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Escape from Java: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the USS Marblehead

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz John J. Domagalski’s Escape from Java: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the USS Marblehead delves into the gut-wrenching experiences of an aging light cruiser caught up in the early Pacific War as part of the US Asiatic Fleet. Almost lost to enemy air attack and badly damaged during the

The Netherlands East Indies Campaign 1941-42: Japan’s Quest for Oil

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Marc Lohnstein’s The Netherlands East Indies Campaign 1941-42: Japan’s Quest for Oil covers a typically unheeded early Pacific campaign, fought for the resource rich Dutch East Indies, which showcased a dysfunctional Allied coalition effort conducted under fraught circumstances exacerbated by prewar decisions but which fought desperately until overwhelmed.   Lohnstein is

Battlecrusier Repulse: Detailed in the Original Builders’ Plans

Reviewed by Ed Calouro John Roberts, a leading expert on British capital ships and warships of World War II, is the author of a technical history of the battle cruiser HMS Repulse. The title of his latest book is Battlecruiser Repulse: Detailed in the Original Builders’ Plans. It is not the typical warship biography – normally a narrative

Churchill’s Pirates: The Royal Naval Patrol Service in World War II

Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink With more than 1500 craft operating during World War II the Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was a fleet of substantial size, but as these craft were mainly converted trawlers, fuel carriers, and motor launches with some corvettes and sea plane tenders it is also a fleet often overlooked by naval

Liberty Factory: The Untold Story of Henry Kaiser’s Oregon Shipyards

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, PhD Peter J Marsh was born in Greenwich, UK, and combined a career in teaching with time spent boat-building, offshore racing, and voyaging under sail, but a chance visit to the United States convinced him to sell his boat and emigrate. Settling in Portland, Oregon, he returned to a sailing

Narvik: The Struggle of Battle Group Dietl in the Spring of 1940

Reviewed by Tyler Robinson Translator Janice W. Ancker has made Alex Buchner’s 1958 treatise on the 1940 conflict over the Norwegian city of Narvik available in English for the first time as part of the “Die Wehrmacht Im Kampf” book series from the Center for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research (CHACR), the British Army’s own

The Lost Soldier: The Ordeal of a World War II G.I. from the Home Front to the Hürtgen Forest

Reviewed by Dr. Anthony Feagin, U.S. Army (Ret.) From September 1944 until February 1945, the Hürtgen Forest became one of the bloodiest battlegrounds for U.S. troops during World War II (WWII). At varying times, six different U.S. Army divisions, more than 100,000 men, would fight over 80,000 Germans in the Hürtgen’s rugged terrain, which was

Naval Warfare in the English Channel 1939-1945

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, PhD Peter Charles Horstead Smith is Professor of Health Policy at the Imperial College Business School and, since 1982, resides in the small Bedfordshire village of Riseley. He was both a book and a magazine editor but has been a full-time historian and author since 1968. Specializing in maritime and

British Naval Weapons of World War Two: The John Lambert Collection – Volume I: Destroyer Weapons

Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart This book consists of two sections, a 52-page introduction written by Norman Friedman and 173 pages of line drawings executed by the late John Lambert. These line drawings show both the profiles of World War II Royal Navy destroyers and the weapon systems they carried. With the death of John

Pearl: The 7th of December 1941

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D.  The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the most written about military events in the history of the United States. For example, WorldCat lists 11,700 items in various formats, among these, as of February 2021, are 8,821 books and e-books, 2,604,articles and book chapters, and 1,759 videos

HELL BELOW (PART IV) Review: Atlantic Showdown

Reviewed by Steven Dieter Read PART I review HERE Read PART II review HERE Read PART III review HERE Episode four of the Smithsonian Channel’s series Hell Below, entitled “Atlantic Showdown,” suggests a great scene of conflict in the Second World War. Yes, what is presented is symbolic of the efforts on the seas – but yet

Dusty Kleiss: A Hero of Midway Remembered

Captain Jack “Dusty” Kleiss retirement photo, 1962; Kleiss with wife Jean, 1942 (Images provided by Jack Kleiss/Hampton Roads Naval Museum/Laura Orr) Captain Jack “Dusty” Kleiss, USN (Ret.), a VS-6 Dive Bombing pilot that served during the battle of Midway, passed away last week at the age of 100 at his residence in Texas. The Kansas

Who Invented the X-Wing? Carrier Ops in the Star Wars Universe

Unless you have been hiding under a rock over the past year, you know about the current hysteria surrounding the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens this Thursday and Friday. It is the most anticipated film of the year. For many, it’s the most anticipated film in a generation. Everybody is getting involved in

A Scaled Curse: Kennedy and the Curious History of the “Black Constitution” Model

“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea — whether it is to sail or to watch it — we are going back from whence we came.”                              – President John F. Kennedy, September 1962 The

Naval Disaster in Newfoundland

By Captain George Stewart, USN (Ret.) This post provides a description of the events surrounding the loss of USS Truxtun (DD 229) and USS Pollux (AKS 2) by grounding off the coast of Newfoundland in February 1942. Because over 200 lives were lost, it is considered to be one of the worst disasters in Naval