Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Harold J Bernsen USN Ret written by Harold J Bernsen and published by . This book was released on 2019-04-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This memoir focuses on only one tour of duty in Admiral Bernsen's career, his command of the U.S. Middle East Force in the Persian Gulf from 1986 to 1988. It traces the rapid evolution of that billet during his tenure. At first it was almost completely a diplomatic assignment, but that changed as the result of the Iran-Iraq tanker war of the late 1980s. Step by step, Bernsen became a combat commander and continued to use his diplomatic experience to further the U.S. cause in the Middle East. In the spring of 1987, while U.S. warships were operating in the Persian Gulf, an Iraqi jet fired Exocet missiles at the frigate Stark (FFG-31) and badly damaged her. Meanwhile, Kuwait was looking for protection of its tankers as they carried that country's oil through the Strait of Hormuz and into the world. The United States, concerned that the Soviet Union might gain leverage in the area by coming to Kuwait's aid, agreed to take over several Kuwaiti tankers and operate them under the U.S. flag. That, in turn, enabled the U.S. Navy to provide convoy escort protection in Operation Earnest Will. At the time it was the hottest operation going for the U.S. Navy. Bernsen recalled in his interviews his relationships with Admiral William J. Crowe Jr., the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General George Crist, Commander in Chief U.S. Central Command. Bernsen recalls the extensive planning effort and the consequent adjustment when an Iranian mine damaged the commercial tanker Bridgeton during her first mission under convoy. That led to beefed-up minesweeping capabilities and to retaliatory attacks on Iranian assets in the Persian Gulf. The oral history frequently emphasizes the benefits for the United States of the personal relationships forged between U.S. naval officers and Middle East leaders.

Download or read book The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Harold J Bernsen U S Navy retired written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Harold B Miller USN Ret written by Harold B Miller and published by . This book was released on 2016-06-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The late Min Miller was a gifted storyteller, the kind of individual who could mesmerize an audience as he recounted his adventures. To a degree, that quality has been captured in the oral history that follows. Unfortunately, the reader can't see Admiral Miller's gestures, hear the inflections in his voice, or see the twinkle in his eye. Even so, his love for the Navy--and particularly naval aviation--is manifest in the pages that follow. Miller got his wings only a few years after the Navy's first aircraft carrier, the Langley, was commissioned in the early 1920s. He served in one of the ship's squadrons in the late 1920s. Indicative of the versatility of naval aviators of the era, he flew in battleship and cruiser floatplanes, as well as in flying boat squadrons. But the tours of duty that really set him apart from his contemporaries came in the early 1930s when he was pilot of the tiny Sparrowhawk fighter that operated from flying aircraft carriers. These were the huge rigid airships Akron and Macon. Miller was in the crew of each at the time of her loss, the Akron in 1933 and the Macon in 1935. The oral history includes an engrossing account of the Macon's loss. Another interesting theme is Admiral Miller's long involvement with writing and public relations. In the 1930s he did what were essentially oral history interviews with naval aviation's pioneers and wrote the first overall account of the Navy's entry into the air age. He and his first wife wrote numerous magazine articles, and he was later a driving force in setting up Training Literature in the Bureau of Aeronautics during World War II. This section not only enhanced training within naval aviation but also served as an effective propaganda arm for selling the program. Because of the success of those efforts, Miller was made Pacific Fleet public relations officer in 1944 and greatly improved the Navy-media relationship. That led to a spot promotion to rear admiral far ahead of his contemporaries and the head public relations billet in the Navy. After his retirement from active duty, Admiral Miller did public relations work for TWA, Pan American, the American Petroleum Institute, and Hofstra University.

