Who Can Hold the Sea: The U.S. Navy in the Cold War 1945-1960

A close-up, action-filled narrative about the crucial role the U.S. Navy played in the early years of the Cold War, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Fleet at Flood Tide

"A lucid, fast-moving and fitting finale to [Hornfischer's] career."--The Wall Street Journal

This landmark account of the U.S. Navy in the Cold War, Who Can Hold the Sea combines narrative history with scenes of stirring adventure on--and under--the high seas. In 1945, at the end of World War II, the victorious Navy sends its sailors home and decommissions most of its warships. But this peaceful interlude is short-lived, as Stalin, America's former ally, makes aggressive moves in Europe and the Far East. Winston Churchill crystallizes the growing Communist threat by declaring the existence of "the Iron Curtain," and the Truman Doctrine is set up to contain Communism by establishing U.S. military bases throughout the world.

Set against this background of increasing Cold War hostility, Who Can Hold the Sea paints the dramatic rise of the Navy's crucial postwar role in a series of exciting episodes that include the controversial tests of the A-bombs that were dropped on warships at Bikini Island; the invention of sonar and the developing science of undersea warfare; the Navy's leading part in key battles of the Korean War; the dramatic sinking of the submarine USS Cochino in the Norwegian Sea; the invention of the nuclear submarine and the dangerous, first-ever cruise of the USS Nautilus under the North Pole; and the growth of the modern Navy with technological breakthroughs such as massive aircraft carriers, and cruisers fitted with surface-to-air missiles.

As in all of Hornfischer's works, the events unfold in riveting detail. The story of the Cold War at sea is ultimately the story of America's victorious contest to protect the free world.

Author: James D. Hornfischer
Publisher: Bantam Dell
Published: 05/02/2023
Pages: 480
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780399178665

About the Author
James D. Hornfischer was a writer, literary agent, and book editor. He was the New York Times bestselling author of Neptune's Inferno, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Soldiers, Ship of Ghosts, and The Fleet at Flood Tide, all widely acclaimed accounts of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II. His books have received numerous awards, including the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature and the Naval Historical Foundation Distinguished Service Award. James D. Hornfischer died in 2021.