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Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy (Volume 66) (Campaigns and Commanders Series) Hardcover – April 18, 2019

by Benjamin Armstrong (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 52 ratings
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Two centuries before the daring exploits of Navy SEALs and Marine Raiders captured the public imagination, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps were already engaged in similarly perilous missions: raiding pirate camps, attacking enemy ships in the dark of night, and striking enemy facilities and resources on shore. Even John Paul Jones, father of the American navy, saw such irregular operations as critical to naval warfare. With Jones’s own experience as a starting point, Benjamin Armstrong sets out to take irregular naval warfare out of the shadow of the blue-water battles that dominate naval history. This book, the first historical study of its kind, makes a compelling case for raiding and irregular naval warfare as key elements in the story of American sea power.

Beginning with the Continental Navy, Small Boats and Daring Men traces maritime missions through the wars of the early republic, from the coast of modern-day Libya to the rivers and inlets of the Chesapeake Bay. At the same time, Armstrong examines the era’s conflicts with nonstate enemies and threats to American peacetime interests along Pacific and Caribbean shores. Armstrong brings a uniquely informed perspective to his subject; and his work—with reference to original naval operational reports, sailors’ memoirs and diaries, and officers’ correspondence—is at once an exciting narrative of danger and combat at sea and a thoroughgoing analysis of how these events fit into concepts of American sea power.

Offering a critical new look at the naval history of the Early American era, this book also raises fundamental questions for naval strategy in the twenty-first century.
 
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Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Campaigns and Commanders Series
  2. Print length
    280 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    University of Oklahoma Press
  5. Publication date
    April 18, 2019
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0806162821
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0806162829
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Armstrong provides readers with an innovative history of a form of naval strategy often neglected by historians and strategists who focus on big fleets and guerre de course. His pioneering scholarship here is not just interesting naval history but enters into the realm of naval theory and strategy.”—John T. Kuehn, author of America’s First General Staff
 

“Armstrong takes the reader on an action-packed journey from the War for Independence to the decades immediately following the War of 1812. In retelling little-known stories of raids, ambushes, and explosive devices, he recasts the U.S. Navy’s early history. Small Boats and Daring Men brings irregular operations to the forefront of naval history.”—Kevin D. McCranie, author of Utmost Gallantry: The U.S. and Royal Navies at Sea in the War of 1812

“In this provocative study, Benjamin Armstrong employs the concept of guerre de razzia in order to highlight the prevalence of American raiding operations during the Age of Sail.  Through carefully chosen studies, he shows how U.S. Navy forces frequently employed what he calls “naval irregular warfare” to pursue national goals.”  —Craig L. Symonds, Ernest J. King Professor, U.S. Naval War College and author of A Concise History of the U.S. Navy
 

“Those with a military mindset should enjoy the analysis of the strategic theory of guerre de razza. Historians of the navy, technology and early American diplomacy should also find something in the book to pique their interest. Maritime historians, in general, should find the topic enlightening. Academically, the book might be appealing as a text for an upper level or graduate course. Readers who like true adventure, and many of the raiding expeditions are, to say the least, adventurous, will be fascinated by the audaciousness of the mariners of yore in small boats. It would be nice if a book of this quality of scholarship obtained an audience beyond a naval/maritime readership.”—The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

“Drawing on excellent research compiled from primary sources across the globe, including British, Canadian, and American archives, Armstrong has crafted a work which traces the daring raids of American sailors, marines, and citizens between 1775 and 1840…Armstrong expertly uses case studies to illustrate that technological advancement, civilian-military coordination, and diplomacy were all key elements of early American raiding. His background as a special forces officer gives added insight to his understanding of irregular warfare.”— Nautical Research Journal
 

“Armstrong’s book provides us an important analysis of naval irregular warfare from the Revolution to the period following the War of 1812. As the author maintains, there is still much work to place irregular operations into the mainstream to understand naval operational history. Even so, these eight case studies open the door for that future work and for understanding how those operations helped to create the modern U.S. Navy.”— U.S. Military History Review
 

About the Author

Benjamin Armstrong is Assistant Professor of War Studies and Naval History at the U.S. Naval Academy. He is the editor of 21st Century Mahan and 21st Century Sims and the author of numerous articles on naval history, national security, and strategy.
 

