`Superb! An intimate look at the way a war was won.’ - Tom Clancy `They feared the enemy together and put their faith in the only place they could, in their boat and in their skipper. These brought them through and against the toughest anti-submarine warfare measures and the greatest damage reported by any submarine of our side. It was the nearest of near misses, and it remains the truest, and strongest, of all possible bonds.’ - Edward L. Beach On 12 August 1943, Lieutenant-Commander I. J. Galantin took command of the fleet submarine USS Halibut on Midway Island. For the next fourteen months, Galantin and his officers and crew would play their part in the Silent Service's unrelenting attack on Japan's navy and merchant marine. But it was in Luzon Strait in November 1944 that the submarine and its crew underwent their greatest ordeal, recounted here by Galantin. Detected and driven down while attacking a decoy, Halibut was subjected to an assault of appalling ferocity. Badly damaged by more than 250 depth charges, her position known to her attackers, and with key equipment out of commission, the crippled submarine and crew endured hours of desperate manoeuvring and helpless waiting before the enemy finally gave up and the grievously mauled Halibut managed to surface and reach safety. The Halibut never sailed again. About the Author Admiral Ignatius Joseph Galantin was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, and two Gold Stars for his service on Halibut. In addition to Take Her Down, he has also written Submarine Admiral. The author died in 2003.

When the Civil War began, the southerners found themselves ill-prepared for the realities of waging war, especially on the naval front. Not only did the Confederates lack any semblance of a navy, they had few raw materials with which to construct one. The daunting task of building a navy fell on the shoulders of Stephen Mallory, newly appointed secretary of the navy. A former United States senator from Florida, Mallory had resigned from office when his home state seceded from the Union and he pledged himself to the service of the Confederacy. His intelligence and resourcefulness accomplished what many saw as impossible - the creation of a viable, combat-ready southern navy. Among his primary goals was the establishment of a naval academy, a step which Mallory considered essential for building a serious military force. In July 1863, the Southern Naval Academy inducted its first class of cadets - among which was Hubbard T. Minor from the army's 42nd Tennessee regiment. Focusing on the latter part of the war, this work provides an in-depth look at the realities of life as a cadet at the Southern Naval Academy. Beginning with an overview of the academy, the book contains a brief biographical sketch of each of the school's principal instructors. The main focus of the work, however, is the diary which Hubbard Minor kept as a cadet requirement. One of only two such documents to survive, it provides a day-by-day account of Minor's duties as well as his active service on board the CSS Savannah. Events covered include the June 1864 raid on the USS Water Witch, the evacuation of Savannah and the Confederate retreat to Richmond. Selected letters from Minor's correspondence are inserted where chronologically relevant while introductions and other explanatory information are added only as necessary to aid the reader. Appendices contain a list of regulations from the Confederate school ship Patrick Henry; the initial report from Austin Pendergrast, commander of the USS Water Witch; a roster of officers assigned to the CSS Savannah; and a report from Commander Brent of the Confederate navy regarding the evacuation of Savannah. Illustrations and an index are also included.

Published here for the first time, this volume presents a superb range of insights into this crucial effort of the Second World War. This Naval Staff History describes the vital role of the Arctic Convoys, 1941-1945 and was first issued by the Historical Section of the Admiralty as a confidential study for use within the Royal Navy in 1954. It grew out of the earlier Battle Summary No. 22 compiled by Commander J. Owen of the Admiralty's Historical Section and issued in 1943 to cover the convoys run to North Russia in the last half of 1942 and early 1943. That wartime Battle Summary was subsequently revised and expanded by Commander L.J. Pitcairn-Jones to include all the main convoys run from August 1941 until the end of the war using all the historical records which were at hand after the war. A new preface provides additional context for the convoys, highlighting support provided to Russian forces in their struggle against Germany, for the original Staff History was narrowly focused on the naval aspects of the Arctic Convoys to Russia. This is an excellent resource for all students with a particular interest in the Arctic Convoys, the Second World War and in maritime and military history.

