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"An exceptionally well written, well documented, fast-moving account."--"Washington Times"

"This is a book written on multiple levels, and well worth reading."--"M.S. Naval Institute Proceedings"

"This book is a welcome addition to the history of naval aviation and fills a much-needed void by detailing the later years of the Vietnam naval air campaign."--"Sea Power"

"Makes for lively, vivid, and informative reading. I would include it...on my list of the top ten books on the air war in Vietnam."
--"Air Power History"

"John Sherwood has done a fine job in giving us a first-rate account of a confusing but critically important period in Naval Aviation history."--"The Hook"

"As a collection of individual studies and 'war stories, ' "Afterburner" should find an interested readership." --"Military History"

"With a 45-degree dive angle set, 450 knots of airspeed building, and my altimeter unwinding like crazy, my scan went rapidly between the bombsight and flight instruments. . . . When I looked over my shoulder at the target, I could see where the bombs had hit and exploded."

Through stories like this diary entry of a fighter pilot, John Darrell Sherwood brings forth the personal accounts of 21 naval and marine aviators in this chronicle of the second half of the Navy's air war over Vietnam.

Despite spending over 200 billion dollars and dropping almost 8 million tons of bombs on Southeast Asia, the U.S. was unable to score a definitive victory in the air war. Afterburner takes us inside the day-to-day operations of the air war, particularly during the most intense year of the campaign: 1972. During that year, North Vietnam launched the first large-scale conventional attacks on strongholds in South Vietnam. Sherwood shows how the U.S. fought back with some of the most innovative air campaigns in its history, including Nixon's Linebacker bombings and the Navy's mining operation in Haiphong Harbor. From duels with enemy MiGs to the experiences of Commander C. Ronald Polfer, who became the voice of reason among American POWs in the Hanoi Hilton's Room 5, the detailed stories in Afterburner make these historical events come to life.

Sherwood compiles and analyzes an incredible breadth of information about the details of each of the Navy's operations during the air war and then relates the key parts of the narrative through the eyes of an pilot or flight officer involved in each action. Through tales of courage and fear, triumph and horror, Sherwood reveals the lives of common aircrews who performed extraordinary service. Their experiences illustrate the personal nature of war--even from the air--and show that the air war in Vietnam may have begun as a slow burn, but by 1972, it was more intense than an F-4 afterburner.

On 9 May 1912 the first airplane take-off from a ship was made from the deck of the HMS Hibernia. In July 1918, seven Sopwith Camels launched from the converted battlecruiser HMS Furious damaged the German airbase at Tonder and destroyed two zeppelins. The age of the carrier was born. In the interwar years the Lexington, Akagi and Courageous-class carriers were developed, but it was only during World War II that the aircraft carrier finally came into its own. Fleet carriers carrying 30-40 aircraft allowed the Japanese and US navies to project air power across the vast Pacific Ocean, with the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor presaging a new kind of warfare. With the sinking of hundreds of ships during World War II, including the German battleship Bismarck in 1941, by the end of the war carriers ruled the waves and the era of the battleship had passed. Aircraft Carriers features 52 of the most significant flat tops and amphibious assault ships built since the 1920s until the present day, from the USS Yorktown, which survived direct hits during the battle of Midway (1942), through the Falklands War veteran HMS Invincible, to the mighty Nimitz class, the core of the US Navy's carrier battle groups today. Also included are significant amphibious assault ships, such as the USS Tarawa and French Mistral. Each entry includes a brief description of the ship's development and history, a colour profile view or cutaway, key features and specifications. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, Aircraft Carriers is a colourful guide for the naval warfare enthusiast.

This is the story of that small band of women who wore U.S. Marine uniforms during the Korean War. These women are a "lost generation" of women Marines who stepped into the breach between two wars and preserved the opportunity to be a Marine for those who were as yet unborn. They were, in fact, a "thin green line"--and they stood fast, just like Marines are taught to do.

