Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

By water beneath the walls : the rise of the Navy SEALs / Benjamin H. Milligan.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Bantam Books, [2021]Copyright date: ©2021Edition: First editionDescription: x, 626 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780553392197
  • 0553392190
Other title:
  • Rise of the Navy SEALs
Subject(s):
Contents:
part 1. Neglect: The reluctant creation and violent demise of the Navy's first commandos, the Marine Corps Raiders ; The sidelining of the Army's amphibious soldier-scouts and the call-up of the Navy's second-string sailors ; The US Army's first commandos and the raid that wasn't -- part 2. Opportunity: Draper Kauffman and the course that cracked the Atlantic wall, then laid the first bricks of the legend of naval special warfare ; The evolving contest that created the Mermen of War, World War II's only indispensable special operations unit ; The contest for the guerrilla war in China and the organization that had "no damn business" fighting in it, the US Navy's army of sailors -- part 3. Relevance: The US Navy's postwar plight, and the sailor-raiders who led her back to significance in Korea ; The resurrection of the Army's Rangersik, and the guerrilla raid that failed to forestall their second death ; Arleigh Burke, the Bay of Pigs, and the launching of the Navy's limited-war SEALs -- part 4. Exigency: Kennedy's Army of Gladiators and the counterinsurgency that blunted their swords, then cleared the way for another contender ; The first SEALs, their search for a mission, and the report that found it for them ; The dam break of conventional war in Vietnam, and the following flood of raiders that failed to beat the Navy to the Mekong Delta, all but one -- part 5. Culmination: The derailing of the first direct-action SEALs in the Rung Sat, and the detachment that restored their prospects ; The direct-action SEALs who dodged diversion, then perfected a mission that propelled the teams past the riverbanks, into history ; The Navy's skeleton key to inland combat and the final against-the-current achievements in the war's ebb tide that exposed the SEALs preeminence as the US military's go-anywhere commandos.
Summary: A former Navy SEAL chronicles the history of the special operations unit, from their beginnings as unarmed World War II frogmen to their rise to American's first permanent commando force, deployed on counterterrorism and capture-kill missions.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 359.984 M654 Available 33111010541734
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A gripping history chronicling the fits and starts of American special operations and the ultimate rise of the Navy SEALs from unarmed frogmen to elite, go-anywhere commandos-as told by one of their own.

"Deeply researched, well organized, and incredibly engaging. . . This is our legacy with all the warts, the challenges, and the heroics in one concise volume."-Admiral William H. McRaven, #1 New York Times bestselling author andformer commander, United States Special Operations Command

How did the US Navy-the branch of the US military tasked with patrolling the oceans-ever manage to produce a unit of raiders trained to operate on land? And how, against all odds, did that unit become one of the world's most elite commando forces, routinely striking thousands of miles from the water on the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, even Central Africa?

Behind the SEALs' improbable rise lies the most remarkable underdog story in American military history-and in these pages, former Navy SEAL Benjamin H. Milligan captures it as never before.

Told through the eyes of remarkable leaders and racing from one longshot, hair-curling raid to the next, By Water Beneath the Walls is thetale of the unit's heroic naval predecessors, and the evolution of the SEALs themselves. But it's also the story of the forging of American special operations as a whole-and how the SEALs emerged from the fires as America's first permanent commando force when again and again some other unit seemed predestined to seize that role.

Here Milligan thrillingly captures the outsize feats of the SEALs' frogmen forefathers in World War II, the Korean War, and elsewhere, even as he plunges us into the second front of interservice rivalries and personal ambition that shaped the SEALs' evolution.

In equally vivid, masterful detail, he chronicles key early missions undertaken by units like the Marine Raiders, Army Rangers, and Green Berets, showing us how these fateful, bloody moments helped create the modern American commando-even as they opened up pivotal opportunities for the Navy.

Finally, he takes us alongside as the SEALs at last seize the mantle of commando raiding, and discover the missions of capture/kill and counterterrorism that would define them for decades to come.

Now required reading throughout the US special operations community, By Water Beneath the Walls is an essential history of the SEAL teams, a crackling account of desperate last stands and unforgettable characters accomplishing the impossible-and a riveting epic of the dawn of American special operations.

A former Navy SEAL chronicles the history of the special operations unit, from their beginnings as unarmed World War II frogmen to their rise to American's first permanent commando force, deployed on counterterrorism and capture-kill missions.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 507-593) and index.

part 1. Neglect: The reluctant creation and violent demise of the Navy's first commandos, the Marine Corps Raiders ; The sidelining of the Army's amphibious soldier-scouts and the call-up of the Navy's second-string sailors ; The US Army's first commandos and the raid that wasn't -- part 2. Opportunity: Draper Kauffman and the course that cracked the Atlantic wall, then laid the first bricks of the legend of naval special warfare ; The evolving contest that created the Mermen of War, World War II's only indispensable special operations unit ; The contest for the guerrilla war in China and the organization that had "no damn business" fighting in it, the US Navy's army of sailors -- part 3. Relevance: The US Navy's postwar plight, and the sailor-raiders who led her back to significance in Korea ; The resurrection of the Army's Rangersik, and the guerrilla raid that failed to forestall their second death ; Arleigh Burke, the Bay of Pigs, and the launching of the Navy's limited-war SEALs -- part 4. Exigency: Kennedy's Army of Gladiators and the counterinsurgency that blunted their swords, then cleared the way for another contender ; The first SEALs, their search for a mission, and the report that found it for them ; The dam break of conventional war in Vietnam, and the following flood of raiders that failed to beat the Navy to the Mekong Delta, all but one -- part 5. Culmination: The derailing of the first direct-action SEALs in the Rung Sat, and the detachment that restored their prospects ; The direct-action SEALs who dodged diversion, then perfected a mission that propelled the teams past the riverbanks, into history ; The Navy's skeleton key to inland combat and the final against-the-current achievements in the war's ebb tide that exposed the SEALs preeminence as the US military's go-anywhere commandos.

Powered by Koha