Customer Reviews

On the Warpath in the Pacific: Admiral Jocko Clark and the Fast Carriers

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This is an excellent book about a great carrier commander. Jocko Clark was the initial commander of the new Yorktown, and a great task group commander as part of task force 58 under Marc Mitscher. In fact, he was Mitscher's leading commander, the one that Mitscher looked to for all the challenges. And, he delivered. This book provides how he did that - his personality traits, including his angry tirades, his physical challenges, including his continual bouts with an ulcer that required a special diet. However, he was a loyal commander and an individual who supported his men. Many a time, he wanted to look for downed flyers when the previous task force commander prior to Mitscher was nervous about lingering in an area too long and the threat of Japanese submarines. If you want a book that provides the panorama of the Pacific carrier war in detail - each minor and major action - Jocko was in the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, through Halsey's typhoons - this is a great book for the WWII enthusiast in the pacific. Highly recommended.

The story goes that when the small carrier 'Liscome Bay' was sunk, her airborne planes had to have a place to set down or they would have to crash in the ocean. The man who gave the order on the carrier 'Yorktown' to turn on her landing lights after dark to give them a place to land was Jocko Clark.

That alone would justify reading more about him, but there is lots more. An indian, he went to the Naval Academy (Class of 1918) while the indian wars were a fresh memory. Early recognizing the value of aircraft, he became a pilot when planes were still wood and fabric. World War II came with the Japanese attack at Pearl. Getting rid of the battleships left the carriers and the aircraft admirals in position to win the war.

Younger than the famous admirals of World War II, he was commander of the Seventh Fleet operating off of Korea. He lived through the transition from wood and fabric through to the time of the jets. Not just lived, he commanded.

Clark G. Reynolds has done significant work researching naval aviation and particularly the Fast Carriers of World War II. That said, he has a preoccupation with Jocko Clark because his father was Clark's flag secretary for years. While I appreciate Reynolds' body of work and his ability to sort out key issues in the Pacific War doctrinal changes as the Fast Carriers took prominence over the "black shoe" Navy, I also believe that his objectivity suffers dramatically with regards to Clark. Indications in his work of this favoritism are littered in all of his works - most often with respect to Clark's captaincy of CV-10 USS Yorktown, which Reynolds believes was the finest carrier in the Navy based on his father's experiences and his Clark worship.

Do not discount Reynolds' scholarship based on this alone - simply be ready to take his Clark-centric viewpoints with a grain of salt.

I REALLY ENJOYED READING THIS BOOK ALOT AND IT IS WHAT I WANTED. I AM INTO HISTORICAL AND MILITARY BOOKS TO READ.

Too much glory to the Admiral - seems he had everything figured out and the majority of those who did not agree with him were incompetent or just plain stupid. I did not care to hear of his drinking or womanizing exploits - not certain what those "abilities" have to do with being an admiral. A Navy Patton???

Feel the author spends too much verse in glamorizing Clark and down grading the other Naval heros of the era.