DEFCON-2: Standing on the Brink of Nuclear War During the Cuban Missile Crisis Review

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(More customer reviews)The authors of this fine book have provided us with an insightful and comprehensive look at how the world was nearly subjected to the catastrophic events of a global thermonuclear war.
Rather than simply providing us with a simple chronology or details of the individual events making up the crisis, Normal Polmar & John Gresham have combined to provide us with a solid explanatory volume of how this crisis nearly devolved into something akin to the end of the world as it was then known.
Providing details based on interviews from participants in the crisis and on recently declassified documents, Polmar & Gresham provide us with details not before seen, but critical in understanding the crisis.
The book does not simply explain the crisis from either the American or the Soviet side, but instead looks at it from three different viewpoints - the Americans, the Soviets, and the Cubans (primarily Fidel Castro). This makes for an enlightening & very useful study of this critical period in Cold War history.
I especially enjoyed the final chapter of the book - the lessons learned from Operation Anadyr (the Soviet code name for the installation of nuclear weapons in Cuba). I thought that the ananlysis presented in this chapter tied all of the previously written history together into a nice package. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a solid explanation of the Missile Crisis and just how close we really did come to global destruction.

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Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion Review

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(More customer reviews)USS Scorpion's sinking remains a controversial topic more than 35 years later. But the focus has always been on the ship and not on the crew, all of whom perished aboard the submarine.
Stephen Johnson deftly weaves the personal stories of crew members with that of the ship itself. Scorpion was a cranky, failure-prone submarine and her crew had to work doubly hard to keep her in service. The never-ending failures and breakdowns caused at least one crew member to transfer off the ship, though his guilt haunted him for the rest of his life.
Along the way we see that the Navy hadn't learned its lesson from the sinking of the Thresher just five years earlier. Though Scorpion had been back-fitted with several "SUBSAFE" modifications, her emergency-blow system remained inoperable due to design defects for the rest of her brief life. The Navy seemed more interested in holding repair costs down, rather than the safety of a nuclear warship and her crew.
Johnson's style is subtle and understated, and is thus more effective at conveying the human tragedy of the sinking than the semi-hype of Sherry Sontag/Christopher Drew ("Blind Man's Buff") or John Craven ("The Silent War").
Those looking for a definitive explaination of the sinking may be disappointed -- as with many technical failures, there are far more questions than answers.
Intriguing, sobering, ultimately very sad, and very worthy. A tribute to those who died beneath the restless sea. Highly recommended.

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Guantánamo: A Working-Class History between Empire and Revolution (American Crossroads) Review

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(More customer reviews)History told from the bottom up almost always forces the reader to think about human injustice. This is certainly true of Jana Lipman's compellingly written, well researched study of those who built and worked at the Guantánamo naval base prior to the success of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Lipman did field research in Guantánamo City and her distillation of the interviews she conducted makes an important contribution to the history of this unique U.S. military installation. As Lipman persuasively argues, Cuban workers had to navigate between being loyal Cuban citizens and trustworthy employees of the U.S. Navy. What is most fascinating to me is Lipman's information concerning those Cuban laborers who were also working to ensure the success of the Cuban Revolution. But what of those workers who liked working for the U.S. government, appreciated the benefits they received, and continued to live in Cuba and commuted to the base long after the Revolution had succeeded? This is an vital part of the history that is missing from Lipman's account.
Stephen Irving Max Schwab, author of Guantánamo, USA: The Untold History of America's Cuban Outpost

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Guantánamo has become a symbol of what has gone wrong in the War on Terror. Yet Guantánamo is more than a U.S. naval base and prison in Cuba, it is a town, and our military occupation there has required more than soldiers and sailors--it has required workers. This revealing history of the women and men who worked on the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay tells the story of U.S.-Cuban relations from a new perspective, and at the same time, shows how neocolonialism, empire, and revolution transformed the lives of everyday people. Drawing from rich oral histories and little-explored Cuban archives, Jana K. Lipman analyzes how the Cold War and the Cuban revolution made the naval base a place devoid of law and accountability. The result is a narrative filled with danger, intrigue, and exploitation throughout the twentieth century. Opening a new window onto the history of U.S. imperialism in the Caribbean and labor history in the region, her book tells how events in Guantánamo and the base created an ominous precedent likely to inform the functioning of U.S. military bases around the world.

