By Martin J. Bollinger, World Ship Society Ltd, Windsor. UK. (2012). Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. Russian or to be more precise Soviet maritime history seems to be one of the most overlooked topics in global maritime history. Of course there is an explanation for this, the obvious language barrier many scholars are facing and
By Peter Fretwell and Taylor B. Kiland. 2013, U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, (2013). Reviewed by Charles Bogart Never before have I had the privilege to read a book that within only 153 pages of text provides the reader with an outline of how to be a leader. I need to mention that there is
By Andrew C. A. Jampoler, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2013). Reviewed by Mark Lardas The nineteenth century United States Navy exploration efforts included the Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 that circumnavigated the globe and discovered parts of Antarctica and the 1848-49 hydrographic expedition charting the Dead Sea. Both were notable successes. On the other end
By James P. Delgado, Texas A&M University Press, College Station: TX, (2012) Reviewed by Phillip G. Pattee, Ph.D When I saw the title of James P. Delgado’s most recent book, I mistakenly believed it would chronicle the storied life of the CSS Hunley simply because this was the only Civil War submarine with which I
By James M. McPherson, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC, (2012). Reviewed by Kenneth J. Blume, Ph.D. Do we need yet another book about the naval side of the Civil War? When the book has been written by the nation’s preeminent scholar of the Civil War, the answer is certainly yes. James M.
By Tonio Andrade, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, (2011). Reviewed by STCM James C. Bussert, U.S. Navy (Retired) The Chinese naval and land military defeats versus all foreign powers, including Japan, Russia, Britain and France from 1886 to 1947, are well known. What is not well known is the Chinese defeat of Dutch forces over
By Marc E. Nonnenkamp, CreateSpace: Charleston, SC, (2011). Reviewed by Walter “Winn” Price My immediate interest in these two volume stems from the presence in my manuscript of three Imperial German Navy ships: S.M.S. Olga, Adler, and Eber. Longer term I anticipated that Marc Nonnenkamp’s research would under girt future writing leading up to the
By John T. Pigott, (2006) Reviewed by Rear Admiral Peter B. Booth, U.S. Navy (Retired) The whaleboat was deep in the water, grossly overloaded with sailors hauled from the ocean. I grabbed the oil-soaked life jacket of the sailor who would have brought our total to thirty-five, and had started to heave him aboard when
The U.S. Commission on Military History announces the 2013 Brigadier General James L. Collins Jr. Book Prize in Military History. The prize entails a $1,000 award to the author of any nationality of the best book written in English on any field of military history published during 2012. The Book Prize Committee, chaired by Dr.
By Harold Goforth, Fortis Publications, United Kingdom, (2013). Reviewed by Stephen Phillips Asymmetric tactics are the hallmark of battlefield victory for an insurgency. In the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong employed sappers – those who use explosives to destroy a specified target – to great effect. In his book Defender Dolphins: The Story of Project
By David Childs, Seaforth Publishing, South Yorkshire, UK, (2012). Reviewed by Thomas Sheppard The arrival of British settlers in the so-called “New World” has been characterized at various times as a discovery, an encounter, or even a clash of civilizations. All these descriptions have merit, but David Childs contends that perhaps the century of English
By Seth Cropsey, Overlook Duckworth, New York, NY, (2013). Reviewed by Harvey M. Sapolsky, Ph.D. Seth Cropsey, a Navy secretariat official in Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations and currently a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, is worried about the future of the U.S. Navy and the fate of the nation. Because
By Edward Monroe-Jones and Michael Green, eds., Havertown, PA, Casemate (2012). Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. The editors have assembled an anthology of 46 oral histories of variable lengths that focus on stories of men as well as old S- and newer fleet-type boats that fought against the Japanese during World War II in
By Peter F. Stevens, Regnery History, Washington, DC, (2012). Reviewed by Greg Stitz USS Grunion (SS 216) was already under construction when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor thrust America into World War II. Her keel had been laid at the Electric Boat Company shipyard in Groton, CT on 1 March 1941. Christened and launched
By Patrick Bishop, Regnery History, Washington, DC, (2013) Reviewed by Stephen Phillips The very presence of a capital ship can often create strategic importance. Today, aircraft carriers exert this influence, but prior to the Second World War, it was battleships that were known by name that caused concern or even fear. The Hunt for Hitler’s
