Ship's Library

David W. Munns
Assistant Editor

AFTERBURNER: Naval Aviators and the Vietnam War
by John Darrell Sherwood, New York: New York University Press, May 2004. 352 pp. $32.95 ISBN: 0-8147-9842-X

Although the Vietnam War ended nearly three decades ago, its grave images were prescient of future American conflicts. The war itself draws many parallels to America’s current history. The foreign policy lessons learned and interpretations of the conflict are still impossible to overlook.

The third volume of a Naval Historical Center project documenting this struggle, Afterburner: Naval Aviators and the Vietnam War, examines the most costly and widely disputed period of the Vietnam War, the American air warfare campaign between 1968 and 1972. Naval aviation during this period is often overlooked in lieu of larger, more publicized Air Force operations and an inability to access previously classified naval records.

Despite its somewhat covert history, naval aviation made a significant contribution to America’s air campaign in Southeast Asia. There were 17 U.S. carriers, making 73 cruises and totaling 8,248 days of naval conflict in Vietnam. Nearly 20 percent of the Navy personnel killed in action were aviators.

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s halt to bombing operations in North Vietnam for the late-1968 to early-1972 period is part of the reason the naval air campaign during this time is largely discounted. However, major bombings did continue along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an ill-defined assemblage of jungle paths and supply lines in Laos that were the primary arteries to equip North Vietnamese fighters.

This book is divided in six parts detailing the Laotian campaign, the induction of non-pilot naval flight officers, prisoners of war, the Navy’s successful operation mining Haiphong harbor, the most intense year of naval air warfare in 1972 and the final chapters of air war over North Vietnam: the Easter Offensive, Linebacker I and Linebacker II.

Afterburner takes a biographical approach to recording this period. It portrays the conflict in personal terms with anecdotes from aviators that exemplify a larger history of the war. Often colorful, these incidents help to convey their personal triumphs and struggles as their roles were essentially overhauled with newly moded air fighting techniques and creative approaches to combating North Vietnamese attacks on strongholds in South Vietnam.

By documenting this era with tales of victory and defeat, the lives of the men who served in Vietnam are brought to the forefront of the conflict. Their stories offer an allegorical truth to the increasing intensity of an air campaign that was barely permitted to be fought.

While a more complete chronology might present the big picture as to why, despite tremendous expense and hundreds of casualties, America was unable to claim a definitive victory in one of the most intense air campaigns to date, this book is a welcome addition to the history of naval aviation and fills a much-needed void by detailing the later years of the Vietnam naval air campaign.

Also Received:

SPLASHDOWN! NASA and theNavy
by Don Blair, Paducah, Ky.: Turner Publishing Co., July 2004. 200 pp. $44.95 ISBN: 1-56311-985-4

The men, ships and aircraft of the U.S. Navy played a vital role in the development and execution of many NASA recovery programs. Splashdown! is the first hardbound publication to detail the Navy’s role in manned spacecraft recovery, from 1961 through 1975.

The book offers a look into the history and ships involved in manned and unmanned craft recovery. It gives a complete listing of the 236 ships used, divided into Atlantic and Pacific fleet groups. Full-color pictures are provided for ship mission patches, manned mission vessels and helicopter squadrons.

WEAPONS OF THE NAVY SEALS
by Fred J. Pushies, St. Paul, Minn.: MBI Publishing Co., 2004. 127 pp. $24.95 ISBN: 0-7603-1790-9

The waterborne Navy SEAL commandos are armed with the some of the world’s most imposing and unyielding weapons, gear and equipment. Once obscure and camera-shy, the Navy SEALs have become sort of modern day folk heroes, and in Weapons of the Navy SEALs they embrace their newfound celebrity by exhibiting the tools of their trade.

The book provides a wonderfully researched history of the SEALs and divides their assets by sea, air and land. It offers a thorough explanation of their armory and tactical gear as well as an explanation of the missions requiring this equipment. Weapons of the Navy SEALs is complete with a glossary of terms, a list of abbreviations and an index. It has numerous color photographs of the equipment and men serving this elite force.

SWIFT, SILENT, AND DEADLY: Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance in the Pacific, 1942-1945
by Bruce F. Meyers, Annapolis, Md.: U.S. Naval Institute Press, July 2004. 216 pp. $26.95 ISBN: 1-59114-484-1

Bruce F. Meyers, a former Marine and reconnaissance historian, writes this book to credit reconnaissance Marines with saving countless lives during every major amphibious operation in the Pacific during World War II. This is the first document of Marine reconnaissance landings during this period, and is a needed resource to preserve their history and highlight their contributions to helping win the war.