US Naval History Podcast

Traditionally war came with loot. This loot took a lot of forms, ranging from slaves (definitely not allowed today), to enemy military equipment, and whatever you could plunder from the enemies cities and countryside. We still have a few vestiges of these sorts of takings that are "legal" in warfare today. Andrew Clapham argues that we should almost completely ban these sorts of prize-taking, along with blockades and other tools of warfare. I'd actually argue that they are not all bad, and we have a pretty good debate about the topic on this podcast.

When the biggest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world can't even talk to each other, how can they possibly avoid war? Well, in the case of the Chinese and British in the early 19th Century... they didn't!

In this episode of the U.S. Naval History Podcast, I interview Professor Henrietta Harrison on the leadup to war that in some ways parallels our world today.

We discuss:

- The difficulty in getting the right information to the country's leaders and the dangers when this does not happen well

- How difficult it is to translate not only languages, but cultures and worldview between Anglo-American English and Chinese

- How just being close enough to do the direct translation in often seen. as inherently suspicious

- The not-so-great fates of the two key interpreters between England and China

- The First Opium War

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Why did the United States fight the Barbary Wars? How did early American diplomacy, economics, and naval power converge to confront North Africa's Barbary states?

In this episode of the U.S. Naval History Podcast, Chase Dalton interviews Professor Abby Mullen from the United States Naval Academy, author of To Fix a National Character: The United States in the First Barbary War, 1800-1805. Together, they explore the Barbary Wars through the lens of diplomacy, economic strategy, and naval action.

We discuss:

- The diplomatic landscape between the United States, Barbary states, and European powers,

- The importance of trade routes and the Mediterranean post-Independence,

- How American naval captains operated under minimal guidance, acting as both diplomats and warriors,

- The ideological motivations driving early U.S. foreign policy, and

- The role of European powers and international relations in shaping the outcome of the Barbary Wars.

We also dive into how the U.S. Navy developed through these conflicts and the lessons learned for future engagements.

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In this episode I talk with Kate Epstein about her new book "Analog Superpowers: How a 20th Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State."

Key points:

- The book focuses on the development of fire control technology for battleships in Britain and how the U.S. essentially stole this technology.

- The challenges of protecting military inventions through patents while maintaining secrecy.

- The concept of "technology laundering" and how nations rewrite history to appear more innovative.

- Parallels are drawn between UK-US tech transfers in the early 20th century, US-Soviet dynamics during the Cold War, and current US-China tensions.

- The evolution of export control laws is discussed, tracing their origins from British influence to modern-day semiconductor restrictions.

How did the military-industrial complex get it's start? How did it affect our early wars?

In this episode, I dive into the dramatic Battle of Memphis and its prelude, a crucial moment in the struggle for control of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. Three unusual fleets - two Union and one Confederate - converged on Memphis in June 1862.

We examine the desperate improvisation of the Confederate River Defense Fleet, the Union's evolving Western Flotilla, and the controversial addition of Charles Elliott's civilian-built ram fleet. Get ready for a blow-by-blow account of river warfare, complete with surprise attacks, chaotic melees, and spectators watching from the bluffs.

This is the story of how the Union secured control of the upper Mississippi, opening the way to Vicksburg. It's a tale of innovative tactics, clashing personalities, and a battle that showcased the rapidly evolving nature of naval warfare - where ironclads, rams, and cotton-clads clashed in a way never seen before or since.

See the maps and transcript for this episode:

Imagine you're a Union soldier, slogging through knee-deep Mississippi mud, trying to outflank a fortress that's not even on dry land. Welcome to Island Number 10.

In this episode, we're diving into the Battle of Island Number Ten. We'll explore how a patch of land barely above the waterline became a linchpin in the Mississippi. You'll hear about innovative tactics- from digging canals through swamps to ironclad ships running gauntlets in pitch-black thunderstorms.

This is a story of naval duels on a river, of mortar boats raining iron from the sky, and of commanders gambling with thousands of lives. It's about the precarious nature of nineteenth-century siege warfare and where spring floods could wash away the best-laid plans.

See the maps and transcript for this episode:

In this episode, we dive into the Civil War battles that cracked open the Western theater: Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. These were the fights where Grant and his ironclads showed what they could do.

