By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the seventeenth 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.) In July 1983 a friend asked my wife, Beverly, and me to attend a bar-b-q at his home. Among the few others
By Captain George Stewart, USN (RET) This is the fifth in a series of articles by Captain Stewart detailing the technical specifications, manning, and operations of the U.S. Navy’s Fletcher class destroyers. This is the fifth and last article in a series describing life aboard a World War II built Fletcher Class destroyer during the
Edited by Jim Dolbow, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. (2013). Reviewed by Thomas P. Ostrom The Coast Guardsman’s Manual, first published in 1952, is now in print for its 10th edition, skillfully edited by Lt. Jim Dolbow (USCGR). Dolbow has served on active duty assignments, as a congressional legislative assistant on defense issues, and legislative
Last month, People’s Liberation Army Navy Commander in Chief Admiral Wu Shengli visited the Washington Navy Yard, and was welcomed by U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert. Greenert hosted his Chinese counterpart for a week’s visit, and the two toured numerous installations in the United States. The two exchanged small mementos of
By Rodney Earl Walton, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2013) Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. This well-researched and well-written book analyzed the role of forward artillery observers on Okinawa during the largest artillery battle in World War II’s Pacific Theater. Likely inspired by his father’s role as a forward observer for the 361st Field
By Myron J. Smith, Jr., McFarland, Henderson, NC, (2012). Reviewed by John Grady Myron Smith has delivered a wonderfully detailed account of the stubborn fighting that continued along the Yazoo River for much of the Civil War. For the Union Navy, in particular, it was a sometimes brutish brawl that continued after the fall of
By Rodger Sarty; Allen Lane-Penguin Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2012) Reviewed by Michael F. Solecki This book is the eighth installment to “The History of Canada” series. The War in the St. Lawrence is for the most part either forgotten or a printed glitch in the grander “Battle of the Atlantic.” The “Battle in the
By John M. Stickney, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, (2012). Reviewed by Larry A. Grant The culmination of work done over a forty-year period, Promotion or the Bottom of the River: The Blue and Gray Naval Careers of Alexander F. Warley, South Carolinian is the naval biography of a long-service officer of the
By Larry Berman, Harper Collins, New York, NY (2013). Reviewed by Stephen Phillips Depending on one’s perspective, Admiral Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt is famous or infamous for transforming the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War era. His name is synonymous with long hair, beards, and social reform through “Z-Grams” – messages to the fleet that served
Edited by Thomas C. Hone (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013). Reviewed by John T. Kuehn, Ph.D. No other naval battle in recent American history has garnered more attention than the aircraft carrier clash at the western extremity of the Hawaiian Island Chain in June 1942 than Midway. Ever since Samuel Eliot Morison’s seminal volume
By L. Erik Fleming, Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co., Houston, TX, (2012). Reviewed by Jan Churchill Even though this book is called Rolling Thunder, it is not a history lesson of this operation but an entertaining story about a fictional Marine Captain Valentine Jordan, a fighter pilot assigned to a F4J Phantom II squadron
“Cook For a Submarine Fleet” was a mathematics lesson developed by Greg Felber, mathematics teacher at Ledyard Middle School, Ledyard CT during the Submarine Force Museum/Historic Ship Nautilus STEM Teacher Fellowship Program the past summer. Last week, using the lesson, the 7th Grade students at Ledyard Middle School were put in the position of a
This conference (16-18 July 2014) aims to explore the Anglo-German naval arms race during the early twentieth century and the Great War at sea with an emphasis prior to the Battle of Jutland. Any methodological approach and any aspect of the naval history of this period will be very welcome, including papers addressing French, Austro-Hungarian,
By Captain George Stewart, USN (RET) This is the fourth in a series of articles by Captain Stewart detailing the technical specifications, manning, and operations of the U.S. Navy’s Fletcher class destroyers. In my last article (read it here) I wrote about operations of a Fletcher class destroyer, based on my experiences serving in USS
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the sixteenth 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.) In high school I began writing my first book—a history of the world’s aircraft carriers. In 1964, I wrote to the
