Download or read book From Frigates to Flat tops written by Edward Arpee and published by . This book was released on 1953 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Admiral William A Moffett written by William F Trimble and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2014-10-29 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Naval aviation historian William F. Trimble provides a clear and detailed portrait of the man who took on the challenge of forming an aeronautical bureau within the U.S. Navy in 1921 and then nurtured the early development of naval aviation. Describing Admiral William A. Moffett as one of the first high-ranking naval officers to appreciate the importance of the airplane and the effect it would have on the fleet, the author contends that the admiral's strong background as a surface officer gave him a credibility and trust with his superiors that others could not match. The author attributes Moffett's desire to keep aviation as part of the fleet, along with his diplomacy, tenacity, and political and military savvy, to the success of the infant air arm during its formative years. In striking contrast to the tactics of Army Gen. Billy Mitchell, Moffett's handling of the loyalty issue and other politically sensitive topics saved the Navy's air arm, according to Trimble. The book is equally candid about the admiral's shortcomings, including his heavy-handed support for airships, a technological dead end that squandered millions and led to Moffett's death in 1933 when he went down with the airship Akron during a storm.
Download or read book Dirigible Dreams written by C. Michael Hiam and published by ForeEdge from University Press of New England. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the story of airshipsÑmanmade flying machines without wingsÑfrom their earliest beginnings to the modern era of blimps. In postcards and advertisements, the sleek, silver, cigar-shaped airships, or dirigibles, were the embodiment of futuristic visions of air travel. They immediately captivated the imaginations of people worldwide, but in less than fifty years dirigibleÊbecame a byword for doomed futurism, an Icarian figure of industrial hubris. Dirigible Dreams looks back on this bygone era, when the future of exploration, commercial travel, and warfare largely involved the prospect of wingless flight. In Dirigible Dreams, C. Michael Hiam celebrates the legendary figures of this promising technology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuriesÑthe pioneering aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, the doomed polar explorers S. A. AndrŽe and Walter Wellman, and the great Prussian inventor and promoter Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, among otherÊpivotal figuresÑand recounts fascinating stories of exploration, transatlantic journeys, and floating armadas that rained death during World War I. While there were triumphs, such as the polar flight of the Norge, most of these tales are of disaster and woe, culminating in perhaps the most famous disaster of all time, the crash of the Hindenburg. This story of daring men and their flying machines, dreamers and adventurers who pushed modern technology toÑand often beyondÑits limitations, is an informative and exciting mix of history, technology, awe-inspiring exploits, and warfare that will captivate readers with its depiction of a lost golden age of air travel. Readable and authoritative, enlivened by colorful characters and nail-biting drama,ÊDirigible DreamsÊwill appeal to a new generation of general readers and scholars interested in the origins of modern aviation.
Download or read book Quarterdeck and Bridge written by James C Bradford and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2013-01-15 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This superb collection of biographical essays tells the story of the U.S. Navy through the lives of the officers who forged its traditions. The essayists are leading naval historians who assess the careers of these men and their impact on the naval service, from the Continental Navy of the American Revolution to the nuclear Navy of the Cold War.
