fleet? What happens if an airplane flies over the fleet? What can we learn from history about how we can maneuver those fleets in relation to these new technologies? And they're experimenting with these ideas on the gaming floors and in the thesis writing that was done by practitioners here at the Naval War College. Dudley Knox looks back to the past for the lessons that can be applied to future American naval strategy. And one of the more interesting books that Dudley Knox wrote, again, an alum of the Naval War College and also an important figure in the history of American seapower in his own right. He looks back to George Washington and he says in 1932 that George Washington understood seapower because he knew how to use seapower to greatest effect. And what Knox ends up writing about is how the French Navy provided George Washington the final knockout punch at the Battle of Virginia Capes. And it's the use of seapower that ended up enabling George Washington to succeed ashore. And that's the gist of Dudley Knox's argument in anticipation of the 1920s and 30s when the United States Navy really had to try and rekindle support for the Naval service in a period of depression and also of international treaty limits. So under the League of Nations and Washington Naval Treaty, US Navy was constrained from building warships and there was a ratio limiting the United States Navy. So they took ships that were half constructed like the Battlecruiser Lexington, basically chopped them in half and turned them into aircraft carriers as a loophole in the treaty provisions. So Navy Day is actually in October 1903, the US Naval League established Navy Day and Navy Day was meant to be a celebration of the United States Navy. And they every year conducted Navy Day on the 27th of October. So this Navy birthday, where is that coming from? That's really a new tradition that was established more recently. It's coming out of Franklin Roosevelt's effort to sort of celebrate the US Navy on Navy days. He uses history to illustrate the importance of seed power. The quasi-war with France, for example, is published in 1997 and coincident with the quasi-war in France as compiled by Dudley Knox, who you see with Roosevelt there, the guy that wrote the Naval genius of George Washington. The reason why that book was written was because Roosevelt wanted to educate the American population about the role of navies, not in fighting wars, but in avoiding wars. The quasi-war with France was his way of saying, by having a Navy second to none, other nations around the world will not threaten the United States. Of course, that did not work out and in December of 1941 with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was thrust into a war of unprecedented proportion. And it's during the Second World War that this vision of a United Nations comes together. And as part of that, the United States Navy is a key part of the development of Roosevelt's dream of a United Nations. And this is really the transition of British seed power to American seed power during the Second World War. The amalgamation of maritime powers in the Second World War. And it's at the Naval War College that Franklin Roosevelt looks to the staff and the thinkers who are coming out of the War College to think about new ways of executing combined strategy to safeguard American interests, not just with the US Navy, but with the combined forces of the British, the French, the Dutch, and et cetera. The Naval War College continued to develop these ideas and in 1969 Dudley Knox inspired Richard S. Bates and John Nicholas Brown to form a foundation in 1969 to safeguard a lot of the collections here at the Naval War College. And here you can see the purpose of the foundation was established to do just those things, to safeguard, but also to develop new history for application in future wars. So here's the answer. Why we have the Navy's birthday on the 13th of October, it's Elmo Zoom World. It's during that Vietnam era that the Navy's birthday is formally established on the 13th of October, 1972. But it's also the traditions, the mythology, the history, and the personalities more than 200 years ago who influence what we now understand as American sea power. And with that, thank you so much for your time. Well, David, thank you very much. That was a terrific effort to compress 245 years of Navy history in about one hour. So well done. We really only have time for about one question. One of the early questions was about the famous six frigates. And the question specifically was, where were these six frigates built? So that was a real deal for shipyards on East Coast. So they were built in Philadelphia, Boston, and they were constructed by funding provided by Congress within a very short amount of time. The Philadelphia, of course, was one of the ships that was involved with the course errors and they ended up having to go ashore and retake the ship and scuttle it. HMS president was captured by the British. And of course, that became HMS president as a symbolic reminder to the Americans that actually the British claim that they won the war of 1812. And even to this day, HMS president serves as a historic sort of reminder in the form that the name of a building HMS president, which is a headquarters for the Royal Navy even to this day. Terrific and we'll give you one more shot here. Can you talk about the degree to which naval history is interwoven into the curriculum here at the Naval War College? And what do you hope that the students take away in terms of the value of history? There's a big question and I'm giving you 10 seconds. Yeah, the value of history is that it already happened. History