Customer Reviews

Clash of The Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an excellent book that not only documents a great, but not well known, battle, but also documents a past time for us. A time when, as mentioned in the preface, "carriers had decks that were straight, Grummans had tail hooks, and Pratt and Whitneys had props". It tells the story of the largest carrier battle of World War II... yes, the largest, and the third largest naval battle ever in terms of ships employed (behind Leyte Gulf and Jutland). When 15 US carriers met 9 Japanese carriers in the middle of the Philippine Sea, thousands of miles from the US mainland and above a trench that goes to 30,000 feet in depth. The battle described in the pages, quite eloquently, tells how the US fleet routed the Japanese, sinking one third of their carriers and shooting down 90% of their aircraft, out of the sky... like turkeys. And, in the process, the author describes what it was like to operate an aircraft, an anti-aircraft gun, a submarine, land aircraft as part of a team, and the importance of radar. This is a well-written, eloquent book that goes beyond accurately telling the story of this great battle to giving us a glimpse, yes, just a glimpse, but well worth it, of being there.

One of the few books to cover the last great carrier battle fought in WWII, Clash of the Carriers is a wonderful book for anyone that has an interest in the Pacific War. Barrett Tillman does a wonderful job of not only giving the reader an idea of what it was like to be there, but also gives a glimpse into the stories of the major players involved.

What was it like for the FDO's directing Hellcats into the incoming raids? What was going through the pilots' minds as they searched for their carriers in the dark of night? This book answers those questions and more without getting too caught up in the minutia.

If you have an interest in World War Two, the naval war in particular, this book would make an excellent addition to your library.

When this author produces a naval history you get it all --- the sights, the sounds, the workings of those radial-engined carrier warplanes, and the sense of what it was like when great ships turned into the wind to wage the fight. A really good history mixes people, machines, tactics, and strategy. It uses research, interviews, and first-hand knowledge. "Clash of the Carriers" does all of these things and introduces new findings about a battle that needed more coverage. "Clash" is also a great read. The people are real. The aircraft are real. The fighting seems authentic. I particularly appreciate the author's insights into some of the men who led the fast carriers in battle---Spruance, Mitscher, Clark, and others.

After their stunning defeat at the battle of Midway, the Imperial Japanese Navy went into hiding, fearing the prospect of having to face a much larger U.S. Navy that had a new fighter that was superior to their own Zero. This fighter was called the Hellcat, and it became legendary during a few days in June, 1944, when it virtually destroyed the remaining Japanese carrier aircraft. This battle became known as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, and for all intents and purposes, the end of the Japanese Navy as an effective fighting force.

Seeing their inner ring of islands threatened by the advancing Americans, the Japanese had no choice but to sortie their remaining ships in the hope of stopping the huge American task force. The target of the Americans was the Marianas islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. The Americans intended to use these islands as bases for their new B-29 Superfortress long-range bombers. If these islands were to fall, the road to Tokyo would be wide open, and the Japanese home islands would be within range of the new B-29s. Japanese Admiral Ozawa set sail with a force of nine carriers plus various escorts to meet the mighty American task force 58, commanded by Midway hero Admiral Raymond Spruance. Described as a man of caution, Spruance was still aggressive and longed to destroy the last of the Japanese fleet.

American submarines drew first blood in the battle, sinking two of Ozawa's prized flattops. However, the Japanese still packed a powerful punch, and after discovering the American fleet, he launched a massive attack. However, the Americans were ready, thanks to their radar and fighter vectoring capabilities. The Japanese were no match for the Americans, both in terms of quality of aircraft and pilot. In the span of a couple of days, American carrier pilots shot down over 300 Japanese planes. Another Japanese carrier went to the bottom, bringing the total to three, but the greatest losses were in aircraft and experienced pilots. Although the Japanese Navy sortied once more during the American invasion of the Phillipines, this battle effectively ended the effectiveness of the Japanese Navy.

