The Unseen War: Allied Air Power and the Takedown of Saddam Hussein By Benjamin S. Lambeth, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2013) Reviewed by John T. Kuehn, Ph.D. Ben Lambeth of the RAND Corporation is one of the premier historians of operational air power. His account of the air campaign that supported the overthrow of
You Cannot Surge Trust: Combined Naval Operations of the Royal Australian Navy, Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, and United States Navy, 1991-2003 Edited by Gary Weir and Sandra Doyle, Naval History & Heritage Command, Washington, DC. (2013) Reviewed by Corbin Williamson This impetus for this remarkable work began in 2003 when historians at the (then) Naval
Murph: The Protector: The True Story Of Navy Seal Lt. Michael P. Murphy Video produced by Scott Mactavish, Mactavish Pictures New York, NY. (2013). Reviewed by Nathan Albright It is altogether fitting that Murph: The Protector should be seen in tandem with the big-budget film Lone Survivor. Murph is based on the book by Lt.
At the Crossroads Between Peace and War: The London Naval Conference of 1930 By John H. Maurer and Christopher M. Bell, Eds., Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. (2014) Reviewed by Joseph Moretz The naval conference that met in London from January to April 1930 is instructive to the modern observer for the light it shines
Race to the Top of the World: Richard Byrd and the First Flight to the North Pole By Sheldon Bart, Regnery History, Washington, DC (2013) Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. Race to the Top of the World, by Sheldon Bart, not only opens again the question if Richard E. Byrd reached the North Pole on
Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Vol. 1 By Arthur Marder, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. (2013) (reprint) Reviewed by Winn Price Of the first of five volumes that compose Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, this review addresses Volume I, titled “the Road to War 1904-1914.” These books, which address the naval affairs in World War I, were
American Sniper: Memorial Edition By Chris Kyle, with Jim Defelice and Scott McEwen, William Morrow, New York, NY, (2013) Reviewed by Stephen Phillips The war on terrorism will be the source of many memoirs. All of them will undoubtedly provide valuable and important insight. Historians and military enthusiasts will always particularly enjoy books that are
Gun Bay: A Tale of Shipwreck on Grand Cayman — An Edward Ballantyne Novel By William H. White, Sea Fiction Press, Red Bank, NJ. (2013) Reviewed by Capt. Roger Jones, USN (Ret.) Gun Bay is a sea-going novel that incorporates the historic and powerful Caribbean hurricanes of October 1793 and January 1794. These caused significant
By George J. Hill, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, (2013) Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. George J. Hill, a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Medical School, served in the Marines Corps and U.S. Public Health Service until he retired as a Captain, Medical Corps, USNR, in 1992. He is the son-in-law of Albert W.
By Robert J. Winklareth, Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia, PA. (2012). Reviewed by Richard P. Hallion, Ph.D The fateful encounter between the Bismarck, Prinz Eugen, Hood, and Prince of Wales at 0600 on the morning of 24 May 1941 midway between Iceland and Greenland has drawn the attention of numerous authors and analysts. It even inspired a now-classic
By Robin L. Rielly, McFarland & Co. Inc., Jefferson, NC and London, UK, (2013) Reviewed by Samuel Loring Morison The sub title of this work, A History of LCI and LCS(L) Ships in the Pacific, is a more appropriate title for the subject. With the exception of Rielly’s previous book on LCS(L)’s, very little (if
Edited by Gary W. Neidhardt. AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, (2013) Reviewed by Charles Bogart Editor Gary Neidhardt transcribed and annotated 115 letters that his father, Lt. Paul W. Neidhardt, wrote to his wife, Phyllis, between September 1943 and November 1945. Neidhardt, commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy in July 1942, went on to serve
By Carl LaVO, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2013) Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart Those who study the United States Navy submarine service have encountered in their readings a mention of the McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber. This book is a biography of Vice Admiral McCann, who played a major role in shaping the United States’
By Thomas F. Jaras, iUniverse, (2013). Reviewed by Thomas P. Ostrom This book drew my attention because of my time in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve in the 1960s. Between 1940 and 1980, the USCG had Ocean Station vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific performing a variety of national defense initiatives. These included search and
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the 24th in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) The U.S. nuclear attack submarine Thresher sank during sea trials off the New England coast on 10 April 1963, with the loss
