Testing American Sea Power

Testing American Sea Power PDF

Author: Craig C. Felker

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2013-03-28

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1603449892

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The Pacific Theater in World War II depended on American sea power. This power was refined between 1923 and 1940, when the U.S. Navy held twenty-one major fleet exercises designed to develop strategy and allow officers to enact plans in an operational setting. Prior to 1923, naval officers relied heavily on the theories of Capt. Alfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that sea control was vital to military victory, best attained through use of the battleship. Fleet exercises, however, allowed valuable practice with other military resources and theories. As a direct result of these exercises, the navy incorporated different technologies and updated its own outdated strategies. Although World War II brought unforeseen challenges and the disadvantages of simulation exercises quickly became apparent, fleet "problems" may have opened the door to different ideas that allowed the U.S Navy ultimately to succeed. Testing American Sea Power challenges the conventional wisdom that Mahanian theory held the American Navy in a steel grip. Felker's research and analysis, the first to concentrate on the navy's interwar exercises, will make a valuable contribution to naval history for historians, military professionals, and naval instructors.

America, Sea Power, and the World

America, Sea Power, and the World PDF

Author: James C. Bradford

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2022-11-29

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 1119772494

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The gold standard in college-level American naval history texts, edited by the foremost scholar in the field In the newly revised second edition of America, Sea Power and the World, a team of distinguished researchers delivers an extensive and authoritative survey of American naval history, the place of the United States in world affairs, and the role of that country’s naval forces during peacetime and wartime. Each chapter contains a comprehensive analysis of its subject as well as brief sidebars describing a key weapon or technological development of the era and a short biographical sketch of an influential leader or representative of the navy from that era. The book offers extensive illustration and maps and a throughgoing emphasis on naval policy, strategy, roles, and missions, with careful attention paid to naval operations. These factors given greater focus than the descriptions of battle tactics found in other texts. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to sea power and the modern state system, as well as the American War for Independence at sea Comprehensive explorations of the genesis of the United States Navy from 1785 to 1806 Practical discussions of the Naval War of 1812 and the Confirmation of Independence from 1807 to 1815 and the Squadron Navy as an agent of the commercial empire until 1890 Fulsome treatments of the Second World War in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and the Pacific, including defensive actions in the Pacific from 1937 to 1943 and offensive actions from 1943 to 1944. New chapters exclusive to the 2nd edition focused on the history of African Americans and women in the US Navy, the development of joint operations and unified command, and the naval history of the last two decades. Perfect for undergraduate students taking courses on the naval history of the United States, America, Sea Power and the World, Second Edition will also earn a place in the libraries of members of the general public interested in naval and military history.

The Struggle for Sea Power

The Struggle for Sea Power PDF

Author: M. B. Synge

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-02-20

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 162558167X

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The Struggle for Sea Power is the fourth book in M. B. Synge's engaging Story of the Worlds series. This edition focuses on the age of European Empires and world colonization in America, Australia, South Africa, and India. Synge also covers the American and French Revolutions, as well as the campaigns of Napoleon. This volume makes history come alive for your child.

The Interest of America in Sea Power, Present and Future

The Interest of America in Sea Power, Present and Future PDF

Author: Alfred Thayer Mahan

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2019-06-10

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9781073114931

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INDICATIONS are not wanting of an approaching change in the thoughts and policy of Americans as to their relations with the world outside their own borders. For the past quarter of a century, the predominant idea, which has asserted itself successfully at the polls and shaped the course of the government, has been to preserve the home market for the home industries. The employer and the workman alike have been taught to look at the various economical measures proposed from this point of view, to regard with hostility any step favoring the intrusion of the foreign producer upon their own domain, and rather to demand increasingly rigorous measures of exclusion than to acquiesce in any loosening of the chain that binds the consumer to them.

