Download or read book The CSS Albemarle and William Cushing written by Jim Stempel and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-10-14 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On October 27, 1864, two marvels of the Civil War collided on the Roanoke River near Plymouth, North Carolina. The first was the formidable Confederate ironclad Albemarle, a 376-ton behemoth that had for months roamed the nearby rivers and waters of Albemarle Sound, defeating in turn everything the Federal Navy could throw at it. The second was William B. Cushing, a 21-year-old Federal naval lieutenant who had been selected to lead a virtual suicide mission to destroy the ironclad in her berth. This chronicle of the young officer's "David vs. Goliath" victory over the daunting ironclad presents a tale of courage and accomplishment.

Download or read book Civil War Commando written by Jerome Preisler and published by Regnery History. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil War Ironclads and Commandos Here at last is an action-packed portrait of one of America’s greatest but little-remembered Civil War heroes, Commander William Barker Cushing, who sank the Confederate ironclad Albemarle in a spectacular mission in 1864. Regarded as erratic and insubordinate, Midshipman Cushing was drummed out of the Naval Academy in March 1861. But with the outbreak of war, the Union needed every trained officer it could find— and whatever his flaws, Cushing was an extremely talented naval officer. Ferocious, uncompromising, courageous, and loyal, he became a U.S. Navy commando and at the age of twenty-one was sent to destroy the South’s ultimate naval weapon—the Albemarle, an unsinkable vessel with a devastating iron ram. This death-defying mission succeeded in sinking the Albemarle, helped reelect President Abraham Lincoln, and earned Cushing a hero’s grave in the Naval Academy’s cemetery. Here is that story, told with all the verve and drama it deserves, shining new light on one of the most important naval encounters of the war. Civil War Commando is a masterpiece of naval history that reads like a thriller and gives a neglected hero his due.

Download or read book The Sea Eagle written by Alden R. Carter and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2009-08-16 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Barker Cushing is considered one of the navy's greatest heroes of the Civil War. After his expulsion from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1861, Cushing managed to get an appointment as a master's mate on one of the warships of a blockading squadron. Cushing's daring and exceptional performance in battle led to a spectacular rise in rank, responsibility, and reputation. His military career culminated in his torpedoing of the Confederate ironclad Albermarle on the Roanoke River in 1864, an operation he executed under heavy enemy fire. This new and fully annotated edition of Cushing's memoir, originally written in 1867–1868, conveys the excitement and drama of a truly extraordinary Civil War naval career.

Download or read book Cushing written by Robert John Schneller and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2004 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dismissed from the U.S. Naval Academy in early 1861, William Barker Cushing nonetheless emerged from the Civil War as one of the NavyÆs greatest heroes. Cushing transformed his reputation from a rabblerouser into a living legend, because he embodied the special qualities that the Navy demands of the men in whom it entrusts its most hazardous and secret tasks: a readiness to volunteer for dangerous assignments, an unflagging devotion to duty, and more than a fair share of good fortune. As Robert J. Schneller observes, He was patriotic, aggressive, tough, and recklessly bold. Before embarking on.

Download or read book Commander Will Cushing Daredevil Hero of the Civil War written by Jamie Malanowski and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2014-10-20 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Superbly entertaining.”—S. C. Gwynne, best-selling author of Empire of the Summer Moon October 1864. The confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle had sunk two federal warships and damaged seven others, taking control of the Roanoke River and threatening the Union blockade. Twenty-one-year-old navy lieutenant William Barker Cushing hatched a daring plan: to attack the fearsome warship with a few dozen men in two small wooden boats. What followed, the close-range torpedoing of the Albemarle and Cushing’s harrowing two-day escape downriver from vengeful Rebel posses, is one of the most dramatic individual exploits in American military history. Theodore Roosevelt said that Cushing “comes next to Farragut on the hero roll of American naval history,” but most have never heard of him today. Tossed out of the Naval Academy for “buffoonery,” Cushing proved himself a prodigy in behind-the-lines warfare. Given command of a small union ship, he performed daring, near-suicidal raids, “cutting out” confederate ships and thwarting blockade runners. With higher commands and larger ships, Cushing’s exploits grow bolder, culminating in the sinking of the Albemarle. A thrilling narrative biography, steeped in the tactics, weaponry, and battle techniques of the Union Navy, Commander Will Cushing brings to life a compelling yet flawed figure. Along with his three brothers, including one who fell at Gettysburg, Cushing served with bravery and heroism. But he was irascible and complicated—a loveable rogue, prideful and impulsive, who nonetheless possessed a genius for combat. In telling Cushing’s story, Malanowski paints a vivid, memorable portrait of the army officials, engineers, and politicians scrambling to win the war. But he also goes deeper into the psychology of the daredevil soldier—and what this heroic and tragic figure, who died before his time, can tell us about the ways we remember the glories of war.

