Pacific Thunder: The US Navy's Central Pacific Campaign, August 1943–October 1944

— —

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Pacific Thunder

The US Navy's Central Pacific Campaign, August 1943–October 1944

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

$18.99

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship

QTY:

English

Osprey
01 December 2018

History; History of the Americas; Second World War; Naval forces & warfare; Battles & campaigns

On 27 October 1942, four “Long Lance” torpedoes fired by the Japanese destroyers Makigumo and Akigumo exploded in the hull of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). Minutes later, the ship that had launched the Doolitte Raid six months earlier slipped beneath the waves of the Coral Sea. Of the pre-war carrier fleet the Navy had struggled to build over 15 years, only three were left: Enterprise, that had been badly damaged in the battle of Santa Cruz; USS Saratoga (CV-3) which lay in dry dock, victim of a Japanese submarine torpedo; and the USS Ranger (CV-4), which was in mid-Atlantic on her way to support Operation Torch.

For the American naval aviators licking their wounds in the aftermath of this defeat, it would be difficult to imagine that within 24 months of this event, Zuikaku, the last survivor of the carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor, would lie at the bottom of the sea. Alongside it lay the other surviving Japanese carriers, sacrificed as lures in a failed attempt to block the American invasion of the Philippines, leaving the United States to reign supreme on the world’s largest ocean.

This is the fascinating account of the Central Pacific campaign, one of the most stunning comebacks in naval history as in 14 months the US Navy went from the jaws of defeat to the brink of victory in the Pacific.

By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Imprint: Osprey
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
Weight: 466g
ISBN: 9781472821881
ISBN 10: 1472821882
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 01 December 2018
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print

List of Maps Foreword Preface CHAPTER ONE: Torpedo Junction CHAPTER TWO: Forging the Sword CHAPTER THREE: Leadership CHAPTER FOUR: First Contact CHAPTER FIVE: Butch is Down! CHAPTER SIX: The Spruance Haircut CHAPTER SEVEN: Gibraltar of the Pacific CHAPTER EIGHT: The Captain from Hell CHAPTER NINE: Lifeguards CHAPTER TEN: Operation Forager CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Marianas Turkey Shoot CHAPTER TWELVE: The Mission Beyond Darkness CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Iwo Jima Development Corporation CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Halsey’s Rampage CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Battle of the Formosa Sea CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The Battles of Leyte Gulf CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: No Rest for the Weary Bibliography Index

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published writer for the past 40 years, with his most recent work being the best-selling The Frozen Chosen, a history of the 1st Marine Division and the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, published by Osprey Publishing in 2016. He is also a regular contributor to Flight Journal magazine and the author of Aces of the 78th Fighter Group and F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-2, as well as Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15 and The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Group. During his 30 years as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he wrote the cult classic The Terror Within and worked as a supervising producer on a number of TV and cable series. He served in the US Navy in Vietnam. He lives in Encino, California, USA.