Customer Reviews

The Ship That Held the Line: The USS Hornet and the First Year of the Pacific War

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I have to admit that I'm a sucker for this type of history, the story of a warship told through the eyes of the sailors who served on it.

The USS Hornet had a special place in WWII, being one of the precious few American carriers that had to mix it up with the more numerous, more experienced, and more disciplined Japanese carriers in the first year of the war or so. (Before the buildup of Essex class carriers could arrive on scene.) Although there were apparently multiple times when only one fully operational American carrier was in the war zones, and while the Hornet was "it" it didn't necessarily do anything the others didn't do, so the title might be a bit of an exaggeration.

Nonetheless this is an informative and enjoyable book, and the Hornet definitely did its fair share to turn the tide of the war. The reader is taken along with the Doolittle raid where the Hornet bravely dashed in close to the Japanese homeland to launch the B-25's stowed on deck, and made a mad scramble back to home. You certainly get an appreciation of the tension that must have filled the carrier, along with the pride and jubilation of being the first to really strike back at the Japanese after Pearl Harbor.

The Hornet's next big fleet action was Midway, where, unfortunately the performance of the air wing was a dud. The author clearly spent a large amount of time researching the men and tactics of the Hornet air wing and relays the fruits of his research to you before getting to the battle. There's a long and interesting chapter about Midway but alas the author doesn't seem to conclude as to why much of the Hornet air group never even found the Japanese. Perhaps this is just one of those instances in war where chance can lay waste to even the best laid plans of mice and men.

After Midway the Hornet is actively involved in the Solomons campaign. What is most interesting here is the intenstiy and ferocity of the fighting, with the Americans both on the attack in a strategic sense and often hanging on by a thread at the same time. Also fascinating was the organizational difficulty of combined land and sea operations under different commanders. This purely bureaucratic wrangling unfortunately leaves the U.S. carriers marshaling in a specific zone of sea due to the nature of which command had responsibility over which region, and the Japanese were able to exploit this fact by pouring in their submarines. This leads to the horrific destruction of the USS Wasp which the men of the Hornet see firsthand.

The Hornet fights in the battle of the Eastern Solomons and then finally, meeting her fate, at the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. The writing of the battles is gripping, and a heavy counterweight to much of the fun and frivolity of leave in Hawaii and Espiritu Santo. Throughout, the author gives fair coverage to the entire spectrum of the crew's experiences as the ship evolved during the war into a real fighting machine.

The death of the ship is written in a particularly poignant and heartfelt manner. You really get to bond with the ship and her experiences throughout her short life and honestly feel the loss as she slips forever beneath the waves, devoid of all human life.

Definitely recommended for WWII history, Navy, or Carrier buffs.

This book detailing the short life of the USS Hornet and its demise during the batteles around Guadalcanal is a very well written and detailed account of the life of the ship. Like Eric Hammel the author brings to life what it must have been like to have taken part in these (in the end) momentous events. The History is all there, but also there are some very perceptive insights into both the successes and failures of the US Navy at this time. On top of it all it's a darn good read! I read as many books on the war in the Pacific as I can and some, once digested, are put down and apart from the odd time that they might be used for reference merely pad the bookshelves. (Again) Like Eric Hammell's books this is one I will read and re-read!

This book decribes the roughly one year combat life of the USS Hornet, one of America's prewar aircraft carriers . During the crucial first twelve months of WWII, with the United States reeling from Pearl Harbor and other defeats, the USS Hornet and a handful of other carriers were the only ships the U.S. had that could stop and eventually push back the oncoming Japanese. The author concentrates on how it was like to live aboard these floating airfields and describes the triumphs and tragedies of this particular ship; from the launching of Dolittle's famous raid against Tokyo, to the heartreading and somewhat mysterious failure of the ship's air group at Midway. In what is the most vivid chapter, the author recreates the Hornet's last battle at Santa Cruz, where the ship finally succumbs to Japanese torpedos. For those who are interested in knowing what it was like to serve on one of these great ships during the "carrier war" this book is execellent

