Honors for Taussig

The U.S. Navy last week honored a sailorman who had dared to think out loud. Giving up his last command (of the Norfolk Naval District) and preparing to retire after 42 years of service, Rear Admiral Joseph Knefler Taussig received 1) a formal commendation from the Secretary of the Navy, 2) notice that on retirement he will be promoted to Vice Admiral.

The Navy does not object to thought as such, but prefers to have it muted. Gutty, caustic Joseph Taussig never muted his ideas on reforming the cumbersome naval bureau system, reorganizing the fleets, pussyfooting with the Japanese, many another controversial subject.

Although he distinguished himself in the Boxer Rebellion, the Philippine Insurrection, and World War I, Joseph Taussig never reached top rank (his biggest job: Chief of Staff of the U.S. Fleet). But, for a Navy man who had his rare, hazardous quality of dissent, he did very well. The Navy for years discouraged and repressed the late, great Alfred Thayer Mahan while he was evolving the doctrines which still guide the navies of the world. Vice Admiral Taussig, in his idle years, may well remember that Mahan on active duty never rose above a captaincy, got to be a Rear Admiral only after he had retired.

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