Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: Rich46yo on August 14, 2016, 09:21:56 PM
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Im looking for a good book on PT boat operations in the Pacific, most of all the Guadalcanal and Solomans campaigns. A good inclusive book on torpedo boats would be nice but Im primarily interested in their actual effectiveness in interrupting IJN/IJA troop and supply/resupply/convoy operations in WW2. Thanks.
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Bern Keating, "The Mosquito Fleet," if you can find it in your library.
- oldman
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Im looking for a good book on PT boat operations in the Pacific, most of all the Guadalcanal and Solomans campaigns. A good inclusive book on torpedo boats would be nice but Im primarily interested in their actual effectiveness in interrupting IJN/IJA troop and supply/resupply/convoy operations in WW2. Thanks.
PT 105 by Dick Keresey
Hell on Keels: The Saga of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 12 by Rick Desloge
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take your pick,
http://www.pt-boat.com/books/books.html
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Might as well start with the first book "They were Expendable"
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They filmed a lot of that John Wayne movie where I grew up........but before I was born.
If any of you vacationed at ocean city, NJ as a kid......you will remember this one.
(http://www.brucebalderson.com/OCchrisFS1a.jpg)
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Thanks for the replys guys. Sorry it took so long to get back. Im going to order a few this week.
I want to hear words from the sailors who actually fought in them and have always wondered how much impact they had in the war. I do know the IJN had to change tactics because of them and their constant weapons upgrades gave them a big bite for their size. The Pacific naval war at night always interested me.
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Not much PT action, but a lot of night surface engagements during the Guadalcanal campaign are in "Neptune's Inferno" by James Hornfischer. All of his books are great.
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Devil Boats, by W. Breuer.
https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Boats-War-Against-Japan/dp/0891415866/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471589137&sr=8-1&keywords=devil+boats
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Well I bought 3. Devil Boats, PT 105, and a book on the DD warfare of the USN.
Ive probably put down 6 to 8 books in the last few months on the Pacific theater cause Ive been a mad man about the Asian theater of war in WW2 lately. Plus I have my usual reading going. Hopefully I'll have more time soon to build my collection on WW2.
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If you'd like more books on DD's, I think this one is great, and ranks up with my favorite WWII books in general:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51twO5fhbpL._SX346_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway - The Great Naval Battles as Seen Through Japanese Eyes, by Capt. Tameichi Hara
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Destroyer-Captain-Guadalcanal-Battles/dp/1591143845/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471639761&sr=8-1&keywords=japanese+destroyer
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If you'd like more books on DD's, I think this one is great, and ranks up with my favorite WWII books in general:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51twO5fhbpL._SX346_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway - The Great Naval Battles as Seen Through Japanese Eyes, by Capt. Tameichi Hara
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Destroyer-Captain-Guadalcanal-Battles/dp/1591143845/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471639761&sr=8-1&keywords=japanese+destroyer
Excellent book.
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Deep into "Silent Victory" now.
https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Victory-Submarine-against-Bluejacket/dp/155750217X
Man did we set ourselves up for pain in the first two years of the U-boat war vs Japan. And the pathetic thing is we could have had double the fleet boats ready is the Sub service had only asked for them, "remember the Roosevelt 2 ocean Navy proclamation of '38.
Its painful reading about '42 and '43. Indeed the new magnetic detonators had never even been tested live against another ship before deployed, "there was an argument over who would raise the scuttled test ship after". Unbelievable. But we emerged from the war the best boat service in the world and never gave that up due to lessons learned and information taken from the vanquished.
Also I didnt know American code breakers were as accomplished as they were. I knew they were good but didnt know they were that good. Once we teamed up with the Brits we shared a code breaking and technology alliance that proved war winning.
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Deep into "Silent Victory" now. Man did we set ourselves up for pain in the first two years of the U-boat war vs Japan. And the pathetic thing is we could have had double the fleet boats ready is the Sub service had only asked for them, "remember the Roosevelt 2 ocean Navy proclamation of '38.
