Word: forrestall
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Fair to Foul. In Washington, Navy Secretary James Vincent Forrestal, Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King and other Navymen wondered about the effect on the U.S. public of this stirring performance and great publicity show. An epoch was ended. As any sailor knows, every fair wind sooner or later blows foul...
What the Navy had to propose was a fleet that would far surpass the combined fleets of the world (Britain, France and Russia). Before the House Naval Affairs Committee, Secretary James Forrestal summarized it: a 300-ship active fleet, a 100-ship "ready reserve," plus a 700-ship "laid-up...
In active and ready status would be eleven battleships, 15 carriers, 21 escort carriers, 49 heavy and light cruisers, 176 destroyers, 40 destroyer escorts, 90 submarines. As for air, Forrestal proposed "about 8,000" ready-to-use aircraft, plus 4,000 in reserve.
Foreseeing the argument ahead, Jimmy Forrestal let it be known that the blueprint was no hard & fast plan; everybody would have a chance to make his case. Navy flyers and battleship men alike hoped that the prospect of weapons still to be built would not talk anybody into sinking the...
While historians speculated, Washington acted. Retiring War Secretary Stimson and Navy Secretary Forrestal wrote a joint letter to President Truman, recalling that President Woodrow Wilson had personally chosen "the World War" as World War I's official name. To Harry Truman they recommended "as a matter of simplicity and...