The weeks after Pearl Harbor saw Japan destroy the well-prepared US air forces in the Philippines**. Fully illustrated, this studies the Pacific War's little-known first major air campaign.**On December 7, 1941, the Japanese not only attacked Pearl Harbor,but also struck at US and allied bases throughout the Pacific, including the USA's biggest overseas territory, the Philippines. However, that was an air ...

Fully illustrated, this study examines World War II's most dramatic single-ship action, in which Stephen Hopkins fought a heavily armed German auxiliary cruiser, Stier.When the United States entered World War II, the Battle of the Atlantic was already raging. The so-called 'Liberty Ships', built at breakneck speed and in huge numbers during 1941–45, were crucial to the Allied war effort. While the greatest successes of Germany's auxiliary cruisers...

People may associate Texas with cattle drives and oil derricks, but the sea has shaped the state's history as dramatically as it has delineated its coastline. Some of that history has vanished into the Gulf, whether it is an abandoned port town or a gale-tossed treasure fleet. Revisit the shipwreck that put Texas on the map. Add La Salle's lost colony, the Texas Navy's forgotten steamship and Galveston's overlooked 1915 hurricane to the navigational charts. From the submarines of Seawolf P...

Although it is sometimes called a town without a history, Houston actually possesses the kind of sprawling past that includes a frontier port, a moon landing and a supermarket that contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union. In fact, there is so much history that much has been forgotten. Visit the landmarks of that neglected heritage, from the Cotton Exchange to Astroworld. Dropping in on legendary spots like Shamrock and Gilley's Club, Mark Lardas tells the stories of a Houston that has ...

The USS Texas was built when dreadnought battleships were kings of the seas. It was the world's most powerful battleship when first commissioned in 1914, and for over a century it fought many battles. Some took place while the Texas served as a warship in the US Navy in World Wars I and II. Since becoming a museum ship and war memorial in 1948, it has fought a longer and more difficult struggle as it combats the ravages of time for its very survival. Throughout its existence, the Texas has...

The Texas coastline and offshore waters are flat, shallow, featureless, and filled with shoals. Texas waters are subjected to extreme weather, not just hurricanes and tropical storms but also northers and seasonal gales. This, combined with two centuries of naval warfare off Texas waters, produced many shipwrecks of all sorts, from Spanish treasure fleets to simple working boats. The ships of pirates, navies, cotton traders, immigrants, fishermen, and oil shippers line the Texas coast, cov...

To reach the Port of Houston's Turning Basin, a ship must travel 50 miles along a narrow and twisting channel that passes through Galveston Bay, the San Jacinto River, and Buffalo Bayou. Despite this improbable location, Houston has the world's largest landlocked port. Measured by annual tonnage shipped, the Port of Houston is the second-largest port in the United States. Its docks, wharves, and facilities cover more than 25 miles. The port starts its second century as a seaport in 2014. I...

A comprehensively illustrated history and analysis of 'The Hump' campaign in World War II**, the huge and treacherous airlift** over the Himalayas to keep China fighting.In World War II, the war in China tied down much of the Japanese Army, and it was crucial to keep China fighting and supplied. But when the Burma Road fell, the only way left was by air, in piston-engined transports, over the Himalayas from India. ...

This insightful illustrated study investigates how the Royal Navy lost two battleships and three aircraft carriers to German U-boats during 1939–42.During World War II, over half of Britain's capital ship losses were due to U-boats, as Germany's submarines sought to deplete the Royal Navy's powerful surface fleet. Featuring specially commissioned artwork and mapping alongside archive photographs, this study explains how Germany's submarines sank fi...

This is the David-and-Goliath story of how RAF Coastal Command battled with outdated aircraft against the deadly U-boat fleet during the crucial first years of World War II.At the start of World War II, few thought the U-boat would be as devastating as it proved to be. But convoys and sonar-equipped escorts proved inadequate to defend the Allies' merchantmen, and the RAF's only offensive weapon was the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. For RAF Coastal Command,...

This fully illustrated study explores the history of the Lexington class, the US Navy's first fleet carriers, from their battlecruiser origins to their service in World War II.The Lexington class began life as two of the six battlecruisers ordered for the US Navy in 1916. Laid down in 1920–21, they would have been the most powerful battlecruisers ever, if the Washington Naval Treaty had not scrapped the world's newest capital ships. However, as a handful of hulls w...

Richly illustrated throughout, this focused study reveals how the greatest airlift of the 20th century was sparked, organized, and flown, and why it succeeded.The Berlin Airlift was the first battle of the Cold War, and arguably its most decisive operation. As the Iron Curtain descended across Europe, the USSR blockaded free West Berlin in an attempt to force its surrender. Its only chance was a Western airlift on a scale never before attempted, to supply and susta...