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• part 1. Neglect: The reluctant creation and violent demise of the Navy's first commandos, the Marine Corps Raiders ; The sidelining of the Army's amphibious soldier-scouts and the call-up of the Navy's second-string sailors ; The US Army's first commandos and the raid that wasn't
• part 2. Opportunity: Draper Kauffman and the course that cracked the Atlantic wall, then laid the first bricks of the legend of naval special warfare ; The evolving contest that created the Mermen of War, World War II's only indispensable special operations unit ; The contest for the guerrilla war in China and the organization that had "no damn business" fighting in it, the US Navy's army of sailors
• part 3. Relevance: The US Navy's postwar plight, and the sailor-raiders who led her back to significance in Korea ; The resurrection of the Army's Rangersik, and the guerrilla raid that failed to forestall their second death ; Arleigh Burke, the Bay of Pigs, and the launching of the Navy's limited-war SEALs
• part 4. Exigency: Kennedy's Army of Gladiators and the counterinsurgency that blunted their swords, then cleared the way for another contender ; The first SEALs, their search for a mission, and the report that found it for them ; The dam break of conventional war in Vietnam, and the following flood of raiders that failed to beat the Navy to the Mekong Delta, all but one
• part 5. Culmination: The derailing of the first direct-action SEALs in the Rung Sat, and the detachment that restored their prospects ; The direct-action SEALs who dodged diversion, then perfected a mission that propelled the teams past the riverbanks, into history ; The Navy's skeleton key to inland combat and the final against-the-current achievements in the war's ebb tide that exposed the SEALs preeminence as the US military's go-anywhere commandos

A former Navy SEAL chronicles the history of the special operations unit, from their beginnings as unarmed World War II frogmen to their rise to American's first permanent commando force, deployed on counterterrorism and capture-kill missions

"This is the story of the first women naval aviators and their struggles and triumphs as they earned their Wings of Gold, learned to fly increasingly sophisticated jet fighters and helicopters, mastered aircraft carrier landings, served at sea, and reached heights of command that would have been unthinkable less than a generation before. It is also the story of the legacy they left behind"-- Provided by publisher

• Origins of Marine Corps aviation
• Proving ground: Haiti, 1915-1934
• Advance to maturity, 1919-1935
• Marine Corps Aviation comes of age: Nicaragua, 1926-1933.

Unlike the relative uniformity of conventional warfare, the peculiarities of small wars prevent a clear definition of rules and roles for military forces to follow. During the small wars era, aviation was still in its infancy, and the US military had only recently begun battling in the skies. The US Marine Corps recognized that flexibility and ingenuity would be critical to the successful conduct of small wars and thus employed the new technology of aviation. In Biplanes at War: US Marine Corps Aviation in the Small Wars Era, 1915--1934, author Wray R. Johnson provides a riveting history of the marines' use of aviation between the world wars, a time in which young soldiers were volunteering to fly in combat when flying itself was a dangerous feat. Starting with Haiti in 1915, Biplanes at War follows the marines' aviation experiences in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, China, and Nicaragua, chronicling how marines used aircraft to provide supporting fires (e.g., dive-bombing) to ground troops in close contact with irregular opponents, evacuate the sick and wounded, transport people and cargo (e.g., to assist humanitarian operations), and even support elections in furtherance of democracy. After years of expanding the capabilities of airplanes far beyond what was deemed possible, the small wars era ended, and the US Marines Corps transitioned into an amphibious assault force. The legacy of the marines' ability to adapt and innovate during the small wars era endures and provides a useful case study. Biplanes at War sheds light on how the marines pioneered roles and missions that have become commonplace for air forces today, an accomplishment that has largely gone unrecognized in mainstream histories of aviation and air power.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Among all the celebrations of the RAF's centenary, it was largely forgotten that the establishment of an independent air force came at a cost - and it was the Royal Navy that paid the price. In 1918 it had been pre-eminent in the technology and tactics of employing aircraft at sea, but once it lost control of its own air power, it struggled to make the RAF prioritise naval interests, in the process losing ground to the rival naval air forces of Japan and the United States. This book documents that struggle through the cash-strapped 1920s and '30s, culminating in the Navy regaining control of its aviation in 1937, but too late to properly prepare for the impending war. However, despite the lack of resources, British naval flying had made progress, especially in the advancement of carrier strike doctrine. These developments are neatly illustrated by the experiences of Lieutenant William Lucy, who was to become Britain's first accredited air 'ace' of the war and to lead the world's first successful dive-bombing of a major warship. Making extensive use of the family archive, this book also reproduces many previously unseen photographs from Lucy's album, showing many aspects of life in the Fleet Air Arm up to the end of the Norway campaign. Although it is beyond the scope of this book, in November 1940 the inter-war concentration on carrier strike was to be spectacularly vindicated by the air attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto - it inspired the Japanese to a far larger effort at Pearl Harbor the following year, but the Royal Navy had shown the way.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Wiley: the early years
• The road to Lakehurst
• The USS Shenandoah (ZR 1)
• The USS Los Angeles (ZR 3)
• The Shenandoah Disaster
• Changes in command
• Commanding the Los Angeles
• The USS Tennessee (BB 43)
• The USS Akron (ZRS 4)
• The crash of the Akron
• Aftermath of the Akron
• The USS Macon (ZRS 5)
• The end of an era
• USS Sirius (AK 15), Hell Gate, and helium
• War and battleships
• Kamikazes and beyond

