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A Sailor’s History of the U.S. Navy  By  cover art

A Sailor’s History of the U.S. Navy

By: Thomas J. Cutler
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
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Publisher's summary

Adopted by the U.S. Navy for issue to all new sailors, A Sailor’s History of the U.S. Navy brings to life the events that have shaped and inspired the navy of today while highlighting the roles of all sailors—from seaman to admiral.

Rather than focus entirely upon such naval icons as Stephen Decatur and Chester Nimitz, as most histories do, author Thomas J. Cutler, a retired lieutenant commander and former petty officer second class, brings to the forefront the contributions of enlisted people. You’ll hear about Quartermaster Peter Williams, who steered the ironclad Monitor into history, and Hospital Corpsman Tayinikia Campbell, who saved lives in USS Cole after she was struck by terrorists in Yemen.

Unlike most histories, A Sailor’s History is arranged thematically rather than chronologically. Chapters are built around the navy’s core values of honor, courage, and commitment, its traditions of “Don’t Tread on Me” and “Don’t Give Up the Ship,” and other significant aspects of the navy.

As Cutler states in his preface, the book is not a whitewash. He includes mistakes and defeats along with the achievements and victories as he draws a portrait of a navy growing stronger and smarter while turning tragedy into triumph. The result is a unique account that captures the navy’s heritage as much as its history and provides inspiration as well as information while emphasizing that most essential element of naval history: the sailor.

©2005 Thomas J. Cutler (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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A Sailor’s History of the U.S. Navy

What made the experience of listening to A Sailor’s History of the U.S. Navy the most enjoyable?

Learning the history of what it was to follow in the footsteps of previous sailors...

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

At first I perceived it as a feel good book about the service, but after listening for a while, i came to appreciate the trials and learning curve that we (as a country) had to go through to get to the point we are at now. This book seems to get there in a round about manner, with colorful tails of accomplishment, and loss. After listening to it long enough, I was moved by the school of hard knocks that we had to go through.

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4 people found this helpful

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Must Read

If you are currently serving, thinking about serving or did serve in the U.S Navy, this book is a must for Navy history. This book has gave me some well needed motivation. Bravo Zulu to the folks who made this book possible.

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3 people found this helpful

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Awesome overview of the US Navy.

Loved it, dragged on for a bit at the end though. Loved all the famous qoutes too.

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2 people found this helpful

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Great book for US Naval heritage.

The book was well written, thoigh there were some parts that repeated and overlapped leading to a little confusion. Good narration, and a great book for US Naval heritage.

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1 person found this helpful

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Inspiring and motivating

As an active duty sailor, this truly builds a sense of pride in the organization we belong too! There is a vast amount of literature in the history of the U.S. Navy, it’s notable sailors and events. However none quite capture the awe inspiring stories of these exemplary men, woman, and ships as this book does. I recommend it to all my junior sailors.

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  • RD
  • 11-01-22

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14797 Zane Road38.50749, -78.52185GooHad encounter with another buck yesterday at state park. Knew I had no chance when I heard him walking in bc angle of sun had me lit up like spotlight. morni g. Are you guys up for me visiting while dad is at church?
Lore City, OH 43755
USA14797 Zane Road
Lore City, OH 43755
USA38.50749, -78.5218514797 Zane Road
Lore City, OH 43755
USA

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Not as Interesting as I hoped For but Still Good

I found the book to be an ok telling of the history of the United States Navy from the viewpoint of Sailors who have served. The beginning is set up as stories exemplifying the Navy's Core Values; Honor, Courage, and Commitment. The remaining chapters try to link stories together by using a common saying. This causes the book to jump around time periods and also leads to some stories causing a sort of narrative whiplash.

The author does a decent job of telling a multitude of tales from throughout the history of the United States Navy. Since these are the stories of the Sailors, the author stated that some would maybe not always show the Navy in a good light, however, the author does go about making sure to always present the Navy in a positive light. I would have preferred having some stories related to Tailhook or something if it is meant to be Sailor's stories and not interested in making the Navy look positive. The stories told are still nice to hear and not always the ones that were made into movies.

The narrator is ok. The most glaring issue I have with the narration is the narrator speaking forecastle as "forecastle" instead of '"fo'c'sle". It might seem trivial, but hearing about a "Petty Officer Second Class going to the forecastle" immediately took me out of any of the stories where it was brought up and focus on that and just made me think the narrator and narration crew didn't bother talking to the author or anyone else.

Overall, this was a decent book giving some further history about the United States Navy, including some stories that might not be told that often. Sometimes the stories can be a little hard to follow and having a harder break such as a chapter stop would help that out, most of the time I was able to follow the stories even after breaks in listening.

I would recommend this to anyone that would like to learn a little bit about some of the Sailors that have served in the Navy or those that would like to learn a little about the history of the Navy. I think there are better books for both, but maybe not many that accomplish a little bit of both over the more than 200 years of history of the United States Navy.

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One of the best audio

This was a good audio on the navy. I learned about battle that was fought that I never heard of. I highly recommend this audio

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Exceptional

Even having been out now over 20 years there is no greater pride than learning in who's company you were kept.

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The USNav

I enjoyed listening to the story about the U. S Navy and I believe that you will enjoy it too

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