Author Charles Lockwood (Sink 'Em All) brings his same flair for submarine warfare story-telling to his account of Operation Barney, the secret mission during World War 2 to extend the conflict in the Pacific beyond the Sea of Japan and closer to the enemy's coastline. On June 9, 1945, torpedoes from nine American submarines - 'The Hellcats' - were launched at dozens of Japanese freighters, paralyzing maritime operations between Japan and Korea. Each U.S. sub was equipped with newly designed mine-detectors and Mark-18s -- electronic torpedoes that left no traceable wakes or fume exhausts. Operation Barney continued for 15 days and proved a crucial breakthrough in the war, with U.S. submarines sinking 28 Japanese ships totaling some 70,000 tons. Hellcats of the Sea is a riveting account of the planning and events of those 15 days.

Hellcats of the Sea, first published in 1955, recounts the activities of the U.S. Navy's Pacific submarine fleet in World War Two. Much of the book details "Operation Barney, " the secret mission to bring the war closer to the islands of Japan, as the war had never yet extended to the Sea of Japan. That situation changed on June 9, 1945, when torpedoes from nine American submarines were launched at dozens of Japanese freighters, paralyzing maritime operations between Japan and Korea, and damaging Japan's will to fight. Each U.S. submarine was also equipped with a brand-new secret electronic weapon designed to detect enemy mines. Operation Barney continued for 15 days, with U.S. submarines sinking 28 Japanese ships totaling some 70,000 tons. Sadly, one of the subs, USS "Bonefish" (SS-223), was lost during the operation. Included are 8 pages of photographs. Author Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood was the U.S. Navy commander of the Pacific submarine fleet during World War II.

A heart-stopping true tale of a submarine mission aimed at destroying Japan’s merchant marine lifeline and ending World War II. By 1945, the U.S. Navy's submarine force in the Pacific had sunk over a thousand enemy cargo ships and tankers supplying the food, weapons, and oil Japan needed to continue to fight. Yet this once mighty merchant fleet continued to thrive in the Sea of Japan, where, protected from American submarines by a seemingly impenetrable barrier of deadly minefields, they provided a tenuous lifeline for the Japanese. Senior American commanders believed that if these enemy ships were sunk, Japan would be forced to surrender. Here is the incredible story of Operation Barney, the daring plot to penetrate those minefields and decimate the enemy fleet. The brainchild of the dedicated sub commander Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood, the mission would hinge on a new experimental sonar system that would, with luck, guide American submarines safely past the mines and into the open sea. The nine submarines chosen, nicknamed Hellcats, were tasked with the impossible—the combined crews of 760 submariners all knew their chances of survival depended on an unproven technology and their own nerve. Based on original documents and the poignant personal letters of one doomed Hellcat commander, Sasgen crafts a classic naval tale of one of World War II's most dangerous missions.

New York Times Bestseller The final volume of the magisterial Pacific War Trilogy from acclaimed historian Ian W. Toll, “one of the great storytellers of War” (Evan Thomas). In June 1944, the United States launched a crushing assault on the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The capture of the Mariana Islands and the accompanying ruin of Japanese carrier airpower marked a pivotal moment in the Pacific War. No tactical masterstroke or blunder could reverse the increasingly lopsided balance of power between the two combatants. The War in the Pacific had entered its endgame. Beginning with the Honolulu Conference, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with his Pacific theater commanders to plan the last phase of the campaign against Japan, Twilight of the Gods brings to life the harrowing last year of World War II in the Pacific, when the U.S. Navy won the largest naval battle in history; Douglas MacArthur made good his pledge to return to the Philippines; waves of kamikazes attacked the Allied fleets; the Japanese fought to the last man on one island after another; B-29 bombers burned down Japanese cities; and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were vaporized in atomic blasts. Ian W. Toll’s narratives of combat in the air, at sea, and on the beaches are as gripping as ever, but he also reconstructs the Japanese and American home fronts and takes the reader into the halls of power in Washington and Tokyo, where the great questions of strategy and diplomacy were decided. Drawing from a wealth of rich archival sources and new material, Twilight of the Gods casts a penetrating light on the battles, grand strategic decisions and naval logistics that enabled the Allied victory in the Pacific. An authoritative and riveting account of the final phase of the War in the Pacific, Twilight of the Gods brings Toll’s masterful trilogy to a thrilling conclusion. This prize-winning and best-selling trilogy will stand as the first complete history of the Pacific War in more than twenty-five years, and the first multivolume history of the Pacific naval war since Samuel Eliot Morison’s series was published in the 1950s.

