NAVADMIN 128/20
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ROUTINE
R 011834Z MAY 20 MID510001157132U
FM CNO WASHINGTON DC
TO NAVADMIN
INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC
CMC WASHINGTON DC
BT
UNCLAS
NAVADMIN 128/20
PASS TO OFFICE CODES:
FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//DNS//
MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/DNS/APR//
SUBJ//NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE IDEAS AND ONLINE RESOURCES TO SUPPORT FLEET
LEARNING AND AT-HOME EDUCATION DURING THE PANDEMIC//
REF/A/DOC/CNO FRAGO 01/2019//
REF/B/DOC/OPNAVINST 5750.4E/JUN12//
NARR/Ref (A) establishes the importance CNO Gilday places on fleet learning.
Ref (B) tasks Naval History and Heritage Command to develop lessons learned and resources to support and inform Navy operations, plans, and programs.
RMKS/1. CNO Gilday is committed to taking every opportunity during this time to support and enhance fleet learning. As he noted in FRAGO 01/2019, “Learning is the ultimate warfare enabler and the intellectual development of our Sailors provides our most critical warfighting capabilities.”
2. This NAVADMIN provides Navy leaders with ideas and online resources on how to apply naval history and heritage to increase warfighting effectiveness. It also provides resources for the at-home education of school-age children. This NAVADMIN addresses NHHC’s online resources. To easily access all these resources, visit NHHC’s website at www.history.navy.mil/about-us/for-the-fleet.html.
3. Navy leaders of all levels are encouraged to take the opportunity during this time to apply the lessons of naval history and heritage. A critical capability and indispensable leadership tool at any time, studying naval history is even more important in eras of great power competition and fundamental changes in technology that threaten to change the character of naval warfare and challenge the Navy’s ability to adapt.
a. Studying naval history sharpens the ability of Navy leaders to think critically about the future and isolate what they need to think about.
b. Examining how naval leaders confronted similar challenges and created and leveraged comparative advantages shortens learning cycles. None of today’s challenges are new: how the Navy and Marine Corps grappled with such issues in the past can and should inform decisions today.
c. Reading about how Navy leaders from Fleet Admiral Ernest King to Cook Third Class Doris Miller dealt with challenges and opportunities provides indispensable insights on how to lead.
d. Studying history yields an understanding of the Navy’s institutional beliefs, core values, and heritage of resilience that helps leaders set expectations, foster esprit de corps, and instill a warfighting ethos.
4. Ideas and Online Resources for All Navy Leaders.
a. CNO Naval History Essay Contest: Form teams to think about topics and write submissions to the 2020 CNO Naval History Essay Contest. The deadline is 31 May. (See NAVADMIN 283/19 and https://www.history.navy.mil/get-involved/essay-contest.html.) (Note: the U.S. Naval Institute also supports and sponsors other essay contests. See https://www.usni.org/essay-contests.) For ideas on topics and research resources, see NHHC’s website, particularly the Research, Visit Our Museums, and Browse By Topic tabs.
b. Professional Reading Programs: Form groups to select, read, and discuss non-fiction works and novels from the CNO’s Professional Reading Program, Commandant of the Marine Corps’ Reading List, and Coast Guard’s Reading list.
(1) For the CNO’s list, see https://www.navy.mil/ah_online/CNO-ReadingProgram/. Many of these are free at the NKO portal or logging-in to the Navy General Library Program.
(2) For the Commandant’s list, see https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list. Again, many are free (also see https://www. navymwrdigitallibrary.org/) and come in a variety of formats. For discussion guides for many of these books, see https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/usmc-reading-list/discussion-guides.
(3) The Coast Guard’s list, which includes books, blogs, podcasts, documentaries, and any other consumable media, can be found at https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Human-Resources-CG-1/Civilian-Human-Resources-Diversity-and-Leadership-Directorate-CG-12/Office-of-Leadership-CG-128/Reading-List/.
