Preble's Boys: Commodore Preble. This item is unavailable.Preble's Boys: Commodore Preble

First edition, first printing (stated). hardcover. 419 pp. with general index, index of ships, 14 battle diagrams and a map. Tight, near fine copy, mere trace of wear at the tips. In edgeworn dust jacket. A study of the career of USN Commodore Edward Preble and the men (his "Boys") he trained to command in the young Navy. He educated them in the philosophy of combat and the tactics of victory, Early in American history, there was no United States Navy; then in the space of a decade and a half, there were three wars (one undeclared) to be fought largely on the high seas. Enter Falmouth, Massachussets-born Edward Preble (1761-1807). He was originally commissioned in the Massachusetts State Navy in 1779 and during the waning days of the Revolutionary War was captured by the British and held for a time on the infamous prison ship HMS Jersey. After the United States Navy was established, he was named captain of the USS Essex in 1799. In 1802, during the war with the Tripoli pirates, he was given command of the USS Adams. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson, in need of an officer to command the Mediterranean Squadron, bypassed several more senior officers and named Preble to take command aboard the USS Constitution (whose construction he had been overseeing in Boston). He engaged in number of battles during the time of his command; he retired from active duty in September, 1804 due to illness and died three years later.…