Please recommend a book of naval history
December 1, 2016 7:02 AM Subscribe
I'm trying to come up with a Christmas present. My dad really loves naval history. I'd say his favorite periods are WWII (Pacific) and the Napoleonic wars, but I've seem him read and enjoy books from other periods. What books about naval history have you read and enjoyed?
My husband likes naval history as well and recommends:
The Coastwatchers (WWII Pacific)
Four Weeks in May (about the Falklands War)
posted by olinerd at 7:13 AM on December 1, 2016
The Coastwatchers (WWII Pacific)
Four Weeks in May (about the Falklands War)
posted by olinerd at 7:13 AM on December 1, 2016
I really enjoyed The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. It’s an amazing story.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 7:19 AM on December 1, 2016
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 7:19 AM on December 1, 2016
NAM Rodgers has two volumes on the British Navy, from pre-Norman times to 1815. I only read the first one so far but I loved it. It is on the history, technology, politics & society side (rather than battle stories) so not to everyone's taste.
Empires of the Sea covers the duel in the Mediterranean between Spain and the Ottomans in the 16th century. It very much is battle stories, especially Lepanto and Malta. (Related: MeFi's own Bruce Allen Ware has an excellent account of The Great Siege of Malta.)
The Price of Admiralty by John Keegan goes through four battles (including Midway & Trafalgar) and gives more attention to the sailors' and commanders' view than you usually get.
posted by mark k at 7:29 AM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Empires of the Sea covers the duel in the Mediterranean between Spain and the Ottomans in the 16th century. It very much is battle stories, especially Lepanto and Malta. (Related: MeFi's own Bruce Allen Ware has an excellent account of The Great Siege of Malta.)
The Price of Admiralty by John Keegan goes through four battles (including Midway & Trafalgar) and gives more attention to the sailors' and commanders' view than you usually get.
posted by mark k at 7:29 AM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
If he likes Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels and enjoys details, A Sea of Words or Harbors and High Seas. The first is about the vocabulary/jargon of the books, and the second is about the actual geography.
posted by wintersweet at 7:43 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by wintersweet at 7:43 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's a relatively recent book (2004?), but William Langewiesche's book "The Outlaw Sea" was really interesting. It discusses piracy, Indian ship-breakers, and maritime risk & disaster.
(The last portion of the book covers a bad ferry accident, which might be disturbing -- especially because he concludes that those who survived did so because they ruthlessly fought for survival, even to the point of abandoning friends & family. I listened to the audiobook, and the dispassion in his otherwise-warm voice was chilling.)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:44 AM on December 1, 2016
(The last portion of the book covers a bad ferry accident, which might be disturbing -- especially because he concludes that those who survived did so because they ruthlessly fought for survival, even to the point of abandoning friends & family. I listened to the audiobook, and the dispassion in his otherwise-warm voice was chilling.)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:44 AM on December 1, 2016
Oh man oh man oh man... You just sent me down memory lane.
My grandfather was a Captain in the Navy and commanded Destroyers during WWII. He had the original 1953 version of United States Destroyer Operations in World War II by Theodore Roscoe and and as kids we spent hours and hours and hours poring over it.
The Amazon description is a bit understated for a 500+ page comprehensive look at the role of the Destroyer in WWII:
posted by ElGuapo at 7:58 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
My grandfather was a Captain in the Navy and commanded Destroyers during WWII. He had the original 1953 version of United States Destroyer Operations in World War II by Theodore Roscoe and and as kids we spent hours and hours and hours poring over it.
The Amazon description is a bit understated for a 500+ page comprehensive look at the role of the Destroyer in WWII:
A detailed account of the operations of U.S. destroyers in the Second World War, prepared from personal narratives and official records.I wonder what happened to that book? I may have to buy one...
posted by ElGuapo at 7:58 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
If by some chance he hasn't read or doesn't own A. T. Mahan's canonical Influence of Seapower upon History, this is a must-purchase. There's also a supplementary volume on the French Empire that is equally amazing, in my opinion.
posted by CheeseLouise at 8:37 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by CheeseLouise at 8:37 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
While not strictly naval warfare, Nathanial Philbrick's Valiant Ambition contains quite a bit of information about naval battles during the Revolutionary War.
posted by slogger at 9:54 AM on December 1, 2016
posted by slogger at 9:54 AM on December 1, 2016
Mahan is available for Kindle for free from Amazon. Thanks, CheeseLouise!
posted by whuppy at 10:56 AM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by whuppy at 10:56 AM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm always happy two recommend the two books: Dreadnought and Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie. They are about the international relations of England and Germany (as well as, in a general way, the royal families of both nations) through the 19th Century, with a particular focus on naval affairs and the transition from coal-fired navy to fuel-oil. The first book covers the international affairs in general and the development of HMS Dreadnought, which is ever after that datum point for battleships, and that book ends as the dominoes begin to fall for WWI. The second book is covering WWI's naval aspects almost exclusively, with riveting accounts of the Battles of Jutland, Dogger Bank, Gallipoli (which was a fiasco of a naval battle before it was a fiasco of an ANZAC assault). It talks about the evolution of naval warfare with the advent of radio. Von Spee's fleet's flight across the Pacific Ocean, starting in Tsingtao and ending near the Falkland Islands.
