John Brewster Hattendorf,FRHistS,
FSNR, (born December 22, 1941) is an American naval historian. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than fifty books, mainly on
British and
Americanmaritime history and
naval warfare. In 2005, the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings described him as "one of the most widely known and well-respected naval historians in the world."[1] In reference to his work on the history of naval strategy, an academic in Britain termed him the "doyen of US naval educators."[2] A Dutch scholar went further to say that Hattendorf "may rightly be called one of the most influential maritime historians in the world."[3]
From 1984 to 2016, he was the
Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the
United States Naval War College in
Newport, Rhode Island. He has called maritime history "a subject that touches on both the greatest moments of the human spirit as well as on the worst, including war."[4]
In 2011, the Naval War College announced the establishment of the
Hattendorf Prize for Distinguished Original Research in Maritime History, named for him.[5][6] The 2014 Oxford Naval Conference - "Strategy and the Sea" - celebrated his distinguished career on April 10–12, 2014.[7] The proceedings of the conference were published as a
festschrift.[8] In March 2016, Hattendorf received the higher doctorate of
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) from the University of Oxford.[9] Among the few Americans to have received such designation, Hattendorf remained actively engaged on the Naval War College campus after his formal retirement in 2016.
Remaining in scholarly service as the Ernest J. King Professor Emeritus of Maritime History at the Naval War College, Hattendorf continued guiding discussions about the role of history in understanding contemporary strategic problems in the global maritime arena. Recognizing his contributions in the fields of maritime history and naval strategy, the President of the Naval War College, Rear Admiral
Jeffrey Harley, established the "John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research" in the summer of 2017. The Hattendorf Historical Center performs the mission of supporting history requirements in Professional Military Education through original
documentary research, scholarly publications, public education programming, and direct support to the seagoing forces of the U.S. Navy. As history is largely unclassified, the Hattendorf Historical Center also provides historical foundations for contemporary discussion in the interest of facilitating international partnerships in the global maritime commons.[10]
After graduation from Kenyon College, he served his country in uniform for eight years during the
Vietnam War period, as a
naval officer. He served on board
USS O'Brien (DD-725), earning a commendation from the Commander,
United States Seventh Fleet, for outstanding performance of duty during combat operations in April 1967. Later, he served at sea in
USS Purdy (DD-734) and
USS Fiske (DD-842). While in the U.S. Navy, Hattendorf also served ashore at the
Naval History Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (Op-09B9), in
Washington, D.C. in 1967–69, where he was first trained in naval history under Rear Admiral
Ernest M. Eller and Dr.
William J. Morgan, and at the Naval War College in 1972–73, where he served as speech writer and research assistant to Vice Admiral
Stansfield Turner and also taught in the college's strategy and policy department.[13]
Civilian academic career
Hattendorf has spent most of his civilian academic career at the United States Naval War College, returning there as a civilian faculty member in 1977. He taught Strategy and Policy for a number of years. From 1988 to 2003, he directed the United States Naval War College's Advanced Research Department. In 2003, Hattendorf became the first chairman of the Naval War College's newly established Maritime History Department, where he oversaw its research section and also the director of the
Naval War College Museum. He retired in September 2016 and was promoted to Ernest J. King Professor Emeritus of Maritime History. He identified four primary audiences for the U.S. Navy's maritime history programs: sailors, Navy leaders, government policymakers, and the American people.[14]
He was senior editor of the series Classics of Sea Power for the U.S. Naval Institute Press and edited the series Maritime Books, 1475–1800, a collection of facsimiles of rare books from the
John Carter Brown Library.
Harbors and high seas: an atlas and geographical guide to the complete
Aubrey-Maturin novels of
Patrick O'Brian by
Dean King with John B. Hattendorf ; maps by William Clipson, Jeffrey Ward, and Adam Merton Cooper (1996; 1999)
Saint Barthélemy and the
Swedish West India Company: a selection of printed documents, 1784–1814, facsimile reproductions with an introduction by John B. Hattendorf (1994)
John Robinson's Account of
Sweden, 1688: the original 1688 manuscript, edited and collated with the 1693 manuscript and the published editions from 1694 with an introduction by John B. Hattendorf (1998)
Every man will do his duty: an anthology of first-hand accounts from the age of Nelson, 1793–1815 Dean King with John B. Hattendorf [editors]; maps by Adam Merton Cooper (1997; 2002)
Preparations for the Defense of Rhode Island, 1755 (2017)[31]
Albert P. Niblack, Putting Cargoes Through: The U.S. Navy at
Gibraltar During the
First World War, 1917-1919, edited with an introduction by John B. Hattendorf. (Gibraltar: Calpe Press, 2018).
Mary Gould Almy's Journal during the Siege of Newport, Rhode Island, 29 July to 24 August 1778. A Facsimile, Transcribed, Annotated, and Edited by John B. Hattendorf. (Rhode Island Sons of the Revolution, 2018).
A Redcoat in America: The Diaries of Lieutenant William Bamford, 1757-1765 and 1776. (Warwick: Helion & Co., 2019).
The Battle of Rhode Island in 1778: The Official British View as Reported in the London Gazette. A Facsimile with an Introduction and an Annotated Transcription by John B. Hattendorf (Newport: Stone Tower Press for Rhode Island Sons of the Revolution, 2021).
Recovering Naval Power: Henry Maydman and the Revival of the Royal Navy, edited by John Hattendorf and
Geoffrey Till. (London: Routledge, 2023).
