Showing titles in Naval Forces

5 August 2005. On a secret mission to an underwater military installation 30 miles off the coast of Kamchatka, Russian Navy submersible AS-28 ran into a web of cables and stuck fast. With 600 feet of freezing water above them, there was no escape for the seven crew. Trapped in a titanium tomb...

Rear Admiral Terry McKnight, USN (Ret.) served as Commander, Counter-Piracy Task Force - Gulf of Aden. After his tour in the waters off the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, he retired from the Navy and began seriously researching the subject. Pirate Alley explores every aspect of Somali piracy, from how the pirates operate to how the actions of a relative handful of youthful criminals and their bosses have impacted the world economy. The book examines various answers to the question: "How do you solve a problem like Somalia?"

The CIA has resurrected the submarine, USS Great White, from the mothball fleet to use for clandestine electronic eavesdropping along the Asian coast. They select Lieutenant Commander Joe Garrett as the boats executive officer. Great White plays a vital espionage role when the Korean War erupts. The battle lines surge from the Pusan Perimeter to the Yalu River in North Korea. Great White provides a vital role in the rescue of a CIA team trapped far beyond enemy lines at the Chosin Reservoir. Just as the mission appears to succeed, four destroyers attack Great White. Joe takes the conn when ...

In 1942, the Solomon Islands formed the stepping stones toward Rabaul, the main base of Japanese operations in the South Pacific, and the Allies primary objective. The stunning defeat of Japanese forces at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November marked the turning point in the war against Japan and the start of an offensive in the Central Solomons aimed at New Georgia. New Georgia: The Second Battle for the Solomons tells the story of the land, sea, and air battles fought there from March through October 1943.

An army medic who went beyond the call of duty amid a frenzy of treacherous bloodletting in Ladakh’s Galwan while his fellow soldiers fought the Chinese to death; the crew of an Indian Navy destroyer that put everything on the line to rescue hundreds from Cyclone Tauktae in the Arabian Sea; an...

A long-overdue history of America's "forgotten flattop". On November 24, 1943, a Japanese torpedo plunged into the starboard side of the American escort carrier USS Liscome Bay. The torpedo struck the thin-skinned carrier in the worst possible place the bomb storage area. The resulting explosion could be seen 16 miles away, literally ripping the Liscome Bay in half and killing 644 of the crew. In terms of lives lost, it was the costliest carrier sinking in United States naval history. Liscome Bay's loss came on its first combat operation.

It's 1943 and the USS Great White has just inserted a covert OSS team into the Philippines. Hungry for action, her captain, Marcus Spencer starts with a Japanese man-of-war, almost meeting her match in the process. The OSS draft the Great White for another covert operation, after which Spencer finds himself in a once-in-a-lifetime setting: a harbor filled with enemy vessels and only two destroyers to protect them. Finally, the Great White takes on a suicidal mission which, if successful could shorten the duration of the war by six months. This book will be an interesting and entertaining ...

Some of the greatest names in naval history, Admiral Horatio Nelson, commodore Stephen Decatur, Admiral Erich Raeder, and many others fill War at Sea in a way that not only educates but entertains any listener interested in the story of naval warfare. From the Chesapeake Bay to Jutland, from the River Plate to Guadalcanal, from Hampton Roads to Leyte Gulf, here are the most compelling and memorable accounts of the days of sail and steam, of wood and iron, and of duels to the death on the waters.

"Masterful character development and impeccable historical detail. Ferrier has created something rare—a Pearl Harbor novel that's as much about identity as it is about war." "THE WEIGHT OF WATER delivers on every level—psychological depth, moral complexity, and the kind of prose that reminds you why you fell in love with literary fiction. This is Pulitzer-caliber work." "Ferrier doesn't just write about the USS Arizona—he makes you feel the weight of command, the cost of transformation, the burden of becoming real. Unforgettable." On December 7, 1941, at 0755 hours, Lieutenant Thomas ...

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.

Horatio Nelson can be seen as one of the most courageous, strategic, and valiant British generals in history. His tactics in the Navy led their empire to glorious victories in the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. During the wars against Napoleon, the Scandinavians, and in the West Indies, he was an exemplary leader, strategist, and combatant. The British Empire stretched all the way from the Caribbean to Egypt and beyond. Needless to say, much help was needed in various areas in the world.

FNH Audio presents an unabridged reading of this WWI naval history by an author who actually took part in the battle(s) described. This plain, unvarnished account, so far as is known, is the first attempt that has been made to link with the description of the Battle of the Falkland Islands, fought on December 8th 1914, to the events leading up to that engagement. Each phase presented has been read and approved by officers who participated.

A fascinating foray into British military history in two volumes, told entirely in the words of those who were there: The Army Gazette and The Navy Gazette.

For less than 5 years, (1913-1918) the Austria-Hungarian Empire had a navy that was in part comprised of all big gun dreadnoughts, (or battleships). They were in their short lifetime to see 4 years of war and by the time the guns fell silent across the battlefields of Europe, 50% of that new dreadnought force lay on the seabed. Aside from a bombardment of the Italian mainland, they were never to fire their powerful main armament in anger. They were to be lost not to a blow by blow exchange of fire with their peers, but to Italian torpedoes and limpet mines carried into battle by fast ...

The Mediterranean naval battles of 1940 initiated rapid developments that changed the face of naval warfare, yet also had echoes of a previous and less complicated era when gunnery, pure and simple, dominated warfare at sea. The actions were fought when the Royal Navy was still evolving its use of naval air power and when radar at sea was primitive and fitted to only a few ships, while Italy’s Regia Marina was handicapped by having access to neither. Bombastic assertions by Mussolini that the Mediterranean was ‘Our Sea’, preceded his declaration of war on 10th June, when Great Britain...

"Our mission was independent, no-holds-barred combat against a stubborn enemy in the enemy's backyard." In Vietnam, river warfare was often conducted in the dark. It was always dangerous, sometimes fatal--especially in the eastern end of the Cong-plagued Mekong...

For nearly 200 years huge wooden warships called “ships of the line” dominated war at sea and were thus instrumental in the European struggle for power and the spread of imperialism. Foremost among the great naval powers were Great Britain and France, whose advanced economies could support large numbers of these expensive ships. This book, the first joint history of these great navies, offers a uniquely impartial and comprehensive picture of the two forces - their shipbuilding programs, naval campaigns, and battles, and their wartime strategies and diplomacy.

Navy Priest is a compelling biography of the Jesuit priest and navy chaplain John Francis (Jake) Laboon. Father Jake made a significant contribution to the United States Navy, both as a World War II submarine officer and, most prominently, during a 22-year career as a chaplain. Laboon served as the first chaplain for the Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Program but also served as chaplain at his alma mater, the United States Naval Academy.

Shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945, the Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea. The ship had just left the island of Tinian, delivering components of the atomic bomb destined for Hiroshima. As the torpedoes hit, the Indianapolis erupted...

I was a small-town boy from Missouri who’d never seen an ocean until I joined the Merchant Marines during World War II. How I survived getting into that mess is my story to tell. Charles’ memoir is a gripping journey from humble beginnings to the harrowing life of a Merchant Mariner during World War II. With humor, grit, and heart, he recounts the trials and triumphs of his transformation from a small-town kid into a seasoned sailor, thrust into the heart of the Atlantic’s dangerous waters. Through humorous and vivid storytelling, he takes you on a ride through the chaos of war, from ...