The U.S. Navy: A Concise History by Craig L. Symonds

The U.S. Navy: A Concise History Reviews

• 
  Margaret Sankey

  This is clearly the product of a whole career's polishing and refining, as Symonds offers a brief overview of the evolution of the US Navy, especially the waxing and waning tied to political support and funding for constabulary and expeditionary missions. Symonds also clearly tracks changes in technology and social developments, from Civil War nurses to Z-grams about facial hair. The bibliography is sparse and entirely connected to his in-text quotations, so those needing to use this as a springboard to more complex treatments of issues will come up short, but for general interest, this is an excellent big picture treatment.
• 
  Chris

  Concise it was. And eloquent too. A great executive summary of the 246 years of the Navy in only 116 pages. I learned a thing or two.
• 
  Jessica S.

  Nice little book for giving an overall view history of key events is US Naval events.
• 
  Mark Mears

  The US Navy: A Concise History
  
  Craig L. Symonds
  
  I enjoyed this “brief” history of the US Navy.
  
  If you have not studied much on the subject, this book may act as an excellent primer. If you have studied much on the US Navy, you will find yourself craving more details on certain events. That’s great; use Mr. Symonds’ sources or look for other specific books.
  
  Either way, Mr. Symonds will have achieved his goal. Look at the definition of the word “concise.” This is exactly what was done. The book fills in any missed actions you may have, as it did for me.
  
  One of the best things this book illustrated, intentionally or not, was the incredible influence the Navy has had on our foreign policy. In the days before mass communications, a Navy lieutenant or captain thousands of miles from Washington had to make momentous decisions.
  
  The communications revolution is another subject the book demonstrates well.
  
  In the early 1800’s, the President may have received a message describing how a Navy officer had blasted some miscreants several weeks before. Today, the President may be awakened at 3 AM told the Navy needs to know whether to blast these bad guys. The book does not say this specifically, but it makes the point obvious to the reader/listener.
  
  Excellent, quick narration of our history.
• 
  Tyler

  U.S. Naval Academy historian Craig Symonds has written a brief overview of the U.S. Navy that takes the reader from the American Revolution through the twenty-first century in just 116 pages. The major point I gained from the book is that an evolving sense of what role in the world the United States should play has shaped the missions of the Navy across the nearly 250 years that the United States has now existed. For instance, during Thomas Jefferson's presidency in the first decade of the nineteenth century Navy personnel focused on defending the nation's own harbors with small gunboats. Although advocates called for the funding of more powerful frigates and ships of the line, the United States did not develop a navy that could rival the British or French. Yet by the last decade of the nineteenth century, many elected officials were determined to spread American influence abroad. Arguments such as Alfred Thayer Mahan's that a powerful Navy was the best way to spread a nation's power and wealth spurred them to fund battleships. By the end of World War II, the United States Navy was more than twice as large as all the rest of the world's navies combined. The Navy has remained the most powerful in the world through the early twenty-first century, as the United States has taken on the role of "global police officer" that has called for ships to subdue pirates, drug smugglers, and terrorists while providing humanitarian aid.
  
  Symonds does a decent job of tracing the evolution of the Navy through all of these developments in terms of technologies and social change. He emphasizes the transitions from sail to steam power, wood to iron ships, and battleships to aircraft carriers. He also emphasizes that Navy personnel are now as diverse as the nation that they serve. Women compose 18 percent of what had long been a male dominated institution, while African-Americans compose nearly 20 percent and Hispanic-Americans about 15 percent. The book does leave me wanting more. For instance, how did electronics shape operations aboard Navy ships. What was life like for sailors aboard ships across time, in terms of sleeping, eating, recreation, etc.? This book provides only a brief overview, but it should be useful for an American history teacher like myself who wants an introduction to the Navy.
• 
  Rick Cheeseman

  Weekend read. Nice wave tops accounting. Made a couple of notes for further study....
• 
  Ben Hammerslag

  Well, it's definitely concise. Quick and informative, but leaves a lot of history in the table. For instance, about Commodore Perry we are told that he opened Japan to trade through toughness and perseverance, and we are told what kinds of ships he had. Though the rest of that story isn't a naval story, so it's understandable. A fine jumping off point for further reading, but will likely leave most readers wanting more.
• 
  Trent Houghton

