Notebooks containing research on Bismarck and other miscellaneous letters and notes., undated
Scope and Contents
The collection is divided into four series: correspondence, speeches and writings, subject files, and miscellany. A majority of materials are unclassified; however, several boxes relating to negotiations over U.S. Base Lease Agreements with the West Indies Federation, 1957–1960, are classified. Researchers must have a bona fide security clearance to examine the latter. Unclassified portions of this material are in the main collection.
Series I, correspondence, consists of both official and personal letters sent and received. The official sector contains U.S. Navy orders, accounts, travel vouchers, promotions, and commendations along with intelligence reports submitted as an observer of the Royal Navy, 1940–1941. In addition, there are several cartons of correspondence and messages relating to negotiations with the West Indies Federation over U.S. Lease Agreements at the naval base at Chaguaramas, Trinidad. The bulk of the correspondence, however, contains Wellings’ personal letters to his wife during his active naval service. They focus on major commands and aspects of his career, including his witnessing of the sinking of the Bismarck aboard the Rodney, 1940–1941; his command of USS Strong during WWII operations in the Solomon Islands, 1943; and destroyer operations in the Pacific, 1944–1945. In addition, a small segment focuses on his personal business affairs. The collection contains some, but not all, of the letters received from Mrs. Wellings, as well as staff correspondence when he served as Commandant of the First Naval District.
Series II, writings and speeches, comprises three boxes of materials. The writings segment treats Wellings’ observations on the sinking of the Bismark and the Strong, as well as his service as an attaché in Great Britain, 1940–1941. Included are memories of Pearl Harbor, Admiral William T. Halsey, and the Vietnam War. Speeches form the second segment and cover a forty-year period. Many of them were of an official nature and were given while Wellings was Commander of the Newport Naval Base and Commandant of the First Naval District, 1953–1955, 1962–1963; on the Joint Chiefs staff, 1952; and involved in negotiations over U.S. bases in the Caribbean, 1957–1958.
Subject files, series III, contain correspondence, naval messages, memoranda, reports, writings, Navy publications, and journals and lists dealing with significant aspects of his naval career. Especially important for the researcher are materials relating to battleships, 1925–1929; the Battle Force, 1935–1938, when Wellings served as aide to Admiral William D. Leahy; his service in England as naval observer and assistant naval attaché, 1940–1941; Pacific operations in World War II; the postwar Naval Reserve; the naval base at Newport, and the First Naval District, 1953–1955, 1962–1963; the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1952; and negotiations over U.S. bases in the Caribbean, 1957–1958.
The last segment of the Wellings collection contains miscellaneous materials relating to his career. Included are pamphlets and books, certificates, news releases and newspaper clippings, official biographical materials, family and career photographs, and sound recordings and tapes, several of which treat with the sinking of the Bismarck. Two scrapbooks documenting his Naval Academy years and his time as a naval attaché in Great Britain, 1940–1941, are part of this series.
Dates
- Creation: undated
Creator
- From the Collection: Wellings, Joseph H. (Joseph Harold), 1903- (Person)
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
Access is open to all researchers, unless otherwise specified.
Repository Details
Part of the Naval War College Archives Repository