For more than two decades at the beginning of the 20th century William S. Sims was at the forefront of naval affairs. From the revolution in naval gunnery that he led as a junior officer, to his advocacy for the Dreadnaught style all-big-gun battleship, to his development of torpedo boat and destroyer operations, he was a central figure in helping to prepare the U.S. Navy for World War I. During the war he served as the senior naval commander in ...
This book is concerned with both the national security concerns of Asian maritime nations and the security of the Asian maritime commons. These are defined as the Pacific and Indian Oceans and associated seas, bays, and gulfs, with their included sea lines of communication (SLOCs). The most useful geographical designation for maritime Asia is the “Indo-Pacific.” Bernard Cole provides both a survey of the maritime strategies of ...
Hindsight can become foresight if viewed through the right lens. Margin of Victory views the outcomes of five horrific twentieth century battles through the lens of military strategy; force design and modernization, all of which decisively influence the savage fighting on the day of battle. From the house to house fighting in Shanghai, China to the dense forests of Western Russia and the deserts of the Middle East, the recurring theme is powerfu ...
Some cultures are clearly more deceptive than others but only during any given slice of time. No single culture has excelled in deceptiveness throughout its history. While the Chinese did rise to the highest level of military deviousness during the time of Sun Tzu (c.350 BC), they had low levels before Master Sun, and afterwards largely lost it during three long periods, only to regain it each time. The most recent Chinese loss was when they fel ...
The history of the American mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) reveals the interactions of strategy, technology, and context. Its tale began with nuclear strategists demanding second-strike weapons to ensure national survival. Many, including Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan, drew confidence from ICBMs housed within underground silos. Others, among them Air Force General Bernard Schriever, Princeton mathematician John von ...
This is the true life story of the Scottish gardener’s son, John Paul, who became America’s greatest naval hero, John Paul Jones. British midshipman, African slaver, traveling actor, merchant captain, accused of murder and suspected of freebooting—this was John Paul. Captain in Washington’s Continental Navy, raider of the British coasts and victor in one of history’s most desperate naval battles, ...
In Silent and Unseen, veteran submarine commander Captain Alfred S. McLaren describes in riveting detail the more significant events that occurred early in the Cold War during his seven years, 1958-1965, onboard three attack submarines: the USS Greenfish (SS-351), USS Seadragon (SSN-584), and USS Skipjack (SSN-585). Through myriad stories and anecdotes, his book focuses on the development of attack-boat tactics and under-ice exploration techniqu ...
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 ...
In the early nineteenth century, the United States of America was far from united. The United States faced internal strife over the extent of governance and the rights of individual states. The United States’ relationship with their former colonial power was also uncertain. Britain impressed American sailors and supported Native Americans’ actions in the northwest and on the Canadian border. In the summer of 1812, President J ...
