Gimblett, Richard H. 1956- (Richard Gimblett, Richard Howard Gimblett)

PERSONAL:

Born 1956.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Maritime Staff Officer Heritage, Command Historian, National Defence Headquarters, 101 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K2, Canada. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Historian, educator, writer, and editor. Canadian Navy, command historian; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, research fellow; Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, adjunct professor. Also contributed naval analyses for the Conference of Defence Associations, the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century, and the Royal Canadian Military Institute. Military service: Canadian Navy, officer, served for twenty-seven years, including in the Persian Gulf War, 1991.

MEMBER:

Naval Officers Association of Canada (president of Ottawa branch; member of board of directors), Canadian Nautical Research Society (president), Navy League of Canada (life member).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Robert I. Hendy Award, Navy League of Canada, 2004, Silver Medallion, Naval Officers Association of Canada, 2005, both for Operation Apollo.

WRITINGS:

(With Jean H. Morin) Operation Friction, 1990-1991: The Canadian Forces in the Persian Gulf, Dundurn Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

Operation Apollo: The Golden Age of the Canadian Navy in the War against Terrorism, Magic Light Publishing (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

(Editor and contributor, with Michael Whitby and Peter Haydon) The Admirals: Canada's Senior Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century, Dundurn Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

(With Angus Brown) In the Footsteps of the Canadian Corps: Canada's First World War 1914-1918, foreword by Adrienne Clarkson, contemporary photography by John McQuarrie, Magic Light Publishing (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

(With Allan English and Howard Coombs) Networked Operations and Transformation: Context and Canadian Contributions, McGill-Queen's University Press (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Richard H. Gimblett is a historian and policy analyst who served for nearly three decades in the Canadian Navy as a surface operations officer. He has written several historical books about the Canadian military, covering such diverse times and wars as World War I and the Persian Gulf War in 1991. For his first book, Operation Friction, 1990-1991: The Canadian Forces in the Persian Gulf, the author collaborates with Jean H. Morin to tell of the Canadian military's contribution to this war with Iraq. The author was Combat Officer of the Canadian ship HMCS Protecteur for operations in the Persian Gulf.

In his book Operation Apollo: The Golden Age of the Canadian Navy in the War against Terrorism, Gimblett relates the contribution made by the Canadian Navy in the "war on terrorism" when it deployed sixteen major warships and 4,000 Canadian sailors to the Arabian Sea over a two-year period following the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001. In his account of how almost the entire Canadian Navy was sent to the Arabian Sea, the author reveals how Canadian warships were among the first assets deployed to the war on terrorism. Overall, Canada was the third-largest contributor to this effort after the United States and the United Kingdom. In a review in Air Power History, Carl A. Christie wrote that the author "has produced a clear, succinct, and attractive summary of one very significant Canadian contribution to crucial military operations against Al Qaeda," adding: "Operation Apollo should be read by anyone who thinks that Canada has played no role in this critical struggle, as well as by those who think it should do nothing." The book won both the Robert I. Hendy Award of the Navy League of Canada and the 2005 Silver Medallion of the Naval Officers Association of Canada.

Gimblett is the author, with Angus Brown, of In the Footsteps of the Canadian Corps: Canada's First World War 1914-1918. The book is part history, part travelogue, and part remembrance as it follows the footsteps of the Canadian Corps during World War I. In addition to the text, artwork and photos help the reader explore the various places where Canadian soldiers were stationed during the war. The artwork and historical photos come primarily from the Canadian War museum, and contemporary photos depict many of the places and battlefields as they appear today. Writing on the Frontline Canada Web site, Robert Day noted "the skilled narratives and excellent photographs," adding: "This book is a must for all readers who profess an interest in Canadian military history and who seek to understand the roles that their grandfathers or great-grandfathers played in Canada's national development."

Gimblett is also the editor, with Michael Whitby and Peter Haydon, of The Admirals: Canada's Senior Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century. The book includes articles on the leaders of Canada's Navy and reminiscences by six former Maritime Commanders who provide personal reflections on command. "The historians here, a virtual who's who of Canadians interested in the RCN … [provide] real insight into the men who led the small Royal Canadian Navy," wrote Galen Roger Perras in the American Review of Canadian Studies. Gimble and his coeditors are also contributors to the book. Gimble's chapter focuses on Admiral Charles E. Kingsmill. In his review in the American Review of Canadian Studies, Perras noted that the author "manages to overturn the received historical version of Kingsmill's tenure as head of the RCN," adding: "Gimblett maintains that while Kingsmill did not create a proud or robust service, he managed to build a reasonably sound foundation for an RCN that was but a decade old when Kingsmill departed."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Air Power History, spring, 2006, Carl A. Christie, review of Operation Apollo: The Golden Age of the Canadian Navy in the War against Terrorism, p. 46.

American Review of Canadian Studies, winter, 2006, Galen Roger Perras, review of The Admirals: Canada's Senior Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century, p. 677.

Canadian Book Review, annual, 2006, Graeme S. Mount, review of The Admirals, p. 27.

Canadian Defence Quarterly, summer, 1997, review of Operation Friction, 1990-1991: The Canadian Forces in the Persian Gulf, p. 40.

Canadian Historical Review, June, 2007, Shawn Cafferky, review of The Admirals, p. 342.

Esprit De Corps, May, 2006, review of In the Footsteps of the Canadian Corps: Canada's First World War 1914-1918, p. 47.

United Church Observer, July 1, 2006, review of In the Footsteps of the Canadian Corps, p. 41.

ONLINE

Canadian Defense and Foreign Affairs Institute Web site,http://www.cdfai.org/ (March 10, 2008), brief profile of author.

Canadian Navy Web site,http://www.navy.dnd.ca/ (March 10, 2008), Sarah Gilmour, "People in the Navy; Dr. Gimblett Wins Honourable Mentions."

Center for Foreign Policy Studies, Dalhousie University Web site,http://centreforforeignpolicystudies.dal.ca/ (March 10, 2008), brief profile of author.

Frontline Canada,http://www.frontline-canada.com/ (March 10, 2008), Robert Day, review of In the Footsteps of the Canadian Corps.

Frontline Security,http://www.frontline-canada.com/FrontLineSecurity/ (March 10, 2008), brief profile of author.

Seawaves Magazine,http://www.seawaves.com/ (March 10, 2008), Richard Gimblett, review of Operation Apollo.