Thomas J. Cutler is a former petty officer second class and retired lieutenant commander who has been serving the U.S. Navy in various capacities for more than fifty years, including a combat tour in Vietnam and service in aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, and patrol craft. The author of many articles and books, he is the Gordon England Chair of Professional Naval Literature at the U.S. Naval Institute and Distinguished Fleet Professor of Strategy and Policy with the Naval War College. He has received the William P. Clements Award for Excellence in Education as military teacher of the year at the U.S. Naval Academy, the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Naval Literature, the U.S. Maritime Literature Award, the Naval Institute Press Author of the Year Award, and the Commodore Dudley Knox Lifetime Achievement Award in Naval History.

Articles by Thomas J. Cutler

U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

Remembering the Painful

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
April 2012
For more than 100 issues, this column has recounted inspirational incidents from our history in hopes that, as part of our heritage, they will not be forgotten. Sometimes, however, it ...
U.S. Navy (Brian Aho)

Thornton & Norris

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
February 2012
Petty Officer Michael Thornton and Lieutenant Thomas R. Norris were among the comparatively few American sailors left in South Vietnam in October of 1972. The so-called “Brown Water Navy” had ...
Library of Congress

Putting the Horse Before the Cart

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
September 2011
In the latter part of the 19th century, technology was rapidly growing, offering new and, in most cases, better ways of doing things. Steam propulsion offered an alternative to the ...
Portrait of John Paul Jones

Words vs. Deeds

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2011
Nearly every student of naval history knows the story of John Paul Jones’ most famous engagement, 23 September 1779, when he engaged the British frigate Serapis while in command of ...
Library of Congress

Running the Gauntlet at Island Number 10

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
July 2011
In the spring of 1862, Union forces were poised to move down the strategically critical Mississippi River. Standing in the way of this Union advance, however, were the formidable fortifications ...