By Captain George Stewart, USN (Ret.) This post provides a description of the events surrounding the loss of USS Truxtun (DD 229) and USS Pollux (AKS 2) by grounding off the coast of Newfoundland in February 1942. Because over 200 lives were lost, it is considered to be one of the worst disasters in Naval
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
“To the fair world: and heedless of repose We climb’d, he first, I following his steps, Till on our view the beautiful lights of Heaven Dawn’d through a circular opening in the cave: Thence issuing we again beheld the stars.” – Inferno, Canto XXXIV (Dante Alighieri) They were your friends and neighbors in your hometown.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 5, 2015 Media Contact: Sarah Maguire (703) 649-2781 [email protected] (DUMFRIES, Va.) – The organizers of the Violent Skies: Air War over Vietnam conference being held at National Defense University on October 15-16, 2015 (www.violentskies.org) are pleased to announce that Mr. Jim
We have received some updates from a blog post written in July 2012. The original article, “Looking for Assistance on WWII Ship Recognition at Ulithi Atoll,” caught the eye of David Stubblebine, a contributor to the World War II Database. According to Stubblebine, he cross examined several war diaries with a berthing chart of the
By Matthew T. Eng In his introduction to the 1995 essay collection Doing Naval History, Naval War College Professor Dr. John B. Hattendorf discussed the (then) current state of naval history. Using information gathered at the 1993 Yale-Naval War College conference, Dr. Hattendorf noted the dangers of moving forward in the field: “While there
This past Friday, the Naval Historical Foundation held a special banquet honoring the myriad accomplishments of this year’s Commodore Dudley W. Knox in Annapolis, Maryland. The banquet also served as the final event of this year’s McMullen Naval History Symposium. Two of this year’s recipients, LCDR Thomas J. Cutler and Dr. Kenneth J. Hagan, were
