Cannot recommend Ian Toll's trilogy enough.

Received Volume 3, Twilight of the Gods this weekend.

Excellent read in lieu of the NFL.

Well ANYTHING'S better that the NFL. Give us a relevant benchmark.

I ordered the first book.

Get all 3 Hanco. You will not regret it.

Hey, thanks for the heads up. Would you please give us the title of the first book of the series?

Rifle, what is it that you like the most about this trilogy?

Tag

I will give this a read when I get it. I have recently been delving into the story surrounding the mission of the USS Burrfish and the reconnaissance of Yap in August of'44. My great uncle, Harold Roeder was one of the original UDT's and went MIA/KIA with two of his fellow swimmers.

McInnis, the book is titled Pacific Crucible and covers 1941-1942.

https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Cruc...&hvtargid=pla-324314784718&psc=1

5thShock, The book delvs into facts and events other books have not without getting lost in the minutiae.

One small example is a lot of books about the Pacific War will jump from Pearl Harbor to Doolittle's raid on Tokyo without mentioning what occurred in between.

Halsey was conducting air raids on Japnese held islands.

I will warn those of you who are a fan of Douglas MacArthur that the 3 volumes do not treat him well.

I thought the first two volume were great and have been anticipating the third. Thanks for letting me know that it's out.

History of warfare is great reading, but one item I find fascinating is the speculation on how future wars will be fought on land and sea.

Everything from WW2 naval warfare really no longer applies. All engagement is out of sight and over the horizon. The destroyer basically have no guns except phalanx. Defense is all coordinated anti missile.

It boils down to who can saturate the opponents anti missile systems first. No one really knows how this will all play out in real warfare.

Carrier war was over the horizon.
I've read the first two and have started the this one. Fascinating reading for those interested.

Because they attacked with planes which were all visual.. Very, very different today. Today's fleets rely on helos and support aircraft extending their "visual" range so their missiles can do their job. If not they are blind. You can cripple the modern missile cruisers by taking out their helos.

Today's naval warfare has no historical precedent.

Not really. They can also use satellites and GPS for targeting. Besides, the main purpose of the the Tico cruisers is AAW, to protect the carriers. The carriers are the main offensive weapon.

Please name all 3 titles, if you would. Will have to order.

Volume 1: Pacific Crucible
Volume 2: The Conquering Tide
Volume 3: Twilight of the Gods

Agree on the carriers especially with something like the new F-35s and their incredible ability to destroy unseen and from a distance, but I thought the satellite constellations where mainly for spying and not real time targeting on moving targets.

The real threats today are missiles, missiles, and missiles. There launch platform ill vary. The more Phalanx systems a fleet has the safer they will be.

You have me curious on the satellite potential against moving targets. I can not see how they would useful against moving targets especially incoming missiles.

In addition to the Ian Toll Trilogy, I would highly recommend Neptune's Inferno by James Hornfischer. Lots of folks are under the impression that the war in the pacific was essentially won after our victory at Midway and that is patently untrue. Lots of situations could have easily gone the other way.

Battleships and other ships of the line routinely fired over the horizon and used aerial recon until they got closer. 16 inch guns could hit heavier than a ton of bricks with a range of over 20 miles. Even 5 inch guns could range over 9 miles. And reload and repeat many times.
If you could see the flash and make out the shells coming your way, you had a big problem.And getting bigger.

Can’t wait to read the first one!

Also recommend another recent book, Rampage: MacAruthur, Yamashita and the Battle of Manila, by James M. Scott.

I love American History, but since My Dad served in Europe in WW2, I haven’t read as much about the Pacific theater other than the big stuff.
This definitely looks like something I should get into, and judging from the reviews I’ve read, I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
7mm

OldHat--you counter missiles with missiles. That's why Ticos have 122 launch cells and the Burkes 96. They have some cruise missiles but the rest are Standard AA missiles and quadpacked ESSMs. Phalanxes are last ditch weapons. Some are being replaced by SeaRam, which is a version of the AA Sidewinder.