Guide to the Joseph H. Wellings papers, 1921-1983

Naval War College (U.S.). Naval Historical Collection
686 Cushing Road
Newport, RI 02841-1207
Tel: 401-841-2435
email: nhc@usnwc.edu
Website: https://usnwcarchives.org/

Published in 2018

Collection Overview

Title:	Joseph H. Wellings papers
Date range:	1921-1983
Creator:	Wellings, Joseph H. (Joseph Harold), 1903-
Extent:	13.35 linear feet
Abstract:	This collection consists of materials regarding Wellings’ assignment as U.S. observer of the British Home Fleet, including his reminiscences of the sinking of the Bismarck in May 1941, as well as correspondence, writings, speeches, subject files, and other documentation relating to his naval career.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	Naval War College (U.S.). Naval Historical Collection
Collection number:	MSC-003

Scope & content

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.

Access Points

Subject Organizations

• Naval War College (U.S.)
• United States. Navy--History

Subject Topics

• Admirals--United States
• Admiral--United States--Correspondence
• Admirals--United States--History--20th century
• Bismarck (Battleship)
• Communications, Military
• Great Britain. Royal Navy -- History -- World War, 1939-1945
• Navy-yards and naval stations--Rhode Island--Newport
• United States--History, Naval--20th century
• United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff
• United States. Navy--History--World War, 1939-1945
• West Indies (Federation)
• military campaigns

Document Types

• Letters (correspondence)
• Lectures
• Military commissions
• Military records
• Orders (military records)

Arrangement

The collection is divided into four series:

• Series 1. Correspondence
• Series 2. Speeches and Writings
• Series 3. Subject Files
• Series 4. Miscellany

Biographical note

Joseph H. Wellings was born on April 23, 1903, in Boston, Massachusetts, to John A. and Bridget G. Sullivan Wellings. One of four brothers, all of whom became rear admirals in the U.S. Navy, he attended the Samuel Adams School, Boston Latin School, and the English High School, all in Boston, before his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1921. There he participated in many sports and won the Daughters of the American Revolution sword for excellence in practical seamanship.

After graduating from the Academy in 1925, he first served in the battleship USS Utah(BB 31)and then in USS Florida (BB 30) until 1929. After a tour of duty aboard the destroyers USS King (DD 242) and USS Tillman (DD 135), he was assigned to the Harvard University Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At that time he enrolled as a special student at the Harvard Law School.

In 1935, Admiral William D. Leahy, Commanding Officer, Battleships, Battle Force, selected Wellings as his aide and flag lieutenant. He continued in this capacity when Leahy assumed command of the Battle Force in 1936. Before transferring to USS California (BB 44) as senior watch officer, he returned to Boston, where on January 23, 1937, he married Dorothea K. Bertelsen. Their only child, a daughter, Anne, was born in Washington, D.C., in 1938, when he served on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations.

By 1940, the war in Europe was already a year old, and Britain stood alone and besieged by Hitler’s war machine. During that summer, Wellings was sent to England as an observer of the British Home Fleet, with additional duty as assistant naval attaché in London. Interested in the operational aspects of the Royal Navy’s forces, he served as operations officer in HMS Rodney during the search for and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941. Later he wrote an unpublished manuscript describing those events.

Returning to the United States in June 1941, he served briefly on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations before a three-month assignment with the Fleet Training Division. Appointed commanding officer of USS Strong (DD 467), he prepared the ship for commissioning at the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, in August 1942. The Strong was involved in convoy operations in the Caribbean and Atlantic before participating in the Casablanca invasion. Assigned to the Pacific, the ship saw action in the Solomon Islands, where she was hit by a Japanese torpedo and sank on the night of July 4–5, 1943, off New Georgia. Wellings courageously stayed with his ship as she went down and was seriously injured when her depth charges exploded. As a result, he spent the next six months in the hospital.

Wellings returned to destroyer commands in March 1944, when he assumed command of Destroyer Division One Hundred and Twenty. Transferred to Destroyer Squadron Two, he again saw action in the Pacific at Lingayen Gulf, the Philippine Islands, in January 1945. Five months before the war’s end, he returned to the United States to an assignment with the Bureau of Personnel. For the next year and one half he was involved in establishing policy for the postwar Naval Reserve and in transferring naval reservists to the regular navy.

From 1946 to 1948 he was a student and a staff member in international relations at the National War College in Washington, D.C. After a year as Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, he returned to sea as commanding officer of USS Columbus (CA 74), flagship of Commander, Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, with duty in the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet.

While serving in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Personnel, he was promoted to rear admiral on May 1, 1953. He assumed command of the naval base in Newport, RI, in that rank, with additional duty as Commander, First Naval District.

