Behind Closed Doors: Graphic Novels and the US Navy

The USS George Washington (CVN-73) graphic novel, made by the US Navy to ease tensions about having a nuclear aircraft carrier in Japan.

In recent years, the U.S. Navy has used graphic novels as a tool to teach and communicate. One such example reassured Japanese citizens regarding the stationing of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73) in the port city of Yokosuka. Graphic novels have recently surged in readership, largely due to their popularity among relatively younger audiences. Unlike many comic books, graphic novels tell fully developed stories. The Navy saw an opportunity to use graphic novels as an age-appropriate way to simultaneously entertain and educate Sailors. One result was “The Docs,” a graphic novel that is both an interesting narrative with fictional characters, and a “voice of experience” testimonial based on actual situations encountered in Iraq at the height of the war and actual demands on Corpsmen under hostile fire.

"The Docs," a graphic novel created to train Navy Corpsmen about combat stress.

On Thursday evening, September 20, at 6pm, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum will host a FREE program about the Navy’s use of graphic novels. Visitors will learn about how training in the Navy has changed throughout the years. This program features Dr. Heidi Kraft, co-author of “The Docs.” Dr. Kraft received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the UC San Diego/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology in 1996. Her active-duty assignments included the Naval Safety Center, the Naval Health Research Center, and Naval Hospital Jacksonville, FL. In February 2004, she deployed to western Iraq for seven months with a Marine Corps surgical company.  She left active duty in 2005 after nine years in the Navy, and now serves as a consultant for the US Navy and Marine Corps’ Combat Stress Control programs. 

The September 20^th program is free of charge. Complimentary food and drinks will also be provided. Dr. Kraft will be available for a book-signing after the program ends. All attendees will receive a free copy of “The Docs” (one per family, please). Reservations are required. Please call 757-322-3108 to reserve your seat today.

For all public questions and inquiries, please contact Laura Orr at laura.l.orr@navy.mil or 757-322-3108, or visit HRNM’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HRNavalMuseum. The event is co-sponsored by the Hampton Roads Council of the Navy League.

Print of USS Delaware at Dry Dock Number 1

This is a print of the 74-gun ship-of-the-line USS Delaware at Dry Dock Number 1 at Gosport Navy Yard.  It illustrates the first dry docking in North America.  The print is in the museum's Age of Sail gallery.   Published by the firm Childs and Inman of Philadelphia, the artist sketched the original illustration on stone.   At the bottom of the prints reads a dedication: "To the Officers, Sailors, and Marines, this View of the Delaware 74, Secured in the Dry dock U.S. Navy Yard Gosport, Dedicated with Great Respect (Signed) Joseph Goldsborough Bruff."

The illustration is a popular print that has been reproduced many times and in many different forms.   Some of the prints, like the museum's copy, are in the original black and white, while some were published in full color.  Bruff produced variations on this illustration.  One, for example, shows the ship dramatically entering the dry dock (shown below).  Another shows the ship in the dry dock, but with the crowd of Naval officers removed and Marines standing guard in their place. 

Bruff took great license with the first variation.  In the print, he shows a large crowd of people witnessing the battleship entering the dry dock.  Unfortunately, few people actually witnessed the event due to the local newspapers both reporting that it would take place at 10 a.m., instead of the actual time of 8:45.

The print illustrates one of the great milestones not only for Gosport and the U.S. Navy, but for the United States as a whole.  As part of the post-War of 1812 naval expansion, Congress authorized a dry dock for Gosport and one for the Boston Navy Yard in 1824.  Both dry-docks were finished in 1833.  However, Gosport beat Boston by one week for the title "First dry-docking in North America," much to the embarrassment of the Secretary of the Navy Levi Woodbury.  The SECNAV had informed President Andrew Jackson, Vice-President Martin Van Buren, and Governor of Massachusetts Levi Lincoln, Jr., that Boston was going to be first and that they should attend in person.

The print represents one of Bruff's early works as an artist, though it does not seem he ever had any formal schooling.   At the time of this event, Bruff was working as a draftsman at the Yard.  He soon quit this job to serve on John Fremont's expedition to explore California and the West.  Ever the restless spirit, he later quit that job to open up his own gold mine.  He later published Gold Rush: The Journals, Drawings, and Other Papers of J. Goldsborough Bruff based on his experiences and it is considered to be one of the finest accounts of the California Gold Rush ever written.  He returned to Government service for the remainder of his life to serve as one of the Department of the Treasury’s senior architects.

