Military History

Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. Mrs. Smoot is an intelligence historian who is especially interested in 20th-century cryptology and communication and has published in Cryptologia, Federal History Journal, and Intelligence and National Security; she retired from the Center for Cryptologic History (CCH) of the National Security Agency in 2017. She is also the author of the forthcoming CCH monograph From the Ground Up: American Cryptology during World War I, and a frequent lecturer at the Cryptologic History Symposia, including the May 12, 2022, meeting where she presented “The Case for Parker Hitt as the Father of American Military Cryptology.” In October 2007…

Vice Admiral William H. Rowden, USN (covered). By Rear Adm. Sam Cox USN (Ret.) With deep sadness the NHF reports the loss of another strong champion of naval history – Vice Adm. William H. Rowden, USN (Ret.) who passed on 15 October 2022 at age 92. Vice Adm. Rowden served as a Director on our Board of Directors for two decades from 1995 until 2015 when he achieved director emeritus status. During his tenure he led the audit committee, assuring the organization remained on solid financial footing. Before his two decades of service to our foundation, he served the nation for four decades as a Surface Warfare Officer. A young William H. Rowden took the oath of offi…

On December 7, 1999, the Naval Historical Foundation hosted a colloquium at the U.S. Navy Memorial to discuss the question of accountability for the tragic losses suffered 58 years prior. Join us as we revisit this issue ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. This webinar features an introduction from former Naval Flight Officer Ward Carroll, after which former General Counsel of the Navy Steven S. Honigman will provide an overview of the numerous investigations and subsequent efforts to exonerate the Pacific Fleet commander at the time—Admiral Husband E. Kimmel. Former colloquium presenters David Alan Rosenberg, and Randy Papadopou…

Reviewed by CAPT Richard Dick, USN (Ret.). Graham A. Thomas is a historian, biographer, journalist, and theatrical producer. He has written for the UK Ministry of Defence and has been editor of the British Army Review, the army’s official academic journal. He specializes in the history of the British Army and Royal Air Force in World War II and the Korean Conflict but has also written several books on the histories and biographies of pirates and pirate hunters. This book grew out of the author’s research on Captain Woodes Rogers, a Royal Navy pirate hunter and commerce raider in the Caribbean in the early eighteenth century. Pirate Killers looks primarily at the…

Reviewed by Mr. Tom Phillips, USN (Ret.) This 8.5×11.5-inch booklet of 64 pages is #26 of 30 in a series by Ship Craft. As such, it is less likely to appeal to historians than advanced scale modelers with a bent for customizing standard scale models into works of fascinating art. The author, Roger Branfill-Cook, has previously written several books on naval vessels and armaments, including Torpedo: The Complete History of the World’s Most Revolutionary Naval Weapon, X.1 The Royal Navy’s Mystery Submarine, and River Gunboats: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Other entries in the Ship Craft series focus mostly on single ship classes—e.g., Kongo Class, Yorktown Class, Bismar…

Reviewed by John Grady The weeks long gruesome land battle by Marines and soldiers to take mountainous Saipan included a doomed but deadly Banzai charge of Japanese soldiers followed by mass civilian suicides rather than surrender to the Americans. Those two events are often what is remembered most in the struggle to control the most heavily defended island by the Japanese in the Marianas in the summer of 1944, a battle waged at the same time as Allied forces were fighting to expand their foothold in France and end the stalemate in Italy. The resultant Seabee grading of Saipan and Tinian for airfields paired with the effect on naval events in the skies and waters hund…

Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.) Schnellbootwaffe is a volume in the extensive Images of War collection from Pen and Sword. The collection focuses primarily on presenting lesser-known archival and private photographs woven with captions and text. For some subjects like military animals in the First World War and the Brandenburger commandos in the Second, the Images of War provide real insight into lesser-known areas of military history. For other subjects, the Images of War volume is just another entry in a crowded field. Schnellbootwaffe has elements of both. The real strength of the book is not so much its photographs but the operational details of t…

By Andrew Hendrie; Pen and Sword, Barnsley, UK, (2022). (Reprint) Reviewed by Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.) Andrew Hendrie’s Short Sunderland is a comprehensive operational portrait of the most famous British World War II maritime patrol aircraft. The author’s impressive research briefly covers the aircraft’s development, entry into service, production, and modification, and particularly its operational service around the world during and after World War II. Hendrie reviews every theater in which the aircraft served and all of its users (British, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and Norwegian). He includes every U-boat sinking in which the aircraft participa…

