The U.S. Merchant Marine at War, 1775-1945 [Hardcover]

Bruce L. Felknor (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

As the U.S. Merchant Marine has declined over the last several decades, so too has the memory of the countless acts of unflinching courage and patriotism performed by its civilian officers and seamen in America's armed struggles. Scouring long-out-of-print books and dusty archives, veteran writer and merchant marine officer Bruce Felknor has collected the most dramatic of these stories from all of America's wars through World War II into a single comprehensive illustrated volume. Excerpts from such authors as Winston Churchill, Samuel Eliot Morison, and Lowell Thomas are combined with eyewitness accounts - many never before published - by heroes, victims, and survivors.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Felknor (Dirty Politics) has assembled an anthology, drawn from books and historical documents and threaded by his own narration, devoted to keeping alive the heroic deeds of America's merchant marine--the civilian sailors who manned cargo ships during wartime. Included are thrilling stories from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War and both world wars, with about half the book devoted to WWII. Felknor has effectively sewn together a patchwork of tales that detail heroism and cowardice, self-sacrifice and grim determination. It's all here--Maine civilians in 1775 capturing a British vessel in port and then pursuing and taking a larger British ship; the feared CSS Alabama and other raiders driving Yankee commerce from the seas in the 1860s; the gritty WWI merchant captains who took on U-boats and won; and much more. The armed guard--the crews who manned the defensive armament of merchant ships in the 1940s--is also woven into the picture, particularly through newsman Robert Carses's account. During WWII, the merchant marine's percentage of loss was double that of the army's, Felknor explains, but the survivors weren't awarded veterans' status by Congress until 50 years later. Felknor is to be congratulated for bringing back into the public consciousness the largely forgotten services of generations of gallant seamen. 17 illustrations and maps. Editor, Mark Gatlin; agent, Jane J. Brown.

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...the best stories of merchant seamen at war from America's founding through the Second World War." -- St. Petersburg Times, Fritz Heinzen

"[C]aptures better than anything I have read the spirit of the seaman's life at the start of World War II." -- Journal of Military History, Rene de la Pedraja

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557502730
• ISBN-13: 978-1557502735
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #382,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for history lovers, May 3, 1999

By 

Daniel Horodysky (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The U.S. Merchant Marine at War, 1775-1945 (Hardcover)

Felknor has put together a treasure which covers the role of the Merchant Marine in war from the privateers to the Murmansk Run through excerpts and even entire chapters from hard-to-find books. For example, the story of Raphael Semmes, Master of the very successful Confederate raider "Alabama," comes from books published in 1886, 1900, 1913, and 1985. Fully 165 of the 335 pages of text cover the Revolutionary War to World War I period. Organizing convoys and strategies to overcome U-Boats and surface raiders were learned with great loss of life during the "War to End All Wars." Unfortunately this knowledge was lost by the start of World War II: due to lack of foresight and stubbornest on the part of Naval leaders (both British and American). The chapter "Inside Battles" covers this topic with great insight and honesty. While Felknor's World War II chapters cover some of the well known stories such as the SS Stephen Hopkins, there are many not so well known, but just as poignant. Fascinating was Felknor's extensive discussion of Mulberries, Gooseberries, Lobnitz pierheads, and Phoenixes -- all part of the Normandy harbor created to supply the invasion. There's much more, all very well chosen. Bruce Felknor was a radioman in the merchant marine in World War II. I highly recommend The U.S. Merchant Marine at War, 1775-1945 as a very readable addition to your bookshelf, and an excellent reference book that puts the Merchant Marine role in American history in perspective.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real stuff, January 14, 2001

By 

S. Saxton Frump (Summit, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The U.S. Merchant Marine at War, 1775-1945 (Hardcover)

Bruce Felknor takes you into the real world of the merchant marine at war, drawing on obscure ship company documents and often letting the words of the seamen speak eloquently themselves. Felknor lists himself as editor of this book, yet without his fine hand and "bridges" and commentary the parts would be far less than the whole he presents. This is the real thing, folks.

Bob Frump, former maritime writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer