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Escape from Java: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the USS Marblehead

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz John J. Domagalski’s Escape from Java: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the USS Marblehead delves into the gut-wrenching experiences of an aging light cruiser caught up in the early Pacific War as part of the US Asiatic Fleet. Almost lost to enemy air attack and badly damaged during the

Hitler’s Navy: The Kriegsmarine in World War II

Reviewed by CAPT Chuck Good, USN (Ret) Broad in scope and rich in detail, Hitler’s Navy is a comprehensive overview of the ships, organization, and sailors of the Kriegsmarine. As befits Osprey’s core competency in producing monographs of famous ships and classes, the work is lavishly illustrated and full of technical detail. For those seeking

Schnellbootwaffe: Adolf Hitler’s Guerrilla War at Sea: S-Boote 1939-45

Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.)  Schnellbootwaffe is a volume in the extensive Images of War collection from Pen and Sword. The collection focuses primarily on presenting lesser-known archival and private photographs woven with captions and text. For some subjects like military animals in the First World War and the Brandenburger commandos in the

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

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

U.S. Aircraft Carriers 1939-45

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

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

“A Date Which Will Live in Infamy…” Reflections from Ten U.S. Navy Sailors Who Witnessed the Pearl Harbor Attack

By Kyle Nappi Three years ago, I visited the oil-leaking wreckage of the battleship USS Arizona (among other solemn locations) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Now, eighty years since America’s Day of Infamy, I pause and reflect on those hallowed grounds in Oahu as well as the dwindling number of military veterans who witnessed and survived

Pearl Harbor and the Kimmel Controversy— Second Saturday Webinar

On December 7, 1999, the Naval Historical Foundation hosted a colloquium at the U.S. Navy Memorial to discuss the question of accountability for the tragic losses suffered 58 years prior. Join us as we revisit this issue ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. This webinar features an introduction