Exciting rescue stories on the high seas! The Coast Guard's rescue personnel are second to none, and Coast Guard air and sea rescue missions have been the subjects of celebrated newspaper accounts, books, and movies, including The Perfect Storm. The Coast Guard is one of the nation's five military services, which exist to defend and preserve the United States. In The Greatest Coast Guard Rescue Stories Ever Told, the editor has pulled together some of the finest writings about air and sea rescues that capture readers imaginations, culled from books, magazines, and elsewhere. It is an unforgettable collection, and includes stories by Kathryn Miles, Eric Hartlep, Gerald Hoover, Martha Laguardia-Kotite, Geoffrey D. Reynolds, Kalee Thompson, H. Paul Jeffers, and many others.

The German Navy - known as the Kriegsmarine - played a crucial role during World War II in disrupting Allied shipping, especially in the early years, when Britain stood alone against Nazi aggression following the fall of France. Broken down by campaign and key encounters within each theatre of war, German Kriegsmarine in World War II illustrates the strengths and organizational structures of the Third Reich's naval forces, building into a detailed compendium of information. Full-colour order of battle tree diagrams at fleet and flotilla level help the reader quickly understand how and where the ships and U-boats of the German Navy were employed at any given time between 1939 and 1945. Reference tables provide fleet strengths while organizational diagrams show the types and numbers of ships involved in specific operations, such as the U-Boat wolfpacks that hunted Allied merchant shipping in the North Atlantic and the invasion fleet used for the assault on Crete. With extensive organizational diagrams and full-colour operations maps, German Kriegsmarine in World War II is an easy-to-use guide to German naval forces. The book is an essential reference for anyone with a serious interest in the naval warfare of World War II.

Admiral Topp's memoirs reflect the faith, hopes, errors, and transformations in a man's life, indeed those of a whole generation whose understanding of history and ideology were held captive by the myth of power. The terrible annihilation in World War II and, even more so, the unimaginable destructive potential of nuclear weapons, have resulted in a change in the use of power. The author's diaries and journals, along with their contemporary interpretation, illustrate the political dimension of this change.

Topp wrote this book to illuminate a segment of twentieth century history which can only be portrayed truthfully by those who themselves have lived and suffered through it. Topp also describes freely the era of the Third Reich. Even today, after long years of occupying positions of leadership, the author feels the burden of historical responsibility. In this sense his book is a statement about the ambivalence of human existence. It provides answers to the question of why a whole generation of Germans followed the mesmerizing siren song of a totalitarian regime, an experience which still looms like a shadow over the living.

Nicholas Rogers' book gives the reader a detailed and illuminating insight into the world and ways of the press gang. The press gang, and its forcible recruitment of sailors to man the Royal Navy in times of war, acquired notoriety for depriving men of their liberty and carrying them away to a harsh life at sea, sometimes for years at a time. Nicholas Rogers explains exactly how the press gang worked, whom it was aimed at and how successful it was in achieving its ends. He also shows the limits to its operations and the press gang's need for cooperation from local authorities, who were by no means prepared to support it. Written by an expert in the social history of eighteenth-century Britain, it is both well-researched and highly readable.

The construction of an important element in British national identity is explored in Naval Engagements, looking at the ways in which the navy - a major symbol of national community - was given meaning by a range of social groupings. The study is at once a cultural history of national identity, a social history of naval commemoration, and a political history of struggles over patriotism.
Examining the place that naval symbols occupied in British wartime political culture, Timothy Jenks argues that these were more relevant to patriotic discourse than the more commonly explored 'apotheosis' of the Hanoverian monarchs. He establishes the centrality of public images of admirals to the 'victory culture' and political experience of the day, tracing efforts by groups across the political spectrum to invest these figures with appropriate political capital and contemporary meaning. He engages with arguments concerning popular patriotism and the relative cohesiveness of British society. Most importantly, the book establishes the centrality of naval symbolism to the political culture of Georgian Britian. At the same time, it reveals the social practices and discourses that consistently interacted to delimit and restrain a variety of projects ostensibly designed to foster patriotism and national identity.
Patriotism was contested, this study argues, rather than consensual, and British national identity in the period was contingent, an ambivalence crucial to the manner in which naval symbols functioned.

In Post-war Japan as a Sea Power, Alessio Patalano incorporates new, exclusive source material to develop an innovative approach to the study of post-war Japan as a military power. This archival-based history of Asia's most advanced navy, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), looks beyond the traditional perspective of viewing the modern Japanese military in light of the country's alliance with the US. The book places the institution in a historical context, analysing its imperial legacy and the role of Japan's shattering defeat in WWII in the post-war emergence of Japan as East Asia's 'sea power'.

Packed with rich detail and analysis, this exciting tale of war at sea relates the dramatic and moving true story of the sinking of the British liner Laconia and its consequences for the conduct of marine warfare. Duffy discusses in rich detail the dire and dramatic true story of the sinking of the British Liner Laconia by the dreaded U-Boat 156, a vessel crowded with 1800 Italian POWs, 103 Polish soldiers, and 463 officers and crew. As Laconia went down, U-156 surfaced and sent a signal that brought two other U-boats, an Italian submarine, and three Vichy French warships to assist with rescue operations. But on the morning of September 16, a U.S. bomber flew over U-156, now packed with several hundred Laconia survivors. The crew unfurled a large Red Cross flag. Nevertheless, the submarine was attacked. The Laconia survivors were ordered over the side into lifeboats. Damaged, U-156 left the area as other U-boats commenced rescue operations. In the wake of the incident, German Admiral Karl Donitz issued the Laconia Order demanding that all attempts to rescue Allied survivors of merchant ships be ended. The order provoked an international outcry against inhumane treatment of survivors stranded at sea. In the aftermath of the war, Donitz was charged and acquitted of war crimes in connection with this order.

