Red Sun Setting: The Battle of the Philippine Sea (Bluejacket Paperback Series) [Paperback]

William T. Y'Blood (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bluejacket Paperbacks | Publication Date: March 31, 2003

Many regard this work as the definitive account of a controversial conflict of the war in the Pacific, the June 1944 battle known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot." Drawing on ten years of research and told from the viewpoint of the fliers and sailors who were on the firing line, William T. Y'Blood leads the reader through every stage of the battle, from the dogfights to the persistent attacks on the Japanese carriers to the frantic efforts of the returning fliers to land on friendly carriers. He takes the battle from the initial planning through the invasion of the Marianas and the recriminations that followed, describing Admiral Spruance's decision to allow U.S. forces to remain on the defensive and giving blow-by-blow details of the action. This intensive study of what many believe to be a major turning point in the Pacific War has remained an important reference since it was first published in 1981. 272 pages. 25 photographs. Appendixes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Paperback. 6 x 9 inches.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press; 1st. Bluejacket books print edition (March 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591149940
• ISBN-13: 978-1591149941
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,560,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, But ..., June 25, 2003

By 

Joel Shepherd (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Sun Setting: The Battle of the Philippine Sea (Bluejacket Paperback Series) (Paperback)

Based largely on US after-action reports and oral histories, with some reliance on Japanese sources and other accounts, "Red Sun Setting" is one of the few stand-alone accounts of the Battle of the Philippine Sea published. On the whole, Y'Blood manages to both tell the story in detail and keep a lively pace. Beginning with the development of the US decision to take the Marianas (quite a bit more convoluted than I had thought before), Y'Blood quickly moves to the actual engagement, focusing particularly on submarine and aerial action.

In fact, my only criticism of the book is that while it goes into very great detail about the aerial engagements -- and, admittedly, the battle was a clash of naval air forces -- it seems relatively light on the strategic and tactical considerations immediately before and during the battle. This applies particularly to the Japanese forces.

Thomas Buell's fine biography of Raymond Spruance, who commanded the US naval forces during the battle can help fill in the gap on the American side. I haven't read Samuel Eliot Morison's account of the battle in detail, but suspect it might present a more well-rounded view as well.

Those two accounts, however, necessarily omit a great deal of the detail and information contained in Y'Blood's account. "Red Sun Setting" is recommended to fill in a gap about the Marianas campaign that likely exists in many Pacific War libraries.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent well-written account of the Marianas Turkey Shoot, October 15, 2005

By 

J. Groen "Jerry Groen" (GURNEE, ILLINOIS USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Sun Setting: The Battle of the Philippine Sea (Bluejacket Paperback Series) (Paperback)

This book provides a detailed and well-written account of the Marianas Turkey Shoot. The book starts with a lead in from both sides to why the naval battle was so important. In this sense, the book provides an excellent strategic context for the battle. What is really good about the book though is the detailed accounts of each fighter group, bomber group and torpedo group during the battle - both the carrier battles and the air battles over the islands are covered in a lot of detail. For example, Lt. Isley was killed in action over the Japanese airfield that was named after him after the island was taken. Lt. Vareciu's 6 shot down enemy planes is covered, as are all units and aces. Having read a couple of books that covered this battle within a larger context, this is the best at covering the battle in its totality. Therefore, if you are interested in a book on the naval war in the Pacific, this is a great book to read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great on the facts - not so much on the conclusions, September 28, 2008

By 

D. Moore "why not?" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Red Sun Setting: The Battle of the Philippine Sea (Bluejacket Paperback Series) (Paperback)

Red Sun Setting does, as others point out, provide an abundance of factual data on the Battle of the Philippine Sea. And yes, there are few books that focus specifically on this battle - in fact, I can't think of a single one at the moment other than this one.
The only problem I had with this book is that it was too long - and by that I mean it should have ended before it did. The author goes on, after the description of the battle, to formulate conclusions and in essence point fingers; and in putting forward these conclusions he relies a great deal on hindsight. For example: Spruance should have gone west after the Japanese fleet, and left only battleships and light carriers covering the invasion fleet at Saipan. The reason? There were only 50 land-based aircraft available to the Japanese, a force that could easily have been fought off by the light carriers. Did Spruance know this? No. Did anybody? Yes, but only the Japanese commander in the Marianas. We didn't know about it until after the war. But based on this fact, Spruance was wrong in not sailing away from the Saipan invasion force.
I cannot argue with all of the author's conclusions; however, in the main they are based, either all or in part, on information available to HIM at the time of writing, decades after the battle, but NOT available to Spruance in the midst of the battle.
So, while the description of the battle, events leading up to it, and its aftermath, are all considerably well done, one cannot avoid the feeling that the author has a grudge against Spruance, and went out of his way to try and paint him in a bad light. While I have no reason to agree or disagree with the way Spruance conducted the battle, it seems clear to me that the author is strongly opinionated on the matter.