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Book Review: Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942
I originally bought this book to gain more detail on early US naval operations before Midway and the Guadalcanal Campaign, focusing on the Japanese Java Sea campaign.The book instead focused on four battles: Pearl Harbor Raid, the Marshall Islands carrier raids in early February, the Coral Sea operation, and Midway. Still, this book was a real page turner. The author spent a good deal of the text on personalities of the allied and Japanese civilian and military leadership. This was helpful in understanding how those four battles were tied together, but I think he wrote just a bit too much on it. That said, I never realized just how much US Admiral Chester Nimitz's decisions were tied to US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Earnest King, Nimitz's senior. His contention that Midway was basically an intelligence war is apt, but he doesn't leave out the grit and bravery of the many men who fought in that and the previous battles. I knew from other books, and the Kings and Generals youtube video series about the Marshall Island raids, but did not read about them in great detail. This book fills in that gap well. Those raids weren't just something for a crippled navy to do as the fleet rebuilds. The intelligence gathered by cryptanalyst US Commander Joseph Rochefort, in part enabled US carrier commanders to conduct air operations with some ease in order to gain early, valuable experience in carrier tactics. In fact, during one phase of the operation, US carriers were within 90 miles of their intended targets, something they would not have been able to do with confidence. I recommend this book about the early months of the war in the Pacific. It falls short in that the author doesn't discuss the Guadalcanal Campaign. But, still, it is well worth the time and expense. Posted by: badanov 2023-05-10 |
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