"Bound to become the authority on its important subject, and to remain so for a long time."--David F. Trask, former chief historian, U.S. Army Center of Military History

Crisis at Sea is the first comprehensive history of the United States Navy in European waters during World War I. Drawing on vast American, British, German, French, and Italian sources, the author presents the U.S. Naval experience as America moved into the modern age of naval warfare. Not limited to an operations account of naval battles and strategies, this volume--the second in a series--examines diplomatic policies, cabinet decisions, logistics, the home front, support systems, and shipbuilding to illustrate the complexity and enormity of America's naval participation in World War I.

This is a thorough treatment of not only the events but also the personalities of the war, with particular attention to the difficulties they faced. The book reveals penetrating insights into the United States' relations in the world, the nation's unpreparedness for such a war, the limits imposed on the Navy by the cabinet, and the unexpected conclusion to the war. Much of the author's exhaustive research is new, such as the use of French official documents and British recollections of the American ships and sailors. This book will be the standard reference volume for libraries and serious scholars with a special interest in World War I and in the history of warfare.

William N. Still Jr. is professor emeritus of history and former director of the Maritime History and Underwater Archaeology Program at East Carolina University and the Secretary of the Navy's Scholar in Naval History at the Naval Historical Center from 1989-1990. He is the author of American Sea Power in the Old World: The United States Navy in European and Near Eastern Waters, 1865-1917.

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Awards
John Lyman Book Award - 2007
Roosevelt Naval History Prize - 2008

…monumental… …an outstanding achievement…
--H-Net

…monumental…represents many years of meticulous research, analysis, and synthesis of documents which until now have received scant study.
--H-Net Book Review

William Still's masterpiece will serve as the history of the U.S. Navy in the Great War for years to come…this is the most important and complete survey to date of American naval operations in World War I and belongs on the sehlf of every nval historian and serving naval professional in this country.
--United States Naval Institute

Anyone interested in the U.S. Navy's role in World War I will find this book of immense value.
--Military History

…highly recommended…
--Pull Together: Newsletter of the Naval Historical Foundation

…highly recommended for policy makers, naval officers, scholars, maritime history enthusiasts, and all those with an interest in America's participation in WWI.
--Sea History

…extremely useful to all scholars of World War I on the seas.
--?

…monumental work…truly an outstanding achievement and William Still, Jr., is to be congratulated on his tremendous accomplishment.
--H-Net

…clearly a labor of love…herculean research…
--Nautical Research Journal: NC Maritime Museum

" The best comprehensive study of the Navy's role in that conflict (WW1) to date."
--The Northern Mariner

" Still's masterful work is a revealing study that both synthesizes and analyzes a wealth of information about this important period."
--Proceedings

"Is highly recommended for any reader with an interest in naval history. It should be required reading for naval planners and professionals, and for anyone with a particular intrest in World War I."
--International Journal of Maritime History

"Very valuable."
--Ships and Shipping

"Combines a superb command of the available literature with extensive research in US and British archives and libraries while also utilizing some French and Italian documentation." "Still's extraordinarily rich monograph is now the authoritative study of its subject matter and the point of depature for any subsequent scholarship."
--European History Quarterly

Ten years ahead of its time. . . . No other author pays as much attention to the American naval logistics of war as does Still. . . . Highly recommended for policy makers, scholars, naval officers, maritime history devotees, and all those with an interest in America's participation in World War I.
--Journal of Military