User:JPJTrafalgar

About Me
I have spent a large portion of my life moving around constantly (that comes with being a 'military brat'), but I now call the Pacific Northwest my home. While my location consistently changed throughout my upbringing, one thing which has remained constant to this day is my love for history, reading, and acting. I study all sorts of history on my own time, and I strongly urge others to do the same. Being even remotely familiar with the past can help one to understand the present and what needs to happen in the future. I love to read a variety of literary genres, but my favorite series for as long as I can remember has been the Sherlock Holmes detective storyline. I find myself diving back into 19th-20th Century London a few times each year, no matter what I had been reading just beforehand. Acting has been a passion of mine since middle school, as it helps me find new ways to express and quite literally immerse myself in great works.

My Wikipedia Interests
As alluded to above, I'm what many call a 'history buff'. One of my strong suits, if I had to pick one, would be military history. This subject is incredibly vast, and has led to progress and human development, oftentimes inadvertently. My username itself stems from this passion. My father read stories to me about the great Horatio Nelson and his efforts at the Battle of Trafalgar when I was just a small child. Nelson sailed aboard the HMS Victory, leading the British fleet to victory and losing his life in the process. So many historical role models and influential figures have had a massive impact on my life just through gaining a deeper understanding of who they were and what lessons I could learn from them. Until now, that relationship had been largely been focused on my own improvement and development. With Wikipedia, I hope I can return the favor by adding to pages about historical people and events. It's the least I can do!

Article Evaluation
My love for history and seemingly unending desire to learn more about past events often brings me to Wikipedia. One of my more recent visits was to the Battle of the Coral Sea page, an intricately detailed article with a massive amount of work held within. Out of curiosity, I started visiting links to the pages of Commanders and Leaders, as well as ships involved in the engagement. I visited the John Gregory Crace page on Wikipedia, and found three aspects of it worth commenting on: its citations, completeness, and its voice.

Completeness
The article lists Admiral Sir John Crace's years of service from 1902-1946, as well as six of his commands held throughout his career. However, the information within the 'Naval Career' section is very sparse, vague, and generally lacking. For example, the article states that the Admiral returned to Sydney, Australia and was dismayed at the state of the Royal Australian Navy fleet and attempted to resign before World War II. The author does not describe what the actual state was or why Admiral Crace was dismayed. The article simply states that fact and continues on to the next. Surely Admiral Crace did something to address his concerns about the fleet, as his resignation was rejected. This general lack of detailed information is a trend throughout the text, which I believe should not be the case for a decorated Admiral whom the article itself states was awarded the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and had a distinguished 44-year naval career.

Voice
Further, the lack of information also affects the article's voice. A large portion of the very small page seems to portray the Admiral in a negative light, which was most likely unintended by the author. Almost half of Admiral Crace's notable Naval Career, as described by the article, involved him attempting to resign upon seeing the Australian fleet after his return and 'narrowly escaping' a Japanese raid. This seems to paint Admiral Crace as a person who tried to run away from major issues such as the state of a fleet or a Japanese attack. The information given could surely be explained further to offer background on his decisions and events in his life. It seems confusing to see that Admiral Sir Crace was awarded one of the highest Orders, the Knight Commander, in the British Empire and yet his accomplishments are almost completely absent.

Summary
There seems to have been a large amount of effort put into the article, no matter how small the page itself is. However, with an almost complete lack of citations, the page's credibility is called into question and whether or not the information within is factual could be debated. The article's completeness and voice, each affected by a substantial lack of information, could have an unintentional yet profound negative impact on a reader's understanding of Admiral Sir John Crace. An absence of accomplishments, as well as background information and details, mixed with the article's focus on largely negative parts of the Admiral's career could leave readers with negative opinions of John Crace. I find that to be quite unfair for a man with a distinguished career (as recognized by the Crown) and who, in reality, spent a large portion of his life in the service of others, no doubt achieving a great many things during his successful career.