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Donald J MacDonald U S Navy Retired written by Donald John MacDonald and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 1116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm George W Bauernschmidt USN Ret written by George W Bauernschmidt and published by . This book was released on 1991-03-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reminiscences of Adm Harold Page Smith USN Ret written by Harold P Smith and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first volume covers career up to assignment as CinCPac in 1958. Served five years in battleships and destroyers. In 1929 was designated naval aviator and served with Scouting Squadron Three in the Lexington. Was nearby when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Transferred to the Saratoga and as air group commander participated in first offensive action of the war at Guadalcanal. After a year in Moscow as a member of the U.S. Military Mission to the Soviet Union, returned to the Pacific in command of the escort aircraft carrier USS Chenango (CVE-28) and participated in the Okinawa campaign and occupation of Japan. After war served on CNO's staff; commanded the Franklin D. Rooseve

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Henry L Miller USN Ret Vol II written by John T Mason and published by . This book was released on 2023-09-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Elliott B Strauss USN Ret written by Elliott B Strauss and published by . This book was released on 2023-04-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Henry L Miller USN Ret Vol I written by Henry L Miller and published by . This book was released on 1973-03-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Edward K Walker USN Ret written by Edward K Walker and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reminiscences of Vice Adm William R Smedberg III USN Ret Vol II written by William R Smedberg and published by . This book was released on 2016-02-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A man of considerable enthusiasm and energy, Smedberg was in the class of 1926 at the Naval Academy and reported afterward for a year of duty in the USS New Mexico (BB-40). He then spent three years in the destroyer USS Mullany (DD-325) before reporting to the commissioning crew of the heavy cruiser USS Northampton (CA-26). After postgraduate education in communications, he served on the staff of Commander Cruiser Division Three and Commander Cruisers Battle Force, Rear Admiral Harold Stark. Stark took Smedberg as aide when he became CNO in 1939, so this memoir contains a close-up view of Stark in the period just before World War II. During the war, Smedberg was commissioning CO of the destroyers USS Landsdowne (DD-486) and USS Hudson (DD-475), both of which operated in the Solomons. He then served as chief of staff to Rear Admiral A. S. "Tip" Merrill in the Solomons campaign before reporting as intelligence officer to Admiral Ernest J. King's Commander in Chief, U.S. Navy staff. After the war Smedberg was aide to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, a destroyer division commander, and a Naval Academy department head. He put the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) back into commission as skipper during the Korean War and then was chief of staff to Commander Destroyer Force Atlantic Fleet. The second volume begins with a discussion of Smedberg's service in the Politico-Military Division of the OpNav staff. While there, he was selected for rear admiral and moved up to become division director. From 1956 to 1958, he was Superintendent of the Naval Academy, involved in raising funds for a new football stadium and in upgrading both the faculty and methods of instruction. He then spent a few months as Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force Pacific Fleet and one year as Commander Second Fleet. During the course of the latter command, the fleet was involved in war games against the U.S. Air Force and a NATO exercise. Admiral Smedberg's final tour, as Chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, was from 1960 to 1964. His discussion concerns such facets as the introduction of computers to the order-writing process, detailing of flag officers to various billets, interaction between the Navy and political figures, the budgetary process as it concerns naval personnel, and Smedberg's dealings with Admiral Hyman Rickover. Admiral Smedberg's memoir is a particularly interesting one because of his degree of candor.

