During the past century, U.S. Navy patrol vessels have operated everywhere larger warships have-as well as in places where the big boats could not operate. These bantam warriors have performed in a variety of roles, from antisubmarine warfare to convoy escort and offensive operations against enemy forces afloat and ashore. Patrol vessels battled German units in the Mediterranean, fought insurgents along rivers and canals in China and Vietnam and protected U.S. ships and facilities in the Persian Gulf. Covering more than 1000 of the Navy's small combatants, this comprehensive survey provides all-time rosters, histories, specifications and illustrations of patrol vessels from before World War I to the present. World War II PT boats and submarine chasers and Vietnam War swift boats are covered, along with less well known ships such as Eagle boats, patrol yachts, hydrofoil gunboats and control escorts. A detailed accounting of patrol vessel exports, transfers and shipbuilders is included.

For more than a century, the U.S. Navy's battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines and amphibious warfare vessels have depended on a small group of specialized auxiliary ships to provide fuel, food, ammunition, parts and other material support and services. Without these workhorse vessels, the U.S. Fleet could not have won in World War II and it could not today deploy and remain on station in the Mediterranean, Arabian Gulf, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. This book provides the rosters, histories, specifications and illustrations of 130 different auxiliary ship types used throughout U.S. history: the little-known ones, the latest expeditionary fast transports and future towing, salvage and rescue ships.

In modern naval warfare, offensive and defensive mine operations and the ships that perform them often take a back seat to the more glamorous carrier strike groups, strategic deterrence patrols and anti-submarine operations. Despite their relatively small size and numbers, minecraft have enormous strategic and tactical value. With more than 200 photos, this book details the histories and specifications of more than 2,200 vessels that have served as minelayers and minesweepers, from World War I to today. Rare examples include the U.S. Navy’s only purpose-built mine-laying submarines, and the remarkable 36-foot “mini minesweeper.”

The Hussar V was launched in the early 1930s, first built for Marjorie Merriweather Post, owner of General Foods and heir to the Post Cereals fortune. By 1935, when Post married Joseph Davies, US ambassador to the Soviet Union, the ship was renamed Sea Cloud, the name it holds to this day. Soon after the nation entered World War II, the ship was pressed into service as a United States Coast Guard Cutter weather ship under the command of Lt. Carlton Skinner.Tales of the Sea Cloud tells the story of a luxury yacht that became a remarkable wartime experiment in racial integration. After having witnessed an African American sailor save the crew of another ship, only to be denied a promotion because of the limits of segregation, Skinner proposed to the Secretary of the Navy a plan to sail with a fully integrated crew. Ultimately, fifty black sailors, including two officers, were stationed on the Sea Cloud. Skinner's experiment demonstrated that an integrated crew could work just as, or even more, efficiently as a segregated one and set an important precedent for later civil rights reforms. Author Ken W. Sayers takes readers on the full journey of the Sea Cloud, from its post-war ownership by Rafael Trujillo - soon-to-be assassinated dictator of the Dominican Republic - to its use as a commercial cruise ship in Panama, its near-disastrous physical deterioration and restoration, and on to the present day as a luxury charter sailing yacht. Readers will be captivated by the rich history of this historic vessel.