The U.S. Naval Institute is maintaining and preserving the former Naval Historical Foundation website so readers and former NHF members can still access past issues of Pull Together and other content. NHF has decommissioned and is no longer accepting new members or donations. NHF members are being converted to members of the Naval Institute. If you have questions, please contact the Naval Institute via email at [email protected] or by phone at 800-233-8764.Not a member of the Naval Institute? Here’s how to join!

BOOK REVIEW – The Blockade-Runner Denbigh and the Union Navy: Including Glover’s Analysis of the West Gulf Blockade and Archival Materials and Notes

By J. Barto Arnold III and Robert W. Glover, Denbigh Shipwreck Project Publication, Institute of Nautical Archaeology, College Station, TX (2015) Reviewed by Mark Lardas In May 1865, a month after Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia, the blockade runner Denbigh ran aground attempting to enter Galveston Harbor, and was subsequently destroyed by Union

BOOK REVIEW – Syren’s Song: A Connor Stark Novel

By Claude Berube, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Nathan Albright Claude Berube wrote this fictional novel as a reward to students of naval history. Many of the elegant touches, including the name of the ship, spring from the author’s own vivid experience within the United States Navy, where he is currently an

BOOK REVIEW – The Ingenious Life of Melbourne Smith – One Man’s Revival of Historic Sailing Vessels

By Paul Wood, Woods Maritime, Kamuela, HI (2015) Reviewed by Charles Bogart Paul Wood has written an excellent biographical account of naval architect Melbourne Smith who is the President of the International Historical Watercraft Society, and serves as Advisory Board Chairman for the National Maritime Historical Society and trustee of the American Ship Trust. Born

BOOK REVIEW – The Kraut: On Being German After 1940

By Erik Jurgen-Karl Dietrich, Self-Published (2015) Reviewed by Charles Bogart This self-published autobiography tells the story of Erik Jurgen-Karl Districh who was born in Germany in 1940. After the war, he lived in England until 1957, when he immigrated to the United States at age 17. After arriving in the United States, the author served

BOOK REVIEW – Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

By Brian Kilmeade, Sentinel, Random House, New York, NY (2015) Reviewed by Vice Admiral Robert F. Dunn, U.S. Navy (Retired)  Written in lively style this book is both informative and a quick read. For most readers of Pull Together it will be a review of episodes in the early Navy, important to the history but

BOOK REVIEW – An Officer’s Story: A Politico-Military Journey

By Steve Kime, Authorhouse, Bloomington, IN (2015) Reviewed by David F. Winkler, Ph.D. One of the benefits of managing Naval History Book Reviews is that I get first dibs on incoming titles. Two decades ago, I interviewed Captain Steve Kime regarding his involvement with the Incidents at Sea Agreement negotiations and execution. He shared some

BOOK REVIEW – Torch: North Africa and the Allied Path to Victory

By Vincent P. O’Hara, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA America entered World War II after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The nation focused on war in the Pacific through most of 1942.  However, the U.S. had established its “Germany First” strategy by 1940. Defeating the Axis

BOOK REVIEW – In the Shadow of the Alabama: The British Foreign Office and the American Civil War

By Renata Eley Long, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Kenneth J. Blume, Ph.D. Built and launched at the Laird shipyard in 1862, CSS Alabama became the most notorious of the Confederacy’s commerce raiders, devastating Union merchant shipping and contributing to an irreversible “flight from the flag.” Her career ended two years later

BOOK REVIEW – T.E. Lawrence and the Red Sea Patrol: The Royal Navy’s Role in Creating the Legend

By John Johnson-Allen, Pen & Sword Military, South Yorkshire, England (2015) Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. Thoughts about World War I often bring up images of trench warfare, Big Bertha, and the battles at Liège and Flanders Fields, but rarely does the conflict to protect the Suez Canal enter into the reader’s mind.  John

BOOK REVIEW – Merchant Sailors at War 1943 – 1945: Beating the U-Boat

By Philip Kaplan, Pen & Sword, London, UK (2015) Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart Over the years, Pen & Sword have issued a number of Images of War books. This book is sub-titled Merchant Ships at War 1943 – 1945: Beating the U-Boats. The book consists of eight chapters, with each chapter introduced by three

BOOK REVIEW – A History of the Royal Danish Navy 1510-2010

By Hans Christian Bjerg, The Royal Danish Navy, Copenhagen, Denmark (2015) Reviewed by Mark Lardas Hans Christian Berg’s A History of the Royal Danish Navy 1510-2010 offers a brief yet comprehensive account of the Royal Danish Navy’s rich heritage in a new English language translation. The Royal Danish Navy, as it was formally established in

BOOK REVIEW – Navies and Soft Power: Historical Case Studies of Naval Power and the Nonuse of Military Force

Edited by Bruce A. Elleman and S.C.M. Paine, Naval War College Press, Newport, RI (2016) Reviewed by Nathan Albright Although each paper in this collection contains a disclaimer that the “thoughts and opinions expressed [. . .] are not necessarily those of the U.S. Government, the U.S. Navy Department, or the Naval War College (198),”

BOOK REVIEW – Toward a New Maritime Strategy: American Naval Thinking in the Post-Cold War Era

By Peter D. Haynes, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2015) Reviewed by John T. Kuehn, Ph.D. Captain Peter Haynes’ study on maritime strategy builds a narrative around two questions. First, how did the United States Navy come to publish “A Cooperative Maritime Strategy for the 21st Century” (CS-21): and, more importantly, why did it take

BOOK REVIEW – Gallipoli

By Jenny Macleod, Oxford University Press, Oxford: England (2015) Reviewed by Joseph Moretz, Ph.D. The campaign fought on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915 has not suffered from a want of telling. With the centenary of its occurrence now at hand, yet another entry faces the immediate hurdle of offering perspective where others have not. This

BOOK REVIEW – To Retain Command of the Mississippi: The Civil War Campaign for Memphis

By Edward B. McCaul, The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN (2014) Reviewed by Robert P. Largess Seldom has a naval campaign been more critical to the future of the United States than the drive to control the Mississippi River and split the South in two during the Civil War. Along with the naval blockade,