From the mid-19th century to the early Cold War, the United States has a long history with China, and that interaction has not always been positive or productive. This brief history of foreign intervention in China, viewed through the experiences of the United States Marines, examines how the occupying powers dealt with a fellow sovereign nation. In many cases this involved the partition or outright absorption of Chinese territory through naked aggression. Clark contends that, considering the past two centuries, the Chinese have good reason to distrust all foreigners, and he urges the pursuit of a badly needed rapprochement.

This is, however, also the story of the evolution of the Marine Corps as a separate service. Although an occupying force, the Marines did make considerable efforts to earn the friendship of the Chinese people. Always on the brink of extinction due to budgetary cuts and the enmity of the army and navy, the Marines managed to perform an onerous and difficult duty in a foreign land. With a resurgent China constantly testing the United States, a fellow Pacific Rim nation, every policymaker should be well aware of the often difficult history that we share and the mistakes that have been made in the past.

This book is an effort by two naval experts, one a retired Russian Naval officer, the other an American naval arms control analyst, to look at the future relationship of the world's two greatest navies following the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union. For the first time in English, readers are provided with a detailed examination of the sweeping changes in the strategy, doctrine, operations and size of both the U.S. and Russian navies in the last few years. The often frightening naval confrontations of the Cold War era have declined dramatically (but not entirely). The first tentative steps are outlined. The book offers a series of specific proposals to expand the current level of cooperation between the U.S. and Russian navies and even envisions a "strategic partnership" in the long term.

In its decision of 7 December 1941 to adopt a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare--the destruction of all vessels entering a designated war zone--the United States not only dramatically reversed its previous foreign policy position of defending freedom of the seas but in doing so adopted a policy that had been one of the chief provocations for U.S. entry into World War I against Germany. Janet M. Manson contends that this decision also proved to be a watershed in U.S. foreign policy because it provided the precedent and rationale for using advanced weapons technology against noncombatants. Incorporating previously unavailable historical materials that have only recently been released through U.S. archives and compiling much information available only in archives and libraries in West Germany, this groundbreaking study provides multinational perspectives based on multiarchival research. Manson carefully considers the complex historical, political, economic, legal, and military rationale for the decision. Detailed examinations of the discourse on submarine warfare among various governmental departments and sub-departments provide not only a more accurate account of the decisionmaking process involved in these events but also reveal the crucial influence of World War I precedent on World War II practice: The U.S. relied heavily on German submarine practice in both world wars in reaching its decision to implement unrestricted submarine warfare. Manson argues that although U.S. and German systems of government and foreign policy objectives were completely different, a similar rationale prompted their adoption of unrestricted submarine warfare. Seven chapters range chronologically fromGermany's use of unrestricted submarine warfare during World War I to the American decision to adopt that policy in 1941. The final chapter identifies the implications and consequences of the decisions. This is the only scholarly work to provide detailed examinations of the decisions and the decisionmaking process from German and American perspectives. It will be standard resource for scholars and other readers investigating naval history, diplomacy, warfare, and World War II history.

A scholarly and compelling analysis of Marine Corps survival as seen through the lens of three different organizational theories, this volume is a sourcebook in management and public administration for the way of seeing view. Frank Marutollo, intimately familiar with the Marine ethic, provides a practical demonstration of how management theories can be regarded as different ways of seeing rather than predictive schemes. He applies three models--the Population Ecology Model, Resource Dependence Model, and Structural Contingency Model--to three separate case studies and evaluates their complementary nature as well as their strengths and weaknesses. This one of a kind approach to the interpretation of management theories will be of particular interest to undergraduate and graduate students of management science and public administration.

As scholar and practitioner, Marutollo combines both perspectives to analyze the survival of a major organization in our culture. He selects three management theory models, develops a theoretical framework, and describes his methodology. Marutollo then sets the stage and applies each model to three case studies entitled: The Marine Corps and Military Unification, The New Navy and the Ships Guard, and Paradigms of Attack. He concludes his precise and detailed study with an overall assessment of the case study-model analysis.

In the Post-Cold War Era, the possibility of large-scale military conflict between the superpowers has been replaced by the probability of a series of minor—and perhaps not so minor—regional ones. Many, if not most of those, will take place within reach of seaborne expeditionary forces. France organized such an expedition at the close of World War II, in 1945-1946, to return to Indochina. This account of that expedition provides a good case study of what such expeditions involve and, moreover, illustrates many politico-military lessons—and warnings—for those like the U.S., who would project power from the sea east of the Suez today.

In the context of their war experience in the First World War, the changes and developments of the Executive branch of the Royal Navy between the world wars are examined and how these made them fit for the test of the Second World War are critically assessed.

From the steam-powered models introduced in World War I to today's nuclear-powered, multiweaponed technological wonders, submarines have revolutionized warfare on the world's seas. This volume follows the extraordinary development of this key component of the world's navies. Submarines: An Illustrated History of Their Impact reveals how underwater warships evolved to become major threats to battle fleets and merchant shipping, as well as primary platforms for deterrent forces and crucial symbols of military power. In a series of chronological chapters, Submarines describes key developments in diving ability, underwater endurance, and weapons capabilities in specific periods, while highlighting strategic and operational innovations; the role of technological research; famous submarine events, battles, and commanders; and the impact of submarine services on naval society. The book also includes an illustrated reference section covering every submarine class worldwide since 1900. This coverage plus additional reference features make Submarines an essential introduction to a weapons system that has long held the public's imagination.