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"Death by Fire and Ice tells the little-known story of the sinking of the steamboat Lexington on Long Island Sound in January 1840. The Lexington left Manhattan bound for Stonington, Connecticut, carrying an estimated 147 passengers and crew and a cargo of baled cotton. After making her way up an ice-encrusted East River and into Long Island Sound, she caught fire off Eaton's Neck. The fire quickly ignited the cotton stowed on board and the blaze burned through the ship's wheel and tiller ropes, rendering the ship unmanageable. There were only four survivors, and the tragedy remains the worst maritime disaster in the history of Long Island Sound."--

"The great nineteenth century French military thinker, Ardant du Picq, argued that selfless courage is rooted in a higher moral purpose, and is found among "Eliter Souls." This is a book about five such "Elites Souls," all highly decorated young West Point graduates and recipients of the USMA's Nininger Medal"--

The main theme of Fire on the Water is that conventional measures of military balance, employed by both the general public and many policy experts, underestimate the threat that Chinas military modernization poses to the U.S. position in the Asia-Pacific region. Within a decade, Chinas leaders will have the military power to hold at risk U.S. interest in East Asia. The U.S. needs to fashion a new and competitive strategy, one that better matches the strengths of the U.S. and its allies against Chinas vulnerabilities, in order to maintain a balance of power in the region and convince Chinas leaders to pursue a cooperative course.It is not obvious to many observers why a conflict in the region is plausible, or why the U.S. should bear the responsibility for maintaining a forward military presence in the region. China has rapidly emerged as a great power and by doing so, has acquired many vital interests around the world. Following the pattern set by other such episodes in history, China is also acquiring the military means to protect its new interests, a development that puts at risk the interests of Chinas neighbors and the United States. The U.S. forward military presence in the region is an increasingly difficult burden to sustain. But in the long run, this approach will be less costly and less risky than encouraging Chinas neighbors to balance China by themselves, an alternative that will very likely result in an unstable arms race and a conflict that will damage Americas interests.While it will be in Americas interest to maintain its position in the Asia-Pacific region, Chinas military modernization is making it much more difficult for the U.S. to do so. Chinas military strategy, centered on its rapidly-expanding land-based and anti-ship missile forces, is exploiting weaknesses in long-standing U.S. force structure and doctrine. Due to a variety of institutional barriers, the U.S. has been slow to adapt to Chinas military modernization. Current efforts to respond are impractical, in that they expend U.S. resources against Chinas strengths rather than its vulnerabilities. The U.S. needs a new and competitive strategy that will strengthen its alliances in the region and convince Chinas leaders that cooperation, rather than military expansion and an attempt at regional hegemony, will be Chinas best course. Fire on the Water proposes reforms to U.S. diplomacy, military programs, and strategy that will offer a better chance at preserving stability. The goal of these reforms is to thwart Chinas well-designed military modernization plan, bolster the confidence and credibility of U.S. alliances in the region, and thus persuade Chinas leaders that Chinas best course is cooperation rather than conflict, the outcome that has usually occurred in history when a new great power has rapidly emerged.

"A Pitiful, Unholy Mess is a detailed combat narrative of the 7 December 1941 Japanese attacks on O'ahu's Wheeler, Bellows, and Haleiwa Fields. The work focuses on descriptions of actions in the air and on the ground at the deepest practical tactical level, from both the U.S. and Japanese perspectives. The interwoven nature of the narratives of both sides provides a deep understanding of the events that has been impossible to present heretofore"--

