"This new Dewey biography, the first since Ronald Spector's Admiral of the New Empire: The Life and Career of George Dewey , published in 1988, is an interesting volume both for its subject, but also what could be described as an unusual approach that meets scholarly expectations but also incorporates a breezy, approachable style that readers, especially those with little historical or military knowledge, will enjoy." --Sea History "This new biography of an important naval officer is both well-detailed and readable, with a smooth narrative. While Manila Bay was Dewey's famed moment, he had wider effects on the navy and this work bring those often-ignored facts to light."-- Military Heritage "Perhaps the most enduring significance of the war of 1898 was the emergence of the United States Navy as a major instrument of a newly expansive American foreign policy. Its remarkable victory in Manila Bay-no American lives were lost-made a hero of the commander of the American fleet, Admiral George Dewey, who is the subject of an excellent new biography, A New Force at Sea by David A. Smith, an historian at Baylor University in Texas." --Michael Mandelbaum, American Purpose "In equal parts generous and critical, David A. Smith has given us the most comprehensive view of George Dewey to-date.

More than just a naval hero and administrative figurehead, Smith shows us a naval leader deeply immersed in the many important technological, strategic, intellectual, and cultural questions of his time. A New Force at Sea is at once brisk and elegantly-written, precise in its analysis, and a resource both for serious and lay readers of naval history." --Jason W. Smith, Southern Connecticut State University, Author of To Master the Boundless Sea: The U.S. Navy, the Marine Environment, and the Cartography of Empire "Transformation in naval and military affairs requires not only the theorists of war, but the commanders and warfighters who translate theory and strategic thinking into operational and tactical action. Admiral George Dewey was that officer as the U.S.

Navy became a world naval power prior to World War I. A New Force at Sea superbly places Dewey at the forefront of the U.S. Navy's transformation from a coastal defense, inward-looking force to that great world naval power." -- Stanley D.M. Carpenter, US Navy (Ret.), Professor Emeritus, U.

S. Naval War College "Admiral of the Fleet George Dewey is so famous for his 1898 victory over a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, Philippines, that the rest of his impactful career escapes the notice of many. A 1858 graduate of the Naval Academy, he served with distinction in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War and remained in service during the post-war doldrums of the under-funded and under-manned Navy. He was part of a late modernization that gave the fleet the armored ships it needed to enter the 20th century with power. His appointment as chairman of the Navy's General Board was consequential as his grasp of the new strategic environment heavily influenced President Theodore Roosevelt's "big stick" approach to U.S.

foreign policy and the build-up of U.S. naval power. This biography gives the reader the full story of this remarkable American."-- Seapower Magazine.