Edward J. Marolda

Nov 1, 2024 | usni.org | Edward J. Marolda

Dr. Marolda served as the acting director of Naval History and Senior Historian of the Navy. In 2017 the Naval Historical Foundation honored him with its Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award. He has authored, coauthored, or edited 12 books on the U.S. Navy’s experience in Vietnam. In support of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Oral History Program, he has interviewed Vietnam veterans and retired admirals Stanley R. Arthur and Joseph W. Prueher.

Mar 1, 2024 | usni.org | Edward J. Marolda |Barrett Tillman

Dr. Marolda, former director of naval history (acting) at the Naval Historical Center (now the Naval History and Heritage Command), is the author/editor of numerous books, including most recently The Brown Water War at 50: A Retrospective on the Coastal and Riverine Conflict in Vietnam (Naval Institute Press, 2023; coeditor—see book review, p. 57) and Admirals Under Fire: The US Navy and the Vietnam War (Texas Tech University Press, 2021).

Sep 26, 2023 | usni.org | Edward J. Marolda

An intense naval battle inside the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 set the United States on a course for conflict in Vietnam. During the fight, two U.S. Navy destroyers expended hundreds of rounds of ammunition, rattled the dark waters with defensive depth charges, and raced through a series of evasive maneuvers. It initially was reported that North Vietnamese forces had attacked the American ships, drawing a retaliatory response. However, no enemy combatant was present.

Jun 30, 2023 | usni.org | Edward J. Marolda

1. James A. Field, History of United States Naval Operations: Korea (Washington, DC: Naval History Division, 1962). 2. Quoted in Tamara Moser Melia, “Damn the Torpedoes”: A Short History of U.S. Naval Mine Countermeasures, 1777–1991 (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1991), 76. 3. Quoted in Malcolm Muir Jr., “Sea Power on Call: Fleet Operations, June 1951–July 1953,” in Edward J. Marolda, ed., The U.S. Navy in the Korean War (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2007), 401. 4.