Winter nautical reading

[Neil Gordon]

I'll be reading (for the third time) The Battle of Leyte Gulf: 23-26 October 1944. The story is both that of admirals and command decisions and that of the individual sailor.

Among my favorite parts...

After a valiant battle by US destroyers, taking on a vastly superior force of Japanese battleships and cruisers, in order to protect our slow, lightly armed escort carriers, the Japanese (for reasons not totally clear) disengaged. A sailor on one of the pummelled destroyers turns to his Captain and says, "Sir, they're getting away!"

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Leyte-Gulf ... 937&sr=1-1

[John Danicic]

Any Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin novel. When you've finished the series, you're ready to begin them again.

Been there, done that five times. I look forward to the day when I will read it again. My wife has just finished her third time.

Also by Patrick O'Brian; "The Golden Ocean" and "Unknown Shore". His first two sea novels written in the late 1950's based on events of Admiral Anson's circumnavigation of 1740–1743. You can see the beginnings of the Aubrey-Maturin series in the main characters and style. Very good reads on their own.

Sail on

John Danicic
CD36 - Mariah - #124
Lake Superior - The Apostle Islands
CDSOA # 655

[Joe Myerson]

I might have posted this one before, but Ian Toll's "Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy" is a fascinating read, full of politics, history and, of course, some rollicking sea battles. It's really sound history and shows that Congress was busy ladling out defense contracts and earmarks since the very beginning of the United States.

--Joe

[Invictus]

I just started my year at the Naval War College in Newport, RI...so, with 600+ pages of reading per week, my Nautical Reading for the winter has been pretty much decided for me!

I'm currently reading "Rethinking the Korean War" by Stueck, "The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy 1871-1904" by Ropp and "Technical Change and British Naval Policy 1860-1939" by Ranft. I can't say that I would recommend any of them...in fact, I'm taking a break right now...

However, Toll's "Six Frigates" is great and for a good look at Leyte Gulf, try Thomas' "Sea of Thunder" (I read last spring while on deployment during a transit through the area). I'm looking forward to starting Hendrix's "Theodore Roosevelt's Naval Diplomacy" and finally finishing the Aubrey-Maturin series (on #17) in all my free time time!

Jeff

[Neil Gordon]

In case anyone's interested in reading about what I was doing in 1972...

Thunder in the Night, by Ray Kopp

"When May 1972 came around, the war in Vietnam was supposed to be winding down. But for a the crews of Task Unit 77.1.2 it was just starting. Steaming into heavily defended North Vietnamese waters the sailors and marines experienced war as they never thought possible."

http://www.zeewebnet.com/Ray_Kopp/

As our XO said, "Our radio call sign was Thunder, and thunder we did."

[Ed Haley]

I might have posted this one before, but Ian Toll's "Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy" is a fascinating read, full of politics, history and, of course, some rollicking sea battles. It's really sound history and shows that Congress was busy ladling out defense contracts and earmarks since the very beginning of the United States.

--Joe

I absolutely loved reading this book. It is a phenomenal primer on the early naval history of the US. I think I'll look for it again to put it on my winter list. I recommend this one.

[Bill Coogan]

"N by E," by Rockwell Kent. The artist sails with two companions--one of whom he cannot stand--from New York to Greenland in a small boat during the 1920s. Conflict. . . shipwreck. . . Kent's drawings--it's a great book!

[wsonntag]

Check out this journal from 1909 recently covered in Chesapeake Bay Magazine articles.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... uises.html

[Troy Scott]

wsonntag,

Those old articles are really interesting. I would prefer to read them as originally written.

[SurryMark]

I'm going to read books on addiction: How to Stop Checking capedrory.org.

[wsonntag]

T Scott

The Chesapeake Bay manuscript is as originally written, not edited, at the site included in the post. Are you referring to the media, paper or electronic? Paper copies are nearly impossible to find, collectors items, you might be able to find one if you haunt the blogs and collectors. You might try the following site, their periodic books and maritime ephemera lists are always interesting: http://www.tenpound.com

[Troy Scott]

wsonntag,

I was only referring to the "editor's note" near the beginning of that link,
which reads:

"Aside from eliminating too much in the way of hyphenation and de-Anglicizing some of the spelling, this is unaltered from the 1909 edition."

I prefer to read articles like this in an unedited form. It's not THAT foreign, and it provides more insight. I often feel that I may be missing something if I am at the mercy of an editor. And I feel for the editor who wants to get it right, because it's very difficult not to impose on the original writing.

[John Vigor]

I'm with Scott. Any editor who uses the word "de-Anglicizing" is suspect. I fear he has fallen prey to mankind's most primitive and pervasive urge--the need to change other people's copy.

John V.

[John Danicic]

John Vigor:

So what is the Copy Editor of Good Old Boat Magazine reading this winter?


Sail on

John Danicic
CD36 - Mariah - #124
Lake Superior - The Apostle Islands
CDSOA # 655

[wsonntag]

I suppose you could lose some of the "colour" or perhaps - even the "flavour".