Mr. Roosevelt's Navy: The Private War of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, 1939-1942

The U.S. Navy was at war in the Atlantic long before 7 December 1941, but little is known about that conflict. Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy is a vivid, thoroughly researched account of this undeclared war upon which Mr. Roosevelt embarked in order to sway the desperate Battle of the Atlantic in favor of Britain’s hard-pressed Royal Navy.

Not only is the book a history of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and its impact on the German-American strategy and diplomacy prior to and immediately following American entry into World War II, but it is also a lively account of the muted battles and endless patrols that were the pattern of life for American sailors in the cold gray Atlantic.