Life and Death on the Greenland Patrol, 1942

Life and Death on the Greenland Patrol, 1942 PDF Author: Thaddeus D. Novak
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813059178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
One of the untold stories of World War II is the guarding of Greenland and its coastal waters, where the first U.S. capture of an enemy ship took place. For six months in 1942 and against standing orders of the time, Thaddeus Nowakowski (now Novak) kept a personal diary of his service on patrol in the North Atlantic. Supplemented by photos from his last surviving shipmates, Novak’s diary fills a void in the story of American sailors at war in the North Atlantic. It is the only known diary of an enlisted Coast Guard sailor to emerge from WWII.

Life and Death on the Greenland Patrol, 1942

Life and Death on the Greenland Patrol, 1942 PDF Author: Thaddeus D. Novak
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813059178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
One of the untold stories of World War II is the guarding of Greenland and its coastal waters, where the first U.S. capture of an enemy ship took place. For six months in 1942 and against standing orders of the time, Thaddeus Nowakowski (now Novak) kept a personal diary of his service on patrol in the North Atlantic. Supplemented by photos from his last surviving shipmates, Novak’s diary fills a void in the story of American sailors at war in the North Atlantic. It is the only known diary of an enlisted Coast Guard sailor to emerge from WWII.

The United States Coast Guard in World War II

The United States Coast Guard in World War II PDF Author: Thomas P. Ostrom
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786453710
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
At home and overseas, the United States Coast Guard served a variety of vital functions in World War II, providing service that has been too little recognized in histories of the war. Teaming up with other international forces, the Coast Guard provided crewmembers for Navy and Army vessels as well as its own, carried troops, food, and military supplies overseas, and landed Marine and Army units on distant and dangerous shores. This thorough history details those and other important missions, which included combat engagement with submarines and kamikaze planes, and typhoons. On the home front, port security missions involving search and rescue, fire fighting, explosives, espionage and sabotage presented their own unique dangers and challenges.

The Fighting Coast Guard

The Fighting Coast Guard PDF Author: Mark A. Snell
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700633944
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
This collection of essays, written by some of the foremost historians in the field of Coast Guard history, highlights the wartime roles played by the United States’ oldest federal maritime service, from its inception through the last decade of the twentieth century. The Fighting Coast Guard features three distinct sections: “Beginnings,” which includes a short overview of the US Revenue Cutter Service (the USCG’s primary forerunner, established in 1790) and two chapters on World War I; “Conflagration,” the role of the USCG during the World War II era; and “The Cold War and Beyond,” an assessment of the Coast Guard’s participation in the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War of 1991. The Fighting Coast Guard is a significant contribution to the limited historiography of the Coast Guard and a critical analysis of various wartime roles undertaken by the Coast Guard during America’s twentieth-century conflicts. Because the Coast Guard operated as part of the Department of the Navy during the two world wars, its service and history is often overlooked or envoloped by the larger service, while the USCG’s limited participation in cold and hot wars since 1945 is often ignored altogether. This anthology provides readers with a solid overview while highlighting some of the service’s most important contributions as a combatant force. This definitive study of the role of the US Coast Guard in wartime, from its modern inception in 1915 through the end of the twentieth century, is long overdue and will shed new light on America’s smallest military service.

Ice and Snow in the Cold War

Ice and Snow in the Cold War PDF Author: Julia Herzberg
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1785339877
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
The history of the Cold War has focused overwhelmingly on statecraft and military power, an approach that has naturally placed Moscow and Washington center stage. Meanwhile, regions such as Alaska, the polar landscapes, and the cold areas of the Soviet periphery have received little attention. However, such environments were of no small importance during the Cold War: in addition to their symbolic significance, they also had direct implications for everything from military strategy to natural resource management. Through histories of these extremely cold environments, this volume makes a novel intervention in Cold War historiography, one whose global and transnational approach undermines the simple opposition of “East” and “West.”

Stalking the U-Boat

Stalking the U-Boat PDF Author: Geoffrey L. Rossano
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813072263
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
"An exceptional piece of scholarship. Rossano clearly points out that military organizations in general, and a naval air force in particular, are built from the ground up and not the other way around. While we celebrate the exploits of the pilots, Rossano reminds us that there were myriad mechanics, constructors, paymasters, and even some ship drivers who played a vital role in naval aviation during WWI."--Craig C. Felker, U.S. Naval Academy "A fine book that will stand for many years as the definitive study of U.S. naval aviation in Europe. Well-researched and written, the book ranges widely, from the high-level planning in Washington for a naval air war to moving thousands of men and hundreds of aircraft across the ocean to the routine but dangerous training, patrol, and bombing flights that constituted the navy’s air mission in World War I."--William F. Trimble, author of Attack from the Sea Stalking the U-Boatis the first and only comprehensive study of U.S. naval aviation operations in Europe during WWI. The navy's experiences in this conflict laid the foundations for the later emergence of aviation as a crucial--sometimes dominant--element of fleet operations, yet those origins have been previously poorly understood and documented. Begun as antisubmarine operations, naval aviation posed enormous logistical, administrative, personnel, and operational problems. How the USN developed this capability--on foreign soil in the midst of desperate conflict--makes a fascinating tale sure to appeal to all military and naval historians.

