Kinkaid of the Seventh Fleet

Kinkaid of the Seventh Fleet

Author: Gerald E. Wheeler

Publisher: Naval Historical Center

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 531

ISBN-13: 9781557509369

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Thomas Kinkaid commanded forces involved in some of the greatest naval battles of World War II, from commander of the cruiser division at Coral Sea and Midway to Seventh Fleet commander during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This remarkable portrait of the admiral's 46-year naval career draws on family papers and letters and Japanese documents to take the wraps off this exceptional WW II leader.


MacArthur's Navy

MacArthur's Navy

Author: Edwin Palmer Hoyt

Publisher: Crown

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9780517567692

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Examines the role of the Seventh Fleet in Douglas MacArthur's invasion of the Philippines and defeat of the Japanese


The Battle for Leyte Gulf

The Battle for Leyte Gulf

Author: C. Vann Woodward

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing Inc.

Published: 2007-11-17

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1602391947

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Pulitzer-Prize-winner and bestselling author C. Vann Woodward recreates the gripping account of the battle for Leyte Gulf—the greatest naval battle of World War II and the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas. For the Japanese, it represented their supreme effort; they committed to action virtually every operational fighting ship on the lists of the Imperial Navy, including two powerful new battleships of the Yamato class. It also ended in their greatest defeat—and a tremendous victory for the United States Navy. Features a new introduction by Evan Thomas, author of Sea of Thunder.


Battle of Surigao Strait

Battle of Surigao Strait

Author: Anthony P. Tully

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2009-04-14

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0253002826

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“[Tully] paints Admiral Nishimura's high-speed run into history with an entirely fresh palette of detail.” —James D. Hornfischer, New York Times–bestselling author of Neptune’s Inferno Surigao Strait in the Philippine Islands was the scene of a major battleship duel during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Because the battle was fought at night and had few survivors on the Japanese side, the events of that naval engagement have been passed down in garbled accounts. Anthony P. Tully pulls together all of the existing documentary material, including newly discovered accounts and a careful analysis of US Navy action reports, to create a new and more detailed description of the action. In several respects, Tully's narrative differs radically from the received versions and represents an important historical corrective. Also included in the book are a number of previously unpublished photographs and charts that bring a fresh perspective to the battle. “By giving a fuller view of the Japanese side, Tully's work forces a substantial revision of the traditional picture of the battle. Battle of Surigao Strait is not only military history based on scrupulous use of a plethora of new source materials, but is a spanking good read. Highly recommended.” —War in History “Tully has managed to trace the complicated flow of and reason for events on the nights of 24-25 October with a skill and aplomb that forces one to reconsider previously held views.” —Naval History


Carrier Battles

Carrier Battles

Author: Douglas V Smith

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2013-09-02

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 1612514421

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A longtime professor at the Naval War College who once directed strategic and long-range planning for the Navy and Marine Corps in Europe considers the transformation of the U.S. Navy from a defensive-minded coastal defense force into an offensive risk-taking navy in the very early stages of World War II. Noting that none of the navy’s most significant World War II leaders were commissioned before the Spanish-American War and none participated in any important offensive operations in World War I, Douglas Smith examines the premise that education, rather than experience in battle, accounts for that transformation. In this book, Smith evaluates his premise by focusing on the five carrier battles of the second world war to determine the extent to which the inter-war education of the major operational commanders translated into their decision processes, and the extent to which their interaction during their educational experiences transformed them from risk-adverse to risk-accepting in their operational concepts. His book will interest students of the Pacific War, naval aviation, education, and leadership.


Admiral Bill Halsey

Admiral Bill Halsey

Author: Thomas Alexander Hughes

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2016-05-02

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 0674969294

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

William Halsey was the most famous naval officer of World War II. His fearlessness in carrier raids against Japan, his steely resolve at Guadalcanal, and his impulsive blunder at the Battle of Leyte Gulf made him the “Patton of the Pacific” and solidified his reputation as a decisive, aggressive fighter prone to impetuous errors of judgment in the heat of battle. In this definitive biography, Thomas Hughes punctures the popular caricature of the “fighting admiral” to reveal the truth of Halsey’s personal and professional life as it was lived in times of war and peace. Halsey, the son of a Navy officer whose alcoholism scuttled a promising career, committed himself wholeheartedly to naval life at an early age. An audacious and inspiring commander to his men, he met the operational challenges of the battle at sea against Japan with dramatically effective carrier strikes early in the war. Yet his greatest contribution to the Allied victory was as commander of the combined sea, air, and land forces in the South Pacific during the long slog up the Solomon Islands chain, one of the war’s most daunting battlegrounds. Halsey turned a bruising slugfest with the Japanese navy into a rout. Skillfully mediating the constant strategy disputes between the Army and the Navy—as well as the clashes of ego between General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz—Halsey was the linchpin of America’s Pacific war effort when its outcome was far from certain.


Prelude to Pearl Harbor

Prelude to Pearl Harbor

Author: Gerald E. Wheeler

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2017-06-28

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1787205983

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

First published in 1963, Prelude to Pearl Harbor was the first of three books on naval topics for which Prof. Gerald E. Wheeler is remembered today. “During the years 1921 to 1931 American naval leaders faced a problem in some ways similar to the situation after 1947. They were convinced that the United States had a national enemy in Japan. But the United States Congress, like the public that elected it during the 1920’s, was less than impressed; in fact it was positively hostile to any suggestion that America might again go to war. The President and his executive departments—save perhaps the War Department—were also reluctant to accept the Navy’s conclusions or its premises. How the United States Navy solved its problem of preparing for war in an unsympathetic climate of opinion is the story here presented.”—Prof. Wheeler, Preface


Admiral "Bull" Halsey

Admiral

Author: John Wukovits

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2010-07-06

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0230109594

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The definitive biography of America's best-known naval officer, who commanded the legendary fast carrier force during WWII. From the tragic aftermath of Pearl Harbor, when he fashioned America's first response to the attack, to the war's final day in Tokyo Bay when he witnessed Japan's surrender, Admiral William F. Halsey stamped a mighty imprint on the Pacific during World War II. He led or participated significantly in the Navy's first offensive strikes against the Marshall Islands and Wake Island, the Guadalcanal campaign, and the offensive toward Japan. As a commander, he never shied from engaging the enemy, but boldly entered into battle, ready for a fight. As a consequence, Halsey became the face of the Navy and its most attractive public relations phenomenon. Due to his bold tactics and quotable wit, Halsey continues to be a beloved and debated figure. In this balanced biography, historian John Wukovits illuminates the life of a man who ultimately deserves recognition as one the great naval commanders in U.S. history. Europe had Patton; the Pacific had Admiral William "the Bull" Halsey.