We explore how the messy politics of border states set the stage, why Kentucky and Tennessee were so crucial, and how these victories let the Union push deep into Confederate territory. Get ready for a blow-by-blow of river warfare, complete with frozen soldiers, daring attacks, and Grant's famous "unconditional surrender" moment.

This is the story of how the Union found its fighting general and how the mighty Mississippi started to slip from Confederate hands. It's a tale of innovative weapons, bold strategies, and the battles that changed the course of the war.

See the maps and transcript for this episode:

Before the modern era, rivers were either great defensive positions, or offensive highways into your enemy's heartland. For the western half of the Confederacy, the North-South rivers were a mortal danger. The Confederacy knew they had to defend their rivers no matter what... and Grant knew he had to take them.

This episode tells the story of the first battle of the River War, the Battle of Belmont - Ulysses S. Grant's first Civil War engagement and the first step of Grant's campaign that ultimately led to Vicksburg in 1863.

Happy 4th of July!

This is the trailer for the next mini-series on the western campaign of the Civil War which culminated with the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4th, 1863.

This was the first true joint (Army-Navy closely working together) campaign in American history and one that I really have enjoyed researching. Stay tuned over the next few weeks!

Should a country be allowed to blockade (and potentially starve) another country into submission during wartime? Right now, the answer is...sorta??

The legal context of maritime warfare tactics such as blockades, booty, and prizes is evolving. I discuss how these strategies, historically significant in wars like the Revolutionary War and both World Wars, are now complicated by international laws. Special guest Andrew Clapham, a professor of public international law, explains the humanitarian and legal challenges surrounding these tactics in modern warfare. We talk about specific examples, including the ongoing conflicts involving Russia, Ukraine, and Yemen, highlighting the complexity and humanitarian considerations of enforcing blockades today.

This episode covers the history of the Polaris missile system, which was a key development in the Cold War that provided the United States with a submarine-launched ballistic missile capability. Madeline Zimmermann, an expert on defense acquisition, talks through the many trials and tribulations, broken rules, unusual bureaucracy-defeating strategies and a lot more.

We cover:

- Background on the development of ballistic missiles and the nuclear triad during the early stages of the Cold War

- The Navy's struggle to establish its own ballistic missile program, leading to the creation of the Special Projects Office (SPO) for the Polaris project

- The innovative management and acquisition practices used by the SPO, including decentralization, competition among contractors, and flexible requirements

- The role of strong leadership and the creation of the Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) as a bureaucratic cover for the project's success

- Lessons from the Polaris program that can be applied to modern defense acquisition, such as encouraging competition among buyers, resisting monopsony, and emphasizing leadership accountability

This is a unique episode, in which I have someone interview me. You'll get to hear a little bit about my life story, including my time in the Navy. We also delve into a few issues affecting the modern Navy, my favorite episodes, and what's next for the podcast. It's a unique episode and I hope you enjoy it.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

The final episodes of this (somewhat) mini-series.

This is the story of a battle, of a disastrous retreat, and the conspiracy which followed.

This was a naval disaster of epic scale. More than American forty warships and transport vessels were destroyed. Another America naval disaster of this scale would not be repeated until the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7, 1941, more than 162 years later.

The retreat is in full force! Burning ships, narrow escapes, freeing militiamen, this episode has it all!

This series is the story of a battle, of a disastrous retreat, and the conspiracy which followed.

This was a naval disaster of epic scale. More than American forty warships and transport vessels were destroyed. Another America naval disaster of this scale would not be repeated until the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7, 1941, more than 162 years later.

The fighting now begins!

This is the story of a battle, of a disastrous retreat, and the conspiracy which followed.

This was a naval disaster of epic scale. More than American forty warships and transport vessels were destroyed. Another America naval disaster of this scale would not be repeated until the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7, 1941, more than 162 years later.

The fighting now begins!

This is the story of a battle, of a disastrous retreat, and the conspiracy which followed.

This was a naval disaster of epic scale. More than American forty warships and transport vessels were destroyed. Another America naval disaster of this scale would not be repeated until the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7, 1941, more than 162 years later.

The fighting now begins!

This is the story of a battle, of a disastrous retreat, and the conspiracy which followed.

This was a naval disaster of epic scale. More than American forty warships and transport vessels were destroyed. Another America naval disaster of this scale would not be repeated until the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7, 1941, more than 162 years later.

