Of interest to Languishites, I suspect.
QuoteThe Naval War College Library in Newport, R.I. will publicly unveil online the 4,000-page "Gray Book" collection of Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz communications that started in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack and ran right up until the closing days of the war. The event will be held Monday, Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.
The event, held on the anniversary of Nimitz' 129th birthday, will be streamed live on the Navy Live Blog (http://navylive.dodlive.mil/ (http://navylive.dodlive.mil/)). It will feature a lecture discussing the Gray Book as well as a question & answer session with U.S. Naval Academy Professor of History Emeritus Craig L. Symonds, PhD, author of numerous books including "The Battle of Midway," in which he recounts the pivotal role played by Nimitz in what was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
Viewers of the live stream will be able to submit questions via an interactive chat.
"There's perhaps no greater champion of freedom in the history of the United States Navy than Chester Nimitz and his leadership of the Pacific Fleet during World War II," said Naval War College President Rear Adm. Walter E. "Ted" Carter, Jr.
Naval History and Heritage Command's (NHHC) Operational Archives, which possesses the physical collection, provided expertise and support to the Naval War College effort to publish the high-quality digital version of the documents.
The WWII historic treasure, named for the color of its original cover, is a daily record of the combat situation in the Pacific Theater and responses of the Commander in Chief, Pacific, and Pacific Ocean Areas (Nimitz) throughout the War. Staff-member Capt. James Steele began it on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked and ended it on Aug. 31, 1945, just two days before the formal end of the war.
"I've seen the collection and it's really a national treasure," said Capt. Henry Hendrix, Ph.D., director of the Naval History and Heritage Command. "They clearly reveal what Nimitz thought was important, which gives the reader a great deal of insight into how his experiences both operationally and at the Naval War College informed and influenced his prosecution of the war. I'm extremely pleased we can now share it with researchers, the American public, and Sailors past and present. I'm eager to see the collection discussed and to demonstrate the continued relevance of leveraging history in the decision making process."
Nimitz was assigned to relieve Adm. Husband Kimmel, and arrived in Pearl Harbor on Christmas Day, 1941. Nearly three years later, he was advanced to the newly created rank of Fleet Admiral - five stars. Less than a year later, Sept. 2, 1945, he signed the instrument of the Japanese surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) in Tokyo Bay.
"You're getting the whole picture, from the South Pacific to the Aleutians, and picking up on the progress of the war," said Robert Cressman, a historian at NHHC.
Including records from individual ships, readers can see how each piece fit into the larger whole - while the war was raging around them. The physical collection consists of 4,030 single-sided pages filling 28 bankers boxes held at the Operational Archives at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. The size and complexity of the document reflects the magnitude of the job Nimitz undertook commanding the Pacific fleet controlling the expanse of the Pacific Theater, which now comprises more than 100 million square miles and more than half the Earth's surface.
It is "the most authoritative source on the Pacific War available anywhere," said Naval War College Historian Douglas Smith. "Making the document public allows for a better understanding and context of the unique value and consequence of the U.S. Navy, and Nimitz's approach in directing the Pacific campaign."
Its pages fragile after decades of storage, the collection would largely be inaccessible. The digitization, conducted gingerly, makes the holding available worldwide to researchers, naval history enthusiasts, and Sailors interested in their naval heritage. As the Navy continues to rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region in accordance with the Defense Strategic Guidance, the Gray Book offers unique insight into this pivotal operational period.
"I think it's immensely valuable for people to see how it was done," said Cressman. "You're getting a fly-on-the-wall approach to how decisions were made and how the war was fought."
The Naval War College Foundation funded the endeavor, which started in August 2012. The documents have been scanned before, but the higher quality scans will offer researchers, scholars and enthusiasts a better way to search through the tome. The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) directly supported the digitization effort, and is currently actively remediating its archival holdings and facilities in order to both safeguard them, and ultimately to make them safely accessible to improve future naval understanding and decision-making.
