Learn about ww2 naval warfare with these old magazine article. Find information concerning WW II at sea
“Our latest successes in New Guinea, the Solomons and the Aleutians have had another salient effect upon the enemy. For the first time, the Jap found out that he can be licked. He had been brought up to believe in his invincibility, and once a Jap soldier or sailor finds he has been beaten, he […]
In the seven months since Pearl Harbor the aircraft carrier has replaced the battleship as the true capital ship of modern naval warfare. The carrier’s rise to power reached a crushing climax in the battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway – the two most decisive naval engagements of the war thus far. Opposing fleets only struck at each other with bomber and torpedo planes and never fired a shot except in self-defense against aircraft.
A New Kind of Naval Warfare (PM Tabloid, 1942) Read More »
Admiral Pete Mitscher was one of the primary architects of American naval aviation during the 20th Century.In this column, one of the officers who served under him during the admiral’s command of carrier Task Force 58 recalls why he came to admire the man as deeply as he did.
One of Admiral Pete Mitscher’s officers recalls the man with tremendous admiration:
They used to think a carrier was a hit-and-run fighter, but Pete changed that. He said, ‘Hit’em and stay. Hit’em again tomorrow. And he did.’
Admiral Mitscher, U.S.N. (Coronet Magazine, 1945) Read More »
The War Shipping Administration is never at a loss for an answer when asked what’s been authorized, what’s in the works, what’s been shipped and where everything is at the moment? Nevertheless, the Transportation Inventory Department is a tidy place, with no visible signs of agitation. The TID has never lost so much as a bolt. Once it took twenty-two weeks to find a couple of airplane engines which had got themselves lost.
The Atlantic Convoys (Collier’s Magazine, 1944) Read More »
Not only did Germany limit the size of her fleet, but she failed to push technical developments. For example, she was behind the Allies in developing radar, and her torpedoes were mechanically deficient. She was ahead of the Allies in perfecting magnetic mines, but these proved to be a short-lived advantage… The priority for naval construction was so low that when the war began in September, 1939, the naval strength allowed in the treaty of 1935 had not been reached.
Thus, in the opinion of Admiral Doenitz, Germany, for the second time within 25 years, lost her bid for world supremacy because of her weakness at sea.
Click here to read about an American destroyer on D-Day.
The Lack of German Naval Power (United States News, 1946) Read More »
The baby flat-top Liscome Bay was sunk by a torpedo from an enemy submarine on the day before Thanksgiving of 1943. The Liscome Bay was on her first battle assignment, covering the occupation of Makin in the Gilbert [islands]…The torpedo struck a half an hour before dawn and it was still dark when Liscome Bay sank.
The ship went under in less than twenty-four minutes; up to that time it was the U.S. Navy’s second largest loss since the sinking of the Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Only 260 men survived.
Death of a Baby Flat-Top (Yank Magazine, 1944) Read More »
Attached is a 1947 report by the U.S. Navy summing up the remarkable roll that naval aviation played during the last half of the war with Imperial Japan:
In the advance across the Central Pacific the carrier task force with it’s extreme flexibility and mobility had been the dominant factor. It established the conditions under which long-range amphibious advances were possible. It never failed to gain command of the air at the required time and place, successively overwhelming the air garrisons not only of the Japanese perimeter but of the major fortresses of Formosa and the Philippines, and maintained command of the air until shore-based air forces could be established.
To read articles about W.W. II submarines, Click here.
The U.S. Navy’s War: Tarawa to Tokyo (Dept. of the Navy, 1947) Read More »
The following is an essay from the office of the Chief of Naval Operations concerning what the U.S. Navy learned about carrier warfare during the four year war against Japan.
What the Navy Learned During the Pacific War (Dept. of the Navy, 1947) Read More »
Four graphs from a 1947 Naval study illustrate the amount of Japanese aircraft and assorted sea faring vessels that were destroyed during the course of World War Two.
Japanese Naval Losses Measured in Tons (Dept. of the Navy, 1947) Read More »
A World War Two article from YANK MAGAZINE recalling the sinking of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier off the coast of the Gilbert Islands –
The Sinking of the Liscome Bay (Yank Magazine, 1944) Read More »
