History Of United States Naval Operations In WWII Volume III
Jun 19, 2024 12:33:43 GMT 8
EXO, Karl Welteke, and 1 more like this
Post by beirutvet on Jun 19, 2024 12:33:43 GMT 8
History Of United States Naval Operations In WWII Volume III by Samuel Eliot Morison
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Samuel Eliot Morison, the Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History in Harvard University, suggested to FDR the desirability of preparing for the American people a full, accurate and early record of the activities of the Navy in World War II. He volunteered his services in the preparation of such a record. The proposal met with the approval of Secretary Knox and Dr. Morison was commissioned in the Naval Reserve with the sole duty of preparing this history.
All naval activities afloat and ashore were directed to make available to Captain Morison all records and access to all combatants and commanders he might desire to consult. In short, he was given unfettered access to anything and anyone he wanted. As a result his works span 15 volumes. I am starting here with voulume III, The Rising Sun In The Pacific 1931-1942. I skipped over volumes I and II for they dealt with the war in the Atlantic and as been discussed here, I wanted to jump over the Eurocentricity so prevalent in works on WWII.
I was given the entire set as a present from my wife, God bless her, and have been enjoying these books heretofore unknown to me.
Dr. Morison or a member of his staff was present at almost every major naval engagement of the war, and if they missed one, they were able to follow up on it by interviewing participants and reading all after-action reports on the affairs. This type of documentation, when the participants are still available, usually still in their roles and little left to the fog of long forgotten memory, I think you get quite a lot of data that would ordinarily be lost to time. Yes, the internet is a wonderful research tool, but when you or your staff is right there in the thick of it, interviewing all major commands and junior officers, you get a work product that is hard to beat.
Also adding to the authenticity of pertinent facts and statistics, he was given access to the USSBS (United States Strategic Bombing Survey). Before the end of 1945 The Army and Navy started rounding up and interrogating Japanese officers and key civilians for the purpose of matching up with what we thought we knew about damage assessments, among other things, to get a true accounting. By asking Japanese officers questions about which we already knew the answers, it was found that the Japanese officers were telling the truth, or as much of it as they could remember; most of them were even eager to volunteer information. What a gold mine of facts and figures. As an example, when a submarine made a hit on an enemy vessel, and subsequently had to dive deep and evade destruction, it could never be sure of a sinking. This way we were able to get an accurate accounting from the Japanese of damage done or outright sinkings. Exactly how many planes were shot down in this or that particular engagement? Now we have more accurate figures.
The books are written in a style clearly that of a man who came to age in the early part of the 20th century and as such is meticulous and inventive in its sentence structure and grammar. The works are also painstakenly and exhaustively footnoted.
I will eventually get to volumes I,II and X that deal with the Atlantic, but right now I am having too much fun with the other eleven volumes that are all in the Pacific (the 15th volume being a Supplement And General Index).
This set is a must read!
* * * * *
Highly Recommended.
(Dang, Beirutvet, what a great review. Thanks ever! You sure have a wickedly practical wife! - EXO)
Samuel Eliot Morison, the Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History in Harvard University, suggested to FDR the desirability of preparing for the American people a full, accurate and early record of the activities of the Navy in World War II. He volunteered his services in the preparation of such a record. The proposal met with the approval of Secretary Knox and Dr. Morison was commissioned in the Naval Reserve with the sole duty of preparing this history.
All naval activities afloat and ashore were directed to make available to Captain Morison all records and access to all combatants and commanders he might desire to consult. In short, he was given unfettered access to anything and anyone he wanted. As a result his works span 15 volumes. I am starting here with voulume III, The Rising Sun In The Pacific 1931-1942. I skipped over volumes I and II for they dealt with the war in the Atlantic and as been discussed here, I wanted to jump over the Eurocentricity so prevalent in works on WWII.
I was given the entire set as a present from my wife, God bless her, and have been enjoying these books heretofore unknown to me.
Dr. Morison or a member of his staff was present at almost every major naval engagement of the war, and if they missed one, they were able to follow up on it by interviewing participants and reading all after-action reports on the affairs. This type of documentation, when the participants are still available, usually still in their roles and little left to the fog of long forgotten memory, I think you get quite a lot of data that would ordinarily be lost to time. Yes, the internet is a wonderful research tool, but when you or your staff is right there in the thick of it, interviewing all major commands and junior officers, you get a work product that is hard to beat.
Also adding to the authenticity of pertinent facts and statistics, he was given access to the USSBS (United States Strategic Bombing Survey). Before the end of 1945 The Army and Navy started rounding up and interrogating Japanese officers and key civilians for the purpose of matching up with what we thought we knew about damage assessments, among other things, to get a true accounting. By asking Japanese officers questions about which we already knew the answers, it was found that the Japanese officers were telling the truth, or as much of it as they could remember; most of them were even eager to volunteer information. What a gold mine of facts and figures. As an example, when a submarine made a hit on an enemy vessel, and subsequently had to dive deep and evade destruction, it could never be sure of a sinking. This way we were able to get an accurate accounting from the Japanese of damage done or outright sinkings. Exactly how many planes were shot down in this or that particular engagement? Now we have more accurate figures.
The books are written in a style clearly that of a man who came to age in the early part of the 20th century and as such is meticulous and inventive in its sentence structure and grammar. The works are also painstakenly and exhaustively footnoted.
I will eventually get to volumes I,II and X that deal with the Atlantic, but right now I am having too much fun with the other eleven volumes that are all in the Pacific (the 15th volume being a Supplement And General Index).
This set is a must read!
* * * * *
Highly Recommended.
(Dang, Beirutvet, what a great review. Thanks ever! You sure have a wickedly practical wife! - EXO)