If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy -From the Revolution to the War of 1812 [Hardcover]

George C. Daughan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2008

The American Revolution-and thus the history of the United States-began not on land but on the sea. Paul Revere began his famous midnight ride not by jumping on a horse, but by scrambling into a skiff with two other brave patriots to cross Boston Harbor to Charlestown. Revere and his companions rowed with muffled oars to avoid capture by the British warships closely guarding the harbor. As they paddled silently, Revere’s neighbor was flashing two lanterns from the belfry of Old North Church, signaling patriots in Charlestown that the redcoats were crossing the Charles River in longboats. In every major Revolutionary battle thereafter the sea would play a vital, if historically neglected, role. When the American colonies took up arms against Great Britain, they were confronting the greatest sea-power of the age. And it was during the War of Independence that the American Navy was born. But following the British naval model proved crushingly expensive, and the Founding Fathers fought viciously for decades over whether or not the fledgling republic truly needed a deep-water fleet. The debate ended only when the Federal Navy proved indispensable during the War of 1812. Drawing on decades of prodigious research, historian George C. Daughan chronicles the embattled origins of the U.S. Navy. From the bloody and gunpowder-drenched battles fought by American sailors on lakes and high seas to the fierce rhetorical combat waged by the Founders in Congress, If By Sea charts the course by which the Navy became a vital and celebrated American institution.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Daughan brings a long academic career and solid command of his sources to this provocative history of the origins of the U.S. Navy. Conventional wisdom has the navy beginning in the 1790s. Daughan instead traces its roots to the Revolution. The fleet established by the Continental Congress had a relatively undistinguished career, but Daughan demonstrates that the Americans gained technical experience, produced talented officers, trained seamen and developed a basic understanding of how a navy should be employed. The question then was whether a navy would concentrate too much authority in the central government and risk embroiling the new country in foreign quarrels. By contrast, a coastal defense force of small ships threatened nobody, foreign or domestic. Daughan traces the debate through four administrations, smoothly integrating political with external influences like the Quasi-War with France (1798–1800) and the campaign against the Barbary pirates. Not until the War of 1812, when the navy proved critical, did a national consensus emerge that preparing for war was the best way of avoiding one—a lesson that remains worth remembering. (June)
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Review

The Journal of Southern History
“[A] thoughtful and engrossing overview of American naval history from 1775 to 1815.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 16 and up
  
• Hardcover: 568 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1ST edition (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465016073
• ISBN-13: 978-0465016075
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What book did you guys read?, July 29, 2008

By 

Whippis (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy -From the Revolution to the War of 1812 (Hardcover)

I am not sure what book the other reviewers read but I don't think it was If By Sea. This book is essentially a general history of the U.S. from the Revolution to the end of the War of 1812. Its general focus is on how the events of that period effected the formation of the U.S. Navy. Certainly not for serious naval readers and I did not find it to be tales of glory either.

If you are familiar with the era I think the book will bore you. Not due to the writing style which is straight forward if not very compelling. You get a great deal of set-up for each policy decision which if you know the era will be old hat. And even if you have read a few general histories I don't think you'll find much new here as regards the navy- I did not. (The page on the building frigates boilded down most of a chapter in the book Six Frigates)

Little attention is actually paid to the navy itself. Why were the politicians so split on a navy? We get the same explanations you'll read elsewhere: one side thought it was too expensive, a threat to liberty and would drag the U.S. into wars; the other a necessity to uphold American honor among nations. Nothing new here. In fact, there is little in the way of detailing and analyzing these points of view. They certainly merit both.

Further, there is a good deal of negative criticism heaped on naval tactics without any analysis as to why such tactical decisions where actually made. Example- author states the Bostonians could have overrun the British fleet in port at the outset of hostilities with quick hit and run tactics, boarding parties and small ships hiding numerous inlets. Why were those tactics not employed? No explanation is offered. This is not a miliarty history so even while battles are not described in any detail the tactics are criticized. Odd.

This was a missed opportunity. A scholarly analysis of the pro-navy and anti-navy factions certainly warrants attention. An academic approach to answering why a predominately maritime culture had such a hard time creating a navy would have been welcomed. Throw in the sections relating & contrasting the United Colonies/U.S. navy with various era's privateers, Washington's navy, revenue cutters and merchant marine and you would really have something.

I can't even recommend this book for people just starting out reading about the origins of the navy and/or the early U.S. There are better general histories of the era (The Glorious Cause; Alden's A History of the American Revolution) which will actually cover the navy debates. There are also some good books about the early navy (Fowler's Rebels Under Sail and his follow-up Jack Tars & Commodores, the recent Washington's Secret Navy and Six Frigates).

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read If By Sea -- you won't be disappointed, May 22, 2008

By 

Sophie Oakes - See all my reviews

This review is from: If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy -From the Revolution to the War of 1812 (Hardcover)

I read this book over the course of a week and my interest never flagged. If By Sea will last -- it tells the story of the push and pull that led to the birth of the American Navy with well-researched detail and with an interesting approach I haven't seen before. Daughan tells it in a way that will intrigue historians, academics, and military history buffs, but the book is written so clearly and well that even readers who don't know alot about the American Revolution will find it fascinating.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IF BY SEA, July 24, 2008

By 

David Lafayette "geico man" (St. Augustine, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy -From the Revolution to the War of 1812 (Hardcover)

I enjoyed "If By Sea." It's well researched and well written. The author shows that one reason, among several, that the Colonies took time to GO NAVY was a shortage of funds. Only when they came together in a real union and managed to make an effort to pay off war debts, did they form a financial and political basis to build a fighting Navy. Early naval activity was mostly left to a needling effort by 'for profit' privateers. If we'd not changed our form of government and thought more broadly, we'd probably have ended up with the world view of the Barbary Pirates! Not until we began to do more than a needle-job on the seas were we able to climb out from under our nemesis. That was the beginning of a real, fighting Navy! I liked the book! I recommend it highly!