I.         1900 to WWI

A.       People

1.        T Roosevelt – youngest Pres; very involved CinC; pro-Navy – got largest peacetime expansion

2.        RADM Fiske – Naval inventor and writer; helped create CNO post; first ADM to leave and return a ship by plane

3.        LT Sims – learns about Brit “continuous aim” system and is given charge of target practice by Roosevelt; points out defects (freeboard, cinders, lack of gun armor)

4.        Eugene Fly – 1st ship to shore flight

5.        Taft – tried to tread over Japs / Asia but had no Pacific Navy to enforce his wants

B.       Places

1.        Venezuela Crisis – Latin Amer countries would hide behind Monroe Doctrine and not pay debts until Roosevelt says misbehavior could be punished and Brit, Fr, and Germ blockade Venezuela until it agrees to arbitration

2.        Columbia – trade partner until US supports Panamanian rebels who give the US the canal

C.       Ships

1.        Dreadnought – all big gun battleships; first one made by Brits (Italian idea, Germans and Japs worked on it too)

2.        Pennsylvania – 14” guns w/12mi range and oil power (20% spped increase)

3.        Mayflower – Roosevelt’s presidential yacht

D.       Battle: Tsushima – Japan defeats Russia; Roosevelt negotiates peace (Jap gets land, but no reparations)

E.       Strategy: US creates Pacific war plan Orange in case of war with Japan

F.       Policy: Roosevelt Corollary – US would police Caribbean and all others must stay out

 

II.        World War I

A.       People

1.        Woodrow Wilson – moral, intellectual; Fourteen Points, League of Nations; later crippled by a stroke

2.        SecNav Daniels – appointed by Wilson for helping him win; re-opened, expanded naval yards; proposed arms limitation; popular idea: educate all personnel in English, math, religion; forbid alcohol use by anyone

3.        Benson – anti-Brit but worries Brit loss would lead to a joint Jap, Austria, German attack on US; sends 4 bships to help Brits

4.        Sims – wanted small ships (DDs to hunt subs, cargo ships to replace Brit losses) but US wanted capital fleet in case Brit lost

5.        CAPT Belknap – led 10 steamers to lay mines in North Sea

6.        ADM Dewey – head of General Board

7.        Kaiser Wilhelm – German leader

8.        ADM Holtzendorff – thought Germans could sink 600k tons of Brit shipping per month

9.        First Sea Lord Jellicoe – very concerned about U-boats; doesn’t believe in the convoy system

10.     Yeomanettes – women in the Navy (secretaries, translators, …)

B.       Ships

1.        Gulflight – first US vessel sunk (on May Day ’15)

2.        Lusitania – 2nd US vessel sunk (7 May ’15)

3.        Arabic – British boat with American passengers sunk Sept ’15; German halt unrestricted warfare at Wilson’s protest

4.        Sussex – sunk; more Americans die; unrestricted sub warfare halts again

5.        Fannig – 1st US warship to capture a U-boat

6.         

C.       Battles: Jutland – German vs Brit bcruisers; Brits lose

D.       Strategy

1.        Convoy System – losses cut dramatically (1M to 250k tons per month)

2.        US (mostly) and Brits mine the entire North Sea (12mines / sq mi); sunk 6 subs, huge psychological effect

E.       Policy

1.        General Board recommends 186 new ships by 1921; debate ensues

2.        Naval Act of 1916 – General Board’s recommendations passed except deadline set at 1918

3.        Zimmerman Note – Germans ask Mexico to declare war on US; US intercepts and cuts diplomatic ties

4.        Treaty of Verailles – League of Nations formed; France and Italy want German ships, US and Brit wants to sink them; Germans scuttle 66 of them on their own

 

 

III.      Between the World Wars

A.       People

1.        RADM Moffett – 1st head of Bureau of Aeronautics; ran practice attack on Pearl to show its weakness to CVs

2.        ADM Yarnell – In charge of US Pac fleet ’37; ordered his fleet to protect Americans in Shanghai

3.        Reeves – conducts pretend surprise attack on Panama Canal to show weakness to CVs

4.        BGEN Mitchell – US Air CDR in Europe, WWII; dropped 67 bombs on USS MA sinking it quickly; “Death of the Dnaughts”