is there for all. It is an endless resource for anyone who's interested in understanding maritime strategy, naval operations, the art of leadership and command, questions of intelligence and logistics. It's all there for us. That's what Mahan told us in his books. Technology is the variable. Human beings are the constant. Technology will always change. History provides us with a perspective that can be applied in framing future strategies. And the one thing that I would say is that the future is yet to be written. And the people who will write that future are those who know history. Well, I once told Dr. Conan that I would buy him a drink on Navy Day. Apparently I have to do that on the 1st of April, the 13th of October, the 27th of October and maybe some other dates as well. David, once again, thank you very much for that wonderful presentation. Yes, sir, be happy. Thank you. At this point, I'd like to, Dave, if you'll stop sharing your screen, we will now take a quick look at how the Naval War College celebrated our 136th anniversary. Before we run that video, I'll just note that two weeks from now on the 27th of October, Professor Jim Holmes will discuss China's Navy, plus zombies. So you'll certainly want to tune in for that. So, Commander Ross, when you're ready to run the video, please do so, sir. We've gathered here at St. Mary's Chairchart in Smith Road, Ireland to celebrate the 136th birthday of the Naval War College at the gravesite of our founding president, very Admiral Stephen B. Loose. This will be a joyous celebration of the many accomplishments the college has achieved since Navy Secretary William E. Chandler issued General Order Number 325 on October 6th, 1884, establishing the college and assigning Commodore Loose as its first president. We will hear from several distinguished speakers, then share a traditional and festive birthday cake. We begin with Dr. John B. Hatendorf, the Ernest J. King Professor Emeritus of Maritime History. The author or editor of over 50 books, he is the namesake of the college's Hatendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research. He has been acclaimed internationally for his scholarship and was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2019. Dr. Hatendorf. It's a great pleasure to be here and to celebrate this 136th anniversary. It's very appropriate for us to be here at the grave of Admiral Loose, who fought for 20 years to get this institution established and then continued to fight for it after its establishment from 1884 until his death in 1917. Admiral Loose was the intellectual leader of the new American Navy of the late 19th century. He was the leader behind all sorts of innovations that improved the efficiency of the Navy and its preparation for war. They ranged from the establishment of the first Naval Recruit Training Station here in Newport in 1883 all the way to the concept of having a Chief of Naval Operations and the Navy General Board to think about new innovations. But the crown and the jewel in the crown of his ideas was the Naval War College, a place of education for the highest level of the naval profession. Up until his time, it was clear how an officer went from midshipman to captain in charge of the ship. But there was no place to think about the higher aspects, what one does as an Admiral and or to be an advisor to a civilian official. So the place of the War College, his idea was to think about the full nature of wars, how wars start, how wars begin, how wars can be avoided, what is the role of the Navy in peacetime, all this full range of ideas. But we had no place, there was very little literature written about that. It was difficult to persuade people to believe in that because those ideas form in a different area of knowledge. The most naval officers then, as now, were interested and devoted in technology, dealing with the means of war. He was talking about the objects of the war. That lies in the humanities and history study of political science, social sciences, understanding leadership in areas such as that. But he also wanted to make sure that while the Navy, the Navy War College was to be the home of thought, the home of theory, and home of these more abstract ideas, it was also the place where those ideas were translated into practical use. So the idea that he developed there was with naval wargate. And to use those ideas as a way of transmitting this and bring them directly to the plea. This was his concept and this was the idea when he went told in the class in 1903 of the Commodation in 1903 that the Naval War College was a place of original research on all questions relating to war and the statesmanship of the prevention of war. And it's those ideas that we continue today in all our activities, modernized, and using the latest technology and exposure to teach and to think about these things. Thank you. Thank you, John. Representing the Luce family here today is where I'm a Luce's great, great grandniece, Anne de Beau's, Jasmine. She was raised in a family steeped in two centuries and seven generations of naval tradition. In fact, she was born on the grounds of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Her professional experiences include positions with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, and as a presidential appointee within the White House during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. Anne? I am so pleased to be here. It is always a treat and always puts a great big smile on my face that I can be, at this point in time, be following in some of the tracks of my family. I almost feel like I grew up with Admiral Luce. That might sound strange, since I'm