Naval Military History

Poopie Suits & Cowboy Boots: Tales of a Submarine Officer During the Height of the Cold War, now in its fifth edition since 2017, has earned a popular place in modern submarine literature for its engaging style and pacing. Set in the throes of the Cold War during the Nixon administration, the story follows the journey of Frank Hood through training and eventual deployment as a junior officer aboard a fast-attack submarine (USS Seahorse [SSN-669]) based out of Charleston, South Carolina.

On May 19, 1942, a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico stalked its prey 50 miles away from New Orleans. Captained by 29-year-old Iron Cross recipient Erich Würdemann, the submarine set its sights on the freighter Heredia with 59 souls onboard. Most of the crew were merchant seamen, but there were also a handful of civilians, including the Downs family, consisting of the parents, Ray Sr. and Ina; along with their two children, eight-year-old Ray Jr., nicknamed "Sonny", and 11-year-old Lucille.

The period covered in this book is well known for its epic battles and grand campaigns of territorial conquest, but Hellenistic monarchies, Carthaginians, and the rapacious Roman Republic were scarcely less active at sea. Huge resources were poured into maintaining fleets not only as symbols of prestige but as means of projecting real military power across the Mediterranean arena.

With all the immediacy of an eyewitness account, Anthony Pitch recounts the dramatic story of the British invasion of Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1814. The British torched the Capitol, the White House, and other buildings, setting off an inferno that illuminated the countryside for miles around and sent President James Madison galloping out of town. The author's gripping account also describes the valiant defense of nearby Fort McHenry and the story of the writing of The Star Spangled Banner.

This biography draws heavily on the personal diaries of the subject, Robert Hichens (or ‘Hitch’ as he was universally known). After a brief description of his early life, time at Oxford, his motor racing achievements (including trophies at Le Mans in his Aston Martin), and RN training, the book focuses on his exceptional wartime experiences. Hitch was the most highly decorated RNVR officer of the war with two DSOs, three DSCs and three Mentions in Despatches. He was recommended for a posthumous VC.

Despite the introduction of modern-day technology, Ships and Submarines of the Royal Navy still operate on the basis of main broadcast announcements, known in the Royal Navy as Pipes. This book aims to translate their meanings, not simply to make the seemingly incomprehensible understandable, but also to conjure up often humorous anecdotes that provide an insight into life at sea in the RN.

On Easter morning, 1972, Marine captain John Ripley braved intense enemy fire to blow up a bridge during the North Vietnamese "Easter Offensive." Ripley became a legend within the Marine Corps for his daring act of heroism. His story is described here by fellow Marine John Grider Miller. Miller lays bare Ripley's innermost thoughts during the 3 hours it took to place and set the fuses while some 30,000 enemy troops and 200 tanks prepared to cross just yards away. Such a compelling act of raw courage and personal resolve is rarely encountered.

In late 1944, as a precursor to the invasion of the Philippines, U.S. military analysts decided to seize the small island of Peleliu to ensure that the Japanese airfield there could not threaten the invasion forces. This important new book explores the dramatic story of this ‘forgotten’ battle and the campaign’s strategic failings. Bitter Peleliu reveals how U.S. intelligence officers failed to detect the complex network of caves, tunnels, and pillboxes hidden inside the island’s coral ridges.

As the war in Iraq continues, the idea of being a soldier in wartime is of interest to many Americans. Why Marines Fight by James Brady is a ruthlessly candid book told in the words of U.S. Marines themselves, who answer provocative questions about what drives them to fight so competently and ferociously.

David R. Leick uses first-hand accounts from archives such as the Naval History and Heritage Command to examine the campaigns, aircraft, tactics, command decisions, and life aboard ship during the American Pacific campaign against Japan from early 1943 until Princeton’s tragic demise in October 1944. The book focusses closely on the crew and airmen of the Princeton, as well as describing in detail the toll that prolonged combat operations took on the frontline sailor.