This is the story of a battle, of a disastrous retreat, and the conspiracy which followed.

This was a naval disaster of epic scale. More than American forty warships and transport vessels were destroyed. Another America naval disaster of this scale would not be repeated until the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7, 1941, more than 162 years later.

This is the story of a battle, of a disastrous retreat, and the conspiracy which followed.

This was a naval disaster of epic scale. More than American forty warships and transport vessels were destroyed. Another America naval disaster of this scale would not be repeated until the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7, 1941, more than 162 years later.

Today the United States can drone strike it's enemies almost anywhere in the world with non-explosive Hellfire missiles that deploy blades to slice through a target with almost no risk to nearby civilians. It is the latest-and-greatest expression of an American quest for precision strike that began in WWI, carried through (with sometimes disastrous results) WWII, into the nuclear era of the Cold War, and continues today in the drone age.

Mines! Torpedoes! Improvised Explosive Devices at sea!

When the War of 1812 broke out there was no way that the United States could sustainably go toe-to-toe with the far larger royal Navy, and so Congress authorized “An Act to encourage the destruction of the armed vessels of war of the enemy.”

The Torpedo Act promised one-half the value of any ship to any private citizen or groups who used “torpedoes, submarine instruments, or any other destructive machine whatever” to destroy a British warship.

The act encouraged private citizens with financial incentives to attack the Royal Navy in new and spectacular fashion, and not just merely prey upon the British merchant marine like privateers.

Of course, The Torpedo Act also created a significant problem: it blurred the lines of who was a legal combatant and who was not by allowing civilians to change the methods of naval war. If American civilians launched attacks against Royal Navy warships, would British commanders respond in kind?

find out all of these answers and more in my conversation with Andrew Fageal.

Six years after the First Sumatran Expedition, another attack on American pepper traders occurred. The US East India Station squadron responded with what can only be called a "vigorous" enforcement of American interests on the Sumatran coastline (aka we bombarded and burned the offending village of Muckie to the ground).

Email me at usnavalhistorypodcast@gmail.com

The AUKUS pact between the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia aims to increase naval cooperation between the three countries in the face of a rising China. A major component involves the US and UK operating nuclear-powered submarines out of Australia by 2027, with plans to eventually transfer nuclear submarine technology to enable Australia to have its own nuclear submarine fleet.

Together with Megan Eckstein, naval warfare reporter at Defense News, and Bryant Harris, Congress reporter at Defense News we discuss the goals, benefits, challenges, and political dimensions around AUKUS including building up the submarine and naval industrial bases, training Australian sailors on nuclear reactor operations, congressional concerns around protecting technology, and the role of export controls. We also discuss the pact hopes to boost interoperability and enhanced deterrence to counter China's growing naval capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region.

I talk with guest Sal Mercogliano about fuel logistics during World War Two in the Pacific theater. We discuss the Japanese decision not to target fuel tanks at Pearl Harbor, how the US Navy adapted to fuel shortages in the early years of the war, and compare World War Two naval logistics capabilities to those of the US and Chinese navies today.

WWII naval aviation was miracle on many levels. The industrial output was immense. The technology evolved by leaps and bounds over the course of just a few years. The pilots got the glory, but the enlisted aviation maintenance rates were the men who kept the planes in the air. Before the war there was no real system to train these men, it was a small community of a few thousand men who learned on the job. But in the first three years of WWII the demands for this skilled labor exploded. The community expanded by more than 20x in three years and developed the complex systems naval aviation continues to rely on today to keep planes in the sky.

It has been an... exciting week in US Navy news and this episode breaks down the two big events:

1 - The USS Carney shot down 15 drones and 9 cruise missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen heading towards Israel.

2- The US currently has two carrier battle groups deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean in addition to other high end military assets to deter Iran from entering the broader conflict. Iranian proxy's have already launched drone attacks and missiles ar US bases across the Middle East and there is a non-trivial chance the US gets pulled into another Middle East conflict.

In this episode I have on James Ellman, the author of “MacArthur Reconsidered,” for an exploration of General Douglas MacArthur's military prowess (or should I say- lack thereof). James challenges the prevailing notion of MacArthur as a military genius as we delve into pivotal moments in MacArthur's career, including WWII and the Korean War. We analyze MacArthur's battlefield performance, examining both victories and defeats, and shed light on how his ability to shape public perception significantly impacted his legacy.

Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/MacArthur-Reconsidered-Look-Supreme-Commander/dp/081177158X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=187N7QMQRVK00

Ok, so it's not American Naval History, but this episode is too interesting not to post. With Professor Bret Devereaux I discuss the essentially non-Mahanian nature of ancient naval warfare. Because galleys were both cheap to build (but expensive to maintain) and had very limited operational endurance, the missions they could perform and the strategic use of galley navies was extremely different than Age of Sail and modern navies. For anyone used to thinking about naval power in the modern era this is going to be a paradigm shifting discussion!

Note: This is the short version of this episode which cuts out about 20 minutes of interesting side discussions. If you want to listen to a version with a few interesting tangents, check out the long version of this episode, it should be in your podcast feed immediately after this episode.

Ok, so it's not American Naval History, but this episode is too interesting not to post. With Professor Bret Devereaux I discuss the essentially non-Mahanian nature of ancient naval warfare. Because galleys were both cheap to build (but expensive to maintain) and had very limited operational endurance, the missions they could perform and the strategic use of galley navies was extremely different than Age of Sail and modern navies. For anyone used to thinking about naval power in the modern era this is going to be a paradigm shifting discussion!

Note: This is the long version of this episode containing about 20 minutes of interesting side discussions. If you want to listen to a more compact discussion, check out the short version of this episode, it should be in your podcast feed immediately before this episode.

Using a 36-foot motor launch, the 18 sailors, led by Lieutenant Commander John Morrill began their 2,000-mile journey through Japanese infested waters. With only a watch, compass, homemade sextant and a few maps it was an incredible feat of navigation. Their story is one of great audacity, where the generosity and bravery of the Filipino people, along with sheer luck played an integral role in the outcome of events.

Right after the Barbary Wars finished up, a new threat to American commerce emerged, this time around the world in Southeast Asia. This is the story of the expedition that was sent more than 12,000 miles across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to conduct America's first military expedition in Asia to avenge the capture of the Friendship and slaughter of her crew.

In this episode of the U.S. Naval History Podcast, we tell the story of the sinking of the USS Memphis (/Tennessee!), recounting the tragic events leading to the ship's demise as it was dashed against the rocks of the Dominican Republic by rogue waves. Heroic acts by the crew saved most aboard, and this episode highlights the three sailors who earned Medals of Honor for their actions that day.

Released on the anniversary of her wrecking.

For a brief, glorious moment, the US Navy in 1865 was the biggest and most advanced in the world. It was an inflection moment in the history of naval shipbuilding. Sails were out, steam power, armor, and modern gunnery was in. But post-war, the United States took a 20-year innovation hiatus allowing the rest of the world to pass us by during this technological inflection point, only to begin to roar back in the 1880s, build a Navy worthy of the nation, defeated the Spanish, and became one of the great powers of the world. This is that story.

Join us on the U.S. Naval History Podcast as we explore the lesser-known prelude to World War Two in the North Atlantic. The not-so-neutral "neutrality patrols" in the North Atlantic were the United States Navy's prelude to WWII. They resulted in an escalating but undeclared shooting war with the German Kriegsmarine before the attack on Pearl Harbor. We talk about the strategic decisions, political implications, and how President Roosevelt and senior U.S. political leaders grappled with the possibility of the Royal Navy falling into German hands. These intense patrols featured the first confrontations between American and German naval forces, from the first exchange of live ammunition to Roosevelt's fiery declaration of shooting first.

On 29 July 1967, the USS Forrestal experienced a severe fire while operating on Yankee Station off the coast of North Vietnam that killed 134 Sailors, injured 161 more, and destroyed 21 aircraft. This was (and remains) the second worst loss of life on a U.S. Navy ship since World War II. The disaster resulted in a very long list of lessons learned -many of which can be better classified as “lessons forgotten” from carrier fires during World War II. This time, there was a very intentional institutional effort to cement these lessons into the Navy’s damage control psyche, training, and procedures which transformed the U.S. Navy’s approach to firefighting, damage control, and ordnance handling in the 50 years since the Forrestal disaster.

