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Genesis of the Grand Fleet: The Admiralty, Germany, and the Home Fleet 1896-1914 

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D.  This new title from the Naval Institute Press’s series, Studies in Naval History and Sea Power, is written by Christopher Buckley, son of Captain David Buckey (USN Retired) and an undergraduate history major from the University of California Santa Cruz, who obtained his doctorate at the University of Salford

The Great White Fleet: Top 10 Things You May Not Know About the Historic U.S. Navy Worldwide Cruise

The cruise of the Great White Fleet took the U.S. Navy around the globe in fourteen months on a journey totaling 43,000 miles. They visited twenty unique port calls across six continents. It was a monumental “show of flag” for the burgeoning world power. The fleet showcased the naval and maritime capabilities of its new

Marine Leadership in Peace and War: A Review Essay

By Leo J. Daugherty III The late Professor Edgar F. Puryear, Jr., who until his death in 2018 was scholar-in-residence at the National Defense University and an authority on American generalship, outlined in his book Marine Corps Generalship (National Defense University, 2009) the three critical components that define Marine leadership in time of war. The

LCS Ships and Liberation Day at Mariveles, 1945

By Dennis A. Steenbergen, Landing Craft Support Museum 15 February is the anniversary of the loss of three LCS ships to Shin’yō suicide boats at Mariveles Bay during the liberation of the Philippines. U.S. forces were massing in February 1945 to launch an amphibious and land attack on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor. Mr. Steenbergen

The Sailor’s Bookshelf: Fifty Books to Know the Sea

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D.    James G. Stavridis, a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1976, who majored in English and would ultimately rise to four-star admiral, spent 37 years as a surface warfare officer on active service in the U.S. Navy. He commanded destroyers (USS Barry and subsequently Destroyer

Saipan 1944: The Most Decisive Battle of the Pacific War

Reviewed by John Grady The weeks long gruesome land battle by Marines and soldiers to take mountainous Saipan included a doomed but deadly Banzai charge of Japanese soldiers followed by mass civilian suicides rather than surrender to the Americans. Those two events are often what is remembered most in the struggle to control the most

Yamato: Flagship of the Japanese Imperial Navy

Reviewed by Ed Calouro A long evolutionary arc traces the design and development of metal battleships. It generally dates to the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862 between the ironclads USS Monitor and the CSS Merrimack (Virginia). Surely, the behemoth super dreadnoughts of the Yamato-class sit at the apogee of this arc. At 63,315 tons

Doris Miller: Messboy, Steward, Cook, Hero

“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Mess Attendant First Class Doris Miller (NSN:3561235) United States Navy, for exceptional courage, presence of mind, and devotion to duty and disregard for his personal safety while serving on board the Battleship USS WEST VIRGINIA (BB-48), during the Japanese

The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War

Reviewed by CAPT Richard Dick, USN (Ret.) Donald Collingwood’s Captain Class Frigates is both a history of a class of escorts important in the latter stages of World War II and also a fond memoir of both ships and men. Collingwood himself served in the Captain-class H.M.S. Cubitt from 1943 to 1946 in the Atlantic

The History of the British ‘U’ Class Submarine

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Derek Walters’s The History of the British ‘U’ Class Submarine fills a gap in the historiography of World War II regarding short-range Allied submarine operations. In particular, Walters profiles the small ‘U’ (and ‘V’) class and their use by British and seven other Allied nations both during and after the conflict.

A Forgotten Campaign: The British Armed Forces in France 1940, From Dunkirk to the Armistice

Reviewed by Nicholas M. Anthony Jr., Ph.D., USA (Ret.) The Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic Marcus Tullius Cicero stated that “Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that having heroes, fails to remember and honor them.” In his first book, A Forgotten Campaign: The British