The Naval Warfare of World War II

The History of the Ships, Tactics, and Battles That Shaped the Fighting in the Atlantic and Pacific

De: Charles River Editors

Narrado por: Doug Lee

Naval combat underwent a significant metamorphosis during World War II. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan launched some of the most powerful battleships ever to sail the world's oceans, yet the conflict witnessed the emergence and triumph of the aircraft carrier as the 20th century's true monarch of the seas. Submarine warfare expanded and developed, while aircraft technology and doctrine experienced several revolutionary changes due to the unforgiving demands of the new combat environment.

Popular accounts of World War II frequently focus on the dominance of German panzers over the more lightly armored, lightly armed tanks of the Soviets, British, and Americans or the superb fighting skills of the Waffen SS and ordinary Wehrmacht soldiers. Germany's land forces enjoyed an undoubted advantage over their enemies thanks to excellent vehicle technology while German soldiers slaughtered vast numbers of Soviet conscripts and proved formidable opponents even to their better-trained English and American counterparts.

However, the Axis failed to secure either the seas or the skies, and their defeat in these theaters ultimately led to their doom. Many highly advanced aircraft designs languished on the drawing boards of Junkers and Messerschmitt engineers, left undeveloped due to high-command disinterest or simple lack of resources. The most advanced fighters developed by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were equaled or outmatched by such aircraft as the US F6F Hellcat (which achieved kill ratios of between 13 to 1 and 19 to 1 against Japanese "Zero" fighters) or P-51 Mustang.

©2012 Charles River Editors (P)2015 Charles River Editors

Informative

Informative on many new points especially regarding the barbarity of Japanese soldiers against some of the civilians.

It is ok. I only wish it is more in detail

I was looking for more in this book. The overall quality is great but for most of the battles the book just glanced through it. It does put some emphasis on the pre-war naval doctrine an the subsequent pearl harbor attack which is quite informative, but other than that? Even the midway chapter, which I think the author focused a lot on, is a bit lacking. So if you want a very very broad view of the pacific war then I say go for this book, but if you want more details... I think I would try something else.

Repetitive and anticlimactic

The book felt sloppy. Some events were repeated almost word for word in the book.