As Clausewitz observed, “In war more than anywhere else, things do not turn out as we expect.” The essence of war is a competitive reciprocal relationship with an adversary. Commanders and institutional leaders must recognize shortfalls and resolve gaps rapidly in the middle of the fog of war. The side that reacts best (and absorbs faster) increases its chances of winning. Mars Adapting examines what makes some military organizations better at this contest than others. It explores the institutional characteristics or attributes at play in learning quickly. Adaptation requires a dynamic process of acquiring knowledge, the utilization of that knowledge to alter a unit’s skills, and the sharing of that learning to other units to integrate and institutionalize better operational practice. Mars Adapting explores the internal institutional factors that promote and enable military adaptation. It employs four cases, drawing upon one from each of the U.S. armed services. Each case was an extensive campaign, with several cycles of action/counteraction. In each case the military institution entered the war with an existing mental model of the war they expected to fight. For example, the U.S. Navy prepared for decades to defeat the Japanese Imperial Navy and had developed carried-based aviation. Other capabilities, particularly the Fleet submarine, were applied as a major adaptation. The author establishes a theory called Organizational Learning Capacity that captures the transition of experience and knowledge from individuals into larger and higher levels of each military service through four major steps. The learning/change cycle is influenced, he argues, by four institutional attributes (leadership, organizational culture, learning mechanisms, and dissemination mechanisms). The dynamic interplay of these institutional enablers shaped their ability to perceive and change appropriately.

Having come off vicious battles in Saipan and Peleliu, this volume continues the war with the invasion of the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The battle for Iwo Jima, coming ever closer to Japan, caused many casualties, the most so far in the Pacific war. But it did not compare to the next battle, the one for Okinawa, where heavy casualties were incurred not only by the troops on the ground but by the sailors on ships, attacked by suicide bombers whose pilot’s sole mission was to crash his bomb-carrying plane into an American ship. With the death of President Roosevelt, Harry Truman faced the momentous decision of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, wiping out tens of thousands of civilians, or instead invading Japan and face perhaps a million casualties among American forces, given what happened on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Truman drooped the bomb and the Japanese, after much soul searching, surrendered. Enter General Douglas MacArthur, appointed Supreme Commander for the occupation of Japan. He retained the emperor against the howling of those calling for revenge and retribution, ending up with a totally peaceful occupation up to the time the occupations forces left Japan.

In May 1942, submarines begin inflicting heavy damage on Japanese shipping. The marines and Army invade the Gilbert, Marshall and Solomon Islands. In November 1943, American forces, with heavy casualties, take Tarawa. Admiral Nimitz, over many objections, decides to bypass many strongly-held Japanese islands and blockade them to deprive the Japanese of supplies and food. Roosevelt publicly demands “unconditional surrender,” and the Japanese dig in their heels to fight to the death. American forces attack the Solomon and Marshall Islands, creeping ever closer to Japan. MacArthur attacks New Guinea. In June 1944, American forces invade the Mariana Islands of Saipan and Tinian, and later, Pelelui. With these islands in American hands, its bombers can reach the Japanese mainland. Saipan and Pelelui are captured with many American casualties. Fighting becomes a vicious no-holds-barred affair. A famous American, now a pilot, is rescued by submarine, after his plane crashes into the sea.