A detailed and comprehensive study of the carrier formations of the Pacific War, including their origins, development, and key battles from the Coral Sea, through Midway and Guadalcanal to the battle of the Philippine Sea.The defining feature of the Pacific Theater of World War II was the clash of carriers that ultimately decided the fate of nations. The names of the battles become legendary as some of the most epic encounters in the history of naval warfare. Pre-w...

Although slowly building its navy while neutral during the early years of World War II, the US was struck a serious blow when its battleships, the lynchpin of US naval doctrine, were the target of the dramatic attack at Pearl Harbor.In the Pacific Theater, the US was thereafter locked into a head to head struggle with the impressive Imperial Japanese Navy, fighting a series of major battles in the Coral Sea, at Midway, the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa in the struggle for...

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was the third most powerful navy in the world at the start of World War II, and came to dominate the Pacific in the early months of the war. This was a remarkable turnaround for a navy that only began to modernize in 1868, although defeats inflicted on the Russians and Chinese in successive wars at the turn of the century gave a sense of the threat the IJN was to pose.Bringing together for the first time material previously published in Osprey serie...

Intelligence derived from a number of sources, primarily the decryption of high-level German and Italian communications, provided British forces in the Mediterranean with extraordinary insights into Axis naval operations. This level of intelligence was instrumental to the success of British forces during most of the decisive points during the naval war in the Mediterranean and indirectly had great influence on the ground war in North Africa. Many of the hallmarks of the nature in which ope...

A detailed re-examination of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Day of Infamy that saw the USA enter World War II.In this the first comprehensive treatment of Pearl Harbor since the early 1990s. respected Pacific War naval historian Mark E. Stille traces the road to war and the Japanese attack itself. He examines the role of the man behind the operation, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the plan. The American preparations ...

A fascinating re-examination of the battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval encounter in history and probably the most decisive naval battle of the entire Pacific War, and one that saw the Imperial Japanese Navy eliminated as an effective fighting force and forced to resort to suicide tactics.Leyte was a huge and complex action, actually consisting of four major battles, each of which are broken down in detail in this book, using original sources. The plans of both...

A detailed and comprehensive study of the carrier formations of the Pacific War, including their origins, development and key battles from the Coral Sea, through Midway and Guadalcanal to the battle of the Philippine Sea.The defining feature of the Pacific Theatre of World War II was the clash of carriers that ultimately decided the fate of nations. The names of these battles have become legendary as some of the most epic encounters in the history of naval warfare....

The savage naval battles of Guadalcanal, New Guinea and the Solomons were transformative for the US Navy. Fully illustrated, this analyses the fleet's capabilities and combat in this period.The naval battles of 1942–43 around Guadalcanal and in the Solomons were some of the fiercest and most closely contested of the Pacific War. The campaigns included most of the surface actions of the war, as well as two carrier battles, three major amphibious landings, and a subm...

The dramatic conclusion to the Battle of the Atlantic series, highlighting how the Germans lost their edge in the water at the end of the war.In May 1943, Admiral Dönitz's U-boat force suffered a decisive loss in the North Atlantic. Forced to abandon the attacks, he switched the focus of U-boat operations to the central Atlantic, but was met and defeated by US Navy escort carrier groups. In September 1943, Dönitz attempted to resume North Atlantic operations. Howev...

A detailed account of the dramatic success and failures of Hitler's U-boats in the mid-war years during the best-known naval campaign of World War II**.**At the start of 1942, the Germans benefited from the lack of American preparations to defend shipping along the US East Coast, and this 'Second Happy Time' saw serious Allied losses between January and July 1942. After this Allied disaster, Admiral Dönitz planned to shift his focus to the North Atlantic. This was ...

The first in a series of illustrated books exploring the longest and best-known naval campaign of World War II, focusing on the struggle between Allied naval and air forces and Hitler's U-boats.When fighting broke out in September 1939, neither the British Royal Navy nor the German Kriegsmarine were prepared for another war in the North Atlantic. Having defeated the U-boats in World War I, the Royal Navy was confident it would succeed again. This was quickly shown ...

A highly illustrated examination of the key ships, tactics and operations of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the War in the Pacific in World War II.The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was the third most powerful navy in the world at the start of World War II, and came to dominate the Pacific in the early months of the war. This was a remarkable turnaround for a navy that only began to modernize in 1868, although defeats inflicted on the Russians and Chinese in successiv...