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The British Carrier Strike Fleet After 1945

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As a follow-up to the highly regarded British Pacific Fleet, David Hobbs looks at the post-World War II fortunes of the most powerful fleet in the Royal Navyits decline in the face of diminishing resources, its final fall at the hands of ignorant politicians, and its recent resurrection in the form of the Queen Elizabeth class carriers, the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Despite prophecies that nuclear weapons would make conventional forces obsolete, British carrier-borne aircraft were almost continuously employed. The Royal Navy faced new challenges in places like Korea, Egypt, and the Persian Gulf. During these trials the Royal Navy invented techniques and devices crucial to modern carrier operations, pioneering novel forms of warfare tactics for countering insurgency and terrorism. This book combines narratives of poorly understood operations with clear analysis of their strategic and political background. With beautiful illustrations and original research, British Carrier Strike Fleet tells an important but largely untold story of renewed significance as Britain once again embraces carrier operation.

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Allied and Japanese Plans, Preparations, and Execu

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One of the largest and most complex military efforts ever undertaken, the Leyte Operation was the Allies first and most important major combined operation to liberate the Philippine archipelago. The stakes were high: a successful landing at Leyte was critical to a subsequent assault on Luzon and total control of the Philippines. If Japan lost the Philippines, its supply of oil and other strategic raw materials would be cut off and its navy doomed to an inglorious end. In this comprehensive study, one of the worlds leading authorities on the subject addresses all aspects of the two-month-long ground, sea, and air invasion, and presents a complete evaluation of theater-wide command, organization, intelligence, and logistics.  Drawing on a wealth of Allied and Japanese primary documents and countless secondary sources, Milan Vego describes and analyzes the operational planning and preparation as well as the execution of actions on both sides. Focusing on the operational versus tactical aspects of the struggle, he critically assesses the major decisions made by the senior commanders. His access to the Allied Magic radio intercepts allows him to shed light on what Allied and Japanese commanders knew and did not know about each other. Unlike other books on the subject, Vego provides the reader with detailed analysis of the operational lessons learned that can be taken away from the engagement. A large number of maps, figures, and tables enhance the text.

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There are a few books on all naval weapon systems for all nations in the world. These are limited in many Chinese technologies, with not a single entry on several important areas such as communications, weapon integration/ control and sonars. There are other excellent books on PLAN organization, high level assumed goals and political structure, but little on actual ship combat system details except possibly in limited areas. This book traces, in detail, the long path from a coastal defense force of obsolete ships and crude systems to the current complex unique new construction coastal missile catamarans and AEGIS-like large DDGs with indigenous Vertical launch weapons and long range cruise missiles.  In war gaming or operational tactics, many tables with frequencies, loadouts and ranges are useful, especially if unclassified.  With this book, all of these platforms and systems are in one source. The book is divided into sections on frigates, destroyers, missile destroyers, patrol craft, naval aircraft and helicopters, nuclear and diesel submarines. Antisubmarine, anti-air, antisurface and mine warfare, amphibs and auxuiliaries are in their own areas. Even state-owned paramilitary vessels are covered. Hull, machinery and electrical and deperming are also addressed.  This book prompts the reader to discern PLAN areas of weakness as well as threats based upon the sum of tables, rather than merely accept an authors conclusions. The enigmatic PLAN aircraft carrier preparations in pilots, shipyard and battle group basing will be noted. The only fact pending is when the keels will be laid in Shanghai and the actual tonnage.

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This new work features the fresh thinking of twenty-eight leading authors from a variety of military and national security disciplines. Following an introduction by Lt. Gen. James Dubik, Commander I Corps, U.S. Army, and an opening essay titled "State of the Question" by Dr. Colin Gray, the anthology first considers the general question of "An American Way of War?" Sections on operational art, with writers addressing the issues in both conventional and small wars; stability and reconstruction; and intelligence complete the volume. Among the well-known contributors are Fred Kagan, Ralph Peters, Harlan Ullman, and Milan Vego. This collection of essays is the outcome of a seminar series sponsored by the Office of Force Transformation and the U.S. Navy to examine the future of warfare and the underlying principles of war and to educate future military strategists and leaders on these principles. Footnotes, index, and a bibliographic essay make the work a useful tool for students of war and general readers alike.

