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By Jim Barber Publisher
August 1995
Naval History
Volume 9 Number 4
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“What-if’ can be a dubious vehicle for retelling a story, and we usually steer clear of such tales. But in this issue, we make an exception.

Strategies to invade Japan were very much in place 50 years ago. A former Navy cryptologist analyzes official documents, maps out the plans, and outlines projected consequences.

An editor of General Douglas MacArthur’s war history recounts 11th-hour plans for a military coup that would have forced a U.S. invasion. Failing to gain support, the War Minister committed suicide. The author sheds light as well on the inner workings of MacArthur’s history team.

Naval History reports the latest developments in the Kimmel Case, which the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has asked Pentagon officials to reopen.

Also in this issue: problem student Will Cushing embarks on a bold naval maneuver of the Civil War; a Japanese submarine crew tortures survivors from the Liberty ship Jean Nicolet; Clive Cussler talks about his recent rediscovery of the CSS Hunley; and the Navy enters the air races.

Jim Barber Publisher

CAPT James A. Barber Jr., USN (Ret.) (1934–2017), served thirty years as a surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy before retiring as a captain. His assignments included three commands at sea: a guided-missile cruiser, a guided-missile frigate, and a destroyer escort. Other assignments included special sea detail officer of the deck of an aircraft carrier, senior watch officer of a destroyer, executive officer of a destroyer, and qualification as a convoy commodore. In 1984 he was appointed CEO and publisher of the U.S. Naval Institute, a position he held for fifteen years.↵ Captain Barber earned a PhD at Stanford University and taught at Vanderbilt, the Naval War College, and George Washington University. His awards include the Navy League’s Alfred Thayer Mahan Award, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with combat “V,” the Meritorious Service Medal with gold star, and six awards of the Vietnam Service Medal. In 1999 he was presented with the U.S. Coast Guard’s Meritorious Public Service Award, and in 2000 with the Navy’s highest civilian award, the Distinguished Public Service Award. He published two other books, including The Military and American Society: Essays and Readings, co-edited with Stephen Ambrose.

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