Download or read book From frigates to flat tops written by Edward Arpee and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Rear Admiral Herbert V Wiley written by Ernest Marshall and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2018-09-25 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is, simultaneously, a biography of Admiral Herbert Victor Wiley and a history of the U.S. Navy’s lighter-than-air program. As tensions rose between Japan and the U.S. over control of East Asia and the Pacific Ocean, the prospects of war between the two nations increased. The Navy tracked the Germans’ use of zeppelins during the First World War and saw in them an aircraft with the potential to conduct long-range reconnaissance over the oceans – something that could not be achieved by airplanes or surface ships. While rapid progress was being made in manned flight, it was still young enough that the future of LTA vs. HTA flight was unknown. At the time, however, airships had a much greater range than airplanes making them suitable for reconnaissance. In its history, the Navy had four great airships – the U.S.S. Shenandoah, the U.S.S. Los Angeles, the U.S.S. Akron, and the U.S.S. Macon. Wiley served on all four of these airships and the history of these vessels is covered through the career of Wiley. Three of the airships ended in disaster and Wiley survived the crash of two of them. The book explores in detail the events leading to the crash of each airship through examination of the records of the Navy’s Courts of Inquiry that investigated the cause of each crash. The book also tracks issues surrounding the use of non-flammable helium as a lifting gas instead of highly explosive hydrogen used by the Germans. The U.S. had a monopoly on the supply of helium. While Germany sought to purchase helium from the U.S., the government board governing the sale of helium blocked is availability to Germany on the basis it might be used for wartime purposes. Dr. Hugo Eckener had run the Zeppelin works in Friedrichshaven since the end of WWI and he had a vision for LTA flight that was peaceful, including international transoceanic passenger and freight services. The outbreak of WW II ended the zeppeling industry and dashed all of Eckener’s dreams. Following the crash of the Macon, Wiley returned to the surface fleet, eventually becoming Commander of Destroyer Squadron 29 in the Asiatic Fleet shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Download or read book Race to the Top of the World Richard Byrd and the First Flight to the North Pole written by Sheldon Bart and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the age of adventure, when dirigibles coasted through the air and vast swaths of the Earth remained untouched and unseen by man, one pack of relentless explorers competed in the race of a lifetime: to be the first aviator to fly over the North Pole. What inspired their dangerous fascination? For some, it was the romantic theory about a “lost world,” a hidden continent in the Arctic Ocean. Others were seduced by new aviation technology, which they strove to push to its ultimate limit. The story of their quest is breathtaking and inspiring; the heroes are still a matter of debate. It was the 1920s. The main players in this high stakes game were Richard Byrd, a dashing Navy officer and early aviation pioneer; and Roald Amundsen, a Viking in the sky, bitter rival of Byrd’s and a hardened veteran of polar expeditions. Each man was determined to be the first aviator to fly over the North Pole, despite brutal weather conditions, financial disasters, world wars, and their own personal demons. Byrd and Amundsen’s epic struggle for air primacy ended in a Homeric episode, in which one man had to fly to the rescue of his downed nemesis, and left behind an enduring mystery: who was the first man to fly over the North Pole? Race to the Top of the World: Richard Byrd and the First Flight to the North Pole is a fast-paced, larger-than-life adventure story from Sheldon Bart, the only historian with unprecedented access to Richard Byrd’s personal archives. With powerful, never-before-seen evidence of the race to pioneer one of Earth’s last true frontiers, Race to the Top of the World is a story of a day when men were heroes and the wild was untamed.
Download or read book Of Arms and Men written by Robert L. O'Connell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1990-04-19 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The appearance of the crossbow on the European battle field in A.D. 1100 as the weapon of choice for shooting down knights threatened the status quo of medieval chivalric fighting techniques. By 1139 the Church had intervened, outlawing the use of the crossbow among Christians. With this edict, arms control was born. As Robert L. O'Connell reveals in this vividly written history of weapons in Western culture, that first attempt at an arms control measure characterizes the complex and often paradoxical relationship between men and arms throughout the centuries. In a sweeping narrative that ranges from prehistoric times to the nuclear age, O'Connell demonstrates how social and economic conditions determine the types of weapons and the tactics used in warfare and how, in turn, innovations in weapons technology often undercut social values. He describes, for instance, how the invention of the gun required a redefinition of courage from aggressive ferocity to calmness under fire; and how the machine gun in World War I so overthrew traditional notions of combat that Lord Kitchener exclaimed, "This isn't war!" The technology unleashed during the Great War radically altered our perceptions of ourselves, as these new weapons made human qualities almost irrelevant in combat. With the invention of the atomic bomb, humanity itself became subservient to the weapons it had produced. Of Arms and Men brilliantly integrates the evolution of politics, weapons, strategy, and tactics into a coherent narrative, one spiced with striking portraits of men in combat and penetrating insights into why men go to war.
