The end of the Cold War, the fiftieth anniversary of the Korean War, and the constant challenges of limited war we face today make this resurrection of a classic work both timely and relevant. Originally published in 1957, just a few years after the war ended, the book was the first--and remains the only--full accounting of the U.S. Navy's role in the Korean conflict to be written for the general public. It is a subject that has not received the attention it deserves mostly because the larger, more dramatic naval operations of World War II overshadowed those in Korea. Yet, as authors Malcolm Cagle and Frank Manson show, sustaining the war would have been impossible without the U.S. Navy. With the navy's command of the sea, United Nations forces were able to slow and eventually stop the communist invasion. The authors argue that without American naval dominance in the waters around Korea and the vital logistics tail that stretched halfway around the world, the tide-turning amphibious landing at Inchon would never have materialized, and the countless insertions, extractions, naval gunfire support operations, and naval aviation missions would not have occurred. They also maintain that in the heightened tensions of the time, the Seventh Fleet served as a deterrent to the temptation of widening the war elsewhere in the Pacific. The book's rigorous analysis of the war, its presentation of lessons learned, and even its list-filled appendix of ships lost, enemy aircraft destroyed, patrol squadrons, and more make this book as valuable a reference today as when it was first offered. In his foreword Adm. Arleigh A. Burke emphasizes the need to study the Korean War, both because it was the first limited war the United Nations fought and because it proved that control of the sea is a prerequisite to victory in modern war, whatever its size, type, or scope. -- Front jacket flap.

Reprint of the ed. published in 1957 by the United States Naval Institute, Annapolis. Donated by the family of Lieutenant Colonel Loyal (Red) Mumford Pease (February 19, 1917 to April 15, 2011) who served as an officer in the 25th Company Bomb Disposal Squad in the United States Army during WWII.