As Dr. David Kohnen of the Naval War College likes to profess: “Naval Historians of the World Unite!” A very apt sentiment as we forge into the second quarter of the 21st century in a year that will witness the 250th Birthday of the United States Navy.

Well over a year has passed since we last published. As noted in the introduction of our February 2023 edition, Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Charles Chadbourn lamented the decommissioning of the Naval Historical Foundation which had provided website and e-mail maintenance services for the Journal. Without such support it has been impossible to make submissions to non-functioning e-mails and post new content on an antiquated website platform. Subsequent conversions have sought to address the question “Now What?” With the sponsorship of the U.S.-based National Maritime Historical Society (NMHS), a luncheon during the September 2023 USNA McMullen Naval History Symposium addressed the question and took on board suggestions from leading naval heritage organization representatives from around the world. During the ensuing months, follow-on exchanges provided content for a point paper titled: A Fork in the Road: Saving the International Journal of Naval History | Center for International Maritime Security  published last June. IJNH thanks the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) for sharing the point paper with its international following and feedback to the posting offered us additional guidance.

During the month following the point paper, NMHS held its 60th anniversary meeting in Peekskill, New York and welcomed aboard Cathy Green as that organization’s new president. Having recognized that maritime heritage has a significant naval component, the NMHS carried on the publication of Tuesday Tidings – a weekly naval history enterprise situational awareness e-letter that had been published by the Naval Historical Foundation. Under the stewardship of NMHS, the number of clicks on Tidings has increased ten-fold thanks to the organization’s larger membership and word of mouth. Having settled in as president, Ms. Green recognizes that a vibrant IJNH can play an important role in revitalizing interest in maritime heritage and has expressed interest in having NMHS take on the website hosting and e-mail support role once played by NHF.

Thus, we offer this latest edition featuring articles on foreign navies (unless, of course, you happen to be British, Russian, or Dutch) plus six book reviews. These articles and book reviews will build on a corpus of scholarship that will migrate to the new IJNH portal within seahistory.org. As we become comfortable with our new surroundings, our objective will be to publish two editions in 2025 and resume to three editions in 2026.

The organizational structure of IJNH calls for a troika of editors. The present team consists of Dr. Howard Fuller of Wolverhampton University in the UK who is the Chief Content Editor. Dr. Justin Simundson as replaced Dr. Chuck Steele as the Book Review editor and naval history mole at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Dr. David Winkler with the Naval War College – College of Distant Education is serving as the managing editor. The organizational structure also calls for an editorial board of eighteen with three-year terms. Our objective over the next three years is to rebuild the board by recruiting six new members per annum.

We are pleased to announce that as one of the first six, we welcome Dr. Charles C. Chadbourn whose stewardship as Editor-in-Chief of IJNH enabled the publication of content that is often seen in citations in recently published naval history books. We thank you for your service Charlie!

IJNH is coming back online at a most opportune time. On September 18-19, 2025, the U.S. Naval Academy will be hosting the next McMullen Naval History Symposium at Annapolis. A week later, the 12th Maritime Heritage Conference will be held in Buffalo, New York. For naval historians not living on the North American continent, this offers an opportunity to travel overseas and make two presentations. The calls for papers for both conferences are open. Needless to say, if you are producing new scholarship for these or other conferences, IJNH can be a publication opportunity for you!

Sincerely,

Howard Fuller, Chief Content Editor
Justin Simundson, Book Review Editor
David Winkler, Managing Editor