STANLEY D.M. CARPENTER, Emeritus Professor of Strategy, U.S. Naval War College holds degrees from Florida State University (Ph.D.), University of St. Andrews (Scotland)(M.Litt.), and University of North Carolina (A.B. with Honors). He retired from the US Navy in 2009 with the rank of captain having served several commanding and senior staff officer tours. He researches and publishes extensively on the British Civil Wars, the War of American Independence, American and British military and naval history, military leadership, and the two 20th-century world wars. He is also the author of several action-adventure historical novels set in the two world wars. He lectures extensively at public libraries and historical associations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom and served for many years as the Naval Order of the United States Historian General. Additionally, he serves as Tour Historian for Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours and as Viking Resident Historian for Viking Ocean Cruises.
HOMEPORT: Rhode Island
AREAS OF EXPERTISE: American Revolution, U.S. Civil War, World War I &II
NOTABLE PAPERS:
“The Great War at Sea, 1914-18” - New York Military Affairs Symposium (NYMAS), New York, New York, April 2018 and later broadcast on CSPAN 3 History series
"Naval Events in the U.S. Civil War" - Liverpool Maritime Society, Liverpool, UK, October 2025
“Operation Neptune” – 80th Anniversary of D-Day and Operation Overlord Commemoration, Portsmouth, UK, May 2024
"The Rise and Fall of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, 1900-1918” - Florida Conference of Historians, St. Leo University, St. Leo Florida, February 2022 and the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History, Montgomery, Alabama, April 2015
“’A Measure of the Utmost Importance,’ Battle of the Virginia Capes, September 1781 from an Operational and Tactical Perspective” - Seminar on the American Revolution, Fort Ticonderoga, Fort Ticonderoga, New York, September 2021 and United States Naval Academy, McMullen Naval History Conference, Annapolis, Maryland, September 2017
“Hawaii Responds: Civilians and the Pearl Harbor Attack” - Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary Commemoration, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, United States National Park Service, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 2016
“Rule Britannia: Rise of a Maritime Empire” - New York Military Affairs Symposium, New York, New York, March 2016
“The Battle of Midway” - Battle of Midway 70th Anniversary Symposium, Pacific Aviation Museum, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, June 2012
“American Military Leadership in Hawaii, January 1941 to December 7, 1941” - Pearl Harbor 70th Anniversary Symposium, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 2011
“Georgia in the Civil War: The Naval Dimension,” Georgia Humanities Council Conference on Georgia in the Civil War, LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia, November 2009
"German Naval Strategy in the Arctic Theatre, 1942-43" - Fifteenth Naval History Symposium, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, September 2001 – NOTE – Prepared and ready to present but event cancelled due to 9-11 terrorist attack
"Zone of Destiny: German Naval Strategy in Norway, 1942-43" - Florida Conference of Historians, Panama City, Florida, March 1994
"German Naval Surface Operations in the Arctic Theatre, 1942-43" - World War II Conference, Siena College, Albany, New York, June 1993.