Harris Laning papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSC-115

Staff Only

Content Description

The collection consists of six boxes as well as folio size materials that document his naval career. It is divided into five series.

Series I, correspondence, contains several letters sent, but, by far, the bulk of the material consists of letters received during the years 1902-1941. Most of the correspondence is of an official nature; there are a few personal letters from family members, however. Congratulatory letters on his retirement were received from Admirals Harold Stark, H. Kent Hewitt, Reginald R. Belknap and Richard L. Conolly as well as from Herbert Lehman, Eugene Wilson and Arthur Hays Sulzberger. Naval orders, thank you letters and correspondence regarding his funeral complete the series.

Speeches form the second series and contain an address given at Laning's High School graduation in Petersburg, Illinois, in 1890 and one at his retirement dinner in 1937. The rest were given by Laning on various occasions, including a commencement speech at Peekskill Military Academy, his alma mater, in 1936, and at various navy events.

Writings, Series III, contain a cruise journal which Laning kept aboard the MONADNOCK in 1898, an article on the navy he had published in Nayy Day, and both a holograph and typed version of his unpublished autobiography entitled "An Admiral's Yarn." The latter will be published as part of the Naval War College Historical Monograph series.

Series IV contains photographs of naval career situations and is one of the largest segments of the collection. Photos of most of Laning's ships, the U.S. Navy Rifle Team at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, the USS PENNSYLVANIA in Australia and New Zealand, change of command ceremonies, the visit of Marshal Petain to the Naval War College in 1931, ship launchings, the U.S. battle line, and portrait shots of Laning can be found here. There are photographs of Admirals William D. Leahy and Joseph M. Reeves as well. Laning's fitness reports are stored with the folio photographs.

Miscellany, Series V, contains a potpourri of souvenir programs, dinner menus, invitations, citations and awards, imprints on navy topics, scrapbooks of cruises, newsletters, identification cards and other printed material which Laning collected during his forty-six year naval career. Newspaper clippings are another large portion of the collection. The clippings cover major events in Laning's naval career and are stored in folio envelopes.

This is an important collection of a peacetime naval officer and president of the Naval War College. A surface line officer, a tactician, an expert shot, a sportsman, and an educator, Laning only saw action in the Spanish-American War, and that at the very beginning of his career. His papers reflect the career pattern of a flag officer who held vital battleship and shore commands and high naval academic posts during the first three and a half decades of the twentieth century.

Dates

Creation: 1891-1941, undated

Creator

Laning, Harris, 1873-1941 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Access is open to all researchers, unless otherwise specified.

Conditions Governing Use

Material in this collection is in the public domain, unless otherwise noted.

Biographical Note

Harris Laning, one of the Navy's most important peacetime admirals and an expert in gunnery and tactics, was born in Petersburg, Illinois on October 18, 1873, the son of Caleb Barrett and Mary Esther Harris Laning. He attended Peekskill Military Academy in Peekskill, New York, before enrolling in the United States Naval Academy in 1891. Graduating in 1895, he spent two years on the Pacific Station in the PHILADELPHIA and OREGON before being commissioned ensign.

When the Spanish-American War began, he was assigned to the monitor MONADNOCK and then commanded the gunboat PANAY during the Philippine insurrection. Laning then returned to the Naval Academy in 1900 for two years. His first association with the Newport area occurred during that period as he was assigned to the Naval Torpedo Station for instruction in torpedo and electrical engineering. After a tour in the DOLPHIN, he returned again to the Academy where he was an instructor in the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery and captained the Navy Rifle Team which won the national championship in 1907.

After three years as navigator in the battleship NEBRASKA, in which he made a round the world cruise with the fleet, he returned again to the Academy as chairman of the Navigation Department. In 1912, the Navy's Rifle Team, of which he was again captain, competed at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, and won the match. Command of the USS CASSIN in 1913-14 was followed by assignment to the Sixth Division, Torpedo Flotilla during the Mexican campaign of 1914. He stayed on with the Torpedo Flotilla and commanded its first and second divisions in 1916, later renamed Flotilla One.

When World War I broke out, he was assigned to the Bureau of Navigation, personnel division, where a year later he became acting chief and supervised the demobilization of naval personnel at the war's end. In 1919, he was Chief of Staff to Commander, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet and in that capacity was involved in arranging the first transatlantic airplane flight of the NC-4 flying boat from Newfoundland to Portugal in May of that year. Laning ordered destroyers to be stationed at fifty mile intervals so that communications could be maintained with the aircraft during the flight. In 1919, he became Chief of Staff to Commander Destroyer Squadron Three, Atlantic Fleet, a post he held for two years.