As U.S. strategy shifts (once again) to focus on great power competition, Strategy Shelved provides a valuable, analytic look back to the Cold War era by examining the rise and eventual fall of the U.S. Navy's naval strategy system from the post-World War II era to 1994. Steven T. Wills draws some important conclusions that have relevance to the ongoing strategic debates of today. His analysis focuses on the 1970s and 1980s as a period when U.S. Navy strategic thought was rebuilt after a period of stagnation during the Vietnam conflict and its high water mark in the form of the 1980s'maritime strategy and its attendant six hundred -ship navy force structure. He traces the collapse of this earlier system by identifying several contributing factors: the provisions of the Goldwater Nichols Act of 1986, the aftermath of the First Gulf War of 1991, the early 1990s revolution in military affairs, and the changes to the Chief of Naval Operations staff in 1992 following the end of the Cold War. All of these conditions served to undermine the existing naval strategy system. The Goldwater Nichols Act subordinated the Navy to joint control with disastrous effects on the long-serving cohort of uniformed naval strategists. The first Gulf War validated Army and Air Force warfare concepts developed in the Cold War but not those of the Navy's maritime strategy. The Navy executed its own revolution in military affairs during the Cold War through systems like AEGIS but did not get credit for those efforts. Finally, the changes in the Navy (OPNAV) staff in 1992 served to empower the budget arm of OPNAV at the expense of its strategists. These measures laid the groundwork for a thirty-year "e;strategy of means"e; where service budgets, a desire to preserve existing force structure, and lack of strategic vision hobbled not only the Navy, but also the Joint Force's ability to create meaningful strategy to counter a rising China and a revanchist Russian threat. Wills concludes his analysis with an assessment of the return of naval strategy documents in 2007 and 2015 and speculates on the potential for success of current Navy strategies including the latest tri-service maritime strategy. His research makes extensive use of primary sources, oral histories, and navy documents to tell the story of how the U.S. Navy created both successful strategies and how a dedicated group of naval officers were intimately involved in their creation. It also explains how the Navy's ability to create strategy, and even the process for training strategy writers, was seriously damaged in the post-Cold War era.

"Cats were seen as omens in ancient times but eventually became trusted animal companions to those who sailed the seas. From catching rats at docks and on ships at sea, cats often became mascots to the navies around the globe. Filled with informative text and more than eighty photos, Cats in the Navy provides a fun history of our feline friends who rode the waves with us"--

Learning War examines the U.S. Navy's doctrinal development from 1898-1945 and explains why the Navy in that era was so successful as an organization at fostering innovation. A revolutionary study of one of history's greatest success stories, this book draws profoundly important conclusions that give new insight, not only into how the Navy succeeded in becoming the best naval force in the world, but also into how modern organizations can exploit today's rapid technological and social changes in their pursuit of success. Trent Hone argues that the Navy created a sophisticated learning system in the early years of the twentieth century that led to repeated innovations in the development of surface warfare tactics and doctrine. The conditions that allowed these innovations to emerge are analyzed through a consideration of the Navy as a complex adaptive system. Learning War is the first major work to apply this complex learning approach to military history. This approach permits a richer understanding of the mechanisms that enable human organizations to evolve, innovate, and learn, and it offers new insights into the history of the United States Navy.

Throughout the history of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, leading officers and strategists have advocated for formal colleges and schools for naval officers but have also made the case that true naval professionalism requires a career-long dedication to learning and to self-improvement. This was the impetus behind the very founding of the U.S. Naval Institute by officers who believed that the Navy's lack of support for their education meant they needed to create their own organization for self-study and cooperative learning. Naval luminaries like admirals William Sims and Ernest King continued to campaign for self-study and the personal pursuit of professional knowledge during the twentieth century, distributing lists of suggested books for officers to read and promoting their ideas widely through speeches and published works. While recommending that officers read broadly in pursuit of individual knowledge is an important part of creating a truly educated and professional Fleet and Fleet Marine Force, it is also important for leaders in the sea services to offer mentorship and create opportunities for discourse that encourages group learning. Developing the Naval Mind serves as a how-to manual and syllabus for leaders to create and lead wardroom, ready room, and work center discussion groups across the fleet to create a more educated and professionally engaged Navy and Marine Corps.

The men who ventured into the air in the Navys first frail aircraft were not only daringthey had vision, persistence, and a nearly unlimited determination to convince the skeptics that their frail kite-like structures could someday possess military value. This is the story of their trials, tragedies, and triumphs. They patched cooling systems with chewing gum, they lived by crash, repair, and fly again, but they succeeded in developing this new service into an effective arm of the fleet.Wings for the Fleet, first published in 1966, covers the fascinating details of those pioneering days from 1910 to the entry of the United States into World War I. All of the heroic early birds are here with full accounts of their exploits. Admiral van Deurs, himself a naval aviator since the early 1920s, has rendered a significant service by his careful preparation of this well-balanced, thoroughly illustrated historical account, which comes complete with appendixes listing early naval aviators and the planes they flew. Over one hundred photographs were selected from official and private sources to illustrate this book.

