"Fire When Ready, Gridley!": Great Naval Stories from Manila Bay to Vietnam [Hardcover]

William H. Honan (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1993

A history of naval warfare discusses the greatest sea battles of the twentieth century, discussing Jutland, Pearl Harbor, the Falkland Islands, and Vietnam, and features the comments of figures ranging from Churchill to Kipling to C. S. Forester.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Honan, the chief cultural correspondent for the New York Times , calls upon combatants, journalists, historians and statesmen to sketch famous naval battles, and the accounts he assembles convey the physical and moral demands of war with an immediacy rarely matched by more orthodox histories. Joseph L. Stickney, a reporter for the New York Herald , stood alongside Commodore George Dewey when he gave the eponymous order that started the Spanish-American War in 1898. Rudyard Kipling as well as Georg von Hase, first gunnery officer of the German battle cruiser Derfflinger , observe the destruction of English battle ships during the 1916 Battle of Jutland; Sir Roger Keyes, then vice admiral of the British navy, describes the 1918 St. George's Day raid on German U-boat pens in occupied Belgium; Samuel Eliot Morison, the official historian of naval operations during WW II, discusses the raid on Pearl Harbor. Perhaps the most wrenching entry is contributed by Marilyn Elkin, who spent 24 years pursuing the fate of her husband, declared missing in Vietnam: in 1990 Navy Lieutenant Frank Elkins's remains were finally identified and returned to the U.S. for burial. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Taking its title from a quote by Admiral George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, this collection of naval stories attempts to "reveal human qualities outside the frame of ordinary experience." Composed of stories describing naval battles from the Spanish-American War (1898) to the late Cold War with a mixture of naval officers, historians, and writers as contributors, this work will appeal to naval history readers. Focusing primarily on American and British battles, Honan, chief cultural correspondent for the New York Times and author of Visions of Infamy ( LJ 8/1/91), provides a brief introduction to each story and contributor. The perspective varies with each story, ranging from that of journalists to admirals, which lends to each an individual character and style. For a fuller treatment, readers should consult Brandt Atmar's Men at Sea! The Best Sea Stories of All Time (Crown, 1988). Together, these works will satisfy most demands for the literature of the sea. Recommended for public libraries.
- Harold N. Boyer, Marple P.L., Broomall, Pa.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 364 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312087780
• ISBN-13: 978-0312087784
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,097,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars sundrey unexciting collection of assorted naval histories, December 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: "Fire When Ready, Gridley!": Great Naval Stories from Manila Bay to Vietnam (Hardcover)

If you're looking for accounts of Naval actions of the Spanish American war, then you won't find them any place else. Otherwise this book is a collection of Naval stories possibly not published anywhere else AND for good reason. What this book needed was some more background research to add some zip to these stories. Unfortunately that wasn't done & this is merely a collection of incidents. This is from a person who even finds the 14th century exciting.