One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U. S. Navy, 1890-1990 - Hardcover

Baer, George W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0804722730 ISBN 13: 9780804722735

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 1994

Synopsis

A navy is a state's main instrument of maritime force. What it should do, what doctrine it holds, what ships it deploys, and how it fights are determined by practical political and military choices in relation to national needs. Choices are made according to the state's goals, perceived threat, maritime opportunity, technological capabilities, practical experience, and, not the least, the way the sea service defines itself and its way of war. This book is a history of the modern U.S. Navy. It explains how the Navy, in the century after 1890, was formed and reformed in the interaction of purpose, experience, and doctrine.

About this title

About the Author

George W. Baer is Chairman of the Department of Strategy and Policy, and Alfred Thayer Mahan Professor of Maritime Strategy, at the U.S. Naval War College.

From the Back Cover

“A fine book: meticulous, judicious, incisive. It is a book to which the conventional exaggerations—“must” reading, relevant, if you’re only going to read one book on the subject, etc.—actually may be said to apply. . . . It is a study of the interactions of technology, bureaucracy, politics and culture, of how an institution adapts, or fails to adapt, to changing conditions. As such, the book belongs on a lot of desks at the Pentagon.”—Washington Times
“Baer takes what could have been a dry topic—the political history of the modern U.S. Navy—and turns it into interesting reading.”—Library Journal

Reviews

Baer (U.S. Naval War Coll.) takes what could have been a dry topic-the policy history of the U.S. Navy-and turns it into interesting reading. He reviews the development of, and the problems inherent in, the policy decisions that shaped the U.S. Navy and, in turn, other naval powers. The book follows navy policy makers as they decide what the principal focus of the U.S. Navy will be and then determine the proper makeup of the fleet in order to ensure that the policy be carried out. One fascinating section involves the struggle to determine which branch, the Air Force or Navy, would control the nuclear weapons carried onboard navy vessels. With the strong focus on the policy history of the navy, this book would be valuable for libraries with strong naval sciences and history collections.
Terry Wirick, Erie Cty., Lib. System, Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804722730
• ISBN 13: 9780804722735
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 568