In Katrina's Wake

In Katrina's Wake PDF Author: Donald L Canney
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813047080
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
Of all the Homeland Security agencies operating in New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, no agency performed its duties with the same level of diligence and heroism as did the U.S. Coast Guard. Tirelessly, Coasties in helicopters and small boats pulled survivors from rooftops, floating debris, and high ground and ferried them to safety as the rest of us watched live on CNN. Only a few days later, disaster struck again in the form of Hurricane Rita, which left even more people in desperate need of rescue and assistance. In the aftermath of the storms, some 5,000 Coast Guard personnel rescued 33,735 individuals--six times more than the annual average number rescued by the service nationwide. Then, unobserved by the media, the Coast Guard successfully restored the vital navigation aids in the region, preventing further death and destruction. In Katrina’s Wake presents a riveting account of the astounding operations undertaken by the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard in the aftermath of one of the worst natural disasters ever to strike America. While other government agencies struggled to mobilize and failed to provide real solutions, one small, decentralized agency stepped forward and performed above and beyond the call of duty.

Merchant Mariners at War

Merchant Mariners at War PDF Author: George J Billy
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813047900
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Thousands of cargo ships sailed in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of World War II manned by young men who braved blockades, torpedoes, and bombings to deliver vital supplies to the Allied forces and make victory possible. These mariners have received little if any credit; they are the forgotten group of "the greatest generation." Merchant Mariners at War offers firsthand accounts of the wartime experiences of veterans who graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy--the largest supplier of ships' officers in WWII. Gathered over more than a decade at the academy in Kings Point, New York, the interviews offer a unique portrait of the young officers who delivered the vital war materiel and provide a valuable window into the world of the merchant marine during WWII. The stories often include startling accounts of privation and endurance. Their stories give voice to a new perspective on WWII maritime history. Chapters cover such subjects as Liberty ships, U-Boats, the Battle of the Atlantic, D-Day, the Philippines, the vast Pacific, and the Murmansk Run. Throughout the book, interesting anecdotes from the veterans enliven the narrative and add to its contribution to the historical record--heretofore non-existent.

Voyages, the Age of Sail

Voyages, the Age of Sail PDF Author: Joshua M. Smith
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813040760
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 682

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Book Description
Intended as a text for college and advanced high school students, Voyages covers the entirety of the American maritime experience, from the discovery of the continent to the present. Published in cooperation with the National Maritime Historical Society, the selections chosen for this anthology of primary texts and images place equal emphasis on the ages of sail and steam, on the Atlantic and Pacific, on the Gulf Coasts and the Great Lakes, and on the high seas and inland rivers. The texts have been chosen to provide students with interesting, usable, and historically significant documents that will prompt class discussion and critical thinking. In each case, the material is linked to the larger context of American history, including issues of gender, race, power, labor, and the environment.

Lucky 73

Lucky 73 PDF Author: Aldona Sendzikas
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813047986
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Today USS Pampanito is a tourist destination. During WWII the submarine earned six battle stars, sank six Japanese ships, damaged four others, and rescued seventy-three British and Australian POWs from the South China Sea. Astonishingly, this rescue happened three days after she sank one of the transport ships on which the Allied prisoners were being ferried to Japan. The chain of events that led to this rescue is truly remarkable. Captured in 1942, forced to spend fifteen months constructing the Burma-Thai Railroad, and then loaded onto floating concentration camps--hellships, as they were called--the prisoners were in the wrong place at the wrong time when Pampanito and her wolf pack attacked a Japanese convoy. Returning to the coordinates a few days later, the crew was astonished to discover survivors in the water from among the more than 2,200 prisoners who had been aboard the Japanese ships. Even more remarkable is that the officers and crew of Pampanito, after picking up these men (the Lucky 73), thought to have them record their thoughts and experiences while the events were still fresh in their minds, before returning to port. While working as curator for Pampanito, Aldona Sendzikas discovered these documents and began an odyssey of tracking down one of the most incredible rescue stories of the Pacific War.

Captain "Hell Roaring" Mike Healy

Captain Author: Dennis L. Noble
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 081306323X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
One of the Coast Guard’s great heroes and the secret he kept hidden "This is a book of adventure that tells how one man shaped the Alaskan frontier at a crucial time in American history."--Vincent William Patton, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, retired "Diligent research and precise writing reveal the realities of race relations in nineteenth-century America, as well as the dangers, loneliness, and complex relationships of life at sea in that era."--Bernard C. Nalty, author of Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military In the late 1880s, many lives in northern and western maritime Alaska rested in the capable hands of Michael A. Healy (1839-1904), through his service to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. Healy arrested lawbreakers, put down mutinies aboard merchant ships, fought the smuggling of illegal liquor and firearms, rescued shipwrecked sailors from a harsh and unforgiving environment, brought medical aid to isolated villages, prevented the wholesale slaughter of marine wildlife, and explored unknown waters and lands. Captain Healy's dramatic feats in the far north were so widely reported that a New York newspaper once declared him the "most famous man in America." But Healy hid a secret that contributed to his legacy as a lonely, tragic figure. In 1896, Healy was brought to trial on charges ranging from conduct unbecoming an officer to endangerment of his vessel for reason of intoxication. As punishment, he was put ashore on half pay with no command and dropped to the bottom of the Captain's list. Eventually, he again rose to his former high position in the service by the time of his death in 1904. Sixty-seven years later, in 1971, the U.S. Coast Guard learned that Healy was born a slave in Georgia who ran away to sea at age fifteen and spent the rest of his life passing for white. This is the rare biography that encompasses both sea adventure and the height of human achievement against all odds.