Holding the Line, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Holding the Line, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
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Holding the Line
The Naval Air Campaign In Korea

Author: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Unabridged: 13 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/19/2019


Synopsis

Naval and air power was crucial to the United Nations' success in the Korean War, as it sought to negate the overwhelming Chinese advantage in manpower. In what became known as the "long hard slog", naval aviators sought to slow and cut off communist forces and support troops on the ground. USS Leyte (CV-32) operated off Korea in the Sea of Japan for a record 93 continuous days to support the Marines in their epic retreat out of North Korea, and was crucial in the battles of the spring and summer of 1951 in which the UN forces again battled to the 38th Parallel.

All of this was accomplished with a force that was in the midst of change, as jet aircraft altered the entire nature of naval aviation. Holding the Line chronicles the carrier war in Korea from the first day of the war to the last, focusing on front–line combat, while also describing the technical development of aircraft and shipboard operations, and how these all affected the broader strategic situation on the Korean Peninsula.

About Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published writer for the past forty years, with a lifelong interest in the Korean War. He is the author of Aces of the 78th Fighter Group and F4F and F6F Aces of VF-2, as well as Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15 and The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Group. He is also a regular contributor to Flight Journal magazine. During his thirty years as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he wrote the cult classic The Terror Within and worked as a supervising producer on a number of TV and cable series. He served in the US Navy in Vietnam and currently lives in Encino, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Shrike58 on June 16, 2022

If you're looking for a contemporary accounting of U.S. naval activities in the Korean War, you could do a lot worse than this synthesis. Cleaver tells a good narrative story and, though he bleeds Navy blue and gold, he's quite forthright about his loyalties. What he probably does best is capture ho......more

Goodreads review by Urey on July 30, 2023

An interesting, and incisive, account of the Korean War with a focus on the Navy and Marine air campaign. Cleaver drives home how totally unprepared the US was for a conventional war involving land forces, logistics, shipborne supply and tactical air support. At the time the war broke out, the US wa......more

Goodreads review by Katie on February 01, 2019

This book is filled with historical detail about the US Navy in Korea. As a child, my grandfather told me about his time in Korea but those were just stories in a kids head until I read this book. The book provided context and a deeper understand of the history behind all the stories my grandfather......more

Goodreads review by Luka on May 19, 2024

A look into use of US naval airpower in Korean war. Written in typical Osprey fashion it combines strategic overview with personal insights, first hand accounts and some background. It's not a typical Osprey book in that it's longer than their main series. And while book does provide a good overview......more

Goodreads review by Brian on August 03, 2020

This very good military history of the naval air campaign during the Korean Conflict is an excellent companion to Cleaver's Mig Alley, which covers the USAF role. Cleaver covers the air campaigns and battles of the US Navy and Marine Corps in Korea, but also provides analysis and insight into a numbe......more