Contributors

October 2015
Roger Barr is the author of nine books, including America’s Wars: The Vietnam War (Lucent Books, 1991), The Treasure Hunt (Medallion Press, 1992), and biographies of Richard Nixon and Malcolm ...

On Our Scope

October 2015
‘Our New Cruisers” was how the U.S. Naval Institute announced the news in 1883. The ten-year-old organization had been founded by a group of naval officers concerned about the stagnant ...
Vladimir Mandel

Looking Back - Legacy of Détente

By Paul Stillwell
October 2015
Though it is little remembered today, a period of détente allowed for a brief thawing in the decades-long Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the ...

In Contact

October 2015
Surprises From a ReaderHoward FullerMy June article, “From Hampton Roads to Spithead” (pp. 14–23), yielded some unexpected surprises. Shortly after its publication, I was emailed by a reader ...
Clay Bonnyman Evans/History Flight Inc.

Naval History News

October 2015
Bonnyman Found on TarawaMarine First Lieutenant Alexander “Sandy” Bonnyman’s valor during the November 1943 Battle for Tarawa earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor—and, until March 2015, a forgotten grave.This ...
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

Historic Aircraft - If It Flies Like a Duck . . .

By Norman Polmar, Author, Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet
October 2015
When discussing great aircraft one almost invariably talks about fighters, attack aircraft, bombers, and maybe even cargo and transport planes. The Grumman JF and J2F Ducks were none of these ...
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

The Fleet's Ambiguous, Versatile Warships

By Norman Friedman
October 2015
Nearly all warships are multipurpose, but in retrospect cruisers have had a remarkable variety of roles, and the designation has covered an astonishingly wide range of ships. During World War ...
U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive

On Board the 'Augie' at Casablanca

By Ensign Richard W. Belt Jr., U.S. Navy
October 2015
On 8 November 1942, as the struggle for Guadalcanal entered its most critical phase, U.S. naval forces half a world away helped launch the first great Anglo-American amphibious operation of ...
All photos by Melissa King

Renaissance of a French Frigate

By Megan Eckstein
October 2015
In March 1780, the Marquis de Lafayette sailed from France to Boston with important news: King Louis XVI had agreed to increase France’s support of the colonists in their war ...
Painting by James E. Butterworth, The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, Virginia

A Corsair's Story

By Jack Sweetman
October 2015
Contrary to what is often assumed, the Royal Navy’s triumph at Trafalgar in October 1805 did not signify that it had driven the French flag from the seas. It had ...
Courtesy of Author

An Admiral's Letters to His Son

By Vice Admiral George W. Emery, U.S. Navy (Retired)
October 2015
Admiral Hyman George Rickover, “the father of the nuclear Navy,” demanded stringent safety requirements and a powerful focus on quality standards. When once asked why, he responded: “I have a ...
USS Bowfin Submarine Museum, www.bowfin.org

On the Edge

By Michael Sturma
October 2015
An adapted excerpt from the new Naval Institute Press book Fremantle’s Submarines: How Allied Submariners and Western Australians Helped to Win the War in the Pacific.

Book Reviews

October 2015
Hell From the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II’s Greatest Kamikaze AttackJohn Wukovits. Boston: Da Capo Press, 2015. 296 pps. Illus. Photos. Biblio. Index ...
U.S. Marine Corps History Division

Pieces of the Past

October 2015
‘War is a racket. . . . It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.” Those may sound like the words of ...