Customer Reviews

On Seas of Glory: Heroic Men, Great Ships, and Epic Battles of the American Navy

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For non-military historians especially, Lehman provides an excellent briefing on the history of the U.S. Navy in terms of its "heroic men, great ships, and epic battles." I realize that there are already in print definitive biographies of many of the naval heroes (e.g. John Paul Jones, David Farragut, and Chester W. Nimitz) as well as definitive studies of various great ships and epic battles. For those who wish to consult such sources, most of them are included in a substantial Bibliography and they are grouped appropriately. Lehman's purpose in this volume is to focus on the evolution of a stirring as well as colorful naval tradition which extends from the Revolutionary War through the end of the Cold War. When concluding his Introduction, he observes: "the greatest victories of the naval tradition have not been the wars recounted here but the wars that were never fought because American seapower was so strong that to challenge it would be foolhardy. If we let it, the strength of that tradition will continue to underwrite peace in our land."

Obviously, even the strongest seapower could not have prevented events which occurred on September 11th but such seapower will always have an important role to play worldwide whenever human freedom must be defended or obtained. For me, a non-military historian, the greatest pleasure of this book was derived from learning about people and events of which I was previously unaware. For example, Samuel Leech (a 14-year old "powder monkey" aboard the H.M.S. frigate Macedonian) and his compelling account of his ship's defeat in battle by the frigate United States under the command of Stephen Decatur, Jr. during the War of 1812. For many readers, perhaps, Lehman provides about as much information about U.S. naval history as they may ever need or want. Other readers will be motivated to learn more about specific "heroic men, great ships, and epic battles." I am within the second group. Lehman is to be congratulated on a unique achievement: He has brought significant portions of American military history to life and done so with passion as well as erudition.

This book is a wonderful look at what made and still makes the US Navy a great institution - people. And not just the the famous, though some of them do get their due, but regular people, from modern times back to the American Revolution. Much has been made, justifiably, of The Greatest Generation - but there were other generations that met the challenges of history with equal vigor - Lehman discusses a few here; for example some of the sailors and naval officers in the Civil War.
While this book will not provide the detail a history or naval buff might want, it can act as a pointer - there is a great deal of information readily available on most of the people, ships and battles presented in the book. And for the non-specialist, it is a great introduction to an aspect of US history and life that remains important to this day.

Lehman has written a great book for any history buff. It is an intersting read for both scholars and for those who know very little about U.S. naval history.

The book takes us through the history of the navy from the revolution through the cold war through a series of stories about interesting men and ships. Some are well known, others are not. Lehman does not get bogged down in technical navy jargon, and let's the personalities and stories unfold in an easy manner. Fun to read!

Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman has written a very good book here. Having been involved in the publication of seven books myself (three of my own), I understand the frustrations encountered in the editing process, especially the small publishers' deficiencies in that regard. Many do no editing at all. One might expect a better effort from Touchstone Press. However, the minor discrepancies in this book did not disturb me as much as some others who have reviewed it. I found enough truth and insight in it to make it a valuable addition to my library.

Lehman was born in 1942, fourteen years after me, but he has a very good grasp on the historical Navy. He was Secretary of the Navy from 1981-'87. I was especially interested in his comments on the era between the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Vietnamese struggle; the clash between the civilians (politicians) who are constitutionally in charge of the Navy, and are usually neither trained nor equipped to formulate military strategy but rarely realize it, and the professional military minds who have experienced battle, studied strategy and tactics in War College and from their colleagues, and who are, unfortunately for all of us, dictated to by the former. Sometimes, as with Korea and Vietnam, notably, with disastrous results.

Lehman particularly describes, without rancor or emotion, the role that Harry S. Truman had in devastatingly disemboweling our Navy after WWII--a time when I was a career man in the Navy and effected by his decisions--and his basic dislike for the naval service. In the First War, he had been a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army, and resented the Admirals and the Navy. Lehman also describes the role that Truman and the politicians around him had in destroying James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy and later the first Secretary of Defense--eventually leading to his mental breakdown and suicide.

