BOOK DEPARTMENT
Members of the Institute, both regular and associate, may save money by ordering books through its Book Department, which will supply any obtainable book. A discount of 10 per cent is allowed on books published by the Institute, and 5 per cent on books of other publishers (government and foreign publications excepted). Address Secretary-Treasurer, U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland.
A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY. By Captain Dudley W. Knox, U. S. Navy (Retired). New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1936. $5.00.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Neil K. Dietrich, U. S. Navy
The most comprehensive single volume dealing with the United States Navy that we have ever encountered and, we believe, the first one of its type to be published. Histories by research scholars we have read, battle reports by naval officers we have read, but in Captain Dudley Knox’s work we find the product of the combined officer and historical student, and the result is a volume that is much more than the usual history—it might more aptly be called Sea Power and the History of the United States, telling not only what the Navy has done but why it did it. The purposes of the author are summarized in his preface
(a) to present a connected and accurate narrative of all important naval events in American history in readily understandable form;
(b) to indicate the close relationship that has existed between naval affairs and the political, economic, military and other broad aspects of the national life during peace as well as war;
(c) to make available such a record of naval activities as will adequately inform the student and the general reader of the national value of the Navy’s work, and will also serve as a source of inspiration to the Navy itself, whose current morale necessarily includes tradition as an important component
and the tremendous task therein laid down has been carried out with an almost amazing degree of success.
Captain Dudley Knox, U. S. Navy (Retired), graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1896 and during his naval career saw service in many activities of the Fleet, his shore duty including the Naval War College. For many years he has been in charge of the archives of the Navy Department and in this duty he has had access to a wealth of source material that his trained professional mind has appreciated fully. His History of the United States Navy would be an outstanding volume for its completeness and exactness of data alone, but to this purely historical material he has brought the analytical viewpoint of the research scholar and the strategical and tactical knowledge of a War College graduate, binding together the various events in our naval history into a unified whole, whose continuity is Sea Power. Not a single important event has been omitted in the story of the United States Navy and yet the tremendous compression necessary to achieve this result in 434 pages has not resulted in either half-truths or dry, uninteresting recitals of facts.
At the end of almost every chapter will be found a summary of the events which have been chronicled therein, with the author’s comment on the military, economic, political, and legal elements which were involved in the events that took place. These concise summarizations and critical comments, based upon long naval experience and historical study, will stimulate the military reader (to agree or disagree!) and provide illuminating guide- posts for the civilian who is not familiar with the legal, tactical, or strategical considerations behind military events. In this respect the author’s comments are particularly valuable to military men and to the public at large, for history must guide us in our international relations and the support of diplomacy by armed force.
Naval terms are set forth so simply and concisely that the non-technical reader will have no difficulty in following every detail of the book. The many illustrations are from rare old paintings and prints, and in themselves compose a collection any reader will delight to possess. The maps and diagrams are taken from the best known works of naval history but in some cases are drawn to too small a scale and are not easy to follow. Several minor proof reading errors mar the high standard set in text and illustrations; the Bon Homme Richard sank on the morning of September 25, 1779, and not the night of September 24; in common with many others we do not wholly agree with the author’s condemnation of Captain Lawrence in the Chesapeake affair; we cannot subscribe to the description of De Grasse’s engagement off the Virginia Capes as a “victory” (see page 37) (unless for the French to escape destruction by the English was indeed a victory!); and the author’s enthusiasm for his subject sometimes carries him away with such rhetorical expressions for our military forces as “peerless crew,” “superb army,” “splendid marines,” but on the whole the volume is accurate, complete, instructive, interesting, and beautifully printed, and should be in the library of every United States citizen.
Particularly interesting because of the completeness and freshness of the information supplied are the accounts of our Revolutionary Navy, the operations in the Delaware in 1777, the privateer warfare of the French naval war, the operations of the Tripolitan War, Porter in the Marquesas Islands, the naval phases of the Battle of New Orleans, the cruises of Wilkes and others after the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Navy in China, and the extensive naval operations of the Civil War. An excellent military analysis of the naval problems of the World War adds interest to the account of our naval operations in that conflict and the many phases of those operations are given the best presentation we have seen in a one-volume history.
If the author’s page limit permitted we should like to see the last chapter on the World War’s aftermath and naval limitations expanded (even at the expense of some of the interesting material in the Tripolitan War chapter) to cover in more detail the various armament conferences and the present status, composition, and building program of the United States Navy. Such material, while not purely historical, would fit into Captain Knox’s treatment of his subject and round out his exposition of why we have needed a navy, what it has done, and what we have today. His book presents a record of many-sided naval services to the country, in which the navy itself may justly take a deep pride and the citizen at large may find well- warranted gratification.