Naval War

The book tracks the experiences of a young U.S. Navy commander caught in the cauldron of deadly naval battles off Guadalcanal in 1942. When the book opens, he is a gunnery officer on a heavy cruiser protecting the Marine Corps landings on Guadalcanal, then locked in a vicious night battle against a surprise cruiser attack. He later takes command of a new destroyer, training its crew to a high pitch to ready them against the long odds they face. The ship returns to operations off Guadalcanal and is engaged in another desperate night battle against two massive battleships. This battle marks a...

In May 1942, Admiral Jack Fletcher's Task Force 17 closed in for the war's first major clash with the Japanese Navy. The Neosho, a vitally important tanker, was escorted by a destroyer, the Sims. The ships were attacked by Japanese dive bombers, and when the smoke cleared, the Sims had slipped beneath the waves. Scores of sailors were killed or wounded while hundreds bobbed in shark-infested waters.

A lesser-known event during World War II, the sinking of the Blücher is key part of naval history that marked the beginning of the Norwegian Campaign. The Sinking of the Blücher is a comprehensive investigation into why the German cruiser, named for Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (Prussian victor of the Battle of Waterloo), was approaching Oslo on the night of 9th April 1940, why and how she was sunk, and the ramifications and significance of the event.

The sinking of the submarine S-51 was one of the greatest tragedies in American naval history. Due to a miscommunication and subsequent collision between the sub and a passing steamship on a September night, the S-51, including 33 of its crew of 36, sank to the ocean depths. The tragedy of the S-51 captivated the nation, and was a fixture in the pages of American newspapers. The story took on a whole new dimension when the navy decided to take over the salvage of the 1,000-ton behemoth from a civilian company.

In a tour-de-force of document sleuthing and insights gleaned from the excavation of a remarkable vessel, distinguished Civil War-era historian Tom Chaffin presents the most thorough telling of the H. L. Hunley's story possible. Of panoramic breadth, this Civil War saga begins long before the submarine was even assembled and follows the tale into the boat's final hours and through its recovery in 2000.

Condition Red, Destroyer Action in the South Pacific (1943) by Frederick J. Bell (1903-1994) is one of the greatest accounts of the war in the South Pacific. It recounts the adventures of US Navy destroyer USS Grayson during the early days of the South Pacific campaign of World War Two. The book provides a comprehensive picture of life on a destroyer, with descriptions of daily routines as well as encounters with the enemy on land, sea, and air.

No radio distress call ever crackled from the submarine USS Grunion. In 1942, under the fog of World War II, the vessel simply vanished without a trace. For nearly sixty-five years, only a dead silence lingered regarding the fate of the sub and its seventy-man crew—until now. Here author Peter F. Stevens reveals the incredible true story of the search for and discovery of the Grunion—as well as the navy’s shocking and willful cover-up of the submarine’s baffling disappearance.

Vrokan legions reach the Gates of Moskva and the homeworld of the Communist Confederation. The great battle of our time has come. As Leningrad reels from the ongoing siege the Vrokans throw everything they have in a desperate assault towards the capital of Centralis, the mighty mega city that covers much of the planet Moskva. The broken fragments of the Confederacy’s fleet can do little to stop them breaking through and landing millions of soldiers on the surface. Generals Zhukov and Yeremenko mass their armies of Red Army soldiers and tanks all around Centralis to defend the megalopolis ...

USS Nevada (BB-36) was America's first modern battleship. When its keel was laid in 1912, kings and emperors still ruled much of the world. When it finally slipped beneath the waves in 1948, America was the undisputed global superpower.

Told from the point of view of the men who waged this steel-shattering battle, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors captures Navy pilots attacking enemy battleships with makeshift weapons and sacrificial valor, a veteran commander improvising tactics never taught in Annapolis, and young crews from across America rising to an impossible challenge.

The ability of the US Navy to fight and win a protracted war in the Pacific was not solely the result of technology, tactics, or leadership. Naval aviation maintenance played a major role in the US victory over Japan in WWII. The naval war against Japan did not achieve sustained success until enough aircraft technicians were available to support the high tempo of aviation operations that fast carrier task force doctrine demanded.

