Shield and Sword: The United States Navy and the Persian Gulf War

by Edward J. Marolda, Robert J. Schneller, Us Naval Historical Center

Overview

FULL COLOR reprint of 1998 study from the United States Naval Historical Center. This volume describes in detail the U.S. Navy's role in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, one of the most successful campaigns in American military history. The work describes the contribution to victory of Navy men and women who served afloat in the carrier-based fighter and attack squadrons, the surface warships, amphibious and mine countermeasures vessels, submarines, and logistic and hospital ships. It also relates the activities of American sailors ashore or close inshore who protected the vital harbors of northern Saudi Arabia, provided Marine combat units with medical and construction assistance, flew vital supplies to forward areas, or coordinated all this activity on Navy and joint staffs. Overall, it is a story of Navy men and women, regular and reserve, who unselfishly answered their nation's call to arms when aggression threatened peace in the Persian Gulf.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782664154
Publisher:	Books Express Publishing
Publication date:	08/23/2013
Pages:	536
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 1.08(d)

About the Author

Edward J. Marolda is the senior historian and chief of the Histories and Archives Division at the Naval Historical Center in Washington, DC. He is also the coauthor of The U.S. Navy in the Korean War. Robert J. Schneller Jr. is a historian with the Contemporary History Branch of the Naval Historical Center and the author of A Quest for Glory: A Biography of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xiii
	Preface	xv
	Acknowledgments	xvii
Chapter 1.	Passage to Desert Shield	3
	America and the Persian Gulf in the Early Years	4
	Creation and Evolution of Central Command	13
	Legacy of the Vietnam War	20
	Rebirth of the Fleet and the Maritime Strategy	25
	The Tanker War	32
	End of the Cold War	40
	The Iraq-Kuwait Crisis	43
	The Invasion of Kuwait	52
	Decision to Intervene	54
Chapter 2.	Building the Shield	59
	Holding the Line	59
	Window of Vulnerability	66
	The Naval Command	79
	The Embargo	83
	Sealift	96
	Fleet and Shore-based Logistic Support	102
	Shield in Place	110
Chapter 3.	The Gathering Storm	111
	Over to the Attack	111
	Naval Deployments to the Gulf	121
	Deployment of the VII Corps and the Phase II Buildup	131
	Preparations for War	135
	Continuing Operations	146
	Life in the War Zone	153
	Countdown to War	163
Chapter 4.	Attack by Air and Sea	167
	The Desert Storm Plan and Composite Warfare Doctrine	167
	The Air Campaign: D-Day and D+1	170
	Problems of the Air Campaign	183
	The Great Scud Hunt	196
	Deluge from Above	198
	Fleet Defense and the Allied Right Flank	202
	Storm in the Northern Gulf	210
	Saddam Strikes Back	226
	Bubiyan Turkey Shoot	229
Chapter 5.	Preparing the Battlefield	233
	"First we're going to cut it off,..."	233
	Interdiction	236
	Kill Boxes	238
	Gauging the Effectiveness of Phase III Air Attacks	241
	The Strategic Air Campaign in February	245
	The Right Feint	247
	Ground Forces Move into Attack Positions	269
	Eleventh Hour Measures	274
Chapter 6.	The Final Assault	277
	Preliminary Operations	277
	G-Day	282
	Closing on the Iraqi Army in Kuwait	292
	Rout of the Iraqi Army	297
	An Aerial and Armored Blitz Ends the War	302
	Temporary Cease-Fire	304
Chapter 7.	After the Storm	307
	Defense of Kuwait	307
	Safwan	309
	The Prisoner Release	312
	Reconstruction of Kuwait	314
	Postwar Mine Countermeasures	320
	Redeployment of Central Command Forces	325
	Military Sealift Command Empties the Desert	329
	The Welcome Home	331
	Reorganization of Navcent	334
	Enforcing the Peace	337
Chapter 8.	Summary	355
	Prologue to the War	355
	Navy Shortcomings	358
	Hardening the Shield	360
	Increasing the Pressure on Saddam	362
	Gearing Up for Battle	365
	Littoral Combat in the Persian Gulf	369
	The Air War	369
	The Maritime Assault on Kuwait	376
	Maintaining Peace and Learning from the Gulf War Experience	381
	Abbreviations	387
	Notes	393
	Bibliography	449
	Index	491
	Maps
	Central Command Theater	6
	Indian Ocean	15
	Tanker War Operations	34
	The Air Assault on Iraq	171
	UN Naval Forces in the Persian Gulf, 17 January 1991	177
	Iraqi Air Attack in the Gulf, 24 January 1991	206
	Naval Operations in the Northern Gulf, 17 January-2 February 1991	211
	Kill Boxes in the KTO	239
	Desert Storm Mine Clearance Operations	248
	Disposition of Iraqi Ground Divisions, 23 February 1991	271
	Ground Assault on Southern Kuwait, 24-28 February 1991	278
	UN Naval Forces in the Persian Gulf, 24 February 1991	281
	Liberation of Kuwait	291
	Reopening of Kuwait	321
	Tables
1.	Iraq's Navy	68
2.	Navcent Command Structure (18 August to 26 December)	84
3.	Navy Special Warfare Forces in Desert Shield and Desert Storm	122
4.	Port Security and Harbor Defense Command	124
5.	Navcent Command Structure (26 December 1990 onward)	139
6.	North Arabian Gulf Mine Statistics	324

Editorial Reviews

The treatment is candid, the authors' analysis is persuasive, and their style readable.

Choice

Two Naval Historical Center historians describe the Navy's role in the 1990 Persian Gulf War. Most accounts on that conflict have emphasized the part played by air and ground forces, but Marolda and Schneller focus on efforts to control the sea. US surface ships and submarines launched hundreds of cruise missiles against Iraqi targets, and naval aviators played a role in the air campaign. Written from a theater- level perspective, the history is based on action and operational reports, command histories, personal communications, and other archived documents as well as on interviews with participants and previously classified summaries. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"The treatment is candid, the authors' analysis persuasive, and their style readable." -- Choice

From the Publisher