By Dennis L. Noble, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Mark Lardas Richard McKenna was a forecastle sailor who wrote with skill. His literary career was short – two dozen short stories, a half-dozen essays, one completed novel and one novel left unfinished by death. That short published corpus made him the voice
By Frederick M. Trapnell Jr. and Dana Trapnell Tibbits, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Nathan D. Wells Individuals who were “present at the creation” of seminal events or organizations tend to be popular subjects for biographies, especially if their influence was of great strategic importance. When those individuals are not well-known despite
By Faye M. Kert, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD (2015) Reviewed by Louis Arthur Norton, Ph.D. During the War of 1812, the burgeoning United States Navy was at a disadvantage when engaging Britain, the world’s most formidable sea power. One method of leveling the maritime “battlefield” was the employment of a privateer fleet. Faye
By Harry J. Foxwel, Self Published, Middletown, DE (2015) Reviewed by Michael F. Solecki The destroyer is a light, fast, maneuverable, and heavily armed class of warship originally designed in the late 1800s to “destroy” torpedo boats. By World War II, these ships were designed and used to escort much larger ships and convoys filling
By Samuel J. Tangredi, ed., Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Nathan Albright As part of the U.S. Naval Institute’s wheel book series, this book offers a selection of papers on the subject of international naval cooperation that seeks to provide a handy source for naval officers and readers interested in naval affairs
Reviewed by Captain Winn Price, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired) A couple of years ago, I reviewed the first edition of Marc Nonnenkamp’s two volume set, The German and the Austrian Navies. In my previous review, I highlighted many admirable qualities of these two volumes: 1) The comprehensive coverage of every ship that served in the
By Dirk Barreveld, Casement Publishers, Havertown, PA (2015) Reviewed by Nathan Albright Every once in a while there is a book about a forgotten or neglected aspect of World War II history that makes a reader wonder why this story has not been turned into a movie. Cushing’s Coup is one of those books, managing
By Robert C. Stern, Seaforth Publishing, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, Barnsley, South Yorkshire England, (2015) Reviewed by Ed Calouro Robert C. Stern has added yet another authoritative work to his long list of titles about naval warfare written over the past thirty years. Having examined submarines, destroyers, aircraft carriers, kamikazes, and the U.S. Navy
Edited by John Andreas Olsen, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Colonel Curt Marsh, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (Retired) Airpower Reborn is an excellent update on strategic concepts and theory with an emphasis on airpower’s strategic usefulness. Although this book is a part of a new History of Military Aviation series edited by
By David J. Bercuson and Holger H. Herwig, University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta, Canada (2014) Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. All the action in World War II did not take place in Europe, North Africa, or the Pacific. David J. Bercuson and Holger H. Herwig thoroughly explained how Hitler’s Kreigsmarine endangered the course
By Lloyd J. Matthews, University of Delaware Press, Newark, DE (2014) Reviewed by Nathan D. Wells Those who watch the annual Army-Navy football game and be not a bit awestruck by the competing corps of cadets and midshipmen might not realize that these two friendly rival institutions have an interesting connection. Henry Lockwood was an
By James M. Scott, W.W. Norton & Company, New York (2015) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA In the spring of 1992 at my local airport, two B-25 bombers landed and taxied to the FBO to refuel. I found out that they were headed to Washington, DC, for a low-level flight down the Mall to
By J. Ross Dancy, Boydell Press Woodbridge, Suffolk, England (2015) Reviewed by Mark Lardas If you rely on nautical fiction or even some histories (John Masefield’a among them), you might believe the Royal Navy of the Age of Fighting Sail was mainly composed of impressed men, with many – if not most – conscripts being
Edited by Kevin J. Crisman, Texas A&M University Press. College Station, TX (2014) Reviewed by James P. Delgado. Ph.D. Large in size and large in scope, Coffins of the Brave is a tour de force. Published in 2014 to coincide with the bicentennial of the end of the War of 1812, this 415-page opus reflects
By Brian Lavery, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD (2015) Reviewed by Mark Lardas Dozens of books have been written about HMS Victory. Why another one? Nelson’s Victory: 250 Years of War and Peace, by Brian Lavery, offers two very good reasons. The first is the author. If any historian could be described as the dean