Download or read book The British Pacific Fleet written by David Hobbs and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2012-03-07 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Magnificent and important . . . should be on the shelves of anyone with a genuine interest in the history of the Royal Navy in the Second World War.” —Military History Monthly In August 1944 the British Pacific Fleet did not exist. Six months later it was strong enough to launch air attacks on Japanese territory, and by the end of the war it constituted the most powerful force in the history of the Royal Navy, fighting as professional equals alongside the US Navy in the thick of the action. How this was achieved by a nation nearing exhaustion after five years of conflict is a story of epic proportions in which ingenuity, diplomacy and dogged persistence all played a part. As much a political as a technical triumph, the BPF was uniquely complex in its make-up: its C-in-C was responsible to the Admiralty for the general direction of his Fleet; took operational orders from the American Admiral Nimitz; answered to the Government of Australia for the construction and maintenance of a vast base infrastructure, and to other Commonwealth Governments for the ships and men that formed his fully-integrated multi-national fleet. This ground-breaking new work by David Hobbs describes the background, creation and expansion of the BPF from its first tentative strikes, through operations off the coast of Japan to its impact on the immediate post-war period, including the opinions of USN liaison officers attached to the British flagships. The book is the first to demonstrate the real scope and scale of the BPF’s impressive achievement. “Perhaps the greatest Royal Navy story of, at least, the twentieth century.” —Aircrew Book Review
Download or read book Admiral William A Moffett Architect of Naval Aviation written by William F. Trimble and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 716 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book From Torpedoes to Aviation written by Stephen K. Stein and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2007-05-21 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The career of Washington Irving Chambers spans a formative period in the development of the United States Navy: He entered the Naval Academy in the doldrum years of obsolete, often rotting ships, and left after he had helped like-minded officers convince Congress and the public of the need to adopt a new naval strategy built around a fleet of technologically advanced battleships. He also laid the groundwork for naval aviation and the important role it would play in the modern navy.
Download or read book Carriers in Combat written by Chester G. Hearn and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2007-06-11 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Engaging combat narratives from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands War, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and the current Iraq War Razor-sharp analysis of the roles of ships, aircraft, commanders, tactics, and strategy Aircraft carriers surged into prominence during World War II--mainly in the Pacific, where the U.S. and Japan fought history's greatest carrier battles, like the Coral Sea and Midway. Since then, although there have been no engagements between carrier groups, carriers have played an important role in world events, serving as distant launching pads for attacks on targets around the globe. From the first improvised wooden platforms to today's nuclear-powered supercarriers, Hearn explores how combat experiences have driven the development and use of carriers in the world's navies.
Download or read book One Hundred Years of Sea Power written by George W. Baer and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1996-07-01 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A navy is a state's main instrument of maritime force. What it should do, what doctrine it holds, what ships it deploys, and how it fights are determined by practical political and military choices in relation to national needs. Choices are made according to the state's goals, perceived threat, maritime opportunity, technological capabilities, practical experience, and, not the least, the way the sea service defines itself and its way of war. This book is a history of the modern U.S. Navy. It explains how the Navy, in the century after 1890, was formed and reformed in the interaction of purpose, experience, and doctrine.
Download or read book Admiral William Veazie Pratt U S Navy written by Gerald E. Wheeler and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Such is Life in the Navy The Story of Rear Admiral Herbert V Wiley Airship Commander Battleship Captain written by Ian Ross and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2016-01-20 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Such is Life in the Navy tells the story of Herbert Victor Wiley. Born in Missouri in the late 1800's, this man lived an accomplished life, both as a naval officer and as a father. His boyhood in small Midwestern towns builds the character that will exemplify Wiley in his personal and professional life. Intelligent, pragmatic, courageous, calm... all of these attributes serve him well. He is fearless in taking to the air and builds a reputation as the consummate airship officer and a leading expert in the field. At the outbreak of World War II he calmly and bravely directs a squadron of destroyers against Japanese forces. Later, as captain, he guides his battleship USS West Virginia through fierce combat in the Pacific. He wins accolades for his leadership, perseverance, and achievement. Wiley handles deep personal loss with the same courage and stoicism he brings to his job. He is the doting father of three who must balance the needs of his family with service to his country.
Download or read book United States Naval History written by United States. Navy Department. Library and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book United States Naval History written by United States. Department of the Navy. Library and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
