A forensic investigation of the Battle of Savo Island where in August of 1942 Japanese strike forces snuck up on heavily guarded allied cruisers and destroyed four ships, sinking two of them. Loxton, wounded during the battle, exposes some of the myths surrounding this monumental defeat through an examination of American, Japanese, and Australian records, concluding with a "verdict" that cuts through naval misinformation and explains how such an event could have occurred. The writing conveys the single minded passion which the author follows to discover the truth of a military defeat which, because of his involvement, became a life obsession. Includes maps, diagrams, and illustrations. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Pritchard describes the domestic and international political circumstances in France that gave rise to the expedition, outlining strategy and politics in the context of colonial defence and continental ambition. He reconstructs the events that contributed to the failure of the expedition - human and institutional weakness, weather, spoiled provisions, disease, and the death of the commanding admiral. Anatomy of a Naval Disaster exposes the ambitions and frailties of men, the arbitrariness of success, and the limits of power in the eighteenth century.

The Shame Of Savo explores the personalities and events associated with the disastrous night of 9 August 1942 when a Japanese cruiser force surprised an Allied fleet off Savo Island.

Shipwrecks.

A sweeping, in-depth examination of the legendary naval controversy which shook the Victorian Royal Navy and climaxed in the foundering of HMS Captain in 1870.

“World War II produced so many compelling stories that even students of that momentous conflict are apt to discover we’ve missed whole vital episodes. Down to the Sea, about a devastating 1944 Pacific typhoon that sank three destroyers and cost 756 American sailors their lives, is just such an eye-opener.” — New York Post From the New York Times bestselling author of Sons and Soldiers, an epic story opening at the hour the Greatest Generation went to war on December 7, 1941, and following four U.S. Navy ships and their crews in the Pacific until their day of reckoning three years later with a far different enemy: a deadly typhoon. In December 1944, while supporting General MacArthur’s invasion of the Philippines, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey neglected the Law of Storms—the unofficial bible of all seamen since the days of sail—placing the mighty U.S. Third Fleet in harm’s way. One of the most powerful fighting fleets ever assembled under any flag, the Third Fleet sailed directly into the largest storm the U.S. Navy had ever encountered—a maelstrom of 90-foot seas and 160-mph winds. More men were lost and ships sunk and damaged than in most combat engagements in the Pacific. The final toll: 3 ships sunk, 28 ships damaged, 146 aircraft destroyed, and 756 men lost at sea. In all, 92 survivors from the three sunken ships (each carrying a crew of about 300) were rescued, some after spending up to 80 hours in the water. Scores more had made it off their sinking ships only to perish in the monstrous seas; some from injuries and exhaustion, others snatched away by circling sharks before their horrified shipmates. In the farflung rescue operations Bruce Henderson finds some of the story’s truest heroes, exhibiting selflessness, courage, and even defiance. One badly damaged ship, whose Naval Reserve skipper disobeyed an admiral’s orders to abandon the search, singlehandedly saved 55 lives. Drawing on extensive interviews with nearly every living survivor and rescuer, many families of lost sailors, transcripts and other records from two naval courts of inquiry, ships’ logs and action reports, personal letters, and diaries, Bruce Henderson offers the most thorough and riveting account to date of one of the greatest naval dramas of World War II.