Military History

By Leo J. Daugherty III The late Professor Edgar F. Puryear, Jr., who until his death in 2018 was scholar-in-residence at the National Defense University and an authority on American generalship, outlined in his book Marine Corps Generalship (National Defense University, 2009) the three critical components that define Marine leadership in time of war. The first of these components is that the position of command is a lonely one. Generals as well as field grade officers are likewise subject to the same strains and stresses accompanying the execution of military operations. Generals make mistakes. This can be seen in the case of Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith a…

Discovered a few minutes ago, a British warships photo collection (only 1980s?) by Beareye2010, with interesting comments, some 2297 photos !!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50256734@N05/with/5476848243/#photo_5476848243

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Marc Lohnstein’s The Netherlands East Indies Campaign 1941-42: Japan’s Quest for Oil covers a typically unheeded early Pacific campaign, fought for the resource rich Dutch East Indies, which showcased a dysfunctional Allied coalition effort conducted under fraught circumstances exacerbated by prewar decisions but which fought desperately until overwhelmed. Lohnstein is a historian, assistant curator of the Royal Home for Retired Military Personnel and Bronbeek Museum in Arnhem, and a writer who focuses on Dutch colonial topics.This 96-page Osprey monograph is divided into several sections: “Origins of the Campaign,” “Chronology,” “Opposi…

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 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…

The Leander Project is a very, very interesting site full of original text about British escorts and their development, regretably with many missing links as weapons, radars and sonars: http://www.leander-project.homecall.co.uk/index.html

Captain Rinn following his talk about Operation Ernest Will and the Samuel B. Roberts to Dr. Winkler’s Middle East Operation course at the USNA in 2019. The Naval Historical Foundation mourns the loss of Capt. Paul X. Rinn, an individual who embraced history as Surface Warfare Officer, a factor that likely contributed to the survival of his ship – the guided missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) – when she hit an Iranian-laid mine on April 14, 1988 in the Persian Gulf. Captain Rinn’s embracing the heritage of the previous two ships to carry the Samuel B. Roberts name was eloquently told in Bradley ***ton’s No Higher Honor: Saving the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the P…

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 Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. Published twenty years after the death of the author, Franz Kurowski, the book focuses on U-48, the most successful U-Boat in World War 2. During the war, the author served as a Luftwaffe paratrooper with the Afrika Korps. After the war, he worked as a freelance journalist and wrote over one hundred books, including Panzer Aces: German Tank Commanders in World War II. U-48 provides a look into naval operations in World War 2 from the perspective of the Germans prior to the entry of the United States into the conflict. The book gives readers a detailed description of how the commanders of U-48 proved incredibly successful by si…

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Leo Marriott’s Naval Battles of the Second World War: The Atlantic and Mediterranean offers a brief glimpse of select naval engagements involving the Royal Navy engaged against their major European foes, the Italian and German fleets. Marriott is an established author with multiple books about a range of military, naval, and aviation topics covering mostly World War II and the Cold War. This 160-page book consists of nineteen brief sections divided into two larger segments as “Part I” which focuses on the Atlantic Ocean and NW Europe beginning with the Battle of the River Plate and “Part II,” which focuses on the Mediterranean ending wit…

Historian Dr. Craig Symonds breaks down the different personalities of fictional captains Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey. View our full Second Saturday Webinar HERE. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

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…

Naval Historian Paul Stillwell tells the story of how Duke Snider earned extra income during World War II. View our full Second Saturday Webinar HERE. The post Blog first appeared on Naval Historical Foundation. View the full article

Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Charles Melson’s Vietnam 1972: Quang Tri – The Easter Offensive Strikes the South provides a concise look at the role played by the South Vietnamese Marine Corps (VNMC) and their US Marine Corps (USMC) advisors during Hanoi’s 1972 Easter Offensive. The South Vietnamese defenders, in particular the VNMC, alongside American air and naval support acted as a temporary validation of President Nixon’s Vietnamization policy and forestalled the catastrophic fall of Saigon for several years. Melson is a prolific author and the former Chief Historian for the U.S. Marine Corps, with many titles to his credit chronicling the U.S. Marine experience an…

One of the last two surviving rescuers in the 1942 disaster, passes away. Pollux and Truxton rescuer dies (CBC News)

By LCDR Sean Walsh, USN (Ret.) Following up on last week’s commemoration of the 246th anniversary of the Chaplain Corps, the NHF would like to acknowledge the service of Navy chaplains during the attack at Pearl Harbor. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the Chaplain Corps had only 192 chaplains on active duty (105 Regular and 87 Reserve) although actions were underway for the accession of additional Reserve chaplains. Of these, 19 were present at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, ranging in rank from Captain to Acting Chaplain (Lieutenant Junior Grade equivalent). 14 were assigned to ships, with the Fleet Chaplain having an office ashore although also assigned to the flags…

Rear Admiral Thomas F. Brown III, USN (NHHC Photo) Thomas Francis Brown III entered Officer Candidate School in 1954 and served as an aviator until his retirement in 1985 as the Director, Strike and Amphibious Warfare Division (OP-954) in the Office of the CNO. In his 343 combat missions in Vietnam, he was awarded a Silver Star for dropping a bridge span in North Vietnam, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, and multiple other awards. His commands included VA-37, CVW-19, USS Caloosahatchee (AO-98), USS Midway (CV-41), Military Enlistment Processing Command, CARGRU 1, and CARGRU 5/CTF-77, during which he amassed 4,843 hours of accident-free flying and 1,017 traps. Tom…

The Condor Legion (Air Force Magazine, February 2013)

Reviewed by Ens. Sydney M. Willis, USN Homecomings is a collection of photos of the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels. This book is primarily comprised of photographs sprinkled with anecdotes, poems, and descriptions providing background for the photos. Laura Bogan is the officially licensed Navy photographer for the Blue Angels and their affiliated association and foundation. In her introduction, Bogan explains her connection to the Blue Angels and how this project began. She describes the intention of the book and the photos it contains as an attempt to portray the feeling of inspiration, awe, and passion the Blue Angels give on their Sunday flig…

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…