This book is simultaneously a biography of Admiral Herbert Victor Wiley and a history of the U.S. Navy's lighter-than-air program. As tensions rose between Japan and the U.S. over control of East Asia and the Pacific Ocean the prospects of war between the two nations increased. The Navy tracked the Germans' use of zeppelins during the First World War and saw in them an aircraft with the potential to conduct long-range reconnaissance over the oceans - something that could not be achieved by airplanes or surface ships. While rapid progress was being made in manned flight it was still young enough that the future of LTA vs. HTA flight was unknown. At the time however airships had a much greater range than airplanes making them suitable for reconnaissance. In its history the Navy had four great airships - the U.S.S. Shenandoah the U.S.S. Los Angeles the U.S.S. Akron and the U.S.S. Macon. Wiley served on all four of these airships and the history of these vessels is covered through the career of Wiley. Three of the airships ended in disaster and Wiley survived the crash of two of them. The book explores in detail the events leading to the crash of each airship through examination of the records of the Navy's Courts of Inquiry that investigated the cause of each crash. The book also tracks issues surrounding the use of non-flammable helium as a lifting gas instead of highly explosive hydrogen used by the Germans. The U.S. had a monopoly on the supply of helium. While Germany sought to purchase helium from the U.S. the government board governing the sale of helium blocked is availability to Germany on the basis it might be used for wartime purposes. Dr. Hugo Eckener had run the Zeppelin works in Friedrichshaven since the end of WWI and he had a vision for LTA flight that was peaceful including international transoceanic passenger and freight services. The outbreak of WW II ended the zeppeling industry and dashed all of Eckener's dreams. Following the crash of the Macon Wiley returned to the surface fleet eventually becoming Commander of Destroyer Squadron 29 in the Asiatic Fleet shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The dawn of the era of flight and the formation of the RFC/RNAS, from its inception until the end of 1915.
• Chapter 2: The dawn of the era of flight and the formation of the imperial German Naval Air Service, from its inception until the end of 1915.
• Chapter 3: RNAS development and the challenges from within and without, leading to the formation of the RAF, 1916-1918.
• Chapter 4: IGNAS development and the challenges from within, 1916-1918.
• Chapter 5: Conclusion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book examines the British and German approach to naval air power, describing the creation and development of the two naval air service organizations and doctrine. This work provides new insights as to how two naval air services were influenced by internal and political interventions, and how each was integrated into the organizational structures of the Royal Navy and the Kaiserlichemarine (KM). Both the Admiralty and the KM made substantial alterations to their organizations and doctrine in the process. Principal air doctrines employed are examined chronologically and the application of operational doctrine is described. While they adopted similar air doctrines, there were differences in operational doctrine, which they addressed according to their different requirements. This book is a comparative study about the development of organization and air power doctrine in the RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service) and the IGNAS (Imperial German Naval Air Service). It investigates public and political interventions and early concepts of air power, placing into context the factors which contributed to how naval theorists came to think about the best means of controlling its working medium, air space. Ultimately, it examines the similarities, and differences, between the RNAS and IGNAS understanding of naval air power, within the broader strategic and theoretical framework of their parent organizations. This book will be of great interest to students of air power, naval power, military history, strategic studies and IR in general.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)