In 1958, Frank Gamboa became the first Mexican American from Owens Valley, California, to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. His memoir's focus is his professional development as a naval officer of the line from 1958 to 1988 in the U.S. Navy's surface warfare community. It highlights his duties, challenges and opportunities during more than 17 years of sea duty in destroyers, a cruiser, and six amphibious warships operating in the Navy's Second and Third Fleets; and in frequent and extended deployments in the Sixth and Seventh Fleets during the Cold War. El Capitan portrays the leadership, management, technical and seamanship skills required to succeed in shipboard billets ranging from division officer to commanding officer and squadron commander, in ranks from ensign to captain. It describes Gamboa's performance as the first Mexican-American naval surface warfare officer to command a major warship as a Commander, the first to command major warship as a Captain, and the first to command a squadron of amphibious warships as a captain. About the Author After leaving the Navy, Frank created Gamboa International Corporation, a management consulting company that he and Linda successfully operated in the private sector from 1994 to 2006. In 1989, he was elected Vice President of the Naval Academy Class of 1958 and continues to serve in that capacity. He and his wife, the former Linda Marie Lehtio, reside in Fairfax, Virginia. Their son, John Frank "Jack" Gamboa, Junior, and his daughter Emma live in Portland, Oregon. Their daughter Judith Ann Callsen and her husband Gary and her daughter Loren reside at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia.

This is fourth in mulit-volume series covering United States Navy patches from World War II to the present-each volume contains over 1000 patches in full color. This new volume covers: Activities, Bases, Centers, Commands, Communications, Cruises, Depots, Division, Facilities, Fields, Fleets, Flotillas, Forces, Groups, Medical, Missiles, Schools, Shipyards, Squadrons, Stations, Teams, Units, and Miscellaneous units. (See page 40 for previous volumes).

This book tells in non-technical language how the British Navy contributed to the development of naval radar in World War 2. Addressed to the general reader, it tells not only the technical story in simple terms, but also of the operational use of shipborne radar at sea - for warning, for fire control, for fighter direction, for navigation, in all theatres of war - and particularly about the people who designed and fitted the equipment, and those who used it at sea.

By the middle years of the nineteenth century, there seem to have been few places on the globe where British and French commercial, colonial, or religious interests could not clash; and thanks to the extent and flexibility of their sea power the two rivals were able to support these interests with naval force virtually wherever there was enough water to float a warship. The Crimean War brought the British and French navies, the most technologically advanced in the world, into alliance after many years of common hostility. It was a period of enormous technological innovation and development, witnessing the transition from sail to screw, and the birth of the ironclad. In this extensively researched and thorough study, C. I. Hamilton traces the technological development of both British and French navies and analyses the political and diplomatic policies which formed the backdrop to the naval history of the period 1840-1870. Dr Hamilton compares the two navies in a variety of important ways: their recruitment and training systems, dockyard facilities, naval administrations, strategy and tactics. His book makes a noteworthy contribution both to naval history and to our knowledge of Anglo-French relations in the nineteenth century.

Yet it is Webb's distinguished second career as a lead instructor for the shadowy "sniper cell" and Course Manager of the Navy SEAL Sniper Program that trained some of America's finest and deadliest warriors - including Marcus Luttrell and Chris Kyle - that makes his story so compelling. Luttrell credits Webb's training with his own survival during the ill-fated 2005 Operation Redwing in Afghanistan. Kyle went on to become the U.S. military's top marksman, with more than 150 confirmed kills. From a candid chronicle of his student days to his hair-raising close calls with Taliban and al Qaeda forces in the northern Afghanistan wilderness to his vivid account of designing new sniper standards and training some of the most accomplished snipers of the twenty-first century, Webb provides a rare look at the making of the Special Operations warriors who are at the forefront of today's military.

Previous books written about naval warfare in the Baltic from 1939 to 1945 focus only on single navies, while the role of smaller secondary players--the Finnish, Danish or Swedish navies--tends to be ignored. This book looks at the overall picture, with each player receiving his proper due. One of the narrow seas, the Baltic has a set of characteristics and operational problems different from those on any open ocean. It is these challenges that this book seeks to emphasize, challenges which the U.S. Navy will now face.

