SHIP’S LIBRARY
READY THEN. READY NOW.
READY ALWAYS: More Than
a Century of Service by
Citizen-Sailors
By Commander David F. Winkler.
Washington, D.C.: Navy Reserve
Centennial Book Committee, 2014.
2 08 pp. $34.95
ISBN: 978-0-692-32765-4
This lavishly illustrated account of the Navy Reserve,
published for its 2015 centennial, presents a look back
at the accomplishments of the Reservists who served
and fought alongside regulars in the nation’s conflicts
and crises since World War I, as well those of the pri-
vateers and naval militiamen who pioneered the
citizen-Sailor concept. The chronology, woven with
perspective that frames the reasons the Navy needed a
Reserve, is amplified by sidebars featuring the individ-
uals, famous and ordinary, whose dedication gave the
Navy Reserve its proud heritage. The Navy League was
one of the partners that sponsored this tribute, along
with the Naval Historical Foundation, the Association
of the United States Navy and the U.S. Navy Memorial
Foundation.
AGAINST THE TIDE:
Rickover’s Leadership
Principles and the Rise
of the Nuclear Navy
By RADM Dave Oliver, USN (Ret.),
Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute
Press, 2014. 192 pp. $27.95
ISBN: 978-1-61251-797-1
The author, a submariner, is well
positioned to convey the leader-
ship principles of the father of the nuclear Navy,
RADM Hyman Rickover, who ran the Navy’s nuclear-
propulsion program long after his peers retired. As the
driving force who brought nuclear power to fruition
and revolutionized the Navy, Rickover’s personality
and leadership fostered a culture of unrelenting stan-
dards and attention to safety that have resulted in a
submarine force and nuclear-powered ships with a
safety and operational record second to none. Rarely
has one individual exerted such an influence on the
course of the Navy.
WHITEY: The Story of Rear
Admiral E.L. Feightner, A Navy
Fighter Ace
By Peter B. Mersky. Annapolis, Md.:
Naval Institute Press, 2014.
224 pp. $39.95
ISBN: 978-1-61251-791-9
This fine tribute details how E.L.
“Whitey” Feightner distinguished
himself as a fighter pilot in the early
days of World War II and went on to become an ace as
the fleet pushed the Japanese across the Pacific. After the
war, as a test pilot, he was influential in the development
and deployment of the Navy’s second generation of jet
fighters, and commanded a squadron, an air group and
an amphibious assault ship during the Cold War.US HEAVY CRUISERS
1943-75
US STANDARD-TYPE
BATTLESHIPS 1941-45 (1)
By Mark Stille. Oxford, U.K. Osprey
Publishing, 2014.
48 pp. $17.95 each.
ISBNs: 978-1-78200-632-9,
978-1-4728-0696-3
These monographs cover the U.S.
Na vy heavy cruisers built during
and after World War II, and 15 bat-
tleships built before the war, respec-
tively. The 22 ships of the Baltimore,
Ore gon City and Des Moines classes
were the fleet’s last big-gun cruisers.
The Baltimore and Alaska classes
were valuable as anti-air escorts for
carriers and pounding enemy beaches in the Pa ci fic war.
Many continued into the Korean and Vietnam wars.
The 15 battleships of the Nevada, Pennsylvania and
New Mexico classes were the backbone of the fleet at the
time of the Pearl Harbor attack, during which four were
sunk and four severely damaged. But all but two would
carry the fight to the enemy, pounding beach defenses,
defending against kamikazes and avenging Pearl Harbor
in the Battle of Surigao Strait. Seapower does not review works of fiction or self-published books.Books Celebrate Navy Reserve,
Rickover and Feightner
By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor
80 S E A P O W E R / A P R I L 2 0 1 5 W W W. S E A P O W E R M A G A Z I N E. O R G