From the sinking of the British passenger liner Athenia on September 3, 1939, by a German U-boat (against orders) to the Japanese surrender on board the Missouri on September 2, 1945, War at Sea covers every major naveal battle of World War II. "A first-rate work and the best history of its kind yet written".--Vice Admiral William P. Mack, U.S.N. (Ret.). 30 photos.

Volume 21 corrects and greatly expands existing entries from Volume 6 of the World War II Sea War series. This volume provides extensive additions to Japanese military and merchant ship movements, as Japan tried to consolidate her newly acquired Pacific empire. There is also new data on the Royal Indian Navy, German U-boats, and the Royal New Zealand Navy. In addition, the monthly General sections have been expanded to help form the context of the war, especially how world leaders made decisions from day to day. In particular, Volume 21 provides additional detail on the following events: ? Japanese attack on Ceylon and the Bay of Bengal -- more information on the Japanese tactics that created the confusion aboard the Japanese aircraft carriers off Midway Island. ? The Battle of the Coral Sea -- more detail on US and Japanese actions in the South Pacific as Japan began to secure its position in the Solomon Islands and on New Guinea Island. ? The Battle of Midway Island -- more detail on the US and Japanese actions and an improved timeline of the USN air attacks on the Japanese Carrier Striking Force. ? The Japanese Invasion of Attu and Kiska Islands plus the air attack on Dutch Harbor, Alaska -- an improved timeline and more detailed description of the Japanese air attacks. ? Operation HARPOON -- more detail on Royal Navy and Italian Navy actions during the British attempts to feed Malta.

Author of Lincoln and His Admirals (winner of the Lincoln Prize), The Battle of Midway (Best Book of the Year, Military History Quarterly), and Operation Neptune, (winner of the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature), Craig L. Symonds has established himself as one of the finest naval historians at work today. World War II at Sea represents his crowning achievement: a complete narrative of the naval war and all of its belligerents, on all of the world's oceans and seas, between 1939 and 1945. Opening with the 1930 London Conference, Symonds shows how any limitations on naval warfare would become irrelevant before the decade was up, as Europe erupted into conflict once more and its navies were brought to bear against each other. World War II at Sea offers a global perspective, focusing on the major engagements and personalities and revealing both their scale and their interconnection: the U-boat attack on Scapa Flow and the Battle of the Atlantic; the "miracle" evacuation from Dunkirk and the pitched battles for control of Norway fjords; Mussolini's Regia Marina-at the start of the war the fourth-largest navy in the world-and the dominance of the Kidö Butai and Japanese naval power in the Pacific; Pearl Harbor then Midway; the struggles of the Russian Navy and the scuttling of the French Fleet in Toulon in 1942; the landings in North Africa and then Normandy. Here as well are the notable naval leaders-FDR and Churchill, both self-proclaimed "Navy men," Karl Dönitz, François Darlan, Ernest King, Isoroku Yamamoto, Erich Raeder, Inigo Campioni, Louis Mountbatten, William Halsey, as well as the hundreds of thousands of seamen and officers of all nationalities whose live were imperiled and lost during the greatest naval conflicts in history, from small-scale assaults and amphibious operations to the largest armadas ever assembled. Many have argued that World War II was dominated by naval operations; few have shown and how and why this was the case. Symonds combines precision with story-telling verve, expertly illuminating not only the mechanics of large-scale warfare on (and below) the sea but offering wisdom into the nature of the war itself.

From September through November 1942, the Allies defeated the Axis forces on all active fronts. On land, the British defeated Rommel in Operation SUPERCHARGE, the US Marines defeated the Japanese on Guadalcanal, and the Russians trapped the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad and disrupted the entire Axis southern front in Russia. At sea, the Royal Navy landed desperately needed supplies on Malta in Operations PEDESTAL and STONEAGE; the USN defended the US Marines on Guadalcanal from a Japanese attack in the Battle of Cape Esperance; the Allies landed troops at Morocco and Algeria in Operation TORCH; USN cruisers sank a Japanese battleship in the 1st Battle of Savo Island; the 2nd Battle of Savo Island was the only battleship-to-battleship engagement of the war in the Pacific; the Battle of the North Atlantic increased in intensity; and the Germans tried to capture the French Fleet at Toulon, France, in Operation ANTON, only to arrive as the ships sank beneath the sea.

A brilliant, concise and, perhaps, best single volume history of the Second World War at Sea. Written by veteran historian E. B. Potter during his time as resident historian at the United States Naval Academy this history is filled with action and analysis. As the conflict raged from the Pacific to the North Sea the author takes the action in each theater for the purposes of clarity but masterfully links the actions and events together to preserve the historical integrity of the work. A classic of Naval History.

This volume covers day-to-day naval actions during March-June 1943. The Allies attacked German U-boats day and night, forcing their withdrawal from the vital North Atlantic convoy routes, clearing the way for the eventual invasion of Europe from Britain. In the Bismarck Sea, Allied aircraft destroyed an entire Japanese troop convoy bound for New Guinea. In the Komandorski Islands, the U.S. Navy engaged a superior Japanese force and out fought them. After this loss, the Japanese commander was fired in disgrace. The Allies isolated the German and Italian troops fighting in Tunisia with an air and sea blockade. Without support from Italy, Tunisia fell. U.S. aircraft ambushed Japanese Admiral Yamamoto while he was en route to an inspection visit in the Solomon Islands. The U.S. 7th Infantry Division liberated Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands.

In April, May and June 1944, there were three major areas of naval conflict: In New Guinea: United States (US) and Australian forces landed at Aitape and Hollandia, then at Arare, Wakde and Biak Island. In Europe: The battle for the control of the English Channel heated up. The German navy attacked what they thought was an Allied convoy along the English southwestern coast. They had actually stumbled upon Operation TIGER, the Allied training exercise for the upcoming Normandy landing. RAF Bomber Command mined Biscay, Bretagne, La Pallice, Lorient, Brest, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Den Helder, Texel, the Friesian Islands, the German Bay, Kattegat, Kiel, Swinemünde, Gotenhafen, and Pillau. The Allies initiated Operation NEPTUNE to conceal the real Allied landing location from the Germans. All this culminated in the Allied landing in Normandy, France, in Operation OVERLORD. In the Pacific: The US landed on Saipan, considered Japanese territory, in Operation FORAGER, which caused the Battle of the Philippine Sea.