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Battle Surface: Lawson P. "Red" Ramage and the War Patrols of the USS Parche Review

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(More customer reviews)Steven Moore's analysis of the men and action on the Parche (SS384) is better than mine, and I was an officer on the Parche for all six war patrols.l

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Cmdr. Lawson Paterson Red Ramage was among an elite group of just seven U.S. submariners who were awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II and the first not to die in the course of his heroic exploits. He was honored for his actions in the Pacific on the night of 31 July 1944 when he kept his submarine, USS Parche, on the surface and defiantly charged into the midst of a large Japanese convoy. Ramage's close-in, furious surface rampage became the talk of the submarine force, both in terms of its boldness and its destruction of the enemy shipping. Remarkably, Parche's crew had managed to reload their torpedo tubes while their skipper twisted and turned the boat through the chaos of machine gun bullets, exploding heavy shells, and Japanese ships trying to ram them.To tell Parche's dramatic story, author Stephen Moore draws on recently discovered wartime diaries and interviews with dozens of veterans, who add rich details to the official record. Readers learn what it was like on patrol in the Pacific to endure the terrors of torpedo attacks and depth charges, as well as learn how they relieved the stress of combat on liberty. The only book to focus exclusively on Parche and the incredible Red Ramage, it offers a rare, up-close look at the actions of the legendary World War II submarine, whose conning tower and periscopes are on permanent display in Pearl Harbor.

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Beyond the Wild Blue: A History of the U.S. Air Force, 1947-2007 Review

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(More customer reviews)To anyone wondering what "Beyond the Wild Blue: A History of the U.S. Air Force 1947-1997" is about, I would recommend a careful look at the title. The title tells one exactly what the book is and is not. It is not a history of American Airpower, although the development of the Army Air Corps is briefly presented as background. It is not a history of the Air Force in war, although the war record of the Air Force is given its due. Beyond the Wild Blue is the history of the U.S. Air Force during the first 50 years of its existence. It is, in essence, an organizational history of the Air Force.
Reviewers often report that an historical book "reads like a novel". I would say that Beyond the Wild Blue develops like a novel. At the end of a novel the reader often realizes that it possesses a theme or a point to which the whole book has contributed. That is the case with this book. The ultimate point of "Beyond the Wild Blue" is that the Air Force has been an organization which has constantly striven, through a continuing research and development program, to achieve its mission through the advancement of aerospace technology. Through his telling of the story of the Air Force as it developed from a stripped down force in the years after World War II to the technological marvel which won the Gulf War, Walter Boyne brings us to realize how the organizational strategy of the Air Force has brought it to the point at which it is the power which it is today. He also makes us realize the degree to which the Air Force depends on the technical expertise of its officers and enlisted personnel in achieving its mission.
Throughout this book, Boyne mixes facts with his candid assessments of personnel who have affected the history of the Air Force. Generals, Secretaries of Defense and the Air Force as well as politicians all come in for forthright praise or criticism. Two of Boyne's heroes figure prominently in the story. General of the Air Force Hap Arnold, who had commanded the Army Air Corps in World War II, guided the Air Corps to its birth as an independent service and inspired its quest for technological superiority. General Curtis LeMay, more than any other officer, imprinted his personality and ideals on the Air Force, much to the benefit of the service and the nation.
Through this book we see the Air Force, at its inception, as a force poorly equipped with World War II leftovers. Ill-prepared at the start of the Korean War and handicapped by politically imposed rules of engagement, the Air Force was, nonetheless, able to establish air superiority throughout the peninsula and, thereby, contribute to the United Nations' successes.
Through the Cold War years of the fifties and early sixties, the Air Force preserved the peace largely through its capability to deliver nuclear weapons, both by manned bomber and ICBM.
The Vietnam War was, for the Air Force as well as all of the American military, a frustrating conflict. The handicaps imposed by politically inspired rules of engagement were more serious even than those imposed in Korea. As an example, pilots were forced to risk their lives trying to destroy trucks individually, while being prevented them from destroying freighters full of trucks in North Vietnamese ports.
After Vietnam, the Air Force continued its technological improvement at an uneven pace, varying with the political winds of the day. The ultimate payoff for the Air Force research and development programs would come in the Gulf War. In this war air control was established, not by defeating an enemy challenge in the air, but by preventing the challenge from arising. The destruction of Iraqi radar and communications kept the enemy planes hunkered on the ground. The ability of air power to pick apart Iraqi defenses and destroy and demoralize its ground forces proved the ultimate vindication of the Air Force research and development programs.
Throughout this book, Boyne presents an agreeable blend of narration about individuals, equipment, organizational concepts and war stories, detailed enough to hold the interest without leading to boredom.
This book addresses all aspects of Air Force service. Fighters, Strategic and Tactical bombers Air Lift and refueling all are given proper attention. The recent reorganization of the Air Force Commands was clearly explained. The changing demands of the American public that victory must be swiftly achieved with few casualties, either of friendly or enemy forces or noncombatants, and the Air Force's ability to meet those demands were presented as a logical result of the continuing research and development programs.
I was particularly impressed by the description of the refueling capabilities which can now keep aircraft flying virtually indefinitely. Equally impressive is the story of the B-52, which may have a useful life of 75 years from first flight to final retirement.
At the conclusion we are presented with an Air Force which has the potential to deliver military punch of unprecedented scope and dimensions. In an era in which the availability of overseas bases may be limited, the Air Force has the capability, through refueling, of delivering ordinance to virtually any place on earth through missions originating in the United States. Although beyond the temporal scope of this book, the continuation of the technological advancement was seen in the Bosnian operation in which bombing runs originated and ended in Missouri by warriors who would spend their nights at home with their families .
This book is a fitting tribute to the men and women who have carried the story of the United States Air Force into the Wild Blue and Beyond.

