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Admiral Richard H. Cruzen and Operation Highjump

Thursday Tidings

Text below from article “Burton Island” by Naval History and Heritage Command – original article may be viewed at: www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/burton-island-i.html In late 1946, the Navy desperately needed the services of the not-yet-commissioned icebreaker Burton Island (AG-88)for the First Antarctic Developments Project. The largest expedition to the Antarctic continent to date, also known as Operation Highjump, sought to explore and

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The Boys Next Door: A Marine Returns to Vietnam

Book Reviews, Books, , , , ,

Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad In 1968-1969, R. L. Tecklenburg, the author, served as a U.S. Marine in a Combined Action Team (CAP) unit in the rural Phu Loc District.  Tecklenburg provided a brief autobiographical look at his year in Vietnam.  Since leaving Vietnam, the author searched for meaning in his experiences during the conflict. 

The USS Swordfish, The World War II Patrols of the First American Submarine to Sink a Japanese Ship

Book Reviews, Books, , , , ,

Reviewed by Commander James G. Zoulias, USN. The tale of USS Swordfish provides a comprehensive look at its operational history within the context of the broader maritime campaign in the Pacific during World War II.  Because George J. Billy had an uncle who served aboard USS Swordfish, he wrote this book to document the notable

Richard E. Byrd

Thursday Tidings

Richard Evelyn Byrd was born on 25 October 1888 in Winchester, Virginia. He was appointed from that same state to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and graduated in 1912. He was temporarily assigned to USS South Carolina and subsequently served on board USS Kentucky, USS Wyoming, USS Missouri, and the armored cruiser Washington.

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The Silver Waterfall: A Novel of the Battle of Midway

Book Reviews, Books, , ,

Reviewed by David F, Winkler, Ph.D. Since its inception, the Naval Historical Foundation book review program has welcomed historical fiction submissions, recognizing that fictional writers, released from the constraints of demonstrating documented sources, can sometimes convey a better sense of what actually happened to a broader audience. Such is the case with The Silver Waterfall,

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Catastrophe at Spithead: The Sinking of the Royal George

Book Reviews, Books, , , ,

Reviewed by C. Herbert Gilliland. How could a splendid 100-gun ship of the line, quietly anchored while preparing to deploy as flagship of one of Britain’s most admired admirals, suddenly capsize and go down? Yet that happened on August 29, 1782 at Spithead, the great roadstead of the British navy near Portsmouth.  In 1782 Great

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Images of War: United States Navy Submarines 1900-2019

Book Reviews, Books, , , , ,

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz. Michael Green’s United States Navy Submarines 1900-2019 provides a succinct look at the evolution of American submarines from early to modern designs, heavily supported with images, particularly wartime archival sources. It spans designs from the turn of the 20th century across the World Wars, the Cold War and the post-Cold War

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Target, Hiroshima: Witnesses to the Dawn of the Nuclear Age

Thursday Tidings, , ,

By Kyle Nappi Sporting a brown jacket and a light checkered dress shirt, the bespectacled grey-haired gentleman shuffled several books and photos while seated in his electric wheelchair. Then sixteen years old, I approached the fellow Buckeye State resident who, at ninety-one years of age, spoke rather succinctly but with the trademark gruff of a

Fighting the Great War at Sea: Strategy, Tactics and Technology

Book Reviews, Books, , , , ,

Reviewed by Joseph Moretz, PhD. Members of this forum will know and appreciate the many previous offerings of Dr. Norman Friedman in the field of naval technology and strategy. With several serving as standard reference works, readers of Friedman are invariably treated to a reasoned discourse anchored in primary research that never fails to inform.

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