Reminiscences of Vice Adm. Bernard L. Austin, USN (Ret.)


Book Description

Admiral Austin, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1924, provides a relatively brief description of his junior officer years, which contained a fair amount of submarine duty. From 1937-1940, he was press officer in the Navy Department, then went to the U.S. Embassy, as special naval observer in London under Vice Admiral R.L. Ghormley. While CO of the destroyer Woolsey, he was credited with sinking a German submarine during North African landings. He then commanded the new destroyer Foote for a year before commanding DesDiv 46 in Arleigh Burke's famous "Little Beaver" squadron in the Solomons campaign. After duty on Admiral Nimitz's staff, he held a variety of assignments at sea and ashore, including three-star duty as Director of the Joint Staff Office, DCNO (Plans and Policy), Commander Second Fleet, and President of the Naval War College.













With Utmost Spirit


Book Description

Nineteen months before the D-Day invasion of Normandy, Allied assault forces landed in North Africa in Operation TORCH, the first major amphibious operation of the war in Europe. Under the direction of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, AUS, Adm. Andrew B. Cunningham, RN, Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, USN, and others, the Allies kept pressure on the Axis by attacking what Winston Churchill dubbed "the soft underbelly of Europe." The Allies seized the island of Sicily, landed at Salerno and Anzio, and established a presence along the coast of southern France. With Utmost Spirit takes a fresh look at this crucial naval theater of the Second World War. Barbara Brooks Tomblin chronicles the US Navy's and the Royal Navy's struggles to wrest control of the Mediterranean Sea from Axis submarines and aircraft, to lift the siege of Malta, and to open a through convoy route to Suez while providing ships, carrier air support, and landing craft for five successful amphibious operations. Examining official action reports, diaries, interviews, and oral histories, Tomblin describes each of these operations in terms of ship-to-shore movements, air and naval gunfire support, logistics, countermine measures, antisubmarine warfare, and the establishment of ports and training bases in the Mediterranean. Firsthand accounts from the young officers and men who manned the ships provide essential details about Mediterranean operations and draw a vivid picture of the war at sea and off the beaches.




Baldwin of the Times


Book Description

Hanson W. Baldwin was America’s best-known military writer and analyst in the 20th century covering conflicts from World War II to the Vietnam War. He was the military editor of the New York Times for forty years and his dispatches from Guadalcanal and the Western Pacific won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1943.This first biography of this Naval Academy graduate begins with an appreciation of the human and literary values learned from his Baltimore newspaper family. His midshipman years, 1920-1924, taught him the value of concentration. After three years of active service, he chose the life of a professional writer. A few days before the 1929 stock market crash, he joined the New York Times as a reporter. His career was advanced by the patronage of the Times publisher and by the talk of another European war in 1937. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for his Guadalcanal series. After 1945, he thought the atomic bomb to be of limited use on the battlefield as well as in the politics of the Cold War. His news scoops upset many but were in keeping with his determination to tell his readers what its government was doing. His continuing criticism of Secretary McNamara’s management of the Vietnam War and the Times management’s annoyance with his pro-war position contributed to his decision to retire in March 1968. Later, he could only observe and to complain over the decline of American values and its harmful effects on the military. After his retirement he continued to write articles on military affairs for the news columns and Op-Ed page of the New York Times.




Selling Sea Power


Book Description

The accepted narrative of the interwar U.S. Navy is one of transformation from a battle-centric force into a force that could fight on the “three planes” of war: in the skies, on the water, and under the waves. The political and cultural tumult that accompanied this transformation is another story. Ryan D. Wadle’s Selling Sea Power explores this little-known but critically important aspect of naval history. After World War I, the U.S. Navy faced numerous challenges: a call for naval arms limitation, the ascendancy of air power, and budgetary constraints exacerbated by the Great Depression. Selling Sea Power tells the story of how the navy met these challenges by engaging in protracted public relations campaigns at a time when the means and methods of reaching the American public were undergoing dramatic shifts. While printed media continued to thrive, the rapidly growing film and radio industries presented new means by which the navy could connect with politicians and the public. Deftly capturing the institutional nuances and the personalities in play, Wadle tracks the U.S. Navy’s at first awkward but ultimately successful manipulation of mass media. At the same time, he analyzes what the public could actually see of the service in the variety of media available to them, including visual examples from progressively more sophisticated—and effective—public relations campaigns. Integrating military policy and strategy with the history of American culture and politics, Selling Sea Power offers a unique look at the complex links between the evolution of the art and industry of persuasion and the growth of the modern U.S. Navy, as well as the connections between the workings of communications and public relations and the command of military and political power.