In the autumn of 1955, he was appointed Navy representative to Joint Task Force Seven and Commander, Task Group Seven Point Three. The task forces conducted atomic tests under the code name “Operation Redwing” on Eniwetok and Bikini Atolls in the Marshall Islands. Wellings was commended for his participation by the Secretary of the Navy. A year as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Plans and Policy was followed by four years as Vice Director, Joint Staff, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both of these posts involved him in delicate negotiations with representatives of the West Indies Federation over United States Base Lease Agreements at the naval base in Chaguaramas, Trinidad.

RADM Wellings’ last assignment was Commandant of the First Naval District and commanding officer of the naval bases at Boston, Massachusetts, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He suffered a stroke in March 1963, while vacationing in Trinidad, and retired on August 1, 1963. He and Mrs. Wellings resided on Victoria Avenue in Newport, RI. Their daughter, Mrs. F. P. Heffelfinger, Jr., lives in the Dominican Republic. Admiral Wellings died on March 31, 1988.

The admiral’s medals include the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, the Gold Star, the Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European– African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon, and the Expert Pistol Shot Medal. He was a member of the USNA Athletic Association, the USNA Alumni Association, the Navy League, Seaport ’76, the Newport Historical Society, the Preservation Society of Newport County, and Redwood Library, and was an honorary member of Quindecim.

Chronology

Date		Event
1925		Graduated, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; Commissioned Ensign; USS Utah (BB 31).
1926-1929		USS Florida (BB 30).
1929-1931		USS King (DD 242).
1931-1933		USS Tillman (DD 135).
1933–1935		Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit, Attached; Promoted to Lieutenant.
1935		Commander, Battleships, Battle Force, Aide and Flag Lieutenant to CO, ADM William D. Leahy.
1936		Commander, Battle Force, Aide and Flag Lieutenant to CO; USS California (BB 44).
1938–1940		Navy Department, Office of Chief of Naval Operations, Staff.
1939		Promoted to Lieutenant Commander.
1940–1941		Assistant Naval Attaché, American Embassy, London, England, and Observer with the Royal Navy; Navy Department, Office of Chief of Naval Operations.
1942		Headquarters, CIC, U.S. Fleet, Staff.
1942–1943		USS Strong (DD 467), CO.
1943		July 20, Promoted to Captain.
1944		Anti-Submarine Warfare Unit, Fleet Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet, Staff, Destroyer Division 120, CO.
1944-1945		Destroyer Squadron Two, CO.
1945-1946		Navy Department, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Staff.
1946-1948		National War College, Student; Staff Member.
1949-1950		Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans.
1950–1951		USS Columbus (CA 74), CO.
1953		Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower and Personnel), Staff; Promoted to Rear Admiral.
1953-1955		Naval Base, Newport, RI, CO.
1954-1955		First Naval District, Commandant.
1955-1957		Task Group 7.3, Joint Task Force 7, Naval Representative.
1957-1958		Navy Department, Naval Operations (Plans and Policy), Assistant Chief of Naval Operations.
1958-1962		Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Staff, Vice Director.
1962-1963		First Naval District, Commandant.
1963 Aug 1		Retired from the Navy.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	Access is open to all researchers, unless otherwise specified.
Use of the materials:	Material in this collection is in the public domain, unless otherwise noted. Some material in this collection is Classified and requires a security clearance to access.
Preferred citation:	“Title,” Date. Joseph H. Wellings papers, MSC-003, Box number, Folder number. Naval Historical Collection, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
Contact information:	Naval War College (U.S.). Naval Historical Collection 686 Cushing Road Newport, RI 02841-1207 Tel: 401-841-2435 email: nhc@usnwc.edu Website: https://usnwcarchives.org/

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The papers of RADM Joseph H. Wellings were presented to the Naval War College Foundation for deposit in the Naval Historical Collection in two separate accessions: the first, in 1977, consisted of materials regarding Wellings’ assignment as U.S. observer of the British Home Fleet, including his reminiscences of the sinking of the Bismarck in May 1941; and the second, in 1980, was composed of correspondence, writings, speeches, subject files, and miscellany relating to his naval career. Both RADM and Mrs. Wellings, the donors, felt that these materials would be of interest to naval history scholars and would be particularly well placed in the archives of the Navy’s senior educational institution. Additional manuscripts were presented in 1987, 1989, and 2005.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Register prepared by Evelyn Cherpak, 2012.
Encoding:	Finding aid encoded by Stacie M. Parillo, 2018 Feb 27.
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS).

Additional Information

Related material:

RG 15, NWC Lectures, Naval War College Wellings, J.H. Briefing on the Naval Base, August 11, 1955, 21pp. Hattendorf, John B. (ed.) On His Majesty’s Service: Observations of the British Home Fleet from the Diary, Reports, and Letters of Joseph H. Wellings, Assistant U.S. Naval Attaché, London, 1940–41. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 1983.

Inventory

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