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Now, for the first time, comes a long-overdue book that presents all of the U.S. Navys rich cargo of paranormal phenomena. There is the great Stephen Decatur, whose mournful apparition still stalks the halls of his famous home, said to be one of the most haunted spots in Washington, D.C. USS The Sullivans, now a floating museum, is the source of much disturbing spectral activitypoltergeists opening locks, hurling objects, and turning on radar thats no longer under electrical power. Then there are the repeated sightings of the handsome USS Lexington ghost, polite . . . kind . . . smartly dressed in a summer white Navy uniform. From translucent sails to phantom crews, from a flaming ghost ship to the infamous psychic anomaly at the U.S. Naval Academy to battleships where the dead still linger, this book offers no less than a haunted history of the U.S. Navy.

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Hanson W. Baldwin, a Military Journalist's Life, 1903-1991

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Hanson W. Baldwin was Americas 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 McNamaras management of the Vietnam War and the Times managements 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.

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The Secrets to Success of the Most Effective Navy and Marine Corps Leaders

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Leadership is a most demanding undertaking.  How do some people make it seem so simple, so natural and instinctive?  In the age-old debate as to whether leaders are born or made, Thomas contends that the answer is both.  Great leaders throughout history were born with certain capabilities.  Preparation honed those capabilities.  Then that ability and preparation were combined with a will to lead.  When circumstances demanded, the great leaders of history pulled these attributes together to create results that drove the course of history.  While leaders are present in every aspect of human undertaking, we chose to illustrate each of the components of leadership through the most dramatic and demanding of all human undertakingswar and the preparations for war.  Wartime leaders are leaders writ with a darker pen.  Wartime challenges are, because of the life and death nature of the affair, more monumental and exacting.  In the selection of individuals to illustrate each point, we chose wartime leaders as well as those who guided their subordinates and organizations in preparation for combat.  Further we chose American leaders with a distinct and obvious bias towards the navy and Marine Corps.    Multiple reasons led us to our approach for Leadership Embodied. First, a biography is perhaps the most effective method for imparting leadership lessons. Simple listings of prescriptive traits or descriptive qualities are patronizing and, frequently, boring. Second, our biographical examples are familiar to mostor at least they should be. Finally, all of these historical selections have dramatically shaped todays institutions, practices, and customs within the naval services.  These are not marginal figures with marginal influence. The individuals included, and their respective leadership attributes, should be required reading for any student of leadership.  Each has a particular lesson for midshipmen on their journey to becoming a navy or Marine Corps officer.  This book does not promise to be a panacea.  There is no short cut.  Leadership does not follow a prescribed path.  We study examples to inspire us to become better, to be strong when it is easy to give in, and to know others have gone before us and faced insurmountable odds.  Leadership, as an ill-defined social science, crosses boundaries with several disciplines including sociology, psychology, philosophy, and history.  We have selected a method that combines the psychological profile of effective leaders and the historical context of the impact their leadership brought to organizations and events.   Our hope for this book is that these case studies illustrate the basic elementsin themselves the very essenceof leadership.  It is through inherent talent, arduous preparation, and practical experience that we become capable leaders.  The reader brings the first to the table; then we offer a small token in the second pursuit; and circumstances enable the third.

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This memoir of James Stavridis' two years in command of the destroyer USS Barry reveals the human side of what it is like to be in charge of a warshipfor the first time and in the midst of international crisis. From Haiti to the Balkans to the Arabian Gulf<, the Barry was involved in operations throughout the world during his 19931995 tour. Drawing on daily journals he kept for the entire period, the author reveals the complex nature of those deployments in a "real time" context and describes life on board the Barry and liberty ashore for sailors and officers alike. With all the joy, doubt, self-examination, hope, and fear of a first command, he offers an honest examination of his experience from the bridge to help readers grasp the true nature of command at sea. The window he provides into the personal lives of the crew illuminates not only their hard work in a ship that spent more than 70 percent of its time underway, but also the sacrifices of their families ashore.   Stavridis credits his able crew for the many awards the Barry won while he was captain, including the Battenberg Cup for top ship in the Atlantic Fleet. Naval aficionados who like seagoing fiction will be attracted to the book, as will those fascinated by life at sea. Officers from all the services, especially surface warfare naval officers aspiring to command, will find these lessons of a first command by one of the Navy's most respected admirals both entertaining and instructive.

