Holding the Line

The Naval Air Campaign in Korea

By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

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 frontline 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.

©2019 Thomas McKelvey Cleaver (P)2019 Tantor

pretty good, but I've listened to more interesting

may it was due to the type of war, but the story was a lot more statistical than the human interest I was hoping for.

Nice Overview of Naval Aviation During the Korean

I enjoyed the narrator. The story was laced with many instances of long retelling of daily bombing statistics but overall was an interesting read.

Details and a Warning for the future

Mr. Cleaver provides detail down to the number of bombs dropped. An engaging story that keeps alive the memories of the Naval Aviators who flew during this time. He also explains the political decisions that lead to the conflict and the lessons that should have been learned 10 years later in Vietnam.

A detailed history of Naval Aviation from the end of WWII to the end of the Korean War in 1953.

A must read if you want to learn about this often forgotten conflict and what lead up to it.

Go watch The Bridges at Toko-Ri, as the author points out the most true to life experience of Naval Aviation on the silver screen.

Great detailed book!

Great book that really gets deep into the Korean war and the sacrifice of naval aircrews!

Naval and USMC aviation in Korea

Great documentary listen about the Naval effort in Korea. Very comprehensive, and shared the struggle of these amazing aviators..

great historical account of the Korean war

Very well put together book. The author did a great job constructing a sensible timeline with great insight and anecdotes. He couldn't help himself to start with chiding, self-important message to the president at the beginning, but it's his opinion and he frames it as such.

Get to the point

I'm sure there's a good story here, but why is it that 2 hours into the book there is absolutely no mention of the actual naval campaign in Korea? The continual need to espouse personal beliefs before beginning the story for hours makes finishing books like this impossible. It's impossible to not interject some personal feelings into a book of history, but most people who buy these books want an accounting of the events. And why Donald Trump's name even needs to be mentioned is beyond me. It's absolutely irrelevant to what happened in 1950 and before that. Sean Runnette is not a bad narrator per say, but with this material he's like a human sedative.

Author has a little political bias

Over all the book was good, but you can tell the Author as some political bias. He call Mr. Trump stupid about his lack of knowledge about the bombing of Korea, but every president we have had from FDR to Mr. Biden as been stupid about the people that they have gotten us into armed conflict with.