Dudley Knox Center for Naval History

Dudley Knox Center for Naval History. Dudley Wright Knox, Commodore, USN. Dudley W. Knox, an 1896 graduate of the Naval Academy, had numerous tours afloat during the first twenty-five years of his career, including service in the first of the Navy's destroyers. He later played an important role in developing tactics and strategy for the new American destroyer force. Ashore, the commodore served twice on the faculty of the Naval War College. During World War I, he was a senior planner on the staff of Admiral William J. Sims, the Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters. Before and after that war, Dudley Knox contributed numerous writings on naval affairs that demonstrated his pronounced ability to combine thought with action., Appointed officer-in-charge of the Office of Naval Records and Library in 1921, Commodore Knox was the driving force behind the U.S. Navy's historical program for the next twenty-five years. He pioneered in the preservation and organization of the Navy's archives and provided the impetus for what is now the Navy Memorial Museum. An eminent historian, the commodore wrote A History of the United States Navy, a distinguished account of the American naval heritage. He oversaw the collection, editing and publication of two twenty-seven volume series concerning the Quasi-War with France and the Barbary Wars. Throughout an illustrious career, Commodore Knox strengthened and reinforced the U.S. Navy's commitment to its heritage and historical traditions. , , "How early the American cause turned to the sea." , - Dudley W. Knox . This historical marker was erected in 1982. It is in Navy Yard in Southeast Washington in Washington District of Columbia