Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands,October 1942 [Paperback]

Eric Hammel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2005

Eric Hammel. It was a Japanese victory-but it spelled the end for Japan in the war at sea. In Carrier Strike, critically acclaimed military historian Eric Hammel gives a blow-by-blow, edge-of-your-seat account of this crucial naval battle-a turning point in the bitter Guadalcanal Campaign. Drawing on American and Japanese battle reports and the recollections of aviators and seamen who were there, Hammel recreates World War II's fourth - and last - carrier versus carrier battle, the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942. Written in the heart-stopping style that Hammel's readers have come to expect, Carrier Strike offers the only up-to-date, up-close, in-depth look at the battle that cost Japan any hope of winning the war in the Pacific.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Work Boat Road (AUS), February 2007

“Hammel really brings these long ago events to life.”

About the Author

Eric Hammel is a critically acclaimed military historian and author of more than thirty combat and pictorial histories, including the extremely popular Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle (Zenith Press 2006). He lives in Northern California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Zenith Press (March 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760321280
• ISBN-13: 978-0760321287
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,850 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

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good but unbalanced account, September 9, 2005

By 

Jack Fortin (Alberta) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands,October 1942 (Paperback)

This book will leave the reader with a clear understanding of the progression of the battle as well as events that led up to it . For that alone this book merits four stars . Eric Hammel gave a thorough synopsis of the the events that led up to the actual battle . The weapons , logistics and even battle doctrine held by both the USN and the IJN at that time is explored . This prelude to the battle accounts for nearly half the book yet it doesn't get bogged down with insignificant details that can thwart the readers' interest .

Hammel presents the battle in such a manner that the outcome is not a foregone conclusion in spite of the fact that the events occured over sixty years ago .

The one flaw to this book is that while dealing with human drama as events unfolded for Americans , little is offered from the Japanese perspective . For example ; nothing is said of efforts to contain damage aboard the Shokaku after the American strike whereas almost every detail of the damaged Hornet and efforts to save the ship by it's crew are covered .

In spite of my critcism , the reader will have a good understanding of the events that led up to the battle , the battle itself as well as a decent epilogue to these events .

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars should be the definitive account of Santa Cruz, June 9, 2001

By 

John V. Seward - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942 (Hardcover)

Eric Hammel's CARRIER STRIKE The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, should be the definitive work on this, the last of the 4 major carrier battles of WWII. As the second of two volumes about the Guadalcanal/Eastern Solomons campaigns, CARRIER STRIKE carefully details the action in well researched form. In an almost minute-by-minute account, the clash of the two carrier task forces on Oct 26,1942 will leave you breathless. A fitting tribute to the brave warriors who gave their lives for the cause. A superb book, and a must have for those studying the campaigns in the Southern Pacific.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holds your interest from cover to cover, October 12, 2007

By 

R. W. Russell "midway42.org" (Lodi, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands,October 1942 (Paperback)

The subtitle of this 1999 work is "The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands." It is that for sure, but there is much more. The front half of the book provides a rather complete telling of the first few months of the Guadalcanal campaign and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, followed by a thorough history of the Santa Cruz battle, which saw the loss of USS Hornet (CV-8). The book is actually drawn from a larger work by Hamel, "Guadalcanal: the Carrier Battles," published in 1987.

As a chronicler of naval air action, Hamel's style holds the reader's interest from cover to cover. For one thing, he is exceptionally thorough. You get the feeling that virtually every sortie in the three battles, on both sides, is described with about all of the specifics you can imagine. When a Zero slashes at a TBF menacing the Shokaku, we not only know everything about the three men in the TBF, but also the name, rank, squadron, and ship of the Zero pilot. When three Kates bore in on the Hornet, we know who is leading them and where his plane is in the formation. It's hard to imagine how Hamel managed that level of detail in his research, but it's all there.

For me, the main attraction of the book was its coverage of the USS Hornet between Midway and Santa Cruz. To my knowledge, there is only one book that focuses totally on that carrier, "The Ship That Held the Line" by Lisle Rose, and it has been panned rather severely by historians and veterans who know a lot about that carrier. Hamel's book seems to provide a much better history of CV-8, as evidenced by the opinions of some of its vets. A Hornet pilot (retired USN captain) sent the book to me with a strong endorsement, and another one told me that "at least I'm still alive at the end of this one," alluding to one of the many errors in the Rose book.