Gray Steel and Black Oil

Gray Steel and Black Oil PDF Author: Thomas Wildenberg
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book Here

Book Description
Gray Steel and Black Oil is the first full-length treatment of the development of the fleet oiler concept in the U.S. Navy. The author, Thomas Wildenberg, authoritatively addresses the logistics of how fleets are able to stay at sea in an operational mode, a long-ignored but extremely important subject. For example, in World War II refueling at sea provided the U.S. Navy with the mobility it needed to accomplish its island-hopping advance toward Japan, as advocated in War Plan Orange. He explains how underway replenishment enabled U.S. carriers to range freely across the Pacific in the first months of the war, and later to remain on station far from their bases for weeks at a time. Today the refueling capability of a navy is as important as ever. With this book Wildenberg charts the concept from the first fleet oilers of World War I onward. He examines the Navy's plans between the wars, documents the experience of World War II, and covers the postwar transition period, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. Numerous tables on ship design and capabilities, descriptions of ship types, photographs of every class of U.S. Navy fleet oiler, and ship drawings are also included.

Gray Steel and Black Oil

Gray Steel and Black Oil PDF Author: Thomas Wildenberg
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book Here

Book Description
Gray Steel and Black Oil is the first full-length treatment of the development of the fleet oiler concept in the U.S. Navy. The author, Thomas Wildenberg, authoritatively addresses the logistics of how fleets are able to stay at sea in an operational mode, a long-ignored but extremely important subject. For example, in World War II refueling at sea provided the U.S. Navy with the mobility it needed to accomplish its island-hopping advance toward Japan, as advocated in War Plan Orange. He explains how underway replenishment enabled U.S. carriers to range freely across the Pacific in the first months of the war, and later to remain on station far from their bases for weeks at a time. Today the refueling capability of a navy is as important as ever. With this book Wildenberg charts the concept from the first fleet oilers of World War I onward. He examines the Navy's plans between the wars, documents the experience of World War II, and covers the postwar transition period, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. Numerous tables on ship design and capabilities, descriptions of ship types, photographs of every class of U.S. Navy fleet oiler, and ship drawings are also included.

Too Far on a Whim

Too Far on a Whim PDF Author: Tyler A. Pitrof
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817361405
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book Here

Book Description
Argues that the US Navy's commitment to high-steam propulsion for its World War II fleet was a tactical, technological, and bureaucratic failure

Nimitz at War

Nimitz at War PDF Author: Craig L. Symonds
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190062363
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 497

Get Book Here

Book Description
From one of our most distinguished naval historians, the first wartime biography in a half-century of the man who guided America to victory in the Pacific in World War Two The most cataclysmic and consequential war in history produced more than its share of fascinating characters and great leaders. Some have hardened into legend, others fallen below the radar. Somewhere in-between sits Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of both the Pacific Fleet and the Pacific Ocean Area from 1941 to 1945. Nimitz demanded and received less attention than his Army counterpart, Douglas MacArthur, whose self-promotion was prodigious. He seemed less colorful than some of his subordinates, such as Admiral Bill "Bull" Halsey and General Holland "Howlin' Mad" Smith. Yet Nimitz's was the guiding hand of Allied forces in the Pacific War, and the central figure in the victory against Japan. Craig L. Symonds's full-length portrait of Nimitz, from the precarious early months following Pearl Harbor, when Nimitz assumed command of the Pacific Fleet, to the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, is the first in more than fifty years. Using Nimitz's headquarters-the eye of the hurricane-as the vantage point, Symonds covers the major campaigns, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. He captures Nimitz's calm, discipline, homespun wisdom, and uncanny sense of when to project authority and when to pull back, illuminating how this helped him direct one of the largest and most complex campaigns in military history, fought against an implacable foe. The pressures Nimitz faced were crushing, involving tactical and strategic decision-making, visualizing success while mindful of the welfare of those who served under him-soldiers, sailors, and Marines. He had to corral assertive subordinates and keep them focused on the larger objectives, and maintain a strong working relationship with his own superiors, including the equally formidable Admiral Ernest J. King and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In addition, Nimitz had to deal with the public spectacle of war, managing the expectations of a nation both expecting victory and longing for the carnage to end. In retrospect it seems impossible to imagine anyone else could have accomplished all this. As Symonds' absorbing, dynamic, and authoritative portrait reveals, it took leadership asked of-and exhibited by-few others. Behind Nimitz's unflappable professionalism and reservoirs of charm were a resolve and audacity that became evident when most needed.

The Swatow Incident

The Swatow Incident PDF Author: L. Tracy Winslow
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 1480877417
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the South China Sea during the Korean War, an unaccompanied United States Navy destroyer brazenly approached the Communist China seaport of Swatow. The Red Chinese immediately sent 40-50 armed motorized junks to confront and surround the lone destroyer. One-hundred-fifty miles to the northwest a secretly-positioned fifteen-ship fast-carrier strike-force waited for word that the destroyer was under attack. The force was poised to immediately retaliate against China’s mainland in an attempt to eradicate communism from the Far East. No one in the nation’s capital in Washington, DC, was aware of the clandestine operation that remains relatively unknown to this day. The author served on board the destroyer at the time of the event. He not only discusses the motivation, planning and preparations for the operation but describes details of the incident itself. A remarkable well-told story of a little-known episode in U.S. history. —Henry H. Mauz, Jr. Admiral U. S. Navy (Ret) Former Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet A story that reads like fiction...but isn’t. A key hidden inflection point in the modern history of Asia finally brought to light through the persistence and dedication of Tracy Winslow and the crew of the USS John A. Bole. —Peter Lee , Director and Producer of the documentary, “General MacArthur’s Conspiracy to Start a War with China”

Playing War

Playing War PDF Author: John M. Lillard
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1612347738
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
Between the First and Second World Wars, the U.S. Navy used the experience it had gained in battle to prepare for future wars through simulated conflicts, or war games, at the Naval War College. In Playing War John M. Lillard analyzes individual war games in detail, showing how players tested new tactics and doctrines, experimented with advanced technology, and transformed their approaches through these war games, learning lessons that would prepare them to make critical decisions in the years to come. Recent histories of the interwar period explore how the U.S. Navy digested the impact of World War I and prepared itself for World War II. However, most of these works overlook or dismiss the transformational quality of the War College war games and the central role they played in preparing the navy for war. To address that gap, Playing War details how the interwar navy projected itself into the future through simulated conflicts. Playing War recasts the reputation of the interwar War College as an agent of preparation and innovation and the war games as the instruments of that agency.

