Alex Roland graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966 with a B.S. in engineering. He spent the next four years in the Marine Corps, during which he served a tour of duty in Vietnam and earned an M.A. in American history from the University of Hawaii. From 1970 to 1973 he studied military history at Duke University, taking his Ph.D. in 1974. His dissertation was subsequently published as Underwater Warfare in the Age of Sail (1978). From 1973 to 1981 Roland was a historian with NASA, working on a number of projects in addition to this volume. In 1981 he returned to Duke, where he is currently associate professor of history, teaching military history and the history of technology.

 

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