The carrier war

Flattop Fighting in World War II by Patrick Degan (McFarland & Co., Inc., 2003). 326 pages, $35.

Harken back to the days when the Navy could win wars, and its Naval Reserve made up 80 percent of the fleet. This was World War II when the aircraft carrier came into its own and supplanted the battleship as the centerpiece of the fleet.

By 1942, the air craft carrier had replaced the battleship as the major unit in a modern fleet, and in World War II the aircraft carrier was indispensable in naval operations against a sea- or land-based enemy. The growth of air power was a significant part of this war.

In the Pacific, naval aircraft launched from "flattops" created warfare where opposing fleets fought without being within gunshot range. The battle of the Coral Sea in 1942 was the first battle between aircraft carriers. This battle caused the Japanese such heavy losses that it stopped the sea-borne invasion of Australia.

This book concentrates exclusively on the fighting between the American and Japanese air craft carriers, examining how strategies were planned and carried out on both sides, a story often lost in broader discussions of the Pacific naval war. The Pacific War is as definitive conflict to the modern naval era, shifting "power projection" from the 16-mile range of dreadnaught big guns to aircraft that could strike fleets and ground targets from hundreds of miles away.

The concept of living history leads to a book written about the strategists who planned the war, and fleet commanders who executed it. This book tries to rise above the dry recitation of fact, describing the actors across a global stage.

This work takes you from the attack on Pearl Harbor to Operations Olympic and Coronet, the planned invasions of Japan. It paints the backdrop of events that led to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Flattop Fighting compiles a number of accounts, normally found in various books.

In the Pacific, the U.S. Marine Corps led and bled in the assault of the beachheads. The U.S. Army shared in the assaults and casualties. Yet it was the fighting flattops that changed the direction of the Asian war.

Google search is now providing a beta site that provides a chapter excerpt of this book. It can be found at www.google.com. Just enter the book's title. The lowest Internet discount price for a new book was $31.50. Used copies are available for as low as $20.

REVIEWED BY CAPT MARSHALL HANSOON, USNR (RET.)

COPYRIGHT 2005 Reserve Officers Association of the United States
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group