"Civil War Warships, 1855-1883" is the second in the five-volume US Navy Warships encyclopedia set. This valuable reference lists the ships of the U.S. Navy and Confederate Navy during the Civil War and the years immediately following - a significant period in the evolution of warships, the use of steam propulsion, and the development of ordnance. "Civil War Warships "provides a wealth and variety of material not found in other books on the subject and will save the reader the effort needed to track down information in multiple sources.
Each ship's size and time and place of construction are listed along with particulars of naval service. The author provides historical details that include actions fought, damage sustained, prizes taken, ships sunk, and dates in and out of commission as well as information about when the ship left the Navy, names used in other services, and its ultimate fate. 140 photographs, including one of the Confederate cruiser Alabama recently uncovered by the author further contribute to this indispensable volume. This definitive record of Civil War ships updates the author's previous work and will find a lasting place among naval reference works.

This book contains the Naval Staff History originally issued by the Admiralty in 1957 as a confidential book for use within the Royal Navy. It has since been declassified and is published here for the first time, along with an extended preface.

This volume describes the dangerous convoy operations in the Mediterranean which were necessary to relieve the garrison and people of Malta, covering the period from the beginning of 1941 until the end of 1942. These convoys had to be fought through against determined attack by German and Italian surface, submarine and, particularly, air forces. Although casualties were proportionately higher than in Atlantic convoys, Malta was successfully re-supplied and remained a considerable impediment to enemyOCOs attempts to supply their armies in North Africa. These operations reveal the dedication, courage and professionalism of the sailors (of both naval and merchant services) as well as the airmen who supported them. A new preface sets the scene for the Staff History.

The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean Convoys will be of great interest for students interested in the Mediterranean Convoys, Second World War and naval and military history."

Since 1961 the Adelphi Papers have provided some of the most informed accounts of international and strategic relations. Produced by the world renowned International Institute of Strategic Studies, each paper provides a short account of a subject of topical interest by a leading military figure, policymaker or academic.

On December 12, 1862, while patrolling Mississippi's Yazoo River, the ironclad U.S.S. Cairo struck a Confederate torpedo. Twelve minutes later, the gunboat slipped beneath the surface approximately eight miles north of Vicksburg, where it remained for exactly 102 years. When researchers raised it in 1964, they were amazed to find many of its compartments and artifacts perfectly intact, almost as if the sailors had intended that their ship serve as a time capsule. Today, the Cairo is a snapshot of life aboard a Union gunboat, and affords a well-preserved glimpse into the past. This is the first book dedicated entirely to the Cairo artifact collection. In over 160 photographs, it displays many of the warship's most interesting historical pieces, with descriptions, measurements and other pertinent information for each piece. Artifacts are organized according to use, with categories ranging from tobacco and smoking devices, personal effects and toiletries, and medical equipment to small arms and cannon. The work also offers background information on the Cairo and the everyday life of a sailor and a short description of the Cairo's sinking and raising.

* Biography of the 'father of the carrier task force' *Details Mitscher's incredible tactical skills *Paperback reprint of a classic work Air Admiral Marc Mitscher, who led the US attack across the Pacific in World War II, is a legend in naval circles for developing an entirely new concept of war at sea. His skills as a carrier tactician and genius for leading men rank him with the best World War II combat commanders, yet, because he shunned publicity and destroyed his private papers shortly before his death in 1947, his accomplishments are not widely known. Mitscher's sound decisions and successful tactics helped create the greatest striking weapon in history- the carrier force that could put up a thousand planes in half an hour, the task force that sank a thousand ships and destroyed the Japanese air force, the fleet that opened a direct route to Japan. Written by a former naval officer and well-known journalist, The Magnificent Mitscher tells the full story of this pioneer of naval aviation and his innovations. Theodore Taylor charts Mitscher's brilliant career from its very beginnings in 1916, when he became one of the US Navy's first pilots. On publication in1954, it was hailed as a first-class biography that set down the major role played by the admiral in developing the navy's air programme, and is also credited with providing a lively and detailed history of the progress of naval aviation. The author accomplishes all this with compassion, humour and deep respect for his subject. THEODORE TAYLOR, a merchant mariner during most of World War II, had become a naval officer by the war's end, serving in the Pacific. He is the author of more than thirty books, both fiction and non-fiction, and is a resident of Laguna Beach, California.