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Roy S Benson USN Ret Vol II written by Roy S Benson and published by . This book was released on 1976-03-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first volume of Admiral Benson's oral history, he recalls his early years with his Swedish family in New Hampshire, and his days at the Naval Academy, where athletics were not of as much interest as music. Following graduation in 1929, he served first in the battleship New York (BB-34), and then on the destroyer Smith Thompson (DD-212) on the Asiatic Station. Benson gives a real feel for the flavor of China in the mid-1930s, and it is here that he has his first experience with what is to become his specialty--submarines. He attends submarine school and has various duties before joining the Nautilus (SS-168), in which he served during that submarine's presence at the Battle of Midway. Later, as commanding officer of the USS Trigger (SS-237) his ship was credited with sinking almost 30,000 tons of Japanese shipping. Some key subjects discussed by Admiral Benson include the sinking of the Cochino (SS-345) while on an interesting mission in 1949, magnetic exploders, the use of submarines in antisubmarine warfare, and submarine tactics and safety measures. The last assignment discussed is Benson's duty in the unpopular billet of Director of Public Information for the Navy at the beginning of the Korean War. He provides anecdotes about many famous officers he came into contact with, including Forrest Sherman, Page Smith, George Marshall, William Fechteler, and Hyman Rickover. Admiral Benson begins the concluding volume of his memoir by describing his service in command of the attack transport Bayfield (APA-53) in 1953-1954, followed by command of Amphibious Squadron Six. At the time, duty in the amphibious forces was not considered particularly career-enhancing for naval officers, but it proved to be so in the case of Benson, because he was subsequently selected for flag rank during the course of a tour of duty in charge of Navy recruiting at the Bureau of Naval Personnel. As a rear admiral, he was a cruiser division commander in the Pacific and then Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service. His telling of that period provides a useful description of the interplay between the Navy and the U.S. merchant marine. One of the admiral's most enjoyable tours was as Commander Submarine Force Pacific Fleet from 1960 to 1962, at a time when nuclear submarines were still a novelty in that ocean. Then followed a five-year tour on the OpNav staff as Assistant Vice Chief of Naval Operations/Director of Naval Administration. This is unusual oral history material because of the considerable detail provided on the routine aspects of naval administrative matters. In many cases, oral histories concentrate on high-level decision-making, but the reality is that the paperwork must still be accomplished, and Admiral Benson provides rare insight into that aspect. The volume concludes with his description of service as Commandant First Naval District prior to his retirement from active duty in 1969.

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Joseph Muse Worthington USN Ret written by Joseph M Worthington and published by . This book was released on 1976-06-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rear Admiral Joseph Muse, U.S. Navy (Reitired) served in the Memphis, operating in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Asiatic fleets, then in the USS Tutuila (PR-4) on the Yangtze Patrol. In 1940, while gunnery officer in the heavy cruiser USS Northampton (CA-26), did experimental work in use of radar in cruiser gunfire control. Was CO of the USS Benham (DD-794) in World War II, participating in operations at Midway and in the Solomons Islands, rescuing officers and men from the USS Yorktown (CV-5) and USS Hammann (DD-412) during the Battle of Midway; screening the Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings; and contributing to the capture of Guadalcanal. Toward the end of the war, he was in tactical command of a radar picket station unit in the Ryukyu Islands and in the Honshu, Tokyo, and Hokkaido area. His later career included: Deputy Commandant of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces; CO of the USS Rochester (CA-124) and U.S. Planner, Standing Group, NATO, Secretary of Defense.

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Roy S Benson USN Ret Vol I written by Roy S Benson and published by . This book was released on 1995-09-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first volume of Admiral Benson's oral history, he recalls his early years with his Swedish family in New Hampshire, and his days at the Naval Academy, where athletics were not of as much interest as music. Following graduation in 1929, he served first in the battleship New York (BB-34), and then on the destroyer Smith Thompson (DD-212) on the Asiatic Station. Benson gives a real feel for the flavor of China in the mid-1930s, and it is here that he has his first experience with what is to become his specialty--submarines. He attends submarine school and has various duties before joining the Nautilus (SS-168), in which he served during that submarine's presence at the Battle of Midway. Later, as commanding officer of the USS Trigger (SS-237) his ship was credited with sinking almost 30,000 tons of Japanese shipping. Some key subjects discussed by Admiral Benson include the sinking of the Cochino (SS-345) while on an interesting mission in 1949, magnetic exploders, the use of submarines in antisubmarine warfare, and submarine tactics and safety measures. The last assignment discussed is Benson's duty in the unpopular billet of Director of Public Information for the Navy at the beginning of the Korean War. He provides anecdotes about many famous officers he came into contact with, including Forrest Sherman, Page Smith, George Marshall, William Fechteler, and Hyman Rickover. Admiral Benson begins the concluding volume of his memoir by describing his service in command of the attack transport Bayfield (APA-53) in 1953-1954, followed by command of Amphibious Squadron Six. At the time, duty in the amphibious forces was not considered particularly career-enhancing for naval officers, but it proved to be so in the case of Benson, because he was subsequently selected for flag rank during the course of a tour of duty in charge of Navy recruiting at the Bureau of Naval Personnel. As a rear admiral, he was a cruiser division commander in the Pacific and then Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service. His telling of that period provides a useful description of the interplay between the Navy and the U.S. merchant marine. One of the admiral's most enjoyable tours was as Commander Submarine Force Pacific Fleet from 1960 to 1962, at a time when nuclear submarines were still a novelty in that ocean. Then followed a five-year tour on the OpNav staff as Assistant Vice Chief of Naval Operations/Director of Naval Administration. This is unusual oral history material because of the considerable detail provided on the routine aspects of naval administrative matters. In many cases, oral histories concentrate on high-level decision-making, but the reality is that the paperwork must still be accomplished, and Admiral Benson provides rare insight into that aspect. The volume concludes with his description of service as Commandant First Naval District prior to his retirement from active duty in 1969.