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The second edition of Beyond the Wild Blue, an update of the popular history originally released in 1997, is a fascinating look at sixty turbulent years of Air Force history. From the prop-driven armada of World War II to the most advanced Stealth weaponry, from pioneers like General Henry "Hap" Arnold to glorious conquests in the Gulf War, Beyond the Wild Blue is a high-flying study of the triumphs (and failures) of leadership and technology.

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From Polaris to Trident: The Development of US Fleet Ballistic Missile Technology (Cambridge Studies in International Relations) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was a Sonar Technician on a Franklin Class Polaris boat armed with A-3's from '69-'71. The essential FBM systems were reasonably mature by the time of my arrival. Although Sub School and quals included an essential understanding of each important system, in those days hardly anything was discussed at my level about the overall FBM development process. The author offers a spinning coin having on one side the political matters and on the other side some moderate-depth technical details.
While explaining the FBM programme in the first eight fascinating chapters, complete with British spellings, the author sets the stage for his ninth chapter thesis in two particular areas. One is to point out (at every opportunity) mission conflicts, not the least of which is perceived competition with the Air Force's land- and airplane-based weapons. The Special Projects Office successfully deflected that one early on by giving its FBM fleet what was to be perceived as a "different" mission. My boat's stated mission was very specific: deterrence through assured retaliatory destruction. The first-generation Polaris boats assured destruction of enemy cities by a general blanket of bombs having only modest accuracy. Over the years, the author points out, various interests sought to increase payloads, range and/or accuracy. These included military leaders from the Navy and other services; Defense Department and other civilian leaders; and Presidents. However, too large a leap in accuracy would lead to the emergence of a "hard target," pre-emptive strike capability, which some factions sought and others resisted because of its potentially destabilizing impact. Second, he explains the long term position taken by the Special Projects Office in persistently refusing to commit to potentially unachievable results. The SPO instead converted those parameters to reasonable "goals" to keep the FBM program on track and consistently "successful."
On the technical front, the overall FBM development plan had to meet challenges in a broad range of disciplines. The subs themselves are nearly taken for granted and discussed very generically except where the discussion ties in directly to a weapon system development. The nuclear power plants are only lightly touched upon, and then, principally to explain how Admiral Rickover's influence over the program was minimized to the extent possible. Most "auxiliary" and electrical systems are not discussed at all. But many worthwhile discussions include the search for reliable and secure navigation systems; position-keeping with SINS; satellite support and vulnerabilities; radio communications; fire control; guidance systems; computers (or rather, meeting goals in spite of a lack of computer power); launch tube structure and development; the rockets themselves; their fuels, control mechanisms and safety problems; re-entry vehicles; their evolving payloads; MRV and MIRV deployment; and the quest for increasing range and accuracy. Some of these systems I haven't seen in print since I turned in my piping manual. The impacts of some scientific and geologic discoveries are explained including the non-spherical shape of the earth and the influence of gravitational variations on gyro-stabilized platforms for both navigation and guidance. Some of the aspects I found most interesting were the payload configurations including re-entry vehicles; bomb composition and yields; MIRV's and the avoidance of fratricide; effects of EMP; decoy methods; industrial competition in inertial navigation systems, especially in gyroscope development; and a few other unexpected matters having a significant influence on target accuracy. While some of the payload configurations and a few of the numbers don't agree exactly with what I thought we had on board, I found no discrepancies to complain about.
In spite of an occasional redundancy I completely savored the main course - the first eight chapters. The ninth chapter, entitled "Understanding Technical Change in Weaponry," opens in a different mood, apparently intending to be a discussion over dessert. It's nearly free standing, written in a much more difficult style and fraught with complex sentences. I toughed that one out anyway so as not to risk missing any tasty tidbits that could have been embedded.
The extensive footnotes contain many interesting comments and point to numerous resources including interviews, although I fear some references might be beyond practical access for further study.
"From Polaris to Trident..." is a very worthwhile read especially if you're interested in the subsystems mentioned above. I particularly recommend it to new active duty submariners because it contains information I now wish I knew when I was there. It could spark an interest in a particular rating.