This new book brings together Britain's leading naval historians and analysts to present a comprehensive investigation of British naval thinking and what has made it so distinctive over the last three centuries, from the sailing ship era to the current day. This new volume describes in depth the beginnings of formalized thought about the conduct of naval operations in the 18th Century, its transformation through the impact of industrialization in the 19th Century and its application in the two World Wars of the twentieth. This book concludes with a review of modern British naval thinking and the appearance of naval doctrine against the uncertainties of the loss of empire, the Cold War, nuclear weapons and the huge changes facing us as we move in to the new millennium. How perceptive and distinctive was British naval thinking? Where did British ideas come from? Did they determine or merely follow British experience? Do they explain British naval success ? The contributors to this volume tackle these key questions in a book that will be of considerable interest to the maritime community around the English-speaking world. This book will be of great interest to all students and professionals with an interest in the history of the Royal Navy, contemporary British maritime operations and strategic studies. This is a commemorative volume of the life and work of the distinguished Professor Bryan Ranft.

This new book brings together Britain's leading naval historians and analysts to present a comprehensive investigation of British naval thinking and what has made it so distinctive over the last three centuries, from the sailing ship era to the current day. This new volume describes in depth the beginnings of formalized thought about the conduct of naval operations in the 18th Century, its transformation through the impact of industrialization in the 19th Century and its application in the two World Wars of the twentieth. This book concludes with a review of modern British naval thinking and the appearance of naval doctrine against the uncertainties of the loss of empire, the Cold War, nuclear weapons and the huge changes facing us as we move in to the new millennium. How perceptive and distinctive was British naval thinking? Where did British ideas come from? Did they determine or merely follow British experience? Do they explain British naval success ? The contributors to this volume tackle these key questions in a book that will be of considerable interest to the maritime community around the English-speaking world. This book will be of great interest to all students and professionals with an interest in the history of the Royal Navy, contemporary British maritime operations and strategic studies. This is a commemorative volume of the life and work of the distinguished Professor Bryan Ranft.

More than 16 million Americans served in the military during World War II - and nearly 3 million of them spent time in the Pacific theater. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States looked to graduates of the naval academy to fill its need for qualified officers. To supplement the number of academy graduates, new programs were created, including the Naval Reserve Officer Training Program, the Civilian Pilot Training Program, the Naval Aviation Cadet Program and what were later called ""V"" programs. Despite these efforts, the military buildup was slow. After Pearl Harbor, all branches of the military became dependent upon officers rushed through training programs, some of which hardly lasted longer than the enlisted men's boot camp - the so-called ""ninety day wonders"" are just such an example. Recruited and trained in a variety of ways, the officers came from varied backgrounds. From a Japanese language officer and a Marine Corps fighter pilot, to a master rigger and a navy weatherman, the author presents the tales of more than 20 navy and marine officers, offering the story of the war through their personal experiences.

This new book delivers a fascinating insight into China's strategic abilities and ambitions, probing the real depths of its plans for the twenty first century. world's largest operator of tactical submarines? Why is Beijing so intent on upgrading this fleet? Is the stage being set in East Asia for a contest for maritime supremacy pitting Chinese submarines against American aircraft carriers? Why does the U.S. Navy regard China's submarines as one of its most formidable weapons? China's strategic outlook today and that of earlier continental powers whose submarine fleets challenged dominant maritime powers for regional hegemony: Germany in two world wars and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Using insights from classical naval strategic theory it examines Beijing's strategic logic in making tactical submarines the keystone of China's naval force structure. It investigates the influence of Soviet naval strategy and ancient Chinese military thought on the PLA Navy's strategic culture. It contends that China's increasingly capable submarine fleet could play a key role in Beijing's use of force to resolve the Taiwan issue. With attention focused on China's missile build-up opposite Taiwan, it also warns that there is a danger of underestimating the potential of the PLA Navy's submarines to destabilise any future Taiwan Strait crisis. and strategic studies, Asian Politics, Geopolitics and Military (Naval) Strategy.

