It is most appropriate that this study, On Course to Desert Storm, is appearing at a time when the Persian Gulf is of special concern to the United States. Michael Palmer's purpose is to go behind the recent headlines associated with the crisis that began when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in1990. The author explains the military and political factors that affected American policy in the region and led to the establishment of the U.S. Navy's Middle East Force in 1949. He then traces the evolution of this small force over the ensuing decades. Dr. Palmer shows that the Navy periodically sent major reinforcements to the region during the era of tension and war that followed the abdication of the Shah of Iran in 1979. Starting in the late 1970s these reinforcements included American carrier battle forces, which thereafter became a familiar sight in the North Arabian Sea approaches to the Persian Gulf. Dr. Palmer's broad grasp of naval history makes him exceptionally well qualified to write this far-reaching history. His previous writings include an important study of an undeclared naval war that an infant U.S. Navy waged from 1798 to 1801 against France. The author also contributed a distinguished study of the development of U.S. naval strategy in the years following the Second World War. While preparing On Course to Desert Storm, Dr. Palmer visited the Joint Task Force, Middle East. The opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of U.S. naval operations in the Persian Gulf added immeasurably to the author's understanding of the subject matter covered in this book. Dean C. Allard Director of Naval History United States Navy
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A bonanza of naval history,
By A Customer
This review is from: On Course to Desert Storm: The United States Navy and the Persian Gulf (Contributions to naval history) (Paperback)
The Naval Historical Center in Washington has once again "crossed the T" by
publishing a colossal illustrated history of the U. S. Navy and its involvement in the war
in Southeast Asia.
After a brief recap on how the United States became embroiled in this area of the
world, this book traces in a concise, lively narrative, the U. S. Navy's activities in and
over the two Vietnams, Laos and Cambodia. The Navy story is supported by more than
500, repeat 500, exceptional photographs,
The hundreds of thousands of Navy men and women who served in Southeast Asia can
rightly be mighty proud of the service they performed in this dirty, deadly, frustrating
war. As shown in "By Sea, Air and Land," the Navy, contrary to the belief of some,
was not confined to sleek men-o-war, cruising miles off shore in the South China Sea,
lobbing an occasional shell toward the mainland and then taking a break for a visit to the
ship's canteen and a first run movie.
On the contrary, the Navy, during the Vietnam Era was at the height of its operational
versatility: Carrier air strikes, amphibious and naval gunfire support operations, riverine
and coastal warfare, counterinsurgency and civic action, and the advisory effort. All
contributing greatly to the massive American effort in the Nam.
Thousands of Marines, and I 'm one of them, can attest that, when the fecal material
struck the ventilation apparatus, the Navy was there in the form of a Corpsman, a naval
gunfire support officer, or often, a pilot making a hot run on an enemy strong point. And
there were the Navy Chaplins, the "sky pilots," ministering to the spritual needs of their
camouflaged flocks. The ministering did not take place only in lulls between firefights,
as attested to by the Medal of Honor awarded Chaplin Vincent R. Capodanno, who,
already painfully wounded, was finally killed while administering first aid to the
wounded and last rites to the dying in a 1968 battle.
Ask the Army members of the Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta who was
responsible for transporting them and their artillery and providing direct gunfire support
in the sharp, vicious fire fights along hundreds of miles of the Mekong, Dai, Ham
Luong, Co Chien and Bassac Rivers, and in the forbidding Rung Sat Swamp -- the
answer begins with U.S.N.
Close to 7,000 Navy personnel became casualties during the war in Southeast Asia, 14
won the Medal of Honor. You don't get the MOH at the ship's store, you get it the old
fashioned way, you earn it.
"By Land, Air, and Sea" is a gold mine for students of military history or anyone who
served in or was associated with the Navy in Southeast Asia. Every American naval
operation conducted in the 25-year American effort to aid the Republic of Vietnam is
represented in this massive, 410 page tribute to a first class fighting service.
This book is definitely not a grand discourse on national strategy. The reader is
transported, by photographs, into rice paddy fire fights, into a forward gun tub on a high
speed river patrol boat, and into the cockpit of an A--4C Skyhawk as it makes its run on
a target in North Vietnam.
Once you own it, you'll discover that you've got a 410 page 11" X 8 1/2" photo album
that you will be proud to put on your coffee table. It's just the right size to carry to a sea
service reunion, too.
5.0 out of 5 stars
USS Pharris FF 1094,
By Laurie (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: On Course to Desert Storm: The United States Navy and the Persian Gulf (Contributions to naval history) (Paperback)
I need information on this ship. I would like to get a cruise book. Any info please mail me. kitzz2000_1999@yahoo.com
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