The Pacific Naval War 1941-1945

by David Wragg

Overview

This vividly detailed WWII history chronicles the bitter conflict at sea between Allied and Japanese naval forces.

The Pacific War was primarily fought at sea. Naval power allowed the Japanese to mount their attack on Pearl Harbor and then advance westwards and southwards. It also enabled the Allies to strike back and even take the war to Japan itself. The tide turned very quickly, with the US victory at Midway in June of 1942 ending any Japanese hope of domination.

The book begins with the decisions that led Japan into war, and the difficult situation faced by the Royal Navy elsewhere. It then describes how, within a couple of years, the Royal Navy was able to send the strongest and most balanced fleet in its history to severely disrupt Japanese operations.

Historian David Wragg also covers how the Royal Australian Navy developed into a viable naval force ready to become a major fleet in the immediate postwar years. The progress of the war is supported by eyewitness accounts from those involved in the fighting at sea.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844689712
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	445,797
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

David Wragg has published several highly praised books on railway history, and he produced a textbook for the old Chartered Institute of Transport. He has also written on railways for the Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, The Scotsman, and the Yorkshire Post. His Wartime on the Railways was reviewed by Rail as 'very readable' and by Railways Illustrated as 'as a fascinating insight and also an important record', and Railways Illustrated chose his Southern Railway Handbook as 'Book of the Month'.

One of his most recent publications is The Historical Dictionary of Railways in the British Isles. He is also well known as a writer of military history and provide the British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand material for On Seas Contested- The Seven Great Navies of the Second World War, published in 2010 by the Naval Institute Press in the United States and which won the Stonebooks award for "The Best Non-Fiction book on World War II" to have been published that year.'

Table of Contents

List of Plates vi

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction x

Glossary xiii

1 'We'll Send a Strong Fleet!' — Fortress Singapore 1

2 The Opponents 10

3 Aircraft Carriers and Carrier-Borne Aircraft 19

4 Crippling the US Pacific Fleet — the Attack on Pearl Harbor 38

5 Japan Sweeps Westwards 49

6 Striking Back 64

7 Advancing Across the Pacific 83

8 God Damn Josephus Daniels! - the Royal Navy Returns to the East 103

9 Leyte Gulf - the Largest Naval Battle 119

10 Kamikaze 143

11 The Submarine War 155

12 Formosa and Okinawa 169

13 What Might Have Been? 180

Chronology 186

Bibliography 199

Index 201

Editorial Reviews

"The book is very interesting reading, and although I have studied this topic all my life, I must admit that I both learned a lot from it and gained some new historical perspectives. … value in explaining some of the little-known events relating to British participation in the Pacific War. Its analyses are basically sound, and a better understanding of the war can be gained from reading this book. Recommended."

IPMS/USA

The book is very interesting reading, and although I have studied this topic all my life, I must admit that I both learned a lot from it and gained some new historical perspectives. ... value in explaining some of the little-known events relating to British participation in the Pacific War. Its analyses are basically sound, and a better understanding of the war can be gained from reading this book. Recommended.

IPMS