USNA MUSEUM, HISTORY DEPARTMENT ESTABLISH NAVAL HISTORY WARGAMING LABORATORY
POSTED ON: Wednesday, August 5, 2020 3:35 PM by mediarelations@usna.edu
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The U.S. Naval Academy Museum and History Department have partnered to establish the Naval History Wargaming Lab (NHWL). The lab, located at the Museum in Preble Hall, is slated to open in time for the 2021 spring semester.
The purpose of the wargaming lab is to introduce midshipmen, officers and enlisted to components of strategy and decision-making prior to arriving in the fleet.
Marcus Jones, who has a doctorate in history, is an Associate Professor in the History Department and director of the lab. Claude Berube, who has a doctorate in military history, is the director of the Naval Academy Museum, and an Assistant Professor in the History Department. Jones and Berube have been working to integrate the NHWL into the Naval Academy’s curriculum and extracurricular activities program. For the past six months, Jones has worked with the midshipman leaders of the newly-established Naval Academy Wargaming Society to create space for midshipmen to conduct games in the museum. The museum’s theater is being converted for use by the Wargaming Society and for a new museum-funded course to be taught in the spring through the History Department.
“A robust wargaming program stands to enhance the readiness of our future officers to understand and solve the hardest challenge confronting the Navy today - namely, how to fight and win against increasingly capable peer competitors - while sharpening the critical thinking of students in our courses,” said Jones.
The lab will also host weekends of naval history wargames for active and Reserve officers, Sailors, and civilians. The selection process for the weekends will be announced later this year on the museum’s website (www.usna.edu/museum).
“We’re a teaching museum and this lab is another method to make naval history more relevant to the midshipmen,” said Berube. “It will provide opportunities for midshipmen, civilians, active duty, and Reservists to learn together and incorporate wargaming elements in their future decision-making.”
The Naval History Wargaming Lab is a member of the Educational Wargaming Cooperative and will work with similar societies and other colleges, universities, and military installations.
Celebrating 175 years, the U.S. Naval Academy was founded in 1845 and is a prestigious four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to be professional officers in the naval service. More than 4,400 men and women representing every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries make up the student body, known as the Brigade of Midshipmen. Midshipmen learn from military and civilian instructors and participate in intercollegiate varsity sports and extracurricular activities. They also study subjects such as leadership, ethics, small arms, drill, seamanship and navigation, tactics, naval engineering and weapons, cyber security, and military law. Upon graduation, midshipmen earn a Bachelor of Science degree in a choice of 25 different subject majors and go on to serve at least five years of exciting and rewarding service as commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps.
For more information about the Naval Academy, please visit: www.usna.edu or our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/USNavalAcademy.
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Category: General Interest, Press Releases, Academics