By Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya, Bluejacket Books, Annapolis, MD, (2001). Reviewed by Jason McHale “They had no right to win. Yet they did, and in so doing changed the course of a war…” (Incredible Victory, IX) Walter Lord used these words to describe the American forces that fought at the Battle of Midway. Three
By Francis M. Carroll, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. (2012) Reviewed by David Kronenfeld Athenia Torpedoed is the latest work by Canadian history professor Francis M. Carroll. The author of ten books, Professor Carroll is currently professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba. Athenia Torpedoed documents the passenger ship Athenia’s background, sailing, sinking, and resulting
By R. Neil Scott, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, MD. (2012.) Reviewed by Alan M. Anderson During World War I, over two million American servicemen were successfully transported across the Atlantic Ocean to England and France. Of the many troopships traveling eastward, German U-boats torpedoed three. The only other troopship lost, Otranto, sank on 6
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the conflict in Southeast Asia, the Naval Historical Foundation and the Naval History and Heritage Command are cosponsoring a series of monographs entitled The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War. Soon to be published in that series is a lavishly illustrated work on the Navy’s “in-country war” entitled Combat
Battle of the Atlantic – 70th Anniversary Conference 23-24 May 2013 Naval Regional Headquarters, Liverpool May 2013 marks the seventieth anniversary of perhaps the major turning point in the Allied victory over the Germans in the Atlantic during the Second World War ‒ the defeat of the Uboats in mid-ocean. The official commemoration in Liverpool
By Vincent P. O’Hara. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2011). Reviewed by Simone C. De Santiago Ramos Much has been written about the German warships Bismarck, Graf Spee, and Scharnhorst and their mêlées while overlooking the lesser known battles during World War II. Vincent O’Hara, an independent scholar tries with his text The German Fleet
By James Pritchard, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal & Kingston, (2011) Reviewed by Phillip G. Pattee, Ph.D. Prize winning scholar James Pritchard, professor emeritus of history, Queens University, has published his third book. His previous works, Anatomy of a Naval Disaster: The 1746 French Expedition to North America, and Louis XV’s Navy, 1748-1762, both deal with
By Ian W. Toll, W.W. Norton Company, New York, London, (2011). Reviewed by Rear Adm. Richard Gentz, USN (Ret.) Do not expect an objective review to follow! I was an immediate fan of Ian Toll when I found his first book Six Frigates in a gift shop on the Newport, Rhode Island waterfront. The continued
By David Fitz-Enz, Taylor Trade Publishing, New York, (2012). Reviewed by Thomas Sheppard While the literature on the War of 1812 is extensive – and growing rapidly amid bicentennial celebrations – David Fitz-Enz laments that few have the time or inclination to wade through most of the books published on the conflict, leading to widespread
Friday and Saturday 17 – 18 May 2013 Department of War Studies, King’s College London In the history of warfare few campaigns have been as long, as complex or covered as large an area as the Battle of the Atlantic did in the Second World War. The contest for allied maritime communications began on the
By John Protasio, Casemate Publishing, Havertown, PA (2011),239 pp. Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart The author has crafted a well-written book that covers the sinking of the British flagged passenger liner Lusitania on 7 May 1914, by the German submarine U-20. The book is divided into three sections that consider 1) the events leading up
By Gary McKay, Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh, (2009) Reviewed by John Grady James Iredell Waddell is long overdue for a full-blown biography; and Gary McKay comes close to providing it. In the last five years, the commerce raider he commanded, CSS Shenandoah, and its around-the-world attacks on Union shipping -particularly the North Pacific whaling fleet —
The Naval Historical Foundation, the Association of Naval Aviation, and the Marine Corps Aviation Association recently had the opportunity to commemorate the service and sacrifice of a World War II Marine Corps aviator, and honor the families who were directly affected by his death nearly 70 years ago. A solemn ceremony was held on 6
By Mark Lardas. Osprey Publishing, Long Island City, NY. (2012). Reviewed by Charles Bogart This is another well-crafted Osprey book. The author has combined text and illustrations to tell a well-rounded story of the naval action that took place in the North Sea off Flamborough Head on September 23, 1779. While most Americans know this
By George Chambers, Authorhouse, Bloomington, IN (2004). Reviewed by Jim Bussert If anyone has ever wanted to get the experience of serving on destroyers for twenty years, Senior Chief Fire Control Technician George Chambers has provided the answer. His love of destroyers is evident in his descriptions and table of different classes from pre-World War