Norfolk's Short Lived "Spoils of War" Ship

The museum recently received this rotary camera picture of the ship's company on the freighter USS Naiwa (ID #3512) while at Naval Operating Base Hampton Roads in March 1919. A close look at the picture of the fifty-eight man company reveals that the commanding officer took the unusual step of  bringing his wife and two children along with him. The photo was taken by Taylor's Studio, a Norfolk-based rotary camera business.


USS Naiwa, 1918

This picture is rare in the respect that Naiwa had an active service career in the Navy for only six months, and very little is known about her and her company.The Navy accepted the freighter from a Baltimore shipyard just a week before Armistice Day (November 11, 1918) and ordered her to La Pallice/La Rochelle, France. However, a few hours after leaving Baltimore, she suffered a critical steering problem and was forced into Hampton Roads for repairs at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.  Once the shipyard fixed Naiwa, she resumed her original orders for La Rochelle.  Before heading out for France, Taylor's Studio was at the base, snapping several images of Naiwa and other Navy ships and their companies.

Since the ship did not leave Hampton Roads until March 1919, the trip to France and back to Hampton Roads was uneventful.The ship's cargo, however, was destined to cause a major ruckus.  Under the terms of the armistice agreement signed between the Germans and the Allies, the Germans were to hand over all their artillery and weapons of war. As part of its share of the spoils, the U.S. Army received 4,000 guns, howitzers, and trench mortars, along with fifty fighter planes and several hundred machine-guns. When word of this cache reached the United States, many politicians wanted to have these weapons for victory monuments in their hometowns. Several Congressmen immediately introduced bills earmarking a certain number of guns for their districts.Additionally, the U.S. Army wanted to reserve several hundred weapons to parade around the country as a recruiting tool and to raise money for the Fifth Liberty Loan drive.

It is not clear how many guns Naiwa brought back, though one source says she brought back over 7,000 tons worth of guns and ordnance (for reference, one artillery gun was about one ton). Other ships that participated in this project usually had anywhere between 70 to 250 artillery guns and an unknown number of artillery shells and small arms.The issue of fair and equitable distribution of the spoils was not settled for a year, when Congress passed a bill setting up quotas for each state.

All of the Navy, All in One Place-1898 Print

This is an 1898 lithograph depicting the ships of the U.S. Navy at the time of the Spanish-American War.  Sketched by Herbert Packard and published by C.A. Musselman, the printer simply titled it United States Navy, 1898.  At the time Packard produced the original sketch, the Navy was undergoing a major transformation from a coastal force of ironclads to a steel-hulled fleet with a global reach.  With this drawing, he demonstrates this transformation of the fleet in one drawing. In front, are the new steel hulled battleships such USS Iowa (BB-4) and Kearsarge (BB-5) and the submarine USS Holland.  Towards the back are the Civil War monitors USS Passiac and Montauk .  Little ships such as the tug USS Sioux are also included.  The print is currently on display in the museum's Steel Navy gallery.

For many years, Packard was a partner of the Philadelphia-based print and mapmaker known as Packard & Butler.   This particular print of U.S. Naval warships was a break from Packard's usual work, as the firm spent much of their time producing Christian-themed illustrations.  Exterior and interior views of Roman Catholic churches were a particular favorite.     It also produced full colored advertisements.  As the firm disbanded in 1893, Packard seems to have produced this print on his own and handed over printing and marketing to C.A. Musselman, also of Philadelphia.  Musselman later became a founding partner of the Chilton Company,  a leading publisher of "Do-it-Yourself" automobile guides.

While Packard was nominally a very serious artist, some of his work showed that he had a biting sense of humor.  He contributed illustrations to the publication of a Cracked/National Lampoon-type humor group known as the "Second Presbyterian Fishing Club of Philadelphia." Some of the editions Packard provided illustrations for were entitled The Log of the Second Annual Cruise of the Second Presbyterian Fishing Club of Philadelphia and The Log of the Fourteenth Annual Cruise of the Second Presbyterian Fishing Club of Philadelphia.  The Log of the second cruise describes the fictional adventures (many of which include a large consumption of alcohol and loud parties) of the fishing vessel Kelso over a period of two weeks in 1886.

