American Naval History: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #564

by Craig L. Symonds

This fast-paced narrative charts the history of the US Navy from its birth during the American Revolution through to its current superpower status. The story highlights iconic moments of great drama pivotal to the nation's John Paul Jones' attacks on the British during the Revolution, the Barbary Wars, and the arduous conquest of Iwo Jima.American Naval A Very Short Introduction illuminates the changes--technological, institutional, and functional--of the U.S. Navy from its days as a small frigate navy through the age of steam and steel to the modern era of electronics and missiles. Renowned naval historian Craig L. Symonds captures the evolving culture of the navy and debates between policymakers about what role the institution should play in world affairs. Internal and external challenges dramatically altered the size and character of the navy, with long periods of quiet inertia alternating with periods of crisis that spurred rapid expansion. The history of the navy reflects the history of the nation as a whole, and its many changes derive in large part from the changing role of the United States itself.ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American

168 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2018

About the author

Craig Lee Symonds is a retired professor and former chairman of the history department at the United States Naval Academy. He earned both his MA (1969) and Ph.D. (1976) from the University of Florida.

Reviews

[Joe Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theodore Roosevelt being mentioned had the same affect as a main character from a movie appearing in a spin-off series.

I found myself wanting more information, so I suppose the book fulfilled it's duty.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

American Naval History: A Very Short Introduction is exactly what it says it is. I would give it four stars, but that is a little bit beyond the point of the book--if it was meatier, it wouldn't be "A Very Short Introduction." But for being less than 150 pages (actually, more like 120 pages when you disregard the References, Further Reading, and Index), it is not only very short, but very good.

Sidebar: This is the first volume I've read of the Oxford University Press' "Very Short Introduction" series. The series has literally hundreds of titles, and is a wannabe polymath's dream come true. The local community college library in my hometown has a large collection of these--maybe all of them, I don't know for sure--and I plan to satisfy my Faustian impulses by ingesting as many as I can.

[Laurent Reinhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

As mentioned in earlier postings, I took the author's Civil War History Class at the US Naval Academy in the early 1980s and had a chance to catch up with him at Civil War symposium earlier this year. I subsequently read and reviewed Lincoln and His Admirals and World War II at Sea: A Global History. I read this book on flights returning home from Omaha. It provided a badly needed refresher on American naval history. It is very high-level, given the reality of covering two and a half centuries in a 120-page narrative. Accordingly, incidents like the Iraqi missile attack on USS Stark (1987), the USS Iowa turret explosion (1989) and suicide attack on the USS Cole (2000) are not mentioned. But it is a great resource for understanding the US Navy's place in the world and how larger domestic and global trends have shaped it. I'm also very interested in other Oxford University Press titles among the more than 700 in the Very Short Introduction series.
"Like the country it serves, the navy has evolved through several stages in its nearly 250 years. Part of that evolution is technological, as steamships replaced frigates, carriers replaced battleships, and missile platforms replaced gun turrets. That evolution continues. The completion of a number of so-called stealth ships, such as the high-speed USS Zumwalt, commissioned in 2014, gives the modern U.S. Navy increased electronic invisibility, and the technological leap from the American destroyers that served in World War II to the Zumwalt is as great as the one from Old Ironsides to the Monitor." p119

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Historian Craig L. Symonds published American Naval History in 2018. The book covers naval history from the American Revolution until the early 21st Century. The book includes illustrations and a section of references. The book has a section called “further reading” (Symonds 127-134). The book has an index. Symonds’s book was very readable. I thought the parts about how the demographics and Navy culture changed throughout the history of the United States were interesting. I thought the story of the chief of naval operations under President Richard Nixon, Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt, and his reforms that shaped the modern American Navy interesting (Symonds 109). I learned a lot from this book. My only single comment is I felt that the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan at the end of World War II was covered with more complexity by the military expert Frank Ledwidge in his Aerial Warfare: A Very Short Introduction (Ledwidge 69-71) than in Symonds’ American Naval History (Symonds 96). It is impressive how much ground Symonds covers in his short book. The book is only 122 pages long if the reader only counts the main text of the book. I enjoyed reading Symonds’ short book about American Naval History.
Works Cited:
Ledwidge, Frank. 2020. Aerial Warfare: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. Kindle.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very readable account of how the world's largest and costliest navy came to be, and why the USA maintains a standing naval force equal or superior to all the world's other navies combined. Whether or not you like where we are now, at least reading about how we got here is interesting, even gripping. There aren't many academic books that I have trouble putting down; this was one of them.

A secondary lesson is what the author chose to highlight out of the vast body of historical material. A very short introduction necessarily omits a lot - almost everything, in fact, for a topic this expansive. But the author paints a satisfying picture with the sparest of palettes.

[Michael Bond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the main themes of U.S. naval history at a brisk pace and makes sure to point out changes in strategy and tactics at key points. There is an interesting set of sidebars that discuss changes in navy culture over the decades.

I wouldn't make it longer, but there is some uneven treatment of some topics. For example, a few full-blown wars don't get proportionally as much attention as something like the discussion of piracy in the 21st century. Still, it was balanced, on the whole.

[Brian M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction. Very readable. Consumable in one sitting. Good airplane reading.

[autrpy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boats are neat