Hey all,
I just got a bunch of my books out of storage, and came across a few that I
thought some people on the list might find interesting.
One is "Fleet Tactics: Theory and Practise" by Wayne P Hughes Jr, Capt USN,
Ret. 318 pages, published 1986 by the Naval Institute Press at Annapolis.
Hughes is a former destroyer captain and taught at the US Naval Postgraduate
School, where he held the Chair of Tactical Analysis. Acording to the dust
jacket, "It was in this newly formed position...that he first began asking
himself `Where are all the tactics books?' Finding none, he began to write his
own."
After laying down some basic principles, Hughes traces the development of
naval technology and tactics from the 17th century to the present. He does a
great job of examining both the trends of changing tactics and technology, as
well as the constants that have remained unchanged. The remainder of the book
is devoted to discussing modern fleet tactics. For those like me who are more
familiar with land-based warfare, Hughes does a great job of
illustrating the differences between naval and ground tactics.
Although this book is obviously about "wet" navies, I found it gave me a great
base from which to speculate about space naval tactics. I'm not saying
the book will help you win your next FT game -- the last 2 games I won
were
both against first-time players, so who am I to talk! -- but I found it
well worth the read. It might be hard to find, though, as Naval Institute
Press
isn't exactly a major publishing house, but a good rare-book-search
outfit should be able to turn it up.
Hope some of you enjoy it, Scott Field
To "know" a woman: This biblical absurdity makes a filthy song out of "Getting
to Know You," an unutterable blasphemy out of the phrase "God
knows," and transforms Socrates' "Know thyself" into "Go f___ yourself!"
-- Allan Sherman
> Although this book is obviously about "wet" navies, I found it gave me
So, Scott....what say next time I'm out your way we get together for a few
RL games of FT?? ;-) ;-) ;-)
> Scott Field wrote:
Got it and love it. Great book! There is a also another similar book regarding
Russian naval tactics that I haven't bought yet, but would like to see how it
compares.
> worth the read. It might be hard to find, though, as Naval Institute
A good bookstore should be able to track it down, especially if you have the
ISBN number. Providing the title and author should be anough though.
> Mike Miserendino wrote:
> A good bookstore should be able to track it down, especially if you
Ah, I forgot to include that little detail, didn't I?
ISBN 0-87021-558-2
On a related subject, the Naval Institute Press has some _really_ good
books, especially if you're into the tactics and logistics of the modern or
20th century navies in general. The Russian "tactical" book is more along the
lines of a why the Russians build X platform (specifically the Kirov BCGN with
all its variants and the Typhoon SSBN), and less along the how battlegroups
are arranged and how they are deployed. Ask for their catalog. You might be
surprised!
-Mike
> Mike Wuerthele wrote:
How do you contact the Naval Institute Press?
> At 05:45 PM 10/16/96 -0400, you wrote:
Check out their website at
http://www.usni.org
(I hope that's right, anyway.)
I'd recommend the Institute for anyone with an interest in the US Navy or
just naval/military history in general. You don't have to be in or have
been in the Navy to join.
Yours,
> Michael Kwan wrote:
> >>On a related subject, the Naval Institute Press has some _really_
Likewise, the US Army's Combat Studies Institute (part of the Command &
General Staff School at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas) has some great pubs too.
Their address is:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/cgsc/cgss/csi/csi/csihome.htm
It's a pretty new page, and they don't yet have all their pubs listed, but
there's an e-mail address you can write to for a listing of what's
available.
> Michael Kwan wrote:
> >>On a related subject, the Naval Institute Press has some _really_
Likewise, the US Army's Combat Studies Institute (part of the Command &
General Staff School at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas) has some great pubs too.
Their address is:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/cgsc/cgss/csi/csi/csihome.htm
It's a pretty new page, and they don't yet have all their pubs listed, but
there's an e-mail address you can write to for a listing of what's
available.