For WWII, there is the undeniably riveting The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer, which is about the Battle Off Samar, one of the several engagements of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in WWII. In it, a US Navy task force called Taffy 3, composed of 6 escort carriers, as well as a small number of "tin cans," destroyers and destroyer escorts, all equipped for land-attack (in support of Army landings), were pounced-upon by a vastly superior Japanese fleet. This book is substantially a biography of one of the smallest ships in the battle, the Destroyer Escort USS Samuel B. Roberts, whose Captain drove her nose-to-nose against the IJN Yamato, a huge battleship that was 45 times her weight.
If he's a Pacific-War aficionado, he's probably read "Tin Can," but Hornfischer has a brand new one out called The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945, and he has a number of other WWII naval history books.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:36 AM on December 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
For WWII, there is the undeniably riveting The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer, which is about the Battle Off Samar, one of the several engagements of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in WWII. In it, a US Navy task force called Taffy 3, composed of 6 escort carriers, as well as a small number of "tin cans," destroyers and destroyer escorts, all equipped for land-attack (in support of Army landings), were pounced-upon by a vastly superior Japanese fleet. This book is substantially a biography of one of the smallest ships in the battle, the Destroyer Escort USS Samuel B. Roberts, whose Captain drove her nose-to-nose against the IJN Yamato, a huge battleship that was 45 times her weight.
If he's a Pacific-War aficionado, he's probably read "Tin Can," but Hornfischer has a brand new one out called The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945, and he has a number of other WWII naval history books.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:36 AM on December 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's a quickie (comparatively), but I enjoyed Escape from the Deep by Alex Kershaw, about a WWII sub in the Pacific.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 1:58 PM on December 1, 2016
posted by chimpsonfilm at 1:58 PM on December 1, 2016
This may seem out of left field, but if your dad also likes fiction (science fiction, specifically), then I'd check out the book series that starts with "Midshipman's Hope." The books were written by David Feintuch (RIP) and are basically naval stories - aka Horatio Hornblower type - that are set in space. I learned a ton about the Navy reading this series, and it's also really good story-wise.
posted by tacodave at 2:17 PM on December 1, 2016
posted by tacodave at 2:17 PM on December 1, 2016
I can second the quality of "Midshipman's Hope" books, which carries an age-of-sail navy to interstellar travel, at least in terms of ranks and ratings, naval discipline, and the isolation of the ship and her captain.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:30 PM on December 1, 2016
posted by Sunburnt at 2:30 PM on December 1, 2016
Seconding Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. A well-known British writer who I wish was more popular in the US is Nicholas Monsarrat. His three non-fiction long-form magazine articles chronicling his experiences escorting convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic are often bundled together today as the book-length Three Corvettes. If you want the same experience but in fiction, his novel The Cruel Sea is regarded as one of the best works on war in English literature. Its rather innocuous final line ("I am so damned tired") will resonate with anyone who has been on a prolonged combat deployment.
posted by seasparrow at 8:55 PM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by seasparrow at 8:55 PM on December 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by Ian W. Toll.
posted by bryon at 9:10 PM on December 1, 2016
posted by bryon at 9:10 PM on December 1, 2016
Your dad may already have read them, but if he's a fan of a) naval history and b) the Napoleonic period and is at all interested in fiction, he must read the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels. They are absolutely gorgeous historical novels, brimming with detail.
There is a film from 2003 with Russell Crowe in it (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) that mashes together two of these books, which is pretty decent, but the books themselves are soooo good.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:19 AM on December 2, 2016
There is a film from 2003 with Russell Crowe in it (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) that mashes together two of these books, which is pretty decent, but the books themselves are soooo good.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:19 AM on December 2, 2016
Response by poster: Thank you everyone. I'm going to read some amazon and Goodreads reviews and then pick one of the suggested books.
I appreciate the fiction recommendations, and he does like science fiction, but I know he has read the Aubrey-Maturin books and after reading the descriptions of the Midshipman Hope books I'm pretty sure he actually loaned those to me a few years ago.
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 6:07 AM on December 2, 2016
I appreciate the fiction recommendations, and he does like science fiction, but I know he has read the Aubrey-Maturin books and after reading the descriptions of the Midshipman Hope books I'm pretty sure he actually loaned those to me a few years ago.
posted by Alluring Mouthbreather at 6:07 AM on December 2, 2016
If you can find them Clear the Decks and Eight Bells are best, and the Cap'n Fatso books are hilarious. They're about a First Class/Chief Boatswain Mate staving off boredom in the post WWII Navy.
Adm Dan Gallery was the first commander to capture a war ship after the War of 1812 and had a love of the absurd between missions.
Non-fiction
Clear the Decks
U-505 (original title: Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea)
We Captured a U-boat
Eight Bells (original title: Eight Bells And All's Well)
Fiction
Now, Hear This!
Stand By-y-y to Start Engines
Cap'n Fatso (sequel to Now, Hear This)
Away Boarders (sequel to Cap'n Fatso)
posted by ridgerunner at 6:13 AM on December 2, 2016
Adm Dan Gallery was the first commander to capture a war ship after the War of 1812 and had a love of the absurd between missions.
Non-fiction
Clear the Decks
U-505 (original title: Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea)
We Captured a U-boat
Eight Bells (original title: Eight Bells And All's Well)
Fiction
Now, Hear This!
Stand By-y-y to Start Engines
Cap'n Fatso (sequel to Now, Hear This)
Away Boarders (sequel to Cap'n Fatso)
posted by ridgerunner at 6:13 AM on December 2, 2016
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posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:11 AM on December 1, 2016