For more than two hundred years, from Louis XIV to the twentieth century, France had the second-greatest navy in the world. It was built to challenge England’s control of the seas and enabled the building of the world’s second-largest overseas colonial empire – and American independence into the bargain. France’s navy always built ships of
World War II histories that focus on numbers of planes lost, bombs dropped, ships sunk, and tons of supplies delivered are superb at getting to the operations analysis of what turned the war in the Allies favor—but suffer from an objective dullness. The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War is quite
The Millionaires’ Unit tells the story of several Yale undergraduates in the early 1900s whose foresight helped open the United States Navy up to the utility of aerial operations. American military aviation was woefully behind that of the European militaries when the US entered World War I. The Yale Unit was one of the critical
All at Sea in Arctic Waters: What Life Was Really Like On Naval Ships in WW2 by Dennis McDonald, “Telegraphist (S), Bletchley U-Boat Interceptor,” is both a memoir and autobiography of a young man who volunteered for the Royal Navy during World War II and chose telegraphy as his duty. During this war, the British
Christopher McKee’s latest work is a beautifully drawn elegy of the sailors and Marines who were admitted to the “refuge on the Schuylkill” in the 19th century. When first opened it was in bucolic setting removed from Philadelphia, with all the best intentions for men who had given years to honorable naval service. But as
Using his own phrase, John L. McCrea was a fly on the wall at the White House during the first months of the War in the Pacific when naval affairs dominated Franklin Roosevelt’s interest. Working under Admiral Harold “Betty” Stark in the office of Chief of Naval Operations, McCrea had a front row seat as
This is a powerful insider’s account of an important and uniquely American institution, Top Gun, the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School. The author, Captain Dan Pedersen (USN) was the first officer in charge of Top Gun, establishing it with his hand selected eight naval aviators and naval flight officers—the “Bros.” What makes this an American
This is the third Raven One book the author has written on contemporary international relationship issues facing the United States. Central to the fictional story the author tells is how quickly incidents can spin out of control even with the best intentions by all to contain the incident. People hear and see what they want
Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs sent the telegram at 6:49 PM, 3 January 1944, informing Mr. and Mrs. Olaf Larson Hanks that their son William was missing “in the performance of his duties” in the Pacific. The Chief of Personnel expressed his “sincere sympathy” for their “great anxiety.” He told them, from the reports, that it
This is a paperback edition of a book first published in 2005. The book has stood the test of time and is still the finest book covering the Washington Navy Treaty Cruisers. These cruisers, built during the 1920s and 1930s by the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Italy, and Germany, were the ships that fought
As someone interested for nearly seven decades on the Pearl Harbor attack, I am always interested in books that describe the social, political, and economic history of the 1930s and 1940s focusing on the United States and our soon-to-be Allies as well as the Axis powers. Hence, I elected to review Marc Wortman’s 1941: Fighting
If you are expecting to deploy on a six to seven month cruise in the near future, Ron Chernow’s Grant would be a wonderful companion to pack in your seabag. Nearly 1,000 pages in length, the book will take some time to consume, however, the journey is well worth taking as the outcome is a
If you, as a young adult, were fascinated with Howard I. Chapelle’s book The Search for Speed Under Sail, you will enjoy Barons of the Sea. The focus of this book is examining the lives of some of the robber barons who built their fortune operating clipper ships. The term “clipper ship” still has the
This biography follows World War II fighter pilot ace Stanley “Swede” Vejtasa from his Montana home, through numerous World War II aerial battles, to his post war service as the Air Boss on USS Essex (CV-9) and Captain of USS Constellation (CV-64). Vejtasa was known for his exploits against the Japanese in 1942. During the
The author is the president of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico which may explain why his next to last chapter, discussing Operation Crossroads, may have been his finest for his overview of the detonation of two atomic bombs and their impact on the subject of this book – the USS Nevada. That Nevada
