NUWC Newport Semiquincentennial: U.S. Navy & NUWC: History & Milestones

American Defense Reform by Dave Oliver; Anand Toprani; Bill Owens (Foreword by) The US military must be continually reshaped to adapt to evolving technologies, shifting adversaries, and a changing social environment for its personnel. However, introducing reform into the vast Department of Defense and its service branches is notoriously difficult. This book uses history as a guide for leading successful change in the Pentagon. To illuminate pathways, Dave Oliver and Anand Toprani have studied the experience of the Navy during four key periods of disruptive transformation: the late 1940s Revolt of the Admirals, the rocky implementation of Secretary Robert McNamara's systems analysis, the fallout and need to remake the military after the Vietnam War, and the paradigm shift after the Cold War. In the second part of the book, they examine the roles of civilian political appointees, Congress, and private industry in influencing defense innovation. Oliver and Toprani's analysis leverages insights from historical documents, previously unpublished interviews, and Oliver's own experience as a senior Navy officer and defense industry executive. They find that major change usually requires a shock event to proceed it, and that innovation must be a collaborative process between civilian leaders and the military brass, not imposed by one or the other. Furthermore, Congress is not effective at influencing change, and the experience of the private sector is generally not well suited to the public sector. This book will be essential reading for the US defense community, policymakers, and scholars and students of security studies and military history

The Blue Age by Gregg Easterbrook Today China is building warships at an extraordinary pace. India, Japan, Vietnam, and Europe are responding with more fighting ships. What will result from China’s rising naval might, particularly in the South China Sea? As ocean resources are shaped by climate change and new discoveries, will the world share them or fight over them? What will happen if America turns against free trade? Without American investment, the world could see a rise of supply shortages and seagoing conflict that would dwarf the impact of the container ship stuck in the Suez Canal. Surveying naval history, economics, environmental threats, and great-power politics, The Blue Age makes an urgent argument about our oceans’ vital importance to the peace and prosperity of our global community.

The Emergence of American Amphibious Warfare 1898-1945 by David S. Nasca "The Emergence of American Amphibious Warfare, 1898-1945 examines how the United States became a superpower through amphibious operations in order to project military power."

A Great and Rising Nation by Michael A. Verney In the conventional wisdom, the young United States was weak, with no international posture or military. But as Michael Verney shows, early American naval expeditions, often characterized as merely exploratory, were fundamentally imperialist. These expeditions circled the globe and were backed by a wide range of domestic constituencies, including people who wanted to promote America as an evangelical beacon, a lucrative node in the slave trade, or the base of a conventional empire. Verney shows that early Americans-Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians, militarists and pacifists, abolitionists and slaveholders-all agreed that the country had an interest in showing the world its power.

The Indispensables by Patrick K. O'Donnell As acclaimed historian Patrick K. O'Donnell dramatically recounts, beginning nearly a decade before the war started, Marbleheaders such as Elbridge Gerry and Azor Orne spearheaded the break with Britain and helped shape the nascent United States by playing a crucial role governing, building alliances, seizing British ships, and forging critical supply lines that established the origins of the US Navy. The Marblehead Regiment, led by John Glover, became truly indispensable. Marbleheaders battled at Lexington and on Bunker Hill and formed the elite Guard that protected George Washington. Then, at the most crucial time in the war, the regiment conveyed 2,400 of Washington's men across the ice-filled Delaware River on Christmas night of 1776, delivering a momentum-shifting surprise attack on Trenton. Later, Marblehead doctor Nathaniel Bond inoculated the Continental Army against a deadly virus, which changed the course of history. The Marbleheaders' story makes The Indispensables a vital addition to the literature of the American Revolution.

Lords of the Ocean by James L. Nelson James L. Nelson's Isaac Biddlecomb series has brought to life a never-before-seen side of America's war for independence. With the expertise of a seasoned mariner, a historian's vivid attention to detail, and a natural gift for sensational storytelling, "the American counterpart to Patrick O'Brian" (David Brink) carries us along on his bold and stirring course through history. After ferrying General George Washington's troops across the East River and through the hell known as the Battle of Long Island, Captain Isaac Biddlecomb receives a monumental order. He is to transport to France the most powerful secret weapon in the country's arsenal--scientist, philosopher, and spirit of the enlightenment Dr. Benjamin Franklin. With a new team of men forging through the wintry North Atlantic and braving the cordon of the Royal Navy, Biddlecomb's seemingly simple mission is just the first volley in a grand scheme: to topple France's neutrality by gaining its vital support, and turn the colonial uprising into a full-scale world war for freedom

Needs and Opportunities in the Modern History of the U.S. Navy by Michael J. Crawford The essays in this book examine the modern history of the United States Navy in the subject areas of forward presence, operations, personnel policy, programming and acquisition management, science, social history, strategy, and technology.

