SHIP'S LIBRARY

COLLISION WITH HISTORY: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT 109, by Robert D. Ballard with Michael Hamilton Morgan, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, Nov. 2002. 192 pp. $30. ISBN: 0-7922-6876-8.Best known for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic, National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence Robert Ballard also located the German battleship Bismarck, the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, and the aircraft carrier Yorktown, which sank during the WWII Battle of Midway. On 2 August 1943 the U.S. patrol torpedo boat, PT 109, commanded by a future U.S. president, 26-year-old Lt. (j.g.) John F. Kennedy, sank in the Solomon Sea after a night collision with a Japanese destroyer. Nearly 60 years later Ballard and crew located the wreckage of PT 109, 1,300 feet beneath the surface. Ballard, with Michael Morgan, describes the destruction of PT 109, the heroic efforts to save the surviving crewmembers, their rescue six days later, and the quest to locate the remains of the boat. Interwoven with the story of the search is a comprehensive history of PT boats in the Solomon Island Campaign. It had been Ballard's long time dream to search for, and find, PT 109, a journey well documented and dramatically enhanced by the modern and historical photographs included in the book. With 80 photographs, maps, and index.

FROM ANNAPOLIS TO SCAPA FLOW: The Autobiography of Edward L. Beach Sr., by Edward L. Beach Sr. with Edward L. Beach Jr. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, Jan. 2003. 344 pp. $34.95. ISBN: 1-55750-298-6. Preparing this memoir for publication was Beach Jr.'s last project--one he considered the most important--before his death in December 2002. The career of Edward L. Beach Sr., who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1888, spanned the beginning of the modern Navy to the end of World War I. Beach Sr.'s memoirs--written in 1930 but never published--tell us much about the author and also give fascinating details concerning the Navy in which he served. The firsthand accounts of the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, the insurrection in Haiti in 1915, and Scapa Flow in 1918 provide details that put the reader into the conflict. Beach Jr. puts his father's writing in historical context for today's reader and offers some insight into his father's feelings about the events of the day. With 19 black-and-white photographs and index.

A TIME TO DIE: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy, by Robert Moore. New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishing, Jan. 2003. 273 pp. $25. ISBN: 0-609-61000-7. Award-winning correspondent Robert Moore served as the Moscow correspondent for Britain's ITN news network from 1988 to 1992 and is currently its chief Washington correspondent. In August 2000 the world followed the unfolding drama surrounding the loss of the Oscar II-class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine Kursk. Moore, a fluent Russian speaker, conducted first-hand interviews with the key players in the Kursk tragedy, including an interview with the commander of the rescue operations, Adm. Gennady Verich. Moore was also given access to the Royal Navy files from the recovery operation in the Barents Sea, as well as to the British and Norwegian divers who were based aboard the rescue ship Seaway Eagle. A Time to Die explores the cause of the explosions that fatally wounded the Kursk, details the stories of those who survived the initial explosion and flooding, and tells the agonizing drama of the families of the Kursk sailors. Moore, who reveals the untold story of the Western rescue effort and how the British and Norwegian specialists were misled by Russian authorities, also recounts the bitter political battle that ensued over accepting Western aid, and gives a full account of the extraordinary confrontation between President Vladimir Putin and the families of the Kursk submariners. With 23 black-and-white photographs and index.

A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY: Memoirs of a Wartime Boomtown, by Wilber D. Jones, Jr., Shippensburg, Pa.: Feb. 2003. 318 pp. $29.95. ISBN: 1-57249-325-9. Retired Navy Capt. Wilber D. Jones, Jr.--an author and military historian who grew up in Wilmington N.C.--has written a social history of the life and culture of the WWII home front from the perspective of Wilmington and Southeastern North Carolina. Wilmington became a mighty contributor to the war effort and one of the country's most unique wartime boomtowns. Jones tells the story of Wilmington's social, civic, jurisdictional, racial, and governmental complexities during the city's economic heyday all the while its population nearly tripled. Woven throughout the story are the author's own boyhood remembrances along with firsthand accounts from other residents and items from the daily newspapers. Jones gives us an interesting view into history and an opportunity to see the triumphs and challenges for a hometown during time of war. With black-and-white photographs, notes, glossary, bibliography, and index.

SERVING TWO MASTERS: The Development of American Military Chaplaincy, 1860-1920, by Richard M. Budd, Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, July 2002. 202 pp. $45. ISBN: 0-8032-1322-0. As a Lutheran pastor in Leeds, N.D., Naval Reserve chaplain, and Ph.D. in military history, Richard Budd is well suited to tackle a subject long ignored by historians. Budd corrects this omission with a thoughtful history of the chaplains who sought to create a viable institutional structure for themselves within the U.S. Army and Navy. Despite a long history of association with the military there had never been a consensus on the chaplaincy's role. This was made more difficult because the chaplains, acting as members of one profession, operated within the specific environment of another and were faced with the question of whether they could or should integrate themselves in the military structure. Budd provides a history of the struggle to professionalize the chaplaincy and to obtain a working level of autonomy with the military bureaucracy. With nine black-and-white photographs and index.

U.S. AMPHIBIOUS SHIPS AND CRAFT: An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman with ship plans by A.D. Baker, Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, Sept. 2003. 688 pp. $85 ISBN: 1-55750-250-1. Author Norman Friedman is an internationally known strategist and specialist in the fields of weapons design and development. With the detailed ship plans of A.D. Baker, Friedman presents another book in his acclaimed U.S. warship design history series. This reference book of the highest standard describes the ships and craft of the U.S. amphibious force from its inception in the 1920s through WWII to the present. Friedman lays out the differing views and contributions of the Army, Navy, and Marines as well as the British and brings together details of ships and their service histories found elsewhere only in scattered official releases. Included in the book are previously unpublished documents that illustrate not only what was actually built but also what was planned and never brought into service. With 283 photographs, 152 line drawings, appendixes, notes, bibliography, and index.

Unless otherwise noted, the preceding book reviews were written by Editorial Assistant Sherry L. Gardner.