The Gray Book was declassified in 1972.
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 is composed of many activities including the Navy Department Library, the Navy Archives, the Navy art and artifact collections, underwater archaeology, Navy history, nine museums, USS Constitution repair facility and the historic ship Nautilus.
This should be really amazing reading!
Sounds like a great resource. :)
I didn't know Honor Harrington's Treecat had written a diary.
Bring your stool chart.
Great, first the Olympics and now this.
My billables this month are really going to suck
Quote from: The Brain on February 20, 2014, 04:36:20 PM
Bring your stool chart.
That reminds me, I need to order that mug.
Anyone know what kind of name "Nimitz" is ethnically? Dutch?
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 20, 2014, 05:28:29 PM
Anyone know what kind of name "Nimitz" is ethnically? Dutch?
He was from the Rhinelander community in central Texas. It could be a weird American spelling though.
Per wiki:
QuoteNimitz, a German Texan, was born the son of Anna Josephine (Henke) and Chester Bernhard Nimitz on 24 February 1885 in Fredericksburg, Texas,[3] where his grandfather's hotel is now the Admiral Nimitz State Historic Site. His frail, rheumatic father died before Nimitz was born. He was significantly influenced by his German-born paternal grandfather, Charles Henry Nimitz, a former seaman in the German Merchant Marine, who taught him, "the sea - like life itself - is a stern taskmaster. The best way to get along with either is to learn all you can, then do your best and don't worry - especially about things over which you have no control."
Fredericksburg is a weird town. It is like a weird time capsule where what 'German' is is a memory of what Germany was in the 1840s.
I have been to the Nimitz thing a couple times but I cannot really remember anything about it.
Quote from: Siege on February 20, 2014, 04:04:38 PM
I didn't know Honor Harrington's Treecat had written a diary.
:bleeding:
Quote from: Valmy on February 20, 2014, 05:57:50 PM
Fredericksburg is a weird town. It is like a weird time capsule where what 'German' is is a memory of what Germany was in the 1840s.
I have been to the Nimitz thing a couple times but I cannot really remember anything about it.
Its the second-best thing in Fredericksburg, after the rouladen at the Auslander and before the cigar cafe on Lincoln St. <_<
Is Fredericksburg where you go to get your hair cut Moldy? :P
Quote from: Valmy on February 20, 2014, 05:57:50 PM
Fredericksburg is a weird town. It is like a weird time capsule where what 'German' is is a memory of what Germany was in the 1840s.
I have been to the Nimitz thing a couple times but I cannot really remember anything about it.
Lot of towns like that in Missouri. We towns with names like "Herman" and "Frankenstein". In this area the name "Schmidt" is more common then "Smith". It wasn't until I was an adult did I recognize names like "Dudenhoeffer" and "Kliethermes" were atypical in the US. They are common here.
:hmm: A Huge swath of the United States has German-Americans as a plurality in terms of ethnic background, like nearly the entire Midwest and most of the Great Plains.
Quote from: Caliga on February 20, 2014, 07:35:32 PM
:hmm: A Huge swath of the United States has German-Americans as a plurality in terms of ethnic background, like nearly the entire Midwest and most of the Great Plains.
The ones here came over after 1848 then fought for Lincoln. I know my ancestors did. Families kept contact with Germany up until WWI. I do have it on good authority that f a particular relative did fairly well for himself in Germany in the 1930's before his career took a nose dive in 1941.
QuoteThe Naval War College Foundation funded the endeavor, which started in August 2012. The documents have been scanned before, but the higher quality scans will offer researchers, scholars and enthusiasts a better way to search through the tome. The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) directly supported the digitization effort, and is currently actively remediating its archival holdings and facilities in order to both safeguard them, and ultimately to make them safely accessible to improve future naval understanding and decision-making.
Awesomeness.
Dealing with the originals had to be a painfully delicate process, God knows how much of it was on onionskin typing paper.
