Lars Celander

Kindle Edition. Completed 1/24/2020. I thought the title sounded interesting and that this book would complement Parshall and Tully’s Shattered Sword. Book consists of three parts; a technical section that covers a very brief history of naval aviation and carrier/naval aviation technology, and a battle history section that covers the major actions involving U.S., Japanese, and British carriers during World War II and, oddly, an economic analysis section comparing the economies of the various combatants; and a part dealing with the evolution of carrier operations. The style of the writing is very informal, almost conversational. Grammar is questionable with more than a few incomplete sentences—the editor was not keeping an eye out for this author. The author has some naval experience and tries to apply that experience to this book; however the results are much less than I expected. The writer mentions a significant number of sources in his notes on sources at the end of the book, but he uses no footnotes.

I have a problem with much of this book. It comes off almost as a conversation between plane/ship geeks at an IPMS show rather than a serious discussion of the subject of the book’s title. It’s apparent from the author’s use of specialized terms, such as the Allied reporting names for Japanese aircraft and popular names for U.S. aircraft rather than their formal service designations, that the reader have some advanced knowledge about the subject. The book is less a real discussion about how carriers fought during WWII and more a discussion of the application of modern game theory applied to carrier combat, World War Two economics, and a curious devotion to the 40mm anti aircraft gun. And while does claim to have used some big names as Parshall/Tully and Friedman as sources, his writing in the areas touched by these two sources alone indicate that the author did not completely grasp the concepts in the sources mentioned. So this book ends up being not so much an actual account about how U.S., British, and Japanese aircraft carriers operated as warships during the conflict; but rather a series of “what if” conjectures that often surfaces in enthusiasts blogs and forums.… (mer)