5.        Sims – thought CVs would be the capital ships of the future

B.       Ships

1.        Nagato – Jap dreadnaught

2.        Graf Spree, Duetschland, Scheer – German pocket battleships

C.       Policy

1.        Washington Conference – arms limitation treaty; ends Anglo-Jap alliance; 5:5:3:1.67

2.        Nonfortification Clause – US, Brit, Jap all scrap ships and agreed 0 capital ships or Pac fortification until ‘37

3.        Kellog-Briand Pact – renunciation of war b/w US, Jap and eventually 62 others

4.        London Naval Conference – small dec. in capital shps

5.        Vinson-Trammell Act – est. systematic program of ship replacement

6.        Anti-Comintern Pact – alliance between Jap and Germ (and later Italy too); ’36, ‘37

D.       Other: Nye Report – revealed corruption, etc in munitions industry

 

IV.      Acts of War

A.       Ships: Ruben – first USS sunk by a U-boat

B.       Battles

1.        Rape of Nanking – Jap soldiers, officers rape and kill thousands of Chinese

2.        ’38: Germany annexes Austria, Czechoslovakia … ’39: Poland invaded (Br, Fr … declare war)

C.       Strategy: Rainbow Plans – mix of plan orange / black

D.       Policy

1.        US bans loans, ships, etc to belligerents … eventually gives $46B to Brits, $11B to Soviets

2.        Neutrality Patrol – patrolled western Atlantic and broadcasted German positions to Brits

3.        Roosevelt trades 50 WWI DDs for 99 leases on Bermuda, West Indies, Newfoundland

4.        “Four Freedoms” – speech, religion, from want, from fear

5.        Lend-Lease Act – arms credits to nations in war with aggressors

6.        ABC-1: Amer Brit Conversations – decided if US came into war, Germany would be defeated first then Japs

 

V.       Pearl Harbor

A.       People

1.        ADM Yammamoto, VADM Nagumo – Jap CDRs

2.        American CDRs – ADM Kimmel, LTGen Short

B.       Places: Oahu, Pearl Harbor

C.       Ships / Planes

1.        Jap Planes: Val dive bomber … Zero fighter, strafer … Kate high level bomber

2.        Arizona – 2nd bomb blew bship in half, sinking in minutes

3.        Nevada only bship to get underway; sinks, blocking the entrance

4.         WV, CA, OK, UT sink fro torpedoes

5.        Losses: US: 300 planes, 300k tons ships to Jap 30 planes, 5 midget subs, 1 sub

D.       Policy

1.        Martial law declared

2.        AA fire kills 68 in Honolulu

 

VI.      Battle of the Atlantic

A.       People

1.        ADM King – CNO, CinC US Fleet … pressured to defend E coast first due to sub threat

2.        ADM “The Lion” Donitz – CDR U-Boats on E Coast; believed in tonnage war, wolfpacks; leader of 3rd Reich shortly

3.        Nimitz – replaces Kimmel

4.        CDR Rochefort – head of crytanalysts for Pac theater

5.        ENS Robinson – 1st commissioned black USN officer

B.       Places – Black Pit / Gap – mid-Atlantic where most convoys were largely unprotected

C.       Ships: Bismarck – huge German bship; sinks Hood best Brit warship in 1 shot (9 15” guns fired 1 ton shells)

D.       Strategy

1.        “Fresh water” – the fake message from US saying Midway was low on water to confirm AF meant Hawaii

2.        Enigma Machine – captured by Brits; decoded msgs called ULTRA; Germans added wheel later (again cracked)

3.        Radar gave U-boats trouble from ’40 on

4.        Paukenschlag – Operation Drumbeat by U-boats on US merchants; mined US coast in ‘42

5.        Wolfpacks – 1 sub lures away DDs and other then attack convoy

6.        Electronic Warfare – French ADM Darlan gave METOX to Donitz (weaker radar); allies developed magnetron

7.        Liberator aircraft – long-range US planes to escort convoys; placed in Iceland to cover Black Pit

E.       Operations

1.        Operation Torch – invasion of N Africa

2.        Operation Husky – Siciliy campaign; 1st attempt to get foothold on Axis land

3.        Operation Avalanche – Italy campaign; Mussolini removed by Italians

4.        Operation – Shingle – moves line to Rome

5.        Final Allied offensive in Italy led to German surrender 2 May ‘45

6.        Italy – longest campaign of the war (602 days) … 312k Amer casualties, 435k Germans

F.       Policy

1.        Arcadia Conference – US & Brits est. Germany-first doctrine

2.        WAVES – women accepted for volunteer emergency service

 