Quote from: Razgovory on February 20, 2014, 07:44:09 PM
The ones here came over after 1848 then fought for Lincoln. I know my ancestors did. Families kept contact with Germany up until WWI. I do have it on good authority that f a particular relative did fairly well for himself in Germany in the 1930's before his career took a nose dive in 1941.
Ha, not my German ancestors. They left Europe in the early 18th century and never looked back. The fact that their homeland was constantly being invaded and ransacked by the French might have had something to do with that.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 20, 2014, 07:47:53 PM
Awesomeness.
Dealing with the originals had to be a painfully delicate process, God knows how much of it was on onionskin typing paper.
My last year of undergraduate work I did part time in the archives here. Fucking onionskin from the 1940s turns into dust if you look at it with a fierce look.
I really enjoy this sort of thing. It's really interesting to watch them learn things and have some insight into how they reacted and what they thought at the time. I have Alanbrooke's war diaries, but this sounds even better.
Quote from: Caliga on February 20, 2014, 08:50:28 PM
Ha, not my German ancestors. They left Europe in the early 18th century and never looked back. The fact that their homeland was constantly being invaded and ransacked by the French might have had something to do with that.
Well if you left Europe in the 18th century you were not realistically expecting to be able to keep up communications this being prior to the telegraph and reliable overseas mail. Further ideas like ethnic and national identity were not nearly as strong. Are all your German ancestors from this group? I know I had Anabaptists from this area but I have no proof they fled specifically because of war.
The people who came over in the 19th century came over after nationalism and all that so they had a much stronger identity and an expectation of being able to stay in communication and to be informed of events back home.
However, your anti-French brainwashing has been noted. :P I mean even if this vile black propaganda full of lies were true why would that make them anti-German?
Yes, all of my Germanic (I say that because many of them were Swiss) were Anabaptists and came over in the period of c.1700-1740. Most of them were on my father's side, which is literally 100% Pennsylvania Dutch, but I have a few on my mother's side too.
I don't have any specific proof either, but in cases where they were Palatines as opposed to Swiss, the towns that they came from were destroyed by the French. My direct paternal line came from Kreuznach in the Rhineland, and the French destroyed Kreuznach in 1689. That dude was born in 1695 but I'm not sure if he was born in Kreuznach or Rotterdam... records are unclear. He definitely left from Rotterdam for America though. Some of my Palatine ancestors fled first to London because the English Protestants took pity on them, and then from there the British dumped them in the Colonies after getting tired of putting up with them. :)
Some of my Swiss ancestors were actually martyred for their religious beliefs... one guy was beheaded after he was at first exiled to Saxony, and then defied his exile and went back to Zurich. Another dude was burned at the stake but I don't know his backstory really.
Oh, on the anti-French thing... it's always been a thing in my family and among other Dutchies that I know of to make French and Catholic jokes, but we're talking ribbing as opposed to vile hatred, similar to how people make Polack jokes but don't actually hate the Poles. I have a feeling that those ancestors came over with a deep hatred of France and the Church, but over time and generations it 'evolved' into something much milder as generational distance between their European ancestors' misery increased.
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 09:57:21 AM
Yes, all of my Germanic (I say that because many of them were Swiss) were Anabaptists and came over in the period of c.1700-1740.
Damn mine to. From Basel. Gebhart was the name.
QuoteSome of my Swiss ancestors were actually murdered for their religious beliefs... one guy was beheaded after he was at first exiled to Saxony, and then defied his exile and went back to Zurich. Another dude was burned at the stake but I don't know his backstory really.
Yeah Anabaptists: not popular.
I have ancestry from Basel too but it'll take me a while to find it since my family tree is so gigantic. :lol:
The dude who was beheaded was named Hans Landis and he was from Hirzel in Zurich Canton. I was able to find him and it turns out he was my 14th great uncle... I could swear he was my grandfather (or maybe I had another grandfather who was beheaded too).
