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The Amphibious Shipping Challenge: Before There Were Amphibs

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The Amphibious Shipping Challenge: Before There Were Amphibs John S. Naylor - 1 September, 2025 USS PANTHER In the August 2025 issue of Proceedings, Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Warren, USMC, makes an argument for working through the ongoing shortage of amphibious shipping in the Navy by deploying “Mini-MEUs” — deploying Marines aboard a mix of amphibs and surface warfare ships. [1]  He posits that by spreading Marines amongst the ships of the Surface Warfare community, the two sea services could generate greater utility, despite not having a requisite number of amphibious warships available. My thoughts here are in no way a rebuttal to LtCol Warren’s thesis. My thoughts are more a historical framing of the amphibious shipping challenges facing the sea services at the turn of the previous century. Since the end of the Cold War amphibious shipping has been a perennial bone of contention between the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, and Congress. The argument that “available sh...
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Review: Military Landing Operations by Major Dion Williams, USMC

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 Review:  Military Landing Operations by Major Dion Williams      In July of 1906 , the  Journal of the U.S. Infantry Association , (presently  INFANTRY) , published an article written by Major Dion Williams, USMC, titled “Military Landing Operations”. The article shows a certain level of sophistication in amphibious doctrine of the time. Williams had his own experience with landing parties — he led Marines ashore at Cavite following Dewey’s victory at Manila Bay and was an instructor on landing operations at the Naval War College. But his writing reflects the experience of the landings at Guantanamo, the Army’s experiences in Cuba and Puerto Rico, and in various fleet exercises conducted since then. They also reflect the decades of “corporate knowledge” gained by Marines and Bluejackets in executing landing parties the world round since 1775. What may be most interesting in his piece, and when it was written, is that in putting pen to paper on this s...
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Addendum: “The Marines Have Landed at Nantucket, and the Situation is Well In Hand.”

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Addendum: “The Marines Have Landed at Nantucket, and the Situation is Well In Hand.” Marine Corps Gazette, May 2025.  I recently wrote a piece that wound up in publication, unfortunately sans photographs. We couldn’t find who held the copyrights for images used in the Nantucket Historical Society’s magazine in 1981, but I thought it might be interesting to review the photos here. In this photo we see Marines in 1901 setting up bivouac amongst the dunes of the east end of Nantucket. They landed as part of the Atlantic Squadron’s summer exercises, with the mission of setting up an “Advanced Base” where the Navy could anchor, refuel, rearm, and treat the wounded, without interference from a foreign navy.  The Marines, first under the command of Captain C.G. Long, and then Major Charles Doyen, are erecting circular section tents; at the upper left you may spot a rectangular tent, possibly for headquarters, or an officer. I believe ships’ whaleboats can be seen at the left edge of ...
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Review: Empire Marine - General Littleton W.T. Waller and the Growth of American Imperialism, 1856-1926 by Vernon L. Williams

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Review:  EMPIRE MARINE – General Littleton W.T. Waller and the Growth of American Imperialism, 1856-1926 Vernon L. Williams. Fort Worth, Texas: TCU Press, 2024. Maps. Photos. Charts. Chronology. Notes. Bibliography. Index. 270 pages.   Outside the annals of Marine Corps history, Littleton Waller Tazewell Waller doesn’t garner much attention. Icons, such as John Lejeune, Smedley Butler, and Dan Daly, receive the lion’s share of the attention for doctrinal innovation, leadership, and heroism. Waller is relegated to the shadows, despite nearly forty years of service during the formative years of the 20 th  century Marine Corps. Vernon Williams’ biography of Waller, EMPIRE MARINE, may help to correct this. Williams lays out the events of Waller’s life in standard fashion, using personal and Marine Corps correspondence and photos, maps, charts, official accounts, and courts martial testimony.  Waller was born in 1856 to a Virginia family descended from governors and repre...
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