a little bit younger. But he was really the hero for my father. It was from his side of the family that Luce married into. But father, as a naval officer, always had the highest esteem for Admiral Luce. In fact, we lived in the house that we inherited from Admiral Luce's grandson, also Stephen B. Luce. And in that front hallway of a 1700 house, there was always a framed photograph of Admiral Luce when he was but a midshipman in 1841, with a straw cap and looking very young and sprightly. So when you look at his older photographs, he looks like he did get a little bit older, but he was also a little bit more seasoned. So I did always have Admiral Luce somehow in the home that I was growing up in. And when I look at him, I think of him more as a family member because my family is so naval in tradition. And when I think of his life as coming from Albany, New York, moving to Washington, D.C., his father was a clerk at the Treasury, he had no knowledge of ships whatsoever. And yet at 14, he decided he wanted to be a midshipman. And at those days, there was no Naval Academy in Annapolis. And so what he did was board ships and he sailed. And he learned the Navy firsthand from the age of 14. The Navy wasn't in such good condition during those years because after the war of 1812, everyone just decided we'll rest on our laurels and we won't really put much effort into building our Navy. And they did that all the way up to the Civil War. So it wasn't until the Civil War and the Union Navy became a strong, empowering force. And at that time, Admiral Luce, who wasn't an Admiral yet, but he was actually in Charleston and with the Battle of Charleston and with Sherman, General Sherman. After the Battle of Charleston and after the Civil War ended, he was assigned to the Naval Academy. And at that time, the Naval Academy was still here in Newport. And he loved Newport. He fell in love with Newport. And this became a place where he wanted it to become a sea port, a naval sea port. And he held onto that throughout the rest of his life. But the Navy, again, downsized. There wasn't enough money. There wasn't enough personnel. And the ships were out at sea with very little training on them. Well, Admiral Luce said, no, our officers and our personnel need to be trained. And so for over 10 years, almost 15 years, he headed up those training ships so that our young men in the Navy would have the best of the practices aboard ship. Not all of them liked him. Officers and personnel included because he wanted it done exactly the way he thought it should be. So after that, Civil War, then he's in training on ships. And then he's called to the Naval Academy. Now the Naval Academy is back in operation in Annapolis. And as John mentioned, I happened to be aboard on the Naval Academy grounds. He was there and he was a very important figure in that he was the assistant to the superintendent and having lived at the Academy for over three years as a child. Everyone knows how important the superintendent is. He then came back as commandant of midshipmen. So he had a great knowledge of how the United States Naval Academy was functioning both in Newport during the Civil War and afterwards when it went back to Annapolis. So the Navy lies stagnant until while he is professing over and over year after year that we need to build our Navy, we need to be smart. We need a smarter Navy. We need smarter officers and we need smarter protocol. Nothing really happens. It's now 1900. He's born in 1827 until Teddy Roosevelt. And Teddy Roosevelt was extremely important in building back our Navy. We won in the Spanish War. It was the Great White Fleet. He was the assistant secretary of the Navy and he plunged himself into reinvigorating a Navy. This is quite a long time after the Civil War. So there was a lot of stagnant time, but it was at this time again that Luce went back to ships. His first and first love was being aboard a ship with the crew. And at that time, when he left his last training session he came back to a Newport. It was 1884 and he said, I think now is the time that Congress is going to put together a bill that's gonna give us a Naval War College. And so it was. But he only had five years after the Naval War College was established to really dig his feet in. He was only 60 and he wanted to do much more but they sent him to sea and he didn't wanna be at sea. And he left behind his appointed captain, captain as we call him, Mahan, that may be wrong, but in the Naval Academy we called it Mahan. He left him as his kind of able assistant and he did a fantastic job and grew the Navy extremely well. So Luce ended up retiring. He retired at 62, but he had 28 more years. And for those 28 years, he never ever left his love for the Naval War College until the day he died. And he died here in Newport. He's buried here with his wife, Eliza Henley. And together they must have had an amazing career. I think they had an amazing love for each other. And what has happened since his death in 1917 has been quite remarkable because many, if you were a betting person would have said the Naval War College will never ever function. It will never last. There's not enough money. There's not enough interest. We don't want really educating all of our officers. We don't want them too smart. And everyone thought that including my uncle thought there would be no Naval War College after his death and World War I. So if he were here today, I would just say if I were in his shoes he could not be more delighted to see what has happened to this really his baby. The thing that he spent decades and decades working for. And it's come to fruition. And today is better than ever. And I'm