Additional information
by George W. Baer (Author)
A navy is a state's main instrument of maritime force. What it should do, what doctrine it holds, what ships it deploys, and how it fights are determined by practical political and military choices in relation to national needs. Choices are made according to the state's goals, perceived threat, maritime opportunity, technological capabilities, practical experience, and, not the least, the way the sea service defines itself and its way of war. This book is a history of the modern U.S. Navy. It explains how the Navy, in the century after 1890, was formed and reformed in the interaction of purpose, experience, and doctrine.
Back Jacket
A fine book: meticulous, judicious, incisive. It is a book to which the conventional exaggerations--must" reading, relevant, if you're only going to read one book on the subject, etc.--actually may be said to apply. . . . It is a study of the interactions of technology, bureaucracy, politics and culture, of how an institution adapts, or fails to adapt, to changing conditions. As such, the book belongs on a lot of desks at the Pentagon."--Washington Times
"Baer takes what could have been a dry topic--the political history of the modern U.S. Navy--and turns it into interesting reading."--Library Journal