Download or read book Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion written by United States. Naval War Records Office and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 1146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Into the Dark Water written by John J. Domagalski and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2014-04-19 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complete World War II record of one of the most celebrated warships in American history—made famous by her final commanding officer, John F. Kennedy. Fleshing out the little-known chronicle of this patrol torpedo boat under two officers during the swirling battles around Guadalcanal, “John Domagalski brings PT-109 and her crew back to life once again and, in doing so, honors all who served in the patrol torpedo service” (Military Review). In these mainly nocturnal fights, when the Japanese navy was at its apex, America’s small, fast-boat flotillas darted in among the enemy fleet, like a “barroom brawl with the lights turned out.” Bryant Larson and Rollin Westholm preceded Kennedy as commanders of PT-109, and their fights leading the ship and its brave crew hold second to none in the chronicles of US Navy daring. As the battles moved on across the Pacific, the PT-boat flotillas gained confidence, even as the Japanese, too, learned lessons on how to destroy them. Under its third and final commander, Kennedy, PT-109 met its fate as a Japanese destroyer suddenly emerged from a dark mist and rammed it in half. Two crewmen were killed immediately, but Kennedy, formerly on the swim team at Harvard, was able to shepherd his wounded and others to refuge. His unsurpassed gallantry cannot resist retelling, yet the courage of the book’s previous commanders have not until now seen the light of day. This book provides the complete record of PT-109 in the Pacific, as well as a valuable glimpse of how the American Navy’s daring and initiative found its full playing field in World War II.

Download or read book Stephen A Swails written by Gordon C. Rhea and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2021-11-03 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stephen Atkins Swails is a forgotten American hero. A free Black in the North before the Civil War began, Swails exhibited such exemplary service in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry that he became the first African American commissioned as a combat officer in the United States military. After the war, Swails remained in South Carolina, where he held important positions in the Freedmen’s Bureau, helped draft a progressive state constitution, served in the state senate, and secured legislation benefiting newly liberated Black citizens. Swails remained active in South Carolina politics after Reconstruction until violent Redeemers drove him from the state. After Swails died in 1900, state and local leaders erased him from the historical narrative. Gordon C. Rhea’s biography, one of only a handful for any of the nearly 200,000 African Americans who fought in the Civil War or figured prominently in Reconstruction, restores Swails’s remarkable legacy. Swails’s life story is a saga of an indomitable human being who confronted deep-seated racial prejudice in various institutions but nevertheless reached significant milestones in the fight for racial equality, especially within the military. His is an inspiring story that is especially timely today.

Download or read book Battle of Plymouth North Carolina April 17 20 1864 written by Juanita Patience Moss and published by Heritage Books. This book was released on 2003 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you familiar with the Battle of Plymouth? Plymouth, Massachusetts? No, Plymouth, North Carolina. If you have never heard of it, you are in the company of many others, even those who consider themselves avid Civil War buffs. The Battle of Plymouth took place on April 17-20, 1864. Even though the last shots were fired 138 years ago, the sounds of that terrible conflict are with us still. Interest in the Civil War does not wane and new facts continue to be uncovered. In this book you will read about the second largest battle in North Carolina. It was fought at Plymouth where the Confederates tasted their last victory. Intense drama took place during four days filled with surprise, fate, intrigue, bravery, ingenuity, hope, daring, dedication, gallantry, victory, disappointment, and defeat. Are you familiar with the names of Cooke, Cushing, Flusser, Hoke, and Wessells? Have you heard of the CSS Albemarle, a ship not built in a shipyard as expected, but in a cornfield? Are you aware of who is credited with having achieved the most daring venture in all of the Civil War, and that it happened at Plymouth, North Carolina? Even if you do know the answers to all of these questions, you will want to read still more about them in this informative enlightening, and interesting book.

Download or read book The Civil War at Sea written by Craig L. Symonds and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2012 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continuing in the vein of the Lincoln-prize winning Lincoln and His Admirals, acclaimed naval historian Craig L. Symonds presents an operational history of the Civil War navies - both Union and Confederate - in this concise volume. Illuminating how various aspects of the naval engagement influenced the trajectory of the war as a whole, The Civil War at Sea adds to our understanding of America's great national conflict. Both the North and the South developed and deployed hundreds of warships between 1861 and 1865. Because the Civil War coincided with a revolution in naval techonology, the development and character of warfare at sea from 1861-1865 was dramatic and unprecedented. Rather than a simple chronology of the war at sea, Symonds addresses the story of the naval war topically, from the dramatic transformation wrought by changes in technology to the establishment, management, and impact of blockade. He also offers critical assessments of principal figures in the naval war, from the opposing secretaries of the navy to leading operational commanders such as David Glasgow Farragut and Raphael Semmes. Symonds brings his expertise and knowledge of military and technological history to bear in this essential exploration of American naval engagement throughout the Civil War.

