Why am I passionate about this?
I am a Professor Emeritus of History at the United States Naval Academy, where I taught for thirty years, including a four-year term as History Department Chair. I was the first person to win both the Naval Academy’s Teacher of the Year award (1988) and its Researcher of the Year award (1998). I received the Navy Meritorious Service Award in 1989 and the Superior Civilian Service medal four times. In 1994-95, I was a Professor of Strategy at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England. After retirement, I returned to the Naval Academy in 2012 as The Class of 1957 Distinguished Professor of Naval History.
Craig's book list on important naval history
Why did Craig love this book?
The Second World War marked the apogee of American naval power, and there are many wonderful books about it, especially about the Pacific War. One of the many such books is James D. Hornfisher’s book, which is a dramatic telling of the furious engagement off the island of Samar during the Battle for Leyte Gulf in 1944 when a small group of destroyers stood up to a Japanese battleship-cruiser force.
6 authors picked The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
“This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can.”
With these words, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland addressed the crew of the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts on the morning of October 25, 1944, off the Philippine Island of Samar. On the horizon loomed the mightiest ships of the Japanese navy, a massive fleet that represented the last hope of a staggering empire. All that stood between it and Douglas MacArthur’ s vulnerable invasion force were the Roberts and the other small ships of a tiny American…