The Navy of World War II, 1922-1946 comprehensively covers the vessels that defined this momentous 24-year period in U.S. naval history. Beginning with the lean, pared-down navy created by the treaty at the Washington Naval Conference, and ending with the massive, awe-inspiring fleets that led the Allies to victory in the Second World War, the fourth volume in the celebrated U.S. Navy Warship series presents a detailed guide to all the warships that exhibited the might of the U.S. Navy to the fullest. Showcasing all the ships-both the famous and the often overlooked-that propelled the U.S Navy to prominence in the first half of the twentieth century, The Navy of World War II catalogues all the warships from this era, including those that did battle in the European, Mediterranean, and Pacific Theaters from 1941-1946. From the fleet attacked at Pearl Harbor, to those that fought valiantly in the Battle of the Guadalcanal, to the official surrender of the Japanese on the deck of the USS Missouri, this latest volume is the definitive guide to the warships that defined this pivotal period in U.S. naval history. Each volume in the U.S. Navy Warship series represents the most meticulous scholarship for its particular era, providing an authoritative account of every ship in the history of the U. S. Navy from its first incarnation as the Continental Navy to its present position as one of the world's most formidable naval superpowers. Featuring convenient, easy-to-read tabular lists, every book in the series includes an abundance of illustrations, some never before published, along with figures for actions fought, damages sustained, casualties suffered, prizes taken, and ships sunk, ultimately making the series an indispensable reference tool for maritime buffs and military historians alike. A further article about Paul Silverstone and the Navy Warships series can be found at: http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s18s180&SecId=180&AId=58892&ATypeId=1

The Arsenal Ship was the most innovative naval weapons concept of the late 20th Century: a stealthy vessel armed with 500 Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes and manned by a crew of only 25 or 30 sailors, intended to rain precision-guided missiles on enemies from a safe distance; a "force multiplier" that was seen as an integral part of the Revolution in Military Affairs. The arsenal ship fascinated military thinkers in the mid-90s, although there was spirited debate over the wisdom of putting so many eggs in one lightly defended basket. Would it have worked? Read the detailed contemporary analysis and judge for yourself. An essential reference for any library on modern navies. Contents include:

An Arsenal Ship Design. Baumann, G. et al. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey. 1996.

A Proposed Littoral Dominant Battle Group Centered Around the Arsenal Ship. Looney, John P. et al. Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, 1997.

The Arsenal Ship and the U.S. Navy: A Revolution in Military Affairs Perspective. Driesbach, Dawn H. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey. 1996.

Can the Arsenal Ship Replace the Battleship? Lance, Joseph M, III. Army Command And General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth. 1996.

The Arsenal Ship Measures up to Joint Vision 2010. Abramson, Alan J. Naval War College, Newport. 1997.

Tradeoff Analysis Model for Arsenal Ship Survivability and Sustainability: Bush, Ronald S Cimiluca, Arthur E, Jr. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey. 1996.

The Arsenal Ship Concept: Vulnerabilities to Special Operations. Dunbar, Christian A. Pietrantoni, Dino. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey. 1997.

Arsenal Ship Automation and Manning Analysis. McNerney, Thomas E, III. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey. 1997.

DARPA Arsenal Ship Lessons Learned. Hamilton, Charles S. DARPA, Washington, DC. 1997.

This engaging book plunges readers into the culture shock of Marine Officer Candidates School, a ten-week physical, intellectual, and emotional testing ground so grueling that every fourth candidate fails to complete.

What does it take to become a Marine Officer? This engaging book transports readers through the culture shock of Marine Officer Candidates School, a ten-week physical, intellectual, and emotional testing ground that every fourth candidate fails to complete. The Sergeant Instructors' intensity is palpable as candidates are made to strip away civilian habits and attitudes, replacing them the Marine Corps ethos in the hopes of becoming officers. Anecdotes and personal recollections of OCS by two generations of officers provide instructive, poignant, and humorous interludes for the reader.

