CLS: Dr. Craig L Symonds

The “Turkey Shoot” in the Philippine Sea 

This presentation will reflect on the different leadership styles and the critical role of temperament in this battle in the Philippine Sea that was directed by Raymond Spruance, a quiet, thoughtful, and deliberate commander.

Dr. Craig L. Symonds is Professor Emeritus of History at the United States Naval Academy. During a thirty-year teaching career there, he was the first person to win both the Academy’s “Excellence in Teaching” award (1988) and its “Excellence in Research” award (1998). In 1994-95, he was Professor of Strategy at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England. From 2017 to 2020 he was The Ernest J. King Distinguished Professor of Maritime History at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, for which he received his fourth Superior Civilian Service Medal (2020).   Symonds is the author of sixteen books. His book World War II at Sea: A Global History (Oxford), which was published in 2018, has been translated into Spanish, French, Chinese, and Polish. His newest book is a wartime biography of Admiral Chester Nimitz entitled Nimitz at War, (spring of 2022).