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Valor and Courage: The Story of the USS Block Island Escort Carriers in World War II
December 27, 2022
“For the 957 sailors on board, the two German torpedoes with 660 pounds of explosives slamming Block Island caught them in a range of activities including showering, cooking meals, and doing laundry…..immediately heading for the bridge (Captain) Hughes witnessed visible damage, ‘en route I noticed the port side of the flight deck curled back about … CONTINUE READING ❯
Small Boats and Daring Men Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy
December 27, 2022
Benjamin Armstrong’s Small Boats and Daring Men provides a fascinating account of an often-overlooked aspect of naval history. Armstrong, a Navy Commander and Associate Professor at the US Naval Academy, has already written extensively on naval history and that clearly helped lead to this refined book on naval irregular warfare. With eight compelling and well-researched … CONTINUE READING ❯
Mahan, Corbett, and the Foundations of Naval Strategic Thought
December 27, 2022
Those writing on naval affairs will ever be indebted to Alfred Thayer Mahan and Julian Corbett, if not the first to put pen to paper and write about navies, then they remain of the first rank of those still cited owing to their breadth of treatment, originality of thought, and continuing influence. More than historians, … CONTINUE READING ❯
Lethal Tides: Mary Sears and the Marine Scientists Who Helped Win World War II
December 26, 2022
On Mary Sears’ eightieth birthday one of the grandfathers of American oceanography, Scripps’ director Roger Revelle, described her as a “force of nature.” In my own research as an historian of American oceanography I once discovered a letter written by the Director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Columbus Iselin, that referred to her … CONTINUE READING ❯
George Jellicoe: SAS and SBS Commander
December 26, 2022
George Jellicoe: SAS and SBS Commander, offers a biographical narrative of a leader that, while he is not as widely recognized as David Stirling or David Lloyd Owen, played an equally important role in the development of British special operations forces. Jellicoe was the son of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, who commanded the Grand Fleet … CONTINUE READING ❯
Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr.
December 26, 2022
While the most senior U.S. Navy admirals of World War II have been the subjects of biographical studies (King, Nimitz, Halsey, Spruance), mid-ranking admirals have been less well examined. Paul Stillwell seeks to correct that imbalance in this study of the Navy’s best known battleship commander of World War II, Vice Admiral Willis Lee, Jr. … CONTINUE READING ❯
How the Navy Won the War: The Real Instrument of Victory 1914-1918
December 3, 2021
Unsurprisingly, the centenary of the First World War witnessed an outpouring of commemoration to a conflict whose legacy shaped the contours of modern life with veneration reaching its apogee in 2018, as nations noted the stark sacrifices made by an earlier generation. Giving thanks to a peace at last secured, many could pray such a … CONTINUE READING ❯
The Atlantic War Remembered: An Oral History Collection
December 3, 2021
The Atlantic War Remembered is a collection of 37 excerpts from oral histories that illuminate various aspects of the U.S. Navy’s role in the Atlantic and European theaters in World War II. Columbia University’s oral history program began conducting interviews with U.S. Navy veterans of World War II in 1960 and in 1969 the U.S. … CONTINUE READING ❯
Abandon Ship: The Real Story of the Sinkings in the Falklands War
December 3, 2021
In Abandon Ship: The Real Story of the Sinkings in the Falklands War, maritime historian Paul Brown offers detailed accounts of the destruction of six British ships and the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. Whether one is a serious student of naval affairs, or someone with a general interest in the Falklands War, reading this book … CONTINUE READING ❯
British Naval Intelligence through the Twentieth Century
December 3, 2021
Professor Andrew Boyd (CMG, OBE, FRHistS, DPhil) initially served in the Royal Navy as a submarine officer and subsequently had a 25-year career in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. There he specialized in defense and security issues and undertook diplomatic postings in Ghana, Mexico, and Pakistan. In the latter part of his FCO career, … CONTINUE READING ❯