Its painful reading about '42 and '43. Indeed the new magnetic detonators had never even been tested live against another ship before deployed, "there was an argument over who would raise the scuttled test ship after". Unbelievable. But we emerged from the war the best boat service in the world and never gave that up due to lessons learned and information taken from the vanquished.
Also I didnt know American code breakers were as accomplished as they were. I knew they were good but didnt know they were that good. Once we teamed up with the Brits we shared a code breaking and technology alliance that proved war winning.
If you really want to read a good submarine account of war in the Pacific, I highly recommend "Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang" by Richard O'Kane. It's the accounts of O'Kane, while commander of the Tang during the war. It's an incredible story and you'll understand why O'Kane was awarded the MOH for his service.
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If you really want to read a good submarine account of war in the Pacific, I highly recommend "Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang" by Richard O'Keefe. It's the accounts of Keefe, while commander of the Tang during the war. It's an incredible story and you'll understand why O'Keefe was awarded the MOH for his service.
:aok
Another good one is "The Bravest Man: Richard O'Kane and the Amazing Submarine Adventures of the USS Tang", by Tuohy.
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Oh to be a USN fleet boat skipper in '44. Talk about a shooting gallery. We basically sunk almost all the Japanese merchant fleet in one year along with a goodly amount of its combat fleet.
And once again when you look at their hull production capabilities, their extreme need of ultra long lines of sea supply and communications, their utter lack of imagination in submarine defense, and once again Im left asking, "what in heck were they thinking attacking America and Britain"?
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Kamikaze attacks started in 1944, though.
Kamikaze attacks sank 34 US ships and damaged (many significantly damaged and knocked out of the war) 368 others, killed 4900 sailors and wounded another 4800.
Here is the list of just US fleet carriers that were hit by kamikazes in 1944 and 1945:
Bunker Hill
Enterprise
Essex
Franklin
Hancock
Intrepid
Lexington
Randolph
Saratoga
Also British fleet carriers:
HMS Formidable
HMS Indefatigable
HMS Indomitable
The list of just escort and light carriers hit by kamikazes:
Bismark Sea
Kadashan Bay
Kalinin Bay
Kitkun Bay
Laguna Point
Manila Bay
Marcus Island
Natoma Bay
Ommaney Bay
Salamaua
Sangamon
Santee
Savo Island
St. Lo
Suwannee
Wake Island
White Plains
Belleau Wood
Cabot
San Jacinto
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and once again Im left asking, "what in heck were they thinking attacking America and Britain"?
The Japanese honestly believed that there would be no general war and the "conflict" would last no more than 6 months before the US sued for a cease-fire and peace negotiations.
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The Japanese honestly believed that there would be no general war and the "conflict" would last no more than 6 months before the US sued for a cease-fire and peace negotiations.
The whole Achse was an alliance of delusions :old:
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It might have gone differently if the Japanese had bombed the fuel storage at Pearl. That was the supply for the whole Pacific fleet.
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Even the Kamikaze losses, painful as they were, only amounted to 47 ships lost and only 3 or 4 escort carriers included. By the end of the war the USN alone was operating almost 7,000 ships of which 28 were fleet carriers, 71 escort CVs, 23 BBs, 72 cruisers, over 200 submarines, almost 400 DDs, and thousands of amphib and support ships. The Brits as well ended up sending almost 20 carriers of different types to the Pacific by the end of the war.
Ive always wondered what a 3rd wave at PH would have accomplished in the long run. Again strange that fuel, support, and submarine targets were placed so Low on the list of priorities with a Navy supposedly at the cutting edge of modern tactics. Midway, perhaps Hawaii itself, would have been put at great risk. Time and again the IJN was pulled by opposing forces and overall they simply were never aggressive or imaginative enough.
I think there were only very few submarines at PH at the time, 3 or 4. Werent most forward deployed to the Phillipines and Australia?