User:Pkkphysicist

I am Peter K. Kloeppel, a retired physicist now living in Monmouth, Illinois. My professional career was split into two major parts: teaching at Monmouth College (which is why I live here) and accelerator design at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) in Newport News, Virginia. In addition to professional interests (which include mathematics, astronomy, and geology, among other things), I like to read in military history, particularly of the American Civil War and World War II. Pkkphysicist (talk) 09:10, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Many Wikipedia editors use their User pages to declare their positions on various issues. Here are mine:
 * I have assigned myself the task of bringing articles concerning the Civil War Navies up to B-class standards, when that is possible.
 * I have also assigned myself the task of persuading the United States to embrace SI units (that's meter-kilogram-second to those who don't know what SI stands for), using force if necessary to bring this great nation into the eighteenth century.
 * I will try to persuade all English writers everywhere to use irregular plurals correctly. Particularly objectionable is misuse of Latin and Greek: datum-data, medium-media, criterion-criteria.
 * When that is done, presumably about the time the glaciers next cover Canada, I will turn to the issue of the correct use of apostrophes.

Since joining Wikipedia, I have spent most of my editing time working on Civil War articles. Generally, I have added to articles concerned with the US and CS Navies, with intent to bring them up to B-class status. The articles that I have contributed significantly to are listed below (list will not necessarily be up to date).PKKloeppel (talk)
 * River Defense Fleet
 * CSS Mississippi
 * Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries
 * CSS Louisiana
 * Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip
 * Battle of Memphis
 * Anaconda Plan
 * Battle of Roanoke Island
 * Battle of New Bern
 * Siege of Fort Macon
 * Battle of Port Royal
 * City class ironclad
 * CSS Arkansas
 * Battle of Elizabeth City
 * Union Navy
 * Confederate privateer
 * Battle of Island Number Ten
 * Battle of Hampton Roads (worked up to GA status because of the widespread interest in the battle)
 * USS Little Rebel
 * Battle of Mobile Bay
 * First Battle of Charleston Harbor
 * USS Mound City (1862)
 * Yazoo Pass Expedition
 * Steele's Bayou Expedition
 * Stephen Mallory (in a moment of weakness, I have nominated this one for GA status, and may carry it higher)
 * David Dixon Porter

Book reviews
Every now and then I decide to write a rather long-winded review of a book I have read. Generally, I regard the books I write about favorably (those I don't like, I throw out the window before I finish them). If anyone wishes to read my ruminations, he/she can find them here.

Reviews:

1. De Leon, Edwin, Secret history of Confederate diplomacy abroad (edited by William C. Davis). University Press of Kansas, 2005. ISBN 0700614117

2. Davies, Norman, No simple victory: World War II in Europe, 1939–1945. Viking/Penguin, 2006.

3. Rose, Lisle A., Power at sea, v. 2: the breaking storm, 1919--1945. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 2007. ISBN 0826216838

4. Durkin, Joseph T., Confederate Navy chief: Stephen R. Mallory. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1987. ISBN 0872495183

5. D'Este, Carlo, Warlord: a life of Winston Churchill at war, 1874–1945. Harper, 2008. ISBN 9780060575731

6. Underwood, Rodman L., Stephen Russell Mallory: a biography of the Confederate Navy Secretary and United States Senator. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2005. ISBN 0786422998

Ships
Because so much of what I have written has been involved with ships, I have decided at this rather late date that I should join the project. PKKloeppel (talk) 00:28, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

To do: a reminder to myself to work on these articles

 * South Carolina Navy
 * Confederate States Navy
 * Ironclad Board