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The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II

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When first published in 1995, this book was hailed as an absolutely indispensable contribution to the history of the Pacific War. Drawing heavily from Japanese sources and American wartime intercepts of secret Japanese radio messages, a noted American naval historian and a Japanese mariner painstakingly recorded and evaluated a diverse array of material about Japan's submarines in World War II.  The study begins with the development of the first Japanese 103-ton Holland-type submergible craft in 1905 and continues through the 1945 surrender of the largest submarine in the world at the time, the 5300-ton I-400 class that carried three airplanes. Submarine weapons, equipment, personnel, and shore support systems are discussed first in the context of Japanese naval preparations for war and later during the war. Both successes and missed opportunities are analyzed in operations ranging from the California coast through the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the coast of German-occupied France. Appendixes include lists of Japanese submarine losses and the biographies of key Japanese submarine officers. Rare illustrations and specifically commissioned operational maps enhance the text.

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The CIA Responds to the Senate Intelligence Committee's Study of Its Detention and Interrogation Program

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In December 2014, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) released a 500+ page executive summary of a 6,000 page study of the CIA's detention and interrogation of al Qa'ida terrorists. In early 2015 publishers released the study in book form and called it "the report" on "torture." Rebuttal presents the "rest of the story." In addition to reprinting the official responses from the SSCI minority and CIA, this publication also includes eight essays from senior former CIA officials who all are deeply knowledgeable about the program and yet none of whom were interviewed by the SSCI staff during the more than four years the report was in preparation. These authors of the eight essays are George Tenet, Porter Goss, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, USAF (Ret.), John McLaughlin, Michael Morell, J. Philip Mudd, John Rizzo, and Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.

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Thanks to the PBY's daring pilots and their effective tactics, the slow outdated Catalina patrol bombers became the scourge of Japanese shipping in the South Pacific during World War II. Painted black and hunting at night, the Black Cats, as they were called, are credited with sinking or disabling hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo vessels, troop transports, and warships. Curiously their exploits were known to few outside the naval aviation community until the publication of this book in 1981. This testimonial to their magnificent performance is told by an experienced flying boat pilot, who has pieced together the fascinating story from reminiscences of the men who flew the long, arduous missions and from official navy records. It is an inspiring tale of fearless men in machines ill-designed for combat who wreaked havoc on a dangerous and merciless adversary. Illustrated with more than sixty photographs and detailed line drawings, it is a book to be savored by those who like their adventure stories to ring true.

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Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947

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Hell To Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 is a comprehensive and compelling examination of the myriad complex issues that comprised the strategic plans for the American invasion of Japan. U.S. planning for the invasion and military occupation of Imperial Japan was begun in 1943, two years before the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In its final form, Operation Downfall called for a massive Allied invasion--on a scale dwarfing D-Day--to be carried out in two stages. In the first stage, Operation Olympic, the U.S. Sixth Army would lead the southern-most assault on the Home Island of Kyushu preceded by the dropping of as many as nine atom bombs behind the landing beaches. Sixth Army would secure airfields and anchorages needed to launch the second stage, Operation Coronet, 500 miles to the north in 1946. The decisive Coronet invasion of the industrial heartland of Japan through the Tokyo Plain would be led by the Eighth Army, as well as the First Army, which had previously pummeled its way across France and Germany to defeat the Nazis. These facts are well known and have been recounted, with varying degrees of accuracy, in a variety of books and articles. A common theme in these works is their reliance on a relatively few declassified high-level planning documents. An attempt to fully understand how both the U.S. and Japan planned to conduct the massive battles subsequent to the initial landings was not dealt with in these books beyond the skeletal U.S. outlines formulated nine months before the initial land battles were to commence, and more than a year before the anticipated climactic series of battles near Tokyo. On the Japanese side, plans for Operation Ketsu-go, the decisive battle in the Home Islands, have been unexamined below the strategic level and seldom consisted of more than a list of the units involved and a rehash of U.S. intelligence estimates of Kamikaze aircraft available for the defense of Kyushu. Hell to Pay examines the invasion of Japan in light of the large body of Japanese and American operational and tactical planning documents unearthed by the author in both familiar and obscure archives, as well as postwar interrogations and reports that senior Japanese commanders and their staffs were ordered to produce for General MacArthur's headquarters. Hell to Pay clarifies the political and military ramifications of the enormous casualties and loss of material projected by both sides in the climatic struggle to bring the Pacific War to a conclusion through a brutal series of battles on Japanese soil. This groundbreaking history counters the revisionist interpretations questioning the rationale for the use of the atom bomb and shows that President Truman's decision was based on very real estimates of the truly horrific cost of a conventional invasion of Japan.

