America, Sea Power, and the World

The history of the United States is intimately and inextricably linked to the sea.  For over 250 years the U.S. Navy has been the backbone of America s presence abroad. This groundbreaking new study provides an accessible and engaging survey of U.S. naval history, tracing the relationship between the American Navy and the position of the United States on the global political stage. The volume places equal weight on the influence of major wartime campaigns and naval efforts to defend and expand America s interests during times of peace. Designed to be accessible to students and scholars alike, the book contains a host of pedagogical features, including many illustrations and maps integrated with the text. Each chapter is enhanced with detailed sidebars featuring biographical sketches of influential leaders and descriptions of weapons and technological developments of the period.

Edited by one of the nation s foremost authorities on naval history, America, Sea Power, and the World will be essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the legacy of America s maritime past.

Contributors

Maps

Figures

Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

1: Sea Power and the Modern State System

2. The American War for Independence at Sea

3. Genesis of the U.S. Navy, 1785–1806

4. The Naval War of 1812: Independence Confirmed, 1807–1815

5. The Squadron Navy: Agent of a Commercial Empire, 1815–1890

6. Technological Revolution at Sea

7. The Civil War: Blockade and Counter–Blockade

8. The Civil War on Rivers and Coastal Waters

9. The New Navy, 1865–1895

10. War with Spain and the Revolution in Naval Affairs, 1895–1910

11. Defending Imperial Interests in Asia and the Caribbean, 1898–1941

12. Naval Rivalry and World War I at Sea, 1900–1920

13. Finding Certainty in Uncertain Times: The Navy in the Interwar Years

14. World War II in the Atlantic and Mediterranean

15. Defense in the Pacific, 1937–1943

16. Offensive in the Pacific, 1943–1944

17.  The Victory of Sea Power in the Pacific

18. The Uneasy Transition, 1945–1953

19. Cold War Challenges, 1953–1963

20. The Test of Vietnam

21. Twilight of the Cold War: Contraction, Reform and Revival

22. Contours of Conflict: Worldwide War on Terrorism, 1990–2014

23. Quo Vadis

Bibliography

James C. Bradford is professor of naval and early American history at Texas A&M University. A past president of the North American Society for Oceanic History, he held the Class of 1957 Distinguished Chair in Naval Heritage at the U.S. Naval Academy, and was the recipient of the George H.W. Bush Excellence Award for Faculty in International Teaching and the Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naval Historical Foundation. Bradford has published several books, including the International Encyclopedia of Military History (2015), Command Under Sail: Makers of the American Naval Tradition (2013), and A Companion to American Military History (Wiley Blackwell, 2009).