Maritime Unmanned recounts the promising beginning, demoralizing setbacks, and ultimate success of the visionaries who championed unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) technology for the U.S. Navy.Even before UAS entered the common vernacular of American defense programs, large movements in world and national politics from the early 1990s onward had a formative influence on what would become the Air Force's Global Hawk. From that earliest time, through the formal selection of Triton as the U.S. Navy's preferred UAS system in 2008, Maritime Unmanned reveals the successesand difficult challenges in defense acquisition.This was the first time in the history of naval aviation that an unmanned aerial vehicle was adopted into frontline squadron inventories and was in this instance an enabling component of the maritime patrol and reconnaissance mission. What should have been a simple cross-service transition of a DARPA and Air Force-developed UAS (Global Hawk) took twenty years from introduction of the concept to realization of its initial operational capability. Ernest Snowden and Robert F. Wood dive deep inside the machinations of aerospace and defense industry leadership, strategy development, and execution. They describe the process industry representatives and Navy counterparts took to develop and socialize an unfamiliar and unconventional concept of operations in their effort to cultivate adoption of the technology by the U.S. Navy; and they reveal the motivations of senior government acquisition officials, who either advocated for the concept or purposely road-blocked its advancement.

The Marine Corps covered itself in glory in World War II with victories over the Japanese in hard-fought battles such as Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima. While these battles are well known, those who led the Marines into them have remained obscure until now. In Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II, Stephen R. Taaffe analyzes the fifteen high-level Marine generals who led the Corps' six combat divisions and two corps in the conflict. He concludes that these leaders played an indispensable and unheralded role in organizing, training, and leading their men to victory. Taaffe insists there was nothing inevitable about the Marine Corps' success in World War II. The small pre-war size of the Corps meant that its commandant had to draw his combat leaders from a small pool of officers who often lacked the education of their Army and Navy counterparts. Indeed, there were fewer than one hundred Marine officers with the necessary rank, background, character, and skills for its high-level combat assignments. Moreover, the Army and Navy froze the Marines out of high-level strategic decisions and frequently impinged on Marine prerogatives. There were no Marines in the Joint Chiefs of Staff or at the head of the Pacific War's geographic theaters, so the Marines usually had little influence over the island targets selected for them. In addition to bureaucratic obstacles, constricted geography and vicious Japanese opposition limited opportunities for Marine generals to earn the kind of renown that Army and Navy commanders achieved elsewhere. In most of its battles on small Pacific War islands, Marine generals had neither the option nor inclination to engage in sophisticated tactics, but they instead relied in direct frontal assaults that resulted in heavy casualties. Such losses against targets of often questionable strategic value sometimes called into question the Marine Corps' doctrine, mission, and the quality of its combat generals. Despite these difficulties, Marine combat commanders repeatedly overcame challenges and fulfilled their missions. Their ability to do so does credit to the Corps and demonstrates that these generals deserve more attention from historians than they have so far received.

On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines traces the history of the development of military staffs and ideas on the operational level of war and operational art from the Napoleonic Wars to today, viewing them through the lens of Prussia/Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States. B. A. Friedman concludes that the operational level of war should be rejected as fundamentally flawed, but that operational art is an accurate description of the activities of the military staff, an organization developed to provide the brainpower necessary to manage the complexity of modern military operations. Rather than simply serve as an intercession between levels, the military staff exists as an enabler and supporting organization to tacticians and strategists alike. On Operations examines the organization of military staffs, which has changed little since Napoleon's time. Historical examinations of the functions staffs provided to commanders, and the disciplines of the staff officers themselves, leads to conclusions about how best to organize staffs in the future. Friedman demonstrates these ideas through case studies of historical campaigns based on the military discipline system developed.

The Dust of Kandahar represents a unique contribution to USNIs growing number of books on the conflict in Afghanistan, largely because it views events primarily from a civilian perspective. Attached to the Third Infantry Division based in Kandahar during its year-long deployment in southern Afghanistan, the author served as a link between the Embassy in Kabul and military leaders in Regional Command-South (RC-South). He was also heavily involved in outreach aimed at Afghan government officials, tribal and religious leaders and others during a time of transition marked by a significant drawdown in the size of the international military presence across the country.Few such books view the war through a civilian lens and even fewer forego the usual political or policy analysis to instead focus on the human dimensions of it. By taking this approach, the author advances the USNIs mission of presenting alternative perspectives, in this case one that adopts a literary approach to advance a deeper professional understanding of the conflict. In effect, it complements the various military memoirs by offering a civilian perspective; and it complements the more detailed military, political and policy assessments by examining the interior lives of those directly involved, reflecting instead on the human costs of war. Emerging as one of the most important post 9/11 battle zones, US engagement in Afghanistan has become an important part of the countrys national defense strategy over the last decade and a half. While the international presence has significantly diminished during the last couple of years, Afghanistan remains an area of interest and concern. Even as the United States faces growing challenges in other parts of the world, a better appreciation for lessons learned from the Afghan experience will help further our own approach to global issues while also strengthening the national defense.Finally, the role of civilians in insurgencies and stabilization programs is often not very well understood; this book will help fill that gap.