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:14:08 AM
since my family tree is so gigantic. :lol:
Wouldn't that be the case for many people?
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:14:08 AM
I have ancestry from Basel too but it'll take me a while to find it since my family tree is so gigantic. :lol:
It gets messy pretty fast, doesn't it? Even just to go back to the 1500s we are talking 32,000+ direct ancestors and that is not even counting people of interest like Uncles. It is the hobby that never ends.
Quote from: garbon on February 21, 2014, 10:20:08 AM
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:14:08 AM
since my family tree is so gigantic. :lol:
Wouldn't that be the case for many people?
Depends on how much information you have.
Quote from: garbon on February 21, 2014, 10:20:08 AM
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:14:08 AM
since my family tree is so gigantic. :lol:
Wouldn't that be the case for many people?
:glare: I meant my documented family tree, obviously. :P
Oh, to your earlier point about later immigrants staying in closer touch with the Fatherland: Princesca's German ancestors mostly came over much later (c. 1840s) and in fact are still in touch with distant German cousins today.
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:22:54 AM
Oh, to your earlier point about later immigrants staying in closer touch with the Fatherland: Princesca's German ancestors mostly came over much later (c. 1840s) and in fact are still in touch with distant German cousins today.
I'm leery of talking to my European cousins. A lecture in every email. Blergh.
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 21, 2014, 10:32:03 AM
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:22:54 AM
Oh, to your earlier point about later immigrants staying in closer touch with the Fatherland: Princesca's German ancestors mostly came over much later (c. 1840s) and in fact are still in touch with distant German cousins today.
I'm leery of talking to my European cousins. A lecture in every email. Blergh.
'Dear Heartless Neo-Liberal Capitalist Cousin,'
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:00:22 AM
Oh, on the anti-French thing... it's always been a thing in my family and among other Dutchies that I know of to make French and Catholic jokes, but we're talking ribbing as opposed to vile hatred, similar to how people make Polack jokes but don't actually hate the Poles. I have a feeling that those ancestors came over with a deep hatred of France and the Church, but over time and generations it 'evolved' into something much milder as generational distance between their European ancestors' misery increased.
Lucky-- we never had such jokes in either side of my family. Not too many German traditions survived-- all I can remember is on New Years Day my Grandpa would serve sauerkraut with a silver dollar at the bottom of the bowl or plate for good luck. He swore it was a German tradition but I've never heard much about it elsewhere.
:lol: I've seen some of the letters/emails and they're not that bad. Keep in mind that Germans are probably the least retarded Euros, which is probably why they inevitably come to dominate Europe over and over despite being stomped into the ground every few generations. :)
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:22:54 AM
Oh, to your earlier point about later immigrants staying in closer touch with the Fatherland: Princesca's German ancestors mostly came over much later (c. 1840s) and in fact are still in touch with distant German cousins today.
All my Kraut ancestors came over prior to the 1840s and apparently clashed with the more liberal-minded 1848'ers.
The primary German traditions that got passed down in my family were heavy drinking and swearing. Even after they all went dry during the temperance craze they still used booze for erm...medicinal purposes.
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:21:11 AM
Quote from: garbon on February 21, 2014, 10:20:08 AM
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:14:08 AM
since my family tree is so gigantic. :lol:
Wouldn't that be the case for many people?
:glare: I meant my documented family tree, obviously. :P
I know but it seems to me while you've many branches to check down, much more easier than if you didn't have a lot of information on your family tree. I currently only know back 3 greats on one branch, so it would be much harder for me to find out if I had family from Basel. :P
Quote from: Valmy on February 21, 2014, 10:38:40 AM
The primary German traditions that got passed down in my family were heavy drinking and swearing. Even after they all went dry during the temperance craze they still used booze for erm...medicinal purposes.
All four of my grandparents were teetotalers, and only one of them ever cursed. Loved them, but they were about as boring as you could get.
