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When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the United States and NATO
were losing the Cold War. The USSR had superiority in conventional
weapons and manpower in Europe, and had embarked on a construction
programme to gain naval pre-eminence. But Reagan had a plan. Reagan
pushed Congress to build the navy back to its 1945 strength. He
gathered a circle of experienced naval planners, including the
author, to devise an aggressive strategy. New radars, sensors and
emissions technology would make ghosts of US submarines and surface
fleets. They would operate aircraft carriers in Arctic waters which
no navy had attempted. The Soviets, surrounded by their forward
naval strategy, bankrupted their economy trying to keep pace. It
wasn't long before the Berlin Wall fell and the USSR was disbanded.
By now the world knows well the exploits of World War II admirals
Ernest King, Chester Nimitz, and "Bull" Halsey. These brilliant
strategists and combat commanders--backed by a powerful Allied
coalition, a nation united, gifted civilian leaders, and abundant
war-making resources--led U.S. and allied naval forces to victory
against the Axis powers. Leadership during the Vietnam War was
another story. The Vietnam War and its aftermath sorely tested the
professional skill of four-star admirals Harry D. Felt, Ulysses S.
Grant Sharp, Thomas H. Moorer, Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., and James L.
Holloway III. Unlike their World War II predecessors, these equally
battle-tested leaders had to cope with a flawed American
understanding of U.S. and Vietnamese Communist strengths and
weaknesses, distrustful and ill-focused Washington leaders, an
increasingly discontented American populace, and an ultimately
failing war effort. Like millions of other Americans, these five
admirals had to come to terms with America's first lost war, and
what that loss meant for the future of the nation and the U.S.
armed forces. The challenges were both internal and external. A
destabilized U.S. Navy was troubled by racial discord, drug abuse,
anti-war and anti-establishment sentiment, and a host of personnel
and material ills. At the same time, increasingly serious global
threats to US interests, such as the rise of Soviet nuclear-missile
and naval power, were shaping confrontations on the postwar stage.
Critical to the story is how these naval leaders managed their
relationships with Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and
Carter, and Secretaries of Defense McNamara, Laird, and
Schlesinger. Based on prodigious research into many formerly
classified sources, Edward J. Marolda relates in dramatic detail
how America's top naval leaders tackled their responsibilities,
their successes, and their failures. This is a story of dedication
to duty, professionalism, and service by America's top admirals
during a time of great national and international adversity.
When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the United States and NATO
were losing the Cold War. The USSR had superiority in conventional
weapons and manpower in Europe, and had embarked on a construction
programme to gain naval pre-eminence. But Reagan had a plan. Reagan
pushed Congress to build the navy back to its 1945 strength. He
gathered a circle of experienced naval planners, including the
author, to devise an aggressive strategy. New radars, sensors and
emissions technology would make ghosts of US submarines and surface
fleets. They would operate aircraft carriers in Arctic waters which
no navy had attempted. The Soviets, surrounded by their forward
naval strategy, bankrupted their economy trying to keep pace. It
wasn't long before the Berlin Wall fell and the USSR was disbanded.
In On Seas of Glory, the U.S. Navy meets a storyteller worthy of its noble history. Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman gives a sweeping narrative of the service's illustrious past, from the Revolutionary War to the present day, filled with the ships that dominated the seas, equally titanic personalities, and the battles that made history. Lehman profiles naval greats from John Paul Jones to William "Bull" Halsey, as well as the lesser-known sailors who have made the U.S. Navy the mightiest in the world, using diaries, memoirs, and letters to reveal naval combat as though firsthand. He also highlights the warships that have dominated the seas of their day and the battles in which they fought -- illustrated by detailed maps, woodcuts, paintings, and never-before-published photographs. With this chronicle of selfless sacrifice and awesome courage on the war-swept seas around the world, Lehman reminds us that the legends chronicled in these pages were real men and women, that the navy they fought for still sails, and that today their heroism is needed more than ever.
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