Author Barrett Tillman has done a masterful job of describing this key battle of the Pacific war. Not only does he describe each phase of the battle, from the opening shots to the final Japanese withdrawl, he also describes the planes, ships, and tactics used by each side. This additional insight made the book that much better. I've read many books on the Pacific war, and I would rate this book as one of my favorites. The story is told in glaring detail, and the accuracy is precise, right down to the number of losses on each side. The appendicies in the back of the book are very helpful reading tools for the reader to refer to.

I give this book my highest recommendation. Read it and learn about the final destruction of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Clash of the Carriers is Barrett Tillman's new accounting of the epic Battle of the Phillipine Sea in June 1944. Dubbed "The Marianas Turkey Shoot" because of grossly disproportionate Japanese losses, the battle cost the enemy three aircraft carriers, 476 planes, and 445 pilots and aircrewmen. Imperial Japan's desperate attempt to prevent the capture of the Marianas islands (future B-29 bases) was perhaps the final nail in its coffin; the first being its debacle at Midway two years previously.

But "Clash" would be a rather ordinary book if it only told the story of the Turkey Shoot. Instead, Tillman has gone deep into the battle's background, comparing it to other great naval battles in history (it surpasses nearly all of them in some regards) and providing important insight into its principal personalities as well as the aircraft, ships, and fleet structure of both sides. He provides additional important background by painting a picture of America of the 1940s; a time and a culture that is unknown, even alien to most Americans of today. That unique character of the Greatest Generation's society played an important role in bringing about the smashing victory in the Marianas and beyond.

As for the battle itself, though, the narration is all-encompassing, with nonstop action in the air as well as on and under the sea. It would be tough to conceive of any element of the wide-ranging conflict that isn't covered in gripping detail.

The hardbound book itself is also a winner: 348 pages of easy-to-read text supplemented with photos, a glossary, and an index.

I never review a book without mentioning its failings (they all have some), but there were precious few to be found in "Clash." An error regarding linear measurement went uncorrected in the Preface. Battle of Midway nitpickers like me will react to Tillman's statement that four Japanese carriers were sunk at Midway "in one day." (Four were out of action on 4 June '42, but two of them didn't sink until the 5th.) And he frequently uses naval and military vernacular terms that might puzzle a novice reader (does everyone everywhere know what a "whitehat" is in the U.S. Navy? Or the difference between a "bogey" and a "bandit" on a radar scope?).

I note that several reviewers here rate the book at a one or two-star level because of Tillman's folksy writing style and his bias towards nonstop action as opposed to a more scholarly approach to the subject. But that's what makes Clash of the Carriers a winner--if you want a historical reference manual on the Battle of the Phillipine Sea, yes, there may be better choices. But if you want a doggone good nonfiction tale chock full of blistering naval combat, "Clash" is a blue-ribbon choice.

I found this book to be a difficult read and not just because of the writing. The book discusses actions taking places in various parts of the Pacific Ocean, but provides no maps for the reader. The book discusses more than a dozen types of U.S. and Japanese aircraft with different ranges and other capabilities, but provides no illustrations or data tables to clarify this information. The book describes flights from different carriers attacking different sections of enemy task forces with, again, no maps. The rescue of downed American Pilots and flight crews is presented in a like manner.

The copy of the book sent to me had a double set of photos in the middle. Now I have TWO pictures of Vice Admiral Ozawa!

The discussion of aerial combat was disappointing in its brevity.

Part of my problem with this book may be that before reading it, I had just finished a much better book on carrier combat, "Shattered Sword" by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. Their writing crackles with excitement. Also, if they mention a plane, ship, search pattern, etc. there will be a map, photo, or illustration to show you exactly what they mean.

