Book Reviews | Naval Historical Foundation

All Present and Accounted For: The 1972 Grounding of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis and the Heroic Efforts that Saved the Ship

January 20, 2022Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksBering Sea, coast guard, Ellen Ahlness, Rescue, Steven Craig

Reviewed by Ellen A. Ahlness, PhD All Present and Accounted For is a comprehensive, well-researched, and well-narrated case study in U.S. Coast Guard History. Throughout his narration of this disastrous grounding, Craig ensures the historical rendering is never sterile; instead, it maintains an eye to the human experience of a complicated event in U.S. Military history.

The Indestructible Man: The Incredible True Story of the Legendary Sailor the Japanese Couldn’t Kill

January 13, 2022Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksBrian Hayes, David Rocco, Dixie Kiefer, don keith, pacific war

Reviewed by LCDR Brian Hayes, USNR (Ret.) The Indestructible Man tells the story of Dixie Kiefer, a naval officer and aviator who served in several of the legendary battles of World War II’s Pacific Theater. Kiefer has been the subject of profiles by the Naval History and Heritage Command and other Internet and print publications,

Avenging Pearl Harbor: The Saga of America’s Battleships in the Pacific War

January 13, 2022Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksCharles C. Kolb, Keith Warren Lloyd, pacific war, pearl harbor

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. 80 years after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, new books are being published on topics leading up to that event, the attack itself, and its aftermath. A volume titled Avenging Pearl Harbor: The Saga of America’s Battleships in the Pacific War has been written by U.S. Navy veteran

The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans

January 6, 2022Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, Books

Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink David Bosco’s new book The Poseidon Project provides not only a historical account of the development of the international Law of the Sea from Early Modern times to the present day, but also an easily accessible guide to key legal concepts in this complex area of international law. Comprising eight chapters

U.S. Aircraft Carriers 1939-45

December 23, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, Booksaircraft carriers, Casemate Illustrated Special, Ingo Bauernfeind, Richard Dick, World War II

Reviewed by CAPT Richard Dick, USN (Ret.) U.S. Aircraft Carriers 1939-45 is an excellent 2021 addition to the Casemate Illustrated Specials series. This slim volume offers a surprisingly comprehensive overview of American carriers that served in World War II as well as those that belonged to wartime classes but were completed only in the aftermath

The Mayaguez Crisis, Mission Command, and Civil-Military Relations

December 22, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksChristopher J. Lamb, Civil-Military Relations, Joseph Ilk, Khmer Rouge, piracy, Vietnam War

Reviewed by LCDR Joseph L. Ilk, SC, USNR (Ret.) “On May 12, 1975 – only two weeks after the fall of Saigon and the collapse of South Vietnam – Cambodian Khmer Rouge forces boarded and seized the U.S. merchant vessel SS Mayaguez in international waters and took its crew hostage.” Thus begins Dr. Christopher J.

Into the Iron Triangle: Operation Attleboro and the Battle of North Saigon, 1966

December 16, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksArrigo Velicogna, Asia@War Series, irregular warfare, Stephen Tribble, Vietnam War

Reviewed by LTC Stephen A. Tribble, Ph.D., USA Common perceptions of the Vietnam War include visions of guerrilla warfare, airmobile infantry, strategic bombing, tactical air support, and unprepared American draftee replacements heading off to a foreign land to fight an enduring war against an unrelenting enemy. In Into the Iron Triangle: Operation Attleboro and the

The Medic: A World War II Story of Imprisonment, Hope, and Survival

December 9, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksClaire Swedberg, Diana ahmad, memoir, pacific war, Philippines, POW, World War II

Reviewed By Dr. Diana Ahmad Stationed at Ft. McKinley Hospital Clinic in the Philippines on the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Henry “Hank” T. Chamberlain became a prisoner of war (POW) of the Japanese by April 1942. Trained as an Army Medic and surgical technician prior to the start of the war, Chamberlain used

The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942-1944: The Fleet that Had to Hide

December 2, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksBritish Royal Navy, Charles C. Kolb, Charles Stephenson, indian ocean, pacific war, World War II

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, PhD Charles Stephenson is the author of previous works on naval and siege warfare and the history of fortifications, with four volumes in print: The Fortifications of Malta 1530-1945 (Fortress 16, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2004, 2010); The Admiral’s Secret Weapon: Lord Dundonald and the Origins of Chemical Warfare (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006);

The War of Jenkins Ear: The Forgotten Struggle for North and South America, 1739-1742

November 25, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, Booksage of sail, British Royal Navy, Colonial Wars, diplomacy, Robert Gaudi, Spanish Navy, The War of Jenkins' Ear, Tyler Robinson

Reviewed by Tyler Robinson The War of Jenkins’ Ear is Robert Gaudi’s second book in the genre of military history. At a glance it seems quite different from its predecessor, African Kaiser, which focuses on German military operations in Africa in the First World War. However, the two works have certain themes in common. Both

Modern USMC Air Power: Aircraft and Units of the Flying “Leathernecks”

November 18, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, Booksairpower, future, Joe Copalman, marine corps, Post-Cold War, Robert Weingart, war on terror

Reviewed by LtCol Robert Weingart, USMC In Modern USMC Air Power Joe Copalman offers a comprehensive overview of the platforms and units of Marine aviation as well as an array of stories and vignettes from the past twenty years of continuous combat operations. Mr. Copalman is a freelance writer and photojournalist whose work has appeared in numerous print

The German Armoured Cruiser SMS Blücher

November 11, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksBattle of Dogger Bank, german navy, Marsden Samuel, Richard Dick, ship models, shipbuilding, Wolfgang Bohlayer, world war I

Reviewed by CAPT Richard Dick, USN (Ret.) The German Armoured Cruiser SMS Blücher is a 2018 offering in the Kagero Publishing series, “Super Drawings in 3D.” It truly lives up to the series title. It is a collection of breathtaking color 3D renderings of the Blücher, commissioned in 1909 and sunk at the Battle of Dogger Bank in January

German Battleship Helgoland: Detailed in the Original Builders’ Plans

November 11, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksAidan Dodson, german navy, ship models, shipbuilding, Tobias Philbin, world war I

Reviewed by CDR Tobias R. Philbin III, PhD, USNR (Ret.) This is a professionally executed and beautifully produced exposition of the original plans of the second class of German dreadnought, the originals of which now reside in the collections of the UK National Maritime Museum (NMM). As it happens, this reviewer has some familiarity with the

The Anglo-Soviet Alliance: Comrades & Allies During WW2

November 4, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksAlliance Politics, Colin Turbett, Great Britain, Jeffrey Holdsworth, Soviet Union, World War II

Reviewed by CDR Jeffrey Holdsworth, USN Competition occurs within the context of international relationships, and careful examination of how those relationships form and exert influence at all levels of society is valuable to serious foreign policy and national security professionals. In his third published book, The Anglo-Soviet Alliance: Comrades & Allies During WW2, career British

Victory: World War II in Real Time

October 28, 2021Tyler RobinsonBook Reviews, BooksAlan Axelrod, Associated Press, Jon Mikolashek, Photojournalism, primary source, Wartime Journalism, World War II

Reviewed by Jon Mikolashek, Ph.D. When people think of World War II most recall black and white photos of momentous occasions or soldiers running into enemy fire. In Victory: World War II in Real Time, editor Alan Axelrod brings many of these images together in a collection of Associated Press (AP) photos and headlines from

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