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BOOK REVIEW – THE BLOOD TELEGRAM: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide

By Gary J. Bass, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY (2013) Reviewed by LTJG J. Scott Shaffer USN With the U.S. Navy increasing their presence in the Asia theatre under Pacific Pivot, well-researched narratives covering the history of major regional powers remain in high demand. Gary Bass’s book The Blood Telegraph: Nixon, Kissinger, and a

BOOK REVIEW – My Incredible Journey: From Cadet to Command

By Rear Admiral Peter Dingemans CB DSO, Royal Navy, Brewin Books Ltd, Studley, Warwickshire, England (2013) Reviewed by Captain John A. Rodgaard, U.S. Navy (Retired) In his autobiography, Rear Admiral Peter Dingemans writes about his service in the Royal Navy from his days as a cadet at the Britannia Royal Navy College through his assignment

BOOK REVIEW – Crisis in the Mediterranean: Naval Competition and Great Power Politics, 1904-1914

By Jon K. Hendrickson, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2014) Reviewed by Richard P. Hallion Ph.D. Author Jon K. Hendrickson’s book Crisis in the Mediterranean is most timely, as its publication happily coincided with the beginning of commemorations of the centenary of the Great War. If, to the public mind, naval power in that war

BOOK REVIEW – The Yankee Expedition to Sebastopol: John Gowen and the Raising of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 1857-1862

By Chuck Veit, published through Lulu.com (2014) Reviewed by Robert P. Largess Forty years ago, I picked Commander Edward Ellsberg’s On the Bottom off the bookshelf of an elderly friend, a favorite from his own boyhood. The story of the raising of the submarine S-51 from 132 feet of seawater off Block Island in 1925

BOOK REVIEW – HMS Wasp

By Peter J. Holloway, Book Guild Publishing, Sussex, England (2014) Reviewed by Ed Calouro HMS Wasp is a work of historical fiction which largely mirrors the author’s own life experiences, especially his own time in the Royal Navy. The novel’s first chapter opens in the 1950s with Edward “Ted” Harris as a probationary teacher at

BOOK REVIEW – MAN & THE SEA – Shipwrecks of Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon 1792 – 1949

By Wayne O’Neil, Midway Printery, Long Beach, WA (2013) Reviewed by Charles Bogart The author uses a broad-brush definition of what constitutes a shipwreck vessel. The book covers not only ships lost from grounding, touching bottom, effects of weather, fire, and collision, but also ships that suffered non fatal hull damage from grounding and touching

BOOK REVIEW – RAVEN ONE

By Captain Kevin P. Miller, U.S. Navy (Retired), Pelican Press, Pensacola, FL (2014) Reviewed by Jan Churchill The author, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, is a former tactical naval aviator who flew the A-7E Corsair II and FA-18C Hornet operationally, logging over 1,000 carrier-arrested landings. Miller commanded a carrier-based strike-fighter squadron. Raven One

BOOK REVIEW – Edge of Valor

By John J Gobbell, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2014) Reviewed by Commander George Wallace, U.S. Navy (Retired) If you have read the first four books in the Todd Ingram series, you will have followed Commander Ingram’s World War II exploits from the siege of Corregidor, through Guadalcanal and the Solomons to the Indian Ocean

BOOK REVIEW – The Admiral and the Ambassador: One Man’s Obsessive Search for the Body of John Paul Jones

By Scott Martelle, Chicago Review Press, Chicago, IL (2014) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA The Continental Navy had negligible impact on the American Revolution’s outcome. Its handful of little ships served almost entirely as commerce raiders, attacking and capturing defenseless merchantmen and occasionally engaging with small British warships of comparable or lesser capability. The

Ditty Bag: Japanese Navy Minister Flag

Ditty Bag: Collections of the Naval Historical Foundation An Artifact and Collections Blog Series Imperial Japanese Navy Minister Flag The Meiji Restoration saw an end to the Tokugawa shogunate rule of the Edo period in favor of imperial rule in Japan. The implementation of new political structures drastically changed the methods of military decisions and

Ditty Bag: Vanguard Shoulder Boards

Ditty Bag: Collections of the Naval Historical Foundation An Artifact and Collections Blog Series From Dock to Deck: Vanguard Shoulder Boards Bernard Gershen, a Polish tailor, immigrated to the United States in 1903. Settling in New York City, the tailor stayed in southern Manhattan as he sought work in his trade. Gershen furthered his stitching

Defending the Flag at the Fourteenth Latitude: American Samoa, Fitafita, and the United States Navy

“I go along with somebody who says that when Samoa heard that the US government was at war with Japan, the call came around and they offered their hands to help.” Tuala Sevaaetasi, Former Fitafita Guardsman By Matthew T. Eng The proud history of the American Samoan people traces back over 3,000 years, long before

Cracking Gibraltar: The Union Takes Fort Fisher (PART III)

Cracking Gibraltar is a blog series from the Naval Historical Foundation that will discuss the Army-Navy relationship involved in taking Fort Fisher, the last remaining Confederate stronghold in the Atlantic. READ PART I and PARTII. PART III: Cracking Gibraltar Following the embarrassing show of force at Fort Fisher in December, General Grant and other wartime

Cracking Gibraltar: The Union Takes Fort Fisher (PART II)

Cracking Gibraltar is a blog series from the Naval Historical Foundation that will discuss the Army-Navy relationship involved in taking Fort Fisher, the last remaining Confederate stronghold in the Atlantic. READ PART I. PART II: Butler’s “Singular and Interesting Disclosures” Porter’s distaste for Butler was no secret. Political generals like Butler received regular harassment from career men

The Battle of New Orleans: Commodore Patterson’s Gold Freedom Box

The image above shows a gold freedom box presented to Commodore Daniel T. Patterson by the Common Council of New York City in July 1832 (NHF Accession #1960-043). Commodore Patterson was the senior American naval officer at the Battle of New Orleans, which reached its conclusion 200 years ago today. Gold freedom boxes are extremely