VII.    War In The Pacific

A.       Ships: Jap Shoho first CV sunk

B.       Battles

1.        Bataan Death March – march POWs in Phil to camp (25k die overall of 80k)

2.        Doolittle Raid – Embarasses Yammamoto, but does little material damage

3.        Malaya – Brits surrender 130k men; “greatest disaster in Brit military history”

4.        Java Sea – ABDA force under Gen Archibald defeated

5.        Coral Sea – 1st Allied victory vs. Japs; characterized by misidentifications

C.       Policy: US realizes in needs to beef up Pac air power

 

VIII.   Midway

A.       People: American CDRs – RADMs Fletcher, Spruance

B.       Ships: Hiryu survives initial attack and sinks Yorktown before succumbing

C.       Objectives – 1) Control Pac; 2) Decisive battle w/US Fleet

 

IX.      Ops Watchtower and Cartwheel – 1st Allied counteroffensive

A.       Battles (Land ΰ Edson’s Ridge)

1.        Savo Island – “Ironbottom Sound” – 14 ships, 1500 men lost

2.        Cape Esperance – 1st US night victory

3.        Eastern Solomons – CV battle; one Jap and US CV lost, 2 more US CVs damaged; US left with one good CV

4.        Santa Cruz Islands – CV Hornet sinks, Jap CV damaged (Jap win)

5.        Guadalcanal (Naval Battle) – Japs lose 2bship, 2DD; US lose two admirals, other ships; 1st and last bship fight

6.        Rabaul (Op Cartwheel) – largest Jap Pac base (100k men, 100s planes, 2nd largest conc. of Jap ships)

B.       Strategy – 1st major ampih assault and fleet action since 1898 and 1st night engagement ever

C.       Technology – Bruman Avenger, P38 Lightning, Curtis Diver, Hellcats (18k new planes); Iwoa class bship; Essex class CV

 

X.       Central Pac Drive

A.       Battles

1.        New Guinea – MacArthur doesn’t want to risk CVs so leaves most of USN behind

2.        US Subs sinking huge % of Jap oilers (Jap subs only attack warships though)

3.        Gilbert Islands – included Makin (easy) and Tarawa (bloody)

4.        Marshalls – several airfields here; preliminary bombing much more effective killing 75% of defenders (6,000)

5.        Eniwetok, Carolinas – CVs destroy 100s of Jap planes, ships (largest Pac concetration); no land invasion

6.        Operation Forager – Marianas – inc. Guam, Saipan, Tinian – B22s reach Jap from here; largest transoceanic invasion ever

B.       Strategy – Tarawa lessons – need better intel, NGS; use nonfighting ship as flagship

 

XI.      D-Day

A.       People

1.        Supreme: Eisenhower (US)

2.        Brits: Montgomery (Ground), Ramsey (Naval), Mallory (Air)

3.        Rommel – “Desert Fox” now in charge of of Normandy defenses

4.        Patton – 3rd Army CDR; breaks out and conducts Lorraine Campaign

B.       Ships

1.        Transports: LCVP (sm 36 or lrg 200 men); DUKW (amphib truck; 25, highly mobile); Tank LC (on board artillery; sank)

2.        Provided NGS to individual units

C.       Battles

1.        Beaches – US: Omaha (bloody), Utah … Brits: Gold, June, Sword

2.        Operation Nepture – naval portion of D-Day

3.        Frogmen – combat demolition teams; took 52% casaulties

4.        Bastogne

5.        Battle of the Bulge – Hitler’s counterattack with 250k men and 2 tank div temporarily advances 70mi

D.       Strategy – 7k tons of supplies per day; 1,000,000th US soldier hits Europe 4 Jul ‘44

 

 

 

 

 

 

XII.    Iwo Jima, Okinawa, End of WWII

A.       People: Brit Chiefs to ADM King: we’re “Lords of the ocean, Lords of the air”

B.       Ships: Yamato – huge Jap sbship; attacked by 200 bombers, sunk with 1,400 crew

C.       Battles

1.        Okinawa – 12sq mi volcanic ash; 1450 ships (largest armada ever); last Pac land battle; Japs lose 80% of 100k men