(4) To sample or borrow electronic books on current and prior professional reading lists of all the three maritime services as well as those of the Navy Surgeon General and NHHC-published books, see https://navy.libraryreserve.com/10/50/en/ProfessionalReading.htm.
c. Navy leaders are invited to enquire if authors of NHHC’s published works are available for virtual discussions. These books are free at https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/bibliographies/publications-by-the-naval-history-and-heritage-command-and-its-predecessors-a-bibliography.html. Works include: Regina Akers, The Navy’s First Enlisted Women: Patriotic Pioneers; Richard Hulver and Peter Luebke, A Grave Misfortune: The USS INDIANAPOLIS Tragedy; Norman Friedman, Winning a Future War: War Gaming and Victory in the Pacific War; Alexandra Lohse and Jon Middaugh, Operation Torch: The American Amphibious Assault on French Morocco; Norman Polmar and Edward Marolda, Naval Air War: The Rolling Thunder Campaign; and John Sherwood, War in the Shallows: U.S. Navy Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam, 1965–68. By subject, see https://www.history.navy.mil/research/publications/publications-by-subject.html.
d. Research and update the history of their unit or installation or in the case of ships, research ships whose names they now bear. For NHHC’s research guide to units, see https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/military-service-records-and-unit-histories-a-guide-to-locating-sources.html. (This page contains information for the other services’ history centers and museums.) To research a unit’s Command Operations Reports, Deck Logs, and Combat Action Reports, see https://www.history.navy.mil/research/archives.html. For summary histories of ships and squadrons, see NHHC’s respective dictionaries; look under the Research tab on the NHHC website and then select the Histories tab. COs and CMCs are encouraged to enquire if NHHC holds artifacts from their commands or organizations and how NHHC might loan them when operations return to normal. For information about NHHC’s collection of art, artifacts, and photographs, see https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections.html. NHHC has an extensive inventory of online images available for reproduction. Leaders are also encouraged to plan milestone unit anniversaries and commemorate fallen comrades and Navy-wide events like the Navy Birthday, Battle of Midway, and Vietnam War. For Navy-wide events, NHHC has online toolkits with information, graphics, and talking points; see https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/commemorations-toolkits.html. For On-This-Day notes for PODs, see https://www.history.navy.mil/today-in-history/january-1.html. NHHC can also assist PAOs to promote outreach for their unit’s commemorations; contact NHHCPublicAffairs@navy.mil.
e. Research how Navy leaders confronted similar challenges in the past, how they applied history then, and how they built esprit de corps and unit resilience. These individuals could include a ship’s namesake such as Rear Admiral Grace Hopper and Sergeant Darrell S. Cole and other notable and trail-blazing figures such as Rear Admiral Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. and Rear Admiral Alene Duerk. NHHC holds an expansive online biographies, which contains associated photos, artifacts; see https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/bibliographies.html, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/biographies-list.html, and https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl.html. NHHC also has a multi-media gallery; see https://www.history.navy.mil/news-and-events/multimedia-gallery/news-photos.html#. For files of notable figures such as U.S. presidents, SECNAVs, CNOs, MCPONs, Medal of Honor recipients, ship namesakes, and trailblazers, see https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/browse-by-topic/people.html. For oral histories, see https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/oral-histories.html.
f. Research the top three warfighting challenges your unit or warfare community may face and learn how past naval leaders addressed similar challenges. Challenges (and historical antecedents) might include: anti-access (kamikazes); expansion of threats to sea control across more domains (Soviets in the 1960s); strategic planning in a fiscally restrained era (interwar); economic warfare and strategic planning in a globalized era (Royal Navy before WWI); strategic planning amid great power competition (1980s); logistics (Pacific Campaign); forging institutional consensus (1980s); Navy-Marine Corps integration (Pacific Campaign); developing C4I and weapons systems (interwar, WWII, and Cold War); damage control (USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS); fleet response to pandemic (Spanish Influenza); fleet experimentation and concept development (interwar); irregular and riverine warfare (Vietnam and Operation Iraqi Freedom); ASW (WWII, 1960s-80s); race and gender issues (CNO Zumwalt); use of the EMS (Vietnam) and space (late Cold War); failing to learn (Operation Drumbeat, 1942); and failing to adapt (battles off Guadalcanal). For ideas, see https://www.history.navy.mil/research.html, the Online Reading Room at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room.html, and https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic.html. Leaders are invited to send lists of challenges, antecedents, and sources to NHHC for insights and recommendations.
