Book Report Essays

Book Report Essays Book Report Essay Book Report Essay The century between 1890 and 1990 is a year when the maritime power of the USA came to be and became one of the most influential tools in the US policy. George Baer, an author of â€Å"One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U. S. Navy, 1890-1990† begins the book stating that â€Å"before 1890 few Americans thought that the United States was a maritime nation dependent for its security and its prosperity on control of its sea approaches or that the country needed an offensive battleship fleet†. [p. 1] And indeed, the XX century saw the raise of America as naval superpower. The whole book of Baer is devoted to description of how the Grand Fleet of the USA developed and how Americans moved from disregard of maritime power to becoming an absolute leader at seas. The story begins in the age of armor-plated ships and great colonial empires and ends in the age of aircraft carriers and post-colonialism, after going a long way through war with Cuba, World War I, World War II, wars in Korea and Vietnam, as well as the Cold War. He includes a description of naval doctrines proposed in different times and for different purposes, as well as analysis of outside factors, which influenced the development of American navy. The basic idea of the book is to explain why the nation needs a navy and how the nation can benefit from having a big navy even if there is no obvious threat at the seas. Baer begins in the period, when Navy has not been of paramount importance for the nation. The interests of the USA in the seas were mostly commercial and the country required only â€Å"the modest navy to serve the modest needs† [p.1]. The US has been satisfied with the policy of the United Kingdom, which took great care of â€Å"keeping seas open† top support their trade routs. So America might have not worried about it’s own commercial routs. By 1889 the United States had only the twelfth navy in the world. The country largely used it’s geographic position, which granted relative security from attack from the sea and needed no navy to protect itself. The attitude towards navy has started to change in the last years of the XIX century, after first attempts of the USA to position itself as a colonial power. The defensive maritime doctrine could no longer satisfy the United States. War with Spain of 1898 was the first military conflict, in which the Unites States of America strived for interests far outside of America homeland with another collapsing colonial superpower. The war has clearly demonstrated, that in order not only to obtain, but to support new territories the country would need a new fighting fleet. By 1890 Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan has developed a concept of offensive sea control by battleship fleet. He believed that the interests of the United States laid in the seas and control over global trading routs. In order to protect colonies and dependent territories and to support sea trade the United States would need a fleet of a new type – an attacking fleet able to gain sea superiority in any point of the globe within short terms. Potentially such navy must have been stronger, than navies of any potential opponents. Even in times of piece the navy would not be a useless burden. From an instrument of war it would turn into an instrument of politics. Mahan relied on battleships as an ultimate weapon of his time. However, the doctrine itself is still applicable in our days, when outdated battleships are replaced by aircraft carriers. The Unites States managed to learn lessons of early XX century wars, including the war between Japan and Russia of 1904-1905 in creating their navy. Before building battleships the nation concentrated on building   shipyard and establishing industry necessary to support a mighty navy, as well as training experts in the naval field This later allowed to   start massive shipbuilding without overloading the economy – a typical mistake made by many countries. The way of the US fleet to the status of the most powerful navy of the world, however, was not always straight. American battleships did not take part in the decisive naval battles of World War I as the British navy, which caused talks about their uselessness. Limitations of military shipbuilding, agreed at the Washington conference in 1922, as well as decline of interest to war needs in times of peace, combined with financial hardships of the Great Depression have put the navy into unfavorable position in the state system. There was no enemy at sea whether current or potential, and the navy seemed to be nothing less, than an expensive toy. Perhaps it is only due to president’s Roosevelt effort, that the navy remained a formidable force by 1941. The war at the Pacific has quickly demonstrated, that battleships do not longer play a major role in naval combat. Loss of the battleship fleet in Pearl Harbor did not prevent America from effective resistance to Japanese aggression and only few aircraft carriers managed to defeat a huge enemy fleet in the battle of Midway. The doctrine has changed accordingly, and top priority has been given to building aircraft carrying ships instead of battleships. World War II has demonstrated outstanding shipbuilding opportunities of the United States. They could build huge amounts of vessels and train huge mount of sailors, to replace losses so that this ability to regeneration was a key factor in the battles of the Pacific war. After the war Mahan’s idea of battleship fleet seemed to be outdated. However, navy officials quickly came to understanding that the old idea could be applied using new technology. The navy avoided transformation into a merely transport and attacking force and retained it’s independent role as an offensive power. Ability to attack coast areas with aviation, including nuclear bombers, as well as ability of maritime corpse to invade and control those areas allowed the navy to play a key role in the wars of Korean and Vietnam, as well as to promote American interests at Granada, Somali, etc. In the times o Cold war the navy had an own nuclear attacking force of nuclear submarines. Those could attack Soviet military bases and industrial centers with ballistic missiles much faster, than the Soviets could respond. Fearful of American Navy the Soviet Union started creating it’s own Grand Fleet in 1960-1980s, but happily the United States navy never had to face it in combat. Soviets did not posses necessary technology and industrial capabilities to create a modern navy and their attempts only speeded up the collapse of their economy. So the mere existence of American navy helped the USA to defeat it’s opponent. By late 1980-s the navy has once again found itself in the situation when there is no enemy to defeat. All other navies of the world taken together would be weaker than American. So Mahan’s principle, that the key objective of the navy is to defeat enemy at sea had to be forgotten once again by 1990. The navy moved to doctrine of expeditionary littoral warfare. In other words, the navy is to become mostly a transport and support tool for marines again. Sea control is already American, so the navy is to guarantee this control and help the US policy. Operations in the Persian Gulf and former Yugoslavia is a new warfare for the navy in which it has no direct enemy, so it is to help those American forces, who have to face the enemy. And this situation will hardly change in the XXI century. Baer is, undoubtedly, a man to write exactly such type of book. Being a historian with Strategy and Policy Department of the Naval College in Newport, Baer is very well familiar with the subject. The book is closely related to author’s institutional affiliation. The book is well written and easy to read. Baer managed to combine accurate investigation and great amount of factual material with perfect style of writing. The book is addressed to a broad audience of readers. Politicians and military theoreticians would benefit learning factors of naval development and analysis of it’s activities and usual readers would get an insight into history of American Navy and learn why the nation needs a navy and how the navy serves the nation.