Book picks similar to
U.S. Small Combatants, Including PT-Boats, Subchasers, and the Brown-Water Navy: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman
general-history
naval-architecture
naval-history
pictorial
One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander
Sandy Woodward - 1992
The British response was swift, some said foolhardy. The mission of the Battle Group under the command of Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward presented a challenge that seemed all but insurmountable, and it was to require men of the highest calibre, professionalism and fortitude to carry it off. It also required exceptional leadership. On that day Admiral Woodward was on Fleet exercises in the Mediterranean; a tentative desire for action expressed in his diary was ironically fulfilled as he was thrown into an experience he could never have wished for, would never repeat, and certainly will not forget. From leaving Gibraltar to his return to Brize Norton, one hundred days elapsed--and, on the way, it had been a very close call. At times reflective and personal, at other times revealing the steely logic of a supreme military tactician, these engrossing memoirs take us south through the vast, lonely waters of the Atlantic as hopes for peace faded and strategies of war evolved, then became reality, victory and aftermath. They tell of the repulse of the Argentinian navy and the defeat of their air forces; of the sinking of the Belgrano; and of the daring amphibious landing at Carlos Water, eight thousand miles from home. One Hundred Days is unique as a dramatic portrayal of the world of modern naval warfare, where equipment is of astonishing sophistication but the margins for human courage and error are as wide as in the days of Nelson; and it is unique, too, in its revelations of the mind of the commander involved in planning one of this century's most audacious ripostes to an unwelcome invader.
Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-boat Battles of World War II
Herbert A. Werner - 1968
Herbert A. Werner, one of the few surviving German U-boat commanders, served on five submarines from 1941 to 1945. From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, from the English Channel to the North Sea, he takes the reader with him through the triumphant years of 1941 and 1942, when German U-boats nearly strangled England, to the apocalyptic final years of destruction, disillusionment, and defeat.
The Dawn Breakers: Nabil's Narrative
Nabil-i-A'zam - 1962
A reprint of the 1932 original, and full of wonderful features, this book is a necessity for any serious scholar of Baha'i history. If you desire fullest details, then read this sourcebook on the dramatic events which inaugurated the promised dawn, foretold in all the Sacred Scriptures. Central is the Figure of the Blessed Bab, '...matchless in His meekness, imperturbable in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance...', as it documents the tragic and triumphal events, fueled by a visionary and sacrificial heroism which He alone inspired. Words and events were related first hand, Nabil-i-Azam by many eye-witnesses and participants in this Divinely inspired and short-lived period, which cleaved the clouds of entrenched tradition, and prepared nothing less than the long awaited dawning of the Ancient of Days.
World War II at Sea: A Global History
Craig L. Symonds - 2018
Symonds ranks among the country's finest naval historians. World War II at Sea is his crowning achievement, a narrative of the entire war and all of its belligerents, on all of the world's oceans and seas between 1939 and 1945. Here are the major engagements and their interconnections: the U-boat attack on Scapa Flow and the Battle of the Atlantic; the "miracle" evacuation from Dunkirk and the scuttling of the French Navy; the pitched battles for control of Norway fjords and Mussolini's Regia Marina; the rise of the Kidö Butai and Pearl Harbor; the landings in North Africa and New Guinea, then on Normandy and Iwo Jima. Symonds offers indelible portraits of the great naval leaders-FDR and Churchill (self-proclaimed "Navy men"), Karl Dönitz, François Darlan, Ernest King, Isoroku Yamamoto, Louis Mountbatten, and William Halsey, while acknowledging the countless seamen and officers of all nationalities whose lives were lost during the greatest naval conflicts ever fought. World War II at Sea is history on a truly epic scale.
Left to Die: The Tragedy of the USS Juneau
Dan Kurzman - 2010
In November 1942 a Japanese torpedo destroyed the U.S.S. Juneau, killing 700 men. From extensive interviews, Kurzman reveals the agonizing truth behind one of America's greatest military tragedies.
Broadsides: The Age of Fighting Sail, 1775-1815
Nathan Miller - 2000
All of this and more awaits the reader who will sail through these pages, every one of which is etched with the indelible expertise and boundless enthusiasm of Nathan Miller, master of naval history.