"The Ship That Held The Line" is not merely a book about the short life and death of an aircraft carrier. It is an insight into the earliest days of the Pacific theatre of operations. Rose delivers hard hitting documentary on the fractious relationship of the Hornet's Air Group, constant struggles with outdated weaponry (the TBD Devastator a prime example), and the early aircraft carrier doctrine that caused such catastrophe to the torpedo squadrons at Midway. We learn of Marc Mitscher's devotion to "on the job" training for air crews, the inherent problems of keeping a large ship adequately supplied, and the importance of reliable communication between task group commanders and squadron leaders alike. A great book to have.

This book is a very well written account of the short but dramatic life and death of the first USS Hornet (CV-8) aircraft carrier of the US Navy. Historic books about individual ships are often written by enthusiasts who are full of information but, marginal writers at best. Lisle Rose is a wonderful exception to the latter side of this rule! He has crafted "The Ship that Held the Line" into a 278 page true novel that reads like a thriller in places and rarely ceases to rivet the readers attention. His association with many of the ship's survivors and lifetime fascination with this well known but, little written about fleet carrier whet his desire to write a complete account worthy of this great ship's memory. He has succeeded admirably. The Hornet lived for less than one year before her sinking after the Battle of Santa Cruz. Lisle traces the development of the many hundreds of new crew-members into a cohesive fighting force. He gives great insight into what the whole Doolittle Raid on Tokyo was like and masterfully describes the chaos that went on for the frustrated Hornet crew during the Battle of Midway. Great attention is given to helping the reader to understand the little details of carrier and Navy life. He points out how the American ability to tinker and improvise on an individual and group level was and is critical to winning battles both large and small. The troubles with effective firefighting during the final battle are vividly portrayed.

All and all, this is an excellent book worthy of the historian and even the general reader. You will not waste your time at all with this book and will come away with much greater understanding of a pivotal time in our nation's history.

Everyone knows that four big Japanese aircraft carriers, the center of Japan's naval power, were sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Less often told is the story of the American carriers.
Japan and the U.S.A. started the war at Pearl Harbor with six fleet carriers apiece. Japan lost four in a single day, but in 1942, the Americans also had four sunk: Lexington, Yorktown, Wasp and eventually Hornet. And during the critical days when the future of Guadalcanal was in the balance, Saratoga and Enterprise were damaged and out of action.
For tense weeks, only Hornet was able to project American power in the Pacific.
Lisle Rose's history contains as much about life on a big flattop as it does about military action. In truth, Hornet's career contained only two big days.
In April 1942, Hornet launched Jimmy Doolittle's bombers on a pinprick raid that had astonishing consequences.
Hornet was at Midway but accomplished nothing.
Her torpedo squadron, Torpedo 8, was immortalized by being wiped out, but Rose says the legend that Torpedo's 8's sacrifice allowed the American dive bombers to drop in on the Japanese carriers without warning is not true. In a long, argumentative chapter, Rose contends it was Yorktown's torpedo planes, who also were slaughtered, though not as completely as Torpedo 8, that drew the attention of the Japanese to the sea's surface, thus allowing the Yorktown and Enterprise dive bombers to reverse the course of the war.
A few months later, the Solomon Islands became the scene of the most evenly matched slugfests between roughly equal fleets since the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th century; but Hornet contributed little and suffered nothing but boredom.
These chapters, however, are full of interest for the nuggets of information about real life at war. During the war, combat correspondents engaged in a kind of conspiracy to assure moms back home that their boys were at least being well fed.
They weren't. Growing boys worked 12- and 16-hour days on coffee, a sandwich and an apple, when they were lucky enough to get an apple. For weeks on end, Hornet's crew subsisted on 'block beef' (Spam), coffee and 'mashed potatoes' made of ground-up beans.
Without doing a lot of physical damage to Japanese forces, the Hornet did interfere enough to ruin Japan's plans during what Lisle calls 'the greatest moral and strategic crisis the United States would face in the Pacific war.'
On Oct. 26, 1942, Enterprise had rejoined the fleet, and at the Battle of Santa Cruz, the American carriers punished the Japanese heavily.
Late in the day, however, Hornet was hit by five bombs and three torpedoes. Rose's story of the struggle to save the ship is clear and scarifying.
Some men were blown to shreds. Others were drowned in lakes of flaming gasoline. A group of injured signalmen was brought to the bridge, because it was impossible to get them to a medical station. (And wouldn't have helped anyway, since almost all the medical stations were wiped out.)
'One of the worst off,' writes Rose, 'was a boy named Russell, who had been the butt of much teasing because he was too young to shave regularly. As (Capt. Charles) Mason bent over him, the boy looked up and asked, "Sir, am I being brave enough?" ' Yes, the captain assured him, he was. Russell died that night.'
It's well that we know these stories.

