America's Black Sea Fleet

di Estate of Robert E Shenk (Autore)

Naval Institute Press, 2012

Drawing on previously untapped sources, Robert Shenk offers a revealing portrait of America’s small Black Sea fleet in the years following World War I. In a high-tempo series of operations throughout the Black and Aegean Seas and the eastern Mediterranean, this small force of destroyers and other naval vessels responded ably to several major international crises. Home-ported in Constantinople, U.S. Navy ships helped evacuate some 150,000 White Russians during the last days of the Russian Revolution; coordinated the visits of the Hoover grain ships to ports in southern Russia where millions were suffering a horrendous famine; reported on the terrible death marches endured by the Greeks of the Pontus region of Turkey; and conducted the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Greek and Armenian refugees from burning Smyrna, the cataclysmic conclusion of the Turkish Nationalist Revolution. After Smyrna, the destroyers escorted Greek steamers in their rescue of ethnic Christian civilians being expelled from all the ports of Anatolian Turkey. Shenk’s incisive depiction of Adm. Mark Bristol as both head of U.S. naval forces and America’s chief diplomat in the region helps to make this book the first-ever comprehensive account of a vital but little-known naval undertaking. It was during 1922 that the destroyer BAinbridge rescued 482 of 495 men, women and children from the burning French transport Vinh Long in teh Sea of Marmora. The destroyer accomplished this by the expedient of ramming the large French ship so the exploding ammunition could not continue to force the vessels apart. For this action, Lieut.Commander W. Atlee Edwards was awarded the Medal of Honor by America, and the Legion of Honor by France. Over four years, Admiral Bristol maintained a strong grip on American naval and diplomatic affairs throughout the region. Headquartered at the American Embassy at Constantinople, Bristol also worked to further American business interests in Turkey, and tended to favor Turks over Greeks and Armenians in the process. Many Americans were convinced that Bristol was biased on behalf of the Turks, and a couple of navy captains risked their careers by speaking out about impending Turkish massacres that Bristol wanted to hush up.

• Autore: Estate of Robert E Shenk
• Anno edizione: 2012
• Editore: Naval Institute Press
• Formato: EPUB3 con Adobe DRM
• Lingua: Inglese
• Compatibilità: Tutti i dispositivi (eccetto Kindle)
• Layout: Reflowable
• EAN: 9781612513027