Craig Lee Symonds (born 31 December 1946, in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

) is the Distinguished Visiting

Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History 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 Dec ...

for the academic years 2017–2020 at the U.S. Naval War College in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. He is also Professor Emeritus at the

U. S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...

where he served as chairman of the history department. He is a distinguished historian of the American Civil War and maritime history. His book ''Lincoln and His Admirals'' received the

Lincoln Prize The Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, founded by the late Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman in partnership with Gabor Boritt, Director Emeritus of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, is administered by the Gilder Lehrman Institute for America ...

. His book '' Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings'' was the 2015 recipient of the

Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature The Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature is for literature about the United States Navy. The award was created in 1982 by the New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States, who administers and chooses the winner which is ...

Early life and education

The son of Lee and Virginia Symonds, Craig Symonds attended Anaheim High School then

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where he earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1967. Going on to graduate work, he obtained his M.A. in history at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in 1969 with a thesis on "The defense of the southwestern frontier, 1784–1794: a study in governmental relations." He married Marylou Hayden on 17 January 1969 and the couple had one son. In 1971, Symonds joined the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

, serving for three years until 1974 and raising to the grade of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

. While in the Navy, he served on the staff and faculty of the Naval War College. On his release from active duty, he returned to his graduate studies in history at the

, where he obtained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1976 under the tutelage of Professor

John K. Mahon John K. Mahon (1912-2003) was an American historian. He received his BA from Swarthmore College in 1934, graduating as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After serving in World War II and working for his family he later returned to his studies and ea ...

with a dissertation on "Navalists and antinavalists: the naval policy debate in the United States, 1785–1827."

Academic career

In 1976, the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

appointed Symonds assistant professor of history to succeed Professor

E. B. Potter Elmer Belmont "Ned" Potter (27 December 1908 – 22 November 1997) was an American historian and writer. Potter was the leading naval historian at the United States Naval Academy from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. He was editor of the Naval ...

as a specialist in

Naval history Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large lan ...

. He was subsequently promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

in 1980 and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of history in 1985. He served as chairman of the history department in 1988–1992 and appointed professor emeritus on his retirement in 2005. In 1994–1995, he was visiting lecturer at Britannia Royal Naval College in

Dartmouth, England Dartmouth () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland ...

. He returned to teach at the Naval Academy as The Class of 1957 Distinguished Professor of American Naval Heritage for 2011–12. In 2017, he was appointed to a two-year term as the Ernest J. King Distinguished Visiting Professor of Maritime History at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport Rhode Island.

Awards

in 2015 for '' Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings''. * In 2014, The Naval Historical Foundation awarded him the

Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award The Naval Historical Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1926, has a broad mission to preserve and promote the naval history of the United States by supporting official Sea Services programs and institutions, meeting the needs of the pu ...

. * The Abraham Lincoln Book Award, 2010 * The

, 2009 (co-winner with James M. McPherson) for ''Lincoln and His Admirals''.
The Barondess Prize
2009

2009

2009 * The Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize in Naval History, 2006 * Anne Arundel County Award for Literary Arts, 2006 *

John Lyman Book Awards The John Lyman Book Awards are given annually by the North American Society for Oceanic History to recognise excellence in published books making a major contribution to the study and understanding of maritime and naval history. They are named aft ...

, 1995, 1999, 2009 * USNA Research Excellence Award, 1998 * USNA Teaching Excellence Award, 1988 * Navy Superior Civilian Service Award, 1994, 1998, 2005, 2020 * Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award, 1989 * History Book Club Author, 1983, 1986, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010 * Military Book Club Author, 1983, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2005 * Book-of-the-Month Club Author, 1983, 1986, 1992, 2001, 2005

Published works

* ''Charleston Blockade: The Journals of John B. Marchand, USN'', edited by Craig Symonds. (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 1976. * ''Navalists and Antinavalists: The Naval Policy Debate in the United States, 1785–1827''. (University of Delaware Press, 1980). * ''New Aspects of Naval History,'' edited by Craig Symonds. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981). * ''A Battlefield Atlas of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

''. (Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Press, 1983). * * ''A Battlefield Atlas of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

''. (Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Press, 1986). * (reprint 1991) * * ''Gettysburg: A Battlefield Atlas,'' by Craig Symonds with William J. Clipson. (Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation, 1992). * * ''Stonewall of the West:

Patrick Cleburne Major-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne ( ; March 16, 1828November 30, 1864) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Born in Ireland, Cleburne served in the ...

and the Civil War''. (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1997). * ''Confederate Admiral: The Life and Wars of

Franklin Buchanan Franklin Buchanan (September 17, 1800 – May 11, 1874) was an officer in the United States Navy who became the only full admiral in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. He also commanded the ironclad CSS ''Virginia''. Early lif ...

''. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999). * * ''New Interpretations in Naval History: Selected Papers from the Fourteenth Naval History Symposium, Held at Annapolis, Maryland, 23–25 September 1999,'' Naval Institute Press (Annapolis, MD), 2001. * * * * * * *

References

External links

*
"Craig L. Symonds", ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2009. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. Interview
on ''The Battle of Midway'' at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...

on October 7, 2011
Marquis Who's Who Biographies On-Line

Member of the Executive Committee of The Lincoln Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Symonds, Craig Living people University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Florida alumni Naval War College faculty United States Naval Academy faculty American naval historians American male non-fiction writers Historians of the United States 1946 births Lincoln Prize winners Historians of the American Civil War Writers from Long Beach, California Historians of Abraham Lincoln