NAS Patuxent River, Md. –
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, which brought the United States into what had been something of a European war and a limited conflict between Japan and China. Shocked and not that well prepared for an increasingly large war, the United States, and particularly the U.S. Navy, especially Naval Aviation, had to play catch-up with its seaborne air assets, especially its carriers, none of which were at Pearl Harbor, where they would have been prime targets for the devastating raiders. By late 1942, however, U.S. shipyards were launching flattop after flattop, and what had been something of a weak showing right after Pearl Harbor became a large force to be reckoned with throughout the Pacific. Carriers of all sizes and classes, carrying hundreds of powerful, capable aircraft, quickly met the heretofore unstoppable Japanese rampage, and, by 1944, the Allies were figuring out how to finally meet the enemy close to—and now on—their very doorstep, even though the cost in men, crews and ships had been huge.
This admittedly simplified tally gives a rough estimate of how many aircraft carriers of all classes the three major warring powers lost in combat—United States: 11; United Kingdom: 7, maybe 8; Japan: 19.
These losses were from aerial bombing and torpedoes, accompanied by gunnery from opposing forces. While Germany and Italy were working on building a small number of carriers, neither nation was able to put them into service by war’s end, and they were lost without going into seaborne operations. For consideration today, the United States, England, Russia and now the People’s Republic of China regularly show off their aircraft-capable ships around the world, making worrisome TV coverage for other countries.
— Cmdr. Peter B. Mersky, USNR (Ret.)
Reviewed by Cmdr. Peter B. Mersky USNR (Ret.)
This book contains a highly detailed account of the high-scoring Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat squadron that flew from the light carrier USS Intrepid (CV 11) from 1943 to 1945. The subtitle refers to the score of 22 kills by Lt. Cecil E. Harris, with one more gained while flying the Hellcat’s predecessor, the F4F-4 Wildcat, while flying with Fighter Squadron (VF) 27—a squadron that by war’s end became the sixth highest-scoring Navy squadron with 176.5 kills. Harris became the second highest-scoring ace with 23 overall kills in the second VF-18 (in Hellcats). Indeed, the second VF-18 produced 13 aces during its short deployment in 1944.
The book remains a fairly well-written story that adds to the increasing number of full-length accounts of heretofore missing histories of this period of the Navy’s air war. The pivotal Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct. 24-25, 1944) includes perhaps the greatest series of sea engagements of the war, if not of history, and is well covered in the detailed, enthusiastic descriptions of VF-18’s involvement.
Workups aboard escort carrier USS Nassau (CVE 16) include details of many pilots, flight crews and ship’s company assigned to its air wing.
On page 156, the author misidentifies a Japanese “Dinah” reconnaissance aircraft engaged by a VF-18 Combat Air Patrol (CAP) of F6F Hellcats, when its identity was actually a rather new, seldom-encountered P1Y Ginga, codenamed “Francis.” There are, however, several other references on all Japanese aircraft of the war—one even appears in the book’s bibliography.
Nevertheless, the account of the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 1944) and the aerial free-for-all, called “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot,” on June 19, 1944, add a lot to the overall story, as does the aerial action in Chapter 6 and the missions over the now-Republic of China (Taiwan), depending on which sources are consulted. Admittedly, the lack of a now-commonly accepted name can be confusing.
