In preparation for the 25 August 2017 dive with Nautilus Live, NHF conducted two interviews with former crew members of USS Bugara (SS 331). The following interviews were conducted in August 2017 with Bob Fleck and Pete Smith, and are including in our first installments of the “Rediscovering Naval History” Podcasts on Soundcloud. Bob Fleck Interview
“And this we planned as a quiet day.” (USS Bugara Ship Log, 29 July 1945) USS Bugara (SS 331), one of 120 Balao-class submarines completed during the war, was launched on 2 July 1944 by Electric Boat Company in Groton, CT. Commander A.F. Schade was the first commanding officer. Her service from 21 February to
Christopher M. Bell. Oxford University Press, New York, NY (2017) Reviewed by Larry Grant Winston Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty in Herbert Asquith’s Liberal government from 1911 to 1915. Among the many initiatives he undertook as wartime First Lord was his advocacy for a naval assault on the Dardanelles, a narrow strategic strait
By Reed Robert Bonadonna, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2017) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA No one disputes that the growth and development of warfare have been functions of the advance of civilization, but the contributions of war to human progress may be less obvious. Many argue that violent conflict reflects little more than
By Bruce A. Castleman, State University Press, Albany, NY (2016) Reviewed by Charles Bogart The reviewer doubts that today even one in a million Americans could identify Commodore John David Sloat; however, there was a time when he was well-known across the country. Depending on one’s political views, Commodore Sloat was praised or damned. This
Victory at Sea is a new multi-year program from the Ocean Exploration Trust that will use various sea-going assets to explore, discover, and document iconic ships and aircraft lost during WWII. The goal of organizations like NHF during this 5-year campaign is to create compelling media content that can be used to engage new and
Return to Victory at Sea Homepage
By David Cannadine, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (2017) Reviewed by John Grady This to-the-point, short biography of Margaret Thatcher, the United Kingdom’s longest-serving prime minister, provides some interesting political parallels to today’s United States — the rise of populism to give voice to those left behind, cries to scale back government, demands to unleash
By Giora Romm, Black Irish Entertainment LLC, New York, NY (2014) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky USNR (Ret.) Most combat veterans of any country have one great fear, something that sometimes occurs, no matter how they prepare to defend against it: namely, capture by the enemy and imprisonment for an extended duration. In the mid-to-late
On 7 July, the Naval Historical Foundation received news that it will receive a $49,700 matching National Maritime Heritage Grant to digitize the current 12-volume Naval Documents of the American Revolution (NDAR) series in a web-searchable format and lay the groundwork for the online publication of additional volumes. As President John F. Kennedy wrote in
By Rick Morgan, Osprey Publishing, Ltd. Oxford, UK (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) A sequel to the author’s earlier Combat Aircraft No. 93 covering the Intruder’s Vietnam service, this new book describes the A-6’s new, often little-known history after Southeast Asia with insider knowledge and style. His introduction is one of the
Rick Morgan Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK (2012) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) Grumman’s big, ugly carrier-based bomber has generated only a few books, including one done by this author and his brother Mark for Schiffer in 2004, a good book in a much larger format. A couple of wartime memoirs have also appeared
By Rob Langham, Fonthill Media Limited and Casemate Publishers, Havertown, PA (2016) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) Senior British military author Owen Thetford wrote in his 1958 book British Naval Aircraft 1912-58 (Putnam, UK): It is not always appreciated that the Admiralty was the first of the British Service Departments to recognize the
By Rick Campbell, St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY (2017) Reviewed by William H. White Having read and reviewed one or two of his previous tales, Cdr. Rick Campbell’s latest, BLACKMAIL is in my opinion, his best by a long shot. And unfortunately, it is, in large part, the most credible. While Campbell’s background is
