Robert G. Albion

Robert Greenhalgh Albion
Mystic Seaport photo, by Mary Anne Stets
Born	( 1896 -08-15)August 15, 1896 Malden, Massachusetts
Died	August 9, 1983(1983-08-09) (aged 86) Groton, Connecticut
Citizenship	United States
Fields	Oceanic History
Institutions	Princeton University, Department of the Navy, Harvard University, University of Maine
Alma mater	Bowdoin College (A.B.) Harvard University (M.A.) Harvard University (Ph.D.)
Thesis	Forests and Sea Power: The Timber Problem of the Royal Navy (1926)
Doctoral advisor	Wilbur Cortez Abbott
Doctoral students	John Curtis Perry
Influences	Alfred Thayer Mahan Frederick Jackson Turner
Notable awards	Presidential Medal for Merit Honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Bowdoin College
Spouse	Jennie Barnes Pope (deceased in 1975)

Robert Greenhalgh Albion (15 August 1896 in Malden, Massachusetts – 9 August 1983 in Groton, Connecticut) was Harvard's first professor of Oceanic History and inspired two generations of maritime historians in the United States. Highly respected, he was often referred to as the 'dean of American maritime historians.'

Albion was born in 1896 in Malden, Massachusetts, to James Francis Albion, a Universalist minister and Alice Marion Lamb. In 1904 the family moved to South Portland, Maine. Albion maintained a home there until his wife died in 1975.

Albion became interested in journalism and shipping while studying economics at Bowdoin College, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1918. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After serving as a second lieutenant in the Army Infantry at the end of World War One, he became a graduate at Harvard University. He received his Master's degree in 1920 and completed his doctorate in British history in 1924 with a dissertation on Forests and Sea Power: The Timber Problem of the Royal Navy. Published in 1926, this work was a highly influential study that combined his interests in ships, British history, and economics.

He began his teaching career at Princeton University as an instructor of British history in 1922 and he taught a popular course in maritime history, rising to be professor of history and assistant dean of the faculty. In 1923, he married Jennie Barnes Pope, who collaborated with him on several works. After writing several works on military history, he returned to maritime history with The Rise of New York Port, 1815-1860 and Square Riggers on Schedule.

From 1943 to 1950, he was Assistant Director of Naval History and Historian of Naval Administration for the Department of the Navy. In this position, he oversaw the work of some 150 naval officers, who wrote about 200 studies on the navy's wartime administration. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Presidential Medal for Merit for his work in naval history. Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal personally encouraged Albion to study the history of the formulation of American naval policy. As a result of this, Albion eventually published two important works: Forrestal and the Navy and Makers of Naval Policy, 1798-1947. The latter proved to be very controversial within the Navy and was long delayed in publication.