By Stewart Milstein Universal Ship Cancellation Society It is a simple penny postcard without a return address. It was mailed on Nov 8, 1939 and bears a USS Guam (PR-3) cancel with the location Wanhsein between the killer bars. The card is addressed to Helen Bloomer of Eagle Rock, CA (A neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles).
By Brian Lavery, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD (2015) Reviewed by Mark Lardas Dozens of books have been written about HMS Victory. Why another one? Nelson’s Victory: 250 Years of War and Peace, by Brian Lavery, offers two very good reasons. The first is the author. If any historian could be described as the dean
David Hobbs, Seaforth Publishing, Barnsly, England (2014) Reviewed by Michael Wynd Esteemed naval historian David Hobbs has authored a very valuable publication on the warships of the First World War using ship models from the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. This is part of a series of publications using ship models to
By Thomas P. Ostrom and John J. Galluzo, McFarland, Jefferson, NC (2015) Reviewed by Charles H Bogart This is the third in an excellent series of books written by Thomas Ostrom on the United States Coast Guard. The first two books of the series, The United States Coast Guard and National Defense and The United
By Commander David D. Bruhn, U.S.Navy (Retired), Heritage Books, Berwyn Heights, MD (2015) Reviewed by David Kronenfeld We are Sinking, Send Help! presents readers with a well laid out chronology of US Navy salvage vessels and their contributions to the African, Mediterranean and European theaters of battle during World War II. Commander Bruhn carries the
By Don Keith, Penguin Group, New York, NY (2015) Reviewed by Michael F. Solecki During the Battle of Coral Sea in May 1942, the Japanese sank Neosho and her escort Sims. A sidebar of the battle until recently, the sinking of these two ships developed into a fascinating story of survival and heroism. I am
Edited By Captain Wayne P. Hughes Jr., USN (Ret.), Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Nathan Albright According to the introduction of this book, wheel books were originally a highly individualized and abbreviated way for inexperienced officers to gain insight vicariously through the writings of others and for more seasoned officers to have
By Brian Rouleau Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY (2014) Reviewed by Andrew C. A. Jampoler In early June 1867 Samuel Clemens, together with some sixty-five other passengers, sailed in SS Quaker City (late USS Quaker City, during 1861-65 the paddle wheel steamer had participated in the Union’s blockade of the Confederacy) from New York City.
By Roger Parkinson. I. B. Tauris and Co, England (2015) Reviewed by John V. Scholes, MD HMS Dreadnought and the history of the all big gun battleships and battlecruisers that became known collectively as dreadnoughts is a subject that has been addressed from several aspects. In works on the design and characteristics of battleships (and
By Anthony J. Cumming, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Rear Admiral W. J. Holland, Jr. USN (Ret) Subtitled Interservice Rivalry between the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, 1909-1940, Cumming takes up the cudgel he previously wielded in The Royal Navy and the Battle of Britain to beat Air Marshall Hugh
By Dane Anthony Morrison, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD (2014) Reviewed by Michael A. Verney In True Yankees, Morrison chronicles how voyages in the old China trade and across the Indian and Pacific Oceans between 1783 and 1844 helped define what it meant to be an American, and clarified the nation’s hierarchical relationship with
By Bill Edwards-Bodmer The events during the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 8 and 9, 1862 are well-known. From an objective viewpoint, the battle was tactically a draw. Neither ship was disabled to the point of being unable to continue the fight. A misinterpretation of each other’s movements caused both ships to withdraw. Beginning
The newest addition to the U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet is a formidable one. At 377 feet in length, the newest Virginia-class submarine gives the kind of multi-mission flexibility necessary for a strong and adaptable submarine force operating in today’s dangerous waters around the world. For good reason, the U.S. Navy officially heralds it as “the
In early December of last year, we received an email query from a gentleman named Todd Eskew asking for information about his great uncle’s unit he served with as a Seabee during the Second World War. According to Eskew, all that he knew of him was that he served in the Navy during wartime and
It is with great pleasure that we announce our next three recipients of the Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Dean Allard, Dr. Kenneth J. Hagan and LCDR Thomas J. Cutler, USN (Ret.). The Knox Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual for a lifetime body of work in the field of