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Gradually evolving from sailing frigates, the first modern cruiser is not easy to define, but this book starts with the earliest steam paddle warships, covers the evolution of screw-driven frigates, corvettes and sloops, and then the succeeding iron, composite and steel-hulled classes down to the last armoured cruisers.

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The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign

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Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942

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From huddled command conferences to cramped cockpits, John Lundstrom guides readers through the maelstrom of air combat at Guadalcanal in this impressively researched sequel to his earlier study.  Picking up the story after Midway, the author presents a scrupulously accurate account of what happened, describing in rich detail the actual planes and pilots pitted in the ferocious battles that helped turn the tide of war.  Based on correspondence with 150 American and Japanese veterans, or their families, he reveals the thoughts, pressures, and fears of the airmen and their crews as he reconstructs the battles.  These are the story of the Wildcat and Zero fighters, and the Dauntless, Avenger, Betty, Kate, and Val bombers.  Lavishly illustrated with drawings, maps, and photographs, this fresh look at the campaign set a standard for aviation histories when first published in 1994.

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Known to seafarers as the Devil's Jaw, Point Honda has lured ships to its dangerous rocks on the coast of California for centuries, but its worst disaster occurred on 8 September 1923. That night nine U.S. Navy destroyers ran into Honda's fog-wrapped reefs. Part of Destroyer Squadron 11, the ships were making a fast run from San Francisco to their homeport of San Diego at a steady 20 knots as fog closed around them. The captain of the flagship Delphy ordered a change of course, but due to navigational errors and unusual currents caused by an earthquake in Japan the previous week, she ran aground and eight destroyers followed her. The authors recreate in dramatic hour-by-hour detail what happened, including the heroic efforts to rescue men and ships. In addition to presenting a full picture of the tragedy, they cover the subsequent investigations, which became a media sensation. In conclusion, the authors suggest that the cause of the tragedy lay in the interpretation of the differences that exist between the classic concepts of naval regulations and the stark realism of the unwritten code of destroyer doctrine to follow the leader. Admiral Nimitz's introduction sets the scene for this action-filled account of America's greatest peacetime naval tragedy in history. Only Pearl Harbor in 1941 would do more damage.

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Despite its reputation as the most impressive naval force in the world, the U.S. Navy is in trouble, according to the author of this book, and systemic weaknesses could be its undoing. Here, military sociologist Roger Thompson provides a compelling, often scathing, assessment of the U.S. Navy and its learning disabilities and then presents a convincing argument for reform. Thompson points to the U.S. Navy's "up or out" promotion system, massive personnel turnover, inexperienced crews, and drug and alcohol abuse as problems that make it difficult for the Navy to build cohesive, well-trained fighting units. In a review of the Navy's recent history, he finds that its ships, submarines, and aircraft are often outperformed in competitions and exercises with other naviesand its failures are either denied altogether or perfunctorily excused. Diesel submarinesso quiet that they are rarely detected until it's too late to prevent an attackroutinely surpass expensive U.S. nuclear subs and put U.S. aircraft carriers in danger. American naval pilots, whose weapons are often improperly tested, are frequently bested by military pilots from other countries. Because the U.S. Navy doesn't have enough surface ships to protect its capital ships, American carrier strike groups now use Canadian ships as escorts. Shortcomings like these, Thompson argues, undermine the Navy's potential and should be cause for national concern. In presenting a side of the U.S. Navy that's rarely discussed, this book spells out lessons the Navy must learn if it is going to succeed in an era of asymmetrical warfareof David-versus-Goliath conflicts. In his conclusion, the author puts forth a twelve-step program that calls on the U.S. Navy to rethink its naval strategy, to lose some weight, and to focus on the fundamentals.

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In a wartime Navy of giant carriers and battleships, tiny wooden subchasers did not command much attention. Yet these 110-foot warships, manned mostly by inexperienced reservists, performed vital chores for the fleet everywhere there was action in World War II. They led landing craft right up to the assault beaches, protected them from fire, fought off air attacks, swept for mines, laid down smoke screens, and patrolled the sea for killer submarines. One such doughty little ship, subchaser 692, is the subject of this book. Told by 692's commanding officer Ed Stafford, then a twenty-four-year-old lieutenant (jg) on his first warship, the story follows the thirty-man crew as they scrapped their way through the war, including action during the July 1943 invasion of Sicily. Filled with humor, tension, poignancy, and moments of high drama, this volume leaves today's readers with a vivid image of life on a very small ship in a very big war.