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Spy Sub: A Top Secret Mission to the Bottom of the Pacific Review

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(More customer reviews)I was a "khaki" (an EOOW) on a 637-class boat in the Jimmy Carter years, with service that included two special operations, a Presidential Unit Citation and an 18-month nuclear refueling overhaul. I often still wake from uncomfortable "submarine dreams" even now, some twenty years after I left the service to go to graduate school. This is the book I will give my son to show him what it was like down there.
Ignore the junk on the dust jacket: it has almost nothing to do with the book and its strengths. "Spy Sub" has much more in common with "The Cruel Sea" (Nicholas Monsarrat's classic story of WWII convoy duty) than it has in common with "The Hunt for Red October", and what it has in common with Monsarrat makes it far more authentic than the Clancy novels. If you're thinking about signing up for sub duty, then you need to read this book to see what you're heading into.
If you're looking for a fast-paced, Hollywood-style "space opera of the undersea", however, this is definitely the book for you. Read Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" and "Red Storm Rising" instead, if that is the case. You'll be entertained a lot and even informed a little. I enjoyed them, too. Just keep in mind that Clancy is a fiction writer whose professional task is to focus on the glamorous and ignore the rest.
Of all the submarine books I've seen and read, "Spy Sub" captures the stone cold sober reality of service aboard a nuclear submarine the best. It shows what it;s really like aboard a nuc boat most of the time, even on a spec op: studying, qualifying, standing watch, performing mountains of required preventive maintenance, keeping your temper in tight spaces, standing watch some more, noticing patterns before they became problems, fixing things that broke, going back on watch yet again, studying to qualify for the next higher watchstation on your off time, and just generally tending to the part of the mission that is your job, so the ship can do its job. Most of it isn't at all glamorous, and almost all of it is very hard work.
I'm not at all surprised that Petty Officer Dunham went on to medical school and a successful career as a physician after he finished his tour of sub duty. The men in dungarees I served with stood head and shoulders above most of my university classmates, and I watched many of them go on to spectacular careers in civilian life. If you read this book carefully and think about it, you will understand why that was so. There is no other experience on this planet that rubs your nose in the details of physical (and psychological) reality quite as thoroughly as service on a nuc boat. The only other experience that might come close is service as an astronaut on an Apollo moon shot.
It's not for everybody. But it's an unbeatable education. Read this book to see why.

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Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of K-129 Review

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(More customer reviews)"Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of K-129" by naval historian Norman Polmar and documentary film producer Michael White provides the first unclassified, factual accounting of a unique event in world history - the loss of a nuclear-missile-equipped submarine in 1968, and its subsequent clandestine (partial) salvage by the CIA in 1974.
In the intervening 35-plus years, there have been many magazine and newspaper articles and several books addressing the K-129 and the CIA's recovery attempt -- incorrectly identifying the CIA effort as "Project Jennifer". Such reportings devolved over the years, as ignorance gradually was replaced by unsupported theories, wild speculation, and finally by absolute nonsense. These distortions and fantasies (represented as factual accountings) eventually motivated several men who participated in CIA's Project Azorian to step forward for in-depth interviews revealing the history of "Azorian" in intimate detail.
Added to the information obtained in these interviews of CIA & Naval officers, men onboard the Hughes Glomar Explorer, and ex-Soviet officials, Polmar & White have published actual photography of the K-129 wreck and, most astonishingly, have published the recorded sound trace of the catastrophe which sank that unfortunate ship. The acoustic recordings were captured by the U.S. Air Force hydrophone system operated by the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) - and Polmar & White reveal that the Navy's SOSUS system never detected the deployment or identified the acoustic events associated with the loss of the K-129.
To these unprecedented sources, add a lengthy interview with ex-Soviet Admiral Viktor Dygalo, who was the K-129's Division Commander in 1968, and add a document review of Russian-language sources concerning Soviet naval activity in the Pacific in 1968. Polmar & White also include declassified documents revealing U.S. Pacific fleet surveillance and operational activities in the northern Pacific from February through May 1968, KH-4B satellite photography of the Petropavlavsk submarine complex in September 1967, and interviews with U.S. naval personnel who participated in events that conspiracy theorists can only speculate about (specifically an interview with the Officer-of-the-Deck of USS Swordfish when she bent her periscope, and with individuals involved in the 1971/72 Trieste dives north of Kauai). Finally, the book integrates the information revealed in a heavily censored 50-page CIA history released in 2010 in reaction to Michael White's documentary film. From these threads, Polmar and White weave the most complete and detailed rendering of this event available outside of the U.S. intelligence community.
Determining the cause of the loss by accident of any vessel is made difficult or impossible if there are no survivors to question, and lacking a forensic reconstruction of recovered parts. Yet, with a very detailed analysis of the acoustic information, Polmar & White come close to an explanation of the catastrophe. When the acoustics are combined with an examination of the photography, and Russian reports of K-129 communications problems at-sea are integrated - certain events identify themselves.
Like many such catastrophes, "Project Azorian" reveals that two or more highly improbable failures occurred in succession, finding a pathway to disaster which designers never considered, and provided no safety cut-out to prevent. Further expertise (probably only available in Russia from ex-Soviet naval architects, equipment designers, naval officers, and training specialists) will be required to verify and explain all the new evidence and identify a definitive chain-of-events to failure as well as "first cause".
After an extensive and detailed narrative of the CIA's "Project Azorian" salvage attempt, and its planned successor "Project Matador", Polmar & White review what the CIA salvaged from the wreck, and whether or not the "take" was worth the cost. An exquisitely detailed blow-by-blow discussion of the Project's intelligence-and-political-review process is included, providing the reader with an understanding of how "black" ops are evaluated and approved within the Executive Branch of government.
The book ends with eight appendices containing information on the K-129, its crew, its missiles, the USS Halibut (SSN-587), the lift ship (Hughes Glomar Explorer), the capture vehicle (the claw), and the "Hughes Mining Barge" (the submersible dry dock for the capture vehicle), 14 pages of "Notes", a "Book List", and a complete index. The "Book List" is a bibliography of earlier books concerning "K-129" with an evaluation of the factual or speculative nature of their contribution to the public's knowledge of this unprecedented event.
If the above does not reveal my unbounded enthusiasm for this book, it is a failure as a review. Others have postured and pretended, promising a unique knowledge of the K-129 and the CIA's salvage effort -- but prior to this book delivered only speculation and distortions. Polmar & White, finally deliver the goods -- they deliver a book demonstrating comprehensive knowledge of this fascinating and heretofore highly-classified incident which occurred at the height of the Cold War.
The CIA Project "Azorian" cost American tax payers about $1.4 billion (2010 dollars), spent between 1968 - 1975. Now for the first time, we can see what our representatives in the "black" communities did with our money, and evaluate for ourselves whether they properly protected our interests during those years of confrontation and threat.
"Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of K-129" is the ONLY authoritative unclassified source of reliable information on this event, and should not be read as just another layer of the speculation which has been accumulating since 1975. Azorian (this book) is the bible for FACTUAL data leading to an understanding of these events, and for identifying and measuring the purposeful misdirection, fictions, errors, and speculation which have been published over the past 35 years.
Buy it; read it; and appreciate that finally facts have been separated from the fancy and disinformation which has surrounded the K-129 loss since 1968.
Polmar & White have produced a tour-de-force.
Also highly recommended is the complementary DVD film by Michael White Productions which, in two hours, covers the same story visually: Azorian: The Raising of the K-129


