Naval Forces

What’s it like to spend three months without sunlight, sharing what little space you have with over 100 fellow crewmen and more firepower than all the bombs dropped in World War II? This memoir reveals the funny, challenging, one-of-a-kind experience that is life on a nuclear submarine....

How a determined scientist cracked the case of the first successful - and disastrous - submarine attack: On the night of February 17, 1864, the tiny Confederate submarine HL Hunley made its way toward the USS Housatonic just outside Charleston harbor....

On the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic separated from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the North Pole, seeking safety from Nazi bombers and U-boats in the perilous white maze of ice floes, growlers, and giant bergs....

On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants....

Based on reams of confidential documents—including the blackmail files that Francis kept on Navy officers—Fat Leonard is the full, unvarnished story of a world-class con man and a captivating testament to the corrosive influence of greed within the ranks of the American military.

The planning, the strategy, the sacrifices and heroics - on both sides - illuminating the greatest naval war in history....

In 1991, acting on a tip from a local fisherman, two scuba divers discovered a sunken German U-boat, complete with its crew of 60 men, not too far off the New Jersey coast....

From the author of The Ghost Ships of Archangel, one of the last unheralded heroic stories of World War II: The U-boat assault off the American coast against the men of the US Merchant Marine who were supplying the European war....

Hawaii, 1941. War clouds with Japan are gathering and the islands of Hawaii have become battlegrounds of spies, intelligence agents, and military officials - with the island's residents caught between them....

The best-selling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters tells the story of a wild encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig, and a British warship in the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812....

Drawing on decades of experience, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets.

With The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors and Ship of Ghosts, James D. Hornfischer created essential and enduring narratives about America’s World War II Navy....

A riveting and wide-ranging story, full of dramatic, unexpected turns, In the Hurricane's Eye reveals that the fate of the American Revolution depended, in the end, on Washington and the sea....

This riveting chronicle of submarine warfare is the first to cover all the major submarine campaigns of the war, describing, in detail, the operations of the British, American, Japanese, Italian, and German submarine and anti-submarine forces....

Interweaving the stories of three survivors - the captain, the ship's doctor, and a young marine - journalist Doug Stanton has brought this astonishing human drama to life....

Based on the author's exhaustive research, the incredible true story of the Greely Expedition, one of the most harrowing adventures in the annals of polar exploration....

Pacific War expert Mark Stille examines the battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval encounter in history and probably the most decisive naval battle of the entire Pacific War....

The extraordinary story of the World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower....

Celebrated historian Winston Groom tells the intertwined and uniquely American tales of George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall....

The Admirals tells the story of how history's only five-star admirals triumphed in World War II and made the United States the world's dominant sea power....

The predominant image of this first world war is of mud and trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, poison gas, and slaughter. A generation of European manhood was massacred, and a wound was inflicted on European civilization that required the remainder of the twentieth century to heal....

Thousands of miles from friendly ports, the US Navy had finally managed to complete the capture of Guadalcanal from the Japanese in early 1943. Now the Allies sought to keep the offensive momentum won at such a high cost...

This landmark account of the US Navy in the Cold War, Who Can Hold the Sea combines narrative history with scenes of stirring adventure on—and under—the high seas. In 1945, at the end of World War II, the victorious Navy sends its sailors home....

The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland....

In the early hours of February 25, 1968, a Russian submarine armed with three nuclear ballistic missiles set sail from its base in Siberia on a routine combat patrol to Hawaii. Then it vanished....

The best-selling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters tells the story of a wild encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig, and a British warship in the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812. Fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, the incident left three British sailors and two Americans including the captain of the sealer, Charles H. Barnard abandoned in the Falklands for eighteen months.

UFO's and Alien's?

Through a study of history, Alfred Thayer Mahan concluded that six key factors influence a nation’s development as a sea power. Mahan also argued that command of the sea is valuable in both peace and war and that, during conflict, concentrating one’s fleet for decisive battle is key. Mahan’s ideas gained popularity among the major world powers in the late 19th century and continue to influence naval strategy today.