g. Study the history of diversity in the Navy and plan commemorations IAW heritage months: African-American History (February); Women’s History (March); Asian Pacific American Heritage and Jewish American Heritage (May); Gay Lesbian Pride (June); Hispanic-Latino Heritage (September); National Disability Employment Awareness (October); and American Indian Heritage (November). For a list of resources including content support, outreach toolkits, timelines and photos, see https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/diversity.html.
5. Resources for the At-Home Education of School-Age Children.
a. USS CONSTITUTION has an online educational program called “A Sailor’s Life For Me!” See https://asailorslifeforme.org/. The program was created by the USS CONSTITUTION Museum, The National Endowment for the Humanities, and NHHC for the Bicentennial Commemoration of the War of 1812. The program won a Bronze MUSE Award from the American Association of Museums. It includes a game that entails experiencing the life of a Sailor on the fabled frigate in 1812 and for teachers and students a list of resources, lesson plans, and activities packaged for classroom integration.
b. Leaders are encouraged to use NHHC’s ten museums for online resources, exhibits, and collections, virtual tours, podcasts, and educational programs, including lessons plans, resources, and activities for school-age Americans. (There are specific programs for STEM.) Leaders are encouraged to share the below links with educators, parents, and students. (Note: the amount of online content varies between the museums. Some do not include virtual tours, while the National Naval Aviation Museum’s virtual tour is extensive.)
(1) National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Washington DC: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn.html;
(2) National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, FL (world’s third largest aviation museum): http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/;
(3) National Museum of the American Sailor, Great Lakes, IL: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmas.html;
(4) Hampton Roads Naval Museum, Norfolk, VA: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/hrnm.html;
(5) U.S. Navy Seabee Museum, Port Hueneme, CA: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/seabee.html;
(6) Submarine Force Museum and USS NAUTILUS, Groton, CT: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/subforce.html;
(7) Naval Undersea Museum, Keyport, WA: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/undersea.html;
(8) Puget Sound Navy Museum, Bremerton, WA: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/psnm.html;
(9) Naval War College Museum: RI: https://www.usnwc.edu/NWC-Museum;
(10) U.S. Naval Academy Museum: https://www.usna.edu/Museum/.
c. Leaders and their spouses are encouraged to explore the online educational programs of NHHC and its museums. NHHC’s programs include lessons plans (including STEM), resources, and activities for teachers, parents, and elementary, middle, and high school-level students. NHHC’s lesson plans have been designed by NHHC’s educators IAW the educational requirements of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, among others. (See https://www.history.navy.mil/get-involved/for-educators.html.)
d. Apart from NHHC’s website, leaders are encouraged to explore NHHC’s social media platforms, blog, and YouTube channel as well. NHHC’s Facebook page (fourth largest in the Navy) can be found at https://www.facebook.com/USNHistory/. NHHC’s Twitter account is @USNHistory and Instagram account is https://www.instagram.com/usnhistory/. NHHC’s social media platforms are currently sharing Navy-themed movies with links to its website where viewers will find information, associated naval operations, and lessons about the era in which the film is set. The Facebook site also contains an interactive live event from last summer “Ready and Resilient: The Fight to Save USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS.” NHHC’s award-winning blog is “The Sextant” (https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/about-nhhc/). NHHC-produced videos and documentaries (such as a 20-minute history of the Navy) are available on its YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/usnhistory) as well as thousands of other naval-related videos that can be used for ideas, research, and learning.
6. NHHC Contact Information. For general enquiries, contact NHHC_DAG@navy.mil. For enquires about outreach, contact NHHCPublicAffairs@navy.mil.