  A great short history of the US Navy. Anyone who wants a overview of every period of the US navy would enjoy this. However it is very surface level as any book that goes over 200 years in about 120 pages must be. A great resource to get a quick overview of each conflict and phase of the navy.
• 
  Larry

  I read it on Veterans' Day while thinking about my dad's naval service in the Pacific during World War II. Unlike Symonds's other books, this was a quick read, but worth the hour or two.
• 
  Rob Roy

  A quick, high level survey of the history of the US Navy. Aside form the review of battles and wars, it does a reasonably good job of showing the changes in sailors themselves. It also, does not end with World War II as Navy histories often do, but takes the reader through the launch of the USS Zumwalt. It was interesting to read about the times I served in, and what has happened since I retired 20 years ago.
• 
  Robert Koslowsky

  I enjoyed this quick read about the history of the United States Navy. This military arm of the Department of Defense began as the Continental Navy, born on October 13, 1775. This date serves as the official birth date of the U.S. Navy.
  
  I loved the analogy Symonds uses for the navy’s historical development, “from a handful of small sailing craft in the late eighteenth century to the juggernaut of today,” likened to the tracing of a sine wave you view on an oscilloscope, an undulating pattern that oscillates between peaks and valleys reflecting periods of rapid buildup and then rapid decline of the size of the American naval force over its 250-year existence. [Electrical engineers like myself, love this kind of stuff.]
  
  A very visible American navy was an essential component of nationhood, according to Symonds. On top of that, the navy reflects a world where technology constantly changed to transform naval force, “as the Age of Sail gave way to the Age of Steam and Steel, to the Age of Carrier Warfare, and to our modern era of electronic and missile warfare.” Over this evolutionary period of two and a half centuries, “steamships replaced frigates, carriers replaced battleships, and missile platforms replaced gun turrets.”
  
  Symonds ties in the evolution of the thinking of policymakers in the nation’s capital. He observes, “In the Age of the Sail the ambitions of American policymakers was to avoid overseas entanglements. In the age of steam and steel the United States began to look outward, and in the later years of the nineteenth century the country embraced a Pacific empire. The twentieth century – the American century – saw the nation, and its navy, emerge to assume the status of global prominence, if not preeminence.”
  
  So where are we now?
  
  The U.S. Navy has evolved to become, in 2016, the global cop in its varied roles of catching pirates, which was one of its early roles in the Mediterranean; chasing smugglers, a role the navy expanded from simply providing escorts for merchant ships and supply ships; taking out terrorists; and at times playing humanitarian roles when natural disasters strike.
  
  Today, the U.S. Navy is one of the most diverse organizations in the country. Its officers have evolved from being assigned positions due to their title to earning leadership roles through rigorous training and time shipboard.
  
  Bravo to the American men and women on the high seas who continue to serve their country with distinction!
• 
  Jim

  A good serviceable quick introduction to the history of the US Navy, basically a lecture. Of course, much is left out, but it should serve as an appetizer to get readers to pick out areas they might have most interest in. Some things seem to have been purposely left out (especially the "black eyes", such as the shooting down of the Iranian airliner, the loss of nuclear bombs, the Iowa explosion, Forrestal, Indianapolis), but I suppose that is to be expected in a short, mostly positive, volume. I applaud his decision to broach some of the social issues, as well as positive improvements to the fleet. As a son of a submariner, I find myself often delving into naval history, and this book would be a good book to hand to youngsters, particularly, to whet their appetite.
• 
  Rod

  Of course it is superficial. Any book trying to distill 200+ years of history into less than 150 pages would be. While not terrible, what I found disappointing were the occasionally loaded phrases without context and the sloppy photo placement and captions. In the WWI chapter there is a poster for the WAVES from WWII and later a miscaptioned photo allegedly of Curtiss Helldivers but in fact P-47s being transported on a carrier deck. I generally expect better editing from Oxford UP.
• 
  Nooilforpacifists

  A "Cliff Notes" history of the United States Navy.
• 
  Gemma Nguyen

  Got me through History of Sea Power at the Merchant Marine Academy with flying colors! Great book!
• 
  Matthew

  A great primer on the US Navy and its role in war and peace in the world since the early days of the republic. Love books like this.
• 
  Joe

  Wonderfully concise and informative.