Introductions to historical books
Charles Nordhoff, Man-of-war life: a boy's experience in the United States Navy, during a voyage around the world in a ship-of-the-line [1855] (1985)
J.C. Wylie, Military strategy: a general theory of power control (1967). (1989)
Julian Corbett, Maritime operations in the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905 introduction by
D. M. Schurman and John B. Hattendorf (1994)
Tobias Gentleman, England's way to win wealth, and to employ ships and marriners (1614). Delmar, N.Y.: Published for the
John Carter Brown Library by Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, (1995)
Josiah Burchett, A Complete History of the Most Remarkable Transactions at Sea [1720] Delmar, N.Y.: Published for the
John Carter Brown Library by Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, (1995)
Christopher Lloyd, Lord Cochrane: seaman, radical, liberator: a life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (1947). (1998)
Lawrence C. Wroth, The Way of a Ship, An Essay in the Literature of Navigation Science, along with, Some American Contributions to the Art of Navigation, 1519–1802. Revised editions, edited with a foreword by John B. Hattendorf. (Providence: The John Carter Brown Library, 2011).
Edited collections
Maritime strategy and the balance of power: Britain and America in the twentieth century edited by John B. Hattendorf and
Robert S. Jordan; foreword by
Robert O'Neill (1989)
Limitations of military power: essays presented to Professor
Norman Gibbs on his eightieth birthday edited by John B. Hattendorf and Malcolm H. Murfett ; foreword by
Andrew Goodpaster,
Piers Mackesy and Sir
Michael Pike (1990)
The influence of history on Mahan: the proceedings of a conference marking the centenary of Alfred Thayer Mahan's The Influence of sea power upon history, 1660–1783 edited by John B. Hattendorf (1991)
Ubi sumus?: the state of naval and maritime history edited by John B. Hattendorf (1994)
Maritime history: The Age of Discovery and The Eighteenth Century and the Classic Age of Sail, edited by John B. Hattendorf (1996–97)
Naval policy and strategy in the Mediterranean: past, present and future edited by John B. Hattendorf (2000)
War at sea in the Middle Ages and Renaissance edited by John B. Hattendorf and
Richard W. Unger (2003)
The
Cold War at sea: an international appraisal guest editors Lyle J. Goldstein, John B. Hattendorf and Yuri M. Zhukov. Journal of Strategic Studies, (April 2005)
Nineteen-Gun Salute: Case Studies of Operational, Strategic, and Diplomatic Naval Leadership during the 20th and Early 21st Centuries, edited by John B. Hattendorf and Bruce A. Elleman. (2010)
Marlborough: Soldier and Diplomat, edited by John B. Hattendorf, Augustus J. Veenendaal, Jr., and Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier (Rotterdam: Karwansaray, 2012).
Charles XII: Warrior King, edited by John B. Hattendorf, Åsa Karlsson, Margriet Lacy-Bruijn, Augustus J. Veenendaal, Jr., and Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier (Rotterdam: Karwansaray, 2018).
Forging the Trident:
Theodore Roosevelt and the United States Navy, edited by John B. Hattendorf and William P. Leeman (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2020).
Proceedings of the International Seapower Symposium
Eleventh
International Seapower Symposium: report of proceedings of the conference, 6–9 October 1991, edited by John B. Hattendorf (1992)
Twelfth International Seapower Symposium: report of proceedings of the conference, 7–10 November 1993 edited by John B. Hattendorf (1994)
Thirteenth International Seapower Symposium: report of proceedings of the conference, 5–8 November 1995 edited by John B. Hattendorf (1995)
Fourteenth International Seapower Symposium: report of the proceedings of the conference, 2–5 November 1997 edited by John B. Hattendorf (1998)
A bibliography of the works of
Alfred Thayer Mahan compiled by John B. Hattendorf and Lynn C. Hattendorf (1987)
"A bibliography of the works of Admiral Sir
Herbert Richmond" and "A bibliography of the works of Sir
Julian Corbett" in Goldrick and Hattendorf, eds., Mahan is Not Enough, (1993)
Exhibition catalogues
"The boundless deep...": the European conquest of the Oceans, 1450 to 1840: catalogue of an exhibition of rare books, maps, charts, prints and manuscripts relating to maritime history from the
John Carter Brown Library (2003)
^Hattendorf, John B. (2017). Preparations for the Defense of Rhode Island 1755.
ISBN978-1978366411.
References
Alastair Cooper and Joseph F. Callo, Jr., comps., Who's Who in Naval History (2004)
Contemporary Authors
U.S. Naval War College Library
Eugene L. Rasor, English/British Naval History to 1815. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004, pp. xvii–xviii, 1, 45. Dedicatee of volume.
Dennis Fiely, "High Seas Historian," Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin, vol. 33, no, 2 (Winter 2011), p. 43.
Marquis Who's Who in America.
Annie Sherman, Legendary Locals of Newport, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2013), p. 35.
N.A.M. Rodger, "John B. Hattendorf--A Transatlantic Tribute" in Rodger, J. Ross Dancy, Benjamin Darnell, and Evan Wilson, eds., Strategy and the Sea: Essays in Honour of John B. Hattendorf, (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2016), pp. 1–4.
Evan Wilson, ed., The Hattendorf Prize Lectures, Volume 1:2011-2019 (Newport: Naval War College Press, 2020), pp. 3–4.