United States Navy

File:US Navy Seal.jpg

Seal of the United States Navy

The United States Navy is a branch of the United States Armed Forces. The Navy was created on October 13, 1775 when the American Continental Congress "voted to fit out two sailing vessels, armed with ten carriage guns, as well as swivel guns, and manned by crews of eighty, and to send them out on a cruise of three months to intercept transports carrying munitions and stores to the British army in America."

As is the case with other nations' navies around the world, the U.S. Navy is charged with sea operations in both international and United States waters.

"The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas."

History

American Revolution

see American Revolution, naval history

Bibliography

Surveys

• Deacon, Richard. The Silent War -- A History of Western Naval Intelligence (1988).
• Howarth, Stephen. To Shining Sea -- A History of the United States Navy, 1775-1991 (1991).
• Love, Robert W. History of the US Navy: 1942-1991 (1992) excerpt and text search
• Love, Robert W. History of the US Navy: 1775-1941 (1992) excerpt and text search
• Potter, E. B. Sea Power: A Naval History (1982)

1775 to 1940

• Anderson, Bern. By Sea and by River: The Naval History of the Civil War (1989) excerpt and text search
• Coggins, Jack. Ships and Seamen of the American Revolution (1969). encyclopedic survey of the ships, cannon, gear, sailors , tactics, and actions of U.S. and British navies.
• Feuer, A.B. The U.S. Navy in World War I: Combat at Sea and in the Air 1999 online edition
• Fowler, William M., Jr. Rebels Under Sail: The American Navy During the Revolution (1976). a topical analysis of the operations and administration of the Continental Navy * Fowler, William M. Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815 (1984), popular
• Harrod, Frederick S. The Manning of the New Navy: The Development of a Modern Naval Enlisted Force, 1899-1940 (1978). By 1930 the navy successfully recruited and trained a nearly permanent force of technically skilled career seamen
• McKee , Christopher. A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession: The Creation of the U.S. Naval Officer Corps, 1794-1815 (1991).
• Miller, Nathan. Sea of Glory: A Naval History of the American Revolution (1974); covers all aspects of the naval war
• Nash, Howard P., Jr. The Forgotten Wars: The Role of the U. S. Navy in the Quasi War with France and the Barbary Wars, 1798-1805 (1968).
• Palmer, Michael A. Stoddert's War: Naval Operations During the Quasi-War with France, 1798-1801 (1987).
• W. D. Puleston; The Life and Work of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, U.S.N 1939 online edition
• Toll, Ian W. Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy (2006)
• Tucker, Spencer C. The Jeffersonian Gunboat Navy (1993).

World War II

• Blair, Clay Jr. Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan (1975).
• Hoyt, Edwin P. Submarines at War: The History of the American Silent Service (1983), popular
• King, Ernest J. U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy (1946) online edition
• Lindley, John M. Carrier Victory: The Air War in the Pacific (1978).
• Love, Robert W. History of the US Navy: 1942-1991 (1992) excerpt and text search
• Morison, Samuel Eliot.
• Potter, E.B. Nimitz (1988)
• Prange, Gordon W. Miracle at Midway (1982).
• Reynolds, Clark G. The Fast Carriers: Forging of an Air Navy (1968).
• Turnbull, Archibald D. and Clifford Lord. History of United States Naval Aviation (1949).
• Willmott, H. P. The Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies, February to June, 1942 (1983). Japanese island-centered strategy was flawed because it spread their forces thin & allowed USN to concentrate its forces to

stop the Japanese at the Coral Sea and then to win at Midway.

• Woodward, C. Vann. The Battle of Leyte Gulf (1947)
• Y'Blood, William T. Red Sun Setting: The Battle of the Philippine Sea (1981), popular narrative

Cold war and after

• Brasher, Bart. Implosion: Downsizing the U.S. Military, 1987-2015 (2000) online edition
• Duncan, Francis. Rickover and the Nuclear Navy (1990).
• Hartmann, Frederick H. Naval Renaissance -- The U.S. Navy in the 1980s (1990).
• Lehman, John F., Jr. Command of the Seas: Building the 600 Ship Navy (1989).
• Love, Robert W. History of the US Navy: 1942-1991 (1992) excerpt and text search
• Polmar, Norman. The American Submarine (1981). well-illustrated popular history
• Ryan, Paul B. First Line of Defense -- The U.S. Navy Since 1945 (1981)