Naval book recommendations

[jdkbph]

Hi everyone

My holiday is coming up so I am looking for some book recommendations. I very much liked Robert K Massie's "Dreadnought" and "Castles of Steel". Now I am looking for a similar type book about WW2 in the pacific theatre or the Atlantic theatre. So, not necessarily a detailed account of the battles, but also a treatment of the strategic impact and the characters of the people involved.

Any ideas?

For a wide scope, all encompassing treatment, Samuel Eliot Morison would be a safe and - so long as you steer clear of his social commentary - palatable choice. His books on naval ops in WWII come in two flavors...

short: The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War

and long: History of United States Naval Operations in World War II

Both obviously USN centered, but in the PTO at least that covers 90% of the story. I think the Short History may be what you're looking for.

JD

 

[TBR]

Re: Book recommendation required

Second that, go for "The two Ocean War", I have both "versions" and to read the "long" one is quite a project.

 

[anav]

Re: Book recommendation required

"Guadalcanal" by Richard B Frank. Covers ground, sea, and air actions and gives both sides of the account. Plus a very detailed order of battle for both sides. Excellent read!!

2 volumns of the Pacific War to June of 1942. Titles are "Empires in the Balance" and "The Barrier and the Javelin" by H.P.Willmott.

Regards ANav

 

[Crinius]

Re: Book recommendation required

"Guadalcanal" by Richard B Frank. Covers ground, sea, and air actions and gives both sides of the account. Plus a very detailed order of battle for both sides. Excellent read!!

I second that. Guadalcanal is one of the best reads for the Pacific Theater.

 

[PepsiCan]

Re: Book recommendation required

What about the Atlantic and Mediteranian?

 

[Batou]

Re: Book recommendation required

The Pacific Campaign - by Dan van der Vat

The Atlantic Campaign - by Dan van der Vat

 

[Enforcer]

Recommended books?

While awaiting Jutland, we could mention some good books about naval warfare? :yummy:

Although I haven't got that many books, I think Antony Preston's "Battleships" is a very good standard. It also dedicates seperate chapters to Tsushima and Jutland.

 

[TBR]

Re: Recommended books?

Well...

Since I'm currently delving into German vintage books to be able to post interesting pictures to you I don't currently have an English nonfiction book about the period here. (Well apart from Conways warships 1906-1922, Kaigun, The Rules of the game... but I reckon you already know/have them).

For some lighter reading I again recommend Biggins Otto Prohaska series, starting with "A sailor of Austria". Granted, it's fiction, but apart from its Flashmanlike funniness and some unlikely but amusing plot turns (again as in the Flashman series) the books are well researched both on the technical and on the social side.

 

[HReardon]

Re: Recommended books?

For some lighter reading I again recommend Biggins Otto Prohaska series, starting with "A sailor of Austria". Granted, it's fiction, but apart from its Flashmanlike funniness and some unlikely but amusing plot turns (again as in the Flashman series) the books are well researched both on the technical and on the social side.

I've read about 1.5 books of the series, but unlike Flashman, I found them kind of depressing. Just me I guess...

 

[Enforcer]

Re: Recommended books?

It needn't be books in English language. Other language may be more challenging for most people here, but if it's a good book, it's worth the purchase in my opinion, let alone for the pictures

 

[von Tirpitz]

Re: Recommended books?

Dreadnought excellent!
Castles of Steel the buildup to WW1 not just naval

 

[Batou]

Re: Recommended books?

I'll second Dreadnought & Castles of Steel !

 

[Zakalwe]

Re: Recommended books?

Yup,

I have read both of them. Pretty good.

Currently I`m reading "Jutland" from Campbell, which is aswell very interesting, Massey has a more enjoyable style of writing though.

 

[PepsiCan]

Re: Recommended books?

"Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Batlle Of Midway."

An excellent in depth account that tells the story of the IJN during the battle. Very scientific but very readable. It will hopefully serve as a main source of input for when Distant Guns reaches the age of carrier warfare. It dispels some popular myths and explains very clearly why the battle was really lost by Japan.

An entirely different era is "1421: the year China discovered the world". A very readable account on how a Chinese fleet circumnavigated the world already in 1421. It definitely puts the age of discovery in a new perspective. It describes the whole discovery of the world as a much more gradual event that didn't come about because one or two people suddenly started exploring things. Instead it weaves a pattern of gradual discovery that led to the next event.

 

[Zakalwe]

Re: Recommended books?

Yeah,

the story of the Chinese explorations is pretty interesting. Would be interesting to guess how the world would look like, if they hadn`t burnt their fleet at some point.

 

[PepsiCan]

Re: Recommended books?

Nobody really knows. What I got from it was that the whole era of exploration was much more a gradual evolution of various people slowly but surely putting the pieces of the puzzle together. We always learned in school that some guy named Columbus suddenly discovered America. He apparently didn't do it that suddenly. He knew something was out there.

 

[TBR]

Re: Recommended books?

Yep, that was because he was not the first European to cross the Atlantic, merely the first whose voyage was publicly acclaimed. From the Danes/Norse in the north (whose voyages to "Vinland" have been archeologically confirmed) to the Bretons in the middle (who are said to have fished the Grand Banks in the 14th century and gotten ashore, though that is not confirmed) to the Portuguese in the Southwest, who suspiciously arranged to gain control of Brazil in the treaty of Tordesillas before officially "discovering" it, there were lots of voyages done to the Americas by Europeans more than a hundred years before Columbus. But since the seafarers in question, be they royally sponsored or not, did keep the discovered sealanes a "trade secret" it is difficult to gain confirmation.

Yes, Columbus did, IMO, know, by the inevitable rumors floating around in Europes trader/seafarer community, that there was land out there, but he was wrong in concluding that it was the eastern shore of Asia (Cathay/India) and miscalculated the distance.

 

[Von der Tann]

Re: Recommended books?

For all our German-speaking members, I can recommend an older book about the Russo-Japanese War: Tsushima by Frank Thiess from 1936. It is a kind of documentary novel and still very good to read - no idea if it has ever been translated.

 

[Rhetor]

Re: Recommended books?

For all our German-speaking members, I can recommend an older book about the Russo-Japanese War: Tsushima by Frank Thiess from 1936. It is a kind of documentary novel and still very good to read - no idea if it has ever been translated.

Yes, it has - into Polish.

 

[Rhetor]

Re: Recommended books?

Out of curiosity I have typed "Tsushima" into the search engine at the website www.archive.org. The results might be pretty interesting:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=tsushima

BTW - this "flip book" feature is something really cool. I just HATE to read long passages from the computer screen, this feature makes it a little more bearable.

Try also "Jutland"