Double Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific Duing World War II (Bluejacket Books) [Paperback]

W. J. Holmes (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bluejacket Books | Publication Date: September 1998

Assigned to the combat intelligence unit in Honolulu from June 1941 until the end of World War II, author W. J. Holmes was an important part of the naval organization that collected, analyzed, and disseminated intelligence information, and his compassionate understanding of the business of intelligence gathering is unique. Here, he not only captures the mood of the period but also gives rare insight into the problems and personalities involved. The reader comes to fully appreciate the painful moral dilemma faced daily by commanders in the Pacific once the Japanese naval codes were broken. Every time the Americans made use of the enemy messages they had decoded, they increased the probability that the Japanese would realize what had happened and change their codes, thereby causing the U.S. Pacific Fleet to lose a vital edge. Withholding the information, however, could - and sometimes did - result in the loss of American lives and ships. This illuminating study reveals not only the difficulties of collecting intelligence, but of deciding when to use it.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557503249
• ISBN-13: 978-1557503244
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,297,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and entertaining memoir, September 27, 2000

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Double Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific Duing World War II (Bluejacket Books) (Paperback)

Jasper Holmes could have chosen as his title the phrase his colleague Edwin T. Layton used for his memoirs: And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway - Breaking the Secrets. As a USN reservist returned to active duty at Pearl Harbor just months before the attack, Holmes was there at the start of the war. And he remained near the center of naval intelligence activities in the Pacific until the end.

My bigggest criticism of this book has nothing to do (directly) with Holmes himself. Like many memoirs written in the decades immediately after the war, this book is limited by the fact that much of the information Holmes would otherwise have been able to share was still officially secret. It would be for later researchers to say what Holmes couldn't.

The other complaint I have is that, based on what I've read elsewhere, Holmes modestly understates the important role he played in the events he describes. It's to his credit that he's eager to praise talented and dedicated cryptologists and analysts. But Holmes frequently makes himself sound like someone standing on the sidelines watching the varsity team play. In fact, he was one of the team's key players.

What could be a highly technical memoir is leavened by a light tone and entertaining asides, like his tales of trying to drive through Honolulu with darkened headlights (a feat he describes as probably a greater danger to the citizens of Honolulu than the Japanese attack was).

Any student of the war in the Pacific, and particularly of Naval Intelligence operations or the attack on Pearl Harbor, will find this an interesting and entertaining memoir.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the very few personal accounts of naval inteligence., January 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Double Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific Duing World War II (Bluejacket Books) (Paperback)

"Jasper Holmes" was a member of the Inteligence Center, Pacific Ocean Area (ICPOA). This is his excellent account of his activities and the dramatic influence of intelligence on the outcome of the war. He also describes the conditions of war time Hawaii and the conflict between personal and military necessity. One of the things I noticed most is the reverence Holmes feels for Joseph Rochefort, commander of ICPOA. I drew heavily on this book for my honors project in college.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A First hand accout of WWII Intelligence Operations, July 7, 2002

By 

James (Swansboro, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific Duing World War II (Bluejacket Books) (Paperback)

Any study of the World War II Pacific theater will involve at least a glimpse of the role that intelligence had in the conduct of U.S. operations. An in depth review of the intelligence operations will reveal that cryptography and radio intelligence (later to be called communications intelligence or signals intelligence) had a vital role in the planning of combat operations and the conduct of the war in the Pacific theater. Intelligence operations, by nature are classified and as such there are not many first person accounts of actual operations. Double Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific During World War II is an exception to that assumption. The author, Wilfred J. Holmes, Captain United States Navy (Retired) provides a look behind the fences and locked doors of one of the largest intelligence operations at that time.
Captain Holmes was not a career intelligence officer, but by chance found himself in one of the most vital areas of intelligence, cryptography. Originally medically retired prior to the attack at Pearl Harbor, Captain Holmes was recalled to active duty with the anticipation of hostilities in the Pacific. His original duties were loosely defined and he tasked himself with the tracking of merchant vessels in the Pacific. By using ship's weather reports to track locations, he began working closer and closer with the radio intelligence section within the Intelligence Center for the Pacific. As this relationship grew, while not initially allowed access to what mission the section was assigned, he became closely associated with the section and its operations. Through the course of the war, Captain Holmes and the officers and sailors he worked with provided some of the most valuable intelligence to leaders such as Admirals Nimitz and Halsey. Double Edged Secrets also supplies a point of view from a senior officer in how the use (and how the devaluing) of intelligence supported combat operations.