very very proud and pleased to be here today with our Admiral Tadfield with John Jackson. And where's my friend John Hattendorf. Thank you so much for letting me say a few words. Thank you, Anne. Wonderful, wonderful remarks. Now my honor to introduce the rear Admiral Shoshana Tadfield, the 57th president of the Naval War College. She is a decorated naval aviator, seasons educator, and an officer who exemplifies the Navy's core values of honor, courage and commitment. Admiral. It is a joyous moment on this beautiful crisp fall day in the presence of rear Admiral Stephen B. Loose's resting place. And with us, it's great, great grand niece, Miss Anne DeBose Jocelyn. Thank you for your remarks and for being here with us as we celebrate the United States Naval War College's 136th birthday. Today, we seek to pay our respects to the man who set the college on the path the successors have followed for more than 13 decades. And to recall some of the highlights of this remarkable journey. It was a journey of intellectual curiosity, discovery, and concept development, all of which have helped lead our Navy and our nation to great victories. Please allow me to address our founder directly as we celebrate the accomplishments of the men and women who passed through our college since the end of the 19th century. Admiral Loose, we recall the long and difficult bureaucratic battle you fought to bring the college into existence, fighting against the less enlightened critics who believed that our Naval leaders were only built upon the sea. A marble plaque now adorns your grave site, identifying you as the intellectual leader of the modern Navy. Truer words have never been spoken. Over the decades, your college grew in size and influence far beyond, we suspect the degree that you had ever imagined. During the interwar years of the 1920s and 30s, the finest maritime mines in uniform sojourned to Newport to study subjects like history, geography, political science, technology, and leadership, all of which prepared them for the crucible of a global war of unimaginable size, scope, and ferocity. At a time when the continued existence of the democratic values we hold so dear were in doubt, the men and women who studied at your college rose to the challenge and secured freedom for generations to come. A key to the hard fought victory over tyranny was found in the alliances between like minded nations who banded together to fight the common enemy. After the war, your college established highly regarded international studies programs that brought top quality maritime leaders from dozens of nations to study together and share cultural and ethnic identities to encourage a bond of maritime security cooperation that now reaches across the seven seas to promote freedom, democracy, and economic stability. We now count 4,869 graduates of our resident programs and 44 heads of Navy today that study at your college in Newport. As the mid-century hot war came to a close, a potentially even more destructive Cold War gripped the world with the threat of nuclear annihilation always close at hand. Your college's faculty and students contributed to the body of knowledge about this existential threat and through seminars, war games, and analytical research, ideas and concepts were developed to address the issues. A series of global war games annually brought hundreds of political and military leaders together to think about the unthinkable. As the Cold War ended, a different battle was won when Congress authorized and your college achieved accreditation to award the Master of Arts degree. A member of that very first class of 1992 is today, Commander of US Indo Paycom, Admiral Phil Davidson. The college's global influence was significant at this critical time in our country's history. And while the specific challenges are different today, it continues to serve as the Navy's home of thought on a wide variety of issues. Later decades brought smaller, but still painful conflicts, which consumed the blood and treasure of America and our allies. At the turn of the new century, patriots fell in our building and fields within our nation's homeland. The ranks of the military and civilian leadership who answered this clarion call were filled with graduates of your college who had toiled in the academic vineyards of Newport to learn not what is to think, but how to think. This as much as anything is your enduring legacy. What then? What about the future? Admiral Luce, you may rest easy in this cool and pastoral setting, comfortable in the knowledge that your college is steaming smartly into the future, still solidly on the track you set for us 136 years ago. The Navy, our fellow services, inter-agency partners, maritime partners will reap the benefits of scholarly research and education, strengthened by the embrace of diversity and integrity, and with an unwavering commitment to serve as the maritime shield of this homeland. We are able to see the far horizon because we stand on the shoulders of the great leaders forged by this great college, your college. Leaders such as Nimitz, Halsey King, Spruant, Stockdale, Kerrth, Zabrowski, Breschenson, and countless others. I pledge to you that we will keep the spirit alive for future generations. May the next century be as fruitful as the previous decades. Happy birthday, Naval War College. Change. The only constant in this life is change. Continual unremitting change is the law of the universe. Stagnation means atrophy and death. It is not enough to remain abreast of the times. This college, our Naval War College, must be in the very front rank of the advanced guard of progress. So we are, and so we shall remain. Kick.