Craig Lee Symonds

Craig was born and raised in Anaheim CA on December 31st, 1946 to Lee and Virginia Symonds. After graduating from UCLA in 1967, he began graduate studies at the University of Florida where he met his wife Marylou Symonds (nee Hayden). They married in 1969 and had their son, Jeff Symonds. Drafted for Vietnam, Craig was assigned to teach Naval History at the Naval War College in Newport, RI. After finishing his service in 1975, Craig returned to Florida to finish his dissertation, and then was hired by the United States Naval Academy as a professor of history in the fall of 1976.

Craig taught history at the Academy for the next thirty years, including an exchange year in Dartmouth, England at Britannia Royal Naval College, and retired as one of its most decorated professors. He won the yard’s highest awards for teaching (thousands of former students can attest to his dynamic classroom), research (Craig wrote fifteen books on the Civil War and the US Navy while at the Academy), and civilian service. His last book on the Civil War, Lincoln and his Admirals, won the Lincoln Prize in 2009. He also won the Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement award in 2014, and returned to the Naval War College in Newport to serve as the Ernest J. King chair from 2019-2021.

Upon retiring from the classroom, Craig shifted the focus of his writing to World War II, writing four books for Oxford University Press that ultimately led to his receiving the Pritzker Military Museum and Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2023: The Battle of Midway, Neptune, World War II At Sea, and Nimitz at War (which also won the Gilder-Lehman Military History Prize). In 2025, he published Annapolis Goes To War, the story of the Naval Academy class of 1940, and his final book, Twelve Battles that Changed America, will be released posthumously next year.

In addition to his lifetime of scholarship and teaching, Craig enjoyed coaching cross-country and track throughout his life, watching Navy football, a cheeseburger with lettuce and extra tomato followed by a slice of lemon cake, and being a part of several book groups filled with friends and colleagues.

Craig is survived by his lifelong editor, wife, partner in all things, and best friend Marylou, his son Jeff and his wife Susee Witt and their children Will and Bee Symonds, and his niece Lori Mason Chea and her daughter Lainey.

A memorial service is planned for a future date. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages everyone to vote on behalf of democracy.