Naval History and Heritage Command

????As I start my ninth year as the Director of Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) I thought I would post something about what the command has been up to, as 2022 was a particularly successful year. This will be a first, so will see if it actually works.

???In August, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Gilday, cut the ribbon on the new Navy Operational Archives, Library and Naval History Research Center, located on the Washington Navy Yard.?This $45M project provides a state-of-the-art environment and security for the long-term preservation and use of the Navy’s intellectual property and institutional memory, to include the highest levels of classification.?It finally fixes critical infrastructure deficiencies identified in Inspector General reports as far back as 1969. Construction was completed on time and under budget. In addition to the Operational Archives (millions of pages,) and the Navy Department Library (13% unique in the world,) the facility will house the Navy’s photo collection (1.5 million photos,) combat art collection (20,000 works,) rare book collection, fragile artifact collection, underwater archaeology collection and laboratory, plus a studio for the Navy’s two combat artists.?This project is the largest history infrastructure project in the Navy’s history; it was the culmination of many years of planning and efforts to have it included in the Navy’s budget.

???In September 2022, NHHC completed the first drydock and overhaul of the historic submarine NAUTILUS since she was decommissioned in 1980 and became a museum ship in 1982.?NAUTILUS was the first nuclear-powered submarine in the world, commissioned in 1954.?Although she is decommissioned, her historic reactor and power plant are still classified, so NAUTILUS has an active-duty crew, about one-third the size of an operational submarine, for monitoring and security.?This $42M dollar project (including $6M preparatory work) was completed on time and under-budget, with no impact on operational submarine maintenance, at half the cost of scrapping the sub, and makes her good as a museum ship for another 30-plus years.?This also took may years of planning and budgeting and would not have been possible without the support of several other major Navy commands, including Naval Reactors and Naval Sea Systems Command.?In the rank-hath-its-privileges category, I rode on the bridge of NAUTILUS with the pilot as we brought her down the Thames River from the Shippingport floating drydock back to her normal berth at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, where we then had a re-opening ceremony attended by the governor, both current senators and former senators of Connecticut.

???In October, at an event on the Washington Navy Yard, the Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Carlos Del Toro, made the public announcement that the Navy intends to build a new National Museum of the U.S. Navy (NMSUN) just outside the Washington Navy Yard on land-acquired via a land-exchange agreement, contingent on successful environmental impact study.?He also announced that the Navy Museum Development Foundation (NMDF) will be the Navy’s partner in this effort.?The current NMUSN is in a building never intended to be a museum, and due to security requirements on the Navy Yard is very difficult for the public to access, and therefore does not meet the mission of telling the Navy story to the American people.?Although the Navy will operate and maintain the new museum when complete, funds to build it will be raised by NMDF, led by Ambassador (and former SECNAV) Kenneth Braithwaite, and retired Vice Admiral Al Konetzni ([email protected]).?Fund-raising and construction of the new museum will be done in several phases along the lines of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the U.S. Marine Corps Museum in Quantico.?We anticipate a ground-breaking ceremony for the Navy’s 250th Birthday in 2025.

???In other developments, NHHC’s on-going collaboration with several reputable and capable ocean-exploration groups paid dividends again this year when Mr. Victor Vescovo and his deep-submergence vehicle Limiting Factor, located the wreck of the destroyer escort USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DE-413.)?SAMUEL B. ROBERTS was lost off Samar, Philippines in October 1944 in a fight against overwhelming odds, considered one of the most valiant actions in U.S. Navy history.?At 21,600 feet, this is now the deepest shipwreck ever located.?In his after-action report, Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland stated that there was “no higher honor” than to lead a crew as courageous as that of SAMUEL B. ROBERTS.

???I am frequently told that, “You have the best job in the Navy.”?They are right, although it turns out to be a real job.?Nevertheless, there was fun this year, such as being speaker at a commemoration on Midway Island for the 80th anniversary of that decisive 1942 battle, and speaker in Filey, England for a commemoration of the Battle of Flamborough Head, the brutal 1778 battle between HMS SERAPIS and the BONHOMME RICHARD, commanded by John Paul Jones.?Perhaps most fun was interacting with two U.S. Naval Academy Trident Scholar history majors (a rarity as they are only the 8th and 9th history majors to be Trident Scholars,) as well as the midshipman winner of the 2022 Superintendent’s “Voices of Maritime History” competition. ?

Sam Cox

Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired)

Director of Naval History

Director Naval History and Heritage Command

[email protected]

[email protected]???