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During the Cold War a number of high-ranking Soviet citizens spied for the CIA, providing the United States with valuable information while putting themselves and their families in great danger. In this book a seasoned CIA field operator and station chief looks at what drove these agents to betray their own country. Unlike many authors who write about spies, John Hart knows the espionage profession first-hand, and his penetrating analysis of the motivations involved is based on top-secret operational files. Four major Soviet agents -Yuri Nosenko, the dissident KGB agent who disclosed the bugs in the American Embassy in Moscow and claimed the KGB had no connection to the assassination of President Kennedy; Oleg Penkovsky, one of the West's most important agents who was eventually executed by the Soviets; and Pyotr Popov and Mikhail -are examined in depth, and the cases of six others are discussed. The stories of each reveal a great deal about the realities of the intelligence craft. Hart became so intrigued with the reasons behind the agents' spying activities that he asked then-CIA director Richard Helms for time off to investigate the cases. For a full year he searched for common denominators in the personalities of these Soviet moles that would explain their willingness to take such life-threatening risks. He had complete access to their operational files, including psychological profiles. He studied not only documentation of the material the agents provided but also their own accounts of their thoughts and emotions when they divulged secrets that could damage their homeland. This behind-the-headlines look at what makes spies tick is aimed at every reader with a penchant for good spy stories.

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At two oclock in the morning on 27 April 1865, seven miles north of Memphis on the Mississippi, the sidewheel steamboat Sultanas boilers suddenly exploded. Legally registered to carry 376 people, the boat was packed with 2,100 recently released Union prisoners-of-war. Over 1,700 people died, making it the worst marine disaster in U.S. history. This book looks at the disaster through the eyes of the victims themselves. It offers a concise, minute-by-minute account on the cause of the explosion and its effect on different parts of the boat.  To focus on the personal stories of the victims, both civilian and soldier, Gene Eric Salecker patiently collected material from hundreds of letters, period newspaper stories, and other sources. Readers are first introduced to victims while they are languishing in Confederate prisons and follow their release to an exchange camp outside of Vicksburg to their eventual crowding onto the Sultana. His knowledgeable narrative is interwoven with individual reminiscences, including those of the heroic rescuers. He offers unprecedented details about the captains handling of the steamboat and corrects some long-held myths about the placement of the soldiers on the Sultana and newspaper coverage of the disaster.  A large portion of the book covers rescue attempts, both successful and failed, and the aftermath of the disaster as it affected those involved. With its emphasis on the human-interest aspect of the Sultana, this book brings to the literature a critical point of view and much new information.

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Lessons in Leadership from the Partisan Campaigns of Francis Marion

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As one of the Patriot leaders in the Carolinas, the partisan campaign conducted by Brigadier General Francis Marion and his irregular force during the American Revolution prevented South Carolina from completely succumbing to British control during the period between the capture of Charleston in May 1780 and the start of Major General Nathanael Greenes campaign to recover the Southern Colonies in December 1780. During substantial segments of this period he alone held eastern South Carolina from the British and became known as The Swamp Fox for his exploits and elusiveness in harassing the British with his guerilla tactics.  Upon the arrival of Greenes Continental Army of the Southern Department, Marions forces then reverted in part to an important supporting role in South Carolina for the duration of the war. He later assisted in the establishment of the authority of the State of South Carolina and contributed to its post-conflict termination. If General Marion had not taken action during the American Revolution, there is a good possibility that eastern South Carolina would have succumbed to British intent. That, coupled with the British occupation of Charleston, may have provided the British with the requisite momentum needed to conquer the South. Thankfully, General Marions call to action both militarily and politically prevented such momentum from existing.   The multifaceted aspect of the American Revolution serves as an excellent case study for the conflicts of the twenty-first century: joint and combined operations, civil war, insurgency/counterinsurgency, global superpowers, civil-military relations, this conflicts got it all! Many of Marions partisan actions were forerunners of todays tactics, showing his great innovativeness and foresight as a military leader. His incessant activities diverted British and Loyalist forces, inflicted British and Loyalist casualties, supported operations of the Continental Army during its Southern Campaign, and sustained the American Revolution in South Carolina. He was extremely effective across the range of military operations, from guerilla warfare to storming forts. He was equally inept in what today would be considered information operations and even participating in the linear tactics of the day in pitched battles. Such similarity makes Marions partisan campaign worth study by current military and political leaders. Aikens portrayal of Brigadier General Marions partisan actions describes the forerunners of tactics common of todays global security environment, tactics used by, and against, United States forces.