US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1942-45: World War Two Built Ships [Paperback]

If you're a World War II history buff (especially the war in the Pacific), this book is for you! I wanted to know the chronology of WWII aircraft carriers - in a nutshell & this book was the perfect answer! I wanted to know the history of each carrier from commissioning to final moments. Mr. Stille answered ALL my questions, plus a few I never thought to ask, but am glad to know. Best little book I ever read!

Not a bad book, but not a go-to reference. Lacks a lot of the history behind the design and construction of the Essex-class fast carriers. It would be better also if it had more diagrams and photos of inner workings and living spaces aboard these impressive vessels. This is, overall, a very skimpy reference for the price.

U.S. NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, 1942-45: WORLD WAR II-BUILT SHIPS
MARK STILLE
OSPREY PUBLISHING, 2007
QUALITY SOFTCOVER, $15.95, 48 PAGES, PHOTOGRAPHS, ILLUSTRATIONS

From the moment Japanese carrier aircraft struck at the U.S. Pacific Fleet on 7 December 1941, a new era in naval warfare was born. Although naval air power had already proved its ability to strike at an enemy fleet in its own harbors, Pearl Harbor was the dawn of carrier warfare across the broad oceans, in a way that pre-war theorists had never imagined. The reason for this lay in the fact that the battleships with which aircraft carriers had meant to fight were now sunk or disabled. For at least six months, the U.S. Pacific Fleet could only take the offensive with its carriers, and so the concept of the fast carrier task force was created, using the carrier dive- bombers and torpedo-bombers as long-range substitutes for the 16 inch (406 meters) guns. Because the tactics and the aircraft were comparatively primitive, the first attempts by the U.S. Navy to carry the war to the Japanese were barely effective, and there was little that could be done to stop the Japanese carriers from overrunning the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. The first pitched battle, in the Coral Sea was fought in May, 1942 to stop the Japanese from gaining a foothold in Port Moresby, New Guinea. It cost America one of their biggest carriers, the USS Lexington, but the amphibious operation was called off after the small Japanese carrier Shoho was sunk. What distinguished this battle was that the opposing fleets never saw each other: it was the first carrier-versus-carrier battle. A rash attempt by the Japanese to capture Midway Island brought on the next battle in June, 1942, but superior U.S. intelligence and much improved tactics made the Battle of Midway decisive. The Japanese lost four of their front-line carriers in quick succession and with them the best-trained aircrews in the world. In the months that followed, the Japanese squandered the lives of their carrier aircrews faster then they could be replaced. Thus, when the Allies took the offensive by landing in the Solomons, the Battles of the Eastern Solomons and the Santa Cruz Islands thinned the ranks of Japanese naval aviators to a fateful degree. In contrast, the U.S. Navy replaced lost naval aviators with thousands of new aircrews and a generation of more powerful aircraft. In June, 1944, the U.S. assault on the Marianas brought on another great carrier battle, the Philippine Sea. "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" saw the slaughter of hundreds of semi-skilled naval aviators and when four months later the remnants of the Imperial Japanese Navy were flung into the Battle of Leyte Gulf; there were hardly any naval aviators left for the carriers. From October, 1944, the surviving Japanese naval aviators of the once-mighty force were sunk at their moorings in Japan, unable to move because of the total lack of fuel for their aircraft. Aircraft carriers were the U.S. Navy's principal weapon against Japan during the Pacific War. Development of the Essex Class began in 1939, becoming the largest class of carrier ever to be built. Early in the Pacific War, it became renowned for its "Sunday Punch" of 36 fighter aircraft, 36 dive bomber aircraft, and 18 torpedo aircraft. Alonside the lighter Independence Class, these carriers formed the formidable Fast Carrier Force in the Pacific. Featuring artwork detailing the interior and exterior features of these ships, U.S. NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, 1942-45: WORLD WAR II-BUILT SHIPS explores their design, development, and the actions they saw in the Pacific, including the climactic Battles of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa.

Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
Orlando, Florida

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