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The Ice Diaries: The True Story of One of Mankind's Greatest Adventures Review

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(More customer reviews)Having been blessed to be a crewman in US Nautilus on all three of her Arctic cruises, one in 1957 and two in 1958, with the last successfully gaining the North Pole, I'm familiar with all the details. However, it was such a pleasure to read our late skipper's recent and highly updated accounting of those wonderful days. Anderson's first book,'Nautilus 90 North', written just after the Polar trip of 1958 was also a great read, but of necessity, omitted much of the background information and intrigue that led up to all these trips, especially the 1957 trip. Capt. Anderson was one of the most remarkable and humble men I've ever had the privilege to know, and as was his nature, always put the interest of the crew and ship before himself. This is reflected in his writings and as I read 'Ice Diaries', I could hear his soft Tennasee accent speaking right off the pages. Anyone who has an interest in history, the sea, the Navy, or especially submarines, will enjoy this book. It is a complete accounting of our adventures across two years of under ice excursions and I highly recomend it. It should be on every school library shelf in the country. John C. Yuill

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Now, for the first time, the captain of the submarine USS Nautilus tells the newly declassified story of his ship's desperate Cold War race beneath the polar ice pack.The Cold War was in full swing. The Soviet Union had just successfully launched Sputnik, and President Eisenhower badly wanted to redeem the reputation of the US as technologically superior. "Operation Sunshine" was the answer: under top-secret orders, the Captain and crew of one of the first nuclear submarines, the USS Nautilus, crossed under the North Pole and became the first naval vessel to forge all the way under the polar ice pack to emerge near the former Soviet Union. Readers will voyage along with Captain Anderson as he shares newly declassified stories of his sub's encounters with terrible storms, fire in the hold, collisions with ice, broken compasses, and more.

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Nuclear Weapons and Aircraft Carriers : How the Bomb Saved Naval Aviation Review

