By William Weatherly [Capt. George Jackson, USN (Ret.)], iUniverse (2014) Reviewed by Jason McHale What if the Washington Naval Conference collapsed and its terms were never ratified? What if the post-World War naval buildup continued unabated until the Second World War? Sheppard of the Argonne is set in an alternate history where those questions become
By Donald A. Tortorice, Author House, Bloomington, IN (2014) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA I, Horatio is a fictional autobiography about Horatio Nelson, clearly a subject of note for those who care about naval history. Nelson’s titles were read out loud to an assemblage of mourners at his funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral in
By Arthur Marder, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2013) Reviewed by Captain Winn Price, U.S. Naval Reserve (Ret.) Of the first of five volumes that compose Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, this review addresses Volume II, subtitled “The War Years: To the Eve of Jutland 1914-1916.” These five books, which address World War I from the
By General Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, NY (2014) Reviewed by Nathan D. Wells General Tony Zinni is one of the most respected senior officers alive today. A retired general in the United States Marine Corps and a former Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), Zinni brings
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
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
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
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
By John J. Domagalski, Potomac Books, Washington, DC (2012) Reviewed by John Grady The greatest strength of John Domagalski’s Sunk in Kula Gulf lies in the interviews he conducted with survivors of the cruiser Helena’s sinking after it was torpedoed early 6 July 1943. While I found the first few chapters’ routine, the story picks
By Allan L. Lawrence, Self-Published with assistance from the Ellington Printery, Ellington, CT (2014) Reviewed by Nathan D. Wells The strategic impact that the U.S. Navy exercised during the Second World War, especially in the Pacific Theater of Operations, is well known. The combination of aircraft carrier battle groups and amphibious task forces proved a
By Richard A. Clarke, Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY (2014) Reviewed by Stephen Phillips Unmanned vehicles represent the most recent revolution in military technology, especially those capable of launching weapons. Like any paradigm shift, their entry onto the battlefield has been followed by controversy as to the appropriate means to employ
Edited by Bruce A. Elleman and S. C. M. Paine, Naval War College Press, Newport, RI (2013) Reviewed by Joseph James Ahern Authors Bruce A. Elleman and S. C. M. Paine have gathered sixteen case studies examining the use and development of guerre de course from the eighteenth to twenty-first centuries in the recent addition
By Richard V. Porcelli, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, (2012) Reviewed by John Galluzzo Authors choosing to work with Arcadia Publishing set themselves up with a challenge. With strict word counts accompanying each image size (small and large portraits and landscapes, and double page spreads), brevity becomes more than an issue, it becomes a ritual.
By Jan K. Herman, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2013) Reviewed by Nathan D. Wells The role that the United States Navy played in the Vietnam Conflict is well known, especially with regard to the beginning and escalation of the conflict. The role played by the US Navy in the war’s final days is less
By Lincoln Paine, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY (2013) Reviewed by Sam Craghead This book could easily be titled, “The Greatest Sea Story Ever Told.” The subtitle proffers the scope of the work, which Lincoln Paine delivers in grand style. With 599 pages of text, 48 pages of bibliography, 17 maps, 26 pages of
