Crowley County Combined Library

On June 19, 1864, just off the coast of France, one of the most dramatic naval battles in history took place. On a clear day with windswept skies, the dreaded Confederate raider Alabama faced the Union warship Kearsarge in an all-or-nothing fight to the finish, the outcome of which would effectively end the threat of the Confederacy on the high seas. Authors Phil Keith and Tom Clavin introduce some of the crucial but historically overlooked players,...

Tells the story of America's "civilian navy" (privateers) during the Revolutionary War, in which 2,000 privately armed American vessels captured sixteen British warships and almost 3,000 merchantmen.

Design for war: British and German forces battle for dominance in the North Atlantic early in the war. Pacific boils over: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor draws America into the conflict. Sealing the breach: Hunting deadly Nazi "wolf packs" in the Atlantic. Midway is east: The pivotal battle in June 1942 costs Japan four aircraft carriers. Mediterranean mosaic: Fortifications at Gibraltar and Malta help shape tactics in Europe's southern sea. Guadalcanal:...

When Octavian hears that Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, will free all slaves who join his "Ethiopian Regiment," the recent runaway gladly signs up. Upon enlisting, Octavian is reunited with his friend Pro Bono. The two comrades, who once shared a master, are thrilled to meet again, but their joy quickly subsides.

The mine is an impartial killer, and defusing it requires steady nerves, steady hands, and an intrepid flirtation with death. Haunted by the mine that destroyed his first command, H.M. Submarine Tornado, Lieutenant-Commander David Masters now defuses mines on land and teaches the same deadly science to others.

Although previously undervalued for their strategic impact because they represented only a small percentage of total forces, the Union and Confederate navies were crucial to the outcome of the Civil War. In War on the Waters, James M. McPherson has crafted an enlightening, at times harrowing, and ultimately thrilling account of the war's naval campaigns and their military leaders. McPherson recounts how the Union navy's blockade of the Confederate...

Tells the story of a World War II naval battle that began soon after Pearl Harbor when German U-boats arrived off the American Atlantic coast and began to decimate merchant shipping, focusing on an area of the sea off North Carolina known as the graveyard of the Atlantic.

The story of the Battle of the Atlantic as reported by the men who fought the German submarines.