The Merchant Marine in International Affairs, 1850-1950

The Merchant Marine in International Affairs, 1850-1950 PDF Author: Greg Kennedy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135258864
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 227

Get Book Here

Book Description
Merchant navies represent economic and industrial strength. This study revises the definition of maritime power through a more comprehensive understanding and appreciation for the roles played by the merchant marine of a nation.

Bloody Sixteen

Bloody Sixteen PDF Author: Peter Fey
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1640120076
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 534

Get Book Here

Book Description
Strategy and reality collide in Peter Fey's gripping history of aircraft carrier USS Oriskany's three deployments to Vietnam with Carrier Air Wing 16 (CVW-16). Its tours coincided with the most dangerous phases of Operation Rolling Thunder, the ill-fated bombing campaign against North Vietnam, and accounted for a quarter of all the naval aircraft lost during Rolling Thunder--the highest loss rate of any carrier air wing during Vietnam. The Johnson administration's policy of gradually applied force meant that Oriskany arrived on station just as previous restrictions were lifted and bombing raids increased. As a result CVW-16 pilots paid a heavy price as they ventured into areas previously designated "off limits" by Washington DC. Named after one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, the Oriskany lived up to its name. After two years of suffering heavy losses, the ship caught fire--a devastating blow given the limited number of carriers deployed. With only three months allotted for repairs, Oriskany deployed a third and final time and ultimately lost more than half of its aircraft and more than a third of its pilots. The valor and battle accomplishments displayed by Oriskany's aviators are legendary, but the story of their service has been lost in the disastrous fray of the war itself. Fey portrays the Oriskany and its heroes in an indelible memorial to the fallen of CVW-16 in hopes that the lessons learned from such strategic disasters are not forgotten in today's sphere of war-bent politics.

The Devil Boats

The Devil Boats PDF Author: C.J. Skamarakas
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0811772098
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Get Book Here

Book Description
PT boats loom large in the popular imagination of World War II. In March 1942, a PT boat evacuated Gen. Douglas MacArthur, his family, and top staff from the Philippines, which inspired the war movie They Were Expendable, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. John F. Kennedy became a war hero while commanding PT-109, which collided with a Japanese destroyer and was sunk in August 1943. But the story of PT boats has never been told in the depth and detail that their exemplary service deserves. Naval historian C. J. Skamarakas uses one Pacific PT boat squadron to tell the story of PT boats in action in World War II. Eighty feet long, PT boats were designed to launch torpedoes against enemy ships five and ten times their own size. But defects in the torpedoes and the boats’ speed and maneuverability ultimately shifted the boats’ mission to patrolling and breaking up Japanese shipping and reinforcements. In the waters of the Southwest Pacific as part of MacArthur’s offensives in New Guinea and the Philippines, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 25 completed these missions and also executed other operations for which they weren’t specifically trained, including inserting commandos behind enemy lines, air-sea rescue, raids on enemy positions, reconnaissance of potential sites for amphibious landings, coordination of air strikes in support of ground forces, meetings with guerrilla leaders, recovery of prisoners of war, diversionary activities, and psychological operations. Today we would call many of their missions “special ops.” The Japanese called PT boats “mosquitoes” and “devil boats.” The Devil Boats recounts the unique contributions of one motor torpedo boat squadron and through it tells the story of PT boats in the Pacific War. With drama and excitement, as well as careful attention to detail, the book fills a void in the history of the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Shattered Sword

Shattered Sword PDF Author: Jonathan Parshall
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1597973092
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 734

Get Book Here

Book Description
Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange s bestselling "Miracle at Midway," Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement. Unlike previous accounts, "Shattered Sword" makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida s "Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan," an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle. The authors examine the battle in detail and effortlessly place it within the context of the Imperial Navy s doctrine and technology. With a foreword by leading WWII naval historian John Lundstrom, "Shattered Sword" will become an indispensable part of any military buff s library. Winner of the 2005 John Lyman Book Award for the "Best Book in U.S. Naval History" and cited by "Proceedings" as one of its "Notable Naval Books" for 2005."

APc-48 Journeys

APc-48 Journeys PDF Author: Ben Young
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1387141228
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book Here

Book Description
Imagine your nation has suddenly been thrown into an unwanted war, and you are told that, as a reservist, you will join the brigade of your fellow citizen-soldiers/sailors who are already in place aboard giant steel behemoths, bristling with enormous guns, sailing in company with many other armed warships...Others are in speedy, but thin-skinned aircraft with little chance of returning alive from each harrowing mission...Still others climb inside armored, tracked monsters which clank inexorably toward a final clash with those who brought war and destruction to your friends and family...But docked among the enormous steel warships, all stretching nearly a thousand feet long, and taller than many of the buildings in your hometown, is a wooden ship, barely a hundred feet long, and covered with a material that not only wouldn't stop a .22 caliber bullet from the rifle with which you've hunted squirrels, it will even ignite when flame is applied...This is your home until peace is declared...