Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 1942 [Hardcover]

Eric Hammel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

This riveting narrative recounts the role played by U.S. aircraft carriers and Navy pilots in the invasion of Guadalcanal and the ensuing battle for the Eastern Solomons. Historian Eric Hammel guides readers through an examination of the period's U.S. Navy hardware and pilots, explaining and describing carrier construction, the aircraft flown, and pilot training. Unique views of Guadalcanal and the Eastern Solomons are presented exclusively from the perspective of carrier operations, and feature data recently uncovered from U.S. and Japanese sources.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Beginning with detailed descriptions of the history of the aircraft carrier, the development of carrier-air tactics, the training of carrier pilots, and numerous operational considerations that defined the way carrier battles had to be fought, Carrier Clash: The Invasion Of Guadalcanal And The Battle Of The Eastern Solomons, August 1942 takes the reader into the air with brave U. S. Navy fighter pilots as they protect their ships and the Guadalcanal invasion fleet against determined Japanese air attacks on August 7 and 8, 1942. After Hammel sets the state for the August 24 Battle of the Eastern Solomons, he puts the reader right into the cockpits of the U. S. Navy Dauntless dive-bombers as they drive on the Imperial Navy light carrier Ryujo -- and hit the ship with 500-pound bombs! Carrier Clash is the definitive combat history of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons' history's third battle (of only five) between American and Japanese aircraft carriers. Carrier Clash is an important contribution to the military history of World War II's battle for control of the Pacific. -- Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Eric Hammel is the author of almost thirty works of military history. He is also a frequent contributor to various military journals including Marine Corps Gazette and is currently working on an illustrated history of the Marine Corps in World War II to be published by Zenith Press. Hammel lives in northern California near San Francisco. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 358 pages
• Publisher: Pacifica Pr; First edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935553207
• ISBN-13: 978-0935553208
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,315,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eric Hammel's writing career began in the 1960s, when he was a teenager. He has had forty military history books, one novel, and more than sixty-five non-fiction articles published. Eric has worked as West Coast contributing editor for Leatherneck Magazine and as a publishing acquisitions and content editor, but he has spent most of the years since 1983 as a full-time author, editor, and publisher.

Free sample chapters from all of Eric Hammel's in-print books can be viewed at his author site, http://www.EricHammelBooks.com
All of his books are available on Amazon.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Meticulous Military History, December 24, 2005

By 

Dianne Roberts (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 1942 (Paperback)

Despite the book's title this is really a history of the Solomons campaing up to the battle of the Eastern Solomons, the first carrier to carrier clash of the campaign. It certainly has its center of gravity placed on the operations of the American carriers, but includes much of the actions of both navies in and around the slot, the fighting on the ground, and the aerial duels between the Japanese coming out of Rabaul and the Cactus air force.

Foremost this book is an account of what happened in a very comperehensive manner. After explaining the aircraft and ships the Japanese and Americans possesed, and delving into an interesting comparison of their air wing make ups and tactics, the author takes you chronologically through the Solomons campaign.

The reason this book only merited four stars instead of five is that sometimes this can be a bit dry. There's a lot of " . . . and then at 1350 the Wasp launched two more Hellcats on CAP. At 1415 a Mavis was shot down by a Hellcat from the Enterprise. Japanese records indicate that this was from their base in the Shortland Islands. At 1430 four planes from the Hornet CAP returned to refuel. At 1435 planes from the Wasp sighted another Mavis but were unable to pursue it. At 1440 . . . " Stretch this amount of minute by minute detail out over several weeks worth of operations and you get a sense of what the book is about, and it's a marvel it's not longer.

This might be slow at some points but it does allow some interesting insights that many other more easily read, and more exciting books can obscure. First is the sometimes monotomy and boredom of war. Second is the ridiculous degree to which kills of enemy aircraft and ships were overstated during the battles that occured. By comparing accounts of both sides the author makes it clear that most engagements resulted in fewer losses than the participants thought took place. (Clearly the engagements must have been emotionally draining and fierce.) If the after action reports are to have been believed it would seem as though the Japanese thought they wiped out the entire American force several times over and vice versa.

Certainly interesting for people with a passion for WWII history, especially the pacific campaign, but too much like pure history to really recommend for the casual reader.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historically accurate! Entertaining! Engrossing!, August 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 1942 (Hardcover)

This book details a small section of history from World War 2. It describes the equipment, the men and the battles, but it does it in such a way that you are unable to put the book down. By the time you've finished you have a feeling of some of what it must have been like to be involved in the struggle for that 'terrible' island. You also begin to believe that you know the men who fought there. This book is unmissable.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Story of What the Carriers Did at Guadalcanal, April 22, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 1942 (Paperback)

The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 1942.

The Battle of the Eastern Solomons was history's third carrier clash. A collision of U.S. Navy and Imperial Navy carriers in the wake of the invasion of Guadalcanal--whose airfield the United States desperately needed and the Japanese desperately wanted back--the battle was waged at sea and over Guadalcanal's besieged Marine-held Lunga Perimeter on August 24, 1942.

These battles were the result of the US deciding to draw the line in the pacific at the Solomons. If the Japanese had been able to complete the airfield on Guadalcanal, their planes would have been able to prevent the sailing of ships to Australia via the Pacific. So it was here that the Americans drew the line. Before the Guadalcanal battle the Americans fought the Battle of the Coral Sea stopping the Japanese southern advance.

Remember that this was a time before the Americans brought out their newer aircraft. This battle was fought with Wildcats against Zeros. And the dive bombers were the old SBD Dauntless.

This is not a history of Guadalcanal or of the overall place of this battle in the war, it is as the title says, a description of the carrier vs. carrier battles. This is only part of the story, but it is well told here.

Not a companion book, but anyone interested in the stopping of the Japanese advances should also read the new Australian book "A Bastard of a Place." This covers the stopping of the Japanese advance across Papua New Guina a fierce and deciscive battle little known in the US.