Zero Point Four is a groundbreaking book written by six world-leading maritime, ocean, and security experts, and spearheaded by retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral James Watson. This audiobook explores how the U.S. - a maritime nation - finds itself on a dangerous precipice today. After World War II over half the world’s ocean-going commercial ships flew the U.S. flag. Today, it is less than 0.4%. This meticulously researched work scrutinizes the U.S. maritime industry’s significance to America through five ‘Principles’: National, Economic, Energy and Food, Climate, and Workforce Security.

In Too Far on a Whim, Tyler A. Pitrof presents a high-spirited revision of the US Navy's commitment to high-steam propulsion systems, the mainstay of its World War II fleets. Pitrof's research persuasively demonstrates that in its war against the Imperial Japanese Navy, the US Navy succeeded despite its high-steam propulsion systems rather than because of them. Pitrof provides an account that extends far beyond technology and into matters of naval hierarchies and bureaucracy, strategic theory, and ego.

On the evening of June 27, 1918, the Llandovery Castle—an unarmed, clearly marked hospital ship used by the Canadian military—was torpedoed off the Irish Coast by U-Boat 86, a German submarine. Sinking hospital ships violated international law. To conceal his actions, the U-86 commander had the submarine deck guns fire on survivors. One lifeboat escaped with witnesses to the atrocity. Global outrage over the attack ensued.

Following the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713) a decade-long wave of sea-robbery plagued the Atlantic rim—often glamorized as the "Golden Age of Piracy". Boston-based laborer, Edward Low, left his mark on pirate history as the most vicious and sadistic raider of them all.

On March 9, 1862, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia met in the Battle of Hampton Roads—the first time ironclad vessels would engage each other in combat. For four hours the two ships pummeled one another as thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers and civilians watched from the shorelines. Although the battle ended in a draw, this engagement would change the nature of naval warfare by informing both vessel design and battle tactics.

On October 31, 1803, the frigate USS Philadelphia ran aground on a reef a few miles outside the harbor of Tripoli. After hours under fire, the Philadelphia, aground and defenseless, surrendered, and 307 American sailors and marines were captured. The bashaw ordered the crew moved into an old warehouse, and the officers were eventually moved to a dungeon beneath the Bashaw's castle. While the officers were treated as "gentlemen," although imprisoned, the sailors worked as enslaved laborers.

Hard Aground brings together three intertwined stories documenting the US Navy's strategic and materiel evolution from the end of Civil War through the First World War. The first story focuses on the reconstruction of the US Navy following the swift and near-total dismantling of the Union Navy infrastructure after the Civil War. Jampoler argues that the federal government discovered that the fleet requested by the navy, and paid for by Congress, was the wrong fleet.

Simmering racial tensions inflamed by discriminatory punitive measures sparked a violent confrontation aboard the USS Kitty Hawk while it was engaged in air strikes off the coast of North Vietnam. The US Navy charged Black sailors with rioting and assaults on White sailors in an incident referred to as a race riot, while totally ignoring violent unprovoked assaults committed by White sailors and Marines.

Having Seaman Jenna as the mascot on the USS Vandegrift was never meant to be a statement or symbolic act, or to put the crew on the radars of four-star admirals. Jenna came aboard unannounced, a Christmas gift that brought instant joy to the crew and transformed a gray ship into a home for 225 sailors. Her addition was not pre-approved by the chain of command—contrary to military protocol. Before long, Jenna became a phenomenon—the only dog on a Navy ship since World War II—despite the best efforts to keep her from the public eye.

Every Friday, Secretary Thomas Modly wrote a personal message to the entire department, regardless of rank. Those messages were called SECNAV Vectors. Each Vector was intended to clearly communicate his priorities and to establish a rapport with all levels of the organization. The subject of each Vector was inspired by ongoing events that occurred in real time. As these events unfolded, the secretary’s unyielding emphasis on being prepared for the unpredictable was proven to be prescient as the navy found itself, unintentionally, in the center of the Covid-19 crisis.