Eric Wertheim is a defense consultant, columnist, and author specializing in naval and maritime affairs. Frequently interviewed by the news media, he has served as a speechwriter for Pentagon officials and a consultant to private industry and the U.S. government. He has been a columnist for Proceedings magazine since 1994. He lives in the Washington D.C. area.

Articles by Eric Wertheim

U.S. Coast Guard (P.J. Mannis)

Combat Fleets

By Eric Wertheim
August 2010
On 20 June the Russian Slava-class guided-missile cruiser Varyag arrived in San Francisco on a historic visit. The Varyag, flagship of Russia's Pacific Fleet, is the first surface warship ...
MICHAEL NITZ

Combat Fleets

By Eric Wertheim, Editor, Combat Fleets of the World
May 2006
On 18 February 2006, S 101, the first German-built South African Type 209/1400 submarine, left Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) shipyard in Kiel, sailing for Simon's Town, South Africa, where she will ...
ISRAEL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

Combat Fleets

By Eric Wertheim, Editor, Combat Fleets of the World
January 2005
The first of six Israel Navy Super Dvora III-class fast patrol and interdiction craft recently entered service, commissioned on 11 November 2004 at the Israeli naval base in Ashdod. Israel ...
U.S. NAVY (SONJA L. STONE)

Combat Fleets

By Eric Wertheim, Editor, Combat Fleets of the World
November 2004
After training for nine months, the newly formed Iraqi Coast Defense Force (ICDF) began coastal patrol operations on 1 October 2004. This small Iraqi naval component, currently consisting of five ...
NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER PHOTO

Peter Tomich; USS Toledo (CA-133)

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, USN (Ret.), and Eric Wertheim
June 2004
Peter Tomich Peter Tomich was born Petre Herceg-Tonic in Prolog, a town on the Austro-Hungarian border, in 1893 and, determined to find a better life, immigrated to the United States ...
U.S. COAST GUARD

Idawalley Zorada Lewis; USS Gurnard (SS-254)

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired), and Eric Wertheim
April 2004
Idawalley Zorada Lewis On the night of 24 October 1911, the sound of a ship’s bell drifted across the water to Newport, Rhode Island. Before long, every vessel in the ...
U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PHOTO ARCHIVE

Peter Williams; Trathen (DD-530)

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, USN (Ret.), and Eric Werthiem
February 2004
Peter Williams On the morning of 9 March 1862, the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack) and the USS Monitor faced off in Hampton Roads, Virginia, to fight the ...
U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PHOTO ARCHIVE

Douglas Hegdahl, Columbia

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, USN (Ret.), and Eric Wertheim
December 2003
Douglas Hegdahl Nineteen-year-old Douglas Hegdahl joined the Navy in 1966 to see the world. He soon got his wish. Within a few months he found himself on the gun line ...
U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PHOTO ARCHIVE

William B. Cushing; Terrell County

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, USN (Ret.), and Eric Wertheim
October 2003
William B. Cushing The Confederate ironclad Albemarle was 122-feet long, built of solid ten-inch thick Southern pine encased in railroad-track armor four inches thick, and was armed with two 100-pound ...
Broadside starboard view of the USS Richard P. Leary (DD-664) in camouflage

USS Richard P. Leary (DD-664)

By Eric Wertheim
August 2003
Launched on 6 October 1943, the Fletcher (DD-445)-class destroyer USS Richard P. Leary (DD-664) was built by the Boston Navy Yard and commissioned into Navy service on 23 February 1944 ...
U.S. NAVY

USS Yarnall (DD-541)

By Eric Wertheim
April 2003
The second U.S. Navy ship to bear the name Yarnall was DD-541, a Fletcher (DD-445)-class destroyer commissioned on 30 December 1943. After shakedown and training exercises, she sailed for Oahu ...
USS Tautog (SS-199) returning from a war patrol, 1945.

USS Tautog (SS-199)

By Eric Wertheim
February 2003
The submarine Tautog (SS-199) was built by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, and commissioned on 3 July 1940. She was at the submarine base at Pearl Harbor when ...