This new collection of scholarly, readable, and up-to-date essays covers the most significant naval blockades of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Here the reader can find Napoleon's Continental Blockade of England, the Anglo-American War of 1812, the Crimean War, the American Civil War, the first Sino-Japanese War 1894-95, the Spanish-American War, the First World War, the second Sino-Japanese War 1937-45, the Second World War in Europe and Asia, the Nationalist attempt to blockade the PRC, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the British blockade of Rhodesia, the Falklands War, the Persian Gulf interdiction program, the PRC "missile" blockade of Taiwan in 1996, and finally Australia's recent "reverse" blockade to keep illegal aliens out of the country.

The authors of each chapter address the causes of the blockade in question, its long and short-term repercussions, and the course of the blockade itself. More generally, they address the state of the literature, taking advantage of new research and new methodologies to provide something of value to both the specialist and non-specialist reader. Taken as a whole, this volume presents fresh insights into issues such as what a blockade is, why countries might choose them, which navies can and cannot make use of them, what responses lead to satisfactory or unsatisfactory conclusions, and how far-reaching their consequences tend to be.

This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of strategic studies, military history and maritime studies in particular.

An essential new account of how anti-submarine warfare is conducted, with a focus on both historic and present-day operations. This new book shows how until 1944 U-boats operated as submersible torpedo craft which relied heavily on the surface for movement and charging their batteries. This pattern was repeated in WWII until Allied anti-submarine countermeasures had forced the Germans to modify their existing U-boats with the schnorkel. Countermeasures along also pushed the development of high-speed U-boats capable of continuously submerged operations. This study shows how these improved submarines became benchmark of the post-war Russian submarine challenge. Royal Navy doctrine was developed by professional anti-submarine officers, and based on the well-tried combination of defensive and offensive anti-submarine measures that had stood the press of time since 1917, notwithstanding considerable technological change. This consistent and holistic view of anti-submarine warfare has not been understood by most of the subsequent historians of these anti-submarine campaigns, and this book provides an essential and new insight into how Cold War, and indeed modern, anti-submarine warfare is conducted.

This is the first major English-language study to explore the broad and longstanding connections between Japan's national security and the safety of its sea lanes. Tracing issues from pre-and post-1945 eras, the book explores how Japan's concerns with sea lane protection have developed across such diverse fields as military strategy, diplomacy, trade policy, energy security, and law enforcement. Drawing upon case study material and primary research including interviews with officials and security analysts, the book presents a chronological analysis of Japan's sea lane security. While Japan's security policies have recently undergone relatively rapid change, a historical treatment of sea lane security issues reveals long-term continuity in security policymakers' perceptions and responses regarding Japan's defence and foreign policy. Revealing a neglected but important aspect of Japan's military and economic security, the book investigates why officials and analysts continue to portray the defence of Japan's sea lanes as 'a matter of life and death'.

A compelling history of the greatest ships ever launched.The importance of the fighting ship is as considerable today as ever before. Battleships are built, counted, assessed and exercised with the same determination now as at the beginning of the twentieth century, and during the Napoleonic Wars. In this riveting book, leading historian Richard Hough examines fifteen of history's most significant and interesting battleships, from Lord Howard Effingham's Ark Royal, which held the Spanish Armada at bay, to the American New Jersey, which took part in three wars, and whose guns still remain ready for action. From the mighty German Bismarck of 1941, destroyed on its first operation voyage, Battleship ranges to Admiral Nelson's legendary HMS Victory, still a flagship after more than 200 years Hough weaves these examples into a pattern of progress ranging from the galleon to the immense super-dreadnought. In addition, he focuses in depth upon armaments, structural developments, and the tactics of war - all these play a crucial part in the epic history of the battleship. But above all Richard Hough's story is a human one, a record of men and ships, of courage and endurance - a true taste of the sea.