Arizona Moon describes a fictional no-name operation in Vietnams infamous Arizona Territory and Golfs 1st platoon of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines operating west of the Tu Bon River in Quang Nam Province. The story centers on a squad leader, Corporal Raymond Strader, and a Apache Indian, L/Cpl Noche Gonshayee. Strader has only three days until his thirteen month tour of duty ends, and Gonshayee, whose tribal name is Moon, considers all anglos potential enemies. When Strader is sent from the field to begin processing out of the An Hoa combat base, Moon is accused of murdering two members of his squad on a night listening post, and Strader is pulled back into the field to escort the Indian, restrained and with a serious head injury, back to the base. The helicopter transporting them is shot down and the two Marines find themselves evading the NVA in the Ong Tu Mountains. An NVA unit, moving munitions toward Da Nang in anticipation of the TET Offensive - with orders to avoid contact with American troops - finds themselves butting heads with the platoon of Golf Company as they scramble across the face of the Ong Tu. Among the NVA are two students from a university in Hanoi, volunteers eager to carry supplies and weapons south. One is a student of literature and an avid reader of American pulp fiction, especially that of Americas wild west, and is enamored of the American Indian, sympathizing with their historical plight. The murders attributed to Moon were actually the work of the NVA, and in that contact, a spirit pouch is stolen from the Indian to become the prized possession of the student as his unit tries to run beyond the reach of the Marines. After surviving the helicopter crash, Strader and Moon find themselves in the path of the fleeing Vietnamese and, secreted on the mountainside, Moon sees his coveted spirit pouch pass by hanging from one the enemy weapons bearers. After separating himself from Strader, Moon goes after the NVA in hopes of retrieving the pouch he equates with his honor. Strader discovers he has been duped and pursues the Indian into the mountains. The platoon brings artillery, Phantom jets, and helicopters into play in an attempt to destroy the NVA unit, but only slow it enough for Moon to catch them and confront the student with his spirit pouch. Moon recovers his pouch, Strader finds Moon, and together they try fighting their way back to their platoon with the NVA hunting them. With no ammunition and the enemy closing in, the two Marines envision little chance of survival, but a squad from 1st platoon finds them, and together they lead the Vietnamese to where the platoon waits in ambush. Throughout Arizona Moon the characters exemplify the camaraderie, esprit de corps, and brotherhood of the United States Marine Corps.

Still vivid in many Americans' memories are the 444 days of 1979 when Islamic militants held U.S. diplomatic personnel hostage in Iran. Though their story has been told before, never has it been related from such a perspective. Unique among the hostages, the author was an officer for the Central Intelligence Agency serving at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Once his CIA connection was discovered, Bill Daugherty became a special target of his captors and was subjected to extraordinarily harsh treatment. He managed to survive the ordeal by relying upon his Marine Corps training and combat experience and his remarkable inner reserve of fortitude. Ultimately he was awarded the State Department Medal of Valor and the CIA Exceptional Service Medal. Drawing on intelligence information not readily available to previous writers, recently declassified materials, interviews with such key government officials as former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and former CIA director and ambassador to Iran Richard Helms, and to his own firsthand knowledge, Daugherty sheds light on this disturbing event, particularly with respect to the decision-making process in the White House. Among his revelations is the involvement of the Soviet Union. Despite his personal involvement, Daugherty has produced an impressively objective account of the tragedies and triumphs that marked this black time in U.S. history. It is both a harrowing adventure story and a serious look at U.S.-Iran relations. The pivotal event continues to evoke emotions and begs careful analysis for potential lessons learned.

Focuses on applying lessons learned from poker, blackjack, roulette and other games of chance to study of international conflict. The book demonstrates how the combined factors of strategy, psychology and probability influence the outbreak of wars, how they are fought, and why they end.

