Synopses & Reviews
In On Seas of Glory the U.S. Navy meets a storyteller worthy of its epic. John Lehman was Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Navy, and the man most responsible for rejuvenating the service during the 1980s. Lehman here gives a sweeping narrative of the Navy, from the Revolutionary War to the present day, filled with the ships that dominated, equally titanic personalities, and the battles that made history.
Lehman profiles naval greats -- from John Paul Jones and David Glasgow Farragut to Commodore George Dewey and FDR -- but also gives credit to the lesser-known sailors who have made the U.S. Navy the mightiest in the world. On Seas of Glory uses the diaries, memoirs, and letters of average sailors to reveal naval combat as though firsthand. A powder boy during the War of 1812 recalls running to fetch cartridges through torrents of blood; the letters of the author's own father show what it was like to survive kamikaze attacks off Okinawa at the close of World War II; and the bravery of naval pilot Tim Howard during Grenada proves the spirit of John Paul Jones is not dead.
The sweeping narrative also highlights the warships that have dominated the seas of their day, and the battles in which they fought: Constitution vs. Gurriere, Stephen Decatur's United States vs. Macedonian, New Orleans, Manila Bay, Pearl Harbor, Inchon, and many more. Detailed battle maps illustrate actions great and small; woodcuts, paintings, and never-before-published photographs make war on the water still more vivid.
Amid the smoke and fire, Lehman also makes an argument. He reminds us that the legends chronicled in these pages were real men and women, and that their heroism is no less needed today. With an insider's gusto and knowledge, he fights fiercely for the continuing importance of the Navy. Alfred Thayer Mahan, the intellectual godfather of the modern U.S. Navy, said that naval power exists not just to fend off the enemy but to smite him down. On Seas of GloryOn Seas of Glory is the story of that smiting.
About the Author
John Lehman, shown here while an aviator in the Naval Reserve, was appointed Secretary of the Navy by Ronald Reagan. He is the founding partner of J. F. Lehman & Company, and the chairman of the Princess Grace Foundation. He lives in Manhattan and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction
CHAPTER I THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Nicholas Biddle; H.M.S. Jersey; John Barry; John Paul Jones; Valcour Island; Francois de Grasse; Virginia Capes
CHAPTER II THE PRIVATEERS
The Revolution; Congress; Fair American; George Lehman; Dr. Drowne; Stephen Girard; The War of 1812; General Armstrong and Andrew Jackson; The Civil War
CHAPTER III WAR WITH THE BERBER PASHAS AND REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE
Joshua Humphreys; Horatio Nelson; Subscription Ships; Essex; Stephen Decatur Jr.
CHAPTER IV THE WAR OF 1812
Macedonian; Samuel Leech; Uriah Philips Levy; Joshua Barney; Charles Ball; Lake Erie; Lake Champlain and Thomas MacDonough
CHAPTER V THE CIVIL WAR
David Farragut; New Orleans; Mobile Bay; Commodore Class Gunboats; Joseph V. Kelly; William B. Cushing; Raphael Semmes and Confederate Raiders; Alabama
CHAPTER VI MANIFEST DESTINY: THE "NEW NAVY"
Alfred Thayer Mahan; Theodore Roosevelt; The Spanish-American War, Olympia and Manila Bay; Franklin Roosevelt; The First World War; War Plan Orange
CHAPTER VII WORLD WAR II
Pearl Harbor; The North Atlantic; Chester W. Nimitz; Ernest J. King; Midway; U.S.S. Yorktown; Guadalcanal; Alvin Kernan; Normandy; Andrew Jackson Higgins; Leyte Gulf; LCSs; John Lehman, Sr; U.S.S. William D. Porter; Okinawa; V-J Day
CHAPTER VIII THE COLD WAR
James V. Forrestal; Korea; Inchon; Hyman G. Rickover; Submariners; Grace Hopper; Vietnam; James Elliot Williams; Yankee Station
CHAPTER IX THE 600-SHIP NAVY AND COLD WAR VICTORY
James L. Holloway III; Nimitz Class; The Falklands War; John Lehman; Iowa Class Battleships; Beirut; Tripoli; Grenada; Tim Howard; The End of the Cold War
Epilogue Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index