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Hortatio Nelson, himself one of naval history's boldest actors, called the burning of the frigate Philadelphia by the United States Navy in 1804 "the most bold and daring act of the age." It is one o

A fully illustrated history of how with Operation Hailstone the US Navy destroyed Truk, the greatest Japanese naval and air base in the Pacific, and how B-29 units and the carriers of British Pacific Fleet kept the base suppressed until VJ-Day. In early 1944, the Japanese island base of Truk was their Pearl Harbor, a powerful naval and air base that had to be reduced and neutralized before the Allies could fight their way any further towards Tokyo. But Truk was also the most heavily defended naval base outside the Japanese Home Islands. An Allied invasion would be too costly, and long-range bombing against Truk intact would be a massacre. Instead, a plan was conceived to neutralize Truk through a series of massive naval raids, led by the growing US carrier fleet. Operation Hailstone would be one of the most famous operations by American carriers in the Pacific. This book examines the rise and fall of Truk as a Japanese bastion, and explains how in two huge raids, American carrier-based

Famed as a classic naval duel, the clash between two sailing frigates of the nineteenth century affords its victor immeasurable fame and glory. During the War of 1812, the Royal Navy and United States

Throughout the first year of the war in the Pacific during World War II the USAAF was relatively ineffective against ships. Indeed, warships in particular proved to be too elusive for conventional medium-level bombing. High-level attacks wasted bombs, and torpedo attacks required extensive training. But as 1942 closed, the Fifth Air Force developed new weapons and new tactics that were not just effective, they were deadly. A maintenance officer assigned to a B-25 unit found a way to fill the bombardier's position with four 0.50-cal machine guns and strap an additional four 0.50s to the sides of the bomber, firing forward. Additionally, skip-bombing was developed. This called for mast-top height approaches flying the length of the target ship. If the bombs missed the target, they exploded in the water close enough to crush the sides. The technique worked perfectly when paired with "strafe" B-25s. Over the first two months of 1943, squadrons perfected these tactics. Then, in early March,

The clash between the American Bonhomme Richard and the British HMS Serapis during the American Revolutionary War is perhaps the most famous single-ship duel in history. This epic battle between two v

By the time of American Civil War things had changed from the Age of Fighting Sail - steam power and explosive shells were transforming naval warfare. Iron was beginning to supplant wood. Britain had

An illustrated history of how Japan devised and launched a new kind of air campaign in late 1944–the suicidal assaults of the kamikaze units against the approaching Allied fleets.As summer changed to autumn in 1944, Japan was losing the war. Still unwilling to surrender, Japan’s last hope was to try to wear down US resolve enough to reach a negotiated settlement. Extraordinary measures seemed necessary, and the most extraordinary was the formation of Special Attack Units – known to the Allies as the kamikazes.The concept of organized suicide squadrons was first raised on June 15, 1944. By August, formations were being trained. These formations were first used in the October 1944 US invasion of the Philippine Islands, where they offered some tactical success. The program was expanded into a major campaign over the rest of the Pacific War, seeing a crescendo during the struggle for Okinawa in April through May 1945.This highly illustrated history examines not just the horrific missions t