As Stephen Coonts notes in the preface, very few books have been written about the Marianas battle. Barrett Tillman's book immediately rises to the top of the field. The other reviewers that knock this book are mostly complaining about style, not subtance. I found Clash of the Carriers to be very readable, comprehensive, and factually correct. There were quite a few little tidbits in this book that I had never read in other books. Although the book is detailed, instead of extensively footnoting, Tillman lets the narrative flow.

Barratt Tillman has been writing about naval aviation for over 30 years. He is the son of a World War II naval aviator, and has grown up with naval aviation his entire life. He has gotten to know the surviving pilots, and he has played an important role in writing down their stories for future generations. As it so happens, I read this book back to back with Gerald Astor's Wings of Gold, a book that while broader, covers some of the same ground. The reviewers of that book got it right, Astor's book has an astonishing number of inaccuracies. A day after finishing Tillman's Clash of the Carriers, I can't think of anything that Tillman got wrong.

Purchasing note: A year and a half after Tillman published this book, it is no longer available new direct from Amazon in hardcover. Amazon has the softcover for a reasonable price, and the hardcover is available if you hunt for used from Amazon. If you like this book you will also like J. Parshall's book, Shattered Sword; the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway.

"Clash Of The Carriers". By Barrett Tillman. Subtitled: "The True Story Of The Marianas Turkey Shoot Of World War II."
NAL Caliber, Penguin Group, 2005.

Barrett Tillman has been the author of quite a few books, fiction and non-fiction, dealing with naval aviation and the war in the Pacific. His non-fiction books are filled to overflowing with technical details about carrier aircraft (e.g. "Hellcat: The F6F In World War II"), and some of his books have been published by the prestigious U. S. Naval Institute Press. With this background, Barrett Tillman has crafted an exacting detailed history of the naval battle of the "Marianas Turkey Shoot", the popular name for the Battle of the Philippines Sea, June 19-20, 1944.

Barrett Tillman has drawn upon both American and Japanese sources to describe both sides of this naval battle. His main thesis is that this was the battle in which Japanese naval aviation was utterly destroyed. After this battle, Japanese naval aviation, whose attack on Pearl Harbor had started the Second World War for the United States, played a minor role in the rest of the war. In the main portion of the book, Tillman continuously records the numbers of how Japanese naval aviation was destroyed and again in the interesting appendices at the back of the book. (See, in particular, Appendix F.)

Beyond all the dry records and the technical details, the author has the ability to make the men and their human concerns come alive. This is particularly evident in the book's Part Five, entitled, "Turn On The Lights", in which he describes the agonized decision to turn on the running lights of the fleet so that the pilots could locate the American ships in the dark. This, of course, made the same ships better targets for any Japanese submarines.

Finally, I looked up the term "white hat", which is defined as "... an enlisted man in the U.S. Navy". As a former "white hat", I can tell you that I would only wear a white hat with my undress whites, but I could wear either a white hat or a flat hat with my dress blues. I think that an interested novice reader can figure that out. All in all, this book makes it clear that the author is an avid supporter of the United Sates Navy.

I read the book and bought 7 more to give to friends and shipmates who were there with me.I contributed a few line in this book and I admire the Author for all his reserch work,it was a time that I will never forget and I was in 8 other Major Battles in the Pacific ,it was a scary time and I am glad I was young and did not know better.

John M.DiFusco
crew member in the USS Belleau Wood

For over a generation, readers have come to expect high-quality naval aviation history from the hands of Barrett Tillman, and this book does not disappoint. The Marianas Turkey Shoot put paid to Japan's last hope of achieving a military victory over the Allies, and Tillman does full justice to the story, blending a clear mastery of a wide range of primary and secondary sources, an airman's and seaman's insight into aircraft and ship operations, and keen analytical and writing skills. As "the greatest generation" give way to a generation of kids in combat who are no less great themselves, it is good to have this book--and to ponder on the courage it took for young men navigating by guess and by God to fly hundreds of miles, attack and sink an opposing fleet, and then return in fuel-starved airplanes to the pitching, heaving deck of their carriers. Tillman does 'em proud!