A Navy crew honors its beloved Commanding Officer – The Navy’s first African-American Admiral. Featuring historians, Paul Stillwell and Dr. Gina Akers. View our full Second Saturday Webinar HERE. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

By J. North Conway. The Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, 2021. Reviewed by Lt. Col. Stephen A. Tribble, Ph.D., U.S. Army The Congressional Medal of Honor (CMH), established in 1861, recognizes acts of valor by military members across the Joint Force and is coveted as the most prestigious United States (U.S.) military medal awarded. Soldier Parrott: The Incredible Story of America’s First Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient by Jack North Conway is an amazingly detailed account of the Andrews Raiders and Private Jacob Parrott’s valor during the operation. A group of twenty-four Union men, the Andrews Raiders penetrated two hundred miles behind enemy li…

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…

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

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

Reviewed by David F. Winkler, PhD One of the pleasures of being the staff historian at the Naval Historical Foundation is to look over the numerous books that arrive at 1306 Dahlgren, sent by publishers and authors with an aim to get some publicity through a book review in our “Naval History Book Review” section in our weekly Thursday Tidings. While most books will go under the critical eye of one of our able member-reviewers, I retain the prerogative to pull aside a book for personal reading – especially when the opportune time of a summer vacation presents itself. With all my work-related readings being non-fiction, historical fiction offers a certain appeal. As suc…

Reviewed by CDR Jeffrey Holdsworth, USN Competition occurs within the context of international relationships, and careful examination of how those relationships form and exert influence at all levels of society is valuable to serious foreign policy and national security professionals. In his third published book, The Anglo-Soviet Alliance: Comrades & Allies During WW2, career British social worker and Soviet historian Colin Turbett explores relationships amidst ideological competition before, during, and following conflict through detailed vignettes. Turbett presents a successful and balanced examination of the relationships influencing the British and the Sov…

This month, we’re joined by historians Paul Stillwell, and Trent Hone to discuss the Battle of Surigao Strait. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by CAPT Richard Dick, USN (Ret.) Donald Collingwood’s Captain Class Frigates is both a history of a class of escorts important in the latter stages of World War II and also a fond memoir of both ships and men. Collingwood himself served in the Captain-class H.M.S. Cubitt from 1943 to 1946 in the Atlantic and the English Channel. He joined the Royal Navy in 1937 and retired in 1961, first publishing The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War in 1999. His book is a deeply researched, objective, and painstakingly complete history of all 78 American-built destroyer escorts which served in the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease as Captain-class frigates. …

By Michał A. Piegzik Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. Readers won’t confuse this book, just published in the Asia @ War Series No. 31 (Warwick, England: Hellion and Company Limited, 2022) with similar titles: The Darkest Hour by Caroline Tung Richmond (New York: Scholastic Press, 2016) is an espionage novel about women in World War II designed for teens and young adults. Neither will it be confused with “The Darkest Hour” a science fiction film or “The Darkest Hours” British television series (8 episodes, 2013) Nor with the award winning “Darkest Hour” with Gary Oldman (Universal Pictures, 2017), the historical fiction war film about Winston Churchill’s early…

By Michał A. Piegzik Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. The initial volume in this two-part work, The Darkest Hour, Volume 1: The Japanese Naval Offensive in the Indian Ocean 1942 – The Opening Moves, was reviewed by me and published in Thursday Tidings on 1 September 2022: www.navyhistory.org/2022/08/the-darkest-hour-volume-1-the-japanese-naval-offensive-in-the-indian-ocean-1942-the-opening-moves/. The concluding volume became available on 15 September and is considered herein. Briefly some background: the Polish author, Michał A. Piegzik, holds a doctorate in law from the University of Wroclaw (2015) and lives and works in Japan as a researcher in Japanese fa…

Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. Crude oil tankers are not only some of the largest ships that have ever sailed the oceans but are the backbone of international energy trade. At the same time they normally gain little public attention, unless they are at the center of an ecological disaster. Therefore, it should be lauded that Ray Solly brings attention to this unique type of ships with his new book. Having not only worked as an officer in the merchant marine, but on supertankers, he has a unique background for an author on this subject. The structure of the book basically follows a chronological sequence by being divided into four sections (Early Crude Oil and P…