Military Monday with John D. Gresham and Author Al Nofi

Question: How do you take a Navy from a force structure of just a handful of wooden cruisers to the most powerful fleet in history in just two generations? Because this is exactly what happened within the United States Navy (USN) in the late 1800s in the first half of the 20th century. Along with obvious answers like having the necessary resources and industrial infrastructure, there is the question of the people who manned it. One of the keys in the development of the USN's training, tactics, and fleet doctrine were 21 "Fleet Problens," run between 1923 and 1940. Fleet Problems were a series of full-scale fleet exercises, designed to explore and experiment new ideas for the US fleet, while providing officers and crews with a chance to operate under simulated battle conditions for extended periods of time. Most of the future World War II and early Cold War USN leaders participated in the Fleet Problems, learning many of the lessons that would allow them to achieve victory in the coming "Two Ocean War" that was coming.

To learn more about the USN's Fleet Problems prior to World War II, tune into this week's edition of Military Monday (#MilitaryMonday on the Writestream Radio Network (@Writestream)). Author, historian, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and host John D. Gresham (@greshamj01) has invited  Government Printing Office author Al Nofi to discuss his book, TO THE FLEET FOR WAR. Considered an "instant classic" within the Naval history genre, Nofi's book describes in intimate detail, the various Fleet Problems, how they were run and adjudicated, and lessons learned derived from the exercises that became the basis for the USN's World War II doctrine.