On Wide Seas by Claude Berube A detailed account of how the US Navy modernized itself between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, through strategic approaches to its personnel, operations, technologies, and policies, among them an emerging officer corps, which sought to professionalize its own ranks, modernize the platforms on which it sailed, and define its own role within national affairs and in the broader global maritime commons

Overnight Code by Paige Bowers; David Montague Raye Montague was an ambitious little girl in segregated Little Rock. She grew to be a woman who spent a lifetime educating herself, both inside and outside of the classroom, so that she could become the person and professional she aspired to be. Where some saw roadblocks, Montague only saw hurdles that needed to be overcome. Her mindset helped her become the first person to draft a Naval ship design by computer, using a program she worked late nights to debug. She did this as a single mother during the height of the Cold War, all the while imbuing her son with the hard-won wisdom she had accumulated throughout the years.

The Pacific's New Navies by Thomas M. Jamison The initial creation of the United States' ocean-going battlefleet - otherwise known as the 'New Navy' - was a result of the naval wars and arms races around the Pacific during the late-nineteenth century. Using a transnational methodology, Thomas Jamison spotlights how US Civil War-era innovations catalyzed naval development in the Pacific World, creating a sense that the US Navy was falling behind regional competitors. As the industrializing 'newly-made navies' of Chile, Peru, Japan, and China raced against each other, Pacific dynamism motivated investments in the US 'New Navy as a matter of security and civilizational prestige. In this provocative exploration into the making of modern US navalism, Jamison provides an analysis of competitive naval build-ups in the Pacific, of the interactions between peoples, ideas, and practices within it, and ultimately the emergence of the US as a major power.

Pearl Harbor's Revenge by Rod Macdonald Early on Sunday, 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-borne aircraft launched a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor. It was a date that President Roosevelt declared “will live in infamy”. During the strike, Japanese planes attacked the seven US battleships lined up in Battleship Row – and the flag battleship USS Pennsylvania, in drydock for overhaul. The battleship USS Arizona exploded from a bomb hit at the forward magazine killing 1,177 officers and men. On USS Oklahoma, 429 men were killed – many trapped inside as the great battleship capsized after aerial torpedo strikes. Six of the eight battleships would thus return to service, with improved protection against bombs and torpedoes and being fitted with the latest anti-aircraft and gunnery systems. They would re-enter to the war to wreak a terrible revenge – making their presence felt during the reconquest of the Aleutian Islands and the Philippines, and the great battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Nevada would go on Atlantic convoy duty before bombarding German positions off Utah beach as the D-Day Normandy landings began. This is the story of those six.

Rebels at Sea by Eric Jay Dolin The heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the American Revolution has been told before, yet missing from most maritime histories of the country?s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels, from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war, that truly revealed the new nation?s character?above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos.0 In Rebels at Sea, best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission and contends that privateers, though often seen as profiteers at best and pirates at worst, were in fact critical to the American Revolution?s outcome. Armed with cannons, swivel guns, muskets and pikes?as well as government documents granting them the right to seize enemy ships?thousands of privateers tormented the British on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbours on both sides of the ocean. Abounding with tales of daring manoeuvers and deadly encounters, Rebels at Sea presents the American Revolution as we have rarely seen it before.

The U.S. Navy: Case Studies in Its Past, Present, and Future by Thomas-Durell Young The U.S. Navy: Case Studies in its Past, Present, and Future argues that the challenge of determining the future structure and operation of the fleet can be best achieved through an examination of its relevant past experience, as well as from current operations of the navy.

The Untold War at Sea by Kylie A. Hulbert Sailing in the waters of the Atlantic and the Caribbean throughout the eighteenth-century, privateers played a vital role in numerous European and Anglo-American conflicts. This book extends that story to the role of privateers in the American Revolution. Privateer operations provide a fresh perspective on the impact and influence of the Revolution as a global conflict. Revolution-era engagements are not only between British Regulars, German mercenaries, and colonial patriots, but also privateers, include international crews operating in international waters on an international stage. These merchant marines understood that the war not only consisted of battlefields on American soil but required foreign support and aid. International recognition was imperative. The process of revolution and winning independence was global in nature and privateers operated at its core. Their experiences, rather than being unfamiliar and unknown, are an integral part of the story which this book highlights, reintegrating their story into the popular, patriotic narrative.

Warship Builders by Thomas Heinrich "Warship Builders is the first scholarly study of the U.S. naval shipbuilding industry from the early 1920s to the end of World War II, when American shipyards produced the world's largest fleet that helped defeat the Axis powers in all corners of the globe."

Who Can Hold the Sea by James D. Hornfischer A close-up, action-filled narrative about the crucial role the U.S. Navy played in the early years of the Cold War, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Fleet at Flood Tide This landmark account of the U.S. Navy in the Cold War, Who Can Hold the Sea, combines narrative history with scenes of stirring adventure on--and under--the high seas.