A second focus of the book involves research into the demographics, attitudes, and opinions of two groups of officers, separated in time by 50 years. This comparison across a wide range of personal and social issues and beliefs renders some surprising results that lie in opposition to conventional wisdom. From the older generation, the reader will better understand the lifelong impact of the Marine leadership experience. From today's officers, the reader will discover the motivations of today's allegedly soft and coddled young people to follow the difficult path to a lieutenant's gold bars. This book is required reading for anyone with an interest in the Marine Corps and its culture.

Naval forces have not yet received the attention they are due for their role in Operation Desert Shield. This chronological account offers a unique, and as yet, unseen level of detail regarding the Navy's contribution throughout the operation. Relying on primary sources whenever possible, this book discusses naval decisions in terms of information available to decision-makers at the time and presents the pros and cons for alternative courses of action, as argued at the time of the original decision. It details the Navy's role in planning for successful operations, its constant vigil against surprise attack, and its daily contribution to the maritime interception effort to enforce U.N. economic sanctions against Iraq.

Naval forces upheld the sanctions at sea in such a way as to avoid disabling a civilian ship and provided the glue that helped create and maintain the multi-national coalition. The complexity of the situation required the naval forces to adapt their command and control to a highly centralized operation which placed unprecedented demands on the Navy's communications systems. This study provides an insider view of the various plans, even those that were not carried out, and valuable insights into the personalities of the leading officials. Sources include first-hand observations of the events at ComUSNavCent, where the author had access to nearly all events and decisions; hundreds of thousands of messages and other briefing materials; the post-war analysis done by the Center for Naval Analyses; and interviews with almost all of the key players.

Often overshadowed by other Pacific War engagements such as Midway or Guadalcanal, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was characterized by some of the most gallant hours in seagoing history: the U.S. Navy's defeat of the combined Japanese fleet during the invasion of the Philippines in October 1944. Involving more ships than even the gargantuan First World War Battle of Jutland and two hundred thousand men, it was the biggest naval battle in world history. It marked the last time that huge capital ships fought within sight and sound of each other. Using the personal accounts of the men who were there, Sears tells this mammoth and compelling story. This moving tale uses personal accounts of the veterans who achieved victory in the biggest and last great naval battle, largely fought with aging ships, untested reserve crews, and teenaged combat aircraft pilots. Often overshadowed by other Pacific War engagements such as Midway or Guadalcanal, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was characterized by some of the most gallant hours in seagoing history: the U.S. Navy's defeat of the combined Japanese fleet during the invasion of the Philippines in October 1944. Involving more ships than even the gargantuan First World War Battle of Jutland and two hundred thousand men, it was the biggest naval battle in world history. It marked the last time huge capital ships fought within sight and sound of each other. Using the personal accounts of the men who were there, Sears tells this mammoth and compelling story. The Battle of Leyte Gulf could have been the Pacific War's Battle of the Bulge. In a space of 12 hours, Japan, a beaten, cornered enemy, was able to devise and execute a strategy that very nearly pierced the heart of America's war machine. The real margin of victory would come from surprising quarters: from aging ships risen from the graveyard of the war's infamous first day; from small, hastily constructed ships with largely untested reserve crews; from fragile support ships never intended to be anywhere near battles of this scale; and from combat aircraft piloted by teenagers.

'James Cable's book...has deservedly remained the classic work' - Geoffrey Till, International Relations;When Gunboat Diplomacy was first published in 1971, it broke new ground with its study of how, in peacetime and in the twentieth century, governments used their naval forces in international disputes. Now fully revised and brought up to date after the collapse of the Soviet empire and the end of the cold war, this third edition of a book that was already a modern classic has a foreword by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Julian Oswald.

As lead ship of America's first "fast battleship" class, and the US Navy's newest battleship when America entered WWII, the construction of the USS North Carolina was not only a source of encouragement for a depression-wrought nation, but was also a source of pride among a fleet of aging battleships. Earning fifteen Battle Stars, the North Carolina is America's most-decorated battleship, having participated in most of the major campaigns in the Pacific during WWII. This volume documents not only the construction and wartime exploits of this historic vessel, but thoroughly explores the restored vessel, providing a great resource for the armchair historian, a keepsake for those who visit the museum ship, and a superb resource for the detailed model builder. Carefully researched photos, many of which have never before been published, are reproduced in remarkable clarity and put the reader on and beneath the decks of this historic warship. Part of the Legends of Warfare series.