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(More customer reviews)At a time when the efficacy, utility, and survivability of the big-deck aircraft carrier and its multimission air wing are being challenged anew by armchair strategists and "inside-the-Beltway" analysts, retired Vice Adm. Gerald E. "Jerry" Miller has contributed an important perspective on how the Navy's post-World War II push to develop an aircraft and aircraft carrier capable of delivering a nuclear bomb paved the way for the design of the most effective and versatile platform for seaborne aviation in the world today--the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Miller documents each step along the way in an informative, narrative style for what might otherwise be an arcane and overly technical treatise on engineering-and-aeronautical design. He turns back the pages of history more than 50 years to the day that then-Cdr. Frederick Lincoln "..." Ashworth reported to Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1944 to serve on the Manhattan Project then developing the first nuclear bomb. The need to document the story of the Navy's struggle to develop its post-war nuclear mission began with Miller's dialogue with Ashworth-himself a veteran combat aviator in the Pacific War.
The personalities, aircraft, ships, tactics, and targeting policies associated with the Navy's Cold War mission are all well-represented, including the famous "Revolt of the Admirals" that saw respected naval leaders like Adm. Arthur W. Radford, then-Capt. Arleigh A. Burke, and others risk their careers to argue for a new role for the Navy in transporting, targeting, and delivering nuclear weapons.
Miller writes with a familiarity and authority forged by many years of command at sea during a distinguished 38-year career that included surface combat in a cruiser during World War II, command of a fighter squadron during the Korean War, and command of a carrier division during the Vietnam War. His experiences as the commander of both the U.S. Second and Sixth Fleets during the 1970s and, later, as the deputy director of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff provide the reader with fresh insights into the traditionally highly classified story of how U.S. nuclear weapons were targeted during the height of the Cold War. In 1991, President George Bush announced that all nuclear weapons would be removed from Navy ships and submarines. Naval aviation's more than four-decade association with nuclear weapons came to an end. But, as Miller writes, "The prenuclear carriers had a questionable future. The postnuclear carriers appear to have no limit."
As an aviator who had the privilege to serve as the officer in charge of Miller's helicopter detachment during his tour as commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, I found it exhilarating to relive some vintage examples of Jerry Miller's dynamic leadership, energy, and vision on the pages of his first book on naval aviation. A second is said to be in the works. The legions of Jerry Miller fans around the world can only hope that more will follow.
Gordon I. Peterson Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.) Senior Editor, Sea Power Magazine Navy League of the United States

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The U.S. Navy entered World War II with seven aircraft carriers and finished the war with nearly one hundred. However, with the advent of the atomic bomb in 1945 and its impact on strategic thinking, the future of naval aviation looked bleak. Rapid demobilization after the war eliminated many carriers, and most policy makers believed that future wars would be fought with nuclear weapons delivered by land-based aircraft, a method patented by the new U.S. Air Force.During the so-called "Revolt of the Admirals," respected naval leaders lobbied for the Navy's role in the new era. Arthur Radford and Arleigh Burke, who eventually became the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chief of naval operations respectively, as well as Chief of Naval Operations Louis E. Denfeld risked their careers to speak out in support of enabling aircraft carriers to transport, target, and deliver nuclear weapons. In Nuclear Weapons and Aircraft Carriers, Jerry Miller traces this struggle, which also involved serious conflicts with the Air Force and ultimately led to innovations in the design and engineering of carriers and aircraft.Miller demonstrates the success of the Navy's nuclear vision, which saved the aircraft carrier from extinction, and argues that the Navy's hard-won nuclear capability played a significant role in ending the Cold War. In the final chapter, he reflects on this history and its participants, and he assesses the future of both the aircraft carrier and nuclear weapons in the twenty-first century.

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Guantanamo, USA: The Untold History of America's Cuban Outpost Review

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(More customer reviews)Guantanamo, USA. What a remarkable book! Stephen Schwab has presented a detailed, highly researched, and beautifully written text on the history of Guantanamo Naval Base. From the U.S. involvement in the Spanish-American War to liberate Cuba from Spain through Guantanamo's role in World Wars I and II and the Cold War years, the reader is caught up in the rationale for developing a naval base that would not only show the imperalistic strategy of the U.S.A. but the necessity of securing the best location to house a strong naval fleet protecting the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, and the Americas at large.
Many of my generation will only remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 60's and the more recent use of the base to house and/or detain refugees and prisoners of war as reasons to justify our Cuban presence. Schwab, however, gives us a far broader and more objective picture of this presence, providing insights and assessments of a relationship that has served both the Cuban and American nations. Mutual benefits have been at times economic, political, and military. It reads well and captures the vital influence of the Roosevelts and other significant statesmen in the evolution of this sole surviving naval base in the Caribbean Sea. All in all, Schwab provides a balanced perspective of an American proprietary view of the base at Guantanamo in contrast to Cuba's mixed response to our presence on their shores for over a century.

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The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems (Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a little bit dated now, but not horribly so. The cold war ending has slowed down new naval weapon systems. Some of the "new" systems in here never did appear, and other older systems are gone as well. Using this guidebook plus some judicious web surfing is pretty good naval research for the non-specialist. Of course if you need the expensive current editions, you already know that...

