First published in 1999, this reissued work highlights the accomplishments of the Navy's oldest shore establishment still in operation, from its beginnings 203 years ago as a shipyard for the new warships of a fledgling Navy, to the end of the 20th century. Associated with American presidents, foreign kings and queens, ambassadors, and legendary naval leaders, the Navy Yard was witness to the evolution of the country from a small republic into a nation of enormous political, economic, and military power. It was also home to tens of thousands of American workers manufacturing weapons for the fleet, including the 14-inch and 16-inch guns that armed the Navy's battleships in World Wars I and II and the Cold War.

Throughout its history, the yard has been associated with names like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Kennedy. Kings and queens have visited the yard; its waterfront has seen many historic moments; and some of our Navy's most senior and most notable officers have called it home. Such legendary ships as USS Constitution and USS Constellation sailed from its piers, and the 14-inch and 16-inch guns that armed our Navy's battleships during Word Wars I and II were built in its factories.

Many stirring words have been written about the heroic deeds of the officers and men of the U.S. Navy before, during and after the Civil War. But very little has been published about the naval constructors who built the warships that made their exploits possible. Of all of the Navy’s constructors from this era, none had more impact than John Lenthall (1807-1882). A native of Washington D.C. and the son of ambitious English parents, young Lenthall’s stellar rise through the ranks of naval constructors soon led to his appointment as the chief of the Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repairs. Now the U.S. government’s highest-ranking naval architect, John Lenthall was in charge of designing and constructing the nation’s warships. The magnificent Merrimack class steam frigates were one of his first achievements. His stance early in the Civil War on ironclads and coolness toward John Ericsson have been consistently misunderstood—Lenthall accepted the Navy’s need for armored warships but objected to a fleet of only brown water-capable monitors. When he retired in 1871, he had been bureau chief for over seventeen years and responsible for the building of nearly all the Navy’s ships during an era of unprecedented technological evolution. 'John Lenthall: The Life of a Naval Constructor' is thoroughly documented with previously untapped primary archival source material from Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum and the Franklin Institute, and the U.S. Naval Academy Museum. 'John Lenthall' is written by a historian and naval architect who can clearly explain the nuances of ship design. The author’s treatment of Lenthall and the legacy of his fellow constructors brings to life a previously untold chronicle of American ingenuity and achievement.

Contains an overview of the Naval War College. Includes a virtual tour of the campus facilities.

Walt Whitman was already famous for Leaves of Grass when he journeyed to the nation's capital at the height of the Civil War to find his brother George, a Union officer wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Whitman eventually served as a volunteer "hospital missionary," making more than six hundred hospital visits and serving over eighty thousand sick and wounded soldiers in the next three years. With the 1865 publication of Drum-Taps, Whitman became poet laureate of the Civil War, aligning his legacy with that of Abraham Lincoln. He remained in Washington until 1873 as a federal clerk, engaging in a dazzling literary circle and fostering his longest romantic relationship, with Peter Doyle. Author Garrett Peck details the definitive account of Walt Whitman's decade in the nation's capital.

This remarkable collection of works by some of the most authoritative naval historians in the United States draws on many formerly classified sources to shed new light on the U.S. Navy's role in the three-year struggle to preserve the independence of the Republic of Korea. Several of the essays concentrate on fleet operations during the first critical year of the war and later years when United Nations forces fought a "static war." Others focus on the leadership of Admirals Forrest P. Sherman, C. Turner Joy, James H. Doyle, and Arleigh A. Burke and on carrier-based and ground-based naval air operations as well as the contributions of African American Sailors. >As a whole, this book documents how the Navy's domination of the seas around Korea enabled Allied forces to project combat power ashore the length and breadth of the Korean peninsula. It also shows how the powerful presence of U.S. and Allied naval forces discouraged China and the Soviet Union from launching other military adventures in the Far East, thus keeping the first "limited war" of the Cold War era confined to Korea. But far from being an aberration unlikely to be replicated, the Korean War proved to be only the first in a long line of twentieth-century and early twenty-first century conflicts involving U.S. naval forces confronting Communist and nontraditional adversaries, and a full understanding of the Korean War experience, as provided in this book, helps define the role of sea power in today's world.

This is the first biography of Captain Thomas Tingey, a seminal figure in the early development of the U.S. Navy. It is at the same time a biography of this important American naval figure and a history of the first quarter century of the Washington Navy Yard, which Tingey commanded for that period. It is also the story of the transition of the navy from an object of partisan discord, to an honored and beloved defender of a growing and increasingly self-confident young nation. Tingey, who came to America after a short service in the Royal Navy, contributed importantly to the success of the navy in the War of 1812 and left a legacy of naval service which many of his descendants have followed. The Captain Who Burned His Ships is designed to fill a blank in popular histories of the 19th century American navy, which have been centered on the exploits of the heroes of the Barbary campaigns and the War of 1812. It looks at the development of the navy through its construction and logistical components, in which the Washington yard and Tingey played an important role. It looks at Tingey’s contributions to the development of yard procedures and practices, his civic role in the budding city of Washington, and the tragic events of 1814, when he was forced to burn his own creation to save it from falling into British hands