Books with author James Morrow

The story of the US Navy has been filled with drama from the very beginning. Within a few short months of its establishment in 1775 with a handful of small ships and a few dozen seamen the US Navy was harrying its British enemies with great success. As a token of this effectiveness the US Navy's first great triumph, the victory of John Paul Jones and the Bonnehomme Richard over the Sarapis, was won only a few miles from the English coast. The tradition of raiding and harassing attacks was continued in the War of 1812 with the Constitution's defeat of the Java, perhaps the finest of many fine successes. Despite victories in these and other conflicts the Navy was largely neglected until the outbreak of the Civil War when both sides quickly built substantial naval forces. The eventual success of the North's naval blockade was one of the decisive factors ensuring the defeat of the Confederacy. Both navies were at the forefront of the technological development also as the Battle of Hampton Roads between the Monitor and Merrimac shows. Since World War II the US Navy has played an important part in the Korean and Vietnam Wars- emerging from even that most controversial conflict with an untarnished reputation. Most recently the Navy has kept a high profile in support of US policy in the Middle East and Central America and, even without the presently planned expansion, its nuclear carrier battle groups and ballistic missile submarines provide an astonishing and devastating range of capabilities.