The Destroyer Escort was the smallest ocean-­going escort built for the United States Navy – a downsized destroyer with less speed, fewer guns, and fewer torpedoes than its big brother, the fleet destroyer. Destroyer escorts first went into production because the Royal Navy needed an escort warship which was larger than a corvette, but which could be built faster than a destroyer. Lacking the shipyards to build these types of ships in Britain, they ordered them in the US. Once the US unexpectedly entered World War II, its navy suddenly also needed more escort warships, even warships less capable than destroyers, and the destroyer escort was reluctantly picked to fill the gap. Despite the Navy's initial reservations, these ships did yeoman service during World War II, fighting in both the Atlantic and Pacific, taking on both U-boat and Japanese submarines and serving as the early warning pickets against kamikazes later in the war. They also participated in such dramatic actions as the Battle of Samar (where a group of destroyers and destroyer escorts fought Japanese battleships and cruisers to protect the escort carriers they were shielding) and the capture of the U-505 (the only major naval vessel captured at sea by the US Navy). The destroyer escorts soldiered on after World War II in both the United States Navy and a large number of navies throughout the world, with several serving into the twenty-first century. This book tells the full story of these plucky ships, from their design and development to their service around the world, complete with stunning illustrations and contemporary photographs.

Destroyer Escort Sailors Assn - Vol III: Trim but Deadly

An absorbing study of the duels fought between the US Navy's escort warships and Hitler's U-boats between December 1941 and May 1945. Although the Battle of the Atlantic lasted several years, its most critical phase began once the United States entered World War II. By December 1941, the British had mastered the U-boat threat in the Eastern Atlantic, only to see the front abruptly expand to regions the US Navy would patrol, chiefly the Atlantic Seaboard. Unless the US Navy overcame the U-boat threat, the Allies would struggle to win. The Battle of the Atlantic was made up of thousands of individual duels: aircraft against U-boats, aircraft against aircraft, aircraft against ships-but most crucially, ships against U-boats. The individual clashes between Germany's U-boats and the Allied warships escorting the vital convoys often comprised one-on-one actions. These stories provide the focus of this detailed work. The technical details of the U-boats, destroyers, and destroyer escorts involved are explored in stunning illustrations, including ship and submarine profiles and weaponry artworks, and key clashes are brought to life in dramatic battlescenes. Among the clashes covered are including USS Kearny vs. U-568, USS Roper (DD-147) vs U-85, USS Eugene E. Elmore (DE-686) vs U-549, and USS Atherton (DE-169) vs U-853.

Though they were never the most glamorous of warships, found US Navy frigates were frequently found on the frontlines of the Cold War at sea. These warships were the descendants of World War II's destroyer escorts, designed primarily to escort convoys. They specialized in anti-submarine warfare, but were intended to be numerous, tough, versatile, and well-armed enough to show US naval power around the world, performing roles that varied from intercepting drug-smugglers to defending aircraft carriers. When the Cold War turned hot, frigates were often there. It was a US Navy frigate, Harold E. Holt, that conducted the US Navy's first hostile boarding action since 1826 during the SS Mayaguez incident. Frigates were at the forefront of operations in the Persian Gulf during the Tanker War, with the frigate USS Stark suffering a notorious Exocet attack by Iraqi warplanes, and proving the Oliver Hazard Perry-class's legendary toughness. This book explains how the technology and design of frigates changed during the Cold War, how the classes were modified to keep up to date, and explores the many varied missions they performed during the Cold War and since.

A reference to the ideological, military, political, biographical, and social topics surrounding World War II, which is often considered the pivotal event of the twentieth century.

The text describes the development of the class, armament, major conversion programs, differences between the American and British ships, and the operational history of Buckleys in the U.S. and Royal Navies. Throughout the book, recollections and contemporary observations from the men who served aboard these ships are used to provide a personal touch to the history of these "Little Wolves."

This monumental six-volume resource offers engaging entries of major diplomatic, military, and political events driving world conflicts from ancient times to the present. Now from ABC-CLIO, long regarded as a premier publisher of military history, comes a monumental resource that encapsulates the entire scope of conflict among human societies. Spanning nearly five millennia, from the earliest documented fighting to the present, A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East, provides a comprehensive survey of major military events. With coverage that reaches beyond the battles, this work examines the political and diplomatic forces driving world conflicts, revolutions, forced changes of governments, international treaties, and acts of aggression and terrorism. Written by acclaimed military historian Spencer C. Tucker, these six chronologically organized volumes offer an accessible, richly detailed timeline of military conflict across human history. The concise entries cover all important events on the battlefield and in the corridors of power, with special features highlighting hundreds of key leaders and weapon systems. From specific data on casualties to coverage of evolving weapons technology to insightful analyses of the social impact of war, A Global Chronology of Conflict is an essential resource for students, researchers, history buffs, and general readers alike.

The "Interim" LSM(R) or Landing Ship, Medium (Rocket) was a revolutionary development in rocket warfare in World War II and the U.S. Navy's first true rocket ship. An entirely new class of commissioned warship and the forerunners of today's missile-firing naval combatants, these ships began as improvised conversions of conventional amphibious landing craft in South Carolina's Charleston Navy Yard during late 1944. They were rushed to the Pacific Theatre to support the U.S. Army and Marines with heavy rocket bombardments that devastated Japanese forces on Okinawa in 1945. Their primary mission was to deliver maximum firepower to enemy targets ashore. Yet LSM(R)s also repulsed explosive Japanese speed boats, rescued crippled warships, recovered hundreds of survivors at sea and were deployed as antisubmarine hunter-killers. Casualties were staggering: enemy gunfire blasted one, while kamikaze attacks sank three, crippled a fourth and grazed two more. This book provides a comprehensive operational history of the Navy's 12 original "Interim" LSM(R)s.

Product Description: Digesting History: The U.S. Naval War College, the Lessons of World War II, and Future Naval Warfare, 1945–1947, by Professor Hal M. Friedman, studies the contribution of the Naval War College, especially in the presidency of Admiral Raymond Spruance, to strategic thought during the first critical postwar years—that is, between the end of the war and the formulation of Containment. This transition period is especially valuable as a window through which to explore institutions such as the College in transition from a hot war to a cold one. While seminal studies exist of the College’s work in the interwar years, none have been published on this period.