I was not disturbed, personally, when he fired Douglas MacArthur, whom I served under while he was de-facto Emperor of Japan and whom I considered to be a walking, talking ego, as did most others who served in Japan and Korea under him at the time. His Inchon landing escapade--usually noted as a brilliant tactic by historians and a sycophantic press because it succeeded--was pure luck. There can be no question about that, and his decision to hit the other side of Korea at Wonsan was an unnecessary strategic disaster, which is also not subject to question, as Lehman notes, since that location was taken overland before the amphibious landing could take place through the harbor minefield, where we lost two of three minesweepers in the process of trying to clear the 3,000 mines there.

Truman had an immense ego, unmatched, unfortunately, by accompanying mental vigor, and his attention to foreign policy and his knowledge of strategy was sporadic. MacArthur, who was also ego-centric, irritated him by being late to a meeting in the Pacific, and his insistence that we hit the communists where they were hurting us--north of the Yalu. However, his failure to believe his own intelligence officers who told him the Chinese were in Korea, was another major disaster. Truman's hesitation to let him cross the Yalu was due to his fear that we would anger the USSR.

They were already supplying the Chinese with MiG-15s and the pilots to fly them. Like, when you are in a fistfight, you don't want to hit your opponent too hard, or you'll make him mad.

I am no idle reader concerning this period. I came home in a stretcher on a hospital plane with a bunch of First Marines from the "Frozen Chosin," who had been fighting in 40 below weather against an entire Chinese army. Most of them were due for amputations from severe frostbite.

Had it not been for Forrestal's early grasp of the situation vis a vis the USSR, and his struggle to keep an effective naval service, we'd have been in deeper trouble than we were at the time. Truman wanted to completely decommission the entire Marine Corps, and but for Forrestal's efforts, he would probably have succeeded. In those days, they thought that the atom bomb was all we needed.

It was much the same in Vietnam, where the personal approval of Lyndon Johnson, was required before Navy pilots could hit a secondary target if for any reason they could not attack their primary target. The infamous "Rules of Engagement" in Vietnam, as well as Korea, cost us dearly and delighted our enemies who had no such restraints. The eagerness of politicians to cover their own political gluteus maximi has cost the lives of thousands of our warriors.

Our warriors never lost a battle, but--we lost the war in Vietnam. Go figure!

All of the above are detailed in this book. The personal political strife between politicians and our battle-trained warriors is, seemingly, never ending. Constitutionally, the politicians are entitled to lead, but by nature they are rarely qualified for the task.

The contrast is seen in the so-called "Desert War", where George Bush, who had been a combat naval aviator, had the wisdom to turn his military people loose to do their job without interference. We enjoyed fewer casualties there than in any other war in history. His big mistake was to intercede and stop our victorious army before the job was completed, for political reasons. Now, we will probably have to finish the job without the, at least nominal, help of our "allies," again having to amass the troops, ships, tanks, materiel and supply lines which were all in place in 1990. And, as in Vietnam, there is a vocal contingent of Americans who are protesting military action and favoring appeasement, as before the Second World War and during Vietnam, making our avowed enemy very happy.

Joe Pierre, USN (Ret)
author of Handguns and Freedom...Their Care and Maintenance

On Seas of Glory by John Lehman is an excellent, scholarly work written by, whom better then?, a former Secretary of the Navy. I found this book to be most useful while writing my Masters' Degree thesis on the Economic and Military impact of American Privateers during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. On Seas of Glory quickly became my primary resource among the twenty-three that I had used.

I highly recommend this book to any person that is interested in U.S. History; Naval History or just have the desire to read an excellent non-fiction title. It was clear that John Lehman not only approached this work as a labor of academic endeavor, but it must have also been a labor of love.

