Naval Air War: The Rolling Thunder Campaign

Naval Air War: The Rolling Thunder Campaign PDF Author: Norman Polmar
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN: 0160931223
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
This is the sixth monograph in the series The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War. It covers aircraft carrier activity during Operation Rolling Thunder in the war. Operation Rolling Thunder was one of the longest sustained aerial bombing campaigns in history. And it would be a failure. The U.S. Navy proved essential to the conduct of Rolling Thunder. Exploiting the inherent flexibility and mobility of naval forces, the Seventh Fleet operated with impunity for three years off the coast of North Vietnam. The success with which the Navy executed the later Operation Linebacker campaign against North Vietnam in 1972 revealed how much the service had learned from and exploited the Rolling Thunder experience of 1965–1968. The book includes several photographs with backgrounds of key aircraft used as part of Operation Rolliing Thunder during the Vietnam War. Other products relating to the Vietnam War can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/us-military-history/battles-wars/vietnam-war Other products relating to U.S. Naval History can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/us-military-history/armed-forces-military-branches-history/united-states-navy-usn-history Other products published by the U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/902

Naval Air War: The Rolling Thunder Campaign

Naval Air War: The Rolling Thunder Campaign PDF Author: Norman Polmar
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN: 0160931223
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 154

Get Book

Book Description
This is the sixth monograph in the series The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War. It covers aircraft carrier activity during Operation Rolling Thunder in the war. Operation Rolling Thunder was one of the longest sustained aerial bombing campaigns in history. And it would be a failure. The U.S. Navy proved essential to the conduct of Rolling Thunder. Exploiting the inherent flexibility and mobility of naval forces, the Seventh Fleet operated with impunity for three years off the coast of North Vietnam. The success with which the Navy executed the later Operation Linebacker campaign against North Vietnam in 1972 revealed how much the service had learned from and exploited the Rolling Thunder experience of 1965–1968. The book includes several photographs with backgrounds of key aircraft used as part of Operation Rolliing Thunder during the Vietnam War. Other products relating to the Vietnam War can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/us-military-history/battles-wars/vietnam-war Other products relating to U.S. Naval History can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/us-military-history/armed-forces-military-branches-history/united-states-navy-usn-history Other products published by the U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/902

Naval Air War

Naval Air War PDF Author: U. S. Department Navy
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781539775898
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
Naval Air War: The Rolling Thunder Campaign is the sixth monograph in the series The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War. It covers aircraft carrier activity during one of the longest sustained aerial bombing campaigns in history. And it would be a failure. The U.S. Navy proved essential to the conduct of Rolling Thunder and by capitalizing on the inherent flexibility and mobility of naval forces, the Seventh Fleet operated with impunity for three years off the coast of North Vietnam. The success with which the Navy executed the later Operation Linebacker campaign against North Vietnam in 1972 revealed how much the service had learned from and exploited the Rolling Thunder experience of 1965-1968.

Air War Over North Vietnam

Air War Over North Vietnam PDF Author: Stephen Emerson
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526708248
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
In early 1965 the United States unleashed the largest sustained aerial bombing campaign since World War II, against North Vietnam. Through an ever escalating onslaught of destruction, Operation Rolling Thunder intended to signal Americas unwavering commitment to its South Vietnamese ally in the face of continued North Vietnamese aggression, break Hanois political will to prosecute the war, and bring about a negotiated settlement to the conflict. It was not to be. Against the backdrop of the Cold War and fears of widening the conflict into a global confrontation, Washington policy makers micromanaged and mismanaged the air campaign and increasingly muddled strategic objectives and operational methods that ultimately sowed the seeds of failure, despite the heroic sacrifices by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots and crews Despite flying some 306,000 combat sorties and dropping 864,000 tons of ordnance on North Vietnam 42 per cent more than that used in the Pacific theater during World War II Operation Rolling Thunder failed to drive Hanoi decisively to the negotiating table and end the war. That would take another four years and another air campaign. But by building on the hard earned political and military lessons of the past, the Nixon Administration and American military commanders would get another chance to prove themselves when they implemented operations Linebacker I and II in May and December 1972. And this time the results would be vastly different.

Rolling Thunder 1965–68

Rolling Thunder 1965–68 PDF Author: Richard P. Hallion
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472823214
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description
Operation Rolling Thunder was the campaign that was meant to keep South Vietnam secure, and dissuade the North from arming and supplying the Viet Cong. It pitted the world's strongest air forces against the MiGs and missiles of a small Soviet client state. But the US airmen who flew Rolling Thunder missions were crippled by a badly thought-out strategy, rampant political interference in operational matters, and aircraft optimised for Cold War nuclear strikes rather than conventional warfare. Ironically, Rolling Thunder was one of the most influential episodes of the Cold War – its failure spurring the 1970s US renaissance in professionalism, fighter design, and combat pilot training. Dr Richard P. Hallion, one of America's most eminent air power experts, explains how Rolling Thunder was conceived and fought, and why it became shorthand for how not to fight an air campaign.

Rolling Thunder

Rolling Thunder PDF Author: John T. Smith
Publisher: Crecy Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
"Designed to force the North Vietnamese into changing their policy towards the South, attacks by the US Navy and US Air Force escalated as targets such as bridges, roads, industry, fuel, shipping and airfields were systematically destroyed. The North Vietnamese did not crumble ... but built up the world's most powerful air defence organisation. Some 900 US aircraft, F-105 Thunderbirds, Phantoms, A-6 Intruders, A-4 Skyhawks and A-8 Crusaders, were destroyed by MiG 17s, MiG 21s and SAMs. Although North Vietnam was devastated, the American campaign failed completely in its aims"--Page 4 of cover.

