Monday Scholars: The History of the U.S. Navy

Live on Zoom:

Monday Scholars combines the best of online learning and engaging discussion!

Join us for the full 9-weeks or drop in to explore your favorite topics. Each week, we will watch two lectures together and then engage in lively conversation afterwards. The conversation will be facilitated by OWL's Caroline Ugurlu. 

From its inception, the United States has been a maritime nation. Ever since the first use of sea power during the American Revolution, the growth, the trajectory, and the international standing of the United States has been deeply tied to its maritime role and its naval forces.

The story of the United States Navy offers essential perspectives on how the United States came to be, the unfolding of its history, the experiment of American democracy, and the nation’s transformation into a global superpower. Beyond all of this, the history of the US Navy is a spellbinding and deeply poignant human story—a chronicle of extraordinary commitment, ingenuity, valor, sacrifice, and patriotism, spanning the 250 years of its existence.

Your guide is Professor Craig L. Symonds of the US Naval Academy, a celebrated maritime historian who brings to the table astonishingly detailed and far-reaching knowledge of US naval history, coupled with a flair for engrossing storytelling.

11/18: British Origins & American Revolution

11/25: Early Navalists & War of 1812

12/09: Pirates of the Caribbean & Navy Expeditions

12/16: Civil War

12/23: Civil War continued & Spanish American War

12/30: Battleship Age, WW1, and WWII

01/06: WWII continued

01/13: WWII continued

01/20: Hyman Rickover and the Nuclear Navy &The Gulf of Tonkin and War in Vietnam

01/27: How the Navy Reformed After Vietnam & Projecting Naval Power in the Middle East

02/03: America's 21st-Century Missions at Sea & China's Threats to US Naval Supremacy

More about the Professor: Craig L. Symonds is a Professor Emeritus of History at the US Naval Academy and a former Ernest J. King Distinguished Professor of Maritime History at the US Naval War College. He earned a PhD in History from the University of Florida and is the author or editor of more than two dozen books. His book Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles That Shaped American History won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize in Naval History. He also wrote Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy, and the Civil War, which won several awards.