Table of Contents

Preface

1. An Ad Hoc Navy: The Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
2. Establishing an American Navy: The Age of Sail (1783-1809)
3. An American Navy Confirmed: The War of 1812
4. A Constabulary Navy: Pirates, Slavers and Manifest Destiny (1820-1850)
5. Steam and Iron: A Technological Revolution and a Civil War (1850-1865)
6. The New Navy: Retrenchment and Renaissance (1865-1900)
7. A Navy Second to None: The U.S. Navy in World War I (1901-1939)
8. The Two Ocean Navy: World War II (1939-1945)
9. Confronting the Soviets: The Cold War Navy (1945-1990)
10. The U.S. Navy in the 21st Century

Further Reading

About the Author

Craig L. Symonds is the Professor Emeritus of history at the U.S. Naval Academy. He is the author of ten previous books, including The Battle of Midway, The Civil War at Sea, Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings, and Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History, which won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize in 2006.

Reviews

"[A] splendid little read that tells the story of America's Navy with just enough detail and anecdotes to engage . . ." --New York Journal of Books
"[T]he ultimate short introduction to the subject of the U.S. Navy . . . with easy and flowing prose that can be read in a few spare hours over the weekend and offers a career's worth of insight to help the reader begin asking questions." --War on the Rocks