Book Suggestions?

hopefulUSNA25

hopefulUSNA25

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Dec 8, 2019
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I like to ask anyone I meet what some of their favorite books are. So what navy or service themed books are your favorite?
 
Any of the leadership books by ADM James Stavridis, GEN James Mattis or GEN Colin Powell.

There have been several similar-themed threads on books in the past few years. Recommend using the Search function.
 
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— The Red Badge of Courage
— War and Peace
— Iliad
— 100 Years of Solitude
— The Hunt for Red October
— The Right Stuff
— Admiral McRaven 2014 UT Commencement Speech
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James Michener has a lot of historical fiction where war is a central theme ... “Poland” comes to mind, a fantastic book.
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“Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors”
“Neptune’s Inferno”
The above should be read by USMA Cadets as well.
“The Cain Mutiny”
“The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance”
“Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism” I can not understand why this book has not been made into a movie.
“Band if Brothers” Although it deals with an Army unit a good examination of small unit leadership.
Toll’s books on the Pacific Theater in WEII . Your generation may well find itself embroiled in the Pacific. Might as well understand the area.
“With the Old Breed”
 
I think one of the things that is often overlooked but mentioned by Hornfischer in his book’s on the Pacific Theater, and should be studied by all midshipmen and cadets, is the shear vastness of the Pacific and the logistics involved.
The failure of the Japanese to hit the oil facilities at Pearl Harbor as well as an insignificant looking supply ship were lucky breaks for the US. The ship, the fleet tanker USS Neosho was the only one in the Pacific at the time and was arguably more critical to the war effort at the time than any battleship hit during the attack. If the Neosho had been sunk it have essentially locked US warships in port, or at least within fueling range of islands such as Midway until a replacement showed up. The loss of the oil facilities and dry docks at Pearl probably would have set back the war effort by many month.
You can’t just send ships across the Pacific. They need fuel. The bigger the ship, the more fuel. The lack of fuel and fleet refueling ships hurt the US war effort in the opening of the war.
This logistics nightmare is emphasized by Hornfischer in “Neptune’s Inferno”.
 
With the Old Breed, The Generals, Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Nightingales Song.
 
These are all great suggestions, and I've read most of them...classics. Another one I would add is "At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor."
I also really enjoyed "Generation Kill", it's more relevant to todays military culture and mission.
 
UHBlackhawk said:
“Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors”
“Neptune’s Inferno”
The above should be read by USMA Cadets as well.
“The Cain Mutiny”
“The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance”
“Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism” I can not understand why this book has not been made into a movie.
“Band if Brothers” Although it deals with an Army unit a good examination of small unit leadership.
Toll’s books on the Pacific Theater in WEII . Your generation may well find itself embroiled in the Pacific. Might as well understand the area.
“With the Old Breed”
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This is SOOoooo dead on from me! But you are missing ‘A DAWN LIKE THUNDER’. From this list if you haven’t read it UH, you should.

Add in: ‘Turn The Ship Around‘ ; ‘Six Frigates’ and on the Mgt side non-naval ‘The Happiness Advantage’
 
On the subject of HR McMaster, another great read is The Fires of Babylon: Eagle Troop and the Battle of 73 Easting.

This tells the story of then CPT H.R. McMaster and how Eagle Troop devastated an enemy force that greatly outnumbered them.
 
30 Seconds over Tokyo read this book in 5th grade, got me hooked on naval aviation - even though the raid featured B-25s
 
A6E Dad said:
30 Seconds over Tokyo read this book in 5th grade, got me hooked on naval aviation - even though the raid featured B-25s
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@A6E Dad
Agree with 30 seconds over Tokyo being a great read.

On that topic, there is a recent book, Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor by James Scott. A wonderful retelling of the story and it reads like a novel. There is quite a bit of fascinating documentation on how the Naval flight instructors had to teach the Army pilots about getting the B-25 off of the Hornet.

The mutual respect that the Navy and Army personnel had for each other is evident, and when the pilots had to take off early due to being spotted by a Japanese ship, the trepidation was palpable as the bombers flew off the deck one by one.

I loved this book.
 
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Woulk.
 
I think it bears mentioning because it is THE WEEK... 'A Civil War: Army vs Navy by John Feinstein follows both teams through the 1995 season and gives an up close look at the lives of the cadets and midshipmen, but the most striking takeaway for me is that as intense as the rivalry is, the respect that these young men have for each other speaks volumes about the finished product that these academies produce.
 
Red Badge of Courage
All Quiet on The Western Front
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Combat Crew (Best Account of B-17 combat in Europe - And I have read A LOT of B-17 memoirs)
The 13th Valley (Viet Nam)
A Sense of Honor - By Jim Webb. Novel that takes place at USNA in 1968 - I am reading it now.
 
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