I first heard of Dr. Robert M. Farley from his intriguing, much attention getting article, "What a 21st Century Battleship Could Look Like", which was inspired by some President Donald Trump comments, but rather than being the snide, naval ignorant rant I was expecting, it turned out to be a fascinating, serious look at the 21st Century equivalent of the battleships of old. It would vary in significant ways from the battleships we are familiar with in many technical details, but would match them in one critical detail: a surface warship powerful enough to successfully fight separately from the aircraft carriers that have dominated naval surface warfare since the beginnings of WWII.
The next step was checking if he'd published anything available on Amazon. There I discovered the not-yet-read but intriguing
Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force
, which I shall have to read someday, and this remarkable book, which collects, revises, and updates entries from "Sunday Battleship Blogging", more than a year's worth of columns originally published at lawyergunsmoneyblog(dot)com.
What makes these entries so interesting (beyond the obvious for battleship fans like me) is that Dr. Farley is deliberately making you think in every single one of them. You won’t necessarily end up agreeing with Dr. Farley on every single point, but he will force you to think about it even where you disagree with him, and THAT is the point.
In addition to the individual info in the some 65 separate entries, Dr. Farley also pursues some interconnected issues and results of previous events on later events. One that comes to mind is how the tragic death of Admiral Tryon in the sinking of the HMS Victoria, buried his innovative system of flag signaling along with him and thus penalized the Royal Navy (which stuck with the old system) repeatedly throughout WWI. However the most repeated one is Dr. Farley’s contention that by far the most useful pre fast dreadnought was in fact the conventionally much despised battlecruiser, not the dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts so much preferred especially by the USN that they built a whole fleet of “standard type” battleships, which were very well armored and could all maintain a consistent speed,...
that was too slow to be of much use as carrier escorts even if so many of them hadn’t been sunk on December 7…. Ironically, the Japanese made the same mistake with the Yamato class.
Defects? Very few. For example I noticed in the short item “Why Did the Battlecruisers Explode?” that Haruna was mentioned as having been lost at Guadalcanal when in fact (as noted later in the same item) it was the Hiei. The only other item I remember was from the item about the Yamato and its sinking during its final kamikaze attack during the battle for Okinawa:
“To their eternal dishonor, the American pilots then strafed the Japanese survivors, destroying lifeboats and life-rafts, and interfering in the rescue operations of the remaining escorts. These attacks on shipwrecked sailors also violated all applicable laws of war.”
Yeah, so?...
Dr. Farley seems to have forgotten here that WWII in the Pacific was a war like no other in American history: no quarter was asked, none was given. The Imperial Japanese did not believe in surrendering and mistreated POW’s in ways that made the Nazis look good in comparison. Moreover, this was a suicide attack, and by this point Americans understood what that meant: any Japanese sailors to survive and be picked up by unsunk Japanese escorts, returned to Japan, and patched up, would eventually be sent out trying to kill Americans again in subsequent suicide attacks. Telling any remaining 90+ year old Pacific Theater American survivors that they should have been willing to put up with that would likely result in crossed arms and cold stares from men who justifiably wonder if you would have acted any differently in their place…. They, and I, have strong doubts that you would have.
That minor nit aside, this book is well worth the read!
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Flip to back Flip to front
Follow the Author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more
Frequently bought together
- +
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 10, 2018
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 26, 2018
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 8, 2016
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 26, 2017
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 19, 2017
Top reviews from other countries
D.A. Ward
I bought it as a gift and I believe it was liked.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 5, 2016
Mathieu Gaudreault
A good overall book on the battleships and battlecruisers of the ...
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 27, 2016Robert G McPherson
A terrific value for the price.
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 28, 2019
