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Machine Guns in Narragansett Bay
9781467149686
Regular price $23.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%During World War I and World War II, Rhode Island was dotted with coastal forts filled with large caliber guns. Yet they were never fired in anger.  By contrast, from 1929 to 1933, during Prohibition, U.S. Coast Guard vessels frequently fired machine guns at rumrunners in Narragansett Bay.
Machine gun fire killed three rumrunners and wounded another on the notorious Black Duck.  Despite the incident drawing national protests, the carnage continued.  The Coast Guard fired machine guns at dozens more rumrunners in Rhode Island waters, killing another man, severely wounding two others, and causing several boats to explode or sink.
Join author and historian Christian McBurney as he explores the use of excessive force in Narragansett Bay and other Rhode Island waters.
Untold Stories from World War II Rhode Island
9781467141864
Regular price $24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%Following the success of World War II Rhode Island, author Christian McBurney returns, with new coauthors Norman Desmarais and Varoujan Karentz, to present extraordinary personal stories of local contributions to the war effort.
From John F. Kennedy’s training as a PT boat commander at Melville to George H.W. Bush’s training as a pilot at Charlestown, the smallest state played an oversized role preparing navy officers and sailors. Important innovations are credited here too. Radar used on night-flying aircraft was developed at Jamestown’s Spraycliff Observatory and tested at Charlestown, and at Davisville, Seabees developed a pontoon aircraft landing field tested on Narragansett Bay. Scituate was home to the nation’s most successful spy listening station. After these and more captivating stories are revealed, the final chapter details existing World War II sites across the state readers can visit.
World War II Rhode Island
9781467136907
Regular price $21.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%Rhode Island's contribution to World War II vastly exceeded its small size.
Narragansett Bay was an armed camp dotted by army forts and navy facilities. They included the country's most important torpedo production and testing facilities at Newport and the Northeast's largest naval air station at Quonset Point. Three special, top-secret German POW camps were based in Narragansett and Jamestown. Meanwhile, Rhode Island workers from all over the state - including, for the first time, many women - manufactured military equipment and built warships, most notably the Liberty ships at Providence Shipyard. Authors from the Rhode Island history blog smallstatebighistory.com trace Rhode Island's outsized wartime role, from the scare of an enemy air raid after Pearl Harbor to the war's final German U-boat sunk off Point Judith.
