American Naval History

Naval History

When we think of the defining battles of American history the image that comes to mind is likely to be battles like Lexington or Antietam - conflicts in which land soldiers played the most important roles. But the history of the United States would have been very different indeed had not the U.S. military proved to be as effective - and as innovative - as it was. Jack Sweetman, in his. American Naval History: 1775 to Present (2nd edition) discusses the key role that the U.S. Navy has played from the War of Independence through the current conflicts in the Gulf, listing the key events of in which the U.S. seagoing forces have been engaged in chronological order. The first edition was published in 1984; this current edition includes information from the naval engagements (including both the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps) that have occurred since that time. The text of the book is supplemented by numerous photographs along with a number ok key maps.

The book is both a straightforward catalogue of sea-borne battles and an analysis of the significance of major events. Sweetman allows the reader to understand both what went into the U.S. defeat or victory in each battle as well as the political and economic consequences of that battle. Too often military chronicles are simply snapshots in which we learn about the strategy and personnel involved in a single battle without gaining a clear sense of why that battle is important either within the context of the war of which it was a part or the larger political and historical circumstances that were the basis of the conflict. For example, this excerpt from the book of events in 1776 both describes what was happening and offers an explanation of why these events were important in both the short-term and the long-term:

At Lake Champlain, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold (not yet turned traitor) began a furious ship-building program to dispute command of the lake. Carleton, dependent on water-borne supplies, was compelled to halt and build a fleet of his own. This consumed the remainder of the summer and most of the fall. By the time the British are ready to fight they have achieved a marked superiority, and Arnold's force, consisting of the sloop Enterprise, 12; the schooners Royal Savage, 12, Liberty, 8, Revenge, 8; eight gundalows; and five galleys, is destroyed in a running battle on October 11-13. The season is so far advanced, however, that Carleton falls back to Canada to go into winter quarters, postponing the continuation of the offensive until the following spring. The delay is decisive.

While one might think that such explanations would be most useful to us in terms of the older engagements that Sweetman discusses, they are in fact most often useful for the most recent engagements because these are events that we are more familiar with and that we think that we understand the context of. This book reminds us that simply because something is nearer to us in time does not mean that we are in fact any closer to a complete understanding of it. Without ever insulting the reader's intelligence, Sweetman provides enough information for even a person entirely ignorant of history to understand what is going on. Providing just enough context to make events understandable while not overwhelming readers with details extraneous to the particular narrative at hand is a difficult task and Sweetman handles it with skill.