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Oklahoma Press (April 18, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0806162821
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0806162829
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 52 ratings

About the author

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Benjamin F. Armstrong

Benjamin F. Armstrong

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Benjamin "BJ" Armstrong is a former naval aviator and award winning naval historian. He has served as a search and rescue and special warfare helicopter pilot, deployed with naval forces around the world, and earned his PhD in War Studies with King's College London. His writings have appeared in academic journals and in a wide range of magazines from Naval History and Armchair General Magazine, to Adventure Kayak and Sport Fishing. He has served on the Editorial Board of the U.S. Naval Institute and has lectured widely on strategy and military innovation including at U.S. Special Operations Command, the Defense Entrepreneur's Forum at University of Chicago, and the U.S. Naval War College.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
52 global ratings
History you will enjoy!
5 Stars
History you will enjoy!
An amazing tale of sharpened cutlasses and deadly combat, with detailed history effortlessly woven in! Small Boats and Daring Men manages to be three things at once. It is first and foremost a thorough, detailed and well-researched history of the early U.S. Navy's "guerre de course" operations and tactics. In this respect it is essential reading for any navalist or historian. Secondly, it is an important reflection on modern naval tactics, as seen through the lens of history, thus essential for the bookshelf of any naval officer, or a professional of any kind interested in naval warfare. Last, and perhaps most enjoyably, it is an amazing read, spinning tales of daring expeditions deep into enemy ports, early waterborne IEDs and hand-to-hand engagements with bloodthirsty pirates. As such, it is a fast-paced read; one just about anyone who enjoys a tale of adventure on the briny shallows will be unable to put down.
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Top reviews from the United States

C.G. Berube
5.0 out of 5 stars The book an author wishes they'd written
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2019
Verified Purchase
Armstrong's new book, "Small Boats and Daring Men" is a survey of maritime raids and irregular warfare using case studies from the first fifty years of American naval warfare, from the American Revolution through the 1830s. Armstrong convincingly argues that guerre de razzia belongs alongside guerre d'escadre & guerre de course in teaching or understanding our naval history and that this type of naval operation has always been a part of what the navy has done.

In addition to the impeccable research, this book is easy to read and digest - not an insignificant achievement for a work based on a doctoral dissertation. Yet Armstrong manages it with ease conveying broader concepts and historical details without ever losing the reader. While some of the chapters are better known to historians and general readers alike (such as the Barbary War), Armstrong presents a lot of new perspectives on little-known operations. Again, not an easy task in a field that has had plenty of naval historians.

This work isn't simply a historical overview. It is a subtle, useful tool for naval policy-makers that these same operations continue in the 21st century and why policy-makers - whether on Capitol Hill or the Pentagon - ought to consider this in their deliberations about force structure and operations.

This isn't his first book or article - he's the most prolific naval officer writing today. But "Small Boats and Daring Men" firmly entrenches Armstrong as the preeminent naval historian of his generation.
7 people found this helpful
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Richard H
5.0 out of 5 stars History you will enjoy!
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2019
Verified Purchase
An amazing tale of sharpened cutlasses and deadly combat, with detailed history effortlessly woven in! Small Boats and Daring Men manages to be three things at once. It is first and foremost a thorough, detailed and well-researched history of the early U.S. Navy's "guerre de course" operations and tactics. In this respect it is essential reading for any navalist or historian. Secondly, it is an important reflection on modern naval tactics, as seen through the lens of history, thus essential for the bookshelf of any naval officer, or a professional of any kind interested in naval warfare. Last, and perhaps most enjoyably, it is an amazing read, spinning tales of daring expeditions deep into enemy ports, early waterborne IEDs and hand-to-hand engagements with bloodthirsty pirates. As such, it is a fast-paced read; one just about anyone who enjoys a tale of adventure on the briny shallows will be unable to put down.
Customer image
Richard H
5.0 out of 5 stars History you will enjoy!
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2019
An amazing tale of sharpened cutlasses and deadly combat, with detailed history effortlessly woven in! Small Boats and Daring Men manages to be three things at once. It is first and foremost a thorough, detailed and well-researched history of the early U.S. Navy's "guerre de course" operations and tactics. In this respect it is essential reading for any navalist or historian. Secondly, it is an important reflection on modern naval tactics, as seen through the lens of history, thus essential for the bookshelf of any naval officer, or a professional of any kind interested in naval warfare. Last, and perhaps most enjoyably, it is an amazing read, spinning tales of daring expeditions deep into enemy ports, early waterborne IEDs and hand-to-hand engagements with bloodthirsty pirates. As such, it is a fast-paced read; one just about anyone who enjoys a tale of adventure on the briny shallows will be unable to put down.
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3 people found this helpful
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Ian
5.0 out of 5 stars Should be central to any discussion by the Marine Corps of future naval conflict
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2019
Verified Purchase
A recent discussion on this book I attended at Marine Corps University drove home to me the value this book offers to the future naval force and, if the new Commandant's Planning Guidance is any indication, the role the Marine Corps plays in that force. "Small Boats and Daring Men" takes the reader away from the famous ship-on-ship and fleet-on-fleet engagements that dominate histories of naval warfare, and places them in the midst of those engagements which, though smaller in scale (and blood-letting) were often more complex and required more creative answers. We learn about early American efforts to counter piracy, fight asymmetrically against a superior British Royal Navy, and otherwise engage in raiding, brown water warfare, and small-scale diplomatic encounters with significant strategic impact.