Gender isn't what it used to be. Categories are collapsing. What was deviant for baby boomers has become mainstream for their offspring: like the coed who realizes she's bisexual but, after a period of adjustment, shrugs her shoulders and gets on with her otherwise mundane life. Gender as we once understood it is over, and gender-bending is the new beat. Men sport ponytails and earrings and teach nursery school; women flaunt tatoos and biceps and smoke cigars.
In "The End of Gender," Shari L. Thurer argues that we are in the midst of a new sexual revolution. It is one where gender categories are blurring not just at the "fringes" of society, but in mainstream lifestyle, media, fashion, and art. So, why is this cultural phenomenon happening now? And what does it mean? In lively, non-technical language, and with sometimes surprising case studies from her 25 years as a psychologist, Thurer answers these questions, bridging complex postmodern theory with cutting edge psychoanalysis.

This is a naval history of Greece in the 1910s, a decade when the geographic importance of the country and its naval capabilities both increased considerably. The book's aim is to explain the causes of these phenomena and their consequences in peace and war with regard to the satisfaction of Greek national aims, the Mediterranean naval situation and the Balkan balance of power. The response of the great powers to the naval importance of Greece and relations between Greece and those powers are also explored. This is largely concerned with Anglo-Greek naval relations, an important element of which was the activities of the British naval missions to Greece. The competition between Britain, France, and Germany for Greek naval procurements and naval influence, and Greek-Turkish naval competition are also examined.
Ultimately, "Greek Naval Strategy and Policy 1910-1919" is an examination of the difficulties and rewards of a small but growing naval power's relations with Britain and other great naval powers of the time.

Gender isn't what it used to be. Categories are collapsing. What was deviant for baby boomers has become mainstream for their offspring: like the coed who realizes she's bisexual but, after a period of adjustment, shrugs her shoulders and gets on with her otherwise mundane life. Gender as we once understood it is over, and gender-bending is the new beat. Men sport ponytails and earrings and teach nursery school; women flaunt tatoos and biceps and smoke cigars.
In "The End of Gender," Shari L. Thurer argues that we are in the midst of a new sexual revolution. It is one where gender categories are blurring not just at the "fringes" of society, but in mainstream lifestyle, media, fashion, and art. So, why is this cultural phenomenon happening now? And what does it mean? In lively, non-technical language, and with sometimes surprising case studies from her 25 years as a psychologist, Thurer answers these questions, bridging complex postmodern theory with cutting edge psychoanalysis.

This book, based on extensive work in Russian archives, investigates how strategy, organisational rivalry and cultural factors came to shape naval developments in the Soviet Union, up to the invasion of 1941. Focussing on the Baltic Fleet, the author shows how the perceived balance of power in northern Europe came to have a major influence on Soviet naval policy during the 1920s and 1930s. The operational environment of a narrow inland-sea like the Baltic would have required a joint approach to military planning, but the Soviet navy's weak position among the armed services made such an approach hard to attain. The Soviet regime also struggled against the cultural heritage of the tsarist navy and the book describes how this was overcome. In a special Appendix dedicated to the purges of 1937-38, surviving party records from the Baltic Fleet Intelligence Section are used to illustrate the mechanisms of the Great Terror at local level.

