Digesting History: The U.S. Naval War College, the Lessons of World War Two, and Future Naval Warfare, 1945-1947

摘要

The study of the history of naval warfare is an integral part of the Naval War College's educational programs. The importance of the discipline was firmly established with the foundation of the College in 1884, with the initial contributions of both the College's founder, Stephen B. Luce, and his successor as its president, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan. Historical research and analysis has continued as a recognized element of the academic life of the institution for the past 125 years. Nowhere has the history of warfare at sea been more thoroughly investigated and analyzed for the professional purposes of the U.S. Navy than at the Naval War College. Nowhere is there a more logical requirement for a corpus of relevant source materials and for an academic research department devoted to new research in naval history. On 1 January 2003, the College's Maritime History Department was established, as part of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies, to carry out this function. Predating this, a program for the publication of books and source materials on the history of naval warfare was formally established by the College in 1975, with a series known as the Naval War College Historical Monographs.