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The book begins by tracing Wiley's boyhood in small Midwestern towns and reveals the character that will come to exemplify his personal and professional life. Intelligent, pragmatic, courageous, calm...all of these attributes serve him well. Upon graduation from the United States Naval Academy, "Doc" Wiley embarks on a journey bringing him face-to-face with numerous life-threatening situations and personal tragedies. He is fearless in taking to the air and rises to the top of the Navy's rigid airship program. Avoiding politicking and intrigue, Wiley builds a reputation as the consummate airship officer and a leading expert in the field. At the outbreak of World War II, he calmly and bravely directs his squadron of thirteen aging destroyers -- heavily outgunned and outnumbered by the Japanese -- in the first naval battles following Pearl Harbor. Later in the war, as the captain of the USS West Virginia, Wiley guides his battleship through fierce combat in Pacific. At Leyte Gulf, Surigao Strait, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and other infamous battles, he wins accolades from his crew and the Navy brass for his leadership, aggressiveness, and results. Wiley handles deep personal loss with the same courage and stoicism he brings to his job. He is the doting father of three who must balance the needs of his family with service to his country. His is an inspirational story.
Such is Life in the Navy tells the story of Herbert Victor Wiley. Born in Missouri in the late 1800's, this man lived an accomplished life, both as a naval officer and as a father. His boyhood in small Midwestern towns builds the character that will exemplify Wiley in his personal and professional life. Intelligent, pragmatic, courageous, calm... all of these attributes serve him well. He is fearless in taking to the air and builds a reputation as the consummate airship officer and a leading expert in the field. At the outbreak of World War II he calmly and bravely directs a squadron of destroyers against Japanese forces. Later, as captain, he guides his battleship USS West Virginia through fierce combat in the Pacific. He wins accolades for his leadership, perseverance, and achievement. Wiley handles deep personal loss with the same courage and stoicism he brings to his job. He is the doting father of three who must balance the needs of his family with service to his country.
This book is, simultaneously, a biography of Admiral Herbert Victor Wiley and a history of the U.S. Navy’s lighter-than-air program. As tensions rose between Japan and the U.S. over control of East Asia and the Pacific Ocean, the prospects of war between the two nations increased. The Navy tracked the Germans’ use of zeppelins during the First World War and saw in them an aircraft with the potential to conduct long-range reconnaissance over the oceans – something that could not be achieved by airplanes or surface ships. While rapid progress was being made in manned flight, it was still young enough that the future of LTA vs. HTA flight was unknown. At the time, however, airships had a much greater range than airplanes making them suitable for reconnaissance. In its history, the Navy had four great airships – the U.S.S. Shenandoah, the U.S.S. Los Angeles, the U.S.S. Akron, and the U.S.S. Macon. Wiley served on all four of these airships and the history of these vessels is covered through the career of Wiley. Three of the airships ended in disaster and Wiley survived the crash of two of them. The book explores in detail the events leading to the crash of each airship through examination of the records of the Navy’s Courts of Inquiry that investigated the cause of each crash. The book also tracks issues surrounding the use of non-flammable helium as a lifting gas instead of highly explosive hydrogen used by the Germans. The U.S. had a monopoly on the supply of helium. While Germany sought to purchase helium from the U.S., the government board governing the sale of helium blocked is availability to Germany on the basis it might be used for wartime purposes. Dr. Hugo Eckener had run the Zeppelin works in Friedrichshaven since the end of WWI and he had a vision for LTA flight that was peaceful, including international transoceanic passenger and freight services. The outbreak of WW II ended the zeppeling industry and dashed all of Eckener’s dreams. Following the crash of the Macon, Wiley returned to the surface fleet, eventually becoming Commander of Destroyer Squadron 29 in the Asiatic Fleet shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
This is the first-ever biography of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr., who served a key role during World War II in the Pacific. Recognizing the achievements and legacy of one of the war's top combat admirals has been long overdue until now. Battleship Commander explores Lee's life from boyhood in Kentucky through his eventual service as commander of the fast battleships from 1942 to 1945. Paul Stillwell draws on more than 150 first-person accounts from those who knew and served with Lee from boyhood until the time of his death. Said to be down to earth, modest, forgiving, friendly, and with a wry sense of humor, Lee eschewed the media and, to the extent possible, left administrative details to others. Stillwell relates the sequential building of a successful career, illustrating Admiral Lee's focus on operational, tactical, and strategic concerns. During his service in the Navy Department from 1939 to 1942, Lee prepared the U.S. Navy for war at sea, and was involved in inspecting designs for battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, and destroyers. He sent observers to Britain to report on Royal Navy operations during the war against Germany and made plans to send an action team to mainland China to observe conditions for possible later Allied landings there. Putting his focus on the need to equip U.S. warships with radar and antiaircraft guns, Lee was one of the few flag officers of his generation who understood the tactical advantage of radar, especially during night battles. In 1942 Willis Lee became commander of the first division of fast battleships to operate in the Pacific. During that service, he commanded Task Force 64, which achieved a tide-turning victory in a night battle near Guadalcanal in November 1942. Lee missed two major opportunities for surface actions against the Japanese. In June 1944, in the Marianas campaign, he declined to engage because his ships were not trained adequately to operate together in surface battles. In October 1944, Admiral William Halsey's bungled decisions denied Lee's ships an opportunity for combat. Continuing his career of service near the end of the war, Lee, in the summer of 1945, directed anti-kamikaze research efforts in Casco Bay, Maine. While Lee's wartime successes and failures make for compelling reading, what is here in this biography is a balanced look at the man and officer.
He also is known for his success as a writer, and the best of his work makes up a significant part of this book - excerpts from magazine articles, short stories, and letters that are incorporated into this biography by two English professors who vividly portray the highly original man behind the deeds and the writings."--BOOK JACKET.
Naval aviation historian William F. Trimble provides a clear and detailed portrait of the man who took on the challenge of forming an aeronautical bureau within the U.S. Navy in 1921 and then nurtured the early development of naval aviation. Describing Admiral William A. Moffett as one of the first high-ranking naval officers to appreciate the importance of the airplane and the effect it would have on the fleet, the author contends that the admiral's strong background as a surface officer gave him a credibility and trust with his superiors that others could not match. The author attributes Moffett's desire to keep aviation as part of the fleet, along with his diplomacy, tenacity, and political and military savvy, to the success of the infant air arm during its formative years. In striking contrast to the tactics of Army Gen. Billy Mitchell, Moffett's handling of the loyalty issue and other politically sensitive topics saved the Navy's air arm, according to Trimble. The book is equally candid about the admiral's shortcomings, including his heavy-handed support for airships, a technological dead end that squandered millions and led to Moffett's death in 1933 when he went down with the airship Akron during a storm.