Selling Sea Power

Selling Sea Power PDF

Author: Ryan D. Wadle

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2019-03-28

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 0806164190

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

Carrying the War to the Enemy

Carrying the War to the Enemy PDF

Author: Michael R. Matheny

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2012-10-09

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 080618597X

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Military commanders turn tactics into strategic victory by means of "operational art," the knowledge and creative imagination commanders and staff employ in designing, synchronizing, and conducting battles and major operations to achieve strategic goals. Until now, historians of military theory have generally agreed that modern operational art developed between the first and second world wars, not in the United States but in Germany and the Soviet Union, whose armies were supposedly the innovators and greatest practitioners of operational art. Some have even claimed that U.S. forces struggled in World War II because their commanders had no systematic understanding of operational art. Michael R. Matheny believes previous studies have not appreciated the evolution of U.S. military thinking at the operational level. Although they may rightly point to the U.S. Army's failure to modernize or develop a sophisticated combined arms doctrine during the interwar years, they focus too much on technology or tactical doctrine. In his revealing account, Matheny shows that it was at the operational level, particularly in mounting joint and combined operations, that senior American commanders excelled—and laid a foundation for their country's victory in World War II. Matheny draws on archival materials from military educational institutions, planning documents, and operational records of World War II campaigns. Examining in detail the development of American operational art as land, sea, and air power matured in the twentieth century, he shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, U.S. war colleges educated and trained commanders during the interwar years specifically for the operational art they employed in World War II. After 1945, in the face of nuclear warfare, the American military largely abandoned operational art. But since the Vietnam War, U.S. commanders have found operational art increasingly important as they pursue modern global and expeditionary warfare requiring coordination among multiple service branches and the forces of allied countries.

Midway Submerged

Midway Submerged PDF

Author: Mark W Allen

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2023-04-20

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1636242820

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Most books gloss over submarines at Midway and, if they are mentioned at all, conclude they failed miserably and had little impact on the outcome of the battle. It is undeniable that carrier aviation and intelligence saved the day, but the role of the submarine was an important one in defense of an anticipated amphibious assault. Midway Submerged is a comprehensive examination of a little-known aspect of this pivotal naval battle, explaining how Nimitz used his submarines at Midway, and the Japanese misused theirs based on a flawed tactical plan. Based on in-depth archival research not only into the battle itself, but also submarine design and construction, and tactical and operational doctrine for both the United States and Japan, it brings a whole new dimension to the discussion of the battle of Midway. It examines the intended role of the submarine in the plans and doctrine of both navies, and what the submarines were expected to accomplish for both fleets during the battle, before assessing the actual accomplishments, successes, and failures of the submarine forces on both sides. Of particular importance, the book offers an analysis of how well these vessels fulfilled the expectations placed on them by their respective naval planners, concluding that submarines played a more important role in the outcome than has been previously understood.

America's First Aircraft Carrier

America's First Aircraft Carrier PDF

Author: David F Winkler

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2024-02-15

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1682475107

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America’s First Aircraft Carrier tells the remarkable story of the USS Langley. The narrative provides an in-depth discussion of the ship’s origins as the collier USS Jupiter, which was built with a “first of” propulsion system that has been adapted for use in present-day Ford-class carriers. Author David F. Winkler considers the post–World War I debate for procuring carriers, the decision to convert Jupiter, and the identification of constructor Clayton Simmers as the father of the American aircraft carrier. The evolution of the Langley as an experimental ship was tied to the introduction of new doctrine for the United States. Promoting an independent naval air arm against Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell’s vision of an independent air force, the U.S. Navy saw Langley as an operational aircraft carrier that would change the way the Navy fought wars at sea. While the story of Langley is that of the origins of naval air combat, it is also a record of the vessel’s service in World War II until the ship’s final posting to the Asiatic Fleet, where she met her demise on February 27, 1942, off the southern coast of Java. Many of the U.S. Navy’s pioneering naval aviators are closely associated with this ship, including Kenneth Whiting, John H. Towers, Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier, Virgil C. Griffith, Mel Pride, Patrick N. L. Bellinger, Joseph M. Reeves, Gerald Bogan, Aubrey Fitch, Felix Stump, Ernest J. King, Warren G. Child, Dan Gallery, and Frank D. Wagner. A number of these individuals would go on to play critical roles during World War II. Langley’s story is their story. Aircraft carriers remain the centerpiece of American sea power projection. America’s First Aircraft Carrier provides the context on how CV 1, the “Covered Wagon,” and carrier development and utilization came to be.