They Were Expendable: An American Torpedo Boat Squadron in the U.S. Retreat from the Philippines
William Lindsay White - 1942
Navy's Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three during the disastrous Philippine campaign early in World War II. The author uses an unusual, but thorough, spellbinding format to tell the story: an interview with four heroic young participants. Ranked with the great tales of war by the Saturday Review of Literature, it is a deeply moving book that describes the four officers' extraordinary exploits from the first appearance of Japanese planes over Manila Bay to the squadron's calamitous end-including getting Gen. Douglas MacArthur safely to Australia.Filled with action, drama, and history, this unique portrayal of America's little Dunkirk was described by the New York Times as being almost unbearably painful at times, yet so engrossing that few who begin it will be able to put it down until they have finished its adventure-packed pages.
House In Virginia
Tsu Surf - 2019
Watkins, have collaborated to bring to life for readers the collection of hit songs, "House In Virginia". Money is the root of all evil. It’s the thirst and hunger for money that is the origin of the ills of this world. It’s where our desperate thoughts and shameful actions are buried. Yet, when we are broke is when we have the most diabolical thoughts; when we are willing to break hearts, destroy relationships… and even ruin our own lives. Meet Karen Dunlap and Jovan “Jo” Saint: a young, loving couple living the way that many in their mid-twenties are in hoods of New Jersey. Karen is working a minimum wage job, while Jo hustles on the block with his right-hand, Pop. For the five years that Jo and Karen have been together, Karen has been by Jo’s side no matter his struggle because she sees and believes in her man’s potential. Yet, Karen cannot deny that she wants more, to leave the hood, and live a comfortable life of ease. Jo is desperate to come up in the game, not only for his own comfort but for Karen as well. However, before Jo has the chance to sweep his woman off of her feet, a boss, Kway, easily gains Karen’s attention with the glitz and glam of his lifestyle. However, everything that glitters isn’t gold, and Kway is a dull and ugly, cancerous individual that affects the lives of every woman he touches with his negligence and deceit. Though Karen soon comes to her senses, re-dedicating herself to her man just in time to experience Jo’s long-awaited come up, her decision to step out on her relationship will haunt her forever, proving to be the worst mistake she has ever made. Yet, will it cause her to lose the love of her life for good? Jo is blind to the deceit hovering around him as he and Pop begin the construction of their own empire. He is blindly happy in his newfound riches. Yet, “the more money we come across, the more problems we see”. The rise of Jo and Pop is laced with mayhem, murder, and infidelities that lead to heartbreaking disaster, the loss of lives, and the introduction of new love. Join Tsu Surf, National Bestselling Author, Jessica N. Watkins, and a host of entertaining characters on this mind-boggling, roller coaster ride of a street love story.
Big Red: Three Months on Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine
Douglas C. Waller - 2001
It is an 18,750-ton steel monster, taller in length than the Washington Monument and wider than a three-lane highway at its center. Deep beneath the ocean, it can sail silently for months, practically impossible to detect by the enemy. And with the twenty-four ballistic missiles on board, just one of these subs have enough strategic nuclear warheads to unleash twice the explosive energy detonated by all the conventional weapons in World War II.Now, for the first time, veteran Time magazine correspondent Douglas C. Waller takes you on a tension-packed, three-month patrol deep in the Atlantic Ocean and inside one of these Tridents, the U.S.S. Nebraska. Granted more access to these awesome submarines than any journalist before, Waller penetrates one of the most secretive worlds in the U.S. Military.The Cold War may be over, but the U.S. Navy still has Tridents lurking the oceans, always ready at a moment's notice to unleash a nuclear holocaust. In chilling detail, "Big Red" reveals the top-secret procedures for starting World War II -- the secret codes, the elaborate fail-safe mechanisms, the highly classified battle tactics for nuclear combat.This book takes you into this closed society as a witness to secret rituals and life experience where submarines, underwater for months, hope never to unleash the destructive power they command.
