Military History

In this episode of Second Saturday, we commemorate the centennial of the signing of this monumental arms control treaty. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College professor Dr. John T. Kuehn, who has written extensively on the General Board of the Navy, will offer a brief of the conference proceedings. This will be followed by commentary and discussion with 2021 NHF Knox Medal recipient Dr. Tom Hone and Naval War College associate professor Dr. Ryan Wadle, author of Selling Seapower: Public Relations and the U.S. Navy, 1917-1941. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. Vincent P. O’Hara is an independent naval historian and the author of thirteen works, including Six Victories: North Africa, Malta, and the Mediterranean Convoy War, November 1941-March 1942 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2019) and with Leonard R. Heinz, Clash of Fleets: Naval Battles of the Great War, 1914-18 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2017). He holds a history degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Leonard R. Heinz worked for many years as a financial services lawyer while maintaining an active interest in military and naval history. He has written articles and designed wargames on naval topics and earned …

By J. Michael Wenger, Robert J. Cressman, and John F. Di Virgilio, Naval Institute Press (2022) Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. This is the fourth volume in the Pearl Harbor Tactical Series published by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. The previous three volumes are No One Avoided Danger: NAS Kaneohe Bay and the Japanese Attack of 7 December 1941 (2015); This is No Drill: The History of NAS Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Attacks of 7 December 1941 (2018); and They’re Killing My Boys: The History of Hickam Field and the Attacks of 7 December 1941 (2019) previously reviewed by me in 2020: navyhistory.org/2020/12/pearl-harbor-tactical-studies-series/ …

F6F Hellcat: Remembered Firsthand (Defense Media Network)

John H. Maurer and Erik Goldstein (editors), Naval Institute Press, (2022). Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. The editors are well-published senior scholars, well-equipped to undertake the organization and editing of this volume which focuses on the interwar years of two global conflicts. Professor John H. Maurer is the Alfred Thayer Mahan Professor of Sea Power and Grand Strategy and served as the Chair of the Strategy and Policy Department at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Erik Goldstein serves as Professor of International Relations and History Boston University; his research interests include diplomacy, formulation of national diplomatic …

Yet mostly classified, but some hints on this series of interesting articles: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1699/1

With many details on nuclear deterrence and submarine intelligence operations: https://thinpinstripedline.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJJYiZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSb-yAgxz_zdbn8mXkrtQuDJLLcGYd1hOOv-_vp_jS5Vtjt5ab6UwujhQQ_aem_vOGvQWFxIMI41GIN8kAfyA

By Capt. P.T. Deutermann USN (Ret.) St. Martins Press (2022) Reviewed by Capt. C. Herbert Gilliland, USN (Ret.) In his latest novel, P. T. Deutermann continues his successful mining of World War II themes. This time we follow the spectacular fortunes of USS Holland, a destroyer escort sent from convoy duty in the North Atlantic to an uncertain assignment in the western Pacific. In Deutermann’s braided narrative, alternate chapters are told by ship’s CO, Mariano deTomasi, and his XO, Ephraim Edmond “Eeep” Enright. This structure allows each to observe and comment on the other while working well as a team despite great differences in background and makeup. Lieut…

A pair of interesting links, finded when I was looking for KDX (Japanese MAD, operative in 8/1944 in Mavis and perhaps Nell): http://enokie.ddo.jp/enokiepisode/E-ASW.htm A curious video, showing SS radar in Aichi E13A Jake:

Lockheed's Senior Peg: The Forgotten Stealth Bomber (Foxtrot Alpha) Lots of line drawings.

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. James G. Stavridis, a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1976, who majored in English and would ultimately rise to four-star admiral, spent 37 years as a surface warfare officer on active service in the U.S. Navy. He commanded destroyers (USS Barry and subsequently Destroyer Squadron 21) and Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, which conducted combat operations in the Persian Gulf in support of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He was the first Navy officer to command the United States Southern Command and became NATO’s 16th Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) 2009-2013. Admiral …

Wednesday, December 7th @ 1:00 PM EST at the Museum Education Center of the National Museum of the United States Navy, Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374 Special Meeting of the Membership – Register Here The post Special Meeting of the Membership first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Vietnam's General Vo Nguyen Giap dies (BBC News)

Reviewed by Master Chief David Mattingly, US Navy (Retired) Rear Admiral Dave Oliver spent a career as a submarine officer, a leader within the Navy and Department of Defense, and as an executive in several Fortune 500 companies. He has been a writer about leadership most notably Lead On! A Practical Guide to Leadership published in 1992. In Lead On he introduced the reader to the concept where he compares his Bronze Rules to the metal bronze, which is strong, highly resistant to corrosion, and can withstand challenges. In Lead On and Bronze Rules, Admiral Oliver uses sea stories to present leadership concepts that are applicable to small units as well as large milita…

By Dennis A. Steenbergen, Landing Craft Support Museum 15 February is the anniversary of the loss of three LCS ships to Shin’yō suicide boats at Mariveles Bay during the liberation of the Philippines. U.S. forces were massing in February 1945 to launch an amphibious and land attack on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor. Mr. Steenbergen has an intense personal connection to the loss of these ships, which is discussed in the post that follows. A group of six Landing Craft Support (LCS) ships was readying to provide gunfire support for an amphibious landing at Mariveles when fast Japanese motorboats known as the Shin’yō-class came speeding out of the darkness and s…

By Norman Polmar Photo courtesy of U.S. Naval Institute (Editor’s note: This is the seventeenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In July 1983 a friend asked my wife, Beverly, and me to attend a bar-b-q at his home. Among the few others at the gathering was a rather tall, interesting young man wearing sun-glasses. I was introduced to Tom Clancy and his wife. I knew immediately who he was. The year before he had an article published in the Naval Institute Proceedings —“The Floating Shell Game.” His article called for placing MX ballisti…

A military curiosity was intriguing me for years, my first contact with the concept was in an old Tintin inter-wars comic book. Today, some minutes ago, I've received a spam mail with photos of sonic locators, it had remembered me the matter, some minutes of web search, and here post some links about the topic: http://www.aqpl43.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/ear/ear.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_mirror http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_ranging http://www.doramusic.com/Radar.htm

From CBC News [excerpt]

By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) Soon after I went to work for Navy Times in late 1959, the editor-in-chief, John Slinkman, came over to my desk and dropped a newspaper clipping. I picked it up; it was about nuclear-propelled submarines. “Call Rickover and see what he has to say about this,” said Slinkman. “Admiral Rickover?” I asked. “Do you know another?” he responded. A few minutes later I called the Department of Defense operator and asked for Admiral Rickover. A secretary answered, I told…

Rest In Peace.