The Treaty Navy: The Story of the US Naval Service Between the World Wars [Paperback]

James W. Hammond Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

The Treaty Navy: The Story of the US Naval Service Between the World Wars tells how the U.S. Navy, despite treaty limitatiosn, pacifist opposition, a parsimonious Congress and public neglect, prepared for the War in the Pacific it had known was coming for more than 20 years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

   Wes Hammond, a 1951 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1975. In addition to a B.S. from the Naval Academy, he has a M.A. (International Law) from the Catholic University of America and a M.A. (Journalism) from the University of Nevada.

    During more than a quarter of a century of active duty, he was wounded in action as an infantry platoon leader in Korea; twice, he was a tactics instructor at the Marine Corps Basic School in Quantico, Va.; commanded a company in an infantry battalion afloat in the Mediterranean; was aide-de-camp to MajGen. D.M. Shoup (later 22nd Commandant of the Marine Crops) on Okinawa, where Wes met and married Miss Donna M. Selby of Brighton, Colorado. He deployed with the forces afloat for the Cuban Missile Crisis. He commanded the 2nd Battalion, Fourth Marines ("The Magnificent Bastards") in Vietnam until wounded in action and evacuated. He returned to duty as Plans Officer of the 3rd Marine Division until wounded again. Then he was Head, Command Dept., Marine Corps Command & Staff College in Quantico. There he taught Research and Writing; Command and Staff Organization and a future concept of amphibious operations called "Sea Base." He was transferred to Hawaii and promoted to colonel and assigned as Protocol Officer and Aide to Commanderin- Chief, Pacific, Adm. John S. McCain, Jr. USN. He retired from Camp Pendleton, Calif., and returned to Reno, Nevada.

    While on active duty (1964-67) he was Editor and Publisher of the Marine Corps Gazette, the professional journal of the Marine Corps Association. Eight years after retiring from the Marine Corps, he moved to Annapolis, Maryland, to be editor of Shipmate, the monthly magazine of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association. After a dozen years there, he again retired and returned to Reno. He is the author of more than 50 articles in professional military journals as well as popular publications. His Poison Gas * The Myths versus Reality (Greenwood Press, Westport Conn. 1999) is a plea for common sense lest we be held hostage to fear of the unknown.

    The Hammonds make their home in Reno but travel extensively. They have three children and seven grandchildren. A collaborator in this volume was LtCol. James W. Hammond, III USMC, who while still a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy, traced down the answers to many queries from his father by searching the stacks of the Nimitz Library at the Academy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552128768
• ISBN-13: 978-1552128763
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,343,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Untold Story of the Treaty Navy, February 28, 2002

By 

Peter K. Cullins (Temple Hills, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Treaty Navy: The Story of the US Naval Service Between the World Wars (Paperback)

An excellent book which fills out the, to some, unexciting era of the Navy between the wars. Good breakdown of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1921, and its subsequent modifications - not to be found elsewhere outside of scholarly doctoral-type theses.
A superior book for those who grew up between 1920 - 1940, but who were too young to be in the Navy during those two decades. The annual Battle Problems are excellently described, particularly to those of us "Navy Juniors" who were aware that our fathers were away, but not why or where. The postcards or letters from "exotic" locations like Panama, Chile, Brazil, Guantanamo Bay, Lahaina, Pearl Harbor etc, along with the Battle Problem discussions, to me filled in a lot of my father's three battleship, one cruiser and three destroyer "cruises".
Accurate history (like why the Battle Fleet was in Hawaii on several occasions) interspersed with "sea stories" of those years, make this book a delight to read. Additionally, as a plugged-in Marine, Col Hammond covers the Caribbean "wars" and the development of amphibious warfare, which was so important in our march across the Pacific in WWII. Extremely readable, detailed in a manner which makes one realize that dusty academic tomes don't contribute much to an understanding of the sacrifices that navy men and their families went through in the 20's and 30's.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars unsung story sung, May 25, 2009

By 

Alexander T. Gafford "alex" (Midland, Ga United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Treaty Navy: The Story of the US Naval Service Between the World Wars (Paperback)

Reading an on demand published, self edited, book, I didn't know what to expect. What I found was in a sense a reminisance by someone who wasn't actually there but absorbed and is able to pass on the culture and outlook of those who were. From that point of view this is really a quite valuable book though perhaps not the last word on what the US Naval Service was about between the wars.

The strong points of the book include the clear explanation of the cause and effect of the naval treaties that led to the title of the work, a fair and balanced view of the professional innovations and ineptitudes that characterized the performance and activity of the USN at this time, a good sense of the US political and economic context, a good review of Marine Corps committments and doctrine development, and just the overall sense of the character and nature of the USN leadership and sailor force. The author is not shy of pointing out the political nature of higher command in the USN but he clearly sees this as natural and inevitable.

The major point of naval policy that Hammond covers is the so-called battleship vs carrier controversy. He convincingly advocates the point of view that the real disagreement was between those who saw the UK as the nominal opponent and wanted a strong line of battleships to deter/defeat the RN and those who saw Japan as the nominal opponent and wanted strong air power and submarine force to impose our will on the vast territory of the Pacific.

The weak points of this book are some minor editorial errors, the unfortunate lack of photographs and the lack of some academic rigor and accuracy. For example, on page 92 Hammond says "...[the Royal Navy] hadn't recognized the threat from the air." A reference to "British Seapower and Procurement Between the Wars" by G.A.H. Gordon will show clearly that this wasn't true. The RN was well aware of the issue, expected its ships to be attacked from the air, designed and developed multiple new AA mounts and embarked on a program of deck armoring. However, due to the British determination to rearm within a balanced budget, they didn't have enough money to get enough done on enough ships before the bombs started falling. Another nice to have for Hammond's book would have been some naval maps of the East and West coast in this time frame. Maybe a front line publisher will pick this up and fill it out. I don't know why the Naval Institue Press didn't publish this - maybe the author wonders that as well.

All in all, there isn't another work like this and it fills a gap no other single work does. Perhaps some professional historian will do for the USN the type of work Marder did for the RN in an earlier period. They should be inspired by this effort.