Two Ocean War by Samuel Eliot Morison is a one volume abridgement of Morison's 15 volume History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. What makes Two Ocean War a particularly interesting book is Morison's contemporaneous access to the major players in the US Navy during the war. At the beginning of WWII, Morison, a Harvard history professor and friend of FDR, proposed writing and official history of the war from the inside. FDR and SecNav Frank Knox agreed, commissioned Morison a LTCDR USNR and turned him loose.
Morison apparently went wherever he wanted during the war to "get the story". During the war be sailed on convoy duty in the Atlantic twice, watched the TORCH landings from USS Brooklyn, made a cruise with "Ching" Lee's fast battleships, patrolled "the Slot" with PT boats, and was present at the battle of Kolombangara (USS Honolulu), the invasions of the Gilberts (USS Baltimore) and the Marianas (USS Honolulu) before wrapping things up in 1945 aboard USS Tennessee as it pounded Okinawa before and during the invasion.
As a result of his unprecedented access, Morison's writing displays a great familiarity with the personalities of the Admirals involved I the operations. At times one almost gets the impression that Morison is writing about the doings of his friends to be read by other friends. He has a very lively writing style, which strikes a good blend of narrative and exposition. He not only tells the reader what happened, but when appropriate, why it happened. I wonder if the 15 volume history (of which this is supposed to be an abridgement) features the same writing style.
There are only a few small criticisms of the book. First, it is, as one might expect from a history of US Naval Operations in WWII very Pacific-centric. Although operations in the Atlantic and Med are covered, they have nothing like the detail of those in the Pacific. This includes the Battle of the Atlantic, which is given a cursory examination and account. However since it was largely a British battle I suppose this makes some sense.
The second criticism is kind of the "flip side" of Morison's access and apparent acquaintance with the Admirals involved. There is very little serious criticism of American forces involved. Even Halsey gets no more than a nominal "tutt-tutt" finger shake for haring off after Ozawa's empty carriers and leaving Ziggy Sprague's behind flapping in the breeze at Samar Island.
Which those provisos, this is still the best one volume account of the American Navy in WWII, especially in the Pacific, that I've ever seen or heard about. I recommend it highly for anyone who wants to understand the USNs experience in WWII.
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Naval History
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