The book bristles with the excitement of the chase. -- The New York Times Book Review Would-be Captain Nemos and other fans of undersea adventure will enjoy this vigorous memoir. -- Publishers Weekly Spy Sub is the acclaimed story of the secret mission by the American nuclear submarine, code named USS Viperfish, to find a lost Soviet submarine armed with nuclear missiles in the great depths of the Pacific Ocean. This story is based on true events that remain classified by the U.S. Department of Defense, nearly 50 years after the search. Moving silently beneath the Soviet ships prowling on the surface, the Viperfish hunt was so secretive that even the men on the vessel never knew the object of their search. The brave exploits of these sailors and their commanding officer recount one of the greatest undersea searches in naval history. The failures, the near-catastrophes, and the challenges are described in personal detail and their final success earned them the highest award for a submarine crew, the Presidential Unit Citation. The story of how these men brought critical intelligence information to President Lyndon Johnson is a saga like none other in the annals of submarine exploits. Roger C. Dunham, M.D. served as a nuclear reactor operator in the U.S. Navy's Submarine Service during the 1960's. Following his honorable discharge in 1969, he earned a medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.

The U.S. Naval Institute Chronicles series focuses on the relevance of history by exploring topics like significant battles, personalities, and service components. In this retrospective and introspective collection, authors provide a look back at the Vietnam War in search of understanding, lessons learned, recognition, and, in some cases, closure.

While scores of books have been published about the atomic bombings that helped end World War II, little has been written about the personal lives and relationship of the three men that led the raids. A former navigator-bombardier and pilot himself, Harder brings a fresh perspective to an otherwise well-known narrative. He provides a rare insider's look at exactly who these three fellows were.

Whaling was the first American industry to exhibit any diversity. Working with archival records at museums, in libraries, archives and interviews with people whose ancestors were whaling masters, Finley culls stories from the lives of 54 black whaling captains to create a portrait of what life was like for these leaders of colour on the high seas.

Offer a history of US Navy attack aridraft, from the point of view of the Navy, and as understood through its previously-classified documents. The book spans a century, from the earliest airplanes conceived to operate from US carriers in 1920, to the current F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Tells the unforgettable tale of a young soldier trying to save the lives of wounded soldiers and keep the men he'd formed a bond with alive. But in the 'war to end all wars', no one was safe.

USS Iowa BB-61, the first of four Iowa-class battleships built for the US Navy, was launched in 1942. Capable of thirty-three knots and armed with nine new fifty-caliber sixteen-inch guns, she was the pinnacle of battleship design for the US Navy during World War II. This book tells her story.

On a mission over central Afghanistan, Punk is hit - and taken captive by the Taliban. And after he escapes, the challenge is not over. Because now Punk must navigate the war-torn country not from the skies, but on the ground - seeing up close for the first time the world of resistance fighters, warlords, CIA undercover ops, and corrupt officers.

Sometimes it takes years for a combat vet to understand what his war did to him when he was nineteen. And even longer to explain the cadence he has marched to since then to the people he loves. Family and friends know Marty McClure as a kind, peaceful man. They aren't aware that when he was young, he plumbed the depths of terror, hatred and despair with no assurance he'd ever surface again. Now he needs to reveal what happened in Vietnam and how, with the help of Patti, his wife, Corrie Corrigan, a disabled vet, and Doc Matheson, a corpsman turned trauma surgeon, he made peace with the ghosts that have visited his dreams all these years. With the perception and reflection of a man on the cusp of retirement from a career teaching high school kids, Marty recalls the relentless intensity of prolonged combat as a teenage Marine machine gunner facing booby traps and battles in a war with few boundaries. Arriving in Vietnam, he is appalled by the savagery of his fellow Marines as they hunt an enemy indistinguishable from the villagers he believes they are there to protect. But as friends are crippled or killed over the ensuing months, Marty has to fight not only the enemy but the vicious darkness growing in him. Wounded and sent back to the U.S., he struggles to make sense of all he has lost in a war his country abandoned. He works to become a good husband, father and teacher while he fights to bury the war and rails against friends' enthusiasm for the Memorial and the Welcome Home for Vietnam Veterans planned in D.C. Only if he accepts help from his wife and his friends will he find real peace.

Like other books in Norman Friedman's design-history series, this one pays attention to all designs, even those that never left the drawing board. Friedman, a recognised authority on US warships, uncovers the reasoning behind the many radical changes in US cruiser design, which culminated in the series of Aegis missile ships.

Covers the development of US battleships, from the Maine and Texas of 1886, through the Montana class of World War II, up to the recommissioned Iowas. It examines the original designs as well as the many modifications and reconstructions these ships underwent during their long and active careers.