2.        Iwo Jima – Japs interdicted B29s from here; could also be used to recover B29s

3.        Mt. Surbachi – taken 4th dath on Iwo Jima; 3 weeks of fighting left … US lose 7k dead, 20k WIA to 99% of 21k Japs dead

D.       Strategy

1.        Divine Wind – kamikaze corps – damages 300 ships, sinks 40

2.        How to Beat Jap – 1) Blockade; 2) Invade; 3) Strategic Bomb (for 18 months)

3.        Operation Olympic - Invasion of Japan – predicted to cost at least 500k Americans

4.        “Little Boy,” “Fat Man” – Enola Gay drops LB on Hiroshima, 80k casaulties … Nagasaki 3 days later on 9 ‘Aug ΰ 40k C

E.       Policy – Potsdam Declartion – Allies accept only unconditional Jap surrender

 

XIII.   Cold War Beginning

A.       Nuclear Power – US tests 11 megaton bomb on ship (Op Crossroads) … Soviets test in ’49.

B.       Policies

1.        Demobilization after WWII (US has 2x as many ships, 65k, as the rest of the world combined)

2.        UN formed ’48, Nato ’49, Warsaw ‘55

3.        Natl Sec Act ’47 – est. NSC, CIA, NSA, USN, USAF; ’49 amendment est. JSC, DoD

4.        SecDef takes money for super CV that could launch nuke planes and gives to USAF for B39 development

 

XIV.  Korean War – Soviets control N, US support S

A.       People – GEN MacArthur – relieved for trying to use back channels to garner support

B.       Ships – minesweepers try to clear 3,000 mines to allow supplies from US to flow in

C.       Battles

1.        Forward US Defense – Pusan Perimeter

2.        Op Chromite – troops occupy: Kunsan (line of def); Inchon (over 38th); Pyongyang (in NK) … reverses war, cuts NK supply

D.       Strategy - MacArthur ignores Chinese threats and invades

E.       Policy – huge evac of marines, civilians becomes largest logistical success ever; naval credibility renewed

 

XV.    Nuclear Age – fast transition

A.       People – 0.  Pres Eisenhower offers aid to any country threatened by communism; assures MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction)

1.        ADM Rickover transforms USN to nuke power

B.       Ships

1.        Nautilus – first nuke powered ship; Skate the same except it surfaces through polar icecaps

2.        Triton – circumnavigates the world underwater

3.        George Washington – SSBN 598 – fired Polaris ballistic missiles (2500mi range)

4.        Enterprise – 1st CVN (’61); still in service

 

XVI.  Cuban Missile Crisis

A.       Bay of Pigs Invasions -1500 Cuban exiles org by CIA (defeated badly)

B.       U2 Spy planes discover Soviet nukes in Cuba (Cuba wanted protection, Soviets wanted advanced deployment)

C.       Exec Comm ΰ 1) Invasion w/Airstrike; 2) Political protest, pressure; 3) Blockade

D.       Naval “Quarintine” est; Soviet Grozny turns around after DD fires guns over its bow; Soviets withdraw missiles, US from Turkey

 

XVII. Vietnam

A.       People

1.        Ho Chi Minh – leads Viet Minh towards independence until his death ‘69

2.        Brits pull out in ’46, French takeover but defeated at Dien Bien Phy and leave in ‘54

B.       Ships

C.       Battles

1.        Op Rolling Thunder – US airstrikes in Vietnam from “Yankee Station” (CVs) – policy makers choose very limited targets

2.        Op Linebacker (Nixon) – USN Roles: 1) Bombardment; 2) Cutter, Minesweepers; 3) PCF Littoral swift craft

3.        Op Frequent Wind – airborne evac of 130k Vietnamese; largest evac ever

D.       Strategy

1.        Soviet SAMs escalate the war in ‘67

2.        US planes mine Haiphon Harbor to prevent Soviets from delivering supplies to Vietnam

3.        Monitors – flamethrower vessels (found 1M rounds of ammo, etc [big cahce] ΰ otherwise might’ve been 2nd Tet Offensive