In this episode I answer a few questions that someone sent me via email on the concept of "unsinkable aircraft carriers" in the context of both WWII and China's artificial islands in the South China Sea. I elaborate on the parallels with WWII, explore how Japan's strategy of using islands as unsinkable carriers ultimately failed due to logistical challenges and limited plane production, and how that will differ from a US-China war. The episode also examines the advantages and disadvantages of islands compared to traditional carriers, considering factors such as repairability, defense, logistics, vulnerability, and concentration of forces.

RADM Mike Studeman, the the Commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Director of the National Maritime Intelligence Integration Office talks about China’s grand plan for the South China Sea, Xi Jinping and the psychology of authoritarian states, how the Chinese military may have been the tail wagging the dog in China’s recent border skirmishes with India, who would/would not side with the United States in a fight over Taiwan, the consequences for China if they do invade Taiwan, and a whole lot more.

In this episode of the US Naval History podcast's South China Sea miniseries, we delve into the Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) and China's illegal maritime claims. I dissect the misleading claims made by the China Global Television Network and explore the significance of different maritime features, such as islands, rocks, and low tide elevations, and the rights they grant to countries under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Discover why China's artificial islands fail to establish legal entitlements and how FONOPs aim to uphold international maritime rules.

What force wears uniforms, has their boats built by the government, are paid by the government, and attacks an enemy's boats and ships? No...not the Navy. We're talking about China's Maritime Militia in the South China Sea. The maritime militia is inextricably aligned with Xi Jinping's rise to power and assertion of China's "rights" to all of the territory inside of the nine dashed lines. Pushing back against the maritime militia (technically "innocent fishermen") has been a ige challenge for the United States and every other country in the region over the past 30 years. This is the story of the rise of China's maritime militia, and other gray zone tactics in the South China Sea. Enjoy.

The South China Sea is home to numerous disputed islands, reefs, and shoals, which have been the subject of territorial claims and military standoffs between China and its neighboring countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Malaysia. In this episode, we will delve into the complex history of the South China Sea conflict, exploring its origins, key events, and the current state of affairs, as well as the geopolitical and economic implications of this ongoing dispute.

This is an breaking news podcast episode giving my brief thoughts and fears about the news that China will begin to inspect ships in Taiwan Strait. Taiwan says won't cooperate as this would be a major sovereignty violation. This has ling been my feared most-likely scenario for the beginnings of a US/China hot war over the Taiwan Strait. I really hope this is not the start of something hot, but looking back in 100 years, this may be noted as the day things started to go really off the rails for Cold War 2.0, if we're even lucky enough to call it a Cold War.

Link to Reuters article:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-inspect-ships-taiwan-strait-taiwan-says-wont-cooperate-2023-04-06/

In  this episode I talk with Rear Admiral Terry McKnight about his time combating Somali piracy off the Gulf of Aden. Admiral McKnight was the first commander of CTF 151, the multinational naval task force set up to combat the threat of piracy for the first time since almost two centuries. We talk about the causes of piracy in Somalia, the strategies used to combat it, international politics surrounding the effort, a few spectacular heists, and new emerging pirate threats around the world.   

RADM McKnight's book, Pirate Alley: https://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Alley-Commanding-Force-Somalia/dp/1612511341

I have gotten a few questions which amount to "what will happen if China invades Taiwan?" and this is my attempt at an answer. It's obviously a lot of guesswork, but I think that it is fair to say that a massive worldwide economic and geopolitical upheaval is likely. Supply chains will be massively disrupted and a deep recession or even Great Depression 2.0 are likely outcomes. If China does manage to take Taiwan, they will probably face a insurgency that I'm sure the US government will be happy to help along, in addition to dealing with massive sanctions. 

The second half of the episode is a guest post by the excellent podcast ChinaTalk. The episode talks with Michael  O'Hanlon, a senior fellow and director of research at Brookings where  specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and  American national security policy about: 

The limits of scenarios that predict the outcome of a China-Taiwan conflict.

What are intercontinental rail guns?

How sports teams that play each other in the same year can have different outcomes - and what this says about predictability.

Given all this, what’s the point of modelling exercises?

Go subscribe to ChinaTalk if you have not already, it's a great podcast for anyone interested in Chinese-American relations.