In writing a book about an aircraft carrier, it seems that an author has a choice of either writing a detailed, comprehensive operational history which might be a little dry because of the weight of all the detail, much of it mundane, or leaving out a lot of detail in order to create a tighter, more exciting narrative. In this case, it appears that the author has chosen the latter option. Apparently because it leaves out a lot of detail, the book is a good read and moves along quickly with a compelling story. The book provides a general history of the ship with some anecdotes and brief but colorful descriptions of shipboard life. There are a few errors but they didn't distract me too much. My preference, however, would have been for a more detailed history of the Hornet so that this book could serve as a complete reference. Because of the lack of detail, those interested in the complete history of this ship will need to acquire more than just this book.

For more detail on the Hornet's air operations, I suggest both volumes of John Lundstrom's "First Team" series. Greater detail on the Hornet's participation at the Battle of Midway and the fiasco and command cover-up involving its air groups are contained in Alvin Kernan's "The Unknown Battle of Midway: The Destruction of the American Torpedo Squadrons" and Robert Mrazek's "A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight". Greater detail on Hornet's participation in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands can be found in Eric Hammel's "Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands,October 1942". And greater detail on the Hornet's design and construction can be found in Norman Friedman's "U.S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History".

Again, I would have preferred for this book's author to have included all of this so that this book would be all that was required to know just about everything one might want to know about this carrier. Since that isn't the case, this book serves as an incomplete, but important work among a number of excellent books documenting the important contributions of this fine ship and its brave crew to the US victory in the Pacific War.

I've just finished reading "The Ship That Held The Line: The USS Hornet and the First Year of the Pacific War", and I don't think I've ever read a better or more readable account of that ominous first year of the war with Japan, and particularly of the Doolittle Raid and the Battle of Midway.

Because I served aboard the Essex Class Hornet (CVS 12) from 1960 to 62, it may be that I have a greater than average interest in the short but remarkable life of it's predecessor, CV 8. But by any standard, this book is a carefully researched and well-written account of this great WWII aircraft carrier.

I finished it last night and ordered Rose's three volume "Power at Sea" first thing this morning; Lisle A. Rose has just gained an enthusiastic new fan.

A excellent biography of the carrier U.S.S. Hornet and her one year life. What she lacked in longevity, she sure made up for in activity. Her airmen were a deciding factor in robbing the Japanese of their finest pilots. Once her first line pilots were gone, the Japanese had few replacements and at that point, America was producing its second generation of carriers and another crop of pilots. The Hornet was indeed the last gift of the pre war U.S. Navy. Indeed, this carrier at one point was the only active serving carrier in the Pacific. It was indeed a ship that held the line. After her loss, no more fleet carriers were lost in the war.
The author did a nice job of detailing the life of this carrier.
He pointed out her weaknesses and that of the planes she carried.
After perhaps the Enterprise, Lexington, and Yorktown, she was one of the famous ships of the war. A nice read about a famous ship.

An interesting story about the [original] Hornet from her launch in 1939 to her sinking by the Japanese. Doesn't pull any punches.