A General History of the Pyrates
Daniel Defoe - 1724
Many scholars have suggested that the author could have been either Daniel Defoe or publisher Nathaniel Mist (or somebody working for him). Other researchers have suggested Ronald Quattroche as the true author of the General History. Colin Woodard states in his book The Republic of Pirates: Recently, Arne Bialuschewski of the University of Kiel in Germany has identified a far more likely candidate: Nathaniel Mist, a former sailor, journalist, and publisher of the Weekly Journal. The book's first publisher of record, Charles Rivington, had printed many books for Mist, who lived just a few yards from his office. More importantly, the General History was registered at Her Majesty's Stationery Office in Mist's name. As a former seaman who had sailed the West Indies, Mist, of all London's writer-publishers, was uniquely qualified to have penned the book...Mist was also a committed Jacobite...which could explain the General History's not entirely unsympathetic account of the maritime outlaws.
Finding Oprah's Roots: Finding Your Own
Henry Louis Gates Jr. - 2007
A roadmap through the intricacies of public documents and online databases, the book also highlights genetic testing resources that can make it possible to know one's distant tribal roots in Africa.For Oprah, the path back to the past was emotion-filled and profoundly illuminating, connecting the narrative of her family to the larger American narrative and "anchoring" her in a way not previously possible. For the reader, Finding Oprah's Roots offers the possibility of an equally rewarding experience.
Battle of Leyte Gulf: 23-26 October 1944
Thomas J. Cutler - 1994
First published in hardcover on the battle's fiftieth anniversary in 1994 and drawing on materials not previously available, it blends history with human drama to give a real sense of what happened--despite the mammoth scope of the battle. Every facet of naval warfare was involved in the struggle that engaged some two hundred thousand men and 282 American, Japanese, and Australian ships over more than a hundred thousand square miles of sea. That Tom Cutler succeeded at such a difficult task is no surprise. The award-winning author saw combat service aboard many types of ships during his naval career, and as a historian and professor of strategy and policy at the Naval War College, he has studied the battle for many years. Cutler captures the milieu, analyzes the strategy and tactics employed, and re-creates the experiences of the participants--from seaman to admiral, both Japanese and American. It is a story replete with awe-inspiring heroism, failed intelligence, flawed strategy, brilliant deception, great controversies, and a cast of characters with names like Halsey, Nimitz, Ozawa, and MacArthur. Such an exciting and revealing account of the battle is unlikely to be equaled by future writers.
The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War
Jonathan Dimbleby - 2015
If the German U-boats had prevailed, the maritime artery across the Atlantic would have been severed. Mass hunger would have consumed Britain, and the Allied armies would have been prevented from joining in the invasion of Europe. There would have been no D-Day. Through fascinating contemporary diaries and letters, from the leaders and from the sailors on all sides, Jonathan Dimbleby creates a thrilling narrative that uniquely places the campaign in the context of the entire Second World War. Challenging conventional wisdom on the use of intelligence and on Churchill's bombing campaign, The Battle of the Atlantic tells the epic story of the decisions that led to victory, and the horror and humanity of life on those perilous seas.
At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor
Gordon W. Prange - 1981
This gripping study scrupulously reconstructs the Japanese attack, from its conception (less than a year before the actual raid) to its lightning execution; & it reveals the true reason for the American debacle: the insurmountable disbelief in the Japanese threat that kept America from heeding advance warnings & caused leaders to ignore evidence submitted by our own intelligence sources. Based on 37 years of intense research & countless interviews, & incorporating previously untranslated documents, At Dawn We Slept is history with the dramatic sweep of a martial epic.
Jutland 1916: Death in the Grey Wastes
Peter Hart - 2003
It was a climactic encounter, the culmination of a fantastically expensive naval race between the two countries, and expectations on both sides were high. For the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, there was the chance to win another Trafalgar. For the German High Seas Fleet, there was the opportunity to break the British blockade and so change the course of the war. But Jutland was a confused and controversial encounter. Tactically, it was a draw; strategically, it was a British victory.Naval historians have pored over the minutiae of Jutland ever since. Yet they have largely ignored what the battle was actually like for its thousands of participants. Full of drama and pathos, of chaos and courage, JUTLAND, 1916 describes the sea battle in the dreadnought era from the point of view of those who were there.