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Edward A Ruckner USN Ret written by Edward A Ruckner and published by . This book was released on 1976-11-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The admiral's career is a distinguished one in the field of naval ordnance. After study in the Postgraduate School at Annapolis, he took a graduate degree at MIT. Along with Admiral Rivero he was one of the Navy's first officers to be involved with radar in the early months of World War II. His ultimate assignment in ordnance came as Deputy CNO for Development where he was responsible for coordinating and managing the entire program of the Navy for research, development, test and evaluation. Notable mileposts in this career were three years on the Ship Characteristics Board and three years as Ordnance Officer at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren where he developed a new agenda of operations.

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm George H Miller USN Ret written by George H Miller and published by . This book was released on 2012-02-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following graduation from the Naval Academy in 1924, Miller spent two years in the crew of the battleship USS California (BB-44) before going to flight training. As an aviator, he initially was in the battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48) and carrier USS Langley (CV-1). He served as a scout plane pilot from the Navy's last two rigid airships, the USS Akron (ZRS-4) and Macon (ZRS-5). His memoir includes a description of the Macon's loss in 1935. After floatplane duty in cruisers, Miller served with Patrol Squadron 16 in Alaska and commanded Patrol Squadron Five in Panama. He subsequently was on the staff of Rear Admiral Arthur Bristol, Commander Support Force, Atlantic Fleet. In 1942-43 Miller headed the Training Literature section of the Bureau of Aeronautics, commanding a talented group of artists, writers, and photographers. After a stint as naval attaché in London, he headed the public relations staff of Admiral Chester Nimitz in the Pacific in 1944-45, then was spot-promoted to rear admiral to serve as the Director of Public Information for the entire Navy. After retirement in 1946, Miller served in public relations capacities for TWA, the American Petroleum Institute, Pan American, and Hofstra University.

Download or read book Reminiscences of Rear Adm Edmond J Moran USNR Ret written by Edmond J Moran and published by . This book was released on 2019-02-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A principal focus of this memoir is Admiral Moran's service with the Navy and the Maritime Commission during the 20th century's two great world wars. In World War I he was an enlisted man and junior officer; he made several trips to Europe on board a Navy refrigerated cargo ship. During World War II he worked with the Maritime Commission in taking over private vessels for government duty and served on the staff of the Navy's Commander Eastern Sea Frontier in connection with the rescue of damaged ships. Particularly noteworthy was his duty in Europe to oversee the towing of artificial harbor components from Britain to France to facilitate offloading operations following the Allies' D-Day landings at Normandy. Interspersed are the admiral's descriptions of his long civilian career with Moran Towing. He began riding tugboats as a youth and learned much from his stepfather, Thomas Reynolds. Moran himself started as an office boy with the company and eventually became its president and chairman. He retired in 1984 after 69 years with the company. The oral history includes a good deal of discussion of the design, construction, and operation of tugboats over the years.