The U.S. Navy: A History, Third Edition

by Nathan Miller

Since 1977 Nathan Miller's concise history of the U.S. Navy has been the standard historical survey read by plebes at the U.S. Naval Academy. Now this highly readable account of the navy, its men and women, ships and aircraft, wars and politics, and the role all played in the creation and protection of the United States has been revised, updated, and made available to the general public in a handy, affordable paperback.
Miller, an award-winning biographer and naval historian, has drawn upon a wide variety of stellar published and archival sources to produce a unique primer for those interested in an easy-to-read introduction to American seapower. His concise, fast-moving survey takes the reader from the founding of the raggle-taggle Continental Navy in 1775 through its growth and challenges in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to lessons learned from Desert Storm as well as current efforts to integrate women into combatant roles, deal with personnel and material downsizing, and deploy the Pentagon's strategic and tactical innovations for the twenty-first century. All new for this third edition are enhanced coverage of the Marine Corps, an index, and maps.
As readable as fiction and as up-to-date as today's headlines, this little-known gem prized by Annapolis midshipmen for decades will quickly be recognized by readers of all stripes as simply the best available brief history of the U.S. Navy.

Genres: History, Naval History

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Nathan Miller received his bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Maryland before becoming a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He spent more than 15 years as a journalist, including a three-year tour as the paper's chief Latin American correspondent, based in Rio de Janeiro, before becoming an investigator and speechwriter for Sen. John L. McClellan on the permanent subcommittee on investigations and later the Senate Appropriations Committee. Miller left the congressional staff in 1977 to be a full-time freelance writer.

Reviews

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow going
My father is a HUGE US Navy fanatic. He has a massive library. So that we may have more to discus at our biweekly breakfasts, he's begun lending his books to me. They are massive times.
This one begins with naval activity during the American Revolution. So far it's discussed the war of 1812, the corsairs of the Mediterranean, the opening of the land of Japan, the raiding of slave ships and the transport of people during the inception of Liberia, navigation, food and supplies, uniforms, steam propulsion, carronades-so much information. Then leads into the civil war and WWI with a gargantuan section on WWII. Lots of photos and maps

[Dennis K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise, yet thorough. Well written.

[John Bohnert · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a U.S. Navy veteran, I especially enjoyed reading this history of the U.S.Navy.

[Robert Zabroski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history about United States Navy