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Long recognized as the most comprehensive reference work available on the subject, this guide remains the only complete reference to the weapons currently in service in ships, submarines, and naval aircraft around the world. It is the only book of its type to explain the transformation of the U.S. Navy into a network-centric force, a transformation that has had immense consequences for choices of tactics, weapons, services, and the systems coordinating them. This guide also offers unparalleled coverage of the weapons, sensors, and command systems of the world's navies, both those the U.S. Navy works with and those it may have to fight. Written by one of the world's leading naval analysts, the book describes the weapons and systems in detail and examines the crucial relationship between them. Completely rewritten and newly illustrated, this edition makes a special effort to provide a clear and precise account of how weapon technology has changed to meet the new tactical and strategic challenges facing international naval forces today. Cutting-edge information is found throughout, enhanced by many new and rarely seen photographs and drawings.For example, this volume offers an unusually full account of the "system of systems" under development by the U.S. Navy and the other services to fight future limited regional wars. That initiative includes the changing role of space resources as they affect war on, over, and under the sea. This edition also benefits from the flood of material from Russia, whose weapons and systems are now owned and operated by numerous countries and are likely to be sold to many more. The guide provides uniquely detailed coverage of weapons developed and deployed in the Far East, an area that promises to be the liveliest scene of naval action in the future. Extensive sections are devoted to explaining the intricate workings of sensors and command systems. No other book, or even set of books, offers this sort of material in such accessible form. Its detail and completeness are backed by the authority of a long established professional expert. For the most complete and up-to-date information about weapons in every navy in the world, this is the essential resource - a work that, in effect, can serve as a textbook of modern naval technology.

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F/A-18 Hornet: A Navy Success Story Review

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(More customer reviews)This book tells you the history about the F/A-18 Hornet, the book tells you the story of the start of the lightweight fighter competition between the F-16 & YF-17 but the USAF rejected the YF-17. Later on, the USN wanted a lightweight fighter to replace the F-4 & A-6, so the USN & McDonnell Douglas(Now Boeing) went on to design a new plane. The F/A-18 went into services with the USN in the late 70s & early 80s & also shows the Hornet's first sting at Libya. The early production of the Hornet was the A/B model but was replaced by the more improved C/D model. The book also tells you about the Hornets during the Desert Storm which has the highest survivalbility among others jet fighter & how flexible the plane is, eg. like the Hornet shot down 2 enemy MIG-21s when it was on its way on a bombing mission without having to jettision their bomb load & shows how maneuveble the Hornet is. Let us not forget that USN & USMC Hornets participated in Operation Allied Force in 1999. This book also include foreign countries that operate the F/A-18 Hornet & the new devolopment on the E/F model which is call the Super Hornet. Finally, it also shows you all the electronic systems on board the Hornet & the sensors & weapons that are in use with the Hornet. This book also contain good pictures also but it is in black & white but the amazing story will make you like the book.

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From Air Force lightweight to Navy champion strike aircrat, here's the pulse-racing, electrifying story of the F/A hornetIncludes a special beneath-the-surface look at the Hornet's laser-guided weapons and sophisticated electronic countermeasuresPresents profiles of the Hornet's overseas success as an export item, in coutries such as Switzerland, Australia, Spain, and Malaysia

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Flotsam & Jetsam: A collection of Sea Stories that have washed ashore during a forty-year career in the United States Navy Review

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(More customer reviews)This is not a tell-all book. No national secrets are revealed here. It is, however, a delightfully readable collection of tales about a life well lived while serving in the United States Submarine Force. There is a great deal of folklore and drama surrounding submarine service, some of it justified, much of it exaggerated. If ever you wanted to know what it was like to serve in the Submarine Force during the Cold War, this is your book.
In fairness, I should note that I was a submarine commanding officer who served under then CAPT McKinney when he was a squadron commander in the Mediterranean, and was also his next-door neighbor in Hawaii when he was Commander Submarine Force Pacific. He was a terrific mentor and a great neighbor. He and his wife Mary were always gracious and a joy to be around. I mention this because it allows me to testify not simply to the authenticity of Admiral McKinney's experiences, but to the character that comes through in this narrative. RADM McKinney's career was an exceptionally successful one, to be sure, but the experiences he relates could have been any of us. Although he mentions his rise to flag rank in passing, his tale really covers his career until his relief as Commanding Officer of USS Seahorse.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in serving in submarines, has served in submarines, or is simply interested in learning what a career in submarines might involve. It is a delight!


