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BOOK REVIEW – Route 9 Problem: The Battle for Lang Vei

By Dave Stockwell, Book Publishers Network (2016) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter B Mersky, USN (Ret.) The Vietnam War (roughly 1964-1973) was not only a series of albeit hard-fought, bloody aerial campaigns by aircrews who flew from hot, humid airfields throughout Southeast Asia, or the equally hot, humid undulating flight decks of Seventh Fleet carriers in

BOOK REVIEW – Fort Enterprize

By Kevin Emmet Foley, Hellgate Press, Ashland, OR (2016) Reviewed by William H. White Fort Enterprize is listed and sold as “historical fiction.” It is certainly fiction, but its historical claim leaves much to be desired. When a writer injects a fictitious character or several into an accurately portrayed historical context, it’s historical fiction; when

BOOK REVIEW – America’s Sailors in the Great War: Seas, Skies, and Submarines

By Lisle A. Rose, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, MO (2016) Reviewed by Capt. Andrew C. A. Jampoler, USN (Ret.) Dr. Lisle Rose has taken on a challenge in this, his seventh book for the U. of M. Press. This history of U.S. Navy operations during World War I rightly begins by explaining that the

BOOK REVIEW – Fighters Over the Fleet: Naval Air Defence from Biplanes to the Cold War

By Norman Friedman, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2016) Reviewed by Corbin Williamson, Ph.D. Fighters Over the Fleet takes prolific author Norman Friedman into one of the few areas of naval weaponry he has not previously examined.[1] Building on his earlier work on aircraft carrier development with Thomas Hone and Mark Mandeles as well as Freidman’s

BOOK REVIEW – Poseidon’s Curse: British Naval Impressment and Atlantic Origins of the American Revolution

By Christopher P. Magra, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK (2016) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA Although impressment, or the taking men by force into military or naval service, has been widely practiced throughout history, the British Royal Navy (RN) is most often associated with its use. For about 150 years, from the late 17th

When Air Intercepts Turned Deadly

By David F. Winkler, NHF Director of Programs The recent interception of two Russian Tu-95 Bear reconnaissance aircraft off Alaska by Air Force F-22 Raptors earlier this week is reminiscent during the 1960s through 1980s when such interceptions were a common occurrence, especially off the Eastern U.S. coast when large Soviet turboprop aircraft flew down

NHHC Photo Archivists Create Interactive Digital Exhibits

By Matthew T. Eng Photo archivists at the Naval History and Heritage Command recently posted three new digital exhibits highlighting a variety of interesting and insightful subjects on the history and organization of the United States Navy. These presentations help transform photographs from their two-dimensional state into a fun and interactive learning experience for anyone

Operation Praying Mantis: An Enterprise Combat Mission

In April 1988, Cdr. Arthur N. Langston was embarked on the carrier Enterprise – his first deployment on the famed carrier – and recalled how naval aviation came into play during Operation Praying Mantis. On April 14, the frigate Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian-laid mine in the Persian Gulf. In retaliation, on April 18,

BOOK REVIEW – Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15

By Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers, 2014 Reviewed by Jason McHale While thousands of pilots served in the United States Navy during the Second World War, perhaps no group had as much luck at being in the right places at the right times than Carrier Air Group 15 (CAG-15).  They first deployed on USS

BOOK REVIEW – The First Fight: U.S. Marines in Operation Starlite, August 1965

By Rod Andrew Jr., Marine Corps University, History Division, Quantico, VA (2015) Reviewed by Timothy Heck Colonel Rod Andrew’s The First Fight is part of a larger official commemorative effort dedicated to the Marine Corps’ involvement in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s until 1975.  This pamphlet history by Marine Corps University is a concise

BOOK REVIEW – The U.S. Naval Institute on Marine Corps Aviation

Thomas J. Cutler, Series Ed., Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2016) Reviewed by: Robert P. Largess The U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings has been a pillar of intelligent discourse on naval science, events, technology and history since its first issue in 1874. Always imaginative, open, thoughtful, Proceedings is a goldmine of high-quality material for the naval