What lessons do these two-century old incidents have for the Marine Corps and Navy? Several. First, each engagement is characterized by a remarkable level of authority entrusted to very junior leaders often well out of reach of their next echelon of command. Ensigns and lieutenants left American shores with perfunctory orders on what they were achieve, and it was left to them how to achieve it. While modern American naval forces pride themselves on mission command, individual initiative, "centralized command but decentralized control," enough servicemembers have encountered incidents of command echelons far removed tactical units nevertheless offering micromanaging "guidance" on how they should conduct their affairs. When entire bases are ordered to have "stand-downs" to address the infractions of a single person, or parent headquarters demand a torrent of data daily transmitted to them to report "readiness" metrics that may or may not reflect actual unit capability, servicemembers might fairly wonder just how far their upper echelons actually trust them. It's a stark contrast to the sailors and Marines of old told to sail to the far corners of the world, trusted to carry out their mission and with no information reported back except the mission's success or failure.

Second, the irregular warfare depicted in "Small Boats" regularly demonstrates a remarkable capability for creativity and adaptation of local resources not readily found in today's "iron mountain" model of logistical support. In almost every episode, American sailors and Marines built, borrowed, lent, or stole local vessels and resources to adapt to the conditions of the unique environment they worked in. Reading about men at far-flung locations building their own ships to accomplish the missions presents another stark contrast to today, when military acquisitions processes and commercial vendors combine to drag out the production and fielding of needed equipment across years, even decades. There are a couple of sub-lessons in this: 1) in the near-peer conflict many American strategists are anticipating, US forces may have to get very creative with what they have on hand locally because of the near-peer competitor's ability to interdict resources that have to travel across the breadth of world oceans, over long periods of time, to arrive, and 2) we need to re-learn the ability not just to destroy an adversary's resources, but co-opt them and turn them back against him, thus doubling the value of the denial. We talk a great deal about sinking the enemy's ships or shooting down their planes. We SHOULD be talking about how we could board an enemy warship, and not just neutralize his ability to use it against us, but be able to crew it, operate it, and turn it back to fight against THEM.

Finally, "Small Boats" offers a model for those necessary operations that take place outside the scope of fleet-on-fleet battle. Especially as the Marine Corps and Navy consider how they'll have to operate in contested waters, where neither side may be able to gain an enduring advantage, they need a framework for conducting operations that still degrade the adversary while avoiding exposure of "expensive/exquisite" platforms whose loss can't be easily replaced. "Small Boats and Daring Men" offers such a model. The Navy and Marine Corps would be wise to see how they might use it in the future.
4 people found this helpful
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Tyler Quinn
5.0 out of 5 stars More relevant than you know
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2019
Verified Purchase
Ben Armstrong takes an interesting and unique look at the role of irregular naval warfare during the age of sail. A swashbuckling adventure of bravery and innovation. There are several parallels and principles that can be drawn forward to the present. Dr Armstrong does this well with few anachronisms and keeps a steady pace throughout the book. Sure to generate lots of discussion especially for military readers looking at the current and future operating environment.
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J. Redmond
5.0 out of 5 stars A very good read even for the Amatuer Navalist (like me) among us.
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2019
Verified Purchase
Well written, easy to follow, and enjoyable to read. BJ Armstrong succeeds to weave the traditional high-level naval concepts in way that is easy to understand for the non-historian or professional. He makes a compelling case for the little covered War of Raiding from the more known and written models of War of Commerce and War Between Fleets. This book presents the decisions and actions, the good and the ugly as well as the triumph and the mistakes, made by the Officers and Crew. Yes, they were daring.

While reading the historical chapters in this book you can also see the reflection in events today, both by actions of large and organized nation-state militaries, as well as by smaller groups and non-state actors.
Intriguing enough to certainly wonder when it will be made into a multi-part movie series or documentary.
2 people found this helpful
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