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Any veteran of the United States Navy knows about "sea stories". If you served in the Navy, it is almost a 100% certainty that you've heard one (probably many more). And maybe even told "one or two" yourself. "Sea stories" and the tellers of them have all the finest attributes of oral historians that preserve the tradition and lore specific to their society. In the service (all branches) older more experienced personnel share much of their knowledge in just such a way. In their finest sense, the story carries with it a lesson learned-a small slice of experience and specific circumstance. Often leavened with humor, sometimes touching on the tragic-the cold hard facts of the risks involved. Stories connect with our own existence and adjust our thinking based on what we learn from what we hear. Good storytellers have a single intent--to touch the listener in some way. Hank McKinney does that. For those who have served you'll see bits of your own service in these stories. And I would be surprised if some of them don't bring a smile in remembrance. You will also sense the pang of separation from family, an unavoidable price paid by those who serve and their families. For those who haven't served--you'll learn much you didn't know. You'll find stories that cover the gamut of experience and responsibility, from midshipman to admiral, told in a refreshing conversational tone. Come onboard and spend some time with Hank McKinney. You'll come away with a better understanding and appreciation for the "Silent Service" and the men and women who serve. I guarantee you will learn things that you never knew about what was essentially a critical component of our front line defense during the Cold War.About the Author: Rear Admiral Henry C. (Hank) McKinney, USN (Retired) is a native of La Grange, Illinois. He graduated from Princeton University in 1959 with a degree in Engineering and a commission as an Ensign through the Naval ROTC program. He earned a Master of Science degree in Statistics from Stanford University. Originally serving in the surface Navy, he volunteered for nuclear submarine duty and served onboard both SSNs and SSBNs throughout his career including command tours and as Commander of the Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. He has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal with two gold stars, the Defense Superior Service Medal, both the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal with two gold stars and the Navy Achievement Medal. He is also a past President and Chief Executive Officer of the Navy Memorial Foundation. He now lives in Minnesota and along with his faithful golden retriever reports to his shore based commander, his wife Mary. Their son is commanding officer of USS Wyoming (SSBN 742) and their daughter is a Chemistry teacher in Maryland.

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Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies, 1718-1990 Review

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(More customer reviews)At the time this book was written it surely would have been the best source of information on Russian submarines. The book covers in depth every class of Russian submarine; included are long narratives, specifications, line drawings and photos you will not find anywhere else. About 2/3 of the book covers everything up to the end of WW2. The remainder covers the cold war years. Sadly, much of the information is quite out of date and most systems are referred to by their NATO codenames rather than their actual names, all of which is understandable considering the time it was written. Basically, every piece of information available at the time concerning Russian subs is in this book. If you're a fanatic about Russian/Soviet submarines, this book is well worth the price.

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Leverage of Sea Power: The Strategic Advantage of Navies in War Review

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(More customer reviews)1. Colin Gary's book titled 'Leverage of Sea Power' is first book of the author on maritime affairs. This book is a classical work propounding the effect the Sea Power has had on the events in history, ancient and modern. The painstaking research and logical flow of this work stands out.
2. The author has been successful in establishing the fact that there has been no land power, what so ever, which could achieve lasting success in strategic statecraft without having its own Sea Power or Sea Power of its allies. Thus bringing out very clearly, the leverage, presence and availability of Sea Power can provide in warfare, right from the age of galley warfare to World Wars.
3. The book examines the issue in more than adequate depth and succeeds in making the point very clear. However, this being research based book, the chapters do get little drawn out and tend to make the reader loose interest. A little more stress on the explanation of concepts with reduction in repeated examples (though I must admit, if one has to prove that the concepts of leverage of sea power applied in all times and types of conflicts, such examples are necessary) would have helped capture a non-academic but interested reader's interest through out the book.
4. A book backed with painstaking research. Worth reading, but a reader has to put in efforts to retain focus on the thoughts presented in the book.

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The Navy Times Book of Submarines: A Political, Social, and Military History Review

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(More customer reviews)While much of any history of submarines will focus on things mechanical, this book goes much farther and more than justifies its sub-title, "A Political, Social and Military History." I was fascinated to see that the political and social aspects of military systems -- or strategies -- have not changed much over the four hundred or so years covered by this book. A comment on comments of "Reader from Rochester" who offered an unflattering review -- where Reader found "superior attitude," I found (and enjoyed) sardonic humour. Be that as it may, Reader ought to hire-out as a professional copy editor, because the irritating errors he spotted (i.e., typos) obviously slid by the publisher's fact-checkers and proofreaders. As for the 3"/50 caliber deck gun -- that's a designation used for naval guns, where "caliber" is the length of the barrel measured as a multiple of the diameter of the bore. Thus, in this instance, a 3" bore and a 150" tube. Obviously, the publisher's copy editor didn't understand this, either, and stuck a period in front of the 50.

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Here is an engaging, informative, and sometimes startling history of the men and the machines that dared to go beneath the surface of the water to enter combat.In his careful reconstruction of events, Brayton Harris combines his extraordinary sense of humor with intensive research, to present a compelling history of the submarine, from conception, to gestation, to birth during World War I, to the genesis of the mighty nuclear submarine.In his excursion through the political, social, and military history of the submarine, Harris refutes many popular myths that grew out of eyewitness accounts and copies of copies-and sets the record straight with wit and insight.A fascinating exploration of the steps and stumbles during development, a rousing tribute to the heroes who fought and died, and a powerful study of the submarine's impact on America, The Navy Times Book of Submarines is an unparalleled source for understanding the great equalizer, the beguiling boat, that decided the outcome of World War I-and changed the face of warfare forever.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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