1917 U.S. Navy's Battleship Force

You might have noticed the picture in the background of this blog. This is a 1917 picture of one of the U.S. Navy's divisions in its "Battleship Force" in Hampton Roads. The lead ship at right is the battleship USS New York (BB-34). Other ships in the picture are believed to be USS Nevada (BB-36), USS Delaware (BB-28), USS Wyoming (BB-32), and USS Florida (BB-30). (USS Texas (BB-35) and USS Arkansas (BB-33) are other possibilities. Any help in identifying the vessels would be most appreciated.)

This battleship division was one of four such units in the U.S. Navy. These divisions made up the bulk of the Fleet's firepower and were the pride of the Navy. The ships rotated between Hampton Roads, New York, and various training grounds in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. With the Navy considering a place for its first ever “Operating Base” in 1917, it was pictures like this that demonstrated why Hampton Roads was ultimately chosen. The harbor was able to handle several of the largest ships in the fleet with plenty of maneuvering room.

Spanish-American War Torpedo

In the museum's Steel Navy gallery is a German-made torpedo recovered from the Spanish armored cruiser Vizcaya during the Spanish-American War.  Called a Schwarzkopf torpedo, it was named after its manufacturer, the L. Schwarzkopf Company of Berlin. (Note: It should not be confused with the  Schwarzkopf-Henkel Company, which makes personal hair care products for women).



The Spanish armored cruiser Vizcaya

The weapon used air compressed to 700 pounds per square inch as fuel.  This highly compressed air would then move the machinery necessary to move the propeller shaft.  Other equipment kept the torpedo running in a straight line and at a fixed depth.    Inside the warhead was 200 pounds of the powerful explosive nitro-cellulose.  This gave any small warship, such as a torpedo boat, the ability to sink the largest battleship in the enemy fleet. 

Because of its propulsion system, the weapon is called an "automobile," "locomotive," or "self-propelled " torpedo.  A "fixed" torpedo refers to what we now call submarine mines (see the 1864 expression "Damn the Torpedoes").    The invention of a self-propelled torpedo was one of the most sought-after discoveries of the mid to late 19th century.  Many inventors around the world spent their life savings and professional reputations attempting to create what many thought was the ultimate ship killer.  There were many prototypes, but it was British inventor Robert Whitehead who succeeded.   The Royal Navy and U.S. Navy both quickly adopted his design. 

Ironically, L. Schwarzkopf's primary business was the manufacturing of steam locomotives.  This company went into the weapons business by copying the Whitehead torpedo (possibly with the blessings of the British government).  The only difference was that Schwarzkopf torpedo casings were made out of copper, while Whitehead torpedoes were made out of steel.  The company sold the torpedo bearing its name to the German Navy as well as to the Italians, Japanese, and Spanish.  

This torpedo was just one of many different types of weapons the German Empire sold to the Spanish military.  It also provided Mauser rifles,  Mauser C96 pistols, and Maxim machine guns.  The German Empire also provided several hundred advisers to the Spanish military.  A U.S. Navy squadron off the coast of Cuba sank Vizcaya during the 1898 Battle of Santiago. 

Support-a-Sailor 2012: USS Carr

USS Carr (FFG-52)

Every year during the week prior to Independence Day, we run a "Support-a-Sailor" program at HRNM. We send all of the cards made by our visitors to Sailors aboard a ship that is deployed out of Naval Station Norfolk. This year, we asked our Facebook fans to send us a list of ships on which they have family members and friends serving. From there, we asked those same fans to vote for which ship to send this year's cards to. The winner was USS Carr (FFG-52)!

Card made by a visitor at HRNM.

We need at least 205 cards to send to this ship, so every enlisted Sailor and officer aboard will receive one. We're proud to announce that we're more than halfway there, currently at 134 cards! Within the next two days, we hope to have enough cards to send to USS Carr on Thursday morning.

Card made by a visitor at HRNM.

Want to participate by making your own cards? Feel free to make them at home and drop them off at HRNM by 10am on Thursday, July 5. There are only two major rules: 1) the cards must be homemade; and 2) the cards can't be put in sealed envelopes. Questions? Contact Laura at laura.l.orr@navy.mil. Thanks for all your help!