Download or read book Iron Afloat written by William N. Still and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 1988-12 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone knows the story of the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack. But how many people know the story behind the Confederacy's attempt to build a fleet of armorclad vessels of war? When the Civil War began, the South had virtually no navy, few seamen, and limited shipbuilding facilities. In order to defend its ports against a well-established Northern navy, the South had to resort to innovation, and the Confederate ironclad navy was born. The Confederate government commissioned and put into operation twenty-two armorclad vessels of war. This is their story. From the inception of the program, through the problems of building the vessels, through the careers of the vessels themselves (including gripping battle descriptions), to their eventual destruction or surrender, it is all here. Iron Afloat is history that reads like a novel and will appeal to readers interested in the Civil War and Confederacy as well as to military and naval historians.

Download or read book Small Wars written by Sir Charles Edward Callwell and published by . This book was released on 1906 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Net Force Attack Protocol written by Jerome Preisler and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Jerome Preisler takes us deep into the dark side of the web and maybe our near future with Net Force: Attack Protocol. Robots, AI, the usual Net Force violence and action: Attack Protocol maps the threats so well, tomorrow’s miscreants may use it as a template. Hopefully the good guys do as well.” —Jim DeFelice, NYT best-selling author of American Sniper, Rogue Warrior, Dreamland The bestselling Net Force thriller series, created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik and written by Jerome Preisler, reveals the invisible battlefield where the war for global dominance is fought. The president’s new cybersecurity team, Net Force, is up and running. But a political deadlock in Washington makes the young agency dangerously vulnerable to the criminals, terror groups and hostile governments who would use the digital space to advance their destructive goals. In Central Europe, an unknown enemy mounts a crippling high-tech assault against the organization’s military threat-response unit on its home base. The strike casts suspicion on a core member of Net Force, threatening to destroy the cyber defense group from within. But as they race to track down their attackers, the stakes are suddenly ratcheted higher. For a global syndicate of black hat hackers and a newly belligerent Russia are hatching a mysterious, shadowy scheme for world domination from a place known only as the Secret City. Their attack protocol: leave Net Force in ashes while Moscow and its Dark Web allies set the stage for a devastating strike against the United States. Unless the men and women of Net Force can regroup in time to stop them.

Download or read book Meade at Gettysburg written by Kent Masterson Brown, Esq. and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2021-05-03 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although he took command of the Army of the Potomac only three days before the first shots were fired at Gettysburg, Union general George G. Meade guided his forces to victory in the Civil War's most pivotal battle. Commentators often dismiss Meade when discussing the great leaders of the Civil War. But in this long-anticipated book, Kent Masterson Brown draws on an expansive archive to reappraise Meade's leadership during the Battle of Gettysburg. Using Meade's published and unpublished papers alongside diaries, letters, and memoirs of fellow officers and enlisted men, Brown highlights how Meade's rapid advance of the army to Gettysburg on July 1, his tactical control and coordination of the army in the desperate fighting on July 2, and his determination to hold his positions on July 3 insured victory. Brown argues that supply deficiencies, brought about by the army's unexpected need to advance to Gettysburg, were crippling. In spite of that, Meade pursued Lee's retreating army rapidly, and his decision not to blindly attack Lee's formidable defenses near Williamsport on July 13 was entirely correct in spite of subsequent harsh criticism. Combining compelling narrative with incisive analysis, this finely rendered work of military history deepens our understanding of the Army of the Potomac as well as the machinations of the Gettysburg Campaign, restoring Meade to his rightful place in the Gettysburg narrative.

Download or read book Ironclad of the Roanoke written by Robert G. Elliott and published by White Mane Books. This book was released on 2005-04 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION AND PHOTOS OF ARTIFACTS DISCOVERED SINCE THE FIRST PUBLICATION IN 1994. This is both the human and the technical story of the construction, combat, and later destruction of the Albemarle

Download or read book Code Name Caesar written by Jerome Preisler and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the waning days of World War II, a little-known battle took place under the frozen seas off the coast of Norway . . . and changed the course of the war. In February of 1944, Germany and Japan devised a desperate plan to escape defeat. The Germans would send Japan a submarine—boat U-864—packed with their most advanced rocket and jet aircraft technology. Japan could then reestablish air superiority in the Pacific, drawing the attention of Allied forces long enough for Germany to regroup. Meanwhile, British code breakers, working with the Norwegian underground, had discovered the plan. But even though they were unable to stop the submarine from embarking, the British submarine HMS Venturer was waiting for it at sea. In a cat-and-mouse battle beneath the waves, they hunted one another, each waiting to strike. The Venturer won the game, becoming the only submarine in history to sink another sub in underwater combat. This is the dramatic, action-packed account of one of the greatest unsung victories in military history, and of a historical moment in the annals of naval warfare.

Download or read book Naval Warfare written by John C. Wideman and published by MetroBooks (NY). This book was released on 1997 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses how the first ironclad ships used in America influenced the Civil War; includes information on the major naval battles that were fought, what strategies were used, and other related topics.