Cole, Bernard D. 1943–

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Cole, Bernard D. 1943–

PERSONAL:

Born October 13, 1943, in Neptune, NJ; son of Harry and Mildred Cole; married Carla Conn, January 4, 1969; children: Jennifer Anne, Marissa Elizabeth. Education: University of North Carolina, A.B., 1965; University of Washington, Seattle, M.P.A., 1972; Auburn University, Ph.D., 1978.

ADDRESSES:

Office—National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC 20319-5078. E-mail—coleb@ndu.edu.

CAREER:

Writer and educator. U.S. Navy, career officer, including service in Vietnam, 1965-95, retiring as captain; National War College, Washington, DC, professor of international history, 1995—. Also Institute for National Strategic Studies of the National Defense University, Washington, DC, visiting senior fellow, 2004-05.

MEMBER:

International Institute for Strategic Studies, Organization of American Historians, Historians Society.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Three Legions of Merit; three Meritorious Service medals; three Presidential Unit citations; Meritorious Unit Commendation; Combat Action Medal; Overseas Deployment Medal; Vietnamese Presidential Unit Commendation; John Lyman Book Award, North American Society for Oceanic History, 1982, for Gunboats and Marines: The United States Navy in China, 1925-1928.

WRITINGS:

Gunboats and Marines: The United States Navy in China, 1925-1928, University of Delaware Press (Newark, DE), 1983.

The Great Wall at Sea: China's Navy Enters the Twenty-first Century, Naval Institute Press (Annapolis, MD), 2001.

"Oil for the Lamps of China": Beijing's 21st-century Search for Energy, Institute for National Strategic Studies (Washington, DC), 2003.

Taiwan's Security: History and Prospects, Routledge (New York, NY), 2006.

Sea Lines and Pipe Lines: Energy Security in East Asia, Praeger Security International (Westport, CT), 2008.

Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Naval War College Review and Journal of Military History.

SIDELIGHTS:

After serving approximately three decades in the U.S. Navy, Bernard D. Cole went on to become a professor and writer whose expertise is in the area of Sino-American relations. In his second book, The Great Wall at Sea: China's Navy Enters the Twenty-first Century, the author focuses on the China's effort to build a large and modern navy in the twenty-first century. He first explores the history of China's efforts at sea and then goes on to examine China's modern navy in detail, from its various types of ships to the people who command and staff these vessels. He also writes of China's plans for its future navy. "This major study … provides timely, authoritative information about China's developing navy and its quest for power," wrote a contributor to the Navy Reading Web site.

Cole is also author of Taiwan's Security: History and Prospects, which is an examination and evaluation of Taiwan's defense forces and infrastructure. In his 2008 book, Sea Lines and Pipe Lines: Energy Security in East Asia, the author focuses on energy security in Asia and the energy resources, naval forces, and national strategies of China and other nations in the region.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, May, 2002, H. Nelsen, review of The Great Wall at Sea: China's Navy Enters the Twenty-first Century, p. 1658.

Journal of American History, December, 1983, William R. Braisted, review of Gunboats and Marines: The United States Navy in China, 1925-1928, p. 709.

Journal of Military History, April, 2002, Edward J. Marolda, review of The Great Wall at Sea, p. 643.