In May 1948, the President of the Naval War College Admiral Raymond Spruance recommended a plan to establish a civilian professorship of maritime history at the Naval War College. Approved by Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan (Navy) on 29 December 1948, the post was not filled “for lack of funds” until 1951, when Thomas C. Mendenhall of Yale University was appointed to the position. In 1953, Secretary of the Navy Robert Bernard Anderson named the chair in honor of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, recognizing King’s great personal interest in maritime history. The Ernest J. King chair was named and first filled during the tenure of Professor Clarence H. Haring. At that point, there was only one other named academic chair in the United States for the field of maritime history, that held by the Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs established at Harvard University in 1948. The Naval War College’s first permanent long-term civilian faculty member came in 1966 and its larger civilian faculty began in 1972. Between 1951 and 1973, the King Chair was regularly held as a one-year visiting appointment. It became a permanent faculty appointment in 1974. The Naval War College. ... Raymond Spruance Raymond Ames Spruance (July 3, 1886 - December 13, 1969) was a US Navy admiral in World War II, victor of the Battle of Midway and commander in the capture of many islands of the Pacific Ocean, and later ambassador to the Philippines. ... Maritime history is a broad thematic element of global history. ... The Naval War College. ... Flag of the United States Secretary of the Navy. ... John L. Sullivan (June 16, 1899–August 8, 1982), Served in the United States Navy and was the first Department of Defense Secretary of the Navy in the Truman Administration. ... Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (October 4, 1841 – March 23, 1924) was an autodidact US physicist and meteorologist. ... Yale redirects here. ... Flag of the United States Secretary of the Navy. ... Robert Bernard Anderson Andersons signature, as used on American currency Robert Bernard Anderson (June 4, 1910–August 14, 1989) was a U.S. administrator and businessman. ... Admiral Ernest Joseph King (November 23, 1878 - June 25, 1956) was the Commander in Chief of the United States Navy during World War II. As such, he was Chester Nimitzs immediate superior but himself was subordinate to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. ... Maritime history is a broad thematic element of global history. ... Harvard redirects here. ...

List of Professors

• 1951-1952 Thomas C. Mendenhall (historian), Yale University Yale redirects here. ...

• 1952-1953 John H. Kemble, Pomona College The Smith Campus Center Fountain at Pomona College during the inauguration of College President David Oxtoby Pomona College is a small private residential liberal arts college located 30 miles (48 km) east of Downtown Los Angeles in Claremont, California. ...

• 1953-1954 Clarence H. Haring, Harvard University Harvard redirects here. ...

• 1954-1955 James A. Field, Jr, Swarthmore College Swarthmore College is a private liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1450 students. ...

• 1955-1956 Hiram M. Stout, CIA The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...

• 1956-1957 Ollinger Crenshaw, W & L. University

• 1957-1958 Gordon B. Turner, Princeton University Princeton University is a coeducational private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States of America. ...

• 1958-1959 Lawrence O. Ealy, Temple University Temple University is a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

• 1959-1960 James A. Huston, Purdue University Purdue University (Purdue) is a land-grant, public university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States. ...

• 1960-1961 Edward A. Younger, University of Virginia The University of Virginia (also called U.Va. ...

• 1961-1962 Charles A. Jellison, University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public university in the University System of New Hampshire (USNH). ...

• 1962-1963 Theodore Ropp, Duke University Duke University is a private coeducational research university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. The school, founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, moved to Durham in 1892. ...

• 1963-1964 William R. Emerson, Yale University Yale redirects here. ...

• 1964-1965 Boleslaw B. Szczesniak, University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame IPA: is a Roman Catholic institution located in Notre Dame, Indiana, immediately northeast of South Bend, Indiana, United States. ...

• 1965-1966 C. J. Smith, University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA) is the largest institution of higher learning and research in the State of Georgia. ...

• 1966-1967 H.L. Coles, Ohio State University The Ohio State University (OSU) is a coeducational public research university in the U.S. state of Ohio. ...

• 1976-1968 Raymond G. O’Connor, Temple University Temple University is a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

• 1968-1969 Gerald E. Wheeler, San Jose State College San José State University, commonly shortened to San Jose State and SJSU, is the oldest university in what became the California State University system. ...

• 1969-1970 Stephen E. Ambrose, Johns Hopkins University Stephen Ambrose, at the 2001 premier of Band of Brothers Stephen Edward Ambrose (January 10, 1936 - October 13, 2002) was a popular historian and biographer of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. ... The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ...

• 1970-1971 Thaddeus V. Tuleja, St Peter’s College

• 1971-1973 Martin Blumenson, Acadia University Acadia University is a university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. ...

• 1973-1974 J. Kenneth McDonald, George Washington University   See Washington University (disambiguation) for institutions with similar names. ...

• 1974-1980 Philip A. Crowl

• 1980-1984 Vacant

• 1984-Pres John Hattendorf John B. Hattendorf is a professor and the chairman of the maritime history department at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. ...