Good Books To Teach A Landloving Civilian About The US Navy?

June 8, 2008 3:20 PM

Good Books To Teach A Landloving Civilian About The Modern US Navy?

I am looking for really good books to teach me about the modern US Navy and life in the US Navy.

I am not looking for books about the history of the Navy. Of course, I understand history is important and I am not opposed to the books having history, but my specific goal is to help me understand the workings of the modern US Navy and the people who are a part of it.

Any suggestions?

posted by Spurious to Shopping (7 answers total)

PBS recently showed a multi-part documentary about life aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz: Carrier documentary. You might check your local listings to see if they're re-running it anytime soon.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:26 PM on June 8, 2008

Netflix has 3 modern-day "Carrier" DVDs:

Carrier (3 disc series)
Carrier: Arsenal of the Seas
Carrier: City of Steel

My naval science interests dwindle off with the arrival of jets so that's all I have for you. . .
posted by tachikaze at 3:45 PM on June 8, 2008

You can watch the "Carrier" series online too at LobsterMitten's link.
posted by smackfu at 4:24 PM on June 8, 2008

I watched the "Carrier" 10-part series last week, and it is really awesome.
posted by mrbill at 4:53 PM on June 8, 2008

I think the place to start with modern warfare in general (heh) is How to Make War. For the modern navy Fleet Tactics is theory for practioners (ie, navel officers) and is focused on how big fleet to fleet actions are supposed to work, though you may not recall many big fleet to fleet actions in the last fifty years or so.
posted by shothotbot at 6:20 PM on June 8, 2008

Hrm...I'm not sure any books I read did justice before I joined...actually talking to people active and retired did more to prepare me. It also depends on what level you are looking at...Enlisted, there's boot camp, school, and then cleaning a lot of toilets and sweeping a lot of floors before anything interesting....Officers have College or the Academy and then they go to more schools and then they get to flail around and pretend they know what they are doing for a couple of years before they get to do anything interesting too :)

Is there something specific you are looking for? I can try to help or try to put you in touch with friends of mine that are still active?
posted by legotech at 6:49 PM on June 8, 2008

Another vote for "Carrier" - my sister-in-law is in the Navy, and she assured me that the show is VERY true to her experience on 2 ships over the last 10 years.
posted by xsquared-1 at 3:20 AM on June 9, 2008