Reminiscences of Vice Adm. Robert Burns Pirie, USN (Ret.)


Book Description

Designated a naval aviator in 1929, Vice Admiral Robert B. Pirie served in the USS Lexington (CV-2), Langley (CV-1), and Raleigh (CL-7). In 1942 he was Assistant Air Operations Officer for Commander Air Force Pacific Fleet. In 1945 he was Commander Carrier Division Four, participating in the assault on and capture of the Marianas and Palau; the initial raid on the Philippines, Okinawa, and Formosa; the Battle of Leyte Gulf; and the South China Sea Raid. During the final months of the war, he was Air Ops Officer on staff of Fleet Admiral King. He served as Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy in 1952. Subsequent duties included: CO of the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43); Chief of Staff to CinC, U.S. Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean; Chief of Staff and Aide to CinC U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Commander Carrier Division Six, Commander Second Fleet; and Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air) until retirement in 1962.




Reminiscences of Vice Adm. Kent L. Lee, USN (Ret.), Vol. I


Book Description

Coming from a rural background in South Carolina, Lee enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and became an aviation mechanic before entering pre-flight training. He became a naval aviator in 1943 and the following year joined the carrier Essex (CV-9), from which he flew first as a bomber pilot, then in an F6F fighter. In the postwar period, he returned to the attack role, flying SB2Cs and ADs. He completed his college education in the late 1940s, then served two combat tours in the Korean War. After postgraduate education in nuclear weapons effects, he had a tour in experimental squadron VX-3, then taught senior officers about nuclear weapons. He commanded VA-46, an A4D squadron, was on the staff of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff in Omaha, and was air group commander in the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65). He was selected for the Navy's nuclear power program by Admiral Hyman Rickover and underwent training. He commanded the amphibious warfare ship Alamo (LSD-33) just as the United States was getting involved in the Vietnam War. In the mid-1960s Lee served in the Pentagon as executive assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research and Development). From 1967 to 1969 he was commanding officer of the nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise (CVAN-65). A considerable part of this volume is devoted to his command of that ship, including two fatiguing combat tours off Vietnam, the Pueblo (AGER-2) crisis, the demands of Admiral Rickover, and a visit from President Lyndon Johnson. Afterward he served as head of the Office of Program Appraisal for Secretary of the Navy John Chafee. As a three-star admiral, Lee was the top-ranking naval officer at the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff. The bulk of Lee's time as a flag officer was spent in the Naval Air Systems Command, first as assistant commander for maintenance and fleet support, finally as overall commander. In the latter job, as he explains, he had an instrumental role in the development of the F/A-18 Hornet. He retired in 1976. Lee's openness and candor throughout his oral history make it a particularly valuable one.




Reminiscences of Vice Adm. Kent L. Lee, USN (Ret.), Vol. II


Book Description

Coming from a rural background in South Carolina, Lee enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and became an aviation mechanic before entering pre-flight training. He became a naval aviator in 1943 and the following year joined the carrier Essex (CV-9), from which he flew first as a bomber pilot, then in an F6F fighter. In the postwar period, he returned to the attack role, flying SB2Cs and ADs. He completed his college education in the late 1940s, then served two combat tours in the Korean War. After postgraduate education in nuclear weapons effects, he had a tour in experimental squadron VX-3, then taught senior officers about nuclear weapons. He commanded VA-46, an A4D squadron, was on the staff of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff in Omaha, and was air group commander in the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65). He was selected for the Navy's nuclear power program by Admiral Hyman Rickover and underwent training. He commanded the amphibious warfare ship Alamo (LSD-33) just as the United States was getting involved in the Vietnam War. In the mid-1960s Lee served in the Pentagon as executive assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research and Development). From 1967 to 1969 he was commanding officer of the nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise (CVAN-65). A considerable part of this volume is devoted to his command of that ship, including two fatiguing combat tours off Vietnam, the Pueblo (AGER-2) crisis, the demands of Admiral Rickover, and a visit from President Lyndon Johnson. Afterward he served as head of the Office of Program Appraisal for Secretary of the Navy John Chafee. As a three-star admiral, Lee was the top-ranking naval officer at the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff. The bulk of Lee's time as a flag officer was spent in the Naval Air Systems Command, first as assistant commander for maintenance and fleet support, finally as overall commander. In the latter job, as he explains, he had an instrumental role in the development of the F/A-18 Hornet. He retired in 1976. Lee's openness and candor throughout his oral history make it a particularly valuable one.