We Are Still One Fleet: U.S. Navy Relations with the British, Canadian, and Australian Navies, 1945–1953 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Corbin Williamson Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Dr. John Guilmartin, Advisor Dr. Peter Mansoor Dr. Robert McMahon Dr. John Hattendorf Copyright by Corbin Williamson 2015 Abstract In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. Navy broke with its traditional avoidance of peacetime alliances by building close ties with the British, Canadian, and Australian navies. This fundamental shift in American naval policy occurred between 1945 and 1953. Drawing upon their close connections with the U.S. Navy during the war, the British and Canadians in particular built a web of connections within the U.S. consisting of naval representatives in Washington as well as liaison and exchange officers. Beginning in late 1946 the British, Canadian, and American militaries agreed to standardize their procedures, doctrine, and equipment. However, the failed efforts to create a common sonobuoy showed that standardization of concepts would occur before standardization of weapon calibers. To that end the three navies wrote common communications and tactical publications that by 1952 allowed their ships to operate together on short notice. These publications were written by the Canada-United Kingdom-United States (CANUKUS) Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Working Group, a hitherto little known organization that worked to standardize ASW doctrine and equipment between the three fleets. In addition, the British and American anti-submarine training schools, in Ireland and Key West respectively, began hosting visits by ASW ships and aircrafts from each other’s fleet beginning in 1947. Cooperation between the British, Canadians, and Americans was strongest within the field of ASW, reflecting shared concerns about the vulnerability of the Atlantic sea lanes to Soviet submarines. ii Despite the overall movement towards closer ties, individuals could still play a significant role in shaping navy to navy relations. The American naval attaché to Australia, Commander Stephen Jurika, played a major role in cutting off Australian access to classified American information between 1948 and 1950. Rear Admiral George Dyer’s style of command damaged relations with the Royal Navy during the Korean War in 1951. Dyer’s approach was based on the U.S. Navy’s experience fighting the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II which emphasized mobile operations by carrier task forces against a strong airborne threat and a minimal submarine threat. This Pacific style of warfare also shaped the U.S. Navy’s approach to exercises with the British, Canadians, and Australians, exercises that occurred with increasing frequency beginning in 1946. These exercises provided wide swathes of personnel from each navy with experience operating with their foreign counterparts and built upon the reservoir of combined operating experience built up during World War II. This regular contact created relationships, confidence, and trust between personnel of these four navies. The importance of this trust was clearly demonstrated when the Korean War broke out in June 1950. The British and Commonwealth navies rapidly joined up with the American naval effort and the Americans placed a senior British officer in command of naval operations on the Korean west coast. The Korean War also served as a test of the progress made in standardization between the British, Canadians, and Americans. Although at the war’s outset the British and Commonwealth ships largely adopted American methods and practices, by the end of the war the communications and tactical publications written by CANUKUS were in use in Korean waters. iii Dedicated to Ashley. iv Acknowledgments This project would not have been possible without the support of a constellation of individuals who have contributed in a variety of ways. Dr. John Guilmartin has been a strong supporter since the beginning, writing countless letters of recommendation and supporting numerous funding requests as has Dr. Peter Mansoor. Financial support for research trips has been provided by the Department of History and the Graduate School at Ohio State University, the Bradley Foundation, the Marine Corps Historical Foundation, and the English Speaking Union of Cincinnati. The archival and reference staff at the National Archives and Records Administration, Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Naval Institute Library, Hoover Institution Library, Library and Archives Canada, Directorate of History and Heritage, Naval Historical Branch, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Imperial War Museum, National Archives of Australia, Sea Power Center Australia, and the Australian War Memorial all provided invaluable support. In particular, John Hodges, Nathaniel Patch, Michael Whitby, Isabel Campbell, Jenny Wraight, Jock Gardner, David Stevens, and John Berryman at these institutions were especially helpful. Michael Whitby and Frank Blazich both read draft chapters and provided insightful feedback. Finally, I could not have completed this project much less five years of graduate school without the support of my wife. She has put up with covering too many walls in too many apartments with bookshelves, four different jobs, v three moves, and countless hours photographing documents in archives. She has heard and learned more about early Cold War naval cooperation than she ever wanted and at various points served as travel agent, librarian, research assistant, and cheerleader. The completion of this project is due to her support as much as anything. Thank you Ashley. vi Vita 2008................................................................B.A. History, Texas A&M University 2012................................................................M.A. History, Texas Tech University 2014 to present ..............................................Historian, Office of the Secretary of Defense Historical Office Publications “Industrial-Grade Generosity: British Warship Repair and Lend-Lease in 1941,” Diplomatic History 36, no. 4 (September 2015): 745–72. “Repair Work and Naval Musical Chairs: Conflict and Cooperation in Anglo-American Naval Relations in 1941,” International Journal of Naval History 12, no. 2 (July 2015). “British Guiana” and “Washington Conference, 1921” in Imperialism and Expansionism in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia, ed. Chris Magoc (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2014) “William Upshur” and “Henry Thomas Mayo” in Encyclopedia of U.S. Military Interventions in Latin America, ed. Alan McPherson (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, June 2013) “William Moffett”, “Thomas M. Molyneux”, “Herbert Richmond”, and “Percy Scott” in Philosophers of War: The Evolution of History’s Greatest Military Thinkers, ed. Daniel Coetzee, Lee Eysturlid (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013) “Warfare, Surface”, “History, Naval”, and “Tactics, Naval” in Encyclopedia of Military Science, ed. Kurt Piehler (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2013) Fields of Study Major Field: History vii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: World War I to Cold War................................................................................ 17 Chapter 3: Personnel ......................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 4: Standardization ................................................................................................ 91 Chapter 5: Training and Education ................................................................................. 145 Chapter 6: Korea ............................................................................................................. 217 Chapter 7: Conclusion: Deep and Wide Naval Links ..................................................... 282 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 290 Appendix A: Abbreviations ............................................................................................ 303 viii List of Tables Table 1 - Flag Officer, Second in Command, Far East, 1951–1953 ............................... 222 Table 2 - Korean West Coast Command Structure, November 1951 ............................. 252 Table 3 - Korean Communications, November 1, 1951 ................................................. 253 ix List of Figures Figure 1 - Caribex 1950 .................................................................................................. 189 Figure 2 - Exercise Mainbrace .......................................................................................