Yay, the most interesting development in years in US naval history, and the thread turns into a Germanic-descent pickelhaube measuring contest.
Quote from: garbon on February 21, 2014, 10:44:24 AM
I know but it seems to me while you've many branches to check down, much more easier than if you didn't have a lot of information on your family tree. I currently only know back 3 greats on one branch, so it would be much harder for me to find out if I had family from Basel. :P
Desire...to find...garbon's ancestors growing...
Man I need help.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 21, 2014, 10:49:09 AM
Yay, the most interesting development in years in US naval history, and the thread turns into a Germanic-descent pickelhaube measuring contest.
Yeah, and you're holding out on us. You had a genuine Opa, didn't you??
Besides, the diary won't be released til Mundee.
:lol:
My Poppy was just your run-of-the-mill Baden-Württemberger, from a little town called Schriesheim, the son of a viciously abusive baker and who ran off to see the world from the decks of tramp steamers and managed to get the hell out of Dodge Stadt just in time to avoid the new German chancellor with the funny ideas.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 21, 2014, 11:23:23 AM
My Poppy was just your run-of-the-mill Baden-Württemberger, from a little town called Schriesheim, the son of a viciously abusive baker and who ran off to see the world from the decks of tramp steamers and managed to get the hell out of Dodge Stadt just in time to avoid the new German chancellor with the funny ideas.
Willy Brandt was pretty radical wasn't he?
It will be interesting to see if this diary says anything about Nimitz's hopes for the effectiveness of the US submarine force. I know a lot of non-bubbleheads thought that subs might even prevent an invasion of the Philippines, and that was why so many subs had been forward-deployed to Manila, but I am curious as the what Nimitz, a bubblehead himself, thought (or, at least, indicated in his messages). It will also be interesting to see when the CinC realized that his subs were not doing shit.
Quote from: derspiess on February 21, 2014, 10:37:57 AM
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:22:54 AM
Oh, to your earlier point about later immigrants staying in closer touch with the Fatherland: Princesca's German ancestors mostly came over much later (c. 1840s) and in fact are still in touch with distant German cousins today.
All my Kraut ancestors came over prior to the 1840s and apparently clashed with the more liberal-minded 1848'ers.
derspiess - two centuries of fine tradion keeping the working man down.
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on February 21, 2014, 01:36:29 PM
derspiess - two centuries of fine tradion keeping the working man down.
:D Actually, more like working man keeping the other working man down.
My dad's dad owned a grocery store which went under because he was too lenient on extending credit, then he became a bus driver. My mom's dad was a carpenter and union member (and a Democrat but we don't talk about that).
The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 21, 2014, 10:49:09 AM
Yay, the most interesting development in years in US naval history, and the thread turns into a Germanic-descent pickelhaube measuring contest.
I have Irish, English and Italians in the family as well. They are just... less reputable.
Quote from: Caliga on February 21, 2014, 10:22:54 AM
Oh, to your earlier point about later immigrants staying in closer touch with the Fatherland: Princesca's German ancestors mostly came over much later (c. 1840s) and in fact are still in touch with distant German cousins today.
I'm told that after Uncle Ruddy went off the deep end, the Hess family stopped corresponding with their German cousins.
Fuck. Im surrounded by Germans!
I'm forming a kampfgruppe.
Quote from: Siege on February 24, 2014, 01:05:41 PM
Fuck. Im surrounded by Germans!
My mother was born in Germany. :)
Quote from: Siege on February 24, 2014, 01:05:41 PM
Fuck. Im surrounded by Germans!
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.quickmeme.com%2Fimg%2F18%2F18cc028effe914a87bbcefc83b8fe74480075428a2f5a65752bceb3c51a319bb.jpg&hash=15dd71a81deaaceb2fca74ffad4f1c969f600254)
^_^
:lol: Brain, not everybody in Kentucky is a redneck.