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John Lehman was a highly motivated, restless, Secretary of the Navy under President Reagan. He took an active role in formulating strategy, much to the discomfort of some serving uniformed officers. This book by him focuses on the early American Navy, its battles, history, and development. It further looks at Lehman's controversial "forward strategy" during the Reagan Administration.

Some reviewers have pointed out errors in the text which perhaps may be attributed to bad editing or faulty research, and I will leave these criticisms to others since I probably don't know enough about it. What I will say is that this book is a very good read, and is plainly a labor of love by a man who plainly loves the US Navy and takes great pride in both his role as SecNav and the service of earlier members of his family. The Navy has often been an instrument of American destiny, and that is what this book is about. Most readers will probably forgive the mistakes and appreciate Lehman's presentation of the Navy to the general public.

I enjoyed reading "On Seas of Glory". The text covered the development of aspects of the US Navy from the Revolutionary War to the present date. It included both general overviews and detailed descriptions of specific men in specific situations. However, while reading these great tales, I was distracted by the very poorly edited words.

In his acknowledgements, Lehman states about his editor: "He has greatly improved this book and while we had a fair amount of arm wrestling, he always allowed me to win my share". I'm not sure who should get the "credit" for editorial problems such as:

bad grammar:
- numerous sentences with singular subjects attached to plural verbs
- sentences like: "He then came ashore married, prospered and lived happily even (sic) after in Boston." I guess their spell checker didn't notice that "even" should be "ever"

awkward grammar:
- sentences like: "There their prospect of exchange was bleak."

bad info:
- he states (about Admiral Grace Hopper): "She retired at 71 as the Navy's oldest active duty officeer."
- in reality, she retired at age 80 years old (born Dec. 9, 1906 and retired in August, 1986).

With a suggested retail price ($35) reflecting a top-of-the-line hardcover book, I would think that The Free Press (part of Simon & Schuster, Inc.) would spend the time required to actually proof the manuscript for basic gramatical errors (aggrevating) and wrong data (I caught this one but I wonder how many other "facts" were misstated).

On Seas of Glory seems to have two distinct sections...the story of the Continental and US Navies from their beginnings through the end of World War II, followed by a section basically covering the Cold War (and other modern wars). And the big difference is...Proofreading!

Yes, folks, the first section of the book is poorly proofed, both for facts and for readability. It reminds me of someone who gathers the kids around his chair to tell them the story of the early U.S. Navy. It's full of anecdotes, family histories, and some rather sketchy recounting of the "facts." This is obviously a labor of love, as author Lehman recounts some of his favorite sea stories from the past.

Once into the Cold War section, the tone changes completely, and the proofing goes professional. It's as if a different author put it together, and it is very, very together. Instead of battles and warriors, we are treated to the spectacle of the Navy as an instrument of policy and diplomacy, weilded by civilian politicians with varing degrees of success.

For example, President Reagan's decision to vastly increase the size and capability of the U.S. Navy is presented as one of the key factors in the bankruptcy and eventual fall of the Soviet Union.

This second half of the book is full of glorious insight from someone who served in some key positions during several administrations, ultimately as the Secretary of the Navy. It is presented in a matter-of-fact, easy-to-read format that makes it valuable for those who are novice and experienced with this material alike.

So the first half of the book gets 2 1/2 stars from me. The second part, 5-stars for sure.

Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman writes this book with intelligence and knowledge (fisthand as well as from research) regarding the United States Navy up through the turn of the century. It is not an exhaustive history of the Navy and is not meant to be, but it covers many interesting and pivotal characters and their influence on United States History. It has the expected "big names" and "turning points" in our history, but also includes many colorful characters and events which I had no knowledge of. If you enjoy United States history, naval history, or insights from a man who assisted President Reagan in building up our naval assets to assist in winning the Cold War and projecting naval power, you will find this book interesting.

I picked this book up in a bargin bin at a bookstore, and I am very glad I did. This book is a great overview of US naval history, and for an amateur like me, a very informatative and entertaining read.