On Seas of Glory: Heroic Men, Great Ships, and Epic Battles of the American Navy

"On Seas of Glory" is the most readible and interesting history of the U. S. Navy that I have encountered. The author is a well recongnized supporter and authority on the Navy. He provides brief but detailed accounts of specific battles, ships, and individuals which have characterized the U. S. Navy since its inception during the Revolution. Even privateers and civilian sailors are included. It is a book to be read one section at a time, and then given an opportunity to "sink in," in order to really appreciate the tradition of the service, and how it has contributed to the rich history of our country. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in military or U.S. history in general. W. B. Pruitt, Captain, U.S. Navy Reserve, Ret.

From the Publisher:ON SEAS OF GLORY is the winner of the 2003 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature from the Naval Order of the United States.

Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman has written a very good book here. Having been involved in the publication of seven books myself (three of my own), I understand the frustrations encountered in the editing process, especially the small publishers' deficiencies in that regard. Many do no editing at all. One might expect a better effort from Touchstone Press. However, the minor discrepancies in this book did not disturb me as much as some others who have reviewed it. I found enough truth and insight in it to make it a valuable addition to my library. Lehman was born in 1942, fourteen years after me, but he has a very good grasp on the historical Navy. He was Secretary of the Navy from 1981-'87. I was especially interested in his comments on the era between the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Vietnamese struggle; the clash between the civilians (politicians) who are constitutionally in charge of the Navy, and are usually neither trained nor equipped to formulate military strategy but rarely realize it, and the professional military minds who have experienced battle, studied strategy and tactics in War College and from their colleagues, and who are, unfortunately for all of us, dictated to by the former. Sometimes, as with Korea and Vietnam, notably, with disastrous results. Lehman particularly describes, without rancor or emotion, the role that Harry S. Truman had in devastatingly disemboweling our Navy after WWII--a time when I was a career man in the Navy and effected by his decisions--and his basic dislike for the naval service. In the First War, he had been a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army, and resented the Admirals and the Navy. Lehman also describes the role that Truman and the politicians around him had in destroying James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy and later the first Secretary of Defense--eventually leading to his mental breakdown and suicide. I was not disturbed, personally, when he fired Douglas MacArthur, whom I served under while he was de-facto Emperor of Japan and whom I considered to be a walking, talking ego, as did most others who served in Japan and Korea under him at the time. His Inchon landing escapade--usually noted as a brilliant tactic by historians and a sycophantic press because it succeeded--was pure luck. There can be no question about that, and his decision to hit the other side of Korea at Wonsan was an unnecessary strategic disaster, which is also not subject to question, as Lehman notes, since that location was taken overland before the amphibious landing could take place through the harbor minefield, where we lost two of three minesweepers in the process of trying to clear the 3,000 mines there. Truman had an immense ego, unmatched, unfortunately, by accompanying mental vigor, and his attention to foreign policy and his knowledge of strategy was sporadic. MacArthur, who was also ego-centric, irritated him by being late to a meeting in the Pacific, and his insistence that we hit the com

For non-military historians especially, Lehman provides an excellent briefing on the history of the U.S. Navy in terms of its "heroic men, great ships, and epic battles." I realize that there are already in print definitive biographies of many of the naval heroes (e.g. John Paul Jones, David Farragut, and Chester W. Nimitz) as well as definitive studies of various great ships and epic battles. For those who wish to consult such sources, most of them are included in a substantial Bibliography and they are grouped appropriately. Lehman's purpose in this volume is to focus on the evolution of a stirring as well as colorful naval tradition which extends from the Revolutionary War through the end of the Cold War. When concluding his Introduction, he observes: "the greatest victories of the naval tradition have not been the wars recounted here but the wars that were never fought because American seapower was so strong that to challenge it would be foolhardy. If we let it, the strength of that tradition will continue to underwrite peace in our land." Obviously, even the strongest seapower could not have prevented events which occurred on September 11th but such seapower will always have an important role to play worldwide whenever human freedom must be defended or obtained. For me, a non-military historian, the greatest pleasure of this book was derived from learning about people and events of which I was previously unaware. For example, Samuel Leech (a 14-year old "powder monkey" aboard the H.M.S. frigate Macedonian) and his compelling account of his ship's defeat in battle by the frigate United States under the command of Stephen Decatur, Jr. during the War of 1812. For many readers, perhaps, Lehman provides about as much information about U.S. naval history as they may ever need or want. Other readers will be motivated to learn more about specific "heroic men, great ships, and epic battles." I am within the second group. Lehman is to be congratulated on a unique achievement: He has brought significant portions of American military history to life and done so with passion as well as erudition.

This book is a wonderful look at what made and still makes the US Navy a great institution - people. And not just the the famous, though some of them do get their due, but regular people, from modern times back to the American Revolution. Much has been made, justifiably, of The Greatest Generation - but there were other generations that met the challenges of history with equal vigor - Lehman discusses a few here; for example some of the sailors and naval officers in the Civil War.While this book will not provide the detail a history or naval buff might want, it can act as a pointer - there is a great deal of information readily available on most of the people, ships and battles presented in the book. And for the non-specialist, it is a great introduction to an aspect of US history and life that remains important to this day.