By MC3 Michael Ehrlich

Commodore Dudley Knox, pictured circa 1917, was no stranger to education as a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval War College. But thanks to the efforts of Dudley Knox Library (DKL) Special Collections Manager John Sanders, the impact Knox had on the early development of NPS, and on the preservation of U.S. naval history, is now documented in a detailed display on DKL’s second floor.

Knox had a distinguished career as a naval officer with service in the Spanish American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Great White Fleet, and World War I. In his later career, his work as a historian and as the deputy director of the U.S. Naval History Command led NPS leadership to name the Dudley Knox Library in his honor.

“Dudley Knox secured a place in naval history by documenting naval history in a way that no one had done before,” said Sanders.

Knox’s publication, “Our Vanishing Naval History,” led to the establishment of the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF). He served as secretary of NHF and was its president at the time of his passing in 1960.