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Title: Forgotten Fleet: The Mothball Navy by Daniel Madsen ISBN: 1-55750-543-8 Publisher: Naval Institute Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $36.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.4 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Nostalgia
Comment: I'm not sure what book Bonner was reviewing, but it wasn't this one. And it wasn't much of a review, though he's entitled to his opinion and comments, of course, however baseless they are. Perhaps Bonner ("Naval Historian and Author") was influenced by the fact his own small mothball fleet book is coming out soon and Madsen's is competition.
If you are looking for a detailed history of the reserve fleet, its policies and practices, and instructions on preserving and reactivating a ship, then this book is not for you. And probably wasn't intended for you. If you are looking for a book that instead uses the mothball fleet as a link to the past, that views the ships as pieces of Americana that one could reach out and touch as tangible, rather than abstract, history, then it is a book you should look at. A few pages use the ships of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard reserve fleet as symbolic naval history books while others show the battleship Missouri as a time capsule during the long years she spent in mothballs. The book is nostalgic, but not morose. Veterans will understand the tone. The San Francisco Examiner did too, in a January 2000 review (which caused me to buy the book. Read it on-line). The book isn't without flaws. There are a few small factual errors, but they have apparently been corrected in subsequent reprints. Forgotten Fleet is not a recitation of facts, but a look back from old age, as veterans like to do, to a time gone by. It is obvious that Madsen knew exactly what he was writing about.
Rating: 4
Summary: An Enjoyable Journey through the Mothball Fleet
Comment: A very interesting book that will appeal to anyone who has ever looked at an old ship and wondered what stories it had to tell. I agree that the focus and tone of this book are satisfying -- it is far more an emotional journey through the rusting relics of history than it is (or, in my opinion, should be) a review of the policy or technology of the mothball fleet. The author's obvious love and respect for these ships gives the book its considerable appeal. However, I opted for four stars instead of five because I thought the organization of the book was a little shaky, moving from the end of World War II; through the mothballing process; to later conflicts and reactivation; then back to World War II through the ship's histories. I also would have enjoyed more photo coverage, including some pictures of the interiors of mothballed ships (the author makes several, tantalizing remarks about the interiors of the mothballed being time capsules of the end of World War II) and pictures of the ultimate fates of mothballed ships (photos of the scrapping of the Enterprise and the listing, rusted hulk of the light carrier Cabot would enhance this book's wistful view of the subject). These thoughts aside, it was a very good book that made me fondly recall looking at one of the mothball fleets years ago with my father.
Rating: 3
Summary: A Missed Opportunity
Comment: Madsen writes a sentimental and sympathetic account about the post-WW2 Naval Reserve Fleet, but he hardly scratches the surface of this subject. The book takes the reader on a walk down memory lane, going to great lengths to describe the combat history of various warships, boarded-up and forgotten. Unfortunately, his focus is more on individual ships, rather than looking at the impact of the reserve fleet as a whole. While Madsen does provide some useful information about the mothball fleet, the author just doesn't delve very deep into the topic, which could have taken his work to a whole new level.
The author has a quirky writing style. He spends much of the book showing photographs of fleets of mothballed ships, and then goes to great lengths identifying each vessel. In addition to this exercise, he also digresses from the topic, such as his lengthy discussion of the submarine USS Wahoo (which was sunk during the war, and was never in the reserve fleet). He also has a tendency to repeat himself. Although he obviously wrote the book with great affection, he failed to provide much insight about the Mothball Fleet. I really wanted to like this book, but I'm afraid this tome, like the ships he writes about, will be consigned to mothballs on my bookshelf, rarely used, and then one day quietly discarded.
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Title: Warship Boneyards by Kit Bonner, Carolyn Bonner ISBN: 0760308705 Publisher: Motorbooks International Pub. Date: 01 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor by Daniel Madsen ISBN: 1557504881 Publisher: Naval Institute Press Pub. Date: 30 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $36.95 |
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Title: Military Aircraft Boneyards by Nicholas A. Veronico, A. Kevin Grantham, Scott Thompson ISBN: 0760308209 Publisher: Motorbooks International Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Ghost Fleet: The Sunken Ships of Bikini Atoll by James P. Delgado ISBN: 0824818687 Publisher: University of Hawaii Press Pub. Date: 1999 List Price(USD): $19.83 |
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Title: The 25 Best World War II Sites, Pacific Theater: The Ultimate Traveler's Guide to the Battlefields, Monuments and Museums (Greenline Historic Travel Series) by Chuck Thompson ISBN: 0966635264 Publisher: Greenline Publications Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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