In 1921 he was a student at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. After graduation in 1922, he remained on the staff as head of the Tactics Department for two years. One of the high points of his career was command of the battleship PENNSYLVANIA from 1924 to 1926, which participated in a goodwill cruise to Australia and New Zealand. He then went to the Naval Training Station in San Diego, California, as commander. After two years as commander of Battleship Division Two, Scouting Fleet, he returned to the Naval War College as president for three years. During his presidency, Pringle Hall, housing an auditorium, war game area and offices, was built.

Sea duty in USS CHICAGO as Commander Cruisers, Scouting Force, U.S. Fleet was followed by command of the Battle Force in USS CALIFORNIA in 1935. He retired on November 1, 1937 after serving as Commandant, Third Naval District and Commandant, Navy Yard, New York, where, during his tenure, the cruisers BROOKLYN and HONOLULU, two coast guard cutters and a gun boat were launched. Laning was Governor of the Naval Home in Philadelphia until his death in 1941.

His medals include the Navy Cross, the Spanish Campaign Medal, the Philippine Campaign Medal, the Mexican Service Medal, the Dominican Campaign Medal, the China Relief Expeditionary Medal, and the World War I Victory Medal. Foreign decorations include the Military order of Aviz, Commander, Portugal and the Medal and Diploma, Fifth Olympiad, Sweden. His clubs were the Army and Navy Club of Washington, the New York Yacht Club, and the Washington Army, Navy and Marine Corps Country Club. He was a member of the Masonic Order as well.

Laning married Mabel Claire Nixon of Santa Barbara, California, in 1900. The couple had one daughter, Mrs. D. Sargeant Pepper, who resides in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.

Career Outline

1873
: Born, October 18, Petersburg, Illinois
1895
: Graduated, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland
1897
: Commissioned Ensign; Served in USS PHILADELPHIA (C-4); USS OREGON (BB-3); USS MARION (SlpW); and USS MOHICAN (ScSlp), Watch and Division Officer
1898-1899
: USS MONADNOCK (ScStr); USS PANAY (Gbt), CO
1900-1902
: U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Naval Torpedo Station Instruction, Newport, Rhode Island
1902-1905
: USS DOLPHIN (PG-24)
1905-1907
: U.S. Naval Academy; Captain of the Navy Rifle Team
1907-1910
: USS NEBRASKA (BB-14), Navigator
1910-1913
: U.S. Naval Academy, Chairman, Department of Athletics
1913-1914
: USS CASSIN (DD-43), CO; Sixth Division, Torpedo Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet
1914-1916
: Reserve Torpedo Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, CO; First and Second Division, Torpedo Flotilla, CO
1916-1917
: Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
1917-1919
: Bureau of Navigation, Assistant Chief and Acting Chief
1919
: Commander Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, Chief of Staff
1919-1921
: Commander Destroyer Squadron Three, Atlantic Fleet, Chief of Staff
1921-1924
: Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, Student and Chairman, Department of Tactics
1924-1926
: USS PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38), CO
1926-1927
: Naval Training Station, San Diego, California, CO
1927-1928
: Commander, Battle Fleet, Chief of Staff
1928-1930
: Commander Battleship Division Two, Scouting Fleet
1930-1933
: Naval War College, President
1933-1935
: Commander Cruisers, Scouting Force, U.S. Fleet; Commander Cruisers, U.S. Fleet and Cruiser Division Five in USS CHICAGO (CA-29)
1935-1936
: Commander Battle Force in USS CALIFORNIA (BB-44)
1936-1937
: Third Naval District and Navy Yard, New York, Commandant
1937
: November 1, Retired from the U.S. Navy
1937-1941
: Naval Home, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Governor
1941
: February 2, Died, Naval Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Extent

6 boxes (6 boxes and oversized items)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Career related correspondence, letters received, undated–1941; Speeches, 1890–1937; Writings including a journal of the USS Modnadnock, 1898, and a holograph and typewritten drafts of Laning’s autobiography, “An Admiral’s Yarn” and articles, 1898–1941; Photographs of Naval career situations, 1891–1937; Miscellany, including programs, menus, invitations, citations, imprints, tickets, cards and newsletters, 1895–1937; Newspaper clippings, 1897–1939, treating naval career.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The papers of Harris Laning, Naval War College President, 1930-1933, were given to the Naval War College Foundation for deposit in the Naval Historical Collection by his daughter, Mrs. D. Sargeant Pepper of Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, in November 1990.