By Rear Admiral Robert Wray, USN (Ret.) With the recent response to the Coronavirus/COVID19 and the recent deployments of Navy Medical personnel and the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy to New York City and San Francisco, the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF) asked me to recall the response of the USNS COMFORT to the Haiti earthquake
Reviewed by Kenneth J. Blume, Ph.D. The torpedoing and then sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania on 7 May 1915 is of course one of the iconic events of World War I—with broad military/naval and diplomatic consequences. Anthony Richards tells the story from a human perspective, with the bulk of the book drawing upon contemporary
This article is a reprint from Ready Then, Ready Now, Ready Always: More than a Century of Service by Citizen-Sailors By NHF Historian Dr. Dave Winkler Navy nurse Josie Brown reflected on the horrible ordeal that she and her colleagues had to confront in 1918: The morgues were packed almost to the ceiling with bodies stacked
Reviewed by Kenneth J. Blume, Ph.D. The original edition of this volume was published in 1999 to commemorate the bicentennial of the Washington Navy Yard. This slightly revised edition has been published to honor those workers killed in the infamous September 2013 mass shooting at NAVSEA Building 197. The main changes in this edition include
Reviewed by Mr. Charles Bogart Philippe Caresse is a former French naval officer and author of two books on French warships of the World War I, both of which were published by the Naval Institute Press. The book under review, Battleships of the Iowa Class, can be enjoyed both as a coffee table book and
Fifteen years ago today (March 5, 2005), the USS Nitze (DDG-94) was commissioned. An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Nitze has deployed many times in her service history, and was involved in a confrontation with Iranian vessels in August of 2016. She was named for former Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze – Nitze served in this capacity under President Lyndon Johnson from 1963 to 1967,
Reviewed by Mary S. Bell, PhD. Women have volunteered to serve during every war or conflict since the U.S. fought for its independence in the 18th century. However, there is little written on women’s roles in winning the nation’s wars relative to the amount written on men’s roles. The contributions of women and other minorities
Reviewed by David F. Winkler, Ph.D. Class of 1957 Chair of Naval Heritage, U.S. Naval Academy. The 1970s were tumultuous years for the U.S. Navy, a transitional period from the war in Vietnam where a draft kept the sea service fully-manned with young single Sailors who readily enlisted in the Navy rather than serve “In
Reviewed by CDR Daniel Orchard-Hays, USN. As the title suggests, this anthology provides varying perspectives on the tariff collected in the sound that runs between Denmark and Sweden thus joining the North Sea to the Baltic Sea at Elsinore. For over 400 years beginning in the mid-15th century, the Sound Toll played a significant role
Review by LtCol Jack Harris, USMC (Ret.) The invasion of Normandy in June of 1944 was possibly the greatest endeavor in the history of mankind and Peter Caddick-Adams’s new book is possibly the best book written on the subject. Caddick-Adams’s fourth book follows in the pattern set by Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell, Snow
Review by Mr. Charles Bogart Between 1887 and 1910, France built 26 armoured cruisers. These ships were built as single units or as part of a class of ships that numbered between two and five units. Despite the homely looks of French warships during this period, French naval architectural design, at this time, was in
Review by Mr. John Grady Make no mistake about David Abulafia’s The Boundless Sea, it is a monumental work, tackling the largest subject on the planet, the seas, and having as an overlay of that story the planet’s most perplexing creature — humans. At almost 1,000 pages of text, The Boundless Sea is not a
By John Brady, President, Board of Directors, Flagship Olympia Foundation The USS Olympia, the former Navy cruiser who brought World War I Unknown Soldier home from Europe, is celebrating her 125th birthday this year. To mark the momentous milestone, we’re sharing stories about her crew. These men include the African American cabin stewards and mess attendants who
Of the 3,470 Medals of Honor awarded, 90 have been bestowed to 89 different African American recipients. Of these 89, 16 have been United States Sailors. While the award criteria for the Medal of Honor has become far more stringent since the awards listed below, nonetheless these men earned the nation’s highest and most prestigious military decoration. For
History is full of mysteries and the fate of HMS Erebus and her sister ship HMS Terror remained among these mysteries until only a few years ago. With the discovery of the ships remains, Michael Palin, tells the biography of the Terror from her success in the Antarctic to her fate in the Canadian Arctic