This volume brings together a set of scholarly, readable and up-to-date essays covering the most significant naval mutinies of the 20th century, including Russia (1905), Brazil (1910), Austria (1918), Germany (1918), France (1918-19), Great Britain (1931), Chile (1931), the United States (1944), India (1946), China (1949), Australia, and Canada (1949).
Each chapter addresses the causes of the mutiny in question, its long- and short-term repercussions, and the course of the mutiny itself. More generally, authors consider the state of the literature on their mutiny and examine significant historiographical issues connected with it, taking advantage of new research and new methodologies to provide something of value to both the specialist and non-specialist reader. The book provides fresh insights into issues such as what a mutiny is, what factors cause them, what navies are most susceptible to them, what responses lead to satisfactory or unsatisfactory conclusions, and how far-reaching their consequences tend to be.

This is a compendium of seven Naval Staff Histories which deals with operations by major German surface units as follows: the destruction of the pocket battleship Graf Spee, by three Royal Navy light cruisers off the River Plate; the hunt for the Bismark; the Battle of the North Cape when Scharnhorst was sunk by HMS Duke of York in a snowy, night action; the escape of the Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst up the English Channel through British defences in the Channel Dash; the series of attacks on Tirpitz by aircraft carriers; long-range bombers and midget submarines in her Norwegian lair; and the predations of disguised merchant raiders such as the notorious Pinguin.

This volume deals with the first 15 months of the Mediterranean Campaign including the preparations for war and the entry of Italy into the war on 10th June 1940. The Royal Navy's attack on Oran on 3rd July resulted in the sinking of one French battleship and two others damaged with heavy loss of life while another one escaped to France. The attack, three days later on Mers-el-Kebir by carrier aircraft, damaged another French battleship in port. Also covered are the first battles against the Italian fleet at Calabria and Cape Spada which left one Italian battleship damaged and a heavy cruiser sunk. The account ends in August with the first Mediterranean convoy battle to run supplies from Gibraltar to Alexandria - Operation Hat.

This Naval Staff History, prepared by the Naval Historical Branch of the Naval Staff, covers the period immediately after World War II and the Royal Navy operations to prevent illegal Jewish immigration into Palestine, at that time under British Mandate from the United Nations. The Palestine Patrol, as it became known, illustrates clearly the problems facing navies conducting operations other than war, in particular those involving maritime embargo measures.

The Royal Navy's Revenge and other Episodes of the War at Sea: a collection of self-contained and fast-paced accounts of naval battles, previously published in national magazines and especially selected because they are fascinating, yet little known.

The naval war of 1939-1945 was a long and bitter struggle fought in every ocean, on, below and above the sea. It resonates with famous names like Midway, Bismarck, Guadalcanal, and the Battle of the Atlantic. This collection of articles previously published in national magazines including World War II, Tin Can Sailor, and Pacific War explores some less famous episodes in the naval war including naval actions fought in the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, the South China Sea, and the English Channel, between the naval forces of France, Thailand, Italy, Poland, Germany, Japan, and of course, the U.S. and Royal navies.

The Royal Navy's Revenge includes the title action, the last surface battle of the war between British destroyers and a former nemesis of the Royal Navy, the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro. The story of the U.S. Navy's first surface action against the Japanese, a victory won off the coast of Borneo by four World War I era destroyers is included. The book also contains self-contained and fast-paced accounts of naval actions fought between Italy and Germany, France and Great Britain, and the Battle of Koh-Chang, between France and Thailand. It also has an account of a mystery battle between German and American destroyers that has escaped the notice of historians until recently, the story of the defiant German flotilla that held out in the English Channel until the very end of the war and the little known naval campaign fought off the coast of Syria between Vichy France and naval forces from Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.

These fascinating and well researched episodes by the respected naval historian Vincent P. O'Hara will entertain and educate even the most well-studied World War II enthusiast.