"Combine elements of evil kings and dukes, Game of Thrones-style characters, and the horrific Bastille Prison, and you have everything set for an explosive medieval thriller novel. It's a great cast with very engaging characters. Fantastic dialogue that pulls you in. And there are already enough stakes within the story to keep you engaged.” - Reedsy Discovery A sacred artifact. An impossible rescue. And the threat of war hanging over all... During the height of the Renaissance, the Annunciation—a sacred painting said to protect the Republic of Florence from foreign invasion—is stolen ...

Some of the greatest names in naval history, Admiral Horatio Nelson, commodore Stephen Decatur, Admiral Erich Raeder, and many others fill War at Sea in a way that not only educates but entertains any listener interested in the story of naval warfare. From the Chesapeake Bay to Jutland, from the River Plate to Guadalcanal, from Hampton Roads to Leyte Gulf, here are the most compelling and memorable accounts of the days of sail and steam, of wood and iron, and of duels to the death on the waters.

Russell Crenshaw's riveting account of the savage night battle for the Solomon Islands in early 1943 offers listeners a unique insider's perspective from the decks of one of the destroyers that bore the brunt of the struggle.

Before becoming an instructor in the Navy's Topgun program, Dave "Bio" Baranek was just another kid with a dream. Upon graduating from college, he joined the Navy with the goal of becoming a fighter pilot. But, his eyesight waning, he knew that he would never be able to reach that goal. Undaunted, he plowed ahead and found his niche as a radar intercept operator in the backseat of the sleek, new Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

The Chamberlain Mandate... By the spring of 1941 Britain’s strategic situation was considerably improved, in no small part due to what sympathetic historians would call the ‘Chamberlain Mandate’. The Italians were heading for defeat in Africa, with their German allies distracted by their own preparations for Operation Barbarossa. The focus on Hitler’s dreams for a grand crusade in the east to sweep away Bolshevism and secure new lands for the Reich removed the threat of invasion from the British mainland for now, but threatened to magnify the power of Nazi Germany if the USSR proved...

America's Few delves into the history of US Marine Corps aviation in World War II, following the feats of the Corps’ top-scoring aces in the skies over Guadalcanal. Marine Corps aviation began in 1915, functioning as a self-contained expeditionary force. During the interwar period, the support of USMC amphibious operations became a key element of Marine aviation doctrine, and the small force gradually grew. But in December 1941 came the rude awakening. Within hours of Pearl Harbor, heroic Marine aviators were battling the Japanese over Wake Island.

The enduring image of World War I is of men stuck in muddy trenches, and of vast armies deadlocked in a fight neither could win. It was a war of barbed wire, poison gas, and horrific losses as officers led their troops on mass charges across No Man's Land and into a hail of bullets. While these impressions are all too true, they hide the fact that trench warfare was dynamic and constantly evolving throughout the war as all armies struggled to find a way to break through the opposing lines.

On January 25, 1917, HMS Laurentic struck two German mines off the coast of Ireland and sank. The ship was carrying 44 tons of gold bullion to the still-neutral United States via Canada in order to finance the war effort for Britain and its allies. Britain desperately needed that sunken treasure, but any salvage had to be secret, since the British government dared not alert the Germans to the presence of the gold. Lieutenant Commander Guybon Damant was the most qualified officer to head the risky mission.

Autumn 1941 and a fierce war rages amid the treacherous waters of the Dover Strait. It is fought by the gun and torpedo boats of Britain’s Coastal Forces: fast, frail vessels that do battle against the best of Germany’s Kriegsmarine. The crews are mainly volunteers; men plucked from civilian life and new to the maelstrom of brutal combat. Each take a different route to meet such a personal challenge and prove every bit as powerful, and vulnerable, as the craft in which they serve. The gripping naval action in Hellfire Corner is set against a backdrop of war-ravaged Dover, a town reeling...