Following Israel's War of Independence in 1948-49, the anticipated peace did not materialize and the new nation soon found itself embroiled in protracted military conflict with neighboring Arab states. Demobilization of its armed forces led to the formation of special elite unit under the command of Ariel Sharon to cope with cross-border infiltration, pillage and murder. A policy of deterrence was governed by the tactic of retaliation, which contained the seeds of escalation. At the same time, a military dynamic unfolded in which the logic of field unit response dictated both military and political policy and caught the imagination of a demoralized and war-weary Israeli society.
This book methodically examines the train of retaliatory actions conducted by the Israel Defense Forces, the clashing orientations among Israeli political leadership towards the deteriorating military situation, the impact of massive immigration upon the social military fabric, and the restructuring of the Israeli army within the conceptual confines of field unit reprisal actions. A connected narrative of these actions provides case study illumination of the theoretical premises of study, namely the determination of security policy from below and the interaction between agency and structure in a military setting.
The myth of the Israeli paratroopers at the beginning of the 1950s, and their heroic deeds in the reprisal raids, embodied the new Zionist ethos for which the current Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, claims much of the credit. The book thus provides historical insight into some of the most intractable developments of the current Arab-Israel conflict.

This new book explores innovation within the Royal Navy from the financial constraints of the 1930s to World War Two, the Cold War and the refocusing of the Royal Navy after 1990.

Successful adaptation to new conditions has been critical to all navies at all times. To naval historians the significance and process of change is not new, but in recent years innovation has been increasingly studied within a number of other disciplines, providing new theoretical positions and insights. This study examines key case studies of change, some successful others less so, which place the experience of the Royal Navy within a variety of economic and strategic contexts. Together these studies provide excellent new insights against which to set recent ideas on innovation and provide a stimulus to more research by historians and scholars in other disciplines.

This book adopts an innovative new approach to examine the role of maritime power and the utility of navies. It uses a number of case studies based upon key Royal Navy operations in the twentieth century to draw out enduring principles about maritime power and to examine the strengths and limitations of maritime forces as instruments of national policy.
Individual chapters focus on campaigns and operations from both World Wars and a series of post-1945 crises and conflicts from the Palestine Patrol in the 1940s to Royal Navy operations in support of British policy in the 1990s. Each case study demonstrates critical features of maritime power including: operations during the transition to war; fleet operations in narrow seas; logistics; submarine operations; the impact of air power on maritime operations; blockade; maritime power projection; amphibious warfare; jurisdictional disputes and the law of the sea; and, peace support operations.
The contributors to this book all have considerable experience lecturing on these issues at the United Kingdom Joint Services Command and Staff College, where maritime campaign analysis is used to teach the principles of maritime power to officers of the Royal Navy. The book combines an authoritative examination of critical Royal Navy operations during the twentieth century with a sophisticated analysis of the nature of maritime power. As such it is of both historical interest and contemporary relevance and will prove equally valuable to academic historians, military professionals and the general reader.

During World War II, James Patric served for two years aboard the destroyer USS George E. Badger. The ship, launched in 1918, was one of several hundred mothballed World War I four-pipers. As American involvement in World War II drew closer, most of them were re-activated for service in the US Navy; four-pipers such as the Badger were involved in reporting and tracking ships and aircraft approaching American shores, seizing Axis ships in American ports,occupying Greenland, and relieving the British from the defense of Iceland. The Badger was involved in every stage of the conflict, from pre-war Neutrality Patrol, escorting convoys, anti-submarine warfare (a pioneer hunter/killer), carrying Underwater Demolition Team 8, and pre-invasion (Frogmen) reconnaissance of South Pacific invasion beaches.

This memoir weaves together the oral and written memories of James Patric, a Connecticut farmboy who was drafted in early 1943, with those of his shipmates on the Badger, supporting them with documents and historical records. The book records the ships role in worldwide conflict and traces the authors evolution from raw peacetime civilian to veteran wartime sailor. Appendices list the muster rolls of the crew and commissioned officers.

This book is a comparative study of the evolution of the German navy in the second half of the nineteenth century. It examines the development of strategy, especially commerce-raiding, in comparison to what other navies were doing in this era of rapid technological change. It is not an insular history, merely listing ship rosters or specific events; it is a history of the German navy in relation to its potential foes. It is also a look at a new military institution involved in an inter-service rivalry for funds, technology and manpower with the prestigious and well-established army.