Air War Over North Vietnam

Air War Over North Vietnam PDF Author: Stephen Emerson
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
ISBN: 9781526708229
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
In early 1965 the United States unleashed the largest sustained aerial bombing campaign since World War II, against North Vietnam. Through an ever escalating onslaught of destruction, Operation Rolling Thunder intended to signal America's unwavering commitment to its South Vietnamese ally in the face of continued North Vietnamese aggression, break Hanoi's political will to prosecute the war, and bring about a negotiated settlement to the conflict. It was not to be. Against the backdrop of the Cold War and fears of widening the conflict into a global confrontation, Washington policy makers micromanaged and mismanaged the air campaign and increasingly muddled strategic objectives and operational methods that ultimately sowed the seeds of failure, despite the heroic sacrifices by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots and crews Despite flying some 306,000 combat sorties and dropping 864,000 tons of ordnance on North Vietnam - 42 per cent more than that used in the Pacific theater during World War II - Operation Rolling Thunder failed to drive Hanoi decisively to the negotiating table and end the war. That would take another four years and another air campaign. But by building on the hard earned political and military lessons of the past, the Nixon Administration and American military commanders would get another chance to prove themselves when they implemented operations Linebacker I and II in May and December 1972\. And this time the results would be vastly different.

Bloody Sixteen

Bloody Sixteen PDF Author: Peter Fey
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1640120092
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Strategy and reality collide in Peter Fey’s gripping history of aircraft carrier USS Oriskany’s three deployments to Vietnam with Carrier Air Wing 16 (CVW-16). Its tours coincided with the most dangerous phases of Operation Rolling Thunder, the ill-fated bombing campaign against North Vietnam, and accounted for a quarter of all the naval aircraft lost during Rolling Thunder—the highest loss rate of any carrier air wing during Vietnam. The Johnson administration’s policy of gradually applied force meant that Oriskany arrived on station just as previous restrictions were lifted and bombing raids increased. As a result CVW-16 pilots paid a heavy price as they ventured into areas previously designated “off limits” by Washington DC. Named after one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, the Oriskany lived up to its name. After two years of suffering heavy losses, the ship caught fire—a devastating blow given the limited number of carriers deployed. With only three months allotted for repairs, Oriskany deployed a third and final time and ultimately lost more than half of its aircraft and more than a third of its pilots. The valor and battle accomplishments displayed by Oriskany’s aviators are legendary, but the story of their service has been lost in the disastrous fray of the war itself. Fey portrays the Oriskany and its heroes in an indelible memorial to the fallen of CVW-16 in hopes that the lessons learned from such strategic disasters are not forgotten in today’s sphere of war-bent politics.

Operation Rolling Thunder: Strategic Implications Of Airpower Doctrine

Operation Rolling Thunder: Strategic Implications Of Airpower Doctrine PDF Author: Colonel John K. Ellsworth
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782896899
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
This SRP examines Operation ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968) bombing campaign in the context of military Principles of War and their applications. It analyzes accomplishment of strategic objectives and future implications for applications of airpower doctrine. It reviews the pre-Vietnam strategic situation, discussing its military, political, social, global, and doctrinal characteristics. It then analyses Operation ROLLING THUNDER by phases, focusing on its controversial aspects. This analysis concludes that Operation ROLLING THUNDER failed to accomplish most of its strategic objectives. It offers several contributing factors to account for this failure. This SRP concludes with examination of the lessons learned about airpower doctrine and of the strategic implications of Operation ROLLING THUNDER for the overall war effort in Vietnam.

On Yankee Station

On Yankee Station PDF Author: John B. Nichols
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612512860
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
Combining vivid personal narrative with historical and operational analyses, this book takes a candid look at U.S. naval airpower in the Vietnam War. Coauthors John Nichols, a fighter pilot in the war, and Barrett Tillman, an award-winning aviation historian, make full use of their extensive knowledge of the subject to detail the ways in which airpower was employed in the years prior to the fall of Saigon. Confronting the conventional belief that airpower failed in Vietnam, they show that when applied correctly, airpower was effective, but because it was often misunderstood and misapplied, the end results were catastrophic. Their book offers a compelling view of what it was like to fly from Yankee Station between 1964 and 1973 and important lessons for future conflicts. At the same time, it adds important facts to the permanent war record. Following an analysis of the state of carrier aviation in 1964 and a definition of the rules of engagement, it describes the tactics used in strike warfare, the airborne and surface threats, electronic countermeasures, and search and rescue. It also examines the influence of political decisions on the conduct of the war and the changing nature of the Communist opposition. Appendixes provide useful statistical data on carrier deployments, combat sorties, and aircraft losses.

The Limits of Air Power

The Limits of Air Power PDF Author: Mark Clodfelter
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803264540
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Tracing the use of air power in World War II and the Korean War, Mark Clodfelter explains how U. S. Air Force doctrine evolved through the American experience in these conventional wars only to be thwarted in the context of a limited guerrilla struggle in Vietnam. Although a faith in bombing's sheer destructive power led air commanders to believe that extensive air assaults could win the war at any time, the Vietnam experience instead showed how even intense aerial attacks may not achieve military or political objectives in a limited war. Based on findings from previously classified documents in presidential libraries and air force archives as well as on interviews with civilian and military decision makers, The Limits of Air Power argues that reliance on air campaigns as a primary instrument of warfare could not have produced lasting victory in Vietnam. This Bison Books edition includes a new chapter that provides a framework for evaluating air power effectiveness in future conflicts.