In 1864 the Union was at last prepared to implement a unified land strategy designed to achieve victory in the Civil War. The plan called for William Tecumseh Sherman to drive hard to Atlanta, while farther East, Ulysses S. Grant would engage Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Sherman reasoned that an assault on Mobile would force the Confederates to send reinforcements, thus weakening their defense of Atlanta. Patrolling the blockade in the Gulf of Mexico, Admiral Farragut got word that he would finally receive the monitors necessary to capture the last major Southern port. To ...

In William N. Still’s essay, “A Naval Sieve: The Union Blockade in the Civil War,” he contended that the blockade “was not a major factor in the collapse of the Confederacy” (Still 72). Of the Union Navy’s primary tasks of maintaining control of Southern ports, supporting amphibious operations, and pursuing piratical cruisers, the effectiveness of the blockade remains the most hotly debated strategy. Did it strangle the Confederate economy and force the South to pursue peace? According to Still, the answer is no. The supporting evidence he cites, however, is inconclusive and can...

Submarine drama, maritime tragedy, innovation, unique circumstances, resilience in adversity, leadership, teamwork, wisdom and personal growth-this book has it all. In May 1921 the submarine R-14 departs Pearl Harbor on an emergency mission to search for the US navy ship Conestoga, lost at sea with 56 souls aboard. But in a harsh twist of fate, the rescuers themselves fall into peril, stranded 140 miles from the nearest port with no fuel. Now young Annapolis grad Alexander "Dean" Douglas, the submarine's Acting CO, must rally his tired and discouraged crew to return safely to port. In a ...

This book interweaves two narratives. The first treats the Royal Navy's Arctic Overland Expedition of 1819, a harbinger-misadventure during which Franklin rejected the advice of Dene and Metis leaders and lost eleven of his twenty-one men. The second discovers a startling new answer to that greatest of Arctic mysteries: what was the root cause of the catastrophe that engulfed Franklin's last expedition?

On the evening of June 27, 1918, the Llandovery Castle—an unarmed, clearly marked hospital ship used by the Canadian military—was torpedoed off the Irish Coast by U-Boat 86, a German submarine. Sinking hospital ships violated international law. To conceal his actions, the U-86 commander had the submarine deck guns fire on survivors. One lifeboat escaped with witnesses to the atrocity. Global outrage over the attack ensued.

The book that Ramage fans have long awaited Between 1965 and 1989 the British author, Dudley Pope, wrote the 18-volume Ramage series of nautical fiction novels. With its publication Mr. Pope joined C.S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian as one of the giants of the nautical fiction genre. While companion books have been written for the Forester and O’Brian series, no one has yet written a companion book for Ramage… Until Now! Tom Grundner has created an indispensable guide for the Ramage fan. Written in a light and entertaining style, he provides snapshots of the people, places and events ...

Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. World renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history.

The ability of the US Navy to fight and win a protracted war in the Pacific was not solely the result of technology, tactics, or leadership. Naval aviation maintenance played a major role in the US victory over Japan in WWII. The naval war against Japan did not achieve sustained success until enough aircraft technicians were available to support the high tempo of aviation operations that fast carrier task force doctrine demanded.

The authors of the Poopie Suits & Cowboy Boots series are pleased to announce the publication of More Sub Tales, the sequel to the immensely popular Sub Tales: Stories that Seldom Surface. More Sub Tales is the second of four books in our Sub Tales series, a collection of true stories about American submarines. Our other books are Poopie Suits & Cowboy Boots, The Silent Service Remembers (Vols. 1, 2, and 3), Sub Tales 3, and Sub Tales 4. All eight titles contain riveting accounts of the triumphs and tribulations of the US Submarine Force.

This nation's Cold War and Global War on Terror defense structures need an update. U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century provides such a framework for the changed world we live in, offering a roadmap that shows how the U.S. can field a war-winning fleet that can also compete aggressively in peacetime against dangerous competitors.

Following the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713) a decade-long wave of sea-robbery plagued the Atlantic rim—often glamorized as the "Golden Age of Piracy". Boston-based laborer, Edward Low, left his mark on pirate history as the most vicious and sadistic raider of them all.

Set sail on a thrilling voyage into the mysterious and treacherous world of the notorious pirate, Blackbeard, in this riveting biography that unveils the man behind the legend. In Blackbeard, the high seas come alive as we chart the tumultuous life of Edward Teach, the infamous pirate who struck fear into the hearts of sailors and coastal communities alike.