Foreword by Admiral Sir John Woodward. When published in hardcover in 1997, this book was praised for providing an engrossing education not only in naval strategy and tactics but in Victorian social attitudes and the influence of character on history. In juxtaposing an operational with a cultural theme, the author comes closer than any historian yet to explaining what was behind the often described operations of this famous 1916 battle at Jutlan ...
Very Special Ships is the first full-length book about the Abdiel-class fast minelayers, which were considered the fastest and most versatile to serve in the Royal Navy during World War II. This book spans the scope of the class from alpha to zulu as they operated in many roles, most famously as blockade runners to Malta, transporting items as diverse as ammunition, condensed milk, gold, and VIPs. To provide a complete picture of this important ...
More a book about Coast Guard heritage than an academic history, this book focuses on a variety of relatively unknown Coast Guardsmen who personify the service's core values. The author highlights the contributions of a variety of individuals, from seamen to admirals on active duty, as well as Reserves, Auxiliarists, and civilian members of Team Coast Guard. These heroes, representing a great diversity in age, sex, race, and ethnicity, set ...
J. F. Leahy chronicles the transition of eighty-one men and women from civilians to sailors at the U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois. Granted unlimited and unprecedented access to the recruits during the fall of 2000, his examination of the unique American institution – popularly known as boot camp – offers a look into the hearts and minds of a group of young people who are a cross section of the nation. The work offers ...
The intimate view of the U.S. Coast Guard’s dramatic World War II record has long been considered a classic. First published in 1957 and out of print for years, it is now available in paperback. Handsomely illustrated with more than 200 photographs, the book serves as a unique memento of one of the most illustrious periods in the Coast Guard’s 200-year history.The author offers a story replete with incidents of devotion far b ...
So perfectly executed was the mission to rescue Capt. Scott O'Grady that it amazed even the men responsible. Just five hours after radio contact was first made with Basher 52 – O'Grady's call sign the Air Force captain was safely on board the USS Kearsarge. The downed F-16 fighter pilot's rescue from a Bosnian mountainside by Col. Martin Berndt's 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit electrified the nation in June 1995 and rene ...
This book does for naval anti-aircraft defense what Friedman’s Naval Firepower did for surface gunnery – it makes a highly complex but historically crucial subject accessible to the layman. It traces the growing aerial threat from its inception in WWI and the response of each of the major navies down to the end of WWII, highlighting in particular the underestimated danger from dive-bombing. The work considers what effective AA ...
In the mid-1950s a small group of overworked, underpaid scientists and engineers, working on a remote base in the Mojave Desert, developed a weapon no one had asked for but that everyone was looking for. Sidewinder is the story of how that unorthodox team at China Lake, lead by the visionary Bill McLean, overcame Navy bureaucracy and more heavily funded projects to develop the world's best air-to-air missile. Based on years of research and ...
“Wheel books” were once found in the uniform pockets of virtually all junior officers and many senior petty officers. Each small notebook was unique to the Sailor carrying it, but all had in common a collection of data and wisdom that the individual deemed useful in the effective execution of his or her duties. Often used as a substitute for experience among neophytes and as a portable library of reference information for more ...
