Admirals Under Fire


Book Description

How America's top naval leaders handled the major challenges of the Vietnam War and its troubled aftermath.




America's Fighting Admirals


Book Description

American naval actions of World War II comprise the most widespread, complex, and dramatic battles in the history of sea warfare. The fighting took place over vast distances in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as in the constricted spaces of the Mediterranean and Solomon seas. Each of the major actions had an admiral, the commander in charge, who led the battle. In combat, the abilities and determination of these commanders at sea were put to the most severe test. Americas Fighting Admirals describes the course of U.S. sea action in World War II. It examines the skills, strengths, weaknesses and personalities of the American admirals who fought the battles at sea. It examines the effect that stress, tension, and responsibility have on commanders making vital decisions in the red-hot crucible of battle. And it reveals the changing nature of the responsibilities of flag officers as the war progressed and became enormously complex.




The Admirals


Book Description

How history's only five-star admirals triumphed in World War II and made the United States the world's dominant sea power. Only four men in American history have been promoted to the five-star rank of Admiral of the Fleet: William Leahy, Ernest King, Chester Nimitz, and William Halsey. These four men were the best and the brightest the navy produced, and together they led the U.S. navy to victory in World War II, establishing the United States as the world's greatest fleet. In The Admirals, award-winning historian Walter R. Borneman tells their story in full detail for the first time. Drawing upon journals, ship logs, and other primary sources, he brings an incredible historical moment to life, showing us how the four admirals revolutionized naval warfare forever with submarines and aircraft carriers, and how these men -- who were both friends and rivals -- worked together to ensure that the Axis fleets lay destroyed on the ocean floor at the end of World War II.




Sailing True North


Book Description

From one of the most distinguished admirals of our time and a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, a meditation on leadership and character refracted through the lives of ten of the most illustrious naval commanders in history In Sailing True North, Admiral Stavridis offers lessons of leadership and character from the lives and careers of history's most significant naval commanders. He also brings a lifetime of reflection to bear on the subjects of his study--naval history, the vocation of the admiral, and global geopolitics. Above all, this is a book that will help you navigate your own life's voyage: the voyage of leadership of course, but more important, the voyage of character. Sailing True North helps us find the right course to chart. Simply as epic lives, the tales of these ten admirals offer up a collection of the greatest imaginable sea stories. Moreover, spanning 2,500 years from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century, Sailing True North is a book that offers a history of the world through the prism of our greatest naval leaders. None of the admirals in this volume were perfect, and some were deeply flawed. But from Themistocles, Drake, and Nelson to Nimitz, Rickover, and Hopper, important themes emerge, not least that serving your reputation is a poor substitute for serving your character; and that taking time to read and reflect is not a luxury, it's a necessity. By putting us on personal terms with historic leaders in the maritime sphere he knows so well, James Stavridis gives us a compass that can help us navigate the story of our own lives, wherever that voyage takes us.




Revolt of the Admirals


Book Description

Chronicles in compelling detail the historic showdown between the U.S. Air Force and the Navy over the role of carrier aviation in the national security framework of the United States.




Lincoln and His Admirals


Book Description

Abraham Lincoln began his presidency admitting that he knew "but little of ships," but he quickly came to preside over the largest national armada to that time, not eclipsed until World War I. Written by naval historian Craig L. Symonds, Lincoln and His Admirals unveils an aspect of Lincoln's presidency unexamined by historians until now, revealing how he managed the men who ran the naval side of the Civil War, and how the activities of the Union Navy ultimately affected the course of history. Beginning with a gripping account of the attempt to re-supply Fort Sumter--a comedy of errors that shows all too clearly the fledgling president's inexperience--Symonds traces Lincoln's steady growth as a wartime commander-in-chief. Absent a Secretary of Defense, he would eventually become de facto commander of joint operations along the coast and on the rivers. That involved dealing with the men who ran the Navy: the loyal but often cranky Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, the quiet and reliable David G. Farragut, the flamboyant and unpredictable Charles Wilkes, the ambitious ordnance expert John Dahlgren, the well-connected Samuel Phillips Lee, and the self-promoting and gregarious David Dixon Porter. Lincoln was remarkably patient; he often postponed critical decisions until the momentum of events made the consequences of those decisions evident. But Symonds also shows that Lincoln could act decisively. Disappointed by the lethargy of his senior naval officers on the scene, he stepped in and personally directed an amphibious assault on the Virginia coast, a successful operation that led to the capture of Norfolk. The man who knew "but little of ships" had transformed himself into one of the greatest naval strategists of his age. Co-winner of the 2009 Lincoln Prize Winner of the 2009 Barondess/Lincoln Prize by the Civil War Round Table of New York John Lyman Award of the North American Society for Oceanic History Daniel and Marilyn Laney Prize by the Austin Civil War Round Table Nevins-Freeman Prize of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago




Admiral "Bull" Halsey


Book Description

The definitive biography of America's best-known naval officer, who commanded the legendary fast carrier force during WWII. From the tragic aftermath of Pearl Harbor, when he fashioned America's first response to the attack, to the war's final day in Tokyo Bay when he witnessed Japan's surrender, Admiral William F. Halsey stamped a mighty imprint on the Pacific during World War II. He led or participated significantly in the Navy's first offensive strikes against the Marshall Islands and Wake Island, the Guadalcanal campaign, and the offensive toward Japan. As a commander, he never shied from engaging the enemy, but boldly entered into battle, ready for a fight. As a consequence, Halsey became the face of the Navy and its most attractive public relations phenomenon. Due to his bold tactics and quotable wit, Halsey continues to be a beloved and debated figure. In this balanced biography, historian John Wukovits illuminates the life of a man who ultimately deserves recognition as one the great naval commanders in U.S. history. Europe had Patton; the Pacific had Admiral William "the Bull" Halsey.




The Admirals' Advantage


Book Description

This analytic and historical study provides a revealing look at naval operational intelligence by embracing the fundamental question of what OPINTEL is and how it answers the fundamental question "Where is the enemy, in what strength, and disposition, and what is he doing right now?" It is primarily the result of an Operational Intelligence Lessons-Learned Symposium held at the National Maritime Intelligence Training Center in Dam Neck, Virginia, 12-13 September 1998. The participants included senior intelligence professionals whose mandate was to explore the ramifications of the evolution of naval operational intelligence since World War II. Current practices were also explored with inputs from current practitioners as represented by various fleet and shore commands. Additional sources for the study were oral interviews and correspondence with senior members of the intelligence community. The authors have scrupulously taken the work as close to the edge of security classification as is possible to enhance its value without being damaging to national security.




Admirals


Book Description

Warfare & defence.




Trailblazer


Book Description

' A Navy pioneer, Vice Adm. Samuel Gravely was the first African American to be commissioned a flag officer in the U.S. Navy, the first to command a Navy ship in the twentieth century, and the first to command a U.S. numbered fleet. In this memoir, co-authored by the noted naval historian Paul Stillwell, Gravely describes his life from his boyhood in Richmond, Virginia, through his officer service on board a World War II submarine chaser, to later tours of duty at sea and ashore. Denied housing and even jailed for impersonating an officer, he recounts efforts to overcome both cultural and institutional obstacles posed by racism as he rose through the ranks. In 2009, the Navy named the guided missile destroyer Gravely in his honor.' (Naval Institute Press website)