US Naval War College
The presentation of the inaugural John B Hattendorf Award to Dr NAM Rodger on 20 October 2011US Naval War College honours British historian
Professor N A M Rodger, a leading British naval historian and senior research fellow at Oxford University, has been named as the inaugural recipient of the US Naval War College's (NWC) "Hattendorf Prize," an international award that aims to recognize original research contributions in the field of maritime history.
In a March 21st letter of congratulations, the NWC president invited Rodger, who was selected to receive the award for his series of original achievements in maritime scholarship, to visit the college later this year to be recognized. Rodger is a fellow of both All Soul's College at Oxford and the British Academy, the UK's London-based national organization for distinguished scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Rodger has researched extensively the naval history of Britain, with his works spanning nearly 1,400 years of history.
"This prize honors original research in maritime history, one of the basic functions for which the Naval War College was established in 1884," said NWC's Ernest J King Professor of Maritime History, Dr John Hattendorf. The award was established as recognition of Hattendorf's legacy of scholarship and service at the Naval War College.
"In selecting Nicholas Rodger as its first Prize Laureate, the Naval War College honors him as an exemplary scholar, whose work ranges across more than a thousand years of Britain's naval history and is deeply founded in both original archival research and knowledge of the best scholarship in numerous languages," said Hattendorf, who was among the panelists who chose Rodger.
Among Rodger's critically acclaimed works is a comprehensive history of Britain's naval history dating back to 660 AD partly funded by the SNR.
The award is made possible with the support of the Naval War College Foundation through the generosity of Pamela Ribbey, in honor of her late grandfather, Captain Charles H Maddox (1886-1964), a pre-World War II Naval War College graduate and faculty member.
The purpose of the award is to honor and to express appreciation for distinguished academic research, insight and writing that contribute to a deeper historical understanding of the broad context and interrelationships involved in the roles, contributions, limitations, and uses of the sea services in the field of maritime history.
Nominees are chosen among distinguished academics for the quality and depth of their scholarship.
Given generally at two-year intervals, the prize includes a bronze medal, a citation, a monetary gift of $10,000, and a lecture at the Naval War College that will be published in the Naval War College Review.